Mina's groupa room NO MORE!

This is the room where Mina spent the last 14 months of her life. Never again will she have to see this place, lay on the hard playpen or floor and not get the love and attention she so much deserves!

The orphanage Mina has spent the last 14 months of her short life

This is the orphange where Mina spent 14 months of her life. Although from the pictures you can't tell it was built in 1979. 
Where we enter and leave each day for our visits

Mina lives in the very far down on the right area.

All the many long pointless hallways.

Patch job to keep the wall from further cracking.

Many playground areas around the orphanage.




Several playing areas where extremely overgrown.  They use a weedeater to cut the grass.

The supermarket we do most our shopping at

This is the supermarket we would walk to on the far right end.  We did most of our shopping for groceries and things here.  It was about a 10 minute walk from our apartment and it was pretty much like their Walmart. You would have to put all your belongings inside a bag that zips and locks when you enter the store and then when you leave someone unzips it for you to get your things back out.  Apparently they have a lot of theft or something.


Doesn't this bread look yummy!! I usually have to buy the prepackaged breads because it grosses me out that there are bugs flying around lots of it. At least I don't know what happens to the packaged bread before it gets packaged ;)




Grains, rice, etc you scoop into bags and weigh

Feeling Better today & Anniversary!

I apologize in advance for all the skipping around.

Thank you all for your many prayers and sweet words! I am definitely feeling much better today but still mostly just staying around the apartment & resting.  We did get out and grab a bite to eat by our apartment today but that's about as much walking as I felt up to.  My fever is completely gone and my throat is feeling much better, still minor aches and back pains but not near as bad as it was and most my migraines have gone away.  Now I've basically just been dealing with lack of energy & dizziness at times... but so much better than I was!  So thank you all for your prayers... and sorry about the lack of posts. I haven't really felt up to it. 

Mina is doing wonderful! She is such a little doll! A precious little angel and we just absolutely adore her.  She is eating great & loving it!  She actually gets upset at us when her bowl of food is gone and starts to cry and throw a little fit and give us a pouty lip... I feel bad but her little belly will be buldging and we don't want to feed her so much she is sick.  We have been feeding her lots of smaller meals a day to try to make it easier on her tummy.  She absolutely loves Gerber Puffs and does extremely well feeding herself them.  She also got a Gerber toddler biscuit and that kept her happy for a long time until she got down to the last bit where it started to break off in chunks & she tried shoving them all in her mouth & made herself start choking so mommy & daddy took the last big chunks out of her mouth.  She wasn't happy with us for that but we definitely didn't want her choking and hurting herself. She doesn't like milk at all (not warm or cold) she just spits it out.  She doesn't like water... just juice (cause that's all she ever had in the orphanage.)  She wasn't a big drinker of the juices we bought from the store and watered down so I boiled some fruit and water on the stove and made her juice like they do in the orphanage and she drinks that much better. I may have to do that for a little bit until we can get her to like other things and ween her on them.

We are so glad she is finally with us and we are able to feed her, love her, bathe her, snuggle her, kiss her, rock her, sing lullabies and tell her each day how much we love her.  You can just see her world brighten up more and more each day.

Yesterday Morning Mina woke up around 6:30 and cried and woke Myla up. Today Myla walked in our room and woke Mina up.  Myla is so excited to see her sister she wants to lay with her on her pallet, snuggle, kiss her, and help feed her, get her what she needs, whatever it may be.  It is to cute. This morning when she came in our room she said Mina up and ready to play with Myla :)  LOL She keeps talking about flying back on an airplane to take her sister home. 

Nap times & bed times~
Well Mina is the busiest most moviest child I have ever seen in their sleep.  She moves all over the place even with 4 pillows proped around all sides of her (can't wait to get home to the crib.)  She also wakes up off and on lots of times in the night. Seems every hour or 2 she will wake up cry, moan, make babbling noises and then in a few minutes she will fall back to sleep. The girl will be turned all kinds of crazy ways several times in the night and many times I've gotten up to move her back on her comfy pallet or to get her head away from a wall. 

So Yesterday Jim took Myla out in the afternoon for a daddy- daughter date.  They got to go get Pizza and ice cream and daddy took her to drive her very first car and let her play in the play areas. She had such a blast with her dad and it was good for her to get out of the aparement. Mina hung out with Mommy and we rested and played on the couch and I tried not to do to much. 

Tomorrow I promise I will try to get some pics posted since we've gotten her out of that place. Most the newer pics are on Jim's phone so we need to go where there is wifi so he can email me the pics so that  I will have them on my phone to update through our blog app.

