First Week with Yaroslav in Our Home

 I've decided to just be the photo Queen on this blog.  A picture says 1,000 words right?  We took Yaroslav and Brennan shopping on Monday.  There had to be some reward for enduring 3 hours of church his first day in our home.  He was a good sport, and tried to smile at all of the people attempting to talk to him at church.
It was really fun to watch him choose a few things for himself.  Shopping or choosing is not something that he gets to do much of.  It was a new experience for him, and very gratifying for us.  We take a lot for granted.  We have discovered that he likes the color red.

 Lance took the Brennan, Yaroslav and Sophie to the lake one day while I was at work, and Aiden was at a friend's house.

 Yaroslav is a great swimmer!  We were warned that the kids often say that they can swim when they really can't.  We were glad to find out that he really can.

 I took a photo of Yaroslav's passport just in case he needed some identification.  What a cute little boy!

 Aiden can look in opposite directions at the same time.  It's creepy.

 Hanging out at our community pool on the 4th of July.  We later went to a friend's house to watch the fireworks.  Yaroslav is very happy and relaxed at our house, but very shy in a large group setting.  Hopefully he will grow accustomed to that.  Spending time with friends is what summer is all about.

 He loves the pets!  He has figured out how to play with Daisy, much to her delight, and who can resist Gunther?  There are very few people who can come into our home and ignore this cat.

 We bought soccer cleats for both boys the day we went shopping.  Brennan was really excited, and Yaroslav was 10x that.  They aren't red, but close enough.  Notice the shorts and socks he picked out.  Brennan is usually happy to wear whatever.  I love that about Brennan!  He is just so easy to get along with, and a friend to everyone.  Yaroslav is an amazing soccer player.  Brennan can hold his own, but he has already learned a few tricks from Yaroslav.  It's been really fun to watch them play.  We have tried to go to the park to let them play almost every night.  The last couple of nights have been rainy, so I'm sure that they are both itching to get on the field again.

 We made sugar cookies Sunday night.  Brennan has been spending a little too much time watching "Hey Arnold".  He has it on his mind.  I must say, that I am very impressed with his cookie making skills.

On Saturday night we were at a friends house again.  Yaroslav was rather withdrawn until he found a table tennis opponent.  We discovered another one of his many talents.  This must be a favorite pasttime during the long Ukrainian winters.

We have had a great first week.  I have been so impressed with the behavior of our own children.  They have been so kind and helpful.  Aiden is very attentive, and quick to help Yaroslav.  Brennan has loved playing soccer with him, and has been quick to include him in whatever activity is going on.  Sophie has been good to make sure that I am grateful to have these choice spirits in my family.

Meeting Yaroslav in Atlanta

The kids from the Ukraine flew into NYC on the 29th, and stayed the night at a church in New Jersey.  From there, they were split up, and flown to an airport somewhat closer to their final destination.  For us, that happened to be Atlanta.  After going around and around trying to decide if we should make a vacation of it, and all drive to Atlanta, or if I should go, or if Lance should, we finally determined that I should go.  Lance was starting a new job, and I really didn't want to go by myself with the kids, so it was settled.  Lucky for me...one of my best friends (Kristie Jensen Seawell) from high school lives in one of the suburbs of Atlanta.
It worked out perfect.  I had been so stressed with work, church responsibilities, and the idea of introducing an unknown child into our family, that I needed a break.  I flew into Atlanta on Thursday morning, and didn't pick up Yaroslav until Saturday afternoon.  I really had a lot of fun with Kristie and her family.  Thursday happened to be her husband, David's, birthday.  I'm not sure if I was a party crasher, or if they were happy to have me there, but I had a great time.  They took me to Stone Mountain, which is very cool, as you can see from the photos.

You can see that we tried to be good posers, but it's hard to be serious with Kristie.  She's just too much fun!  They hold a laser light show there after it gets dark.  It was very well done, and I'm glad I got to see it.
We spent some time living in the 80's, and laughing about anything and everything.  We love the fact that the neon hair bows are coming back in style.

We look just "fetching" don't we?!
Among other things, we spent about two hours at the Dentist's office.  That had to have been the highlight of my stay with them.  Okay, so maybe not, but it wasn't a bad thing.  I just happened to be there when the whole family went to the dentist.  Unfortunately, I missed out on the most exciting moment at the dental office when David, and their son Nathaniel got in a wrestling match, and almost broke the toy box.  I really should have waited a few more minutes before stepping out to call Lance.
Being there a couple of days before meeting Yaroslav gave me the opportunity to relax, and be distracted so that I wasn't feeling overly anxious.

