December 1, 2005
It has been a long time since the last post and our lives have completely changed. We have our precious Connor home and we are finally a family. The holiday season is going to be so special this year.
On Friday October 14 the court decree was finalized. We did not see Connor all day because we had to get several documents done in order to prepare for his travel to the US. It was a long and exhausting day. We went to the court house first to get the Judges signature on the court decree. Hiccup number one--typo. We had to wait because after they corrected it, they had to hand sew it together again (they don't use staples). Next step was to get the original birth certificate from the orphanage from the director. Hiccup nuber two--the director had car problems and we had to wait for her to arrive. We then had to travel to Connor's birth city to get a new birth certificate issued. It was about 50 to 60 miles away. That part actually went pretty smooth. The next step was to go to the Notary and get all of our documents notarized. This was the longest step. By this point it was almost 5:00 and we had to go to the passport office yet. Luckily, the passport office knew we were coming and stayed late. Hiccup number three--They could not fit Connors Ukrainian spelling and English spelling all on one line. So, we had to take the e out of Alexander and spell it "Alexandr" because there were not enough spaces. Whatever, we were just so happy that we got everything accomplished in one day so we could pick him up the next day--SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2005
CONNOR'S GOTTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow!!! An amazing day! We got to the orphanage around noon (a preset appointment since it was Saturday and the Director came in just for us). We went to the directors office and signed some papers and then we went down to Connor's group. We walked in and I saw him and he saw us. I went over and picked him up and hugged him and Darren filmed. I was so emotional and started crying (Cry #1). The caretakers changed him into clothes that we had brought and he came out and waived goodbye (paka) to all the other children who were sitting on their potty chairs. He had no idea of the significance of the moment. The caretakers gave him hugs and then we walked out with him....... He was ours................................ Amazing.
He soaked everything up in the car ride back to the apartment. His eyes were as big as saucers.
He ate a lot of cookies in the car. We got back to the apartment and spent time with him in our small room. He had to check out everything. For the most part, our translator left us alone. It was frustrating because she talked to him and got more of a response because he understood her. We wanted to get him home so this was not the case anymore. He did not take a nap that afternoon. He finally fell asleep about 7:30 or 8:00.
We left for the overnight train ride at about 9:30. Connor woke up but did not cry. I held him in the car. He fell back asleep on my shoulder (Cry #2). He of course woke up to check everything out in the train station and on the train. He was very curious. It took him awhile to settle down but he eventually did. We had a sleeper compartment. It had 2 cotts and a small table in the center. Connor slept on my side for most of the trip. It was hard because I was laying on my side and every time the train jerked I felt like I was going to fall out of the cott (since I was on the edge giving Connor all the room he needed). He did wake up for a while and cry. We finally got him settled down. Darren layed him on his chest--a beautiful sight to see--our child peaceful on his daddy's chest (Cry #3 for me--cry #1 for Darren). We were awake for the dawn arrival into Kiev......Happy to be that much closer to home on our long journey........
In Kiev we stayed in the same apartment as the first leg of our trip. The landscape had changed. The leaves were gone and people were inside out of the cold and rain. It was very chilly in the apartment that first day. We asked our translator how to turn on the heat and we were told that it is centralized and should come on that evening. Thank God it did. The things we take for granted in America--adjusting our own temperature in our homes.
Connor did really well in Kiev. He was good for all of the car rides (a lot of "cookas" were eaten) and all the running around we had to do. Connor had to get a medical exam before a visa could be issued for his travel to the US. He screamed and kicked like we had never seen before. He was fine after we left the Drs. office. I guess the most satifying thing about Connor was the immediate change in his behavior once he was with us full time. He was more content and happy. Even when we visited him in the orphanage he did not seem like a happy child. He was always happy to see us but it was just different. How profoundly all of our lives have been affected by each other........ We feel so lucky to have him.
There are so many details of our trip making it impossible to condense into a blog. Darren thinks he should write a book. The last days in Kiev were eventful. We had issues with our bank cards not working (yes it would have been smart to inform the bank we were going before hand..da....:) and negotiations with our facilitator on settling our final bill (Darren hitting his hand on the table expressing his view adamently--we actually made a good team--good cop/bad cop). We can laugh about everything now... Our scrabble skills have greatly improved--so be warned.
Our long trip back to the land of the free (oh how we love this country).............................
We left the apartment in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday, October 20. Connor woke up at 2 AM that night--he was probably feeling our anticipation. It was unnerving at the airport in Kiev. We didn't know where to go and the ticket counter was still closed. We finally figured it out and made the plane to Munich. Connor was very good on the take off. The landing was not so good. Since he was over 2, they told us he had to be buckled in and he wanted to be held. As soon as we touched ground I unbuckled and held him. For the next 2 legs we decided to lie about his age and say he was under 2. He is small for his age anyway.
We thought that he would probably sleep most of the 9 hour flight back to Chicago. Wrong. How does a 2 year old stay up that long? He was jibber jabbering and playing most of the flight. He finally fell asleep about an hour and a half out of Chicago. Darren and I were about ready to pass out!! It felt so good to be on American soil. I asked Darren if he was going to kiss the ground. We both wanted to.
As soon as Connor went through customs he automatically became a U.S. citizen. I told him that this is a very significant moment. Like he had a clue.. The anticipation about seeing our families and them meeting Connor was growing every second of our trip back. The flight to St. Louis was on time. Thank you God. As I stepped off the plane with Connor in my arms it was almost impossible to contain my emotions. Here we are......finally.....
We saw everyone standing outside the terminal waiting for us with big signs and jubilation. What joy!!!! Hugs! Kisses! Tears! Connor's acceptance almost immediately to his extended family!!! Like he already knew them! He was so exhausted but he went to Grandma and to everyone. He even got in the car seat without a hitch.. Everyone came over to our house afterwards. There was a welcome home sign in the front yard. As soon as we got out of the car the tornado siren went off.... How appropriate... A little tornado had just arrived to stay at the Daley household!
It was so incredible to be home. Incredible doesn't even begin to express how good it was to step foot in our home... Everything was ready for us. Our refrigerator and pantry were stocked, Connor had a bunch of new toys and the house was warm and welcoming. I spread my arms out and felt so thankful for what we have. That is the second best thing that came out of the trip....
