Getting Settled In (New Pics)

Okay, okay, all you BLOG junkies……….. Here is the latest and greatest from the Brooks clan. We are tired, we are a bit stretched, but we are so very happy and so blessed by this experience. Let me give you a few instances. Jenna has started to play with her doll. She will swaddle it and put diapers on it (with my help). She has begun to talk to it, etc. The other night – after a lot of not so good bedtimes- we put baby to bed. Baby started to cry because she did not want to sleep. Jenna kissed her and said, night night baby. Go spot (sleep). Well, then Jeff and I said, good job! Now it is your turn to spot. Her face said it all (OH NO! I have been had!). It was very funny. But what could she do but spot at that point. Since then it has become much easier. Eddie is becoming quite the hunter. Our dog Lilly has been squeezed poked, stuck, etc. She has been a good sport. Today I have to say he was the most animated I have seen. We went to the beach with a friend and it was such an awesome experience. To see it from their eyes was amazing. He got to the bottom of the steps and sat with his shovel and bucket and started shoveling like a kid in a candy store. I had to go back and pick him up and move him to our stuff. I do not think he budged the two hours we were there. Jenna, on the other hand, well, she was a bit over whelmed by the enormous waves and icky sand. She got very worried about her shoes and feet getting sandy. She grabbed her own towel and set up her own spot. She did come around eventually, but not like old pro Eddie. She threw the sand, he filled the buckets, he ate the sand and he slammed down every castle I made with gusto! That’s our boy! Jenna did go with me to find shells. She learned they don’t taste good and are a bit crunchy, but she has a pocketful right now.

The household is good. Justin and Jacob have really seemed to be champs. It is amazing really. I have to confess I miss being at their schools, eating lunch with them there and being able to take them in the morning, but I think that maybe later we can do all of that. The kid’s behavior has been great. They test us a lot – but we know it is more of them understanding how we set our boundaries. That has been interesting. I had to get out my James Dobson book again. It really helped me understand their need for these boundaries and our need for sanity! I have also got some amazing friends who have been through this journey to. They have been such a great resource for Jeff and me. It’s like having an infant for the first time and not wanting to mess up. I was telling a friend about how Jenna gets upset when she has dirty hands. One day I told her to lick the jelly off her finger and she glared at me as if I cursed her. Duh, then I realized girls don’t lick stuff off their hands. Watching her dress up is a blast too. One day she put on her dress up outfits and asked if Babushka was coming. I said, no, not today. What about Deydushka (gramps)? No, not today. Poppa? Is he coming home? I laughed and I hugged her tight because that was so sweet of her to want to show them how pretty she was. When we have told her that before she has told us that she is not pretty or smart, etc. Just this week she has began to agree with us.

My sister stayed a night here too. Having her here with the kids was a great experience for the kids. They saw that another woman treated her kids like we do. Having Aunt Mary around the corner has been a great thing too. She is their teacher in a Bible study class. They love to go. I know it is because she is their teacher. With all the family around sharing their love and sweet, sweet hugs and kisses – wow – what a blessing these kids are living. Many people have said, you’re doing a good thing, or you are such a blessing to them. I hope that everyone can see from Jeff’s and my perspective – to us – they are the blessing. They have changed so many things in our lives. This journey has strengthened our family in so many ways. It has also helped us realize just how precious life is. How precious being content with what you have – and not want you want, is. It has also made me realize that I don’t have to have a clean house. I know I am a freak about that. I confess. I can wear something in a week more than once. I can save money on hairspray and just put it up……. I could go on and on. Can you believe we have made it this far? We could not have done it with out all of you. Thank you for that. Keep on praying though, we still need them! God bless.
Jen

Pictures Added

First week at home!

Recap - The Week that Was

Sep 26-29

I had mentioned before that there were extraordinary efforts made by our friends last week that we want to acknowledge. It is still hard for us to wrap our minds around exactly what happened and how it happened, just know that the following words probably won’t do them justice, but we wanted to get them written for posterity’s sake. Here goes…

