A note to Stas' caretakers

This is a letter that I wrote and had translated to Stas' caretakers. I would like to make a generic one to give to Reece's Rainbow for parents to give to the caretakers of their children when they say goodbye and thank you. I will talk to Andrea about that. Fr. Andrew has also recommended a book to the caretakers that they are very interested in reading. It must be in Ukrainian if he has read it and recommended it. I thought it would be a good gift to give along with a letter when you say goodbye. Imagine the impact that such a book could have to help change the culture here...one baby step at a time.

To all of Stas' caretakers-

I want to thank each person who has cared for our little Stas since he has come to Solnitchko. He is a precious little boy and we feel blessed to have him as our son.

MANY people in Ukraine have asked us why we would want this boy when he has Down syndrome. I would be happy to explain to you the many reasons.

We already have a child with Down syndrome and we love him so much! We adopted him one hour after he was born. His challenges make him no less important to us. In fact, he is everyone’s favorite. Now—we will have two favorites! They are very special people. Adopting him was one of the best decisions we have ever made! He has been such a blessing. Although he has had medical challenges he is now doing very well. Even with many medical problems he would still be a huge blessing!

These special people teach us so much! Many people look at them and think they are not very smart. They are actually the very best teachers we have. They are teachers of our SOUL! They teach us to have good hearts. What good are we if we have all of the intelligence in the world but we don’t know how to love? We are a Christian family and we believe that when we look in the face of these children, we are looking into the face of Christ. The Bible says “what you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done unto me.” When I look into the face of these children (or adults) with special needs, I see the face of Christ. I hope that you also see His face in these children. It is so much easier and more meaningful to care for them when you do. We are called to treat them as we would treat Christ Himself.

Stas will have a family that will love him very much. He has had people praying for him for a long time. Friends and family and neighbors are very excited to meet him and to love him.

In the United States, children get therapy starting at birth. This helps them very much which is why at 3 years old you could see our very active boy. His muscles were very weak at birth just like most other kids born with Down syndrome. He received/receives physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech/oral therapy. Physical therapy works with the large muscles of the body, especially the trunk and stomach muscles of the body to hold them strong. Occupational therapy helps them do the smaller movements that are necessary to play with a toy, hold smaller objects, feed themselves and write or use their fingers well. And finally, Speech/oral therapy at a very early age helps them chew and eat properly, move their tongue properly and form sounds to talk. These therapists are very good, but much of the therapy they get is just from their life in a family: playing, walking, talking, and just by everyday stimulation and interaction. Because most children with Down syndrome are slow to speak, it has been believed that they don’t understand what is said to them. This is not true. They just take a while to learn to form their words. Children are now taught sign language at an early age so they can “talk” to people and communicate their needs. Our son knows probably over almost 300 words in sign language!

I want you to know that I have been praying, many times a day, for a long time, for all of Stas’ caretakers and for their families. Know that you have received many, many prayers!!! We will continue to pray for you. We will continue to pray for the care of these special children.

I wish I could hold, hug, rock, and kiss every one of these very special children! They are so precious, even when they sometimes require so much work. When you think of it, give them a kiss from me. Tell them you met someone who loves them very much and someone who is praying for them!!!

Thank you again for all that you have done for Stas!

With gratitude and many blessings!

The Mama, Papa, and family of Stas

Free Massages today at the orphanage!

We brought some lotion, baby bath and powder to a different group today. Another group that has some special kids in it. Here are Taya and AnnMarie. They both got massages on their arms, legs and face. They got a little backrub and even a tummy rub! It is amazing how these sweeties just perk up and interact more after being rubbed, touched....just stimulated.

We have seen Stas improve in just the last 10 days. We rub him, tickle him, squeeze his cheeks, make him work to sit up in the stroller or on our laps. What a difference it makes. He is still a little squishy pile of love, though. He should be easy on the train and plane because he can't get away from us. He loves to just cuddle in as you can see in many of our pictures. We will have to separate Ricky and Stas though I think b/c Ricky still has a good streak of jealousy.