I knew that Connor's room had been decorated and put together with love by so many hands in our family, I could not wait to see it... We walked up and it was perfect...beautiful... that room exuded love....just what I felt for everyone. We are so lucky to have such a great family.... Tears of joy!! I was overwhelmed...
We had pizza and everyone played with Connor. It wasn't too long when everybody left--respecting our extremely jetlagged bodies. Pure joy.... I have never felt this way before....
We put Connor to bed that night in his own bed and we went to sleep in our own bed...How good it felt!!!!!!! Our lives are changed forever... Thank you God. We are so blessed.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Monday, October 10, 2005
Our Quest for Spaghetti with Red Sauce.....
We have been craving a "real" pasta meal for a while. Last week we went to this German restaurant--it was bavarian type decor. It was recommended to us for the pasta and pizza. They had pizza on the menu and no pasta. We ordered the pizza and it was pretty good.
A few days later we decided to try a place called the Spaghetti Bar for lunch. We ordered the Spaghetti with red sauce. They did not have meatballs, just ham. Well, it wasn't what we expected. The sauce was tomato but it was like a broth rather than a thick hearty tomato sauce. We even requested extra but it did not help.
Convinced we were not going to get the craving satisfied unless we made it ourselves, we set out to the grocery store with our translator. We found just plain tomatoes (stewed) and some tomato puree and bought all the spices and other ingredients to make everything from scratch. We even got hamburger and pork sausage to make meatballs. We made a great meal and invited our hosts and translator to join us. We even had Italian wine! Craving satified...Plus leftovers!!!
The hot water has returned and we have had hot showers for the past 3 days. Wow, what a difference. The little things can really make a big difference to our sense of well being. Five weeks away from home "roughing" it can take a toll. The weather is still holding out and we have been able to take Connor outside on walks around the orphanage. He loves going outside and looking at the birds, cats and dogs. There are strays everywhere. Atleast he is used to seeing dogs so it should help a little when he meets Zu Zu.
We are counting the days until we pick Connor up for good. It will be Friday evening or Saturday. Then we will travel back to Kiev where Connor will have his doctor appointment. The next day we will go to the embassy and get his visa. We aren't sure on what day we will be heading home. We are hoping to fly out on Wednesday the 19th (I'm not sure that is the correct date--no calendar in front of me).
Counting the days until we step foot on American soil with our Connor!!!
Christine and Darren
We have been craving a "real" pasta meal for a while. Last week we went to this German restaurant--it was bavarian type decor. It was recommended to us for the pasta and pizza. They had pizza on the menu and no pasta. We ordered the pizza and it was pretty good.
A few days later we decided to try a place called the Spaghetti Bar for lunch. We ordered the Spaghetti with red sauce. They did not have meatballs, just ham. Well, it wasn't what we expected. The sauce was tomato but it was like a broth rather than a thick hearty tomato sauce. We even requested extra but it did not help.
Convinced we were not going to get the craving satisfied unless we made it ourselves, we set out to the grocery store with our translator. We found just plain tomatoes (stewed) and some tomato puree and bought all the spices and other ingredients to make everything from scratch. We even got hamburger and pork sausage to make meatballs. We made a great meal and invited our hosts and translator to join us. We even had Italian wine! Craving satified...Plus leftovers!!!
The hot water has returned and we have had hot showers for the past 3 days. Wow, what a difference. The little things can really make a big difference to our sense of well being. Five weeks away from home "roughing" it can take a toll. The weather is still holding out and we have been able to take Connor outside on walks around the orphanage. He loves going outside and looking at the birds, cats and dogs. There are strays everywhere. Atleast he is used to seeing dogs so it should help a little when he meets Zu Zu.
We are counting the days until we pick Connor up for good. It will be Friday evening or Saturday. Then we will travel back to Kiev where Connor will have his doctor appointment. The next day we will go to the embassy and get his visa. We aren't sure on what day we will be heading home. We are hoping to fly out on Wednesday the 19th (I'm not sure that is the correct date--no calendar in front of me).
Counting the days until we step foot on American soil with our Connor!!!
Christine and Darren
Friday, October 07, 2005
Murphy's Law: The hot water finally came back on last night after 15 days. This morning our translator took a nice long hot shower. I went in 5 minutes after her and it was broken again. No water coming out of the faucet except when turned to cold!!! Unbelievable!
Connor has a cold but is otherwise doing great. We are counting the days until we bring him home.
Christine and Darren
Connor has a cold but is otherwise doing great. We are counting the days until we bring him home.
Christine and Darren
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Thursday October 6th
We finally had our court date at 10:00 am on Wednesday October 5th. All went relatively smoothly except the hearing started late. We didn't get done until around 1:00pm. It was really surreal. The courtrom is very plain, bare walls, and the judge's "bench" looks like a $95 put- it- together- your-self-desk from Walmart.... Lack of funds I suppose.
We had planned on asking for a waiver of the 10 day waiting period following the judgment. We understood because of the change in the law it was unlikely to be granted. I (Darren) had asked our reps to ask for this anyway...it NEVER hurts to ask!!They said no formal petition was needed and that we could simply ask at the hearing but because of the change in the law it would not be granted because the wait was "mandatory". The reason for the 10 days is for parties to appeal. To get around that I asked the other parties, local gov't rep, orphanage lawyer, and local prosecutor to waive on the record their rights to a ten day appeal period thereby rendering moot any need for the waiting period. (two of the lawyers were only 20 years old,,,lots of training needed here!) The local gov't rep even prepared a formal petition for us even though she did not have to. We were then told before the hearing that it was too late to file the request. Our translator/rep told us that the judge said if we filed the reqest it would be considered an amended petition and would require a new hearing date at least a week later. Our rep said it didn't matter because the request would "never" be granted by any judge, let alone this one. I was not a happy camper. In any event we opted against any more delays and didn't request the waiver on the record.
The hearing went fine and we were given a conditional order of adoption which will be final after ten days, which falls on a weekend, thereby meaning its actually 12 days from the judgment. We were happy of course but it seems a little silly that you are granted an adoption but then can't go pick up your child for ten days!
We then went to the orphanage. Connor was really playful! He is such a joy. He was singing, I guess in Russian baby talk, laughing and being quite the boy. He also managed to accidently head butt me and split my lip... he got a big laugh out of that. Boys will be boys! He also ate his "cookas" as usual and looked at family pictures again. We think he even said "dada" when looking at mine! Its probably russian for idiot!! We love him so much!!!!
