Masha

This post is to introduce you to a little sweet-heart named Masha.

One of the problems about adopting is leaving behind so many other wonderful and loving children that just want a mommy and daddy. Not a big house or a huge flat-screen tv, just someplace and someone of their own. Yes, it's expensive to adopt. But people save up or go into debt every day for a new car, new computer, heck even a designer purse. Do people NEED these things? Not even close. But do children NEED a family? Do they NEED someone to see their potential and save them from life in an adult mental institution? YES YES YES.

So back to Masha. She'll turn 4 soon after the new year. Where she lives, that is pretty much the end of hope. That institution I mentioned? It's real, and it may be where she goes right after her birthday. She may be walking by now. If not, no one at the institution will help her learn and she'll be bedridden. There are no toys, no second helpings of the tiny amount of food she'll be given, no cuddles and smiles. She needs a mommy, a family, NOW. Can you help? Even if you aren't ready to bring her home, a donation to her account will help someone else be able to bring her home. She's smart and wants to learn and play. All that will be gone if she has to exist in the institution. Go back and look at her again. Look at the life in her beautiful almost-smile. And pray she finds a family.

Merry Christmas!

First we had to have a little photo shoot with Dashlyn's cute outfit (thanks Denise and Ella!) and her cute little hair spout!



Then we decided to bake brownies and Dasha got to lick the bowl for the first time! I think it was a hit :).



I think Miss D fits in with our little crew, don't you??


And this Christmas was Dashlyn's first taste of egg nog. (Well, I don't know that for sure, but do ya think they shared cups of egg nog at the orphanage?). Considering this is Jack's cup that she stole, I think she enjoyed it!


And finally, Christmas morning!! The best present I got this year is wearing the adorable snowman sleeper in the next 3 pics! She is, and will be a lot of work, but she's sweet, and smart, and once in awhile she likes to cuddle, so I think we'll keep her!

Reading her new story with Daddy:


Using her new cell phone with Grandpa (first visit with Grandpa H!):


New backpack!


And that was Dasha's first Christmas here at home. No posed pics and I didn't take that many anyway, but wanted to document it anyway. I still have to pinch myself that she's really here, and we really went through all that. I'm so glad she's with us!

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A sample of what we’ve been up to!  It’s overload, I know!

Quick Update

It's so easy to make a post a day when you're bored in a foreign country and there's lots of time to kill!

I have lots to "report" but not enough time to write a decent post! So, here's a quick update:

Ther first few days Dashlyn slept. A lot. Not interested in eating. Finally we remembered we had some Pediasure out of a sippy cup and she loved it (very warmed up though). She got less sleepy as the week went on and by Fri I decided she was gonna eat (they said she ate great in the orphanage) and we tried oatmeal for breakfast. A hit! I think it helped that I had a booster seat for her and she, Jack, and I were all sitting at the table like it was serious eating time! Lunch and dinner went the same way and now (almost a week later) she eats like there is no tomorrow. She cries when we say "enough" which we have to do because she doesn't stop. I hope this a one of those stages, and when she realizes, yes, there will be another meal, she will stop the endless desire for food.

Her first bath was a disaster. After that, they got better. She smells so much better than she did at any time we visited her. She must have only had sponge baths; I'm sure she'd never sat in water before. She wants to be held all the time. I think it's like the food & when she realizes we aren't going anywhere she'll be okay not sitting on my lap or being carried everywhere. I'm humoring her as much as possible - she's been here 2 weeks tonight!

She has no clue what to do with toys. She doesn't stack anything, or look at books, or "play". She throws. We're saying "nyet" and trying to show her what to do with toys, but this will take some time. Also, she has no concept of "no" or "nyet" or "shtoy" or "stop". She laughs and smiles when we interact, she rides in a cart at Wal-Mart or the grocery store like a pro, she waves bye and blows kisses when grandma and grandpa leave after a visit! She cuddles. She accepts kisses and hair bows and getting her picture taken a hundred times per day.

She is AWESOME!! We are very thankful to have her, and still getting used to the fact that she is HERE!!

Day 14 (trip 2)

Fri, Dec 3.  Got up at 2:30am!!  Got ready and woke both girls up.  Both of my daughters!  Who were both going to be american citizens by the end of the day!  We were picked up by 3:30am and got to meet another mom Amy and her little girl Zoe who were already in the car.  We got in line to check in for our flight and who did we see in front of us?  Mike & Meredith!  Yay!  We all were on the same flight to Frankfurt.  M, D and I ended up sitting by a family who are missionaries in Ukraine and were going back to the US for a few months for the holidays.  The 2 little boys were a hoot!  Typical 7 & 8 yr olds :).  Dasha cried when we first got on the plane but was a great traveler after that.

