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It has been a long time since we have updated the blog. Turns out another kid in the house makes you even busier than you were before. Go figure.
To make up for our long silence, here is a video of Jonas saying his prayers before bed. Enjoy!!!
Prayer time with Jonas from Jason Epperly on Vimeo.
Things are going very well here at home. Jonas is fitting in well and interacting with us and his sisters very well. He struggles around the same things every kid struggles, eating and time for bed :. He is learning english extremely fast (understanding what we are saying). He is making a lot more noise, but still struggles with pronouncing words correctly.
The girls have been doing really well with him and have learned pretty quickly how to deal with any language issues. They have really enjoyed having the new brother. They also like the fact that along with a brother there are a lot of new toys too :)
Jonas has gone through all his medical checks and is now officially "healthy". We are working on getting him in touch with a speech therapist still, so we will let you know how all that goes.
We are home… more updates to come, but right now we have a lot of hugging to catch up on!
We are done here, just waiting until 4:30 a.m. when our driver picks us up to take us to the airport. The flight is scheduled to land in Charlotte at 3:40 p.m., however, we also have to go through immigration. I am not sure how long this will take. I don’t want you guys to be just waiting for hours, so I don’t think anyone should worry about showing up until at least 4:00 (just a suggestion).
We are so ready to go, can’t wait to see all our wonderful family and friends. Friday will be a different kind of day at the Epperly House. Thank you for following our journey, it has been a long 31 days for us and our girls at home (but by adoption standards it was quite fast).
We will keep you posted as to what happens when we get home, but don’t expect post everyday :)
Take care and God Bless!
I want to share some pictures of the people that we have met on our journey.
This is Vanya, he met us at the airport, stayed with us and did all of our running around to get our paperwork done. He was always just a phone call away. What a great guy!
Vanya and his sweet Mom, Olga. TOur first night in Gorlovka we had dinner at their house and it was great! They introduced us to Buckwheat and we love it! This picture was taken our last week here when they came over to our apartment and had dinner with us.
This is us with Kostya (our Facilitator, and dossier expert), his wonderful wife Olga and their son Nikita. What can I say about them other than they are awesome. They had us over many times, took us to the market, called to checked on us, and translated for us in church. We had such a great time getting to know them and spending time with them. We hope that they will visit us soon.
This is Ira, Igor and little Erin (their newly adopted baby girl). They came over tonight and we had pizza. They are an amazing family with such big hearts. Erin is a very blessed little girl.
I wish that I had a picture of our driver Atari. We spent a lot of time in his car and we know he can dodge potholes like nobody else! Most of the time I just sat back and closed my eyes.
I feel a special connection with these great people, can’t really explain it just know that it’s there. God’s timing and the plans he has for us are perfect. We could have been anywhere in Ukraine, but our son was in this region and I am so thankful for that. I just wanted you all (and them) to know how much they mean to us!
Good-bye’s are hard for me, so we will leave it with “ see you later” .
Love you all and God Bless!
We are almost all packed up for leaving in the morning. We leave our apartment at 7am and if all goes as planned we will not be coming back to it. Off to get the birth certificate and passport. This should take the most of the day. We will jump on the train to Kiev tomorrow night.
As a special note to our avid blog “followers” (addicts), we will be moving back into the land of limited internet access. Expect fewer posts, each with fewer pictures. To hold you over, here some pics from the last couple of days.
Prayer requests. We are asking for a smooth paperwork process with tomorrows documents and safe travel as we start making our way back home.
We were able to take custody of Jonas yesterday. It was rough for Jonas to leave his care givers. He was really upset to have to say good bye to the only thing he has really known for 2 years. We got to the car, and we were out of there. Last night was AWESOME. Great time playing together, eating dinner and bath time. He is very curious and likes to touch everything (typical 4 year old stuff).
And then there was bed time…
Bed time was not easy. Jonas was NOT ready, but we are trying hard NOT to mess up his schedule too much, and he is normally in bed by 9. So it was 9, and he has mastered “No” already :) It took about an hour of sitting with him before he gave up crying and relented to sleep.
This morning… more AWESOME. He seems quite ready for all this. Breakfast and teeth brushing went smoothly and now… more playing. Today our girls will get to talk to their little brother for the first time, we know how excited they are for that. We can’t wait until we are all together. Morgan, Emma, and Madeline are going to teach him so much!
What is next?
Here is the plan. We are now officially in the “Exit Phase”
LUFTHANSA 19FEB MUNICH CHARLOTTE NC 1130A 340P
LH 428 THURSDAY MUNICH INTERNATIONAL DOUGLAS
ECONOMY AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300
We thank you all for you prayers and encouragement. Looking so forward to being home. Happy Valentine’s Day.
