Day 16. Monday, April 30th 2007. 15 days till court

Hello everyone. Today started out as a slow lazy day. It was only in the upper 40's and has rained all day. Helena from downstairs knocked on our door at 10:00am. Natasha & I were still in bed.
After breakfast Natasha and I did some English. She sat at the table with me with her arms crossed at first. Still protesting English a little bit. Bob found two different programs on the Internet that seems to be good to use. One lets me print out English worksheets & games and is designed for English as a second language. The second one is an interactive program that Natasha can play games on. It's kind of like a computer game, but it's teaching her reading, phonics, math, etc.. at the same time. She seems to be enjoying it so far. She had a bit of help this evening though with Helena translating in Russian. LOL.
Slavik & his wife Oksana had invited us out for a picnic this afternoon. But, it rained, so we went to their apartment downstairs instead. They told us that they were first going to prepare a traditional Ukrainian dish for us, but decided to do tacos instead. It was delicious. Although their tacos are with soft flour tortillas. The ingredients were meat, cheese, tomatoes, corn, kidney beans, yellow peppers, some sort of green leafy vegetable, carrots, parsley, sour cream & pickles. The taco sauce tasted sorta like ketchup, but it wasn't ketchup. It was very, very good though. I am liking the food so far & thinking about changing some of my meals at home around. Or, making some of these Ukrainian recipes.

This is Slavik & Oksana. On the table is the dessert we had. Two kinds of rolled cake, bananas & oranges. I brought the oranges.

Natasha & Helena just chattered the laughed the whole evening. They even did some whispering, which we find so funny, because we can't understand what they are saying anyways. LOL. They said to us, through translation, that they are like Winnie the pooh & Piglet. Friends forever !! That is so sweet. Bob & I are worried that they will truly miss each other when we have to leave. But we have already talked about exchanging e-mail addresses. Natasha was shocked to find out that you can send a letter through the computer. It was cute to watch her face as Slavik explained it to her. Their family just got a kitten about 2 days ago. The girls were mugging the poor thing all evening. It drove me crazy.

The girls then took the camera and went & took pictures & pictures & pictures. Oh my word. Everything from the bedrooms, to themselves, to the house plants.

Sabrina. Natasha has enough pictures that she would probably love to have in a scrapbook. I can totally see you two doing that together.

So, Helena asked Natasha to spend the night & Natasha accepted. Actually I think it went sort of like this. Helena wanted to ask Natasha to spend the night. Her dad said to her. "Have you asked her yet." Helena said "No." Natasha chimed in and said "Well ask me then." When Slavik translated for us we all laughed. It was too funny. So Natasha is having her first sleepover and we aren't even home yet. LOL. Bob & I aren't sure weather to be happy or sad about this. LOL.

Hey Michelle. We figure it will probably be somewhere between May 19th - 21st. We will let everyone know as soon as we know. Still have to go back to Kiev & Natasha has to have an exam by a doctor. Also, we have to go to the US embassy for her Visa. We missed being at group also. Ask Steve if he thinks Shane accomplished anything on page 308? Hey "monkey". Do you miss me ??? LOL. I will Tell Natasha you said "hi".

Jerry & Katie. It's about time we heard from you. Very funny about the sedation. Ha ha.

Dad Ray. I'm your only DIL (daughter-in-law). Of course I would be the favorite. Hear that all my girls. I am a favorite also !!! Can you believe that we forgot the ice cream when we went to the grocery store, and Natasha was with us & she forgot also. We are going tomorrow again. I have it on the grocery list now. Love ya !!

Shauna. You could come over and take some English classes with Natasha and myself before you try to teach it to others. LOL. Don't tell grandpa Ray I told you, but he had to look up "chistoso" in his Spanish dictionary. LOL. Love you & miss you.

Uncle Bob. Your still alive. Thought you forgot us. No I hadn't eaten the cake yet. Thank goodness huh, I might have broke the swing. Just 1 piece so far. But I bet you have eaten more ice cream cakes than I have pieces of cake. (you said "that will do !! Your running out of time!) (I don't get it. explain).

Well, off to bed for me. I have a Circus to go to tomorrow & our driver is picking us up at 2:00pm. LOL. I love that. I'm getting me a "driver" when I get home. !!!

Love to all,

God Bless,

Gail

Day 15. Sunday April 29th, 2007. 16 days till court

Hello all. Today we went to our 2 hour church service again. First a young lady from Donetsk who is Missionary in a small out of the way Russian town. She was telling us her story, in Russian. But, our friend Slavik interpreted for us again, then an English pastor. It was all very good again, but I must say that I am having trouble staying awake in church even with Slavik interpreting. I don't know why. I guess I'm just use to the more more "up beat" style of Rivertree. I don't fall asleep there. Although all the sermons have been very good, I miss Rivertree & can't wait to get back. Slavik and his family took us to church again. I got to meet his wife today. She is very nice. She does not speak any English though, so Slavik was always interpreting what we said & also what she would say to us or ask us. To go back and forth between the two languages I believe is hard. I think it takes a special "knack" for one to do that. My hat goes off to all that can do it. I don't think I have the perseverance it takes.
Natasha sat in front with Slavik's daughter Helena. We kinda felt that she didn't want to be seen with old "mom & dad." I told Bob. "But, she is only 10 years old. I thought I had one or two more years until this." But, she did look back 2 or 3 times to see if we were still there and gave me a smile each time. It made my heart sing. :)

These were our singers. Different from last week.

This is the young Missionary girl. ( Now, now, Uncle Bob ?!?!?!?!?!)

