We finally got our Interpol clearance yesterday! This morning, our facilitator arrived back at our apartment and told us we could have court today or tomorrow. We went ahead and went to our morning visit. Right in the middle we got a call saying we had a court appointment today at 12:00!!!!!!!!!!!! We took Lizzy back early, she was not happy about that, and went back to get ready. Everything went great. The judge was very nice and the verdict was that we get to be Lizzy's mom and dad :) It was a very happy day. Tomorrow we have to run around and get paperwork done. We are not sure when we will get to come home yet. We have to wait and see how long it will take to get Lizzy's passport. We will get to take her out of the orphanage to get a passport photo. We have bought her new clothes, so she will look so cute! We will keep her in the orphanage until we get all our running done. We will probably take her out a day or two before we leave to go back to Kiev. What a huge weight that has been lifted off of us! However, our hearts are also sad because our friends have not yet gotten their Interpol clearance. :( It was hard for us to tell them we had court today. They were happy for us, of course, but it also made them sad. They are as ready to go home as we are.

Love,
Candace and Paul

What a great three days we have had!! Saturday we skipped our morning visit to get a taste of the area. The two couples we have befriended from Israel, Paul and I all decided we needed to do something different. Our friends' facilitator took us to a Cossack show. This show featured men dressed in the time and did tricks with ropes and horses. It was a lot of fun! After that, we went to the Cossack museum, which Paul and I had already been to. It was good though, because the facilitator knew much of the history of the area and told us quite a bit. Then we went to a huge oak tree where the Cossacks used to meet. It is over 800 years old. They have preserved it so it still stands. Finally, we ate lunch at a place that makes pizza. It was the closest thing we have had to familiar foods in three weeks. It was wonderful. We then had a great evening visit with Lizzy. She has finally decided she likes Mama and Papa better than the Ukrainian woman! Yea! She talked to her for a bit, but then wanted time alone with Mama and Papa. She is obsessed now with watching herself on video. She loves to watch all the video we have taken on our camera while she eats her cereal we bring for her. She is mesmerized for at least twenty minutes. Another breakthrough: she now comprises with us and motions what she wants instead of saying it in Russian and getting mad when we don't know what she wants. We have also picked up little Russian words here and there and she likes when we say Russian words to her. Breakthrough 2: Lizzy has learned that sharing is a good thing. Papa and I have been working with her and she shared her drink AND snack with us! It was a big deal!! Friday night, the dynamic six went out for dinner. We walked to a restaurant that was near to all our apartments. However, they were hosting a wedding reception. They let us eat there anyway. There were no English menus but luckily the waitress spoke a tiny bit of English. She gave us the highlights of the menu and we all were able to order. The lights then went low for the reception and the "DJ" started the music. It took us all about thirty minutes to realize that he was not playing cds but actually singing!! He was also playing the pan flute for slow songs. We were amazed!! Today we went to the open street market. It was really cool. They literally sell everything there!! We bought Lizzy some new shoes for 55 Grimna (or 6 US dollars!) Everything is so cheap here! We also bought her a dress and a full outfit. We then went to the children's store down the street. There we bought two shirts, three pairs of tights, five pairs of undies, bubbles, balloons, and pjs for...ready?.....$25!!! (209 Grimna!) Crazy!! It's great!!! We brought her her new hat and shoes tonight to our visit. The hat has three pink balls at the top. It looks like something she would pick for herself! She was so cute! She was sooo proud and happy. She hugged us both and couldn't wait to put them on. We also brought her bubbles and balloons today. She loved them! She screamed and tried to catch them. She also loved the balloons.We popped a few balloons as we played, but we had many more so it was OK. She loved to run and catch the balloons, also. It was windy so they were blowing everywhere! She had a great time with Mama and Papa today. We were also playing with our friends and the children that they are adopting. They speak Hebrew so we always say "Shalom" to them. Well, Lizzy got confused today and said "Shallo". Haha. She tried to combine hello and shalom. It was hysterical! Now we joke about it and say Shallo. We'll cross our fingers that we get our clearance papers tomorrow so we can get our court date! We'll see!!!

