In Kiev again. We finished the medicals this morning. They did it without Jaryd’s passport that will be here tomorrow morning early or possibly tonight. They will put in on the bus in Kirovograd this afternoon and it will be here tonight. Sasha has already been to the embassy and started the paperwork. So tomorrow morning we will go get the Visa’s for the kids. We are trying to book the flights this afternoon to leave on Friday. I am not sure if I can get that done or not. Six seats will be the problem. God has that planned too though. So whatever he has in the works we will be thankful for.
We did not get a lot of sleep last night. We did not find out that we had an apartment until we were trying to get a hotel room at the airport. We ended up with an apartment for 190 a night. Quite pricey, but it is better than a hotel room. And it is only for three nights. We lived really cheaply in Kirovograd, so what the heck. At this point I am just ready to come home. We really miss our support system. And our own beds.
Here is a little info on the ride to Kiev. I gave Kailyn some Benadryl, so she slept or was quiet the whole way. That was a blessing from God. Jacob on the other hand slept for the first half of the trip and threw up from motion sickness for the rest of the trip. We are trying to get some Dramamine for the trip home on the plane. I don’t want to have a sick kid all the way home. I never thought about him getting sick. I have read about other families that have that problem, but it never entered my mind.
We had that Big Mac last night, but it didn’t taste all that great. The kids were starving by the time we got here. The kids and I stayed at the apartment and Kevin and Sasha went to McDonald’s and got some food. We fed them and put them to bed. They were all asleep really quickly. I did two loads of clothes. Jacob only has one pair of pants and those got ruined on the way. I washed all the clothes and hung them to dry. Some of them are still drying. We are still having rain and cold weather.
Kevin has gone with Ben now to get some food for the apartment. We ate McDonald’s left overs this morning for breakfast. That was real wonderful. What a terrible mother that I am. Then once again we ate McDonald’s for lunch. I hope Kevin figures out something different for supper. I have tried to once again reorganize for the trip home. I have only the clothes out that we will need. I hope that we will be seeing you all soon. I am not sure how many posts I will get to do. This could be the last until we are back on American soil. Sorry for no pictures. I will try to do those when we get home. That is an awesome word. HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We have had no problems since we got all the kids. Kevin did say at lunch we are those people who you always see and you wonder what are they doing with all those kids. But it is all going very well. I am glad that I like to be organized. It would be impossible without some kind of organization.
Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to fly. God will not fail us. He has been there from the beginning and he will lead the way home. Thanks to all who have been so constant with the comments. We have cherished everyone of them. We will save this blog someday to show the kids what an ordeal we went through to bring them home. The e-mails have kept us going also. What a wonderful family or Christians we are bringing out children home to. Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope to talk to you all soon
Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

No such luck. We are still in Kirovograd. Jaryd's passport was wrong. Kailyn's and Jacobs are here and okay. I cried buckets this afternoon.

NOW for the better news. We have Jacob and Kailyn. We took custody of them this afternoon. That was an ordeal. I will explain more later. We got them home and dad went out for pizza. For those of you who know us, that is a perfect meal for the Huckabee newby's. Thanks to the German couple and some translation we got it all done and checked them out about 5:30 this afternoon. We are traveling back to Kiev tomorrow to wait for Jaryd's passport. They will overnight it to us when it comes. Sasha is supposed to be here tomorrow to get us. Now that could also change. I don't know.

I thought this day would never come. Things are going well considering we have all the children in such a small place.

I have uploaded several pictures of all of inside the other day. I hope the Stahlke family enjoys all the photos. We can e-mail these to you when we get home. I don't have gotcha pictures from today. But I will post some of those tomorrow.

Kevin and I are so elated to have them all together. Thanks for all your prayers. We are probably going to be delayed coming home. But God will keep us going. Hopefully only a day or two.

The first picture if of snack time today. The girls look like angels and the boys of course were fighting over the ball. But that is boys for you.

Love to all

Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

 
Well we had another cold day.  We were insdie for both visits today.  It was pretty calm for the most part.  Jaryd got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  I knew it was coming.  I just hoped it would be later than sooner.  We are starting to do the this could be the last  time thing.  We are really hoping for those passports tomorrow.  
Church of Grace if you get this before service, please pray. We would love to get home soon.  I think they might be here early in the morning.  We are not sure.  Oh and not just Church of Grace has to pray you call can.  We would appreciate them greatly.   We should be finding out while you are sleeping.
I started packing a little more today.  Hoping that we wouldn't need much still in the apartment. We also have been trying to use up all the food in the refrigerator.  We just about hit everything right.  
Pictures:
1.  Kailyn being the basketball.  She thought this was great fun.
2.  Alyssa waiting patiently for supper.
3.  Jaryd watching a show with Daddy on the TV
4.  Me cooking my last chicken dinner in Kirovograd.  (I Hope)
Hope the next blog is from Kiev.
Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

Here are pictures from yesterday and today. We had great visits again today. When we

got there this morning one of the mother's told us that Kailyn and Jacob were asking where we were yesterday afternoon, so we made sure to visit this afternoon. It broke my heart that we weren't there. On the morning visit today we were outside. It was really too cool to be out, but we endured. This afternoon we started out outside but the rain came. Then we ended up in a room with all of the visiting parents. Six kids and six parents. That was interesting. It was great. They all played well together.

