Good News

We have had lots of good news lately. Both Caleb and Katie's soccer teams won their league tournaments. It made for a wild day of soccer. Caleb's team finished in third place in the football league but they lost their "bowl" game. Caleb scored his first touchdown in the bowl game though. We went to Huber's with friends and didn't buy a pumpkin (we accidentally left it in the patch). But the best news of all so far has to be that we think that we were able to get Coy an Indiana birth certificate without having to readopt him in Indiana. This is super news. Friends of ours that adopted from Ukraine contacted us and told us that they were able to get an Indiana birth certificate for their son without adopting him in Indiana so we though we would try it. Stacey made several calls and even took our paperwork down to our county Clerks office but they would not do it for us. I called the State again and they said any county would work so Coy and I went to the next county, the same county where our friends live, and they filled out the paperwork for us. Now, if one comes in the mail, we will be stoked.

Imagine That

As much as I wanted to post a picture of our kids, I had to share this video. Our kids have enjoyed watching this this week. There is another one of a home school family that makes us laugh too. If you go to God Tube and search this comedian (Tim Hawkins) there is a clip where he suggests Corporate Takeover of Christian worship songs. That clip is pretty funny too.

God has a unique way or revealing himself to us at different times and I kind of felt like he revealed himself to me/us tonight. There are two boys on Katie's soccer team that missed the last practice and game because they were late. They showed up early to tonights practice and they hung around afterwards. They have two younger sisters that are obviously adopted from either China or someother Asian country and in the conversation about them I learned that the two boys on the soccer team are also adopted, from Ukraine. Of course, the conversation quickly went to from where in Ukraine and it turns out that one of the boys came from exactly the same orphanage as Coy. What are the chances?? Ukraine is a big county. God is funny, but he is real too.

Here is a Post For You

Seems like it has been a long time since I posted on here. Probably because it has been a long time since I posted. Frankly, I have not been that motivated to post. I have convinced myself that no one really reads it anyway other than people that we communicate with often so it just gets in the way.

Needless to say, there is always plenty to do around here so when I do post, it takes away time from either Stacey or sleeping and I am not really in a position to neglect either one of those things.

Right now, we are surviving school, football, soccer and life. We have made it through 2 birthdays (Caleb and Coy), a wind storm and three days without power, a trip to Holiday World, and numerous other visits with friends and family. Coy has had another surgery (a minor laser procedure to help his scarring on his lip) and has begun his speech again. We believe that he is very smart for his age since he can now name all of the letters and numbers 1-10. We have also found him to be very allergic to some sort of bug bite that he has been receiving this fall. One bite on his forehead just about swelled his eye shut and a bite on his ear left it sticking straight out. A bite on his leg turned the entire inside of his thigh bright red. They don't really act like they bother him though so we aren't real worried about them.

Where Have We Been???

Well, I guess you could say that we have been pretty busy for the last couple of weeks. We had Vacation Bible School at our church one week. The kids had a great time. Also, that same week, we got a dog. Her name is Buttons. She has done pretty well so far. She is not a puppy and is fairly well behaved so there has been minimal effort on our part so far. Luckily the weather has been fine so she stays outside most of the time. Caleb and Katie fell in love with her instantly. Coy is warming up to her.

Oh yeah, we got a pool too. The only bad part so far has been the fact that Coy had his next surgery the day before the pool was installed and the Dr.'s orders were to not go swimming until his follow up visit, which is tomorrow. It is just an above ground pool but they had to dig out quite a bit to get our yard level. We have spent a lot of our recent free time shoveling dirt to backfill around the pool so at night, the last thing I feel like doing is typing. We have also done some night swimming, which is also more fun than typing. Once we get our fence up and the deck built, we will start inviting folks over to swim. Right now, the ladder is pretty flimsy and it is a pain to go in and out of the gate but hopefully that will be fixed soon.

Caleb spent a week at a friend's VBS and then the kids all spent the week at my parent's house for their VBS. Stacey and I went down for the picnic. The kids did lots of fun things there and we didn't know if we would get them to come home with us or not.

We have not heard back from the ladies in Ukraine yet. That doesn't really surprise me though. Sometimes they are slow to respond. If I don't hear anything back by the middle of August or so, I might try again.

Zickel family: We would love to do that. We could have you guys over. Can you try to send us e-mail?? I also looked on the Ukraine Consulate website thinking that I could help you with your question but there was not much help for Kentucky. I did contact the Chicago office directly (called them, what a trip that was) and they sent me a blank form via e-mail that we filled out and sent back (e-mail and certified mail) for Coy's yearly report. If you want, I could send that to you if it would help at all.

