It all seems to come together.

I can hardly believe that a week (when I first started writing this note - now three) has gone by now since we arrived back home from Ukraine! Times seems to slip by very quickly once you get back into our normal routine - and that's a new normal as we now have another body to dress, feed, bathe, and attend to. Boy do I wish she was out of diapers and toilet trained! It seems that is the only thing right now that is out of sequence - everyone has adjusted to the jet lag except this. Every morning we are greeted by the same smell and surprise - but then she shines that smile and all things are forgotten.

Let's get you caught up - we flew out on Thursday, March 3. Upon arriving at the airport, we were greeted by an one hour delay in the departure of our flight - our plane was delayed leaving London - dejavu from 2 years ago but at least this time we had no connecting flight to catch. The new terminal in Kiev has two restaurants - TGI Friday's and no-name coffee shop. We decided to hit TGI to pass the time and keep the kids occupied. Everything was going great until the food was delivered and then our Angel let it be known to everyone in the airport that she was ready to eat. It seems to be a common theme with the kids we have adopted. Nathan was the same way when he first arrived home to Canada - screamed to the 10th degree until food was put in front him when it was time to eat. There was no patience or waiting - feed me now or else. Janine has been no different.

We board the flight last in the rain - yes last as they had no pre-boarding as the plane is sitting on the tarmac with no boarding gate. By the time we get in, all the overhead storage is filled but we manage to find some empty space in business class - too bad they would not let us switch our seats. Seating on the plane was 3 by 3 so I was brave enough to sit with the kids while Martha just watched from the other side - she had the aisle seat. At first I thought of sitting in between the two of them but we were afraid that Janine would be too startled by all the strangers so she sat in between Nathan and I. She was very content on the plane. Nathan kept her entertained the whole flight and we controlled the ear popping on take off and landing by having them both drink and eating small crackers. One flight down (3 hours) but one long 8 hours to go.

We flied through customs with no issues (they were great in London). As for customs in Ukraine, they took all of our passports and adoption paperwork, closed the station, disappeared for about 1/2 hour and then returned saying we could leave. A little nerve racking when you can't really communicate to find out what is going on and you are just waiting hoping they will come back with no questions or issues.

The overnight stay in London was great! We had cozy accommodations - by this time, everyone was so tired that we would have slept anywhere!

The flight from London to Toronto was a dream come true. First there were lots of other kids on the flight all sitting in close proximity to us. They had split Martha and I between the middle aisle and and window seats. Martha took Nathan, I had Janine. Martha was very well prepared for this flight. She had about 12 little gifts packed away to keep Nathan occupied and it worked perfectly. Every time he got a little agitated, out came another package for him to open. Janine on the other hand was very content looking at the TV monitor in the seat or looking at pictures of the family. Four hours had passed when Martha took out the special surprise - candy (gravol). It took 1/2 hour for the first victim to close his eyes - Nathan, and within the hour, Janine was out laying in my arms. The rest of the flight was perfect. The only drama came about 20 minutes before we landed when I had to wake Janine and put her back in her seat. She was not please with this at all and made sure everyone in the plane heard her - which surprised everyone around us as they did not know she was there. Remember the other kids I mentioned earlier - well they were the ones screaming and crying throughout the flight.

Canada Customs and Immigration was a breeze. We handed in our paperwork from the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, showed Janine's passport and visa and were off to pick up our bags to finally get back home.

Martha's brother was waiting for us at the gate with open arms. Janine gave him a hug and kiss without hesitation as if she knew him already - we had been showing her pictures of all the uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins for over a month now.

Three weeks later, we are in a routine and things are good. It's like we have been together as a family for years. We had the same feeling with Nathan after being home for a while.

The only issue Janine has had was with Jordie our minature schnauzer. He arrived back home from his vacation with Martha's parents the day after. The first time Janine saw him, she screamed and cried and wanted nothing to do with him or even be in the same room. This went on for about a week with each passing day getting less dramatic then the day previous. Today, Jordie can brush up against her, Janine can pet him, and life goes on.