We had a couple hours layover and went to board the big flight to Chicago.  M & M were on that flight too and sat in front of us, and the family with little boys sat behind us so that was nice.  The boys kept borrowing me and M’s Nintendo DS’s so that was fun.  So boring!  Dashlyn slept the first few hours and then spent most of the time just rolling around on her seat.  We put her between me & M so she really had plenty of space. 

Still not really interested in eating but she had lots of warm water that the flight attendant thought I was crazy for asking for!  By the end of the flight we were so glad to get off the plane!

We made it through customs ok but then the 3 of us headed over to immigration where we ended up sitting on the floor for over an hour before they called our name.  We’d hoped to hang out with Mike & Meredith a little more but certainly didn’t expect them to wait that long for us to come back.  We had a terrible time at the Chicago airport.  We didn’t have boarding passes so we had to wait through line after line.  M & I were seriously worried we wouldn’t make it to our flight home.  They were boarding by the time we got to the gate but we made it!

The flight home was short but D was done!  She fell asleep right after take-off and was mad when I tried to get her coat on her after landing :(.  She slept in the stroller through the airport and all through her first car seat ride and seeing her actual home for the first time.  We finally gave up and put her in jammies and to bed right after 6pm.  We have no pictures from the airport or arriving at home.  Apparently it was not a big deal to those left at home.  There were no “welcome home” signs, balloons, nothing.  Oh well, we were happy to be here anyway.  Miss D slept in the pack ‘n play in her new room and she slept great – all night :). 

Day 12 (trip 2)

Wed., Dec 1.  Wow, Dec!  How did we get here??

We woke up on the train after a pretty good night.  Miss D slept all night and so did I!  Our train got in fairly early and we were met by our friend Niko’s wife.  The temp had dropped nearly 40 degrees and it was snowing!  We met with him and another family and quickly realized we would not all fit in his little 5 seater car.  Him and his wife, me, M and D, and Tom & Kari and their newly sprung kiddos – Victor and Sosie.  So M, D, and I were put into a cab and sent off to our apt for our stay in Kiev.  The driver was nice enough, but didn’t speak any english and couldn’t help us with the heat or let us know if there was internet.  Before Niko sent us off, he said he would pick us up later for our 1st embassy appt.  So we settled in, got D a little lunch and nap, and waited to be picked up.  Instead we got a phone call; Niko isn’t coming, look for a cab.  Great.  We stopped at some random looking building and the driver indicated we should go to it.

So it turns out the embassy is a back-alley looking not-at-all nice looking building where security takes your gummy bears and your cell phone.  Yes, they speak english but they’re still Ukrainian and typically not very cordial.  Our appt goes well and I (believe it or not) managed to bring the correct paperwork!  So the lady tells us what to bring from the clinic appt and what to fill out that night.  We’re done and we exit the building, where we find it’s still snowing and cold, and they don’t let you back in the little security building so I’m standing out on the street, with a baby, in the snow, trying to call for a ride and wondering how long I will have to wait to get one.  I was really upset about that and almost in tears.  It was cold.  Niko showed up pretty quickly but we had the other family to wait for so we sat in his cold car for over an hour.

We got dropped off at the apt and M was ready to go out for dinner!  So we called someone I was hoping was still in Kiev, and she called back and after a round of phone calls looking for a cab, we met them at an italian restaurant for dinner.  We had a great time!  Thanks Mike and Meredith!  Another cab ride back to the apt and we settled in for the night.

Day 11 (trip2)

Tues, Nov. 30.  Guess what today ended up being??  Gotcha Day!!  We were surprisingly able to get the passport which allowed us to get on the train from Simferopol to Kiev, Ukraine!  15 Hrs.  Before that we took Dashlyn back to the apt to pack and we had enough time to give the girl a bath!  She HATED it!Since that is literally what happened the whole day, here are the pics:

This is how excited she was to leave the orphanage!

Freedom!

Lunch.  Yum.

Nap.

Paka paka Simferopol!

She slept great on the train – almost 11 hrs! 

Day 10 (trip 2)

Mon, Nov 29.  Today was supposed to be the last day of regular visits.  Tomorrow was supposed to be “gotcha day” and we would get her passport and travel on the train and have our embassy appts the next few days and get on a plane to home.  But we have yet another delay.  There are lots of words that want to come out as of this writing but as none of them are nice, we’ll keep them stuffed away for now.   A week ago was Ty’s birthday.  This Thurs is my big kids’ high school winter orchestra concert.  It’s entirely possible I’ve missed another one but I can’t think of which one it would be right now.  I have reports that Jack may not have felt well the other day and although I know he’s with people that are perfectly capable of taking good care of him I want to hold him.  Bad word, bad word, bad word.

