Our Comfort

A dear friend who has had a bumpy ride on the adoption road shared a verse with me before Christmas that has been with me daily....

Isaiah 43:5-7 (NIV)
Fear not, for I am with you;
I will bring your descendants from the east,
And gather you from the west;
I will say to the north, 'Give them up!'
And to the south, 'Do not keep them back!'
Bring My sons from afar,
And My daughters from the ends of the earth -
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.

There are so many families waiting to bring their children home and others, just starting their journey. I say a prayer each day for all I have communicated who are traveling down this road. Today was 'Sanctity of Life' day at our church and I was reminded of how very special we all are to The One who created us all. I know He is in control and that He is watching after our children because they are very special to Him.

Document Update

March 1st will mark the one year mark we started down the paperwork road. As a result, some of our documents are expiring and have to be updated. Items like, Letter of Legal Residence, Marriage Certificates, Power of Attorney, Letter of Employment and, notarized copies of passport photos. It is odd to think that our marriage certificates are expiring! Yesterday and today we spent the afternoon getting copies of everything and making a trip to visit a notary. Now we have to take the documents to the Secretary of State's office and get them appostilled before we mail them to our agency. Hopefully this will be the last major update before we get to go to court. It is not that big of a deal, but it can be a little stressful.

Our next project is to find a psychiatrist that will complete an evaluation for us. Our region is one of a couple that require this. Unfortunately, in our neck of the woods, you can't find anybody that can give you a referral to see one. Then, sometime in late February or early March we have to update our medicals (physicals). Medicals are only good for 90 days so we do not want to do these too early - but at the same time we need to be prepared.

That's all for now. And for your information, as of 9AM it is -13 degrees Fahrenheit in Ussariysk.

Brrrrrr!

It is cold here at home today with a temperature around 28 degrees. One of my daily routines is to check the temperature where the kids are living - and I do this about four times per day as well as check a webcam focused on the train station in Vladivostok. Well, according to the Weather Channel, it is currently -13 degrees Fahrenheit (that is MINUS 13 degrees) in Ussuriysk which is where the kids live. Our daily prayer is that the kids - all the kids - are warm inside the orphanage (or school). Last week they got about 16 inches of snow and our thoughts have been on Big Sister who must walk about 30-40 yards across the orphanage playground to her school. God has been good to us and blessed us with so much and I know he is listening and taking care of them.

I also think of the hundreds of homeless kids in that very area that live on the streets. At night, they find abandoned buildings to crawl in and also use underground sewer/utility areas to get out of the cold. Please say a prayer for these children.

Also, just to update everyone, we mailed Big Sister a letter and some photos just before Christmas. Some friends in Birmingham translated the letter into Russian for us. The agency will drop of the letter on their next trip to the orphanage. Hopefully, that will be in the next week or so.

Back Home in Alabama

Well, after two days and a little over 20 hours of air travel, we are back home with our children. It was very hard getting on the plane in Moscow knowing that I was leaving half my family behind. Oddly, it was harder then than it was when we left Vladivostok. I guess my thinking was even though they were 9 hours (by plane) away, I was still in the same country. However, I do know the orphanage workers care a lot for them and they are in good hands.

It was so good to come home and hold and hug our kids. I am so impressed by them and what they were able to manage this week. Jeremy and Christina held down the fort here at home and spent time with Grandaddy. Sarah spent time with friends and had a blast. I think spending time with the girls helped prepare her for two new sisters and a little brother.

We learned we could write the kids (in Russia) letters and such via the agency office in St. Louis. We plan to do that and let Big Sister read the letters to her brother and sister. For now, we plan to write the letters and get help from our friends in Birmingham (that operate a school for Russian speaking kids) interpret them.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers. On the trip, we could actually see and experience many prayers that were answered. Dawn and I can't thank you enough for the way you have lifted our entire family.

Folks, there are a lot of amazing older kids (4 and above) in Russia and Ukraine that need a momma and papa. People often come up, with the best intentions and emotions, and tell us what a wonderful thing we're doing. Let me assure everyone, this adoption is a blessing from God and a true honor. Those three children did more for me this past week than I could ever do in return. If God is tugging on your heart as He did ours, please listen to him.

