Getting Ready to bring them home

Today is New Years Eve. We spent the day with our friends from church. We had a nice time. While we were there we were thinking about it being 2010 now. Tony said it was neat because there is 2 of us, and 10 kids. 2010!! I thought it was cute. Then I spent the rest of the time thinking about all my blessings. I had an old friend that I don't speak to much to anymore tell someone something the other day that made me stop and think. She told my friend that she did not understand why we had so much and continued to receive more. She thought it was not fair to her. To us we do not feel as if we have so much, but I do understand what she is saying. I understand it so clearly though. I believe God gives us blessings for the things we do in life. I think when we adopt babies or even do things for others that God blesses you in return. I think when you just worship, pray, and live your life for Him, you will be blessed. I guess if she doesn't see it that way, then that may be why she does not understand!!

I do feel blessed. A lot of people have asked me this week, "are you really going to bring them all home?" We were surprised about how many people were really thinking we would not bring them all home. They do not understand how we will do it. I can not explain to people how we will do it; It just works! You just get on a schedule in life that works for you, and go with the flow. I have enough Faith in God that if I am doing what He wants me to do, that everything will just work out.

We were even more blessed today when I spoke to a friend about not having anyone to help Tony. Then she told me that her daughter could go. We were joking around, but it became more serious. Now we have booked her ticket with Tony and my oldest daughter. God has blessed us once again. They will leave next Friday to go get our new Beasleys. They will be there for no more than 11 days. For now I am just waiting and getting the babies room ready. I have to go buy all new clothes for Eli because he was so stinking big!!!! He wears 2t!!

Anyways, Im going to go sit with my husband. He is sad that nobody is still awake to celebrate the New Years with him.

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE. GOD BLESS YOU!!!!! LEAH

Back Home

After flying for over 24 hours we made it back home tonight. It was sad to say goodbye to our babies, but it was so good to see our kids back home. We opened our christmas gifts tonight. They all seemed to have a good time. Tomorrow we will spend time talking and just relaxing. We have to go out and get a few things for Tony and Faith to take back as well.

While we were in Odessa we thought about about moving up North. I guess the weather made us think more about it. Tony has a job position right now we are waiting on to move to Missouri. If this does not work out we may begin to look at other options in other places. We want to move further north and get some land for the kids. We have always wanted to be on a farm and have horses and cows, and the chickens. I grew up this way. Of course as a child I did not see how nice it was. Now I the kids would really enjoy it.

It would be hard for us to leave family and friends, but I know we would still get together. My side of the family I never see that often. It has always been that way. I get sad about it knowing that they do not see the kids that often, but its always good when I do see them. I know our friends would come often, and we would come back as well. Tony has always been close to his family so I know we would still see them to, It just would not be as often.

Tomorrow we will discuss it a little more before he goes back to work.

It is so good to be home even with the little drama that still hangs over here. I don't think it would even be so bad , but my kids overheard many conversations between family, and of course they all began to tell me everything that was said about me!! You know, its just sad that that is what we came home to, but Im not going to let it ruin my first day and week home with the kids!! I hope everyone has a great New year. I know we will. We have a lot to do to prepare for our new babies!!

Flying Home Tomorrow

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Tomorrow we are flying home, but after reading the news today I am FREAKING out. It seems that yesterday in Amsterdam a man tried to set off a bomb in the airplane, but a passenger caught him. They were both burned badly. They said the man was from Al-Qaida. Now I am really very, very nervous. I do not fly in the first place. 9-11 has been in my head this entire trip and now this. We are flying to Germany from here, then the U.S.

Im just asking for prayers for safe travel because I can not get my head at ease now, Thanks, Leah

Back in Kiev!!!!

So we're kind of getting used to the train. We left Odessa at about 11pm last night and everyone but me went right to sleep. I I still have trouble sleeping with all of the rocking back and forth on the train. tony says it puts him right to sleep, but not me. We arrived in Kiev at 7am and were immediately greeted by a new driver. After much searching (he got lost) we found our apartment. It's downtown Kiev and is very nice. We wasted no time, dropping off our bags and hiking down to the nearest McDonalds..... we were hungry!!!

Fortunately, we were only a few blocks from a central area where there was a McDonalds, a mall and all kinds of other things going on. For the first time in a long time, we felt no stress. We just wandered around the city looking at the different sites. We bought some souveniers, had some ice cream, visited a local church, and went to a cool underground mall. Oh, and the girls also road on small shetland ponies in the middle of downtown. I think we got scammed, but it was worth it to see the girls smile....... The entire city is getting ready for their Christmas which is not until January 7, so their were Santa's in the street and beautiful Christmas trees all over. They even had a nice outdoor ice skating rink in the center of downtown.

After several hours of walking, we began to tire and it began to rain. We spent the last hour getting back to our apartment in the cold rain, but we had fun. The people throughout this country have been sooo nice and patient with us. At every store and every restaurant, people try so hard to understand and accommodate us. Tony and I are very impressed with the Ukrainian people and the kindness they've shown us. This is a beautiful country with a lot of kids in need. We are so glad that we were called to take this journey and so excited about the next steps. We know it will be hard when we get the girls home, but God is with us and it is in Him that we will find our strength.

This entire journey has been a walk of faith... literally. Even the trip over here has taught us so much about our faith. Think about it.... when you travel to a country where you don't speak the language, getting in cars with people you've never met, and committing to spend a life taking care of children you've never met, you have nothing but your faith. I don't believe anyone could walk this path without a strong faith in God. Despite some difficulties while over here, we never doubted our call and never doubted our decision. We've learned so much and grown so much throughout this journey and look forward to continued growth and blessing as we continue. Thank you all for holding us up with your words (comments and e-mails) and your prayers. God Bless, Leah

Bitter Sweet Christmas Day......

