A Final Post- So Thankful

To those that still might be out there....

So- as we begin Thanksgiving week I truly can't think of a year I have had more to be Thankful for. The addition of Eli to our family is nothing short of a miracle. Sure we have our hard times, and I know that we are going to have our challenges ahead of us... but just one day like today makes me realize how this little man was born a part of our family. He fits in perfectly and we are all head over heels in love with him!

As an update... he is growing like crazy... haven't officially measured him, but I can say that he is taller than kids he was noticeably shorter than 5 months ago! I was filling out an evaluation form for some testing and I was amazed.. I circled almost every word on the "does he know these words" questionnaire. He is adjusting to preschool- he loves going... however doesn't like it on the 2 days he has to stay an extended day. The biggest adjustments are playing with other kids his age and controlling his energy level... he is non stop all the time- I am used to this being that Jake is the same way... but I am a lot older than when Jake was this active! This is part of why he is getting evaluated- to see what we can do to help him stay focused on something for at least a few minutes. He is getting much more coordinated... something very apparent as he was flying around the basement on his big wheel... something 5 months ago he couldn't figure out how to move at all! And he is learning his letters and numbers, can count to 10- minus 9- he has something against 9!--- sing most of his ABCs and freaks me out with how good of a memory he has... Tonight we were sitting in the basement- which is unfinished (for now) and a big play area for the boys... and Eli kept on pointing to the ceiling by the duct work and saying "get me ball, up Daddy"... and Kenny said... silly there is not a ball up there... and I had a slight recollection of about 4 months ago him throwing a little sticky ball up there... so I told Kenny to lift him up that I thought he might be right... and yep, there it was, a little sticky ball... totally freaked us all out! One heck of a memory!

Ok- feel like I am rambling... but want to assure everyone that we are all doing great... and I feel like now is the time for me to bring this blog to a close as we are now really beginning to adjust to our new and better life!

Many of you know that I have another blog that I have had for a while... that will be where I continue to keep up with what is going on in our lives... if you want to find out more about that blog leave me a comment and I will get back with you! So I will leave you with a couple final photos of Eli! Thanks for all your support over the past 6 months... as a matter of fact we are just shy of our 6 month anniversary of taking off on an airplane to the Ukraine! Man time flies!

Sept. 24

Anyone that knows us knows we both love football... college, nfl, grade school and flag... all of it... I love football games when the weather turns to fall, wish that would happen sooner than later!!!! it was way too hot this weekend for football.




The last 8 days have been all about football... first with the big rival UofL vs. UK football game... we are a divided house with Kenny being a UK fan and me a UofL fan... so naturally the boys are fans of both... Kenny was lucky enough to go to the game and Jake, Eli and I headed over to the Gittings for a fun night out... Jake wore his UofL jersey the 1st half and UK the second, and Eli was outfitted in UK the 1st half and UofL the second... so the outcome wasn't what I had hoped for... but Kenny sure was happy!













Then yesterday Jake had a big game vs. a very good team. We are happy to say that Jake's team is still undefeated in 3 years... the game ended in a 7-7 tie... a true defensive battle... and our opponent scored on a bit of a trick play on the very first play of the game taking the snap before our defense was on the field... a bit of a bummer for 3rd and 4th grade flag football!









Today we headed back up to the field to watch Anna, Maddie, Sidney and Olivia cheer as well as Ryan and Austin play... Eli is Austin's number 1 fan! (I think Sandy would probably argue with me over that!) And Eli has developed a love of football... whenever we talk about going he will say "Eli football big" which means when Eli gets bigger he gets to play football...

















As another update on Eli.... this week Eli gave us a 6 word sentence... I for the life of me can't remember what it was, but I know it had a preposition in it and it made total sense and you could understand it... 3 months home and language is really starting to take shape!

Sept. 12, 2007

Lots has been going on...

The big news is Eli had surgery yesterday. He had tubes placed in his ears, as well as his tonsils and adenoids removed. Additionally we took the time to have him circumcised... He is doing very well for only one day after the surgery--- it is funny when you ask him what hurts, he will usually point to a little scrape he has on his toe!

School has been going fairly well- he is behaving, following the rules- the challenge is just getting him to join in with the other kids- I guess that after all you have been with your whole life is a group of kids your age that you would rather spend time with adults or older kids--- the latest report was he was starting to join in a little more... he does know the names of almost every kid I point out to him and ask him... sooner or later he will show his outgoing bubbly personality to his classmates!

Language continues to progress... he is putting together many words... and is trying to tell more stories. He sings about 30% of the ABC song... can count to 10 (most of the time.) Colors continue to be the biggest challenge... everything is blue... and then green... and then blue again... something we have to just keep working on!

