Ukraine Trip Part 4- I saw a monk//I fell off a wooly mammoth//The longest post ever(with the longest title)

I did, I saw a monk as we drove past a monastery.  Sorry, I have not updated in a while.  My cold is getting better; I just have a little cough now.  We have been so busy the past few days;  I have been having a lot of fun, but I will be happy when we slow down. Thursday we drove to Kiev (which is the capitol of Ukraine) and got an apartment, then we walked around town.  All around Kiev are these underground malls( because of the large streets you can't cross them so you cross underground and all along the sides are small shops [I know this is hard to picture, but I will upload a picture of the underground mall when I get home). A lot of these underground crossings are connected to each other.  One strip of the underground mall is completely full with flower shops.  It smelled so good down there.  Anyway we walked around, found a cute little buffet in the mall, and ate.  I had borsch, which is a Eastern-European soup.  It was really good.  Then we went up above ground and walked around and we found these cool toys that light up and you can launch them in the air, and they fly. My dad bought one for all the kids, they are really fun to launch :D.
    At night, the entire city of Kiev lights up;  there are lots of christmas type lights on all the buildings, it really is beautiful.
   On Friday we moved to a different apartment that was bigger (because we have 6 people and our last apartment was really small) Then we went to a REALLY good pizza and sushi restaurant. Mom, dad and I shared a pizza with ham, pineapple, and corn (yes, they put corn on the pizza it actually wasn't that bad.  and  on one of the pizza's they put grapes :/ we didn't get that one though)  The rest of the day we just walked around, went to the market; then we came home made spaghetti, and watched Cars 2.
   Saturday we went to the zoo which, was really cool.  We had to take the metro (the subway) to the zoo and that was my first time on a subway; it was really cool. When the metro started accelerating for the first time I almost fell over, because they go really fast :P
The zoo was pretty nice, it was definitly different from the zoos in the U.S. though.  They had bison at the zoo, and they were HUGE! I thought it was neat to see the bison at the zoo, because we don't have those at our zoo.  I really want to ride a bison now, because they look awesome... but they smell.... OK sorry, yeah, I am the only person who can start rambling about bison and how awesome they are :P  Also, at the zoo they have these tall statues of animals and cool rock towers that you can climb.  So I was climbing on the wooly mammoth statue and I made it onto its back, but when I jumped off I didn't jump out far enough and I really hurt my leg.  haha I am so not graceful. After that, we went to a cute cafe for dinner. They played a lot of owl city music, it was kinda funny to hear Owl City in a Ukraine restaurant. Then, we rode the metro home and watched UP.  Wow, I have been rambling for like five paragraphs now, sorry.  Any way I will close in saying that all of the kids are doing well, and really so far we have been having a good transition.
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Ok, because I rambled for so long I decided to add on a little pinterest post.
all photos via

 I love butterflies.

What if you rolled out of bed and drowned?

This is me ^ just ask any of my friends.

O_O

I would love to stay at this hotel, but it looks cold.

My orthodontist does this...:P

Unfortunately, this is VERY true.

:(

hehe All the time...

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Ok, thank you all for reading the longest rambling post i have ever done. AND also thank you all for following because I just hit 50 FOLLOWERS!  yay I am so excited! ;)

 

Ukraine Trip Part 3: We HAVE THE KIDS!

We just met the kids! They are soooo  cute!  Alex (8) is so adorable.  When I met him I almost cried.  Literally, he is so cute he makes you wanna cry. (unfortunately i can't upload pics 'til we get home.)  Micheal, (13)  was glad to see me again. and Elianna (14) ran up to me and said "Hi Laura" (I was surprised that she recognized me from the photos she had seen, but mom said she had been working on saying my name :)  She really is very sweet.  We are about to go get lunch now, thank you all for your prayers.

P.S. I will try to post a little more info later tonight.

Ukraine Trip Part 2: I am ALIVE

Hey everyone! I have arrived in Ukraine! And I am alive! Thank you for all of your prayers!  Right now I am eating breakfast (yogurt, and oatmeal) We arrived at the airport at like 1 pm Ukraine time on Monday.  Then our adoptions facilitators (I don't even really know what a facilitator does but they help get around the country and help get documents for our adoption I think) drove us to our apartment .  The funny thing about Ukrainian driving is that it seems that the unspoken rule of drivining here is that you can drive wherever you can fit your car.  So the drive up to our apartment was fun (and scary).  Our apartment is so cute! I wish I could show you pictures (I took pics I just don't have time to upload them) There is a cute little kitchen, 1 bedroom, and small dining room and a living room with a couch, and 2 bathrooms.  My parents slept in the bedroom and I slept on the couch right.  Today we are going to travel around Ukraine and pick-up the kid's birth certificates.   If we are able to g et all three kid's certificates then we can pick them up at the orphanage and they can stay with us while we finish up the adoption.  Well, I gotta go, Love you guys!!!
Love, Laura

P.S. I got really sick on the flight over here.  My throat burns and my nose is totally stuffed up.  So please pray that I feel better.
P.P.S I don't have time to proof read this so sorry for any mistakes i made.

