Merry Christmas from Ukraine!
It is Christmas Day here but things are pretty routine for us. We woke up at headed to the orphanage for a visit. The temperature was still pretty cold this morning, but the view was beautiful! The trees were covered in frost and they were completely white. There are many trees in this city and they were all thickly covered! Even our driver had to comment how beautiful the morning was. We all took time this morning to enjoy nature’s touch.
As we passed the river, we saw that there were fishermen out fishing - even on Christmas Day. (Darryl believes that these men here are crazy to be out on the river ice fishing since the river is so wide and the ice isn’t that thick! Our driver has told us that each year 1 to 2 men fall through the ice and die.)
Our visit with Kallie was FABULOUS!!!! She was excited to see us and she didn’t have any attitude. We were able to enjoy her laughing and babbling. We believe that she has a noise that she makes to call us. It isn’t mommy or dada but she was making a certain noise to call us. We played a bit of Hide and Seek and she loved it. We took the leather slippers that we bought her to try on and their too big! We bought size 12-18 months and they don’t fit. The shoes measure 12 cm and that’s too big. We don’t think that we will be able to exchange them so they will have to do. One problem – the boots that we bought Kallie are even bigger! We are starting to think that she has really small feet. We plan on measuring her feet in centimetres soon.
As for Kaiden, he is still not 100%. He woke up at 3:30 am and was burning up. We gave him more Tylenol and he came to bed with us. At 8 am we gave him Advil and he is coping. He voice is more crackly and his cough is worse. While Darryl was using the bank machine this morning I told the driver that Kaiden was sick. He asked if he had a temperature/cough/ running nose? I answered the best I could with the language barrier.
Once we returned home from our visit we made Lipton’s chicken noodle soup (from home) for lunch. Then Darryl headed out for a few groceries and I stayed home with Kaiden (Yes! The stores are open on Christmas Day!) Darryl wasn’t gone 3 minutes and there was a knock on our door. Our driver, his wife, and his dog were here. They had been to the pharmacy and bought some medications for Kaiden. There are about 5 different packages for different symptoms. Imagine getting instructions in Ukrainian for medication purpose and dosage – CRAZY! They also brought a humidifier, jams, honey, fruit, and tea leaves. Once they explained everything to me they left. They weren’t out the door 3 minutes and Darryl was home. What timing!!! We appreciate what this couple has done for us and feel like someone is looking after us. They even offered to keep Kaiden tomorrow so he doesn’t have to go out in the cold. We don’t think that will ever happen though. One of that packages that they brought is Neo Citron (sp?) and some little round beads (like candies) to soothe a sore throat/cough. These two things we may use. As for the other medications, I think we will just use our Tylenol and Advil.
We believe that as of tomorrow, it will be business as usual here in Ukraine. Hopefully our facilitator will be here and we will get some idea about the court date.
Thanks for your thoughts & prayers!
The Decks
Sorry there are no pictures toady - we were too busy playing!
9 comments:
I am glad that Kaiden is feeling a bit better. I guess Kallie is a typical girl with many personalities. I am glad that you all had a great visit. Sucks that your purchases do not fit. Could I buy her Robeez (I don't know if I spelled it right)? Pink ones of course. I am sure that the 12-18 months one would fit they seem quite small. Have a great day.
Glad to hear that the visit with Kallie went well today. We also experienced some visits with our little girl as great, and sometimes she seemed distant. It was all part of her testing us if we were for real. Wonderful to read about the generousity from your driver and his wife. They are great people to know. Hope Kaiden if feeling better soon. And we pray for your court process to begin soon. Merry Christmas in Ukraine!
Donna & Murray
Merry Ukrainian Christmas from Canada!!
Sounds like your little girl is having a blast with you new family! Playing hide and seek sounds like fun, i am sure she adores the attention and love from you guys. I really hope that poor Kaiden gets better fast, poor lil' guy, he has sure been a trooper! That is so awesome that your driver did that for him.....its nice to know that you do have someone there to look out for you guys! He seems like a really nice man. Not too much new here, it is suppose to be like -2 by the weekend, sure looking forward to some outside playing time with the kids!! Deakyn started walking, that is something pretty exciting for us, he is really good holding onto toys, furniture etc but he will do 5ish steps between me and Blaine it is so darn cute!! Not very sturdy, but that will come! Well, i hope that you have another FABULOUS visit in the morning! Take Care for now, Cheers, Lisa
Hi! That is fantastic that you had such a great visit with Kallie!! She is such a sweetie!!! I feel sorry for Kaiden and hope that he will be back up to par real soon! The people there sound very friendly and helpful. I continue to think of you guys and know things will proceed quicker in the next few days. Merry Christmas!!
Merry ukranian christmas! It sounds like it was a good day for you guys with Kallie. I sure hope Kaiden is starting to feel better soon. We look forward to your blog every day, it sure feels good to be able to follow along with you on your journey. I hope you will know more soon about the court dates and such and we look forward to hearing more soon. Take care and hope you feel better soon Kaiden! The Scott's
It is so nice to have a challenging visit followed up by a great one! I do think you are wise to cut visits short if Kallie seems to be having a hard day...better short than to end with more challenging behaviour! We are sorry to hear Kaiden is sick and hope he is feeling better soon. We will pray that despite the delay with the holidays, the rest of your precess will go quickly and SMOOTHLY! We look forward to news of a court date and more pictures...:)
Shona, Darren and Ivanna
PS - perhaps Ukrainians tend to have small feet (all the better to fit into all those fancy fashion shoes and boots!)- Ivanna still fits into her 12-18month Robeez...although she's almost out of them at 3 1/2!
Great to hear that you had a good day with Kallie. Your driver and his wife are earth angels that's for sure. With all that medical help Kaiden is sure to recover quickly. Your students were wonderful as ever for music class yesterday. Talk to you soon.
Rhonda B.
Hopefully Kaiden gets better soon! poor guy! i was just thinking today how much i cannot wait to see Kallie and Londyn play together!! it will be pretty cute i think! Again, she is so adorable!!!!
hugs and kisses
shawna, jon, and londyn
Oh, Kaiden, we hope you get better really soon. Crazy 8s is really good for the cold. You can also do crazy 8 countdown, where when you put down your last card, you pick up 7, then 6, 5,4,etc. Whatever number you're on is the wild card, where you can change the suit.
Darryl and Jeremy,
For some reason, Advil is the better fever fighter, keep it to him. Love that your visits with Kallie are so great! Praying for court for yas, praying for next week.
Hugs, Megan and Shawn
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