Janine is progressing well. She is sleeping through the night in her crib. We have learned that she doesn't like to be covered with a blanket. She is understanding the most basic of commands and words we say. She will give you a puzzled look when you say something and she has no clue what to do. She is eating very well and will tell us when she has had enough to eat or wants more. She is learning to be more patient when we sit for a meal and her food is not ready the minute she sits down - we had the same issue with Nathan. They are so used to eating right away at the baby house and so they expect to eat immediately when they sit at the table. She has more words in her vocabulary and loves to look at Elmo on the computer at least once a day or she gets upset.

Her bigger brother is also reacting to not getting all the attention which we expected but it has been hard to deal with some days. They are playing very well together but like most brothers and sisters, they do have their moments when they don't, especially when Nathan teases her by taking away a toy she has or not sharing.

Thanks Erin for reminding me to finish this post.

Thanks to all the friends and family that have communicated with us while we were away and now that we are home.

Thanks to our sister-in-law Lynne who worked her magic again while we were away co-ordinating things for us in Canada and making calls for us. Yes, I won't forgot to keep you in the running as a godmother for Janine.

Thanks to our neighbours for watching over the house and collecting mail and shoveling all the snow (Peter).

Thanks to Rodica and Lesya, Natasha, Irina, and all the staff that helped us in Ukraine and brought us to Gift from God.

When we started this mission back in 2004 and finally completed the first part in 2008, we said we would not go back just because of the roller coaster ride we had in the four years it took to complete. But then one day after hearing from a friend of a friend who just came back from Ukraine with a little boy in under a year, Martha and I looked at each other and said should we try again? And after meeting with Rodica, we both knew we were ready to try again in hope of adding to our family.

Those of you that are in the adoption process or know of some one in the process, remember these three things that we were told by our agency when we adopted Nathan - this process is going to cost you time, money, and emotion.

Time - because you are running around doing paperwork to submit to some form of government to prove that you are fit to parent children. And when you are not running around, you are waiting to hear from some form of government as to whether your paperwork is acceptable. As much as you try not to, life seems to stop as you wait to hear some sort of news such as: did we get an appointment to submit our paperwork, do we have a travel date, when will our second appointment be, when will our court date be, when will be able to fly back to Canada....

Money - we all know that kids are not cheap ever if we give birth to them - they are not free! And for those of us that are adopting, we mortgage the house for a second or third time or take out a loan just to have a chance to adopt a little boy or girl that we will love with all of our hearts. Speaking from experience, the moment you see your child, you will pay whatever it takes to get him/her home to Canada.

Emotion - there will be the good days and there will be the bad days. You will be happy one minute and then worried the next or upset or angry or whatever you feel that day. It's all worth it. The memories and stories I can tell our two children when they are older will help them appreciate how many people have helped them along their way both in Ukraine and in Canada. What many of you don't know, is that this second mission to adopt Janine was not set in stone - there was no guarantee that we were going to be proposed a healthy child let alone a girl. It was a risk that we were willing take and not one that we were going to walk away from. If we think back to 2002, my parents had a trip planned to go back to Italy for the last time as my mom was battling cancer and her health was not improving. Their tickets were booked and my mom had clearance from the doctor to travel. And then September 11 happened and my parents feared that they may get stranded in Italy for months as the world struggled to sort out the terror attacks. I told them to go and if they were stranded, they were with family so there were no worries. But they decided to play it safe and cancelled the trip. Mom died a month later. I told Martha, that if we didn't go now then we would never make it back or have another opportunity because something will come up to prevent us from going. And if things didn't work out, then at least we tried.

This second time around had it's special moments and roller coaster rides but it was very different from the first. 

They are each very unique and will be moments in our life that we will never forget.

I will leave you with this last thought that I found along the way in our first mission that pretty much sums up our two journeys:

“When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile”

Joe

Home Sweet Home

Just dropping a quick note to let you know that we arrived home last night at 5pm.

We all had a great night sleep in our own beds!!

I post a recap in the next few days as I get caught up with things and family.

We are all set to travel!

Our mission to Ukraine Part 2 is coming to an end.

Nathan and I went to Canadian Embassy this morning at 11:00. The first thing he saw was the Canadian Flag and that set off the explosion. All he could say was Canada, Canada. I was expecting him to go into a rendition of Oh Canada right there in the middle of the sidewalk.

