Random.....

Really likes dancing!

We are having a lot of trouble sleeping....as you can see, something very important is missing!

Really missing these four monkeys (yes, even you Danielle). Trying to remember the story about the one lost sheep...

So there are a couple of pics to represent what is going through my mind..... Gotta go...Andreyshka is awaiting our arrival.

Saturday-Day 4 with Coop

Well, obviously, EE makes you sleepy....because we slept right through the morning visiting hours. So, after we got up at 1 pm, we walked/hiked/slid/climbed through the snow to go to the store because our facilitator told us that the orphanage wanted us to bring diapers in today. The ground was like someone left the coke Icee machine on and it flooded the entire city with 6 inches of mush. It was awful, but we did get to get coffee/soup/coke/pizza on our way to get the diapers, so it was totally worth it.

There were no administrative people at the orphanage today, so we went in the back door and straight up to the groupa. I was just in time for snack. This was my first time seeing Andrey's room. He was already sitting at the table waiting for his snack, all of the other kids were doing potty time, except for one little girl in the gigantic crib. I was going to try to be nice to her, so I reached down to rub her hand and head and she went into a head banging fit and started biting herself. I was shocked and the worker just rolled her eyes. I felt horrible for disturbing her. Back to Andrey-I got to feed him his snack (I hope it was just a snack). It was "cake" in milk and I fed him with a huge spoon. He did much better with it than I thought he could. He lapped it right up, then they let me put his fresh size 3 pamper on (it was WAY too big) and dress him in a t-shirt, 2 sweaters (a pink and brown Minnie Mouse outfit), tights, thick pants and booties to go downstairs and play. And they gave me a blanket just in case he got cold. I fed him some Activia yogurt with a TUMS crushed up in it to see if that will help his gigantic belly any, so the entire visit he burped and tooted A LOT!!!!

He played a lot more today. He laughs a lot more. I finally found his tickle spot and he actually scooted over to me and picked his arms up for me to get him. He thinks Sean is pretty funny. He doesn't quite understand his hairy face.

Blizzard Land!!!

Our beautiful teeth!

Not extremely impressed with this whole "Momma" thing...

Epic fail....forgot to pack Sean's socks. He is quite proud of these bad boys!

Hello, Pappa...where have you been all of my life?

Lean on me.............

Proof of blizzard!



Even though Ukrainians would laugh us out of here, we experienced what we like to call a "blizzard" today. After our morning visit with Andrey, we decided to walk a little bit. We still haven't found a store or any place to eat since we got in region. I finally called Yulia and asked her to call a driver to take us to the pizza place and praise God we found it! We ate a pizza with salami, corn, and cheese; a fruit cup; and cokes and coffee. It was devine! The pizza place is probably only about 3/4-1 mile away, but it was snowing so bad, we literally lost the sidewalk and Sean fell down! We also found a mini-mart that pretty much has everything we need, including Coke light (not to be confused with Diet Coke). Sean searched and searched for aluminum foil, which was hilarious. I tried to tell him that they would not have it, but he kept searching. He is a little afraid of our oven:)

2nd Visit!

OH MY!!! I owe Andrey a HUGE apology. I have thought it in my head and said it on several occasions..."he is lower functioning than Cole and Caden". Hahahahaha! He is smart as a tack. He played ball with me, he picked up his arms and scooted on his butt to my feet to tell me to pick him up, he smacked me for cleaning his eyes and nose (which he can get away with for now), he knows exactly what is going on around him. He can mimmick play...he is verbal. I have videos of him playing and he loves to play jokes! I will post them tonight. So Sorry, Andrey....I will never doubt you again!

Rewind...meeting the man!

We drove from the capital city to the region where our boy lives now...it was almost a 6 hour car ride. Yulia, our facilitator, and her husband, Yuri, drove us. I, of course, got car sick (happens all the time). So, I had not eaten breakfast and only ate some crackers and a granola bar all day with about 1/2 bottle of water. I was feeling like crap, but trying to not show it. We finally arrive and pick up the regional inspector (cannot remember her official title) and then we head to the orphanage. We met with the orphanage director, who was a larger woman with a tight silk nurse's outfit on...interesting. We were asked a couple of questions and then they asked if we wanted to meet Andrey. We, of course, said yes. We walked up some stairs and there he was, sitting on a rocking horse. I was expecting me to be little, but he is TINY!!!! Probably wears a 18 month-24 months old in clothes (he is 5 years old). The very first thing I noticed was how distended his stomach is...I am a nurse practitioner and I have seen a lot of distended tummies, but his is impressive. I was actually kind of afraid to touch him for fear of hurting him. Then the smell hit me...his mouth is filled with yellow/grey teeth and he kept burping and the smell almost made me throw up. I guess combined with my car sickness it was not a good thing. Anyway, he is just too precious (yes, a little stinky-but we can fix that). I was a little shell shocked after meeting him (which is perfectly normal). His eyes cross badly, his teeth are rotten, he cannot bear his own weight, he smelled horrible.....BUT he is PERFECT!!! He melted right into me, held my hand, grabbed my glasses and let me just hold and love on him. It hurts my heart to see how badly he has been neglected. He will need immediate medical care...like straight from the airport to the hospital. I hope his tummy is just full of gas, but I think it is something much more. Please pray for him that remains stable until we can get him home.

Pics for now....Update later

Like the outfit!

The green building is under construction, so they put up this mess covering that has drawings of what a building would look like if it were finished....very funny!

Park at the top of the never ending steps with a crucifix that someone is praying at..

Our living room...

Our "entertainment center"

Our kitchen...

This is hilarious! The "iddy biddy" cup is Dale Hogeland's expresso, the middle cup is my "Americano caffe" and the big cup is Kate Hogeland's big coffee....