Love,
Candace and Paul

On Monday we skipped our visits as Paul wasn't feeling well and didn't want to risk spreading anything to anyone at the orphanage. By Monday night he was feeling back to normal, so we resumed our visits Tuesday. Our friends, who are also adopting from the same orphanage, were very kind and took some pictures of Lizzy while she was outside happily playing with her friends. They emailed the pictures of our "sweet little doughnut" to us, as they affectionately call Lizzy. Like a doughnut, Lizzy is so small and full of so much energy! A perfect analogy we think! We thought maybe she didn't miss us, but Tuesday morning when we picked her up she greeted us with lots of kisses and hugs! Good to feel we were missed. Maybe she only missed the treats we bring her, but never the less we were missed! Great weather again on Tuesday, and we played outside in the morning and afternoon. As usual, I think we played on every single piece of playground equipment on the campus! We discovered the playground equipment with the stairs, rope, and slide. Lizzy LOVES the slide. Paul decided to slide down with her the first time, and due to his excitement and haste discovered at the bottom a muddy puddle of water! We counted as we climbed the stairs, and she loves saying "GO GO GO GO GO!!!" as Paul helps her climb up the rope to the top of the platform. This provided about a hour and 15 minutes of entertainment, which is approximately 3,297 times more than the longest she has ever spent on any other single piece of playground equipment! We finally figured out how to keep her from screaming and crying when we take her inside; bribery. We give her one of her treats as we take her back inside at the end of our visit. We aren't proud of it, but based on our environment we have to make due with what we've got! Wednesday morning we came a little later than usual, and she was already outside with her group playing. The last time she joined her group during a visit, was the last we saw of her (already embarrassed of mom and dad!). So, we thought that was it, no visiting today. However, she surprised us. As soon as she saw us she came running with her arms held out saying mama and papa and gave us huge hugs and kisses; took our hands, and lead us away from her group so we could play together. This has been the most obvious sign of love we have experienced yet, and it really warmed our hearts. We played on all the equipment again, slid on the slide, chased a cat with a rake, and said hello to Arnau, the orphanage dog. After the morning visit, we went to Boshka, a small restaurant and Internet cafe nearby. We enjoyed some french fries (its been sooo long, we never thought we would miss them!), some sort of sweet cheese pierogies, and Ukrainian beer with our friends from Israel. We shared some customs, views, traditions, and daily life experiences; some similar, some could not be more different. We really enjoy learning about other cultures. One interesting difference was the general order of priorities. After reconciling and reflecting on the conversation, neither for better or worse, family and general well being seems to be at the top of the list in Israel, and the 'drive for more' seems to be a considerable factor in America. Our friends admire all that we have available in America, and we believe that is a result of that 'drive for more'. Wednesday evening's visit was a bit more trying. I think this was a great experience for all of us, a good mini-preparation for what life of a parent will be like. She greeted us again with love. After being outside for a few minutes, we saw another woman from Ukraine who is also adopting who was playing with her child. Lizzy, being the social butterfly that she is, loves to interact with anyone who speaks Russian, so she followed the two around for a while. At the slide, she cut herself short of saying "GO GO GO" as she was too embarrassed. We took her inside to use the bathroom, and when we came out she was upset that the Ukrainian woman and her child were not outside. Lizzy started acting up, and tried to push Candace away from her and her toys by throwing her entire body against Candace and in Russian tell her to get away in an ugly tone. Candace quickly recognized this as a power struggle, and did not move and told her she loves her and gave her a kiss. Lizzy gave up, packed up her toys and walked to another piece of playground equipment. There she began demanding her cookie from Paul, who also did not relent. She began crying and throwing a fit for a while. After she calmed down we gave her the snack after she asked for it nicely. We then played together nicely the rest of the evening, and at the end of the visit she gave us kisses and hugs again. A great experience of setting expectations, limits, and despite everything, showing love for each other.

