Today we saw Mariah reach out more for Jeremiah and Zach. She wanted to get down and play with them and she let them hold her hand when we walked. It was a great visit, although it seemed short and it is sad to say goodbye. I think she has a sense of humor, which I think is a pretty great thing. She will do something that makes us laugh and when we respond to her, she will keep doing it so we will keep laughing. Yesterday she discovered how to walk backwards. We thought that was pretty funny so she kept doing it. Today she started making cute little noises to entertain us and when we laughed, it seemed to make her happy. She is a pretty sweet little girl!

Chow

Another day, another chance to play. We are enjoying the beautiful spring weather. We are able to take Mariah outside each day. We are enjoying our time with her. We try and bring her a snack each day. She loves her snacks! It has been delightful to take a daily walk around the orphanage and see what new flowers are blooming. We have met many very nice people while we have been here. The caretakers have been very helpful. We have also met adopting families from Israel, Italy and the U.S.
We have learned one word in Italian. Chow means both hello and goodbye as far as we can tell. We use it often with the Italian family we have met here. It has been a great experience for us to meet people from so many different countries. We are also learning a few Russian words. Spa see ba means thank you. That is a great word to know in any culture. We try and use it often. If you only know one word, it is a pretty good word to know! We have also had a few funny experiences due to our lack of communication. The day we went to court the boys really needed to find a bathroom. We found a lady in the court house that didn't look too busy. We tried every word we could think of to ask where the bathroom was. Water closet? Toilet? Bathroom? No luck. I thought the potty dance was a universal symbol but apparently not. Oh well. We will have to look that up in our Russian dictionary. We eventually did find an outdoor potty that was truly European. Fine for the boys. Not so fine for Mom. We did find a restaurant that had all the latest plumbing. Thank goodness.

Just hangin' out

This morning marked a new milestone for us. When we went to take Mariah back to the caretakers, she did not want to leave us. This was the first time this has happened. We are hoping this is a good sign and that she is beginning to trust us and look forward to our time with her. It will be an amazing thing when we actually get to take her with us out of the orpahage. This visiting time each day has been a good opportunity to get to know each other. I hope it will make our transition home much easier. The boys are learning how to play with her. She seems to be reaching out to them more and more as the days go by. One thing I noticed about Mariah today is that she sure does have a lot of attention span for a child her age. I brought her a new toy, okay it was really a plactic egg carton. We put rocks in each of the sections for her. She probably played with that for twenty five minutes or so. That seems amazing to me. We sure got good use out of that egg carton! We have also been playing a game where we hum a tune and the rest of the family has to "Name that tune!" It is so cute that she starts to hum along with us. We are truly blessed.

Visiting and Waiting...

The boys are busy climbing trees, playing in the sandbox and getting to know their little sister. Mom and Dad are busy trying to keep everyone happy! As you can tell by the empty soda bottles, we are coming up with some creative ideas for toys. The kids were all able to come up with some games to play. It really is amazing how the simple things in life can be so fun. We are enjoying lots of family time, something that is harder to come by at home with the busy pace of life. We are thankful for each day that we have together. We know life will be busier again when we return home. We are finding out new things about Mariah each day. She seems to like music and enjoys it when we sing to her. We try and do this each time we see her. She is responding to us pretty well. There are times she shows frustration but will respond pretty quickly when we hold her and comfort her. We are encouraged by the fact that she seems to be comforted by us. Today is Thursday morning and we are on day seven of our ten day wait. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers, they mean so much to us.

Circus and visits counting down the days...

Sunday was a mellow relaxing day. We do not have visits to the Orphanage on Sundays so we got up and spent some time reading and relaxing. We had arranged a trip to the Circus for Sunday afternoon. The driver picked us up at 2:00 PM. We were dropped off about two blocks from where we were going to the circus. There was an open air market but it was way too crowded so we went to a near by park for the boys to play. We went in to find our seats around 3:00 because it was pretty windy and kind of cold. The circus was inside a big building. There was one center ring where everything happened. We had great seats, they were in the second row in the middle. When the circus began we were not sure what to expect. The opening act was a little of a surprise let's say, modesty is a little different here. There was a clown that did some tricks etc. between all the different acts. There was a couple that did some tricks on roller skates and some men that did some tricks off a trampoline. They also had an act with camels. Then a lady did some tricks with some animals. They had bears, dogs, baboons, monkeys, horses, and... They had a short half time then they had some men do some acrobatics on high bars. Then more animals tricks, Lions, Foxes, Lemers, Porcupines, Wolves, etc.... All in all the boys loved to see all the different animals and some of the clown tricks. One was where he had a bunch of glasses with water and he played a song. The adults were a bit shocked by some of the show but it was interesting. After the show was over we walked down to the McDonalds and ate dinner it was good to have some food that looked pretty much American. One more Sunday left now before we head home.


