The Chosen Heart

Changes for 2012

2012-01-23T22:08:00.005-06:00

Lost his 4th tooth

Snow tubing in Wisconsin

Indoor waterpark

First snow we had at home.

Well so much has happened since our last post. Christmas came and went. We all had a nice holiday. We spent New Year's at Wisconsin Dells at an indoor water/amusement park. It was a wonderful present from Santa. Thank you Santa!!!
As far as the adoption goes, we switched our country from Ukraine to Russia after many let downs. Ukraine's government was changing so much and the new rules for adoption were just not working for us. They raised the age to 5 as being the youngest age that could be adopted out of the orphanage. We were having a real hard time with this factor and then after we submitted all of our dossier, Ukraine rejected some of our paperwork saying it was copies and not originals..I did all I could to tell them they were originals but nothing worked. So after discussing more with our agency we decided to switch to Russia. We are now set up for 1-2 children ages 9 months-42 months, boys but either is accepted. All of our first set of paperwork for Perm region of Russia is submitted and we hope to hear something in February.
Now on to other news. I am going to transfer with my job to Texas. We will be North of Dallas area. The transfer will not take place until early summer which gives us time to sell our house and find new housing in Texas. We are all very excited for this new change in our lives. We have been talking for several years about a move and when this transfer came up we could not pass it up.
Everything is happening all at once making 2012 an exciting year.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

2011-11-22T15:12:00.008-06:00

When I got home today I checked the emails as I always do and there was an email from our social worker Katia. It took me a while to open it. I was so afraid there was going to be something wrong with our dossier but she said everything as far as they know is good. So this make for something else to be THANKFUL for this week.

Dexter has been busy with school and reading like a crazy man. We are amazed at how far he has come since the beginning of the school year. Dexter has also gone to a couple of boyscout events and has enjoyed them a lot. The first outing he got to shoot b b guns and archery along with some fishing. The second event was a their camping area near Farmer City. The younger boys joined the older boys for an afternoon of fun. Also, this past Sunday, Dexter rode a float in the Farmer City Christmas Parade. He said, he had fun throwing the candy to kids he knew from school.

Chris and I started attending a group at our church called CHOSEN Adoption and Orphan Care MINISTRY or chosen-fcc.org. We met several families who have or are in the process like we are of adopting. It was amazing to hear their stories of how the process is going for the country they are working with. The countries included Columbia and Ethiopia. As for all of us who were waiting we all have submitted our dossier and are just waiting for our travel dates. There were two families who had adopted from here in the US and one family that had already adopted twice from Ethiopia.

We are hosting Thanksgiving for our families. Everyone have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!! Mor pictures to come.

How to Be The Village

2011-11-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

I read another families adoption blog and they had a link to the following blog post from another adoptive family.

How to Be The Village

Dossier Completed

2011-10-06T14:08:00.003-05:00

Cub Scouts Rocket Roundup

Cousin Anley Ella

Camping with friends Peyton and Ty

Well after one year of paperwork and then redoing paperwork our dossier was sent to our adoption agency on Tuesday. The process so far has been more frustrating then our first adoption with Dexter. Everyone that had to do something for us this time around seem to get in no hurry. I consider myself a patient person but there were several times I felt I was being tested. So all we can do is pray that evertything with our dossier is GREAT and the next thing we receive is our travel date.

Dexter is now in the 1st grade and loving it. We are so proud of the progress he has made in the almost four years of coming home. He has joined cubscouts and is considered a Tiger Cub. Chris is going to be the Tiger Cub Den Leader.

Chris and I took a camping trip to North Dakota at the end of Aug for a week. Dexter stayed with his grandparents since he had already started back to school. We had a great time traveling the state seeing parks, lake and camping at different places every night. We went this past weekend with friends to Shades State Park in Indiana to camp. The park has several hiking trails and we roughly came up with 8 mile that all of us hiked in one day. All of the boy(9,6 and 4)did great and never complained.

Dexter became a new cousin to Anley Ella. My sister and brother-in-law welcomed her in late September.

The weather has turned to a Indian Summer here in Illinois with our temps this week back up in the mid 80's. Planning to go to the pumpkin patch sometime this weekend.

Over Due Pictures

2011-07-06T19:18:00.020-05:00

Kindergarten Field Trip-Decatur Children's Musuem

Coach Pitch Ball

Florida Vacation

Ball Pictures

6th Birthday

4th of July 2 mile run in Bellflower

Swimming at FC Pool

Making forts in the living room

Here are some photos from the last few months. Sorry I have not posted earlier but this summer has just been crazy.

Preregistered date/Legoland

2011-04-17T18:35:00.004-05:00

Dexter working hard on his car and trailer

Finished project

New legos he bought and built his church.

We recived an email letting us know our preregistered date is October 20, 2011. This mean we have until first of September to get our Dossier paperwork turned in to our agency so then they can forward it on to Ukraine. This date is actually earlier then we were expecting for this step so we are happy.

Dexter and I went to Schaumburg, Il to Legoland. Above are some pictures..Enjoy:)

Another check

2011-04-04T19:45:00.002-05:00

Well tomorrow Chris and I go to Indianapolis to have our fingerprints done for Immigration. I had last Friday off so I picked up our amended homestudy and drove to Springfield to get it apostilled. I got it sent off from there and hopefully we will hear from Ukraine by next week sometime with more information about our preregistered date.

No Rush

2011-03-24T21:05:00.002-05:00

We are still waiting to get our updated homestudy back from the Illinois DCFS. In the past few days we have received more information from our facilitators in Ukraine on more of the process still to come. About two years ago Ukraine started preregistering couples. This is a process where we submit our homestudy to Ukraine and they in turn give us a date. This date is then given to us and we have up to 1 month prior to this date to submit our dossier. As of right now preregistration dates are into November of this year. So we are probably looking at not even getting a date until 2012. We were SPOILED by our adoption with Dexter. Things went very smooth and only took 12 months so this is more stressful with the changes and waiting. Please keep us in your prayers so we can continue to stay strong during the long wait until we bring home our child/children.

B-ball and biking

2011-03-15T19:52:00.002-05:00

Dexter and Great Grandma "Rie" Marie 84th Birthday

Well things around here have not changed to much since our last post. It has not gotten much warmer and everything is a sloppy mess. We have had some sunny days to shoot some hoops and ride our bikes. Looking forward to a warm up and loving the evenings being light until 7 or later.
We were told our homestudy was being sent to Serge in Ukraine to go over. I received a call today that there were some changes that needed to be made. We just had to state minor correctable needs we would consider accepting in a child to be adopted. For Ukraine we could have just put that but for Illinois law we have to now specify the exact special needs we would consider. We have gone over this information and have already sent it back to our social worker for changes and hopefully we will hear back from Illinois DCFS in the next two weeks. We are set up for our immigration fingerprints April 5 in Indy. We will continue to keep you updated on any progress we have with our adoption.

3 yr Dexter Day

2011-02-15T19:49:00.003-06:00

Veggie Airplane

3 yr Dexter Day

Dexter Snowmobiling

Today we celebrated our 3rd Dexter Day. Dexter chose to go to Applebee's, his FAVORITE restaurant. Dexter got to ride his snowmobile over this past weekend maybe for the last time this year. Mama and Dada can only hope we do not get anymore snow. We have had more then enough this year. Last week at school Dexter was studying the letter V. The kids were asked to make a creation out of veggies. Dexter told Dada that he wanted to make an airplane. I think they both did very well. As far as our current adoption paperwork, our homestudy is being processed by DCFS at this time and hope to hear something in the next week or so from them.

Met our son 3 years ago.

2011-01-29T15:28:00.003-06:00

3 years since meeting Dexter 1-29-11

Proud little boy

Such determination

Great start

Homework Time

Today, it has been 3 years since we first met Dexter. We both still the remember that day like it was yesterday. He has adjusted so well to our family and his new life. Today he mastered riding his bike. He was SO PROUD of himself as we also were. We are all a very happy family and look forward to adding to our family this summer.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T13:51:00.002-06:00

New Year's Eve 2010

Toy From G-ma Bert

Dada and Dexter going for a ride

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2010

A little of everything

2010-12-15T19:47:00.007-06:00

Christmas Program

Thanksgiving

Elmo Live

Trying out Mama's remodeled salon

Mini Christmas tree Dexter decorated

First snow Dec 2010

So over the past month we have been very busy around here. With getting ready for the holidays and fighting the winter weather seems we have not had much free time.

Dada worked very hard getting my salon remodeled in our house so I could still do hair in the evenings but also have more time at home with the family. He did a wonderful job.

Dexter has been taking gymnastics for the past 3-4 months and that has ended until after the first of the year. They are going to start up a tumbling/trampoline class here in Mansfield and Farmer City so we may try that. Dexter has been taking a beginners swim course at the Y that last four nights and he LOVES it.

Dexter and Mama went to see Elmo Healthy Habits at the Assembly Hall back in November. It was fun and educational at the same time.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. Dada smoked the turkeys and they were DELICIOUS.

We went to Gibson City and watched the light parade and then the following day watched Dada driving his tractor in the Farmer City parade. It was like Halloween all over again with all the candy we got.

Dexter had a Christmas Program last week. The grandparents joined us to watch him. It was very cute. Dexter joined in a couple of times on the songs.

We have had one snowfall that really measured and the second one only about an inch but had 50+ mph winds and could not see anything. TOTAL WHITEOUT They are calling for around 2-3 inches tonight and tomorrow and it has already started. Dada is already in bed so he can get up early and take care of those roads so Mama can then deliver the mail.

Dexter's school instead of buying gifts for students and teachers go to see a movie and have a drink with popcorn. They will do this Friday morning and then have a party in the afternoon. He will be off for two full weeks and is so excited to go to Miss Gale's his daycare provider. She loves having him around because he is the only one who tells her how wonderful her food is.

Well on the adoption front, we received news that Serge the guy who helped us in Ukraine before was no longer working with our agency. It almost made me sick when I heard this two days ago but I have talked to our agency and Serge will continue to help those who already are in the process and have a contract with our agency. THANK YOU.. That is the main reason for selecting this agency this go around. People always say with adoption you have your ups and downs and this was our first DOWN. Our homestudy should be ready to be proof read in the next week or so. After this we will still have immigration fingerprinting and then start gathering final documents for our dossier.

Lost A Tooth

2010-11-12T18:56:00.005-06:00

Today was an exciting day for Dexter. He lost his first tooth at school. He said his teacher helped him pull it out and that it was bloody but not to bad. We will see if the TOOTH FAIRY stops by tonight.:)

Fall Fun

2010-11-01T15:49:00.003-05:00

Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Train

Love Fall Weather

2010-10-13T15:20:00.003-05:00

We are all loving this BEAUTIFUL Fall weather here in Illinois. The crops have come out of the fields and we can now see for miles. We enjoyed camping this past weekend with friends. The boys(Dexter and they have two) all get along so well together.
We had our homestudy meeting with our social worker from Illini Christian Ministries on Monday. She was very nice and will be wonderful to work with. She also went ahead and wrote up Dexter's last post adoption report that is due the end of this year, so that is one less thing we will have to do. She will basically just update a few things in our previous homestudy and add in that we now have Dexter. We received notice that our paperwork has been received by USCIS which is immigration and they are on hold until our homestudy is completed. Also, have sent in background clearance forms and are working on getting fingers prints.