This is Coy shortly after his surgery. His lip looks a lot better. They were able to twist his nose some too. He is such a trooper though. Only as he was coming out of surgery did he show much discomfort at all. He complained some later about it hurting but he did not milk it for all it was worth like some others may have.

Fun Times at Yankey House

We had a very happy Fourth of July. We saw fireworks, went fishing, and finally got to go swimming on Sunday. Even as I am typing this out at 10 PM on Sunday night, I still hear lots of fireworks going off outside.

From the pictures, you can tell that Coy caught his first fish this past weekend. I don't think he was as excited about the fish as he was the part of throwing the ball (the bobber) out into the lake and then reeling it back in. But he had a good time. He still doesn't like fireworks all that much but he tolerated them pretty well this year.

It is hard to believe that the summer is almost half over already.

I sent the e-mail to the ladies in Ukraine that helped us to adopt Coy. I just sent them some pictures of Coy and the other children but I also asked them how/if we would know if Coy had siblings in the orphanage system. I am guessing the answer is that they wouldn't tell us/contact us officially but someone that knew would have to pass the word on to us. To be honest about it, I would be leary of someone that I don't know telling me that my child has brothers/sisters. I trust these people and will believe what they tell me though. I will let everyone know what I hear back.

Post Adoption Follow Up

Someone asked about the post adoption follow up that we have had to do. It has been our understanding that each state handles adoptions differently and that each agency may have their own requirements too. As for us, we have not had to do any post adoption home studies or visits for the state of Indiana or for the group that did our home study. We do, however, for Ukraine, have to do yearly reports on how Coy is progressing. This is a real simple 2-3 page report that we sent both e-mail and hard copy to the Ukraine Consulate in Chicago. We do maintain contact with the group that helped us to adopt Coy and we also maintain the e-mail addresses of the folks that helped us while we were in Ukraine. I keep meaning to send those folks pictures of Coy to show them how he has grown in the past year but it seems like I never remember to do it while I am on the computer. Perhaps today will be the day.

Perhaps part of the reason that I have hesitated to e-mail the folks in Ukraine about how Coy is doing is because I would like to know what would happen if Coy had siblings that have entered into the government childcare system. I wonder if we would be contacted. I have also read about people trying to find information on the birth parents. We know really all we want to know about the birth parents. Who knows if this will be all that Coy wants to know about them. We will cross those hurdles when we get to them. Because of his age and because of the record keeping in Ukraine, I figure anybody could tell us anything and we would have no way of knowing if it was true or not.

New Video Camera Test

I am trying to upload video from our new video camera to our blog. It is quite a large file and I am not exactly sure which one it is. I hope to improve on this, if it even works at all. The quality is MUCH improved over the video feature on our still camera.

Since my last post, Coy has completed his speech for the summer and Caleb and Katie have completed swim lessons and Safety Town. Caleb and Katie earned free tickets to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, so we took them there one day. We were unsure how many rides they would have for Coy, since the website did not indicate any for kids under 42 inches tall so my parents let Coy spend the night with them. He had a great time. We all had a great time.

Stacey was also brave enough to take all three children to a public swimming pool in Harrison County by herself. I don't think I could take them to the grocery to pick up milk and cookies, much less, to the swimming pool for the afternoon. (Stacey is standing over me telling me that she thinks I could but I am not so sure.)

I am not so sure about the video so I am going to quit typing in case I lose it and I have wasted this time.

***Update*** I got the video to download but then it didn't play back once I tried to play it back from the blog. I will keep working on it. I don't have a lot of confidence that I can get it to work but I will keep trying.

Finally

Wow, it has been several weeks since I have posted here. I can't even begin to recall what all has happened so I am not going to try so instead I am going to share about something that I see at church. Getting three kids ready for church in the morning is not really easy and by the time we get to church, we are ready to sit down. (Full Disclosure: Stacey does most of the getting the kids ready, I just pitch in where I can.) I often find myself exhausted (mainly from watching them) by the time we get in the door. However, there is a lady that many times will sit in front of us. She appears to be the care taker of three or four different grown men with mental handicaps. She is always smiling and worshiping with such fervor. I feel guilty for even thinking that I have it tough when I see this lady and how she persists. I don't know her name and I don't know that I would recognize her face if I saw her out in public but she inspires me to have much less self pity (I am really in no position for pity) and much more appreciation for all of the good things that I have. I actually have it really well.

