More new photos and so long to Babushka:)

Tomorrow is court day at 2:00 and that will put us one giant leap closer to our Marina. They call her Manya here and it seems so endearing when I hear them talk with her. My mom left yesterday afternoon, catching a train to Kiev at 5, getting into the airport at midnight and then a flight at 6:45 am to get home to Greenville Spartanburg airport around 6 44 this evening. She gains 7 hours and my head does not do time-math very well, so hopefully she will just sleep on the plane and not notice what her watch may be doing. We are all so grateful that she came on this trip with us, and Evan had someone to play with while we worked out some obstacles in our own journey. Anyhow it was sad to see her go yesterday but in the name of my poor father's heart, we bid her adieu and will see them all sooner than we can imagine! Time flies here for sure. You hardly get back from one visit before we get off to another. Then Evan starts in on going to the game room or off to a happy meal...and we are still fitting in school in between all our running around! We will start the Ukrainian language class I downloaded when they send me the windows version (somehow I got the Mac). Then we will be working hard! At least I will, I hate not being able to talk with Marina, even though we always get our point across. I just want to know what she is saying. I can't assess her language skills because I do not have any comparative sentences to use. Tully asked Evan what he thought of Marina yesterday, and after contemplating he came up with "She's cute". For a brother, that is commendable! The silly faces he is making in this post is where we told him Marina is older than he is (by 3 whole months). He went with his official coo koo face. We did tell him he would still always be her big brother and would look out for her. I have also seen her in action over a sack of toys and another kid, it may not be all that necessary. Today is a rainy day out side so we will take the dvd player and see how she likes curious george. We have been incredibly fortunate to have the kind of weather that we can play outside every day, and that has been a lot of fun. The kids decided to "rain leaves" right before they went in last night and man, were we all dirty! The leaves came from the sand box and in the hands of maybe 8 kids, and no one had the foresight to realize that handfuls of sand would accommodate the leaves. Right as we were getting ready to separate from Marina, the kids all walked over to the big gates that leave the orphanage...and Marina decided she was simply LEAVING the compound. when she realized she had to stay after much wrestling and discussing with the teacher, she laid her head down on the railing in defeat and it broke my heart for her. She was pretty bent about not being able to leave and would not tell us good bye last night. More and more I long for the day she clears that gate for home. We are simply crazy for her.

Video of Marina's bossing ball game:)

Sitting at the mall on a Saturday night by the indoor skating rink in Dnipropetrovsk, hoping to upload this video. It is not a great quality and Tully and I were passing the video camera back and forth trying to capture it all. We think it is amazing how hard Marina was working to make us understand the rules, which we failed horribly at. I am surprised she was interested in working with us today but she was amazingly friendly and very funny today. She has the best laugh! Today we all played lots of different games on the playground with all the kids and then the "gram babushka" got on the merry go round and the mouths of all the children fell open...evidently not a lot of grown ups get on that thing. After seeing the color green on mom's face, well it would only be logical. I got a scarf that I really really liked the other day and today I put it on while we were on the playground and one of the kids busted out laughing and said something about my "babushka"scarf. Not sure I like it any more....:) The children here in Marina's place are so beautiful and bright eyed. I wish we could bring them all home. It is too easy to love them. Not sure why they are in an orphanage, but they need parents. And dentists I think. Anyhow will take photos of the groupa if we are allowed. Did I mention you should come get a child too? Do you realize if only ten percent of people who profess to be Christians would adopt a child, there would be no more orphans? On the other hand there are millions that need a home. And every single one who gets a home, is one less orphan. And one less orphan is the goal...remember that starfish story where the little girl is walking along and tossing beached starfish back into the ocean and a man comes along and asks why she is working so hard since she surely can't save them all? She picks one up and says, "I made a difference to this one". And I can't believe how grateful we are to be blessed by this little starfish of ours. You all are going to love her:) Peggy I will talk to anyone that will listen to our story so yes, I would come to sunday school and talk about this journey. Thank you for asking.

At the end of the day today Marina ran over to the goody bag and snagged the color book that was in there. She tucked it under her arm and marched off with her groupa. It was interesting to explain to Evan that she felt that she needed her very own color book for the first time in her life. He got better about it, but it did not sit well until I went over it one more time.

I do have one prayer request. Please, other than our court date, start building a hedge of prayers around Marina's journey home. I get no translator to help me and the flight will be very very long if she decides she does not want to be on it. I know we are nervous about this more than anything. The honor of getting past our court date on the 28th is that we have a ten day wait that will allow us to officially become Marina's parents on November 8th, which would be Orphan Sunday,the official day of acknowledging the call to arms to be aware. I had no idea that this was real. I wish you could be here too. It would change your life forever, and a lot of us need our worlds changed I believe.

