New pictures from Ukraine

The families who just got home shared some new pictures of Sasha with us that were taken the day before they left Ukraine. In one of the pics Sasha is wearing the pajama pants we sent her and running from the camera! There is also a picture of several of the kids at the orphanage. We can't wait to get back to see them. Inna, who just got home on Friday, posted some pictures my facebook today with the message "Hi!!! How are you?? Sasha could not wait for you she wants you to guickly arrive." Inna's sister Rachel said that Inna wrote it all by herself with the help of an online translator. The picture below is of the girls in the orphanage. Sasha is seated on the floor.

three new families

yesterday three more kids from Anastasia's orphanage arrived at CVG. It was very exciting to see them walk down that long hall at the airport. It was cool that all three of them got to come home together. They were each flying with one parent, as the other parent came home after court to tend to the kids left in the US.

All the kids seemed to be doing great. The parents looked pretty wiped out! While watching those kids walking to us I was overcome thinking that next kid down that hall will be Sasha. It makes it seem so much sooner now. Wow - it is soon!

Here's Zhenya (who got home in December) and Anastasia with Inna. Inna was a roommate for a short period of time in the orphanage with Anastasia.


Here is Petr right after he got off the plane with his family. Petr is in the black coat.


Andrey being reunited with his family. He's the oldest boy on the left with the gray shirt on. My three sons!



Inna with her family. Inna is standing on the left by her mom.

pictures from Ukraine

We talked to Sasha today. She is ready to come home. Two days ago when we talked to her she asked if she was allowed to ride her bike to school. I said yes, then she and Anastasia talked about the logistics of riding to school. Then Sasha reminded us, "I'll need a bike!" We love it that she is already thinking of life outside the orphanage and making plans. She does not want us to paint her room - so we're leaving the walls the same, but we did add a new bed and quilt. We sent pictures over with the Carter family. Sasha was very happy to see her new bed and to show it off to her friends! We're anxious for her to be sleeping in it.

Today when we talked to her she was talking about the movies we would watch, the games we would play, the crafts we would make and the snacks we would eat while we're in Ukraine together. Anastasia will be traveling with us for the first trip. She's anxious to see her buddies from the orphanage, her grandmother and her new sister! Our hope is that we will get a court date in a reasonable time frame. Then Mark, Anastasia and I will return to the US to wait out the 10 day wait (which is actually a 12 day period where NOTHING happens). I will return by myself to finish things up and bring her home!

We have been blessed that 5 families have been in Ukraine since Sasha went back this summer. They are all adopting kids from Sasha and Anastasia's orphanage. They've sent us tons of pics - here's few!

One day when they were visiting they were able to snap some pics of Sasha cutting hair in the orphanage! Igor looks a little scared!





Five families from our area were in Kiev together adopting their kids. They all met up one night for dinner at TGIFridays (yes they have one in Kiev) and took Sasha with them (thank you Beth Peery!) It was fun seeing her with our friends and knowing she was getting some loving!

Anastasia's been home three years

The "big kids" (Rachel, Wesley and Rachel's friend Steve) came home and we had a super fun weekend just hanging out celebrating the anniversary of Anastasia's arrival in the US. Anastasia came home three years today.

hosting this summer

This summer 14 kids from Anastasia's orphanage arrived at CVG. they were here for 42 days. It was wonderful. During that time we started feeling a nudging that maybe the reason we couldn't find someone to adopt Sasha was because we were supposed to. Lots of confusion over the summer but on the last night of her stay it was obvious - she was ours and we were supposed to fight to get her home. So the paperchase began. We finished our dossier in record time and submitted in November. At that point we found that she was not available for adoption at that time but would be available in March and we were giving an appointment on the day that she became available - March 23, 2009. While we had hoped to get her home sooner, we have spent January in Kiev before so thought the spring might be a little more fun! Here's some pictures from when she was here this summer.

People have asked how Anastasia is handling all this - she is beyond excited and not the least bit surprised. When we were telling her that another family was going to host Sasha - she was praying that we'd be the ones hosting her. And long before we even talked about hosting Sasha, Anastasia had been praying that she would be her sister. Years ago Anastasia had prayed that God will find her a family and he did. She was confident that He'd answer her prayers about Sasha too. Of course she didn't tell us this until just a few days ago! She was a little reluctant to tell us and even said "I hope you don't think I was praying against you!" We assured her that we know for certain that this is God's plan.



Sasha and Rachel at King's Island


Sasha's 15th birthday party at the swim club.


Anastasia and Sasha camping out in a tent in our front yard. They did this a couple nights


With Kim's parents - her soon to be new grandparents


Sasha loves UK - she picked out this shirt all by herself!


This picture is at the airport right after they arrived. Vadim (pictured here with Anastasia and Sasha) is already home and living in the same town as us. Sasha, Vadim, Anastasia, and one other little boy from the orphanage will all be attending the same school!


Here's all five of our kids taken while Sasha was here this summer. Please note that it was also taken the day after Rachel got her wisdom teeth taken out so that's why she's not her usual perky self!

how it all started

On September 1, 2005 we visited an orphanage in Ukraine and met our daughter, Anastasia. The picture of the three of us is from that very first day. We met another girl that day named Sasha. Sasha was Anastasia's best friend and roommate. Actually Sasha was one of the very first kids we saw at the orphanage. The orphanage director was gone with some of the kids and we had to wait until she returned to give us permission to meet Anastasia. At that point we didn't know if Anastasia was at the orphanage or away with the director. We watched this cute little girl (Sasha) play hide and go seek with another kid. She totally engaged us even though we didn't speak the same language. As she'd run to a new hiding place she'd motion for us to "shhh" We wondered aloud if she was the one. The picture we had been shown of Anastasia was very old and grainy. As we looked at her we both asked ourselves if this was the one that God had chosen for us. Funny - we didn't find the answer until 3 years later!

During the TWO MONTHS we spent in Kiev, we became very attached to several of the kids, but particularly Sasha. Sasha was with us all the time when we were at the orphanage. She and Anastasia were inseparable. Anastasia was very jealous if we gave other kids attention - except Sasha! Sasha asked us to take her home too (we thought she meant to visit at the apartment in Kiev). When we left it was sad. We sent letters and small packages to Sasha over the years. Then this past summer we were blessed to have 14 kids from Anastasia's orphanage visit our area on a hosting program. Sasha was going to stay with another family who hoped to adopt her (we'd been trying to find a family for her for years). But when we got more information from the orphanage, they told us that Sasha did not want to be adopted. So the family that wanted to adopt picked another child to host and much to Anastasia's delight, we decided to host Sasha.




Anastasia and Sasha at the orphanage in September 2005