Free Katerina and her parents too!

Pictures from the trip last winter.

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:52:40 -0500

Pictures from the trip last winter.

A few pictures from our visit in Kyiv last winter.

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:52:23 -0500

A few pictures from our visit in Kyiv last winter.

Photo

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:52:11 -0500

From last year: Just a few shots to give you a sense of the...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:52:02 -0500

Ukrainian country side

Wild pigs

Roadside lunch. Borscht and bread

Townsfok planting their back property.

From last year:

Just a few shots to give you a sense of the country side in Ukraine. Peter saw the pigs on his trip to Kyiv to meet Carol. The trip included stopping at a road side borscht stand for lunch.

I know we’ve mentioned the sorry state of many of the...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:51:56 -0500

I know we’ve mentioned the sorry state of many of the roads in Ukraine but just in case you think we’re exaggerating, this is the “pot holes ahead” sign just outside Sumy. I assure you the size of the holes are appropriately in proportion to the car on the sign.

Sumy city map

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:51:49 -0500

Sumy city map:

Just a google map of the location of our apartment and the orphanage in Sumy city. click on the link to see it.

From last year: A few shots of Sumy. Even thought we’ve caught...

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:51:41 -0500

View from 8th floor stairs of apartment

Riverside park on the first warm day.

Tree lined streets will be beautiful

Padestrian area of downtown Sumy

From last year: A few shots of Sumy.

Even thought we’ve caught the end of winter and only the beginning of spring in Sumy we can tell this would be a very beautiful city comprised of tree lined streets. The people here are generally quite friendly with us and try to help us out (or at least don’t scowl at us). Unfortunately, this isn’t a tourist destination and we exhausted all the tourist activities within the first day.

Oscar and Kate, BFFs from the old country. We were really lucky...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:10:27 -0400

Oscar and Kate, BFFs from the old country.

We were really lucky to meet Helen and Dave when we were in Ukraine. They were a few weeks ahead of us in the process of adopting their son Oscar. We spent a lot of time with them in Kiev and became great friends. As luck would have it, Oscar is only a couple months older than Kate and Helen and Dave only live about half an hour away.

Grown 10 cm in three months. Incredible as it seems to us,...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:08:15 -0400

Grown 10 cm in three months.

Incredible as it seems to us, the tiny little girl we met in Ukraine is growing incredibly fast. She spurted up 10 cm in her first 3 months in Canada! We used to be worried how small she was in contrast to her Canadian peers. Not any more!

For those of you who keep asking… Kate has been doing...

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:07:45 -0400

Modeling her new dance outfit.

Close encounter with a Zebra at the zoo.

For those of you who keep asking…

Kate has been doing really well since coming into our family in May. It certainly took her a few weeks to get settled in but she’s proven herself to be resilient and adaptable. We’ve spent the past four months introducing her to new places and new activities. Despite Peter’s best efforts to get her into sports, her two favourite activities are dance and gymnastics. Peter is still crossing his fingers for downhill skiing this winter.

Vladimir Putin wrecked my day

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 22:07:26 -0400

Addendum to the blog

This post was written on May 17, 2010 but due to technical difficulty in Ukraine, didn’t get posted. Here it is.

Today we woke up to barricades and militia men surrounding our apartment. My mother said she guessed that there was some big wig staying in our building. By the time we left for the embassy no local traffic was being let through so we had to arrange an alternative location to be picked up by our driver. It wasn’t with out some difficulty. We arrived at the embassy with only 10 minutes to spare before the deadline. On our way back to the apartment we had to walk most of the way and when we got there the guards would not let us back into our building. Babushka, Baby and Mama a very suspicious and daunting trio to be sure. Of course the clouds broke into a tumultuous downpour and finally one of the armed soldiers agreed to let us in the back entrance. Later when I had to follow the same process leaving the building, going to the embassy and returning I learned that it was Putin who wrecked my day. I hope that he is gone tomorrow so we can get to the airport with a lot more ease. BTW this is Day 100 for me

Many Thanks

Fri, 21 May 2010 22:29:38 -0400

We have many people to thank for supporting us while we have been away.

First to our companies, who were understanding when the length of our absence grew and grew. And in particular to Wendy’s FCT family who arranged for her to work from Ukraine and actually helped contribute to her sanity over this 100 day journey. Wendy also wants to thank Theresa for all the extra e-mail traffic she managed for her, you have been a superstar

To our dear neighbours, who looked after our lonely house and in particular kept the lemon tree alive whom they named Lazarus.

To Renee and Chris for the baby clothes for the orphanage, to Bobbi and Marilyn for the Makeup for the children’s caregivers, and the Dales for the lovely clothes for Zara and starbucks goodies for her homesick parents.