Later we found out from a German couple adopting that the couple from New York not only had their hearing on Monday but got the ten day waiting period waived by a different judge. They had gotten here the day before us. They are probably on their way home from Kiev by now. They apparently did ask for the waiver and were successful...hmmm...I seem to remember some non lawyer telling me something about a "mandatory" something or other that no chance would ever be granted. After that we had a little dispute with our rep about the whole situation.. we at least wanted to have asked. Then after the row she called her boss..who in turn then called the judge..who then decided we were granted a 9 day waiting period. The judge backdated the appeal time starting point to before the judgment hearing date by starting instead with when the judge received a 10/3 letter from the National Adoption Center. Bizzare!! Ned will understand. The saga continues............
We finally had our court date at 10:00 am on Wednesday October 5th. All went relatively smoothly except the hearing started late. We didn't get done until around 1:00pm. It was really surreal. The courtrom is very plain, bare walls, and the judge's "bench" looks like a $95 put- it- together- your-self-desk from Walmart.... Lack of funds I suppose.
We had planned on asking for a waiver of the 10 day waiting period following the judgment. We understood because of the change in the law it was unlikely to be granted. I (Darren) had asked our reps to ask for this anyway...it NEVER hurts to ask!!They said no formal petition was needed and that we could simply ask at the hearing but because of the change in the law it would not be granted because the wait was "mandatory". The reason for the 10 days is for parties to appeal. To get around that I asked the other parties, local gov't rep, orphanage lawyer, and local prosecutor to waive on the record their rights to a ten day appeal period thereby rendering moot any need for the waiting period. (two of the lawyers were only 20 years old,,,lots of training needed here!) The local gov't rep even prepared a formal petition for us even though she did not have to. We were then told before the hearing that it was too late to file the request. Our translator/rep told us that the judge said if we filed the reqest it would be considered an amended petition and would require a new hearing date at least a week later. Our rep said it didn't matter because the request would "never" be granted by any judge, let alone this one. I was not a happy camper. In any event we opted against any more delays and didn't request the waiver on the record.
The hearing went fine and we were given a conditional order of adoption which will be final after ten days, which falls on a weekend, thereby meaning its actually 12 days from the judgment. We were happy of course but it seems a little silly that you are granted an adoption but then can't go pick up your child for ten days!
We then went to the orphanage. Connor was really playful! He is such a joy. He was singing, I guess in Russian baby talk, laughing and being quite the boy. He also managed to accidently head butt me and split my lip... he got a big laugh out of that. Boys will be boys! He also ate his "cookas" as usual and looked at family pictures again. We think he even said "dada" when looking at mine! Its probably russian for idiot!! We love him so much!!!!
Later we found out from a German couple adopting that the couple from New York not only had their hearing on Monday but got the ten day waiting period waived by a different judge. They had gotten here the day before us. They are probably on their way home from Kiev by now. They apparently did ask for the waiver and were successful...hmmm...I seem to remember some non lawyer telling me something about a "mandatory" something or other that no chance would ever be granted. After that we had a little dispute with our rep about the whole situation.. we at least wanted to have asked. Then after the row she called her boss..who in turn then called the judge..who then decided we were granted a 9 day waiting period. The judge backdated the appeal time starting point to before the judgment hearing date by starting instead with when the judge received a 10/3 letter from the National Adoption Center. Bizzare!! Ned will understand. The saga continues............
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
It is Tuesday morning here about 10:30. We were supposed to have our court date today but the judge was sick. So hopefully we will have it tomorrow. We are very frustrated and want to scream. This will probably delay our return for 3 days because we will have to wait over the weekend to take custody of him on Monday--after the 10 day wait...STUPID LAW!!!!!!!!! We miss home. Most importantly, it would be so much better for Connor to get him home sooner. We feel so helpless, we don't know what the new law is and can't get a translated version. Darren can't make an argument in court. FRUSTRATING!!!
Christine and Darren
Christine and Darren
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Sunday October 2.
Hi Everyone. We went to mass today and expected a Russian service but it was a Polish service. It was interesting. An old guy sitting next to me gave me a prayer book and showed me the page. They were all singing before mass and he kept looking at me like he was aggrevated I wasn't participating. Maybe he understood when I shook his hand and said "peace be with you" in English. Our translator understood a little and the sermon was about 2 bishops from Ukraine who are supposed to become saints on October 20.
Our visits with Connor continue. His behavior has changed and he wants to be held all the time. I am loving it. He is such a sweet heart. It is so easy to get a smile and laugh out of him. He said ma ma to me but he doesn't quite understand yet. we feel that he is becoming more attached to us. We visited him today and his group was outside playing. He met us half way between. He is curious about everything. It us funny how he finds ways to communicate with us. Today we were sitting on a couch inside the orphanage and he starts to put all his toys back into the bag and then he grabs for his sweater. He wanted to go outside. He has been looking at the photos of everyone and we have been saying everyones name to him. We just keep talking and talking to him which will help him learn. I think it will make a big difference when we are home and the only language he hears is English.
The orphanage setting is really something. The kids are so darn cute. It has been very nice weather and they have been outside a lot. When you walk by them they kind of swarm around and smile at you. some of them even reach up to be held. It is also sad. If they fall they just pick themselves up and you don't hear a peep out of them. They have learned that when they fall crying does not help because nobody comes to pick them up.
We had our preliminary court hearing on Friday. We hope to have our main court hearing early this week. The courts are different here. The court house is run down and not nice like at home. They just changed a law to start having a 2 person jury. That is part of the reason why there has been a delay here. The 2 person jury applies to all cases--even adoptions. However, the judge still makes the final decisions.
We will keep everyone posted.
Christine and Darren
Hi Everyone. We went to mass today and expected a Russian service but it was a Polish service. It was interesting. An old guy sitting next to me gave me a prayer book and showed me the page. They were all singing before mass and he kept looking at me like he was aggrevated I wasn't participating. Maybe he understood when I shook his hand and said "peace be with you" in English. Our translator understood a little and the sermon was about 2 bishops from Ukraine who are supposed to become saints on October 20.