I did get a few really great gifts for Father's Day. We purchased a new video camera so we have been taking some videos again for a change. Also, both Stacey and my sister had the same idea of preserving this blog for keep sake. Stacey not only printed out all of the blog entries for me to save but she also printed out all of the e-mails that we had kept from when we were gone. My sister not only printed out the blog entries but did them in a scrap book. She said that she did it for Coy. I was hoping to have something so special to give to him instead of a "Baby Book" and now, we will have it. My sister has a real talent for scrapbooking and it shows in the product that she made for Coy. My sister and her family have been such a blessing to us. Thanks Michelle, we appreciate it more than you will ever know.

I have been travelling quite a bit and when I do, I have much less desire to get on the internet and blog. Also, I am having trouble getting on the computer because Stacey has been burning up the internet lately. Between Ebay, Craigslist, and just general research on stuff that we are considering, it has been hard to get in a keystroke.

The last day of school, we did have a big waterballoon fight. It was so much fun, we had another one a day or two later. The kids worked really hard for a long time filling up lots of waterballoons. They did a good job of helping to pick up the pieces afterwards too.

At the Corps Day picnic, Katie climbed the rock wall. I am guessing that it went about 20' high. She climbed up it like she was Spider Woman or something.

Stacey has been busy so far this summer. Caleb and Katie have swimming lessons and Safety town and Coy has been having speech. She hasn't been trapped at home with them all, all day but I am betting that she is glad of that. Especially when it is too hot to go outside.

One more thing, Katie's picture was in the New Albany paper today. She had gone to see High School Musical on the Riverfront in Jeffersonville and a reporter had taken her picture. They had a story about it today and ran her picture in the paper as well as on the internet. If you search for New Albany Tribune, her picture pops up. If you are reading this after Sunday, you will probably have to search for Riverstage after you get to the website. The picture is actually of the back of her head but it did give her name.

Still Too Busy To Write

It is late and I am tire so I am just going to post a few photos. Katie's finger after her fingernail has fallen off from where she smashed it at Gulf Shores. Caleb playing baseball. Coy riding his bike. Katie with her Kindergarten teacher. The video is of Coy after eating a chocolate doughnut. He has chocolate on his face that looks like a bad mustache. I was trying to get him to say "Suave'" but he kept smiling after he would say it.

Too Much Going On to Write

There has been so much going on here that I don't have time to get on the blog a lot. Between baseball, and soccer, and Angel's Wings, and work and the warmer weather, we get to bed later and later all the time. Plus, it seemed like for a while after vacation, that we didn't pick up our camera for a while either.

Katie asked me a really tough question tonight as she was going to bed. "Which were you named first, Daddy or David?" after I answered that easy one, she asked me "Who was the first one to come up with the word Daddy?" I had to answer that I did not know. I assume that it would be Adam but I am not sure.

Last week while I was gone for work, Stacey decided to start talking about the birds and the bees with Caleb. Now I am concerned that we have a budding OB/GYN on our hands. He has asked several very interesting questions since this little talk. It is probably a very good thing that she has started this dialogue with him. We would much rather he hear it from us than from his friends at school. Of course, we don't really want him to be the boy that is educating all of his friends either, but we do want him to know the truth. Katie on the other hand, I don't think I want to tell her anything about it because she might use it against us. I am afraid that the entire Kindergarten would get an education if we spoke about it to Katie. Perhaps this time next year we can start talking about it with her.

Stacey's sister's dog had to be put down last week. He ran to the road and got run over and hurt his back really bad. Stacey told the kids and Caleb took it the hardest. Since we don't see that dog a lot, they didn't cry or anything, but you could tell that they were thinking about it (at least that is what she told me, I was out of town).

More Vacation Info

Here is a video of Coy jumping in the pool. He only did this about two thousand times during the five days that we were there. I think he would have done it more if he could have climbed out of the pool without having to doggie paddle all the way over to the steps to get out.

Here is something else to know about Coy. His internal wake-up clock is set to about 7 AM eastern time, no matter what time he goes to bed. One night, we all stayed up kind of late. Coy fell asleep in Stacey's arms. The other two dragged to bed much later than usual. In the morning though, Coy was up and at them at 7 AM eastern, which was 6 AM local. Just to be clear, his attitude reflects his lack of sleep sometimes.

If he asks a question once, he asks it over and over again. His favorite question is "Where are we going?" He also likes to comment on the weather, especially in the van. When I turn on the windshield wipers and the windshield cleaner, he immediately asks if it is raining, even if the sun is shining bright outside.

We bought tickets on-line to a go-cart track and amusement park and were able to stretch it into two days worth of activities. Caleb especially liked the go-carts. He was big enough to drive the "rookie" ones by himself. The first day that we went, the first thing the kids wanted to do was bumper boats. Unfortunately for Stacey and Coy, Caleb is pretty good at bumper boats and at spraying the other boats. Stacey was soaked. It was good filler between getting up and the weather getting warm enough to go and swim. There were a group of women working at the go-cart track that were from Romania. We told them that Coy was their neighbor.

