2010 - A retrospective

Seems like just yesterday I updated this blog, but it's been a year? Wowza. Time has really gotten away. But I suppose that means there's much about which to write. So here goes...

...when last we left the story, Galyna had her second surgery. After the gauze came off we saw, much to Galyna's delight, increased coverage of hair. It was so awesome to see her excitement when she saw how much more hair she had. She took her restrictions well, and it was good to see her schoolmates continue to treat her well.

February saw our first family vacation in a long time, where we took a week in Florida with Shannon's best friend (and her family) at the Magic Kingdom. We'd taken the other two to Disneyland a few years earlier, but this was the first time for all three at the big park in Orlando. We stayed in an awesome resort as guests of Tom & Becky (Tom's in the President's Own Marine Corps Band, so we were able to stay on site) and overall it was the most enjoyable weekend we'd had as a family aside from the trip to Ukraine to get Galyna:) Needless to say, the parks were all a big hit with the girls.

This spring saw Galyna finish first grade. Her English is still improving, although she needed a 2nd summer of summer school to continue her progress. If she came to the US the equivalent of 3 years behind, she's probably up to 1-1/2 years behind. It must help having chatty sisters.

This summer was an interesting experiment. I returned to Donetsk with my church's mission team. Galyna had some anxiety and openly wondered (and went on record against this) if I'd bring back another child. I think she was relieved when I came back with only stories, pictures and souveneirs.

During the summer we were able to take Galyna back to Chicago for my grandfather's 90th birthday. It was a great time - we saw all the family, including each of my brothers (with associated gals) and spent some time with one of the finest men I've ever met. I'm very glad all the girls have a chance to get to know their great-grandpa.

This fall started 2nd grade, as well as a new adventure. We started therapy with Galyna, and have an official diagnosis of Reactive Attachment Disorder. There is a secondary diagnosis we may have to deal with too, as she appears to be symptomatic for attention deficit too (although that may be due to the RAD, meaning we need to treat the RAD to find out if she also has attention deficit disorder.) This is not at all a surprise as one of the key components of RAD is indiscriminate sociability. She has always shown greater affection outside the family (e.g., hugging strangers and non-family members much more often than those of us in the family) and refused to even show any unrequested affection until just recently. Having the diagnosis is a big win, though, and we are starting treatment which should resolve the RAD pretty much completely.

Overall, she is doing okay in school. She is still behind grade level but progressing at pretty much the textbook rate. Her behavior has continued to improve, although it offers challenges. Beyond the language differences (she is still not able to explain quite everything she's thinking, which makes diagnosing problems tricky) she still shows signs of manipulation from the orphanage days. Not unexpected, but she's good at playing to an audience (i.e., her behavior at home does not match that in other forums at times.) Her honesty has improved, though, which is another big win. We take it as a sign that she's starting to trust more in the permanence, as well as starting to realize that deception leads to trouble in a way honesty doesn't. The incidences of jealousy of her sisters have also decreased, and her oil/water moments with Tierney are fewer and farther between. In all, the three girls get along better - in fact, much like sisters. Over time, I suspect we'll get the rest of the way through the trouble spots. And, truth be told we are a lot further along than we were two years ago. God has been incredibly gracious in helping us to form into a family. We have far more ups than downs, although the frustration can be deep on all sides. The day her English is fully caught up will be a great day indeed.

Recently, Galyna also started round two on her hair restoration surgeries. The expanders are in and we'll start filling them soon. We're not sure if this is the last round or not, nor exactly how much restoration this will give her, but it should be of good benefit. It's amazing work, though, and we can't say enough about Shriner's. To get all this for free, by staff who are incredibly caring and gifted - God is indeed good. Our only complaint is every time we take her in she comes home with more gifts/toys; we're running out of places for them! And, sad as her history is, it is also nice to see people make her feel special - even in undesireable circumstances.

As to her faith...we're still not sure where that is going. As with the other two, she will obviously be free to make up her own mind. But I can't yet tell how much she believes vs. how much she parrots what others say. This is true for all the girls, but I think Galya's English makes it harder to discern. We only hope to give her the foundation to make wise decisions in faith as in all things.

Until the next time (and I'm hoping it's not another year) - thanks for your prayers & support. They continue to be a blessing to us.

God bless, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ron

The Organizations

For those of you who aren't familiar with my history with Donetsk, I suppose I should talk about how we came to know about the city. This plays into Galya's story, so background may be helpful.

Shannon and I (with the girls) attend Grace Church in Roseville, Minnesota. Our church has, through the past decade or so (someone from GCR can correct me if I'm wrong) had a partnership with two ministries here in the area: Donetsk Christian University and The Good Shepherd Shelter.

Donetsk Christian University (DCU) is a university with a mission to train up Christian leaders, ministers and missionaries, with a mind especially to support the churches in the former Soviet Union. It was started in 1991, at the time Ukraine became independent of Russia. The history of the university is found here. Pictures are here. It's a good university, with (as far as I can tell) a good reputation. They are facing challenges, and I recommend that the interested keep tabs on their needs and perhaps contribute. No pressure, and they didn't ask me to say it. I'm just a believer in what they're doing here, and I think they do it well. (Better yet, come to teach one of these summers.)

One of the things we do on our trips here is to help DCU with their summer English Intensive program. DCU has a school-year Saturdays program for teaching English as both a marketing and a fundraising tool. It also helps with outreach and community involvement. Every summer they have a four-week "intensive" session where students sit for morning English classes, and then in the afternoons they are turned over to us for a number of activities designed to foster English conversation practice. This involves things like giving us tours (in English) of the city, playing games, one/one conversations, etc. It's a great experience, and if you can't tell by my writing, I enjoy communicating with lots of words. This is, as it turns out, a useful skill here at DCU. The English Intensives are built as two two-week sessions. Grace comes for one of those sessions each year to help with the afternoon and evening English programs.