I just realized that the video may not load because I am nearly out of battery charge. Ugh, if it does not load I will try again tomorrow. Ok the connection failed after an hour and a half--will maybe upload a 23 second video instead of a 4 minute one if I can, to get you by til tomorrow... sigh-battery has mere seconds left...

We have a court date!

October 28th at either 2 or 2:30. So we were approved here in this city as well and we are still moving forward!! It has gotten a bit chillier today, so it is the first day I have not sweated my behind off each time we walk in a building. The first visit today Marina spent with my mom and then we came at the end, just to change things up a bit. Marina did well but at one point got very stubborn and would not budge from sitting on the floor in front of the door so the staff finally had to haul Marina back to her room. Then we got there a few minutes later and she got to come back out, so we all went out side to the play ground, where you will find the best photos to date! For the second visit, just Tully and I went because Evan was taking a hard nap (more on lunch later but it delayed the nap long enough so that Evan slept right through the second visit and did not go at all)...Anyhow we went to play with Marina, and I think it was the hardest I have laughed since we have been here. Marina took us to the play ground and conjured up a game with the beach ball where Tully would sit on the merri go round, and I would stand in a very specific place and Marina would kick the ball to me, then I would go sit on the merry go round and it would be Tully's turn. seriously, Marina must think we are the two most special needs people she has ever met. She would fuss and fuss in Ukrainian and then finally get us by the hand and pull us to where we needed to be, according to her rules. If Tully delayed too long or did not stand in the right spot, then he would lose his turn and Marina would make him sit down. Finally she would just get so fed up with us she would sit on the beach ball and just look at us, like we were completely daft. Given that we cannot speak Ukrainian, we are certainly the ones who appear most disabled in our little family group! When she saw her group of friends walk by around 5:30 she was never so relieved to have her language barrier restored and threw us both kisses and hugs and skipped off to play with her current set of siblings, the other children. we do not interfere with this as we believe she will struggle immensely when we come home, even though it is the very absolute best thing that could happen for Marina given her options in about a year or so. In the mean time she can enjoy the best of both worlds.
So, as for lunch, we first walked through the open air market outside since the day was gorgeous and the 4 of us moseyed around checking out the skirts, both on the hangers and on the girls. It is hard not to admire both. These women are the most beautiful in the world so far that I have ever personally seen. I am not going to post any photos here, you can come over and adopt your own child or you can take my word for it. I would opt for choice number one. It is far more amazing than I can put into words. But I digress. Lunch I finally had to call in the cavalry and concede defeat that I could not find pictures of what I would LIKE to have for lunch because we were in some Ukrainian pub with no english menu and only photos of 10 different kinds of sausages fixed that many different ways. We decided to be brave and sit down and take our chances. It was the right choice.AFter calling our facilitator to speak with the waitress we were off and running and finally had our first bowl of Borscht here. If you like dill at all, you would have liked our lunch. It was amazing. (Bouquets of dill garnished our plates, in America we use sprigs, so I gathered it all up and stuck it in a baggie and brought it back for potato salad). Anyhow we had a wonderful time and then finally left the mall, to head back here. Evan and Gram had diverted to a dvd store, to get movies that play in the dvd player here in Ukraine. (ours were all out of region except for the 20 old black and white Alfred Hitchcock movies I brought.) Mom and I went back to the mall after 2nd visit today and took the little mini computer and the magic jack and she began calling folks, starting with my dad. She has only been able to call ME for the last week and that is probably not what she had in mind since I am right here. The only place the Magic jack works for now is at the mall with the free wifi since it is so strong there. Tully is elated as now he feels he can watch the eagles play if we go to the mall on sunday night. Nice to know what it would take for Tully to ask if we can go to the mall....duh, it would have to be a dang football game! So I have yacked and yacked here, maybe it is time to upload my family photos from the day. I will say that if I get to upload video clips I will post the one of her bossing me and Tully today. You can feel sorry for us then:) God has been most amazing and gracious to us this journey and we are very grateful for the prayers that have gotten us to this point.
Love, us.

Today we submit to court!

