tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32260309834050707052012-02-16T10:43:35.935-06:00THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.comBlogger221100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-27669766457362038072009-02-24T16:39:00.003-06:002009-02-24T17:07:56.513-06:00

Happy Mardi Gras !I grew up in New Orleans and lived in Mobile, AL for a long time - two locations that really celebrate Mardi Gras. Sasha found his daughters' sled and took it to the orphanage for E. & D. D. had a great time with Papa pulling the sled all over the orphanage grounds. I forgot to mention that on Monday, the caregivers said we could come upstairs and see the children's living

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-27034843651646524322009-02-24T16:32:00.002-06:002009-02-24T16:39:04.102-06:00

After breakfast, Chris & Sasha (our host) took Y back to school. There were hugs & kisses and some tears. While they were gone, I walked up to the neighborhood market and bought a special cake for Sasha...in Ukraine it was "Man's Day" a holiday/celebration for all the men in Ukraine.They are supposed to receive little appreciation tokens from family & friends in remembrance of all the men that

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-32190909805592569632009-02-24T16:23:00.002-06:002009-02-24T16:32:19.335-06:00

We got up early and dressed for church. Y. looked nice in the new clothes we had bought him. After church, and lunch, Y asked when we were going to see E. & D. We had another good visit...and more snowball fights, etc. We have to keep reminding Y that he cannot give his sister & brother candy and chocolate. (he loves to give them things) It really upsets their stomach since they don't usually

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-48720415138802937932009-02-24T16:16:00.002-06:002009-02-24T16:23:02.910-06:00

As soon as we got up Saturday, Y asked when we could go see his brother & sister. We had a good visit and the children played well together. Lots of snow ! In the afternoon, we (Y , Mama & Papa) walked up to the neighborhood store and just walked around to be together. Later that afternoon, we had another visit w/ E. & D. Lots of snow, snowball fights and falling in the snow. etc. Fun but COLD!

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-86997376158215623512009-02-20T04:16:00.003-06:002009-02-24T16:16:07.154-06:00

The Director of Y.'s orphanage, has given us permission to pick him up for the week-end. We were going to stay at a hotel, but our Host Family insisted we bring Y. to their home in Kramatorsk. Sasha & Tanya are really going "above & beyond" what we ever anticipated. We feel like such an imposition...but they take it all in stride. Tanya fixed lunch for us in the refridge. before she left for work

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-57339155034922548362009-02-20T04:04:00.002-06:002009-02-20T04:16:36.279-06:00

Today we had our Court appointment in Ynakiieve at 11:30 a.m. to approve our petition to adopt...in other words...for the legal custody of the 3 children. After a few official questions from the Judge and statements from the 2 sets of orphanage directors, we were parents!!!!!!!!!!!! This was probably the fastest Court hearing in Ukraine history.Ten Minutes! This was such an emotional time for

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-20889966429302909622009-02-18T13:02:00.002-06:002009-02-18T13:31:41.101-06:00

This morning we visited E. & D. and were again shown to the "quiet" room. Just as we got comfortable, and E. & D. were actually playing quietly (using my huge quilted coat as a sleeping bag), the Social Worker came in and asked us if we could take the children outside for a walk - instead of playing inside. Soooooooooo, the children were taken upstairs and dressed in theirwarm tights, coats, hats

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-49820315518490514432009-02-18T12:20:00.005-06:002009-02-18T13:02:43.641-06:00

Early in the morning, we returned shoes that we had exchanged 3 times trying to fit E. She has a wide foot. For our morning visit to E. & D., we were shown to a new room. It is full of huge stuffed toys, two huge leather sectional sofas and a full kitchen. There are also a few exercisemachines in the back of the room. I guess this is the "quiet" room. We did play quietly, but wealso spent much of

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-51687829094010931892009-02-18T11:54:00.002-06:002009-02-18T12:20:16.243-06:00

Monday was a busy day. In the morning, before our visit, we were looking for a musical telephone for D. and went to several toy stores. Of course there were no musical telephones, but we did find a musical, spinning light toy and a small flip phone that says a few phrases. We also found some pink shoes for E. She really likes clothes. We had the best time playing with the children - Papa held

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-67460646065460095442009-02-16T12:59:00.006-06:002009-02-18T11:54:07.313-06:00

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we walked to Sasha & Tanya's church about 1 mile away. I found it difficult to walk in dress boots, but Tanya set a quick pace and we made it in a few minutes. A member of the church, Alexai, offered to translate for us during the service, so he sat between us and quietly whispered the translation of the bible verses, and bible study that wasfirst on the program.

