Learning Ukrainian

One of the unexpected bonuses of adopting is free language lessons. I tried to learn some Ukrainian with a computer program before we traveled, but nothing seemed to stick... Six months later, with 8 weeks in country, and 3 months with our new kiddos, I know alot more. How useful these words are is another story.
And are these words really Ukrainian? Our children actually speak more Russian than Ukrainian. We think. So who knows what they are really teaching us! They often don't agree as to which word is Russian and which is Ukrainian, although they know them both. Sometimes we end up on Google Translate to get things straight.
[Philip had a huge head start. He grew up hearing Polish. Never spoke a word of it (except of course, a few of his favorite dishes) but could follow a sermon pretty well. While we were in Ukraine, he started communicating in a language that I didn't understand. When I asked him what he was using, he said he guessed it was Polish! Turns out Polish and Ukrainian have many, many words in common. Seventy percent according to Wikipedia.]

I know my colors. (Or at least the ones needed to play Uno. And black and white. And pink of course. We adopted a girl.)
I can count to ten.
I know quite a few food words: meat, potatoes, parsley, onions, carrots, ice cream, milk, butter, rice, fish, sausage, cheese, kasha (I don't know what the word is in English for that one!)

And then there are all the words that don't fit in a category:
Hands
Water
I don't know
I don't understand
Later
Maybe (very important answer to many questions)
Today
Tomorrow
Day after tomorrow
Friday and Saturday (for some reason the other days of the week will not remain in my brain)
Underpants
Car and Motorcycle (these two words need a whole blog post devoted to them!)
Bus
Bicycle
Zoo (that one is easy, I admit)
Come on
Hello
Good bye
Glory to God
Bible
Church
Helper
Diaper (I probably don't know the real word for this, since the word I know is Pampers with an accent)
Washing machine (this is a hard one to pronounce but I have it down!!!)
Peepee
Poopoo (I thought these words were international, but they aren't! And when I ask the kids if they need to go "potty", they have a good laugh at that word so I try to use the Ukrainian)

And then there are the words I learned, that I don't want to know the meaning of... They probably mean something like "stupid" or worse.

Fancy Jacks

On Sunday night we usually keep supper simple. Crêpes (French almost paper-thin pancakes) or pancakes. Of course making enough for nine of us isn't that simple. And we often have a few more than nine of us!
Last night I decided we would have bread and cheese. I was a bit too tired to cook. Except that Nathan volunteered to cook pancakes if I would whip up the batter. (from scratch, no pancake mixes over here)  So, we had pancakes. Nathan worked hard to fulfill the wishes of the eaters. Philip joined him because two heads and four hands are better than...

Summer Fun

We decided that we would hang out at home this summer. After 8 weeks in Ukraine, we felt like we had had enough of an "exotic vacation" in 2013. We did spend a fun week in Lyon so we could see Stéphane and Hanna. I will have to find some pictures of that, our first road trip (about 9 hours each way since we avoid the toll roads), for another blog post.
But we did enjoy the summer!!! The weather was perfect and almost never spoiled our plans. We biked, swam, gardened, read, chopped wood, invited friends for homemade pizzas, ate ice cream, went to the beach, and got to know each other.

 

Where do we start?

How do we resume four years of paperwork and prayer? Don't think we can!
We did not share much about our adoption journey on the blog as we walked the path, because we had no idea where we were going, and not much faith that we would ever get there!
But here we are with 10 children! We have not been able to get all 10 Kapis together for a picture, nor will we be able to do that any time soon. Peter and Mélanie are in the Philippines, Stéphane and Hanna in Germany, and Nathan in the U.S.
We made three trips to Ukraine in March, April, and May. We lived with five children in a dormitory room in Kiev for most of May.
Now we are home and adjusting to each other.
For those that want more details, contact us and we would be happy to share!

Wesley's Birthday in Kiev

Kiev Subway experts! (20 cents to ride and kids ride free)

 Open market

 Ukrainian staples (sunflower seeds)

 Children's museum

Zoloti Verota (Golden Gate of Kiev)

 The long awaited day!!! Passports AND visas!!!

The flight home.

Mice, Fairies and Teeth

Yesterday, William, our newly adopted son, was all excited to show me he had lost a tooth. A lateral inciser. I asked him where the tooth was, and he mimed* that he must have spit it out while eating lunch at the picnic table. I told him that was too bad and mimed that if he put it under his pillow, a little mouse would exchange it for a euro (Yes, in France, a mouse does this). He rushed outside and with the help of a couple of siblings hunted for the tooth in the grass. To no avail.
A short time later, I found him in front of the mirror wiggling the matching tooth on the other side of his face... Ten minutes later, a beaming boy posed for this picture:

This morning, he came down to breakfast proudly displaying his two euros, AND the tooth, that the fairy (or mouse) couldn't find at midnight. He thinks that Mom and/or Dad might be in cahoots with the fairy/mouse...
Tonight, Nathalie, another new member of the family, came down an hour after she was put to bed, to show off a new gap in her mouth!
I had no idea that mentioning the money for teeth relationship was going to set off such a frenzy! I sure hope they don't start wiggling their permanent teeth!
*Why are we miming? Guess I have some catching up to do on the blog! We have been home from Ukraine for two weeks with our two new sons and one new daughter. I will try to tell some of the adoption story on the blog as time allows. Needless to say, we are pretty busy!

Blizzard (well, almost!)

I love snow !!!! And I love pictures of snow, especially when my kiddos are in the pictures too. So here are a few of my favorites from today.

 Nathan

 Wesley

Laura

 Blizzard (the dog) : yes, he let them do this!

 Inside the barn.

 In the hay mow.

 This is the first time our kids have seen snow drifts here in France.

 Isatis