The last two days have been beautiful!!! The weather has been gorgeous so we have taken Lizzy outside for every visit. She loves it! Today, before Paul even got out the doors with her, she was calling "Mama!". She then hugged me and gave me about four kisses. She was very loving this morning. We found that she has her own little pee pot that she squats over to use the bathroom. It is number 11. It is then emptied into the big pot. All the kids have their own. She also has her own towel to dry her hands. We have been bringing her grape juice boxes and she drinks it all at once. She loves them. Today we started singing the ABCs to her. She likes the song and tried to sing along. She will learn it soon. Whenever we are outside with her, and her group is taking a walk outside, she struts over to them. I mean literally struts. She wants to make sure they see her with her Papa and Mama. The kids call us Lizzy Papa and Mama. Too cute. Yesterday, they all gave her kisses as they were walking away. She is Miss Popularity there :) Paul and I think that yesterday was the first time she had ever walked up and down stairs. She had no idea what to do. Paul showed her and today she did a great job walking up and down the stairs. We guess she has been guarded her whole life because she has no fear of anything. She'll run full speed ahead and trip over something and land on her nose. She has also almost fallen off the play equipment a couple of times. I think that this has been the first time for her to play on the equipment. This morning, she seemed to have a better sense of being more cautious. We have so much to teach her. They also make them eat really fast at the orphanage so she takes too big of bites and wants to keep taking bites with her mouth full. We have taught her to swallow what she has first. She now will show us when her mouth is empty to get another bite of banana. She actually called it a banana today! She also told me "Love you" when she went back today. So sweet!! One of her favorite activities is to clean things. I love it! She likes to "sweep" the playground equipment and wipe off dirty chairs with Kleenex. :) Yesterday, we had lunch with our new friends. We had a great time. We were a little embarrassed when they asked what second language was taught in the US. We said none, really. We told them you could choose a language in high school, but none was required. In Israel, they learn English, Hebrew, and Arabic. They also love how cheap everything is in America. Last time they were in New York, they stocked up on Speed Stic and New Balance because those things are so expensive in Israel. Today we met the other couple that are here from Israel. They were also very nice and of course spoke English. It has been a great experience to not only learn about Ukraine, but also Israel. They bought us fresh poppy seed cake from the market yesterday, because they said we had to try it. They had bought a few days before and loved it. It was delicious!!!! Everything is so fresh here and preservative free. Everything tastes so good! We are getting ready to go to our second visit. Bye for now.

Love,
Candace and Paul

Today was good day. We had a great visit with Lizzt this morning.She was very attentive and was excited to see us. This evening she was again infatuated with the Ukraine woman. However, that is OK with us and the woman really likes her so all is well. We are doing OK without our facilitator and have made two trips to the market by ourselves. Paul was just talking about how a few weeks ago he was miffed that his Starbucks was too watery. Now we have to make a daily trip to the market on muddy paths/alleys to get to the market to buy drinkable water and haul it back to our apartment. We live a life of luxury in Atlanta :) We are having lunch tomorrow with our new friends from Israel. They had a bad experience here yesterday. They went into a restaurant and a guy stood up and called "Jew, Jew". They left the restaurant because they didn't want any trouble. We couldn't believe it. They said they were warned about Ukraine, but they didn't expect to experience that first hand. On a lighter note, I am definitely the only handicapped person around. When we were walking through a path to see the forts, I was holding Paul's coffee cup while he pushed the wheelchair. Some guy walking by slipped a Ukrainian 5 dollar bill in my hand. He thought I was begging for money with my coffee cup in hand and being in a wheelchair. Paul, our facilitator, and I laughed so hard we cried. It was so funny. (and sweet) There is zero accessibility here. Paul has to push me everywhere so as not to get mud all over me and to help me up and down curbs and huge potholes. Also, they make fun of American coffee. The coffee here is like black tar. There is a coffee here that you can get that is named something Americana and it is watery coffee. Haha. Our internet connection is off and on here so we don't always get to get on as much as we'd like. It has almost been two weeks and we are getting a tiny bit homesick. We miss everyone and the little creature comforts we are used to and familiar with. Hopefully court will be next week and we will see what happens from there.

