Day 13—Hallelujah!

Conner’s bed sores have been HEALED!!!  Today is Day 13 of our stay in Kremenchuk, and in less than two weeks, sweet Conner has gone from this:

Conner on Day 4

 

To this:

Conner on Day 13

 

“For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord”, Jeremiah 30:17a

 

 

We’re praising God for His healing of Conner’s bed sores.  Please join us in thanking our Jehovah Rapha!

Day 12 Adventures

The sweet caregiver was gone when we got to the orphanage this morning.  Our facilitator explained that the caregivers work 24 hour shifts.  Needless to say, the caregiver today wasn’t so kind.

 

Conner vomited again shortly after our entry into the playroom.  Even with video time, calm play, etc., when he’s rapidly force-fed prior to our arrival, it comes back up shortly thereafter.

 

We had a quiet morning with the boys, but it didn’t stop us from having lots of good bonding time.  Holding, singing, rocking, and simply loving.  Matt and I treasure these times greatly.

 

Here’s video from our morning visit:

 

I video’d Cooper’s transition from the playroom back to his groupa room.  He was very tame in this video, the quietest walk we’ve had thus far.  Here’s the video:

 

Then, when we entered the boys’ room, the “caregiver” asked if I wanted to feed Cooper.  I reluctantly agreed, for fear that I’d be expected to force-feed him with the swiftness that the “caregivers'” do.  Well, my attempt was an epic fail.   The caregiver handed me a PIPING hot bowl of soup, which she had mashed just prior to handing it to me.  I stuck  my finger in the soup to test the temperature, and it was so hot it burned my finger.  So, I tried to let it cool.  The caregiver hollered at me, and I tried to explain it was too hot.  She picked the bowl up off the table, put it in my hands, placed my hands and the bowl under Cooper’s chin, then took the ginormous serving spoon and placed it in my hand.  I put a small amount of soup on the spoon, then blew on it, trying to cool it before letting it touch Cooper’s mouth, but in the process, Cooper grabbed the bowl and spilled some of it in his lap, burning him.   I hopped up to try to get something to clean him up as he cried, but the caregiver planted herself in my chair and force-fed Cooper the very same bowl of steaming soup.  Cooper ate it.  Poor dear, he doesn’t even seem to mind.  He’s been conditioned to this type of feeding, burning hot or not.  Matt video’d it:

 

We kissed the boys goodbye and hurried out the door, our hearts once again burdened for the condition these children live in, day in, day out, while we have the freedom to walk out of that prison and eat what we want to eat, how we want to eat, when we want to eat. 

 

We had made a lunch date with the American missionaries we were connected with in Kremenchuk.  We ate at a lovely restaurant overlooking the beautiful frozen river.  And we were able to eat what we wanted, when we wanted, as slowly as we wanted, surrounded by sunshine and joy.  It just seemed a little a lot unfair, but we have the hope that one day soon, our boys will also have this freedom.

 

While at lunch, our facilitator called to notify us that the paperwork was NOT ready at the SDA, but she spoke with our judge here in Kremenchuk, and he agreed to hear our case Monday at 2PM, as long as the paperwork is ready Monday at the SDA.  Our facilitator’s husband will travel from Kiev to Kremenchuk Monday morning, and our facilitator will go to the SDA Monday mid-day to check on our paperwork.  (The SDA usually gives these papers out around 1PM on M/W/F.)  If our facilitator is able to get the papers Monday, she will fax the papers to the judge in Kremenchuk.  (It’s about a 4 hour drive from Kiev to Kremenchuk.)  Our facilitator said it is very rare that a judge will agree to this, so we feel blessed that our judge is allowing this.  Now, just pray that the paperwork really is ready on Monday or we won’t be able to have court!!!

 

After lunch, we went back to our new friends’ apartment, where they made fresh juice using their new juicer.  We enjoyed visiting with them until it was time to head back to the orphanage for our afternoon orphanage visit.

