Still making progress.....Day 15

I'll tell you that Elizabeth is so smart that when they were bringing her toward the play room where we've met the last 2 nights, she was already crying because she knew we were there. Broke our hearts, but it wasn't long before she stopped crying and I was able to play and interact with her. We found some nesting blocks at the toy store today and she was entertained with them for over 20 minutes. We looked at books again, played with some stacking blocks (we found some today from a street vendor), and of course Machelles' angel that plays music. She really loves that angel! For the first hour she was playing and not crying, yet not smiling. But then....she smiled at me! What a precious moment that was. Then....she laughed! She has the cutest, most adorable little laugh! I would tickle her belly and she would laugh and laugh! It was such a touching moment. Finally we are feeling so great about our bond we are developing. Tom stayed behind the camera again today, but was much closer. She looks at her daddy, with her little wheels turning in her mind, and at one point she smiled at him too.

The caregiver and a babushka (old woman) were there and when I stacked up the blocks and motioned to Elizabeth to knock them over, she pushed them over with a big smile on her face and the caregiver and old woman laughed and clapped for her. The older woman is the 'guard' and no one enters or exits without going by her. She is very protective of the children and the first night we were there (which was the night Elizabeth cried and cried) she kept saying something in Russian to us (of course we couldn't understand her) and she appeared to be gruff with us, but tonight she was so pleased with our progress that she was giving us the thumbs up sign on our way out the door.

But the best part of the story....when they came to get Elizabeth around 6:45 the old woman had Elizabeth put her toys into the diaper bag and then when she realized it was time to leave...she cried like she didn't want to leave! The caregiver was starting to walk her away from us, when Elizabeth just plopped down on the floor like she did not want to leave (again another precious moment!). Then I held my arms out to see if Elizabeth wanted me to pick her up and she held her little arms up for me. So I picked her up and she started to cry again. I think she was too confused to know what she felt at that moment. Anyway...it was a great day! I was a little worried about the time change, that it may have thrown her off, but she did great! And we got to see her for almost 2 whole hours!!!

Tom's mom just called to check in on us. I didn't get to talk to her, but Tom loved hearing from his mom! We had another great day in the city, walking and shopping. It was fun, fun, fun shopping for toys for our little girl! I've been waiting ages to do that. Tom won't admit it, but I really think he enjoyed it, too!

Today as we were walking, we were talking about how neat it is that both of our families have really pitched in to help us out on this adventure. Judy and Joe played a huge role in furnishing most of the gifts that we brought over. Judy also gave us both a scapula (I hope I spelled it right) that was blessed by their priest and we wear them everyday. My mom and Holly also contributed to the gifts. Mom made a beautiful quilt for Elizabeth and also made a blanket which we will use on our trip home. Machelle and Becki both gave us clothes and toys from their daughters, Katrina and Danielle. Mark and Carol loaned us their very nice set of luggage. Gary and Karen loaned DVDs which were a lifesaver while we were waiting in Kiev. David & Lindsay are keeping our van and will pick us up at the airport. Mark and Joe have covered for Tom in the fields and on the farm. All of my co-workers who are covering for my absence. All of the numerous family and friends who have prayed us through. Lennie Gottman made a beautiful quilt (pink, of course). Wow! I could go on and on....We are blessed with a great support system!

We love each and everyone of you!!!!!

Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth

Good morning!

We found out this morning that we changed time just as you did last night, so we are still 8 hours ahead of you.

We had a wonderful surprise last night...the phone rang and it was the Hills Clan. I got to talk to my sister Holly, my dad, my sister Becki Jo, and my mom and then to Holly again. How great to hear voices from home. They all got together for lunch...without us....imagine that, lol! Mom assured me that they would make up for it when we got home. I told Holly that I wished we were there too, and she said, 'yes, we want to meet Elizabeth!' Huh...I have a feeling Tom and I will take a back seat to Elizabeth :-)

Machelle ~ The ride to and from the orphanage is 30 mintues each way, so far we haven't needed the Dramamine, but we are always thankful when we reach our destination so we can get out and stretch! Consetta ~ sounds like Miss Elizabeth (as you call her) will need a big, big toy box! I'm sure her daddy will be proud to take care of that :-) Wendy~ you are right...Tom will probably not let the boys near her until she's at least 25, lol! The whole family is enjoying your posts, Wendy, and being able to hear from you! The Woodalls ~ Thanks for reading, posting, and your words of encouragement....you are right...we never tire of hearing how beautiful she is!! Gary and Karen ~ We haven't seen any Harley's over here, just a few tiny motorcycles. Glad the weather was good enough for one last ride of the season. You are right about my smile, my face is beginning to hurt considering I haven't stopped smiling since we met her on Thursday :-) Mike and Jill ~ as someone else commented earlier a word of thanks to you, we wholeheartedly agree...it gave me great comfort to know that our little one isn't the only one who didn't attach quickly. We appreciate the suggestion of asking for a different time to visit, too, because it seems that she gets pretty tired, hungry, and thirsty by 6pm. We'll see if we can change that tomorrow. Thanks Again!

Jessica ~ so far she hasn't spoke, but it is obvious that she understands Russian when they speak to her, she will do what they ask. Traci ~ you are right about the little wheels in her head turning....she studies everything and appears to be a 'thinker' which is one more quality like her daddy :-) Margie ~ We were so glad to hear that you were following our adventure! We have some great pictures of Tom smiling real big, but the one we posted was the best one of Elizabeth. David, Lindsay and family ~ We cannot wait until the day we step off that plane in St. Louis. Hopfully you won't be working and Halle will be able to give her that hug!! Lennie ~ Thanks for posting. I still cannot get over how much she looks like Tom. Actually now when I look at Tom...I see Elizabeth....to cool! Nancy ~ Thanks sooooooooo much for showing our beautiful Elizabeth to my nursing students and Anne (the instructor who is covering clinicals for me while I'm out of the country). That was awesome! I know you must be on pins and needles about your upcoming trip...won't be long now! Tom says to tell you we'll wave as you fly over. Ha! Ha! Lora ~ You are so right.....what a wonderful Thanksgiving this will be!!!! Brenda ~ thanks for sharing your experience that you had with Meredith...that is very encouraging and we hope that our daughter will turn out to be just as cute and lovable as yours! Beth ~ Thanks for posting...my heart is feeling awful warm and fuzzy lately too!! Becki Jo ~ How awesome that you were able to post from Holly's! I've been wishing you had the internet at your house, but now I have Joe's address so we'll be able to keep in touch.