We were escorted into the embassy by Irina and met Alessia (whom we met two years ago when adopting Nathan), handed in our immigration paperwork along with Janine's passport and told to return at 4-5pm to pick up her passport with the Canadian Visa.

The rest of the afternoon was spent packing bags.

The two amigos are getting along fine - well that is what they think. He loves the fact that he can do something and she will mimic him. He always loved attention and now he gets it 24/7 . She rewards his actions with smiles and giggles which just encourages him to do more.

We have been letting them sleep together on the sofa bed for the last couple of days. And every morning, we can hear Nathan - who is up at the crack of dawn - trying to wake Janine by giggling and talking to her so the fun can start.

I met up with Scott when returning to the embassy - they are all set to go as well. They will be flying out tomorrow at 7:30am with a stop over in Munich before stoping over in Toronto and finally arriving in Thunder Bay - we wish them luck and a safe return on their 24 hour marathon.

One more sleep before we leave Ukraine. It has been another wonderful experience but as I said to Scott, once you have all your paperwork done, you want to leave as soon as you can!

Flight home Booked

We received confirmation yesterday that Janine's passport had arrived in Kiev and that we would be going to the Canadian Embassy to get her immigration paperwork completed.

We booked our flight home as well. We leave Kiev Thursday afternoon and have an overnight stay in London. Then we fly out of London Friday afternoon to arrive at Toronto at 3:05pm.

So we have two more sleeps before we leave Ukraine and three more sleeps before we arrive back to Canada.

We Finally have Internet

We'll have you missed us?

It's been three long days since we last talked to anyone as we had no internet connection. I went out yesterday and purchased a wireless internet stick and we made some quick skype calls (quality was very poor) to our family/friends that were online to let them know what was going on - it took me a while to get the settings right and by the end of the night, the call quality was much better.

We have been in Kiev for the last three days waiting for word as to when Janine's passport will be ready. We are expecting it Tuesday and then will go the to the embassy on Wednesday. Tomorrow, we will attempt to book a flight back home for Thursday.

Janine's understanding of English is improving everyday. She is speaking better and has about 10 words in her vocabulary. She is sleeping through the night and is eating everything we put in front of her. Her walking has improved beyond her 5 steps but she is still exploring around the apartment. She knows her eyes, mouth, nose, cheeks, hair but has trouble with ear. She can blow kisses and is just starting to kiss our cheeks upon command. She loves to hug!

Not much has been done since we have arrived. Weather has been gloomy with some flurries every now and then. Temperature -7 to -10C. We usually get out once a day but we are limiting the time as Janine has a cold. Our apartment is close to the train station but too far away for the kids to walk back to the main square. We did manage to find a large supermarket yesterday so we are all set now for the last few days of our stay in Ukraine.

Today we ventured out to the play park that was beside our old apartment before we left for Kremenchuk. We found out very quickly that Janine did not get outside in her early life as she was scared of anything we attempted to put her on or near including a swing, stone statue, park bench, etc. We will have to work on this very quickly when we get back as she will be spending a lot of time outside; walking Nathan to school every day, playing in the backyard, cottage life, etc. We figure that since she was not walking, she was not taken outside to play in the baby house.

Overall, she seems quite content and very happy to be with us. She is adjusting very well to her new settings.

One Step Away from Comming Home

It seems that I am falling behind in my posts. This time, our internet was down for over a day.

So we arrived in Kremenchuk Sunday morning at 8:30am. Nathan was more tollerable on the train ride this time as he slept most of the trip - what a relief!

We only saw Janine for her afternoon play session. She was not too impressed with us. It was like getting the cold shoulder for leaving her behind for the last few days. I think it was because we did not bring her any treats for the last few days. It took a while, but she did warm up especially when the treats came out. She is now saying please (not that you can understand it but she is attempting) and her thank you is more noticeable. Her walking has taken a bit of set back since we have not been around to assist her. She was only managing 2 steps today but she was taking more risks which was encouraging to see.

On Monday, we had our two visits. She was in vintage form that day. Very excited to see us - the most we have seen so far. The please and thank you are improving. Walking is still stuck at two steps but she is getting very courageous in taking steps without us around. She is very proud when she can stand up on her own with support from a near by object, get her balance and then take a step or two. Her face lights up and she smiles. Then she drops and she is back up climbing like nothing ever happened and tries again. I don't see any fear in her.