The kids would have swam at 70 degrees but Stacey and I have to draw the line somewhere. The last day it was warm enough to swim before lunch, but that was the only day.

We ate at Lambert's Cafe twice while we were in Gulf Shores. It is the home of the throwin' rolls. They bring a cart of rolls around and if you want a roll, they throw them to you. They sometimes throw them from far away too. They also play lots of tricks on you while you are eating. The kids had a great time and so did we.

Katie's Angel's Wings recital is this weekend. Caleb has a baseball game and Caleb and Katie both have a soccer game. It is going to be a busy weekend for us. Everybody seems to have jumped back into the routine fairly well though. We are thankful for that. At least everybody except for me. I am still trying to think of a reason to skip out on work. I still haven't found it yet.

WE'RE BACK, AGAIN

We have been to Gulf Shores, Alabama for the last week. We had a great time and great weather. Although I think the kids would have loved not riding in the van so long and staying at the pool longer. However, at this time of year, it is hard to have one without the other. Of course there are indoor pools, but they just aren't the same as an outdoor pool.

Coy has gotten to where he loves the water. Unfortunately, he is not very afraid of the water. He still needs to wear floaties on his arms to help him stay afloat. As soon as we got to the pool on the first day, he climbed right in without his floaties. Luckily, I was right there to pull him out. He was on the steps going into the pool but he showed no fear going in, and only a little bit on the way out. By the end of the week, he was jumping in as fast as he could get around to the steps to get out again.

The kids really did well on the long drive. We didn't try any of that drive all night kind of stuff so they were awake for almost all of the ride. I think Katie and Coy slept a little bit on the way down and Katie slept for about an hour on the way home. Other than that, they were awake all of the time. Caleb read two big books on the way down and while we were there. We imposed a NO VIDEO week on him so he was forced to find other forms of entertainment. He read those two books but on the way home, we got lazy and let him work the DVD player. I guess they watched Alvin and the Chipmonks and Shrek both two times each.

We had a little bit of excitement on the trip. It was kind of stormy for a little while on Saturday morning and the wind was blowing. When the wind blows, it creates drafts on the large metal doors from the parking lot to the stairs that went up to the condo. Katie got her finger smashed really bad in one of those doors as it slammed on itself. By the time we walked up about 10 steps to our condo doors, it had swelled to about twice the size that it should be so we ran her to the immediate care to have it x-rayed. Everything was OK. We took her to the pediatrician tonight and they burned a hole in her fingernail to let some of the blood out of it.

Unfortunately, time has gotten away from me tonight. I need to start thinking of some reasons not to go to work tomorrow. I doubt that I will come up with any so I will have to go in. I will try to post some more on our vacation in the next couple of days.

Happy Adoption Day!!!!!

One year ago today Stacey and I "defended" ourselves in an Ukrainian court room for the privilege of being Micah Coy Yankey's parents. It was not the intimidating experience that some folks have described. I am sure that it varies from court to court and from judge to judge. I still remember rather vividly walking down the hallways of what looked like an abandoned building and turning into the "courtroom". Luckily, we had met most of the people that were in the room before and knew that they were there to help us. The judge asked us several questions about who we were and why we wanted to adopt Coy. I don't remember exactly what I said but it was something to the effect that we had been given much and that we wanted the opportunity to share what we had been given with others. I didn't want to offend them by giving them the impression that these rich Americans could do so much better than their system, but lets face it, the resources that we have available to us far exceed what they have in every way. I have my suspessions that Sveta did not translate my words verbatim but instead said what she thought the court would want to hear. I don't know for sure. Eitherway, it worked out for the good. We were so glad when that part was over because it meant that the official countdown to the return home with Coy had begun.

Since today was Coy's Adoption Day, we tried to make it special for him. Seems like Stacey and I had heard or read something from James Dobson about giving adopted children another special day in addition to their birthday to let them know that their adoption is a good thing and not something to be ashamed about. So we decided to make Coy's adoption day a special day for him. We let him pick where we went to eat and then we went to the dollar store to get him a mylar balloon. He picked Ci Ci's Pizza for lunch and then picked out a Garfield Birthday Balloon. It made it home but as soon as we got home, he went outside and he took it off of his wrist and let go. Needless to say, we learned a lesson about helium balloons and letting them go outside.

