Click HERE to download our daily adoption journal. Warning: It is 32 pages long, but includes photos and a daily account of our journey. You must view it in Adobe Acrobat. Below here are the emails that we sent to our famiy and friends. |
Adoption Journal |
Click HERE to download our daily adoption journal. Warning: It is 32 pages long, but includes photos and a daily account of our journey. You must view it in Adobe Acrobat. Below here are the emails that we sent to our famiy and friends. |
We are in Kiev 3/7/2003 11:10:07 AM Hey everyone! Well we are here in Ukraine. Kiev to be exact. We don't have much to update. Things are moving a little slower than we had hoped. But we love our translator (T) and our attorney (V). They are very knowledgable and we have a lot of faith in them. They are very very kind, smart, and beautiful women. The apartment we are in is great! We have learned that the lanes in Ukraine are simply a "suggestion" of where people should drive and that McDonalds in universal! It is very very very cold here. And lots of snow!!! The language is a struggle, but we are making it by. Most people just have pity on us and try to use what little broken English they know. As for the adoption update, we have not made a decision on children yet. We have reviewed many files and have had to make some very tough decisions that were very emotional and very hard. There are so many children that need homes. We will be seeing/visiting some children on Tuesday. Until things are more definitive, we don't feel comfortable sharing any more info on them. We just pray that God will lead us in the direction we are to go. So we will be in Kiev through the weekend. Everything is closed until Tuesday because it is a national holiday to celebrate Women (not like Mother's Day in the US--it is for ALL women). How cool is that? But T has arranged for us to do some sightseeing over the weekend which will be nice and we plan to sleep a LOT! =) And Penney's connection at the US embassy has invited us to dinner, but we may wait until we return to Kiev with the children to do that since he has 3 children as well. As many of you know, today is our wedding anniversary. Although we had hoped to meet our children today, our spirits are not dimmed. T and V both brought us presents to celebrate. Very sweet of them to do that!! And we will be having a delicious dinner of Peanut Butter sandwiches! Mmmmm! =) Who needs Macaroni Grill? Well, that is all for now. We will try to email again when we have more news. Please keep us and our children (even though we haven't met them yet) in your prayers. We need them! Penney and Byron |
We're Parents 3/14/2003 3:50:58 AM Well, not officially until court on Tuesday, but our children are with us. Yes, I said "children". We are adopting James Nicholaus (7) and William Max (5). Their birth names were Nickolai (shortened to "Kolai") and Maxim ("Max"). Nicholaus is a name we had discussed before we left and "Max" fits the youngest to a "t". We have them with us here in Kiev. Parents, you can reach us at the Kiev apartment number that you used before. Nick is extremely shy but very smart. He reads well and once he warms up to you is very playful. Max is much more outgoing with a smile that will make him a ladies' man when older. Just like me. =) Max is beginning to read as well. Penney and I have already figured out that Nick will be the reader of the two and will go to college on a full academic scholarship. Max will be heavily recruited by the fraternities. I also think that the Dean of Students and I will talk often about Max. Nick has light brown hair and Max dirty blond. They are absolutely healthy. Both are right on target for height and weight. We are going out in just a little while to buy them some clothes. I gave them their first bath last night and they loved the water. The bath water, however, was quite gray when they were done. The orphanage they came from was 15 miles from the Russian Border. Before we went to pick them up we stopped at an open-air market (it was about 15 degrees...) to buy candy for the kids there. There were almost as many horse-drawn wagons as cars, as well. The orphanage itself was clean but otherwise right out of the 1800's. The caretakers there clearly loved all of the children. As soon as we get back from the market we'll e-mail our famlies with the boys' sizes. The only problem we may encounter is that the judge may not waive the 30 days. We've done the be$t we can about that $o far, but we are hoping for the best and praying that he waives it. Please, pray for that as well. Well, I need to be off to go shopping. Thanks for all of your support and prayers, Byron & Penney |
