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Apfels Ukraine AdoptionJuly 24 Summer is flying by!Hello Everyone!
The girls are doing so wonderful. They are outside enjoying their slip-n-slide as I sit here. They love the water. We went to the big pool today and it was closed down for an hour wait because there was an accident--poo in the pool I guess. This has happened to us twice now. So we opted to return home and play. They are completing their last week of summer school and are doing it with flying colors. They both are speaking English extremely well and they now know their months of the year, days of the week and recognize and write all of the alphabet and numbers through 50. They are very creative and love to sing and dance too. They truly are amazing and our special little angels. They eat like horses but each one has only gained a pound or so. Wish I could say the same for me. I look at the food and it goes to my waistline. Anyways everything is going very well here and I pray for all of you waiting families everyday! Keep your faith because miracles do come true!
Janie June 23 Summertime!Hello Everyone!
We are having alot of fun this summer. The girls started summer school and attend half days for the next 6 weeks. We felt this would help keep the girls going with the daily routine of school and the extra practice will do them wonders. They are doing so great it is truly amazing. Every day they impress us more and more. They are constantly asking if Kevin and I are proud and how could we not be. I have to say at times they are quite the handful and papa sometimes seems to be the instigator of that a wee bit too often. Sasha is still struggling with the sounds of the alphabet but she tries so hard and we are glad she is eager to learn. She tells everyone "I speak English now!" It is funny to hear her say it. I start back to work half days next week so there will be some more adjustments for all of us. Kevin especially since he will be in charge of getting the girls up and ready and off to school everyday. He is getting a bit nervous I think which is strange because he never worries about anything that is usually my job. He wishes I did not choose to work 5 days a week. I think he will do fine and besides it will be good for him to get going in the morning and have some more time with the girls. I just hope they don't give him too hard of a time especially Elena as she is not a morning person just like her papa. We have been going to the park and to the swimming pool. Both girls absolutley love the pool. They also love to go bike riding so we got a bike trailer and they sit back and enjoy. Well I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things are going in the Apfel household. June 05 3 more days til summer vacationIt's been a fast 8 1/2 weeks back in the USA. The girls continue to adjust very well and have kept Janie very busy to say the least. Alexandra is 3 days short of completing her 1st grade. Janie and I had a meeting with the school psychologist, her teacher and language specialist and all believe she is doing remarkable. Janie and I had our doubts as to whether we as parents were doing Alexandra justice in letting her go in to the 2nd grade, but the school thinks its in her best interest. The English seems to be her only barrier and that is going to be eased with a 6 week summer school program and more time in the states. By fall, they believe things will be much easier for her and soon there won't be any barrier. Elena on the other hand is continuing to progress even faster. Although she isn't in school for the meantime, she to is making strides. Summer school will be great for her too. She is probably the best challenge for Alexandra as she seems to be picking things up quicker as when she was in the Ukraine, we dont think she was exposed to the Russian language arts as Alexandra was. Lena seems to grasp the English letters so much faster while Sasha struggles a bit. Its great for them to lean on one another. Tomorrow Sasha visits the Madison zoo on a field trip. She is very excited. Lena and her preschool class had their field trip about 3 weeks ago. Janie chapperoned that trip but is not for Sasha's class. With Elena out of school for the time being, she thought it best to hang our with her. We don't want to overload the parents too much with watching them. Although I'm sure they would love it. My mom and dad had the chance to have the girls for a sleep-over on Saturday. I think by Sunday late morning they had their fill of grandchildren!
 Anyways, thought I'd update you all a bit on the latest action in the Apfel household. All is great, even the weather for a change. Will try to keep up on the blog soon.Kevin May 25 7 weeks in America!Hi Everyone
Just wanted to give a quick update on how the girls are doing. Tomorrow Elena graduates from pre-school and she is officially registered to start a full day of kindergarten in the fall. She loves school and is becoming alot more social. She learns very quickly and likes to outsmart Sasha in any way that she can. On the other hand, Sahsa is doing well but does struggle a bit. She is doing very well in school and will be advancing to second grade in the fall but we have alot of work to do this summer to try and help her catch up a bit. She gets very frustrated and her mind likes to wander to la-la land instead of concentrating. It helps alot when Elena challenges her. Their English is coming along very well. I am very proud of how hard the girls try. They really want to make us proud and they love America and their new family and friends. April 29 Everything is going GREAT!Hi Everyone!
