Two of My Favorite Pictures!

Here are two of my favorite pictures from last year!!
Nataliya enjoying a chewy caramel candy one of the caregivers gave to her during our visit!! :o)
And Juliya having a happy moment!

Oh I love these little darlings!!

Juliya looking at a photo album and pointing to me that Mama is in the picture.
Juliya looking at the
photo album again ... one of her favorite activities!!






Bubbles!! We also took this picture to get an idea of how tall she was compared to me.





Juliya sorting out flash cards with photos on them. She loved this game too ... especially when Kostya was there to tell her about the words on the cards!

ok ... I'm back!

Juliya pointing out pictures of Mama!

Juliya giggling ... with Kostya!


Juliya and Mommy playing with bubbles!




Off to the "social workers" office AGAIN!! :o)







Today was a wonderful Thanksgiving! Of course we have so much to give thanks for ... WE ALWAYS HAVE ... but it does seem with our two little ones filling every square inch of our lives that our thankfulness list is even longer!!

We had a great weekend in Madison. Our apologies to anyone who lives there that we didn't see. It was a work/play trip ... so we did what we could to see people ... but of course you always miss someone(s). On Monday I spent a few hours at Urgent Care with Juliya (waiting to see a Dr.) ... in the end ... she had a really bad ear infection ... but she is on the mend!!

Thinking back on our journey last year ...

We had Thanksgiving Dinner with Kevin and Angie at the John Howard Pub in Kherson last year. A Thanksgiving we will never forget!!

Above are a few photos from last year's journey!! I'll put more in another post. I LOVE looking at our pictures from last year ... I'm so glad God knew what He was doing and lead the way for us to go to Ukraine to adopt our girls.

More later ...

More Excuses!

Well here it is Sunday afternoon and I'm just now posting again!

We are actually in Wisconsin for the weekend ... and it has been great seeing old friends. (We lived here for 6 years ... for those who don't know.)

I'm using my friend's computer right now ... so I can't even post any pictures. But ... I didn't want to discourage any of you who keep checking in for new updates ... so I promise ... I'll be back with more reflecting later!! I have so many awesome pictures to post of Nataliya's Famous Bows and of course some of our special moments with Juliya!!

With a grateful heart!

Mary :o)

I'm Trying!

Well ... I can't go two days without updating the blog! :o) But my excuse is very valid ... sick little ones. They are on the mend and the house clearly smells like Lysol ... which is better than *****-up. Who wants to think about that ... BLAUKEY!!

When we went to visit Nataliya a year ago yesterday (it was a Monday) ... she was out for a walk with some of the other kiddos in her groupa. I remember her caregiver picked a flower from a bush and gave it to Nataliya ... asking her to give it to "Mama" (me) ... but she wanted to keep it for herself and wouldn't give it to me! :o( Little stinker! Finally the caregiver gave her two ... so then she decided she could share with me! That is shown on the video clip below.

I also remember being amazed that these little two-year-olds could just cruise up the cement steps to the second floor ... where they lived. Some crawled, others held the railing ... but they all got up there without incident!

Our first several days in Kherson were packed full of running around town trying to get the legalities taken care of, get a court date, etc.

We only snapped one photo of Juliya on Monday ... with no flash ... because we were trying so hard not to scare her or anything.

Oh, I sure love these little peanuts!! And I cherish the memories of getting to know them!

I'm going to post a really cute video of Juliya tomorrow ... so check back!

I'd better get some sleep now ... there hasn't been much of that for Mommy (or Daddy) these past few nights.

Thanking God for my beautiful family!!

Mary :o)

Our Little Reindeer!!

In Ukraine (or at least the orphanage where Nataliya lived) they will typically begin dressing children up a bit ... once they have adoptive parents on the scene. So on this day (Sunday) it was the first time they had Nataliya all dressed up for us! Thus the bows in her hair!! So many people asked (after seeing pictures of these bows in her hair) ... what were they made of. Were they shower scrubby things? No ... they were actually brown ribbon ... knotted to her head and then made into a bow.

As I'm writing this ... the girls are jumping off of our ottoman into their Daddy's arms ... toooooo precious!!! Now Daddy is making up silly songs and they are doing somersaults all over our family room floor.

Just tonight Chris said to me "wow ... they are alot of work ... but SUCH a BLESSING!!"

Much love from the Conrad family!!

Mary :o)

P.S. I guess they went from reindeer to rabbits ... furry rabbits! :o)

Are You My Daddy??

A year ago today we were getting settled in our apartment in Kherson. We went to visit Nataliya in the morning and again in the afternoon. We also took care of having some paper work notarized (this is actually dealing with a local lawyer there ... more involved than our notary process) and had our first pizza lunch!

