Mouseawake Videos Presents: A Cosi Compilation

Hey all, this is Rob. The video below is a little compilation I put together after the mice woke me up again early this morning. I just can't fall back asleep while listening to their squeaking, munching, and scampering...

Anyway, I mentioned before how most videos end with Cosi making an effort to get the camera- here's what the tends to look like:



As for an update, let me just say that, if 2 years ago you had told me that the possibility of me watching the Steelers play in the Superbowl greatly depends on what time the mail arrives in Uzhgorod this Tuesday, well, I would have been flabbergasted. The passport is supposed to arrive in Uzhgorod on Tuesday, sometime after 2pm. If it arrives early enough, we can get the passport, have Pasha's wife run to the train station and buy tickets (assuming there are tickets available!), then meet us at the trains station in Svalyava with Cosi. Otherwise, we may have to wait until Wednesday to go back to Kiev. Once if Kiev, we have to get Cosi a required medical check, pick up some translated documents, then head to the US Consulate to apply for her visa. If all goes close to plan, we'll be on a plane to Virginia on Saturday afternoon! (That laughter you hear is regular readers of our blog reacting to the phrase "if all goes close to plan".)

Big Surprise = I'm right again :)

I knew Rob would be a great dad and he is doing amazingly well with our little girl!! Geez - I was totally right...

After re-reading my emails from Rob again (& again), I realized I should be bragging about my husband and how he's such a good daddy! He's doing a great job teaching our daughter all sorts of new things.

This is also a good activity for me. I'm homebound today. It's snowing. The driveway is icy. The roads are icy. I want to take a walk. I'm gigantically pregnant. I'm trying to be a mature adult. Walking on ice is not mature. This is especially true for gigantically pregnant women.

So, here we go! I'm sharing a few excerpts from Rob's emails to me.

She called me “dada” today! I would point to myself with both hands and say “Daddy” and then point to her and say “Cosi.” So she touched my chest and said “Dada”. I was really excited and praised her. Then she pulled her sweater out a little and said “dada.” Yep. All that time, she thought “dada” meant “sweater.”

She’s picking up on some more things. Playing peek-a-bo around the cribs is a regular. But it has to be done a specific way. She hides on one side, then I have to say “Where’s my little girl?” and then we both peek around the left side and I act happy and say “There she is!”, then we repeat the process, but the second time we both peek over the top of the cribs and the third time we go to the left side.

She saw a water bottle among my stuff today and wanted to play with it. I thought, “I’ll see how this works.” At first, not so well. As with the juice box, she wanted full control. Once it was clear that full control was not an option, we made progress. I kept telling her, “Daddy holds it, Cosi drinks.” Eventually that became “Daddy holds it, Cosi helps.” It’s not like she knows the difference, but it mattered to me. Anyway, I took the cap off and slowly got the bottle to her mouth. She tried to put her fingers in it, tried to grab it, wanted to squeeze it, but eventually, she drank out of it as I held it. After a few times of doing this, she started holding her hands behind her back now and then. She did pretty well drinking from the water bottle! She still would rather do it herself, but no way I’m letting that happen anytime soon.

She also at the end of the day started doing something that Sasha does. I did the tickle monster with both of them last week, and since then Sasha comes up to me, points both fingers at me and makes like a small roaring sound. Cosi did it for the first time today- it was cute. There were several moments where she really was acting more like a little girl than a baby. It’s hard to describe, but it’s something about her face and the way she moves.

She likes being tickled (what kid doesn’t?) and if I stop too soon, she’ll put her fingers on her back or side and look at me and say, “tickle tickle tickle!” So I’ll eventually tickle her until she can’t take anymore, which I know is the case when she tries to bite or kick me.