First thing Monday morning, we’re (Ira, Kostya’s partner went with us also) off to the courthouse in Donetsk to pick up the court decree because we can’t proceed without it. As you may remember, after our court hearing on the 16th, the court secretary told us she would have it ready first thing on the 26th. Finally, around 10:30 we heard those “lovely” words everyone loves to hear, “Come back tomorrow”. We were obviously thrown for a loop because everything (our flight home!) was predicated on getting that piece of paper. Kostya tried everything and the best they would offer was to have it ready by 4:00, however, it would be dated effective on the 27th. This meant bad news for getting birth certificates, passports, and the children in order to catch the train for Kiev Monday evening. Stressed and in the lurch, we were at a loss for what to do knowing changing our flight plans was going to be tough (we’d already had to buy new ticket$ for me and Jennie), but this is where Kostya really came through. Mind you, he had caught some sort of flu bug and wasn’t feeling well, but he pressed on with the best we could do. We went to the birth certificate place and asked if they could just get started on the paperwork with the promise of the forthcoming decree. Reluctantly, they would do enough that would save us some time when we brought the paperwork. Then it was off to find a notary that would agree to do the paperwork requesting passports for the children. Amazingly, Ira found one that would do it! All the while, we were calling Leeza’a orphanage director to see if he would release her in order for us to make our schedule, he would not. Also, we were getting awesome help from Lora in order to get a flight from Donetsk to Kiev since it became obvious we would miss the train. Our heads were spinning as you could imagine. After we got the paperwork from the notary, we took it to the “passport place” and the lady knew Kostya, within an hour, we had their passports!

Then it was back to the courthouse to wait, it was around 3:00 at this point, Kostya decided to ask for it anyway and they actually had it ready!...but it was dated effective for the 27th. We decided to go to Joseph Edward’s orphanage to see if by chance they would release him (Leeza’s was still a ‘No’, and that’s the one we needed most because it was so far out of the way). It was a hurried goodbye, but we dressed Eddie in the outfit we bought for him, signed what we needed to sign and we actually walked out that gate with him (we had pictured this moment many times during our visits)! Meanwhile, Lora had reserved a 12:50 flight for us on Tuesday. At this point, Kostya decided to go ahead on to Kiev via the train as planned and we would meet him there. When we got back to the apartment in Gorlovka, all the babushkas, Lora, and Ira were waiting to greet and meet Eddie. It was so incredibly heart warming that they would do that for us/him, we will never forget their genuine kindness. So that night, we got to know Eddie a little bit better, he was so sweet and such a trooper through all the frenzied travel.

Tuesday morning, we met Ira and it was off to Donetsk again to get the birth certificates so that then we could go to Torez, get Leeza, and get back to Donetsk in order to catch our flight. The timing was crucial, because we had to get everything done in Kiev to still make the flight home. The clock was ticking, the birth certificates were a little slow, but we got them – off to get them notarized – done – and the “passport lady” actually met us there to pick up a copy as a favor (unbelievable). Now to Torez, and I mean the taxi driver knows the time constraint. We’re on the phone often with Lora to update our status. She and Ira actually took part of our luggage (the BIG part) to the airport to meet us (hopefully) when we got there. By the time we got to the orphanage (took an hour and a half), it looked like there was no way we would make it back in time. But we did another hurried goodbye at the orphanage (we hated that because they were so nice there and we sensed a real attachment that they had for Leeza), dressed her in the Director’s office which by the way is where she and Eddie met, signed the paperwork, and we were off for the race. Talked to Kostya (who was in Kiev now) and we were convinced to try the shortcut back so I talked the taxi driver through it and we were on our way. Constant calls from Lora to update and at 12:30, we confessed there was no way we would make it. But we pressed on, nothing to lose, as we fell out of the taxi, we ran in with all we could carry and Ira was at the counter changing our tickets and Lora was at the door (with our luggage) pleading with them to hold the flight. It was one of those surreal scenes, running, everything we could carry, kids included, etc. They hurried us through security, somehow we crammed all our stuff (2 strollers, 2 big suitcases, 4 carry-ons, 2 kids, and us) onto the shuttle and out to the plane. We didn’t get to hug Lora and both Iras to death like we wanted to, and I still don’t know how we did it, divine intervention is the only way to explain it (all of it for that matter). So we were off to Kiev.

We were in contact with Kostya, his plan was to have 2 drivers waiting for us at Kiev. One immediately took Jennie and the kids to the hospital to get their medicals done
and the other took me and the luggage to the US Embassy. I refused to do the conversion of 170km/hr, I would save that for later. Started the forms at the Embassy and Jennie, kids, and Kostya got there about 5:00. I took all the paperwork in (very eerie feeling in there, high security as you could imagine) and the gentleman was very helpful, however, his superior was none to happy about the late request (our original appointment was at 11am). I explained our flight situation and he said he would do the best he could. So it was back first thing in the morning. So that night, we stayed in the apartment we did when we first arrived in Kiev. The kids “slept” in our room which meant this was the 3rd night in a row Jennie and I had virtually no sleep.