When we went to see Nataliya in the morning ... she was outside with her groupa. She was quite bundled up ... as you can see! She also had a scarf on before I started unbundling her!

Nataliya sat on Chris' lap for most of our visit. She was having so much fun stacking and unstacking little cups and playing with a Winnie the Pooh Mega Block toy. I remember we just kept doing the same thing over and over ... but she was happy and we were loving every moment of it!

What we didn't know is that Nataliya apparently needed to go potty. This was her way of initiating Chris into fatherhood!!

Oh ... They're Adorable!!!

After our referral appointment ... we were anxious to get to Kherson and meet our baby girls!

We returned to the SDA the next afternoon/evening ... picked up the necessary paperwork ... then we shopped a little around Kyiv ... buying a few toys for the girls ... check out of our apartment and then headed for the train station.

We were able to purchase one whole compartment ... complete with 4 spacious :o) beds! The train in Ukraine is ... ... an experience! :o) I'm very grateful we had the privacy of a compartment with just us and Kostya.

After arriving in Kherson ... we were picked up by Max in his 20 year old BMW! Trying to fit all of our luggage in the car was quite the experience. Poor Kostya was in the front seat with at least 2 ... maybe three bags with him! :o)

We went straight from the train station to begin meeting with Social Workers. Did I mention there was no shower ... no fixing the hair, etc. :o) Finally in the early afternoon we were able to go meet Juliya Grace.

When they brought her into the room where we were waiting ... I first noticed that she was such a tiny, little pixie doll ... with a BEAUTIFUL smilel and LONG eyelashes. I'm sure she was very nervous. She was shown to a table and given crayons, paper, etc. to play with. She did fine for awhile ... then began to look sad and started crying. Kostya was able to talk to her and say he would take her back to her groupa ... but he asked her to tell us good bye first. This is a picture of her just about to walk back to me and say good-bye. She was sad and unsure ... but so adorable and sweet!! Saying goodbye to Juliya was followed by a quick meeting with the orphanage director ... who basically told us not to come back until Monday ... because Juliya had cried at our first meeting she thought it would be best for us to make sure we connect with "the younger girl" before we came back to see Juliya. We reluctantly agreed to her request.

Later in the afternoon we were able to go to Nataliya's orphanage and meet her. When she was brought into the room ... she walked right up to Chris and climbed into his lap. A moment we will never forget!!

After visiting with her orphanage director ... who was an absolute sweetheart ... we were shown to a playroom where we played with Nataliya for about an hour. She warmed up so quickly and enjoyed playing with us. I do remember she was also ready to go back to her groupa when the time came.

I'll always cherish this picture of Nataliya holding her Papa's finger ... after having known him for only an hour or so!! She did love playing with the same toys over and over and over again!!

During this visit with Nataliya ... we also met Deb and Rob who were there from Cincinnati, Ohio adopting their daughter ... now named Aly. It was also great to meet another American couple ... and we are grateful for our ongoing friendship with them.

So ... today we celebrate the one year anniversary of meeting our sweet daughters! It is hard to believe it has been a year ... wow!!

Thanks for celebrating our journey!!

Reliving the Experience!

Chris and I are enjoying some wonderful conversations as we relive our experience in Ukraine one year ago. For me, one of the most remarkable things about our experience last year is how often we experienced what I call "God moments!" Times when we just knew God had prepared the way and prepared us for that moment. Of course there were bumps along the way and as I re-read our journals from last year ... those discouraging or confusing times were the very things that got us right back on our knees ... pouring our hearts out to God and waiting on what He would do for us.

So, here begins the reliving of the experience.

One year ago today (November 8) ... Chris and I had our appointment at the Ukrainian SDA (State Department of Adoptions). This was the appointment we had been waiting over 3 years for!!! We were told we had one hour to make our decision about the children we would request a referral for. During our appointment we were shown five (5) different sibling groups to choose from. After our selection ... we then waited another 30 hours or so to receive the official paperwork ... allowing us to go meet the children we had chosen.

What happened one year ago today is one of the most obvious signs of God's hand in creating our family. A year before we traveled to Ukraine ... I had been praying for our child(ren). As I journaled my prayers ... writing "little one(s)" ... I told the Lord it would be really nice to have a "real" name to pray for. In my heart I felt His response was to pray for Nataliya (my spelling). A few months later I felt in my heart that Nataliya was our youngest child. Not knowing if she would have older brothers or sisters ... I just had a sense that Nataliya was the youngest. I thought at the time we would probably call her Natalie for a nickname.

In July of 2006 (about 9-10 months after the Lord had given me the name Nataliya to pray for) my friend's little boy ... who was about 7 at the time told me that he thought we should adopt a little girl and name her Natalie. You can imagine my surprise when he said that. I had not shared the name Nataliya with anyone ... but God knew. And He used little Zach to build my faith once again ... that just maybe this adoption was going to happen!!

