We Made It!

We're tired, road-weary, and covered in all sorts of food stains, but we made it back to our apartment in East Asia.
Thank you friends for your help, and thank you for making our apartment a happy (and Cosi-safe) place to come home to!

Today's the BIG Day...

Our flight to East Asia leaves at 11:50 am today!

We have about 24 hours of travel from door-to-door, so your prayers for Cosi to travel well are appreciated :) You can also pray for Rob & I to have lightening fast reflexes when she tries to throw her toys at the other passengers...

Some Good News

Cosi is sitting amidst a pile of toys, unaware of the stress her mommy and daddy have been through on her account. But at least today there was good news. April just called the house and told me that she got Cosi's new passport after waiting only 2 hours, and her East Asia visa should be ready to pick up by 3pm! So I just need to hold the fort down until then. And seeing as how in the time it took me to type that, a potted plant ended up on the floor (and partly on Cosi's head), 4pm can't come too soon :)
But at least we'll be flying back to East Asia on time.

4pm edit: April is home, passport and visa in hand! Praise God!

Prayer Request for This Week

Today the East Asian consulate refused to give us a visa in Cosi's Ukraine passport. They also refused to give us a visa in Cosi's USA passport (the one with the incorrect birthday). They said we need to have the corrected USA passport and then they'll give us a visa. We weren't planning on making trips into DC every day this week, but we'll do it!

Prayer Requests:
-That April will be able to get the passport office to re-do Cosi's passport (in one day) on Tuesday. She couldn't go today, because it's a holiday. It's their mistake, so hopefully they'll be really helpful.
-That April would be able to get the East Asian visa on Wednesday. She'll need to travel into DC in the morning, make it back to Manassas in the afternoon for an OB appointment (to get approval for plane travel on Thursday), and then travel back to DC to pick up the US Passport with an East Asian visa :)

For REAL?

As April was filling out Cosi's applications for her East Asia visa, she noticed that there was a typo on Cosi's birth date. So after payng extra to have the passport expedited only to have it arrive too late to get her visa before our road trip, we return to find that, according to her new passport, Cosi is turning 10 this year! 2001, 2007- easy mistake.
So, for those who are still following our twisty-turny adoption journey, please pray that we can get Cosi an East Asian visa through her Ukraine passport tomorrow. There's no time to get her U.S. passport fixed and visa'd up before we leave on Thursday.

Living in America (for a few weeks)

It's been a very full two weeks. Cosi has met a lot of her family and friends, and she has been showered with love and gifts at every turn. Even if she is not yet aware enough to be thankful, her mommy and daddy are very grateful for everything.
Cosi has traveled on her first road trip, she's tried a lot of new foods (with varying success), and she's learning so much every day. Today's new word was "Uh-Oh!", which she uses a little too indiscriminately. And despite all the pink she wears, she has been mistaken for a boy everywhere we go. We're eager for her hair to grow out!
We don't have the heart yet to tell her that she'll be taking another long plane ride on Thursday; in fact, Rob hasn't quite accepted that fact yet, either.

In two weeks, she has gone from being terrified of baths to stripping down whenever she gets near a tub.

Her first trip to mommy's favorite restaurant went pretty well.

She understands Rob when he says "Give Mommy a kiss."

Driving around with Cousin Abby. A sign of things to come (road trip in 15 years)?

On what we refer to as "the greatest day of Cosi's life so far," she discovered the joy of swinging (and playing with puppies, and playing in the leaves with Jonah, and playing outside with the Gilmartin kids). That smile hardly left her face all day.

Cosi loves car rides...for about 30 minutes. Then they become tedious. Then they become torture. This picture was taken during the happy phase. She was happy because she had finally torn open a pack of pretzels, after pulverizing them into little crumbs.

Packed up and ready to travel!

Our new, growing family!

One Week in America

Parenting Cosi has been quite time-consuming. Every day is an adventure- trying to figure out what she likes to eat, what upsets her or calms her, what her routine needs to be, etc. She's also still jet-lagged, so sleep time is usually from around 6pm to 3 or 4am (waking up off & on during that time)! And one big surprise for us was that she doesn't nap. Hopefully once we return to East Asia (in 2 weeks), we can get more normalized.