Last night after talking to my family, we watched the video of Elizabeth. Tom had taped about 30 minutes and it was SO CUTE! She would look at the book, look at me, look at Tom and she did really good for quite a while. Sometimes she would start to cry and watching it on the video was so precious! It was reassuring to me to see that of all the times she started to cry, a majority of the time I was able to calm her or distract her. This video will be precious for years and years!

We are going out to see the city, find a few toys, and wait the hours until we get to see her again. We love you all and miss you greatly but are happy that we can share this wonderful experience with you!!!

Love, Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth :~)

Also...someone asked once if they celebrate Halloween over here. So far, we haven't seen any decorations or any mention of it, so I don't think they do.

We are making progress.....day 14

Hello everyone!

We are making progress with Elizabeth. Today as soon as she saw us, she immediately puckered up her little lips and started to cry, but the care giver sat her on the floor and we sat with her, keeping ourselves a safe distance at first. It didn't take too long for her to quit crying and we were able to entertain her with a new book and the same angel of Machelle's that we used yesterday. The book had little flaps that lifted up to reveal a picture underneath and she spent about 15 mintues just opening and closing the flaps (you can see the leaf she is holding in one of the pictures). She would look at us both and not cry, again as long as we kept our distance. Eventually I was able to sit very close to her, but she's still a little shy with Tom. They say that most children haven't even seen men before, or if they have it was a doctor that was poking and prodding them. Tom sat in a chair and was able to take some great pictures and video of our little angel. She is just so beautiful. Even when she was crying yesterday....she was just beautiful!

She is very bright and was able to pick up how the book worked very quickly and I also had a toy that linked together and she was able to figure that out also. She was able to turn the pages in the book. She did really well for about an hour and then I think she was getting sleepy. As soon as she started to fuss the care giver rushed over to try to calm her. You can tell that she is loved by the care givers and I'm sure they will miss her after spending the last 19 months with her and watching her grown into this cute toddler.

All too soon, at 6:15, they came to take her to supper. We are supposed to get to see her from 5p-7p, but unfortunately, they take her early every evening. So far our translators have not came with us during the visits, so we aren't able to figure out why they take them early. We will look into this because of course we want to spend as many seconds with her as we possibly can.

She is very interested in what is going on around her. Tonight there were three other couples there visiting their children and she liked to look and see what they were doing. There is a wall with mirrors there, too, and she likes to look at herself.

We are very happy about the progess we made and will continue to take it one day at a time (like we have a choice, huh?). We look forward to each visit with her and can't wait to go back to the hotel and watch the video of her.

Today, instead of sightseeing with our translator (which costs money) we decided to walk around the town. It was a beautiful sunny day, still cool, but no snow, Yeah! We looked for a toy store since the orphanage director said that Elizabeth likes to play with blocks, but so far we haven't found one. We'll keep looking for them.

The other American couple that we are traveling with have been able to bond very well with their son, CJ. He is also a cutie and he has also warmed up to us so we enjoy playing with him, too. When I told them (Brian and Tamara) that I brought only 18 month size clothes, she said, "Boy you were optimistic, weren't you?" I guess that I knew God would give us exactly what we were hoping for. The only thing we didn't bring was a winter coat, so as soon as we are able to figure out her size, we'll go coat shopping. That'll be fun!

We also want to find some baby juice, as she seems to always be thirsty when we get there. The drink that they give her smells like tea. Hope it doesn't have caffiene in it! We will go to see her again tomorrow from 5p-hopefully 7p. Tomorrow is Sunday and we will miss going to church. Too bad we don't know of an English speaking one here like we found in Kiev.

We hope everyone in Monroe City and surrounding areas are doing great. We can't wait to get back to the good old US of A and see everyone. Thanks for the posts to the blog and forgive us if we aren't able to respond to each person. Hope you understand. It's 8:45pm and as soon as we are finished here, we'll head out to find some supper.

Some interesting facts about this experience...they say that the Ukraine is not for the meek or the weak. I agree fully as the stress of traveling, the confusion of trying to communicate, trying to buy or order food, not having American speaking television, figuring out the foreign money (by the way, Ryan, we are saving you some coins for your coin collection), riding around in a small cab (it's a 1971 Lada about the size of a go-cart and we have the driver + 4 people crammed in it all with the heat on high and the radio blaring while the driver is smoking a cigarette, trying to shift and talk on the cell phone while trying to dodge the numerous potholes...do you get the picture?). Another thing I would add is that this is the 15 day since we left the US and Tom and I have not been more than 20 feet from each other...so I would add that Ukraine is not only for the strong, but also for those couples who are truly in love and enjoy each other's company. Now if you were to pull Tom aside and ask him, he would tell you that he'd much rather be driving a tractor, lol!

Since we are killing time here, waiting for the beautiful pictures of Elizabeth to download, I will tell you that the other day I was wondering what was happening on Survivor (I'm rooting for Stephanie!) and the Amazing Race, and I just had to laugh when I thought "What? I am living survivor...I'm stuck in a foreign country for close to 39 days, I'm having to work for everything we eat (just trying to order can be a challenge sometimes), and I've had to live in some horrific conditions. " I can also relate to living the Amazing Race with all the planes, trains, and taxi cabs we have taken, and because every time we are in a taxi we are racing here or there. The biggest difference, though, instead of winning the million...we are getting the best prize of all...our daughter!

