Immigrant TB Testing

Yesterday, some friends of ours that adopted from Ukraine and are medical doctors, passed on some info to us that may be of value to those of you who also have adopted from Ukraine. We will be passing it on to our family doctor to see what he thinks about it. You can see this link for more info.

"[I] recently became aware of some new medical information that has affected my girls and I wanted to pass it on. I figured if it was new to me (I am suppose to know this stuff) then maybe you didn't know it either. Our children received a vaccine in Ukraine for Tb called BCG. It was suppose to protect them from Tb. It is not a good vaccine and doesn't work very well. That is why the US doesn't use it. My girls actually received it more than once. The real problem with the vaccine is that it turns the usual skin test (ppd) that we use here to test to see if someone has been exposed to Tb, useless. It has widely been assumed (until very recently ) that if you had BCG you should not even do a ppd skin test because it would always be positive and that would be a false positive and mean nothing. So the only way to test for Tb was to do a chest xray and that would show tif you had active Tb. There was no way to tell if you had just been exposed. So all of our children were required to have chest xrays before we left Ukraine to come to the US. Well, recently for some very strange reasons, I found out that those guidelines have changed. I am sending you a very good article that outlines the changes that you can print and bring to your doctors. The guidelines say that you should do a ppd and if it is positive then you should do a special Q. Gold blood test. If that is positive then the child should be treated for one year with a medicine called INH to prevent conversion in the future to active Tb. You see, many of our children, despite the vaccine have been exposed to Tb in Ukraine but have not yet developed active Tb. This is the stage when they are healthy and the Tb can be stopped from ever developing into active disease. The INH is not without risk but when they are young the risks are much smaller than when they are older. Also, the medicine must be taken regularly for one year to be affective and that is more likely to happen when they are still living in our homes under our care than when they are out on their own some day. Also, after talking to the head of Infection Disease at the Univ. of Iowa and at the Center of Disease Control, Atlanta they believe it should be done within 5 years of arriving to the US for best benefit. Only one of my daughters is positive by the blood test. So it doesn't mean that your children are positive, only that it is a possibility. It doesn't mean that they are sick. Just that they have a chance of becoming sick in the future (maybe many many years from now) but that it can be prevented if they are treated now. The state health department pays and provides the medicine. My daughter did need to have one more chest xray to prove that she still had no active disease before we could begin the treatment. If they had found any disease then they would have treated her with two medicines instead of only one. After the treatment no further treatment is ever needed again. I hope this helps. I was still working under the old model and so was our doctor. Pass this on to anyone that you think could benefit."

Hi Again

Well I feel like a stranger here! I'm on the blog regularly to update the blogrolls but it seems like you never hear from me anymore. It's a shame because there really is stuff going on. I have finished several projects at home and at work and I really would like to get back into the blogging thing. The kids have changed a lot in the last year and half and I know that several of you would like updates.

It's not that I don't like to blog. It's just different now. The kids are all teenagers and computer savvy, sort of, with their own Facebook accounts and email addresses, and I think even shortcuts to the blog on their favorites. So as you can imagine we have to be sensitive to what is said, right?

I guess these days everyone uses FB to communicate day-to-day things. I see the blog as more of a general medium. In my opinion, blogs are superior for getting information out there, and are great for documenting life. Where would the adoption commununity be if there were only FB and email? I know I learned a lot about Ukraine and adoption through all the blogs out there and I want to help others by publicizing as many Ukraine adoption blogs as I can. Sometimes I go back and reread posts from our time over there and I still get tears in my eyes reliving the experience and reading the comments that our bloggy friends left for us. If we had used FB that stuff would be long gone.

Ukraine adoptions never lack for drama. Since we have been there, there have been volcanoes, epidemics and quarantines, a new Ukrainian president, government scandals and upheaval, war in Georgia, natural gas disputes, and the normal adoption problems. While every adoption is different, there is a surprising amount of problems they have in common. Birth certificate issues, family members that show up and interfere, property issues, kids that change their minds, bad referrals, running out of money, excessive delays, officials on long vacations, bad weather, city councils getting in the way, people wanting "gifts" to merely do their job, uncooperative directors, behavior issues of the kids, job crises, health problems, and more. It's best for everyone to go into this with eyes open.

I don't know how anyone can adopt from Ukraine without a faith in God. He is, after all, an everpresent help in a time of need:

 ¹ God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
 ² Therefore we will not fear,
         Even though the earth be removed,
         And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

(Psalm 46:1-2, New King James Version)

It's very comforting to have the King of the Universe with you when you're over there. He's like a... Superhero! Enjoy this video from Hillsong Kyiv, Иисус Мой Супергерой (Jesus My Superhero). I showed this to Valya once and she knew all of the motions. Not sure where she learned them. Must have been at the orphanage sometime. Listen for Spiderman, Superman, and Batman.

Let's stay in touch.

-- Alan

Our Friends the Weber's are in Ukraine

While we were in Ukraine adopting Valya and Sergey, another South Dakota family got to know us through our blog and met us at the Sioux Falls airport at our homecoming on Feb. 15, 2009. They are Erick and Joni Weber and they live about a 1-1/2 hour drive from us. In this picture, you can see me meeting Joni for the first time, with Erick and their son Misha looking on. Misha was adopted from Ukraine in Spring of 2008.



