life with kasey

Kindergarten.........

2009-11-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

Lots of people have asked me how Kasey is doing in kindergarten.
He's doing just fine. It's a learning process just like everything else he has encountered in the past year and a half.
When he was in preschool he had a lot of acting out issues, biting, pinching, hair pulling...but the teachers were excellent at working with him through these behaviors. They really did a good job with him. His new kindergarten teacher is really great too, very patient and kind with her kids. He has had only 1 incident so far and I think that shows how much he has grown just in the past couple of months.
His language skills are coming along really well, so is writing his letters. Now he can even sound out a few written words ! :) So I think he is a smart little cookie....and nope, I am not biased ;)

Just for fun I'll let you know what Kasey loves: fishing, fish, dad's trucks, dad's tools, dad's lawnmowers, grandpa's 4-wheelers, shooting guns(pretend) bike rides, swinging on swings, gymnastics, climbing ropes and climbing up doorways (I know!!!),
his toys-he loves each and every one of his toys, animals--wolves, bears, sharks, cows, pigs, tigers, lions.......the list is endless, mom reading books every night at bedtime, and most of all, he just loves spending time with his dad in the garage or outside.

favorite bible verse

2009-10-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

First Corinthians, Chapter 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;
it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;
it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Kasey's 6th birthday

2009-10-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was Kasey's 6th birthday. Hard to believe he is 6 and in Kindergarten already. He is a very fast learner, he has a very good memory for words. He comes home with a new word everyday, and has entire conversations in almost perfect english. I think he is amazing :)

2009-08-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

yeah baby...yeah

2008-05-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

shoes and socks off!!! yeah, he is wearing socks and sandals---so what?????

toes touching grass probably for the first time ever.

yeah baby, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

walking in the neighbors yard because they haven't mowed yet and it is nice and long.

and full of mosquitos, so we left quickly.

he put his shoes back on after dad made him walk on the GRAVEL driveway to go get the ball. stinker:(

2008-05-26T06:53:00.000-07:00

Kasey, a couple of days after we met him...

Kasey, a couple of days ago. Ham:)

How is Kasey doing??????

2008-05-26T06:09:00.001-07:00

Kasey is doing pretty darn good. He uses a lot of English words and phrases. We don't have a lot of communication issues now, we understand each other a lot better. He has a lot of fun playing with his new toys, riding his bike with daddy, and playing outside. I started to teach him how to throw a baseball last week by throwing it up against the garage door. He used to throw the ball by whipping his arm sideways, but now he throws overhand, like the pros ;) Now we can't get him to stop throwing the ball, he loves it. Last week at my mom's he had a bike, big wheels, scooter, and a jeep to drive, and he was bored........BORED??? He laid down on on the driveway with his head in his hands and just sighed.......poor kid.......I really felt sorry for him, ya know?? NOT!
Almost everyone we meet tells me how lucky he is, and he is a lucky kid. But we are the lucky ones. God had a plan for all of us, and He is the one who placed Kasey on our path to parenthood. He was there all along waiting, we just had to go and get him.
The state of adoptions in Ukraine right now is pretty bleak. Couples are coming home without children. My heart breaks for them, and I don't know what to say, except that there is a child on your path, and they are waiting patiently for you. Trust in God's plan for your future.

Memorial Day...

2008-05-26T05:54:00.000-07:00

JOHN 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

2008-05-04T18:32:00.001-07:00

Dad headbutting Kasey. That is not a look of pain--he was laughing hysterically.

2008-05-04T18:30:00.000-07:00

This is Grandpa's barn. For some odd reason he won't let anyone play in there........

2008-05-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Me, my Grandpa, and my cousin hanging out.

2008-05-04T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dad and I, sitting on the naughty chair.....again. :)

2008-05-04T18:19:00.000-07:00

This is our first haircut. He did pretty well, a lot better than I expected. He never cried or tried to get out of the chair, just waited patiently while the nice lady asked him questions, I don't think she ever caught on that he didn't speak English.

