We are excited. We have a court date, for Wednesday, April 15, 2009 at 3:30 p.m. Hopefully all will go well. We are going to be flying home on Thursday, the 16th. We will return back to the Ukraine after 10 days to complete the final paperwork and bring Olia,(Olivia Diann Perry) home with us. We wish we could take her back with us now! Unfortunately, there is a 10 day waiting period after the court hearing before you can receive the new birth certificate and then apply for the child's visa and passport.

We decided to go home and wait so Drew & Gabrielle can get back to school. They have enjoyed being a part of this great experience, but we are all ready to be back home!! I will return on the 28th and then Herbert will meet me in the Ukraine on May 9th. He needs to be with the high school baseball team during the district tournament. I will be with our translator, so I will be okay until he gets here. Alla, our translator, will take care of me. When you return to get the child you wait another week on the visa and passport, so Herbert will be here in time to do the final signature with the US Embassy and then we will return home with Olivia.

The orphanage is located in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It is a good orphanage, but Olivia's caretakers are happy for her, yet sad because they will miss her. This orphanage has an okay facility, but it has many needs as do all the orphanages. On Monday, we talked with the orphanage director about items that they needed that we could donate. She gave us a list and we went with our translator to purchase diapers, wipes and other supplies that they needed the most. Today we went and purchased sand buckets and outside play toys for Olivia's class for Easter. They celebrate Easter this coming weekend in the Ukraine and for children it is like Christmas. They don't do easter baskets, but they try to give the children some type of spring toy. It is such a joy to see the faces of the children and workers when you give to them. They appreciate it so much.
We have been buying small items for Olivia that we give her during our bonding time. We gave her some crayons and coloring book and her teacher said that she did not know what crayons were. This orphanage does not have this as a part of their program, due to the fact that art supplies are too expensive. Yes, we take so many things for granted. When you think of children that are 4 years old that have never even colored with a crayon! It has truly been an eye opening experience for us! We are looking forward to the experiences that we will have with Olivia!

After the court hearing, we will be able to post some pictures of Olivia for everyone to meet her. We will continue to post until the process is complete and possibly for a period of time after we return home with her.

Take care! See everyone back home soon!

Hello everyone,
We are still waiting to know our court date. Each day we are just going and visiting with Olia at the orphanage. It is amazing to see the difference in her in just 1 week. We are so ready to take her home, where she will receive the individual love and attention that she so needs. She is a great little girl. We miss everyone and home! Thanks again for all your support.

Drew & Gabrielle say hello to all their friends who are following the blog, and their cousins!!

MeMe just wanted to let you know that Olia loves to have tea parties. We gave her a " My Little Pony" teaset and she knows exactly what to do with it. She pours the tea and even holds her pinkie finger correctly. She blows it before she drinks and says "Ahhh..." after drinking. She is funny! Talk to you later

Nana, thanks for staying and taking care of Ethan! We miss you too!

Monday, April 6, 2009

Monday, was a busy day as we began the paperwork process with our translator. We had to go the notary's office to do the petition to adopt, then to the Inspector of the orphanage to do more documents. Unfortunately, the petition was missing a sentence, so the translator had to have the notary redo!

We went to the orphanage, Olia was on the playground and she saw the car as we arrived and headed in our direction. She was very happy to see us. We took her to the children's hospital for an ultrasound of her kidneys to verify that everything was okay and to talk to the doctors. She has not had any problems since she was 1 year old, which was only a typical kidney infection. But as precaution due to her small kidneys, they have done an ultrasound every 6 months to verify no problems. The checkup was okay. She was a trooper through the whole process.

We will continue the paperwork this week and our translator hopes we can have a court date by Monday or Wednesday of next week and we will head home immediately after the court date. We have to wait 10 days before we can take her home, so we will go home and return to bring her home. Hopefully, all will continue to go well this week. Keep you all posted as much as possible.

Saturday & Sunday, April 4 & 5, 2009

Hello to everyone! On Saturday, we visited with Olia again and she was happy to see us. She was a little hesitant at first, but then took our hands to go out and play. We enjoyed the 2 hours once again with her. We will not be able to post a picture of her until after we go to court.

Sunday, back to the orphanage..and amazing the difference each day she is when we arrive. She knows us now. I, Sheila, am Ma, Herbert is Da, which is uncle in Ukrainian. They do not have much contact with men, so it has taken her a little longer to be okay with Herbert. She is definitely okay with Drew & Gabrielle.

Ethan returned back to the states, he and Connor, on Saturday. He was able to meet and spend the first day with her before he left. We all miss him, already!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

We are definitely excited about our visit with Olga, pronounced Olia, the 4 year old girl we visited with on Friday. She is a very cute and shy little girl. She has some minor health issues that we will verify with a specialist in the states and she has slight delay in mental and speech. She is working with a speech therapist and is having progress. She was very shy and did not want to visit with us at first. However, by the time our 2 hour visit with her was over, she cried to have to leave us. She opened up to us and loved playing with Drew & Gabrielle. We all enjoyed her and Drew & Gabrielle just loved her. She was laughing and playing and was able to enjoy herself a bit more than she is allowed to with the children in the orphanage. We are staying in the city and will be visiting with her today from 4 to 7 and then tomorrow for a few hours. We hope that all will go well and we will be able to give this little girl a chance for a good life with our family.

Olga came to the orphanage when she was 1 year & 3 months. She was taken from her mother due to neglect. The child was very afraid when she first came to the orphanage. They said she was always putting her hands in front of her face. She had to be in the orphanage for 1 year without a visit from a family member to make her available for adoption, then the children have to be listed for 14 months for Ukrainians to adopt. After the 14 months, then they become available for international adoption. She just became available for international adoption and we were the first to be able to receive a referral to visit her.

We are in a different area, nothing like Kiev. The conditions are much poorer in this area, so we will be limited on our internet access. We will do our best to keep everyone posted about our progress. So, if all goes well, we will start the process next week for a court date and then return home for the 10 day wait period.

Thanks again to everyone. We will be in touch.

Tuesday, April 2, 2009

Well we are off to visit another orphanage on Friday morning. Today we chose a referral to visit a 4 year old girl in an orphanage that is about 4 hours away. ( Sorry we cant remember the name of the city). She was our best option out of the children we were given to choose from. We will be leaving at 5:00 a.m. with our driver, George and translator, Olla. We do not have to travel as far as we did to the last orphanage. So, we are just praying that if she is the one then it will work out. If not, then we will be given another meeting with SDA.

Before the entire process is over, we will be returning home and then coming back to Ukraine to complete the final paperwork. We just hope and pray that everything works out.

We will post the outcome as soon as we are able. Take care and thanks for all your support and prayers!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

We spent the day walking and seeing the city of Kiev. The weather was sunny and cool here today. We walked around touring for about 5 hours, there is so much to see in this city. Also, great exercise!! Staying in the apartment makes me, Sheila, a bit stir crazy after awhile. All this waiting can make you crazy!! We finally got the call from Konstantin, our facilitator, that our meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, 4/2/09, at 12:00 p.m. So, everyone keep praying that this meeting will go well! We will post as soon as we know more information.
We miss everyone!! Talk with you soon!