We talked by phone and emailed alot as they worked through their paperwork for their next adoptions, and now they are in Ukraine. You can follow their journey on their blog here. How exciting!

More Than Blogrolls

I know that most people come to our blog for our Ukraine adoption blogrolls (485 links right now), but did you know that there are other links way, way, way down there on the bottom left? Some may be of interest to you. I recently found and added a very helpful international adoption website with 931 adoption articles. The website is called International Adoption Articles Directory. Check it out.

Spring Update

Hi everyone. Checking in here quickly with a family update. We have our ups and downs but overall things are good. The school year flew by and the kids are enjoying summer vacation so far. Here are some pictures.


On Memorial Day, I took a solo trip to visit where some of my relatives were from. These pictures are of Woonsocket, SD. My Grandma lived here after Grampa died. Every summer we would drive out from Long Beach CA to this little town on the prairie. Back in the early 1970's, I remember swimming in this lake with my cousins from Washington state who would also travel here to visit. The Sunfish used to come up to us and "kiss" our legs as we would wade and swim. So many memories in this little town. Now it's like another lifetime.





This is a cemetery out in the country in rural Jerauld county, where several of my relatives are buried. There used to be a Lutheran church here, where my mother was pianist when she was in high school. Unfortunately, it was torn down in the 1960's.



We also visited the cemetery where Nancy's parents are buried. Here, Valya is standing at their grave. It was their inheritance money that allowed us to go to Ukraine to adopt Valya and Sergey.



Here, the kids pose in the northeast part of the state, overlooking the Red River Valley of North Dakota.



We like being on the water. Here the kids are tubing, and a picture of Nancy.



We have had a ridiculous amount of rain this Spring. 8" of rain just this week. Everything is very green, as you can see in our backyard.



The kids are doing some chores. Here, Sergey mows at his uncle's, and Valya and some neighbor girls plant flowers around our mailbox.



Valya has been attending the June session of summer school to get more math practice. She found a baby cottontail rabbit at the school and brought him home. Sergey will not be in summer school this year, but he has started private tutoring for phonics.



Here, Sergey and Valya pose with some of their teachers from the last school year.



As a 9th grader, Mark played JV basketball. Meanwhile, in the stands, Sergey gets pestered by little girls.



At the school's athletic banquet, Mark gets a hug from his cross country coach, and Valya is recognized for participating in volleyball.



Sergey loves baseball, and is playing for his favorite team, the Mitchell Yankees. Well, actually the New York Yankees are his favorite team.





Valya took a babysitting course at the hospital so she can babysit. Here, she poses with some sisters she watched for an afternoon (on Valentine's day). She enjoys little kids. Here she is having lemonade and playing Uno with some neighbor kids.



Valya enjoying a view of Rapid City, SD.



Valya enjoying her cousin's prom dress.



We had intended to go to a Ukrainian church for Easter in the Minneapolis metro area, but didn't realize it started at Midnight, so we missed it. Women need to wear a head covering so Valya was ready.



Valya likes this picture. She says, Why do Americans always want to see your teeth when you take a picture? The kids' Ukrainian passport photos were very stoic. The government lady taking the pictures curtly told them not to smile.



Sergey likes to fish. Here, he was getting some tips at a youth fishing derby at Cabela's in Mitchell.





Here are some family pictures. Mark and Sergey horsing around, playing Rock Band, enjoying hotdogs and smores over a campfire, and a family picnic in the basement on movie night.

One Year Anniversary

I can't believe it but Feb. 15 was our first anniversary of arriving home with Valya and Sergey. Thanks to those who have emailed us and remembered our anniversary. I haven't updated you on how things are going since last Fall. It's going well. We have the literal daily drama of three teenagers in the house. But probably not more than any other typical American household with three teens.

Teens can be so funny. The smallest thing can be a crisis or a flash point for some kind of blowup. All three of them are testing their wings and pushing limits (and out patience sometimes). It can be exhausting. It's been said that God lets you go through this so that you'll be ready to push them out of the nest when the time comes. Well some days we're ready now!

The past year has brought incredibly low times, to the point where we questioned if we ever should have adopted. Defiance can be absolutely frustrating. Nothing makes my blood boil like a 14 year old who looks straight at me and says "No" or "I'm not going to do that" in response to something I've asked. But thankfully we're seeing less of that as time goes on.

We have had incredibly high times as well. I think I've gotten a thousand kisses and hugs from Valya over the last year. Sergey is affectionate as well. The other night he had a nightmare and crawled into bed with Nancy and me, shaking like a leaf. I was glad we could be there for him. There would have been no one for him at the orphanage.

I'll say more with pictures.



We got Sergey into Boy Scouts right away. In fact, he went along on a Boy Scout campout during the summer of 2008 when he had hosted him for a couple of weeks. Mark has been involved in Scouts from the beginning, Tiger Scouts in 1st grade. Mark has been kind of dawdling in his progress though and Sergey thinks he can make Eagle before him! I am the Scoutmaster of Troop 75 and I get to give them their awards.