2008-04-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Kasey is getting pretty good at riding his bike. He still hasn't quite figured out yet that everytime he looks back to see where I am or if I tell him to slow down and he just glances at me, he falls off the bike.....:) I think he will figure that out eventually.
Today when I dropped him off at pre-school he went right for the sandbox. Only problem is, they took out the sand and put water in the tub:( So, when I left him he was happily playing with the rubber duckies in the water, didn't even notice when I left.
Of course, when I went to pick him up he was wearing a completely different outfit then what I dressed him in this morning :) Water is FUN!! His teacher said he had a very good day, no tantrums or scratching, so he is getting a lot better in school. I am very glad that he has a whole year of pre-school yet. Bye!

:)

2008-04-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, yeah, it's been a while since my last post. I've been busy ;) Kasey has been doing great, attachment and bonding really haven't been an issue. He knows who his parents are. The last 2 weeks we have been home have been busy with meeting family and friends, getting new toys, learning to ride a bike and a scooter, and learning new English words everyday. He also has been going to pre-school 2 times a week. I'm sure he is driving his teacher crazy:)
We have lots of fun at home, playing with toys, learning his ABC's and 123's. We do have some ups and downs. Last Sunday at church we walked in and he saw the piano. Well, he is obsessed with piano's. He ran straight to the piano, which someone was playing at the time, and tried to help her play. I caught up with him just before he hit his first note. He was not at all happy when I dragged him away from that piano.
We had to take him downstairs where I told him he couldn't touch that piano. He started crying and screaming, which lasted about 5 minutes. When he was done he said he wouldn't touch the piano, but I know he wasn't happy about it.
We have our funny times, too. This morning I got him all dressed up to go to his pre-school class, hat, mittens, backpack. We walked out the door and Kasey stopped right when he stepped on the cement. I told him to keep going, but he just looked down at his feet and then looked up at me with this funny face. I looked down and realized I forgot his shoes!! It was about 35 degrees this morning, so the cement was just a little cold with just socks on!
I'm not going to update the blog all that much, but I will keep it going. I want to thank all the friends and family that have been reading about our journey. It was nice to have that communication when we were in Ukraine. We looked forward to posting and informing people of our day and what Kasey was up to.
I am posting a few pictures, so enjoy!
Shannon

2008-03-13T01:09:00.000-07:00

Kiev!

2008-03-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Kiev late last night. We are staying in a 1 room apartment in downtown Kiev, not near Independence Square, so we are unfamiliar with where we are.
We are staying near St. Volodymyr's Cathedral which is beautiful.

The past 2 days have been pretty long. Our paperwork chase took us to the village where Kasey was born. We had to get his original birth certificate changed. When we got there on Tuesday it was discovered that the court decree had a mistake in it that 4 different people missed, but the lady at the birth certificate office caught. So, we could not get his birth certificate that afternoon. Also, there was a mistake on the original document that severed the parental rights of the mother, the year was omitted on the document.
Of course all of this happened at the end of the day, so we could not get any documents fixed until Wednesday. The next morning Scott and I with a translator went back to the courthouse to get the document fixed. Took almost 2 hours, and they started working on it as soon as we got there. Ostap, our facilitator went back to the village to find the judge that terminated parental rights to get him to fix that document, which he did. Then Scott and I and a driver drove to the village to get the birth certificate done and pick up Ostap. Long, long day. But it all got done.

We came back to White Church by 3 and had lunch. Then we went to the orphanage to hang out with Kasey and his groupa as he said his good-bye's. He kissed and hugged everybody at least twice. All his caretakers stopped by to say goodbye. We brought him his new clothes to change into. We found a Cars long sleeve shirt that he loves. He was very very excited to put on his own clothes. When we went out the door to leave and put on his jacket he was practically jumping up and down for joy that he was leaving-I had a hard time putting the jacket on him. It was about 8pm by the time we left White Church and started driving to Kiev. He was excited to be in the car. Of course 8pm is his bedtime and he fought sleeping the whole drive into Kiev. He behaved very well.