So we are now into football season- well actually baseball is still going on with fall ball... but Eli now has a new appreciation for football too! We taught him to hike the ball to Jake... ok, he might not be the best center yet, but he enjoys it! Jake had his first game this weekend and they pulled out a 9 point victory after a slow start. Jake scored 2 touchdowns! Yep- proud mama here.

A few pictures to share... Bathtime- Eli's favorite time of the day... one from Labor Day...and some football pictures- Mom- we did get a good one of you and Eli there!

First Day of School

I have to admit I have been very anxious about today...Anxious defined as "I couldn't wait for the day to get here," and anxious defined as in "true anxiety of how will it go!" Yep the first day of school.

Now I am very lucky that the boys go to a school where both my mom and my sister teach, and they have a full day 4 year old preschool program... so Eli has had the opportunity to spend a lot of time up at school this summer getting very familiar with everything. We have played in his classroom, spent lots of time with the teachers and preschool director and Eli really likes being at school, however I was still very unsure how he would react. The other nice thing about my mom and my sister being there is that they could check in and give me updates all day long!

So by all reports he did well... we had a few appearances of the "Eli" where he falls to the floor and lays quietly as his display of dissatisfaction... but on the other hand...he participated in the group activities, ate lunch without incident, didn't have any bathroom accidents and most importantly didn't escape from preschool... which was one of my major fears, that he would just run out the door of the preschool building into the main school building!

At the end of the day when I picked him up he was all smiles... and said "school fun!" I would say it was a successful day!

The real test will be tomorrow... again I am anxious to see his reaction when I drop him off in the morning! Wish us luck!

7 weeks home

and things are going well... I wish I had a ton of time to update, but very hectic... Eli is doing very well... some people have asked why we went ahead and started him in OT... we just figured why not... and it is going so well, his balance has really improved, his fine and gross motor skills are developing and he has calmed down "a bit" he is still a VERY energetic little one... we also had our first speech therapy appt last week, well more of a semi evaluation, we were really surprised at how well he did, testing well into the 3 year old level... and then this weekend his language really took off, he has a very expansive one word vocabulary already, but now he is putting them together.... with things like "Mommy open cheese" to open the string cheese he was holding... or "Daddy go work" and many many more...

Last weekend Eli got the experience of his first wedding- my little sister Beaven's, and to top it off he was in it... he was amazing, he walked down the aisle without missing a beat- holding Jake's hand... and he was a perfect gentleman... I have lots of pictures to post, and promise not to take a whole month to do it, but I need to run, so I will leave you with just one picture, one that I can't take credit for... Jake at all of 9 years old captured this one with my camera of Eli and my new brother-in-law... Ty...

Keeping busy

Our life has always been busy, and things haven't changed much with the new little guy thrown in the mix... Eli is adapting better than I think I could have ever expected... it is me that is having the harder time having to adapt to chasing around a VERY active little one... I have to admit that I am exhausted at the end of every day...

Kenny is back to work, and I am working a lot from home and have made it into the office a handful of days for a few hours at a time...we did it this way to get Eli adjusted to me being gone for longer amounts of time each day, and he seems to be doing well with it... only the first day did he really cry when I left him with Paige.

We also started Occupational Therapy for Eli... we are in LOVE with our OT Lauryl, at Meaningful Play 2 here in Louisville... she has worked with a lot of adopted Ukrainians. We are mainly focused on Eli's motion and activity level trying to work with those... get him a little more coordinated and a little less all over the place all the time... Soon we will be starting speech therapy as well to give him every chance we can to develop into a healthy and happy little guy.

Eli loves the pool... has to be his favorite place to be... and it keeps him contained in one place...

That's all for now- but a few pics of the little guy for you to enjoy!

We are HOME!!!!

And so glad to be here!
I have a lot to update on.... but one piece of business, Galya, we don't have your email address and would like to email you... if you can please email us at k.zickel@insightbb.com! Thanks... and do you happen to know what "tooka" or "tuka" or "tukya" might be, he says it all the time, and seems to be happy to say it but we don't have a clue what it is!