So much emotion today! First of all it is Christmas Day and we are desperately missing our kids back home. They are waiting to celebrate until we come home, but it just breaks our heart that they will not start their day with the same excitement that other kids will have. We began our day in Odessa with a few Christmas songs. Kind of cheesy, but it was fun for the kiddos. We were planning on going to the orphanage to celebrate CHristmas with our new kiddos, but we got a late start. Our driver was in some sort of car accident so we had to wait for a taxi. We arrived at the orphanage to an angry woman telling us the orphanage was under quarantine again (at least that's what we thought she said). We stood outside in the cold wondering what we were waiting for. After about 15 minutes we were invited in and were immediately greeted with Vanessa. Of course she was smiling and giggling as always. We had one small gift for each of the kids, but wanted to wait until they all arrived to open them. But what goes as planned when dealing with babies. We sat her down and she immediately began digging into the bag to see what was in there. SHe was actually more interested in the bag then the gift, but once we got it out she began to play. She was soooo cute.

Then came big Eli (Arthur). His demeanor has changed so much in the short time we're been here. He's more alert and more attentive and seems to smile all the time. He still grunts all the time though :). We sat him down and he also began digging into his bag for his gift. Again, more interested in the bag than the gift. He loved the gift though and would not stop playing with it. It amazes us how much he can do with his hands even though he only uses his thumb. We played with the kiddos for awhile wondering when Elisa would be brought in. After about 30 minutes, the nice lady whose office we use began asking about "Leezka". We shrugged our shoulders and she immediately marched out of the room barking orders at people. A few minuted later, Elisa came in. We knew she was coming because she was whining on the way in. She always seems upset when they bring her in, but quickly calms down when we begin to play. We wish so much that we could understand Elisa. She sits and closes her eyes tight and then loosely as if trying to calm her nerves. We let her be and wait for her to open up and respond. It's so cute but also so sad. Elisa opened her gift and all the kiddos were playing. It was a simple little Christmas, but special because it was our first with these three.

Our visit was short but meaningful. We told the kiddos goodbye as they were taken out of the room one by one. We shared gifts with many of the workers at the orphanage and told them Merry Christmas, although we're not sure they understood. We knew this would be the last time we saw the kiddos for at least 3 or 4 weeks. As we left, we got a call from the facilitator telling us that our train left at 11pm and our driver would be there at 9:30 to pick us up. We had planned a nice CHristmas lunch for our family, but were not sure where we were going to go. All this time in Ukraine and we had only gone to fast food restaurants or the grocery store for food. We picked a place we could walk to and decided to splurge. It was a very nice restaurant, but was completely empty inside. As we sat down, we were pleasantly surprised to find that they offered us an American menu. So we had, fried shrimp, grilled chicken, Chicken Kiev (loved it), salad, french fries, and grilled cheese. The food was great even though the shrimp was not fried and still looked like it was alive. Tony peeled and ate some, but really didn't care for it much.

No were are packing...... so excited to start our journey home, but so sad to leave our babies behind. It's a bitter sweet day! We will be in Kiev by 7am in the morning and then will stay one more night until our early flight back to America. Merry Christmas to all of you who are reading! Leah

Christmas Eve here, and we are approved for adoption!!

We went to court today, and after about 30 tense minutes we heard the words we have been waiting a year to hear. The Judge said that the babies are now Beasleys. We were very excited to hear this. Tony wanted to go out and celebrate, but I was not as eager to celebrate. Last night back at home everything went downhill back at home. The entire side of Tonys family is fighting and I seem to be right in the middle of it. It even went as far as the family canceling Christmas dinner and get together. This has been very hard for me. I seem to not be able to focus on what I really need to, I have a very hard time when People are saying things that they simply do not understand. When you write over the internet things sound different than they should as well. People missunderstand what you are really saying. After last night I was even more upset about not being able to fly home now. I found myself asking God why we could not be flying home now, what is keeping us here 2 more days. Then I have to stop and think it is only 2 more days, its not that bad. While Christmas just wont be what I wanted it to be, I still have to remember why we are here. I get very upset that we are over seas from everyone at Christmas, and can not be with my family in the midst of all the drama at home.

Im trying to out my mind on other things now. Tomorrow since we will be here for Christmas we are going to try to get together with the Wetmores and have a Christmas dinner with her. We also bought gifts for our babies and will be with them in the morning.

Sunday our flight 5.00 a.m. This journey is almost done, I am now the proud momma of 10 kids!!!!!!!!

Please Pray for Flight

Last night Tony informed me that our court date was moved to Thursday at 10. I was ok with that, but then our flight was booked when we came home and checked on it. We could have left at 11.00 on thursday and it would have been ok, but now we have court. I have been in tears all night. Really because we just told our kids that they would be getting a wonderful surprise on Christmas night. Its going to be very hard to tell them, no, your really not now. I know we will be leaving on Sunday and its only 2 days later, but it was about Christmas!!

Im just asking everyone to pray that something will work out for us so that we can home for Christmas!! Thanks everyone, Leah

Tomorrow is our last day here!!

Well, I got to do my tour today. It is not what I expected it to be. First of all, the first room they took me to, none of our kids where even in. After they realized this they moved on to Elisa's room. As I moved around the room I was looking at all the babies trying to see who was in there when I heard a little kid screaming at me. I turned to look and it was my Little Elisa. She KNEW ME!!! She totally recognized me. I turned to her and she held her hands up reaching for me and just yelling for me. I was touched because of all the rejection I have felt from her. I went to her and held her little face in my hands and just spoke to her to calm her down. Ohh, the kids there were so beautiful. I didn't see many special needs kids there either. I thought there would be many more special needs children. After her class I went to Eli's, and Nessie's class. I saw them both right away. My big boy was cruising in his walker. I saw him look at me and start walking backwards to try to get by me. I sat for a while with both of them talking when I remembered that Darya should be in this room as well. Im suppose to get pictures for her family so I began to look around for her. Honestly, I could not recognize any other child in that room. I asked the teachers, but they did not know of a Darya, since this is probbaly not her real name, or her name that they use for her there. They said they had a Dasha. When I looked at this little girl she was in her swing. At first I said, No thats not her," Then I looked back again. After I looked for a moment I saw her jaw bone looked the same as Daryas. I really think it is her, but she has got more hair and just looks bigger. Im going to post her picture here and see if anyone else thinks it is her. I only have one picture, but I have her on video as well for her family, hoping that it is her. I was very sad not to see my sweet anya. They are going to look at her picture tomorrow and the picture of Viviane. I really hope that I am able to see them both before I leave.