You must forgive the sporadic updates, and lack of video. It is a sketchy connection on a good day and I spend more time logging on than I do writing. With that out of the way, I have a few minutes before my bathroom turn and wanted to update some pictures of Marina's current home and also we finally got to play on the playground out side. It had rained and was really really grey, not like a rainy grey but blended with smog or something that made it almost dark outside so I wondered that we would ever get out of playing in the lobby of the orphanage and getting onto that cool little playground. Then yesterday afternoon a warm wind blew a bit of sunshine through and suggested that outside would welcome us after all:) We were originally given the hours of 9-12 and 4-6 for visiting but they soon asked if we could come at 10:30 in the am instead since Marina has speech and snack and likes those very much:) of course we complied so we are not killing ourselves trying to get out the door in the morning now. Between visits yesterday we went to the "wally-mall", the giant megastore that makes every mall in America look crummy, and went to the famed Mcdonalds where you can indeed get raspberry pie instead of apple. Evan was delirious as their happy meals do indeed have toys. We then went to ELC, the kids store educational learning center. Marina has blown past anything I brought to entertain her. She works puzzles and threads beads with precision. The doctor at the orphanage conveyed that only Marina's speech is delayed and everything else is on a typical track. This I believe. Marina was much more warmed up to me yesterday and chose my lap and my help on the puzzle, though I have no idea what the difference was. She did fuss at Tully for trying to help her and her independence is commendable. I cannot say enough that this is the orphanage of dreams. The children are loved and well taken care of. For Marina it would have been the dream before the nightmare had someone not come for her.
Yesterday a major hurdle was cleared for us, the social worker has given us her approval. Today we all trudge to the judge and face another unknown adventure. We will be finished early Marina (facilitator) thinks but we will then go straight to the orphanage for our morning visit. We are unable to add another child to our journey at this time for various reasons so to say I am disappointed would be an understatement. It would have been so much easier to go through this jealousy thing with Evan one time and I feel that we will never have this chance again. I can say so much more but there is no point and we will focus on Marina and Evan and not those left behind.
The picture of the double doors and blue building is Marina's orphanage. I sure wish I could upload a video because her laughter is precious and she was sure generous with it on the play ground! She and Evan do really really well on the playground and they are getting more on balance with each other Evan is enjoying her more and realizes two on a see saw sure work better! Will post more when the internet is agreeable.

Marina is awesome!!

Where to start seems to be the hardest thing about this post, particularly since this will be my second post since I lost the first one. Marina is just the absolute coolest little kid! She is smart and funny and cute as a button! She has been known to take her play cell phone and high tale it to the grocery store. OF course she did not have permission to wander the aisles and yak away on the cell phone as she shopped and she sure gave the orphanage director a heart attack, but this is the sort of smart little independent thinker we have become ridiculously attached to in a few short hours. She was born at 7lbs 7 ounces but she sure has shot past that! She is solid as she can be, not overweight but heavy! She is an easy size 5/6 and a little shorter than Evan. She is assertive and takes charge of the games, telling everyone who to throw the ball to and where to sit and whose turn it is. So shy, NOT! She is most fond of Tully (papa) and when we got there the second time she ran and jumped straight to him first. It melts the heart. The pictures here on this connection take so long to upload and it is impossible to up load a video. I lost the last blog entry trying to upload the magic ball trick that Marina did. Once she saw Tully pretend to lose the ball and then have it magically appear, she was the next to do the trick. She is too funny and very very happy. When we first met her she was a little freaked out but she is over that part for sure! Wow, so much to say, it is hard to fit it into words. We are so incredibly fortunate to have been drawn our rainbow end to hers. Evan and her will be great friends in time, a little competitive for him right now, but this was to be expected. He is homesick too a little I think. But he likes Marina and makes sure everything he gets in his hands he gets in duplicate, one for him and one for her. He is certainly committed and is doing as well as to be expected with this sort of life change.
Tomorrow Tully and I make the rest of our biggest decisions here in Ukraine and we pray for clarity and peace to overcome any obstacles we face. We ask that you lift us in prayer as well. Will update more tomorrow. The internet connection here is not the high speed deluxe we had in Kiev so no videos or phone calls anymore:) But I was smart enough to buy unlimited email for one month! So you will hear all about this as long as I can get on line:) Thank you again for all who have become a part of this journey. We would not be here without you. As fortunate as Marina has been to end up in this orphanage (as of last May, when she was not even talking yet at age 4 when she was transferred here), it would never last for her but maybe two more years and with each passing year, she would have been a higher and higher risk for the institution, a crime for any child, and now that we love and hug and kiss her, especially for her. This was the right thing to do. I wish more people believed that for their own lives. This change is going to be good for us all...the beginning of the story where I know Cay is truly happy dancing for us all today. Surely she would be proud of how we have let love for her carry forward.