We do have a wireless connection here, which is nice. But the apartment is not nice, and we decided to find another apartment as soon as possible. Then we may not have a
wireless connection anymore.
It's about 7am here as I am posting. Scott is out looking for food and Kasey is still sleeping. We are going to go get his new passport started today. He gets to have his picture taken again. We are hoping to get the passport expedited, if not, it will be 7 days before that is ready. I am really praying that we get it expedited.

march 11

2008-03-11T03:39:00.000-07:00

Paperwork day. Today we are running around getting our court decree, birth certificate and passport documents started. It's a slow process today. People are not getting the paperwork ready for us in a very timely manner. But we are working on it. We had a visit with Kasey this morning, but we had no toys for him because we thought it would be a short visit, but it turned into 2 hours. So we did our best to keep him occupied with 1 ballon and Scott's sunglasses. We don't think we will be able to post tomorrow, we will be very busy with Kasey's party and taking him into Kiev. If we are lucky enough to get a wireless connection in Kiev from our apartment we will post, if not, it will have to wait until Thursday. I responded to as many emails as I could this morning, but then Yahoo went down, and I couldn't get to the rest.

march 10

2008-03-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry about not posting yesterday, but we were unable to get a computer yesterday afternoon, and we were too tired after our 2nd visit to go the cafe, so we skipped it.
Today we went shopping and got a few things for his party on Wednesday. We bought some bubbles for the kids to blow, and we are going to pick up some cookies and candy tomorrow along with fruit. We walked a couple of miles into the city with our facilitator, Lena, who comes down from Kiev whenever we need her. Whenever we walk together she slows down for us Americans :) We picked up a few more shirts for Kasey today, but can't find a regular hooded sweatshirt anywhere. He loves to wear hoods. We also got him a new pair of jeans with a lot of pockets. He always has something he needs to put in a pocket :) We were told today that we should not feed him an orange everyday like we have been doing, oranges are not good for them. BLAH!!! Sooo, what did I do? I fed him another orange today. He askes everyday for an orange.
We are just patiently waiting for Wednesday and the party. It's been a long 12 days. It's been raining here for the past couple of days, so we have not been able to take him outside and burn off any energy.
There has been a nice Ukrainian couple visiting another little boy in Kasey's groupa, which is really nice because we were told Ukrainians are not interested in adopting children, only babies. So, that's pretty good for the little boy, who is adorable. He's the one Kasey pushed down the other day. But then Kasey kissed him so all is well. Today Kasey stole a book from Igor, the little boy. When Scott made him give it back Kasey got upset with us and started to cry. Tragic, aint it?
Well, that's it for now.

Shan

March 8

2008-03-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

Today we were able to take him outside to burn off some energy. Dad and Kasey played some football. Kasey will hurl his little body on top of that football to stop Dad from getting it, it's the funniest thing ever. Then it takes him 2 minutes to get back up again. Today another couple visited another little boy in Kasey's groupa. Kasey went up to him and I thought he was going to play, but instead he just pushed him down on the cement. sigh... he is more like his dad every day.
Only 3 more days to go, then we have his groupa party and off to Kiev. I can't wait to get back to Kiev, lots more stuff to do and see, and easier to get around.
I'd like to respond to a couple of comments: Tom, he is right handed although I don't think he realizes it, he tries throwing with his left, it never works. And those are nerf baseballs you are
referring too, right???
Mom, I know the perfect place for that drum set, the corner of your living room. Kasey would love to play a drum solo for you whenever he comes over :)
Miss everyone!
Shan

A ride in the car...