Ukraine Trip Pt. 1: Philidelphia Airport.

Well, we got off to a good start.  we arrived safly in Philidelphia.  Our next flight is at 5:40 and it takes us to Germany. then we fly to Ukraine.  Please continue to pray for safe travels.  I will keep you guys updated

-Laura
P.S.  I am eating a pepperoni stromboli and it is really good!

Awesome pumpking carvings

Fall officially starts today!  In the spirit of fall I thought I'd share some cool pumpkin carvings. I would love to try some of these, most of them look way to hard though. tell me which pumpkin is your favorite.
P.S. My parents and I leave for Ukraine at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon.  Please pray for safe travels.  I will try to keep you all updated. (hopefully I will have internet)

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Livinging in a house with 7 siblings...

You're bound to hear a more than a few laughs, especially from the younger siblings.  Here are a few comical situations that occurred this week.
#1
David (4), mom and I were sitting in mom's room. We were playing with some change mom had in her pocket.  Mom held up a Nickel and asked "David, what is this called?"
David replied "Yours"
Then mom said "Yes, it is mine, but what kind of a coin is it. Is it a quarter, a nickel, a penny, or a dime?
Yes" was David's answer.

I guess we will be working on his money identification skills.


#2
After dinner, everyone was cleaning up after dinner and Natalie(7) suddenly wonders aloud "What would a Popsicle made from milk taste like?"
Catherine(12) answered "Just, really cold milk.....but it would be frozen"

#3
I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom with mom, when I hear Natalie walk up to dad and ask:
Natalie: "Dad?"
Dad: "yeah."
Natalie: "Do you think you will ever go bald?"
Dad: "I hope not.  But I don't think I will"
Natalie:  "well I would still love you even if you went bald.  And you would probably like pretty good bald. yeah you'd look good."

Do you have any fun sibling stories?  If you do, share them in the comments!
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Now that school has started, I am sure everyone can relate to this.

Outfits

Here are some outfits I made on Polyvore.  They're not very good, but I had fun making them.  Which one is your favorite?

                   #1

#2

 Not sure if I'd wear the pants, they're kinda bright. But I love the rest of the outfit

#3

#4

The shorts are too short, but I couldn't find any longer shorts.

Thanks for reading!  I just got my 48th follower,  thanks Hannah!  Please help me reach 50 followers.  Help spread the word, grab my button on the sidebar.

My Bucket List

I have been meaning to write down my bucket list for awhile, and I finally got around.   I will be adding a few things to my bucket list, and crossing things off, so I am going to make a new page with my bucket list.
1. Go skydiving

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Gotta love that guy's hair ^

2. Go Travel outside of the US. (I will be crossing this one out soon)

3. Go to New Zealand

4. Hold a Kiwi bird.

5. Get married (duh)

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6.  have or adopt at least 4 kids

7.  Get 500 followers for my blog.

8.  Buy a DSLR camera.

9. Visit Alaska

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10. Be an extra in a movie that goes to theaters.

11.  Go to California

12.  Finish a book, and try to get it published.

13.  Read the entire Bible.

14.  Ride a Draft Horse

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15.   Ride an ostrich.

16.  Get a perfect score in Archery,  [50/50 using 5 arrows (My best score is 49)]

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17.  Watch all Pirates of the Caribbean, the Extended versions of the Lord of the Rings, and the Star Wars movies all back to back.

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18.  Start, or help start a transition school for kids who age out of the orphanage.

19.  Build an awesome tree house.

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20.  Hang out with someone famous.

21.   Learn to play a song on the Kazoo.

22.  Earn my Stars and Stripes award for American Heritage Girls (this award is the equivalent of the eagle scout award for Boy Scouts)

23.  Have one of my photos published in National Geographic.

24.  Sing (with my sister Rebekah) in front of 50+ people.

25.  Teach one of my younger sibs piano

26.  Visit Aztec ruins.

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27.  Photograph a blue monarch butterfly.

28.  Ride a Zebra

29.  Go into Wal-mart wearing wal-mart clothes and pretend I work there.

30.  Create a cute reading nook.

Thanks for reading.  I just got my 47th follower! I am so excited!  Please help me reach 50, spread the word and take my blog button on the sidebar =)

I'm Hungry//Adoption Update//News

Well, since I've been sick I have had nothing but applesauce to eat.  And I am really hungry, so I am going to get my revenge and make all of you hungry too:
all images via

I LOOOVE Pumpkin rolls!

I'm so hungry....

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Here is the Adoption update and the News.
So, my parents get home on Friday night.  Then they are home for 10 days, and then they back to Ukraine to pick up the kids and bring them home. ....... And guess what?! I'm going with them!!! I get to go to Ukraine with them for the last trip!!! I am so excited. I  am going to get to play with all the kids in the orphanage.  What is really cool is that I want to be a missionary in Ukraine to orphans who age out of the orphanage.  So this is going to give me a taste of what that's like.