After tomorrow we have a court date set for Thursday at 10.30 After the court date we are trying to set up a way to get back to Kiev to make out 5.45 flight out. We should be back home by 10.30 Christmas day. Im really going to miss my babies, but Im also looking forward to getting home. This has been a totally different experience for me. I know I had issues at the start, but time did pass fast. Now I feel silly for being so petty about little things. I think I just missed my kids at home so much that I let that take over everything good here.

I met with Tammi Wetmoore tonight. We went to get pizza together and then we went to have icecream together. It was nice to get out and do something different. Althought the taxi ride there was 1 hr. and 45 minutes. They drive so fast to that I had to close my eyes the entire time. Its really funny how people here just drive so fast and get right up on people, even people walking.!!

Well heres pictures from my visit today, then will be Daryas picture! (I think) Please tell me what you think before I send it to them getting their hopes up!!

Leah forgot the most important update......

I GOT TO ROCK LITTLE ELI TO SLEEP!

Proud Daddy

We are in Love!!

We were not able to wake up and go see our babies due to the icy weather. Taxis would not drive this far out. So this afternoon we finally found a taxi driver that would take us to the orphanage. It was much more quiet in the evening because some of the workers have already gone home. We found it to be much more relaxed. Elisa did so much better this time because people did not keep coming in and out talking to her. She has always like Tony and has always clung to him, but she actually liked me today!! She wanted to sit with me, and when I walked away she held her arms up for me. This made me feel much better inside knowing she did like us a little but.

Eli, wow, he is such a sweet, handsome baby boy. I really can not believe that someone had not adopted him before us!! Although he does seem very spaced out at times, he is alert unlike I thought. We tried so hard to get him to smile for so long. We were so happy last week when we got him to do this. Now today we got him to laugh at us to. This to us is a new baby. He is doing so much more than what they told us he would do for awhile.

Nessie, sweet Nessie. I thought I would never hear her cry. She is always so happy and smiling. Today we saw her pout for the first time. It was really cute because she just puts her little bottom lip out. It was very short lived to. She started smiling right away. She loves to be held, and huged. When you hold her, she turns and starts sucking on your neck. She sucks on anything around her. I think she would love a binky, but it may be to late now to start that.

Im going to put a few of our pictures from today on here. Tomorrow we will see them one last time before we leave. They are suppose to do the tour tomorrow as well. After that we will go back to Odessa, then home. We are still praying that we get home by Christmas night. It will be a big surprise for all the kids!!! Hope you enjoy the pictures!! Thanks, Leah

Good News and Bad news

The good news is the snow began to melt yesterday, and we are almost sure we will be headed home on Friday. The bad news is that because the snow is melting it is to icy for any taxis to drive us anywhere. So, Once again we did not get to see our babies today. We are hoping that tonight we can try to get a ride there. Everyone is starting to get a little crazy in this apartment. We have simply been locked up in her to long.

We will only be able to see them one more time tomorrow before we leave. After court on Wen. we are suppose to take the midnight train back to Odessa where we will board a plane at 5.45 the next morning. We should still arrive home at 10.30 at night Christmas. I have not told my kids yet, because I was thinking what a great christmas surprise that would be for them.

We are going to attempt walking to McDonalds today against the request of our translator. She thinks its to unsafe to walk with the kids. If it is we can just turn around!!

Pray that we get to see our babies tonight and that the ice melt fast!! Thank,Leah

Fun snow day

Today we knew that there would not be much going on, so we tried to make the best out of it. We actually had a pretty good day. The snow is starting to melt a tad, so we tried to make a snowman. I think we did pretty good to. The kids had a blast outside because it was not that bitter bite you in the face cold.

I also found out from our facilitator that we are almost for sure going to be traveling by train Wen. after our court date to go back to Kiev. From there the next morning on Friday we will fly home. We should make it back home by 10.30 at night. I WILL get to spend Christmas with almost all of my kids. Tony will still be coming back with my oldest daughter to bring the others home. I still have not found anyone to help with that either. Tony seems to think he will be o.k. Now that I meet Elisa though I know she going to throw some of her famous fits on the plane while he is trying to get the others just to sit on an 8 hr flight. I know that God will make it o.k. for him so I try to to worry about it to much.

The people that we have meet her so far seem to be very nice people, sometimes they get upset when we cant understand them, but not to often. There is a lady at McDonalds that loves it when we come in. She speaks very little english, but knows that we need her to help us order. She is very sweet. Even the landlord here at our apartment. She comes in to check and make sure we have clean towels, and sheets all the time. She also does all our laundry. I wish I could tell her how thankful we are. I will to get the translator to.

The dogs here are still running around in this freezing snow. I wonder how long they could stay quiet in a suitcase!! Just kidding. We found out today that there is another family here adopting a little girl in another orphanage. Our plan is to meet up with them at some point. That will be a good way to pass some more time.

We plan to go back th the orphanage tomorrow to see our sweet babies. We really dont like not being able to see them very much this trip. Elisa really needs to know us a little better before we come back. Im also going to ask to do our tour tomorrow. This will probaly make me very upset, but I really want to see all those sweet kids there.

Well, Im going to go help Tony making some soup. It seems to be one of the only things we really know what we are eating. Its very good to. Ill talk to you later, Leah

More Snow!!!