2008-03-07T02:30:00.000-08:00

Last night we were able to take Kasey to a portrait studio to get his passport pictures taken. It was only a few miles from the orphanage, so the ride wasn't long. He liked being in the car, and he be-bopped to the radio. (they love electronica music here-yuck) He was very good in the studio, they made him sit on an old cardboard box on top of a chair for the photo, he had a hard time sitting on that old beat-up box, but he got it done.
Then this morning there was a little musical presentation for the orphanage staff. It's International Women's Day tomorrow, apparently its a big thing around here. They dressed up in their little costumes and did a few songs, it was cute. I was only able to get 8 minutes of video on my camera because I had no idea they were even doing this today. They have been practising these songs for a while now and I have some video of that. He is a ham. And he loves to watch himself in the video.
That's about all for today.
Bye
Shan

March 6

2008-03-06T02:06:00.000-08:00

Today Scott and Kasey played some football outside, it was pretty cute to watch Kasey run around in 10 layers of clothes, he spent most of the time on the ground trying to get back up :) He had fun outside and he tired Dad out a little. He also got to kick the cat, which he got yelled at for, but I'm pretty sure that if he had the chance he would do that again. He is getting a lot more comfortable with us, I remember in the beginning he wouldn't even come to us if we called him, and he would play with his toys far away from us. Now he climbs all over us :) We fed him some more oranges today, he really loves those. I tried to get him to eat some fruit snacks, but he just spits those back out. I have no idea what they feed him for food around here, but we saw them take in a bowl of milk and some bread last night for dinner :( I think even my limited culinary skills can do better than that.
For last nights dinner we had Borsht, which was fabulous. I don't know why people don't like that stuff, it really is good. Yesterday we went for a walk after lunch and saw a little more of the town. Saw a pizza joint. We may check it out over the weekend.
Thats it for now,
Shan

1 more week to go..

2008-03-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

Doing the same thing every day, day after day, can wear a person down. We try to make it interesting for Kasey's sake, but it's pretty tough when you are limited in what you can do and where you can go. Today we finally got to go outside for about an hour. We walked around and played with his balloon. He found the orphanage kitty and tortured the poor thing for a few minutes until he was yelled at by a caregiver :( I would have let him torture it for a few minutes more. Last night he got to sing with his groupa which he loves to do. We have it on video so he can watch it whenever he wants.
Last nights dinner wasn't too bad, penne noodles cooked in chicken broth with chunks of chicken in it, and some sort of spam "meat" on the side.
Bye.
Shan

March 4

2008-03-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

Okay, so the birth certificate situation is under control, Ostap found out how to get one at the regional center, so all is well. We bought a new car for Kasey, the pull back/let it go kind. He likes those. We also have been bringing him oranges which he really likes. The other day we had a bitter orange and you should have seen his face when he bit into that one. We have been working on memorizing the ABC song, he is pretty good at it, and he can sing it by himself all the way up to G. His catching/throwing techniques need a lot of help, so I think an intense training session with Blake and Ryan and Logan is in order, but I heard they are pretty expensive :) We could not get on the internet at our usual time today because the internet was down at the club we use, so sorry for the late posting.
Bye!
Shannon

March 3

2008-03-03T02:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday while visiting Kasey we had 2 short hail storms and snow, so he was pretty happy just staring out the window last night. He is always curious about new things, so our trip to Kiev next week and everything that happens after will be quite the experience for him.
Our facilitator started his search for Kasey's original birth certificate. He was born not too far from where we are, so it's not too far away. Unfortunately they had some sort of scandal at that courthouse, some woman sold some land and took the money. So, the courthouse has been closed, and he can't get a hold of anybody to help him yet. He is working on it. I'll keep you posted.
We had a another good morning visit with no tantrums from Scott or Kasey :)
He's kept himself busy this morning playing with his toys. We didn't go outside because it's pretty muddy out.
That's all for now,
Shan

March 2

2008-03-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

Hello! We had another great morning with Kasey, no tantrums, no time-outs. Dad made the mistake of laying on the floor on his belly, Kasey jumped on his back and sat on his head, so now Kasey has a new toy-Dad :) And yes, I have pictures. He also likes to grab Dad's sunglasses and look at himself in the mirror...just like dad does. So we need to buy him a cool pair of shades.
It's been just another quiet Sunday morning in Ukraine.
This week we will be out buying toys and party supplies and gifts for his going-away party on the 12th.
Bye!
Shan

March 1

2008-03-01T02:33:00.000-08:00

Day 1 of 12 day wait...and Riley's birthday-HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!