 

We experienced a delightful surprise when walking the boys to the playroom.  For the first time in our 12 days here, we saw a sweet caregiver of a different groupa who was utilizing the hall space by allowing her kids to ride bikes and scooters up and down it.  Hallelujah!  Here’s the video:

 

We had an uneventful evening visit, which seemed to go by in a flash.  We played, sang, and captured some videos of the boys, then it was time to return them to their room.  We’ll never get over seeing kids in their cribs, crying out for someone to help them, only to see the “caregiver” roll her eyes and walk away, throwing her arms up in despair.  Oh how I wish these children would ALL have a family, or, at the very least, kind and loving caregivers who would meet their needs.  If you ever have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to an Eastern European orphanage, particularly one that houses special needs kids, I highly encourage you to do so.  It will change your life.  And your heart.

PS. Happy 14th birthday, Mattie. We are so proud of you. Always have been, always will be. We love you!

 

Day 11, A Lesson in Trust

Matt purchased some Muesli cereal mix at the grocery store, along with some milk, to try for breakfast.  The container of milk has a cat on it.  Leche de gato?    Me, I’m sticking with Snickers.

 

We started the morning with 20 minutes of video time, with hopes that Conner wouldn’t vomit.  He didn’t.  Woohoo!  Today was the first day that the really nice caregiver has been back since our very first visit, so she’s been gone for 10 days.  I’m not sure why, but I was SOOOOOOOO happy to see her back today.  She loves the children and does what is best for them, and I’m so grateful that God has placed this special caregivers in our boys’ lives.  She even had one of the blind boys out of his crib, allowing him to walk around the room and play with toys on the floor.  Kudos to this God-sent woman.  We are so very grateful for her.

 

Today was the first day that both Conner and Cooper haven’t had a lot of gas, belches, burps, etc.  I wonder if it’s associated with the sweet caregiver?  Perhaps she feeds them more slowly than the other caregivers do?  I’m not sure, but there was a definite difference, and now that I am thinking back, the very first day we met the boys, they didn’t have a lot of gas or reflux.  In fact, I recall another American mom asking us on our second visit if we’d noticed a lot of reflux with our boys, and at that point we hadn’t, but perhaps that’s simply because the sweet caregiver feeds them slower.  Hmmm, interesting to consider.

 

Cooper has really gotten to be a handful.  He can be so very sweet and loving and kind and gentle, and he can have loads of fun with tons of giggles and laughter and joy.   But when he decides to hit, Cooper SMACKS us HARD, without warning for the most part.  It’s usually sporadic and unpredictable, but many times it’s while we’re playing with him.  Other times he’ll crawl up behind me when I’m playing with Conner and whack me.  (That I could understand if he’s jealous and doesn’t know how to express it.)

 

We’ve been diligently working with Cooper on trying to teach him not to hit, and there are many times he does very well.  Then there are times that he just blindsides us and starts to laugh just before he knocks us upside the head.  He never hits Conner.  Just the two of us.  I’m trying to figure it out.  Any thoughts on this?

 

Conner is a sweetie, always.  He never hits.  He’s a snuggler.  And he LOVES to laugh.  He loves to horseplay and roughhouse, and he even giggles when he watches us play with Cooper.  It’s such a delight to see him blossom before our very eyes.

 

This video (directly below) documents how much trust Conner has developed over the past 11 days.  It’s quite miraculous.  I laid him, face up, across a bouncy ball (hippety-hop), and he got so relaxed he almost fell asleep.  The first time I ever tried to set him on a ball, he FREAKED out, terrified.  Now he LOVES to lay on the ball on his tummy and be rolled back and forth, cracking up the whole time.  This was his first time to be in this position on the ball.  I didn’t think he’d like it.  I really thought he’d be scared.  I was shocked to see how much he trusted me and how relaxed his body got as I moved him in various ways on the ball.  I was thinking it would be a good physical therapy position to stretch his spine (since he never gets to move about freely), but never did I think he would act as if I’d just given him a one hour massage!  Wow!

