Days 18 and 19, ahhh!

Today, 42 Ukrainian children arrive in Salt Lake City with, I'm sure, the same hopes and fears that our boys did when they first arrived. And now I sit here my apartment completing the circle that was started over a year ago when we first hosted Bogdan and Ruslan. I can't even begin to describe what an honor it has been for David and I to be a part of this miraculous journey. We never intended on adopting, but once we held them and cared for them, we were smitten. They were ours. I wish I were home to see these "new" children, what an adventure for not only them, but the host families as well.

Well, the last few days have been somewhat quiet around here. Now that David is gone the only sounds I hear are the children playing outside, dogs barking, the water heater kicking on and the sound of me talking to myself. As I write this, David is just leaving JFK and will be reunited with James and Windsor tonight, it was hard for him to leave me, but knowing the kids were waiting for their dad made saying goodbye a bit easier. It'll be nice to have him back home...and to all those of you who have had our children, THANK YOU. THANK YOU, for being there for them, when we could not. How we will ever repay you, I will never know. We love you dearly!!

The days have been filled with bus rides, going to the Materick (I know I spelled that incorrectly, but those of you who have never been here before will never know, so I am just clarifying it for those who have), feeding dogs and playing baseball. The kids have absolutely fallen head over heels in love with American baseball. Thanks Roseanne for the suggestion, even here in the Ukraine you know how to make things fun for children. If I had known it would be such a hit I would have packed enough mitts and a bat for a complete team. We just don't have enough time in our day to have them ALL play like they would like to. We will leave the mitts and ball here for the children to continue to play, I just wish it could be more.

Many of you have asked what it looks like here...it reminds me a little bit of a cross between the movies "Dr. Zhivago" and "Fiddler on the Roof". There is a scene in "Fiddler on the Roof" where Tevye is singing, "Tradition" and his daughter, who is marrying the guy from Starsky and Hutch, the 70's version, is standing on a hill side with her soon to be husband, I really think that scene was filmed right here in Dnipro. I'm sure I pass it each day on my way to the sanatorium, so by the time I arrive to see the boys I am softly humming songs from "Fiddler on the Roof". Love that movie...

Today, while returning home I had quite the scare. When I got on the bus after visiting the boys, the bus driver turned to me and said, "slkjflksjfoihdknnbboosh" and then he turned his back to me, so I thought our one way conversation was over, so I proceeded to the very back corner of the bus, I feel the safest there, he then turned back around and yelled at me "ajlkdjfosijf hifhhboosh" at which time EVERYONE on the bus tuned to look at me. I replied, "American, no Ukraine." He muttered something under his breath and then started driving the bus, while still muttering to himself. Well, I thought all was over, but no. Just up and to the left of me a man turned around, gave me a BIG, not so friendly smile, and then said, "Well, well, well." What? What did he mean? No, "well, well, well". I was terrified, why was he saying this to me? I quickly turned my Ipod on and cuddled up closer to the Babushka sitting next to me and stared out the window. Each time I looked over at him, he was smiling and whispering, "well, well, well." FREAKY!! I wanted off that bus so fast, but I wasn't going to give off for love nor money if he happened to get off when I did. Fortunately he got off way before, whew!!

Anyway, the countdown continues. Oksana told me I probably wouldn't be able to leave until around the 12th of November. But today Irina told David more then likely we should be home around the 5th, I am hoping Irina is right. Apparently, Bogdan has to get a background check done because he is now 14. He has to get one done under his old name, Bogdan Bohen and then when that clears, he will need another one done under his new name of Bogdan Joshua Moore, go figure. So the paperwork continues...

There is a huge part of me that wants to go home today, but then there is another part that really doesn't want to. I will miss these children. When you play with them, when you talk with them you get closer to them. I will forever remember these children. Today when I said goodbye at the fence two more boys joined us, they too gave me a big hug when I left and waited until I turned the corner before they turned and went back into the sanatorium. It's going to be hard to walk away that last and final day...

Loves and kisses!!!

Bogdan playing baseball. Doesn't the smile say it all?

Nicholas, he too loves to play baseball.

A few of the girls.


Ruslan and Bogdan feeding the dogs. Today we were joined by a cat. Ruslan would feed the dogs one hot dog and then he would eat the other, that boy is ALWAYS hungry.


Vitaly, we met him today for the first time. What a beautiful young man he is.

The sanatorium is surrounded on all four sides by these huge apartment buildings.

The boys sneaking out of the "dinning room" to come and play ball. Today the nurse let them join us, I think I'm getting to her. I haven't gotten a smile yet, I'm still working on it though.

Day 15, 16 and 17

"The most consequential of life's episodes often begin with the simplest of events."

Finally, we are able to make contact. Soooo, it's official we are now a family of SIX. The judge "found in favor" of us adopting Bogdan and Ruslan. Wahoo! In fact, I even yelled, "wahoo" when he gave us his final decision, okay maybe I didn't yell it, but I did say it loud enough for everyone in the courtroom to hear. Wahoo!! This adoption has been no different then our other two, full of miracles at every turn.