We had a good morning visit with Kasey this morning, but we had a struggle at the end with him, which we got through. We had fun playing with the ballons that have the rubberband attached, he loves those. It was rainy out this morning, so we couldn't go outside and play. Hopefully we can go out and play this afternoon.
When we got him out of his room this morning his lips were blue and he was shivering. SHIVERING. He was wearing a sweater(which they had just put on him for our visit) over a pair of shorts. So when I walked into the room to grab him a pair of pants, all the windows were open and it was freezing in the room....! This is a family blog, so I won't write about how ticked off I was.

For those of you reading this blog who are waiting to travel to Ukraine: Bring Movies, Lots and Lots of Movies. Movies You Have Never Seen Before. You Will Have A Lot Of Down Time To Watch Movies. :)

Later,
Shan

Court Day

2008-02-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

Court went pretty well today, better than we expected. We had an appointment at 9am, but didn't get to see the judge until 9:30 because the orphanage director didn't show up until 20 after. There were 2 jurors, the orphanage director, some other lady and the judge in the room. It was pretty informal, he questioned me first, name, birthday, address, then asked Scott the same questions. Then he asked me what kind of house we lived in, how many bedrooms, the community...we gave him our photo album then, and he asked how much we bought our house for. He was amazed that it was so cheap. Then he asked Scott when our anniversary was....of course he stumbled a little bit, I helped him out with the answer...the judge got a kick out of that, he said all men forget that. They really liked our photo album, they thought that our nieces and nephews were really happy and healthy and cute. Overall it was a great experience, no tension, and we were pretty relaxed after a few minutes. It was over in about 15 minutes, they congratulated us and we left.
So, its official!
We were about 30 minutes late for our date with Kasey, and he was outside with his groupa walking and looking around for his papa and mama. We had a good day today, with only a couple of time outs for throwing stuff. He is making progress everyday on learning new english words.
Our 10-day wait has been extended to 11 days due to a Holiday on the 10th of March. Bummer. So, we get him on the 12th of March, then it's back to Kiev for more paperwork. I don't anticipate leaving until the 20th or 21st??? I'm not positive on the date yet.
Other than that, we miss everyone, and I hope it warms up there soon.

Shannon

Another day in Ukraine...

2008-02-28T02:28:00.000-08:00

So, this morning we took Kasey outside for a walk around the orphanage. We taught him how to throw rocks and sticks :) which we will probably regret later. Dad bought him a little tank that lights up and flips over when it hits a wall, so we were pretty much ignored this morning, :) I don't think he gets to see toys like that very often, so we let him be. It was a little cooler here today, with a chill wind, but still it's warm. Tomorrow is our court date, so our 10-day waiting period starts on Saturday. Not much else is going on. I can't wait to get home so you guys can meet him, he is a lot of fun. Before I forget I just want to say
Happy Birthday Riley! Miss you!

Shannon

Shopping!

2008-02-27T04:22:00.000-08:00

Today we were able to take Kasey out of the orphange to the market across the street to do some clothes shopping. He was pretty excited, a little scared, and he really held on to my hand. The market across the street is like the Pine City flea market. It's just a bunch of shacks bunched together. You can buy anything here, food, clothes, dog toys, hardware, fish, produce, toys...it's like an outdoor walmart! We found a few outfits here to bring him home with, the clothes were pretty expensive here, no walmart prices. The clothes here are strange, you can't buy a plain pair of jeans, they all have writing or patches or some strange design on them. We bought the plainest pair they had, with pockets of course. Kasey loves pockets, dad bought him some tools and he needs a place to put the tools. He also loves hoods, so we bought him shirts and sweatshirts with hoods on them. He had lots of fun, but got scared by some lady and wanted me to hold him from then on.
That's all for now, it's almost time for our second visit of the day.
Bye
Shannon

