Haag Ukraine Adoption 2

FINAL CHAPTER

2009-02-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

As promised, we wanted to do a final follow-up and chapter in our adoption story.

The last week was a wild one. On Monday, the 2nd, we traveled with Sherri and Justin to the birth city of Kyle and Katrina (conveniently, they were both born in the same city) to get new birth certificates. That turned out to be an almost all-day process as the roads were difficult because of 5 inches of snow falling the previous night. Dejectedly, we came back to Artemovsk Monday evening to spend another night.

On Tuesday, we swung by the orphanage, picked up Katrina, said our good-byes, headed to Donets'k to get passports, and then made a very long 11-hour drive to Kiev. Katrina was a real trooper, but threw up once and had a couple of massive blowout diapers. All told, we drove for about 16 hours that day, arriving in Kiev at 1am Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, we did the necessary medical stuff and got Katrina's visa at the embassy.

Thursday, we flew home. We left Kiev at 12:30pm, stopped over in Kennedy in New York, and were home in Denver about 10:30pm. Because of the time change, the travels that day were about 19 hours. Katrina was the only child on the plane who never cried or threw a fit.

Now, life begins anew, after a fashion, for Katrina and all of us. She already sleeps 12 hours per night, takes a nap in the afternoon, and eats like a horse. Alexis (our first daughter) and Katrina are getting used to sharing the role of "Princess" in the home. Our boys Darian and Trevor are huge a help with the girls.

Medically, Katrina is just fine. All tests have come back negative; she's just small and needs a lot of Stephen's good cooking. When not pressed, she can repeat about 8 to 10 words in English. But she understands so much more. We'll definitely have her ready for kindergarten in 18 months.

We just want to say thanks to everyone who supported us throughout our adoption travels. We started the whole thing 4 years ago. We got Alexis in summer of 2007 and Katrina just last month. God bless all of you who care about the children of the world and believe what we do... Every child deserves a childhood.

Katrina asleep in the van on the long journey to Kiev.

Katrina's first meal outside the orphanage at McDonald's no less!

Getting ready for the plane ride to the U.S.

Alexis and Katrina enjoying a snack.

We made it home in time for Pam's birthday.

Alexis and Katrina as sisters.

Peace, love, and happiness to you!!!!

QUICK UPDATE

2009-02-06T05:26:00.000-08:00

We're home!!!

We got through everything on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and arrived home safely last night (Thursday) about 10pm.

We'll post detail on the final chapter of our adoption in the next day or so.

SALT MINE TOUR

2009-02-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we went on a great tour of the salt mine in Soledar, a town about 20 kilometers from Artemovsk. In its 100 years of existence, only 2% of the salt has been mined from the area. So, there's no chance of it running out for the next several thousand years.

One particular cavern is so large that, in it, symphonies and soccer games have been held. That cavern is about 300 meters (1,000 feet) below the surface.

We were very fortunate that Vika joined us on the tour and was able to translate what the tour guide said.

Superbowl Sunday... GO Cardinals!!

Darian, happy 9-and-a-half birthday from wintery Ukraine. We got about 5 inches of snow last night and it's blowing cold today.

Trevor, one more month and it'll be your turn to celebrate.

Alexis, you turn three on February 19 and we'll definitely be home for the party!!

With our hard hats on, we prepared to enter the mine via an elevator that would drop us 300 meters into the ground.

Pam next to one of the many statues carved from the salt.

The ceiling of the salt mine. Absolutely beautiful!!

Stephen next to the another salt-carved character.

Stephen on the underground soccer field.

LAST WEEKEND

2009-01-30T21:48:00.000-08:00

We're enjoying our last full weekend in Artemovsk, and all of Ukraine for that matter.

The champagne factory tour didn't work out yesterday. When we got there, we found out that we needed to have reservations. No matter how much money we offered, the wouldn't let us in, even for a little while. So, when you come here, call at least 4 or 5 days in advance for the tour.

But we are going to the salt mine today. Yesterday, Stephen went with Vika and our cab driver to Soledar (the city in which the salt mine is located) and prepaid our entries for today. We'll definitely post photos of that tour tomorrow. Supposedly, the salt mine is so large that a soccer game was once played inside.

Not much else to report. Consistent with our "project plan," we've got a pile of dirty clothes building up in the corner of the hotel room. (Those clothes will not make the return trip.) Tomorrow (Sunday) will be our packing day in preparation for a long travel day Monday that will include getting new birth certificates and passports for the childrens and traveling on to Kiev.