Our visits with Connor continue. His behavior has changed and he wants to be held all the time. I am loving it. He is such a sweet heart. It is so easy to get a smile and laugh out of him. He said ma ma to me but he doesn't quite understand yet. we feel that he is becoming more attached to us. We visited him today and his group was outside playing. He met us half way between. He is curious about everything. It us funny how he finds ways to communicate with us. Today we were sitting on a couch inside the orphanage and he starts to put all his toys back into the bag and then he grabs for his sweater. He wanted to go outside. He has been looking at the photos of everyone and we have been saying everyones name to him. We just keep talking and talking to him which will help him learn. I think it will make a big difference when we are home and the only language he hears is English.
The orphanage setting is really something. The kids are so darn cute. It has been very nice weather and they have been outside a lot. When you walk by them they kind of swarm around and smile at you. some of them even reach up to be held. It is also sad. If they fall they just pick themselves up and you don't hear a peep out of them. They have learned that when they fall crying does not help because nobody comes to pick them up.
We had our preliminary court hearing on Friday. We hope to have our main court hearing early this week. The courts are different here. The court house is run down and not nice like at home. They just changed a law to start having a 2 person jury. That is part of the reason why there has been a delay here. The 2 person jury applies to all cases--even adoptions. However, the judge still makes the final decisions.
We will keep everyone posted.
Christine and Darren
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Thursday, September 29
Hi everyone. We have been in the orphanage city for 7 days now visiting Connor.
He is getting more comfortable with us every day. His caretakers tell us that he waits for us to come visit him and he is expecting more individual care from them now. We started visiting him twice a day from 10 to 12 and 4:30 to 6. We think he has put on some weight since we have been coming. We are giving him juice and fruit. He loves bananas and says "nana". He says words but hasn't really spoken any english yet. He runs to us when we come visit and he gives us kisses and hugs! We can't wait to get him home to meet everyone!
We hope to have a court date next week. Hopefully early in the week. After the court date, there is a mandatory 10 day wait until we can take Connor to Kiev to the American Embassy to finish his paperwork so he can come home with us. The 10 day waiting period is a new law that just was passed and the court systems are trying to work out the specifics of the new laws/procedures. We are not sure of the purpose of the new procedures. It seems like they just want to keep foreigners in country longer to contribute to their economy. It is frustrating and especially since we have been here 3 1/2 weeks already. We of course always felt lucky to live in America but once you are out of country for as long as we have been, you start to appreciate it even more. In Kiev we had more freedom to walk around and go to the internet cafe. We haven't had that here and it has been harder. We have to rely on our driver who doesn't speak english. Our translater has been busy with paperwork so we have been stuck in the apartment for basically a week except when we visit Connor. Today we went out to the shopping areas without our translater because she had to go back to Kiev to do some paperwork. The problem is that all the sizes are different and we can't even figure out how to get Connor a jacket. Oh well, we are hoping that things improve here. It will be nice when we finally have hot water. We have not had it in 8 days. A real shower sure will feel good. Especially since we smell like diesel fuel from riding in the car. The air quality isn't good and traffic is bad because there is basically only one way to get to where you are going and that is through the heart of down town.
Not to complain too much....We just miss home. Of course it is all worth it because we are getting Connor. He is such a joy. It is just great to see him laugh and smile. Thanks to everyone at home for the support and prayers.
Christine and Darren
Hi everyone. We have been in the orphanage city for 7 days now visiting Connor.
He is getting more comfortable with us every day. His caretakers tell us that he waits for us to come visit him and he is expecting more individual care from them now. We started visiting him twice a day from 10 to 12 and 4:30 to 6. We think he has put on some weight since we have been coming. We are giving him juice and fruit. He loves bananas and says "nana". He says words but hasn't really spoken any english yet. He runs to us when we come visit and he gives us kisses and hugs! We can't wait to get him home to meet everyone!
We hope to have a court date next week. Hopefully early in the week. After the court date, there is a mandatory 10 day wait until we can take Connor to Kiev to the American Embassy to finish his paperwork so he can come home with us. The 10 day waiting period is a new law that just was passed and the court systems are trying to work out the specifics of the new laws/procedures. We are not sure of the purpose of the new procedures. It seems like they just want to keep foreigners in country longer to contribute to their economy. It is frustrating and especially since we have been here 3 1/2 weeks already. We of course always felt lucky to live in America but once you are out of country for as long as we have been, you start to appreciate it even more. In Kiev we had more freedom to walk around and go to the internet cafe. We haven't had that here and it has been harder. We have to rely on our driver who doesn't speak english. Our translater has been busy with paperwork so we have been stuck in the apartment for basically a week except when we visit Connor. Today we went out to the shopping areas without our translater because she had to go back to Kiev to do some paperwork. The problem is that all the sizes are different and we can't even figure out how to get Connor a jacket. Oh well, we are hoping that things improve here. It will be nice when we finally have hot water. We have not had it in 8 days. A real shower sure will feel good. Especially since we smell like diesel fuel from riding in the car. The air quality isn't good and traffic is bad because there is basically only one way to get to where you are going and that is through the heart of down town.
Not to complain too much....We just miss home. Of course it is all worth it because we are getting Connor. He is such a joy. It is just great to see him laugh and smile. Thanks to everyone at home for the support and prayers.
Christine and Darren
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Saturday.... Wow, what a week! I think most of you know that we met our little boy and are moving forward with the adoption. We have decided to name him Connor Alexander. Connor means "wanted" and is an Irish name. Saint Alexander is the name of the church we went to in Kiev.
We feel so blessed. I will try to describe our first meeting. We walked into the orphanage and there were a group of adults with a little boy. I knew it was him and my heart started to melt immediately. We walked into an office and they asked if we wanted to take him. I said Yes!! He sat on my lap and we gave him a cookie. He didn't cry but he was very alert and curious. Darren and I just looked at each other and we knew he was meant for us. We met with the orphanage officials for about a half hour and then went to a separate area and spent about 1 and 1/2 hours with him. We had brought a little stuffed dog along and when you pushed the nose it went "woof woof". Connor thought that was so funny and he laughed and smiled. He was laughing at the funny faces we made at him and giving us high fives! He also did a dance in sync with his care giver stomping his feet and turning around with his hands in the air. When the caregiver came to take him away, he waved to us and we kissed him goodbye.
He was speaking some Russian words. We understood a few but mostly we did not. He is small which is normal for orphanage raised children. He weighs about 22 pounds. He will really start to thrive when we get him home and he gets the attention he needs.
