Paperwork

The school wanted vaccinations and social security numbers, so yesterday I was going through the paperwork Troy brought home to see if they received ss# or what I had to do to get one and found nothing. Well last night the Morgan's called offering their experience with the handleing of the paperwork here in the states. Good thing!

So this is really more for those coming home soon.... in fact I may wait a few extra days and do it all with Wendy : ) she's our pro at getting things done.

ss#
10 days after you are home you can apply for a ss#. The one closest to me is:
202 W 400 S
Slc, UT 84101
1-800-772-1213
(He said there is an office in Murray and he heard the best time is Friday afternoon from 1-4)
Take you packet of papers with you. You'll find your catagory and take a number...

Ukraine Passports
I did read the paper stating I had to mail the passports somewhere to get stamped and I have them ready to be mailed. Thanks to the Morgan's I won't be sending those in just yet. He said we needed them to get our social security number in 10 days! And after you send them in you can wait up to 3 months to get their citizenship papers.

Ukraine Birth Certificate
He also let us know that the Ukraine Birth Certificates don't count for anything here in the states - for all you go through to get it changed in the Ukraine. You will again go to court here. You go to the district court house and go before a judge to make the change. Then you can go to the vital records offices and purchase their offical birth certificates. He said to call and ask for the person over adoptions first so that you fill out the correct paperwork.

Thank you Morgans for the call. I'm a bit of a planner and I like to know what I'm doing... I wouldn't say control freak, but I'm definately less stressed if I have a plan of action. I felt a wave of relief last night to actually know what I needed to do and when. Thanks.

So onward we go, 7 days and we'll apply for our ss#! Exciting stuff.

As for the kids this morning... They saw the rain and asked for a movie. Phew, I was afraid they would want to be out first thing again. The movie is over, side walks are drying and they are putting on their jackets. So out we go.

Rip Sticks

Trying out more new things. With grant home from school they are starting to get the wiggling motions to keep your momentum going. They were just riding them like skate boards and would just coast until they came to a stop.

Ok, so I'm going to jinx myself, but the kids have been really great. For all the stuff Tatiana put Troy through in Kiev, I can't believe how happy and smiley she has been here. Much more so than even when we were with them at the orphanage. Things may change when we put them in school next week... but we have talked about it and they have met a lot of the neighborhood kids now and are actually playing with them today. Tatiana and I read together this morning and she knows almost all of the sounds of the letters and could do a pretty good job sounding words out. She knows about 7 sight words, more than she ever showed at the orphanage. Everyone she met today she would say hi to and repeat their name and say goodbye to them. Yesterday she was happy but didn't want to talk to anyone else. So for all our fears so far so good. But they do have to be doing something all of the time and they haven't wanted to watch any tv or movies. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow. I may even get into shape with all this exercise.

More Bike Riding

The kids worked on some letter sounds and Tatiana read with me for a little bit this morning and then we were out riding bikes again... I decided to do some weeding and ready the garden for some more planting while they were out. But as soon as I started working they were all there with tools helping me weed and then they wanted to plant the plants. I know it's a bit early and those are all the milk jugs I have at the moment.... so I'm sure some things will freeze before the end of May if I don't get them covered. But it was fun to watch them help and work.

Silly side of Anastasia, such an easy going personality. Still crashes on her bike non stop and Victor isn't any help always running into people on his bike. He just like to go fast and race everyone. I'm not ready to let them in the street yet so he just plows everyone over on the sidewalks.


So once again we rode our bikes today. We also tried out roller blades, rip boards and Tatiana and I played bad mitten for a good hour. I'm am totally warn out, but they just keep on going and going. Poor Anastasia was so tired by 3 pm yesterday and by 12 noon today, but she won't go in and rest or watch tv or anything because she doesn't want to be left out. She would ride her bike and then just fall onto the grass and lay there for a bit and then get up and do it again and again.

Grant and Ethan are home from school now and so they are all going 90 miles an hour again.

They Made It

Our little welcoming committee. Sorry we didn't invite anyone, we just didn't know how Tatiana would react. So I think it was good it was just the family.

Everyone made it safe and sound. Tatiana was a bit warn out by the end of the trip and kind of just watched everyone. Victor and Anastasia ran around and had to check everything out. We let everyone stay up till 10 and then made all the kids go to bed at the same time.

They got up early and it was good our kids had another chance to play with them before we sent them off to school. Since 7:30 (2 hours) the kids have been riding bikes non-stop. The older two must have ridden a couple times, but they were are pretty wobbly at first and couldn't figure out the breaks and fell down a lot! But they are all looking pretty good now. Not too happy about the helmets, but they are wearing them. In fact we are off to go buy Tatiana her very own helmet.

Almost Home!

I didn't mean to vent in that last blog, but I guess I still have a few issues I haven't dealt with yet. We are really excited to have the kids come and I have had a couple great weeks here at home getting ready for them. Just Troy had some hard times, but they are working those out.

So they are on the last leg of their flight! Yeah! They were detained in Chicago because of some of Tatiana's medical issues and it really scared the kids. But they made it through and ran all the way to their next flight and made it! Troy said that they have been really great on the flights. He said they refused to wear their seat belts until the stewardess kept bugging them about it. Now only Anastasia puts up a fight. Troy also said that they would tell people that they were going to America. Tatiana would try to talk to the people at the counters and they would look at her and speak in English and Troy said she has tried to use some English again (wouldn't once they left the orphanage). So that is a great sign!

Hopefully we'll have pictures soon!

Home Tonight!

I haven't blogged because of the saying, "If you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all." It was a really rough couple weeks for Troy and we have found out a lot more of Tatiana's issues. I was woken early one morning being chewed out by Elliana, somehow it's all my fault and I didn't even know what was going on! At this point I wouldn't recommend a blind adoption or at least not right after trying to adopt kids you had become attached too. We over looked too many things and were pushed really hard to find three kids (even the SDA wouldn't show us one picture, they kept saying you can help three) by the facilitators and adoption agency. I was a bit dead by that last week and so frustrated I didn't care any more. Troy was great and so excited to go back and pick up the kids, but it kind of fell apart, nothing close to what he expected.

So, we are so happy that the families over there now are able to adopt the kids they hosted and even though things are slow or hard or frustrating, they have kids that really want to go with them and be with them! Good Luck and God Bless all of you.

As for Troy... Yeah! They are on a plane heading home. We've decided it's going to be harder than we thought, but at least they will be here in our home and even with the language barrier it's got to be better than it has been. No more lies about things and hopefully we can gain the kids trust. We have a therapist (served her mission in Russia) who said she'd start meeting with Tatiana until she knows enough English for some real counseling (could be years). Natasha ended up taking Tatiana with her for a couple days and Troy said the other two were wonderful when she wasn't around. Even practicing their English. So that is exciting, we really feel that they will be excited to meet new kids and fit well with our family. We also found a doctor who speaks Russian in SLC, family practice, so maybe she'll be able to help with Tatiana also.

I did get them registered for school and so I'm hoping it will help with the transition. They seem to get a little wild and crazy if they aren't around other kids for a while or cooped up too long. I'm sure I'll be down there every day with them at the school, but it will be good to get onto a schedule.

So... They made their second flight! One more stop in Chicago and then Salt Lake City. Hip, hip horray! Our kids are so excited and can't wait to meet them. We spent family home evening finishing the rooms for everyone and bunk beds come today. Perfect timing.

update

No passports today so Troy and the kids won't be coming home this weekend. Hopefully by Wednesday. Troy leaves for Texas on Thursday....