A photo album from one of the 2007 English Intensive session is here. This would have been the first session, I believe, since we were not here for it. And here's a blog from the team from Asuza Pacific University who was with us here in 2008. Great fun, that was, working with them.

One of the highlights is that we can keep in touch with many of our students, as you may have noticed from this blog. I've had the pleasure of introducing a few of them to the family while we're here, and via email and Facebook (join now! I need more friends!) I'm keeping in touch with friends from both of the past two years, which are the two years I've been able to attend.

By the way, the Olga of whom we've been speaking so highly is highlighted in this story. Lawrence, Colleen, Olga and other teachers are shown here. Sergey is mentioned and shown here. Just thought you may want to put faces to the names we've been giving.

The other part of our work here is to visit the Good Shepherd Shelter in Makeevka. (While the rest of this post is for Rene', the rest of you can read this too.) And I'll get this out of the way up front: Pictures, donations, history. The Riccardellis were here working at Good Shepherd, and have some stories and pictures on their blog too.

I'm not posting that lump o'links to give the shelter short shrift. Actually, I wish I could do more. We haven't been able to visit Good Shepherd while here, although in hindsight we'd have liked to have planned something while the Riccardellis were there. It's one of the highlights of our teams' visits to spend time with the children and encourage the staff. We visit the shelter on some of the mornings and weekend time while here for the DCU English Intensives. We spend time doing crafts and playing games. I'll even bet you didn't know I was fast becoming a beadie-baby expert from these visits. And now I'm not sure that I should have told you...

Some of my favorite memories have been doing tie-dye t-shirts last year, with the accompanying water balloon fight; this year's making of winter hats (which they were wearing for the next few hours in the summer sun); and not being able to go without receiving multiple hugs.

Good Shepherd is not technically an orphanage. Kids staying there either have a parent/guardian who can't/doesn't care for them, or are on a stop on the way to an orphanage. As such, kids from the shelter can't be adopted from the shelter - at least as I understand it. This past summer, Rene' (a member of our team the past few years) was able to bring a number of the older kids to DCU for the English Intensive, so we got some extra social time with them even on campus. Having Dasha join the Grace teenagers in my room watching Pirates on my laptop was fun, for instance.

On a complete tangent, while Googling Good Shepherd Makeevka for potential links for this post, I noticed that this here blog appears on the first page. How's that for heady/prompt service?

I'm a big believer in groups like these; DCU and Good Shepherd do wonderful work, and I'm glad to have some small part in it. And when I'm back in the States I'll try to remember to post some pictures from the past two years so you can see some of what we've done. But beyond the work we've helped with here, these two organizations have a soft spot in my heart because without the two of them we'd never have met Galya.

To that tomorrow. (Or later today; just noticed that for the third night in a row I'm up past 2:00 AM.)

God bless,
Ron

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!

So we get to catch our breath before heading to the last stage of the adventure. Today started, as our Sundays here have, with church. Again we didn't do the so much "understanding what was going on" part, but we did sing along with one song we knew, and I think I finally figured out which scripture text they were using. I'm pretty sure it was Psalms something.

From there we hustled downtown to meet two more students from two summers ago. Alyona is a 20-year old blessed enough to be born on New Year's Day. Her mother is exactly my age, having been born the same day I was 38+ years ago. And yes, it still annoys me I'm old enough to be Alyona's father. When I first heard that two years ago, it about knocked me back for three weeks. I'm not ready to start feeling old yet. We had lunch at an Irish pub/restaurant off Lenin Square called Golden Lion. I had the shashlik which was very good. Shannon has promised to make me some shashlik at home; if you want an invite, let me know.

Alyona also gave us a gift, a "piggy" bank in the shape of a cow. Apparently I got to learn my "something new for the day" over lunch: in Ukraine, much like in China, they do "the year of the _____" here. And 2009 is the year of the cow/bull. Interesting. (Alyona's mother - whose name I'm regrettably forgetting; it's on the tip of my tongue if you can see it there) and I were born in the year of the dog. I'm not sure what that explains.)

We returned to the apartment via Amstor/Amctop, laden with some more chocolate (some of which we'll try to keep uneaten so we can give it away back home) and the Barbie-esque dolls the girls wanted. Oh, and some breakfast foods for the train ride to Kiev Tuesday night. Only thing we forgot was water, so we may be brushing our teeth tomorrow in the boiled stuff.

It's starting to feel real, that we'll be leaving soon. I already have the bittersweet feeling I get at the end of the trips I take here. I don't want to leave, but I do want to go home. I think we're all ready to return, but it's been a great time even with all the waiting the Ukrainian system has built into the process.

Shannon has been doing some packing, and I've been thinking about doing some packing. So we're about even on effort. The girls did some homework, and early bed. I've been spending the evening pulling stuff off to the side that I want to pack tomorrow, and trying to find streaming audio of the Vikings game (KFAN says they're not able, and NFL.com charges for it. Fortunately, I can "watch" via espn.com's GameCast feature.)

Tomorrow is up in the air as to what we'll be doing, but mostly we'll be preparing for Tuesday when the fun begins. Not only do we get Galya for good on Tuesday, but we start running yon and hither toward Galya's visa.

'Til next time -
Ron

The Ukrainian Twin Cities

We live in a suburb of Minneapolis, which is of course one half of the Twin Cities. In Ukraine we are in the middle of another set of Twin Cities: Donetsk and Makeevka. I'm not sure that they are seen that way, but it's a fair analogy. Knowing a little of these cities helps put the rest of the story in context, so as promised here's a post on our locale. Again, this is more about our impressions, with links for the more intellectually curious.