Last Fall, we had a family Christmas get-together with Nancy's three sisters and their families at the farm. It's good for our new kids to be a part of an extended family. Since we mostly live far apart, they enjoy seeing their cousins once in a while. Our day was spent visiting, eating, doing crafts, basketball, kickball, paintball, eating, trampoline, reading the Christmas story from the Bible, opening gifts, and eating. We even managed to get a picture with everyone in it. Nancy's parents would have been pleased. It was Nancy's inheritance money that allowed us to go to Ukraine and adopt our kids.













Valya loves to climb trees. She says that trees are her best friends. When she was at the orphanage she says that she used to jump from tree to tree. One time a branch broke and cut her face. She says she had a tree that everyone knew was "hers" and she would push anyone out that climbed in it. One time she pushed a boy off and he fell out and broke his leg. Such a sweet princess. The countryside where Nancy grew up is very much like the countryside in Ukraine where Valya is from. If you didn't know any different you could easily mistake one for the other.






If you follow news in Ukraine, you know that they had bad winter weather this year. Recently the news was saying that all states except Hawaii have snow on the ground right now. Our winter so far in Mitchell is on track for being in the top-10 of the snowiest. In these pictures Sergey and Valya are helping to clear snow. You know Valya is Ukrainian when you see her shoveling snow in high heels!




I would like to say that we had a good Thanksgiving meal together, and I guess in the end, we did. But this was one of those times when we battled with teenagers. It was a time of broken expectations for Nancy and I. We were expecting a special time together but it was not all that rewarding. I had requested that the boys wear a button-down shirt to the table, since it was not just any meal, but Thanksgiving. You would think that I had made the most demanding impossible request ever. First it was the shirt itself, then it was that it had to be actually buttoned, and then that it needed to be tucked in. Brother. We had long drawn out arguments beforehand and very poor attitudes during the meal. And then our adopted kids disliked almost everything we prepared. It was very disappointing. One thing that did go OK was that we had also asked everyone to write 5 things to share about everyone else in the family that they were thankful for. I was pleased that they actually did it and had put some thought into it. We have a couple of pictures from before the meal when we were carving the turkey, but it was impossible to take one around the table as the boys were in a bad mood.



We made gingerbread bears during the Christmas season. Teenagers have their own way of doing things. We got one-eyed cyclops, pirates, bleeding, and other unusual cookies.



In September, I had posted about how our black cat, Bootsie, had passed away. In December we had to give away our other cat, Patches, because Valya seemed to be allergic to cats. Patches was always Mark's cat, the one that he would usually be with when he was younger. This picture was the last one with Mark as we were about to take him to his new home. The cat I mean.



In December, Sergey got to do something that he had always wanted to do but was never able. We took him skiing for the first time. He enjoyed it and would like to do more of it.




The kids helped with some of the Christmas decorating. There is a story behind most of our tree ornaments. Here Sergey is looking at some.



Our Ukies are making good progress in school. Valya is in 7th grade, while Sergey is in 6th grade. We are working hard at increasing their English and reading skills. Here, Valya is working on a science experiment with sand, gravel, and soil suspended in water.



All of the kids had to sing in their school's Christmas concert. It is definitely not their favorite thing to do.



While the kids were somewhat dressed up for the concert, we took a family picture that we included in all of our Christmas cards we sent out.




I played my classical guitar at our church's Christmas program. Here I am practicing before we left for church, and Valya posed in front of the tree.



We didn't put any presents under the Christmas tree until Christmas eve. We put a few under earlier but they were getting too much attention from our Ukies so we changed our mind. This is what our tree looked like on Christmas morning. Last year at this time they had no presents at all.



Our Ukies were up bright and early to open presents. Mark was more interested in sleeping.




Mark the goof. He wrapped up Sergey's iTunes card with tape, and in the 2nd picture Sergey is about to get beaned.



We had a pretty low-key New Year's Eve, with a few of Mark's friends over. Valya giving her brother a big hug.




Valya always livens up the place.



We will celebrate our Gotcha Day every year on Jan. 19, the day that we had court in Odessa and the judge ruled that we could have the kids. Many people choose Gotcha Day as the day they take their kids from the orphanage. We didn't take them out at the same time so court day works better for us. Gotcha Day was a school day for us, but we were able to prepare a borsch meal. It was delicious.





In January, we had to say goodbye to our friends, the Tolly family. They adopted their two Ukrainian daughters, Lena and Tanya, from the Andreyevo orphanage. It was on that very computer in these pictures in the summer of 2007 where Jon and Janell showed us pictures from their trip. They were the ones who suggested Valya as a possibility for us to adopt. And through other people they introduced us to, we were able to learn about and adopt Sergey. So we have a lot to thank them for. They have moved to the Minneapolis area where Jon has joined the pastoral staff at Friendship Church.




One day, I found this note on our refrigerator. It was from Valya, and it said, "I love my family except my Dad". She is quite a teaser. Actually, both of our new kids are very affectionate and often let us know how glad they are to be a part of our family.