The Miracle of the Moment

"Sabaka Dom"

The Miracle of the Moment. Yep, another SCC reference. If you haven't caught on by now, he's my favorite artist. The song speaks of the wish that some people have to go back and redo their "if onlys". But by doing that, you will miss out on the miracle of the moment, the things right there in front of you. I look daily for those miracles and "firsts" of our new children. It is incredible when one happens. This is why I haven't blogged in a few days. The other day I caught myself watching television by myself for about 20 minutes. I suddenly realized that the kids were in another room enjoying themselves and I had the overwhelming desire to be with them. So I turned it off and went to them, and a Papa vs kids wrestling match broke out. It's things like that to which I am referring.

But enough about me, you're probably wondering about the kids. For those of you still in Ukraine, please tell them that we haven't used them for body parts and we don't have any indentured servants... yet! Officials opposed to international adoption routinely tell orphans this, no kidding!

The kids have had a few firsts. I eluded to this earlier and I reiterate, it's wonderful when you witness one. Coming through the airport in Amsterdam, the kids asked for water, so I pointed to the water fountain. They had no idea what it was for or how to work it. They were amazed when I did show them. Kole waved his hands in front of the hands-free paper towel dispenser in the bathroom several times...another first. All three were excited that you could serve yourself ice and a choice of cola at Chipotle this past Sunday. (We limited them to three drinks, a minor indulgence). Who knew that you could get water and ice from in front of the refrigerator or that you could swim indoors in warm water with several pools to choose from??!! And did you know that bicycles don't perform well on icy streets, splat! Many firsts and life lessons are poring in, it's hard to keep up with them.

We have had a few families come over to see the kids. Most of them have been families with Ukrainian adoptees. The kids met the Barrett's children, Mari & Misha at the airport. The Stoezs kids, Rhya, Luke and Natalie came over to our house this past weekend. They also took Julia and Kole to the children's church with them. Kole asked if he could go back the next day! We explained that he could go every Domingo (Sunday). The kids met the Garrett's daughter, Anya, too! We watched Nadia and we could tell that she was quite taken with her. It was as if she was a celebrity. Anya has been in the US for two months and her English is great. I think this gives Nadia an extra boost of confidence and she is extremely happy to talk with someone who speaks her native language. Today, our friend Lilya came over for a few hours to see them. Lylia said that they told her they are extremely happy to be here. The kids have met many Ukrainian friends and they have realized that have kept our promise of remembering their heritage.

The kids have been hounding me (pun intended) for several days for a dog. It's getting out of control! My sweetie, Heidi, has relented and agreed. Something that would never happen lest a certain place freeze over. I said yes too but told them that it would be a process that would take several days or weeks to research and decide upon. Yeah, right! We will probably have a pooch by weeks end! I also told them that they would have to feed, water, clean up after, exercise, and poop-scoop the backyard. They all exclaimed, "YES, YES" and Heidi threatened to get out the video camera as evidential proof of said agreements.

Nadia wants a medium to large dog while the others want every dog we look at on the Internet. Right now all three of them are in the basement painting a huge box, aptly named the "Sabaca Dom" (Dog House). I tried to explain to them that a more sturdy and permanent kennel crate would be a better choice and that they were wasting their time. But that's all we have now here at the Roge Dom and it is too cute of a sight to make them stop.

I started steering them to my favorite breed, the German Shorthair Pointer. We had one before, but they can be "high energy" dogs. I like the short coat and everything else about them but Heidi fears the rambunctiousness (is that a word) of the breed. We have that already in three wonderful kids. She feels that they are enough. Awww, cu-mon Honey!

After a few days rest, the whole family is settling into a routine. The kids have seen their new schools and they will start on Monday. I went back to work yesterday, Monday, but I have Thursday and Friday off for the New Year holiday as well as the routine Saturday and Sunday. I think Heidi will start back to work next week after we put the kids in school. Nadia is excited that she can bike the two blocks to school. The two younger ones have a few more blocks to traverse and over a busy road, so they weren't too happy that she will get to ride her bike to school and not them. We explained that perhaps they can do it when it's warmer and Mom or Dad could follow. We told them that they get to ride a cool yellow school bus, and this seemed to extinguish the heated debate.

I continue to have Rimma and Zina on my mind. Zina called us on Sunday, so we called her back. She talked to Heidi for a few minutes and Heidi asked her if we needed to get a translator on the phone. She said no and in fact her English was terrific. Chock it up to her month long visit to the US or the fact that she wants to learn for her future life with us. Zina asked to talk to me, so Heidi handed me the phone. She eagerly said, "Hi Pop, how are you?" I told her that I was fine but that I missed her and she said the same. I asked her if she liked her trip to the US while she was performing the Shoemaker play. She said yes, but she "likes Colorado more"! A gentle reminder from Papa's first Ukrainian daughter that she still desires our home. I told her that I want her to have Colorado and our family too and to keep praying for her dream. As we ended our conversation she told me that she loves me and I told her the same. Another "Miracle of the Moment"!