Every day she looks and acts more and more like an American 3-year old. She loves car rides and walks around the block, she has a love-hate relationship with baths, and she's very cheery when she wakes up. This morning, Rob and April were talking over breakfast and Cosi repeated the word "Apple". It took us a few moments to realize that she was talking!

Her US passport arrived in the mail today, and the difference between the pictures on her Ukrainian passport and her US passport are striking- she has changed so much in a few weeks!

Pictures and videos will be posted when Cosi permits. She has a stranglehold on our schedule right now!


Cosi's favorite foods:
-mashed potatoes
-hot dogs
-grapes & bananas
-chick fila biscuits
-hot (lukewarm) chocolate

Cosi's least favorite foods:
-any kind of meat, except hot dog
-vegetables

Home at Last!

Here's Rob and Cosi arriving at the airport. The footage is a little rough- we were going for a Blair Witch Project style of filming, I think. In the background, you can hear Rob commenting that we almost didn't make our connecting flight. Long story short, we were delayed 30 minutes at passport control in Kiev but ultimately allowed through, then our flight was 45 minutes late, making our 1 hour layover in Frankfurt pretty close. Rob was running through the Frankfurt airport and Cosi just was laughing at how silly Daddy acts when he is panicked. Many stories from the trip home, but I will say that God provided a few wonderful strangers throughout the trip who made it bearable. And I still feel bad for that poor lady with the tomato juice sitting next to Cosi...



And here's Cosi at April's parents' house today, right after she learned to somersault. She loves all the attention she's getting, and she's doing pretty well with her cousins- better than we expected, I think. She slept really well last night and seems pretty happy being here. There is still a bit of stuff to hammer out (getting an American passport, etc.), but the tough part is behind us. All that's really left now is parenting, which is easy, right?

They're Here!

Rob & Cosi arrived at Dulles airport at about 9pm! They are sleeping peacefully right now (it's sometime after 3am). I am wide awake, thanks to the boy inside me and his happy kicks :)

I videotaped part of their arrival. I'll have Rob post it asap.

Last Day in Kiev

First, my pity party. At first, I was thinking that I just can't hack it as a parent because the past few days have been so hard. But then I realized, I'm in a foreign country where I don't speak the language, in an apartment very much not designed with toddlers in mind, watching a child who can't communicate with me but is old enough to wreak havoc on her environment, and I have no stroller, no booster seat, no baby gate, no toilet seat, no food in the kitchen and no grocery store nearby...Yeah, this should be hard. End of pity party. But in spite of my extenuating circumstances, I have a newly deepened respect for all single parents.

We got the visa! I'm about to pack our bags so that we can head out late tomorrow morning. If either of my flights is significantly delayed or canceled, I will cry. No shame, no reservation, I will just break down in heaving sobs right there in the airport. (Oops, I forgot that I ended the pity party!)

Today had a big highlight (other than getting the visa). Oleg and Audra, our new friends and our hosts for much of our time in Kiev visited Cosi and me in the city today. They have been a continued blessing to us here and that continued today. We went to lunch together and I was able to eat a full meal! While they were playing with Cosi, I felt my stress level drop about 50%. I don't think I even realized until then how high strung I've been, needing to watch Cosi's every move. And it was also nice to have conversation with someone who speaks English. And thanks to them, I even got a few pictures of Cosi and me here in the city- something I had been wanting!

Below are some pictures and video of the day. I think this was the first time Cosi was allowed to run freely outside. I'm really looking forward to the first nice day back in East Asia when I can take her to the park and set her loose!

One more random thing: we've been listening to a lot of kids songs in the apartment, and Cosi's best reaction so far was to the VeggieTales cover of The Doobie Brothers' "Jesus is Just Alright with Me." East Asian readers should hit that one up on Google Music.