Kindergarten Rodeo Roundup

2010-10-01T20:43:00.005-05:00

Today Dexter had a Rodeo Roundup at school. He had to make a stick horse and dress in his western wear. The teachers had about 12 stations set up for the kids to rotate from including line dancing, petting zoo, snacks station, etc. I actually had today off so it was great to be able to go and have fun with Dexter at a school events.
As for the adoption paperwork, we have started with paperwork needed for our dossier. Our immigration forms were sent off with us now waiting for clearance to begin fingerprinting. Our homestudy social worker will be meeting with us in a couple of weeks.

Brother-To-Beeeeeeeeeee

2010-08-28T19:29:00.002-05:00

I think the title of this post pretty well sums it up. Not sure if Dexter will be the BIG brother or LITTLE brother or somewhere in the MIDDLE. We have started the paperwork to adopt again from Ukraine. We are working with Small World Adoption Foundation out of Missouri. Marina one of our facilitators with whom we worked with while in Ukraine the first time referred us to SWAF. We are all super excited and will post more as information comes to us.:)

1st Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-19T07:28:00.003-05:00

Dexter started kindergarten on Thursday. He rides the school bus from our house and he LOVES that. He also started taking gymnastics again at the Y. His first class ran for two weeks right before school started. He will continue after Labor day. The class is only boys and concentrates on routines for the boys. He loves doing the rings and trampoline. I wish I could get out there with him and do the trampoline myself.

Colorado Vacation

2010-07-18T19:42:00.007-05:00

Here are some photos of our trip to Colorado. I am having trouble uploading them so more will come.

T-Ball

2010-06-01T21:09:00.006-05:00

RUN

GOING TO 2nd

Dexter has now played his 2nd t-ball game. It is so much fun to watch all of the little kids playing t-ball.

Hope everyone had a nice long weekend. We went to some friends house and camped out on Saturday night. We cooked out over the fire and slept in our tents. Dexter and his buddies Ty and Peyton got to sleep in their own tent and had so much fun. Sunday we played in Dexter's swimming pool and went to a birthday party for another friend with turned 14. Other than work and t-ball the last month not much else has happened. We are looking forward to many camping trips over the rest of the summer.

Happy Late Easter

2010-04-05T21:41:00.008-05:00

Hope everyone had a nice Easter Holiday. We started the weekend off with egg coloring on Friday evening. Sunday we have brunch with Grandma Rie and Mitchell family. Sunday evening we went to the Kirkland side. The EASTER BUNNEY did a good job of hiding eggs all around our property for Dexter to find. Dexter kept saying that EASTER BUNNEY is tricking me.
Tonight we are registering Dexter for Kindergarden. Is it really that time already?? Seems like we just brought him home from Ukraine. Dexter is signed up to play t-ball which should start next month. We all love the warm weather we have been having. I think we were all having cabin fever. Everynight Dexter has to take his clothes off at the door due to the dirt/mud and sand he has on him. we bought him a new t-ball bat and finally found a right hand glove for the little guy. We spend time everynight practicing hitting and catching. Hopefully he will like this better then soccer. HAHA

2 Year Dexter Day

2010-02-15T07:10:00.002-06:00

Today we are celebrating Dexter's 2 year anniversary of becoming part of our family. We are doing things alittle different this year. We all went shopping yesterday and Dexter picked out clothes, socks, etc to send in a care package to the orphanage where he used to live. Today, we are going to make brownies and look through his adoption book that we made him containing all of our entries made to the blog while in Ukraine. He wants to also play games and make scrapbook pages. Chris is taking care of the roads right now since we got some snow last night. Dexter and I are starting the morning off with Curious George and blueberry pancakes. We took the above picture yesterday at Lake of the Woods Park.

Christmas and First Snow Fall

2009-12-27T13:18:00.006-06:00

2009-12-06T19:56:00.004-06:00

Dexter and Dada making a shed for his tractors

Finished project

Halloween costume

So Cute

Waiting for Christmas Parade to start

"SANTA, I KNOW HIM"

Relaxing after fixing Birthday dinner for G-ma Patti and Mama

2009-10-12T11:18:00.008-05:00

Petting an alpaca

This is how he spent most of his time playing soccer-on the ground throwing grass

Sick day at home decided to take a nap and this is how Chris found him

Giant slide at the circus in Farmer City

Soccer in Mahomet

Soccer in Mahomet-one of few action shots we got

Monster truck at Mansfield Homecoming

Prize for 4th place in Peddle tractor pulls

Mansfield Homecoming peddle tractor pulls

Playing at Homer Lake for Annual Adoption Picnic

Dada's Birthday cake we made him

Summer Fun

2009-07-29T19:55:00.005-05:00

HAPPY NEW HAIRCUT

ADORABLE

HOLE IN OUR YARD FROM TAKING OUT A TREE ROOT

SPRINKLER FUN

AUNT JAMIE AND DEXTER

MAMA AND DEXTER ON JAMIE'S WEDDING DAY

AUSTRALIAN TRACTOR AT SHOW

TRACTOR SHOW

BIG BUD

FRIENDS

RACE CAR CAKE

INDY ZOO

INDY ZOO

TOUCHING A SHARK

BIRTHDAY PANCAKES
Well as usual time has gone so quickly and I have not posted anything since the first of June. It has been a busy summer for us and will continue through September. First, Dexter celebrated his 4th Birthday on July 2nd. We took him to the Indianapolis Zoo for the day. We had his party with family and friends then over the holiday weekend. He wanted a race car cake so I made him a race car cake. He woke up to pancakes with candles to blow out. Miss Dawn, Shelby, Madison, Dylan and Riley visited us for a day. The kids have lots of fun and get along real well together. Next, came my sister's wedding. Dexter was the ringbear and I also stood up with her. With all of the wedding celebrations we also got to see all of the family we had just seen a month ago in Florida. It was nice to visit with all of them again since it will probably be a year before we see them again. Also, nice to see other side of the family who lives in Illinois but is sometimes 6 months before we see them sometimes. We welcomed a new cousin to the family the same weekend of the wedding. Congrats Chris, Megan and Dycin. We went to the annual tractor show this to see the largest tractor called the BIG BUD. The owner of the tractor autographed a big bug airplane and gave to Dexter. He put it in his special cabinet and can not play with it. We talked to some people from Australia who brought their tractors over on ship. When they got to America they bought camper trailers and went to Walmart and stocked up and are driving across the United State. We thought that was great. Upcoming events include family reunions and an adoption picnic.

Florida Vacation

2009-06-03T14:49:00.008-05:00

PLANE RIDE

DAYTONA SPEEDWAY

DRAG CAR AT GO-KART TRACK

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA

IMAX AT DAYTONA SPEEDWAY

PONCE INLET LIGHTHOUSE

DOLPHIN BLOWING BUBBLES

DEXTER'S WATERHOLE

DEXTER AND HIS NEW BUDDY MARQUASE

UNCLE RICK, AUNT BECKY, GRANDPA, G-MA RIE

COUSINS WITH G-MA RIE

COUSINS AND PARTNERS

JOSH,JAMIE,CORY,STACY,JACOB

BRIDE AND GROOM

DEXTER PLAYING WITH HIS FRENCH FRIES

DEXTER AND UNCLE RICK

FIRST DAY ON BEACH

FLOODING
Well it has been a week since returning from our trip to Florida. We traveled to Daytona Beach for cousin Cory and Lisa's wedding. We stayed on the beach with wonderful views of the ocean. It was nice to visit with the Mitchell side of the family. Dexter got to meet his Great Aunt Becky who lives in California. We arrived to lots of rain and many streets were underwater. By the time the wedding came the weather was perfect. Dexter was a big hit with the women and dancing at the wedding. He met a new friend named Marquase who taught him how to dance. He was so CUTE. Dexter was not to sure of the ocean at first, then became very comfortable with wanting to go out by himself. He got to watch Grandpa Harold, Aunt Jamie and Mama go parasailing. It was the first time for Grandpa. I think he enjoyed it. We went to Ponce Inlet Lighthouse and climbed 203 stairs to the top. It was a beautiful view. Chris enjoyed all of the history aspects of the lighthouse and museums. We went through the largest Harley shop I believe they said anywhere. Watched a dolphin show at Marineland. A small interactive place with only dolphins. We stopped at a roadside bar and had lunch on the way back to our hotel and had a black snake slide under our table. We were not to crazy about that. We took a tour of the Daytona Speedway and watched an IMAX film of racing history. It was fun and we all wore 3-D glasses. The day before coming home we went to Uncle Rick and Aunt Kelly's house in Gainseville. Cousin Jacob and Caty ate lunch with us. Then they took us to the ponds around the university to watch for gators. We saw one out in the water but nothing to close, which was fine for me. We did see several turtles and some lizards. On our way back we stopped at a go-kart track. Chris drove a drag car, that was on a track. We LOVED it. It was 0 to 75 or more in like 2-3 sec. He told Dexter that mama would not have liked that. Dexter and I rode the go-karts instead and have a good time. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Happy May Day

2009-05-01T11:43:00.004-05:00

Easter egg hunt

Our Ukrainian Devil

The 3 yr old cousins

Lilly, Dexter, Rachel, Hannah

Bush is tickling me

RUN

BYE

Tea Party

Happy May Day to everyone!! Also, Happy Anniversary to the P's. I think we have been quite busy since our last post. We all hade a good Easter. Had brunch with the Kirkland's and then dinner with the Mitchell's. We traveled to Nebraska for a quick road trip to pick up a suburban we purchased. We all LOVE it. Dexter likes that he sits up tall in the seat and can also watch a movie on long trips. We had a cousin play day at a local church that has the indoor playground. Hannah, Lilly, Rachel and Dexter all got to play together and we took a pinic lunch. Today we had a Tea Party themed playgroup. We dressed up and had YUMMY snacks. Dexter made a frame for our picture and also made his own personalized t-shirt. Everyone had a BLAST. We are looking forward to our trip to Florida over Memorial weekend for Cousin Cory and Lisa's wedding. Can't wait for warmer weather. Dexter is ready to swim at the beach and build sand castles.

New Addition to the Family

2009-03-22T09:29:00.002-05:00

Happy and Dexter

Love the Boots

Where's my Trailer????

Ready to Ride

Grandma Bert's House with Cousins Hannah and Lilly.

We have added a new dog to our family. Her name is HAPPY. She is a mix of maltese, shitzu and bishon. Also said to be called a daisy dog. Dexter seems to like her and she follows me around just like our Smothers did. She is alittle over a year old.
Dexter and I spent Saturday afternoon at Dawson Lake in Leroy. He got to play on the equipment and we took a walk down by the lake. He got to see the fisherman in their boats. Dada is in Bristol TN with a buddy for the race this weekend.
Dexter is still attending gymnastics and is doing very well. Now that the weather is getting nicer we have been spending alot of time outdoors. Dexter used his cub cadet lawn tractor and wagon to up me pick up stick in the yard. We traveled to Salem to visit Grandma Bert last weekend. Dexter have a good time playing with his cousins. As the Weather is getting nicer we will have more pictures to post.

One Year In The USA

2009-02-23T17:10:00.010-06:00

One Year Family Photo

Fun Pit at Gymnastics

A Natural

Gotcha Day Fun

Mama's New Log Home

OUCH!!!
Today marks Dexter's one year as an American citizen. One year ago we boarded a plane in Kiev on our way to Austria before landing in Chicago. It was a long day for all of us. For Dexter the excitement of his first plane ride. For Chris and I, the excitement of settling in at our home as a family. We all have come a long way since Ukraine. In celebration of our 1st Anniversary, we have invited our families out to our house for a Ukrainian dinner. I prepared Borsch Soup and Varenyky, some of the dishes we enjoyed during our stay in Ukraine. Dexter also started gymnastics today. He really had a good time. His teacher said he was a natural.
Well of course I could not get this to post earlier. The families have come and gone. Everyone enjoyed the food.