This was the English pastor who spoke. ( With the interpreter)

After church we treated Slavik & his family to pizza at the Arcade place we have been taking Natasha too. The pizza there is very good & the kids had a blast at the Arcade. I bet we were there 3 hours eating and talking while the kids played. The kids ate very quick so they could go play. It is fun watching them all have fun. Bob snuck in a few times to get some pictures. This is Natasha with Helena.

We got back to our apartment about 4:00pm and Natasha & Helena spent about 3 1/2 hours playing back and forth from our apartment on the 3rd floor to Helena's apartment on the 1st floor. I wish I could understand what they are saying to one another. They talk non-stop. It was a good day.

I know this will probably start my fat jokes again. But look what I bought at the grocery store. I had a chocolate attack & a weak moment. Yum, Yum.

Dad Ray. Thank you for your comments. You are so very kind. We love you !!

Jan. For Pete's sake darling. If we would have had the court date on Friday the 27th. Our 10 day waiting period would have ended on May 7th. Back to Kiev on the 8th. Home by the 11th, 12th, or 13th ?? LOL. But thanks for trying to make me feel better. I'm still laughing !!! LOL We are going back to the orphanage on the 8th for sure. They are going to have some kind of program and we want to see it. We will ask then about Alyona's medicine & Elyona. And get pictures if we can. It's the least we can do. You guys have helped us out so much with this phone. It is really nice to have one hear & for the kids to be able to call us. Good luck on your Dossier.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers.
God Bless,

Love,
Gail

Day 14. Saturday April 28th 2007. 17 days till court date

Oh My Gosh !!! So Natasha and I got up early this morning, ate breakfast, did our hair, got dressed, etc, etc... Left for the academic building "on time" for our 9:00am English class. We got there and nobody was there !! Just then our friend Laura came down the stairs & told us that because of the upcoming Holidays the class was canceled. Nobody knew it though until this morning. Apparently most have to work on this Saturday so they can take off for their Holiday. I said, "What's the point of having a Holiday if you have to make it up." Oh my word. Who does that? I was so looking forward to this English class, because it was a beginners class, taught by a Russian speaking person. I figured Natasha could learn some & I could find out how much she knows & doesn't know. Plus, maybe the teacher could direct me in the best way to teach her. So we came back to the apartment and Natasha and I did 45 minutes of "English." I brought along ABC flashcards. She did well. She doesn't know them all, but knows some. At first she wouldn't speak, but towards the end she would say the ABC's with me. We spelled out her name then we spelled body parts. I would point to them & say them & she would find the letters in the deck. We did eyes, nose, mouth, arm, finger, legs, & toes. She did very well. I have met a few more people around here that say they can help me teach her English. So we will see what happens & in the mean time Natasha and I will continue with our ABC's.

We went to our friends Dave & Laura's apartment for dinner this evening. They bring 2 or 3 kids over every Saturday night from a place called The Good Shepard. These are boys & girls who still have a parent or relative in their lives that visits them or sometimes the kids will go to the parent/relatives house for a day or 2. They are considered unavailable for adoption because the parent or relative still has the parental rights, but just either does not have the means to care for the child or doesn't want too. Kinda sad to see. Today they had 3 girls over. Dalyia - 6 years old & her sister Anya - 8 years old. Plus Vika - 12 years old. I made my famous raspberry crisp for desert & then all of us including the kids made and put together enchiladas. It took me 3 hours to make my raspberry crisp here because of all the appliances being old. Oven is different. It's either on or off. No temperature setting. Plus no utensils like we have at home. Just a bowl & a spoon. It usually takes me an hour at home from start to finish. Nothing over here goes fast. LOL. But, it was fun. Natasha kept coming into the kitchen & helping, then playing, then helping again, etc... It was cute.

Robert, Natasha, and I took a walk this afternoon. Then back to the apartment until 4:30 pm. Then all 8 of us went outside to play at the playground before starting dinner. We had a wonderful evening & the kids had fun helping with the meal. We made the tortillas from scratch, because you can't buy them here.They played some more & we left about 9:00 pm to go back to our apartment for the evening. Here are some pictures from our day.

Hey Dan. That would be great if the other trial would end early. I don't think I should hold my breath though. LOL.

Oh my Sammy. I missed your Showcase and your recital. I'm so sorry. I wish I could have been there. I'm so proud of you. I know you did good. Grandma & Lucia told me so. Love you sweetheart !!!

Mom, you can send me mail, but I'm be home before I would get it here. So basically, no you can't. What mail do you want to send ???

Pat & Carla. Poor little Porker/Parker. We will pray for him. I hope the tests go well & he will be fine. Poor little guy. Why are you moving & where are you moving too ?? Poor, poor kitty. You need to take him along.

Lucia. I don't know who you have been talking too, but I did not fail English. I didn't get an A, but I didn't fail either.

Well, goodnight everyone. Talk at you tomorrow.
God Bless,
Gail

Day 13 - Friday, April 27 - A good ending to our day

Well our day started out with mixed news. We were happy to finally get a court date, but disappointed that it would keep us from our other girls for so long. Our facilitator stopped by the records office on the way to pick us up. She was able to convince them to issue Natasha's new birth certificate in Donetsk instead of her birth city. She was also able to convince the judge to waive the ten day waiting period following our court date. She has told us that both of these are miracles because they never agree to do this. However, we know that God has opened many doors for us throughout our journey. We also feel very blessed to have the facilitator that we do. She is an amazing woman who takes everything personally and will do everything she can for us and the kids.