I also brought one of the containers of the puffs. They went over really well. I pulled them out in the car, and I would pour 4 or 5 into my palm and she would grab them all and stuff them in her mouth (if she was really hungry) or eat them one by one (if she wasn’t as hungry). After she would finish a handful, I would say “more?” and do the sign language for more. She didn’t pick up on it at first. Then, after I thought she had had enough puffs, I put them away. About 20 minutes later, after we played some more, she came right back to her seat, looked at me with a big smile, and did the sign language for “more”!!!!! Of course, she thinks it means “puffs.”

She likes it when I hold her and beat box. When I beatbox, she puts her head on my shoulder, puts her arms around me, and cuddles. If I stop she pulls away, looks at me and tries to make drum noises so I know what she wants… I wonder if she likes to feel the vibrations in my throat…

But - lest you think Rob is the only one teaching our daughter new things -

-I taught Cosi to stomp her feet. That turned into "let's stomp on Daddy's feet," which I thought was great practice at coordination of feet & leg movements. But, if you could have seen Rob's reaction, you would have thought I was teaching our daughter how to punch a baby!

-I attempted to teach Cosi to say "Zip your bag!" We'll need to work on it a bit more in the future, but this could be VERY useful b/c Rob has a habit of forgetting to zip his SIDE bag (not a purse, definitely not a purse).

Cosi & the Pictures

Well, the plan was to wait until tomorrow morning at 5:30am to talk to Rob again. He eats lunch at a place that has internet, so he can use Skype to call me for free. But, I couldn't wait for free. I decided to call him for just a few minutes :)

Rob told me about his afternoon at the orphanage. He printed out 3 pictures of me to show Cosi. Cosi got really excited when she saw them and immediately started putting the pictures up to her cheek and stroking them. But - less than a minute later, she started crying (deep, heart-breaking sobs like Rob has never heard from her before). She kept looking at the pictures, babbling and crying. Rob didn't know what to do, so he started to take the pictures away (thinking that they were upsetting her). Then, her sobs got louder and she wouldn't let him put the pictures away. She reached for the pictures, kept looking at them and kept crying. So, Rob just held her and let her cry. He's pretty good at this, because he has had a lot of practice holding me when I cry!

Of course after hearing that, I'm crying. I'm so worried that she thinks I've abandoned her. We can't even tell her that she'll see me again (& hopefully soon), because she doesn't understand Ukrainian or English. Please pray for our little girl's heart. Pray that God would supernaturally comfort her and that she wouldn't think her new mother abandoned her.

Jan 27th Update

Rob is still in Svalyava. I was able to talk to him for 2 hours on the phone this morning - yay! All of our other conversations have averaged 2 minutes, so we're thankful he was able to get internet and call me on Skype for FREE.

Good news = We have our changed ID number for Cosi.

Bad news = The worker at the office neglected to enter the number in the computer. She didn't think she needed to hurry or even do it. Our facilitator tells us that most office workers just sit around and drink coffee all day. Anyhow, when our passport application was sent to Kiev, it was rejected because this worker had not entered the new number into the computer system. So, the application was rejected and returned to Uzgorhod.

Now = we have another delay in our adoption. They are telling us that the passport might be approved by Tuesday. If that happens (pray for that or for it to be ready sooner), then Rob & Cosi would be back in Kiev on Wednesday morning. Of course, there's more paperwork to be done in Kiev. It's possible that they could fly back to the US on Friday, Feb 4th. I hate to even hope for that, because this process has been so difficult with so many delays...

In the midst of this, Rob was told he could get a passport in one day IF he paid $500 US Dollars (extortion?). Rob didn't have an extra $500 with him, so it wasn't an option. However - I wish he had been able to pay it b/c we'll be paying even more than that after you add in extra days of housing/food/plane ticket changes/extra car rides.

Please pray for us. We're tired and discouraged. We knew this adoption process would be hard, but it's even harder than we imagined. We knew this adoption would be expensive, but it's even more expensive that we imagined. We were totally unprepared for all the levels of corruption that we would face.

