Hello, I am sorry that it has taken me so long to update the blog.  We have had some issues that took alot of time to work out.  When I did get to the internet, there were errors and I couldn't post.  So we are here now and lots to tell!

 

We have visited the camp several times since my last post.  We continue to have great times with our kids, getting to know them and bonding.  It is going very well!  Chelsea comes up very easily to wrap her arms around me and rest on my shoulder.  It is very sweet!  She is still trying to get Mikey, but he is playing hard to get.  He thinks it is funny....she is going along with it for now.  It is so wonderful to see her grab Jessica by the hand and run to discover new things or introduce her to friends or caretakers.  It is a great gift for the soul.  Jessica is still very in love with her sister.  She made 2 new friends at the camp.  She is having a great time!!  Cody is such a sweetheart.  He is undemanding, always smiling and shy.  He is VERY happy when he is with us.  He plays well with the other kids and seems very comfortable.  He shares very easily and seems to be friends with everyone.  Mikey is very much in love with his brother and loves to play ball, army men and any kind of game they can think of, especially water guns!!! 

The kids at this camp are amazing.  They are so friendly and easy to like.  There is no pounding on each other or really rough play here.  It is a great place to be and visit.  The care takers are wonderful and very much in control of the children.  I have been taking notes!!!  Tommy has made friends with 2 great boys.  When we get there, they shake his hand and they are off on adventures.  They all play well with the little kids, unusual for boys that age I think!  And they call the orphans here "wild children, unable to be tamed"??? What, they must not be in the camp with the kids!!!  They are truly remarkable!!

The lead caretaker visted with me yesterday.  She often stops by to tell me good things about the kids.  This time she spent a lot of time telling me how much she loves these two kids and how they are her favorite.  She tells me what a great help Chelsea is...we have seen it already.  She said that she is always happy and friendly to everyone.  She is especially fond of all her caregivers.  She tells me that Cody is the best boy she has met...he is kind, courteous, sleeps through the night, eats well, plays well with the other children and more.  She tells me how lucky we are to get these 2 kids.  I AGREE!!!  She then says how lucky they are to have us.  She has seen the pictures of our amazinrsg family and friends.  She knows the children will be surrounded by love...This makes her cry!!  She bawls and appologizes for her tears.  I am so thankful that she tells me about the kids and that she is friendly and loving and in charge of my children's care for the last 22 months.  They have been in good hands!

Yesterday we had a celebration for Chelsea and Cody's classes.  We brought cookies, juice, balloons and gifts.  Cody's class was first.  This is the group I have gotten to know so well.  I wish I could find homes for most of the children in this group!  Cody is very excited to hand out his precious gifts to his friends.  We had the Kelly Barbie dolls for the girls and cars for the boys.  WOW is a universal word by the way.  He was so proud to give his friends gifts.  They had fun with their little celebration.  We didn't have time for a game, but they wouldn't know the difference.  We took a ton of pictures and gave many hugs and kisses over and over!  It was a dream!!  I am praying that at least one of the girls is available for my friend to adopt.  Please pray with me... she will be a remarkable mother and the child will be very blessed!  It would be great to have the children stay in touch and be friends.  Now I only need to find 15 more people!!! (Just kidding, kinda'.  I promise not to hound anyone! Except maybe one of my best friends that wants to adopt and needs some encouragement!!! Hint-hint!)  The kids got really loud at one point, you can imagine 24 kids having fun!!!  The teacher clapped her hand several times and the children immediately went to whispers.  (Did I mention I am taking notes?!)  They left after more hugs and kisses and a chorus of "PA-ZHA-LU-STA!!!  DAS-V-DAN-YA"

Chelsea's group was next.  They came in very happy, sat down at a seat, hand in their laps, talking quietly.  What a change!  They accepted their goodies, ate with enthusiasm and were confused when I gave them 2 balloons and asked them to blow one up.  After the treats we played a game.  They got into 2 lines and cheered each other on as they ran to a chair and popped their balloon.  They were all laughing hysterically!  Yes I have pictures of that too!  Chelsea had already given them all the gift of a stuffed animal on a keychain.  They were cute and the kids really liked them.  I think they would have been happy with anything.   They all said "thank you" and left for lunch.

So it was time to go...again!  It is getting harder and harder to leave them!!!  It is aweful!!  Chelsea used to be very good at minding her teacher and leaving right away...now she finds excuses to stay with us and linger.  We love it!!  She has to wear her necklace while we are there and takes her time taking it off and putting it away.  She also has to get a hug from Mikey, that is a job in itself!  Cody just smiles and shyly turns away to leave...his eyes begging to stay, but he wouldn't dare go against a request!