Trip to Kiev

2008-02-26T02:27:00.000-08:00

Hi! Yesterday we took a trip into Kiev to do some sightseeing. It took 2 buses and a subway to get us to Independence Square where we got to finally send a few pictures and eat some PIZZA. nummy. (On sunday night we had the pleasure of eating an unknown fish, with bones, cooked in an egg. yeah. not good.) After we were done eating we walked to this big steel rainbow structure that signifies the unity between Russia and Ukraine. At night it's lit up so it looks like a rainbow. Then we walked to the Miriinsky (sp?) Palace, which was undergoing a lot of construction. It was completely surrounded by fencing so you can't see in, but I managed to get a picture from the front gate of the front of the palace. No one lives there, but they hold state dinners and greet foreign dignitaries there. Then we walked some more to the Ukraine Orthodox Church. It's a huge complex, lots of buildings. It's about the size of maybe Valleyfair. We got a lot of pictures of the murals and the church itself, but weren't allowed to take pictures inside. We walked down into a cave where they keep a lot of dead people in glass coffins. There were souvenir booths everywhere, even inside the church. Then we walked to the Ukraine WW 2 war memorial where the keep hundreds of tanks and copters and other war stuff. Scott was more impressed with it than me. There is also a lot of sculptures of soldiers and people of Ukraine that we have pictures of. There is a very tall lady on top of a hill that looks like our Statue of Liberty, but she represents the protection of the people of Ukraine. She holds a sword and a shield.
It was a long day with a lot of walking. I missed Kasey. He missed us too. We were home in time to visit him at 6:30. He was very happy to see us.
Our morning visit with him went OK, but morning visits are harder because we are always interrupted by orphange workers coming in and out of the room we are in. The night visits are a lot more fun because we are left alone. We brought him some grapes today along with his usual cookies and juice. He likes grapes a lot. We haven't brought him any candy yet, we don't want to spoil his appetite too much with candy.
Almost out of time on the computer. I hope everyone liked the pictures we sent. Bye!

Shannon

Feb. 25

2008-02-25T01:27:00.001-08:00

Hello from Keiv. We are here just doing some sightseeing today. We might get to visit Kasey later this afternoon. I posted a picture of him playing outside, yes I know, no face. Sorry. We sent a few pictures to family today. If you want to see a picture of him, please email me or Scott. We'll post our adventures in Keiv tomorrow. Have a great day!
Btw, it's 55 degrees here today-haha.

Feb. 24

2008-02-24T02:44:00.000-08:00

Today we finally got to go outside and play. He's had a cold for a while now and they wouldn't let him go outside all week. He headed straight for the playground which I am sure was off limits because of all of the mud. He sat on this wheel that goes around in circles and had a blast. He fell off a couple of times right into the mud. But he was laughing the whole time. All the playground equipment is made out of metal and wood. Scary stuff. He went nuts when he saw dad climbing up on a jungle gym. He has to copy everything dad does. He was completely full of mud by the time we got him back in his room. We tired him out pretty good today.
Tomorrow we are going into Kiev to do some sightseeing. We have another translator, Lena, who is going with us. Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures tomorrow.

Shannon

Feb.23

2008-02-23T01:59:00.000-08:00

We had a really good visit with Kasey this morning. He is learning to listen to us when we say no, and didn't even throw a fit today. We found out today he likes to us to pick him up and swing him in a circle, of course that just makes Scott even more dizzier than he already is. ;) We brought him a skidster that came with a couple of tools, he was more interested in the tools than the skidster. I think Scott is going to buy him a snowblower next, just to get him used to it. We have been trying to work on his throwing and catching skills, but I think they frown on the kids throwing stuff, so we have long way to go. He kinda throws sidearm without aiming at anything, kinda like his Uncle Tommy. :) I think Blake and Ryan and Logan have to help him out with his baseball skills.
In keeping up with the latest fashions, he was wearing a girls denim/pink oshkosh bigosh bibs, a size too small, and 2 shirts and a pair of shorts underneath the bibs. I can't wait to dress this kid in his own clothes.
The weather here is really warm, and all the snow has melted.
We have our court date scheduled for next Friday at 9am. Then our 10 day waiting period begins.
That's all the news for now. Bye
Shannon

