Monday, January 5, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Visit #5
Happy Sunday to all of you!
We had a great night last night. We talked to Darryl’s brother and his wife, Darryl’s sister, and Jeremy’s sister. After talking to these people our spirits were high and we felt great. Thanks guys!!!! Of course we must apologize to these people for rambling on about Kallie. It seems that if you ask us a question about her we talk on and on. For only knowing her for one week we sure have a lot to say.
Just to clarify – Kallie’s name rhymes with Sally! It is not Kaylee. I know that with names these days it is sometimes hard to tell what the proper pronunciation is.
Our visit went well today. We are sending one picture from today. She was wearing the pink and white dress again. We were able to get her gigling pretty good by tickling her.
We talked to our facilitator from Kiev today and now were feeling a bit down. Our translator will only be coming out to Dnipro on Thurs. Jan. 8th. There is no sense in her coming any earlier because of the holidays. Our facilitator told us that we would be lucky to have court by January 20th. This seems like a really long time away for us right now! Then of course we have the 10 day wait. If this is the way things happen, there is no chance we will be flying home on Jan. 28th. Time will tell!
Oh yeah! and for the record, I have been winning some UNO games lately. Although Kaiden still seems to win the most!!!!
Kaiden just interrupted, he wants everyone to know that “My sister, Kallie really loves me A LOT!!!”
Those going back to work or school tomorrow - we hope you have a great first day back!
Until later,
The Decks
Happy Sunday to all of you!
We had a great night last night. We talked to Darryl’s brother and his wife, Darryl’s sister, and Jeremy’s sister. After talking to these people our spirits were high and we felt great. Thanks guys!!!! Of course we must apologize to these people for rambling on about Kallie. It seems that if you ask us a question about her we talk on and on. For only knowing her for one week we sure have a lot to say.
Just to clarify – Kallie’s name rhymes with Sally! It is not Kaylee. I know that with names these days it is sometimes hard to tell what the proper pronunciation is.
Our visit went well today. We are sending one picture from today. She was wearing the pink and white dress again. We were able to get her gigling pretty good by tickling her.
We talked to our facilitator from Kiev today and now were feeling a bit down. Our translator will only be coming out to Dnipro on Thurs. Jan. 8th. There is no sense in her coming any earlier because of the holidays. Our facilitator told us that we would be lucky to have court by January 20th. This seems like a really long time away for us right now! Then of course we have the 10 day wait. If this is the way things happen, there is no chance we will be flying home on Jan. 28th. Time will tell!
Oh yeah! and for the record, I have been winning some UNO games lately. Although Kaiden still seems to win the most!!!!
Kaiden just interrupted, he wants everyone to know that “My sister, Kallie really loves me A LOT!!!”
Those going back to work or school tomorrow - we hope you have a great first day back!
Until later,
The Decks
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Our 4th Visit
Saturday’s Visit
We’ve been forgetting to mention that the sun shines here! We are on our third sunny day in a row! We guess that is one perk over being in Kiev!
Not much is new here. Our visit here today was great again! Kallie was wearing blue for a change-not pink! It was busy in the visiting room today, there were four families visiting children – no one spoke English though. We believe the other families are all from Ukraine.
Kallie tried to show her Daddy who was boss today! When looking at a puppet book Darryl tried to turn in the proper way and she gave him ATTITUDE! It is just the beginning of her getting him wrapped around her little finger. She did less walking today so we were able to hold her more. She even cuddled me for a few moments (while sucking her thumb!)
Enjoy the pictures!
Love,
The Decks
We’ve been forgetting to mention that the sun shines here! We are on our third sunny day in a row! We guess that is one perk over being in Kiev!
Not much is new here. Our visit here today was great again! Kallie was wearing blue for a change-not pink! It was busy in the visiting room today, there were four families visiting children – no one spoke English though. We believe the other families are all from Ukraine.
Kallie tried to show her Daddy who was boss today! When looking at a puppet book Darryl tried to turn in the proper way and she gave him ATTITUDE! It is just the beginning of her getting him wrapped around her little finger. She did less walking today so we were able to hold her more. She even cuddled me for a few moments (while sucking her thumb!)
Enjoy the pictures!
Love,
The Decks
Friday, January 2, 2009
VISIT 2 & 3
Thank you for all the comments! We appreciate them! It is wonderful to read them and it makes us feel close to home.
We have had an internet breakdown! Here in Dnipro we have to purchase a card with minutes on it and then activate the card and that gives us time on the internet. We bought our first card on Dec. 30 when we arrived here and then after we posted those 4 pictures we ran out of time. Yesterday was a big holiday here so the stores were closed therefore we were unable to purchase more time. Today we are back on track! The internet that we have here is dial up so the waits are longer and I don’t think that we will be Skyping anyone while we live here.