So, since I last updated here is a very quick run down

On Monday we travelled back to Preluky.
On Tuesday we went to Eli's birth city and got his birth certificate switched with us listed as the parents, then we headed to Cherniv to do something- not sure what and back to Preluky to get Eli from the orphanage, it took a while but by around 4 pm we had him in the car and were out of there for good... we headed back to Kiev and spent our first night together- just Kenny, Eli and me.
On Wednesday- Galya had to head back to Cherniv to get the passport so we spent the entire day with Eli... we played, went shopping to buy him some underwear and took him to McDonalds where he ate his first Happy Meal- and it sure did make him Happy- he ate every last bit of it in no time flat!
On Thursday it was off to the medical exam- where he did excellent with the doctor, totally cooperating and answering all of his questions, he had gained 2 pounds since we had been to the doctor about 2 weeks before! Then off to the US Embassy to get his Visa... we had a few hours to spare before we headed back to the Embassy to find out the great news that his Visa was ready so we were free to fly home on Friday.
On Friday we started a very long trip... it was so sad to leave Galya--- she was so amazing, I couldn't fight back the tears... I admit, I was completely scared to get on that plane with that guy without her there... and then when we got on it Eli totally lost it, he was going crazy... the gentleman next to me asked if it was his first time flying, I explained it was, and it was complicated by the fact that we had no idea what he was saying... well what do you know but this guy spoke fluent Ukrainian and English and was AMAZING with kids... he was able to help us calm down Eli... a TRUE blessing! The next two flights he was fine, well if you call standing up telling everyone HI and waving fine! Kenny and I decided we were going to try to keep him up and get him nearer to US time... and it sort of worked! he is pretty adjusted already to the time... so, we landed in Louisville right around 10pm on Friday and were greeted by a small group of family... we pretty much ran to the gate to see Jake... and the tears were flowing from all of us... (OH- and Jake's hair was cut SHORT--- but he looks so handsome!) Eli was a little timid.... he said hi to Jake but really wanted either Kenny or I to hold him... then we went to the house where they had Papa Johns Pizza waiting for us!!! YUM a true taste of America! Eli was checking everything out but still not talking much, then, he was sitting at the table, just him and Pop (that is my dad) eating his pizza, and Eli bent over to his side, popped back up and said cookoo, which is basically Ukrainian for peeakaboo! it was precious, after that he was Mr Talkative.

So--- we have been home now for 3 days and the little guy is transitioning very well... in the first few days here he has been to 2 baseball games, 1 softball game, a cookout, eaten at Wendy's, been to a Father's Day Brunch, ridden his bike and fallen down the steps. He is sleeping pretty well at night, but isn't much for naps during the day. He is a superstar at the ballpark, first of all he is the Red Sox (Jake's team) good luck charm, they won the last 2 games he has been at and are now in the Championship game... he loves to talk to people, say "hi", wave, throw the ball, play on the playground and is so happy when we are up there!

Not that it has been all great, he is super active, keeping us running at all times, we have had a few communication problems, but he seems to be learning more each day... today he went to the kitchen, moved a chair to the sink, climbed up, got out the cup he had been using earlier, walked over to me and said "WATER" can you believe it!!! I about flipped out... after 2 days! He seems to be understanding some of what we are saying to him... we are making it work some how!

I will post more in the next few days... trying to get back in the swing of things, but mainly focusing on trying to love on this little guy as much as we can and make sure that he knows that he is not going anywhere and like it or not he is stuck with us forever!

Kenny and I want to thank everyone for all of your support... all of your comments on this blog has meant so much to us... I want to keep it going for a while to keep documenting Eli's progress! Hope you continue to stop by and see what we are up to :)

All our Love, Kenny, Shannon, Jake and Eli!

Meet Eli....

Here is our little guy.... again, he doesn't like getting his picture yet, but as soon as he can understand English and we can bribe him like we do Jake then I am sure his attitude toward the camera will change ;)

So... is he not ADORABLE!!!! can't wait for you all to meet him in person... but be forwarned, he is a little shy at first, but once he gets past that he is all personality!

We will keep this one short, I want to make sure the pictures get loaded... we are back in Kiev until tomorrow, we will go get our plane tickets tomorrow and then head back to Preluky for one more night... we should be taking him out of the orphanage on Tuesday, then coming right back to Kiev... our plans are to fly home on Friday! we will arrive late on Friday night---- (for a while we thought we might be able to get out of here on Thursday, but there are NO flights leaving on Thursday, can you believe that!) Anyway, we are excited to be in our last few days... now we are off to Fridays again!!!! Chicken fingers and honey mustard here I come!

One week and counting!

First off, Mom you had us all rolling, if you didn't read my mom's comment on the last blog post you have to... it is hysterical... actually Kenny and I were thinking about souveniers and we thought we didn't need to buy you one, that we would just let you have Eli for a month... isn't a new grandson enough of a souvenier???? imagine a month with a 4 year old has to be easier than a month with an 8 year old!!!!