Our facilitator picked us up and we went to the boarding school to pick up Natasha for the holiday weekend. We spent a lot of time talking to the boarding school director. Our facilitator explained our current situation with our court date, the waiting period, etc. We also talked about where we are staying, Donetsk Christian University (DCU). She explained that they have their own complex and provide English lessons to the community on weekends. They also have an elementary school on site, so Natasha would have kids her own age to play with. She also mentioned that they have their own boiler for heat. Heat in Ukraine is provided by hot water radiators. The boilers are operated by the city and have already been turned off. Water is also turned off for most of the night and isn't available after a certain time in the evening until the next morning. DCU has their own boiler and we still have heat, plus have access to water (including hot water) all day. The heat in the boarding school is the same as the city and has already been turned off. One of the many things the director said the boarding school could use was coats and blankets for the kids. We were painfully aware of this each time we picked up Natasha. She usually had at least two shirts on and her hands were so cold. We made a small donation to the boarding school and wish it could have been more. Anyway, the good news is that the director agreed to let us keep Natasha not just for the holiday weekend, but all the way to our court date!! The court date will officially make her our daughter, so she will no longer have to leave us and go back to the boarding school. In fact, she is playing downstairs with some other girls that live in the same building, one of which was adopted from the same boarding school five years ago (before Natasha arrived there). It was fun to watch her go play this evening, because she didn't want to earlier. She is already warming up to the kids & having fun. We feel very blessed to be staying here at Donetsk Christian University. Most people here speak both English & Russian. We are able to explain some things to Natasha through the people here & know that she understands. Before now we had to use the computer with the on-line translator. Which we know sometimes didn't translate just quite right because Natasha would wrinkle up her face & just look at us. We would re-word it & usually that was better. Although Natasha has been told that she is still "in school." One of the reasons her orphanage director said she could stay with us is that we were going to do our best at teaching her as much English as possible. Starting tomorrow at 9:00 am, Natasha and I will go to the beginners English class from 9:00 am - 12:30 pm. I am interested to see how that class works & hope I don't fall asleep in it. LOL. I am also looking forward to talking with the teacher and maybe he can direct me as to the best way to start teaching her English, so we already have a busy day tomorrow.

We feel that God has blessed us so much with everything He has given us, even though our court date is not as close as we would like.


Here are a few pictures from today. The 3 of us arriving at the University today.

Natasha when we showed her bed to her, which had one of her favorite stuffed animals on it, which we brought from home.

Natasha going through the clothes we brought for her.

Natasha looking through the "English" I brought for her to do.

Natasha all bathed & in her new Jamie's ready for bed. She loves to listen to the music on the cell phone.

Shauna, you are so funny. You and Georges bring sexy back. LOL. I miss your kisses also. Looking forward to them when I get home. If you say "freaking" one more time on this computer, I am going to come right through and smack you. And, NO, you have to wait till I get home & can watch Lost. You can't tell me. It would ruin something or they wouldn't have it on the show. Remember, it's a rule. You can't be mad at me while I'm in the Ukraine. O.K. Love you Shauna !! I don't think the judge is lying. We were just told that he is a very hard judge to work with. But, he did waive the 10 day waiting period because he is making us wait until May 15th.

Connie. With you on your super duper diet, you would make me look bad !!! Thanks for the prayers. I love you.

Michelle. I think group is tonight. Give everyone hugs from us. Tell Steve that this guy really irritates me at times. Example : page 3. LOL. No, page 294. The comment in quotations right before the Danish prayer. Was that really necessary ?? I didn't appreciate at all. And yes, our emotions are all over the place. So, thanks for the prayers. Maybe you guys could pray that I don't have a meltdown. (seriously)

Kendra. Oh my gosh. I didn't think anyone from BIOH was even reading this. You are the first to comment. I e-mailed Dr. McClain when Kelly was in the hospital & Susan said she can't seem to get on because it won't accept her password. That's why I had Bob write in the blog a day or two ago how to do it. I'm so glad to hear from you. Didn't realize you worked at the school. I'm so glad. (More spies). LOL. Thanks for the prayers.

Kelly. We are so glad you are home and feeling better. We miss you too. Luvs ya bear!

Kim. We are very glad you are doing so well in language arts. Keep up the good work. We are still watching all of your grades online. Sorry we won;t be home for your band concert, you will have to have someone tape it for us. Kelly and you need to try and post your comments on the last day listed, we would have missed them if you hadn't told me about them. We love you and miss you too.

Going to bed here,

Gotta get up for class in the morning :)

God Bless,

Bob & Gail

Day 13 - Friday, April 27 - We have a Court Date - Bad news/Good news

Just a short entry to let everyone know what is going on. Our facilitator just called as she was leaving the court house. She is now on her way here to take us to get Natasha. She did meet with the judge this morning. The judge is tied up with a long criminal court case right now and refused to schedule anything until after this case is over. Our facilitator did everything she could to get our court date scheduled immediately. The judge did schedule our court date. It is for Tuesday May 15. We can't believe it. Although we are glad to have our date scheduled, this seems like forever (especially to Gail). The judge stated that with the holidays in the next two weeks (3 days next week, and 2 days the week after), that this was the soonest he could give us. Our facilitator is very much on our side and takes it as personal as us. The only good news is that it sounds like she was able to convince the judge to waive the 10 day waiting period, since the court date is scheduled 17 days from now. We will have to write more later, it is time to get Natasha for the holidays. We are feeling both elated to have a date when Natasha will finally become our daughter, but so disappointed that it will keep us from the rest of our daughters for so long.
Bob

Day 12 - Thursday, April 26

Today we visited with Natasha for most of the afternoon. Our facilitator went by the court house to see the judge, to schedule our court date, before picking us up. We were disappointed that he was too busy to meet with her in the morning. So we stopped at the court house on our way to the boarding school, so she could try again. He refused to see her today because of his busy schedule before the upcoming holidays. He did agree to meet with her first thing tomorrow morning. She believes this is too late for us to be able to have our court date this week. But she also said "miracles can happen." We are still hopeful for that miracle. That the judge will meet with her in the morning, and let us have our court date in the afternoon. If not, then the next working day for the court would be next Thursday, which adds a week to our trip. Please pray for everything to work out tomorrow for our court date ( and maybe a P.S., that the judge will waive the ten day waiting period).