In about 3 hours...

We should be at the orphanage where Marina is. I cannot believe that as Shelly B. put it, the moment we have met hundreds of people to sign hundreds of papers and shed thousands of tears over, is here. Evan is so excited, he lights up at the mention of her name. We went to the store yesterday and he was already adding to the cart, One for me, one for Marina...one for me, one for Marina. Chocolate and cookies and juice boxes. He is so sweet and is probably the most ready of all. Tully watched the Eagles last night but too bad for him we left that high speed internet in Kiev! Shelly Burman thank you for the air card for the computer. I would have been a mess if I had not had that to at least start the mime conversation with at the Kiyevstar internet store. We did have to walk back to the super mall again, hauling the computer with us. Long story short, we obviously now fixed that problem.
The neighborhoods here are unusual for our current understanding. The inside of the apartments we have seen are so amazing. Perhaps this is because the outside is so incredibly shot out. It looks like government housing...perhaps it is. But like the kind you would see in NYC in the Bronx. The playground is neat, as it has just been built I think. It is right beside an old metal one with hundreds of layers of paint, like the others we have pictures of. The kitchen here looks like Ikea, and is very fancy. Right now it has workmen in it and the nice landlady fixing something with the water or under the sink. We are fortunate to be here. I will try to upload photos later but the camera is in the kitchen right now and there are plenty of people in there already.

Marina (facilitator) is so amazing. She is smart and beautiful and very sweet. Usually all that does not come in one package. She said that little Marina looks like me. Probably why I think all that nice stuff about her haha! I actually am most fascinated that she can be so nice to us and walk so fast, all while wearing the tallest shoes I have seen.
We still have some major hurdles to overcome. For one, I thought we would be able to see baby Anna before making a decision but Serge told us yesterday that we cannot. Personally that is ok by me, but we are still having some discussion here about what we are to do. Please pray for discernment and wisdom. Tully has some logical concerns and I tend to live more by daily faith. Both have their merits when blended, and both have their faults. Again, this is a serious time for us if you could wrap our decision in prayers.
We will also meet Marina's mother this afternoon as well so there will be a lot of bawling I feel sure. I get a lump in my throat every time I even try to picture this really happening.
I am waiting on coffee to be ready so this post is all over the place and if it were a writing project would likely just be handed back for editing, or rewriting. I am also so excited to get ready to go see her. Today she turns from a paper doll into a real live child. One I hope the judge deems ours.

Packing to head for Dnipropetrovsk

Wow this was a quick first few days! We are packing up to relocate via train at 4:45 am tomorrow! our train leaves at 6:58 and the driver has to make two trips to get both the Dellanos and us to the train station on time, so we get to be first! The cars here are little and our bags are not, so it is a tight squeeze to get everyone and everything in the car. We really did not bring a lot-one bag and one carry on, but times that by 4 people and it looks like we relocated permanently! We are all getting really excited to see Marina, and we get to see her the afternoon on Monday, not sure what time. OF course will update photos as soon as we can! In the meantime, the Dellanos and us all met the Westbrooks from Colorado this afternoon for lunch, and they brought their two little munchkins with them. Their girls are Victoria and Anna, and not sure who is who. They are both under 2 years old by a couple months but not sure by how much, 22 months was the oldest I think. There are also posts of our apartment here in Kiev, at 60 dollars a night. Mom and I shared the cost of a curling iron today when we saw one for 275 hryvnas which is equal to about 35.00 and we were delighted to get to find that at the front of the trip! Children's clothes are a fortune here and quality is not great. Maybe I have just looked in the wrong places? There is a really neat underground mall here, and you access it by taking what looks like subway stairs down underground. This also gets you across the street without getting run over. Tully and I have been amazed that we have not seen one ant or one squirrel. A few dogs and one cat but that's it. The lack of bugs is weird. We have not gotten to see the Independence Square except for driving to and from the SDA but it is impressive...we were usually sitting in good old fashioned city traffic. We are going to finish out all that is in the fridge tonight so we will have omelets for dinner and try to figure out how to sleep for a few minutes before getting up at 3:45. No point in getting up earlier, I am not cooking and we are almost packed. Another day and another fine adventure heading our way! It is a huge help having another family here because we can share what we know with each other. It is also nice that we really enjoy our time together and both hope we are close in proximity for our journey south. It is also nice to have mom here and we all have a little more variety in our day by all of us being here. I would do it again this way if I had to decide again. Evan has been great and Tully is behaving as well:) Since I get to update the story, well you just have to take my word on how I am doing. And I am doing fabulously!