Summer Fun

The kids are enjoying their summer. They attended their first day camp for a one week session and had a great time. Their two favorite activities are riding their bikes and swimming. I wish I could say they are English and Math, but kids are kids no matter where they come from.

Elizabeth is being tutored in Math and is making very good progress. Her English gets better every day. My favorite Elizabeth saying is when she tells me that she "brushed her teeth, brushed her face, and brushed her hair". Michael has picked up English very fast including; no problem, nice, see ya, whasssup? (thanks to Uncle Bob).

Elizabeth got braces last week. She chose alternating pink colored rubber bands to personalize her braces. The first 3 days she experienced alot of pain, but after that she has been fine. The hard thing for her is that she can't eat some of her favorite foods anymore. No gum, no starburst, no corn on the cob, no gummy bears, no snickers, no nuts. Notice that most of the favorites are candy. She LOVES candy.

Some things we have learned since we got home with the kids:
1) The kids are big helpers. They cleaned all of our silk plants by taking them outside and washing them with the hose.

2) They love to put up groceries. Elizabeth put the fresh corn on the cob in the freezer and the refrigerated lunch meat in the pantry.

3) It doesn't matter what time the kids go to bed they will always get up and go out to the kitchen to get one last drink of water before they go to bed.

4) Elizabeth will drop or break something on a regular basis. Her last incident was at HEB over the 4th of July. She was picking a watermelon and grabbed a big one and dropped it on the floor. It split in two and sprayed our legs. She said, "oh, I'm sorry":-) and put it back and got another one.

5) We can do more in 5 minutes than we thought we could. There isn't any free time in our days anymore:-).

The kids are adjusting well, but we've had a few issues that we are working through. I'll elaborate more on another post. See #5 above:-).

Another couple from our adoption group received their travel date. Congratulations Ann and Keith! They will be traveling to Ukraine in September.

Thanks for keeping up with our family adventure!

Sharon

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Well, we might as well get back to the reality of life in the United States. Let's start with food. When I was in Ukraine I suffered because I couldn't eat what I wanted. But now the tide has turned. First things first. I introduced the children to steak which I cook very well on my grill. On our first BBQ I cooked NY Strip steaks and everyone cried because it was so good. The kids thought it was strange because we told them it was beef because they don't get alot of that in Ukraine. After they ate it I don't think they will ever go back to pork and neither will I.

Since we've been home there have been alot of changes. One of the very best has been coming home from work to my new family. Communication has been one of the biggest barriers. Let me explain. When Michael tries to describe a story to me it sounds like a kung fu movie with physical animation. My favorite thing Elizabeth does is when she says "I love you". It sounds like a drunk woman after last call... "Iluvuuuu". So, I always respond with the same prounciation.

One of the really neat things to see is the children doing things for the first time by themselves. The other is to see how creative they are. Elizabeth makes her own envelopes and knits. And she is the fastest potato peeler with a sharp knife that I've ever seen. She has actually beaten me when I was using a potato peeler which she refuses to use. Michael, on the other hand, draws us pictures and leaves special notes under our pillows at night. He has also corrected me while I am working on anything and everything. It's irritatiing because more than half the time he is right. For example, we were assembling his toy box and he was trying to tell me not to put a face plate on the front of the toy box. I acted like I didn't understand him and screwed it together anyway because Dad knows best. Then as we completed the project I realized he was correct. I had screwed the face plate on backwards.

One of the best things is seeing how well they have fallen in love with our family and friends.

Stay tuned for more action at the Coons house.

Tim

Are You Interested in Hosting a Child in Your Home?

This is a great program! We hosted Michael in January 2007 and now he and his sister are our children. They are having another camp this summer. The information is below.

Host a Ukrainian Orphan

Loving families needed to host Ukrainian orphans during a Summer Camp that will be held here in Houston for 3 weeks beginning July 30, 2008. Orphans will travel here and experience American culture and what it feels like being part of a family.

Although the purpose of this camp is purely an educational and cultural experience for the children, one of the wonderful outcomes that often occur is the adoption of many of these children, as well as an increase in awareness of the plight of older orphans around the world. To learn more, please contact Jyl Cashion 281-890-1324 home office or 832 876-6235 cell

Time is flying!