Love,Candace and Paul

Today was a little crazy! We went for our evening visit with Lizzy and there was a couple from Israel adopting and the same Ukraine woman who is usually there. Whenever there is someone who speaks Russian, Lizzy would rather play/talk with them. She pretty much talked/played with the other woman most of the time. She also snatched a toy from the 2 year old boy the Israelie couple is adopting. We told her no and they were very understanding, but geez! Then she tried to steal the little girl's juice box and the little boy's juice cup. She was a mess tonight! We were warned that if there is someone (especially a woman) around that speaks Russian, the kids will always go to her. This is understable, but we just want to hug on her and squeeze her!! The couple from Israel are very nice and we plan to go have coffee and chat one afternoon. (They of course speak English because other people know more than one language!) We are looking forward to this. It will be nice to speak with people who are going through the same thing. It is hard to really bond with Lizzy visiting at the orphanafe. There is always someone who speaks her language and people all over the place. I am really excited for the day that she gets to come home with us :) Our facilitator left this evening to go home. He will come back a day or two before our court hearing. We went to a large supermarket today to stock up on groceries since he will be gone. It was kind of like a Super Walmart. It had a little of everything. They also had this dry soymeat that our facilitator said was very good. We got some and cooked that and buckwheat for dinner. Both were very good! We always love to try new things. That's it for now. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Love,
Candace and Paul

Not too much to tell today. Our evening visit with Lizzy has been the best yet! She was loving and just played the whole time. She wanted to play with Mama tonight. This morning she wanted to play with Papa. She has a hard time playing with both of us at the same time. The funniest thing ever was when she started to get sweaty from running around. Paul decided to take off the hat her caretakers put on her. This made her very mad and she took it out of his hands, told him something in Russian, and brought the hat to me to put back on. As I was putting the hat back on her, she looked at Paul, told him off in Russian, and proceeded to shake her fist at him. Somehow, Paul caught this on camera and it is the funniest picture I have ever seen!! She is a hoot! Since it will be at least a week before our court hearing, our facilitator is going back to his wife for a week tomorrow. We will be in Ukraine on our own! We will be fine. We know how the money works, and what is what (sort of) at the market. We can always call him if we need a driver or need something translated. Guess that is it for tonight. The routine is pretty well the same now and we all know how I love routine! :)

Love,
Candace and Paul

The last two days have been really good. Lizzy is really bonding with us and gets so excited everytime we come to the orphanage for our visits. She runs to us and hugs us and kisses our cheeks. We have finally found two things that can keep her occupied. 1. Fixing hair 2. a ball. Yesterday, she decided that she was going to fix my hair for me. She was trying to put it in crazy ponytails and pulling my hair pretty good! We got this on video :) So after our morning visit, we went to the toy store and bought her a doll with hair that she can fix. She did for a long time last night. When we told her the English word for brush, she shook her head and said the Russian word instead. However, this morning, she asked for the brush using the English word! She is very smart. We also bought her a ball. She is VERY active. She kicked it, and threw it around all morning. I think she may play soccer :) It is getting harder for her to go back to her group, however, when our visits are over. Last night she kept calling "Mama" all the way down the hall as Paul carried her back. Today, our facilitator told her it was time to go back and she just stopped and looked at him. Her eyes got really sad and she shook her head. The she gave me a big hug and about ten kisses. She was OK after that. Her orphanage is GREAT!! They take really good care of her and are soooo nice to us. Today they brought the blankets downstairs for us to sit on and always bring Lizzy toys to play. They are very kind. I think it is a really good place. Yesterday, in between visits, we did a little sight seeing of Zaporojey. It is a really neat city. We drove to a museum where the Cossacks started. We also saw a fort the Cossacks built to meet and protect the country. They are a work of art! The only forts I have ever seen are plain old wooden boxes. Their forts had intricate roofs with beautiful tops on them. Amazing!! It is unbelievable to comprehend how much history a country has. We are such a new country. Our culture/history doesn't go back that far. Here, they have history and stories from BC!! It is really fascinating. We want to visit an old church at some point before we leave. We really feel at home here. Everyone has really been so nice and visiting Ukraine as more of a citizen than a tourist has been a great experience.