 

Conner’s level of trust got me to thinking about really, I mean really, trusting our Father.  If Conner can trust me so fully in only 11 days of relationship, how much more should we trust our heavenly Father?  The One who cares about us so much that He knows the number of hairs on our heads.  The One who promises to meet our needs more than those of the sparrow, whose needs are met daily.  The One who has never forsaken us.  The One who has never broken a promise.  Why is it that we sometimes lack trust in our Father?  I pray this video of Conner will remind me to ALWAYS trust my Father, even when the view seems upside down and out of focus, full of bumps and twists and turns.  He always knows best, and in His hands, I am always safe, loved beyond measure, chosen and treasured, forever and always, no matter what.  Thank you, Conner, for choosing to trust, and thank you, Jesus, for being the One to teach us that it’s safe to trust when we put our trust in You, for you are faithful and will never let us down.

 

OK, back to our visits, which seem so short now.  The boys expect us.  They reach for us.  Conner has begun expressing his excitement vocally upon our arrival to his room each day.  Cooper automatically crawls to Matt and puts his hands in the air to be picked up.  Conner is usually in the playpen, and he stands up and reaches for me the minute Sasha announces our arrival.   (BTW, Sasha appeared to be ill today.  He was crying, first time I’ve seen him cry or be upset in any way.  I still went over to him and held his little hand, which made him smile.  He seemed to be feeling better for the evening visit.)  We play in the playroom, basically doing the same types of things day in and day out, still rejoicing that the boys get to have freedom and love twice a day, but longing for the day we’ll be able to have them in our home where they can experience freedom and love forever.

 

Matt must carry Cooper on his shoulders when travel between the boys’ room and the playroom.  When he tries to carry him in any other way, Cooper slaps Matt and makes all kinds of horrible noises that make it look like we’re hurting him.

 

This is the boys’ room.  There are toys on the floor when the sweet caregiver is present.  (Never are there toys with any of the other caregivers.)  That’s Sasha sitting at the little table.  He’s looking back over his shoulder at us, smiling.  Love that boy!

 

Click HERE to watch the videos from today, or I’ve posted them below, whichever works for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 10, Not the News We Were Praying For

Super sad face.  Our facilitator notified us today that the person within the SDA who must prepare our paperwork for the head minister of social policy to sign has been ill and was not able to prepare our paperwork; therefore, it has not been signed.  Which means we cannot have court until next week.

 

We were praying that we’d be able to have court this week so that we could be home this weekend.  We’re missing our Texas kiddos tremendously.  Mattie’s 14th birthday is Friday, and we were really hoping to make it back to Texas Saturday, but that’s not possible now.

 

We must still pray that the paperwork is ready by Friday so that we can have court Monday.  The SDA has designated M/W/F as days for this type of paperwork, so the next available date for our facilitator to check on our paperwork is Friday.  If it’s ready Friday, court will be Monday.  If it’s not ready Friday, then we’ll have to wait until Monday to find out if it’s ready then.

 

It’s really hard to sit in Ukraine and wait on people to simply sign paperwork, but I trust God’s sovereignty in the timing of everything.  Yes, He is sovereign even over paperwork in Ukraine.  While we had really gotten our hopes up that we’d be home this weekend to love on our kiddos, we’ve chosen to boss our hearts through this disappointment and realize there could be much worse things happening.  This is just a delay, a delay God is sovereign over, even when we can’t wrap our piddly brains around it.  He’s carried us through much tougher things in this life, He’ll get us over this hump as well.

 

Our morning visit with the boys began with Conner vomiting all over Matt.  Poor little Conner.  Precious boy has some severe digestive issues with his being so rapidly force fed.  I almost threw up five different times after Conner vomited.  It was a MESS.  This occurred within minutes of getting to the playroom.  There was no horseplay or roughhousing going on.  Matt had just sat down with Conner, and he was holding him face to face, gently cuddling.  Next thing he knew, Matt was COVERED in vomit.  I smelled it, then saw it, then started gagging and couldn’t stop.  Praise God I didn’t vomit.  Those who know me already know that I “don’t do” vomit.  Seriously.  That’s one of the only things I just seriously cannot handle.  The sound, sight, and smell…oh, it makes me gag just typing about it. 

 

Anyway, Matt had to wear his vomit-covered shirt for the entire morning.  I was seriously thanking God for letting it be Matt and not me because we would have had to cut the visit short if I’d have had that on me.  I couldn’t have done it.  I barely made it through with it being all over Matt. 