Today, we spent the enitre day driving and signing papers. First we drove to her home town (of which I don't have the spelling right now) to get a new birth certificate. Then we drove to the capital of the region to register the birth certificate and get a new identification number from the police station. Then it was off to another government building to apply for the passport. Then it was back to Kremenchuk to visit the baby house to get them to sign some papers, pick up Janine to have her photo taken for the passport, back to the notary to sign more papers/petition, and then to the local police station to take the photo and sign more papers which Misha will take back to capital of the region so no time is wasted having the locals do the paper work delivery. This will save us a couple of days waiting for the passport.

If all goes well, we should be on a plane and back in Toronto by the end of the week.

Tomorrow, we will be on the road again for the last time with Janine in tow back to Kiev where we will wait until the passport is ready. Once we have the passport, then we are off to the Canadian Embassy where we ask for her immigration papers and a visa that will allow her entry into Canada.

Not bad in a days work - much faster and easier then in 2008 - the only difference is we have to wait for the passport - in 2008 we had it the next day. Oh well, at least the end is near and we will be back in our own beds in no time and Janine will be in her new bed.

What a Reunion!

Let's review the last few days to get everyone back up to speed including myself as I am loosing track what day it is.

We said our goodbyes to Janine Wednesday morning after she gave another outstanding performance in walking again - 5 steps without assistance. The day was such a beauty that we had Misha drive us to McDonald's and walk back - about a 1.5 hour walk.

We were preparing the last few things before Misha came to pick us up for our trip to Oleksandria as we could not get a ticket for the train in Kremenchuk when Rodica from CARC (our adoption agency) saying we had an issue with our immigration paperwork. This was serious as without it, the province could not issue the Letter of No Objection #2 that basically said they were in agreement with our agency and adoption practicioner in allowing us to adopt Janine. Without this letter, the Canadian Embassy in Ukraine would not issue a visa to Janine that would allow her to leave Ukraine and enter Canada. The province was missing documentation that we had a file opened with Immigration Canada for an unnamed child that we were going to adopt. My fear was that our immigration file was closed since I opened this file in March 2008 in preparation of our first adoption when we were open to adopting siblings so we needed two files. Since that never happened, I used the opened file for this trip. I had called before we left to confirm that the file was still open and active.

So my first call was to Lynne (my sister in law who has been our resource at home while we are here) to place a call to Immigration Canada - they have no number that can be used outside of Canada. She called the number while I am using Skype and puts her phone on speaker phone and holds it up to the mic on the computer - you just gotta love technology. We wait 10 long minutes (this was at 5:45pm and Misha was picking us up at 6:30) before we get to speak to an operator. I explain the situation and she does the usual security checks. Then she goes on to say that she cannot proceed any further because they do not allow 3rd party phone calls. Lynne could only participate if I designated her as representative. This could only be done by completing more paperwork that would take 10 days to process if I faxed it in. After pleading my case, she refused to provide any more assistance. So we hung up and tried again hoping we would not get the same operator. While this was happening, I was trying to purchase phone time on Skype and declining calls from Martha's mom and my boss at work that needed emergency assistance on an important matter. This time I failed to mention that Lynne was on the other line. But after 30 minutes of talking, I was no further other than to confirm that the file was still open and active.

With that, I had Lynne call the province to see what exactly they needed or what was missing from Immigration Canada. The problem this time was everyone was away from their desk for lunch so we left a message for them to call Lynne. The time was now 7pm and we had to catch a train by 8:46pm with an hour drive still left to complete. So you can just imagine me sitting in the front seat trying with the laptop open and calling Lynne to see if she heard anything. As we got further out of Kremenchuk, the cell signal dropped to the point is was non existant. We arrived at the train station at 8:20pm. Quickly, I powered up the laptop and called Lynne but the signal was poor but I caught enough words to know what documentation they were looking for. Luckily, I had scanned every single document, letter, receipt, etc that I received, sent, filed, completed etc. for this adoption and placed it on the laptop and an usb stick for backup because you just don't know when you need another copy or have to refer back to something. I found the file and sent it away counting the MB as they transferred. While this was going on, they announced on the loud speaker that the train was approaching and we should head out to the platform to wait.