We love you all very much. Keep up the posts...we love hearing from you!!!! God bless!

Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth

Our first official visit

Hello family and friends....

The good news is Elizabeth remembered us as soon as she saw us....the bad news is she remembered that we were strangers and she didn't like us too well :-( She cried for most of the first hour while we tried and tried to get her to calm down. We would give her a Cheerio and she would stop crying and eat that...but that only lasted about 30 seconds. It took the care givers awhile, but they finally were able to calm her down. They brought her some cookies and candy and she does like to eat. They also brought her a bottle and that calmed her for awhile, too. What we finally decided was that as long as this care giver was near her and we were at least 12 inches away...she was fine. We were able to get her to smile (as you can see in the beautiful picture) and she loved to play with the angel and the book that Machelle gave us (see pictures). All in all we were a little disappointed that she was scared of us, but we were encouraged that she has learned to establish trust. I keep telling myself (and Tom) that soon we will be the ones she is attached to (we hope anyway :)

We agree with what the orphanage director said yesterday, that she is wise. She remembered us and she knows how to get what she wants. She studies everything around her. She is very observant. We will get to go everyday from 5p-7p. We wish we could go earlier in the day, or even twice a day, but we will take what we can get. We think that the time will change here Saturday night like it will there, which means it will be dark by the time we get there every evening. They have a very nice play area outside, but we may not get to use it.

The weather is cold and blustery here today with some snow showers earlier. It is supposed to be warmer and sunny tomorrow so we decided to wait until then to go sightseeing. We were able to get our statement signed and notarized this morning. Basically it said that we would love her, provide for her, make sure she got an education, and seek medical care if needed. It also said that we would make sure her relatives love her....will that be a problem? LOL!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments, your love and your prayers. It means the world to us. We should find out next week when our court date is. Once it is over we will have to stay here in Kharkov an additional 10 days. Then we will go back to Kiev to finalize paperwork. We are thinking somewhere around November 19 we will be coming home. Right now, it's too soon to tell. One day at a time, we keep telling ourselves, but each day is one day closer.

Christopher called last night and thought his sister was 'pretty cute.' I can't wait for him to meet her. She'll look up to her big brother. Joe and Judy called us this morning. They just couldn't wait to hear more information on their newest granddaughter. We just love that everyone is as excited as we are!

We love you all!

Tom, Valerie, and Elizabeth

Hi...Day 13

Hi everyone ~
Thanks for the e-mails and posts to the blog. She is a beautiful little angel and we are counting the minutes until we get to see her again. We are doing well and enjoying our nice hotel. It comes with a 'free' breakfast that was very delicious. We found many vendors down the street from our hotel last night selling anything from hot dogs to chicken. We ate supper for $2. We figure the only meal we'll eat out for will be lunch. Anyway, we'll save money on food. Our room has a fridge so we'll go to the store later and get water, yogurt, etc.
Chris called last night. He was happy about his little sister and said 'she's awfully pretty.' It was great to hear from him and hear his voice. We had a much better connection this time. Joe and Judy called at 7am this morning (11pm their time) and Judy said they just couldn't wait any longer. I'm beginning to think the town of Monroe is crying over our little girl more than we are :-)

We have to go to get a statement notarized stating that we want to adopt Elizabeth. We'll get to visit her from 5p-7p. I felt like such a bad mother yesterday, I completely forgot to take any toys or snacks for her. Guess in the excitiment, I didn't remember. Today I am ready with a baby doll, an Angel that plays music and a book (all thanks to Machelle). Also got some Cheerios.

We'll get to spend more time today, but we both know that it will take awhile for her to warm up to us. We will cherish every second getting to know her.

Yesterday the other couple was waiting in the office outside and they could see the caregiver getting her all ready and making sure that her bow in her hair was perfect. It is very obvious that they want the very best for these children.

We will blog more later and hopefully send more pictures.
We love you all so very much and we love hearing your posts and e-mails.

Love, Tom, Valerie and Elizabeth

We have found Elizabeth....and she is BEAUTIFUL!!....Day 12

She looks like her daddy! She has beautiful big brown eyes, with dark, long eyelashes; a dimple in her chin; and chubby cheeks just like Tom. She appears to be very healthy and is even on the chunky side. She was born on March 7, 2004 so she is 19 months old. Her birthname is Victoria so we have decided to name her Victoria Elizabeth Marie Hagan and call her Elizabeth. She is beautiful...did I already say that? LOL! She has 10 teeth. We are trying to download pictures but so far it isn't working. We will try again later.

We got to spend about 25 minutes with her this morning. Our morning started at 8:30 when we had to go to the Ministry of Education to get permission to visit her in the orphanage. That took several hours so it was after 11am when we got to the orphanage. The orphanage director spent some time with us at first, just explaining her and her health. They do physicals every 6 months and her last one was in September and she received a clean bill of health. She said that she 'is a favorite in her group and is very wise.' She also said that she looks like her future daddy.

Then....the moment we have been waiting for for years...we turned around to see her walking in the door with a nurse and she was absolutely beautiful! At first she just looked at us and we were able to get a small smile out of her. I picked her up and we sat on the couch with her and she just stared and stared at Tom. We aren't sure if it is because she hasn't seen many men, or if she was amazed with his beard or his glasses. She didn't say a word and she didn't move much but her eyes were busy all the time just looking around, mostly at Tom and me. A couple we traveled with from Kiev came in and took pictures of us. Tom held her and she didn't cry, just continued to stare at us. Towards the end of our visit she seemed to sense that something strange was going on and she puckered up her little lips and her eyes filled with tears and she was on the verge of crying. I picked her up and walked with her and that seemed to soothe her for awhile. Her lunch time was noon and they are very particular with their schedule so all too soon our visit with her was over...but our hearts were captured and we knew this was our little girl. I do believe in love at first sight...on our part anyway...she will have some adjusting to do as we are so strange to her and we sound different from anything she's ever heard before.