Donetsk is the big city, capital of the Donetsk region (or oblast.) This'd be similar to an American state or Canadian territory. It is on the eastern edge of Ukraine, not far from the Russian border. As such, and considering its history (see links below), it's not a suprise that it's a heavily Russian-influenced city. It was close to destroyed in WWII, and was rebuilt after the war. A rennaissance of sorts seems to be happening in recent years as Rinat Akhmetov - a rather wealthy and influenial person and Donetsk resident - has been trying to attract things like Euro 2012 to the city. (Mr. Akhmetov runs the local soccer football team, Shakhtar; I went to a game last year when they played Dynamo Kiev and I recommend that if you're going to watch soccer, you do so in Europe. It was fun, and the fans made Packer fans look disinterested. Akhmetov's also built quite the compound right next to DCU, but that's another matter.)

Anyway, Donetsk's urban center is a beautiful place. There is Pushkin Boulevard, a large pedestrian mall with cafes, playgrounds, sculptures, fountains and gardens. I would love such a mall in our city. There is a puplic square, Lenin Square, with an open plaza and more fountains. There are many restaraunts and high-end stores, and much traffic.

Some of the sights we've seen include the Figures Park, Tsar's Cannon and pretty much everything you see here. Chain restaraunts, including McDonald's and our Ukrainian favorite, Puzata Hata. We love downtown. Much to do, interesting architecture and good food.

Once you get out of downtown, though, the neighborhoods are a different story. Residences are primarily in apartment buildings rather than houses. Few people own homes, and most live in flats. The economic condition of this industrial area (Donetsk is a large coal/gas/industrial region) mean much upkeep of buildings is forgone in lieu of more basic needs. Western culture is coming, as demonstrated by the presence of supermarkets and "big box" stores, but there are also small neighborhood markets within walking distance for most people.

There are more cars than there used to be, but public transportation is both cheap and abundant. At least on the major roads. We can take a bus to downtown Donetsk for ~$.10 each person, each way (and kids ride free!) Marshutkas cost little more (~$.30) for a faster ride. Just be prepared to be close to other people as the buses and marshutkas will pack in as many riders as they can. Walking is much more a part of one's daily life here than back in the states.

Makeevka is a different story. Downtown is smaller here, and with far fewer clubs and restaraunts (at least that we saw.) It's a much less kempt city, and more run down in many aspects. While there are signs of new building, Makeevka appears further behind Donetsk. The park we walked a few days back is a good example. The memorial included cracked stonework, and aside from a very nice looking restaraunt, little in the park looked as if it'd been maintained.

Galya's orphanage is in Makeevka, and we don't guess she's been out of Makeevka much. One of the things we're wondering is how she'll react to America, which is much different from her native city. There isn't much for her to do there, at least to American eyes, other than walking about town. The orphanage is clean, comfortable, and relatively nice (not that we're experts on orphanages, but a Dickensian place this is not.) The staff is unfailingly nice and polite, if (as typical of this part of the world) direct. From that perspective, Galya's had it relatively good. But the pollution and unmaintained areas around the orphanage cannot be having a good impact on the health of her or the other children.

I am not trying to criticize either city. To an American, used to a commuting and mass media-consumerist culture, there is a great appeal in the slower pace, the more social pasttimes, and ease of getting around town without a car. I don't prefer everything about Ukraine over everything about America, but there are things here that I wish America'd pick up on. (Also, vice versa; I'm not a fan of the pollution here, or anything goes attitude toward traffic laws.)

Links:

• Donetsk ala Wikipedia


• Ukrainetrek.com's site on Donetsk - good pictures, and I've been fortunate enough to see most of the things shown there.


• Donetsk described by the U.S. Census Bureau back in 1999.


• Maps of Donetsk for the cartographically-interested.


• Makeevka ala Wikipedia


• Some pictures of Makeevka.


• More pictures of Makeevka.


• World Orphan Project and Quilts For Orphans items on Galya's orphanage. NOTE: I don't know anything about these charities; donate at your own risk, although if they're valid charities I'm all for advocating support. These kids do need the help.

The Final Thursday?

Well, if all goes well, this is our final full Thursday in Ukraine as we'll be flying out one week from today. Or yesterday, as I'm typing this post-midnight Friday. Shannon talked to the folks at the embassy today, and we "should" be able to send up some of the paperwork early, fax the rest next Tuesday morning, then get the medical exam/visa interview/visa on Wednesday. That would enable us all to come home on the Thursday flight. Glitches push Shannon and Galya to later flights.

So, that was positive to hear. It's interesting to hear from a few folks here that the U.S. embassies really do well by American citizens compared to embassies for (some?) other countries. Not knowing that for sure, I have a hard time doubting it after what Shannon was told today.

The day was rather typical in that we hung out at the apartment and took a walk to Victory for provisions. I introduced Kate to the rest of the family, which was nice. Good for them to put faces to names. The two neighbor girls came over and played with the girls, too, which was boisterous and fun up until Amissa and one of the girls pulled down the curtain in the girls' room. Guess we need to pay for some new curtain wire (they don't use curtain rods in this apartment) before we leave! Oops. But she was sufficiently repentent and responsible that it all worked out for her.

Olga Z. came over for dinner, and we talked a while about a few things missions-related (Olga is a Russian citizen, here as a missionary.) It was an interesting conversation and good company. She'll be coming to the States shortly after we are, which was good news for the girls. They've come to really like Olga - which truth be told, is very easy to do!

A few things remain on our docket for the next few days, but we're starting to turn our minds toward preparing to leave. This is both sad and a relief as we'll be glad to see y'all again. But as always, I don't like leaving here. I've told Shannon I feel at home here too, and it's easy for me to be here. That might be different were I to live here permanently, of course, but for now there's a sense of peace about being here that I really like.

The next big day with Galya is this Saturday, we're hoping, and will be another trip downtown.

Until next time -

Ron

So You Want More?

Okay! I'm back. I left off with Saturday, right? We'll see how good my memory is regarding the last couple of days. And this is going to be one of those long posts I'm known for. I won't say whether that reputation is good or bad.

Also - we've been getting, on average, 40-45 visits a day to the blog. When I saw that today I figured I'd best not go two days between blogging again! Thanks for your support, prayers and encouragement. I've been reading all the comments, and appreciate them even if I'm not responding to all of them. You all mean much to us!