Facilitator Oksana finally arrived late Sunday night, whew. When we awoke Monday morning she sat down with us an prepared us for what was to happen during the court proceedings. I have to admit we were a bit nervous and overwhelmed , but as we entered the court room and the judge began to talk, we calmed down...a bit. He started off by asking a series of questions...why we would adopt these boys? Why Ukriane? Where we live? Occupation? Are we criminals? Where will they attend school?...you get the idea. After he asked us questions, he would then turn to the 2 women on his left and right, ask them if they had any questions for us and then they would ask away. Then he would turn to the SDA representative, the orphanage lawyer and the orphanage representative to see if they had any questions. This continued on for at least a good hour or so. Then he read some documents and it went something like this...sidjfiosjfoia disojf disofsodi difihsoeihvid eubsdin goos David Michael Mooooooore and Danielle Tate Mooooooore adfdksjh adifksdjklksdlkfjeien David Michael Mooooooore and Danielle Tate Mooooooore and so on and so on. Oksana didn't even translate this part for us. Then the prosecutor asked us a series of questions and THEN they brought in the boys. The judge asked Ruslan, "why would you want to go to America, aren't you going to miss your friends?" "You will miss them when you are gone, will you not?" To him he replied, " yes, I will miss them, but I have a picture of them in my head, but I want to be with mommy and poppy." Then the judge proceeded to ask Bogdan questions. One of his questions was, "what are you interested in, do you like sports?" Bogdan said, "no, I prefer to read Christian books". The judge really took to Bogdan. After ALL the questions the judge dismissed us while he and the 2 other women, who we were told were the jury, deliberated for a good 20 minutes or so. We were then invited back into the courtroom. The judge stood up, addressed us and found in favor of our adoption. At that moment everyone in the courtroom clapped and then we all hugged. Unfortunately, we were not able to get our ten days waved, so it looks like I'll be here up until about the 12th of November. Ahhhhh!!! In fact, David just left a few minutes ago to take the midnight train back to Kyiv, it's about 11:30 pm here and I am already talking to myself. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this week, my imagination is already getting the best of me and I don't think I'll sleep a whole lot tonight. Wish me luck. The boys will be with me next week sometime, so it'll be nice to have them here. After court we went out to dinner with just about everyone present in the courtroom, I think everyone was there, but the judge and the court reporter, I believe we spent half our budget just on that one dinner, but oh was it worth it. It was a WONDERFUL day.

The last couple of days were spent with the boys, they were David's last two visits and he introduced them to American baseball. It was difficult in the beginning for them to grasp which hand to put the glove on, EVERYONE of them first put it on their right. After a few tosses they finally got it. After just a few short minutes the playground was filled with boys wanting to play catch with David. We were having just the greatest time playing ball with ALL the boys until you know who showed up, the evil candy burning nurse. Man, I can't figure her out, she needs to relax a bit, but I don't dare tell her that and even if I did dare, she wouldn't understand anyway. She ran out to where we were playing and started grabbing boys by their hoodies and some by the hair on the back of their heads and hauled them back in. A couple of boys did escape her grasp, but we encouraged them to listen and get back inside. Sometimes I wish I did have a piece of poisonous candy saved JUST for her, oh no I didn't just type that did I? Today when we went back to the sanatorium she did let a couple of the boys come out and play baseball, so she did redeem herself, just a bit, in my eyes. I just smile when I see her, my goal is to get a smile in return before I leave...I'll keep you posted.
David teases me each day we leave the apartment, because you see I leave with my coat pockets full of candy in one and hot dogs in the other. No they are not for me. The candy is for the kids and the hot dogs are for the dogs. Okay, I wasn't going to bring up the dog "situation" here, but I just can't ignore it anymore. I know their plight pales in comparison to everything else, but I am going to have a nervous breakdown if I see one more dog lying dead on the side of the road. I hear them crying at night outside in the cold and it is sending me over the edge. Between the kids and the dogs I am going to lose it. There, I said what I had to say and I will not bring them up again, at least until maybe my next update.
I do have to mention one final thing. When we went to visit the boys on Tuesday, the day after court, there was something different about the them, David and I both noticed right off. They were happy. During our visit, they were more relaxed around us, they reached out to us more. When we said goodbye at the fence Ruslan hugged us for the FIRST time and told us he loved us. I wonder if they were just waiting for it to ALL be final, before they would express their true feelings...I don't know.
We love you all, thanks for your words of love and encouragement. Your comments mean so much to us. Stay in contact with ME people, I am already lonely.
Kisses!!!





After our court. The judge is standing just to my right, he was dressed so casual, it somewhat surprised us.

At the notaries office just before we headed to court. I love this lady, she has been so kind to us.

The court building and the orphanage lawyer standing in front. I love her, she has been amazing with us and so kind to the boys.

At the celebration dinner, The boys ordered ravioli with sour cream. Not my favorite meal. But oh,do they love it.

I took this picture just as we were leaving. Notice all the lights, not a single one was on and we sat in the cold.

Some of the older boys playing baseball with David.

Ruslan playing catch with his buddy.