Love,
Candace and Paul

Oh the great circle of life.......
Elizabeth is already testing to see how far she can go. Today we were at our second visit and she decided she was going to literally run all over the orphanage. For those of you have never been (everybody) there is no running in an orphanage. Paul had to keep chasing her and then she thought it was a game. We finally had to say "Nyet" (no) very firmly. She then started to well up those big brown eyes. I hope she learns quickly that will not work on us. Another time I told her no, she laughed. She kept climbing up and down off of my wheelchair (aka the stroller here). I tried to help her so she wouldn't fall and she pushed my hand away. She wants zero help. Then she was playing tea party and decided she would let Mama have some tea (pretend of course) and throw the rest on Papa. When someone told her in Russian to be nice to Papa and give him some tea nicely, she smiled and continued to pretend to throw the tea on Paul. Oy vey! This one is going to be a handful. Also, she is too smart to try and fool. Someone gave her three pieces of candy and she immediately stuck two in her mouth and tried to eat the third one at the same time. Paul took it from her and stuck it (very inconspicuously) under his leg. She got annoyed and started looking around for it. After she realized it was not in his pocket, she knew it was under his leg. She also loves my glasses and called them glasses today instead of the Russian word for glasses. We were surprised that she remembered from the previous time we told her. We also found out that she loves to have decorative ponytail holders in her hair. Today she had four ponytails in her hair. We thought the people at the orphanage fixed it like that, but they said she likes it that way. So today she was trying to pull my hair into ponytails, but we didn't have any holders. We have our work cut out for us :) Our paperwork is done and now we just have to wait for our court date. We may know our date as early as Monday, but probably not. It may be next week or the week after. We'll see. The apartment we are staying in belongs to a lady that works in the orphanage. She is living with her daughter while we stay here. It has one bedroom, a living room, bathroom, and kitchen. Elizabeth used to be in her group at the orphanage when she was younger. The lady adores her and is so excited she is being adopted. Actually, Elizabeth is quite popular at the orphanage and everyone has been so nice and excited for us. The Director immediately said that Elizabeth would come down to the ground floor for our twice a day visits bc of course it is not accessible. Everyone has been great here. Paul and I made homemade soup for dinner tonight. It was delicious! It snowed again today, but not too bad. It has really been a great experience here. Going to the market is quite the experience. They are very small and people just run right over you. Paul and I picked up what we thought was instant oatmeal. We asked our facilitator what it was and he said baby food. Ooops. Luckily he told us before we bought it. It is a very humbling experience to go to a country where you do not speak their language or understand their culture. I am not sure we could ever learn Russian. I feel for those people that come to our country and do not know our language. You can't learn by osmosis. You either have to go to school to learn (lots of money) or find someone to teach you. That would be hard if you didn't really know people. Anyway, this experience sure has helped us both to grow as people. I know our appreciation of the simple things in life has grown. The orphanage has no locks and the door is always open. Paul and I pondered this a while and decided Ukrainians have to much pride and respect to steal from an orphanage. Quite the opposite of America. Ukrainians take so much pride in the food they make, the restaurants they own, their homes, etc. Even the most minute things here are made/done with pride. We could learn a lot here.

Love,
Candace and Paul

I know it has been a few days since our last post! A lot has happened. First, we found out at our SDA appointment that Dylan was already being adopted by another family. This was a very weird fluke. It was no one's fault. He was adopted by a family in Ukraine and their process is different so our people didn't know. Everyone here has been extremely empathetic and helpful. We are very fortunate to have people care about us here! It is fine, we were sad for a short time, and then....they showed us a picture of a little girl with dwarfism who was available. We instantly fell in love. We said yes to the referral and had to travel 300 miles to her orphanage. Most people have to travel to adopt in Ukraine. It is a big country. Anyway, no more complaining to me about paying too many taxes in America. At least we have roads that aren't torn up. What was supposed to be a five hour car ride turned in to 11 hours!!! There were potholes so big in the road an entire cow could have fit into it!! Due to the extremely harsh winter, the roads have recently fallen into severe disrepair. Anyway, a flat tire and bent rim later, we arrived at our new apartment, had two hours of sleep, got our paperwork, and visited with our little girl. She is a doll!! Literally!! They told us she was extremely smart (which we observed). She is 5 1/2 and was absolutely thrilled to have a family. She already calls us Mama and Papa and looked at our photo album 8 times at least!! She is also very independent and doesn't want much help with things (just like me!) They told us she climbs up on things to get to stuff and sings and dances all the time. (She and her aunt Stephanie have lots in common) Anyway, we said yes to her and started our paperwork today to adopt her. We have one final hurdle, which is court. The judge could say no (probably not, but could) or we may have to wait a while for a date. There are six other couples in our area adopting also, so our facilitator said that may help with a sooner date. Anyway, her name will be Elizabeth (Lizzy) Jo (after my mom). She is a sweetie pie and loves books!! I think she will learn English quickly. She was repeating English words we said today. Paul and I are very excited and know that Elizabeth was placed in our hands this week. Thanks for all your support.