Today we woke up to even more snow! Our facilitator called early to let us know that the orphanage would be closed yet another day. We were so disappointed not to be able to see our babies for a 3rd straight day and the orphanage is never open to visitors on Sundays. We miss them soooo much and can't wait to hold them and snuggle with them. Monday will not come soon enough for us. We think the snow is supposed to let up for the next few days, so we're praying that the orphanage will be open. If not, we will probably show up anyway and act like we didn't know it was closed. That's not so wrong is it????

So since we could not see the babies, we decided we needed to have a little fun. We went to McDonalds and watched all of the people shoveling snow away from and off of their cars. It was fun getting out of the apartment and seeing everything covered in white. When we got back, Tony and the girls went out to make a snowman, but did not succeed. They had a lot of fun though as I watched them through the window. We then walked over to the market and had a cup of coffee (hot chocolate for the kids). We had to rush home because we were late for a Skype date with our kiddos back home.

We had been Skyping them off and on, but this was the first time in a week when they were all together. It was so good to see their faces and to hear that they were doing well. They are out of school for the holidays and were all excited. Our family back home is doing a great job of taking care of them and making sure this time is special for them. If we're still here for Christmas, we thinking enjoying their Christmas with them via Skype. Kind of silly, but we would love to just watch them open their gifts. Of course, we will have another Christmas with them as soon as we get back home.

Well I've written all that I can about a pretty uneventful day. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and for your encouraging comments and e-mails. We truly love reading all of your comments and are so thankful that so many of you are praying for us. Thanks, Leah.

Psalm 127

Since our first appointment over here, people have been questioning us about two things..... the number of children we have (soon to be 10) and our age (thinking we're too young). Tonight I could not sleep so I opened my Bible and began to read. Within minutes I came to Psalm 127 where verses 3-5 read:

³ Children are a heritage from the LORD,
offspring a reward from him.

⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one's youth.

⁵ Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.

Just the week before we came over here, a friend from work quoted this scripture to me, but could not recall where it was in the Bible. Keep in mind, our next and final meeting over here will be in "court". A few minutes later I ready Psalm 139 where verses 7-10 read:

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

For those who don't know, the city we are currently in is on the edge of the Black Sea or what I will now consider "the far side of the sea."

God is so faithful and as I was reading my Bible, it was almost as if He was whispering these scriptures in my ear. We are so blessed to have a God who loves us so much...... to have the most amazing children and to be adopting 3 more amazing children. We are so blessed to have friends like all of you praying for us throughout this journey. Thank you all for your prayers and support! God Bless.........

Possible Court Date

I called Alonya today who is our translator here and she informed me that we should have a court date by Wen. Im not sure why she did not call us to tell us this, but it makes us very happy to know we getting closer to bringing our babies home!!

If all goes well we can maybe fly home on Thursday and be home by Christmas. Tony thinks that we might not be able to get a flight ticket on short notice. I still have to go to Kiev to sign paperwork since Im not coming back with Tony. We think I might be able to fill out the same paperwork in the US.

We are very excited about this because we cant see the babies right now anyways. Im praying that we will get to go back one more time before we leave. I still have not been able to get pictures of the other babies for waiting parents. I was blessed by someone that they were able to get a video of Vanessa for us. It made us so happy to have that.

I just had to write to tell everyone our good news!!! We are getting ready for dinner here, then bedtime. Hope everyone has a good day!!

Still Friday

Hello again. I know I already blogged today, but I went back to read some of my older blogs and noticed that I have been very negative with all my blogs. I really dont mean to be. I enjoy being with my babies here, but most of the time is spent in this little apartment with little to do. I dont handle being bored very well. I guess I am high maintenance!!

We saw a lot of snow trucks out today so I hope that they clear the roads a little bit so that they open the orphanage tomorrow. The mean lady that works there isnt there tomorrow. Then maybe we can do our tour. I cant ask to do the tour until she is gone because she will for sure say no!

We found a nice little coffee shop at the mall today we can sit and drink while the kids go play at the playscape they have there. So we are trying to enjoy ourselves a little bit!!

I know a lot of people have adopted 3 kids at once, but I guess it has not been done from this orphanage because we have had to explain in person to 3 or 4 different people why we would want to do this. People seem to think that we are getting some sort of funding or extra money if we adopt this many. Once we explain it to them they seem to get it, but they are very shocked. Even in the orphanage , I think thats why the mean lady doesnt like me. She makes us wear these masks, and when they are not on right they she comes and starts yelling at us in russian and other people help us put them on right. When she walks off the other people start laughing at her.

Oh well, We are counting down the days we have 9 days left !!!!! If we get our court day soon it may be earlier. Thanks to everyone that comments, it gives me something to do here to read all your comments. I also feel better when I have you guys cheering me on. Missy, Ill always be gratefull for all your support. Someday it would be nice to meet you in person. This is an amazing experince and I dont want my negativity to make people afraid to do this. If I had all my kids here with me this would be so easy and so much fun, I just miss them so much that it makes this process very long and heartbreaking!!!

There will be a great reward in the end though. Ohh I cant wait to go home and start buying walkers, strollers, and carseats!!! I bought all the clothes already, but boy o boy was I wrong on Eli'S size. I bought him 18-24 months. He at least a 2 t!! Isnt that crazy!! I miss them already!!

Well, Ill end now, Im going to people watch threw my window now. Send lots of comments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love, Leah

Friday in Odessa

The snow is keeping us inside for the second day straight now. We were all ready to go to the orphanage today and the translator told us they were closed until Monday because of the weather. These are the things that keep making us so mad. She knew this since yesterday, but never bothered to tell us. The snow isnt even falling today, so I really dont understand. Im ready to just pack up and go home and send Tony back out to bring them all home.

Tony is still feeling very weak. He can barely walk around. I keep giving him a lot of water, but he can not eat anything. Its hard when you feel so helpless. We still have no idea when our court date will be. If its not on Monday or Tuesday then we will possibly miss our flight home on the 27th. I can not even think about that. This is hard enough missing Christmas with all my little ones at home.

I guess for now Im going to bundle the kids up and let them go make a snowman or something outside. At least they seem to be enjoying this snow a little bit!!