We know everyone is anxious to hear the news and we hope you share in our joy!

We ended up leaving Kiev on Wednesday (instead of Tuesday) so we are sorry for any confusion or concern to you at home. We figured if you heard no news, you would know that it wasn't bad news.

We arrived around 11:30 last night at our new apartment. That was quite the experience. If I had to describe the apartment...I would call it wild and bizzare!! It ends up that this apartment is lived in by an older woman, who apparently rents it out to earn money while she bunks with someone else. The smell....well.....it was very, very musty and difficult to breathe. We slept with the window open all night trying to air it out. I say 'we slept' but really we didn't. Our 'bed' was a fouton folded out and was very lumpy and it stunk also. The apartment was cluttered with her stuff, bags of potatoes, baskets of carrotts and eggplants, every nook and cranny was crammed with junk. It was a very weird feeling and we were not comfortable at all. It turns out that the couple we are traveling with had the same bad experience and this morning we all requested to move to a hotel. So around 6 pm we moved into the Kharkov Hotel at $100/night. Very expensive, but clean, smells good, has regular beds, a wonderful stand up shower, a normal stool, clean towels.... I could go on and on but I'd rather talk about Elizabeth....

We snapped quite a few pictures of her while we were there and after they took her to feed her, we just sat and looked at her pictures. She is just so dang cute! And it felt so great to hold her...and most of all it was awesome to see Tom holding her....I'd been waiting years to see that beautiful sight!

The paperwork process has begun. Tomorrow at 11am we will meet with a notary to make a statement that we wish to adopt her. Then we will sightsee in the afternoon and finally we get to go back to the orphanage from 5-7 to see her again. We already miss her soooooo much!

The orphange was very, very nice. Very clean and it is apparent the staff really love and care for the children. The couple we are with are adopting a boy, 18 months old. He is also very cute and appears very healthy. So far that is all the children we have seen.

We will close for now and attempt to send pictures so you can get a look at this beautiful girl! Our God is an awesome God!

We love you all very much!!!

Tom, Valerie and Elizabeth

Pictures of Victoria Elizabeth Marie Hagan

We are attempting to download pictures here but they are not showing up for us. Let us know if you can see them or not. Hope you can...

Our best day yet....Day 10

Well...we had our appointment this morning....and it went very well. We saw a profile that we are very interested in and we are leaving by train tonight to go to Kharkov (if you download the map on the right side of this blog, you will find Kharkov (spelled Kharkiv) almost straight east of Kiev, with the Russian border 20 miles to the north of it) and will get to meet her in the morning. We will let you know more after we know more. Kharkov is a big city (population 2 million) so internet cafes should be easy to find.

Keep the prayers coming as God is answering them :-)

Tom decided yesterday that he wasn't sure about getting his hair cut, since we weren't sure how to communicate with them. Wow! After reading Clayton's comment, I think we made the right choice! That would have been wild to have his ear hair burnt! He has decided to just let his hair grow out for now. LOL!

We have to go pack, eat, and hop on the train. We will take our cards with us. We have a ongoing game of rummy (first one to 30,000 wins, ha!)

Our love to you all!

Tom and Valerie

Another exciting day in Kiev....Day 9

Picture #1 this is the area above the underground mall that we went to yesterday. If you notice the glass domes, that is the roof of the mall below. Picture #2 is Valerie with the Brothers (one Russian, one Ukrainian). Picture #3 is the arch I told you about yesterday. #4 is us with Pastor Tom Ragsdale. #5 is the hot water pipes in our bathrrom at the apartment that we use to dry our clothes on. Also we put some on the rack in the bathroom and we have a fan that also helps them to dry better. They are usually dry within 24 hours.

Today started out very exciting. I was still asleep when the phone rang at 8:45am. It was Igor saying that they had a profile for us to see and to be ready in 10 minutes!!! I jumped out of bed, threw on my clothes and we were downstairs waiting before Igor pulled in. We flew (and I mean flew because they drive soooooooooooo fast) to the NAC (National Adoption Center). As we walked in the door we learned that the beautiful little 2 year girl had just been given to another family. Guess it wasn't meant to be. I was disappointed momentarily, but then remember that God has had his hand on this entire process. He knows what is right and we have complete faith that He will lead us to our little girl. So back home we went (or flew, hehe!) We ate some lunch, played some cards (in which I beat Tom really bad! Ha!)

So....we wait....we are getting very good at waiting....I guess we don't have a choice, ha! We have explored this town, we have as far East as we could (to the river), we went north yesterday to the Arch, we went as far West to get to McDonald's (which we guess to be a mile), and we have went as far south to the Monastery. We have decided that we are ready to get the heck out of this city and go see our little girl. God willing, tomorrow may be the day!

We had another exciting phone call last night....Christopher called and it was so great to hear his voice. I know everyone in good old Monroe City is watching out for my son, but it was great to hear with my own ears that he is doing well. He has a job interview today so we are praying that goes well. I hear that he has very short hair now, so Kayla....please take a picture of him for me...this I have to see :-)

My sister, Holly, gave us a great idea to buy little gifts for Elizabeth and give one to her each year for her birthday or Gotcha Day so guess what...we are going shopping this afternoon...Tom's favorite pastime, ha! We are going to go to the area close to here that is underneath the intersection. Then we are heading for the grocery store (maybe for the last time in this city :-) and then to the barber. Tom needs a trim so this could be interesting since we won't be able to communicate with them. You know his hair is only about 1/2" long now, so he may come out bald. I'll get a picture if he does. We wouldn't want anyone at home to miss that! LOL!

We are going to go to "The Terrace" for supper. This is the only place (besides McDonald's) that we have found really good American food and it beats McDonald's hands down! It cost about $30 last time, but was worth every cent. Mostly we eat at the apartment, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or ham and cheese sandwiches. We have a stove, but the oven doesn't work, or we would eat frozen pizza.