Monday morning we woke up excited to see Mariah again. We got to the Orphanage and Mariah was dressed in a yellow sweater. She looked so cute. We went outside and found our little area to sit and play. Zach sat down with her and read a little of his story. We played on the slide and let her swing and walk. I think she is really starting to get used to us now. I think she was excited to see us. The visit went well. In the afternoon we picked her up and went outside as usual. We had only been there for no more then ten minutes when Zach had an accident. Jeremiah and Zach always play in these sand boxes they have all over in their playground. They are surrounded in cement about one to one and a half feet tall. Zach was running toward the sandbox when he triped on a root sticking up out of the ground. He fell forward and his check and nose hit the edge of the cement surrounding the sandbox. We were scared to see the result. His nose started to bleed pretty bad. That of course is scary to see coming from your kids. After we looked at his face it was not as bad as it seemed. He will have a bruse on his check but all things considered we are very Thankful that nothing worse happened. We continued to play with Mariah and everything went well. She even said MaMa for the first time. It is hard to say if she really understands what she is saying but we are excited anyway!In
the afternoon between visits we decided we needed to make another trip to the grocery store. We usually walk to the grocery store just about every day. It is about a 20 minute walk one way to the store. We needed to get water and milk which is heavy to carry. So we got our backpacks and headed to the store. It started to rain on the way but not too hard, thankfully. We got all our groceries which consisted on two 5 liter bottles of water and four containers of milk. Once we separated it between the backpacks it was not too bad to carry. We made it back. Today we need to go to a different grocery store to get more water and to get some Coke Light. I think Joe and Bridget bought out the other store. It is funny to walk to the store everyday but it gives us an outing in the afternoons, which is good for us, and uses up some of the boy's energy. We are enjoying the spring weather, which is very pleasant most days.

ladies day out

We visited Mariah this morning. She is getting to be more and more responsive to us and the boys. She is happy to see us when we come and is content to snuggle on our shoulder. We are so blessed. I must say it is getting harder and harder to let her go at the end of the visit. We are only able to see her once on Saturday. To fill the time, Brigette and I had a nice walk into the market area. Clothes seem very reasonably priced and we both needed a few things to take our kiddos home in. We had a very nice afternoon together. We were so excited to find outfits for the children. There is one particular type of outfit that looks hand made and is so adorable. We each bought a couple to bring home. I would like to save them as a souvenir from Ukraine for Mariah when she is older. We stopped for a cold drink of tea on the way home. It was a very pleasant afternoon. We have so much to be thankful for. Please continue to pray for our timeline. It is still my heart's desire to go home together but I am trusting God with whatever happens. There are no visits on Sunday. We have planned an outing for the boys. We are planning to go to the circus. The boys have never been to the circus. It will be fun for them. Thank you to all of our friends and family who are continuing to pray for us.

Friday Memories...

Bubbles

During our visit today, the boys were able to blow bubbles for the children and play ball with them. It was so fun to see the little children smile and laugh at the bubbles. I hope they will have families someday. As for today, maybe we brought a smile to their little faces. Each child is so precious. Mariah loved her swing today and was so energetic we thought she might tip the whole thing over. She also enjoyed the slide. The boys were on a slide next to hers and they played a game to race down the slides together. It was fun to watch and I am sure the challenge will be on for tomorrow! We heard Mariah say her first English word today. Of course it was Dada...