Wednesday morning, back at the Embassy. When we arrived, there was a huge line and our hearts sank. However, we went right in because we were there for US citizen services. The lady who helped us was wonderful, we were the only family there at the time and they did everything they could do to get us out of there for our 1:50 flight. We couldn’t believe it, but their visas were done at 10:30, wow! So we hurried out to get to the airport, we were going to make it home tonight!...but, of course, Lufthansa had other plans. Jeff E, you know the drill, they delayed our flight long enough to cause us to miss our connecting flight in Frankfort. When we got to Frankfort and they said there was nothing else going to the US that night, we almost lost it, we were already wrecks at this time. They said we would have to spend the night there and they would put us up in a hotel. But just to make it more “fun”, we had to get German visas for the kids since we were leaving the airport. More waiting, more paperwork, more fun. But we made the best of it, we made sure we ate as much as we could as the food was very good at this hotel. Kids slept well and it was back to the airport first thing in the morning. The 8 ½ hour trip to Philadelphia was way better than expected and we got into Raleigh about 6:00 where Aunt Char and Cori met us. We changed clothes at her house, ate a piece of pizza, got some coffee (it was about 2:00am to us) and then headed out to Swansboro. The kids slept most of the way and when we got home, the boys, Mom, and the neighbors were all outside waiting for us! It was so incredibly good to be home, we couldn’t quit hugging the boys and they made fast friends with the new additions.

…So here we are, a week later, still in awe of the events of last week. Indelibly etched on our hearts and in our minds are the efforts of Kostya, Lora, Ira (Lora’s translator), and Ira (Kostya’s partner). We are forever grateful and forever humble to you all and we thank the Lord He put you in our paths and in the paths of the lives of our children.

Getting in the Routine

I know a lot of you have confessed to being Blog “junkies”. That is such a cool thing to confide (to us) in. I have to let you all know that I took both kids to Kinder Music today. Eddie impressed the teacher with his musically inclined motions and ability to keep up. Jenna was a bit shy at first but caught on quickly and had a ball. She did not want to leave. Edward, on the other hand was still suffering from jet lag and life in general. I think that he gets over stimulated very easily. Just looking around at the abundance of things and stuff must throw him for a loop, Jenna, too. But girls seem to deal with frustrating things a bit different than boys. That has been a new thing around here. I thought I was the princess! : )

First Monday!

We survived the weekend with flying colors! Our neighbors have been beyond awesome! We cannot thank everyone for the groceries, toys, clothes, love and support that we have gotten since we have returned. I guess the kids must think it is Christmas everyday. Today was a bit quiet for us as we settled in for the Monday and week schedule. It has been interesting trying to engage Jenna Leeza in play. I guess she is not really used to that and although she seems to have for she also seems a bit pensive at times. We took our first trip to the grocery store. It was great until the cashier began to bag the groceries and take them out of the cart. Poor Jenna Leeza began to sob in the store. A sweet old lady tried to see if she could buy her a candy bar and I tried to just tell her no as nicely as I could. Too hard to get into the whole story when she was that upset. Eddie had a bit of melt down today too. Really it is about time considering all that they have been through. Poor little guy. It is truly a wonder to see them interact and just wander through the day. From birds, to squirrels, to our dog to little kids – it has been an exhausting journey for these two to keep up. My brother came today and his wife is from Ukraine. She talked to her quite a bit and JL told her that she loved her new home and family and that she understood us. That was a neat thing to hear for a newly unemployed frazzled jet-lagged mom. Not everyone knows but I have decided not to go back to work. It was a great part time job but I just can’t put them in day care or even with my most favorite and trusted sitter just yet. We are going to try Kinder Music and a stab at Community Bible Study. But what ever they seem to deal with best will be what we will do. As Jeff may have written our return trip was grueling. We just never felt like we would ever get home. The kids were champs though. If any of you reading this has heard about not bringing a ton of luggage – heed that piece of advice. I have never lugged luggage as much for as long as I did during this trip. It was pure misery.

So, now we are home and it is good. Everyone here and on the Blog has been so encouraging to us and supportive of us. You have all heard this a million times but I have to say again that we are so thankful for all that each of you have done for us. From the depths of our hearts we have such gratitude and love for all of you. What blessings these children will have just by knowing there are so many who are there for them. All of our family has been fabulous as well.

I know I have not talked to all of our friends yet – we are getting settled in – but sure do want to see all of you. Please don’t hesitate to call – if we don’t answer just leave a message because I may be changing a diaper or playing dolls or who knows what else. Love and kisses to you all! Lora, please give us the scoop on the cost of the tickets! And bless you for your perseverance and awesome attitude. I wasn’t kidding when I said you were my kind of girl!

Quick Update

Well, the "Last night in Gorlovka", was not the last night in Gorlovka. But bottom line, we are home safe and sound as of late Thursday night. Probably one of the most stressful weeks we have ever encountered. The kids are wonderful and are adjusting well and their two new big brothers have been absolutely awesome with them. In fact, their first big outing was today as we took them to Justin's football game. I added some new pictures and we will write about this past week soon.