We saw him for 2 hours yesterday and will see him every day until everthing is final. We don't know what the timing on things will be but we will keep everyone informed. Love to everyone and thanks for all your support and prayers.
Christine and Darren
We feel so blessed. I will try to describe our first meeting. We walked into the orphanage and there were a group of adults with a little boy. I knew it was him and my heart started to melt immediately. We walked into an office and they asked if we wanted to take him. I said Yes!! He sat on my lap and we gave him a cookie. He didn't cry but he was very alert and curious. Darren and I just looked at each other and we knew he was meant for us. We met with the orphanage officials for about a half hour and then went to a separate area and spent about 1 and 1/2 hours with him. We had brought a little stuffed dog along and when you pushed the nose it went "woof woof". Connor thought that was so funny and he laughed and smiled. He was laughing at the funny faces we made at him and giving us high fives! He also did a dance in sync with his care giver stomping his feet and turning around with his hands in the air. When the caregiver came to take him away, he waved to us and we kissed him goodbye.
He was speaking some Russian words. We understood a few but mostly we did not. He is small which is normal for orphanage raised children. He weighs about 22 pounds. He will really start to thrive when we get him home and he gets the attention he needs.
We saw him for 2 hours yesterday and will see him every day until everthing is final. We don't know what the timing on things will be but we will keep everyone informed. Love to everyone and thanks for all your support and prayers.
Christine and Darren
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Hi Everyone,
We had a good day and we are getting a referral for a 2 year 1 month old boy. He seems to be healthy from the limited information available right now. We will travel either tomorrow (Wednesday) evening or possibly Thursday morning to the town with the orphanage. We are cautiously optimistic. I think it is because it has been such a long road to get here. I feel like we may be in the home stretch. There are still several things that need to happen--especially with the court system which is undergoing some changes right now. Depending on how that goes, we may have to come home and go back later to finish the adoption.
We can't tell all of you enough how much we appreciate all the prayers and support. I feel like God is hearing us.
Rita, I sure don't remember who that little angel was who untied peoples shoe strings in line!
We will update as soon as possible!!
Christine and Darren
We had a good day and we are getting a referral for a 2 year 1 month old boy. He seems to be healthy from the limited information available right now. We will travel either tomorrow (Wednesday) evening or possibly Thursday morning to the town with the orphanage. We are cautiously optimistic. I think it is because it has been such a long road to get here. I feel like we may be in the home stretch. There are still several things that need to happen--especially with the court system which is undergoing some changes right now. Depending on how that goes, we may have to come home and go back later to finish the adoption.
We can't tell all of you enough how much we appreciate all the prayers and support. I feel like God is hearing us.
Rita, I sure don't remember who that little angel was who untied peoples shoe strings in line!
We will update as soon as possible!!
Christine and Darren
Monday, September 19, 2005
Monday
September 19th
Sunday morning we attended the English mass at St. Alexander's Parish in downtown Kiev. The Priest, Fr. Roche is Irish so that is a good thing. The mass was very nice, and it was more crowded than last week. After that we were taken by our translator, Ochsana, to St. Michael's a few blocks away. St. Michael's is an Eastern Orthodox church that was built in the 11th century, burned down, and then was rebuilt in 1986 exactly as the original. During the service, the priest is basically in the middle of the parishioners during most of the service. There are no pews and everyone stands during the entire service (spoken and sung in russian of course!)
It was very elaborate, lots of incense, beautiful singing, and gregorian chant like choir music.The cupola of the church rises about 8 stories above where the priest stands, with lots of beatiful byzantine mosaics and frescos. The altar was elaborately carved with gold gilding all over and numerous ancient paintings of Mary, Jesus and various saints. It was an impressive service.
After that we went to St. Sophia the oldest original eastern orthodox cathedral, built around 980 A.D. Many of the original frescos and mosaics are still in the church. It was like stepping back in time. The only bad thing is that the weather turned colder. It was rainy and in the 40s/50s yesterday. Today is sunny and a little warmer. Our new translator, Natasha, who incidently looks like a young Hillary Clinton, took us to a shopping mall so we could buy some jackets. Tommorow is our third visit to the adoption center. We don't know the time yet but most likely we'll get a call about 8:00 tonight from Natasha letting us know. A lot of wheeling and dealing seems to happen after work hours. Hopefully, everything will work out and wednesday we'll be on our way somewhere to visit a child.
Christine & Darren
September 19th
Sunday morning we attended the English mass at St. Alexander's Parish in downtown Kiev. The Priest, Fr. Roche is Irish so that is a good thing. The mass was very nice, and it was more crowded than last week. After that we were taken by our translator, Ochsana, to St. Michael's a few blocks away. St. Michael's is an Eastern Orthodox church that was built in the 11th century, burned down, and then was rebuilt in 1986 exactly as the original. During the service, the priest is basically in the middle of the parishioners during most of the service. There are no pews and everyone stands during the entire service (spoken and sung in russian of course!)
It was very elaborate, lots of incense, beautiful singing, and gregorian chant like choir music.The cupola of the church rises about 8 stories above where the priest stands, with lots of beatiful byzantine mosaics and frescos. The altar was elaborately carved with gold gilding all over and numerous ancient paintings of Mary, Jesus and various saints. It was an impressive service.
After that we went to St. Sophia the oldest original eastern orthodox cathedral, built around 980 A.D. Many of the original frescos and mosaics are still in the church. It was like stepping back in time. The only bad thing is that the weather turned colder. It was rainy and in the 40s/50s yesterday. Today is sunny and a little warmer. Our new translator, Natasha, who incidently looks like a young Hillary Clinton, took us to a shopping mall so we could buy some jackets. Tommorow is our third visit to the adoption center. We don't know the time yet but most likely we'll get a call about 8:00 tonight from Natasha letting us know. A lot of wheeling and dealing seems to happen after work hours. Hopefully, everything will work out and wednesday we'll be on our way somewhere to visit a child.
Christine & Darren
Saturday, September 17, 2005
Saturday---Last night we got a call from our coordinator and we have a third appointment for either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. Please keep us in your prayers as we know you are.
Kiev has an arch too. It is called the Arch of Friendship or the peace arch of freedom. It was built to signify the friendship between Ukraine and Russia. It sits on a hill top with a beautiful panoramic view of the city. It is not nearly as big as our Arch in St. Louis but still impressive.