Please pray also for Cosi. Her life is going to be changing a lot in the coming weeks. Overall, please pray that God would help us to be able to meet her special needs.

Here are a few specific areas for prayer:

-Eating - We're planning to continue to provide her with a lot of potatoes & soup (her usual meals), but we want to introduce her to vegetables and even some harder foods that require her to use her teeth. Rob has started her on "baby puffs" (something I picked up at Target & brought over in December). She seems to like them.

-Discipline - I'm reading a lot of adoption books these days, especially in regard to nurturing the hurt child. We're trying to figure out how to best discipline a child that has likely been physically abused.

-Bathroom/Potty Time - Rob helped to change her diaper after she pooped yesterday and she screamed the whole time. We're concerned that the orphanage workers might have been physically/emotionally abusive to her during diaper changes.

-The Plane Trip back to the USA - Rob is going to have quite a time keeping her in her seat for take-off and landing. Pray for energy & patience for him - it's going to be a long 2 flights!

-Cosi's USA passport and Chinese Visa - We are scheduled to return to China on February 24th, but we have to get more paperwork done in the USA before that can happen.

-Baby brother's arrival in April 2011! - We all need prayer for this one!

The latest pictures

Here are a handful of Cosi pictures. I'm posting these mostly just so that April can see them- it's easier than emailing all of them. But everyone else, feel free to enjoy! You'll notice a lot of pictures of her with a book. It's one of the few moments that she was distracted enough that I could pull out the camera. For those who don't know this yet, you can click on a picture to see it much larger.

Oh, and it looks like I might be delayed even further (AAAAARGGGGHHHHH!!!) because we're waiting for her new ID number. Current best case scenario- back in the US by next Friday (the 4th). If I miss seeing the Steelers in the Superbowl because of this, someone in Ukraine will pay dearly.

More Videos

I haven't had time to edit down any videos, but here are a few moments where I let the camera roll and got something mildly interesting/cute. Of course, ALL the videos are cute to the parents, but here are some with more popular appeal :)

She LOVES my watch, almost as much as she loves my gloves. She's mastered the art of taking it off my arm, but she's not quite sure how to get it on her own arm.


Here's her first chance to play with a real cell phone. She even walked into the corner for some privacy, like the orphanage workers do. I don't have this moment on video, but when I gave her the phone again today, she held it to her ear and said "Mama?"



She really likes walking around in one of my coats. Sometimes it's just for play, and sometimes it's very clear she expects to leave. Today she put on my coat and gloves and said "bye bye! bye bye!" Believe me kiddo, I'd love to take you out of there, but not for another week...



This might be my current favorite. It kind of settles the question of "should we get her a crib?"

Rob's Online Moment

Yes, I'm still in Svalyava. But I am having lunch at "LeRoy", the only wireless hotspot in this corner of Transcarpathia, as far as I know. The past two days were mostly a lot of driving around- we went to Perechin (Cosi's birthplace) twice and Uzhgorod (the provincial capitol) once. Maybe once I get more than a few moments of online time in between bites (yes, April, I am eating. And it's the best meal I've had in a while- I ordered steak and rice with vegetables and it's really good! Really!!), I can post some pictures and thoughts on those two cities. I'll simply say that I can't say or even read "Perechin" without wanting to say "Took" after it. Hobbit fans know what I'm talking about. As for Uzhgorod, I have to resist the temptation to say it with a deep, ominous voice. "And then, we journeyed to...Oooooooozhgorod." I did enjoy my short visits to these cities, though.

So the news is not bad but not great. Things are progressing, but slowly. We probably won't get back to Kiev until the morning we're supposed to fly out. But we still need to get Cosi a physical and a US visa, which can't be done on the weekend, so all that will be on Monday, and we can hopefully fly out on Wednesday. More than once I've considered how it might be possible to just sneak her out of the country. That would probably would create more problems than it solves, so I'm still waiting for paperwork. Right now, we're all just waiting for her new identification number. Without that, we can't do anything more.

