Blessings and Lessons from God

In my walk with the Lord, I have learned that He blesses each person in a different way. Dawn and I have been blessed by six wonderful children, each very special in their own way. We could not have made it this far without the many, many prayers and support of family and friends. So, thank you from the bottom of our heart.

Our new children have shown me patience, love and humbleness. Patience in dealing with the language difference. I am learning new words every day to lessen the frustration they must feel. Last night, our new son had an accident in his pants while we were eating supper with another CHI family. He very well could have told me had to go, but I missed it. I thought I had learned the two potty words, and he did say something earlier in the meal, but I could not tell what he was saying. I assured him it was okay. I think he was afraid we would be mad.

The innocent love they show is genuine and so wonderful! They wake up each morning with a hug and a smile. One of the things they tell you in adoption classes is that you should prepare yourself that your children may never love you. They are very open with their love towards us and are very guarded when we are in public. They stay close to us. I believe our oldest thinks someone may take her away from us because she does not like being around other locals. They also care very much for each other and do not like being to far away from each other. I think the fact that they understand each other helps with the transition.

Humbleness. Last night, the two youngest got in the tub – they love the tub! After a while, their sister came in, took off her tights and got in the tub and washed each of her siblings hair and bathed them. Afterwards, she got out, dried her legs and put her tights back on. Poor child has had to look after her brother and sister her whole life and she will show her care and affection towards them when you least expect it.

I will not sugar coat the past couple of days. There have been some difficult times but nothing that comes close to the joy the experience has been. Night times are tough because they do not like to settle down. The fact that the sun is out until 9:30PM does not help! We did manage to get to bed at 8PM last night which is better.

We miss our two back home a lot. Speaking to Jeremy each morning is wonderful, but it does not replace me hugging him good night each night. Yes, I hug my tall 17 year old each night I'm home and tell him I love him. I do that with each child and not being able to do it with Jeremy and Sarah right now is hard.

So long for now....

Our First Supper

This afternoon, we went to the orphanage to pick up the kids and we had the opportunity to meet their aunt. She was a very nice woman, about 6 or 7 years younger than we are. She was very sad to see the children go, but we assured her we would take very good care of the children and that we loved them very, very much. She was afraid we would not let the children write her, but we told her we would send pictures on their birthday, Christmas and, Women's Day (sort of like our Mother's Day). We had to stop at the store and buy them some shoes. Wow, the stores are really proud of their shoes! No Payless or discount store prices here.

After about an hour in the motel room, we went to the hotel dining room to eat. We ordered chicken fingers and fries for everyone. Little Sister is a hoot! Definitely a Baggett! She was eating ketchup by the spoonful. And like her big sister Sarah back home, butter by the spoonful! She kept us in stitches the whole time by mixing things and trying to get us to eat it.

They are in the tub now and having a ball. First one in was brother. He started out by saying “no – not ever, no- not ever”. When he finally saw the water, he started taking his clothes off. Soon his sisters were joining him once they figured out what was going on.

Thanks heavens for a Russian to English dictionary! Have to stop now and try and get them to calm down for dinner.

For the folks back home – we presented the director with the donation from church. Our social worker recommended we give it to them instead of trying to buy the clothes ourselves. When I presented the money, she was shocked and very appreciative. She told me she would use it to purchase summer clothes for the children to wear to camp this summer. In most places, the kids go to camp for a day or two during the summer as a retreat from the orphanage. She told me to tell everyone it was a very special gift and was very thankful.

Petition Accepted!

We are pleased to announce that our petition was accepted and Dawn and I are the proud parents of three wonderful children from southern Siberia. The rules are a little uncertain, so I do not believe that I can legally post their names yet. I know pictures are not allowed until we have the court decree in hand and that will be in ten days. Tomorrow we go at 1:30PM to get the children.

The judge was very curious of our home schooling and asked many, many questions. Homeschooling is not known to them and they do not understand the concept. Then again, many Americans do not understand it.

Thanks to friends, family and extended internet friends who have prayed for us! I can not thank you enough nor tell you what it has meant to us to have you pray for us. I think I can go eat something now without fear of losing it!!

More tomorrow -

Court Day

It is 7:30 Monday morning here in Vladivostok. We will meet with our social worker today at noon and then leave for court which is scheduled for 2PM. If all goes well, we will be able to pick-up the children tomorrow afternoon and be able to keep them during the 10-day wait period. The kid's aunt has requested to meet with us before we take them from the orphanage. I am glad we will be able to meet her. This is something we wanted to try and do back in December. We want her to know how much we love the children and that she has nothing to worry about. From the little we have been able to learn of her, she is a good person and has maintained contact with the children.