TGIF

2009-01-29T21:24:00.000-08:00

Another day has passed and that puts us one day closer to being home.

Yesterday (Thursday) was an interesting and informative day. We were able to connect with Vika, a nice young lady here in Artemovsk who speaks English very well. (She gives private English lessons to children.) Vika helped us arrange for the champagne factory tour, which we will take this afternoon.

Most importantly, she joined us at the orphanage for 20 minutes of Q&A regarding the lifestyles and habits of the children. Pam and Sherry (recall that Sherry and Justin from south of San Antonio are here adopting Kyle), with Vika translating, quizzed the orphanage workers regarding sleep habits, meals, food allergies... just about everything you can think of. The highlights for Katrina: she goes to bed at 8pm and awakens at 6am; she naps daily from 1 to 3pm; snack times are 10am and 4pm; bathroom times are structured and frequent; she eats everything except potato chips and sweets.

For bathroom times, all the children in her room have their own pot (not potty). They take the pot down from a small shelf, set it on the floor, and then sit on the pot and do their business. (We have not yet witnessed the disposal of the contents of the pots afterward and frankly don't care to.) They can go to the bathroom any time they need to but there are certain times of the day when all children go grab their pot and have a seat (so to speak). We've arrived several times at the orphanage to find all children sitting on their pots in the bathroom.

Regarding eating everything, we were quite surprised to find that the orphanage said "no sweets." We've seen the children on numerous ocassions being fed candy and sweet breads by the orphanage workers. Who knows. Katrina definitely has a healthy appetite, as she is the largest child in her room.

And a sad little story... We arrived yesterday morning at the orphanage and swept Katrina into our arms for a couple of hours of quality time. Then the workers started telling us something that we couldn't decipher. After several minutes of talking very loudly (what all people seem to do when wanting to communicate in a language that is foreign to the other person), we finally called an interpreter who communicated to us that the children were having medical physicals today and we would not be able to spend time with them until the evening. So, we said good-bye to Katrina, and oh how she cried. We had only been there a few minutes and we were already leaving. Of course, it broke our hearts; at the same time, it warmed us inside to know that she wanted so much to be with us.

Katrina sends her love. (First photo: Katrina loves to brush people's hair. Fortunately, Pam has long hair and Stephen has often been referred to as a "long-haired, hippy redneck.")

34 HOURS AND COUNTING

2009-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

It's about 7am here on Thursday. Tomorrow at 5pm the court decree becomes official and we have a new daughter. That also gives us some more tax deductions, but Stephen is 100% sure that our new president will see to it that we pay more taxes, not less, no matter how many children we have. Oh well, nothing can dampen our spirits, not even more taxes.

We've made arrangements for a tour of the champagne factory tomorrow and will hopefully get to see the salt mine on Saturday. Sunday will be a day of travel preparation, and then Monday the fun begins.

No big news really. We continue to enjoy our time with Katrina. She understands quite a bit of Russian, although she doesn't speak much. Stephen has been working with her on her English and she has attempted to articulate such words as blue, star, and banana. Not to worry... she'll be an English-speaking little chatter box by the time kindergarten starts in 18 months.

Speaking of language, Stephen entertained the grocery store clerks yesterday. Here, they always ask you first how many bags you want and what size. (You get charged for grocery bags.) So, Stephen learned to say "Two big ones" in Russian. Yesterday, they threw him a curve and asked first, "How would you like to pay?" And Stephen responded in his broken Russian and with a very proud grin, "With two big ones." The clerk was a little embarrassed at his response and several of the clerks couldn't help but laugh. She then explained that she wanted to know if he was paying with a card or cash. Well, that embarrassed Stephen when he realized the inappropriateness of his response. He got so flustered that he didn't what to say when he was finally asked how many bags he wanted and what size. What can you say, he's a computer nerd and a professor.

Katrina sends her love. Maeve, congratulations. Gary, thanks for all the emails. LA staff, we truly appreciate all your comments. Nana and Popeye, hang in there and thanks for watching Darian, Trevor, and Alexis.

3 ANGELS AT HOME

2009-01-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

One of our mutual attractons so many years ago was that neither of us ever wanted children. We were both dedicated, career-oriented people. Hmmm... how things change.

On August 1, 1999 Darian came into our world and we knew we had made the right decision to forgo our DINK status (Dual-Income, No Kids) and join the parenthood club. Exactly 13 months later to the day, Trevor became a part of our family and confirmed that our decision was right.