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-84816695003125954542009-02-15T16:10:00.006-06:002009-02-16T12:58:41.410-06:00

We visited D & E outside. Svetlana, daughter of Sasha & Tanya, went with us when we visitedD & E. She translated a little and helped "corral" the children. We went outside,but evidently we are notorious for getting our children's boots dirty...so the children had been admonished to stayout of the mud. After our visit, Tanya accompanied us on a shopping expedition - clothes for thechildren. Since

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-91311057463903624512009-02-15T16:05:00.002-06:002009-02-16T12:53:50.314-06:00

We visited D & E in the morning and also in the afternoon. E and D are precious! E likes to be the center of attention, and is quite the "Mother Hen".We have played outside with the children in their play area, but it is so muddy after all the snow and rain, it's difficult to keep the kids' boots clean ! (and ours too) We are probably known as the "dirty boots parents". There is so much mud

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-14135744819258376492009-02-15T15:52:00.004-06:002009-02-16T12:46:57.817-06:00

We visited D & E in the morning and returned home for a fantastic lunch . Tanya spoils us with wonderful Ukrainian and Russian traditional meals. After lunch, we traveled to Y's orphanage inYnakieve. Chris & Y put together a wooden helicopter and painted it. Austop met us there and had some final documents for Chris to sign. Chris found a game on the computer (with helicopters) that Y enjoyed

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-20974192510856622382009-02-15T15:43:00.003-06:002009-02-15T15:52:06.059-06:00

On Wednesday, we visited D & E and enjoyed playing with them. They are so sweet and we have hundreds of photos ... just no time to download them...we will try to get to that soon. After our visit, we returned home to a fantastic lunch, and then began our search around Kramatorsk forInternet access. No luck. Late that evening, after a delicious dinner, we made our final decisionon names for our

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-31862263180685352972009-02-15T15:25:00.006-06:002009-02-16T01:08:53.942-06:00

On Tuesday, we took all papers we had received in Kramatorsk and Ynakieve to the Notary inDonetsk. Austop, our Translator, was familiar with the Notary and things went very smoothly.We picked up the rest of our luggage from the apartment in Donetsk and began our drive up to Ynakieve.We were not able to visit D and E, because of the time it took to complete the many trips to get official documents

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-22227636468694632682009-02-15T15:01:00.002-06:002009-02-15T15:23:47.587-06:00

At 7:30 a.m., out Translator, Austop, picked us up (in the rain) to load up one huge suitcase to take to Kramatorsk to leave with our host family...thus making it possible to fit in the car better on Tuesday when we move up to Kramatorsk. Dodging HUGE potholes in the road, we finally arrived at Ynakieve, to meet with the Inspector and the Director. Documents were exchangedso we were able to see

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-25792782841010677942009-02-15T14:48:00.003-06:002009-02-15T14:58:54.683-06:00

We slept late and once up, we walked to the mall, called "Donetsk City", about 2 miles away.We bought toys and clothes for the kids at the mall. We "toasted" our children with champagne that we had purchased in Kiev. Later that night, we un-packed and re-packed a suitcase for our Translator to take up to Kramatorsk - to leave with our Host Family - when we go to visit the children in Kramatorsk.

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-44174786435556897902009-02-14T14:23:00.012-06:002009-02-16T12:40:36.175-06:00

Finally, updating blog.We have not been able to update over the last week.We did get a modem that will work in this area of eastern Ukraine on 2-13-09 late in the evening went through 100's of e-mails 95% of which was spam. Will try to keep it short but no promises.2-6-09 Friday= We picked up our official doc. from the SDA on Friday at 4pm , then boarded a train from Kiev to Donetsk in the lower

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-60682578549632669142009-02-05T16:53:00.002-06:002009-02-05T17:22:40.147-06:00

We are finally catching up on some computer news, e-mails, etc. at 1:00 a.m. Friday morning Feb. 6 after a full day Thursday (Feb. 5) beginning with our SDA Appointment at 9:00 a.m.Our facilitator, Sasha, picked us up at our hotel at 8:30 a.m. and we arrived at the SDA buildinga few minutes later...we were the first folks there. We went to the gate and waited for the guard to let us in, all the

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-29629593342642946312009-02-04T10:14:00.005-06:002009-02-05T17:26:42.471-06:00

Today we got up a little later and touched base with the Maxwell family that is also staying at the same hotel. We decided to strike out together on a sight-seeing walk around. We walked toIndependence Square and went across the street (via the underground stairs and passageway that all of the busier intersections have) to the Globus Mall. Here we see the basic mall stores - even Hallmark! We

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-62450084904236734222009-02-03T02:59:00.004-06:002009-02-05T17:29:55.073-06:00

We arrived Tues. Feb. 2 at KBP airport around 10:15 a.m. Kiev time. Our agency people met us at the airport and helped us through Customs. Our Facilitator, Sasha, drove us to our Hotel/Apt. in Kiev about 25-30 minutes from the airport. Sasha gave us a short orientation tour around the neighborhood, pointing out a few restaurants, shops and where to change our American $$ for hryvnia (uah). We

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3226030983405070705.post-14843635815139493582009-01-16T22:50:00.002-06:002009-01-16T23:00:28.817-06:00

We fly out of ATL to JFK on Feb. 1 (Sunday, around noon) and arrive at KBP (Kiev) on Feb. 2 (Monday, a.m.) Our SDA appointment is Feb. 5 (Thursday, a.m.) Until then, we are finishing up paperwork, making several copies of everything, packing, un-packing and re-packing. Thanks to all family and friends for your encouragement and well-wishes.

THE COSPER FAMILYhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236188945099138000noreply@blogger.com1