 We just wanted to let everyone know that things are going great with the girls! They started school this week (pre-k and 1st )and made it through the entire week with very little problems. We are so proud of them. Today Elena got her ears pierced as she had decided since big sister had them done 2 weeks ago that now she wanted to wear earrings too so we promised her to get them done if she did well at school. Their english is improving by the day. I think by this fall they will have a very good vocabulary down. They have both visited the doctors and passed with flying colors and Elena had her first dentist visit this week and everything went great with that too. No teeth problems for her. Whew! We have been attending church every week and they are doing very well behaving and listening during service too. Over all they are adjusting even better than we ever could have hoped for. Sasha had a bithday
 party this past Tuesday and now is the big "7". She got a new Princess tent from mama and papa and last night they both slept in their new sleeping bags and tent in the living room as a bonus for the good week and making us very proud. They love to be told how proud we are of them and how much we love them. If you ask if they want to go back to Ukraine they say Yuck! No Ukraine! They love their new family, pets, house and over all are enjoying being spoiled by all of their new family and friends. Everyone has been so welcoming and so supportive. We want everyone to know how much that means to us to have made this such a wonderful experience and such a blessed event! I will post some new pictures of the girls in the next few days. I do have to say they wear me out  and I am ready for bed every night by 9 or 9:30. So since it is already passed my bedtime I better cut this off since they are early risers. Take care!Janie  April 08 Everything is going great!Hello Everyone!
I am exhausted at the end of each day. Everything is going great. They love their grandparents and entire family and friends that they have already met. They are bonding so well it is amazing. They have slept in their own beds since the first night and have had not issues at all. They are very active little girls that always are on the go but it is great because maybe it will help me to lose the last 10 ounds I need to take off before summer gets here. Today we ventured to Walmart just the girls and I and it was interesting. They were actually better than I thought they would be but we do not have the same taste when it comes to shoe shopping. They wanted anything that sparkles in gold or any other bizarre color except the boring black like mom insisted they get for their church shoes. Alexandra was very brave today also because she got her ears pierced and did not whimper or anything. She had them pierced at one time but they had grown shut so Kevin and I gave her the option to have them redone and she really wanted it so we did it. Elena told me NO! when I asked if she wanted it done. I think Alexandra told her she was a whimp at least that is what I translated from their conversation afterwards especially when Elena got mad at her for whatever she said. The language barrier is quite difficult but we are managing. We are highly considering Alexandra go to school in a couple of weeks and then both girls will also enter a summer school program. They already count to 10, write their ABCs up to F and are working on some other things. It is a start. Well I guess I better go for now. Take care!
Janie April 07 I'm HomeWell I made it home tonight. Flight was for the most part uneventful. Slight delay in take off from Frankfort and thus arrival at O'Hare, but was through immigration and customs by 8:15- 8:30 p.m. Janie, my mom, dad, Janie's dad and Little Neal from the funeral home picked us up with the suburban. The girls are happy to be home and quite wound up with excitement in their new establishments. Had a ceremonial beer with the family upon arriving at the homestead and now to the computer. Been up for 25 hours now, so why try to sleep. Will get there eventually. Somebody's been in the house preparing for our arrival. Balloons, ribbons, signs all waiting for us inside. Quite a homecoming. The girls are a bit excited with the cat and dog, but I don't think there's reciprocity. LIttle too much energy. Their gonna get gray hair like papa from the past month. Guess that'll do it for now. Thanks for your extra prayers and support through this past month. From elation to sadness and back to elation. Emotional roller coaster all the way. You all are the best. Thanks. Kevin April 05 Homeward Bound!!I just want to let everyone know that Kevin called me this morning to let me know that he has everything done at the embassy and all the paperwork and visas are in hand and completed. Everything is officially done and he can fly home tomorrow. He is flying on Lufthansa. His flight is from Kiev to Frankfurt and then into Ohare Chicago at 7:10pm. His parents and I are going down to pick them up. Kevins mom is beyond excited. Kevins coworker is loading us up in the funeral home suburban so we can all fit and meet them when they arrive. He is extremely exhausted and can't wait to get home and sleep he said. I am very excited that they got a flight sooner than expected. I am so ready to get our new lives as a family started!
Pray for a safe arrival and we will let you all know when they are home!
Janie April 04 Kevin and the Girls are safe in Kiev!Hi Everyone!
