Having a great time.......

When we started trying for our family in 2002, I would've NEVER guessed that 2 years later we would be the proud parents of a beautiful 3 year old Ukrainian girl who has and still is blessing our lives more that I could've ever imagined.  And now, soon to be the parents of the sweetest 8 yr. old boy in the world and the most adorable little 6 yr. old Ukrainian beauty............I just can't beleive it!  The Lord has truly blessed our family!!!

The visits with Abigail and Brayden are getting better everyday.  Sergey/Brayden (we are still calling him Sergey for now) is opening up to us more and more each day.  He is still in the hospital, but we are now allowed in the room with him.  We even got to take him outside for a little bit yesterday to play ball.  I think he is a natural little soccer player :)  Alyssa gave him a flower yesterday and later on in the visit, he put the flower in my hair.  He is so sweet :)  The communication barrier is pretty hard, but hopefully he'll learn more English words each day to make it easier.  He started learning English in his classroom this year, but the only words he knows are........boy, girl, teacher and Umbrella :)  He talks to us in Russian and I tell him "Ya ne Penimyou" (I don't understand) and when we talk to him he will sometimes say the same thing to us.  Yesterday we blew up 2 balloons.  I drew a face on one and wrote "papa" in Russian on it.  Sergey thought that was so funny, so he drew a face on the other one and wrote "mama" on that one.  I can't wait unil he gets out of the hospital, the building is so horrible!!!  A building like this in America would be condemed.  Also, he had been in the same clothes since he has been there and they haven't been washed, and his toilet is broken and doesn't seem to flush.  We are going to see him after we leave the internet cafe, I am hoping when we get there, he will not be there anymore.  I would much rather visit him at the boarding school. 

Abigail..........she is such a little princess :)  SHe loves it when I do her hair, except for yesterday, she wanted to do it herself.......LOL!!  She put it in a ponytail, but since her hair is so short it was falling out on the sides, so she added about 10 clips on each side.  She seems to be into fashion :)  She is really good with Alyssa and acts like she is her big sister and tries to help her do things like climb trees, and other things on the playground.  Abigail could climb anything she was wanted to with enough determination, Alyssa on the otherhand isn't as strong in her arms yet.  But Abby helps her out :)  It is so funny to see Abby acting like the big sister when she is a smaller, it is cute :)  Alyssa got a little sad yesterday because Abby wasn't into being wild and running around, hmmm........maybe she is getting sick??  Just kidding, but atleast she has a calm cuddly side :)  When it was time to go Abigail started to act up a little. She didn't want to go inside, well at first she refused to go inside until I picked her up and made her.  While saying our goodbyes, she acted a little sad.  The other times she would cheerfully say "Dasvidanya" (Goodbye) and run inside.  This time it wasn't like that at all.  That is exactly what Alyssa did when we were visiting her at her orphanage.  At first she was fine with us leaving, and then it got harder everyday.  So hard to the point that I would leave in tears and she would be crying as well.  I know it will proabably be like that this time too.  We have 10 more days of this and then we get them for the 10 day wait after court (Lord willing). 

We tried to post pictures again, but it did not work.  So far the only thing that has worked is sending them to Chris's sister and she posts thembut for the past 2 days we can't even do that.  We are still tryin Tiff, so be on the lookout for some in the next couple of days. 

Tomorrow, we are going clothes shopping for Sergey.  For those who have asked, here are his measurements:

Chest 25"  Waist 24"   Inseam 21"  hips 27"  Height  51"  Foot 8"

According to the chart I have, he would be a size 8 I think and a shoe size 2 in shoes

Abigail measures:

Chest 21.5"  Waist 21"  Inseam 17"  hips 23.5"  Height 43"  Foot 7"

She should be a size 5 and a size 11.5

We are going to Simferopol on Wdnesday to visit Alyssa's orphanage.  It is a 3 hr. ride there and 3 hr. ride back, so we won't get to see the kids that day. We probably will not get to post again until Thursday, but we'll try to do it sooner.  The connection here is sooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Thankseveryone for your e-mails and comments :)  We enjoy reading them "when we can" but may not be able to respond to each one because of the connection. 

Oh, one more thing.......What do you get when you wash a pair of dark blue jeans with whites????  A very pretty shade of blue actually :)  What was I thinking?I have no clue, but now my white shirt, Alyssa's white shirt and tights and a few pair of tighty "whities" are a powder blue color :)  LOL!!!!  It looks good thought because it came out very nice and even! 

Gotta go see our boy now!  Hopefully you'll see some new pics of our cutie pies soon (if we can make it work)

Love,

Chris, Julie, Alyssa, Abigail and Brayden