Miss D was quite happy today even though her eyes definitely look worse.  Not only are they matted and runny, but it looks like they aren’t too gentle wiping them and they are quite red and raw around the lids.  I was given a piece of paper today that seems to be the medicine she needs, but I couldn’t tell if she’s being given it now, and if I were to buy the stuff I wouldn’t know how much or how often to give it.  I guess I’ll buy it anyway tomorrow.  I thought I was told last week that she was being treated but her eyes look worse every time I see her.

  

When we left this morning it looked like it was raining so we didn’t take the stroller.  But there was no rain so we decided to walk outside for awhile anyway.  Unfortunately, the only stroller available was:

Yep, old and busted.  M did her best but it seems to have deteriorated even more from our previous visits and was terribly hard to push.  One of the front wheels looked broken and the thing insisted on going left at all times.  We only lasted about 35 mins with it. 

Day 9 (trip 2)

Sunday, Nov 28.  We’re still hoping the passport will be ready on Tues so we we can head out of here.  All our stuff seems to be dry so we’ll do more laundry today (since D spit up all over my shirt and jeans this morning :p; yep, I’m feelin’ the love).

It was a beautiful day so we strolled the first part of our visit.  We took the coat and hat we brought to make sure they fit and omg – how cute is this little marshmallow?!

We decided she looks good in pink and M says that’s good since 90% of her clothing is pink!  (I don’t know if that’s true!!) 

Day 8 (trip 2)

Saturday, Nov 27.  Daja vu.  Not raining but everything was soaked so we stayed inside again.  Besides our usual toys, Dashlyn decided my cell phone would be fun to play with today.

  

And we tried thecute pink skull shoes I found on her again.  They’re big too.  It’s weird how small her little feet are.

We asked our driver to take us to the market today since we’re out of everything.  Now we’re feeling very proud of ourselves because we bought tons of groceries for under $20!  Should last us the remainder of our stay here :).

Then we came back to the apt and decided it was time for laundry.  Because of all the rain we hung everything up in the bathroom except for the jeans, which we hung on the radiator.  They dried, though they were stiff!

Day 7 (trip 2)

Got up, visited Dashlyn.  No rain today and it was even sunny out!  Yay!  So we took our good umbrella stroller and strolled for the first hour.  We put the boots we brought with us on her and they are still too big, even though they’re a size 4 people!  She kicks them off, no problem.  Stinker.  Tomorrow we’ll try socks over the tights under the boots. :)  Look at the little foot compared to the boot:

Our second hour we spent upstairs on the couch again.  All she wants to do is crawl on the floor :(.  That’s why we gave up our second visits.  It’s too hard to keep her entertained doing nothing.  Except, of course, for the usual snack of apple juice:

She’s become quite the champ even though we still keep a wipe handy, just in case!  Then we spent a little time tickling – she really hated it (just kidding!).

 

Then we came home and did nothing until we went to McDonalds where we were unable to get on the internet.  It was so crowded I didn’t ask for the “re-boot”.  M wanted to go to the internet cafe so she could have her own computer anyway.  While there, our facilitator called and we have another day’s delay in getting the passport.  So we’re stuck here one more day and will go home hopefully Friday, a week from today.

Day 6 (trip 2)

Thursday.  Got up, more rain.  Tired of wet.  Our driver was super late, and then stopped on the way, I guess to pick up someone else.  He jumped out of the car and was gone a while.  The parking here is crazy (they park literally wherever) and while he was gone we were behind a guy who wanted to leave and was MAD that we were in his way.  So he’s yelling at us through the windshield and I call our facilitator.  Then the driver came back with a friend and we took off.  We were almost 45 mins late for our visit with Dashlyn!  >:(.  And of course you can’t make that up because that would screw up the rest of the day for her.  So we only got 1 hr 15 mins today.  Because of the rain we played on the couch again. 

We were trying to get a cute pic of her hat and these were our best attempts.  Even inside, the kids wear their coats and hats if they decide it’s cold enough outside (apparently).  I can’t wait to dress this kid appropriately!  (M has been straightening my hair so I look better, can you tell?)

Then we chilled out at the apt for most of the afternoon and decided to try McDonalds again for internet.  It worked!  Woo Hoo!  I got to chat with my hubby and M chatted with her boyfriend so that was our Thanksgiving treat.

