Happy Women's Day!

I should have known there was a reason they celebrated Women's Day yesterday even though Women's Day is officially today... the school was closed today. So when I showed up at 10am the main school building was locked. Thank goodness Vladik and a good number of other kids were playing outside. Vladik saw me and came running. He and his friend Toilik were playing soccer and so the three of us kicked the ball around for a while. Toilik was called "Smiley" by Kelly, one of the other American moms who left just last week with their new son. It is an appropriate nickname. He just smiles every time you look at him and he is so sweet and polite and for that reason he has gotten a candy bar or a lollipop from me for nearly every day I have been here. While we were playing outside 2 of the teachers came to talk to me, one of the spoke broken English, enough English to ask what they wanted. Which was "How old you?". I told them I was 30. I guess they were a bit surprised that someone my age was adopting an 11 year old. Then I was invited into the building where Vladik's classroom and bedroom are in. When we got in there Vladik pulled out the laptop and began "showing off" what he had. He showed them it played Nintendo games and I even convinced him to share and let another kid or two play; and then he played Tom and Jerry and Scooby Doo , I had downloaded, for them. Then when a few of them got bored watching all the things on the laptop, I pulled out the travel Trouble game I had and played with a couple of boys. I also pulled out the magnetic Tangram set I have. It is this set of magnets (couple size triangles, square, parallelogram etc.) and a little book of different things (animals mostly) that you are supposed to figure out how to make using only the set of magnet shapes. Mitchem was really good at this. The last trick I pulled out my hat was the origami paper and instructions I had (thanks to Kristin Schloemer!) and we made origami ninja stars. Anything Ninja is cool in any country. Right in the middle of all this fun (about 12:30) comes in a large readheaded Russian speaking woman and I don't know what she said but she said it loud and those kids scattered. Apparently she was not too pleased with the other teachers decision to invite me, what with the kids having so much fun and all. She sent them back to their rooms Vladik told me. So Vladik helped me pack up as it seemed it was time for me to leave.  I gave Vladik a big hug and headed home. It was a great morning getting to hang out with those kids, there are some amazing kids here. The only bad part is the day is not ending so well... my throat was feeling a little weird yesterday and now tonight I am sick. My throat hurts and I think I may have a fever. I started taking the antibiotics that I had gotten back in America. Hopefully I will be well by Saturday, when all the running around starts. Saturday is the day we drive to Vladik's hometown, 2 hours away, to get his new birth certificate, and also hopefully get to apply for his new Tax ID in Lutugino (like our SS#) and also apply for his passport in Luhansk. So Saturday is shaping up to be a busy day so hopefully I am well by then!

Let the countdown begin...

It snowed yesterday evening. It seemed like a lot of snow for me in a few hours but what do I know about snow?!?! Here is Vladik Joseph making a snowball which he threw at me after I took this picture. :) The title of my blog post is "Let the countdown begin..." because from today it will be either 5 or 7 days until I get to walk out of the orphanage with Vladik Joseph for the first and last time. If all goes REALLY well I will get him on Saturday but worst case scenario I will get him on Monday. Either way, in a week or less, the day Keith, Jackson and I had talked about, worked towards, and dreamed about for months will finally be here. He will NO LONGER belong to the orphanage but to our family!

A tree in the orphanage yard. I thought it looked so beautiful with the snow on the branches.

I convince him to go outside and play and then he wants to play the iPod... outside.

Notice he is wearing red Doc Marten type of boots. You have to have participated somehow in the Grunge era of the 90s to respect these boots. I don't know where the orphanage got them but they are AWESOME!

Vladik Joseph took a picture of the spread on the table today for the Women's Day celebration that I got to participate in with his class.

Three boys in his class: from the left Alex, Mitchem, and Sasha. Alex and Sasha are kinda quiet, Mitchem... is not :)

Vladik shared the iPod momentarily to let Mitchem play.

The iPod certainly drew a crowd of boys. The girl on the right (Angela) was just sitting down to rest from dancing.

 

My LONG LAZY Sunday...