Again, laptop in my arms trying to Skype Lynne to see if she received the document I sent (I had copied her as a back up just in case Rodica did not receive it). But I didn't have enough time to complete the call as the train had stopped and they don't give you much time to board before it leaves again. In our cabin (car), I tried again, reached Lynne, confirmed she had received it before we lost the signal again. And that was it as I never got the signal again until we arrived in Lviv. In the end, everything worked out (including my boss's emergency) but it was very nerv racking and stressfull moment for me and I am sure Martha will have more grey hairs to pull from my scalp.

The train ride would last 15 hours. It was smoothing sailing until Nathan woke up. You can imagine how a very active 4 year old would be in a cabin no bigger than 15SF and no room to move. It was a very long 3 hours after that. We arrived in Lviv at 11:45am just as scheduled and no sooner did we get out of the train station did we meet our landlord from 2 years ago who had saved us an apartment and would be our taxi driver that morning. We found out that he was the proud father of a baby girl since we last spoke to him and she would be 1 this month.

Nothing much has changed in Lviv. Yes there are some new buildings and some new establishments but the main things are still the same like we left two years ago. It seems like we are home again (we spent over 5 weeks in this town 2 years ago). We quickly place our bags in the apartment and were back out on the street trying to get to Nathan's baby house by 2pm as that was the planned reunion with the staff at the baby house and his church mother.

We arrived at the baby house and found our way inside through the back door to the director's office. We could hear talking inside so we waited. Outside her office, we found the wall with photographs of children that had been at the baby house who have since left or are currently there. To the left of the main board, we found another board that had three of Nathan's photos on it with a sign above saying "Circle of Family". Nathan was all excited to see this.

We knocked on the door, entered and waited for the Director and Daria (a caregiver that had brought Nathan to Kiev to have his immigration medical) to either recognize Nathan or us. It took a while before they realized who the grown up boy wearing glasses and talking English was. And then everything clicked. The director pulled our our letter and photos that we send just after Christmas saying we would visit her when we had an opportunity and to pick up his Christening chain that she said she had in a previous letter. After looking at him for a few minutes and reading the letter to the other staff members in the room, she quickly made a call. Shortly, three more people entered the room, one being the doctor we first met when we went to the baby house the first time to visit Nathan.

From there we headed out to see his old stomping grounds to visit his caregivers but they were no where to be found as they had moved to another building that was under renovation when we were there 2 years ago. To our disappointment, only one caregiver was there that we knew. The other had either moved on or were working on a different day. As for Nathan's church mother, she had called to say that she would not be able to make it so we planned to meet Friday morning in front of the Opera House at 10am. Nathan did not recognize anyone at the baby house and I didn't think he even remember the building but he did understand why we were back as he asked everyone he saw "do you remember me".

Friday morning we woke up to a light snow fall and a temperature of -3C. As we walked up to the Opera House, I was looking to see if I could spot Nathan's church mother - Natalia - so we could watch how his reaction would be. We even had him walk ahead to see if he would spot her first but she was no where to be found as she was running late. Natalia had invited a friend who spoke English to be our translator. And when Natalia did arrive, you could see from the smile and excitement on Nathan's face that he did remember her as he ran into her open arms and gave her a big hug and kiss.

We too were excited to see her as she provided such care and comfort for Nathan during his 2 years as the baby house. She also provided us with pictures from when he first walked, 1st birthday, christening, etc that we never expected to get. We talked for a while outside and took many pictures before heading to a Ukrainian restaurant where we shared stories from 2 years ago, brought her up to date on his current going on's, and why we were back in Ukraine. This went on for over 2 hours and Nathan was just soaking it all in. We found out that Natalia is getting married next year and we have been invited to the wedding - this should be interested as I ask work for more time off next year! She even told us the story how not too long ago she dreamed that one day she would meet Nathan again and see him all grown up to be a handsome young man.

We said our goodbyes and hoped to talk to one another again via email and then went on our separate ways again. We did some shopping before heading back to the apartment for the night.

Both Martha and I said that this day was so enjoyable for all of us and will be one of the highlights of our 2nd mission to Ukraine. Although Nathan did not realize the importance of this day today, we hope he will when he is older and I hope he will have fond memories as you just don't know if our paths will be able to cross again.