Well, today was the last rest day before the "big" day. We went a few blocks down the road for to check out a bigger store. We found some pork chops and did them for dinner tonight. Yummy! Just like home. :) We found some of the shelf milk Sis. Nielsen's and even got some strawberry to try. :) On our way back we hit McDonald's. It was super loud in there, but ah...familiar fast food. LOL
Other than that we prepped a bit for court tomorrow. We're all a little nervous, but I'm sure we will be just fine. We called Ira as well and she seemed fine again. She has picked out what she will wear for tomorrow. We could use your prayers for tomorrow. We'll be in court in the middle of the night for you guys so don't worry about waking up to pray at the actual time. :)
Wish us luck!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Day 21 (Sun Feb 27) Dnepropetrovsk - Visit Ira
We were on our usual 10:30 bus this morning. We tried to call our smelly car guy a few times but with no luck so we had to walk from the bus station to the orphanage. It was particularly windy and, of course, we have to walk into the wind.
Something very interesting happened. The director came in and with her was our judge. They took Ira off to talk to her. Later Masha asked what they'd talked about. If they'd told her how to act and such. Ira said they told her to answer how she wants. Masha asked if she has decided how she will answer and she said she will go with us. Masha asked if she wanted to come with us for the waiting period or if she wanted to stay at the orphanage and she said she wants to stay. No surprise there. I don't think she has a choice anyway, but before we ask it's good to know she wouldn't want to anyway.
We had a very nice game of Phase 10 going before we had to leave.
I heard back from Sis. Nielsen. They will be back today. We'll go see her tomorrow morning.
We got back and Masha told us that as we were getting dressed to leave the orphanage she asked Ira one more time if her answer is yes. Guess what she said? Her famous answer. I don't know. Man, this girl is going to drive us to an early grave before we ever get her. IF we ever get her.
Something very interesting happened. The director came in and with her was our judge. They took Ira off to talk to her. Later Masha asked what they'd talked about. If they'd told her how to act and such. Ira said they told her to answer how she wants. Masha asked if she has decided how she will answer and she said she will go with us. Masha asked if she wanted to come with us for the waiting period or if she wanted to stay at the orphanage and she said she wants to stay. No surprise there. I don't think she has a choice anyway, but before we ask it's good to know she wouldn't want to anyway.
We had a very nice game of Phase 10 going before we had to leave.
I heard back from Sis. Nielsen. They will be back today. We'll go see her tomorrow morning.
We got back and Masha told us that as we were getting dressed to leave the orphanage she asked Ira one more time if her answer is yes. Guess what she said? Her famous answer. I don't know. Man, this girl is going to drive us to an early grave before we ever get her. IF we ever get her.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Days 19 and 20 (Fri and Sat Feb 25th and 26th) Dnepro - Rest Days
Our "rest days" are actually pretty boring. Little One and I watched a couple of Next Generation episodes yesterday. We've been playing Oregon Trail on my iPod. LOL
One thing I forgot to mention is about when Husband got his plane ticket switched. He just casually mentioned that we were doing an adoption and things had taken a little longer than we'd planned on. The lady said, "Oh, you're doing an adoption? I'll wave the change fee then." I guess for adoptions, they do that and they will do that for mine and Little One's tickets as well when we change them. It only ended up costing him $270 for the difference in fare instead of $520 (for that plus the $250 change fee.) Delta is awesome. :^) Keep that in mind when you guys start buying tickets!
Little One is about the same. No new bites/hives/whatever they are, that we can tell, but not really any better either. We started worrying that maybe it was chickenpox, but after looking at pictures of chickenpox on WebMD that isn't what it is. Thank goodness because Masha hasn't had them and I bet the kids in the orphanage wouldn't have appreciated that either. It looks like it might be flea or bed bug bites, but it could also be hives. If it's bites we have no idea why just her and not the rest of us. We're in very close quarters here and while none of the rest of us have slept on this chair, we've all been sitting on it LOTS.
We didn't hear anything from the director, who had told us she'd call if there was a change in plans and Ira didn't come to Dnepro, so we called this morning to find out what the plan was. Where to meet, etc.... Well, come to find out that Ira didn't go after all. We don't know why for sure, but hey. And, it was too late to take the bus over there. We had planned on seeing her today and then not again until our court on Tuesday. Now we're not quite sure what to do. We can skip church tomorrow, which Husband really wants to do. I really need that recharge, even when I can't understand anything. I'm sure I won't get it though and we'll be going to the orphanage. It will make 3 of the last 4 weeks that I've missed. That's life, I suppose. We'll go Tuesday and Wednesday both, since Husband will need Thursday to pack and be on the train to Kiev and he really wants to see her as much as possible before he goes home.
