Metcha Day - 4 Years

4 years ago Chris and I walked into a Ukrainian Orphanage. We met with the Director and learned all about the little girl we had been working so hard to bring home. After much anticipation they brought Milana in to meet us. She smiled and ran right into our arms. We were hooked. (Little did we know she would spend the next weeks running into everyone's arms). They took us to a room where we got to spend 10 whole minutes with this little girl before coming in and asking "Do you want her?"

 

 

It's hard to believe we met our little girl just 4 years ago. In some ways it seems like she has been with us forever. In other ways it breaks our hearts because we know she hasn't. We know that her first years weren't the best and we spend a lot of time thinking about what her life would have been like had we only gotten her sooner.

 

We would love more than anything to be able to take away all the pain of those first years. We would love to take away all the trauma and all the hurt. Unfortunately we can't. All we can do is give her all the love we can. Some days its enough. Some days its hard. Every day its worth it. No matter how hard things get its always worth it. Look at that smile :)



6 Months Home

I attempted to add more pictures than this. Unfortunately, this was all I got. It isn't the best picture, but it made me laugh so hard. You gotta love Doychin photo bombing Rumyana's pic :)

 

I can't believe it has been 6 months already. I'm not quite sure where the time has gone. Since my last post (3 months ago) a lot has happened. Doychin turned 4. He made a mess of himself and got frosting all over his face and hands. (This is huge as my man doesn't typically like to touch his food). Rumyana shoved her entire cupcake in her mouth and then got fussy when she couldn't have more. (She loves to eat)!

Both Doychin and Rumyana were evaluated for Special Ed. Services and will be going to school. We will have 5 kids in four different schools this year - - YIKES!!!

Recently Doychin has become more and more interested in books. Yay! He has started walking over to me with a book and climbing into my lap so I can read to him. I love it! Rumyana is playing more and more every day. Both kids love music! We spend a lot of time singing and dancing. Milana and Doychin are constantly signing something - mostly songs from Frozen. They are quite the pair!

Milana is anxiously awaiting the day Rumyana starts talking. She walks up to Rumyana several times a day and says "Hey Rumyana!" and looks at her for a bit awaiting a response. Milana realizes then Rumyana can't do the same things she can, but she really wants her to join in.

All in and all we are slowly, slowly, slowly making progress. Some days it two steps forward, one step back. Other days its 20 steps back.

**In addition to today being 6 months home for the littles it is also a big day for Milana. She has been home for 3 years and 11 months. I can't believe next month will be 4 years. This time four years ago we were just getting ready to meet her. Keeping my fingers crossed I can upload a pic or two for that post.

3 Months Home

Our newest littles have been home for 3 months. (Mila has been home now 3 years 8 months).

We have been enjoying the beautiful weather and spending some time outside.

Doychin really likes to play on the slide and the roller coaster. His first ride on the roller coaster was not successful at all, but he watched Mila enjoying it and decided to give it another shot. He has gotten brave and now tries to climb up the slide. However, he is constantly thwarted as this Mama is a firm believer in going DOWN the slide and not climbing up. Sorry little man!

Doychin enjoys following Mila and copying whatever it is she is doing. So of course he decided to give the hoola hoop a shot. He couldn't quite manage it, but he will get there eventually. 

What a surprise it was to find Rumyana playing with toys!. She doesn't really care for toys or playing much so this was a special treat. 

I know Mila really enjoyed this short lived tea party with her little sister. 

These last three months have been quite busy for the most part. I don't think any of our other four children have had quite as many doctor appointments as the two new littles. We seem to always have somewhere to go or some doctor to see. It is nice the days where there is nothing to do. Then we just get to relax and hang out. 

Time Flies

Today is a pretty amazing day. Rumyana & Doychin have been home with us for 1 month. It's hard to believe it's been a month already. Where does the time go? Things are going well. We have been busy with lots of doctor appointments - it seems we have way more than we did when Milana came home. It could be that there are two of them. Who knows?

Today is also an amazing day because Milana has been home for 3 1/2 years!!! It just doesn't seem possible. She has grown so much - well she's gotten a little taller anyway ;)

It really has been an amazing journey so far with all three. They are all so very different from one another. It is amazing to see the changes over time. Doychin is getting brave and exploring more. Rumyana is tolerating Nix more. Milana - well...she still thinks she runs the place. We didn't give her the nickname "the Queen" for nothing. Seriously though, Milana is talking more and more, she is learning and can read several words. Pretty amazing for a child who was written off by so many.

More to come later.  I've got children crawling all over me! I love it :)

Gotcha Day - February 10, 2014

On Monday February 10, 2014 we were able to bust Rumyana & Doychin out of their orphanages once and for all. Our first stop was Rumyana's Orphanage. We were greeted by the Orphanage Director with a big smile. All the Caretakers who were working were all gathered in a room with Rumyana and the other children. All were saying their goodbyes to her. 

While they said their goodbyes Chris & I sat with our translator (Dimitar) and the Orphanage Director. There was a ton of paperwork to sign and even more things to go over. She (Orphanage Director) gave us the run down of ALL of Rumyana's medications as well as a 10 day supply.