Can you say I-N-T-E-R-P-O-L???

Oh Yeah!!! Alas...it is done. The lawyer's office was closed by the time we got word that Interpol was finished so now we wait until Tuesday to find out if we can get a Tuesday date (Monday is national holiday----remember, they like their holidays?!!)

Stas checking out the outside worlds



I bet you didn't know...(a lot of things that they know in Ukraine, but I will wait to tell you all of them)

...that if you were to sit in the chairs that face along this walkway you will get sick because their is a draft (I wish!!!!!!!!!) in corridors. So we were told to move to the center seats so we don't get Stas sick. Ooooo-kaaaay?!


...you will get sick if you sit on a cool surface. Lizzy on a 85 degree day was sitting on the front step of the church and was told to get up b/c she will get sick. Fr. just saw me sitting on the stairs (because the internet was working there and their was a prayer meeting going on in our regular room) and he told me "cold" as he pointed down and "sick" so he relocated me at a table in the conference room. Believe me, I was liking the cold! I love Father, he is very sweet. They are truly loving here and ALWAYS looking out for our well-being.

...Borscht is NOT a soup, it just looks, tastes and resembles one.
...Borscht is always eaten before a meal and you eat nothing else until it is gone. (It is very good so I don't mind)
...You do not put buckwheat or rice or croutons in your soup...you just don't :-)
...bread is sacred. You can leave anything else behind on you plate, but don't leave bread! This goes back to the famine imposed by Stalin 80 years ago. Also, because bread is a lot of work to make and you can live on bread for a long time even if you had nothing else.

Dan drinking (and toasting) Fr. Andrew as they drink warm milk...because it came straight from the cow!!! Gross. Tasted fine but it came straight from the cow!


This is great...Valia, who is from Zap, lives now in Wisconsin for the last 8 years and was talking about her friend who started an organization to bring awareness about Down syndrome to people and this friend has a logo with a Down syndrome footprint and the word "Awareness"...Check this out!


Halya is staying with Genya in Kyiv and will be back on Monday where we will go through the plan of attack to get everything done in one day....(reminder, we are in Ukraine... :)

Bye for now....love you kids....thanks to whoever is helping them!

May I interest anyone in this beauty of a boy?

Yesterday's adventure....

My little wobbly walker.


Fr. and Valia loving Stas!!



Making friends, I think. A peace offering!




Well, it seems the “adventure” was a little different than I thought. We skipped the maternity hospital b/c their wasn’t enough time. Fr. Andrew and Valia drove us to the orphanage and they came in with us. We needed Valia as our translater ;-) and Fr. Andre tagged along. I won’t go into any details here, but it was a “good” experience.
We finished at 6pm and waited for the taxi. And waited, and waited, and waited ( I could write that a lot!!!) At 7pm we thought maybe he got the hours mixed up, he will be here soon. We had no phone, no phone numbers, no idea how to tell us the church (they wouldn’t know anyway!), no way to communicate….Lizzy and I felt pretty darn helpless..we were. So we prayed, we played, we prayed, we prayed, we watched our videos, we laughed, and prayed…we figured when dinner hit Dan would know something was wrong. A half hour late wouldn’t trigger a shock b/c Alexander likes “propositions” (that means I have an idea of something we can do or somewhere we can go….and off we go…no say!), but I hoped an hour late Dan would be hopping in the car for me or something. Okay, 8pm I thought we have one more hour of light, and certainly at worst the darkness would trigger Dan to worry. Well, at 8:15, Alleluia!, Fr. and Dan showed up! As it turns out, Alexander was busy, and sent another Taxi to get us. Um, and just how were we supposed to know that. Well, he told Dan (who he probably thought was with me) and then you would think that taxi driver would say to the two Americans sitting on a bench for 15 minutes while he was watching “taxi Alexander” or “taxi American.” Something? So….we made it back after 2 ½ hours and everyone was relieved. Fr. gave me an extra phone…I think he was very worried. I had bouts of angst…and then I would think…”no, Dan wouldn’t let us sleep on this bench….right?!?!?”
Supposedly tomorrow Interpol will work on our (everyones!) document and get them by the end of the day….or by Tuesday, as Monday is a holiday here. Oh no…another holiday!!!! They like holidays here. Our flight is scheduled for next Friday, if it wasn’t for this Interpol document we would be home this (!!!!!) Friday…oh well, what are we going to do.
Amidst frustration…what can you say but it is all worth it for this precious boy. He will have what God intended for him, a family to call his own. We are so blessed to have him joining our family. God is good! You kids are going to eat him up!! Hopefully he will grow on Ricky, as long as he doesn’t get his teeth on Ricky first!!
Blessings!
Mom/Gretchen