We also went to the museum of minatures. Amazing and hard to comprehend how the artist could make things so small! He placed a carved rose inside of a hair strand. There was also a chess set that was on top of a pin head. The detail was amazing when you looked through a microscope to view all the works. We were in awe.
We will keep everyone updated. Bye for now.
Christine and Darren
Kiev has an arch too. It is called the Arch of Friendship or the peace arch of freedom. It was built to signify the friendship between Ukraine and Russia. It sits on a hill top with a beautiful panoramic view of the city. It is not nearly as big as our Arch in St. Louis but still impressive.
We also went to the museum of minatures. Amazing and hard to comprehend how the artist could make things so small! He placed a carved rose inside of a hair strand. There was also a chess set that was on top of a pin head. The detail was amazing when you looked through a microscope to view all the works. We were in awe.
We will keep everyone updated. Bye for now.
Christine and Darren
Friday, September 16, 2005
Friday Sept. 16
Hi from Kiev. Not much is new. Just a lot of waiting. We are hopeful we will get an appointment next week at the adoption center. We were told that this was likely. The way the system works is that we won't know until the evening before if we have an appointment the next day. We are hopeful for success.
Yesterday we went to the WW II memorial. It was very interesting. Today we went on a river boat cruise. We could see a lot of the sights/places that we have been. It was a fun day. Our translator is very personable which makes it much more enjoyable.
Other than that it is just daily routine stuff. We have not had hot water for the last 3 out of 4 days. We have been boiling water to take a bath. Otherwise the water is too ice cold to take a shower. There are a lot of dogs here. It seems they have a lot of strays. Darren has been feeding one of the dogs that is around the apartment.
We have been walking around the soccer park track every day and there have been neighborhood girls about 8 to 10 years old that are just facinated with us because we are american. They have been talking to us in the few english words that they speak. The other day they recited "Good morning, good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning, glad to see you." Yesterday there was a group of about 10 of them that followed us on our walk. They were saying "My name is ---" and we told them our names. They also asked how old we were. Then they sat on the bleachers and we left. They saw that we were leaving and chased us to our apartment elevator and said "bye bye". Then they ran up 8 flights of stairs and told us bye bye again. We were cracking up--It was so cute.
Yesterday we ate at Fridays. American food-yum.... The food is just different here plus we are picky anyway. For the most part, we season our food much more. There is another restaurant that is called Arizona BBQ which everyone says we need to go to. Apparently they have margaritas. So for the sake of research (since Lasco has Margaritas) I must try at least one. I will have to report back to work. We have to keep the competition in check.(Ha ha). Anyway, we miss everyone. We will report back soon.
Christine and Darren.
Hi from Kiev. Not much is new. Just a lot of waiting. We are hopeful we will get an appointment next week at the adoption center. We were told that this was likely. The way the system works is that we won't know until the evening before if we have an appointment the next day. We are hopeful for success.
Yesterday we went to the WW II memorial. It was very interesting. Today we went on a river boat cruise. We could see a lot of the sights/places that we have been. It was a fun day. Our translator is very personable which makes it much more enjoyable.
Other than that it is just daily routine stuff. We have not had hot water for the last 3 out of 4 days. We have been boiling water to take a bath. Otherwise the water is too ice cold to take a shower. There are a lot of dogs here. It seems they have a lot of strays. Darren has been feeding one of the dogs that is around the apartment.
We have been walking around the soccer park track every day and there have been neighborhood girls about 8 to 10 years old that are just facinated with us because we are american. They have been talking to us in the few english words that they speak. The other day they recited "Good morning, good morning, good morning to you. Good morning, good morning, glad to see you." Yesterday there was a group of about 10 of them that followed us on our walk. They were saying "My name is ---" and we told them our names. They also asked how old we were. Then they sat on the bleachers and we left. They saw that we were leaving and chased us to our apartment elevator and said "bye bye". Then they ran up 8 flights of stairs and told us bye bye again. We were cracking up--It was so cute.
Yesterday we ate at Fridays. American food-yum.... The food is just different here plus we are picky anyway. For the most part, we season our food much more. There is another restaurant that is called Arizona BBQ which everyone says we need to go to. Apparently they have margaritas. So for the sake of research (since Lasco has Margaritas) I must try at least one. I will have to report back to work. We have to keep the competition in check.(Ha ha). Anyway, we miss everyone. We will report back soon.
Christine and Darren.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Hi everyone. We had an appointment at the adoption center yesterday. The director (head honcho) wanted to meet with us. We weren't sure what to expect but apparently she wanted to know why we did not accept the first referral for adoption. We told her because the child was very ill and would never be able to walk. It's funny talking through a translator because you say a few words and they start to talk and it goes on and on. They just don't translate everything. Well, we actually met with the assistant director because the director was busy. It went well enough. She told us that we were a young couple and we should adopt siblings and asked us if we wanted to look through the files. It was late in the day and we knew that it was unlikely to find anything but we had to say yes. So they brought out files of siblings. We told them that one sibling had to be under four and the other sibling could be up to 8 and one had to be a girl. We did not find any that met our criteria. The youngest we found was a set of sisters--one 6 the other 11.
Then the helper got snitty with us and told us we should come back in 2006 because they were very busy. I said no that we can not and requested a 3rd appointment. We explained that we wanted to experience raising a child from a young age since we have not been parents before. Plus--I am not ready to bring a child home and have them start dating in a year or two! They did not show us any files of single children. We felt like we were being pressured and we basically ended the appointment. Needless to say, we are both very upset. It is so difficult communicating over here. I asked the question to our translator--What percentage of people in the last 3 months have had a successful 3rd appointment? He said 99%. It is stange though. I am not saying that it is not true but something gets lost in translation and you don't know what to believe.
Now, for now--we are going to wait. I think we are going to request a meeting with the head coordinator. I am just not sure--I doubt--that we will get any information. The problem is that this has significantly postponed our trip. It is just not possible to stay a substantial amount of time longer. We planned on 30 to 35 days--who knows now. I hope I have some better information the next time I post. Thanks for everyone's support. It means so much to us.
Today we are going to the WW II memorial. They have a big statue that looks similar to the statue of Liberty. There are so many sculptures in this city.
For Ned: No, they do not have any Anheiser Busch products--believe me Darren asked. Not bad Ukranian beer.