For our family back home, please say a prayer for Jeremy. Poor kid has had to deal with animal problems for the past three days. He had to take one dog to the vet and he just told us one of the horses got out into another pasture. Tomorrow he will have to mend fence lines until I can get home and make a permanent fix.

Hope to have some good news later today regarding the court proceedings.

Blessings From God

Hello everyone back home!

Before we tell you about our visits yesterday, we have great news! We received an e-mail telling us we received a grant from a group that is helping to defray our travel costs! Praise the Lord!

We are getting adjusted to the time change and rested from travel, thankfully. God is awesome! We had been sure that we would not get the children in our custody until after the mandatory 10 day wait following the court hearing. However, a new law has gone into place and we may actually get to have them with us during that time in the hotel. However we won't be able to leave the hotel area, since it is not “official” that they are our children until after the 10-day period. We talked it over, and decided that we still wanted to ask for them, since that will give us that time to get better at communication prior to travel.

Yesterday, when we saw the children, we thought that the oldest was a bit sad talking to the interpreter. When I asked about this, our interpreter said that it was just that it is hard for her when we come and leave again, that she is ready to come with us! What a relief; I had thought she might be sad about leaving her friends and everyone she knows.

After court on Monday, instead of going directly to the orphanage as previously planned, we will have an opportunity to do the shopping we thought we would do during the 10-day period, and then pick up the kids on Tuesday. We will be able to buy shoes for our kids, as well as the items for the other children with the generous donations from the church folks back home.

We met a couple who were adopting a baby from the baby home near the orphanage our children are at. We enjoyed talking with them and hearing how God worked in their lives in much the same way as he has ours. They are adopting a little girl with a cleft lip and palette which they have already gotten plans for surgeries to correct. They had court yesterday, and got the 10-day wait waived, so they will be able to finish up and head home shortly. We are so happy for them and their daughter! She looks like she is about 6 months younger than she really is, due to her difficulty in eating. We met another adoptive family in the motel who has custody of their new little boy during the 10 day wait. He is also about 6 months behind his actual age in proportion, but so cute!

Another blessing: we were given the big suite at the hotel at no extra charge! We are so grateful, especially now that we will have the children with us for most of the time here.

We got to visit a small Russian Orthodox Church yesterday, but were unable to go inside since we weren't dressed appropriately (didn't know we would have this opportunity beforehand). Tony was able to purchase a couple of cross pendants to give to Big Sister and Little Sister later on as a keepsake from their birth country. We will have to come up with something for our little boy! We also went to a small museum and then flew through a Chinese market, just to see what it was like! It was nice to walk around in the beautiful weather and compare the flowers here to those at home. We ate at at little restaurant which was western themed, but served pizza as the main dish. It was very good actually! We stopped at a grocery store to get some bottled drinks, and I got two small bottles of water, only to find later that I had gotten the kind that was carbonated “with gas”! Tony laughed and assured us that the large bottle he bought for the room was without gas, but alas, it was carbonated as well! We are learning!

As you see, God continues to bless us in a multitude of ways, and it is an exciting thing to rely on him and see the amazing things he does.

We're Here!!

It is Friday morning here. We arrived Thursday morning at about 11AM and by 2 o'clock we were on our way to visit the children (unexpected). What an amazing joy it was to see them once again. They kids had been told we were coming this week so they were expecting us. They each ran to us and gave us a big hug. Big Sister was in school when we arrived and so it was about 40 minutes later before we saw her. I grabbed her hugged her, and said (in Russian) "My darling daughter, I love you"! She told me she loved me too! Such sweet kids. Brother very carefully brought out a stuffed animal we sent by the Stencavages and he brought out some pens and paper. He seemed to want to show us he still had the presents we had sent. Bless his heart, it looked as if he had not used them at all.

Little Sister took to Dawn and wouldn't let her out of her sight. We were worn out from 20 hours of flight and spending time with them, but what a joy!

Can't spend much time now posting, we have to leave in a few minutes and I am afraid I am about to run out of air time on this card (purchased in December). Promise to post more later.

Good News! It is possible we may get to keep the kids during the ten day wait. This would be wonderful and allow us to spend time bonding before the long ride home.

Dear friends and family and extended AP family, thank you for all the prayers and support. I can not express what it has meant to us!

Packed and Ready - Finally

Well, it is nearly 2AM and we are finally packed. It is a harder job than you think! One bag each, can't be over 40 pounds (each), clothes for 3.5 weeks and clothes for three children. Copy of dossier ready, paperwork for embassy ready, tickets, passports, cash (hopefully it is all good enough for the money changers).

We'll post when we arrive in Vladivostok. Should arrive Thursday (their time) at about 11:30 AM.

Thanks for all the prayers! God Bless -