Kevin and the girls arrived safely to Kiev after about 14+ hours in the car. He said it was way too long of a ride but the girls were very good. He started out this morning around 7:30 and headed to the orphanage. When he got there the girls were waiting and more than willing to strip off all of their clothes and put on their new ones. He said they were in such a hurry to leave they walked right out the doors and wanted to head to the van. They did not cry or even want to say goodbye to anyone. One of the caretakers made them come back in and say their goodbyes to the other children. He said there was no turning back they wanted to get to America to see mama. He has quite the tales to tell about his journey with being a first time father. He said at one point they were riding in the car and all of a sudden there was a terrible smell. He thought it was Costa and Costa thought it was Kevin. It turned out to be Elena. He was talking with his mom and dad at that time but had to cut it short because they needed to poop and fast. He was just worried that she had an accident. He was so funny telling me this story. He said the only restroom they could find was disgusting and was a hole in the ground so here he is holding her over the hole, trying not to get anything on her pants, letting her do her thing and the only thing he had to wipe with was a kleenex in his pocket. He said he was concentrating so hard not to let her slip into the hole or himself. He is really becoming a father and fast. It builds his character I told him. After he got done with one then the other one needed to go. At least he had the routine down. I am terrible as all I could do was laugh and joke with him that I was glad that it was him not me. He also informed me that the 2 DVDs that he had bought, which were Cinderella and another Disney one would not play in either DVD player because of a region code so instead he picked a couple movies that he had brought. So needless to say my girls first american movie was Dumb and Dumber. Great. He said they laughed alot and it kept them entertained. What next? He said they have their doctors appt at 8am and then their embassy visit. They will have everything done by 3 so he claims. He was a little angry that Lot airlines could not get him and both girls on the same flight so he is going to have to start over with airfare just like I had to. He is quite confident that he will get his airfare booked tomorrow and be flying home on Friday sometime. I hope that it works out for him. He needs to be home and get some rest before heading back to work right away. I think I have told pretty much everything for todays adventures. If he is stuck in Kiev over night tomorrow he may try to post to everyone and give an update and if not you will all have to put up with my boring dictations from him. Thanks again to everyone who is following through with his journey and keep them in your prayers that they can return home safely by the end of the week!
Janie April 02 We've got our own van!!Yes it is true. The boys are back in action and on the prowl. Oh.. the girls are fine too. Did I mention that on Friday Costa and I were able to drive again? Hee hee. Anyways, sorry for the long pause in postings. We've been busy with Costa's mother visiting and bringing his documents on Friday and seeing the girls twice a day now. Once in a.m. and once in p.m. We have been stealing the girls in the afternoon to get them out of the orphanage. We like to visit this dessert cafe in the "city" and have some cake and juice. The girls got balloons and Papa bought each of them a stuffed toy as well. They seem to be in their glory with such simple things. It has been such a treat to read all of your comments. Hard to believe that the blog has made it far and wide. Funny thing this internet and all. Today is a sad day for me as this afternoon is Janies mom's visitation. Wish I were there to support the family, but I know that they are happy I'm taking care of my girls. I also know all of you are taking care of Janie and her family for me. If you do get to the visitation or funeral tomorrow, please give them a hug for me. Thanks. On a better note is was great to hear my Badgers are headed to the Frozen Four. Not sure who they will be there with, but hoping the Gophers are home for the season. Kessel's such a poop! :) Hey Toodles, if you're in Milwaukee for the games, make sure you sieve for me. Last week or so have been taking toll on me. Sleep is non-existant. Last night was best sleep in days and that was only 5 hours. Beer doesn't help much either, tho I did try on Friday night pretty hard. Saturday morning was not so good as you may well imagine. I'm not saying I was hungover, but the Kevmeister was not functioning properly for sure. Saturday night was dry! :) Olga my faciiltator is due in Donetsk at 7:00 a.m. Monday. Costa and I will be there to pick her up. Hoping we can have all paperwork in order so that Tuesday we can file the new birth certificates with Janie and I as parents and then to Donetsk for the girl's passports. If all is smooth (theres and oxymoron for you) we will abscond with the girls and hit the road to Kiev in the afternoon. If not, then Wed. a.m. to Kiev and hopefully tie up loose ends on Thursday so we can fly out Friday. If not Friday then Saturday. Lets pray for the smooth route. Weather is back to crappy. Guess it hasn't been picture perfect home either. Wish I could have been there to golf with the boys. But better they have few rounds practice. Let them feel good about themselves before I begin the pummeling. Guess I'd better sign off. Will try to update tommorow on progress and plan of attack. Thanks for checking in on me.
Kev
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