Hot to Rainy

Hi everybody. We had a good day. Alexsey is now very open to me and has said "I love you," a few times. It is so cute. Here I am taking him back to his room at the orphanage.

After a long hot walk to find a toy store, which is closed untill August, we stopped to get some lunch. Let me just say, my dad got a sandwich which he thought was beef but we think was actually liver. My chicken burger had a lot of weird sauces so I traded for my dad's sandwich. I didn't like it either so I ate an orange when we got home.

Getting ready to go see Alexsey again, we hoped the weather would be cooler, cause it was like very very hot. And then it started pouring rain. When we got there we remembered that we left the key to the ball room at home so we just played with all the kids in his group. We had a lot of fun but we left earlier then we normally do cause of the ran and they were getting ready to have dinner.

This is how the sky was at the end of the day.

The plan for Alexsey is that my dad and Dennis is going to go home this Friday and me and my mom will wait untill like August 6 to bring him home.

Another Day with Alexsey

Hi everybody. This is us walking to the orpahange. On the way we pass a pretty cool kindergaten. I pretty much now the way to the orphange and my dad let me lead the way today. He kept on saying are you sure you going the right way. It got annoying after a while, but we finally got there.

This is us with Alexsey at the orphange. Isn't he adorable. When he sees us walking toward him he has a big smile and it is so cute. I can't wait untill we get to bring us home.

This is my dad and Dennis falling asleed back at our apartment after a long day.

Pizza or not Pizza? that is the question

Today my dad bought a half of pizza for a $1.50. It had fake crab meat, corn, what he hopes is ham, and no pizza sauce but covered in green leaves. . Dennis and my dad ate it happily but mom and I would not even want to go near it. Does that sound like good pizza?

I Love All The Kids

Today we visited with Alexsey again. I think he is getting cuter every day. Every time after we drop Alexsey off at his group we stay for awhile to play with all the kids.

I enjoy being there with them all. They are all so cute and I wish I could just take them all home. If I could, I would. Today, I gave all the kids a ride in our stroller. They all enjoyed it so much. When I started running with them they would laugh. I just love hearing their laughter. After every kid got a turn, one of the caretakers said, that was enough.


Then, I started running around and they chased me. While I was running they kept on saying, "Mama, Mama." It was so sad to hear that because every one of the kids should have a mama. Like I said earlier, if I could take them all home I would.


There is this one particular girl who as soon as she sees me will run up to me and give me a hug and say "Mama, Mama." If I could be her mama I would. I don't yet know her name yet but I will try to find out tomorrow.


Every time after we bring Alexsey back, there is this one boy who will just hit him on the head. We don't know why he does it, he just does.


When I get older, I think I'm going to adopt. I think then I would be a real Mama then.

I Lost a Tooth...........In Ukraine

I lost a tooth in Ukraine. Guess what I got from the tooth fairy. Nine grivna. Nine grivna is about one dollar and ten cents in America. Still that is a lot for a tooth. LOL. Now we are getting ready to go to the orphanage to see Alexsey.

2nd Time with Alexsey

While waiting at our apartment, I started building a Racko house. Later on Dennis joined me. I wouldn't have made one if my mom played with me. She was mad at me because I always would beat her

Here is a picture of the finished thing.

Later on, walking to the orphanage, my mom and I saw this dog. It is so cute. We just had to get a picture of it.

When we got him, one of his caretakers changed him into the clothes we brought for him. The shirt was perfect, but the pants were a little big.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of me and him.

It is late at night here and we are getting ready to go to bed. We might play a couple games of Racko before we go to bed.

Meeting Alexsey

Let me just say this. Alexsey is the cutest four year old boy in the world. He loves cars, hats, and loves playing in the ball pit. Here is a picture of me and him when we first met.

Alexsey just enjoyed throwing the balls out and watching us getting them. He also liked when I almost buried him in the ball pit.

This is a picture of Alexsey and my mom. Alexsey is wearing my sunglasses. He loved them.