We are becoming experts at hand washing our laundry and playing rummy. We have even made up some of our own card games.

How is the weather in Missouri? It was beautiful yesterday and today. Don't even need a coat outside. The leaves are falling everywhere (very pretty) and everyday we see many people outside raking and sweeping up the leaves. Seems they are fighting a never ending battle, but they really keep the streets, sidewalks, and yards looking nice. We notice that everyone here smokes, but there is never cigarette butts on the ground either.

To answer a few questions you asked....Wendy~ we have not seen Monopoly at McDonald's, but I will remember that you said you are going to share the million with your favorite aunt, lol! Sue ~ we would love to hear what your dad has to say about 'the hole.' Glad you are keeping him posted on our progress. Karen ~ 'the hole' is up on a small step and we do have to carry TP everywhere we go. But as Jessica said, we only use this if absolutely necessary. 'The hole' is in public bathrooms only, thank the Lord that we have a sit down toilet in the apartment. Lora ~ the internet cafe has always been very slow when we are here. There are about 12 computers here. Today it is full, but we are here earilier than we usually come. It only cost 6 krivna/hour (which is about $1.20 so makes for very cheap entertainment. It truly is a godsend to be able to talk to loved ones from home. Carol ~ the Russian lady in Hannibal sounds awesome, we'll have to look her up when we get back home. Thanks Clayton and the Monroe City UMC for the prayers! Consetta ~ Tell Trent that Tom prefers between the duals (because that would mean he would be back in Missouri) :~) Thanks Tim and Nancy for the prayers and we are keeping your soon to be adventure in our prayers as well!

Please know that we love you all and are thrilled that people in Monroe City are following our story and keeping us in your prayers. God bless you all!

Love, Tom and Valerie

The Hole

This is what I call 'The Hole' and what they call here in the Ukraine "the toilet." I had heard people describe this, but couldn't really figure out what it looked like until I saw it for myself. Everytime you all use the toilet at home, be thankful you live in America, LOL!

To add to the grief, you actually have to pay to use 'the hole' (About 10 cents) and they don't supply toilet paper either. Crazy, huh?

Another day closer to Tuesday :-) .....Day 8

Hello family and friends!

We have had a great day in Kiev! My Aunt Debbie, from Columbia, had written me several weeks ago that a former youth pastor, Tom Ragsdale, from her church in Columbia now lives and preaches here in Kiev and that we should look him up while we are here. Well, I thought that would be hard to do in a town of close to 4 million, but I had contacted him by e-mail when we were in the states and he had given me the phone number to reach them once we arrived here. I called him last night and this morning Igor, our facilitator, drove us to his church, International Chritian Assembly (From the Assembly of God Church in the US). We got there around 10am and sat in on the end of the Sunday School class (everyone was speaking English...whoo hoo!!). After Sunday School they have fellowship where everyone stands around talking and eating cookies. We talked with Tom for a while. He is a very nice guy. We met another American couple, Vince and Debbie, who are in the process of adopting an 8 year old boy. They have been in the country almost 5 weeks and have been held up since the boy's father hasn't signed the parental release form. They are hoping to go to court on Friday, but will still have the 10 day wait after that. I feel bad for them, and hope we don't end up in the same boat. The orphanage was nice enough to let the boy stay with them over night and we got to meet him (he was very handsome). They were really struggling with communication since he only speaks Ukrainian. They had bought and showed us a little device they had where you type in a word and then push the 'Ukrainian' button and it will spell the word in Ukrainian and even say it out loud. Too cool! She said it would cost around $100. We are learning some words, we can say yes, no, thank-you, water, good-bye, please, excuse me, how much?, and beautiful. We are learning their alphabet, so we are able to translate their signs (but we are very very slow).

Anyway, back to our neat church experience this morning....after fellowship we had the church service (again all in English). Tom had visitors announce what country they were from, so we announced we were from the US and they wanted to know where exactly. I wanted to say "the best place on God's green earth!" but figured I might offend them, so we told them we were from near St. Louis. The couple above that are adopting are from Kansas City, on the Kansas side. Tom Ragsdale and his wife were from Columbia (they moved here in 1999). There was a guest speaker who was from San Digeo California and another couple from Washington. All together there were people at this church from over 10 different countries. It was pretty awesome as it was obvious that there were many people of many colors. And we were all there in this foreign land worshipping the same Lord. Very awesome feeling! I recognized some of the songs (again, the whole service was in English) and it was great to hear and speak English ;-)

After the service, Igor was helping with another American couple, so he couldn't pick us up and it was too far to walk, so we asked Tom R. if he would call a Taxi for us (we were going to the underground mall from church and then would walk home ~ at least our temporary home, lol! ~ from there). He said he was going the same direction as us, so he offered to give us a ride. We learned that he got his masters from University of Columbia (go Mizzou!!) and he toured Russia in 1996 and he felt this is what the Lord had called him to do. His wife was studying to be a nurse, but with the move here and then 4 children (and she is expecting the 5th) she is a full time mother now, but may finish her degree when the kids are older. His wife was out of town so it was him and his 4 children ranging in ages from 11 to 2. We piled into his big van and we were off down the street when he saw some of his church members walking so he offered them a ride, so we loaded 4 more people into his van. Tom is a very nice man and very easy to talk to. He is doing quite a ministry here in Kiev and I have no doubt that many lives will be altered because of him. (Aunt Debbie, thanks so much for getting us in touch with each other!) After dropping us off, we were at Independence Square (by the way, Tom fixed my camera [YEAH!!!!] and we were able to take good pictures which we'll try to post tomorrow). This place was awesome with so many people there they actually close down the street every weekend. We ate at McDonalds (which is very funny because normally Tom doesn't like McDonalds, but he sure likes it here as it is the closest thing to American food we have found, ha!) and then we went to the underground mall. It was huge and very expensive! We did not buy anything and we didn't stay too long. I was hoping to find some souveiners, but so far this town really doesn't seem to cater to tourist.