Okay this is not for the weak in stomach. Kevin came bringing Jacob to me this morning with the nastiest booger you have ever seen. He said he was letting me take care of it. Mom didn't mind. But I do have to say that after three children, this was by far the worst.

Hope that all of you in the path of the hurricane are safe and sound. We will keep all of you in our prayers.
Lisa hoping this finds you safe and sound at home. We hope to join you sometime next week.

Pictures:

1. Not often we get all of them in one picture.

2. Jaryd reading Kailyn a book. What an awesome picture.

3. The kids coming from the caregiver this morning. Jacob was so glad to see Jaryd.

4. Yesterday. We had to put the things the kids had on their head on our shoes to walk in the building. They are very picky about keeping their floors clean. We thought they made cute hats.

5. Kailyn and her shoe cover.

6. The playroom that we play in on bad weather days.

7. Jaryd was giving Jacob a ride on the tricycle. Kailyn and Alyssa are reading books.

It is really raining here this evening. Jaryd likes to come to the internet because he gets to play games on the computer. We use this as leverage for good behavior. Not any temper tantrums again today. Things are moving along nicely. We are still learning to get along with our brothers and sisters. But, for just a few weeks, I would say things are wonderful.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Love

Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

We had an awesome day today. Not one temper fit. We also had a great night last night. When we left the internet cafe from posting last night, Jaryd wanted to know where was the taxi. You see after we would leave and at night the taxi would come and take him back to the "internat." He did not realize that he was not going back. He was so excited to learn that he was going to be sleeping at our house. His House. We got the pajamas on and he started out on the couch. He ended up in a bed that we have next to our for Alyssa. Her on one end and him on the other. He slept touching me all night. I think he wanted to make sure I was there. While I was with him on the couch. He said "I Love You." Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That felt wonderful. He has been a different boy today. Thanks for all the prayers. God blessed us with such a wonderful day.
We had a good visit with Jacob and Kailyn. We had to play inside because it was rainy and cold. We played everything. I have some wonderful pictures for you tomorrow. I forgot my flash drive and I didn't go back for it. I will post them tomorrow. Sorry for that.
We are all doing well and hope this is our last week. Next week on Friday I hope we are home or we are on a plane. I am trying to finish cooking all the food that is in the refrigerator. I think we will be able to get rid of all of it just right.
We are not sure exactly how we will get back to Kiev, but I am sure that God has that planned already too.
Thanks for all the comments. Can't wait to hear from you all again.
Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

"GOTCHA" 1/2 DAY

We now are in full custody of Jaryd. We have decided to wait until Mondy to pick up the little ones. We will continue to visit the little ones every day. We were elated to get to pick up Jaryd today though. It will be good for us to just have him for a couple of days without the little ones. It will be some good adjustment time.

Jacob and Kailyn were ready to see us as usual. Jacob wanted us to take him in the car again. He was angry because we weren't leaving. I guess that is good news. Kailyn still doesn't want to go in the car any more.

We were walking down the street and saw these two clowns and we got to make Alyssa's picture with them. I think the circus is coming to town.

Pictures

1. Jaryd, Alyssa and the Nurse from the Orphanage

2. Jaryd and the Director

3. Jaryd, Dad and Alyssa as we are preparing to leave.

4. Alyssa with the clowns.

We will try to post again tomorrow. Jaryd isn't much on this internet thing. Alyssa just watches a movie and Jaryd doesn't want to do that. So we will try again tomorrow.

Love to all

Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn

Today was not what we expected, but things did get accomplished. We went to the market and did some shopping for the boys. The weather is getting cold. The boys only had shorts that I had bought them, so we went on a search. I did manage to get one sweatsuit a piece. Some socks for the boys and some tights for Kailyn. It is only supposed to be in the 40's on Saturday. BRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!. I am ready to go back to the dry heat. We are going to go and look a little more in the morning.

As you probably guessed, we do not have the kids yet. Our facilitator got to Doneprotosk to get the birth certificate legalized and it was wrong. He had to go back late this afternoon to the other town. He will be here tomorrow with it. Then hopefully we will go and pick up the kids. On a better note though. We did get the passports applied for. This picture today is of the kids waiting outside the place to have passports made. They were really good. Yes we had to ride in a car. Jacob was wonderful. Kailyn, on the other hand, cried most of the way. Luckily one of the nurses from the Children's Home came with us and she was able to keep her calm. We found out if the music is loud she is happy. I would have never thought she would be the problem in the car. Jacob didn't even wimper. The lawyer told him what was going on and he was wonderful. Jaryd was also great today. He helped with everyone and was a great big brother.

We will pray tomorrow that they will all come home with us. Jaryd seemed to be ready for that today. It seemed like we have turned another small corner with him. Thanks God for that blessing.

There was a new American couple at the Children's Home today. They are adopting the final sibling of a 6 sibling group. They adopted the other 5 three years ago. They are now getting the youngest brother. We have been watching their blog in the past. I do not have it with me while I am here, but it is on my computer at home. What a small world.

Hope to have more news for you tomorrow.

Love to all

Kevin, Tammy, Jaryd, Jacob, Alyssa, and Kailyn