So the good thing is that while we wait, I get time with Cosi. Next time I'm online, I'll have some pictures or videos ready to post. Today she played really well with Sasha, one of the new orphans in her group. That was great for me to see, because we were told that she's not able to play with other children.

Interesting note before I sign off- Sasha and a few other kids in Cosi's group have started calling me "baba" (daddy), probably because I'm the only guy they see and because they caretakers keep telling Cosi to call me that. Cosi did, however, yell at me when I picked up Sasha yesterday.

And yes, as April mentioned, our facilitator passed her kidney stone while talking to me on the phone. More on that another time. Suffice to say, it will be forever in my memory as my most awkward phone conversation...ever.

Update

Rob wrote this yesterday - today he's in Svalyava WITH our facilitator. PTL! (our facilitator passed her kidney stone WHILE on the phone with Rob (awkward) - maybe he'll blog about that one later...)

Barring any more surprises, I'll be traveling to Svalyava tonight. The only question is whether or not our facilitator will join me. Either way, I'm going. If her kidney stones are under control, then she's going, too. Otherwise, I need to be prepared for an interesting time:
If our facilitator isn't able to travel with me, then Pasha will pick me up at the train station, take me to the court, the orphanage, the photo studio, and then to cities with Tolienesque names like "Ukghorod" and "Perechyn." While at all the appropriate offices, Pasha will call Helen (our facilitator) and read the forms to her. Then Helen will tell me what information she needs from me, which she will then translate to Pasha. That much is doable.
But this process has required more than just paperwork, it's needed a certain amount of finesse that can't be done over the phone. Helen needs to talk to the right people to get things working smoothly, and I don't think she'll be able to do that from Kiev.
So I'm all packed up again (mostly) and am loading up my ipod with episodes of Battlestar Galactica, a show I just started watching (thanks Nate!), and I'm going to have some pizza and ice cream before I go. I do love pierogies, potatoes, and borscht, but a man has his needs...

I'm trying not to be cyncial, but...

My suitcase was all packed except for the pairs of jeans still drying on top of the heater in the guest bedroom that has been my home for most of the past 5 weeks. I was backing up my hard drive, adding videos to my ipod, and planning my snacks for the night.

Today, the court decision became effective; today, Cosi became my daughter. Today, I was supposed to get on an overnight train, arrive there in the morning, pick up the documents from the courthouse, and then hold my little girl for the first time as her legal father.

And then our facilitator, Helen, called- she was in the hospital with kidney stones. At first, we discussed the possibility that I would still go out there alone, meet Pasha, pick up the document, and do what I could until Helen arrived, maybe a day behind me. But then Helen realized that I could do nothing. I am totally helpless- I can neither read nor fill out the forms I would need to use, and we don't know anyone there with enough English to help me out. Traveling all over Trans-Carpathia without a translator and with an adoption on the line just doesn't seem wise.

And then the kidney stones got worse- Helen has a doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. In a transparent effort to keep my hopes up, she says, "Maybe I will be lucky, I don't know. maybe we can go tomorrow." I can tell she is in a lot of pain and that she is also stressed because she knows how this will affect our timing (flights, etc.). I try to be as gracious and reassuring as possible, for her sake. And for my own sake, lest I become completely self-focused.

We will wait and see how tomorrow goes. At some point tomorrow, I need to bring up the possibility of her sending someone else with us. if this drags on for a few days, timing becomes a really big problem.

So another night in Kiev, another night spent wondering if my daughter remembers me and if she wonders where I am. Another night asking God why it has been such a long road with so many unexpected turns and roadblocks. Sometimes I feel this experience chipping away at my ability to trust God. I know he's in control, and I know he's trustworthy, but...

But I'm always afraid to finish that sentence.

Anyway, pray for Helen- a woman you don't know who is probably suffering incredibly right now, more so than the mental and emotional stress I'm sorting through. And at least I have some Oreo's to help me out.

