Updates from Home

Everyone is back home from NC and we had a nice visit down there. I had to go down there sick though because I had to get John Paul home. I thought I had the worst of it behind me when I left, but I ended up feeling pretty bad while I was down there (cold symptoms). I only stayed two full days because I was sick and I didn't get to see everyone. We are planning to go back soon to visit a little longer so more family and friends can meet Dasha and see John Paul. I also had to get back by Monday because John Paul and Dasha both had doctor appointments. They both had vaccinations. :( John Paul had his first and cried until they took Dasha. Then he was very interested in what they were doing to Dasha. He was still whimpering until Dasha started crying and then he stopped crying and kept watching her. John Paul was fine after that, but Dasha cried for like 20 minutes. I felt so bad for her. Rick took them both out to the waiting room while I scheduled the next appointment. They were taking a long time to get me out of there so I went out and got Dasha who was still screaming and crying. Everyone in the waiting room was staring at her (not that I cared). By the time they finally got us scheduled Dasha had cried herself to sleep and was soaking wet from tears and sweat. Wow that was heartbreaking! I have never had a child of mine get so upset over vaccinations. I've seen other children get that way and heard friends talk about it. Dasha has such a cheerful disposition that I thought she would be like John Paul and Chloe and be smiling within 5 minutes. My little fire cracker was ticked though! lol! I don't blame her though I would have been too! lol! I hate needles!! We go back next week for more vaccinations. Next time I will not be so fortunate to have Rick with me. Also they both are having blood drawn for labs. That should be tough for all three of us! After all we went through with Chloe I have a difficult time watching children getting blood drawn while screaming and crying. I just saw so much of it with her, that it makes it difficult to see again. It brings back bad memories of suffering that Chloe went though. It's never pleasant to see your child get stuck with needles and being hurt regardless of what we went though in the past. It just makes it a little more tough. Last time John Paul had blood labs we both left crying. But we will get through it again! :) Prayers that they will get a good vein on the first stick for both children will be greatly appreciated! I already know that John Paul is a difficult stick (as was Chloe) and when they have to be stuck repeatedly until they are hysterical is what makes it so hard to see and deal with. I mentioned I HATE needles, but I would rather go through it than have to see them go through it.

John Paul's doctor appointment went well. He is in the 25th percentile for his height on the Down Syndrome scale and the 50th percentile for his weight on the DS scale. They said he is just a little over weight. I don't really agree with that though, but I will keep an eye on it to make sure he does not get too heavy. I just think he looks healthy right now. They did what I consider to be a simple evaluation of him and said that he is functioning on a 2 year old level. We are working on getting him into preschool soon. I wanted him to be at home and comfortable with us for a while before I sent him. Also, I didn't want to send him until we got Dasha home because he had to stay in NC. I mainly wanted to give him some time before we had him evaluated because I didn't feel it would be fair to him to have him evaluated as soon as he came home. He had a rough start in life and I wanted to work with him a while myself before I had someone evaluate him unfairly. I say unfairly because he had been caged up for four years. He has really flourished and I feel he is ready for preschool now and can spread his little wings. :)

Dasha, I think I mentioned previously, is tiny. She did not even chart on the DS scale. She is below the chart for both height and weight for her age. The doctor is concerned that she could have hypothyroidism. We will find out more after her blood labs. The doctor is concerned that if she has had hypothyroidism since birth that she could have irreversible mental retardation. They evaluated her at a ten month level. Dasha will be three in May. She weighs 17.6 lbs. and is 28 inches tall. I'm not really that concerned about it though. I see a lot of potential in Dasha. She is tiny, but mighty! lol! I don't think the doctors fully understand the environment that these children come from. But I am impressed with their doctor, I should say that. She is very knowledgeable with Down Syndrome and listens well. She spent a long time talking to us and it was a very productive appointment. We were unable to get her last time with JP's appointment and I am thankful that we have her now! They told us in Ukraine that Dasha has rickets, which also affects growth and development. Her dr. here did not seem to think so. They also told us that she has an ASD heart defect and the dr. at the medical exam before we left Ukraine told me she heard a murmur. Her dr. here did not hear a murmur. I am waiting for a call back to get her cardiologist appointment scheduled. The cardiologist that we use is great, but I really hate having to call an appointment line and then getting voice mail! I'm giving the until 4:00 and then I am calling back. We are going to get Dasha set up with Birth to Three for early intervention. I know due to her age that they will basically want to evaluate her and then transition her into preschool. I am not ready for that with her. Main reason is because she is so tiny! I wonder how that could be a safe environment for her. She wears a size 6 months if that gives you any idea. Imagine her mixed in with other 3 and four year olds that are size appropriate to their age. I just don't like it. And I don't think it is fair to her. She is basically like a baby right now. I am going to look into readopting her and having her birth year changed. I know we can't do that until six months after the original adoption date though. I'm really puzzled as to what to do with her. Praying about it a lot though. We'll see how she progresses between now and May, but as of right now I cannot see me putting her in preschool yet.

John Paul and Dasha have been playing together pretty well. JP will give toys to Dasha. :) Sweet boy! But then she will also take toys from him and he will cry. She also has a bad habit (that we are working on breaking) of pulling hair. I have to really watch her because she will climb up on him to a standing position and pull the top of his hair. Of course he cries. She's got quite the grip! She's hurt me too! Trying to teach her "no" as quickly as possible on that! He has started to push her away now some though. He isn't rough with her at all though. He just pushes her softly back. JP really as a gentle little soul. I was actually kind of glad to see that he was defending himself some. The first several days he just layed there and let her do it and cried until I pulled her off. I can't be there and stop it every single time. But all in all they really seem to like each other. Dasha is all over him and wants in the middle of everything he is doing! Sometimes he likes it and other times he gets tired of her and will get up and walk away from her to find something else to do. Typical big brother little sister scenario! lol!