So, here we sit. :) I'm going to go ahead and count this as my post for the day since I'm sure we won't be doing anything exciting the rest of the day. If, for some reason, we do, I will add it to this post later. TTFN!
*Update*
We did call Ira. She was disappointed she didn't get to go. Understandable. She, over her own accord even, said she missed us and loves us. I think we stand a good chance of our court going well. :^)
One thing I forgot to mention is about when Husband got his plane ticket switched. He just casually mentioned that we were doing an adoption and things had taken a little longer than we'd planned on. The lady said, "Oh, you're doing an adoption? I'll wave the change fee then." I guess for adoptions, they do that and they will do that for mine and Little One's tickets as well when we change them. It only ended up costing him $270 for the difference in fare instead of $520 (for that plus the $250 change fee.) Delta is awesome. :^) Keep that in mind when you guys start buying tickets!
Little One is about the same. No new bites/hives/whatever they are, that we can tell, but not really any better either. We started worrying that maybe it was chickenpox, but after looking at pictures of chickenpox on WebMD that isn't what it is. Thank goodness because Masha hasn't had them and I bet the kids in the orphanage wouldn't have appreciated that either. It looks like it might be flea or bed bug bites, but it could also be hives. If it's bites we have no idea why just her and not the rest of us. We're in very close quarters here and while none of the rest of us have slept on this chair, we've all been sitting on it LOTS.
We didn't hear anything from the director, who had told us she'd call if there was a change in plans and Ira didn't come to Dnepro, so we called this morning to find out what the plan was. Where to meet, etc.... Well, come to find out that Ira didn't go after all. We don't know why for sure, but hey. And, it was too late to take the bus over there. We had planned on seeing her today and then not again until our court on Tuesday. Now we're not quite sure what to do. We can skip church tomorrow, which Husband really wants to do. I really need that recharge, even when I can't understand anything. I'm sure I won't get it though and we'll be going to the orphanage. It will make 3 of the last 4 weeks that I've missed. That's life, I suppose. We'll go Tuesday and Wednesday both, since Husband will need Thursday to pack and be on the train to Kiev and he really wants to see her as much as possible before he goes home.
So, here we sit. :) I'm going to go ahead and count this as my post for the day since I'm sure we won't be doing anything exciting the rest of the day. If, for some reason, we do, I will add it to this post later. TTFN!
*Update*
We did call Ira. She was disappointed she didn't get to go. Understandable. She, over her own accord even, said she missed us and loves us. I think we stand a good chance of our court going well. :^)
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day 18 (Thurs. Feb 24th) - Dnepro - Visit Ira
Sorry! This is all written as if I'd written it yesterday, because I did in fact, do just that. I went to post it and we'd lost internet. Husband and Masha went to go fix it and there was a lady in the apartment where the modem is and she was already getting in bed and wanted us to wait until morning. This also meant I couldn't watch Discovery's last launch. Sad.
I forgot to mention in my last post about the weird bites (??) on Little One. She's got them all over one arm and then here and there over the rest of her. Sometimes they itch and they look kinda like mosquito bites. Benadryl helps some. We haven't seen any signs of bugs but that's not always a sign that they're not bites. I'm hoping to have Sis. Nielsen take a look at her to see if she's seen anything like this on missionaries before and could give us a clue as to what it might be.
Now, on to what I'd typed yesterday....
Little One and I almost didn't go today. Her bites, while we weren't seeing new ones, were a little puffed up again so we gave her some more Benadryl. She wouldn't take it and I told her I would stay home with her if she didn't take it. She finally did, but only after the pill had sat in her oatmeal long enough to dissolve. Holy cow!
We called the director and asked if we could have a guy come pick us up once we got to the bus station. She arranged for someone to do that. His car smelled horrible and he had a half naked woman hanging from his rear view mirror, but it was worth the 20 grevnas to not have to walk either way.
Ira was in and out a lot today. Fairly talkative to Masha when she was with us, but kind of uncomfortable still.
We got a phone call from Lana with a time for our court date. Our 11th day will fall on a Saturday so we won't get her until the next Monday. Such is life. We did hear for sure that it will be calendar days though, and not business days.
Little One wanted Ira to play UNO and she ran and got Valya to play too. Husband played with them and it was fun to watch.
When the director walked by we gave her the hats and gloves that we had. She seemed happy with them and let the older kids come pick things they wanted. There a bunch of tiny gloves that they couldn't use but we will take them to Natasha and she will make sure they get someplace they will be useful. I very much wanted to take some pictures, but I didn't.