Weekend Update with the Brooks 3/15/2003 8:19:48 AM Hey Everyone! Thanks so much for all the wonderful messages. Sorry I don't have time to respond to each one individually. But they do mean a lot to us! Byron is back at the apartment with the boys while they take a nap. I think the nap is more for us than them! =) All is going well. Nicholaus and Max are doing wonderful. We taught them to count to 10 in English yesterday and they have learned a few phrases. Having the two of them together is wonderful b/c they have fun together and haven't been scared really since leaving the orphanage. But it does make the language tough b/c they still converse with each other in Russian (Ukrainian actually). We did take them shopping yesterday. They LOVED it! We bought each of them new jackets, pajamas, shoes, pants, sweaters, underwear, t-shirts, socks. Everything, really. Usually the orphanage doesn't let you take any of the children out in the orphanage clothes. But since we got them with such short notice, we had to. But we will return them (the clothes) when we go back for court on Tuesday. As for sizes, for anyone interested, Nicholaus is wearing about a size 6 in American sizes. The 5s I had brought with us were a little short. And Max is wearing a size 5 American sizes. Their shoes were a size 29 and 31 in European sizes--I don't know what that converts to in American. After shopping, we had the wondeful opportunity to meet and have dinner with J our head facilitator who was in Kiev for the weekend. They boys were angels and ate great. We asked them on the way back to the apartment (through our translator of course) if it was the first time they had ever been shopping or to a restaurant and they said yes to both. I don't know what Byron told you about them, but I'll give you a quick description since I don't know if/when we will be able to send photos. We thought Nicholaus was 6, but we realized the day we met him that he turned 7 the day we arrived in Ukraine. Max will be 6 this summer. Nicholaus is very very shy, but once he warms up to you is very sweet. He has brown hair and gray/hazel eyes. He has a thin, heart shaped face. His complexion is very light and he's missing his two front top teeth. He is very very sweet. Max is wide open all the time and smiles constantly. His hair is a little more blonde than Nicholaus'. He has light brown eyes, dimples, and a slight dimple in his chin. He has a more olive complexion and is missing one tooth on the bottom. He's also sweet, but a little rowdy. We think they are both very bright. Nicholaus can read Russian and write some Russian words. He's counting very well in English. Max recognizes some Russian writing. We are using money to teach them to count and they are having a blast. Byron was consumed for about 2 hours with them yesterday drawing things for them. The would point to a picture and say "draw Papa". So Byron would draw it after they learned the English word for what they wanted him to draw. Very cute! They are able to recognize everyone in our photo album and call them by name when we point to them. They've already called their beds in their room at home---Nicholaus has claimed the one on the left and Max the one on the right. Today for lunch we took them to McDonalds. They were in awe. Nicholaus didn't care for the Coke or hamburger (I think it was the onions and pickle) but LOVED the french fries. Max liked everything!! And they played for a long time with the toys in their happy meal. So far they are eating really well. Nicholaus doesn't care much for chocolate. He prefers juice and bananas. Max does like chocolate a LOT but also likes juice. We're glad they aren't being picky so far. They LOVE taking a bath and played last night for about 45 minutes in the tub together. They are going to bed pretty well. They like to play and talk for about 5 minutes and then they are out like a light. We go to court on Tuesday and we PRAY that the judge waives the 30 days. We are eager to get them (and us) home. If they don't waive, I think we will stay in Kiev b/c I think it will be very hard on the boys (and us) for us to return them to the orphanage and us come back to Ukraine after the 30 days. But we pray that all goes well. Well that's it for now. Please continue to pray for us. We will update again when we can. We can't wait to get home and see everyone and let you all meet the boys. Love! Byron, Penney, Nicholaus and Max |
Adoption Update 3/19/2003 1:54:31 PM Hey everyone! It's official. We are the proud parents of James Nicholaus Brooks and William Max Brooks. We are so happy!!! The judge did not waive the 30 day waiting period, however. And due to some political stuff going on with adoption in Ukraine(that I'll not get into here), they would not allow us to take the boys back to Kiev with us even though they had been with us here in Kiev for 5 days! We were very very very upset, yet grateful that we had those 5 days completely alone with them to bond and create some great memories. We had a great night and morning with them. They understand (as much as a 7 year old and 5 year old can) that we have to leave but will be coming back. We made them a calendar to mark off the days until we get them. And we left them with lots of goodies and have made arrangement to call them. Since the boys village is so isolated (isolated is an understatment), we were faced with two options, to stay in Kiev for the 30 days with