We've been home for 5 weeks now. I can't believe how fast the weeks have gone by. The kids have been counting the days this week until school it out. Thursday is the last day of school. Michael has one line in the school play on the last day of school. The kids in his class decided on a pirate theme so he will be wearing an eye patch and pirate hat. Stephanie, Kathy, and Mom bought the kids new bicycles. They love them! Michael started riding his bike to school last week. I have been riding my bike with him and waiting while he locks his bike up and walks in to school because he was alittle bit nervous to go by himself. This morning as we were riding to school he stopped at the corner where there are a row of trees on the edge of the school property. He told me that I could watch him ride his bike to school from there and that I could meet him in the same spot after school instead of meeting him as he comes out of the building:-). He has made many friends and his English is amazing. Elizabeth wants to ride her bike to school, but it's too far. They ride around the neighborhood after school. They seem to feel right at home here. That makes us very happy.

Elizabeth has made many friends too. She got invited to another pool party and the past few days she has come home from school with notes from friends asking her to keep in touch over the summer. She isn't speaking much English, but she is understanding more every day. She is an excellent swimmer and would love to be on a swim team.

We talk to V often. He is doing well and would like to come for a visit. I wish it was as simple as purchasing an airline ticket and flying him here, but it's complicated.

There is definitely a learning curve once you get home. Communication is difficult and patience is key. We know how the children feel because we spent over two months in Ukraine where we couldn't communicate well and things were not familiar. We understand that everything here is different and that they are adjusting to a new language and culture. In spite of it, they are doing great!

Thanks for all of your calls, emails, and comments!

Home, Home, Home!

We have been home for almost four weeks now. Both children are in school and like it very much. The children are amazing! They embrace everything with gusto and want to learn English and participate in school. Michael is making new friends every day. He's made so many that he can't remember all of their names so he writes them down in his notebook in Russian so he can tell me. Elizabeth has made many friends too. There is a Ukrainian girl in her class that has been in the US for two years. She speaks English and Russian and has been very good to Elizabeth. They are friends and we look forward to meeting her family. Elizabeth came home from school last week with an invitation to a birthday party. She is always excited to meet new people and try new things.

Thank you for all of the Mother's Day cards and emails! My first Mother's Day was wonderful!

Photos

Most of the photos were taken while we were in Kiev. The top two photos are of V, the children's brother. These were taken at the orphanage. We talk to him often and hope he can come for a visit sometime soon. The second photo on the left is of Elizabeth, Michael, and Karina. Karina is the daughter of our friends who adopted from the same orphanage we did. We spent two weeks with them in Ukraine and enjoyed every minute!

First Class is the Only Way to Fly!

The photo of me with Elizabeth was taken a few minutes after we met when we arrived at the orphanage. The photo of Tim with Michael was taken right after we saw him for the first time since we hosted him.