Two beautiful boys, no worries in the world... what else could we want? Well, we wanted two girls. Both of us were aging, however, and we were acutely aware of the many children in this world who needed a warm, loving family. So, we decided to go the adoption route.

We started the whole process about 4 years ago and finally got Alexis from Ukraine in the summer of 2007. And now, we're just a few days away from bringing home Katrina and starting a new chapter in all our lives.

Darian will turn 9 and a half this Sunday (super bowl Sunday). Trevor will be 8 and a half on March 1. Little Alexis will have her third birthday in between the two.

Darian, Trevor, and Alexis - we cannot imagine life without you. You bring us so much joy and happiness. So, Big D (Darian), Sweet Pickles (Trevor), and Poodle-Doodle (Alexis) - get ready. Mommy and Daddy are coming home and we may never stop hugging you!!

P.S. Thanks to Uncle Mark for daily reading our blog to Al and Fern.

TUESDAY AND ALL IS WELL

2009-01-26T21:49:00.001-08:00

Again today, no big news to report.

Our newest "intellectual" challenge is to determine in what order to wear our clothes so that we can minimize what we take back. When we leave here next Monday, we'll still have 4 or 5 days in Kiev. So, we want to leave as much here in Artemovsk as possible while still having enough to get us through our time in Kiev. Then, we'll leave more stuff in Kiev, making the trip home very light.

The same is true for our other belongings (baggies, toiletries, etc); we want to leave most of it here and carry back to Kiev only what we need for our days there.

Now, you may thinking, "These people have gone absolutely nuts over there!" But we assure you, when you're in the middle of some surreal, esoteric version of Groundhog Day, creating a project plan of the clothes you wear (with an accompanying PowerPoint slide presentation with photos of the clothes) is a welcome and exciting task.

More photos of Katrina.

OUR LAST MONDAY AT THE ORPHANAGE

2009-01-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

Today, we start our week-long celebration of "last days." Today is the last Monday at the orphanage, tomorrow is the last Tuesday at the orphanage, and so on. Our time with Katrina is great, but we're all ready to go home and start a new chapter in our collective lives. Of course, we still have a handfull of days in Kiev after we leave here, but it won't be groundhog day anymore. (Perhaps it will be ground squirrel day, then.)

We are making plans for a tour of some of Artemovsk. We're very excited about getting to sightsee a champagne factory and a salt mine. Both should be fun and educational.

We're also determining how best to return to Kiev with a child in tow. Bt train, it's 12 hours overnight, so at least Katrina will sleep most of the way. By car, it's 10 hours or so which has the advantage of a personal driver who will stop at any time for any reason. By plane, it's an hour and 20 minute flight, which has the huge advantage of time savnigs even when you factor in time at both airports. Of course, they all have their disadavantages as well. However, we do realize how fortunate we are to have so many options.

Alexis, our little peanut and daughter, we miss you so dearly. It was about 18 months ago that we were here in Ukranie going through a similar process to adopt you. It was summer then, and we got spend all our time with you outdoors. It broke our hearts sometimes to see you sweat and wilt underneath the 100-degree sun. You persevered better than we did, and our memories of those times always make us smile. We love you, Alexis, and we'll be home soon.

MORE "NO NEWS"

2009-01-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

We have nothing new or really interesting report today.

Like we said, a whole lot of Groundhog Day deja vu all over again. (Wow, Bill Murray and Yogi Berra in the same reference!!)

Another good day with Katrina. She's really talking up a storm now (not in English, of course) and she's much more engaged and interactive than she was the first few days we were with her. That's to be expected though, and we're patient with the bonding process. (Remember, we've been through this with Alexis.) She's also testing us - as parents - to see how far she can push things, and sometimes we can't help but laugh to see the her little mind working her way through sneaky scenarios and parent-subversive plots. That's also good... she understands our true feelings toward her and now she's just being a little child, comfortable with her parents while trying to learn her limits.

Meanwhile, our boys at home (Darian and Trevor) are negotiating with each other to determine how Stephen is going to paint their new room once we get home. Right now, it seems to be some sort of mix of colors for the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Nuggets. Anyway, Darian and Trevor, Daddy cannot wait to get home and grab a paint brush, so br ready with your colors and design.

More photos of Katrina.

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

2009-01-23T21:39:00.000-08:00

No big or exciting news today. Nico had his 4th birthday party, which was really fun to attend. The orphanage certainly allows birthday parties, but you are usually limited to giving the kids just a few cookies... no cake and ice cream, dancing bears, Disney on Ice, etc. We got to sing happy birthday to Nico in both Spanish and English and wear party hats and blow party horns.