So, today we visited our little guy again, and let me tell you- he really is all about testing his freedom with us... when the room "mamas" are around he is all business, doing exactly what he is told... minding, behaving, when he gets us alone, he is a holy terror! Galya even taught us to say "Mama scazala..." like in Mama says no, or mama says come here... it is suppossed to be very intimidating... well not so much, he just turns and laughs and goes right back to what he is doing... yep, we have a little handful here... We gave him a granola bar for the first time today, he loved that, and he can't get enough of the juice boxes, he literally starts drinking and doesn't stop until it is all gone. We also tried on some of the clothes we bought him today, he got so excited, and didn't want to take them off, maybe he really doesn't like wearing Minnie Mouse clothing! We will visit Eli again tomorrow morning and then we are headed back to Kiev for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, we will return her to Preluky on Monday for hopefully just one more night... if all goes well Monday and Tuesday we will be able to take him from the orphanage for good on Tuesday night and head back to Kiev!

Last night we taught Galya how to play Sequence, and after a few games she really got the hang of it, actually too well, she beat us both 3 in a row! Beginners Luck! Then we started in with the Sopranos---- we had some difficulty with the season 1 disc so we ended up skipping to season 2... intense show! we have that on the agenda again for tonight!

We haven't commented much on the Ukrainian lifestyle... a few things that we have noticed. First, everyone eats icecream ALL THE TIME. I mean at any point there are 20 people on the street eating icecream, doesn't matter if it is 8 am or 8 pm... it is all the time... the same goes for drinking beer... come to think of it Angie and Todd would fit right in here, people are short and drink beer all the time (Love you guys!) However Angie's fashion taste- you know the sweatpants!!!! would certainly not fit in here... the women are dressed up ALL THE TIME... we were told to dress simply so not to bring attention to ourselves, well dressing simply does bring attention to us... the women of all ages are seriously dressed as if they were headed to a night club.... the more clevage the better, this includes the children, pre teens and teenagers! and the heels!!!! wow! and they walk EVERWHERE in 3 or 4 inch heels with straps going half way up their legs! Oh, also, it is not important at all for your clothes to match... they rarely do, and that isn't just in the orphanage, and for the hair, well Kenny swears there was a clearance sale on Clairol Pink hair color, since almost every hair style has a bit of pink in it! As for the guys it is all about the Adidas and Nike shirts, the tighter the better, and sandals with SOCKS! yep, have to wear the socks with the sandals! Shorts are very rare... and Dolce and Gabana is the choice knock off designer brand for everyone! Yep, Kenny and I stick out like crazy as the American Tourists! And another thing... driving, you know street signs, lines on the road, stop lights are all just "suggestions" you can really do whatever you want, even drive and park on the sidewalks! Pedestrians don't get angry, they just get out of the way! And the bike riders, seriously, not sure how they stay on the bikes... the drivers whiz by them within inches going 50mph or more and they don't even wobble... me, I would be lying flat on the road! And the dogs and cats, they just roam around everywhere, they know to get out of the way of cars too... Kenny swears he saw a bobcat walking the streets yesterday, I didn't see it, but I actually believe that he saw it!

Well that is it for today... a few business things... Paige- so excited about the primary color dump trucks!!!!!! exactly the look I was hoping for ;) no really, we sent you and mom and Beaven some emails... if you don't get them please call us tomorrow at the apartment in Kiev or at the other number I gave Dad, we might need some help with our plane tickets, it seems as if some of our emails aren't getting through... and tell Clay we are so excited he got a hit!

Again, all our love, we miss you all.. can't wait to be home!

Oh- one final note... Eli learned to say Jake!!!!! :) and he can point him out in the pictures! Jake your little brother can't wait to meet you!


Kenny and Shannon

Real quick post tonight

sorry, we were late getting to the internet cafe and only have a few minutes left... we spent most of our time again trying to get a picture to you all, we have tried emailing it to both mom and Paige, hopefully they will get it and can share. We bought Eli a few things to wear today when he gets to leave the orphanage, not much of a selection here, really doesn't fit in with my Gap and Abercrombie taste ;)

Other than that last night Kenny and I took up our Rummy game again and guess who is in the lead now... yep that is right!!!! I have taken control... I made it to 2000 first, he doesn't believe me when I said we were playing 2000 Rummy. And then we watched Napoleon Dynamite... OK, who thought this movie was good???? we just kept waiting for there to be a plot... oh well, hopefully our movie choice will be better tonight, OK, only a few more seconds... got to go, love you all and will type more tomorrow!

Kenny and Shannon

Oh well...

we have been trying for the last 1/2 hour to get a picture loaded on here, unfortunately the picture is too large and the computer doesn't have any photo editing software for us to resize it... at least not that we can figure out in russian!

Today we were able to take Eli on a short trip to get his passport picture taken... he was so concentrating on sitting still like the photographer said that he wouldn't smile... but he looked cute anyway!

Other than that we had a good visit with him, however he is getting more and more upset every time we have to leave him there, he is ready to be gone, as are we!