God Bless!
We had a great visit today. We got to be alone with Jonas for the entire visit. We have established that this is what sad Jonas looks like
We have mastered the “high five” and “gimme some knuckles”
We now know that Jonas likes bubbles (who doesn’t)
Here is our self taken group photo (hard to hold the camera and shoot)
We are really looking forward to getting a FULL family photo as soon as possible. Need our girls in the picture to make a FAMILY photo.
Sorry for the delay in updates. We visited the orphanage yesterday and had a good visit with Jonas and his group. I am pretty sure these kids don’t see a lot of Men here. I started picking each of them up and spinning them, throwing them up and the air, etc. and you would have thought I just invented the light bulb. Every kid lining up for their turn on the Jason ride. I was quite popular. We did not get a lot of private time with Jonas, but it was a great visit anyway.
Today we are off to the market. We went Sunday afternoon and picked up a Jacket and some boots for Jonas. The boots fit, the jacket did not. We now know that Jonas is not a 36 jacket size (whatever that means). So we are off to try to exchange the jacket for a smaller size. We venturing off without a translator, so I hope I don’t end up accidentally buying another jacket :)
We had another good visit with Jonas today. It was a little rough in the beginning. The care givers told us he was waiting on us yesterday (we did not go to the orphanage yesterday) and he had been grumpy all morning today. He had created some artwork for us. It shows Mom & Dad with Jonas in the middle. We are all holding hands.
Jonas really likes the computer (wow, is that going to work out). We have been showing him a lot of family photos and playing some games too. I am not sure which he likes better, the pictures or all the buttons on the computer :)
Status update:
We are 3 days into our 10 day waiting period. We will be able to take custody of Jonas on Saturday, February 14th. We have to stay in Gorlovka until Monday in order to get Jonas’s birth certificate. We will then be able to ride the train to Kiev on Monday night and start with our final paperwork steps on Tuesday. Won’t be long until we are on our way back HOME!!!
Some other good news came to us yesterday. Our friend Ira was able to adopt the abandoned baby girl we talked about in a previous post. We were invited over yesterday for the celebration. It was quite the event. Here is me with “Erina” (her new name). Talk about a great home to be in.
We were able to take a trip to the big store (a Ukrainian version of Sam’s club) and we picked up a few items for Jonas to wear. He wears a ~5T shirt and we are still sorting out pant and shoe sizes.
We finally had our day in court. Things went really smooth (considering) and we have our court decree (that is fancy for “You may adopt this child” approval from the court). We are now officially in the “10 day waiting period. We will be able to officially claim February 14th as Jonas’s “Gotcha Day”. How cool is that! After this date, and as soon as we have our paperwork done, we will leave for Kiev!
Just wanted to let you all know that the papers were signed and they are on the night train headed our way. Tomorrow we will go to court at 11:00. Not really sure what to expect in court, guess we’ll let you know tomorrow.
Didn’t really have a long visit today, our taxi was having some difficulty so we had to stop at a garage and get something fixed. We probably saw Jonas for about 30 minutes or so.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, keep them coming.
We showed up today for our morning visit. Jonas was REALLY upset and we finally figured out why. We heard the other children getting ready to go outside to play (and so did Jonas). This means that we would have blocked his outside playtime (a rare event in the winter months) for a second time. I (Sharon) played charades with the caregiver, we wanted to get his outside clothes so we could take him out with his class. They got it pretty quick, I guess I am good at that game! Playing outside was fun, the playground is really nice. These kids are starving for attention, I think it is probably rare that they get chased or thrown up in the air. They were all so cute, I think Jonas was a little jealous to be sharing. Anytime Jason would pick someone else up to throw, he would run over and grab him, this is a good thing! Tomorrow we will go to church again and we are looking forward to that. We will not be visiting Jonas tomorrow, the afternoon visits are pretty hard, he is use to the routine and likes watching cartoons.
We have been able to talk with the girls and that makes being away a little easier. They seem to be doing great. I believe Aunt Kim was taking them to a movie this afternoon, or something fun. It is so comforting to know that they are happy and are being taken care of. We can’t wait until we are all together again.
Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for all of us. God is good and he has been with us from the beginning, we have seen his handy work in so many ways. We are so truly blessed! Love and miss our family and friends.
Until next time, here are some pictures.