1 year Gotcha Day

2009-02-15T08:25:00.006-06:00

Well, we can not believe that it has been one year already. We were running from orphanage to passport office to visa office and back to the orphanage to get Dexter ready to officially become our son last year at this time. It was a very exciting adventure from start to finish and would not have changed a thing. Dexter has advanced so much this past year. He has put on 6 lbs and grown 4 1/2 inches. His speaking has become more clear every week. He loves BOB the Builder, Thomas the Train and his toys.
Chris writing. The Dexter man is quite the ladies man. I would trade to be 3.5 with him any day. I hope he keeps his happy sweet boy charm forever. He likes to help dad in the shed getting dirty. One year ago he was a little hard to deal with , and I learned what patience is. He is just a good little hoser. He also was a pro to potty training.
We are getting ready to take Dexter for his surprise day. Going to go stay at a hotel and go swimming. He has talked about swimming ever since our St Louis trip.

Meeting Our Son

2009-01-29T10:27:00.004-06:00

FIRST PICTURE WE TOOK OF DEXTER

DADA AND DEXTER SLEDDING

MAMA AND DEXTER SLEDDING

AGAIN!!
One year ago today our blog post said "Opening Day". We had taken the WILD taxi ride from Kiev to Khmelnitsky. We met Dexter and said we wanted to adopt him within 10 minutes of being with him. Dexter made such an impression on us when first meeting him just as he has done this whole year with everyone we meet. Chris and I can not imagine life without Dexter to share it with us. He has brought us so much happiness this past year with more to come.

Yesterday after getting more snow we all went sledding. Chris made a sled out of a plastic barrel and put a rope through it to hold on to. We all had a blast especially when we crashed. Chris and I then took turns pulling each other with Dexter with the four wheeler. Dexter really liked this.

Ukraine Bound 1 Year Ago

2009-01-24T09:42:00.002-06:00

The Pro Ice Skater

Well, 1 year ago Chris and I had so many emotions going on inside our heads as we headed to St Louis airport to catch our flight to New York, then on to our final destination of Kiev, Ukraine. From there we had no idea were we would be traveling to meet our son. Everyday I think one of us brings up a memory we have of our 30 day stay in Ukraine. We left Illinois on an unknown journey of which little boy would be returning home with us. We met so many wonderful people during our 12 month process to bring Dexter home. From the social workers in Illinois to the translators in Ukraine. We were very fortunate to have had a smooth adoption process from start to finish.
We all went iceskating at the U of I. Dexter had a good time and with the help of the "walker" had a fairly good first skating experience. Dexter and Dada spent a weekend together while I went with a friend to a scrapbooking weekend near Chicago. They worked in the shed and visited with friends. It has not been the greatest here in Illinois with the temperatures. We had a full week of single and negative temps with out the wind. Add the wind and we were in the -20 to -30. Yesterday afternoon, we went to Champaign to get some supplies and went to the mall so Dexter could run at the playgound area. We arrived with four kids playing, then went down to Dexter by himself then back to around 25 kids who all seem to come at the same time. Chris and I wished we would of had the camera but Dexter had 6 girls aorund the age of 8-10 hanging all over him. Dexter says he is a CHICK MAGNET. When we left they had to have hugs from him. SO CUTE

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T21:02:00.007-06:00

A Gift From Uncle Rick and Aunt Kelly

Christmas Day

New Bike

New Bed

Christmas Eve

Dexter at top of Arch

Dada and Dexter Having FUN

Mama and Dexter riding tram to top of Arch

Train Ride
Merry Christmas to everyone. This was our first Christmas together as a family. Dexter has been with us now for 10 months but really it seems like forever. Dexter had asked Santa for a big boy bike and bed. Santa pulled through on his requests. We have Christmas Eve with The Kirkland's and tonight then with The Mitchell's. It has been a wonderful time seeing him grow the last ten months. He was really into the present opening.
Since our last post, we went on a long weekend trip to St. Louis. We rode the train and stayed downtown. Dexter loved riding the train. At the hotel he got to swim. He was a little unsure at first but by Sunday morning he was a little dare devil. We went up in the Arch, went shopping, took a carriage ride and saw a lot of Christmas lights. The past two weeks here in Illinois has not been the greatest with the weather. Tuesday we had everything but heat. Rain, Ice, Snow, HIGH Winds and on and on. The roads around here are like an ice rink.

Thanksgiving Break

2008-12-01T00:18:00.004-06:00

Fruit Punch Face

Ferry taken from HIGH up on Cliff of park

Looking at Ohio River from inside Cave in Rock

Ohio River Southern Illinois

Dexter and Mama Riding the Trails

Dada and Dexter

Horse at the Circus

Spaghetti Face
Happy late Thanksgiving to all. We traveled to Southern Illinois to stay at a families cabin. This was our first family vacation since returning from Ukraine back in February. We rode several miles of trails on the four wheelers through the Shawnee National Forrest. We got to see wild turkey but never saw any deer except for on the side of the rode. We drove to Cave in Rock, Illinois where you can take a ferry across the Ohio River to Kentucky. Dexter really liked when we got out of the car while going across the river. We also, went to the state park and went inside the cave. It was an amazing thing to see. The weather was in the 40-50 degree range our whole trip so of course we had to returned home tonight to about three inches of snow on the ground with more to happen possibly tonight. Dexter helped me put up and decorate the Christmas tree after getting things put away from our trip. Over the past few weeks we have gone to a circus and two Christmas parades. One was during the night with lighted floats. Some friends and their daughter went with us to that one. Then Dexter and I watched Dada in the Farmer City parade where he drove his tractor. It was nice weather for both of them.
The picture of Dexter with spaghetti was the first time he has eaten it and Chris noticed he was throwing his hands up in the air that night and that was the some of the mess we found.

EMAILS

2008-11-08T15:35:00.006-06:00

Hello to all

Our Internet service did some updating and changed our emails around. By doing this I have no record of email addresses unless you have sent me one in the last two days. Please email me at cksk99@tswireless.net so I can get them updated again.
UGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!
Thanks

Becky
Rick and Boys
PSB Gals and Guys(maybe who ever see this first could send me all of them from the list)
Dawn

Time Change

2008-11-07T03:25:00.000-06:00

TIRED FROM HIKING

RELAXING IN ROCKING CHAIR

MASK WE ALL MADE FOR SCHOOL

BEE COSTUME FOR HALLOWEEN

CAROUSEL AT MALL

ICE CREAM FACE

FUNNY FACE IN NEW CLOTHES

Well I am glad October is over. It seemed like such a long and busy month. Now the next two month I think are going to be even busier with the Holidays. Last Sunday we all went to Allerton Park and walked the trails. It was such a beautiful day. We rolled down the hill of the open prairie area. Dada could not believe I did that. Dexter took snacks to school last Monday. We made cheerios treats and decorated them for Halloween. Tuesday we had parent teacher conference. Dexter teacher said he is doing very well. Friday I attended school with Dexter for a fun craft day. We played outside, made ghost and spiders out of paper and most importantly, had SNACK. I think all the parents had a good time. We went Trick-or-Treating to about 8 houses. It was exhausting for all of us. After that we went to a Halloween party but did not last very long at it. Saturday Dexter and I went for a play date to the playland area at the mall. We then rode the carousel and ate at the food court. For the ride home all the kids got ice cream cones. Sunday Dexter and I went shopping and for a walk. Dada was helping his dad with some work all weekend. Sorry for the delay in posting more pictures. I have tried all week but been having trouble with the internet.

Happy Harvest

2008-10-25T16:02:00.004-05:00

Dirty Sticker Face

Tarp Strap Belt

Hot Air Balloons We Saw

Mama and Dexter's painted pumpkins

It has been busy around here. I have been working the past three days so Dexter has been with everyone of the family members. Today he and Dada spent the day working outside. Dexter was a dirty little boy when I stopped by our house this morning. He had been eating apples off of the tree. So a little juice mixed with a little dirty dirty face. Dexter and I took a walk after I got home while Dada is helping drive a truck for a farmer. We watched the combine unload the corn into the BIG wagon. Dexter thought that was great. I notice he had on some pant that I thought were to big for him. Dada had rigged up a belt using a tarp strap. What will us country people come up with next. Dexter and I went with group from a local daycare to a pumpkin farm. He had fun playing in the hay maze and corn box. Instead of a sand box it was filled with corn. We picked out some pumpkins for our house. Aunt Jamie took him to ride on the fire truck at the annual open house. He still talks about the siren and make the sound. As I type now he is sticking every sticker he can find in his books on his face. I will post more after Halloween.

Great Weather

2008-10-06T08:50:00.004-05:00

Smile

Jumping with cousins at our cookout

1-2-3 GO

Tree Climber

It has been a busy month since our last post. The weather has been great Fall temps. Still not sure if we are ready for it to get colder yet,though. Dexter has been attending Pre-K and is starting to get adjusted to the schedule. He talks more everyday about different kids and what he did that day. Every Friday the kids are allowed to pick out a book from the library and bring it home for the week. Dexter has picked out some good ones. We attended his open house and a family play group. Dexter stayed with his Aunt Jamie and Uncle Mike last weekend overnight. They went to Curtis Orchard and brought home a pumpkin. We cooked a pig and had a get together at our home this past weekend. Dexter had a great time playing with all of his friends and cousins. Mama participated in a walk for diabetes yesterday at a park in Champaign. Dada and Dexter played at the park and walked to McDonalds for breakfast. By last night he was one tired little boy. Enjoy the photos and I will try to post sooner then I did last month.

First Day of Pre-K

2008-09-08T11:59:00.004-05:00

Hurry Mama-My Bag is Heavy

Ready for School

Playing in Sandbox
Today was Dexter's first day of pre-k. He started out the school year with a rotten cold. Other then the cold I think he did really well. Came home in different shorts so we thought he wet himself, but the teach sent a note and said the slide was wet when he went down it. He got a snack schedule and he takes snacks TOMORROW. Not quite prepared for all this yet, must get organized. We were having trouble with our computer so over the weekend finally got a laptop and got connected this morning. I really do not know what I would do with internet. I actually sat with Chris last night and watched a football game. Dexter stayed with the Mitchell Grandparents on Sat. overnight while we attended a wedding.

Long Weekend

2008-08-31T18:03:00.004-05:00

Hold On Tight

Mama and Dexter on Giant Slide

Family Photo 6 months Home

Helicopter Pilot

Cars-His Favorite Word
Dexter will be starting Pre-K on Monday the 8th. He is going to be in class with Cousin Rachel.
Last weekend we went to Springfield to the fair grounds for a Family Carnival put on by the Shriners. They have maybe ten rides for various ages and food. We all had a great time riding the rides. Dexter rode his first roller coaster and the tilt-a-whirl. Dada did not like the tilt-a-whirl.
This long weekend has been a busy one. We went to Aunt Jamie and Uncle Mike's house for a cookout last night. He played so hard with all the kids there. Also, Congrats to them on their new engagement. Today Dada and Dexter worked on more landscaping while Mama had a day of wedding dress shopping with Aunt Jamie and Grandma Patti. It was fun to look at and try on all those dresses. Dexter is now suppose to be picking up his room so we can have some dinner.