Tomorrow, we hope to visit D again and then go to a market for groceries and buy diapers.  Looks like we’ll be here ‘til Mon, then spring the girl and take the overnight train.  Embassy on Tues and Wed, and hopefully go home on Thurs.

And that was our Thanksgiving.

Day 5

Got up, got ready, and went for our visit with Dashlyn.  It was raining big time in the morning.  It doesn’t seem to slow anyone down much, but the roads are terrible enough here without over half a foot of non-draining rain water.  Our driver had to shut his window (and it was only open about 2-3 inches) because when someone would pass us the water would fly right into the window!  Dashlyn was adorable, as usual!  We didn’t get to walk because it was so wet but we did get to go upstairs today, to an area with a couch and 2 chairs.  Allan and I tried to go up there a couple of times but the lights were never on and we couldn’t figure out how to get them on.

We took a new sippy cup with a straw with apple juice to try.  I forgot to bring a bib or any sort of burp rag so we were worried about the leakage.  But we figured out she has great intake (she figured out how to use the straw in no time flat) but she would get full and forget to swallow.  So we unscrewed to lid and let her get a mouthful and then M would pull away the cup and Dashlyn would swallow!  Worked great!  Thank goodness I remembered to bring wipes though :).

Pictures!

Gangsta baby!

Ohhhhhh, soooooo preeeeeeeety!

Um, just luggage.

Trip 2 – Day 1, 2, & 3

Saturday M and I got up, showered, and finished packing to start our journey to bring home our wee girl!

Madelyn got to take her first plane ride!  We started out going to Chicago so that was a short intro to flying, but then our next flight was the “over the ocean” one and she’s turned out to be an excellent flyer!  By the time we landed it was Sunday.  One more flight and then a long overnight train ride (a newer train this time and not nearly as yucky as the last 2) and then it was Monday.  After getting picked up at the train station and buying some groceries, we were settled into the same apt that Allan & I had before.  We visited the internet cafe to let everyone at home we arrived safely, and got to visit Dashlyn for Madelyn’s first time!  M was impressed, Dashlyn not so much.  She did remember me but wasn’t sure of M yet.  I told M it would just be a few days and D would prefer her to me!

Here’s a few pics of our trip so far:

Me and M on the plane -

M watching a DVD on the train (this one had an outlet that actually worked) -

A pic M had to duplicate -

And finally, the long-awaited meeting between sisters!!

(I know this isn’t the best pic, but when we had the flash on D kept shutting her eyes!)

Day 4

Tuesday.  We were to be ready to be picked up by 8am to pick up the court decree at 8:30 and WOO HOO!!  We got it!!  Then we ran and ran getting her new birth certificate, tax # (???), money from bank that we donated to the orphanage, and picked up the girl to get her passport pic taken.  By the time all that was done, it was after 4 and we hadn’t eaten so we were done.  Back to the apt and early dinner, lots of The Office, and ready for bed.  Not a great day for a post, but we got plenty done!

We also learned some kind of suck-ish news.  We asked our facilitator when we would be able to get Dashlyn out of the orphanage, and she said not until we’re ready to travel  back up to the capitol city for our embassy appt.  Why??  I was hoping to have her for a day or 2 before travel so she could adjust to being out of the orphanage, with these people she barely knows.  Because she once had a family who got their little girl out who then became sick in region and they couldn’t find anyone who would treat her.  All the doctors and clinics said no to a little girl with special needs and an american mommy.  So I understand the reasoning, it’s just sad.  We both almost cried.  Oh well – when has anything else gone the way I thought it would?

Day 15 – Travel Marathon

After we woke up on the train, used the scary bathroom again, and treated ourselves to some of that delicious tea, we readied our baggage for airline travel.  Quite a task I might say.

Nico met us on the train (excellent service) and took us to get a little breakfast.  Then drove us to the airport where we had a few hours wait.  Boring.  Going through security was fine, and we boarded on time.  Short flight to Frankfort and not much time to find the next gate.  The airport is not at all clearly marked there.  But we made it and flew United across the ocean.  Not a bad flight really.  Watched more movies!  Landed in Washington DC and had mega security there.  We even had to remove our bags from baggage claim, haul them literally 20 yards, and put them on the next conveyor for our next flight to StL.  Whatever.  By now we were tired but psyched to get on home.  Small plane to fly home on and arrived about 11pm after 36 hrs travel!  Whew!