On Saturday afternoon, Kristie took me to the airport to meet the kids' plane.  It was really exciting and a little scary for all of us. A family from San Antonio asked me to bring the child that they are hosting back with me.  His name is Anatolii, and he happens to be the same age as Yaroslav.  I think that it was good that the two of them were together.  It probably helped them feel a little better about getting on, yet another plane, with a stranger.  I almost wrote "a strange lady", but I didn't want anyone to expound on that topic.

 The posters that I made to welcome them to America.  I'm sure they couldn't read them, but it's the thought that counts, right?

 Seeing Yaroslav for the first time.  The photo is a bit blurry because I think I was shaking.  For these kids, it was still the middle of the night.  They were exhausted.  The chaperon told me that I was taking some good boys, that were very polite, and would do what I asked.  She also mentioned that Yaroslav is very shy.

 Yaroslav and Anatolii together.  That is one of the chaperons in the background behind Yaroslav.

 We sent some clothes to New Jersey so that he would have something clean to wear after such a long flight.   For some reason it was fun to see him wearing something that we had given him.  One of the program facilitators said that he was really happy when he was given the package from us. Most of these kids don't even come with a backpack.  Yaroslav didn't have anything with him.

  Here they are on the plane on the way to Texas.  It took all of 5 minutes for them to fall asleep.  It was a relief for me considering that we had two hours to kill in the airport before our plane left.  I was worn out from trying to communicate with/entertain them.
We arrived in Austin at 8 pm.  We took Yaroslav home, let him take a shower, and thought that maybe he would be ready for bed.  Instead, he played Mario Kart with the kids.  Video games...the universal language of kids.

Our Summer Plan to Host a Child from the Ukraine

I wrote this post on June 20th, but didn't finish, and didn't post.


My resolve to keep the blog updated obviously didn't last long.  Facebook ruined me in that regard.  It's so much easier to just view little snippets of other peoples lives, and add little bits of our lives through photos and comments.  It's sad though, because time passes so quickly, and so little gets recorded.  That being said...I'm going to try to make blogging a priority for the summer at least.  The biggest reason for my resolve is the new adventure that we are embarking on this summer.  We are hosting an orphan from the Ukraine.  When we stop and think about it we tend to question our sanity, but we know that we are doing the right thing.  Therefore, we persevere.
Here's how it all got started...


In the early years of our marriage, Lance and I had planned that we would have at least 4 kids and possibly 5.  Lance loves babies, so he was in favor of 5, me, maybe not so much. :)  We were able to have the first three without hardly thinking about it.  In fact, Sophie was a surprise that we have been blessed to have.  Apparently, there were only three kids that were meant to come, because that is all we got.  


Over the years we have considered fostering, or possibly adoption, but never felt any sense of urgency.  Sometime last Fall, Lance was online, and came across a website for adopting and/or hosting children from Eastern Europe.  He was intrigued by the idea, and spent time reading about the hosting program, and scrolling through the photos of the children that were available.  We discussed the idea of hosting for the summer, through Lance's enthusiasm, I was quickly convinced that it was something we should do.  I tend to go along with whatever he wants to do which is occasionally detrimental, but this decision process has been accompanied by much prayer.  The kids were immediately in favor of the idea especially after watching  Youtube videos that show what these kids are up against.  


There are a lot of Orphans in the Ukraine due to a number of factors.  The economy is suffering, and people have a hard time supporting their children.  Another big problem is alcohol.  It is really sad, and it breaks my heart that so many people live in such difficult circumstances.  The children age out of the orphanages at 16.  They have a 8-9 grade education, and very limited opportunities for further education.  The suicide rate for those kids is 10%.  Around 70% of the boys end up in prison, and 65% of the girls turn to prostitution.   You can understand why we felt strongly about giving one of these kids an opportunity to come to the US and see that there is hope for a better future.  The biggest goal is to love them and provide a positive experience in a functional (not sure that describes us completely) family setting.  


As we looked through the photos of the children who were eligible for the program, we kept coming back to one particular boy.  His name is Yaroslav.  He is 13 years old, just three weeks older than our son Brennan, and he loves soccer.  This is who we selected to come and spend the summer with us.  He will arrive on June 30, and return to the Ukraine on August 20.  It should prove to be an interesting summer!