US Consulate in Ukraine - We love you!!! (so far)

Friday at 2pm (7am EST), Rob & Cosi should be picking up all the necessary paperwork for her to enter the United States. No complications so far! The US Consulate has made everything quite easy - we're thankful to God (and the USA).

Then, on Saturday at 2pm (7am EST) they depart Kiev and start the journey to Washington DC.

Until then, Rob is feeding our daughter delicious homemade meals like pierogies, hot dogs AND broccoli. He expertly mashed it all together, just the way Cosi likes it :)

Our baby boy is doing well. I just had another doctor's appointment yesterday. I'm 30 weeks pregnant and he is in the 71st percentile (which I'm told is big). In the 6 weeks I was in Ukraine, I gained 2 pounds. In the past 3 weeks in the USA, I gained 6 pounds. (oops... guess I was a little too excited about the food selection in America, might need to cut back on the frozen yogurt...)

Rob and Cosi Finally in Kiev

Full update later- I'm exhausted. US Consulate appointment tomorrow at 1030. Should be home Saturday! (Apparently unable to write complete sentences...intriguing.)
Here are a few unedited videos. Cosi wasn't too into any of these, which is funny because they represent the only times she has been quiet since leaving the orphanage (except for those few hours of sleep, which I wasn't privileged to share...)

This is Cosi dressed in new clothes and leaving the orphanage for our last-minute dash to the train station:


And this is on the train:


And finally, our first meal in Kiev:


She's finally asleep, and I keep doing the paranoid "go to the door and listen for breathing every ten minutes" thing. The floors in this apartment creak so loudly, that I'm worried I'll wake her up, though.

And every now and then I have one of those "Holy frijoles, that's MY daughter!" moments.

And the cynical side of me still expects that someone will try to take her from me at the airport because I didn't get a certain form filled out in the correct color ink or something.

OK, back to filling out those immigration forms...

On the Train!

I tried to call Rob 15 minutes ago and he didn't answer his phone - that made me hopeful :)

I called Rob 2 minutes ago and found out they made it on the train - PTL! They were able to get tickets in the women only compartment of the train. I'm curious to hear more, but I'll have to wait because Cosi is a little overwhelmed by her first train experience. She's refusing to be held and just wants to run everywhere. Maybe we should pray for Rob? For Rob's sake, I hope Cosi sleeps tonight. It should be an interesting trip.

Now, onto more challenges in Kiev...

Rob has the passport!

Good News = Rob just called me and he has the Ukrainian passport for Cosi!

We're thankful, but there are more obstacles to overcome! Still praying for safe & quick travel back to Svalyava, available train tickets and a quick release of our daughter from the orphanage.

After the return to Kiev, they need prayer for the medical exam to happen without complications - AND - for the US visa paperwork to be approved quickly.

Hoping they make the Saturday flight out of Kiev to Frankfurt, and then onto DC!

Prayer Request for Today

Rob is currently packed & ready to take the overnight train from Svalyava to Kiev, but here's what needs to happen first:

-The mail needs to arrive in Uzgorhod by about 3:30pm (it's 2pm now, they're 7 hours ahead of EST) and it needs to include Cosi's Ukrainian passport. The workers at the office need to work fast & give the passport to Rob.

-Rob needs to have safe & fast travel (by car) back from Uzgorhod to Svalyava.

-Train tickets need to be available and quickly purchased

-Rob needs to be able to quickly sign the papers to release Cosi from the orphanage (without complications, such as additional extortion $)

-Rob, Cosi & our facilitator need to be able to make it to the train by about 6:00pm

* If ALL this happens, then there's a chance Rob & Cosi will arrive in the USA on Saturday night (depends on how things go in Kiev with medical exams and paperwork for entry into the US)

*Otherwise, we'll have to change the plane ticket again and hope for next week sometime... If things get pushed back too much, then it might affect our return to China on February 24th.

We've definitely seen God working through this whole adoption. We're hoping for a bit of a miracle today. I'd really like to see my husband & daughter on Saturday night. And - I'd really like for my husband to see the Superbowl on Sunday b/c I know the Steelers bring him joy :)