Another Picture

Introducing Mariah Joy Jennings

Today was an eventful day. We went to court this morning. Brigette and Joe were with us and were planning to watch the boys while it was our turn to be in the court room.
However, at the last minute the judge asked us all to come in the room at the same time. This meant the boys would have to sit in court. Not only that, we had no time to prep them for what was expected. The judge asked us questions about ourselves, our family, our home, and Mariah. The orphanage director and a representative from juvenile services were present and were asked to testify about what they knew of Mariah and whether or not this adoption was in her best interest. Each person agreed they thought it was in the child's best interest to be adopted into our family. In the end, the judge ruled on our behalf and granted our request to adopt Mariah and to change her name. As soon as the ten day waiting period is over, she will officially be part of our family. We are so excited. When we left the court room, we told the boys how pleased we were that they sat so quietly the whole time we were in court. Zach said "you can thank me later, just feed me now!" It was so cute. They really did a great job. We are so blessed. God has added a new little one into our family and we are so proud to call her our daughter. She is an absolute delight and we can hardly wait to introduce her to all of you.

Hallelujiah..

Today was another good day in Ukraine. We visited Mariah this morning and this afternoon. We are getting more familiar with each other. Today we did get confirmation that we have received all the approvals and signatures to go to court tomorrow. Yulia is going to be here in the morning. We have court at 9:40 AM so please continue to pray that all will go well.

Today we were outside in the courtyard of the Orphanage for both visits. The Orphanage recently had some fresh sand delivered for the sand boxes. Jeremiah and Zachary were in heaven they played in the sand the entire time. It is funny how a little sand can be so much fun. Mariah also played in it a little. She liked to feel the sand fall through her fingers.

We have been thinking about how we are going to keep her busy the entire flight home. If anyone has any great suggestions we would love to hear them.

We love the fresh bread. We had french toast for breakfast and we are having chicken and rice for dinner. I actually would love to have some Ukrainian food. I think tomorrow we are going to have dinner out.

Until tomorrow.

Surprise!

Ira, the woman we are renting our apartment from came with a surprise today for the boys. She came with a McDonalds happy meal for each boy. How very thoughtful of her to think of them. Today was another beautiful day in Ukraine. The weather has been very pleasant and we are developing a routine here. We start each day with breakfast and a time of reading and praying together. We have our first visit with Mariah at 10:00 and then we come back for lunch. After lunch we generally take a walk to the market. Today we bought some fresh bread that will be fun to try with dinner. When we get back to the apartment we work on school work with the boys. We are working until it is time to see Mariah again at 4:00.When we come back to our apartment, we spend time making dinner and then we usually spend some time relaxing together in the evenings. I do not think popcorn is as common in Ukraine, and we were really missing it. We were able to find some microwave popcorn. It is funny how the little comforts of home are such a delight when you are away. Speaking of the comforts of home, so far we have not been able to find toilet paper to purchase in this town. We do not have a Russian word for toilet paper. We are hoping to solve this little dilema soon. We might have to start rationing it out because we will not see Yulia again until Thursday when she returns for court.

The Lord has gone before us

God has been merciful to us. As far as we know, the details are coming together for us to attend court on Thursday. This is a huge blessing and brings us closer to being able to all come home together on June 6th. Keep us in your prayers for our court date. We don't know exactly what to expect. We are thankful that Yulia will be with us to translate.

We learned more about our new daughter today. We learned she likes to eat. We have tried giving her milk, juice, crackers and yogurt. We are trying to introduce things to her gradually. She seems to really enjoy each food she tries. It is a joy to see her eat well. She continues to smile and laugh for us. She is also showing us that she can be independent at times as well. We are enjoying our visits with her each day. The weather has been nice enough to go outside. The boys are learning how to play with their new sister and being outdoors gives us all a few more options.

There are many flowers blooming. Someone has done a beautiful job with the flowers around the orphanage. The flowers add a touch of cheerfulness. The care takers really do seem to care about the children. The children are taken on walks around the grounds as often as the weather is warm enough.

We are thankful for the the friends God has given us. There is an American couple here that we have been able to visit with each day. They are adopting a little boy. They have been a blessing to us and it has been fun to walk through this process together with them.

Wow Tired Excited Etc.....

Hello again from Ukraine.