Christine and Darren
Then the helper got snitty with us and told us we should come back in 2006 because they were very busy. I said no that we can not and requested a 3rd appointment. We explained that we wanted to experience raising a child from a young age since we have not been parents before. Plus--I am not ready to bring a child home and have them start dating in a year or two! They did not show us any files of single children. We felt like we were being pressured and we basically ended the appointment. Needless to say, we are both very upset. It is so difficult communicating over here. I asked the question to our translator--What percentage of people in the last 3 months have had a successful 3rd appointment? He said 99%. It is stange though. I am not saying that it is not true but something gets lost in translation and you don't know what to believe.
Now, for now--we are going to wait. I think we are going to request a meeting with the head coordinator. I am just not sure--I doubt--that we will get any information. The problem is that this has significantly postponed our trip. It is just not possible to stay a substantial amount of time longer. We planned on 30 to 35 days--who knows now. I hope I have some better information the next time I post. Thanks for everyone's support. It means so much to us.
Today we are going to the WW II memorial. They have a big statue that looks similar to the statue of Liberty. There are so many sculptures in this city.
For Ned: No, they do not have any Anheiser Busch products--believe me Darren asked. Not bad Ukranian beer.
Christine and Darren
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
September 13 3:45 pm
Hi everyone. Thanks to everyone for their words of support and prayers. It helps us very much. By the way, our luggage did show up. That was good!
Yesterday a new application for another appointment was submitted to the Adoption Center. There are people working for us behind the scenes to get us another appointment as quick as possible. The most important thing is that it is a successful appointment so the wait is secondary.
We have really been keeping pretty busy. There is down time but we have not been bored. Yesterday (Monday) we did more sight seeing in Kiev. We saw more cathedrals and got some nice souveniers. We have been walking everyday usually around the track at the soccer field right next to our apartment. Darren discovered that it is pretty easy to get beer. There is a stand right by the apartment and he has learned that beer in Russian is Piva. So we had a couple beers last night.
Today we went to a beautiful area with more churches and cathedrals. The weather is perfect again today and we haven't had any rain. We had McDonalds for lunch and boy did it taste good! Just like home! The food is pretty good but not as much variety as we are used to. Also, they do not use condiments over here. The pasta that we had has been plain--without sauce. It sure was nice to have ketchup with our fries today. Tonight we plan on walking again and watching a movie on our portable DVD player. Oh--we bought a couple CD's today and boy they were cheap--4 bucks a piece. They don't have all the American Bands over here but a few. Well, we will sign out for now. We will probably post tomorrow again.
Christine and Darren
Hi everyone. Thanks to everyone for their words of support and prayers. It helps us very much. By the way, our luggage did show up. That was good!
Yesterday a new application for another appointment was submitted to the Adoption Center. There are people working for us behind the scenes to get us another appointment as quick as possible. The most important thing is that it is a successful appointment so the wait is secondary.
We have really been keeping pretty busy. There is down time but we have not been bored. Yesterday (Monday) we did more sight seeing in Kiev. We saw more cathedrals and got some nice souveniers. We have been walking everyday usually around the track at the soccer field right next to our apartment. Darren discovered that it is pretty easy to get beer. There is a stand right by the apartment and he has learned that beer in Russian is Piva. So we had a couple beers last night.
Today we went to a beautiful area with more churches and cathedrals. The weather is perfect again today and we haven't had any rain. We had McDonalds for lunch and boy did it taste good! Just like home! The food is pretty good but not as much variety as we are used to. Also, they do not use condiments over here. The pasta that we had has been plain--without sauce. It sure was nice to have ketchup with our fries today. Tonight we plan on walking again and watching a movie on our portable DVD player. Oh--we bought a couple CD's today and boy they were cheap--4 bucks a piece. They don't have all the American Bands over here but a few. Well, we will sign out for now. We will probably post tomorrow again.
Christine and Darren
Sunday, September 11, 2005
September 11, 2005 Sunday
We left at 4:30 am Friday morning to travel to the orphanage about 5 hours west of Kiev in Kymintziev... It was an interesting trip because the country side was very unique. Almost like stepping back in time to the 1940's WW II era. The farmers were gathering milk on horse drawn carts in the morning and shepards were walking their cows to pasture and at times we had to stop because they were in the middle of the road.
We arrived at the orphanage and the children were out playing. As we approached children were walking in a line on the road. All at once the teacher yelled at them and they got out of the way all at once and lined up against the wall as we passed. They were waiving with eyes as big as saucers--excited to see us. We parked and waited for our coordinator to arrange a meeting with the child we were there to see. While we were waiting, a group of younger children about 2 years old came out and started flocking around the van we were in. They were looking at us as to say "Come over and love me". It was a very emotional moment. They were all so cute and looked like they could have been right out of Orphan Annie with the clothing they were wearing. They just kept standing there, staring at us for 10 minutes. We then went in to meet the child we came to see. Her name was Tanya. She was very much delayed and had several severe medical issues. She was very small and not walking yet at 2 years old. She was crying and we spent a little time holding and trying to comfort her. We knew that we were not going to take her. It was so sad.
The rest of the day we spent waiting around trying to get all the necessary paperwork completed. We drove back to Kiev that evening arriving back at about 10:30 pm--a very long day.. The roads were so bumpy it was difficult to relax in the car.
Saturday was a good day. We did some sight seeing in Kiev. We went to the Ukrainian National Historical Area. The weather has been fantastic and we have been getting in a lot of walking. They tell us that we have about 1 more week of good weather before it starts to get cold. Saturday evening we watched a Soccer (football) game outside of our apartment balcony. It was interesting but we couldn't figure out who the home team was to root for them! The home team lost.. Oh well, the Cardinals are doing good!
Sunday (today) we got up and went to mass at St. Alexanders. They actually had an english mass. It was a beautiful church. We found out that it is very old. When the Soviet government took over they closed the church and made it a planetarium. After Ukrainian independence it was turned back into a church.
Tomorrow we file an application for another appointment at the adoption center. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait. We will try to post again soon.
Christine and Darren
We left at 4:30 am Friday morning to travel to the orphanage about 5 hours west of Kiev in Kymintziev... It was an interesting trip because the country side was very unique. Almost like stepping back in time to the 1940's WW II era. The farmers were gathering milk on horse drawn carts in the morning and shepards were walking their cows to pasture and at times we had to stop because they were in the middle of the road.
