I love the CIA WorldFact book. It is constantly updated on countries around the world. And it has little pearls like:

[Ukraine is ] slightly smaller than Texas

From: Ukraine - CIA WorldFact Book

Afghanistan, Botswana, Burma, Central African Republic and Somalia are also listed as slightly smaller than Texas.

Ukraine is the second largest country in Europe. Russia is the largest country in Europe and the world in terms of land area. There are some... more

The women who wrote this article lives in Washington DC and is getting ready to move to Poland.

However many times I had to say it, the words never sounded natural. "What does your husband do?" the nice woman in the carpool line or the pleasant man at the cocktail party would ask, and I'd try to toss it off lightly: "Well, actually, he's the defense minister of Poland."

Then the nice woman or the pleasant man would look at me slightly cross-eyed, trying to guess whether I was serious. After they had worked out that I was indeed completely... more

There are between 1,000 and 500 American, French, Canadian, Italian, Ukrainian, Israeli and Spanish families waiting for appointments to adopt Ukrainian children. There are different guesses floating around from Ukrainian faciliators, people who visited the NAC, past adoption numbers, etc....

Guesses based on guesses. Ukraine is a country that runs on rumors. And often the rumors are accurate. Unless they are completely wrong. :)

There are rumors that the SDA is hiring more... more

I found a good article on adopting via hosting. It is Russian focused, but it can also apply to hosting an Ukrainian child.

It appears that hosting costs (even when you adopt) cannot deducted for charity reasons or for the adoption tax credit.

Another tidbit... There is an email list that focuses on all aspects of hosting. It has been around since 2004.

Here are some hosting programs for Ukrainian orphans.

Adopt a Child

I cannot find anything on the web site... more

I wrote about the negatives related to hosting an Ukrainian child. Hosting is one way that adoptive parents can get to know a child before adopting them.

Here are some positives

Health: In many host programs the children get access to dentists and doctors.

Dental health is a major concern for many adoptive families. Here is a blog from a family who hosted from Russia. Search... more

An email acquaintance recently suggested that the best way to adopt an older child from Ukraine was to host them. There are many programs that bring children to the United States for hosting AKA vacation.

There are negatives with hosting:

The children are being brought over for a short vacation. And not all the children will be available for adoption. The Ukrainian government retains sole adoption authority. Just because you hosted a child and the child is available for international adoption... Doesn’t mean you will be able to adopt the... more

Image what would happen if the government regulated fees on your utilities (water, trash, telephone) went up 25% to 35%. Then image the same increase on your natural gas bill. According to Conoco Phillips almost 70% of all new houses in the United States have gas furnaces. So many families can relate to the money pains caused by increased natural gas costs.

Weeks after announcing that Ukrainians would have to pay about 25 percent more... more

I recently served ant pancakes to my daughter and her friend. I really wish that I had taken a photo, but I was too busy cleaning up. In other words I wasn’t in the moment enjoying the strangeness of ant pancakes.

I was living in the future of

cleaning up what do I fed the kids now

My daughter had GW her BFFFFFFF* sleep over. And the following morning I was serving a full breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon and toast. I served the food and forgot the syrup. So I went to the pantry and got the syrup bottle. I handed it... more

A husband and wife who are Ukrainian citizens and live in the US recently had their parental rights terminated for child abuse. Their children are dual citizens (American and Ukraine). It looks like the parental rights were terminated before the Ukrainian embassy was notified. Parents are going to appeal.

A Kent County judge terminated the parental rights of Marina Ivanova on Friday along with those of her ex-husband.

In September of 2004, police say they found Ivanova's 3-year-old daughter and 23-month-old son tied up in a trash-filled apartment.... more

I found an old journal entry about my darling Natasha. She had been home for 5 months when I wrote the following. The pictures is from the same time frame. Natasha was trying to catch bubbles with her mouth. :)

---------------

When Natasha first arrived in the United States she was 3.5 years old. She was 3 feet, 1 inch tall and 31 pounds.

Five months later she is 3 feet, 3 inches tall and 32 pounds. Her skin looks much healthier and she is very active. She is a joy.

She doesn't use many Russian or Ukrainian words anymore.... more