We picked up Natasha and Marina and took them to lunch, and then to the arcade games again. We found a great Georgian restaurant, where we had grilled chicken and pork (real similar to shish-ka-bobs). The girls ate well. However, I think we liked this restaurant better than they did. Once we had eaten, it was off to the arcade. Marina liked to jump, while Natasha was more interested in the other games. It was a fun day.

Natasha is going to be able to come & stay at our apartment with us starting tomorrow instead of Saturday. Because everyone is going to be away celebrating the long holiday weekend, which is Saturday - Wednesday. Bob & I were talking and we don't think the U.S. has any 5 day holiday weekends. Good for some people I guess & bad for others.

Today was mostly pretty uneventful. When Bob & I got back to our apartment we took a walk. The weather was nice today, about 55 degrees and the sun was shining. We stick out like a sore thumb though. We are just in jeans & a shirt out there walking in what we think is kinda warm weather. Everyone else here has their jackets on & little kids have winter coats & hats on. Plus, we smile at people & nobody usually smiles at anyone they pass. We think word has gotten spread around the campus that we are the Americans staying here, because when we were out walking, if we would pass any of the kids they would say "hello". That's English, of course. LOL. Kinda funny and cute.

We have guests with us in our apartment for tonight and tomorrow. There are 2 bedrooms in here. So we have to share for tonight. Don't know about any other nights yet, but I guess we'll see. Shucks, now I can't go to the kitchen in the nude. LOL. LOL. Can you imagine? What a sight. (I never walk around in the nude anyways, just joking.)

Here are a couple of pictures from today.

Krystal. OMG !!! That's what I'm afraid of. Because when I was in my 20's, wearing a size 5 for Pete's sake. I thought I was fat. Now in my 40's I know I'm fat. I don't want to be in my 50's & look back at these pictures & say "wow, I looked good then." Oh my word. That would be even fatter & I would be in big denial. LOL

Shauna. No, no, no. You can't tell me anything about "Lost" until I have had a chance to see them. I can't watch it on-line over here because they only allow that in the states. So, no ruining it for me !!!!! Uncle Bob and his cheese puffs. Do you remember when he use to stop by and eat lunch with us on his lunch break when you were little ?? He would bring Cheese Puffs then also, plus he would also call Aunt Peggy and say "I got to see Shauna and you didn't." LOL. Love you darling. What kind of picture is that of you and Georges. ?!?!?!?!

Uncle Bob, you lost me on your last comment. ?????

Hugs & Kisses to everyone,

God Bless,

Bob & Gail

Day 11 - Wednesday, April 25 - A Day of Rest

Well our plans for today turned out a little different. Our facilitator called and said she received the consent to adopt from the SDA in Kiev. Yea !!! I was exhausted from the non-stop running around since our arrival in Ukraine, and Bob had some work to do. So we decided to stay at our apartment, while our facilitator did her best to get our court date this week. Unfortunately the bills still come in, even though we are in Ukraine, so it is good that Bob is still able to spend some time doing work. It was disappointing not to see Natasha this afternoon, but the main goal is getting our court date so we can have her with us permanently. We also took a walk and ate dinner with Laura and Dave here at the University. Thanks guys. Dinner was great. We had soft tacos & rice. Laura is a great cook.

We have talked to Kelly again today, and everybody has been so helpful with their concern, visits, and prayers. Thank you, thank you all. Kelly is doing much better and apparently is going to get to go home today. Yea !!!! Glad your feeling better Kelly bear. We miss you & love you. We got your pictures & video. Thanks. It really helped to be able to see you & hear you. (A big thanks to Lucia on that one.)

Hey Mom. Yes, I do believe the kids like their schedule. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree huh. LOL. The Circus is on water, or around water, or something like that. Should be interesting to say the least. We can see pictures/posters of the circus with people in the water holding up Alligators. Should be interesting.

Gibbs. OMG !! I'm serious. And I'm not eating that much, so "bite me." Oops, Grandma Plummer reads this. Sorry Grandma. As far as church goes. I'm so very proud of you. But come on, we all know that the real reason you went to church is because the pastor was talking about sex !!! So, when we get home, I expect you at church, for a real sermon, sitting up front with Bob I. O.K. Also, if it took me going to the Ukraine to get you to pray, that's pretty good. Huh. Thanks Gibbs. You make me laugh & that's hard to do over here sometimes. I understand you didn't like what Natasha picked out for you. LOL. She was all in favor, said they were perfect for you. I don't understand the problem. :)

Hey my Sammy. How is your busy week going for you ? Don't stress out. You will do perfect. You always do. And from now on, don't read Uncle Bob's comments. LOL. Love you my Sammy !!

My Shauna. For Pete's sake. If I get anymore chin I'm going to start looking like Tinkerbell. And, I haven't had one donut & the pastries are suppose to be delicious over here. Keep taking good care of Georges, Dakota, Princess, Marshmallow, & Tinkerbell. We miss them all. I was so desperate today that I almost tried to pet the stray kitty that runs around here. But then I thought about it more. LOL. Laura said that when it's cold out or raining out the people here will let the cat into the building & it goes up & down the stairs meowing until someone lets it in or gives it something to eat. Awwwww. How nice. Can you imagine if I was here all the time. Everyone would be like "Who let that cat in again?" I would just have to smile. Miss you darling. Love you lots.