Beaven- Kenny says that he is sorry he missed your dress fitting ;)

And as for what superhero he likes, right now it appears he likes Minnie Mouse and Flowers since he is often dressed in girls clothes... as I said, no gender specific clothing at this place!

We tried out a new resteraunt today, it was really nice... you would have never known it from the street... they had the best garlic rolls... better than any I have tasted in the US...

Last night I finished my book... wish I had the sequel to read right now, and Kenny watched Caddy Shack... We also took a nice long walk... we also stopped by the grocery and found Kenny some Nutella to eat and me some bread and cheese, so that was dinner for last night...

One other bit of good news, Galya's trip yesterday went great and it appears we are on schedule to get out of here next Friday... that means we are in the single digits of nights left to stay in the Ukraine... we can't wait!!!!! and less than a week until we are able to take him from the orphanage for good!

That's it for now, we are going to go back to playing with the pictures to see how we might be able to get them to you all.

All our Love,
Kenny and Shannon

All by ourselves!!!!

So today has been a pretty memorable day... we actually made it through the day all alone without our translator who had to go out of town to work on some paperwork. We slept in and grabbed a cab to the orphanage at about 10:30 where after about 10 minutes we were able to find Eli and his group out on a walk... Shana --- in answer to your question... Eli is in a group of about 12 children, all of which are boys except for 2... he is in the youngest group in this home... I think they start taking children at this home after they turn 4... I would have imagined if we wouldn't have come along that in the next few months he would have moved up to the next group.... It looks as if they have kids up until about 7 or 8 at this home... and yes the girls all wear really big bows in their hair! So, after we found Eli we did some more bubble blowing, coloring and walking, except today Eli just wanted us to carry him, he wasn't much in the walking mood... Oh, and we can't forget the snacks... he loves when we bring him snacks... today it was some fruit snacks, some grape juice, which when he finished he kept putting the straw in and out to lick off any last drop he could... oh, and some raisins... the kid loves raisins! After that we were able to get a cab back to the center of town to the resteraunt we normally eat out... we were able to order- well since the same waitress has waited on us the previous 5 times we have eaten there it wasn't very hard... we were able to say spaghetti et serum (which is spaghetti noodles with a little cheese sprinkled on it) and fries... which you say... frees.... oh, and a coca-cola light for me, which is diet coke... after that we headed back to the sanctuary of our room where Kenny did some work for a few hours and I started reading the book "Size 12 isn't Fat" that Beaven gave me... about 1/2 way done with it now... really fun good read! Then we decided to venture out to the internet cafe all by ourselves and were able to get set up no problems... I think we are starting to get accustomed to the Ukraine, only took us 2 weeks! Not that we want to stay here any longer than we have to :)

And... we were feeling a little bad for calling you all slackers but man, glad we did, you all came through... loved reading all the comments... bummer about the 5/6 girls losing in the championship--- but congrats on making it that far! and cracked me up what Jake was going to say in church... the people in the cafe started looking at me I was laughing so loud... oh and Mason- we haven't seen your friend, but if we do we will surely tell him hi for you! And... as for clothes, are apartment in Kiev has a washer so we lucked out in that department, we have done laundry 2x... otherwise we would have been out of options on how to wear things!

As for pictures, of course I have taken a ton... but no way to download them to the computer, but we have another idea, hopefully this weekend we can get them to a developer in Kiev, get them printed then scanned and posted... it is worth a shot, you all need to see how cute this little guy is! Speaking of pictures, either tomorrow or Thursday we will probably be taking him to get his passport picture taken, he will love that because it means another ride in a car outside of the orphanage!

That's all for today... again, we love and miss everyone dearly... looks like around 10 days and counting!!!!! We'd love to make it home for the first Red Sox tourney game next weekend!

All our Love, Kenny and Shannon

Slackers!

Only 9 comments, here we were so excited to be able to get to the computer 2 days in a row and we open up the blog with only 9 comments to read :) Do you know how desperate we are for American interaction! We get so excited when the commercials come on for the French Open because they are in English!!!! and then when an American Video comes on on MTV... Jake- we saw the Fergie video today and thought of you---- Yep, Jake has a bit of a crush on Fergie! Daddy says he has good taste!

So we have officially moved to Preluky for the next 5 days... we will most likely go back to Kiev for the weekend. We like our hotel room, it has an air conditioner which is a rarity that actually blows cold air! and it has a small refrigerator and a big bathroom... we are living it up now!

After getting moved in we took a walk, got aquainted with the area... we are just 1.5 blocks from a very small internet cafe... so we will hopefully be able to get on every day for the next few days to check in.... They only have 2 internet computers though, so no guarantees... the rest of the computers are used by a bunch of pre teen and teen age boys playing games!