Returned Home 6 Months Ago

2008-08-23T15:43:00.000-05:00

Great-Grandma Marie and Dexter

Dexter and Cousin Cole hanging out before Parade

Face Painted at Adoption Family Picnic

Dexter being a Monkey

Playing with Toys--OF COURSE

The last few weeks have been beautiful weather here in Illinois. Today marks our 6th month since returning from Ukraine as a family. In the last 6 months so much has changed with Dexter, Chris and I. He has grown from this little boy into quite a strong, smart little MAN!! It is had to believe that we spent 30 days in a foreign country and LOVED IT!! Almost everyday one of us will bring up something about our trip. I read about our entire trip a couple of nights ago when I could not sleep at 2 am. It was great to look back and read what we were seeing and experiencing at that time.
We went to a family picnic hosted by our adoption agency here in Illinois that did our homestudy for us. We met several others from around our area that have children from China, Russia, Guatemala, etc. We had one lady that knew Dexter had to be from Russia, Ukraine area. She then introduced us to her son and he and Dexter look similar in appearance. She had four boys from various countries. It was a nice time for all of us. We all had a nice visit with Uncle Rick and Aunt Kelly from Florida. We road on the tractors for the parade here in Mansfield last weekend. Dada had 7 tractors hooked together. Dexter went yesterday for his Pre-K screening. The teachers said he did real well with everything, glad to see my hardwork at home with Dexter has paid off. We should find out by next Tuesday if he will get to go.

Happy Birthday Dada!!

2008-08-07T12:52:00.005-05:00

Bumper Boat at Zoo

New Friends

Awesome Water Area

Fun Bee Costume given to Dexter

Well this past month has been very busy and has gone so fast. Since posting last Dexter has gone to a tractor show with his Dada. Dexter and I took a long weekend trip to friends house in Southern Indiana. We went to the zoo and saw lots of animals. The giraffe came right down to him. He liked that. We went to a city park that had a water area in it. Dexter loves to swim or be around any water. He played very well with his four new friends. We have also had local friends over for more play days. He went camping overnight with his Kirkland grandparents. His Mitchell grandparents took him to the Amish Country for a day outing. He is growing so fast and his language is progressing everyday. He does very well at his ABC's and numbers and has about ten colors down. Today is Dada's Birthday so we fixed him an apple crisp and are taken him out for dinner tonight. He gets to see his Uncle Rick this weekend from Florida and meet Aunt Kelly too.

Tractors, Museums

2008-07-13T13:56:00.005-05:00

Rock wall at museum

New FUN haircut

Carpenter

Painter

Climbing the mesh mess

His favorite thing---Driving the Tractor

This past week has been a busy one. Mama worked on Monday so Dexter stayed with Grandma Patti. Thursday Chris took Dexter for the day to the antique tractor show in Penfield. I think he had a pretty good time. He got a new hat and a tractor key chain, which he needs for all of his keys. Saturday we all went to Bloomington to the Children's Discovery Museum. It is three floors of fun things from painting on a grass wall, dancing in a dark room, tractors and combines to Lego's and the list goes on. He made a few girls cry because they were not doing what he wanted them to do. There was a festival going on in the streets outside the museum, so we listened to music, looked at booths of art and had ice cream. We went shopping to return some shoes that were given to Dexter and did not fit and in the parking lot of the store was a nice car show. I know Dada really liked this. Today has been work around the house day.

Busy Holiday Weekend

2008-07-06T18:42:00.005-05:00

Pedal Tractor Dada Restored for Dexter

Dexter and Dada being silly

Dexter and Cousin Lilly-Dexter is on her lap

Dexter getting ready to jump

Birthday Party FUN

Watching the 4th of July Parade

Dexter on Tractor at Parade

Hope everyone had a good Holiday weekend. We have been going non stop since Wednesday. Dexter had his 3rd birthday on Wed and he weighs in at 27 lbs and is 37 inches tall. He has grown 3 inches since being home. We took Dexter out for dinner and the went to Lake of the Woods Park. We found some swings and then took a walk over the covered bridge. Friday the 4th we took Grandma Marie with us to watch Dada at the Parade. That evening we went to Bellflower to watch their firework celebration. All Dexter could talk about was the fireworks and how they went BOOM!! He enjoyed them very much. We share some popcorn and then had ice cream after they were over. Saturday, Mam and Dada got everything ready for the birthday cookout. We had around 25 people over to help Dexter celebrate. He got to play with all the cousins. They jumped in the bounce house, swam in the pool and rode pedal tractors. Everyone had a nice time except for the little black bugs were annoying. So today, we went to the lake for a while, came home and Dexter took a nap, then went out and played in the bounce house and pool.

Changes Are Good

2008-07-02T00:47:00.006-05:00

Serge-The Man who made things happen for us in Ukraine. I took this from another blogger who took photos from our blog. We could not believe we did not get a photo of him while in Ukraine. He is a BUSY man.

Family Photo

New Swimming Pool

Fun at the Park

I made a few changes to the look of the blog. I just love the picture of Dexter. He always has a look on his face. Well it is after midnight and our son is now 3 yrs old. Hard to believe, but I think the years are going to fly by, before we know it he will be in high school. Of course Dada and Dexter are sound asleep. We are going to take him out for dinner and maybe go play at a park tomorrow evening for a while. Dada is redoing a pedal tractor for Dexter and I made a book of our blog. I wanted to have a hard copy of all our experiences, thoughts, and comments that were left to us on our blog when we traveled to Ukraine. This is something to look back at for years to come. He will get more things to open at his party this weekend.
http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook.
Enjoy the photos and will have more this weekend.

Home 4 Months

2008-06-29T17:08:00.002-05:00

Hello to all, We have now been home from Ukraine just over 4 months. It seems like we have been together so much longer then that. Father's Day weekend we took Dexter swimming at the lake. He did very good, not sure at first. We took a picnic lunch and after eating he was ready to give it another try. Chris says everyday that he is doing so much better with his vocabulary and talking. Dexter has taken a few tractor rides with his Dada while Mama has gone to work. We continue to walk to the neighbors to see the chickens, that get to roam the yard now. Dexter took Great-Grandma Bert down to see them, also. We have been doing a lot of landscaping around our home with the help of Dexter of course. He does do a good job with the help. Friday, we ran some errands in town and went to the park for awhile. He got a new swimming pool this past weekend. Chris filled it from our cistern and the water was so cold, but Dexter wanted to get in. He had a good time. Saturday he spent most of the day in the pool. Today was more of a lazy day. We are getting ready for Dexter's 3rd Birthday Party we are having next Saturday. Everyone have a GREAT 4th of July and be SAFE. Having trouble downloading pictures so I will try again.

NO MORE RAIN

2008-06-06T13:41:00.004-05:00

BEING SILLY

WATER SURROUNDS HOUSES IN TOWN

STREET IN TOWN

CORN FIELDS AROUND OUR HOUSE

MORE AROUND OUR HOUSE
Actually while I type it has just started to rain again. Mansfield had streets that were impassable do to the water. Kids were playing and swimming in the yards and streets. Dexter, Grandma Marie and I went to garage sales in Farmer City this morning. He is potty trained except for nights and needed some smaller shorts. Dexter got to see his Auntie Becky on the Price is Right show Wed. Her and cousin Jason went for her birthday and she ended up being called as a contestant for the last round. Not much else to report.

BEAUTIFUL DAY

2008-06-02T11:07:00.001-05:00

Dada and Dexter

Dexter asleep at the dining table

Worn out little guy

Dexter wearing his winter boots on one of the hottest days

Finally we have had some pretty nice weather. Friday we had some bad weather and heavy rains. The water is still standing in the fields. This past week we went to see cousin Sammie graduate from 8th grade. Her father had a party for her this past Sat. Dexter had a GREAT time playing with all the kids or I should say girls. Sunday, Dexter spent most of the day outside with Chris. They worked on his pedal tractor. Mama went to town and did some shopping. Mama and Dexter have been walking or riding the bike everyday and by last night he was worn out.

Happy Memorial Day

2008-05-26T13:59:00.003-05:00

COUSINS PLAYING AT GRANDMA BERT'S HOUSE

DEXTER RIDING TRIKE AT GRANDMA BERT'S

DEXTER AND MAMA WITH OUR 3-D GLASSES

DEXTER CLIMBING THE ROCK PILE

DEXTER IN A FARMERS BACKHOE
Hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend. We traveled to Salem to visit with the family and had a cookout Saturday evening. Dexter had a good time playing with all of the cousins. Last weekend we worked around the yard. We shovel river rock around our bushes and used it for our landscaping. Dexter liked climbing the rock pile we had dumped in the driveway. We have also been working on the storm cellar. Chris sandblasted it and we are cleaning it up to make possibly a play house for Dexter. Have not quite decide on that yet. We know the top is going to be an outside patio area with seating and a fire pit. Still a work in progress. Take care to all.

BEEN AWHILE

2008-05-03T09:31:00.004-05:00

DIRTY FACE

COUSIN RACHEL AND DEXTER

DEXTER ON HIS MOTORCYCLE

DADA AND DEXTER GRADING OUR DRIVEWAY

LID TO MAMA'S BASKET,DEXTER USES FOR HIS HELMET

Sorry it has been so long since we last posted. Dexter is doing better everyday it seems like. Over the Last few weeks we have done quite a bit. He had cousin Rachel out for a play date. They rode the four wheeler together. We took the wagon for a walk down the road and picked flowers. Then they sat on our front sidewalk and watched the farmer across the rode with the tractor. They played very well together. This past weekend we took our first trip since being home. We traveled to Southern Illinois to visit our family. Dexter got to play with cousins Hannah and Lilly. We went to see Uncle Eddy and Aunt Lisa's new Land they bought. We walked all around and saw some horses. We were going to camp on our property last night but storms seem to pop up out of nowhere. We started to set up the tent, Dexter and Mama went to get some wood in his wagon but got caught in one of the sheds because of the bad wind and rain. We have walked to our neighbors several times to see the chickens. They have gotten so BIG!! Dexter also got to see some new kittens. We are going to a wedding this evening so Dexter is going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell. I think they have a full evening planned for him. Hope you enjoy the pictures and we will post again sooner then before.

2008-04-11T15:56:00.001-05:00

SIGN UNCLE RICK MADE FOR DEXTER'S DOOR

CRAZY WEATHER

2008-04-11T15:07:00.003-05:00

DEXTER LAYING IN HIS DUMP TRUCK

PAINTING

MAMA AND DEXTER ON FIRST TRACTOR RIDE

BABY CHICKS AT OUR NEIGHBORS

It has been a great couple of weeks. Yesterday and today the wind has been crazy and the rain I think we have had enough. The weather of the past weekend was great though. We did a lot of yard work. Dexter was a great help with picking up stick and rocks. We visited the neighbors who have started raising chickens. Dexter really liked holding them. He has gotten to visit with all the grandparents this week. Grandma Marie brought him out some keys last Sunday. He is always talking about keys and wanting to play with yours so she thought he needed some. Uncle Rick and Aunt Kelly from Florida sent him today in the mail Albert and Alberta the Florida Gators Mascot. They sing the Gator fight song. He also got more keys. These keys are big old looking ones. I think they will be less likely to get lost. Not much is planned for this coming week. We may go to Farmer City to the library for story and music night.