When I think about Coy and where he came from and where he is now, I can't help but think that he is better off now. I know we are better off now. We try to help Caleb and Katie appreciate where Coy has come from and why we are so lucky to have him in our family. Caleb gets it. Katie, I think, is still having trouble at times. If you hadn't seen it though, I can understand not completely appreciating it.

What A Year

I have a lot to post about tonight but I don't know how much energy I will have to post it.

A year ago this week, we met Coy for the very first time. It blows me away that it has been a year already. It seems like he just got here but it also seems like a lifetime ago that we were in Ukraine. Time is funny like that I guess. More on that in a minute.

I had a really neat experience earlier this week. I traveled to Madison Wisconsin for work and while I was on my trip, God worked it out for me to meet a couple of folks that are in the middle of their own international adoption. I remember being where Mark and Shannon from Texas are in the process. They are busy filling out paperwork to hopefully adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. But I know that the paperwork seems almost endless and that the waiting period and the expenses are daunting and I think that they were looking for a little assurance that they are following God's will. I was traveling on the same day on which we left to go to Ukraine last year and I was reading Hungarian Rhapsody for like the third time and looking for some encouragement that we did the right thing by bring Coy to our home. Their plans did not originally include the Milwaukee airport and neither did mine but I firmly believe that God's plan was for all of us to be there the other night. I got to share a little with them about Coy's adoption and they got to share a little with me about their adoption. Their reason's for adopting seemed to be very similar to ours. They, unlike us, already five children. The oldest is in college, the youngest, three years old. However, God is tugging at their heart and it is something that they can't deny, even if they can't rationalize it to the world in which we live. It was great to meet them and I wish them well. God didn't create American children, or European children, or African children, we give them that label. He just creates His children and they are all His children, regardless of where they are born. If you get a chance, please pray for Mark and Shannon and for their upcoming adoption.

As I was flying back to Louisville from my trip, it brought back a flood of memories from our trip. I remember walking back up through the terminal with Coy in tow knowing that Caleb and Katie and other loved ones were waiting for us at the end of the gates. I remember the utter exhaustion from having been gone and going through the emotional roller coaster that was bringing Coy home. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The stats go something like this: Coy has grown almost 6 inches since we brought him home. He was not small for his age like you might expect orphans could be because of the lack of nutrition and physical development. He is still a good eater. He has gained about five pounds or so but he is still as solid as a rock. His English continues to improve. Stacey said that a clerk at Kohls was able to understand something that Coy said the other day. That is a HUGE step forward. Most strangers have no clue what he is trying to say.

Baseball and soccer are both in full swing now. That keeps us busy. And since I have been traveling a lot recently with my job, it doesn't leave a lot of time for posting or taking new pictures. I hope you will be patient with me while the posts seem to slow down.

We have completed Coy's annual report for the embassy but we have not sent it off yet. I am wanting to include some photos with it but I just haven't sent any to the photo store yet. We will need to complete it and mail it in during the next month.

This video is from one of our visits to Coy's orphanage. I have posted it before. I went back and read and watched some of the posts and video's from we when adopted Coy. It helped me to remember so many of the details of the trip, even if they weren't in the post. In my mind, I could go back there and remember some of the sights and smells and sensations, even if I couldn't describe them in the posts.
This second video is from one of our first visits with Coy. At this point, we have already decided to adopt him (we did that as soon as we saw him). But it is the first time that we have visited him since we made that decision. Here is a photo of that same scene. Sveta is with us because we have absolutely no idea how to communicate with him. That banana really helped though. I don't think a stranger would get very far with him with a banana today though. Anything that looks like candy could be a different story though.

Spring Break Action

Don't worry, we didn't go anywhere too wild for spring break. We did make it to Clifty Falls State Park for a night though. It was pretty fun. It would have been better if the weather had cooperated a little bit more but we had fun. We got to swim a lot and we did get to do a little bit of hiking. We will probably go back when the weather is warmer and hike some more. We also played a game called Boccerball. The kids really enjoyed that. I have included a short video of some Boccerball action but it is kinda dark.

We enjoyed staying up late watching basketball but it made it hard Sunday and Monday when we had to get up to go to church and school/work. I am anxious for spring to get in full bloom for every reason except for mowing grass. I am thinking about buying goats and turning them loose in my yard for the summer. Perhaps they would respond to an underground fence??

Here is a picture of Coy with his Great-Grandfather Wigg. Wigg has a lot of wit and has a likeable tendancy to tease and aggrevate, which may be where I get some of my tendancies. I can remember laying on the floor of my Grandma and Grandpa's house as a little kid and him pulling and popping my toes. Now I enjoy pulling and popping my kids toes. Is that cruel?? I stop if they ask me to stop and I usually don't keep pulling them if they don't pop right away.