After all of the paperwork was out of the way we got to go in and see our girl. We were surprised to see that they had the photo album and all the toys I left for her on the first visit in September ready and waiting to go home with her. They also had presents. She was given a little bear that her favorite caretaker bought for her. They made her a little photo album of her with them in the Orphanage. She also was given a few other things. It was all very sweet. Probably the sweetest thing was the card that Rosi wrote for Rumyana. I cried as Dimitar read it to me.

One of the things that was shared with us was that Rumyana was baptized. Most of the Orphanage workers are Orthodox Christians. They gave us her baptismal certificate. (We were quite surprised to hear she had been baptized).

As we were getting ready to go they asked us if we brought clothes to change Rumyana into. We told them we did and they looked and seemed a bit sad. We said we didn't want to take clothes that another child could use. They then told us they were here clothes and no one could use them. So we kept her in the clothes from the Orphanage (which made them all smile). We attempted to put on the sneakers we brought for her, but they didn't fit. So...we traded the new sneakers for her shoes she wore there. They also threw in her inside shoes as well. Yes, I did say her inside shoes.

After a long and teary good bye at Rumyana's Orphanage (and promises to email pictures) we were off to get Doychin.

Doychin's Orphanage was much different. I'm not sure who greeted us, but it wasn't anyone quite as cheery. A worker waited with us and our translator while the Social Worker got paperwork ready for us to sign. At one point they brought Doychin out and then they took him away again.

The Worker asked if we had clothes for him and as we pulled them out she just shook her head and told our translator that it was all way too large. I did mention to our translator that we got the sizes based on the measurements they had sent us. (We had even returned all the much smaller clothes  that we had gotten after receiving the information about his height/weight). Oh well.

After shaking her head at the too large clothes for a few more minutes the caretaker finally decided the socks we brought for him were acceptable and she took those back to wherever Doychin was. When they finally brought him out he had on a long sleeve shirt, boots, and snow pants. They would not put him in any of our clothes.

We signed some paperwork so that we could take him out of the Orphanage. One worker brought him a toy as a going away gift. They also gave us back our photo album we left for him of our family. They included several pictures of him. A baby picture, a picture of him on his 2nd and 3rd birthdays, etc. We were excited to get this gift. (We also got a cd with pictures of Rumyana on it). These are real gifts as we do not have any of that for Milana. Just one baby picture they gave us at our SDA appointment.

After signing the paperwork they also decided the coat we had just wouldn't work. So...they gave us one from the Orphanage and we gave them his brand new coat. The Social Worker looked a little confused, but just rolled with it. (She was so very nice)!

Finally we were able to get out of there and head to the medical appointments. Before leaving (both orphanages) they poured water on the ground for us to walk over. I wish I could remember what it means, but it was such a crazy day I don't. It's something they do for all families leaving with their children.

Our next stop was the medical appointments. First each little had to have blood drawn. Easier said than done. Neither of them have good veins and it was a pain to get blood. They ended up getting it from their little hands :(   Rumyana screamed like a crazy lady as soon as she saw the needle.

We got to cut in line ahead of everyone waiting to see the doctor. (This was nice). The appointment itself was pretty uneventful. The doctor basically copied information from the paperwork I had brought with us (that was given to us by the Orphanages). He checked their height/weight, listened to them breathe, and that was about it.

When we got back to the hotel we were ready to relax a bit. Both Doychin and Rumyana were wiped out from the long day. When we went to take Doychin's snow pants off (let me just interject here and say it was at least 60 degrees outside) we noticed that he had NO pants on under the snow pants. And they were upset with me because we would have had to roll up the pants we brought?? Seriously???

Matching Grant AND Tastefully Simple Fundraiser!!!!

Before I get to the awesome opportunities we have been blessed with to help raise money for our adoption I want to thank everyone involved in this Matching Grant Opportunity. I also want to thank our fabulous Tastefully Simple Consultant and our Family Warrior and all of you out there who have shared our story, donated, prayed, etc. You are all amazing and my family and I are so grateful for all of you!

Thanks for letting me get that out of my system :)

We have recently been given two amazing opportunities to raise money for our adoption! The first is a MATCHING GRANT!!! The matching grant is for $450 and will be deposited into our FSP once it reads $7070. Donations to our fsp are tax deductible. You can make a donation and help us reach our goal by clicking on this link: www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorwojcik

The second opportunity to raise money for our adoption is through our TASTEFULLY SIMPLE Fundraiser! All you have to do is place your Tastefully Simple order between now and February 10th and a percentage of all sales will go towards our adoption! Go to tastefullysimple.com/web/kjaco and enter Jennifer Wojcik at Checkout!

Thank you all so much for your love and support!

Woo hoo!!!

On Thursday (January 30th) we got our travel dates. As I checked my email for what felt like the millionth time I paused and just prayed - please, please, please let our travel dates be there. I opened my email and there they were. An email saying "I hope you can travel quickly!"
We had our hotel and flights booked long before dinner time.  So excited we got our dates! I can't wait to go get my babies and get them home so that we can all be together.