I did not go visit Vladik Joseph today. Sunday visits with the younger kids are a challenge because the main school building is shut down, Vladik does not have a cell phone so I can call and tell him I am there, and I am not allowed to just walk into his building. So I spent my Sunday hanging around Luhansk. I slept in and then went to the mall at about 10:15 to exchange some money so I could go shopping in the open air market. Nearly every booth was open and there were tons of people shopping. My goal was to find a present for Jax (and I did) which I will not reveal what totally awesome thing I got since he reads my blog too! In the beginning most of the booths have shoes (mostly womens boots) and clothing. But as I got further into it I passed an aisle full of booths selling bedding and linens. Then I passed he aisle of grocery products and the furniture aisle too. Then I found a large building to go into. I assumed that since this was actually a building (kinda like a warehouse) that the really awesome booths would be inside... I was mistaken. It was the meat market. I walked in and immediately wanted to get back out but the flow of the crowd made that impossible. So I walked through it to the exit on the opposite side. It was at least the size of half a football field and there were tables/counters everywhere I looked of raw meat! It is not a way in which I am accustomed to shopping for meat for dinner. I so wished I had brought my camera. After I made as quick of an exit as possible I ended up passing the fish booths. Whole, stinky fish. I made my way back out the main street and meandered through the street vendors who were mostly selling flowers, a welcome smell after the meat market and fish booths! My shopping excursion over, I went to City Cafe to have a cappuccino. I drank, relaxed, and read my e-book on my iPod. Then I went to the grocery store in the basement of the mall to pick up a couple things for dinner tonight and for Vladik this week. The last stop on my Sunday run was to go to Two Geese for lunch where I had some kind of pork/chicken barbeque meatloaf and seasoned potatoes. Not too bad a lunch. Then I came back home and made this video from my balcony (which is actually not posting right now so I will try and post it separately). The only exciting thing left on my Sunday agenda is to dye my hair. I meant to do it before I left to come to Ukraine but couldn't find the time... and now... all I have is time :)

He finally said it!

This picture is actually from yesterday. I was surprised when he took his hat off to see that he had gotten a haircut! The mom in me was like "wait, nobody asked me if I wanted his haircut!" But he didn't seem to mind even though he had been telling us that he wanted to have a mohawk like Jackson did last summer and now that's not really possible. Maybe by summer it will be long enough that he can do a short mohawk. I would prefer him not to go to school with one but he can wear his hair however he wants in the summer. And he looks so cute with a little buzz cut. Plus his head is so soft and he lets me rub it when he is playing video games on the laptop :)

More fun times with the iPod.

This is from today. I had bought a puzzle ball from the toy store and we put it together today. But more exciting than the puzzle ball is that today FOR THE FIRST TIME VLADIK TOLD ME HE LOVED ME! Well, actually a couple weeks ago Keith tickled him and told him to say I love you mom for him to stop, which he did, but I didn't count that. Today was of his own free will. We were watching Scooby Doo, that I had downloaded for him, on the laptop when it started to beep because the battery was low. I had brought the charger because I knew I was going to be at the orphanage a long time today. So we went and plugged the laptop in and the couch nearest where the plug was was occupied by some other kids so he stood up with the laptop sitting on the windowsill for a while. Then the kids left so I pulled the couch a little closer to the plug and put the laptop on it for him to watch there and he said "Mom sit". So I obliged and he snuggled up to me and said "I like Mom" and I put my arm around him and squeezed. Then he said "I love Mom". SO HAPPY!!! I couldn't count the number of times I have told Vladik I love him and I was starting to get a bit sad that he hadn't said it back but I reminded myself that it would happen and it did! If you think about, how many times in the last 5 years that Vladik has been in the orphanage would Vladik have had someone tell him they love him or him tell them he loves them too? Probably never. Living life without being told you are loved everyday must be tough. But Keith and I plan for Vladik to never go another day in his life without knowing and hearing that he is loved.

A picture looking out the balcony of my new apartment. The store with the yellow front is called Two Geese (in Russian) and there are pictures of two geese everywhere. It is a cafeteria style restaurant. They don't have a ton of selection but the food is decent, the beer is CHEAP, and one of the girls who works there actually speaks a little English so she can tell what each of the food items are.

Another picture off the balcony of my new apartment.

This little hut is actually a food stand. This is the place where we ordered the pancake/burrito things using the digital camera. I went this morning to get some for Vladik and the girl working there was new so it took her a minute to figure out why I was showing her a picture on a camera and then took her another minute to find the right entry on the computer/cash register. I had to show her the pictures a couple times but I ended up with a correct order!

Just me, myself , and I...