Sunday
Sunday started with church, again in Russian, here at DCU. It was communion day, and the girls found it interesting to be in a church where communion was "real" bread and wine instead of "crackers" and grape juice. There was no Sunday School, so the girls did get a bit clingy after a while. Church here usually involves two or three sermons, some testimonies, prayer requests and singing between each thing. Services go 1.5-2.5 hours, depending on the church. So it gets a bit long for the girls but I'm sure it's good for them. They did brighten up with the cakes and sweets they had after the service.

With fatigue still an issue from Saturday's adventure, we took it easy with the girls after church. It really was a day of rest, and Shannon was even able to take her 2nd Ukraine nap. The girls and I did some movie watching and that was about it. It's amazing how quickly they're fluxuating between full sleepy-silly mode and worn down mode. But they're still doing very well, and we're proud of them.

Monday
Another busy day. We went to Makeevka by marshutka (first time for the girls!) and went to the orphanage. This is a much cheaper and convenient way to get there than arranging for taxis, so we of course wish we'd have figured this out sooner. When we arrived at the orphanage, Galya was helping sweep the dirt in front of a little pavilion area. We finagled an agreement to take Galya for a walk away from the orphanage (and her sweeping), and went to a little park nearby the orphanage. In this park were a statue dedicated to war heroes, and a fountain (turned off for the winter) as well as the latest in a long line of Ukrainian cats that Tierney has photographed. Tierney did tweak a muscle in her leg when slipping off a wall, but otherwise we returned Galya to the orphanage sans incident. The girls played in the playground area for a while, then Galya went in for lunch.

We figured we should get some food, plus there was an outdoor market in Makeevka I wanted to show the girls. Unfortunately, the market was closed (meaning we walked ~15 minutes each way for nothing other than exercise) and there are no easy-to-find restaurants in Makeevka. So, lunch was some cheese and juice bought in a little convenience store, and some candy. Needless to say, the girls liked it. We spent a bit of time walking around downtown Makeevka, which was interesting as I'd not been downtown Makeevka on my prior visits to Ukraine. It's not the same city as Donetsk, to say the least, but it has its charms. A lack of restaurants for hungry kids, though, meant we had to head back to DCU.

The marshutka ride home was uneventful, although we missed our stop and had an extra bit to walk from the next one (or two?) down. Tired and hungry, we got back to DCU in time for a late lunch/early dinner and more movies. This is the "mom, dad and the lady downstairs need a break from the running around the apartment" event of choice, though we've also played a few family games. The weather was warm, but wet and muddy, so the girls have had to stay in the apartment more than perhaps we'd like.

In the evening, I went to the prayer meeting at Olga's again. The girls stayed home to get rest and all that jazz. It was a good time, highlighted by singing more Christmas carols (one of 'em in four languages!) and eating the best chocolate cake I've had in years. Jim and Margaret, another two Americans who work here at DCU, had just returned from a visit to the States. Jim's a very good cook. Having the prayer meeting at their little home meant good treats, and they were kind enough to let me bring pieces home for the girls.

Tuesday
Today. Or, in a few minutes as I type this, yesterday. Another day of rest. We're in our routine of getting to see Galya every other day, which I think is hard on the girls. They want her to come stay with us, but until the court order becomes official next Tuesday that's not possible. The girls did get to play on the playground, but Tierney fell through a hole and got a bruise on her leg. The playground is nice, and was built by members of our church a number of years ago. It's since fallen into some amount of disrepair, though, and the spot she stepped was missing a couple of boards. It was a lesson in paying attention (for Tierney) and a chance to demonstrate love and compassion for a sister (for Amissa.) That ended the playtime, and they came in for lunch. I took off for Amstor to pick up a couple of groceries, and shortly after I returned we had a light dinner.

(Side note: the food here is very good, although we've surprisingly made it this far without having any cabbage other than what was in our one bowl of borsh in Kiev. The favorites are the sausage, yogurt, bread and chocolate, all of which are better than what we get in the States. The girls haven't been as crazy about the vegetables, and drinking bottled water gets a bit old (fortunately, there's lots of juice and Fanta around.) But the simple diet has been working for them. We've found plenty Amissa can eat, dietary restrictions and all, and God's blessed us all with good health. So far, even the cravings for food we'd normally eat are minimal!)

After dinner, we went downstairs to have tea with Sergey Rybikov and his wife Luba. Sergey is the president of DCU, and we'd had the privilege to host him for dinner at our house earlier this year while he was in America. He remembered Shannon's "tasty" dinner, especially the meat. That was nice to hear:) This was a good time of hearing how things are going at the university, and to share a bit with each other. Olga was there to translate, although Sergey's english is much better than my Russian. We've really enjoyed the hospitality and generosity of those here at DCU.

We came home to get the girls to bed, and then watched a couple episodes of Big Bang Theory on iTunes. Angelina called during this time, and we're working on a couple of things to try and expedite Shannon's trip home with Galya. First we'll try to send a picture of Galya to the embassy by mail so it gets there before Tuesday. That is needed so they can check records for her visa application. If the embassy will accept that to start her file, we can fax the rest of the documents Tuesday before leaving Donetsk and try for a visa interview on Wednesday. We're not sure this will fly with the embassy folks, but it's an idea. The other notion is that we're reserving two refundable tickets for a 12/20 flight for Galya and Shannon. If we can't make 12/18 for the visa, we'll hopefully be able to make 12/20. That's a much better, though still not ideal, option than waiting until 12/25 or later.

We're also going to go to the orphanage tomorrow, and I'll get scans of the documents I need for my FMLA application, as well as (more importantly!) have a party for Galya with the children there. Should be a fun day!

Randomness
That catches us up. I'll try to post three things tomorrow: a recap of the day, pictures, and a blurb on Donetsk and Makeevka. That would leave only a couple more non-recap topics I want to touch on: DCU, Good Shepherd and Galya's story. Which is good because I need to get it all in before we leave for Kiev. We're not sure we'll have Internet there, and I'm not sure we'd have time for that anyway if we're running hither and yon doing visa-related stuff.