Hi Lynn & Doug. Yes, Sasha was there. We had run into her just by chance the other day, but forgot to get a picture of her. Bob ran into her yesterday while Natasha & I were inside. So, I posted that picture for you. Hope that helps. Bob said it would probably be easier for you to talk to Sasha through Olga or whoever else. We are happy to help, but we have only run into her twice & both times she was on her way somewhere else. I don't know. I know it's hard to be away. But I must say, It's kinda hard to be here also. Nice place, seen the sights, but now I want to go home. LOL. You know the deal though.

Oh Dan, my buddy. All I can say is maybe, I'm not sure though, but maybe, you have no room to talk. LOL. LOL. If you have some fat embarrassing picture of me, just keep it to yourself O.K. I don't need to see anymore. I'm glad that everyone is enjoying my fatness pictures. I guess the camera doesn't lie though. I just keep looking in the mirror & expecting to see my 20 something body & I look and it's my 40 something body. I can hardly wait to see my 50 something body. LOL. Yes, we have seen the bowling alley, but don't know about skating yet. I'm sure we can find out. And, on Bob's side, he is taking us to the Circus on Tuesday. I'm sure that will be in Russian. I can't imagine sitting through a Theater in Russian not knowing the language.

Hugs & Kisses to all,

God Bless,

Gail

Day 11 Wednesday April 25

We appreciate all of the prayers and support for Kelly, Natasha, and the rest of our family. We understand some have had trouble leaving comments on our blog. If you select other or anonymous under "Choose an identity", you should be able to leave comments without the need of a password or logging in.

We will be visiting with Natasha this afternoon. We will post more tonight.
Bob

Day 10 - Tuesday, April 24 - A Long Day

Well today started out with a phone call at 4:00 am about Kelly being admitted to the hospital. We talked to Kelly briefly and posted our prayer request, then tried to get some more sleep before our facilitator picked us up at 10:00am. We went directly to the boarding school. We had to sign our official applications requesting a court date. We also signed an official request that our court date be expedited in the hopes of getting it for this Friday, before the holidays. Our facitilator wanted to file the applications today in the hopes of persuading the judge to schedule our court date before the official consent to adopt has returned from the SDA in Kiev. We spent some time visiting with Natasha while our facilitator dropped off the applications with the judge. Once she returned, we went downtown for some pizza. And, walked through the center of town. Kind of like a walkway through the center of town. It was pretty. The picture below is when we were visiting with Natasha, doing a jigsaw puzzle.









Our facilitator received some phone calls after lunch, telling us that the SDA has changed the requirements again. The documents we sent on Saturday would have been sufficient last month. However, this time they want more signatures from the boarding school. So it was back to the boarding school quickly to redo their documents for the SDA. These will leave for Kiev tonight, which means we will not be able to receive our consent to adopt before Thursday at the earliest. This will still be in time for a Friday court date, so hopefully everything will work out. We are told the first working day next week will be Thursday, May 3. This would add a week to our trip. We stopped on our way back to the boarding school to buy tickets for the circus. We will go next Tuesday, during the holidays.

We have talked to the Kelly Bear, and she is feeling a little better better today. She still is not getting enough fluids in her & that is still bothering the Doctors. She will spend another night in the hospital, and then we will have to see how she does tomorrow.

Thank you Theresa , Michelle & Rick for all your prayers.

Shauna, my dear, you know you don't have insomnia. You just have to stick to a schedule & go to bed. I warned you about staying up all night and how it can mess up your system. It takes a long time to get it back intact. GO TO BED !!! Love you Shauna. P.S. Can I get any more fatter in these pictures. OMG !!!!!

Bob & Gail Ray

Day 10 - Early Morning Prayer Request

Our youngest at home, Kelly, is in the hospital. She has strep, that has caused a small abscess in her throat. She is being treated and they hope the abscess will begin to heal tonight. If so, they will send her home tomorrow on antibiotics. Please pray that everythng goes smoothly and she can go home tomorrow. This is very difficult for us being so far away during this. Kelly Bear - we love you very much!! We are praying that everything goes as the doctors want and that you get better quickly. We so wish we were there to be with you!!

Day 9. Monday, April 23 2007

Hello everyone. Our facilitator was suppose to pick us up at 3:00 pm. She called at 3:40 pm & said she would be another 30 - 40 minutes, but she was still late and didn't get here till 5:00 pm. Busy lady. But that's OK. LOL. It takes us about 30 minutes to get to the orphanage, so it was after 6:00pm till we saw Natasha. The orphanage director was busy for a while. When Natasha came in she sat down in between Bob & I and gave us both hugs. We found out that she is only in 3rd grade here. She started later because of her situation that put her in the boarding school in the first place. She will have some catching up to do in school when we get home. But she is a smart girl & will do fine. It will be good that the end of school is near and summertime will be first for her. To play & learn English should help her a lot.

We gave out the gifts that some of you had sent with us. The only one that was actually there to receive her gift was Alyona. Taya, Ira & Kola, and Elonya (sp) were at the Sanatorium/camp. Rymma & Artyom are, of course at another orphanage. We did pass out candy to some of the kids from the hosting program. Russel, big Sergei & little Sergei, Marina & Svetlana were there. Edward was at the hospital because he had the flu. They told us he cried because he knew we were coming & he wanted to pass on to his American family that he loved them. Sasha was out playing. We did see Sasha Friday & Saturday very briefly. She gave us a hug and looked good, but we didn't think to take her picture. Sorry about that. Of course, our Natasha was there. Sorry about any misspelled names.

The conclusions of from the juvinlie authority work were sent out to Kiev on Saturday. They are still at the SDA waiting for approval & our consent to adopt. We should have them signed by Tuesday or Wednesday. That means we will get them here Wednesday or Thursday. Our facilitator was not able to reach the judge today, so she plans on going there in person tomorrow. We are still praying that we can get in to see the Judge this week for our court date. Our facilitator was talking about trying for Friday, but is not sure she can get our date scheduled without the consent to adopt from Kiev.