Last thing today is our 6 year anniversary so i just wanted to say Happy Anniversary to my dear sweet husband! Thank you for taking care of all your girls and for always loving us. So sorry we didn't get to celebrate and that I didn't feel up to doing much! You are an amazing husband! xoxo.

And my best friend - brother of over 10 years is getting married today! I am so so happy for him and his wife and wish so badly we could be there! If you're reading this congrats to the both of you, have the greatest time & make wonderful memories. We love you both!
Sorry for the spiraticness to the post and jumping all over... I keep starting to doze as I type this... off to sleep! Thank you all once again!

Doctors visit~ Pregnancy!

Well I wish I could say today was such a wonderful day enjoying our new little blessing but that’s not quite how the day went. My fever went back up again during the night and I’ve had terrible aches and pains with severe migraines, dizzy spells, and sore throat. This afternoon Julia met me and took me to the doctor. Oh my how the doctors are different here than back home. The first doctor did a pelvic exam… probably the most painful exam I’ve ever experience and not sure how sterile. I was literally shedding tears. She then tells me that I need to be hospitalized and stay there for however long so that they can evaluate me and check me each day. I about panicked. I did not at all feel comfortable being put in a foreign hospital where nurses and doctors would come in who I wouldn’t understand and who knows what type of medicine they would give me. Not to mention all the other fears that would go along with that. I told them I would rather fly back to the US and get medical care there. The doctor advised I leave asap and go back where I can have medical care. Julia said that was good because she would worry about me being there in the hospital by myself and who knows how long they would keep me. They had me right in English on a piece of paper that I was advised to be hospitalized and refused. Then I went to an ear, nose and throat type doctor who prescribed me some throat spray. Then I went to have an ultrasound down. For all those who don’t know I AM PREGNANT! I am 14 weeks and due February 22nd. This has been a big part of our concern with me being sick right and left. So we saw the baby move and the dr said he could see the heart beat but that my uterus is having spasms. They kept wanting to give me shots of different things. They wanted me to get a shot for my fever but I told them I have Tylenol which helps reduce fever and I’d prefer to take that. Then they wanted to give some other shot (can’t remember what that one was for.) And they wanted to give me a shot for the spasms. I asked about that in pill form so that I could check with my doctor back home before taking it. My mom called the pharmacist back home to check on that medicine and they said absolutely not do not take it. Thankfully I didn’t let them talk me into getting a shot and thankfully I got out of them hospitalizing me. I was so fearful and it was such a crazy different experience. All that and it only cost 300 grivnas ($37.) I was advised to not do anything, no walking, drink lots and lots of fluids, and basically stay in bed all day and go home to get medical care. Jim and I have debated on whether or not I should go or stay this last week with him. As of now the plan is for me to stay because I am so weak and dizzy and just about fall over anytime I stand up so I’d be afraid of being in an airport with Myla and pass out or something happen. Plus I just don’t think I have the energy to get the 2 of us back home at this point. So I am taking Tylenol for the fever and got an antibiotic and will be doing a lot of resting and lying down.


Please pray for Jim. Pray that God gives him strength and help him to not get stressed during this time as he cares for his 3 girls. He is such a wonderful husband and father. Today has been quite difficult on him because the worry of his wife being sick and the girls didn’t nap well this afternoon which made for a cranky evening. Plus lets just say you should see our apartment now. I feel so bad that I am not able to help him with everything. I was looking forward to enjoying these precious new days as a family and it’s not quite turned out how I’d imagined.

I am very thankful that for the next few days we don’t have anything we have to do. Monday or Tuesday we should get the passport and then be in Kiev probably Wednesday and Thursday and fly home Friday. Hopefully if all goes well. Marina our facilitator said to pray that the passport is done on time with no problems because the US Embassy is closed the last Friday of the month so if the passport is not finished by Tuesday we would have to wait until the following Monday to go to the embassy.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and following along our journey. Sorry no pics today. Hope everyone is well!

Gotcha day!!