We found out that some of the girls, Ira included, get to go to Dnepropetrovsk on Saturday with someone that teaches them English. We will get to meet up with them which will be lots of fun. It will be nice that Husband gets to be there too, since he had to change his plane ticket.
UNO started up again after that and the girls (Kristina had also joined by his time) were all getting pretty giggly. I've actually never seen Ira act like she was acting.
We got hugs from all the girls when we left today. It was nice.
I forgot to mention in my last post about the weird bites (??) on Little One. She's got them all over one arm and then here and there over the rest of her. Sometimes they itch and they look kinda like mosquito bites. Benadryl helps some. We haven't seen any signs of bugs but that's not always a sign that they're not bites. I'm hoping to have Sis. Nielsen take a look at her to see if she's seen anything like this on missionaries before and could give us a clue as to what it might be.
Now, on to what I'd typed yesterday....
Little One and I almost didn't go today. Her bites, while we weren't seeing new ones, were a little puffed up again so we gave her some more Benadryl. She wouldn't take it and I told her I would stay home with her if she didn't take it. She finally did, but only after the pill had sat in her oatmeal long enough to dissolve. Holy cow!
We called the director and asked if we could have a guy come pick us up once we got to the bus station. She arranged for someone to do that. His car smelled horrible and he had a half naked woman hanging from his rear view mirror, but it was worth the 20 grevnas to not have to walk either way.
Ira was in and out a lot today. Fairly talkative to Masha when she was with us, but kind of uncomfortable still.
We got a phone call from Lana with a time for our court date. Our 11th day will fall on a Saturday so we won't get her until the next Monday. Such is life. We did hear for sure that it will be calendar days though, and not business days.
Little One wanted Ira to play UNO and she ran and got Valya to play too. Husband played with them and it was fun to watch.
When the director walked by we gave her the hats and gloves that we had. She seemed happy with them and let the older kids come pick things they wanted. There a bunch of tiny gloves that they couldn't use but we will take them to Natasha and she will make sure they get someplace they will be useful. I very much wanted to take some pictures, but I didn't.
We found out that some of the girls, Ira included, get to go to Dnepropetrovsk on Saturday with someone that teaches them English. We will get to meet up with them which will be lots of fun. It will be nice that Husband gets to be there too, since he had to change his plane ticket.
UNO started up again after that and the girls (Kristina had also joined by his time) were all getting pretty giggly. I've actually never seen Ira act like she was acting.
We got hugs from all the girls when we left today. It was nice.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Day 17 (Wed Feb 23rd) - Dnepro - Rest Day
We decided to take yesterday off as well. It's super, super cold outside and it's supposed to warm up a bit toward the end of the week. That means that our high will almost reach freezing. Almost. Sunday it's supposed to be maybe 27F.
It was another lazy day. Husband went downstairs with Little One and Masha and got his hair cut. I'd meant to cut it before we left but ran out of time. He was getting quite the mullet. LOL We did some laundry and went to the store. We go to the store about everyday. :^) We watched a movie together too, and that was nice. We got some pointers from Natasha about our court hearing, which was very helpful. We also Skyped with our families.
Sorry for the boring post. :^)
It was another lazy day. Husband went downstairs with Little One and Masha and got his hair cut. I'd meant to cut it before we left but ran out of time. He was getting quite the mullet. LOL We did some laundry and went to the store. We go to the store about everyday. :^) We watched a movie together too, and that was nice. We got some pointers from Natasha about our court hearing, which was very helpful. We also Skyped with our families.
Sorry for the boring post. :^)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Day 16 (Tuesday Feb 22nd) Dnepro - Rest Day
Yesterday we slept in until 10 again. Boy, that's nice! :^) I spent most of the day being bummed out though. If our 10 days is really 10 business days that means it will into 18 with the weekends and the upcoming 2 day Woman's Day holiday. I was seriously considering just going home with Husband if that's the case. I would have two full weeks at home to regroup in my comfortable house with my familiar food before coming back to brave the frozen tundra that is Ukraine right now. I wasn't looking forward to coming back completely on my own though. And, that would mean leaving Little One for at least a week and a half. Sorry, Mom. You never left me like that as a kid so I have a hard time with the thought of it. Still...it was something I was seriously thinking about.
Little One was on one too. She was bored and tired. Not the best combination. While getting school stuff ready for her we decided she needed a nap more than she needed school. She's probably going to end up telling Masha the same thing she told Mom when we lived with them in Florida last year. "I don't like living in the same house with you. You see what I do." LOL It was quite entertaining for Masha to watch/hear her, I'm sure.