TGIF

2008-04-04T11:47:00.003-05:00

LEAPFROG FRIDGE DJ

HE LOVES THE BATHTUB

WALKING ON THE WINDIEST DAY

FOUR WHEELER FROM AUNT JAMIE AND MIKE

Hello,
Dexter is doing great. He has had a little cold this week and the weather has not been so great. We have not been out of the house to much. Today, in the mail Dexter got a new music box from his Great-Grandma Bert. It is a Leapfrog Fridge DJ. It is magnetic and plays ABC's, 123' and several other fun songs. He really loves it. He knows where all the radios are in the house and is always saying music, music. The neighbor down the road just got in a shipment of baby chicks and when it gets nicer weather we are going to walk down and see them. Last Friday we all went shopping for a new mattress set for Mama and Dada. We took Dexter to play at the mall play area and out to eat for Chinese. He is doing great on the potty chair. When we are home he rarely goes in his diaper. Everyday he seems to do better and better. Take care and we will post more real soon.

Been Home 1 Month

2008-03-25T15:36:00.003-05:00

As of Sat March 22nd we have been home 1 month. We can hardly believe that. Time has flown by. We talk about how much Dexter has changed to us since we met him that very first day, Jan 29th. Everyday he become more grown up to us. Wish we could stop the clocks so he does not grow up so fast.
We took Dexter to the Easter Egg Hunt on Sat. They ended up having in the school gym because it was so cold and muddy. He got about 8 eggs and won an ice cream cone from the General Store, a movie THE EASTER CAROL, and some toys.
Saturday afternoon was our Open House. We had a great turn out. It was nice to see how much love and support we have here from family and our community. Dexter got lots of new toys, clothes, money and gift cards. Aunt Lisa and I carried all the gifts into the house that night and Dexter just kept going WOW!! Sunday morning when he came down stairs to see all the gifts again he did the same thing. Dada and I got them all put away and organized while he took his nap that afternoon. By the way HAPPY BELATED EASTER to everyone. We would like to say THANK YOU again to everyone for their support in bringing home our son.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

2008-03-17T10:31:00.005-05:00

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA MITCHELL WITH DEXTER

FAMILY PHOTO TAKEN AT GRANDMA MCCLURE'S

GRANDMA AND GRANDPA KIRKLAND WITH DEXTER

FOUR GENERATIONS=GREAT-GRANDMA MCCLURE, GRANDPA SKIP, DADA AND DEXTER

DEXTER AND KAITLYN IN TUNNELS AT CHUCK E CHEESE

DEXTER AND CHUCK E CHEESE

I hope everyone is wearing their green today!!

Everyday is an adventure with parenthood we are finding out. We went out with some friends who have a 12 yr old girl on Sat. to Chuck E Cheese in Bloomington I think Dexter had a great time playing on all the rides and crawling through the tunnels with his new friend Kaitlyn. Not sure but I think we may have seen some other people from around our area there also. So many kids and adults when we first got there. Sunday we went to visit with Chris' grandma and grandpa.
This week we have no major plans. Last week we did a lot of running to doctor appointments. We plan to take Dexter to an Easter Egg Hunt this Sat morning before the open house. We think he will enjoy it. We should have a toy hunt at home to find all the toys he likes to hide around the house.

Busy Week

2008-03-10T21:25:00.002-05:00

It has been a week since we last posted and a lot has happened since then. To start off with sad news our golden retriever, Smothers, passed away last Thursday night. He started having some problems when we were in Ukraine and the vet wanted to do some tests on him for cancer. We are just glad he is not suffering. He will be MISSED. On to a better note, Dexter got to meet more cousins from Florida and North Caroline this past weekend. Josh, Haley, Cory, Lisa and Jacob came to visit over some of their spring break. Great-Grandma Marie watched Dexter for three days last week since I was working for mom being off with this bad cold virus that seems to be going around. She loved it and when the family arrived on Friday I know Dexter loved that. They brought him a t-ball set and a nice race track which he has already hid some of the cars and remote to it. He was worn out most of the weekend from playing so hard with all of them. Grandpa Harold took the whole family up to the dairy north of Mansfield on Sunday and then on to see the windmill farm. The dairy was exciting to see how the operation works. Dexter kept MOOING at the cows and said goodbye and blew them kisses. We even got out to see some of the baby cows.

Doctor Appt

2008-03-04T20:54:00.002-06:00

Love the weather we are having. Today we had another snow storm. We took Dexter for his first pediatrician appt today. She said he looks good and looks forward to seeing him advance in the months to come. She started him on his vaccinations today. He had to get six shots, TB test, plus had six vials of blood drawn. We both felt sorry for the little guy. He was a good trooper though and did not seem to bother him tonight. He weighed in at 26lbs and is 34 in tall. She said that he is on the lower part of chart for his age range but that is to be expected. He stayed with the Mitchell side of the family last night for a few hours and had dinner at Great-Grandma Marie's house and visited with his Great Uncle Rick from Florida. Tonight his Grandma Kirkland stayed with him a few hours while Chris plowed the roads.

Great First Week

2008-02-29T13:01:00.002-06:00

We are nearing our first week home with Dexter. It has been and still continues to be a amazing adventure. We met our neighbors for a walk yesterday and then had lunch with them. The grandmother watches the little girl who will be 1 in Aug. Dexter played well with her and all of her toys. Smothers got to hang out with Bri, which is their golden retriever. Today, Dada had some guys over to the shed to visit and Dexter spent a few hours before nap time out there also. He likes to get dirty playing with all of Dada's tools. He has a pedal tractor that Chris had to add blocks to the pedals because Dexter is to short. He does very good on it. Saturday, Dexter is going to meet his Aunt Lisa, Uncle Eddy, Aunt Kari and not sure if anyone else is coming up or not. I can't wait for him to meet cousins Hannah and Lilly. They are twins that are 1 month younger then he is. He already met Rachel she is also the same age. I will continue to post and eventually add more photos.

BRIGHT, COLD MORNING

2008-02-27T08:15:00.004-06:00

Dexter just had sausage and scrambled eggs for breakfast. He wakes up in the morning with a smiling face but by the time he gets up after his nap he has a little more trouble. Yesterday, I was getting our papers ready for our tax man and he was having one of his moments and decides to throw his new tractor across the room. Not sure what the problem was but he got in trouble and sat against the wall for 30 mins. Mama was not happy with him and I think he knew it by this time. It was dead silence.
On to another subject, for those of you wanting to get your hair done again, I will be starting back on Mon. March 3rd and have my same hours 4-8pm.

ADJUSTING VERY WELL

2008-02-26T10:56:00.005-06:00

DEXTER PLAYING IN THE MAIL TUB

STATUE AT THE GOLDEN GATES

DADA AND DEXTER AT MCDONALD'S IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

MOVIE THEATER IN KHMELNITSKYI

KELLY FAMILY FROM CONNETICUT

GOLDEN GATES

DADA AND DEXTER IN FRONT OF GOLDEN GATE

OPERA HOUSE IN KIEV

ST MICHAELS' MONASTERY OF THE GOLDEN DOMES

DEXTER GOT TIRED OF WALKING

JULIA HELPED US WITH THE AMERICAN EMBASSY

PUBLIC TOILETS

KATERINA-DIRECTOR/DOCTOR OF ORPHANAGE

OUR WONDERFUL FACILITATOR MARINA

The past few days have been great. Dexter is adjusting very well to his new home environment. Sunday we had breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Kirkland. Dexter played in his room they have set up for him. He also, met his big brother Smothers for the first time. This went great. Then his Mitchell side of the family came out along with Great Grandma Bert and Great Aunt Toni. He played and ran around the house with Aunt Jamie and Mike. Dexter fell asleep at 6pm Sunday night and got up at 6 am Monday morning. I think the jet lag finally caught up with him. Monday, Dada went to work and mama and Dexter hung out all morning. He listened and sang to his music player. My mom brought our mail out to us in a tub and he then started playing in the tub. After taking his nap, Dexter, Aunt Jamie and myself ran a few errands in Mansfield and Mahomet. He met all of my past co-workers at the bank, then we went to Great Uncle Randy's house and he played with all his cousins. He got along very well with all of them. Brianna was feeding him so I think he really LOVED her. We received a nice WELCOME HOME BEAR form our adoption agency yesterday with a poem.

THE CHOSEN HEART

LONGING FOR A CHILD TO LOVE,
I'D WISH UPON THE STARS ABOVE.
IN MY HEART I ALWAYS KNEW,
A PART OF ME WAS MEANT FOR YOU.

I THINK HOW HAPPY WE WILL BE,
ONCE I ADOPT YOU, AND YOU ADOPT ME.

I DREAM OF ALL THE JOY YOU'LL BRING,
IMAGINING EVEN THE LITTLEST THINGS.
THE WAY IT WILL FEEL TO HOLD YOU TIGHT,
AND TUCK YOU IN EVERY NIGHT.

THE DRAWINGS ON THE REFRIGERATOR DOOR,
AND CHILDHOOD TOYS ACROSS THE FLOOR,
THE FAVORITE STORIES READ AGAIN AND AGAIN,
AND HOURS OF GAMES WITH MAKE-BELIEVE FRIENDS.

THE DAY YOU TOOK MY OUTSTRETCHED HAND,
A JOURNEY ENDED, BUT OUR LIVES BEGAN.
STILL MESMERIZED BY YOUR SWEET FACE,
STILL WARMED INSIDE BY OUR FIRST EMBRACE.

I PROMISED TO GIVE YOU A HAPPY HOME,
AND A LOVING FAMILY ALL YOUR OWN.
A HOUSE YOU'VE NOW MADE COMPLETE,
WITH LAUGHTER, SMILES AND TINY FEET.

A PARENT IS ONE WHO GUIDES THE WAY,
KNOW I WILL BE THERE EVERYDAY.
REST EASY AS EACH NIGHT YOU SLEEP,
A LIFETIME OF LOVE IS YOURS TO KEEP.

LONGING FOR A CHILD TO LOVE,
I'D WISH UPON THE STARS ABOVE.
IN MY HEART I ALWAYS KNEW,
A PART OF ME BELONGED TO YOU.

Today we woke up to snow on the ground and blowing like crazy. I sure do miss the weather we had in Ukraine.

WELCOME HOME, DEXTER

2008-02-24T05:01:00.004-06:00

It is so good to be home after our 30 day adventure. We started out by getting up at 3:30am Sat morning in Kiev. Our first flight to Vienna, Austria was a quick two hour flight with a good breakfast and drinks. We arrived in Vienna, got off the plane outside and rode a tram bus to the terminal. We used the restrooms, got new boarding passes and boarded for our next flight home. This flight was AWESOME. We had all the drinks you could ever want including any alcohol. We had snacks and two great meals. They movie selection was excellent.
Bourne Ultimatum
Batman
Flicka
Good cartoon with the rats
The Brave One
And the list goes on. Plus we could play games and everyone had screens in front of them. This was the best flight either of us had been on. The flight attendants were wonderful to Dexter. Dexter only slept the whole trip for a total of 1 hr. By last night when we got back to the house at 8pm or so he was out. We had been up for almost 24 hrs by this time. Dexter was pretty good on the plane with a few minor cries. I think his little belly was so full he did not know what to do. Well we slept for a good 7 hrs last night and we are all going strong this morning. We will post more photos later on.