 

Needless to say, we had a very quiet, low-key, non-active, no-horseplay morning with Conner.

 

Cooper, on the other hand, was a live wire today!  He’s really coming out of his shell, and he’s no longer drugged, praise God.  He’s started teasing us and trying to “get” us.  (I’m posting videos at the bottom of this update.)  Cooper is STRONG, too, and he’s really smart.  He figured out how to position his body to get the most strength and maneuvering when trying to yank me off the incline mat.  Such a cutie!

 

 

 

After our morning visit, we went straight back to our apartment so Matt could shower and wash sanitize his vomit-covered shirt.  We ate lunch at the pizza restaurant, then decided to take a nap.  Sounds like the dream life, doesn’t it?!?!  Not so much when you’ve eaten at the pizza place countless times and long to be home with your lovies more than napping.

 

After our nap, we heard the disappointing news regarding our paperwork and court, then we headed back to the orphanage for the evening visit.  Cooper enjoyed various iPad apps (it was our first time to bring the iPad), and he absolutely LOVES watching kiddie videos on it.  Conner really doesn’t care about videos or games.  He just wants to play, which is great.  After about 20 minutes of iPad time, we turned it off and fully engaged with both boys.  Lots of fun, and no vomit, hooray!

 

Cooper, Conner, and Mommy playing together.

 

Cooper and Conner hanging out.

Day 9 Update

Above are a couple of videos from today.  Click HERE to view all of the videos from today.







There’s been lots of beautiful snow here in Kremenchuk over the last few days.  Big, soft flakes without it being too unbearably cold.  Well, looks like the beautiful weather is going to get a bit nippy within a few days (see forecast photo above).   That’s a Fahrenheit forecast, too.  Yikes!




We had two good visits with the boys today.  They're progressing so much in such a short amount of time, it's absolutley amazing.  Only Jesus.  Oh, and we’ve added baby powder to our arsenal of odor maskers, along with a can of ladies’ spray perfume that is kept in the playroom at the orphanage, so the two of those, along with brushing teeth at the beginning of each visit, is really helping us to not gag when we play with the boys due to their orphanage stench.

We know it is NOT their fault that they smell so atrociously.  We do not want their scent to make them feel like we don’t love them, so we persevere through it, and when we gag, we pray we don’t vomit.  But today was different, with the help of the perfume and powder.  MUCH better.  SOOOOOO much better, to the point where I didn't have to change my clothes when I got back to our apartment.  We’ve discovered it’s very common for special needs children in Ukraine to smell badly.  It’s also very common for them to have a ton of gas.  Burps, belches, reflux, vomit, and, yes, it all comes out the other end, too.

Speaking of, Conner pooped during our morning visit, and the smell was too much for Matt and I.  We returned him to his groupa to have the ladies change him.  He must have parasites, as it reminds me of how Kiefer’s stools stunk so badly (and he had Giardia).  Since we didn’t have plastic gloves, we felt we shouldn’t touch Conner’s poop, seeing as how I just got rid of E Coli and have no more antibiotics.  Anyway, the caregivers were kind and changed his diaper after Matt returned Conner with poop, but in the communication breakdown, Matt thought they told him to leave.  He thought they were bringing Conner back to us.  After about 15 minutes of no Conner, a caregiver came into the playroom and asked us a question in Russian, which, of course, we couldn't understand.  So, I followed her back to the boys' room, where Conner was sitting in the big play crib. :-(  They saw me, then told me they wanted to wipe his face.  They took him into a back room for a while.  He came out in new clothing and smelled delightful, so I grabbed him and headed back to the playroom to finish our morning play time.

Oh, I’ve added disposable gloves to my packing list for trip 2 (the trip where we’ll get to take the boys home).