That evening we talked with Ellie for an hour about all kinds of things. That was very nice. After that, we talked to Natasha and found out that they had picked up our paper from the SDA! Yea! That was the last thing we were waiting for before our court date.
Talking to both Ellie and Natasha (and the guy from Colorado who just got back) they all say that the 10 days should be just that. 10 days. It shouldn't have anything to do with business days. I felt so much better after hearing that. If that's the case then I can hang on here for that long so that when I come home, I'm home and don't have to go back. I'm still a little nervous about it until I actually hear for sure that that's the way it will be, but I'm hopeful. Please pray that our court will go well and that the 10 days will, in fact, be calendar days!
Little One was on one too. She was bored and tired. Not the best combination. While getting school stuff ready for her we decided she needed a nap more than she needed school. She's probably going to end up telling Masha the same thing she told Mom when we lived with them in Florida last year. "I don't like living in the same house with you. You see what I do." LOL It was quite entertaining for Masha to watch/hear her, I'm sure.
That evening we talked with Ellie for an hour about all kinds of things. That was very nice. After that, we talked to Natasha and found out that they had picked up our paper from the SDA! Yea! That was the last thing we were waiting for before our court date.
Talking to both Ellie and Natasha (and the guy from Colorado who just got back) they all say that the 10 days should be just that. 10 days. It shouldn't have anything to do with business days. I felt so much better after hearing that. If that's the case then I can hang on here for that long so that when I come home, I'm home and don't have to go back. I'm still a little nervous about it until I actually hear for sure that that's the way it will be, but I'm hopeful. Please pray that our court will go well and that the 10 days will, in fact, be calendar days!
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day 15 (Monday 21st) - Dnepropetrovsk - Visit Ira
We made our 10:30 bus this morning. That was nice not to have to wait in the freezing bus station for an hour. This bus had heat that was actually turned on, which was also nice. The only problem was when we were about 15 or 20 minutes out of the village and he bus broke down. We sat there freezing for about 40 minutes while the driver worked on it. I was very impressed that no one was complaining about the hold up. It was nice and the driver was doing the very best he could to fix it.
We finally got there and the walk to the orphanage was long. It was colder than before and...yeah, very cold. We did get to buy our return tickets this time though.
Our visit with Ira was really nice this time. She was happy and talkative, at least as much as such a language barrier will let her. She was also trying to communicate with us on her own more. Masha stepped out for a bit too, which helped that, but before she just would have been quiet or left too and today she tried to talk.
I worked on the socks I'm knitting her and Husband and Little One played UNO with her. The director showed us some dressed Ira had crocheted for some dolls. Ira hadn't wanted to show us so I'm glad the director did. Lol. I need to find out her name so I can quit calling her "the director."
Ira came and showed me her English vocabulary book from school. That was very fun.
The whole village has been out of water for three days now. No wonder the toilets didn't flush. They had a store saved up but that only lasts so long. I guess they send the boys out to get some from a well and bring it back by wagon.
The director got us a ride back to the bus station that didn't cost us so much. In fact, he insisted on no payment. I hope we can talk him into letting us pay him so we can use him again.
The bus on the way back actually had heat on as well. Not that it was super warm but at least it wasn't freezing. A warm shower upon returning to the apartment was perfect though. Not only that, but we came back to a clean apartment. We'd asked to have it cleaned today since they do it once a week. Boy was that nice! :^)
We finally got there and the walk to the orphanage was long. It was colder than before and...yeah, very cold. We did get to buy our return tickets this time though.
Our visit with Ira was really nice this time. She was happy and talkative, at least as much as such a language barrier will let her. She was also trying to communicate with us on her own more. Masha stepped out for a bit too, which helped that, but before she just would have been quiet or left too and today she tried to talk.
I worked on the socks I'm knitting her and Husband and Little One played UNO with her. The director showed us some dressed Ira had crocheted for some dolls. Ira hadn't wanted to show us so I'm glad the director did. Lol. I need to find out her name so I can quit calling her "the director."
 |
| The dresses Ira crocheted |
Ira came and showed me her English vocabulary book from school. That was very fun.
The whole village has been out of water for three days now. No wonder the toilets didn't flush. They had a store saved up but that only lasts so long. I guess they send the boys out to get some from a well and bring it back by wagon.
The director got us a ride back to the bus station that didn't cost us so much. In fact, he insisted on no payment. I hope we can talk him into letting us pay him so we can use him again.
The bus on the way back actually had heat on as well. Not that it was super warm but at least it wasn't freezing. A warm shower upon returning to the apartment was perfect though. Not only that, but we came back to a clean apartment. We'd asked to have it cleaned today since they do it once a week. Boy was that nice! :^)
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