St. Sophia's

Rob here, taking a break from Cosi posts (because I'm almost out of videos) and showing some pictures and videos from my day touring Kiev. Actually, I only made it to one tourist site. I'll be hitting some more tomorrow, and then leaving for Svalyava on Monday.

St Sophia's is a pretty cool church, dating back about 1000 years. It's named after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. I climbed up the bell tower and took a few pictures of the cathedral itself, as well as some shots of the city view.


This is the bell tower doing its thing:


And here's the view from the top. The blue cathedral across the way is St. Micheal's. Yes, two really awesome cathedrals a stone's throw apart. We took some pictures there a few weeks ago.



Here's the view of the cathedral from the ground:


















And from the bell tower:


















Looking over the square to St. Micheal's:


















And a closer view:



















The large Christmas tree in the Kiev train station. I haven't been able to capture on film how cool the lobby of the train station is. Every time I walk in there, it just feels...grand. The architecture is just beautiful, and I always end up tripping over something or bumping into people (or lagging behind April and our facilitator) because I just want to look up. It almost feels like a place of worship.
























And for a little chuckle, I have here a picture of the handicap accessible bathroom at St. Sophia's (note the wheelchair sign on the door). A picture that I took from the top of the staircase, which is the only way to access the bathroom.

Flipping with Daddy, plus more updates

Rob's sisters will recognize this- he can still remember his dad doing this with him and his siblings and cousins. Was that 30 years ago?! Yikes.

Anyway, Cosi wasn't too sure what was going on at first, but after one flip, she was won over.



On another note, I (Rob) am really missing Cosi. It's hard being 14 hours away and knowing that there's still a chance that someone in the next three days could try to block our adoption. Our timetable has changed a little, but not much. During the week after our court appointment, Rob will be spending most of his time in a car with our facilitator and driver, traveling around the Carpathian mountains getting documents in order. Once we have her passport, new birth certificate, new identification number, etc., then we'll take her home. Well, in a roundabout way. First we'll take her to Kiev for a medical check and US (and maybe East Asia?) visa, THEN back to Virginia.

Also, April made it safely back to Virginia last night and is probably enjoying Chick-fil-a even as I type this.

Goodbye, April

I just got back to our friends' apartment after seeing April off. We're so glad she is able to return to the States early. Even though it will be hard to be apart for the next 2 1/2 weeks, and it will be tough wrapping up the adoption by myself, it's really best for April to be in the US. She'll be able to get a check-up for Baby #2, get some things ready for Cosi, and maybe even eat some fresh vegetables!

Cosi and the Panda Doll

Here's your daily Cosi video.
What we learn about Cosi from this video is that she is inquisitive. She had that doll for a few seconds and immediately discovered that she could open the back (where the volume switch is). I think it's a coincidence that she says "yeah" when April asks her a question, but maybe not. She's a fast learner!
The video gets shaky at the end because whenever the bear would play music, Cosi would want to be on mommy's lap, regardless of what April would be doing at that moment.

Sometimes It's Better Not to Know

Today, our facilitator continued to explain why she thought our daughter's orphanage wasn't a good place for her development. She said that some of the workers there use a certain suffix when saying the kids' names, a suffix that implies you think the other person is an imbecile or idiot. Unfortunately, though Rob had noticed the suffix, he didn't realize it was derogatory, and so he started using it when playing with the children!
So now we're upset that some of the workers have been insulting our daughter right in front of us :( And we're more eager than ever to get her out of the orphanage and into our home.

Paperwork update- everything is still on track, except we had a surprise this morning, learning that there is one document in Svalyava that must have April's signature before she leaves. Power of attorney means nothing in this village. So that document is on a train tonight and will reach April on her way to the airport tomorrow. Yikes...

We're praying for no more "Oh yeah, and she'll need to sign this paper" situations after she leaves!