After we left the mall, we looked at the map I had gotten yesterday (one with better details) and found our way to "The Brothers" statue which represents 2 men, one for Russian and one for Ukriane. This statue is beneath what looks like a minature St. Louis Arch (again, I got pictures, will try to post them tomorrow). It was right on the Dnypenr River so the view was beautiful with the fall foliage. We then made our long trek home. It was a beautiful day and we really didn't even need our coats and the sun was even out some of the time.

We went back to the apartment for awhile and watched a western in Russian and then hiked here to the Internet Cafe. We weren't sure if they would be open on Sunday and I was afraid I would go into withdrawal if I didn't get to hear from home :-) Thank goodness it is open. We are also thankful that our camera is working now and we are able to capture our experience to share with everyone in Missouri and someday with Elizabeth.

We love you all and hope that everyone in the good old US is doing well. Keep us posted as we LOVE to hear from home and we miss you all. If you see my son running around, give him a big hug from us!!

Tom and Valerie

Kiev ~ Day 7....

We are still here in Kiev, Surprise, surprise! We have been doing a lot of walking and sightseeing. I studied the map of Kiev last night and had a route planned for us to walk to today, but it is a little rainy, so not sure if we'll venture that far. We were going to go to the large underground mall, yeah, more shopping. Tom was probably glad it's rainy.

We had the most wonderful surprise last night, our cell phone rang and it had a 735 number on it and it was Tom's parents, Joe and Judy! How wonderful to hear their voices and to speak American, too! They sounded like they were next door (which I wish they were). Joe was able to update Tom on the farming progress and the news around Monroe and Judy told us that many people in Monroe City are following our blog. That is very exciting to me, that we are able to share this wonderful (well sometimes not so wonderful) experience with everyone back home. Again it means the world to have all the prayers, encouragement, love, and words of wisdom shared with us!

We hope that our families are doing well. We have heard from most of them and this blog is the highlight of our day! Believe it or not, last night my digital camera quit working. It is a Kodak and is stuck in the on position (but is off) and we cannot get it to turn. Anyone have any suggestions? We saw a Kodak store yesterday and we are going to see if they can fix it. We have to be able to get it fixed before we see Elizabeth, right? If we can't get it fixed this weekend, Igor said he would help us on Monday.

I am very interested in going to the Museum of Folk Architecture, but it is about 30 minutes south of Kiev. We may see if Igor and Holly and Guy would like to do that on Monday. It is a 300 acre farm that we can walk through (another couple who recently traveled recommended it). Sounds like fun!

We are doing well, both physically and emotionally. We are really hoping that Tuesday will be the day! We miss home and our families. We miss speaking English. Some sounds are universal...dogs barking...people laughing...babies crying....traffic running on the streets.

The women here are beautiful. They dress very nicely, wear make-up and most will wear very high heeled boots. They walk everywhere in them, and still are able to walk very fast. If our daughter looks like these women, Tom said he would have to build a fence around her when she get older to keep the guys away :)

The men wear mostly dark colors (as do the women) and their shoes are long with pointed toes that curl up (reminds me of an elf's). That would be laughed at in America, but is very popular here.

Our love to each and everyone of you. Hope you are all fine and we love hearing from you!

Tom and Valerie

P.S.~ Joe Tiffany - please tell Becki I love her!!

Our apartment

This is it! It is really very comfortable. We also have a small kitchen table with chairs that we play cards at. Hope you all enjoy seeing the pictures.

Us at the Monastery

Here are Tom and I with the Monastery Cathedral in the back ground. Tom is really happier than he appears here. I told him to smile, but you all know Tom. We were both amazed with the beauty of these cathedrals, knowing that the monks built and decorated them.

Here is an official Ukrainian cement mixer. I know that some of you may be confused, but it is very important for our nephew Stephen to see this, as his father is manager of Monroe City Ready Mix. We have seen a lot of cement trucks. Also a few small tractors (Belarus brand) that we think are part of the city street department.

Dynepr River with Guy & Holly (American couple), Tom and Olga overlooking the catacombs and Cathedrals.

Tom, Olga (our tour guide who spoke English) and Holly (the other American from Virginia) in front of the Cathedral at the Monastery. Every building was built and painted and decorated by the monks.

Tom, Valerie, and Igor (our facilitator) in front of the entrance to the Monastery and catacombs that we saw on Wednesday.

It is a beautiful day in Kiev ~ Day 6

Hello family and friends!

We found out last night that our next appointment will be on Tuesday, so we have 4 whole days to wait. We are trying to be paitent and we are using the time to see and enjoy the city as much as we can. Tom is my rock and he is more patient than I am. It seems silly to me to be here just waiting, but they did assure me that there would be children profiles to view on Tuesday. So....we wait....

Today is a kraseevy (means beautiful) day in Kiev. The sun is shining and the temp is in the 50s. We plan to do more walking and sightseeing. Each night we do laundry by hand and watch TV in Russian. We have enjoyed the DVDs that Karen loaned us, and wish now we had brought more. We have plenty of books, crossword puzzles, cards, etc. to keep us entertained. Tom found an Auto guide that sold farm machinery, trucks, cars, and cement trucks, etc. very cheap.

Last night we were eager for some American food so we decided to walk to McDonald's. It was probably around a mile (took 20 minutes of fast walking), but boy was it worth it! I love McDonald's French fries! I even took pictures of the menu board, since it was all in Russian. Too funny!

Every morning we have been getting up and dressed by 7:30, ready to go at a moments notice, never knowing for sure if we will get the call, so it was nice to sleep in this morning. We are adjusted to the time change and we both are feeling great! The exercise has been good for us.

We are starting to figure out how to post pictures, we'll be pros by the time we get Elizabeth, lol!

We love you all and thanks again for the power of prayer!!!