We have been home for one week. We are so glad that we were able to get on that flight last Thursday. If we did not receive the visas on Thursday morning last week, we would of had to stay in Kiev until at least Monday (4/28). The big May Day holiday celebrations start in Ukraine around April 25th and last approximately one week. Most people travel for the holiday so all of the airlines were booked Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We couldn't get a flight out of Kiev during that time. Starting on Monday there were flights, but they were very expensive. The cheap fares wouldn't be available until May 2. It was all about the timing with receiving the visas and booking 4 one way tickets to the US. We couldn't book our flights until we had the visas in hand, but we didn't know when the visas would be issued. We had a flight reserved for Thursday morning at 11:00am which was the last economy airfare available. Tim wanted to be at the consulate when they opened Thursday morning just in case they had the visas. They didn't have them at 8:30am so we couldn't make the 11:00am flight. They did have them ready at 9:30am so I called every airline I could think of and found 4 one way tickets from Kiev to JFK, but the only thing available was in First Class on Aerosvit (Ukraine Airline). I booked the flights and we had to race to the airport to purchase the tickets by 11:00am or we would lose them. I was so stressed out! Tim got back to the apartment around 10:00am and we had to pay our apt. rent and load our bags in our facilitator's car. The ride to the airport is 45 minutes. We were cutting it so close. There is alot of traffic in Kiev and sometimes it can take 30 minutes to go 5 miles. We hit a couple of traffic jams, but we got lucky and weren't delayed too long. Then we were at a big intersection and the police stopped traffic. I was thinking what are they doing????? Then our facilitator said, "it's the president. He will be passing by in a minute." I'm thinking....this cannot be happening. I was picturing the US Presidential motorcade. You know, 10 police cars followed by 10 suburbans, followed by 5 limos, followed by the President, followed by 10 suburbans, followed by 10 police cars, followed by a few motorcycle police, etc. Well, this one was 2 police cars, an SUV, the President's limo, a police car and that was it. I couldn't believe it! We made it to the airport at 11:45am. We got the tickets and were so happy to be coming home. The only catch was that we didn't have a flight from JFK to Houston. I sent an email to our travel agent as we were leaving Kiev asking him to find us a flight that would get us to Houston. I sent him our flight information so he would know when we were scheduled to land at JFK.

The story continues.... our flight was 2 hours late leaving Kiev. We had already boarded the plane. The good news is that we were in first class so we were very comfortable while we waited. The bad news is that the later we arrived at JFK the fewer flight options were available to get us home the same night. Spending the night in New York isn't something we wanted to do, but at least we were almost home. The pilot made up an hour in the air so we were only 1 hour late arriving. We had to go through passport control and customs. Once we got to the luggage carousel we turned on Tim's blackberry to see if our travel agent had a flight for us. He did! He booked and paid for the tickets using my credit card so all we had to do was check in and make the flight. The race was on again! We landed at 5:35pm. By the time we cleared passport control and got our luggage it was 6:30pm. Our flight was at 7:15pm in another terminal. We didn't have time for bathrooms or drinks. We had to take the tram, get through security, take a shuttle and get to our gate. We got to the gate at 7:10pm. The flight was late arriving so we didn't board until 7:45p. Then they had electrical problems. So we sat on the airplane for another 45 minutes. The kids were great through the entire trip. They were exhausted so when we finally took off and they dimmed the lights the kids passed out.

The kids love their rooms and all of the gifts they have received. Babushka (Grandma) and Deyadushka (Grandpa) came for a visit and took them shopping for school clothes. Babushka also bought them toys and candy. They LOVE their Babushka & Deyadushka! They are sleeping and eating well. We are so happy to be a family!

We are watching my sister's dog, Joey for a few weeks. He is now bilingual. Elizabeth speaks to him in Russian and asks him to sit, lay down, and roll over. He does it as requested. Max responds to anyone in any language as long as they have food.

We had a wonderful dinner with the adoption group last night. It was great to see everyone! We all share this wonderful and complicated experience of international adoption. You all have been there with me every step of the way:-)!

Thank you all for the gifts, cards, emails, and phone calls. Your support means more than you know. We plan to keep the blog updated. Check in with us if you have time. We love to read your comments.

We are home!

We have been home a couple of days now. We arrived at Hobby airport at almost Midnight on Thursday. A huge THANK YOU to Bob for picking us up so late on short notice. We are so thankful to be home. The kids have been sleeping well and eating well. Thank you to everyone who blogged along with us keeping our spirits up when we were feeling blue.

I will post later with details about our last couple of days in Kiev. We didn't know what we were doing until it happened regarding the visas. We also flew to JFK without a flight to Houston so we didn't know how we were going to get home. Everything worked out, but it was very stressful. Of course now that we are home, it doesn't seem like it was as bad as I thought it was:-). We ran in to the couple from St. Louis at the US Consulate, but I did not get their email or phone informaiton. They were headed to the Crimea region on Wednesday (4/23).

The kids are sitting outside playing with the dogs. Julie's dog, Joey, undertands Russian now . Ok, he acts like he understands Elizabeth when she gives him commands. Max remains low key and sits around waiting for the kids to come to him.

Life is wonderful!