As Debbie said in her last post we have arrived in Kryvy Rih. The last week has been a whirlwind of things happening. We had our SDA appointment on Wednesday last week and we did accept a referral as you all know. The normal process is to receive a referral to go to the Orphanage at the end of the next day. We ended up accepting a referral to the same Orphanage and city as a family we met in Kyiv. The SDA did us a favor and gave us a referral the same day because we were going to the same city and had the same translator as the other family. Wow were we surprised and thankful. We went back to the apartment after the SDA appointment and started to pack and rest. I had to be back at the SDA for the referral between 5 and 6 PM. After we received our referral we went back to the apartment and had to get ready to leave for the train. We were on the 11 PM train from Kyiv to Kryvy Rih. The train was an all night train that arrived at 6:30 AM. We had our own sleeper cabin because they are for four people. We were thankful to have our own space. The boys were excited and thought the train was a lot of fun and another adventure. There was a hallway along one side of the train car with doors to each sleeper cabin. After the train started to go we were hoping to sleep. We were not prepared for people to smoke in the hallway which basically filled the entire train car with smoke which had no fresh air. We did get to sleep but we all slept for about three hours. We were excited and nervous to meet our little girl.

When we arrived in Kryvy Rih we were met by a driver and van. We loaded up the van with all our stuff and headed to our apartments. We were traveling with the family we met in Kyiv (Bridget and Joe) and our translator Yulia who was the translator for both of us. Our apartment is on the fifth floor of an apartment building. We have two rooms (Living room and bedroom) and a small kitchen and bathroom. The apartment is clean and comfortable we again are blessed with a great place to stay for the next few weeks. We basically had one hour to get refreshed and get ready to go to the Juvenile Services office to obtain clearance to go to the Orphanage. We found out that the Juvenile Services Director was at te Orphanage so we went back to the Orphanage. When we arrived we waited in a room with chairs and a carpet in the middle of the room. There were two other families there visiting their children one from Italy and one from Israel. Yulia came and got Debbie and I and we went in to meet the Orphanage director and the Juvenile Services director. She asked us our names and ages and to tell her a little bit about ourselves and what we like to do etc. Then she asked about our boys and their names and ages. Then she told us about Polina (Mariah) and gave us the history information and medical. Then we were taken up to meet her. It only took a little while to realize that she was the one God has been leading us to adopt. Yulia asked us if we have decided whether we wanted to adopt her or not and Debbie and I looked at each other and said yes.
This all happened by Thursday morning. Then the paperwork began and Yulia was off filing papers with the Orphanage and the Juvenile Services department and the local courts etc.

We were back at the Orphanage to visit Maria again Thursday afternoon. She is so sweet and loves to laugh. The boys especially love it when I throw her up in the air a little and she starts to laugh out loud. One special memory is when Yulia was holding Mariah and explaining to her that Debbie was going to be her Momma and Mariah said the first words we heard her say. She responded "Dah" which means yes. After the visit was over we walked around the corner and realized that our apartment was right next door to the Orphanage, again what a blessing. God is sooo good. We all went to the grocery store to stock up on groceries for the week. The store was kind of like a big Walmart but of course not Walmart. We wandered around trying to figure out what things were. Yulia helped us find hamburger and things like that then we loaded up and went back to the apartment. We didn't get back to the apartment until almost 9 PM. We were all totally exhausted. We got ready for bed and we were out.

The next morning Debbie woke up at 7:30 AM and said she didn't sleep very well. The next thing we knew it was 10 AM when we were supposed to be at the Orphanage. I jumped up and ran out the door to the Orphanage. I arrived at 10:10 so not too late. Debbie and the boys came later after they got ready and ate a little breakfast. They brought Mariah down the stairs in a little coat and hat so I could bring her outside. She was all smiles. We had a great visit. We had more paperwork to do after the visit then we went back to the apartment to rest. We had another visit at 4 PM. She was a little tired because they had to take her to the doctor for a check up to get the doctor to sign the paperwork. So she missed her nap time. We also had to buy diapers to give to the Orphanage to put on her every time we came to visit. It is strange to be buying diapers again. After our visit we walked down to the pizza restaurant so we would know how to get there after Yulia left for Kyiv. Yulia had to go back to Kyiv Friday night so she could get all the paperwork back to the SDA for processing. We will find out next week if everything works out for court. The pizza here is great.

Saturday we had a visit with Mariah in the morning at 10AM. She was smily and fun we got to play outside as it was a beautiful sunny day. The sad thing is now we can not see her again until Monday morning. It seems like forever. Our visitation schedule is Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 11:30 AM and from 4:15 to 6 PM. On Saturday we visit her only at 10 AM and no visits on Sunday.