This is truly the GREATEST yogurt on the face of this earth. My goal is to eat so much of it before I go home, so that when I do, I will be so sick of it I will never want to eat it again. It is to die for. The peach is the BEST!!!

Days 13 and 14

I have often heard the phrase, "Another day another dollar", or "Another day another back ache", well here when it comes to the life of an orphan it should be, "Another day another heartbreak". Yesterday we faced the stark reality of orphan life.
We first went to the orphanage for Wendy's Alex and also for Nanette. Alex wanted us to drop off a little package to his friend, Sasha and Nanette asked us to give a message to Nastya. When we arrived we found the children playing football, we inquired about Sasha and Nastya and we were finally able to locate them. (Alex, Sasha was sooo excited to hear you had sent him a gift, he was ALL smiles. He initially had a hard time reading your letter, but an older boy read it aloud to him and he was so happy to hear that you are well.) While he was reading the letter, I wanted to get a picture, but just as I was getting out my camera a barrel of a man ran over to me yelling, ghdskaeuihslui idehakboosh. Translation: "Stop, stop, stop. You do not take pictures of the children, in America you would never let me take pictures of your children, Stop! Don't give this child candy, in America you would never let me give your children candy. No pictures. Stop!!" After Oksana explained who the gift was from and why we were there he agreed to let Sasha keep the gift, but no pictures whatsoever. Well, I just couldn't leave without taking at least a few pictures for Alex, so when he turned his back to me, I quickly took out my camera and snapped a couple of shots. David stood between the man and I...he never had a clue, HA! Sasha gives his regards to you Alex. Also, Nanette we finally found Nastya, oh she is a beautiful, kind young lady. She literally beamed when we handed her your information she also had a message for you, "please tell her and Vovo I miss them, give them my regards," She put the note in her pocket, zipped it closed, patted it twice and walked away with a smile on her face. I also snuck a picture for you as well. Shhhh. don't tell.

After our visit to the orphanage, we needed to go and get an x-ray of David's tooth, just as a precaution. If the pain continued the dentist wanted to have an x-ray as a back up. I took a photo of the certificates that lined the dentist office, but David is still a no go when it comes to getting all his dental work done here, he won't even entertain the idea. The x-ray cost 15 grivna, just shy of $2.00. WOW!

Later we made our way over to the sanatorium and when we arrived we learned what happened after we left yesterday. Apparently one of the nurses was NOT happy with the candy we had given the children. After we left, she took the candy away, and told the children we were there to poison them and then burned their candy to prove it was poisonous. How burning the candy would prove that, we'll never know. Originally we had asked the director if we could pass out candy to the children, she agreed and had no problem with us doing so, but unfortunately she was not working yesterday. The nurse told Oksana, to tell us, to NEVER bring sweets to the children again and asked when we will be going home, she does not want us back. We were also not allowed upstairs to see the kids this time, and they were not allowed to see us either. They would sit at the window and yell things to us below, we didn't want them to get into trouble, so we quickly left, it was hard to walk away. We were still able to see Ruslan and Bogdan, but Ruslan felt terrible about what had happened, he was upset through our whole visit. Hopefully our visits to the sanatorium are winding down.

Well today, Sunday,we awoke to water running down the road in front of our building. Didn't think anything of it until we went to get ready for the day...we have no water. It is now approximately 5:30 and it's not looking good. Seriously? Tomorrow we have is our court day and David and I look like the grapes of wrath and smell just as bad, it will not be a good thing if we do not get water by tomorrow. A few nights back a woman from upstairs knocked on our door to tell us she had a pipe break in her apartment and water will soon be coming into our apartment and before we even had the door closed, sure enough we found water coming through the ceiling in Oksana's room. We are not sure if this is the reason for no water today, but it looks like something seriously broke, there is water everywhere outside. Wish us luck, we so need water for tomorrow.
We were not able to get a hold of the local missionaries to find the branch on the Left Bank and we couldn't afford to pay George the $50.00 dollars to drive us to the other branch so we had a quiet day inside.

As of right now our court date is still scheduled for tomorrow. We still haven't heard if it's still a go or not. Facilitator Oksana left last week and we haven't seen hide nor tail of her since then. We'll for sure keep you posted.

Oh, question: After court when do the boys come and stay with us? Is it right after or a few days later? Translator Oksana isn't sure when, she is usually gone right after court.

Today, has been a slow day and I'm afraid we still have more to come, but tomorrow should be more exciting. PLEASE, continue to keep us in your prayers.

Loves and kisses.





When we weren't able to see the children yesterday, they would knock on the window to get our attention. It was hard not seeing them, perhaps we'll be able to before we leave.

One of the many murals inside the sanatorium.

Front view of the sanatorium. We enter and exit through the door on the far right. The top window, just to the right of the front doors is the sleeping quarters for the boys. This is where the children would sit and wave to us from. The building continues for quite a distance to the left.

The many CERTIFICATES of the dentist, 17 in all. For all we could tell, they could have just as easily been menus to the local restaurant.

Nastya, after we gave her the note.

Sasha. The older boy was helping him read the letter.

Sasha and friends.

Sasha.

The train station. Our ticket home.

Our beautiful Translator, Oksana.