We go tomorrow to make our formal application for a court date. We will also visit Natasha again tomorrow. They are talking about letting Natasha stay with us at our apartment on Saturday - Wednesday, during next weeks holidays. She is thrilled, as we are also !!!!

Lynn & Doug. Nice to hear from you. How is everything going on your end ??

Michelle, Matthew is sooo funny. I miss all of your kids also. Tell them we said "hi." I'm glad Sammy did good.

Oh my darling first born child. Trouble from the beginning ? Maybe just 22 hours of labor, but you did that on purpose. LOL. And I would do it all over again if I had to. My confident, determined leader. Take pride in being the first born. Look how many wonderful characteristics you got from that. Besides, Grandma & Grandpa spoil you the most. LOL. I'm glad you saw Kim. Any word on Cailin & Kelly yet. We told them to talk to us on the blog, but nothing yet.

Hey dad !!!!!! Look at my pictures at least. The computer can't be that bad. How's your head feeling ???

Love to everyone,

God Bless,

Gail

Day 8. Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

Hello everyone. Bob & I went to church today. Our new friend Slavik drove us there along with his 2 children. One is Helena, who he adopted, from what we can figure out, is the same orphanage that Natasha is at. Cool huh !! She was 7 when he adopted her, she is now 12. We thought maybe when they allow Natasha to come to our apartment and stay with us, her and Helena could maybe play together. His son Rinaldo is his biological son & then he has another biological son (don't know his age or name). That boy stayed home with his wife because he was not feeling well. So we haven't met Slavik's wife yet.
The church service was nice. These were our singers up front leading the songs.

The first hour was in Russian, but Slavik sat behind us & translated for us. This is the Russian preacher.

The 2nd hour was in English. It was done by a guest preacher that is staying right here at the University. He is from California & is here teaching some classes. I believe he and his wife plan on leaving to go back to California on Friday. When the English part of the service started, they had a translator up with him repeating everything in Russian. This was our English Pastor.

A few pictures of the church & building it was in. There were probably about 60 people at church.

It's not very warm here today, and windy. Only about 41 degrees. Burrrrr. Bob & I were going to walk to the grocery store, but we opted out on that one. It's about a 20 minute walk & too cold out. Plus, I have no hat to wear to keep my head warm. LOL. So we didn't do much today after church. Read our books, Bob did some work & sudoku puzzles. ( I still can't figure them out). He says "They are just logic." Grrrrr Bob's work is a little slow because he has to wait a day for the e-mail he needs & the e-mail he sends because of the time difference. I took a nap. That was about it. Looking forward to seeing Natasha tomorrow. We pray that we can get our court date this week.

So only the men drive here in the Ukraine. Very small number of women drive. If the women want to go somewhere & their husband can't take them they have "drivers" they pay to take them. (Now that's more like it !!! LOL) They just go where they are told & sit & wait on you until you come out of the store or where ever you are going. They all drive like maniacs though & talk to the other cars & pedestrians.

I know it's warm back home. I have been told that several times. Bla , Bla , Bla. It will warm up here soon.

Pat & Carla. It's about time we heard from you guys. Tell Steve I'm on chapter 11, page 294. This guy sure seems to end up in jail a lot. LOL !?!?!? And, I also know something & can prove it. LOL. Mine is here say. LOL Give little Parker/Porker a squeeze from me. Love ya & miss you both.

Shauna & Sammy my wonderful children. You need to stop fighting, you all know that Sabrina is truly the favorite. Whhhhaaaaaa. Love to you all. And, rats, there was no skee ball there. because if there was I would have won a lot of tickets for the girls.

Talk to everyone later,

Hugs & Kisses,

Gail

Day 7. Saturday, April 21, 2007

Hello everyone. Today was a good day. Our facilitator picked us up about 9:30am. We went to the juvinile authority and picked up the signed & stamped paperwork. Yea !! Then we went to the orphanage. We picked up Natasha & her friend Marina. Went shopping for a shower curtain, because we don't have one here & the water spray's everywhere. The shopping center was nice. It was 4 floors and the top floor had an amusement center where we let the kids play. It reminds me of a Chuck-E-Cheese that we have back at home. The kids could play all kinds of games. Arcade type games. Some of the games gave out tickets & then the girls could pick out a "prize" depending on the number of tickets they had.

Natasha got a bead set with her tickets & Marina got pens & colored pencils. After that it was about 1:00pm & we got some pizza to eat. It was good pizza.

We took the kids back to the orphanage because our facilitator now has to get our paperwork to Kiev and back by Monday. We told Natasha we wouldn't see her until Monday afternoon. :( She wasn't very happy about that. We didn't like it either, but understand what has to be done so we can come back home as soon as possible !!!

Bob & I are basically on our own now until Monday afternoon. We met a few more people here at the University. We found out how to get to an English speaking church tomorrow & also they found us a ride. Nice people here. I guess the service will be part in Russian and part in English. Services here are 2 hours long. It will be interesting to see the difference between this service and our own back home.

Cailin, Kim & Kelly. Are you guys there ?? Are you reading our Blog ?? If you are, make some comments. We love you and miss you all very much.

Shauna, Uncle Bob told me about your ice cream cake. He said he even had fun with you. LOL. Glad you enjoyed yourself. Poor, poor Cody. He can't even play a game and win without being called a cheater. LOL. I'm sorry Cody !!

What's the matter Dan. Jealous !!!. LOL. Thought you might enjoy that.

Have a great day everyone. We are just going to chill.