A Surprise Meeting....

W got a call this morning from our facilitator telling us that the "administrator" wanted to meet with us before sending our documents off to Kiev. We were told that this is not at all normal, but not to worry. As we drove to the offices, navigating through snow covered streets, our facilitator explained that we were meeting with the head of the child welfare department who had some questions about our ability to care for 3 more kids. As we sat down, the lady was kind, but very direct. She said thank you for having such kind hearts, but then immediately began to ask about our income, our other kids and our ability to care for Elisa, Vanessa, and Eli. We handled the questions well, but the tone took us off guard.

She then began asking about social (government) programs that would be available to help us out. We remembered our facilitator telling us that Ukraine officials were often suspicious of American adoptions thinking that we were doing it for the money or some other benefit from the US government. If only they understood what we were sacrificing and spending to bring these children home. So we were a bit unsure about how to answer. I think we handled the questions well and the meeting ended with a few complimentary words from the administrator. As we parted ways with our facilitator she said everything was ok and for us to pray. We're hoping she meant to pray for our paperwork to get to Kiev quickly, but we didn't ask.

So, for now, we continue to put everything in God's hands and we know that He is in control. He has nothing but good in store for us and the children we came here to adopt. Thanks so much for all of your prayers and support. Leah

H1N1 hitting us

Last night Tony began to feel a little bit sick, but we still went about our daily plans. During the night however, he got even worse. He has been running a fever now for the past day in a half. I feel bad because I feel helpless. The Dr. had given us medicine before we left, so I started him on that. We can not go see the babies because he does not want to get them sick. I think he has the flu, maybe the h1n1 because thats going on here really bad right now. To make it worse the weather is 5 degrees today. The snow is over 3 feet in some areas. Cars can not even get to where we are, so to go anywhere we have to walk pretty far to the main road. They said it has not snowed here in ten years. Now it will not stop. Its suppose to snow until Saturday. The snow is also delaying our court date because someone has to get our paperwork to Kiev.

So, we are just locked up in this little apartment not doing much. Emma likes to take a bath every ten minutes because I think she is getting bored. As Im writting I see that the snow is falling hard and fast again. Everywhere you look you see parents pulling there kids on a sled. The snow is very pretty to look at, but not so cool to walk threw. I have fallen twice!!!

I didn't mean for this to sound so negative, but I guess it does. I don't like not being able to see my babies. Elisa needs to see us a lot so she cab get used to us. Well, Im asking all of you to please pray for Tony. He has not moved off the couch in over a day in a half. He needs to be strong for the rest of the time here. So please pray that he gets over this fast and that he feels better. Thanks, Leah

Our little Eli's first smile (Arthur)

I told you that I would show you pictures of our little Eli smiling so here he is. We have not had any good photos to show you of Nessie either because she keeps closing her eyes when we take the picture. We got a few good pictures today of her to. Nessie has got the best personality. She makes us laugh so hard. You just look at her funny and she laughs so hard. She is also a kisser. She loves to kiss, and she is very into Daddy's gotee. She just rubs it over and over. She is very lovable. Eli is so thick. Its hard for me to even pick him up. Tony tickles his legs and his tummy and he laughs. We didn't think he was ever going to laugh.

Elisa still likes her caregivers way more than she does us. It makes you sad when they walk by and she screams for them to get her. Then when they walk by she just screams and kicks the floor. When we try to comfort her she tries to hit us away. I would say we are not her biggest fans yet!!

Im hoping to take a tour of the orphanage as soon as the snow dies down. I want to get pictures of Darya for someone and I would like to see Vivianne and Anya. We thought long and hard about adopting these kids so I would love now to see them in person. Today we heard of another baby here named Laura. She is only 5 months old, just a little thing. Im trying not to see her because if there was a way to bring her home I probably would!!

Im going to end now because the snow is over 2 feet now and I just saw a dog running threw it. If Tony will let me I want to take a towel out and put it in a corner blocking the snow from the dog. Its just freezing out. So many kids are sledding today. The snow literally went up to my knees in some spots. Cars are getting stuck everywhere!! When we walked home Tony forgot his gloves so his hands were like ice. It took forever for him to get them warm and from hurting. No wonder he is getting sick right. Tony has a fever today. If it continues we will not be able to see the babies for awhile. He said he is just dehydrated, but Im not sure. We are just counting our days until we get to come home. We miss our family so much. O.k. Im out to feed the sad dogs now. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!! Thanks, Leah

A very cold cold day here!!

Today the snow is falling very fast and its very windy so it hits you hard in the face. The kids here are out of school so you see a lot of kids snow boarding. Its well over a foot of snow in some places. We ran into the mean lady at the orphanage again today. She started screaming at us again because we did not have masks on. We were never told to wear them in the first place. I think she is just mad now because we have our kids and she cant stop us from bringing them. She's really nasty!

We had a breakthrough today with Arthur. Tony was tickling him today and he just started laughing really hard and finally smiled. He is such a cute baby. We got a lot of pictures with him smiling so we will post them tonight. We are at the mall right now letting our kids play. We are getting ready to leave which means we must venture through all this snow. It really hurts your face. If anyone is coming here soon I really advise you to bring something that covers your face. They sell those mask you can wear. I didnt and im paying for it now.

Ill post pictures tonight. Thanks, Leah

About the Dogs Here

When you come to Odessa and you are a dog lover beware!!

There are so many stays here. They are on every single corner. Some of them are friendly, the others just want some food. Now that it is snowing it is so sad. There are a few that stay at this apartment. I really want to take them to the vet and get them some shots and try to leave them at a vet center, but Tony says that is a bad idea, and that they probably do not have clinics like that.

I even say a cat today that we were petting. The sweet thing snuggled under our gloves and shook the snow off her feet. I just wanted to pick her up and bring her in the get warm, but then what. Put her back out to freeze!! I can not stand it. Back at home I rescued animals. I always brought home the strays and got them their shots then adopted them out. Here I feel so helpless and the people here are really hateful to them. They scream and yell at the dogs to leave. Another one here today has really big ninnies so she probably just had puppies somewhere. I just keep thinking about where they are, are the freezing??? OHHHHH!! I know this is not for me to worry about, but I do.