Wendy owes a particular debt of thanks to Medtronic who extended their travel loaner insulin pump program beyond 90 days. She actually had to use this back up insulin pump so without it She would have had to switch back to needles - a daunting prospect for her.

We also wanted to thank everyone who commented on our blog and sent us messages. Outside of seeing Kate this was the highlight of our day- reading messages from home. After struggling through Russian and Ukrainian, waiting for this indeterminable process to unfold and attempting to understand and adjust to our new life, it was so rewarding to hear from everyone at the end of day.

And of course the people we both have to thank the most are our families for all the support, encouragement and enthusiasm they have had in welcoming Kate into our family. special thanks go to Tom for helping out so much behind the scenes and Wendy’s mother and father. Carol for coming to be with Wendy, and Wendy’s father Frank for agreeing to give up his BFF.

The last few days have been fantastic. Yes, Kate is suffering...

Fri, 21 May 2010 22:28:09 -0400

Trying Mommy's shoes

Kate loves bath time and her ducky

First time in a pool.

The last few days have been fantastic. Yes, Kate is suffering from jet lag and is waking up at 3:30 AM in the morning all raring to get on with the day but the only person who really seems to be suffering is her father, the working stiff. Wendy is tired but her relief at being home with her daughter keeps a big smile on her face.

Kate is adjusting reasonably well. We’ve been trying to keep things simple for her but we have to keep remembering that every moment in Oakville is filled with sensory overload for a kid who’s just arrive from a Ukrainian Orphanage. Having said that, she is already trying to be just like her mother, within a day of her arrival Kate was into her mother’s closet to try on her shoes.

We’re slowly settling in and Kate is getting a bit more accustomed to her new home but there is no doubt she’s still very shy and anxious around strangers.

Meeting Kate- Adjustment and Attachment

Fri, 21 May 2010 21:59:59 -0400

We are delighted that so many people want to meet Kate now that we’ve finally liberated her from Ukraine. However, for Kate this is a very big change. She is used to a very regimented routine at the orphanage and we will need time to develop one at home. Our biggest priority for Kate is to get her eyesight corrected. The other challenge that we face is that she needs time to become attached to her parents. As a child in an orphanage she is programmed to seek affection and attention from every adult (female) that she sees. In order to facilitate this we need time to bond and before you meet Kate we will let you know how the program works. Please no parties just yet. We assure you that she will be the life of the party in the long term.

HOME! We had small reception for Katie at the airport but she...

Tue, 18 May 2010 22:07:06 -0400

Exhausted!

Katie's new room.

HOME!

We had small reception for Katie at the airport but she was in surprisingly good spirits after flying half way around the world. She looked at Peter with a bit of puzzlement for a few seconds but when the flash from his camera went off she remember exactly who he was.

We were excited to show Kate her new home and are happy that she loves her new room. The whole house is a bit overwhelming for her. She keeps repeating “mine? mine?” in befuddled and bewildered Russian. She showed enough energy to run around the house a little and then announced she wanted to go to bed. Wow. What a day.

Going home

Tue, 18 May 2010 10:54:58 -0400

We are in Frankfurt sitting on the plane for Toronto. I feel relief

Montessori Kate’s last Montessori they pretended to be...

Sun, 16 May 2010 10:43:32 -0400

Montessori

Kate’s last Montessori they pretended to be bees and learned about pollen, honey and flowers. this is a quick post because I am getting too much help

Making loud noises was not possible at the orphanage. Kate was...

Sat, 15 May 2010 14:54:02 -0400

Making loud noises was not possible at the orphanage. Kate was able to enjoy her new found freedom with a gift her father bought her for when she would be ours. She thinks that it is awesome

Kate’s first photos as a Hickey. We had an emotional...

Fri, 14 May 2010 15:23:00 -0400

Freedom!

Mama Director and Babushka

Caregiver

Kate’s first photos as a Hickey. We had an emotional farewell at the orphanage. It was hard for some of the caregivers as Kate has been there all of her life. One of them chased us down as we were leaving and we took her photo for Kate. Since leaving we have learned a few things about Kate- she likes brushing her teeth (she laughs when I brush them) washing her hands and she especially likes having a bath. babushka brought bubble bath so this is especially fun. She was not likely allowed to splash in the orphanage tub. The last photo shows her with her tongue out splashing in the tub- she truly is a Hickey!

Katerina was freed

Thu, 13 May 2010 10:17:00 -0400

At 1:42 pm in Sumy.

Kate is in our hands. She, Wendy and Babushka Rinella are now on their way to Kyiv. One more day of paperwork to get Kate’s Canadian Citizenship and another day to wait for all Kate’s documents to be translated and they’ll be on a plane home to Oakville early next week!