The longer we stay here the more contact we have with people who have also been to Artemovsk and adopted. Through all of those communications, we learn more about the city like eating places, etc. So, Stephen's new "mission" is to diagram the city in the orphanage area and mark and photo important locations... hotels, restaurants with English menus, the Internet cafe, post office, etc. If you've been here before and are aware of a place future travelers to Artemovsk should know about, please send Stephen an email at techbookwriter@yahoo.com. Include a description and approximate location. Stephen will photograph and map it. Also, let Stephen know if you want to receive the map and photos. Hopefully, people who use it in the future will update it and pass it on to others.

Katrina sends her love!!

MORE FRIENDS, ANOTHER GROUNDHOG DAY

2009-01-22T21:15:00.001-08:00

Same routine, same wonderful new daughter.

Thursday here had only a few surprises and deviations from any other day.

We moved hotel rooms again for the 4th time. (If we stay in a different room every night until we leave, we will have stayed in every room in the hotel.) The first room was huge but had no shower curtain so you had to keep your back to the wall while using a handheld spray nozzle. The second room was too cold (for Pam, not Stephen). The third room was okay but we noticed that a must larger and nicer room had become available. In this hotel, you can tell that the a room is empty because the key is in the door. So, you can walk into any room to determine if you want it.

Stephen spent almost an hour on the phone with Delta and got our tickets changed and bought a ticket for Katrina. We'll be flying home on Saturday, February 7th. We leave Kiev at noon, have an approximate 3 hour layover in JFK, and then finally arrive in Denver at 10pm on the same day. It's 19 hours of travel time. There is a chance we could fly standby on Thursday, February 5th, if we can get through the medical and embassy stuff without a hitch. Stephen wishes we could get home even a few more days early as his Cub Scout Pack's Blue and Gold banquet is Wednesday the 4th. He would love to see Darian get his Bear badge and Trevor get his Wolf badge. And, he also wants to be there to see all the other boys get their badges of rank, as Stephen is Cubmaster for the pack.

Our nice surprise was the joining of a new family. Maria and Fernando, from Guatemala, have joined us at the orphanage. They have 2 daughters by birth (9 and 13 years old) and are adopting three boys: Santiago (3), Nico (4), and Fernando (5). Maria and Fernando are staying in Kramators'k, as they alternate days between orphanages. Santiago and Nico are here in the orphanage in Artemosk (1-hour drive from Kramators'k) and Fernando is in another orphanage about a 2-hour drive in the opposite direction. When they are here, we have 3 boys (Santiago, Nico, and Kyle), 1 girl (Katrina), and 6 adults (Maria and Fernando, Sherry and Justin, and the two of us) in the same room. Talk about wild and crazy!! It seems the adults spend most of their time trying to make sure their child/children aren't eating the food of the other children. But it's a lot of fun, and all the adults enjoy having grown-up conversations.

More photos of Katrina for you to enjoy.

Darian and Trevor, Daddy is rooting for the Cardinals to win the super bowl. Alexis, both Mommy and Daddy can't wait to give some lovin' to their little "girdlfriend." We love and miss all of you.

SUCCESS AND SCARE!!

2009-01-21T21:22:00.000-08:00

Katrina is all ours, barring, of course, any wild happening in the next 10 days!!

We had our court appointment yesterday at 3:30pm and it went very smoothly. We answered only a few questions, the usual ones regarding our home and the like. The judge did ask Stephen about his profession. His response of being a professor of computer technology at a university always gets a lot of positive nods. Anyway, the whole process took 13 minutes. Now, we wait the mandatory 10 days, which will be a week from this Friday. The following Monday we will take care of passports and birth certificates and then be off to Kiev. If all goes according to plan, we will be on a plane on February 7th.

That was our success yesterday... now for the scare.

We were in our hotel room yesterday about 12:45 having a light lunch when our facilitator came knocking at the door. She said the orphanage had called and something was wrong with Katrina and that we needed to pick her up and take her to the hospital. On the ride over, our facilitator explained that something was wrong with Katrina's left leg. When we got to the orphanage she jumped up and ran into Stephen's arm. But, the workers there insisted that she had been limping around. So, we took her to the local hospital (the hospital is another story all by itself) where she was immediately seen by a doctor. (Orphanage children get priority at the hospital.) He just shrugged his shoulders after watching Katrina walk around.