nothing to do but watch Ukrainian MTV, or to return to the US for 3 weeks and return on April 17 to get the boys on April 18. We opted for Option 2 so that we can save as much of our leave time for when the boys get home. So we are presently arranging our travel plans back home to the US. We hope to be back in the US over the weekend. We will send photos as soon as we get home---so stop emailing us to send photos! =) We plan to take a few days off to get ourselves together and then return to work for 3 weeks. But the boys are great!!! We love them so much and we know that they love us. Over the last week they have become so incredibly loving towards us. Nicholaus has really come out of his shell and Max didn't have any shell left to come out of. =) They are also very very loving towards each other and are just great kids. We feel so blessed to have found them and already we can't imagine our life without them. Nicholaus pulled a tooth on Monday evening and he knows that once we get home to HIS room that the tooth fairy is going to visit. They have given us their requisite list of what else they want in their room and what toys they want. It's quite funny b/c all Nicholaus wants is a stuffed rabbit and swan (that he saw in a book we gave him) and all Max wants is a toy tractor. And of course, the ever popular flashlights, which by the way was the first English word they knew. Over the last week we have taught them to count to 10 in English, they know most of their colors (thanks to the bag of jelly beans we brought with us), and they are beginning to understand us more and more. OK....we'll stop gushing and finish with a thank you. Thank you for all the kind emails, thoughts, and prayers. We could not have done this without you and could not finish this journey with your prayers and thoughts. We look forward to seeing all of you soon and are looking even more forward to you meeting the boys in about a month. So that's the news. Again, we'll email again once we get home WITH photos of course!!! Please keep us in your prayers and we'll see you soon!! Byron, Penney, Nicholaus, and Max |
We're in Warsaw 3/26/2003 11:54:23 AM Hey all! Well we are on our way home to the US. We've spent the last week in Kiev trying to work around the 30 day wait through every route imaginable and then some. But we were not successful. So the boys are still at the orphanage. But we will return to get them on April 18. We talked to Nicholaus last night mostly through our translator T. He was doing fine. He counted to 10 for us (and of course left out 8--which he always does). He knew that yesterday was day 7 on his calendar of when we will be back. And he told T that Max was doing fine. We didn't get to talk to him. Neither of them have this whole talking on the phone thing down pat. But they'll get there. So we left for Warsaw this morning. We just got to the hotel a little while ago. We leave for the US tomorrow and will be home on Thursday evening. We both plan to return to work early next week to save as much of our leave time as possible for when the boys are at home. Ok, now for the lecture. No tears. It is/was very very very hard for us to leave Ukraine. But we know this is the best decision under the circumstances. The boys are legally ours and the director knows to have them ready for us to pick up at 9 am on April 18. We are sad and upset, but we are trying very hard to be happy that we have found our children, that they are healthy, smart, and beautiful. We know that God led us to them and He will protect them and us. So, please, be happy. We know it's hard not to be sad, but try. Plus, if you make us cry, it won't be pretty. =) We hope to see you all soon and show you photos, art, and videos of our kids. We know you'll love them almost as much as we do. Well that's all for now. We'll write again once we're home and send good photos of the boys! Penney and Byron |
Spring has sprung in Kiev 4/20/2003 7:21:00 AM Hey Everybody! Just a quick note to let everyone know that everything is great! We have the boys with us back in Kiev now. We arrived to Kiev on Thursday and drove straight to Chirnigiv, the closest city to the boys' village. We picked the boys up at the orphanage first thing Friday morning. They were so excited to see us!! They both still look the same although Nicholaus has lost another tooth and is sporting a new haircut, a complete buzz cut. And his hair has turned almost completely blonde with being able to now play in the sun. Max looked exactly the same except is now in dire need of a hair cut. But they look great and it felt so good to hug and kiss them again!! We have missed them so much!!! T, our original translator was not able to go with us as she was working with another family. But one of her colleauges, S, who is an attorney went with us. He was great and the boys LOVED him!!! They talked about fishing for almost 20 minutes in the car b/c S had a fishing magazine in his bag that boys looked at forever. Byron's dad better get his fishing arm ready b/c I think they are ready to go!!! After