Today was gotcha day & what a busy joyous day it was! We woke up this morning without knowing the plans for the day got a call from Rostik saying he’d be by to pick us up at 9:10 and that we would meet Marina at court. We met Marina and waited in the car while she picked up the court decree, drove to the department of vital statistics to get Mina’s birth certificate with us listed as her parents. We waited in a skinny crowded hall where several people kept trying to ask us questions while we were waiting on Marina. We just kept shaking our head and saying we don’t know. Then after about 20 minutes Marina came out to get us to sign papers so we could get the birth certificate and be on our way. Next stop was to the orphanage to pick up Mina and Svetlana (the head nurse.) We went to the passport office and got Mina’s picture taken and paperwork done to obtain her passport. Of course we ended up having to walk across the street to another office and left the diaper bag in the car thinking we’d be in and out and of course Mina had an awful diarrhea diaper. Picture taken, made it back to the car, changed her and waited for Marina to come out of the other office. Then off to the two banks where Mina had fund accounts set up for her where the government/ orphanage deposits money into an account for her so that if she was never adopted she would later on in life get the money (I believe after she was out of the orphanage system due to age... if she was still alive by then.) Went to one bank and waited in the car while Svetlana took care of some stuff, ran to the other bank, signed papers to close Mina’s account and to sign the money over to the orphanage to be given to the other children. Went by the apartment and dropped Myla and Jim off because she was cranky and extremely tired. Went back to the first bank and finished up paperwork to sign that money over to the orphanage. By this time it was an hour past Mina’s lunch time and nap time and she was getting sleepy and cranky. She fell asleep in my arms for a little bit. We then went back to the orphanage and I took Mina to her groupa for them to feed her while I went up to Svetlana’s office to sign some paperwork to get Mina out of the orphanage. I gave the orphanage director, Svetlana, and the 5 caregivers and 5 nurses their gifts and then went back down the hall to get Mina to come home at last!! She was cranky and so very sleepy. The caregivers asked for her clothes that we brought so I got them out of her bag & they took them and dressed her. I did not put her hairbow in I stayed up till 1 in the am making for her because she was just so cranky and couldn’t handle one more thing. Marina and I left the orphanage quickly. It was amazing how fast the day went today and all the many things we crammed into such a short time. Marina really is an extremely hard worker. We made it back to the apartment where daddy met us at the car downstairs to video us bringing Mina into the apartment. We didn’t have much time for pictures cause like I said the girl was cranky and tired. We put her down for a nap and she slept about 3 hours. We finally went in and woke her up so she would be able to sleep tonight. She is such a happy little camper.


Svetlana today was talking to Marina and telling her that she can see a huge change in Mina in the short time we’ve been here. She told her that when she sat her up to take a picture for the embassy last week she was amazed at how well and strong Mina was sitting up and that usually she would just fall over when propped up.

We told Svetlana about the bumbos and that we are going to mail some to the orphanage for the kids and showed her a picture and explained them to her. She was so excited and said she thought that would be wonderful and that they don’t have anything like that anywhere here. She said that it is so hard for the caregivers to be able to work with the children on sitting up because they can’t sit there and hold them up throughout the day and there is nothing like that children can sit in. I am really excited to be able to send them some and think that it will make a huge difference for many of these children. I know it sure would have been a helpful tool for Mina.

Myla was so excited that today was the day we got to bring Mina home. She actually woke up at 6 this morning saying Mommy Mina gets to come home with Myla today! Needless to say she was so excited about it that she couldn’t go back to sleep so that is another reason why she had to come home this afternoon for a nap. She also was excited to finally get to take a bath and splash with her sister this evening. It took Mina a minute to get used to the water but she sure loved to splash. Mommy and Daddy are excited that she is all clean now and that she smells so good!!!

Mina did an awesome job eating dinner and we even gave her some puffs which she loved and has mastered at getting in her mouth all by herself!! So proud of our girl she has come such a long ways!

Please pray for me again. I have no idea why I can’t stay well and keep getting sick. I practically never get sick back home. Last night I started to get a sore throat and had a rough time sleeping… part of which was because my back and body ached really bad and the other part was sheer excitement for today. I woke up with swollen glands and a terrible migraine and my body has just been really achy. This afternoon after making it home I laid down to take a nap cause I wasn’t feeling well and checked my temp which it got up to 101.9. Please just pray that I get completely better. That any illness would just leave my body, that the headaches, achyness, and sore throat would go away, and that my energy level would be restored so I can enjoy this new time with our precious girl and play with her lots!

Today ended up mostly being a lazy afternoon for us because of this and she was quite the trooper. Daddy took Myla to go get us some supper to go and pick up more bottled water and Mina hung out with Mommy on the bed. She didn’t fuss one bit. She just seems really happy and kept looking at me with a grin on her face! So precious! I love that girl and am so excited that she is finally with us where she belongs! Her and her sister are both now sleeping peacefully and we are two happy and proud parents!

 

Mina's first car ride leaving the orphanage for passport pics

 Best family portrait we could get :)
 This is what Mina thought after all the running around and missing her nap time.  She was sure sleepy!
 The 2 caregivers working today when we got to get Mina and say our goodbyes!
 Made it home to the apartment & just got a pic in before she wasn't having it any longer and we put her down for her nap
 Sleeping Beauty all snuggled in on mommy & daddy's bed!
 First bath home!! Splishing and splashing!

 Video of Mina and Myla splahing in the tub!

Clean dry baby all bundled up!

 PJs on and ready for bed!!