We just heard from Vanya and we have good news. The secretary at the SDA said that the paperwork “should” be ready on Monday. This means the paperwork is complete and just needs to be signed by “the Boss” (whoever that is). The feeling now is that there is an 80% chance we WILL have our paperwork on Monday, which means we will be in court at 11AM on Tuesday.
Our prayer request is that when our facilitator gets to Kiev, the paperwork IS ready.
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To buy a fat pig…
Our driver took the day off today (it was his son’s birthday), so we did too. We ended up going with Koysta and his wife to the open air market. This is a mix of a flea market and a grocery store. Little booths run by different vendors. Outside was mostly clothing, but in the main building was the meat and product. It was quite an experience. Vendors selling meets, produce, spices, and our favorite, confections. We could have gotten pork, beef, or rabbit. We had our choice of ears, feet, livers, tongues, tails, or hearts. We got chicken :)
Yes, that is a pig’s head :)
Here is some braided smoke gouda… really good (at least I think so)
Here are some of the different cookies and pastries we picked up. The best was the chocolate stick (bottom right) that was stuffed with some kind of light coffee flavored cream.
We have not heard back on the paperwork that is in Kiev yet. As soon as we hear something we will let everyone know. Tomorrow we will be visiting Jonas again and will have more to report. Can’t wait to get home again, home again, jiggity jig.
Greetings from Ukraine. Sharon here. Just wanted to give a quick update and ask for prayer specifically on this matter. As we had written yesterday, Vanya had taken our paperwork to Kiev. Well, turns out something was not right on one of the forms done by the orphanage. What does this mean? Vanya is on his way back tonight (13 hour HOT train ride) he will be back in the morning and we go straight to the orphanage. They will have to redo the paper and he will put it on the train and a friend will pick it up the next morning and take it to the SDA. At this point we have a 50/50 chance of getting all the papers we need on Monday (our prayer is that this happens) since we are scheduled for court on Tuesday and this will not be possible if we don’t have those papers. If we don’t get them Monday then it will be Wednesday with court on Thursday. The sooner we have court the sooner we come home, we really want to come home!
Thanks so much for following, love reading your comments. We love and miss our family and friends. Can’t wait to hold our girls again!
Until next time, Grace and Peace!
We spent quite a bit of time with Jonas today. We showed him pictures of the his new home, sisters, and grand parents. He is getting better at saying his sisters names. Here are some pictures from today:
All of our paperwork is on the way to the capital (Kiev), and our court date is scheduled for Feb 3rd. Please pray for safe travel for Vanya, as he goes to Kiev to get our paperwork through the SDA. Also pray that our paperwork will be ready to be picked up on Monday (in order to be ready for court on Tuesday).
Thanks for all the comments the last few days. They are something we look forward to reading and are very encouraging.
We really love and miss our family and friends!
Today we were back at the orphanage to spend time with Jonas. Vanya had a lot of running around to do, so we were there most of the morning. We had about 1 1/2 hours with Jonas. No pictures today… dead battery on the camera :( On the upside, we almost completely skipped the pouting phase today. This was great!. We played in the gym again and had snacks (yogurt, M&M’s, and juice). After about 30 minutes of playing we were able to get him to say “Mommy”, “Daddy”, and “Juice”. He attempted to say the names of all of his AWESOME new sisters, but these did not come out quite as clearly, but we gave him more M&M’s anyway :) He is opening up a little more each day. It is incredible thing to see the recognition in his eyes when he looks at either of us. It is a real warm fuzzy feeling (kinda a mix of hot cocoa and puppies).
Where are we at (in the process)?
I have divided this entire process into 4 phases.
Phase I – Deciding and Starting
- Decide you want to adopt
- Get approved to adopt
- Getting your dossier together and submitting it
- Getting your SDA appointment date back from the SDA
- Getting there
Phase II - Picking
- At the appointment you are shown a few children that fit into the your pre-selected criteria.
- You select (you think picking where you and your wife are going to have dinner is tough…)
- You go visit the child
- You decide if this is the right child for you – if it is not the right fit, proceed to the beginning of phase 2 again. (this is an epically huge heart wrenching experience)
Phase III – Getting approved to adopt this child
- Get approval from the Director of the orphanage
- Get approval from the city official over adoptions from the city where the orphanage is (******WE ARE HERE******)
- Get approval from the SDA (Federal adoptions services)
- Get approval from the court (You go to court and a Judge, in city where you are adopting, approves / disapproves your adoption)
- Enter 10 day waiting period (Our understanding is that this allows for a final notice to known relatives, etc.)