Other than that the day is good. We should get our court date today, then we will know that we can head home a few days after that. Im sorry we posted 3 times today, but we get really really bored here!

Im going to try to go cook some eggs or something for these poor babies!!!( The dogs!!!!!)

Leah Beasley

SNOW!!!!!!

We woke up today to a wonderful surprise.... a beautiful white blanket covering the ground outside and a heavy snow falling from the sky! The kids were so excited and to be honest, so were we. We went to visit the kids this morning and they only brought Elisa in. After many attempts to ask about Eli and Vanessa, someone finally told us that they forgot about the others. So we only got to see Elisa today, but we had a good time with her. She's still much closer to the orphanage workers than us, but we had a good time together. Here's a pic of the cute outfit she was wearing.....
When we got back to the apartment, we couldn't wait to get out into the snow. The girls got bundled up and out we went. They made snow angels, slid down the slide, had a snowball fight, played "freeze" tag and then attacked me with snow. They had the most fun being drug around by their ankles through the snow. This was fun until the snow made its way up their coat and it was time to go inside. It was such a great relief to get out of the apartment for a bit and let the kids let loose. Check out their pics........

I hope all of you have a wonderful day!!!!!

The Beasleys

Thanks

Thanks to everyone that has offered to help us. Our second travel date back here will be the second week of Jan. The first week they have been parties here and get really wasted they said so they shut down everything. Kinda funny, but we thought we would travel the next week instead.

For all the people that said to email them, I will this afternoon.

Im at McDonalds now and just wanted to post a few more pictures before I leave here. Thanks

Monday night in Odessa

Its getting dark here. We were only able to see our babies once today because they fear that the swine flu is here again, so they closed the orphange. Me and Tony think they should spped things up and let us take the babies early to keep them from getting sick!!! (Yeah right!!)

While we were there today Arthur smiled just a bit. He is so stinking cute isnt he. Everytime I looked at his picture at home I said I wanted to squeeze his chin and kiss his cheeks. The first time I saw him thats just what I did.

Elisa was really throwing fits today. The caregivers took her from me and laid her on the floor and I think she was telling me to let her just kick it out. She was obviously throwing a fit again. Tony felt bad and kept saying,"Its o.k daddys here." I thought it was cute because I was just letting her scream it out. She can make the cutiest face though. She is walking, and she talks a lot on Russian. So it will be harder for us to teach her to talk. She loves music. She dances back and forth!!

Then their is Nessy. My little Nessie. This child is just a joy. She loves everybody. She laughs just when you pick her up. She loves to suck on your chin!! She also sucks on her bottom lip all the time. She is so tiny. Her eye crosses really bad, so I guess we will go to the eye Dr. as soon as we get home.

The mean lady at the orpanage was not there today, but our facilitator said it was o.k. for the kids to go now. Now that they said this Emma has a fever of 102. I started her on an antibiotic the Dr. gave me before we left. Please pray for a fast recovery because I manic a little with her being sick here. I did get her the H1N1 shot though before we left.We are hoping that they will re-open tomorrow because we are trying to get Elisa to like us a little more before we leave.

Tony will be bringing the kids home woth my oldest daughter who is 12. Now that we have meet the kids we know that is just not possible, but we dont know of anyone else willing to go. He just can not hold all 3 kids on all 3 planes on the way home. Exspecially if Elisa is throwing her fits. We are trying to pay his moms way to go, but she broke her foot. If anyone knows any easy ways to help make his trip not so hard on him please let us know.

I'll leave you with more pictures so I can go take care of my sick Emma, Thanks, Leah

Sunday in Odessa

Today we can not go to the orphange because they are closed on Sundays. We have been having a really good time with them. Last night I we got to have them all for ourselves. It was a challenge for us, but its preparing us for the real world. They were all well behaved, but at times the older one, Elisa could really throw a fit. When she gets mad she just starts flipping around yelling. So we just let her do it and ignored it. She would then stop and come back to us,

Arthur is so big that I can barely hold him. Im going to have to buy something to strap him on me somehow. Even the caregivers kept coming up and grabbing his cheeks.

Im loving seeing the kids, but I am still very homesick. We have to walk far to come here to McDonalds just to use the internet. This area though is much much better than Kyiv.

Ill leave you with a few more pictues of our sweet little babies today. The blue stuff on Arturs head is medicine. I guess when they get scab they put it on them. Ill keep you posted. We are just waiting on our court date now!!

Today we met our girls, and our boy!!

This is from 2 days ago........

We were still doing our interview with the director when someone came in with our first baby, Elisa, whom we named Elisa Nevaeh Beasley. That is Heaven spelled backwards. We were not even expecting her to come in,so we were very surprised. She looked the same,but much much smaller than we had expected. She was so beautiful, but did not want to have anything to do with us. So she just hung to the caregiver while we smiled and spoke to her.
Then came Vanessa. We named her Vanessa, Victoria.Victoria was her name here. They call her Vikka. She did not look anything like we pictured her to be. She was a typical downs baby. She had all the normal expressions. She came to us right away and laughed the entire time. She totally melted my heart. Every time i even talk to her she laughs so hard that she has to stop and catch her breath.
After passing her along we received Arthur. We named him Elijah Gregory. This poor baby made us sad. He never once smiled, nor did he even try to. He was so overweight and large for his age. He has a beautiful face, and I know he will have a beautiful smile. Its just getting him to do so. Arthur was very very heavy for me as well. He is going to have to learn to walk fast!!!!. We were told alot of good news while we were there.
Elisa had her heart surgery in Feb. of this year. Vanessa does not have any heart issues anymore, nor does Arthur. So basically they do not need to see a heart Dr, at all. However we do not really go by what they tell us. They tell us Vanessa does not need glasses and does not have strabismus, but you will see from the pictures her eyes clearly cross all the time.
Arthur seemed to be having trouble breathing, but Im hoping he was just getting a cold.
The orphanage was not very kind to us because I had my children there they told us we could not bring them back. So now we don't know what we are going to do yet. We don't have to many options really other than just letting them sit in the front while they wait for us an hour.
Ill send you guys many pictures in the next few days. Right now we do not have internet in our apartment. We are having to pay a driver every day just to drive us to McDonalds to have internet. He does not seem to like us that much either. The lady at McDonald speaks english though so she has been very helpful to us.
Tomorrow is Sunday so we cannot go see our babies, so we will send more pictures of them on Monday.
I CAN NOT WAIT TO BE HOME!!!I never thought I would be so homesick. I dont think Ill ever do anything without my kids again. I wont even take a family trip without them. This feeling away from them is just miserable. The entire process just takes to long. Im praying, and I ask that you all please pray along that this is over very very soon desperately want to go home.