As it turns out, the orphanage can get in very big trouble if something happens to a child so close to his/her adoption date. So, when the workers saw Katrina limping, they immediately wanted to send her to the doctor for care.

Needless to say, the whole thing gave us a scare. In then end, we laughed it off as a bit of an over-reaction.

Enjoy more photos for Katrina. She is a pistol!!

BIG DAY AND GREAT FRIENDS

2009-01-21T01:37:00.000-08:00

Today is an important day. We have our court appointment at 3:30pm. This is when the judge will ask us a few questions (why we want to adopt in Ukraine, etc) and then grant us our request to adopt Katrina. But it's not over. Then we have a mandatory 10-day waiting period, which means one week from Friday she will officially be ours.

We are very fortunate to have another American couple with us, Sherry and Justin. They are from 50 miles south of San Antonio (in the general area where Jerry, Stephen's brother, used to live). Sherry and Justin are adopting Kyle, an absolutely beautiful 4-year-old boy. Sherry and Justin had their appointment in Kiev to select Kyle the day before ours. So, they have been one step ahead most of the trip. They arrived in Artemosk a day earlier, got to meet their new child a day earlier, etc.

We are staying in the same hotel and sharing rides to and from the orphanage. It's great to have lunch with them everyday, talk about home, and share the adoption experience. Sherry and Justing have a daughter by birth and also wanted a son. We can certainly say that Justin and Sherry are very lucky because Kyle is a wonderful little boy. Kyle is equally as lucky... Sherry and Justin are magnificient people.

We are only able to spend our morning time with Katrina today because of the afternoon court appointment. This morning was great as we had no temper-tantrums!! But we're sure we'll get a couple tomorrow as we continue to work with Katrina. She is truly wonderful and very happy, and we are lucky to have found her. She even pooped for us today. This is quite a breakthrough as she had yet to use the bathroom with us prior to today.

Enjoy some photos of Katrina and know that we'll be celebrating this evening after our court appointment.

CALORIE CONSUMPTION

2009-01-20T03:38:00.000-08:00

We are staying in a hotel about 2 blocks from the main shopping mall (and also supermarket) for Artemosk. It's a very nice supermarket about 1/3 to 1/4 the size of Stephen's King Soopers back in Highlands Ranch. (And, yes, if you ask Stephen, he will tell you that the King Soopers is his.) The selection is always pretty good. And, as you can see from the photo below, the fish is fresh.

We tend to buy more than the average Ukrainian couple in the supermarket (DUH!!), so the security guards take turns kind of following us around. Theft in a supermarket is quite high, so all supermarkets employ security guards to watch for people stealing food.

The real food shopping (and every other kind of shopping) occurs right behind the supermarket. It is a very large open air market, with many small permanent shops (usually about 12x12) and plenty of room for people wanting to display their wares in the hopes of finding buyers. In the photo below, you can see the entrance to the open air market just to the right of the supermarket. The next photo below shows a closer view of the entrance to the open air market.

Once inside, you can find just about anything you want. We've been buying a bunch of clothes and toys for Katrina and many things for the hotel room... trash cans, extra bedding, pillows, etc. You can also find plenty of fresh meat there, as you'll see in a few of the photos below.

Of course, our primary focus is Katrina. She really loves to be held, although she's not particularly fond of sitting in your lap while she does something like draw. Today, we explored eating with a spoon (at which she is already really good) and having a plate full of food that she could eat whenever she wanted. It's very interesting to watch her. In our first few days, she literally inhaled her food and tried to have both hands full of cookies, Cheerios, etc. Now, she's beginning to understand that food is not in short supply when she's with us. She's even been willing to pick up Cheerios and give them to both of us, which is a positive step forward and away from alwys having a feeling of hunger.

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

2009-01-18T11:43:00.000-08:00

We've been through this before... the grind. We're past the unbelievable excitement of meeting our new child and we've established a daily routine. It will go on for another 2 weeks, at a minimum. Our court date is next Wednesday; then we have a mandatory 10-day waiting period before Katrina becomes ours.

So, here's what usually happens.

We wake up in the hotel (see the photo) around 6am to shower before all the hot water is gone. (Pam learned this the hard way one day.) Breakfast is in the hotel and quite good. It consists of fried eggs, potato pancakes, salami, cheese, bread, yogurt, juice, coffee, and tea. It costs us about $33 per day (for both of us combined) to stay at the hotel and that includes breakfast. The hotel is rather like a bed-and-breakfast. It's an old converted home that has 15 rooms.