Home was awesome!  Jack was up so I got my Jackson fix asap.  Now to unpack, wash everything, and start over!  I miss Dashlyn.  I hope they are telling her we’ll be back.

Day 14 – Court!

It went great!  We were in a small-ish room with the judge, 2 witnesses, court reporter, social worker, orphanage lawyer, prosecuter, us and our facilitator.  The judge read most of our dossier, asked a few questions, took a 5 min recess, and proclaimed her ours!  The time was 2:53pm her time and they said “Dashlyn Belle Smith” for the first time!  After that was a flurry of activity.

We went and got train tickets for the evenings ride, went to the apt for the last time to get our luggage, exchanged a little more money so we could pay our driver and for the ride the next day from the train station to the airport, and jumped onto the train!  (Again, I did not get that Harry Potter feeling on the train – not one chocolate frog even!)  The car was a little nicer this time but you don’t get to see it because of the broken camera problem :(.  We both slept pretty good this time, and even watched a little of The Office on the DVD player before it died.  The next morning…..oh, that’s the next post!

Day 13

Thursday.  Morning visit went swimmingly. 

First we tried a new way to swing.  Probably wouldn’t have let her get away with this except it’s really close to our last visit for awhile.

Next some pt.  Walking.

Then of course it was time for a little juice break.  Have I mentioned this girl leaks?  The wipes we had were getting very soaked so we decided to try using the lid to catch the run-off and it worked super well!  Weird, but good.

Then a little st.  We said “oooooo”….

…then “ahhhh”.  She did great!

There was more strolling after that and then I dropped my camera :(.  Something inside is definitely broken.  I think it is unfixable.  What will I do now?

Court is in the morning.  Scary.  I’m just going to act like everything we be fine.  We have train tickets for evening, and plane reservations for tomorrow afternoon to begin the long journey home!  I love Dashlyn.  WE love Dashlyn.  We think she likes us at least.  I will miss her more than I know now.  But I am so glad to be going home!  I miss my kids, my house, my town.  I am not as brave as I need to be to be here longer.  I worried if I should have planned to stay the whole time when we were planning.  But M really wanted to come so we planned to come home during the wait so I could come back with her and I AM SO GLAD!!  Probably my next post will be from home containing court results!

Day 12

Wednesday.  It was a lovely day – weather-wise.  Nice and warm.  Our driver even showed up in short sleeves!  But when we got to the orphanage to visit Dashlyn, she had on her usual tights, pants, and 2 long-sleeved shirts.  The worker handed her to us, then gave us a snowsuit to put on her and a hat and some boots!

The boots were way big and she figured out pretty quickly that she could just kick her feet and off they would fall.  So we put them back on.  And then she kicked them off.  And then we put them back on.  Etc, etc.  Finally we gave up and were carrying the boots back toward her area and we were busted by the workers from her groupa, out walking the other kids.  So we pretended to kick off our boots and they waved us off to her room to get a smaller pair.  The next ones fit much better.

Daddy took the opportunity to do some foot tickling when replacing the boots :).

Before we got the new ones we decided to let her be shoeless for a few minutes while we walked and we saw her doing this:

Now let me just tell you how smart this girl is.  Yesterday I took off her shoe and measured her foot with a tape measure to see what size shoes to buy her to come home in.  Can you see what she is doing with the strap on her belt??  Yep, measuring her foot!  I’m sure that’s what she’s doing.  She kept lining it up all nice starting at her toes.  What a hoot!

The next pics are just for fun.  One, so you can see what a goofball I married, and the other is because it’s so darn cute!

We spent some time at McDonalds in the afternoon so I could post some stories.  Allan asks the mgr to “reboot” every time and they are really nice about it.  This must be the busiest McDonalds ever – it’s right next to the train station so it’s constantly busy.  But it may also be the cleanest McDonalds ever – they mop the floor every other minute and wipe down tables and empty trash.  So efficient.  We just take our receipt from the last visit with us and show it to them for our order.  Haven’t had any problems yet.

Our evening visit with Dashlyn went well.  She was in a mood to walk so first Daddy walked her, then me, up and down the hallway outside her rooms.  Daddy started letting her touch the wall when they got to it and she loved checking out the texture.  She’ll definitely be needing some pt, ot and speech when we get home, plus some feeding work (don’t ask me how I know she doesn’t chew well).  And if she doesn’t have some reflux issues I don’t have eyeballs ‘cause she spits up like an infant.  (Blah.)

This may be my last post for a little while.  Court is scheduled for Fri and we may head out over the weekend so those posts may wait ‘til we get home.  Please pray things go well and I will be back to posting as soon as I can!  Paka!