A Short Update

Today was a day of logistics. We found that April will be able to return to the US on Wednesday, as scheduled (yay!). We also got papers signed at the US consulate so that Rob will be able to do all the paperwork in April's absence. Tomorrow we're off to the notary to get power of attorney (or, as Rob sometimes slips up and calls it, "power of eternity"). Current projections for Rob and Cosi's triumphant arrival in the US: late night January 29th...

Cosi and the Tickle Monster

Just a little girl getting tickled...


She later repeated almost the whole sentence: "I'm gonna tickle tickle tickle you!" And they say she doesn't know how to talk :)

Cosi and the Remote Control

As you watched the juice box video, you may have been wondering, "What is Cosi holding in her hand?"
She found a TV remote control in the orphanage bedroom and, well, it seems she has other ideas for how to use it...

Cosi vs The Juice Box

I realize we may be wandering into the realm of "videos that parents find cute but everyone else politely tolerates," but here's a compilation video of us trying to teach Cosi how to use a straw, because nothing says "American toddler" like a squeezable juice box with a straw. It was April's idea to bring Cosi a juice box, but it didn't turn out to be as easy to use as we thought it would be....I guess juice boxes are scarier than we thought...And Cosi only uses a cup for drinking (a cup which usually ends up on the floor or across the room before she's done!). By the way, the juice box videos were taken over the course of 2 hours.

And for you Cosi addicts, over the next few days we'll feed your need by posting a short video of Cosi each day.

Our Court Appearance- The Long Version

As you can see, this really is the long version, but we know that some of you are interested in hearing the whole story, and some of you are just saying, "Less talk! More videos and pictures!" To the later group, we'll have some fresh videos up soon, including- "Cosi versus the juice box."

Our train arrived at 8:50am. The ever faithful and well-paid Pasha was waiting on the platform to pick us up. But, even if he hadn't been, we were asked about 10 times by 10 different men, "taxi?" But we like Pasha, so we were happy to see his smiling face and his reliable car.

We arrived at the courthouse at 9:20 on the dot, only to wait an hour for our hearing. We were told to expect the hearing to last about 15-20 minutes.

At 10:20am, we entered the courtroom with a small crowd of unidentified people. We later found out that group contained the Inspector (like a social worker), a representative of the orphanage, a secretary, a prosecutor (wait...why is there a prosecutor? This should have been our first clue that this was not a friendly chat with the judge), and two people who were paid to be witnesses (their role is still unclear to us). We sat with our facilitator on a long wooden bench, next to some potted plants.

Within a few minutes, the judge entered the room and everyone stood. The judge was a woman, which was surprising since all the other big players were men. She was wearing a pink dress and a very interesting black hat. The hat was big, a little lacey and had a large bow on the side. We couldn't stop looking at it.

The proceedings were all in Ukrainian. We were given partial translation by our facilitator. Essentially, she told us stuff every now and then when she thought it was important. Things like "stand up, no not both of you, just Rob." (which was just as well, because as April stood, she knocked one of the plants off the bench and it landed face down, so she needed to discretely re-pot the plant while attention was on Rob.) Anyhow, then we'd get questions like, "Where do you live?" or "Are you a criminal?" or "Do you have a problem with alcohol or drug abuse?" Really? Does anyone answer "Yes" at that point? "Gee, your honor, now that you mention it..."

The funniest point was when our facilitator mistranslated a question for Rob. The question was supposed to be, "what are you using for identification?" and the answer would be "a US Passport." Instead, she asked "how would you document your personality?" Rob fumbled a bit and started talking about how he likes to read, before our translator re-phrased her question.

We thought things were going well, but after that the judge started flipping through our giant dossier (maybe 150 pages long) and making comments about every page. [Side note- the state department of adoption confirmed that we have the thickest dossier in their history.] We didn't know what she was saying. The only thing our facilitator said was, "the judge is not happy." And - just like that, we were totally nervous.