We had our first afternoon visit with Eli today... it was cooler here and he had on some cute cords and a nice Minnie Mouse Sweatshirt ;) They aren't really concerned with gender specific clothes around here! We had brought him some bubbles and he enjoyed chasing them and popping them and then blowing them for daddy to pop as well! We also did some more coloring and just a lot of walking, he kept on trying to get us to walk him out of the orphanage- I think he is ready to leave- just like us! Leaving today was harder than normal, he really got upset... but we just keep on telling him we will be back tomorrow. We are on the down hill slide now... by our calculations we have been here longer than we have left to stay! Eager to get it down to single digit days!

And finally- we finished Season 2 of Entourage last night---- we looked around some DVD shops in Kiev to see if they had Season 3... but no luck! Oh, and I am sure Kenny would like you all to know that he is currently kicking my rear in Rummy... and last night when we played Sequence with the Anezskos him and Jim beat Iris and I 7 games to 1.... Kenny was cheating! (he said I should take that off of here, but I am not going to cause he was!) Tonight I think we might start watching the Sopranos... we got a lot of nights to fill.

Well---- now it is your turn, tell us what is going on back at home! We will check back in often... Miss everyone...

All our Love
Kenny and Shannon

The BEST day yet!

Yep, that was yesterday for so many reasons!

First off it was my Nannie's Birthday! I am so sad I wasn't able to be there for her party! Missed you and thought of you often yesterday, sorry I wasn't able to get through to you by phone!

We visited Eli yesterday morning for about an hour and a half and it was by far our best visit yet... when we arrived he was already outside playing with his group... imagine, 13 - 4 year olds running around outside in just shoes, socks, underwear and a hat... Clay would have loved to hang out with this group! He saw us and caught me off guard when he didn't come right to us, but instead was more focused on telling his caregiver that he was leaving with us... so I am thinking he likes to follow the rules- that is a good thing. We took him to another outside area of the orphanage where there was a bench/table (well it worked for that purpose) and we pulled out the coloring book and crayons that we had purchased for him and they were a huge HIT... he is still a scribbler but he does hold the crayon correctly and would try to color near the lines! He also purposely changed colors... not that he was coloring anything the right color, but he knew without a doubt when he wanted a new one. About 30 minutes into our visit the other couple from Louisville who are adopting from the same orphanage walked by with their son... we were all able to play together for the rest of the visit... we threw ball a bit, Eli took more of an interest in the ball than he had in the past and even improved his throwing arm... initially when he threw he would have his hand behind his head so when he released it would hit him in the back of the head and bounce off, good thing it was a soft ball.... Speaking of ball--- Jake- Mommy and Daddy are proud of you for making the Champions team- can't wait to get back home and watch you play again! So as our visit came to an end I always get anxious to see how Eli is going to react, he often goes into shut down mode .... but as Tonya (the interpreter with us) explained to him that we would be back on Monday he started to get sad and she told him to give us hugs and kisses goodbye and he ran to me and gave me the BIGGEST hug I have gotten from him yet, it was so full of LOVE... Kenny and I were both so encouraged to see that...

When we arrived back in Kiev we took some time to relax and watched the Italian Job movie... they had a funny one liner in the movie about not messing with the Ukrainians! and then we played a game of Rummy- Kenny currently is kicking my tail! and finally made plans to go to downtown Kiev with another couple the (forgive me ahead of time I am going to butcher the spelling of their last name) Anesko's... they are in the final days of adopting Max- a precious 2 year old who we have gotten to share a flat with for the last 2 days...we went to FRIDAYS and it was REAL American food! We had the works, appetizer, dinner and desert... such a nice treat... menus in English, potato skins and real chicken fingers... and then once back at the flat and with Max down for bed we watched Bruce Almighty... a fun flick!

But we had one more treat for the night... Kenny and I set our alarm to get up at 2am to call home... there were several people over at our house working on Eli's room... so fun to talk to so many people...we can't thank you enough for doing this for us... we are sure Eli is going to love his new home and what you all have put together for him! What a FUN surprise it will be for all of us! Kenny and I have talked over and over again about how lucky we are... we have the best family and friends any two people could ever hope for. Thanks for all your support... we so look forward to getting to the internet to be able to read the emails and comments on this blog, it becomes the hilight of our days! so keep them coming ;)

Tomorrow we may be moving to Pryluky for 5 or 6 days... so that we can visit Eli every day until we get to take him with us for good! We will keep you posted! Miss everyone

All our Love,
Shannon and Kenny

We made it through court!

It was certainly interesting... the judge was a very friendly man with a smile, which is not all that common around here, he asked us lots of questions... one that I found very funny was if we were hiding any money from the government! Wish I could say we were! He asked about how we were going to adjust to life with this new guy, and I answered honestly... I have no idea...we will just figure it out like any new parents do!