giving the 2 suitcases FULL of donations that we brought to their classes and a few last goodbyes, we drove back to Kiev so that we could make our 3 pm appointment at the Embassy. We were 20 minutes late, but the lady was nice enough to stay and complete our paperwork for us. We then decided to go ahead and get their physicals (mandatory for US immigration)done in Kiev rather than wait until we get to Warsaw. So we went to the American Medical Center and took care of that. The doctor (who studied at NYU) confirmed what we belived--they are healthy as horses. Max weighs about 48 pounds and Nicholaus about 52 pounds. We then went to make our travel plans to Warsaw and finally made it back to the apartment. The boys were a little wound-up, but did great overall. They again loved their baths and went to bed with little problem. So we have spent yesterday and today playing with them. It's amazing how much of the little English we taught them they have retained. They both remember how to count to 10, and they STILL leave out 8, and they remember most of their colors. And they are learning more and more every day. Nicholaus LOVES the puzzles we brought them. He likes to race me and Byron to see who can finish them first. And Max has learned to turn flips on the bed! OY!! So we leave for Warsaw in the morning. We have our appointment at the Embassy in Warsaw on Tuesday morning and we leave for home on Thurday morning. We are anxious to see how the boys will do on the flights. We have been trying to explain using what little Russian we know. I think Nicholaus understands but we aren't sure Max does. The weather here is BEAUTIFUL!! It's a far cry from what we left 3 weeks ago. It's about 50 degrees with the sun shining and grass finally starting to grow. The boys haven't even been wearing their jackets or snow-man hats outside to play. They are going to love NC weather when we get home!! Oh, Happy Easter, too. Ukrainians don't celebrate Easter on this weekend. They celebrate Orthodox Easter, which is next weekend. But we were able to watch the Pope doing Easter Mass at the Vatican this morning on TV. Even though we aren't Catholic and didn't understand neither the Italian or the dubbed Russian, it was still nice. So, that's all for now. I must get back to the apartment. I left all 3 boys taking naps. It was almost too cute for words. I think Byron and the boys were asleep before I even shut the apartment door. We will try to email again once we get to Warsaw. Thanks for all the encouragement, prayers, and support. We can't wait to see all of you soon!! Penney (and the boys) |
We're in Warsaw AGAIN 4/23/2003 9:25:26 AM Hey everyone! Well we are here in Warsaw. We arrived on Monday and had our appointment at the US Embassy yesterday. All we have to do now is get on the plane for home! YEAH!!! The boys are doing well. I think they have a bit of "cabin fever" from being in the room for too long. They've resorted to playing hide and seek in the hotel room--not a very difficult game. But they've gotten creative with hiding in the mini-bar and under the desk. =) But otherwise they are doing great. We found a great park/playground across the street from the US Embassy and the boys spent several hours yesterday and today there. Now if we could only figure out how to switch off their internal clock, b/c they are still on Ukraine time which means they have been getting up at 5:30 AM. I hope that gets better once we get home..... They are understanding more and more English, but they aren't speaking much English at all and of course they still talk to each other only in Russian and talk to us in Russian as if we completely understand what they are saying. I'm afraid of what we have said yes to in the last couple of days!! =) We met up with another family from our adoption group who adopted a 6 yo boy from Ukraine. So we had dinner with them last night and spent some time chatting. It was very very nice. Their little boy is precious!!! So we arrive home to RDU at 6:30 pm tomorrow. We can't wait to get the boys home and let them meet their grandparents, and other family and friends. I'm sure they will be a little overwhelmed at first, but I'm sure they will adjust well. Please forgive us if we are a little selfish with our time with them at first. We want them to get settled really well in their new home after traveling literally halfway around the world to a country that smells and looks different, seeing people they don't know who are speaking a language they don't understand. I'm sure it will be a very weird time for them. But with time, consistency, love, and prayer, they will do fine. Thanks again for all the support and prayers. We couldn't have made this journey with out it. God has been so good to us in so many ways. We have no doubt that He saved and protected these boys for us until we could come get them. And we know His timing is perfect. We ask that you continue to pray for us and for the boys as we all transition to a new life together. Talk to all of you soon! Penney, Byron, Nicholaus and Max |