Thanks guys, Leah

Quick Pics

Elisa Vanessa Arthur

Interviews Galore!!

We received our call at 9:30 and were picked up for our appointment. It was the same driver and a nice lady named Aloyna who was to be our interpreter for the trip. She was extremely friendly and began to explain the days events. She was taking us to an appointment with the city officials who would make a local referral for our adoption. After that we would go to the orphanage and meet with the director to gain her approval for the adoption. We expected these appointments were just routine, but soon found out different. The drive to downtown was very nice and showed us much of the city. The housing was all old and run down, but the city had a historic charm to it. We went by the Opera House which is one of the top 3 in the world. It was beautiful from the outside. Perhaps we'll try to see a performance while we're here. I never understood opera anyway, so it won't matter that it's in Russian. We walked into our appointment and stood in a cold bland room. People kept coming in and going out making us move around the room to avoid getting run over. We feel like we're in the way everywhere we go on this trip. As we waited, the interpreter began explaining the appointment to us. We were to meet with the city chief who was in charge of all adoptions. We needed her approval to proceed. Aloyna said to be prepared to explain why were wanted to adopt, why children with DS and why 3 kids. She also said to explain why we wanted more kids if we already had 3 of our own. Leah and I looked at each other and wondered which of us should tell her we have 7 kids. We looked down at the homestudy in Aloyna's hands. Obviously she had not read all of our information.

For a split second I wondered if we could just avoid the subject all together. But that would not be right. So I told Aloyna about our family. 4 biological kids and 3 adopted. She looked up as if to do the math in her head and looked back at us and said "10 kids!" She looked worried and said that we really needed to explain this to the chief because they often think Americans come to adopt because we get some kid of government subsidy for doing so. In otherwords, our motives would be questioned. Now Leah and I were a bit worried. Could this adoption really stop now...... for this reason...... because we have too many kids? We wispered to each other that we would just tell the truth and explain our love for children and our desire to help...... and ultimately explain that this was something God had called us to do. On top of this, we were told while we were waiting that Arthur's name had been mispelled on the SDA approval and that they may reject the document until it can be corrected in Kiev. We walked in to an intimidating room where we sat at a long table and the chief sat at an executive desk. Everything she said was translated as she was saying it. It took a bit to get used to looking at one person and listening to another while they both spoke at the same time. The questions were gentle at first.... introduce yourself, where are you from, what do you do for a living? And then she asked about our family. We described our family and our passion and calling to adopt. We explained that we had fallen in love with Elisa Vanessa and Arthur through pictures online and that we knew they were meant to be ours. The chief laid her pen down and looked at us sternly and began to speak. The Russian language always seems harsh, but we've learned that it just comes out that way. The only word we understood was "spaseeba" which means "thank you". It seemed like forever until we heard the translation. The chief almost had tears in her eyes as she "gladly took her hat off to us and bowed to us as her heroes". She commended our love for children and our large hearts and thanked us for making such a sacrifice. Leah and I got chills as we realized what she was saying. We were approved!!!!

From here, we left to pick up an "inspector" who would accompany us to the orphanage to meet with the orphanage director. When we arrived at the orphanage, they looked at Noelle, Emma, and Grace with concern. They said they could come in and immediately gave the kids surgical masks to put on. The orphanage was very nice and well kept. We walked into a nicely decorated office and met with the orphanage doctor, our interpreter, a lawyer and the inspector. They began to give us the medical history of the children as well as what they knew of their biological parents. We even saw pictures of Vanessa's mother. Surprisingly their medical conditions seemed much better than explained to us before. Elisa had already had her hearts surgery and they didn't think the other two would need surgery. They told us about their temperment and in the middle of talking about Elisa, the door opened. In came an orphanage worker with a small child. It took us a moment, but we realized it was Elisa. She was so beautiful and small. She was much smaller than we thought, but she looked just like her picture... her picture from almost a year ago. She was fussy, but we both got to hold her for just a second before they took her for a nap. One by one.... in the middle of the interview, they brought the kids in. Vanessa was bright and happy, laughing the whole time she was there. Arthur was quiet and not very active and was HUGE. He had a belly that would make a sumo wrestler jealous. He just sat there contently while we loved on him. More on the kids later when we send videos, but the appointment ended well. Everyone in the room loved us and they were laughing at the thought of our large family. They conveyed a great respect for Leah and I and even told us to "write Obama a letter to ask for money to help support our kids". We're not sure if that was a joke or not as the people over here seem to love America's new president. We walked out of the orphanage with a card that would allow us to go see our new babies from 10-12 and 4-6 every day until we left Odessa. We were again approved and one step closer to bringing our kiddos home!