Well this brings you up to today which is Sunday. We are going to have a driver pick us up and take us downtown to walk around and explore. We will try to make the next updates a little shorter. A lot has happened and we are extremely blessed.

Please pray for the paperwork to continue forward without any problems and that we can get to court as soon as possible. Pray for continued health and for us to build a bond with Mariah as we continue to visit her.

Life has been a blur of activity! We arrived by train yesterday morning and met with the director. She interviewed us briefly and allowed us to meet a 20 month old little girl. She has lived a this orphanage her whole life. When we walked in to the room, she was sitting in a child sized chair playing with little toys. Everyone seemed to feel a little awkward at first. We eventually warmed up to each other and were led to another visiting room. We were then able to play with her and see her personality really shine. By the end of the visit, we knew this was the reason we were here. She is the reason God called us all this way. By the end of our second visit with her yesterday, she was laughing and giving us hugs. How could we not fall in love with her? She is very precious. She seems to be very healthy. She will need medical care for her right ear, it kind of droops over, but should be no problem to get her help when we get her home. Her other more serious physical issue is that her right eye is smaller than her left eye. We will need to see what we can do for her when we get home. We are so thankful that we live in a country that has quality medical care and we will be able to get her the help she needs. I believe this is part of the reason God led us to her, so that she would be in a family that could help her get the care she needs. We will do our best. In the meantime, we are all enjoying our visits and trying to adjust to a different time zone. I was pretty much awake all night and then drifted off this morning, only waking up at the time we were supposed to be there to see her! We really are responsible parents!

SDA appointment

We had our SDA appointment today. God has been so faithful to us! We were blessed
to be able to travel tonight by train to the city of Kryvy Rih to meet a little
girl. Yulia, who is worth her weight in gold, will be going with us. There is another
couple from the U.S. going with us to meet their son at the same orphanage. We will
ride the train all night and have an hour to "freshen up" before our first meeting.
As my friend Lisa says, "a little lipstick fixes anything." I hope she is right.
We are so excited to meet this special little girl. They say she is happy and loves
to eat. The people in her region love her and asked the SDA to find a good family for
her. It touches my heart to hear those words and know that God is in control of all
the details. Please pray for us as we travel all night and meet this special child
tomorrow. Our hearts are full with anticipation. Until tomorrow . . .

We finally arrived safe and sound with no problems. Our two boys were excited the first half of the trip but the last 7 hours were long for all of us. We made it through customs with no issues and it only took a half hour. We were meet at the airport by our translater and we were taken to our apartment. We are in a two bedroom, basically one bedroom with a living room with one bathroom. The apartment is on the fourth floor with no elevator. Overall we are very happy with everything. We have been blessed so far beyond our expectations. We all fell asleep at about 8:30 but we also woke up at about 2:30 AM we could not go back to sleep so we tried until about 4:30 then we all got up and ate breakfast. The day got started off early but it was a great day.

Today was a day of getting used to our surroundings. We tried some authentic
Ukraine food and enjoyed it very much. The boys are enjoying the playgrounds.
We rode the subway today without being able to read the signs. It was an another
new experience. Tomorrow is the long awaited SDA appointment. Please keep us in
your prayers. We will update when we have more news to share. It means the world
to us to know our friends and family are praying for us.

Night Before we leave

Today has been a busy day getting all the final things together. There is a lot to pack for two adults and two kids for a month.

We are excited and nervous about what is ahead. The travel tomorrow will be long but we do have really good flights. We fly direct from New York to Kiev.

It is hard to believe we are on our way tomorrow morning. We are praying that God will give us safe travel tomorrow. We are also praying that God will be with us as we go to the SDA on Wednesday.

I am off to finish packing and to try to get some sleep tonight. We have to get up at 4 AM to get to the airport in time for our 6:30 AM flight.

The next time I write we will be in the Ukraine.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Preparing to travel

May 3, 2009

We are one week away from our travel date.

Our SDA appointment is May 13th.

We are working on preparing, packing and staying calm.

We don't know what this journey will bring but we are
continuing to trust God.

We welcome your prayers on behalf of our family as we step
out in faith to bring a new child into our family.