Tom and Valerie

Our apartment building

We haven't learned how to post more than one picture at a time, so bear with us. This is a picture of the outside of our apartment. Most apartments look like this. I assure you it is much nicer and very comfortable inside. We are on the 3rd floor and we do have an elevator. We have not lost electricity since Monday, so that is good. We have always had plenty of hot water (knock on wood) and our apartment has plenty of cleaning supplies/vacuum cleaner to keep it clean. We aren't drinking the water, of course, so we buy bottled water and even use it to brush our teeth.

Day 5...another day of doing nothing...

There were no children to see at the National Adoption Center today. Hopefully tomorrow or Monday or Tuesday. We walked around Kiev by ourselves today and saw the Dynepr (pronounced Nipper) River which was beautiful with the trees turning colors. The river is as wide as the Mississippi and runs right through the center of town. Our apartment is about 5-6 blocks from it. We also walked through the Botanical Gardens where they have the WW II Memorial. We got more good pictures today. It was in the 40s yesterday and today. The sun was out yesterday (it was great to see it!) and today it was cloudy, but no rain.

They have underground malls and stores here. Last night as we were venturing out to find something to eat, we were going to have to cross a very busy street (Yikes! Scary because they drive so crazy!) when we noticed that there were stairs going under the street and back up on the other side. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, we entered the doors into a large shopping area with at least 30 vendors and a large eating area. All of this was underground, beneath a busy intersection. We were able to go to a fast food place and fumble our way to order chicken nuggets and French fries. The fries were awesome!

We did get a picture of a tractor, dump trucks and a semi today. I know that Tom's nephew, Stephen, has been very interested in that! Tom is anxious to see some farm land and maybe drive a tractor, LOL! We are doing great and keeping busy by walking a lot, shopping, and just hanging around the apartment. I forgot to tell you yesterday that the monastery we visited with the catacombs were 1 km beneath the Cathedral so we are getting lots of exercise. We know that is why they are all very slim over here, because they walk everywhere. Tom says they walk like they drive...very fast.

Gas prices here are the same as the US....around $3, but their average monthly salary is about $500/month. That's probably another reason they walk so much. Most of the cars are small and our facilatator said they are not required to have car insurance, only about 30% does. Amazingly enough, we have not seen any wrecks or noticed many dents on the vehicles yet.

We miss everyone, and appreciate all of your responses on the blogs and through our e-mail. Spaseeba (which means Thank You) for all of your prayers. It is a truly awesome feeling to know that there are so many people back home praying us through this! We love you all!

Tom and Valerie

Another day in Kiev...Day 4

Well, since we are posting you can probably guess that we did not find Elizabeth today. We were at the National Adoption Center around 8:30 and we were told there were twins available, but they didn't know the age or the sex, so we waited, and we waited, and finally about 11 we found out that it was not twins after all. Instead the only children available were older than we felt we were able to handle. I was hoping twin girls, that would have been fun :-) So, since that was all that they had, we called it a day there and our facilitators took us for pizza for lunch. We got to spend the day with another American couple from Virginia who is using the same adoption company as us. It was awesome to speak with other Americans!!!

After our pizza (which is not like Pizza Hut :) we went sight seeing. We first went to St. Sophia Cathedral. It was built in the 11th century. Wow! How awesome to be in a building that old. It was beautiful!!! We got lots of pictures. Then we by St. Andrew Church which was built in 1744-1767. It was interesting because our facilitator helped to paint the roof of it. These are the really big churchs with the gold pear shaped domes. We found out that they are covered with real gold! Too cool!

After that we went to the monastary with catacombs (mom, you read about this in that blog). Anyway, these catacombs are famous because monks that were buried there became mummified naturally. We used candles as we made our way through the caves and we saw 185 deceased monks. They were all covered but one hand was sticking out. It looked like dark leather. Some of them had slippers on their feet and legend has it that sometimes the slippers will become worn out on the underneath side. Sounds like something out of a horror story, huh. Anyway it is a common belief that these monks and this place was very special and religious. Scientists, of course, have their own theory. Either way, the grounds and buildings were very beautiful.

We have taken pictures and we have them saved on our computer. Last night I saved some to a CD and tried to download it here at the internet cafe using their computer, but I couldn't get it to work. Don't worry, we'll get it figured out in time to post the pictures of Elizabeth :~)

We were glad to have a busy and exciting day of sightseeing. It took our minds off the adoption. We will get a call from our facilitator this evening and tomorrow will be another day. We miss all of you and absolutely love to hear from each of you! Please keep posting, it is the highlight of our day!

To answer some of your questions...no, Stephen it was a rear discharge cement mixer. We will try to get some pictures of the trucks here. We have seen a few small tractors and wagons running around the city that we think belong to the street department. Wendy...that is a great idea...we will print the blog at the end of our journey and add it to Elizabeth's adoption story. I'm glad to hear from you and thanks so much for your prayers! Carol and Anthony...that is too funny that we were in the airport at the same time, too bad we didn't run into each other. David, Bradley, and Haley were kind enough to drop us at the front door. Holly...you said it made you teary to read our blog...I originally started this to keep everyone at home informed about our progress, but it is so awesome to be able to hear from you all each day (makes me a little teary, too :) Karen K., Jessica, mom and dad, Traci & Skyler, Bobby & Lora, Nancy and Anthony, and everyone else....thanks for the prayers and well wishes! You all are awesome!

We found a great restaraunt last night! It was the first real food we had since we got here. There was an American there and we enjoyed talking with him. You don't realize how much you like to communicate until you realize you can't.

This is all for now...we are going for supper now. We worked up an appetite with all the sight seeing we did today. We will post more next chance we get. Right now the adoption process is unpredictable, so we are hoping for the best tomorrow.

We love you all!!!! T & V

Wet and rainy here

Hi everyone!!

It is so awesome to hear from all of you through your comments. It really helps to hear from home and to hear that everyone is doing well!! Today was a 'free day' and we spent the day playing cards, reading, walking and shopping. Yes, Tom has been shopping with me 4 times in the past 3 days and you know he's loving every minute of it, lol!