Now to more important things – Kallie! We have had two more visits and she is fabulous! She really isn’t hesitant to come with us, although it takes her a few moments to warm up to us. We have quickly realized that she enjoys holding on to our finger and walk up and down the hallways. Today she fell and gently bonked her head, there were no tears she just got up and kept on truckin! What a trooper! We are glad that she is tough since she has an older brother that sometimes isn’t so gentle. Kallie really enjoys the snacks we bring her. Today she ate part of a banana, a yogurt, and an arrowroot cookie. She seems to know eyes, ears, and mouth but of course not in English so when she points we are saying these words to her. At this point, we hear very little from her, aside from a few giggles and her congested breathing she’s pretty quiet. Oh Yeah! We know it’s not a good thing but she sucks her thumb! It is so cute- I had to snap a picture. Darryl gently removes her thumb and she doesn’t seem to mind. Once our facilitator joins us we will be asking if she uses a bottle or soother on a regular basis. Today I took one of the outfits that I brought (the Gap ‘I Love Mom’ one – for those that know) it is size 18-24 months and it was a bit big but it will definitely work. Our daily visits, that are from 1 am to 3 am your time, go by very quickly. It has only been 3 days and we think that we are ready to take her and that she would be fine. She seems to be adjusting quicker than Kaiden did and we don’t know if it is because he was older, or that he is just a different kid. Because she is fitting in so quickly it is going to be a long wait until we get her full time. We talked to one of our facilitators today and because we are in the midst of the Ukrainian Holidays things might be slower. We are hoping to learn our court date early next week – we’ll see. After court, we will have a ten day wait before Kallie will be with us full time.
Kaiden is doing well and really enjoys helping her. At times he gets jealous. It must really be tough having to share your parents!
The city that we are living in has over one million people in it. We live a 35 minute drive from the orphanage. There is no shopping, McDonalds, or Mario’s close by! We have a supermarket close and that’s about it. Our apartment is not near as nice as the one in Kiev but it is bigger. Here in Dnipro we don’t get to hang out with our P.E.I friends. We sure miss them!
That’s all for today! Kaiden is getting out of the bath and we are going to play more UNO before he goes to bed.
Happy New Year to everyone back home!
Love,
Darryl, Jeremy, & Kaiden
Thank you for all the comments! We appreciate them! It is wonderful to read them and it makes us feel close to home.
We have had an internet breakdown! Here in Dnipro we have to purchase a card with minutes on it and then activate the card and that gives us time on the internet. We bought our first card on Dec. 30 when we arrived here and then after we posted those 4 pictures we ran out of time. Yesterday was a big holiday here so the stores were closed therefore we were unable to purchase more time. Today we are back on track! The internet that we have here is dial up so the waits are longer and I don’t think that we will be Skyping anyone while we live here.
Now to more important things – Kallie! We have had two more visits and she is fabulous! She really isn’t hesitant to come with us, although it takes her a few moments to warm up to us. We have quickly realized that she enjoys holding on to our finger and walk up and down the hallways. Today she fell and gently bonked her head, there were no tears she just got up and kept on truckin! What a trooper! We are glad that she is tough since she has an older brother that sometimes isn’t so gentle. Kallie really enjoys the snacks we bring her. Today she ate part of a banana, a yogurt, and an arrowroot cookie. She seems to know eyes, ears, and mouth but of course not in English so when she points we are saying these words to her. At this point, we hear very little from her, aside from a few giggles and her congested breathing she’s pretty quiet. Oh Yeah! We know it’s not a good thing but she sucks her thumb! It is so cute- I had to snap a picture. Darryl gently removes her thumb and she doesn’t seem to mind. Once our facilitator joins us we will be asking if she uses a bottle or soother on a regular basis. Today I took one of the outfits that I brought (the Gap ‘I Love Mom’ one – for those that know) it is size 18-24 months and it was a bit big but it will definitely work. Our daily visits, that are from 1 am to 3 am your time, go by very quickly. It has only been 3 days and we think that we are ready to take her and that she would be fine. She seems to be adjusting quicker than Kaiden did and we don’t know if it is because he was older, or that he is just a different kid. Because she is fitting in so quickly it is going to be a long wait until we get her full time. We talked to one of our facilitators today and because we are in the midst of the Ukrainian Holidays things might be slower. We are hoping to learn our court date early next week – we’ll see. After court, we will have a ten day wait before Kallie will be with us full time.
Kaiden is doing well and really enjoys helping her. At times he gets jealous. It must really be tough having to share your parents!
The city that we are living in has over one million people in it. We live a 35 minute drive from the orphanage. There is no shopping, McDonalds, or Mario’s close by! We have a supermarket close and that’s about it. Our apartment is not near as nice as the one in Kiev but it is bigger. Here in Dnipro we don’t get to hang out with our P.E.I friends. We sure miss them!
That’s all for today! Kaiden is getting out of the bath and we are going to play more UNO before he goes to bed.
Happy New Year to everyone back home!
Love,
Darryl, Jeremy, & Kaiden
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