After breakfast, Stephen goes down to the open-air flea market for an hour or so of exploring, buying things for Katrina, haggling over Russian antiquities, and shopping for things we need in the hotel room. Then, it's off to the orphanage from 10am to about noon. At noon, we usually go eat at a local restaurant (there aren't very many) and then head to the supermarket. The main supermarket in town is only 2 blocks from the hotel (see the photo). It is on the first floor of the main shopping mall for town. The third floor contains men and women's clothing shops. The second floor has a rather large electronics store and several small miscellaneous stores. At the supermarket we buy food, sundries, and snacks for Katrina we need for the day and perhaps the next day.

After a brisk walk back to the hotel and a little time for rest, we go back to the orphanage from 4pm to 6pm. Then, it's back to the hotel for a light dinner usually consisting of crackers, bread, and cheese.

Bedtime varies but never seems to be too late. Then...

We wake up in the hotel (see the photo) around 6am...

You get the idea. we do the same thing everyday. Pam describes it as being in the movie Groundhog Day.

Our truly bright spot is the time we spend with Katrina. Yesterday we worked on not stealing toys from other children. Today, we worked on not swallowing an entire snack in one gulp. On our first visit after initially meeting Katrina, we brought a banana for her to eat. She went crazy when she saw it and Stephen was barely able to get it peeled before she shoved half of it in her mouth (while gagging), bit down on it, and then proceeded to attempt to swallow it. Of course, she choked terribly and bit Stephen a couple of times while he dug banana out of the back of her throat.

Then, the real battle started. We started putting bite-size portions of snacks on a plate and she could only get one when she had completely finished chewing and swallowing the previous. Well, you can imagine how that went over - not well at all! Just seeing all that food and not being able to hoard it all and stuff it in her mouth was sometimes almost too much for Katrina. She would do her usual temper-tantrum routine, falling on the floor and screaming and crying. But, she eventually figured out that act wasn't getting her any attention or more food. She's not completley comfortable with seeing food on a plate and leaving it while she chews other food, but we'll work on it again tomorrow. (In Groundhog Day, tomorrow can supposedly happen forever. Yikes!!)

In the meantime, enjoy some photos of Katrina.

ANOTHER HAPPY DAY

2009-01-17T01:58:00.001-08:00

We're sorry our last post was so quick.

We arrived in Artemosk about 8am on Thursday. Our 12-hour train ride from Kiev actually ended in Kramators'k, about 70 kilometers away. One of our facilitators met us there and drove us the rest of the way.

As soon as we arrived, we checked into the hotel, unpacked our bags, and took just a few minutes to clean up. Then it was off to the orphanage to meet Katrina.

Artemosk is a town of about 80,00 people and its primary industry is mining. This is definitely a blue-collar town, which deserves another blog post just devoted to it. Anyway, Internet access is very limited. There is none in the hotel and no way to get a wireless connection here. After being told by any number of people that there were no Internet cafes in Artemosk, we finally came across a small business with about 6 computers that kids use all day for online gaming. So, this is our new home for a couple of hours each day.

Our days with Katrina are great. We get to visit her from 10am to 11:30am and 4pm to 6pm each day. The orphanage is only a 15-minute walk from the hotel. But it was very cold today, and raining. It's pretty much a miserable walk.

Katrina is a very strong willed young lady. When she takes things from other kids, we make her return the toys. And she is none too happy about that. She screams and cries (really loudly) and falls down on the floor for a temper tantrum. The first couple of times, we would pick her up and soothe her. (We are extremely pleased that she responds to this in a very positive way, calming down almost instantly.) Today, however, we let her lay on the floor and scream away. And, as you might guess, she quit when she determined that no one was paying any attention to her.

We are very fortunate with the orphanage situation. It's actually quite clean and well taken care of. We get to take Katrina to the music room. We are joined only by Justin and Sherry and their new son Kyle. (We'll do a blog post devoted just to Justin, Sherry, and Kyle in a day or so.)
So, we're indoors, it's warm and clean, and we can focus solely on Katrina. But having Kyle around is really great because we get to watch how Katrina interacts with other children.

You'll notice in some of the photos that Katrina has a huge blue bow in her hair. Here, the larger the bow the more they are loved, so Katrina is definitely loved. After the frist day, she no longer wears the bow but she is loved even more. The orphanage also gave her a hair cut between day one and day two.

Darian, Trevor, and Alexis - we love you and miss you dearly.