THE GOOD NEWS IS WE ONLY HAVE 2 MORE DAYS UNTIL WE TAKE THEM HOME FOREVER!!!  We will go Monday morning to sign our papers of responsibility and then go to the camp to pick them up for a last time!!  YEAAAAAAAAH!  We are all very excited!  Last night it finally hit me that it will be soon.  I had a hard time getting to sleep...I feel like a kids at Christmas time!!!  Today I laid out all their clothes to see what we had.  I got all teary eyed again!  Life is good!!

We fill our days, when we don't go to the camp, with trips around the city and eating...eating...eating!!  I had always heard that this is the 20 pound diet!  Well it may be, but I will probably gain 20 instead of losing!!!  Our cook, and wonderful friend!!!!!, Lianna is keeping us very well fed.  She is very observant and learns quickly.  Much quicker than us apparently!  We love her cooking, much better than the resteraunts.  I HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS FUNNY STORY!!  We realized that what we don't eat comes back in a meal or two either the same or changed slightly.  They don't believe in throwing things away that's for sure!  As with anything, there are things that are not quite to our taste.  Since we realized that if we don't eat it, it comes back, we have this funny thing.  She makes a wonderful crepe!!  Instead of breakfast it is served as a supper, or desert.  The crepe is filled with cottage cheese and raisins.  It is very wonderful, but not so much to our tast.....SOOO we eat them all as to not have them at the next meal or so...We are SMART!!!  But, what this tells her is how much we like them!!  She makes them very often...to please us!!  How do you tell a wonderful person, who gives you all that she has, that we don't care for cottage cheese???  So, we have learned to like them and eat them with a smile on our face!  Last time, she let us fill our own crepes.  It was great fun.  She hasn't made them in the past couple of days.  We will see what comes tonight though!  She does everything with so much love!!  She reminds me of my mom.  She makes the food by hand, even grinding her own hamburger!!  She never stops cleaning and cooking.  She won't let us help her at all.  I try to sneak to clean the dishes and she will come up and say so sweetly, "Angela...PLEASE!" and give me a pouty look.  Anna, her niece, does the same thing.  I had someone tell her that I would like to help her, she works so hard.  She only says that I will have ALOT of work to do when I get home and that she wants to take care of our family, her family, while she can.  She enjoys it.  She has truly become a great friend!  You know me, match maker!! I am going to be actively searching for a husband for her.  She will make someone a great wife!!! She has agreed to let me help her find someone and hopes to find someone that is near us, and friends with us, so that she can be close to us.  I have some really good ideas!!!!  I would love for her to be near us!  She is one of the biggest blessings we have had here!  She is beautiful inside and out!! 

Another blessing has been Denis.  He is our English speaking taxi driver.  He has also become a good friend.  He is young, 30ish, and very sweet.  He reminds me somewhat of Thom's brother Charlie.  He has a great heart and is always happy to help.  He made me a CD of Ukrainian music that is in English and Ukrainian.  It is a great CD and was made with alot of love!  We have been so lucky!! I am certain that we will remain friends for a long time!

So, why haven't I been blogging lately?  We have had our first REALLY BIG snaffu (sorry guys, my spelling is gone, and there's no spell check! At least not without deleating everything on accident).  Thom was scheduled to go back to America with Mikey and Tommy on July 5th.  We found out that they did not arrange the tickets and the 5th was sold out, so our travel guy got them tickets for the 7th.  A couple more days in Ukraine, no big deal!  BUT... the guy messed up and didn't get the tickets!!!  We tried EVERYTHIN possible and impossible (as they say in Ukraine) to get them home!!!  You won't believe it, but they are stuck here until the original tickets are good on July 18th!  Thom has nearly had a heart attack several times.  I am serious!! He is sooooo upset that he is letting his work down!  He would try to swim back if he could!  We are all upset as this means we will be here an extra week, waiting for our tickets.  Who would have thought that that would be our problem.  Usually you have to change the tickets to wait for something else.  They were only for a 5 week stay too!  This time seems like a lifetime though.  We are truly ready to come back.  Thom keeps saying that there is alot we can do on those days.  He even said that it will be a great chance to show the kids their culture before they leave.  Can you believe that he is the optomistic one?  So I know that this will be a blessing and that God has something good in store for us...it will just be a bit longer before we can come home.  AT LEAST WE WILL HAVE ALL 5 OF OUR KIDS WITH US!!!!

We love you guys and miss you terribly!!!

Love from the Hobbs family