Love,

Gail

Still day 6. Friday the 20th.

Hello everyone. We left to go visit Natasha about 2:30pm, but we didn't get to see her until about 4:30pm. We had to make a stop on the way there. Our facilitator (and driver) was out this morning trying to get the conclusions from the juvenile authority. These papers need to be signed & stamped by another official. She first told us that it would not happen until Monday due to scheduling problems. She continued on the phone after telling us that. We don't know what she did or who she called, but about 1/2 hour later she said to us "We got it !!." "We can get the signature & stamp we need tomorrow, so we can send everything off to Kiev on Saturday night. Yea God !!!

We were able to take Natasha & 1 of her friends out to McDonald's (the kids choice) for about an hour. Then it was back to our apartment. It was still light out so Bob & I took a walk & we were invited up to our friends apartment here (Dave & Laura) for some dessert at 8:15pm. Good thing we took a walk huh. LOL. I can't tell you what it was, but it was delicious !!!! She made it from a fruit called persimmon. She said that is a common fruit here.

Uncle Bob. I have to say that I am sooo proud of you for writing more than just 2 or 3 words. LOL. Thanks dude, I have been enjoying hearing from you plus all your antics. We love you and Bob & I are looking. LOL LOL LOL (Uncle Bob knows what that means) Yes, we had beds on the train. 4 bunk beds.

Dad Ray. Natasha grabbed me tight & hung on. I, of course did the same. It was very good to see her. She is quiet again & the language barrier is there, but she seems to be opening up more everyday. Just like she did at home. She got a kids meal at McDonald's. Then her and her little friend did some whispering. Like we can understand what they are saying anyways. LOL. Then she had her friend say. "Bob. Me, Natasha, Mahrozhena." It was too cute. For those of you who don't know what Mahrozhena is, it's ice cream. Grandpa Ray & Natasha both love Mahrozhena. As well as the other 6 kids.

My Sammy. You are my favorite, middle child. LOL. I love you. Tell me about your Art project & how that went. Sabrina, my cat whisperer, what do you think. Should I bring this cat home ??

Hey Dan. Just thought you would like to see who I got to play with today. LOL. LOL. LOL

Here are a few pictures of our apartment/dorm that we are staying at in Donetsk for everyone who is interested in seeing it.

Good night everyone. Gotta get some sleep. Our facilitator will be here in the morning for doing paper work & then seeing Natasha again. Love to everyone.

Gail

Day 6, Friday April 20

It is almost noon. It was nice to get a good night's sleep after our train ride and busy day yesterday. Our Internet connection was established today, so we will be able to post more details tonight. We will be heading over to the boarding school to visit with Natasha around 2:00 pm. Our facilitator is working this morning on getting the conclusions from the regional juvenile authority. We need to get this sent to Kiev as soon as possible, so we can get our official consent to adopt for our court date. If we don't get our court date scheduled before the upcoming May holidays, it would add about a week to our trip. Once we have our initial court date, there is a required ten day waiting period before we can pick up the new birth certificate and travel back to Kiev for the final paperwork with the US Embassy. The ten days is ten calendar days and would include the holidays and weekends. Also, there is a good chance Natasha will be able to stay with us after our initial court date. We also found out that Natasha's birth city is a small town outside of Donetsk. We will have to travel there, once we have received our official adoption decree following the ten day period, to get the new birth certificate. This could be an adventure in itself because our facilitator did not recognize the name of the town. She mentioned it must be a small town and she would have to look it up on the map to find out how far we will need to travel.

We did not get many pictures of Natasha yesterday. We were too busy hugging her or running around. We will get more today. However, here is a picture of Gail and Natasha right when we first met.

Day 5, Thursday April 19 - A Very Busy Day

Our train ride went smoothly. We arrived a little later than scheduled. Our facilitator met us at the train station and told us what we needed to do in order to get our court date scheduled, so we said let's get started as quick as possible. Therefore, it was off to the juvenile authority to get our official permission to visit the boarding school. Once we had that it was on the boarding school to see Natasha, and to review her files and get the necessary documents to prepare our application for adoption for the juvenile authority. We then had to get that notarized (an interesting experience in Ukraine). We then dropped off our luggage at our apartment at DCU, and headed back to the orphanage to see Natasha one more time. Our facilitator finished our application for the juvenile authority while we visited with Natasha, including dropping it back off at the juvenile authority. Once she returned, we had to say goodbye to Natasha. We stopped at the store and got a few groceries on the way back to our apartment. The current prayer request is that the juvenile authority completes their approval of our application tomorrow, so we can get it sent off to the SDA in Kiev to obtain their official consent to adopt Natasha. We need this to obtain our court date, which we would like to get scheduled before the upcoming Ukraine holidays (May 1 & 2). We have yet to get everything settled in (including getting our Internet access hooked up - we are borrowing the couple's above us for this entry). It is now 9:00 pm our time, we are tired from the train ride and all the trips across town. We will post a few pictures and more info tomorrow, once we have more time.

God Bless,
Bob

Day 4, Wednesday April 18

Today was pretty uneventful. Our facilitator picked up our official referal yesterday. We slept in a little today and have now adjusted to the time change. We are packing and getting ready for our driver to take us to the train station. The train leaves Kiev at 7:20 pm and arrives in Donetsk at 7:10 am. We will sleep on the train tonight. Our facilitator arrived in Donetsk this morning and has already started the necessary papaerwork we will need to complete in Donetsk. We are anxious to see Natasha tomorrow.

Day 3, Tuesday April 17th

Just thought I would talk to some of my family and friends. Although, with some of my friends and family, I'm not sure if I need any enemies. LOL.