I will post some pictures in the next few days. My memory stick does not fit in this laptop and the one that it does fit into needs to be set up on our wireless network. Right now we do not remember the password so Rick is working on getting that fixed.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and thoughtful comments. We really appreciate them a lot!!

Excuse any typos. Nap time is over and I do not have time to proofread right now.

We Are Home

We made it home safely and everything is fine. I have been sick, actually I still am. I will write a better update and post new pictures when I am feeling better. Dasha is fine. Fortunately, she has not been sick and hopefully she will not get sick. I just wanted to let everyone know briefly that we made it home.

Going Home Tomorrow

We have Dasha's visa and everything in order to come home!!!
We are flying out of Kiev tomorrow at 12:10 p.m.!

I would really appreciate prayers for a safe, uneventful trip home.
Thank you!!

Update on Passport

The passport did not come on Monday. It should have been here, but there was a technical issue involving the computer system in Simferopol. Apparently, Dasha's photo made it to Kiev, but her ID# did not. The passport printing facility in Kiev cannot print the passport without the ID#. It was printed yesterday after the ID# was received in Kiev. It is supposed to be ready for pick up down here tomorrow afternoon. I scheduled a flight out for me and Dasha tomorrow night. We will get to Kiev around 10:30. Then Thursday morning we will go to the Embassy to get the visa process started. Then we will go get Dasha's medical exam and check back on getting the visa. Last time we did the medical exam in the morning and got the visa the same day. Our newly scheduled flight does not leave until Saturday afternoon, so we will have time to get the visa on Friday if it doesn't happen on Thursday.

I was initially a little disappointed that we did not get the passport on time. I knew we were cutting it close and would have no time for error, but also knew it was possible. We got John Paul's passport in three days, flew straight to Kiev, had the medical exam completed, and received the visa all in the same day. So it is possible for it to go that fast as we are proof from John Paul's adoption! It was the exact same time frame that we were up against this time. We were very fortunate that there were no mistakes and everything worked out for us in July with John Paul! That was God's time table for us then and this time He has another plan. It just wasn't meant to happen for us this time, and that is fine. There were two other families that had the same issue with the passport and ID#'s. We weren't the only ones. Yulia told me the embassy has been giving visas out in the same day like they were in July, so hopefully there will not be any more delays with that. But I have an extra day anyway. We are on God's schedule and we will get home when He wants us to.

I prayed that if we missed our flight that the airfare would not cost us much more money. God gave me a big peace about it! I had Rick call and take care of changing everything from home. He emailed me back to let me know he had gotten the flight changed and that the itinerary would be emailed from Northwest soon. And then my eyes almost popped out of my head at what I read next! My ticket cost a total of $371.89 to change, including the penalty. Dasha's ticket was cheaper even with the penalty! They are crediting us $482.15 for her ticket! So basically we gained $110.26 for having to change the date! I was expecting to have to spend $500 in just penalties for both of our tickets to change the date + the price difference of the airfare. It never occurred to me that the price of the ticket would go down! I'm not sure how my ticket can be more and Dasha's less. Unless it is because hers is a one way ticket. Not sure how all that worked out, but thanks God!! That will help with the four extra days of rent we will have to pay. You know, a disappointment turned into a way for God to show me once again that He is at work in every single detail of our adoption and lives. I already knew that, but it is nice to have those reminders from time to time.

Dasha is doing great! She is into everything she can get her little hands on! lol! She likes to eat too! She is calming down some with the meal time tantrums, but still a little fire cracker! lol! She would not drink milk at first. So I bought some liquid cherry yogurt and mixed with her milk. She really likes that a lot! She loves bananas too! I cut it into small pieces and she eats it. She's been eating baby food also. Yesterday I cut up some beef really small and she ate it. She was REALLY happy about that! She kept laughing and smiling the entire time she was eating it. I don't know if it was because it tasted good or if it was because someone was finally giving her a chance to use her teeth! She was ecstatic about that beef though! lol! She's so sweet in general. I can just look at her and she will smile from ear to ear. She is such an angel!! I can't wait to get her home to play with John Paul! I can't wait for everyone at home to meet her!

Well, that is about all. We are just hanging out. I've been doing lots of laundry. She has reflux so that has kept me busy cleaning her, her clothes, my clothes, and the bed sheets. I've been covering the couch up with the sheets to protect it. That should be fun to travel with! :) I learned my lesson with John Paul though! Not only do they need an extra set of clothes on hand, I do too! He had a lot of reflux in the beginning. It is much better now that he is used to eating things other than orphanage food. Anyway, within 15 minutes from taking off from Kiev he spit up all over my shirt. Then on my other two connecting flights he gave me a brand new serving of it. Then we got stuck on the runway and they made us remain in our seats for an hour and a half. His diaper leaked on my lap! I looked like a wreck when I got to D.C.!! And I smelled like sour milk! Nothing like smelling sour milk for 16 hours. That was so embarrassing walking around like that! Oh well, it made funny memories! lol! Can you imagine what I must have looked like to Rick when he saw me walking up? lol! Hair all messed up, covered in barf, wrinkled clothes, red eyed from not sleeping good, and wreaking of sour milk! lol! This time, my carry on is already packed with one set of extra clothes for me and extra clothes for Dasha! lol!

Anyway, thank you all for your prayers! I really appreciate it over here!! :)