The Riccardellis headed out today, and we're hoping we don't have the same problem they did getting out of the country. Basically, their passports were stolen a while back, and the new ones do not have the stamps from their entry into Ukraine. So excitement ensued. But God is good and they made it to Munich okay.

Doing laundry by hand. Brushing teeth with bottled water. Different beds, food, language and culture. No television (though DVDs and a laptop help.) Quieter, slower lifestyle. Strange looks when we get a bit too loud, as Americans sometimes do. I can't say enough about how well the girls have handled this trip. They're even keeping up on homework, and emailing their teachers/classes. There are moments of cabin fever and a bit of stir-crazy once in a while, but I need to brag on the girls. I couldn't be prouder.

Until tomorrow! (Er, later today local time!)

God bless,

Ron

Busy Day

That was quite the whirlwind. Yesterday was pretty much a hang out and relax day. Today was much, much different.

We picked up Galya at the orphanage at 11:30 and brought her with us away from the orphanage for the day. Andre and Nina drove us to the orphanage, and when we picked up Galya we stopped at Amstor (as our dear driver and his wife needed to do some shopping.) Galya quickly picked up the "Mama" or "Papa" pleas for things, but took the word nyet much better than most American children do. We fear she's heard it before. (Lest you fear, we did get her some things; just not EVERY thing that she was asking for.)

We got back to DCU just in time to run the provisions up to the apartment and walk to the bus stop. As we had plans to be downtown today, I'd let some people know that we'd be there between 1-1:15 (in Lenin Square) and if they could make it, I'd love to see them and introduce the family. Well, since it took a decent amount of time (25 minutes!) for the folks at the orphanage to get Galya for us, and then another 30 minutes at Amstor, and then getting dropped off mid-bus trip because the bus driver decided the route ended halfway to downtown (third time that's happened to me this year here)...well, we got there a little late. Shannon took the girls to McDonald's, and I ran over to Lenin Square to see if anyone had shown up. Andrey Baranov was waiting for me, so he came back to McDonald's and had lunch with us. Galya doesn't seem to like ketchup, so she'll fit in with our family. She did like chicken nuggets and fries though, so we did get some food into her. I also called Neyla, another friend from the past two summers, and she joined us in Lenin Square after lunch.

In Lenin Square, the girls again rode these little pedal cars, and then we went to the playground on Pushkin Boulevard. Here the girls not only played on the playground together, but they also got pony rides on a real live, very old pony! I think we could have called it a day here and it would have been a success. All the while, we continued to chat with Andrey and Neyla. I think there are two things that make me love Donetsk and want to keep coming back: the city itself, with its European center and slower pace of life, and the people I meet at the English Intensives.

Anyhoo, from here Andrey took us to the "figures park" where the girls climbed on statues and we took a few photos. I love this park too, with the fun statues and sculptures for the kids, and benches for tired parents to sit and rest. (Not that we sat and rested; no, too much to do!) Neyla had to leave for a Skype call right before we got to this park, but she promised to meet us at DCU again before we leave. Yay!

From here we walked back toward the main route, and passed by the Tsar's Cannon, which was fun for the girls to play on while hiding from us. The cannon balls were larger than Amissa (though as she pointed out, she was taller than any of them.) Continuing on our ever-longer walk, we ended up at the White Swan mall, which had a Ukrainian equivalent of Chuck E. Cheese called Plastilin (I think.) The girls played a few games, rode some bumper cars and jumped on some trampolines. And we got too few tickets to do anything with, so we held onto them in case we go back.

It was late, and Andrey had to head back. We also had to get back home to eat supper, then return Galya to the orphanage. Did I mention the way back to the arcade was through a toy store? So, after saying nyet a few dozen more times, we were able to leave the White Swan and walk back to the bus stop. Again, the girls were troopers, albeit very tired ones. Along the way, we also passed this church which I've seen numerous times. This time it was dark out, so the church was lit up. It's still one of my favorite church buildings, although I haven't yet braved the Orthodox and stepped inside.

Once home, we had the grilled/open-faced/cheese/sausage sandwiches the girls (and I!) have come to love, corn and boiled potatoes. All but the corn was just wonderful for Galya, but we made her eat most of the corn anyway. Yes, I know, what kinds of parents are pushing veggies on the kid without a break-in "spoiling" period? Galya then said goodbye to the other three ladies of the Stewart clan, and I took her back to the orphanage. We went via marshutka, and since Olga had told me which marshutka to take, I figured I could handle the trip. Which I did, but crowded marshutkas are quite the adventure. But now we also know another way to get to the orphanage for those times Andre's not available to drive us.

I got back home at about the same time as the girls and Shannon, who'd been kindly invited up to Lawrence and Colleen's apartment (our Thanksgiving hosts) to help decorate for Christmas. The girls also got hot chocolate with marshmallows. So it was a good day all around.

For those wondering, we are not yet able to keep Galya overnight as the adoption isn't "official" until our waiting period is over. Tomorrow we will be talking with Angelina about our paperwork translation, and our options for appealing for a shortening of the waiting period. For those of the praying ilk, we'd appreciate that process to go well. Right now things don't look like it'd be feasible for Shannon and Galya to be home until right at Christmas time, or maybe later, but we'll see what miracles are left in this process.

We miss you all, and can't wait to see you. I still have people I'd like to see, so don't mind the extra length of stay, but it'd be nice to be able to get home too. Aside from a couple of cravings to address (pepperoni/green olive/mushroom pizza for me, tacos for Shannon), we'd love to be able to introduce y'all to Galya in person.

Until next time -

Ron

Sunday at Last

I have two objectives today in regards to the blog. First, I want to catch up the narrative to today. Second, I want to post some pictures (finally.) Shannon has some up on her Facebook page, and I'll post some there as well, but for those of you not on FB, I'd hate to leave you out. Then again, you could just join Facebook and become my friend...

