Wednesday October 6, 2010 - We're ready!!!

  

 

So here we go! Those six weeks flew by and we're ready to go back and get the boys on Friday!! We've spent the last few weeks getting the house ready - doing the "nesting" thing, "de-Maxing" the house and getting the rooms ready. We set up David Jr's ("DJ") bed in the same room as Max's crib, using the same bed as my daughter Sara used seven years ago, complete with an elevated mattress with a play area underneath and a slide to get out of bed. I always wanted that - how cool is that to be able to slide out of bed to start your day. I'm afraid Max is going to be jealous...

 

Next we converted the music room into a play room for the boys. This room shares a bathroom with the boys room and is a perfect set-up for them to play, complete with toy storage, a little table with chairs and an easel to draw and paint on. We added a small television with cable access to allow for learning DVDs and other children's shows to help with their English speaking. It will also double as a guest room when we have visitors.

 

Finally Vanya's room (the old guest room) was converted into a shrine to Spanish football (his favorite team), including a football lamp, some really cool football related prints, sport themed sheets on his bed and a new desk built into his closet. We even hung a few flags on his wall (Ukrainian, USA and UK), and most importantly we hung a U of Michigan flag above his headboard. After all, Ukraine has the same colors as my Maize and Blue Wolverines...remember???

We even erected the safety fence around the swimming pool - at least until they feel more comfortable (or is it us?) with the pool and have demonstrated their swimming ability and passed their swim classes. Plus, as everybody says - it's the right thing to do when you have kids in the house. Just one of many sacrifices, right? ;^)

 

One of the other critical tasks we had to do was update our paperwork and re-submit to the various agencies. All of our documentation has been updated, including our home study which needed to be amended to reflect that we were capable of adopting three children. We also received approval from the US Immigration Department to allow bringing Vanya into the country. Both documents were notarized (thanks Auntie Val!), apostilled by the State of Nevada and sent off to Kiev to be translated prior to our October 11th SDA appointment. So - we're ready! As ready as we'll ever be, I guess. In reality, I don't know if you can completely prepare yourself for what we are about to embark upon. I suppose it's a bit easier when you bring children into this world one at a time. You learn to adapt with each new day and by the time you've grown to a three child family, you've sorted it all out. Right? But we have a "slightly" different challenge with bringing all three into our house at the same time! How do you adequately prepare for that big a change? I'll guess we'll find out soon enough!

It's really been nice to hear everybody's comments about what we're doing. A lot of people (co-workers, family and friends) are very excited about this story and are constantly telling us how they are truly amazed by this "noble" thing we are doing for these boys. Statements like "you two are doing such a generous and wonderful thing", or "the world would be a better place if there were more people like you", or "I am amazed at your kindness and courage. You are truly special people. Thank God for people like you!" Of course there are those that have said "Are you nuts???", but that only reinforces our desire to do this. Plus, eventually I'll have my own barbershop quartet in the house and a built-in foursome for golf. Seriously tho - we honestly don't see this as a humanitarian gesture. We just wanted to have a family together and we feel very lucky to have found these beautiful and healthy boys that we can love and raise as our own. And they even look like us!!

Yes, we are providing a new life and opportunity for three abandoned souls who would've most likely spent their lives in various orphanages and/or foster homes, eventually being thrown out on the street to fend for themselves. So yes, that does give us that added feeling of doing something special for these boys. All in all, it really is a win-win situation for all of us!!

My biggest fear is the language barrier. When we return to the US on November 3rd (thank God I'm missing the election BS going on here), and Emma goes back to work, I will be staying at home taking care of three boys that don't speak a word of English. Think about that for a minute...how will we communicate? How will we plan our days and tell each other what we're thinking? Sure, over time the two younger ones will pick up the language pretty easily, and in the near term we can respond to hand gestures and simple phrases, but I worry about Vanya. It will be much tougher for him to pick up this new language being spoken all around him. We went to Vanya's Middle School a few weeks ago and met with the Asst. Principal to discuss how she thought we should ease him into his new environment in 6th grade. I mentioned that we planned on waiting until after the holidays to start him into school. This might give him a chance to pick up some conversational English before we throw him into the deep end, but she said "oh no - you should start him right away! Have him start classes as soon as he gets here." Hmmmm...well, she's the pro and she probably knows what she's talking about, but I still worry about how he will manage. However, with his amazing good looks and charming personality, I'm sure the girls will take him under their wing and take care of him. ;^)

One thing that will help Vanya ease into his new home is getting him involved in football (that's soccer for all you Yanks), as that is his favorite thing to do and I imagine he's slightly better than American kids his age. One of our co-workers here is involved in the local football clubs all around the Vegas valley - in fact he's a former international footballer and he is quite good at developing local talent and getting them involved in higher level competition. He is very excited about meeting Vanya and getting him plugged into the program here, so that should be a good venue for Vanya to meet other kids with similar interests and develop his English.

I'm sure the boys will transition into their new digs just fine. Who wouldn't want to move to Vegas? Thankfully I will have some help when we get home. Linda (Emma's mom) and Dieter will be here for a while in mid-November to meet the boys and visit. I think that will help me a lot during my first few days as "Mr. Mom"...plus Dieter is a great cook!

Six weeks is an eternity for a 3 and 4 year old boy - so we wonder if Max and DJ even remember us. I would guess they forgot about us the day we left, but they'll remember us when they see us. "Oh yeah...you're the people that brought us fruit and cookies and played with us for a couple weeks last summer...". But Vanya remembers us! We've had the pleasure of talking to him via Skype the past three weekends. So its been nice to keep the dialogue going with him. Unfortunately, the extra English lessons I paid for never happened so its still difficult to communicate. Luckily we've had Emma's friend Katja join us on these calls to translate for us. You can hear in his voice that Vanya is very excited about coming home with us and live as a family with his two brothers. You can also hear a bit of fear and trepidation, but that is to be expected! What a huge change for these boys - one day they're in a Ukrainian orphanage, and the next day they're hangin by the pool in Vegas. What a huge change for all of us!!

Emma and I have had a bit of fun discussing what we think the boys might end up doing when they grow up. Obviously you never know what will interest a child or what they might end up like, but based on the little bit we've seen so far, this is our simplistic assessment of the new Dannemiller boys:

Vanya will be a world class footballer and a ladies man. He will represent the USA World Cup team in 2018.

DJ will be the musical/artistic type taking after his old man. He will also enjoy playing golf and will end up in business in some capacity.

Max will be the tough athletic type, eating us out of house and home and will play linebacker for the Michigan football team.

 

So - on Friday we leave for London!! We arrive Saturday afternoon where Eric (Emma's Dad) will pick us up and put us up for the night. Then on Sunday (10-10-10) we fly to Kiev to resume this amazing journey and start the legal process through the courts and the Embassies. First step is our appointment with the SDA on Monday at 2pm to officially start the process of adopting Vanya, as well as his two brothers. Okay - let's do this thing...

OMG - it's really going to happen!!!