It probably sounds really sad that I’m talking so plainly about the smell of the boys, but those who have adopted special needs children from Eastern European countries completely understand what I’m talking about.  I’m not saying it to be mean, we absolutely know it’s not the boys’ fault, and we know they don’t want to smell that way.  It’s just a fact, and I’m journaling our time spent with the boys, so I’d like to document that today we finally found a trick that is helping us cope with a smell we’re simply not used to, nor do we want to get used to.  It’s a smell no one should ever have to smell, and we cannot WAIT to get these boys home where we can begin daily hygiene in all areas, from body to oral to laundry. 

I’m just delighted that today’s visits excluded our gagging!  I am constantly reminded at how putrid I must smell to our Father, with all of the sin in my life.  I am grateful beyond measure that my Father has never turned His nose up at me.  Ever.  Thank you, Jesus.

We discovered today that Cooper LOVES to watch the Baby Einstein videos I have on my iPhone.  I had downloaded those for Selah such a long time ago, then discovered them again today.  Cooper will sit for as long as we’ll allow, staring at the screen.  Conner could care less.

This made us think that Cooper might need glasses, which is common for people with Down syndrome.  Cooper prefers to have his eyes about 5 inches from the screen.  Of course that might just be because he’s never seen videos, but we’ll be getting both boys’ vision checked shortly after we get home.

Speaking of “iAnything” apps, if any of you reading this have young children with Down syndrome, what are your child’s favorite iPad apps?  I’m starting to think about preparation for getting our boys home.  I think it’s going to be quite a challenge to travel for 20+ hours with these two boys, so I’d LOVE to hear some pointers.  Cooper is VERY vocal when transitioning.  It sounds like we’re hurting him when we travel through the hallway at the orphanage.  They say he’s non-verbal, but he is VERY vocal.  Since he LOVED the Baby Einstein videos, I thought maybe he’d enjoy things on the iPad.  Not sure though that I could get him to not turn the iPad off if it required him to touch the screen to interact with early learning apps, etc.  Just not sure what he can handle yet, but I’d love to hear recommendations.

I've also been thinking about sleeping arrangements for trip 2.  Our facilitator told us that in Kremenchuk, the 10-day waiting period is never waived, so, as of now, we are planning to return to Texas after court and be with our children during the mandatory 10-day waiting period following court in Kremenchuk.  Then, Matt and I will return to Kremenchuk to finish the adoption process.  That will most likely take about 10-12 days, and the boys will be with us for probably most of that time.  Both boys are used to sleeping in cribs, and our apartment is a one bedroom with a full-sized bed.  I was thinking about trying to get lightweight “pop-up” portable beds for the boys so that we don’t end up with miserable, sleepless nights.  I saw THESE on Amazon, but wondered if anyone has ever used these or if anyone has any recommendations of a lightweight, easy to pack travel bed/crib.

I’m also thinking we’ll want to take a double umbrella stroller for airport use mainly.  I doubt Matt and I will be able to carry the boys (even in a Moby carrier), along with all of our luggage.  Any recommendations on inexpensive double umbrella strollers?

Also, for those who have adopted special needs kiddos internationally, if your kids were on a “mush” diet, what did you feed them while you were still in country and what about while traveling the 20+ hours back home?  I’m considering trying to take those baby food pouches with us, thinking those would be perfect for the boys, but maybe it’s not worth it.  Maybe I should just find food locally while in country to try to keep their diet the same?!?!

I’m going to have a lot to gather and prepare for once I’m home, but I’ll also have 9 kiddos to love on and be available for during my 10 days in Texas, so the more I can prepare for in advance, the better.

Any other tips, advice, recommendations from you veterans?  I’d LOVE to hear them!!!

Oh, an update regarding court:  We’re waiting on the head minister of social policy to sign our paperwork.  After he signs, the SDA will be able to give our paperwork back to our facilitator, and then we can have court.  The SDA only returns this type of paperwork on M/W/F.  So, we’ll find out tomorrow (Wednesday) if our paperwork is ready.  If it is, we can have court either Thursday or Friday of this week here in Kremenchuk.  If the paperwork isn’t ready tomorrow, we’ll have to see if it arrives Friday, which would make court the following week. 

Please join us in praying the paperwork will be ready Wednesday.  We’re eager to get home to our lovies who’ve been without Mommy and Daddy for 16 days.  Too long!