Feb. 22

2008-02-22T02:28:00.000-08:00

Kasey was pretty good the last couple of visits, he had a few time outs for throwing things, but otherwise he's a pretty good kid. He likes to copy dad a lot, Scott blows on the car to make it go faster and then Kasey blows on the car to make it go faster. It's pretty cute. Last night it was about 140 degrees in the room we were in. All week long he has been dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, and last night they put him in a sweater and pants and put us in the sauna.
We have been teaching him English terms for anything that we see, nose, eyes, fingers, shoes, butt.
He pretty much has that stuff down. We brought a children's picture book with us and he can point out a lot of the pictures using English. He hasn't been able to go outside yet, he has had a cold all week. We can't wait to go outside with him. Being stuck in the orphanage gets pretty old.
We have been eating a lot of soups lately. A lot. We can't wait to go to Kiev next week so we can eat out. I'll let you know what we have for lunch and dinner tonight, but I'm pretty sure we are having soup. :)
Bye!
Shannon

Feb. 21

2008-02-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

Hi!
Sorry about not posting yesterday, but we couldn't get on a computer at the internet club.
The past couple of days with him have been interesting. Overall, he is a pretty happy guy, loves music and playing with cars. We gave him a little piano keyboard and its the first thing he grabs when he sees us. He also loves to play with cars. We need to work on his throwing skills :) Language is always a barrier, but we are getting better at it everyday. He has lots of energy and is wearing us out. Yesterday we were able to see his whole groupa sing us some songs, they were so cute! He loves singing. We are doing OK here, but we reallllly miss pizza.
Bye.

Feb. 18

2008-02-18T03:26:00.000-08:00

Hello. We have 4 visits with him over the weekend and 1 this morning. Yesterdays visits were a little rough, we had no translator, he was in Kiev. Communication was a little frustrating yesterday, nobody in the orphanage speaks English. But, we got thru it somehow. Today went much better. We brought him some juice and cookies and that was a big hit. I had to teach him how to drink from a sippy cup, I don't think he has ever seen one before.
We are getting around the town a little more every day. Found a store today that sells crayons and coloring books, so we will give that a try tonight. We brought a little puzzle with us today, and he knew exactly how to put it back together again. Other than being a little homesick, things are going very well for us. We are eating some very good food, and are not starving to death. Natalie has fed us very well. Please pray that we get a quick court appointment and can come home quickly.

Shannon and Scott

Feb. 16

2008-02-16T08:45:00.000-08:00

HI! We finally found an internet club. Sorry it took so long to post.
We are in a town called Whitechurch in the Kiev Region. It's about an hour south of Kiev. We had a very good appointment, the meeting went well, and we decided to visit a boy named Andre.
He is 4 and is very healthy physically and mentally. We have visited 3 times already and he is warming up to us a little more each time. We are staying with a very nice couple, Natalie and Yuri. Natalie is the music teacher at the orphanage. It's directly behind the orphanage, so we don't have far to go.
The first few days we spent in Kiev were fun. We walked around a lot. We found the underground mall, and the McDonalds. Our apartment was right down the street from Independence Square.
It's a nice city, and I look forward to visiting it again when before we leave.

Our flights were pretty bad, we didn't get into Kiev until 10pm tuesday night. Our luggage was lost and we didn't get it back until Thursday night. I had to comb my hair with a fork :( not funny.

Ostap, our facilitator is doing very fast work. He has managed to convince people to get their end of the paperwork done quickly. We were able to visit Andre on Friday instead of waiting until Monday. I hope all the paperwork goes that quickly.

Now that we found an internet club we will be posting more often, so check back!

Shannon and Scott

Lost in Europe

2008-02-12T06:39:00.000-08:00

I would like to be able to say that we have arrived in Kiev, safe and sound...but, currently we are sitting in Vienna, waiting for our last connecting flight. The flight out of MSP was delayed because Chicago grounded all their planes yesterday for some weird reason, so we missed our original flight out of Chicago and had to rebook a later flight to Frankfurt. We could have made our original flight from FRA to Kiev, but we sat on the runway in Chicago for over an hour while they deiced the plane, so we also missed that flight. So, when we got to FRA, we had to rebook a flight to Kiev, thru Vienna. The Vienna airport is nice, its more like a mall than an airport. Scott refuses to buy me anything from Swarvoski ;(
I hope everyone reading this realizes that I did not use any swear words at all. It's 4:00pm here and our flight leaves at 5, so that's it for now.