Friday morning we awoke to no power still, and Colleen came down to tell us there was an accident at the power plant. It affected all of three locations, so it wasn't exactly a high priority fix. Fortunately, we'd enough cold cereal to get the girls through breakfast, and us 'Sotans are used to enough cold that Shannon and I were able to wash our hair in frigid water. The power came back around mid-morning, so we were able to get the girls a warm lunch (these little hot dog-esque sausages and fried potatoes. That's quickly becoming Tierney's favorite lunch, and she's now cooking it herself.) After lunch, we went to the orphanage to visit Galya again. This time we were completely on our own as Angelina is still in Kiev. Andrey from DCU drove us over, and unannounced we walked in and asked for Galya. There was another family there, but we did not get to talk with them. There are apparently a few families in the adoption game about now.

We colored and drew pictures with Galya and showed her some games we'd brought. She didn't have any overt interest in learning how to play the games, but enjoyed looking at the pieces. We also had two happy meal toys (or as they spell it here, xeппi miл) which she couldn't put down. Unfortunately, the toys made noise. That doesn't bode well for quiet, but then our girls aren't that quiet anyway. Galya will fit right in!

The visit wasn't terribly long, although long enough for Galyna to use up a bit of camera memory card again. It was a good thing I downloaded all the pictures and videos before we went over! This girl may have a future as a photographer.

We returned home via Amstor, and think we're finally caught up on groceries. They didn't have belts in Tierney's size (she didn't bring one; oops!) so we tried dog collars that (a) looked like belts and (b) were almost the right size. I think the dogs here get rather large. Shannon also found some broccoli - which was very welcome to my veggie-starved wife - and I picked up something I thought was popcorn, but turned out to be something like sugar-coated white-cheddar puffed Cheetos. I really need to pay more attention.

Saturday was a busy, busy day. We started by attending a little theater production on campus. There was a Polish group which presented some children's theater, which was good fun. We could follow the basic stories, which appear to be traditional folk tales, despite the language differences. There was also a professional poet laureate from a nearby town. He did some dramatic poetry readings, and in one of them gave gifts to various audience members. Our darling little Amissa got a mirror. Made her morning, that. Part of the program was also dedicated to a puppet show, and it was very well done. The puppet show was put on by members of a local church, many of whom are affiliated with the Shelter of the Good Shepherd in Makeevka. I will speak more of the shelter in a future post. It was a very clear presentation of the Easter story and forgiveness, which was cool to be able to pick out. Apparently dramas translate well even without words being understandable.

After the puppet show, which I neglected to mention we watched with the Riccardellis, we met up with Andrey (a boy I'd met the past two summers at the Good Shepherd Shelter, and who came to DCU with the Riccardellis) to head into downtown. We made it halfway via bus when the bus driver kicked us off to turn around and head the other direction. So we waited and caught another bus. Eventually, we made it downtown and walked to the artist's "colony." This is an area where local aritsans sell paintings, sculptures and various souvenirs. We picked a few up, but I won't say what they are in case the recipients are reading this blog. We then went to a restaurant called "big belly hut" or something like that. It was a buffet restaurant with Ukrainian food. It was tasty, especially the solyanka. Shannon has since looked up many recipes online, and will treat you to it someday if you'd like.

Oh - almost forgot. Between the artists and the dinner, we stopped at Lenin Square where the girls rode some pedal-powered cars. I'm surprised Amissa didn't run anyone over, but it was quite amusing to watch. It was less amusing to watch the guy running the amusements keep telling the girls to keep driving when we were paying by the time, but it all worked out. The Riccardelli girls and ours are getting along quite well. I'm rather proud of our daughters, who have proven adept at making friends with, and playing with, children over here - not least of all Galya - despite the language barrier. Two little girls from our apartment building just showed up at our door one day and the four of them played and had a great deal of fun.

We got home, then, and the girls watched Tinkerbell. They liked the movie so much they watched it this morning again before church. Fortunately, church started at 10:00, so we had plenty of time. We went to the church here on campus, which Sergei (the rector of DCU) leads. The girls went to Sunday School and were pleased to know one of the songs they sang. We also met a couple from Kyrgystan who are studying here at DCU and speak pretty good English. They "knew" us before we even arrived as they're part of a Monday night prayer group which Olga Z. hosts. Guess with all the prayer in two countries, we can't be surprised things are working as they are:)

So that catches us up to the moment. There are a few things I will talk about in future posts which put more color to the stories so far, as well as pictures. I'll post the pictures today, but along with narratives the following topics will (God willing) appear in the blog this week:

• Donetsk and Ukraine


• The girls and their adjustments and observations


• DCU


• The Shelter of the Good Shepherd


• And last, but certainly not least, Galya's Tale itself

So stay tuned!

God bless,
Ron

Back to our Story, Already in Progress...

We left off at Monday, so on to Tuesday. That was a rather quiet day as Galya had to take a few physical exams. We spent the day hanging around the apartment, and walked down to a local market across the highway from campus. The girls played outside a little bit, but the wind was a bit brisk so they didn't play long. In the evening, we went over to our friend Olga's apartment, and shared tea with some people I knew from the English Intensives in the summer (Andrew, Tanya and Nazar, along with Tanya and Nazar's mother Natasha.) Tierney and Amissa hit full sleepy-silly mode during the visit and provided no end of amusement.