So fast forward to our time in Ukraine one year ago. Our facilitator Kostya had another family there at the same time. Their appointment was one day before ours. When they came back from their appointment ... they told us the translator provided by the SDA (for American families) was named Julia. To myself I thought "oh, I love that name ... I had no idea it had Ukrainian roots. If we are referred two girls ... I will suggest Julia for her name." Before this point ... no other name had really clicked with me ... except for Nataliya.

Ok ... now to the appointment. We were shown 5 sibling groups.

1. 3 brothers (6, 4, 2)

2. sister/brother (5, 2)

3. 2 brothers (5, 2 ½)

4. 2 sisters :o) (4, 2 ½)

5. 2 brothers (3 ½, 2)

The two sisters names ... Julia and Natalia (their original spellings). Of course Chris and I could have fallen off of our chairs. We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that these sisters were our daughters. We were told very negative things about both girls ... especially Julia. But God in His goodness had prepared us ... and we knew they were the ones ... even if we would be dealing with some "issues" both now and in the years to come.

I remember posting on our blog that we were "seeing pink" and had accept a referral for two sisters. Even when I wrote that blog entry ... there was sadness in my heart about what we were doing ... because Julia's condition sounded pretty bad ... and I wasn't as excited as I had hoped I would be following our appointment.

After our appointment we went for a long walk in a park with Kostya. When we told him what they had told us about the girls ... I know he had reservations about our choice also ... who wouldn't! But still he supported us in our decision.

Within hours and especially days ... those fears were all removed. We knew we had made the right choice and that God in His goodness had prepared us a year before ... by giving us Nataliya's name!! What a good God!

These are the photos we were shown of the girls during our referral appointment. They were passport size pictures ... and I cherish these as the only baby photos we have of our girls.





Big blue eyes and mile-long eyelashes: Juliya Grace.

Contagious smile and sparkling eyes: Nataliya Joy!!

As I write this ... those beautiful girls are upstairs taking a nap. God knew exactly what He was doing ... and I'm so glad we knew to trust Him!!

The story continues tomorrow!

Fun Day

Well, in my attempt to keep up with the blogging ... here are a few thoughts from our fun day.

This morning we (mommy and girls) went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and met up with our friends ... Sarah and her four kiddos. We had a fun time there ... as always!!

This evening we had Grampy and Bushka (Chris' parents) for dinner. I actually served frozen lasagna (something I never do) ... b/c last night while making dinner I burned my left had pretty badly. It is all bandaged up today ... but it does still hurt some. OUCH! So, I'm trying to take it easy with my hand ... like typing this with one hand!

The girls are both doing really well. They are happy and peaceful and so many other wonderful things ... we are so pleased with their progress!

More later!

Goofy Girls!!

Nataliya is enjoying her chocolate ice cream cone at Culver's ... with our friends Logan and Lexa. We had a super fun evening ... filled with lots of giggles and a ton of napkins!!

Juliya and her teacher Mrs.. Redar

Nataliya ... first day of preschool.

A New Plan!

Well here we are ... on a new blog system. I love to share pictures with friends and family ... and this is much easier ... so this is the new spot to keep up on the Conrad family.

These pictures are of the girls on their first day of pre-school (back in September). Juliya is getting out of the van and that is her teacher Mrs. Redar with her. We couldn't ask for a better teacher for Juliya ... she is wonderful. Her co-teacher is also great and is an adoptive mom herself ... so together they really do understand my sweet girl.

Nataliya enjoys her class too. She has been learning all of her colors and having lots of fun with all of the cool activities they do at school!

Well it's time to make dinner ... so I'd better go! Check back soon!

Pictures!

Finally I have posted some pictures of the girls.

I'm still on a learning curve ... but I'm getting there ... slowly!!

We just spent a great weekend with Sissy Kaysha ... she was visiting from Lincoln, Nebraska. Kaysha has been our "on loan" daughter for several years and her little sisters just adore her!!

One year ago today we landed in Ukraine ... wondering what God had in store for us. Wow ... were we ever blessed!!

Thanks for sharing the joy of our journey and our family!!

Mary :o)

Still Celebrating!

Last year on October 19 (a year ago yesterday) - we heard the AWESOME news that we had an appointment date with the SDA in Ukraine on November 8, 2006. We had waited a long time to hear that news ... for the opportunity to go and be united with the children God had chosen for us!

Wow ... what a difference a year makes! :)

Today we had a super fun family day ... being silly in our room after both girls were awake, baking cinnamon rolls for breakfast, coloring, painting, cutting with scissors (exciting stuff when you're 3!), bike riding on a nearby trail (girls in the Burley), afternoon naps, pizza at home with Grampy, dancing before bedtime ... simply wonderful!!!!