LAST DAY IN UKRAINE

2008-02-22T10:30:00.000-06:00

We arrived at the American Embassy before 9am and had Dexter's visa by 9:30am. We are ready to fly home Sat morning. We will be getting up at 3am and leaving the apartment by 5:15am. Our flight leaves at 8am. This is our final post while in Ukraine. We will continue to post once we are home. We have more photos to post and can't wait to share our stories with everyone.

Love
The Kirkland's

GREAT DAY IN KIEV

2008-02-21T19:30:00.001-06:00

We first went to the clinic for a check with a doctor who signs off on papers for the American Embassy. From there we went to the Embassy. I had to fill out more paperwork and was asked some questions then told to come back on Friday morning to pick up Dexter's visa. We all had some lunch and took a nap.
We took a pretty good walk around our area. We found some venders set up at Independence Square and bought a book of the area and postcards. In the larger cities for some of the crosswalks they run down underground. We had this in Khmelnitskyi also. We walked down one of the underground crosswalks and found a true mall that was then three more levels down. Very nice stores in this mall not like the market we were used to seeing. Dexter and dada shared a icecream cone from McDonald's. It was 1.50 rph which was only $0.30. Dada said it tasted better then in America. The city in the area we are staying is nice with lots of old buildings. It is very pretty at night with all the lights.

KIEV

2008-02-20T20:02:00.001-06:00

Hey we made it back to Kiev in one piece. I think Chris and I sat in the back seat and laughed until we were crying from the way our driver is. Marina rode back to Kiev with us today. Dexter was pretty good in the car. He got upset a few times and Marina talked to him and he was totally new like that. We joked that we were going to film her on the camera so if we have any problems we would show it to Dexter and he would be fine. Anyways, the apartment we are in now is on the fifth floor with no elevator. That is O.K. gives us some exercise. The apartment is AWESOME. My kind of place, decorated nice with crystal chandeliers(sp), wood floors. It has a hallway with the living, bedroom, and bath, kitchen off of it. We took pictures but will not post anymore until we get home. We are located in the central part of the city with alot of old places to see. After our appts tomorrow we plan to roam the area. We just had some supper and are putting Dexter to bed.

HEADING BACK TO KIEV

2008-02-20T11:45:00.000-06:00

It is about 11:30 am here in Ukraine. We have everything packed up in our room and are justing waiting. We went for our morning walk, Dada and Dexter are back in the room getting something to eat. We just want to say THANK YOU to all of our family and friends for giving us the needed support to get us through the past few years and to this wonderful time in our lives. We are not sure if we will be able to use internet back in Kiev. We will be in a different apartment so this may be our last post until we arrive home.
Love to all
The Kirkland's

Five Days and Counting

2008-02-18T20:30:00.000-06:00

We booked our airfare today. We will be home Sat 23rd into Chicago around 2:30pm. The airfare was alittle more then yesterday but had to get clearance from Marina before booking it. We also could have waited until Sunday but not going to stay any longer then we have to. Today was a great day with Dexter. We walked to the bank this morning. Then back to Lemon's Cafe for lunch. He was very good at the cafe. The waitress gave him a paper and crayons. Then after our meal he got a sucker. He was not sure what to do with this. We came back to the hotel for his nap and that was it. He woke up in a good mood, then supper time came and he got mad at mom for trying to help him with his yogurt and SCREAMED for the next 45mins. I am sure the hotel could hear him everywhere. After he finally calmed down he started walking him up and down the hall and here we are. Dexter and dada are playing in the large foyer area as I post. We started packing up our bags to get a start before we leave here on Wed morning. We are so excited to be coming home and can not wait to introduce Dexter to everyone.

More Shopping

2008-02-17T15:30:00.000-06:00

Good Morning, America. It is another bright and sunny day here in Ukraine. The past two days have gone pretty good. The first night Dexter woke up a few time and talked for awhile. Yesterday he was a bit cranky. He has alittle bit of a cold. By last night he was in good humor and slept all night til 6:15 this morning. We needed to get him some shoes for him to where home and just to have. We did not have any,just his boots. We walked to the department store close to the hotel but they did not have any shoes we were interested in. Actually they had maybe 5 pairs total for kids and they were GIRLY looking. He has had enough GIRLY looking clothes. We took a taxi then to the large market. We put Dexter in the sling we brought with us and Chris carried him around. He did not seem to mind it. We fed him some turkey, bread and a banana and then put him down for his nap.
We still have not booked our flights home yet. Marina told us to wait until Monday just to be sure.
Also, in the picture of him asleep that was last posted, that is not his pj's. Over here everyone wears what looks like tights to us in America but they call them long underwear. We bought these so he would be warm to leave the orphanage. They are very strict on how children are dressed for the cold weather here in Ukraine.
PICTURES
Here is nicest tractor Chris has found driving thru town. It has some pimp(as Chris says) curtains inside and tinted windows. Most of the other tractors are beat up. They all seem to have cabs on them. Most of them are used for hauling construction supplies around town. In the background is the Court House where we went to. Not what we thought the court house would look like.

Dexter's new shoes we got him at the market.

Totally out of it after a long morning of shopping. We found him the ball at the market, also.

Hotel parking lot. Chris took it this morning after some more snow last night. Older ladies sweep it off with an old looking broom. You see this everywhere over here. They know the meaning of MANUAL LABOR.

Last night at dinner for dessert we let him have some more chocolate pudding. Can you tell he LOVES it?

Dexter gets very upset when you take his plate away from him. He was done but wanted more and got mad at us. I love to see him show his anger. It sometimes make us laugh. We have to watch him when he eats because he tries to shove it all in at once. He is protecting his food.

Gotcha Day

2008-02-15T16:15:00.002-06:00

Hello to all. I can finally introduce us as a family. We left our hotel at 9:20am and were back in the room with Dexter by 1:00pm. We first went to have his birth certificate changed showing us now as his P's, then to the orphanage to give out our gifts and pick up Dexter. We then went to the passport office for our final stop. He liked riding in the car. The last 2 days it has snowed liked crazy for 15 min then sun comes out for awhile then back to snow again. It has been very cold. They all say over here this is how this time of year should be. In the last post, Dexter tilts his head like that when he would hear people coming down the halls. He was not in trouble this time.

Marina, our facilitator, said we will leave for Kiev on Wed. Thursday and Friday will be appointments at the American Embassey(sp) and we plan to fly home then on Sat. ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW. YEA!!!!! We have not booked our flights yet but this is our plan of right now.
The pictures from today, starting at the top are as follows.

Chris is eating what we would call a burrito not sure what they call it. It had chicken, mushrooms, corn,carrots, cabbage, cheese, mayo and ketchup. The girl puts what looks like pancake batter on a large round hot plate. Then spins it around to make to batter really thin, then starts putting all the goodies into it. It was VERY GOOD!!

Yesterday we had one of the nurses take our picture for Valentine's Day. Grandpa Harold picked out the shirts so we would all match.

We put him down for his nap and it took him about an hour to fall asleep. He was so excited to see new things in the hotel rooms. For now we are going to try and keep him on his same schedule.

Dexter and mama outside of hotel. The wind was blowing like crazy today.

This is the outfit we brought to take him out of the orphanage. When we arrived to pick him up he was just finishing lunch.

Dada and Dexter opening a Valentine's card that Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell sent over for him. We shared some smarties with the other kids in his groupa.

Thought everyone might like to see when we talk about the market. They have everything you could possibly need or want. Can you as an American imagine buying a wedding dress in this type of environment? Not me

Hope you enjoy the pictures and we will continue to post more.
Love to all

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2008-02-14T06:15:00.002-06:00

Chris writes
I woke up early so I finally can use the computer. What a pain to share one computer on dial up with every guest in the hotel. It flurried all day Wednesday, but just a dusting. Knock on wood but the weather here has been pretty sweet for a February. It stays at high 20's low 30's, but we still miss home. We are excited to have Dexter to ourselves tommorow. This will be his first car ride. Stacy bought him some more toys at the grocery and department store. We have all our gifts bought to give to nurses,staff,head doctor, passport people, etc. Our translater says you must do this it is the way things work here. We bought flowers, chocolate, champaign, and brought other things from home.
Stacy writes
I was not to happy with Chris waking me up at 5:30 am to get on the internet but he is right it is a pain. Not to worry on me walking around by myself. I feel very safe here. Everything you need is within two blocks of our hotel. In the pictures, I think maybe number four, Dexter got a hold of the baby powder in the bag. He carried it around until finally getting to cap twisted on it and he started spinning with the powder going everywhere. He thought that was funny. Chris took the photos of the old car that was decorated for a wedding. The old truck is also to show that they still use a hand crank to get it going. We will try and post again on Friday with more pictures.

Busy Shopping Day

2008-02-12T19:35:00.000-06:00

Hello to all. Things have been going great here in Ukraine. It was another beautiful bright sunny day. After our visit this morning Chris and I had lunch together then he went back to the room and I went shopping at a nice department store a couple of blocks from the hotel. Sorry Mom and Dad that I missed your call. I found these blocks with pictures and the ABC's on them for Dexter. The other family from the US had gotten them for their boys. They are hard to explain but Dexter really liked playing with theirs. Also, picked him up a couple of other toys for him to play with at the hotel and then for the plane ride home. We plan to hit the large market again tomorrow to finish up buying for ourselves, Dexter and the caregivers. We have found two large parks near our hotel that we hope to take Dexter to weather pending when he is with us over the weekend. They have very nice playground equipment, with some shaped like animals. The other family from the US is leaving here tomorrow around noon. It has been great to get to know them and their two boys. We have exchanged addresses so we can keep intouch. Funny thing, Ellen and I also have the same birthday. Good day isn't it, Aunt Lisa. In the last post at the bottom I wrote HAVE A GREAT DAY in Ukraine or Russian. You can switch the language on the computer. Kinda cool. Anyways, take care and hope the weather gets better for you all.

Bright Sunny Day-FINALLY

2008-02-11T15:05:00.000-06:00

We woke up today to some SUN. YEA!!!! First off, we found out we could take Dexter back to the hotel with us as of Friday afternoon. We have to run around and do paperwork most of Friday but then he is ours. We are very excited about this. We both think this will be good to start a few days of being alone with him before we make our travels home. We will probably be here until mid of following week then back to Kiev to do more paperwork before flying home.
Last nights visit was really fun. Dexter started off with a mesh sack that holds some balls in the hallway, he put it on his feet like he was in a gunny(sp) sack race. He went up and down the halls walking in the sack. Then we started playing duck-duck-goose. He was hilarious when we played this.
This mornings visit we had our best day of playing outside with Dexter. He seems to not be awake in the morning or just grouchy. The mud is frozen so we could get to the playground equipment. He was having fun on the slide mostly today. He also likes to feed the puppies that follow us around. We washed his hair in the sink today. His hair did not smell to good. He was not sure about it at first then did not seem to mind us doing it. We lotioned his face and then took him back to his groupa and the nurse said he smelled like his mama.
When taking photos of Dexter, it looks like he poses for them, but really we just shoot the photo and pray it will be a good one. He really does not ever look right at us, he is usually on the move.
We have been watching some older American movies that we know the lines to. Last night was Sahara and Commando.
I did buy a purse at the large market we went to. I am not sure if it is genuine but I liked it.

РФМУ Ф ПКУФЕ ВФН!!!!!