Shannon

room is done...

2008-01-30T04:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year......

2007-12-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

Scott started the deconstruction this weekend. We have 42 days to completely sheetrock and paint and

decorate his room. No problem.

I want to wish everyone a happy and blessed New Year.

Shannon

hi.

2007-12-06T03:08:00.000-08:00

Really not a lot going on around here lately. We haven't started his room yet, the plan is to clean out the room this weekend, and then tear out the old sheetrock. Scott has been really busy plowing snow this week. I started Christmas shopping this week. For my niece and nephews who read this blog, I found some great deals on underwear and socks. ;) I also bought a dvd player last week. We plan on taking our laptop so we can watch movies, but considering some of the movies Scott likes to watch and the movies I like to watch, for marital harmony I just bought a dvd player. If anyone out there would like to borrow us some movies for the trip, that would be great.

This weekend I plan on baking christmas cookies and some fudge (yes, the thud you just heard was my mom falling out of her chair laughing.) I am not a baker. I'm going to give it my best shot.

On the adoption front, we haven't even bought airline tickets yet. I stay busy reading adoption blogs, and making lists of things we have to take with us. I add something to the list everyday. The blogs are great for information on what to take and what not to take. I posted a few blogs in the sidebar of couples currently in Ukraine.

That's it for now.

Shannon

Happy Valentines Day!

2007-11-06T16:31:00.001-08:00

Just found out tonight that our appointment is February 14th!!!
Exactly 100 days away. Now it's time to start making plans, buying stuff, and
finishing his room... well, actually starting his room!

Shannon

not much goin on...

2007-10-25T15:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing is happening this week regarding the adoption. I am pretty sure we will find out by next Thursday when our appointment is going to be. I don't think we will be going to Ukraine until the end of January or beginning of February. :( On the plus side, we will be home for Christmas. I really didn't want to be gone during the holidays.

Last night we were able to meet a Ukrainian pastor, Pastor Stas. He is with our sister church in Rakovka, Ukraine in the Kremenchuk region. He is visiting the states this week. Very nice man, and he spoke English very well.

I hope to have better news next week.

Shannon

This is cute...

2007-10-06T15:06:00.001-07:00

http://ebcrennie.googlepages.com/boys

Waiting...

2007-10-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

So,....we are still waiting. We are on day 13 of our 20+ business days to wait for an appointment date. There are some people that have been waiting 31 business days and have still heard nothing. So, I basically have no clue when we will find out.

On a brighter note, our friends from church, Jonathon and Elysia have just come home from Ethiopia where they have adopted a gorgeous little boy named Elijah. He's beautiful!

Later...
Shannon

Finally!!!

2007-09-17T17:07:00.001-07:00

Our dossier was finally submitted today! Whooooohoooo!!!!! Now we wait at least 20 business days until we find out if the paperwork was ok, and the date of our appointment.
Cool, huh? I don't expect to hear anything until just before Halloween.

Cross your fingers...

2007-09-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

I am praying that tomorrow is the day our dossier is submitted. Our facilitator, Ostap, seems to think that it will be tomorrow. Cross your toes!!

2007-09-10T16:02:00.000-07:00

I created this blog for friends and family to keep up on what is going on with our Ukrainian adoption. Our dossier is in Ukraine right now, translated, and ready to be submitted (hopefully on the 17th of Sep. -next Monday!) After submission, we will have to wait at least 6 weeks before we know if the dossier was accepted or rejected. If accepted, we will get a date for our appointment in Ukraine. So, by Halloween we may know when we go. I guesstimate that we will have an appointment by the end of December.
I probably won't be posting often, just every once in a while. I hope we will be able to update our blog while in Ukraine so I can keep everyone up to date, and post some pictures.
That's it for now.

Shannon