Wednesday was a bit busier. We started with a walk down to another local store, called Victory, to pick up a few more items. Shopping is more piecemeal for us this week it seems. In the afternoon, we went down to see Galya again, this time bringing some coloring books and white boards. The visit was MUCH quieter as the girls spent time coloring together. Galya was much taken with the girls' digital camera, and about filled up the memory card taking pictures of people who didn't want their picture taken. Some things transcend cultures I guess. Coming home from this visit, Angelina informed us she was heading back to Kiev for a few days to file more paperwork with the Ukrainian government. If the Ukrainian railroad offers frequent rider miles, I'm sure she's in an elite class. So, in the next few days we'd have to arrange other transportation for visits to Galya. We came back to campus, and Lawrence came down to invite us up to their apartment for dinner Thursday night. It will be nice (he says using future tense to pretend he's not writing this long after Thursday night already happened) to spend Thanksgiving with a couple of other Americans. The evening was spent reading with the girls, and trying to keep up on their homework. The girls have been really good about that while we're here, and both were able to email their teachers on Tuesday. They're even doing well without any television to watch!

We also found out that our court date is set. We will be in court next Wednesday, December 3. That should be the time we are deemed to be Galya's family, and this is followed by a ten-day waiting period where anyone can appeal the adoption. This rarely happens, but the waiting period is also rarely waived. We're hoping it can be this time so we can return home ten days sooner, but it's up to the judge. So we pray and hope, and we'll see what happens.

Thursday, Thanksgiving day. This was the most unique Thanksgiving in my memory. We went downtown to do some sightseeing. We visited Lenin Square, Pushkin Boulevard and the downtown Donetsk McDonald's. Yes, we are experiencing culture everywhere!

We started our time downtown with the girls playing on a playground on Pushkin Boulevard. For those who haven't been there, Pushkin is a pedestrian boulevard with playgrounds, benches, walking paths, flowers, sculptures, cafes and fountains. If I were to live in Donetsk, this is where I would spend most of my free time. From there we went to Lenin Square to meet Deanna and Sean Riccardelli and their daughters, Elina and Liza. Elina and Liza were adopted from Russia, and so we had something in common right away - daughters adopted (or about to be) from behind the old Iron Curtain. We adults chatted while the girls all chased pigeons. The Riccardelli girls both caught pigeons, and Amissa was able to hold one. It was fun, albeit something we wouldn't encourage back home. I'm not sure the pigeons liked it either, but they were being fed so they didn't leave. We were introduced to the Riccardellis through Olga Zaitseva here at DCU.

After a time talking, we split to different restaurants for lunch. The girls had to have McDonald's, so we headed over for our chicken nuggets, chicken sandwiches and fries. Following a typical Ukrainian, er, American lunch, we walked over to a souvenir shop - and ran into the Riccardellis again. Small world, this place. Leaving the shop, we returned to the bus for the ride back to campus.

The buses here run on electrical wires hung above the street. Which the girls found interesting. We stopped at Amstor to pick up a desert to bring with to our Thanksgiving dinner. We got home shortly before 5 and headed up for dinner at 6. The Gingerys are wonderful folks, missionaries serving here at DCU for a number of years. Olga Z. joines us as well, and we sat down to a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner of chicken, potatoes and all the trimmings. The cranberry sauce was superb, as was all the food really (we have been eating well; the bread, especially, over here is tremendous.) In the middle of dinner, though, the power went out. This doesn't happen here as much as it used to, but we ended up having dinner by candlelight. It was rather nice, and we had good conversation. And, we had dinner theater when Amissa and Tierney started doing shadow puppets with the flashlight. All in all, a great Thanksgiving.

We did miss family and friends, though, and cannot wait to see you all when we get back. We are truly thankful for all of you; for your support, your prayers and your love we are most certainly grateful too.

This catches us up to two days ago. I'll try to get caught all the way up tomorrow, assuming we have electricity. We are planning a quiet day around the apartment before another busy week. I think the girls need it.

Now off to watch Tinkerbell. Shannon surprised the girls today with news that she picked it up before the trip. They want me off the laptop so I can put the movie in. So...until tomorrow,

God bless!

Ron

So where was I?

Ah, yes. Sunday. Sunday was a day of rest as we hung out around the apartment and packed up for our trip to Donetsk. We did take a little walk out through the nearby neighborhood. The girls each picked up a pair of slippers to keep their feet warm; one doesn't wear shoes inside the house here, and they wanted the slippers to keep their feet warm. Not that we've needed it; the weather's been pleasant (for Minnesota standards anyway.)

Sunday evening Nick picked us up and took us to the train station where we boarded the ol' iron horse for the overnight train ride to Donetsk. Shannon says the train was more comfortable and spacious than the one she rode in India last January. I'll take her word for that! The girls liked sleeping in the upper bunks, although the frequent stops in between did wake them through the night. They did very well, though, and so far are traveling like little troopers. It's a big adventure for them and they're taking quite a bit in. The only thing they're not getting much of is sleep, although they're soon headed for a day or two of crashing.

Monday: The big day! I suppose if I stopped this post here, Mom and Dad would reach through the network cable and wring my neck, so I'll continue. We arrived in Donetsk ~7:00 a.m., and were met by Olga and Andre from DCU. Andre brought the school's van, so we did have enough room for our overpacked family. It was nice to finally introduce friends from Ukraine to family as I've talked about each to the other many times. We arrived at the university by about 8:00, and were put up in an apartment in the staff housing building. It is spacious and the girls love the wallpaper in their room. Coming soon we'll post photos, and I'll make sure the girls include a picture of their room for y'all.

After a quick shower and putting away of suitcases, we were picked up by Angelina. She spent some time before we arrived doing paperwork, and getting ready to file things with the court. We were therefore able to get to the courthouse and register the adoption case, and we also were able to get to the city council offices and file the appropriate paperwork there. (Side note: I've made the comment frequently that there is more paperwork involved in adoption than in buying a house. This is probably for the best, of course, but I'm losing track of what we've filed, where.) Then to the orphanage where we met Galyna.

I've met her three times before, but this was a first for the rest of the family. She knows we're there to adopt her, and she ran into the room all a-smiley. She went to Shannon and gave her a big, long hug and called her "mama." This, needless to say, went over well. She then hugged the girls as they were introduced, and finally me. Consistent with the rest of this trip, we didn't have our camera available. Ooops. We went into a side room while more paperwork was completed, and the girls played with Galya. The language barrier seemed a bit less problematic in that first 90 minute visit, and we expect she'll pick up English quickly. She has not yet had any English lessons, so we'll be starting from scratch. I will just have to keep my Russian dictionary handy:) Fortunately, she's probably not old enough to yet critique my grammar too strongly.

