Our New Blog

Hey, we are not posting to this blog anymore.  To see what we are up to now, go to our new blog: stillourgirl.blogspot.com

Home for a Month

What a month it has been! Time has really flown by as we have been adjusting to the new family structure.

Chris is doing great. It has been fun and, at times, challenging watching him try to understand how he fits in into our family. He is a hard-charging dude. He loves to ride bikes and Ripstick. Anything involving a ball is good with him. I took him out for a backyard football game with some of the boys and he fit right in. We went on a 6.5 mile hike at Oak Mtn. State Park. He and I ran the last 2 miles of it. He nearly died, but he would not quit or let his dad pass him by....Ukrainian pride!

At times he wears the other 3 of our children out. He has the attention span of a gnat. Our biggest challenge has been getting him to slow down and focus on a task.

O my gosh, he can eat. He is not very picky. He is a meat and potatoes guy. He reminds me of the old farmer appetite. Eggs in the morning. Plenty of bread with everything. And he likes Texmex! He is all about going to Moe's. Last night we went to a local Chinese restaurant, Hunan 2 (read that Hunan Dos). It is situated next door to a Mexican restaurant. The waiters there are ALL Mexican. He was unsettled by the fact that we had him in such a multicultural environment. He thought that we were giving him sub-standard Chinese food. He asked me where they had real Chinese food here (as he pulled his eyebrows upward).

Chris's English is amazing at this stage. He is speaking so well and we rarely need a translator. He even talked to his 3 year old cousin on the phone today. He is involved in a Russian-speaking Bible study at our church. We continue to pray that God will open up Chris's heart to the truth of the Gospel. I am reminded every day that he is looking for authentic Christianity in our home-even if he won't say that he is.

We will go for now. If there are any questions from anyone who reads this, send them on.

Blessings,
Ande

Home!

There was a bit of an issue with a friendly neighborhood custom's agent, which caused Paula and Chris to miss their flight from New York to Atlanta. They did get another flight out of Laguardia, but would have to spend the night in Atlanta. I decided to go and get them so that they could sleep in their own beds.

We will be at Jim and Nick's on hwy. 280 at 4:00 this afternoon. Even though this is short notice, we would love to see anyone who wants to drop by. If not, we will all have some great bbq!

Finally!

Praise God, Paula and Chris are confirmed for a flight into Birmingham from Atlanta on Thursday night.  They should get in at 10:30.  Thanks for journeying down the road with us.

Blessings,

The Underwoods

One More Step

Paula got the passport yesterday and the physical done today. We are so grateful that there is just one more step- the Visa, which she should have tomorrow at 2:00.

Right now, they are set to leave on Thursday about noon. Please pray that Paula (using a skymiles ticket) can get the final connection from Atlanta to Birmingham. Chris is confirmed all the way home. He is so excited about seeing everyone at the airport. He asked Paula if I could drive to the Atlanta airport and take them to the Birmingham airport if she was unable to get a seat. The flight should be in Birmingham at 10:30 pm.

Thanks to everyone for all of your prayers. Once we are all back together, the fun really starts!

Waiting...Still Waiting

Thanks to all of you for you many prayers and posts. Last week was long, and Friday was just awful. It was simply one of those days when everything went wrong. I have to laugh now about the medical exam we tried to get done. The normal doctors that our facilitators use where away at a conference (these doctors are ok with bending the rules a little). So George talked to the other doctor and he refused to do the exam without the passport- this is the legal procedure. The US Embassy requires this exam, and it can only be done at this one office run by foreigners. What are the chances- I get stuck with the one honest person in Ukraine!! (Not really- I am sure there at least 4 more- ha!ha!)

Chris and I got home around 8:30 Friday night, and I was exhausted in every way. To be so close and get delayed again. I cried, and Chris kept saying, "it's ok, Mom." My breakdown only lasted a couple of minutes, and then Chris started talking. Literally for hours. He told me so many things he remembers about growing up. His grandfather, a girl in the hospital who introduced him to pineapple, his first grade teacher, his roomate Yuri that he's known since he was 7, and all the Bible stories that he knows. I was in amazement. So I finally said "spot" (sleep) at midnight. What a precious memory!

Yesterday we had a blizzard here. We did as little as possible. We went to the grocery store, got pizza for lunch, and planned to go to a movie. Katia and Lena ended up taking Chris to the movie without me. They wanted to see an alien movie, which I normally would never let my children see. But I was desperate for a little "alone time". I started reading the Grisham novel Mark and Jenn Smith brought me (they arrived on Thursday to adopt 5 kids). It was a much needed break. It is exhausting being the only parent to a new child- 24/7. It's a lot like having a newborn, except he can say "no" and doesn't sleep 18-20 hours a day! The highlight of my day was when he said for the first time ever- "Mom, you help me please?" This may seem trivial if you've never adopted an older child, but it is huge. This means he is really beginning to trust and admit that he needs help- difficult for such an independent boy.

Please continue praying. I certainly feel all your prayers. I miss everyone and can't wait to see you all.

Love,
Paula

We Need a Passport, Gotta Have a Passport

Ok. We had the picture made on Wednesday and were told that the passport would be to us on Friday evening. As of Saturday, the truck still has not arrived with it. The truck (yes, there is only one) has not run since Thursday and there are hundreds of people waiting on passports. The factory, one hour away, verified that our passport was done. Nobody seems to know why the truck has not made it back to the office. My only guess is that the truck drove into a wormhole and is now headed up U. S. Interstate 75 in the year 2063.

The Embassy gets MLK Day off on Monday. Provided the truck makes it back through the space-time continuum, we should have the passport on Monday evening and get the Visa on Tuesday. Delta has set the expectation that Paula will fly home Thursday. For the love of all that is good, we hope so.

Thanks for all of your prayers!!