I am all by my lonesome now. Keith left Tuesday night, the other two American moms and their newly adopted kids went home Thursday morning, and Sergei the translator/facilitator went home Thursday afternoon. So today is my first full day by myself. Sergei, the driver, picked me up this morning and I went and visited Vladik from 10am - 1pm. Then Sergei brought me back to my apartment (my new 3rd, and final, apartment). This apartment is right on a main street so I am really close to shops, the grocery store, and some cafes. The one I was at before was too far from everything for me to stay there alone without being able to drive. Now I can easily walk to everything I might need. This apartment has WiFi as well. It is coming in very handy to download movies and TV shows to keep me entertained. I also downloaded an Scooby Doo movie to watch with Vladik at the orphanage today. He loves Scooby Doo and it seems like any kid who stopped by and saw what we were watching loved Scooby Doo too! I guess its just universal - Scooby Doo rocks! Thank goodness for my iPod and the laptop computer. As much as I love seeing Vladik every day, those 3 or 4 hours can get really LONG. If we didn't have the iPod or the computer to play games and watch movies it would be difficult. There is just one place we were are allowed to hang out. It is a big common area that has quite a few classrooms off of it and there are 3 couches. So every day we sit on one of those 3 couches and pass the time. Thankfully the weather is improving (whoever thought that I would say the weather is improving because it is finally getting to be 20+ degrees!) so we can go outside some to break up the monotony. I just really wish I could take him and do things with him, like go to the store, or take him out to lunch. But until we get the court decree, which we only get after our mandatory 10 day waiting period, I am not allowed to take him anywhere. But I am doing my best to enjoy this precious time I have with him (and with myself and my own thoughts) because once life gets back to "normal" I will never have time like this to spend with him. I only wish I could be spending this much quality time with both my boys, I really do miss Jackson. I am really blessed to have one amazing hubby and TWO wonderful sons.

Hanging with Joseph...

 

Video of Vladik being goofy today (as he is most days). Many thanks to my mother for buying me this fabulous green jacket. Not only has it protected me from the atrocious cold here in Ukraine but it has provided Vladik with lots of enjoyment!

These pictures are actually from yesterday. This is the dog we affectionately named Bob (before we realized she was a girl) who hangs out at the orphanage.

She-Bob is begging for something from Keith. This was after she ate at least 3 cookies out of Vladik's hand.

From left to right, Doilik, Vladik, and Mitchem, three of the most charming boys at this school. I'm a bit partial to the one in the middle but the other two tug at my heartstrings too.

She-Bob trying to lick the remaining cookie crumbs from Vladik's face.

A picture with Dad before he left.

Its official!

We are now OFFICIALLY the proud new parents of Vladislav Joseph Walls. This is a picture of us with the judge after he rendered his positive judgement.When Vladik was asked about why he wants to be adopted by us his response was that "he has no parents and he wants us to be his parents". During court they discussed that both Vladik's parents were deceased, which he seemed to already know, and that he had no relationships with any other relatives if there were any. Before court, the attorney for the orphanage asked Vladik if he had spoken to his brother, meaning his 18 year old biological brother Roma, and Vladik said he spoke with him on the phone yesterday. Keith and I were surprised to hear this. But after a little more discussion we quickly realized that he was talking about getting to talk on the phone yesterday with Jackson, his OTHER brother! He is so sweet and has already felt like a part of our family for a long time now but it is good that it is official. The importance of today was not lost on Vladik either. Yesterday, when we were talking about going to court today and the questions the judge would ask him, he said "today, you Julie and you Keith" pointing to Keith and I and then he said "tomorrow you mom and you pop"! After court today we told him that he was now our son and we were so happy. We are so blessed. Now we have a mandatory 10 day waiting period before we can pick up the court decree, however, our 10 days ends on Friday 3/11 so we can't pick up the court decree until Monday 3/14! Once we pick up the court decree we go to Vladik's place of birth and we get an amended birth certificate with his new name and Keith and I listed as parents. But there is a possibility the office that would do this in his hometown is not open on Mondays so that would have to wait until Tuesday. Once we have both of those in hand we will be able to get Vladik (Joseph) from the orphanage. Then we will travel to Kiev where we have 2-3 days of things to do (go to the embassy, get his passport, see a doctor, etc...). My goal is for us to fly home the weekend of 3/19 (so I can return to work on 3/21!). Please pray for a speedy process that week so we can get home quickly. Also, please pray for Keith's traveling. He left tonight on an overnight train to Kiev and will fly back home on Thursday.