So according to the Ukraine law he is now officially a Zickel, we just have to get through the 10 day waiting period.... and then we are in the home stretch. I tell you the one thing that got me during the court process was that they repeated several times that he had lived his entire life in the orphanage- just something hard to hear over and over again!

After court we went back to the orphanage where they were celebrating Protection of Children Day (June 1 in the Ukraine) a English tobacco company was sponsoring a puppet show, and treats for the entire orphanage, they had already started by the time we arrived and when Eli saw us standing at the door he came running to us... we grabbed a seat but that didn't last for long... he was all over the place... reminds me of Jake as a little guy... he would move from my lap to Kenny's lap, climb over the chairs back to his room Mama... and on and on... and yes, most of the other kids were sitting enjoying the show... we are certainly going to have our hands full with this guy! We didn't get to visit long today, we had to head back to Kiev so the faciliators could drop off paperwork... but gave us the chance to pop in to the internet cafe for a while! Please keep all the good thoughts and prayers coming, they are working, and I know we are going to need them when we get home too to help with the transition!
All Our Love! Shannon and Kenny

Things are looking good!

Again, I wish we had more frequent access to the internet and to phones... sorry for the delay, but we have some great news to share. On Tuesday we were able to get some papers signed and then were able to arrange to take ---oh, I guess we should share his name... Elijiah Cooper Zickel - Eli for short! we thought it sounded sort of like Igor and it just felt right to both of us!---- so anyway, we were able to arrange to take him to Kiev to the American Medical Center where we met with a pediatrician from New Jersey who of all things is a Rutgers grad... we had a nice exchange about the Big East rivalry. We wanted to get an opinion about some of the reports that were in his records that weren't adding up. The doctor evaluated him the best he could... Eli didn't want to cooperate much, he is not a crier and screamer, but just shuts down... the first thing we are going to tackle with him. Anyway after talking with us and the caregivers and doing a short exam he said that he couldn't with 100% certainty but he would not based on his exam recommend any additional tests/MRIs etc... and that he would most likely with proper nutrition, love and care develop into a healthy young little boy. He is little... at 4 1/2 years old he is 5% in height (38.5 inches) and 10% in weight 30 lbs. but the doctor was encouraged that he was at least on the charts. So based on that evaluation, and what our hearts are telling us, little Eli will hopefully be coming home with us in just over 2 weeks. We have our court date tomorrow- that is the next big step, the judge has to give us the OK and then from there it is a 10 day waiting period, then 3 or 4 days of getting paperwork, going to his birth city, getting a passport, another medical exam and clearance from the US embassy. God has been with us, Galya our faciliator has been able to work some miracles that has taken 4 or 5 days easily out of the process for us!!!! But ---Please continue to keep us in your prayers, it really is rough over here- we miss home a lot... We were sad last night when thinking about Jake being at his ball game and we weren't there to cheer him on.... Oh, Jennifer and Rick- we watched all of Season 1 of Entourage last night! most likely will tackle Season 2 tonight, we are HOOKED! Not sure when we will have access again, but as soon as we do we will update...

PS- for those of you who read my blog that are waiting to adopt from the Ukraine at some point when we are back in the states I promise to give a detailed overview of all the steps of our journey, I know when I was waiting to travel I read blogs to find out more information... I will share the full story - my prayers are with you as you get ready to set out on your journey!

Things are looking good!

Again, I wish we had more frequent access to the internet and to phones... sorry for the delay, but we have some great news to share. On Tuesday we were able to get some papers signed and then were able to arrange to take ---oh, I guess we should share his name... Elijiah Cooper Zickel - Eli for short! we thought it sounded sort of like Igor and it just felt right to both of us!---- so anyway, we were able to arrange to take him to Kiev to the American Medical Center where we met with a pediatrician from New Jersey who of all things is a Rutgers grad... we had a nice exchange about the Big East rivalry. We wanted to get an opinion about some of the reports that were in his records that weren't adding up. The doctor evaluated him the best he could... Eli didn't want to cooperate much, he is not a crier and screamer, but just shuts down... the first thing we are going to tackle with him. Anyway after talking with us and the caregivers and doing a short exam he said that he couldn't with 100% certainty but he would not based on his exam recommend any additional tests/MRIs etc... and that he would most likely with proper nutrition, love and care develop into a healthy young little boy. He is little... at 4 1/2 years old he is 5% in height (38.5 inches) and 10% in weight 30 lbs. but the doctor was encouraged that he was at least on the charts. So based on that evaluation, and what our hearts are telling us, little Eli will hopefully be coming home with us in just over 2 weeks. We have our court date tomorrow- that is the next big step, the judge has to give us the OK and then from there it is a 10 day waiting period, then 3 or 4 days of getting paperwork, going to his birth city, getting a passport, another medical exam and clearance from the US embassy. God has been with us, Galya our faciliator has been able to work some miracles that has taken 4 or 5 days easily out of the process for us!!!! But ---Please continue to keep us in your prayers, it really is rough over here- we miss home a lot... We were sad last night when thinking about Jake being at his ball game and we weren't there to cheer him on.... Oh, Jennifer and Rick- we watched all of Season 1 of Entourage last night! most likely will tackle Season 2 tonight, we are HOOKED! Not sure when we will have access again, but as soon as we do we will update...