PS Mom forget about the email we sent you. Thanks

T MINUS 5

2008-02-10T19:35:00.000-06:00

Chris writes
Sorry it has been so long since we posted. Everytime we went to use the internet the past few days it did not work. We have also been quite busy little beavers. The visits with Dexter have been GREAT. We walk from the orphange in the morning to our hotel for some good exercise. It is about 2.5 miles one way. We found out about another market just a little ways from the orphanage. Let me tell you something that is huge. There are 50,000 overseas containers on the ground and they are set up in rows and people sell merchandise out of them. They have fold up rebar racks that are welded to the containers that they hang any thing on them for display. Fur coats, boots, fish, underwear, pipe wrenches, and any thing you can imagine. It was 30 times larger than market place mall. It was crazy. All of our paperwork is going to plan so far. We just want to kidnap Dexter and not wait, for his sake and ours. I will say something about this orphanage, it is high class. We have noticed the cleanliness, toys, food, amount of staff, and the way the children look healthy. I am sure this is one of the best around the country. Dexter is whimpering more and more after our time is up and he must go back to his group. He is pretty easy on us for being such a good boy. The couple from Connecticut are having some tough goodbyes. We really enjoy going to the supermarket. We made a haul with some killer vittles for $30, it would have been around a $150 at home. We will try to post some good pictures next time. Thank you for all the comments we really look forward to reading them. tootaloo.

Stacy writes
Right now things are looking good for us to possibly come home in two weeks from this weekend. Everyone keep your fingers crossed for this. All I can say is I think very differently about alot that we as Americans do and have.

P.S. MOM CHECK YOUR EMAILS

Another Rainy Day

2008-02-08T14:10:00.000-06:00

Today it is still misting. Today is the eleven day for the other American couple. They were off doing paperwork this morning. We are exactly one week behide them. We still continue to walk even with the rain. We both can not wait to breath fresh air. Chris wanted me to tell everyone about a taxi driver we had two nights ago. He flipped out a dvd high tech dash screen and the guys were watching a war movie. I think the guys could have rode around all night with that taxi driver. We have been going outside for our visit in the morning and then part of the afternoon. Dexter likes to feed some puppies that are on the orphanage grounds. He shares his animal crackers that G-ma Marie sent for him. We posted a picture of the soup we like to eat. It has some potatoes in it with shredded beets and a chunk of meat still on the bone. Also, today at our morning visit we asked to see Dexter's bed. The nurses showed us as you will see also in the pictures. We have one of him in his bed but he was not happy with that. I think he is going to have those days like his Aunt Jamie. I think at home we will just send him off with her on those days and they can work out their problems together. HAHA Love Ya. We went to a nice shopping area yesterday and found some good bargins. Chris found him a pocket knife that he really wanted. I am still looking for that one thing that I really want. In another picture you will see one of the outdoor markets that we walk by daily. We are amazed that it is all set up on the ground with meat, cheese, bread, fish all just right out in the open with nothing covering it. That would not fly back in America. Dexter's hair is getting longer and he must have slept on it wrong so mama wet it down one day and spiked it up for him. I can't wait to give him a haircut. When we go outside Dexter and dada like to swing together. Everything is such a muddy mess. There is not alot of grass any where. I know that when we return I do not want to wear these clothes I have been wearing anymore. Over here they wear the same clothes I think all week. Some of them smell like it at least. Like I said before FRESH AIR. Also would love to see the sun shine.

T MINUS 8

2008-02-07T10:00:00.000-06:00

Hello to everyone back home. Most of you are sound asleep at this time. It is Thrusday morning around 10 am here. The orphanage has some type of inspection today so we will not see Dexter until this afternoon. It is a rainy, cold day here. We were going to go look at some of the shops around here but decided to stay at hotel due to the weather. Our visit last night went o.k. Dexter was having a bad night. He just was not happy with to much. I know we will have these days and many more to come.

I thought I would start answering some of your questions.
Dexter's name given to him at birth was Andrewska(sp) That is why we went with Andrew for his middle name.

The water we have been purchasing is called Bonaqua. They had either Gas or no Gas water. Carbonated or Not.

The tooth brush is what Grandma Patti, not sure what she wants to be called, got him for Valentine's Day but we decided to start him right off with it.

We tried most of the clothes on that we brought for Dexter. They all fit differetnly and are sizes 18mo and 2T. The coat Grandma Kirkland got him fits him well with some room to grow.

Dexter is somewhat potty trained. One time we visit and he has on Cloth pull ups and the next he has on a diaper.

He absolutly loves to look at books. That is good because we had lots of them at home.

We are staying at Hotel Padillya(sp) The Judds that were here last summer recoginized some our photos. We are on the 12th floor(top floor) and had a nice suite.

I had gone back through some of the cmments and tried to answer most of the questions. Let me know if you have more.
Chris is in the room playing pinball and solitaire on the laptop right now.

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments. We love reading them and it makes us feel more connected to all of you at home..

T MINUS 9

2008-02-06T14:50:00.000-06:00

The pictures below are from this morning visit. We arrived to pick Dexter up from his groupa and he was at his musica lesson. They were playing ball, listening to music and having hard bread for a snack. Dada and I had a snack with strong tea and coffee. The musica room are in the pictures and is very nice. Yesterday mornings visit, Dexter was very sleepy as you can see in the last photo he is laying on the pig and almost asleep. We rolled him around in the colored tube. He had a blast in the tube. Mama then got in the tube and dada and Dexter rolled me around.
Chris is typing. We had another good lunch at the cafe across from the hotel. Stacy had cheese soup and a chicken,bacon,mashed potato dish. I had french onion soup and killer pickled chicken wings. Uncle Eddy you dont know what you are missing. We bought dexter a ukrainan red tractor with a mounted chisel cool. We will give it to him on the plane as a bribe to be a good boy. There could be more of this to come. Ukraine tv is not good, but we can watch sports with no problem. We watched arm wrestling and a lot of ping pong tournaments. This morning very early I watched real freestyle womens wrestling, I wouldn't try them. I have tried a new beer out every night and am saving the labels in our scrap book. I will try to bring home as much as the bag can weigh, because it is very good and cheap. The weather is consistent, cloudy and 30. The sun has only shined probably 2or 3 hours since we have been here.

Countdown Begins-T Minus 10

2008-02-05T14:15:00.000-06:00

Hello to all. The weather today was a bit colder then it has been. It is very damp but still continue to walk back to hotel from orphanage. Dexter was a little sleepy at this morning visit. We took a coloring book and crayons(from Aunt Lisa) for him to play with since it was to cold to go outside. The other children did not go outside today either so the halls were filled with kids. Dexter would hide his crayons and other toys so the other children would not see them. He did not want to go back to his groupa this morning. We could hear him crying as we walked away. This is only the second time he has done this. We keep telling him only ten more days and we will break you out of here.

We stopped at a shopping mall on our way back today. They are not the same as our shopping malls. Here they are more like small booths at a flea market. I think I am going to have to purchace a purse for myself here in Ukraine. I have seen many I like. Chris wants to get a nice pocket knife. We had lunch at Lemon's today, we both had boursch(sp) soup and potatoes "Free" which is french fries. They serve their fries with ketchup and mayo. I remember my mom making this sauce when we would eat fish sticks. Hope everyone has enjoyed the pictures. He likes to wear mama's hat.

We are becoming zombies. We are tired at 8 or 9p and then by 12-3a we are wide awake. The beds here are not that comfortable. Chris says his back is killing him. I can imagine because mine hurts a little. We are getting sick of being in our hotel room also. But only 2-2 1/2 more weeks, hopefully and then we are Mansfield bound.

Court Day

2008-02-04T04:49:00.000-06:00

We had court at 10 am this morning. The court house is a two story run down building in the middle of a getto looking area. We went into a room with Marina and six other people plus the judge. No one else spoke english and everthing was translated for us. We were approved to adopt Dexter. Our 10 day waiting period starts Tuesday and from here we then start passport and birth certificate changes. Marina showed us a very good buffet to eat at after our court. We paid 36 of Ukrainian money which equals 7 US dollars for both of us.
Dexter has been doing very well with us. He really liked eating chocolate pudding and sharing with his dada. Last night at our visit we sat in the room with the piano and just watched him do his own thing for about 45 minutes. He so CUTE. We are glad he plays so well by himself.
Pictures are hard to post on the dial up internet and it has also been down for three days. So we may not post any more pictures but will contiue to write. This may change but just so you all know.

Sunny and 30 degrees

2008-02-01T13:36:00.000-06:00

Sounds like Illinois is getting hit with a bad snow storm. We actually are not to sad about missing it. HA HA Our visit last night with Dexter went great. He was so worn out he could hardly stand up. He fought us when it came time to go back to his group. That was very hard for both of us. We know it is not going to get any easier for this part of the visit. We showed him how to brush his teeth. He did very well with this.
It snowed overnight but we still took Dexter out for our morning visit. He likes the snow and playing on the playground toys. Today for snack we gave him some kiwi. He LOVED it. This is good to see that he will try lots of things. Actually I think that right now anything with flavor he likes.

Day 3

2008-01-31T14:29:00.000-06:00

Chris writes.
Thanks for all your comments. The internet is really nice when you are very far from home. Last night's visit was really a good one. He didn't act up except when you put the snacks up in your bag. He was warming up to us real well. We went into a empty room with an old piano and let Dexter whack away, he really liked it. Todays morning visit was real good again. We gave him a banana(probably his very first). He did not want to go back to his group when time was up. Stacy and I had a real ukraine lunch at Lemon's cafe. We had Borsche soup, which is beet soup. It was great, it is like a hamburger to an american, very popular.
Stacy writes.
The weather here has been around 30-35 with some snow flurries now and then. We enjoy the walk back from the orphanage everyday. Not sure how far but a good distance. This is the only exercise we would do so thought we should do this while the weather is good. We love to read all of your comments. This keep us alittle sane. I was awake at 2 am this morning playing solitaire and pinball on the computer. Good thing I have the laptop or our lives would be very boring in the hotel. Can not watch TV, the shows mostly are in english then dubbed over with Ukrainian or Russian.

Day 2

2008-01-30T13:36:00.000-06:00

Good Morning to everyone back in the states. We had a good visit with Dexter this morning. He seemed to be alittle tired. We went out side for a walk and Chris showed him a crane and truck. Some of the pictures I posted today are at the orphanage and a sign on the outside of the building that say the name of the orphanage. In english it mean Birch, like a tree. We share a taxi with the American couple and then walk back to hotel at 11. It takes us about one hour to do the walk but nice areas of town and always lots of people around. We are amazed at how nicely dressed everyone is over here. The women look very sharp and always wear tall spike looking heels. We are not sure how they can walk long distances in them. Chris is in the room fixing us lunch. We stopped at the market and picked up some meat, cheese and bread. Just wanted to say thanks again for all the comments. It is good to hear from all of you back at home.

Also, I thought that Dexter sort of looked like Chris and then the caregivers at the orphanage also said that.

Opening Day

2008-01-29T11:29:00.000-06:00

To start, we left for our region last night at 8:30. It started off good with our driver in an old Mercedes Diesel that Chris really liked. As we went on the music got louder and the speed got faster. It was dark, bad headlights, curvy roads with major holes and the speed of 130 Kph. I knew it was bad when Chris put his seat belt on in the front. Cars over here do not have seat belts in the rear nor do they wear them in the front. We asked him to slow down and he said our trip would take a lot longer and that he would keep it no more then 130kph. DON'T THINK SO. Anyways, after that trip and arriving at our very nice hotel at 12:30am and getting 4 hours of sleep things are going good.