After about a half hour of who knows what, the judge announced a 5 minute break, which turned into a one hour break. The prosecutor had a problem with one detail of our adoption request, and they needed an hour to "resolve" the issue.

However, after the break, we were ushered back into the courtroom and told "Congratulations, you are parents!"

So that afternoon, we were able to visit Cosi again. She seemed to remember us, which was good, and she still seemed to prefer going to April over Rob. However, at one point, when April was holding her and Rob picked up another one of the little kids in the orphanage, Cosi had (what we believe to be) a jealous look in her big brown eyes. We don't think she liked Rob holding another kid.

Yay! Another step completed. But there is still the chance that a new objection will be filed in the next 10 days. Our adoption will be really really official on the 17th.

Pasha- The Guy Who Gets Things Done

Whenever you do business in another country, you need a guy who gets things done. This is the guy who knows people in town, who knows where to go and what to do, and who makes miracles happen. It's their job to do this, and we pay them well. We know a guy like this in East Asia, we've heard of guys like this in other countries, and in Svalyava, we have Pasha.

Pasha's wife works in the orphanage, which is how we were connected to him. He was sent to pick us up at the train station during our first visit, and he invited us to stay with his family (for a price, of course). While we were there, Pasha was not only our driver, he was also the guy who told us where to find the right offices and who to talk to in those offices. If Pasha called ahead, we were always greeted with a smile. While we were gone, Pasha was the guy running around getting paperwork in the right hands, picking documents up from the train for us, and overall making things run as smoothly as possible.

You can't walk from the Pasha's car to a building without him stopping to greet a few people. Pasha is a man who knows people. During the one hour recess of our court hearing, Pasha was right there, making sure we knew how to get things worked out.

While we stayed with Pasha and his family, his wife made us breakfast and dinner each day. We listened to their stories of the Soviet days and the post-Soviet days. Pasha told us about his years as a logger in Siberia. They showed us their photo album of all the other families (mostly Italian) who had stayed with them while adopting from Svalyava. They told us stories of the Orthodox Jewish family from Israel who brought all their own food and cooking utensils. They told us about the family who thought Ukrainians were starving, so they brought suitcases full of food for Pasha and his wife. They made sure we knew that working around a simple egg-allergy was no big deal.

So here's to Pasha- one of the many "angels of our adoption" (as Rob cheesily calls them)- the people who, in their own way, are making sure Cosi finds her way to our home.

"Congratulations, You Are Parents"

That's how our facilitator, Helen, translated the judge's ruling on our court date yesterday. She was crying as she said it, April was crying when she heard it (part stress, part happiness), and Rob just couldn't stop staring at the judge's big hat. We'll post a full description of the court date later (it was a 3 hour ordeal, not the relaxed 20 minutes we were told to expect). Right now we're in between guestrooms and need to pack up.

The one possible fly in the ointment is that, according to the unique rules of this little city, they may need April to sign a piece of paper on the 18th, which would mean she can't fly back on the 12th. We'll know for sure on Monday, the 10th. Apparently, power of attorney doesn't carry much weight in this province. We're praying it works out for April to still leave on the 12th (because April has an ultrasound scheduled on the 13th and a doctors appointment on the 14th - to find out why she was measuring over a month ahead at her December 8th appointment), but we'll keep you all updated!

One more prayer request - that nothing happens in the next 10 days (the official waiting period) to challenge our rights as parents!

January 6th!!

We finally received our court date- January 6th!! This is good news, because it means that Rob and Cosi could potentially be back in the States by the end of January. Here's how the schedule works:

Jan 5th: Overnight train to Svalyava.
Jan 6th: 930am-Appear in court for what is usually a routine appearance before a judge, who has full power to grant or deny our adoption. Once the the judge approves it, the decision is official. After that, we will have another chance to see our daughter before our overnight train back to Kiev.
Jan 7th-9th: Christmas break in Ukraine. Everything is closed.
Jan 12th: April flies back to the US.
Jan 17th: After a 10 day waiting period (during which people can protest the adoption, which rarely happens), Rob gets to pick up Cosi and she is finally and forever a part of our family!
Jan 17-24th: Travel to Uzgorod to do the paperwork for Cosi's passport.
Jan 24th-?: Back to Kiev to get Cosi's US visa and immigration forms in order. Hopefully this will be a quick process.