Galya's a sweet girl, mildly stubborn and certainly eager for attention. She has a smile that lights up the room, and a bit of energy. Though the youngest of the girls, she's a good couple of inches taller than Amissa. So Amissa is still the older sister, but she's not going to be the big sister! So far that seems to be okay with her. We were very proud of the girls; they latched onto Galya immediately.

From that visit, we hit Amstor for groceries, then returned to the university for a couple of hours and some lunch. Late in the afternoon, Angelina returned and took us to Gorlovka to sign some more applications with the notary. While waiting for our driver afterwards, we hit a little cafe where we had the absolute best hot chocolate ever. No lie. Best ever. It was like drinking melted, high-quality, smooth chocolate bars. The girls also had rather large ice cream sundays. I think we're looked upon as oddities, eating ice cream in sub-freezing weather, but that is the way of us. After this, it was time to head back home for much needed sleep.

More later. We're on the way to the orphanage to see Galya again. This time, we'll be taking the camera:)

God bless,
Ron

"No, there is too much. Let me sum up."

So, where to begin? The week (or nearly so) has gone by quickly. In the proverbial nutshell, the trip-to-date in review:

Wednesday: We got up very early, which is terribly annoying, but considering the cause we dealt with it with good humor. Gib Coleman (thanks again!) drove us to the airport and we boarded our plane sans incident. The girls enjoyed the flight to NYC's JFK airport, which provided highly overpriced food and underwhelming entertainment options. Again, good humor. The girls made a new friend in the lounge, coloring on the floor next to this little Ukrainian girl. Would have made for cute pictures if we hadn't been up so early so as to fry our "let's take a picture!" synapses. On to the plane for Kiev, again without incident. That flight introduced two minor problems: Amissa's food intolerances, and forbidden-for-the-girls movies on the "big screen." Our lovely flight attendant was kind enough to find some corn flakes for Amissa so she could have a wheat-free breakfast, thus resolving issue #1. We tried to get the girls to sleep, thus mitigating problem #2, but they were having none of it. So, sleepy and excited we landed in Kiev on...

...Thursday. We were early into Kiev, so we had a chance to change some currency before our driver arrived. Nick, our driver, then drove us to our apartment. Nick was great, and I never felt in danger. But I would have to call the traffic there...interesting. We stopped at a small market for a little food, and then hit the cozy apartment for some rest. After dinner (basically some sausage, cheese, juice and bread) we went for a walk. The girls liked the street vendor motif, and we picked up a few oranges on the way back to the apartment. It was off to an early bedtime, and after we all woke up ~3:00 a.m. (unable to fall asleep) we waited for...

...Friday. Nick and Angelina (our facilitator and all-around superstar) met us Friday morning to take us to a meeting at the Ukrainian governmental department whose name escapes me, but which handles adoption and child-welfare issues. There we met Irina, a case worker who heard our story and gave us the referral to adopt Galyna. She noted that it was unheard of for people to be invited to Ukraine so quickly after their application was submitted (we were rather surprised ourselves.) Angelina also was able to convince them to give us the referral that same day instead of having to wait for the next day - which would have been Monday. This was quite the benefit as this referral was required in order to set up a court date in Donetsk to formalize the adoption. Since the courts in Donetsk only take registrations for cases on Mondays and Fridays, losing that day would have meant another few days on the trip. So far, things are going more quickly than is typical, and everything has been going smoothly. Were I superstitious, I'd be knocking on every tree in my room! But I would be remiss were I not to thank all of ya that have been praying for exactly this type of smoothing of bureaucracy and expediting of time lines. And Angelina, with her connections and knowledge of how this all works, has been an absolute lifesaver.

After the meeting, we returned to our apartment (after one more stop at the grocery store; now that we knew the size of our refrigerator, we knew what we could buy to supplement the sausage/bread/cheese.) From here until Sunday night, we had no further obligations, so spent this Friday afternoon hanging out. We visited a wonderful little restaurant/pizzeria about two blocks from the apartment. The girls enjoyed a chicken and potato dish that was of the über-cute ilk. The dish had a chicken breast dressed up with various vegetables cut and pieced together to make the chicken look like an actual chicken, with wings, tail and head. Unfortunately, the girls were so into taking silly videos of themselves they forgot to take pictures of the food (noticing a theme yet?) The girls also enjoyed the underground shopping stalls by the subway station. Here in Ukraine there are many intersections where pedestrians cross the road underground, and they are often filled with little booths of products for sale. This day behind us we tried to sleep in preparation for...

...Saturday. Nick came and picked us up around 2:00 for a sight-seeing trip to downtown Kiev. Lots of fun here, even though cold and sleety (well, not "cold" for a bunch of Minnesotans, but cold for people from further south, like Iowa.) We saw many nice examples of Ukrainian architecture, including St. Michael's Monastery. To get there we rode the funicular which was nice because it got our little stompin'-in-mud-puddles-in-her-now-soaked-tennis-shoes youngest out of the damp for a few minutes, and because it was a rather unique experience. We also checked out the souvenirs and artwork on the streets, and had a nice Ukrainian buffet dinner. Busy, wet and fun. We then hit the apartment to watch movies on the laptop and blow the backup fuse in our transformer. Oops. So the question is, will we or will we not have power for the laptop the rest of the trip? Will we be able to charge our camera battery? (Well, since you're reading this, yes.)

This is getting to be a long post so I'll get the rest of the trip posted in a following item.

I hope all is well, and happy (belated) anniversary to Mom and Dad. We would have called or sent an email, but until today...no Internet! As soon as we refresh our Skype account we'll give you a call.

God bless -
Ron