Nana and Popeye (Stephen's parents) - we'll never be able to express how at peace we are over here knowing that you are over there taking care of our children.

MEET KATRINA, OUR NEW ANGEL

2009-01-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

We've got her!! We travelled via train for 12 hours (basically 7pm to 7am) from Kiev to Artemosk (there are several spelling variations) in the Luhans'ka region. We actually arrived in Kramators'k and were met by Koystia, one of our facilitators. He drove us 70 kilometers to Artemosk. We took about an hour to check into the hotel, unpack, and freshen up. Then, it was off to the orphanage, about 9am. We waited patiently in the Director's office and were evenutally introduced to the orphanage's psychologist/doctor. While she was explaining everything to us, in walked Katrina with several orphanage workers.

She stood very quietly sizing us up for a moment. Stephen stretched out his open hands and she placed one her hands in one of his. After some smiling and gentle touching, Stephen slipped out of his chair and sat Indian-style on the floor. Katrina simply turned around, backed up to him, and plopped herself right down in his lap.

The rest, as they say, is history.

We have so much to say and talk about... Katrina most importantly, but also the train ride, our hotel, the city of Artemosk, and another adopting couple we have met.

In the meantime, please enjoy a few photos of Katrina.

Darian, Trevor, and Alexis - Mommy and Daddy love you today more than we ever have. Our hearts have grown in size so that we can also love Katrina just as much as we love you.

Darian and Trevor - Katrina definitely needs her big brothers to protect her and show her how to succeed in life.

Alexis - Katrina wants you to be her life-long companion, friend, and sister.

GREAT DAY IN A COUPLE OF WAYS

2009-01-13T05:53:00.001-08:00

We had our meeting with the adoption ministry and accepted a referral on a beautiful 3-and-a-half year blond-haired, blue-eyed girl!!

We're now busy making preparations for tomorrow's 12-hour train ride to the orphanage to meet her. Right now, we know literally nothing about her, so we'll post more information - including photos - within 48 hours or so. The photo below was taken right after our appointment.

Okay, we know it's not that important, especially in comparison to a new family member, but we did have another memorable experience involving a meal. Today, we ate at a Russian Cossack restaurant. In Russian lore, Cossacks are known for being wild and crazy, heavy drinkers, and - most importantly - maniacal defenders of their country. We started the meal with pickled cabbage... most excellent!! Pam then had potato dumplings, some of the best ever!! And Stephen had - and this is the menu item name - "Meat in a Pot." It was chunks of beef meat with potatoes, mushrooms, and onions in a cream sauce cooked in a ceramic pot in the oven. Outstanding!!! The photo of Stephen below was taken in front of the restaurant's mural. The two men in the painting are in traditional Cossack dress.

we hope to have more detailed news and information within the next couple of days. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers. We could feel your warmth in our meeting today.

SOME THOUGHTS AND OBSERVATIONS

2009-01-12T21:19:00.001-08:00

It's 7:15am here Tuesday morning and we meet with the SDA at 10am to pick out a child or children. We'll post again this afternoon to let you know who we picked and where we're going.

In the meantime...

MONEY: Ukraine currency is the hryvnya (pronounced as "gr" at the beginning), as Ukraine is not a part of the EU. About a week before we left, the exchange rate was $1 USD to 7.7 hryvnya. When we arrived, it had moved to 8.6, meaning that our money goes 12% further. For example, a large coffee at McDonald's is 9.5 hryvnya, or about $1.10 under the new exchange rate.

APARTMENT BUILDINGS: Below is a photo of the outside of our apartment building. Some apartment buildings here, as is the case with ours, are owned by the government. So, the government is responsible for how the outside of the building looks as well as the stairwell. People buy individual apartment units and then renovate them however they want. In our apartment buildng, every door to the units is different because every owner picked a different door. While the exterior doesn't look so good, the individual units inside are nice. Ours, for example, has hardwoord floors and 12-inch stone tile throughout.

SMOKING: Everyone we know in Ukraine smokes, a common habit in Europe especially in eastern Europe. we were quite surprised to walk into a restaurant and find a non-smoking section the other day. As it turns out, there has passed a law that requires restaurants to have a certain percentage of space designated as non-smoking. We even found a restaurant that was completely non-smoking. This represents quite a shift in thinking.