Uncle Bob. You think your sooooo funny. My airplane ride went fine. Your just trying to make me look bad. LOL. Here is 1 picture of the outside. Thought it was the best for you so you could see where to get a cheeseburger. Whhhaaaaa. I don't think your going to find one anywhere else.

P.S. I will send you some more pictures on your regular e-mail.

Krystal. Bob has told me your story. My prayers are with you. As far as recommending this apartment. Yes. It is nice. It is within walking distance to Freedom Square and the SDA. It also has Internet.

Hey Jeff. If you are reading this I would have to call you also a Saint for putting up with Connie all these years. Gosh, I don't know how you have done it. Want to go head to head with me my wonderful ex-sister in law (because I have better sister-in-laws now. LOL) Bring it on baby. I leave you with Baaaa Raammm Yooouuuuu !!!!!

For a minute there I thought that Sabrina had written to me because it said "the favorite daughter." LOL. LOL. My wonderful darling daughter Shauna. Shame on you for calling me a fatty. Don't worry when your my age God will get you & you will look just like me. Whhaaaaaa. Yes, we heard about the shooting in Virginia. I'm so sorry this upset you, although we feel bad for the people this affected, I'm glad none of your friends were hurt. I love you darling. Thanks for calling today. It was good to hear your voice.

A Good Ending to Day 3

Our appointment went great this morning. We went in shortly after 10:00 am and met with the English translator and SDA psychologist. We asked about Natasha right after the introductions, explaining that we met her on a hosting trip, fell in love with her and that we felt she belonged in our family and had decided to adopt her. The psychologist smiled, pulled her file off her desk, and said she was available for adoption. We showed her a small photo album, we had brought with us, full of pictures of Natasha and our family together. They commented on how well everybody seemed to get along and that she looked very happy. They showed us the picture in her file, the earliest one they had from when she was originally registered with the SDA in 2005. She is 7 or 8 in the picture. We boldly asked if we could get a copy of it since we didn't have any pictures of her before we met her. The psychologist thought about it for a minute and said they were required to have a picture of her in the file. However, if we were willing to give her a more recent one from our photo album, she would let us have the one from the file. We quickly agreed and let her pick the one she wanted. She said she could tell Natasha would be very happy with us. They then explained the process to us. We will be able to pick up our official referral for Natasha tomorrow between 5:00 and 6:00 pm. We then need to take this to the juvenile authority in Donetsk to obtain permission to visit her at the boarding school and talk to the boarding school director. We will then complete the required applications to send back to the SDA to obtain the SDA's consent for adoption, which we need before we can schedule a court date in Donetsk. We were done within 15 minutes of going in. The meeting was short, but very sweet!!

After the meeting, our translator, Angelina, helped us to obtain some necessary items we needed (additional minutes for our cell phone, currency exchange, map, needle/thread to sew up my duffel which came apart in baggage handling, and a new hair dryer for Gail that works on 220VDC). We were able to finish all of the errands and return to our apartment before noon. We walked to a good restaurant we found for lunch and then came back to the apartment for some more rest. Our apartment is about 5-6 blocks from the SDA office and right off Independence Square. The square was full of demonstrators from the current political situation. The demonstrators are paid to demonstrate in support of their political faction. It was interesting to compare how Ukraine politics work compared to our own. Our politicians have several fundraisers to pay for the onslaught of political ads during the election year. In Ukraine, instead of the onslaught of expensive ads, they pay for large numbers of demonstrators. I must admit, I would rather see the money go to people instead of advertising and broadcasting companies.

Anyway, tomorrow we will have most of the day to look around and for me to be able to do some work. Our train to Donetsk doesn't leave until 7:20 pm, after we get our official referral.

Although we are anxious to see Natasha on Thursday, we already miss the rest of our girls.
God Bless,
Bob

Day 3 Tuesday April 17

We feel much better after getting a good nights sleep. We were both very tired. A hot shower felt very good this morning. It is 8:30 am and we are getting ready for our appointment at the SDA. Actually Gail is getting ready, and I thought I would write a short entry in the blog. Our appointment is at 10:00 am. Our facilitator is meeting us at our aprtment at 9:30 am and we will go over to the SDA together. This is the appointment we get our referal for Natasha. Please keep us in your prayers today as we meet with the SDA.

We will update everybody this evening.
God Bless,
Bob

Day 2. Monday April 16th

Hello everyone. We made it !!!! Yea !!! Aerosvit didn't end up leaving until 9:00 pm or a little after. I had the stewardess take our picture so you could see that we were really on the airplane.

We feel so blessed because we found out that our SDA appointment is tomorrow at 10:00am and if we would have waited for the next flight we wouldn't have made it in time. Plus, we found out that Aerosvit only flies out of JFK to Kiev 3 days a week. And, one of those days just happens to be Sunday. Yea God !! See Shauna our Doves worked !! Randa, I love your comment. Too funny. We arrived in Kiev about 1:15pm. We met our driver, who took us to our apartment that we are renting for the next 2 nights. It's not bad at all. Everything is nice. Here are a few pictures of our apartment.

Bob & I walked around town for about 2 1/2 hours today. Plus we stopped to eat. We went to a cafeteria style restaurant. I have know idea what the food is. It doesn't even look like our food. I picked what I thought looked edible to me. LOL. I just wish they would have the food labeled in English also. Oh well, I suppose I will have to get over it. We stopped at a small market & got some water & some milk because we have a refrigerator here. The fruit market lady was closing up by the time we passed her again. Well, Bob & I have both only had 3 hours sleep. Saturday night & about 3 hours of sleep on the airplane last night. So, we are tired. Going to bed. Pray that our appointment with the SDA goes smoothly tomorrow. Again, our appointment time is 10:00 am. Thanks for all your prayers everyone.

Hugs, Gail