Love,
Candace and Paul

Here are some things I learned about Ukraine and Ukrainians:
1. They will literally run over you and say nothing.
2. Their malls are nicer than our malls.
3. They make delicious potato cakes with awesome grilled vegetables. They also make the best fresh bread I have ever tasted!
4. Women wear spiked heels and skirts when it is 20 degrees outside and ice on the ground.
5. Fur is EXTREMELY fashionable here.
6. They are very skinny because their portions are smaller and they walk everywhere.

Today was a good day. Our facilitator came today and talked to us a little more about the adoption process. Then we went to lunch at a delicious restaurant where we had potato cakes with grilled veggies. They were yummy!! We then walked to the mall in Kiev. It was REALLY nice. It was decorated really cool and themes as you walked through it. Paul and I then walked to our apartment alone bc our facilitator had to catch the subway. We did a fine job finding our way back :) Tomorrow is our appointment with the SDA. Our facilitator will be here at 7:45 am to pick us up. We will probably see Dylan Friday or Monday. We'll see. We plan on going to bed early tonight so that we will be fresh tomorrow.

Love,
Candace and Paul

We arrived in Kiev this morning (afternoon in Ukraine). We got settled in our apartment and our facilitator showed us around the area of our apartment. We got pizza for dinner and also bought some stuff from the market right down the block. We don't have a kitchen in our apartment, but we got some stuff to snack on. We don't have any appointments tomorrow, so our facilitator is coming at 12:00 to take us to some other places. We told him we were vegetarian and he said good luck. We told him that we figured that. However, we are good at finding options so we will see. It snowed today. It is FREEZING!!! The sidewalks are covered in ice and snow. It was a little difficult to maneuver the wheelchair around. We made it, though. Our apartment is on the ground floor, so that is awesome. We have gotten about three hours of sleep the entire trip, so we are beat. However, we are trying to stay up so that we can get on Ukraine time. Right now it is 7:35 pm and we can't hardly keep our eyes open. Our facilitator is AWESOME! He is nice and straightforward. (Anyone who knows me knows I love that!) He doesn't sugarcoat anything and let us know that he would do everything in his power to make sure the adoption goes well. He has quite the reputation here, so I believe him. He also not bad looking :) We didn't get any pictures today, but maybe tomorrow. Our appointment is Wednesday at 9:00 am. Hopefully, we will go to the orphanage on Friday. Our facilitator has warned us that the first few meetings with Little Man may not go well. He said we have to give him some time. Luckily for us we have plenty of time!!!! Also, the plane from DC to Frankfurt was the size of a warehouse and showed New Moon. It was pretty awesome. When we landed in Germany, we were escorted to a "holding room" for people in wheelchairs so that they could be assisted onto their plane. They were extremely nice, but the holding room made me feel like I was in an infirmary! Well, that's it for today. We'll see the adventures that await us tomorrow.

Love,
Candace and Paul

Last Day....

Today is the day before we leave!! I am so excited!! I can't believe we are finally going. Paul and I are so blessed. We have had so much support from family, friends, and colleagues! Thank you so much for all that have helped us out. Paul and I are ready for the adventure. I can't believe we will come back as parents! :) We can't decide what we want to do with Dylan first when we get him back home. There is so much we want to show him. We went last night to Toys R Us and got him some Tinker Toys and Legos to play with when we get back. Please feel free to comment in the weeks ahead. I will look forward to hearing from everyone. I guess I will update in Ukraine as soon as we can get internet. See you in Kiev!!!!