Alexsey is just so adorable and fun to be with. He and Dennis get along great. Dennis enjoyed acting like the big brother. Here he is pushing him on the swing.

I can't wait to go back to the orphanage and see him again.

Pictures in Ukraine

This a picture of one of the two beautiful churches in Kiev, Ukraine. The inside of it is amazing.

This is a picture of the new Harry Potter, but in Ukrainian.

This is just a beautiful statue in Kiev.

This is a picture my dad took of the Wendesday sunrise. He took it while we were on the train.

This is a picture of my cut foot. I stepped on a plug thing and it really hurt.

This is a picture of us eating dinner on the train. The Ukrainian food is called Piroshki. I liked the meat one better then the jelly filled.

That is all the pictures so far. Later I will post pictures of Alexsey because we did meet him. He is one if the cutest boys in the world.

Likes and Dislikes

Hi everybody. This is my second day in Ukraine. I really love Ukraine but there are a few things I don’t like about it or I think is weird.
First of all, one thing I think is weird is how the cars can drive and park on the sidewalk. Sometimes even half of the car is on the sidewalk and the other half in the street. It is unusual for me to see that.
Next, mostly everywhere I look I see someone smoking. There are cigarettes on the ground like everywhere, and you can smell the smoke real bad. Also, people are a loud to smoke inside most buildings.
The thing I don’t like to see is that there are always couples everywhere. I’ve seen a lot of people kiss and I think it is kind of weird to see that like everywhere.
Now that I’ve told you all the things that I don’t like about Ukraine, let me tell you about the things I do like about Ukraine.
The one thing I love is that from our apartment you can just walk everywhere. Everything is so close. I just enjoy doing all the walking and seeing everything. I like that we have a park right by the apartment and we can play on at it a lot. It is a pretty cool park.
Another thing I love is that in one place there is a whole bunch of fountains. It is just cool to see all of them.
So far that is all the things I could think of that I like and don’t like about Ukraine.

We Made It

Hi everybody. This is Julia typing from Ukraine. We made it here safely and are in our apartment room just hanging out. Dennis is sleeping on the couch and my mom is sleeping in the bed.
The plane ride was very long and boring. I didn’t sleep much on the plane but while my parents slept I had to watch Dennis. He was a handful. I was glad when my parents woke up so I wouldn’t have to watch him anymore.
When we first made it to Ukraine we had to wait in a line to get our passports checked. Then we went to look for our luggage. We thought it was lost after awhile but then we saw them. We were so happy. Later on we saw the people we were meeting and they took us to our apartment. Then we took a walk in Ukraine.
The weather here is so perfect. It is like 70 degrees and just so nice. We played at a park, saw the underground mall, then we went out for lunch. We went to a place call the “Potato House”. I ordered a meat and cheese burrito but when I got it, it had like a pickle sauce in it and it wasn’t very good. My mom and dad ordered a Greek salad and ribs. They enjoyed them both. Dennis got a baked potato, but he didn’t eat it so I did because I didn’t like my meat and cheese burrito. After that, we went to a different park by our apartment and played there.
There was this little boy who was like 5 years old who walked up to me and Dennis at the park. He said something in Ukraine and then pointed to his eye. I knew what he meant but in English I said I don’t understand you. Then, he laughed. He kept on following us around for the rest of the time at the park.
Then we went back to the apartment. My mom got a deep cut in her leg from hitting it against a pole. So far, I’ve had a very fun time in Ukraine.

Today is the Day

Today is the day we go to Ukraine. I'm so excited. We leave like at 10 or 11 tonight to catch the plane tomorrow at 6 in the morning. You can follow or journey at http://smilingallthewayback.blogspot.com/. We will be blogging in Ukraine. It is gonna be so much fun seeing my new baby brother.

I'm going to Ukraine!!!!

I can't wait. Next Friday, July 10th, is the day we are going to Ukraine. I'm so excited. Thank you to everyone who helped raise money and thank you to everyone who kept us in your prayers. Sorry I didn't post about this eariler. I'm just so excited we're going to Ukraine.