ENGLISH: We also continue to find more and more people who speak English and more and more services in English. Our cell phone, for example, is recharged by buying a card with "units" on it and then uploading the units - via a phone call - to the phone's account. When we were here last, we had to memorize the sequence of keys to get us through the voice-based menu system because it was all in Russian. Now, the first voice instruction is also in English and asks you to select a number if you want everything in English. We have also eaten at 2 restaurants that have both sets of menus - one in Russian and one in English. Another restaurant had everything in 3 languages - Ukrainian, English, and Italian.

FOOD: Speaking of food, we continue to enjoy some nice dishes, including: borsch (traditional Russian soup that is usually a deep red color because of the presence of beetroot), chunks of turkey with mushrooms in a gravy sauce with potatoes (called turkey ragout), and - of course - fried pig ears. (Stephen had them last time we were here and couldn't resist the temptation to order them again.)

MCDONALD'S INVASION: McDonald's now appears on many street corners. When we were here last, we found a couple of McDonald's; now is we have 3 within walking distance of the apartment. It's interesting... when McDonald's opens a new franchise internationally, part of the agreement is that employees taking orders must be able to do so in English. So, if you ever need a language "fix,"' you can always go to McDonald's and order a big coffee with no milk.

It seems very cold here, although the day time temperature has consistently been in the upper teens and lower 20s. We always fight a 20mph north wind, and the sun never moves very high in the sky. Sunrise is about 7:45 and sunset is about 5pm.

We'll chat with you later this afternoon, hopefully with magnificent news. To Darian, Trevor, and Alexis - we miss you very much and love you dearly. All our best, Mom and Dad.

SAFE AND UNEVENTFUL TRAVEL DAY(S)

2009-01-10T23:17:00.000-08:00

We've arrived safely in Kiev.

Friday morning we left Denver around 10:30am. We had a great itinerary: depart Denver 10:30am, arrive JFK at 4:20pm, depart JFK 5:40pm, arrive Kiev on Saturday at 10:10am. So, we had a short but long-enough layover in New York followed by a 9-hour flight straight into Kiev. (Kiev is 9 hours ahead of Denver time.) We had no weather or baggage issues and made the trip without incident. If you're planning on flying into Kiev, we highly recommend you look into using Delta.

Upon arrival, we ran a few essential errands - exchange money, buy a SIM card and charger cord for the cell phone (thanks Scott and Micheline for the loner phone) - and then settled into the apartment. We'll be here through at least Tuesday, which is our appointment day with the SDA. If all goes perfectly, we'll get our referral on Tuesday and also be able to travel to the orphanage. If all goes normally, we'll get our referral on Tuesday and travel to the orphanage on Wednesday.

Our apartment is about 2 miles from where we stayed last time we were here. Basically, we're in the central part of the city of Kiev. Within easy walking distance we have everything we need... department stores, shopping malls, grocery stores, McDonald's, post office, etc. We also have high-speed Internet access in the apartment, which makes it great for checking email, blogging, and staying up with world news. We have cable TV in the apartment but no English channels. Just like before, soccer on TV in Ukrainian is just as boring as soccer on TV in English.

Saturday evening we wondered out for a quick bite. Pam had pasta stuffed with spinach and cottage cheese and Stephen had lamb meatballs and potatoes. Both dishes were excellent. Bedtime was about 7:30pm.

Today (Sunday) and tomorrow are just days of relaxation, sightseeing, and shopping. We have a list of items to buy before going to the orphanage... serrated knife, foam mattress pads, etc.

We'll post again tomorrow with sights of (and insights from) Kiev.

HAAG UKRAINE ADOPTION 2 - THE SEQUEL

2008-12-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

It's true, coming to a blog near you. We're heading back to Ukraine on January 9th to adopt again. Our appointment with the adoption ministry is January 13th and we're approved to adopt up to 2 children. We want one girl for sure (Alexis needs a playmate) and anything beyond that is icing on the cake.

Brief history... we first went to Ukraine in the summer of 2007 and adopted Alexis, at the time a beautiful 17-month-old girl. Now, she's an absolutely beautiful almost 3-year-old. You can read our blog for that adoption at http://haagadoption.blogspot.com. We have had no problems whatsoever with Alexis. Upon our return to the U.S., she immediately started sleeping 12-14 hours a night and a couple of hours in the afternoon. She eats just about anything Stephen cares to make, and she dearly loves her brothers, Darian and Trevor. (They feel the same way about Alexis, except when she upsets the Scrabble board.)

So, we're going back for more.

We probably won't update this blog until we arrive in Ukraine in January.

Alexis, Darian, and Trevor send their love.