Phase IV – Exit Strategery
- Get passport for child from Ukrainian government
- Visit US Embassy for more paperwork
- Get home (Sooooo ready for this step)
A lot of these approvals are only done on particular days of the week, so at each step we could miss one getting approved by a day, which makes our stay last that much longer.
Please pray with us that each step is free of obstacles and that all involved see the loving connection that is growing between us and Jonas! Thanks so much for all the blog comments (if you think you check the blog a lot, you don’t have anything on us checking the comments!
We went to church this morning. We didn’t understand a thing, but heard the words “God” and “Jesus”, so it must have been an awesome message! After service, we met a few people that spoke english. It was great to be around other believers (kinda like a warm blanket).
One of the ladies we met invited us over to her apartment. She wanted to show us something. When we got there, she showed us a beautiful baby girl (born Jan 9th). This little girl was left by her mother in the hospital shortly after birth. This is fairly common here. This lady (who also runs the place we are staying) is watching over this little girl for the night (short term foster mother). The baby has to go back to the hospital tomorrow. There is no telling where this little girl will end up.
We left after a while to get back to our place to catch our taxi to go see Jonas. We got there and he went through, what we now consider normal, his pouting phase. This is the first 10-15 minutes. He has been pulled out of his peer group and routine and is not real happy about it (I am the same way). After a short time he began to warm up (especially with our use of strawberry yogurt and a juice box). We snacked together and spent a little time playing with the toys they keep in the “gym”. This gym is a small room with bicycles, bouncy balls, and climbing wall. He did so well. Through some coaxing, we got him to say “Da” – yes and “Pazhalsta” – please. AWESOME!!!
Here are some pics:
After about an hour and half, our time was up. Back in the taxi for the 40 minute ride home. We stopped by the market and picked up some dinner (we are almost functional), but it is not like being home. We have a new way to connect to the internet now. Seems really stable and fast. We were able to skype with my Mom & Dad without an issue. We are now just waiting on our girls to get home from church. Looking forward to talking and seeing them!!!
1/22/2009
1/23/2009
To our girls,
We miss you so much!!!. We are doing everything we can to get home FAST. Thank you so much for being so good and helpful to Granny. We are so proud of you guys. We LOVE you!!!
To Family and Friends,
Thank you so much for you comments and prayers. They are a much needed item over here. Please continue to pray for a SMOOTH and FAST process! We love you too!
Let me start by saying that we are sorry for the delay on this post. We have been moving full steam without a lot of down time or web access. Here is the update:
Some terms to help reading:
1/21/2009
We were not too hungry today after we ate our big breakfast, so we stopped by McD’s for a quick bite. I think it might actually be better here since they are not trying to make everything low fat :)
After eating, we walked through the underground mall and then walked through Independence Square.
We are now back at the apartment and trying to stay awake (so we are not up in the middle of the night again) and trying not to worry too much about our appointment (11am tomorrow).
Sharon here:
Where do I start, there is no place like home! We have mostly been hanging around the apartment today, resting, not sleeping. It seems so late here, but it is not 6p.m. yet. Thank you so much for commenting, that has really lifted my spirits. It is so comforting to know that we are missed and especially that so many are praying for us.
We were able to talk to the girls this morning. They were so excited to have a snow day. I really hate that I missed playing outside with them and sledding, what fun that would have been. I am sure they are having a great time though.
I picked up some cards from the Christian Book Store months ago and happened to bring them with me (you know the little ones that are great for bookmarks) I thought they were very fitting and I would like to share them:
1st card says:
Don’t worry about tomorrow…
God is already there! (here is the verse)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
2nd cards says:
All your tomorrows are in God’s hands.
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Phillipians 1:6
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds for us. We love and miss you guys at home more than words can express.
Until tomorrow…
After a long lay over in Munich we were off again. The flight was short and uneventful. We made out of the airport without issue.
Last night we walked to a Ukrainian buffet for dinner. The city is beautiful at night. Here is one of the walkways we went through on the way.
Dinner was great!!! Sausages, potatoes, cabbage rolls, and soup. Sharon and I both really enjoyed it. We got home around 9pm and crashed. The first night was really rough. We woke up at 1am because of the time shift and overall anxiety, and we finally got back to sleep around 3:30am and slept until about 9am. We hope to keep ourselves busy today so we don’t think about our appointment too much :)
Here is a view out of our window this morning, brrrr.
This morning we went back to the buffet for breakfast. Still awesome :). Eggs, sausages, potatoes, cabbage, & beets (I tried, then skipped the rest of the beets, but really did enjoy the cabbage).
mmmmm…