We arrived at the orphanage and the children were out playing. As we approached children were walking in a line on the road. All at once the teacher yelled at them and they got out of the way all at once and lined up against the wall as we passed. They were waiving with eyes as big as saucers--excited to see us. We parked and waited for our coordinator to arrange a meeting with the child we were there to see. While we were waiting, a group of younger children about 2 years old came out and started flocking around the van we were in. They were looking at us as to say "Come over and love me". It was a very emotional moment. They were all so cute and looked like they could have been right out of Orphan Annie with the clothing they were wearing. They just kept standing there, staring at us for 10 minutes. We then went in to meet the child we came to see. Her name was Tanya. She was very much delayed and had several severe medical issues. She was very small and not walking yet at 2 years old. She was crying and we spent a little time holding and trying to comfort her. We knew that we were not going to take her. It was so sad.
The rest of the day we spent waiting around trying to get all the necessary paperwork completed. We drove back to Kiev that evening arriving back at about 10:30 pm--a very long day.. The roads were so bumpy it was difficult to relax in the car.
Saturday was a good day. We did some sight seeing in Kiev. We went to the Ukrainian National Historical Area. The weather has been fantastic and we have been getting in a lot of walking. They tell us that we have about 1 more week of good weather before it starts to get cold. Saturday evening we watched a Soccer (football) game outside of our apartment balcony. It was interesting but we couldn't figure out who the home team was to root for them! The home team lost.. Oh well, the Cardinals are doing good!
Sunday (today) we got up and went to mass at St. Alexanders. They actually had an english mass. It was a beautiful church. We found out that it is very old. When the Soviet government took over they closed the church and made it a planetarium. After Ukrainian independence it was turned back into a church.
Tomorrow we file an application for another appointment at the adoption center. Hopefully it won't be too long of a wait. We will try to post again soon.
Christine and Darren
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
First 2 days in Ukraine
It was a long flight but we made it here safe and sound. We couldn't sleep on the plane. I think we were just wired from all the anticipation. Unfortunately, they lost our luggage. Luckily, we carried on clothes for about a day so we had csomething to wear to the Adoption center. Hopefully we will get our bags tonight or tommorrow.
We are staying in a very small but clean apartment. The elevator is very small about 3.5 x 4 feet. It really made us nervous at first going up 8 floors. The building seems to be half vacant. We are lucky to have hot water. We have someone bringing us food. It is different than what we are used to but it has been pretty good. Kiev is much bigger than we expected. It is population of about 4 million but it is very spread out. It is very strange not being able to read the words on buildings because everything uses the cyrillic alphabet.
We were very tired yesterday from being up for over 24 hours. We are still feeling jet lagged.
This morning we had an appointment at the National Adoption Center. We did not find our child yet. It was recommended to us that we go look at a child to gain favor (to show we are serious about adopting). So tomorrow or the next day we will leave to go see a child. We do not expect that this will be our child due to severe health issues. We are not looking forward to doing this because it will be very hard emotionally. Hopefully this will help us get another appointment at the adoption center and we will find our healthy child.
We went in with a very open mind stating we would adopt a boy or girl under the age of 4. There were no children available that met this criteria. Our coordinator says that this is common and 70% of the people have to go for a second appointment. We are dissappointed but we are trying to stay positive. Please keep us in your prayers as we need them more than ever.
Tonight we took a walk in the neighborhood we are staying in. It is an older area that is run down by our standards. Ninety percent of the people here live in apartments. We haven't seen any stand alone homes. There is a lot of beautiful architecture in the down town area, lots of parks and high end shopping. We are staying about 30 minutes from down town. The weather is perfect. It gets into the 70's during the day and cools off at night. Tommorrow we may go sight seeing. Darren could really use a Budweiser right now. He (we) are going to try to get a beer tonight! It is nice to come to an internet cafe just to get the news on what is going on at home. We will hopefully be able to post soon and keep everyone updated.
Christine and Darren
It was a long flight but we made it here safe and sound. We couldn't sleep on the plane. I think we were just wired from all the anticipation. Unfortunately, they lost our luggage. Luckily, we carried on clothes for about a day so we had csomething to wear to the Adoption center. Hopefully we will get our bags tonight or tommorrow.
We are staying in a very small but clean apartment. The elevator is very small about 3.5 x 4 feet. It really made us nervous at first going up 8 floors. The building seems to be half vacant. We are lucky to have hot water. We have someone bringing us food. It is different than what we are used to but it has been pretty good. Kiev is much bigger than we expected. It is population of about 4 million but it is very spread out. It is very strange not being able to read the words on buildings because everything uses the cyrillic alphabet.
We were very tired yesterday from being up for over 24 hours. We are still feeling jet lagged.
This morning we had an appointment at the National Adoption Center. We did not find our child yet. It was recommended to us that we go look at a child to gain favor (to show we are serious about adopting). So tomorrow or the next day we will leave to go see a child. We do not expect that this will be our child due to severe health issues. We are not looking forward to doing this because it will be very hard emotionally. Hopefully this will help us get another appointment at the adoption center and we will find our healthy child.
We went in with a very open mind stating we would adopt a boy or girl under the age of 4. There were no children available that met this criteria. Our coordinator says that this is common and 70% of the people have to go for a second appointment. We are dissappointed but we are trying to stay positive. Please keep us in your prayers as we need them more than ever.
Tonight we took a walk in the neighborhood we are staying in. It is an older area that is run down by our standards. Ninety percent of the people here live in apartments. We haven't seen any stand alone homes. There is a lot of beautiful architecture in the down town area, lots of parks and high end shopping. We are staying about 30 minutes from down town. The weather is perfect. It gets into the 70's during the day and cools off at night. Tommorrow we may go sight seeing. Darren could really use a Budweiser right now. He (we) are going to try to get a beer tonight! It is nice to come to an internet cafe just to get the news on what is going on at home. We will hopefully be able to post soon and keep everyone updated.
Christine and Darren
Friday, August 26, 2005
One week to go--counting down!!! It is very hectic right now trying to get everything done around the house and pack. It seems hard to believe that after this long wait, we are finally almost ready to leave. We are very excited yet anxiously hoping everything goes well over there. There are always hitches especially with foreign governments--Not like the US. We are so lucky to live in this country. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
Christine and Darren
Christine and Darren
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