Midnight Train Ride (written on 12/10)

So we rushed out of our apartment and jumped in a car to head to the train. It was about 9pm. Hopefully we didn't forget anything at the apartment. We arrived at the train station at around 9:20 and it was beautiful. The building was large with neon lights shining on it. We entered into a grand foyer with a high vaulted ceiling. It was a challenge to keep up with our driver who was leading us to our train. Up one escalator and down another to a tunnel where the train was. Our driver walked us to car #4 and explained to the attendant that we were American and might need some assistance. She agreed and led us to our room.... or was it a closet? She offered us drinks and we took a stab at ordering. Water and apple juice...... As we opened the drinks, we said a small prayer, hoping we would not be surprised. The apple juice was good, but one drink of the water and we knew we had messed up again.... YUK, it was carbonated...... AGAIN! We always make that mistake. The room was approximately 6' by 7' with 4 beds. It was stuffy, but we figured it would get better when the ride started. At 9:50 the train took off. Emma sat in the window mimicking the train sounds.... chug-a-chug-a-choo-chooooo! chug-a-chug-a-choo-chooooo!

The train rocked quite a bit, as it moved forward. As we looked out the window we could see glimpses of snow on the trees and hills we passed. Every so often we would see an old farm house with snow covering the roof. After a while it became just black outside. We turned on a movie on our laptop and began watching. Grace sat on the upper bunk playing on the macbook while the rest of us watched "RV" on the bottom. I (Tony) dosed off about 30 minutes into the movie. Leah and the girls watched until about midnight and then settled in to sleep. The rocking of the train put everyone to sleep except for Leah. She was up most of the night probably because it was so hot on the train. It was 20 degrees outside and felt like it was about 85 on the train..... go figure. A few hours into the ride, the train began to stop. Uh oh, we didn't realize there would be multiple stops. We started wondering how we would know when it was our stop. Would someone wake us up.... had our driver told the attendant that we would need help..... would we hear the name of the town we were traveling to? We knew we were to arrive at 6am, but what if we were asleep? So we woke up at every stop and checked the time. At about 5:45am, the attendant knocked on the door and said something we could not understand, but it ended with the word Odessa. Whew! We made it.

As soon as we stepped off of the train, a large man immediately grabbed our bags and introduced his wife as Sveta. She bundled our girls up better (the people here are adamant about kids being bundled up when outside). Call it faith, but we assumed this man was our driver, so we followed him to his van and got in. Neither the man nor his wife spoke any English, but they were very nice. We drove for about 25 minuted and arrived at our apartment. A nice lady met us the door and showed around the apartment. Again, she spoke no english, but was apparently the landlord who lived next door. Again, she was very nice. We were told that someone would come pick us up at 9:30am to take us to an appointment. We all took this opportunity to catch up on some well-needed sleep. Finally we were here..... close to our kiddos!

Change In Plans!!!!

We just got word that they were able to get us a train ticket after all and we will be leaving in about 1hr (9pm here). We will be on the train overnight and will arrive in Odessa at 6am. From there we will quickly go to our apartment and change before a meeting with the social worker. We WILL get to meet our kiddos sometime tomorrow. We're rushing to pack and eat dinner right now, so we gotta go, but we wanted to post an update before we got on the train. Things are moving fast, so please keep us in our prayers. We'll update our blog when we can.

Love Leah

got the referrals!!

It is late here on Thursday. We just got word that they gave us the three referrals!! Yeah.

They do not have room for us on the train tonight though. That really sucks!

So I guess we will rent a car and leave very early in the morning and drive 5 hours to Odessa.

I really dont know what to expect when we get there. Im hoping the food is better like people are telling me!

It snowed so much today. For me coming from San Antonio, Texas we never see snow. It was such a pretty sight to see all that snow falling. Its not to cold out though.

Ill write in the morning to tell you guys where we end up.

Thursday - Waiting on Referrals

Hello to everyone!! It is about 4.00a.m. at home. Here it is noon. I cant say we are adjusting well to the time here.

I miss my kids so bad at home. Things are going slow here, so we really have a lot of time on our hands to watch the clock and think about what everyone is doing at home.

We thought we would get our referrals yesterday, but they said because there are three, that we had to wait until 5.00 today. When and if we get them today we will board a train tonight and ride to Odessa for 9 hours.

Then tomorrow, Friday we will get to finally meet our new babies. We did get to see there pictures yesterday. Elisa the oldest is named Elizabeth, they call her Liza. She was so pretty. It was a current picture. The 2nd baby Vanessa was named Victoria. They call her Vikka. It was her baby picture where she had no hair, then Arthur , he still had his same name, but his baby picture was so cute, he was so fat!! It was funny.

As Im writing my husband just pulled my daughters tooth out. She is wondering how much money the Ukrainian tooth fairy brings her!!

While we were at the super market yesterday a gentleman kept talking to us when we told him we spoke English. He then got really excited and started speaking english the best he could. He was a very sweet man. He bought us chocolates,and walked us home. There we gave him our address. He said he wanted to continue to keep in contact with us. We are having a good experience with people here, we just feel a little left in the cold. We stay all day in our apartment because we don't know what to do here while we wait, or we go to the mall and try to get food by pointing to what we want!!!

Oh, also when we had our appt. yesterday they told us that Elisa, the oldest had already had her heart surgery. That was good news!!

Emma, my youngest is complaining that her throat hurts so Im going to get her some medicine now. Please just pray that we get our o.k. to travel tonight because this is getting really boring just waiting here!!

I hope everyone is well back home. Let me know if you would like me to bring something back, Love, Leah

Tuesday afternoon here

Hello to everyone

We are doing well here! I am very homesick today. Everything we have had to eat is so unusual to me, and very nasty really. Tony doesn't seem to mind.

Our apartment is very cute, but we are ready to go to Odessa. They say we might get our referral tomorrow so that we can take the train there and see our babies early Thursday morning. Im really hoping I do better there. I did not expect to be so homesick. I have half my kids with me so it really doesn't make since. I guess people not understanding me is getting really frustrating as well.

Tony and Grace went to bed at 3.00a.m. and slept until 2.30 . I did fine with that part of this trip. I adjusted well to the time change.

Well Im going to try to skype my daughter now so Ill write back tomorrow. Thanks, Leah