PS- for those of you who read my blog that are waiting to adopt from the Ukraine at some point when we are back in the states I promise to give a detailed overview of all the steps of our journey, I know when I was waiting to travel I read blogs to find out more information... I will share the full story - my prayers are with you as you get ready to set out on your journey!

Monday May 28th

Hello all,

sorry it is so long between updates, we don't get to the internet cafe often.

This is going to be short, we have met with the little boy three times now... on the first visit they disclosed some medical information that wasn't given to us initially, and it has raised some concerns- ones that we don't feel we can let go without having checked out. So later this week, could be anywhere from Tuesday-Thursday we will be bringing him to Kiev to have him looked at by doctors at the American Medical Center here. We have been doing a lot of praying for a conclusive diagnosis that will help make our final decision a peaceful one. Please keep us in your prayers that regardless of what the diagnosis is that it is perfectly clear! We love you all and miss you dearly. We will update again as soon as we can.

Shannon and Kenny

We're Here!!!!

Hi everyone... well we made it... all of the flights were wonderful.... great for someone who is a little hesitant to jump on an airplane. When we arrived in the Ukraine yesterday we were met by Galya who will be our facilitator... She is an amazing woman... she has a great wit and knows just how to keep me in check! We found out we were going to be able to stay the first night in an apartment with another couple from Louisville (Anita and Tom)who are also adopting and have been here a week... it was great to be able to talk with someone about the process for a while. Then Anita, Tonya (Anita and Tom's facilitator) and I went for a walk... a good stress relieving, work up a sweat kind of walk. Kenny and Tom stayed back and actually watched Ukranian TV...

We went to bed early to prepare for this morning... our appointment ended up being at 11 am Ukranian time, which would be 4 am Louisville time. I was nervous (and Kenny says he was a little bit nervous too!)as we got ready to go in but just decided to let go and trust a higher power. We were greeted by Tatiyana the translater who took us in to meet with Zarena the psycologist... we showed them the photo album we put together and they asked lots of questions and looked at every page... (Thank goodness Charlie and Todd's pictures were not in there!) then they asked us what type of child we were looking for... Zarena then said she had a child's file she had just gotten and she wanted to make a few calls to see if the child was at the orphanage as it stated.... after a few minutes, and lots of conversations we did not understand they explained they were going to start by showing us one file but if we wanted to see more we just had to ask... They then mentioned that the little BOY they were going to show us was about 4 1/2 years old... and that they thought he looked like Jake... they talked some more about him and his situation and then showed us his picture... and he DOES look like Jake... now the picture was taken 2 years ago... so who knows what he looks like now.... if all goes well we will meet him tomorrow to see if everything checks out... there might be some red tape around his situation, we will have more information in the next 24 hours or so... Keep the prayers up... they are working!!!!!! We are not sure where we will be staying yet... the orphanage is about 2 hours from Kiev... and we hear there might not be an internet cafe in that region.... but hope to be able to post again soon. Keep the messages and posts coming... we love hearing from you! All our love, K & S

We're Off!

Dad is sitting here telling me to get off the computer, Kenny is throwing luggage down the stairs... and I am still trying to fight off the tears! In less than 2 hours we will be on the plane and the adventure will begin... I hope to update in the next day or two... Thanks for all the prayers, well wishes and support... we have the most amazing friends! I know that Jake will be in great hands while we are away! All our love

Shannon and Kenny

2 weeks

2 weeks from this very moment we will be in the Detroit airport waiting to board a flight to Amsterdam... then about 8 hours later we will jump on a 2 hour flight to Kiev where the last leg of our 18 month journey will begin. Between now and then we have a lot to do... we have a room to get ready- well not really ready, but cleaned out and ready to be made ready... we have lots of packing to do, we have lots of baseball and most of all we have lots of lovin on Jake to do! I wanted to go ahead and get this blog set up... our hope is that we will be able to update often while we are away, to let Jake and all the rest of our friends and family be a part of our journey... one that will change our lives in ways I can't even imagine at this point...
S.