Prayer requests:
-The judge will grant our adoption and no one will file an objection.
-All the crazy paperwork will be in order and NO more surprises!
-April's travel, both on the trains and flying alone back to Virginia.
-Rob, as he tries out single-parenting a hyperactive 3 year old who doesn't speak English, while traveling around a foreign country, while trying to get paperwork finished...and then flying back to the States.

We're so excited to see her again in just 2 days. We've been going over our pictures and videos everyday and eagerly looking forward to our next visit. The adoption journey is nearing its end! And after that, a whole new journey begins.

Bump

Here it is: Baby #2 at 26 weeks. Comments about me looking 9 months pregnant are not encouraged or even allowed.

This picture was somewhat spontaneously taken. Rob likes seeing my big stomach in this blue t-shirt and he wanted a picture. I had great plans of taking a bump picture while wearing a thinning color like black and after putting on makeup, but I never seemed to get around to it. So, here it is - the bump at 26 weeks! I say the picture was "somewhat spontaneous" b/c I did insist on changing out of my gray sweatpants and into jeans, which I consider to be "dressing up" these days. (Thanks Sarah S. for letting me borrow those jeans!)

Shopping for Cosi :)

Well, since we thought our daughter was going to be younger, all of the clothing we brought over for her is too small! And - the orphanage officials let us know that we aren't allowed to take any of their clothing, which is fine because Kiev has a wide range of used clothing stores. I love used clothing stores, especially for growing kids :)

I searched through 5 different stores and ending up buying almost all the clothing I could find for a 3 year old. Thankfully it was the end of the month, so most of the stores offered a 50% off discount. This made the selection less, but I was still able to find quite a variety of items. Most are feminine, but some are a little more masculine (if you think dinosaurs and sports are masculine, that is).

I paid the equivalent of $85 (US Dollars) for:

-20 tops (might seem excessive, but many will be layered up and she's a messy eater, not unlike her mother)

-8 pairs of pants (we probably need more b/c she's not totally potty trained)

-1 dress & 1 skirt (not practical in the weather so we'll save them for later, but they're so cute)

-1 coat (pink, of course)

-1 pair of gloves (we probably need another pair b/c she likes to toss gloves into mud puddles)

-2 hats (an extra one, in case the first gets tossed into the aforementioned puddle)

-1 scarf

I tried to lay out some possible outfit combinations for Rob. He might be taking care of our little girl for 10 days in Ukraine by himself, so I wanted to help him out a bit (and exert control from the other side of the Atlantic Ocean).

My favorite items include the hot pink H&M vest and the very European, tangerine sweater. Rob likes the flannel shirt, which is no surprise if you know Rob.


And - here are the clothes that will likely be handed down to her little brother!

*interesting cultural note: Most Ukrainians buy their clothes at 2nd hand stores, because new clothes are imported from Western Europe (= too expensive).
*2nd interesting note: From unsubstantiated gossip, I learned that the current Ukrainian president was making moves to shut down the used clothing shops. He wanted to force Ukrainians to buy new clothes & somehow improve the economy. The public freaked out and started protesting, so he backed down.
*3rd interesting note: Rob and I wonder where all of the used clothing comes from. If hardly any people buy new clothing, then where does all of this good quality used clothing continue to come from? church donations from wealthier countries? who knows?

One more thing - Did you think we forgot baby #2? No. He got a new used shirt, too. It's for a one year old and considering his enormous size, we think he'll fit into it by the fall.