We accepted our referral today and started the process to have paperwork done to complete the adoption. We have court next Monday and then have a 10 day waiting period prior to leaving the region and finalizing passport and loose ends then in Kiev.

His name will be Dexter Andrew Kirkland, born July 2, 2005. We can visit from 10-11am and then again from 4-6pm. He seems to be smart and very kind to other children around him. Not sure any sizes yet because I can not understand their size ranges. He is ticklish. We took him some gold fish and animal crackers and a couple of toys to play with. He was not happy with us when we would not give him more treats. The children tend to hord their food and toys from others. I think he is starting to understand us when we say NO already. Also he already hit his nose on a radiator pipe in the hall we were playing in and had a bloody nose. Good way to start things off. We met an American couple from Connecticut that are adopting brothers age 3 and 5. They definitly have their hands full. Our facilitator Marina left us today and will return for our court date on Monday. We will be traveling around with Chris and Ellen.

Information on the Region

2008-01-28T15:54:00.000-06:00

Khmelnitsky is a regional city on the Southern Buh River. The population of the city is over 250,000. The city has been known since 1493 under the name of Ploskuriv. In the 1780's it was renamed Proskuriv. In 1941 the city became a regional center. In 1954 it was renamed in honour of the founder of Ukrainian Cossack State Bohdan Khmelnitsky (1595-1657). Khmelnitsky is an, industrial center of the region. The leading industries of the city include machine engineering and metalworking.

The city has been the capital of the Khmelnitsky Region has been since 1941. The region includes 20 districts, 13 towns, 24 settlements, and 1417 villages.

SDA APPT.

2008-01-28T14:54:00.000-06:00

This morning we woke up to snow on the ground and quite chilly. Serge, one of our facilitators, picked us up at 9:30 for our SDA appointment. He told us last night that he would be to our apartment around 11am. He called at 9:30 and said he would be here in three minutes and to meet him downstairs. We were both up at 2:30am and by 4:30 already had our showers. I was afraid the power would go off again. Chris went back to sleep and I had just told him to get up when Serge called. We were then 1 1/2 hrs early for our appt so we walked around that area of town. You have to pay 50 cents in Ukrainian money to use the public restroom which is just a ceramic hole in the ground with no t.p. We went into a cathedral that was beatiful. The outside is very nice also. We have taken photos and we plan to post them when we get to our region in the next day or so due to the dial up and it taking so long. Another thing is the dogs run stray around here. They do not bother you when passing by them on the streets. I saw a puppy I wanted to bring home with me.

Now on to what most of you are waiting for, we accepted a referral for a 2 1/2 yr old boy located in Khmelnytsky. This is located around 3 1/2 hours west of Kiev. We will leave at 5am on Tuesday to travel to meet the little guy. If all goes well with our meeting and we accept this boy then we start the rest of our paperwork.
We will be staying in a hotel and are told they have good internet service there for us to be able to post some pictures.

After our appointment Serge dropped us off at a buffet place for lunch. We are not sure what we ordered all we could do is point to the item we wanted. For the most part it was good. Then we walked back to the apartment. We will update more tomorrow after our first visit.

We Are Here!!!

2008-01-27T16:01:00.000-06:00

We are finally able to connect to the internet. It is dial up but so far not to bad. We arrived Friday around 11am. We both caught some Z's on the flight over. The plane was not even half full so we had our own rows to stretch out in. The weather has been rainy but temperatures are not bad. Yesterday we mostly just caught up on our sleep. Today we went with one of our facilitators to the market to stock up on more food and water. Our apartment is on the 4th floor with only stairs,but very nice. We have a living room, bedroom, nice bathroom and small kitchen. The power likes to go off a couple of times per day. I had read where this happens alot. Our SDA appt is at noon on Monday. At our appt is were we will be shown possible files of children that fit our request. We also went out for our first journey by ourselves today. Just walked for a while. You have to watch out for cars on the sidewalks. They drive and park everywhere. Not to mention how they drive, CRAZY. Whoever can get there first I think is their moto. We miss home and our four legged son, Smothers.

Departure Day

2008-01-24T06:52:00.000-06:00

It is very cold here in St Louis area this morning. We went for a QUICK walk this morning. It is 8 degrees. We are ready to go on a long plane ride, hope they show good movies on the flight. Stacy didn't sleep well I did so she'll be grumpy later. We are ready for this day. Thanks for all the wonderful comments keep them coming.

2 DAYS!!

2008-01-22T17:52:00.000-06:00

We both can not believe it is finally here. We leave tomorrow to stay with Aunt Lisa and then she will take us to the airport in St Louis then on Thursday. We fly to New York JFK with a 3hour lay over then on to Kiev, Ukraine landing us there on Friday around 11:30 am Ukraine time. That will be 3:30 am Illinois time. From start to finish we will have traveled around 16 hrs and a total of 5,557 miles. Tonight we are doing our final packing and getting things caught up around the house. We thought we would show some pictures of our son's new bedroom. We decorated his room in a Wilderness Bear Theme. We will write as soon as we can after arriving in Ukraine.

BED

SITTING AREA

TOYLAND

OTHER VIEW OF BEDROOM

Can't Sleep

2008-01-15T23:56:00.000-06:00

It is midnight and usually I am sound asleep, but tonight my mind is racing. I keep thinking of all these things I should do before we leave in a little over one week. I have packed and repacked our bags to get things to fit. I have gone over my list again and again. For those of you who know me and my lists, I can be pretty serious when it come to them. The whole idea of traveling to me is like an adventure. I love to do and see new things. This adventure will not only let us see parts of the world we would probably never travel to but also gives us the opportunity to come home with the greatest souvenir of all, a SON!! I am starting to get emotional about the whole experience and for most of you who really know me, I rarely show emotions to anyone. The idea that in two weeks I will be meeting my son, the one I will be responsible for is kinda scary. Smothers told me I take pretty good care of him and that he is looking forward to meeting his new brother. I think he will adjust very well.

18 DAYS!!!

2008-01-06T18:11:00.000-06:00

I am just sitting here going thru our teach yourself Ukrainian language book looking for words or phrases I think might possibly come in handy for our trip. I think pointing to the words in the book is going to be the best for us. I have had this cd since May and have listened to it several time but I still cannot seem to speak the language. Oh and as far as reading it that is not going to happen either. We picked up some boxer brief underwear for our son last night. They are so small. Not sure if they will work but will have them with us. I work one more Sat before we leave so these next two weeks I will be getting everything around our home cleaned up. Chris has been working hard on cleaning up his shed. He has been busy and finally had some time to accomplish that. Talk to everyone soon

25 Days!!

2007-12-30T20:27:00.000-06:00

GO ILLINI!!

Hope everyone had a nice Holiday and are looking forward to the New Year, I know we are. Took down all of our Christmas decorations today. That is one less thing to have to deal with in the next few weeks. I think we are pretty well set on supplies for our trip. With us not knowing who or how old he will be we are taking a few outfits in a variety of sizes for our son. So far what we have learned from other blogs and the family who traveld in Aug is that the children are wearing smaller sizes then they would normally be use to them wearing. Our sons bedroom is full of our bags with items to go into those bags piled in front of them. We will take some pictures of the room before we leave and post them on our blog. We chose to do it in a Wilderness Bear Theme that goes great with the wood walls. Have a Safe and Happy New Year!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!

2007-12-23T19:05:00.000-06:00

We would like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of our friends and family. We spent the weekend traveling to family gatherings and it was great to see everyone. Smothers was happy to see us when we picked him up. The next couple of weeks will be busy for us both with getting everything caught up at our jobs before we get ready to travel. Chris is making his Christmas Slush to take to my parents for Christmas Eve. We both would just like to say thank you to all of our friends and family for their support as we near the end of our adoption process.

ICE

2007-12-09T11:30:00.000-06:00

We are now down to 46 days!! We have not been having very good weather here in Illinois. Then again it is Illinois. Yesterday started with rain then turned to ice and continued through the night and is still doing this as I write. Poor Smothers (our golden retriever) doesn't want to go outside because he wipes out every time he steps out the door. Other then the weather not much more to report. Still picking up items and checking off my to do list of things we need to pick up before we leave.Everyone stay safe during your Holiday travels and take care.

67 Days!!

2007-11-18T09:44:00.000-06:00

Time has gone quite fast since receiving our SDA appt. and with the holidays fast approaching Jan. will be here even quicker. We went to Gibson City to there Christmas Parade Celebration last night. All of the floats have to be lighted. Very neat and interesting how they made lights into everything imaginable. All of the downtown shops were open and we found a children's resale store. It was a nice store with very reasonable prices and nice things. Chris is headed off today to the Farmer City parade. He will be on a tractor for his Shriner's group. It is very CHILLY out there today. We have been introduced to a couple through e-mail that used CWA for their agency and traveled to Ukraine over this past summer. They gave us some very good information for traveling and during our stay. I liked that when I asked about shoes for the child, not knowing what size he will be, she said she traced his foot and took that to the shoe store. I would not have thought of that. With everyday that passes, I get more relaxed about making the venture to Ukraine. The only thing is leaving Smothers (our four legged son) for that long. I know he will be in great hands at his Grandma and Grandpa Kirkland's house. He will be very happy to see us return with a new friend for him to play with. Everyone have a great Thanksgiving Holiday and be safe in your travels.

Countdown is on

2007-11-09T17:51:00.000-06:00

Today we purchased our airfare. After many hours of me going over figures on airfare for round trip, adoption fares and one ways, I decided we would purchase one ways. By doing this we will not pay for any extra charges in having to change our tickets when purchasing round trip. We will be leaving out of St Louis on Jan 24th connecting in New York before finally landing in Kiev after about a ten hour flight. We also had a 1 1/2 hour phone conversation with our case worker in which Chris only lasted about twenty minutes. She can be difficult to understand at times. She was telling us that should be fine to receive a boy but his age will probably be between 2-3 yrs old. We are going to be staying in an apartment in Kiev for the first four days and then after we are referred a child we will then travel to that region of Ukraine and stay the rest of the trip there before returning to Kiev for a night or two to fly home. Thanks again for all of your supports and comments.

APPOINTMENT!!!!

2007-10-30T22:17:00.000-05:00

We have an appointment in Ukraine set for January 28, 2008. This mean we will probably be leaving on Fri the 25th just to give us plenty of travel time. We have to allow two days for us to get over to Ukraine. We received the email from our case worker this afternoon. Still so much to do. We will first work on getting our flights. Continue to watch our blog for the latest information.

Another Month Has Passed

2007-10-02T11:31:00.000-05:00

Hello
Today we received an email from our case worker telling us that our dossier was registered in Ukraine on Sept 3rd. Other than that it is just wait patiently. That is all for now. Everyone take care and talk to you soon.

Still Waiting

2007-09-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

Hello to all
We are still waiting to receive our letter from Ukraine. Our case worker said she hoped to hear from them soon. Other then getting things organized and small projects complete around our home we have not done much over the summer. It is hard to believe it is already Sept. Christmas will be here before you know it. Hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend.

Dossier Complete

2007-07-10T19:42:00.000-05:00

Our dossier has been sent to our agency. From there if all is correct they will then send it on to Ukraine. We will keep you posted.

Finally!!

2007-07-02T19:12:00.000-05:00

We finally received our marriage certificates in the mail today. We plan on going to Springfield to have our dossier documents apostilled on Monday. For now this is the only new news we have. We will keep you all posted.