Adventure....

This trip has been an adventure. We are so fortunate to be in a place (the Church) where they look out for us. They see to our needs, yet we are also independent where we want to be. We have the same driver to and from the orphanage everyday, Alexander,with whom we have interesting (with struggling language barrier) political conversations. :-) Lenin, Stalin, Obama :-)...communism, socialism, capitalism....
We go to mass daily, have people here praying for us profusely, they feel our frustration, and apologize (truly) for the system.

Dan and Lizzy are currently at a women's clinic to see the tv screens that they have put up in the maternity areas to show fetal development. We love it. We donated 5 more for the hospitals that are asking for them. A couple will be used, with Genya's influence in Kyiv. I will go with Valentia and Fr. Andrew to the Maternity Hospital when they get back to see what it is like. I can't imagine. They will then drop us off at Solnichko. This work with the tv screens is done through Chalic of Mercy. I think I will check them out right now online. She is really a dear young woman!!

Day 6 with Stas---Communism lesson

So, it turns out that the US can't help because the US Interpol has nothing to do with the Ukraine Interpol process. The SDA has resubmitted our paperwork...uh huh....and now we will see what happens. It is all computerized so it should be done quickly. Interesting how my friend who was here in March also had her paperwork not get processed b/c they were on "vacation."

Today Dan and I went to get Stas' passport pix taken. Very cute. A groupa worker went with us.

What a treat it was to meet a beautiful young woman today--Valya or Valentina. Fr. John told us this a.m. that we would see some people coming on a pilgrimage from Medjugore. It turns out the young woman is from Zaporosche (I spell it different every time I write it!) and lives in the Wisconsin. She started a ministry called Chalice of Mercy to help bring supplies to hospitals and to do pro-life work where she can. She is absolutely beautiful...inside and out.

She gave us an interesting lesson on Communism in Ukriane and how the desires of Lenin and then Stalin made its effect on Ukraine. Fascinating yet awful. Lennon had every church taken down in Zaporosche. In other major cities he let one stay so he could say that he didn't take them all down---"see!" She explained how it came to be that those with disabilities became locked away. Many of you know this...but work was everything and you had to be productive. It seems that our little kiddos predecessors weren't productive and only a hindrance on society. So, away they went. What we see in the orphanages the fallout of Communism. We saw factory (huge!!) after factory today that Alexander drove us past. Crazy.

While I am dying to finish up this process and get home (!!!!), there is one little light I have ahead of me IF we are still here in Zap on Monday. She offered to take me to a Maternity Hospital...wow...a high-risk OB nurse (former--too busy with kids now)on a Ukrainian Maternity Unit. The abortions are done on the same unit. Imagine that! They have been able through their efforts to get large screen tv's in the maternity ward to play on a continuous loop video of the developing baby in utero. I like it--a lot!!!!

Maybe I can reciprocate and have her as my translator at the orphanage??? We will see.

The experience of staying at the church, living among Ukrainians and "talking" to them throughout the whole day is more than a blessing.
I am too tired to post Stas' passport pix. Ricky is crying down the hall from his bed.