It has been cold, rainy, and dreary here since we landed on Sunday. We haven't seen the sun since Germany so we aren't sure of our directions. Each day we venture out and walk around the area. We have found several restaruants and stores. Today our electricty was out for several hours, but since we don't watch TV it really didn't bother us. We had candles and played cards.

We are scheduled to go to the National Adoption Center again tomorrow morning, and hopefully we will get to see the first picture of our daughter. Everything here is subject to change, though, so we are just waiting to see. If we do see her, we will probably travel to her region by train tomorrow evening, so I'm not sure when we'll find internet again. If you don't hear from us, don't worry...it'll mean good things are happening.

We have not seen any farmers here yet. Kiev is a town with a population of about 3 million and the streets are packed with houses and buildings. Very little room for yards, let alone fields. We have neither one been sick (knock on wood) and we are getting used to the time change. I did get Tom's tennis shoes packed, Machelle, but he's like Stephen, gotta wear the work boots :-) Tom did see a cement mixer the other day, too!

Keep making the comments and we'll check back as soon as we can. Love to you all!

We are here!!

Hello everyone ~

We arrived safely Sunday around 1pm our time (5am your time). After 3 different planes, 18 hours of traveling, a few minor glitches, and losing 8 hours, we are very tired, but all in all we are fine. We were met at the airport in Kiev by our facilitator and they drove us to our apartment. It is in a very old looking building, but inside the apartment is very nice. We have a queen size bed, a nice bathroom with a tub/shower, 2 recliners, a Russian speaking TV and a nice kitchen complete with a stove and fridge. After we got settled in we walked a few blocks to the 24 hour market and bought a few things, stopped for supper and then were bathed and in bed by 7pm. I slept off and on until 9am this morning.

This morning our facilitator took us out for a Ukrainian breakfast. It was a variety dumplings stuffed with anything from beans, to meat, to cheese. Very good! For dessert we had dumplings stuffed with poppy seeds and honey. Then we went to the National Adoption Center but we were unable to make a selection at this time (we were prepared in advance that this could happen). We will have another appointment later this week.

Over all we are tired and suffering from some culture shock. Our facilitator speaks some English, but is still difficult to understand. He is very nice and we feel he is really looking out for our best interests. They drive very crazy over here and we just hang on tightly. We will try to check our personal e-mail and this blog every day or so, so please feel free to leave us notes. We haven't been gone long but we are both homesick and can't wait to get back to the good old USA :-)

We miss you all!!

Only 48 more hours!!!

What started out as a 15 month process, soon became weeks, then days and now it's only a matter of hours before we leave! We are both very excited, yet nervous about the unknown. We both have a great faith in the Lord and we know He will be with us every step of the way.

My co-workers treated me to a nice lunch yesterday at Fiddlestix to wish me Bon Voyage. It was very nice, and I will miss them all while we are gone. I know that they will all have an extra workload in my absence and I truly appreciate each of them! My students got me a very cute flower arrangement, which was so sweet of them. So as I bid my farewells to them I realized the next time I see them I will have our precious daughter in tow:-)

My sister, Holly, and I went to visit our other sister, Becki, and her family last night. Becki's daughter, Katrina (see photo below) is 4 years old and the other day when she saw a helicopter she said "Look! Here comes Elizabeth!" She knows that Elizabeth will be coming over by plane. Isn't that precious?

This afternoon my pastor, Clayton, is going to annoit me and pray over me for our safe travels. Tonight I'm taking Chris and his girlfriend Kayla out for supper. I miss him already and it's hard to imagine not seeing him for an entire 5 weeks. Thank goodness for internet so at least I can communicate with him. We can call home for about $6/minute, so needless to say, the phone calls will be far and few.

Tomorrow, I'm going to lunch with my Mother-in-law, Judy, and my sister-in-law, Machelle. Looking forward to seeing them and spending time with them before we leave.

It seems my list of things to do continues to grow and grow, so I must get to packing. Stay tuned...next time I update, we'll be on the other side :-)

Only one more week :-)

I cannot believe that in only 7 short days we'll be on an airplane heading over to meet a little girl who will change our lives forever! It seems that I have so much to do and now I am wondering how in the world I'm going to get it all done. We're much closer to getting everything organized to pack, but there is more to the story. We have to get things at both of our workplaces caught up as much as we can, clean the house and baby proof it, make sure our son is taken care of (he is a senior, 18, and very self-sufficient, but we'll still worry...isn't that what parents are best at?), arrange for our bills to get paid while we are gone, make sure our pets and plants are taken care of while we are gone, clean out the refrigerator (hard to tell what milk would smell like after being gone for 5 weeks and I don't want to find out, lol!), and so the list goes on and on.

Today has been a stressful day...my sister, her husband, their son and daughter (Katrina, see picture below) were on their way to my mom's house for a family get-together when they were sideswiped by another vechile. My sister, Becki, was taken to the hospital, and the other three were o.k. After spending the day in the Emergency Room, she has been released to home and has some very painful days in her future. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt! It really makes a person stop and think about how quickly life can change. I thank God for the angels that were watching over their family today!

About the same time this was happening, my husband's aunt passed away from cancer. She was an awesome lady with a wonderful spirit and a happy personality. She has been one of our biggest supporters of our adoption and I really wanted her to meet Elizabeth face to face. But...I know she'll be watching over us from heaven. We love you Aunt Peg and will miss you greatly!

And so life marches on...

We leave in 2 weeks

The past 14 months have seemed to pass at a snails pace and now these last few weeks are flying by too fast!

Today we had a garage sale to get rid of some junk while making a few dollars. This afternoon my wonderful father-in-law took me furniture shopping to get a glider rocker with footstool to use to rock our little girl. Isn't that precious? I hope she loves to be cuddled, because I am really looking forward to holding her and rocking her. That chair will gets lots of use ;-)