Happy New Year...about 24 days late!

Happy New Year from the Daugherty House!

I can't believe that it is the 24th of January already! WOW- where did all the time go? I remember back to the days when I had plenty of free time, and time was my own. But... I wouldn't go back to that for nothing! Donny has been an incredible boost of energy in our household and joy in our hearts.

Many of you keep asking what happened to the blog... well, I guess the biggest answer is the son. But it was fun staying in contact with so many of you, so I'm going to try and ramp it back up. Probably in much shorter entries though. Let's catch up a little....

Things here at our house are wonderful, lively, exciting, and better than we ever could have imagined!!! Donny traveled home beautifully on the airplanes. We arrived home at 1am (local time) on the 31st of December. We put his toddler mattress on our floor and he slept there. Barb & I were still exhausted when our little alarm clock (Donny) got up at 7am, but we survived. After lunch on the 31st, we went to Darrin’s mom’s and then to one of Darrin’s brother’s home to meet them. We arrived back home about dinner time. After dinner and a bath, it was back to the mattress in our room. Then on New Year’s Day, Barb’s mom and one of her brother’s family drove up to meet Donny & play during the afternoon. That day, I installed the safety gate on his bedroom door, and he took his nap in his bedroom. That night he slept in his own room, and he has every since. Two nights he has awoken for a few minutes during the night, but has been back asleep within 15 minutes. He generally goes to bed close to 8PM, and will awaken between 7 and 7:30AM. What a great sleeper!

The next several days he met a bunch more aunts, uncles, a whole bunch of cousins, and many new friends. Sunday, January 4th, he attended his first morning at church. Of course he was the focus of the morning! But during service he opted to skip Preacher Dave’s sermon and hang out in the nursery & make new friends there.

He has enjoyed tasting and savoring many new foods. He really likes vegetables: corn, carrots, peas, broccoli, and potatoes are among some of his favorites. Fruits are a great hit as well. Pineapple, oranges, pears, apples, and of course- he still loves bananas! The breakfast main course is Cheerios cereal, oatmeal, or 2 scrambled eggs- along with a piece of toast and usually a fruit. Tonight he ate chicken & noodles for the first time and loved them. Any kind of chicken is usually a winner, along with turkey meat, soup, noodles… the list grows each day. So I believe he is really adjusting well to his new diet. His energy level is certainly up! We have taken him off his morning nap- he just couldn’t calm down and settle down for a nap, but he still takes the afternoon break and will fall asleep for about 90 minutes.

Darrin returned to work the week of January 5th, Barb will remain home until mid February before
returning to work. Donny will then go to daycare at the home of one of our church deacons. His wife has a daycare in her home, and it is only about 4 minutes away from Barb’s workplace.

Donny’s English knowledge is increasing each day. He tries to speak a few more words, but mostly has MAMA, PAPA, ONE, TWO and a few other sounds only we can recognize down right now. He understands so much. We can ask him to get something, and without us pointing to it, he can go and pick it up. It is amazing to observe him each day and watch him blossom. We knew we were in love with him at the orphanage; but each day is a new treat as he amazes us with his character and tricks! Sometimes all we do is sit and laugh as he entertains us- and he knows he is the star of the show! He is such a joy in our lives!

We hope your New Year is off to as great a start as ours is, and your blessings are as numerous!

Celebrating all God’s Blessings,
Darrin, Barb, and Donny Daugherty

The Daugherty Family is in Raymond

Just a very quick note. Our flight arrived into STL about 45 minutes late, I think we made it home about midnight? It is now almost 1am (here) and we are ready for sleep. (Our bodies tell us it is 9am Wednesday morning.) We got up 31 hours ago Tuesday morning in Kiev, and have had very limited sleep on the plane- except Donny, he traveled and slept terrific! So we'll see how long his alarm clock will let mama & papa sleep in Wednesday!

Thanks for all your prayers,
A Very Thankful Daugherty Family

We Are Heading Home

Hello to Friends & Family Around the Globe: WE ARE HEADING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this is Monday and you have not heard from us since Friday. Things here remain terrific…more about that in a moment. Donny is breaking in his parent and his parents are loving it.

---Saturday & Sunday have were very eventful and left us little time to type in the blog. When we did try to update on Sunday, we had lost or internet modem for the entire day. (If you have tried to send us e-mail or a blog comment in the last 48 hours, sorry but we haven’t received them.)

---Monday has been a terrific day as well. It is now almost 8pm in our corner of the world. Today we had an unexpected blessing as the U.S. Embassy completed our two days of processing within 5 hours! As soon as God opened that door, we were happy to run through it! By 1pm we had rebooked our plane tickets and we shall be returning home on Tuesday, December 30^th.

---So we have to pack yet this evening. Our alarm will go off at 3 am and our driver will leave at 4AM. We request your prayers for safe travel and our new world traveler to bear through it all. Our specific flight information is as follows:

6:45 am Depart Kiev for Amsterdam

Two hour layover in Amsterdam

10:50 am Depart Amsterdam for Detroit

Six hour layover in Detroit

Then a short flight lands us in St. Louis at 8:47pm Tuesday Evening.

---The 6 hour layover in Detroit will be a challenge, but as international travelers we also have to make our way through customs. Since we are bringing the young Ukrainian with us, we will also be in line for the Immigration department. We are told that both of these stops could take us up to 3 hours total. That is where your prayers are really needed.

---So this blog entry might be our shortest but it may also be our most joyous. We will return 5 weeks from the day we departed. Some days have seemed much longer than others, but the little 22 month old joy that we are now welcoming to our family has made it all worth it.

---We also acknowledge that your prayers and encouragement have been terrific tools to help us pass the time here. Most importantly, we give praise to God for all He has accomplished. What He has done here in 5 weeks will be acknowledged forever!

---This final blog entry from Ukraine comes to you with joy and great expectation as we return to see all of you soon.

In His Love,

The American Bound Daugherty Family