Day 4 - Goodbye

Today is Thursday and was the last day to visit the orphanage. We fly out tomorrow to Moscow, and spend the night there before going on home (to Atlanta, then Birmingham and then about a 2-hour drive). We said goodbye to the children, and our interpreter explained that we were going away and coming back later on for them. Big Sister, she said understood. She (Big Sister) also talked about her biological mother and apparently remembers a lot and understands how they ended up in the orphanage to a large degree. The younger two still remember the name of a pet dog they had. They all have been learning the names of the children at home, and point to their pictures. The older girl told our interpreter that she is already learning English. We would have liked to get a bit more information and also spend more time with them. We are hoping it will not be as long as we are being warned that it could take before the next trip to bring them home. We are looking forward to being home, though. There is a lot to do to fill up the time before the next trip, so we will be busy. Also, it is a comfort to know that they are in a place where they are cared for so well, even though the resources are very slim there.

Day Three - Papers Signed

Sorry we are late posting for our third day, but we got back to the motel late and we were pretty wiped out. We got an early start to the orphanage and got there about 9:30 AM. Although we are only about 35 miles away, the travel time is over an hour due to the way the roads wrap around the area.

On our way to the orphanage, our agency representative, Lana, asked us if we were prepared to make a decision to adopt the children. If so, we needed to sign the official papers of intent at the orphanage and take them to town to have them notarized. I told her I was ready to do that the first day! Back home, people often ask about the cost of international adoption and I shy away from that because I do not want to discourage anyone who might be interested. I will tell you now that I would pay ten times the amount it is costing us to bring these children home with us. How can you put a price on the love of these children?

When we arrived at the orphanage we went to the social worker's office, a very nice lady who obviously cares a lot about the children. Soon, Big Sister ran in with gifts for Dawn and I. She ran to me and I picked her up in my arms and hugged her and she gave me a small plastic keychain piece that had the Russian flag on it and some words in Russian on the flip side. I kissed her on the cheek and let her down and she gave Dawn a small hair clip. This child has nothing to call her own, but she found two small gifts, somehow, to give us. She is such a sweet and loving child. Our agency representative explained to Big Sister that we were about to sign official government papers indicating our intent to adopt her and her siblings. I am not sure, but I think she asked her if that was okay because Big Sister grinned and said, “da”. The papers were read to us by our agency representative and Dawn I both signed.

We were then taken to the receiving area to meet Brother and Little Sister. Little Sister and Brother walked in holding hands and ran to us as soon as they saw us. I had kneeled down so I could hug them and I soon had all three wrapped around me. We gave them the small stuffed animals (two dogs and a frog) that Sarah had picked out for them. Our agency representative then told us it was important to tell them now that we had three children back home that would be their brother and sisters. We told her that the children had prepared brief video greetings saying hello and that we played them for the children yesterday. She seemed relieved, but turned to the children and explained that we had other children at home and that we would be a big family. I showed the children a picture of me, Dawn, Jeremy, Christina and Sarah and I named each one. After those formalities were out of the way, it was play time. Before traveling to Russia, Sarah and I went shopping and selected some stickers for Big Sister that had some pens with them that allowed you to color them. Big Sister shared with Brother and they colred some of the stickers and presented them to Dawn and I. We had also brought two puzzles – one for Brother and one for Little Sister. So I sat with the two of them and worked on puzzles. Soon Big Sister joined us.

After that, it was bubble time. They love bubbles.! They bubbles and more bubbles. While playing, we met one of Big Sister's friends who happened to walk by. I took their picture and had hoped tom leave a copy of that picture with them, but that is another story. Anyway, we played until about 12:30 and then it was time for them to go and eat. Big Sister attends school after lunch so it was important that she was not late.

Our agency representative met with some of the caregivers to get us some additional information on the children – likes and dislikes. After saying our goodbyes, we went to town to sign more papers and to have them notarized. We then went out to eat Chinese food and see the town.

Well, that's about it. Today is our last day with the children and that is going to be tough. Please keep us in your prayers.

- Tony & Dawn

Day 2 With the Kids

Hi (Preevyet)!

We visited the children in the orphanage for the second time this morning. We had to make a stop first, but still spent about 2 ½ hours there with the children. They went out to eat lunch, but came back afterward and must have eaten very quickly in order to get back to see us before moving on to other activities of the day. We had a terrific time. Our interpreter was unable to stay with us, so we were limited again in our conversation with the children, but we muddled through and played with a ball, bubbles, drawing with chalk and crayons, and played with modeling clay. We also took more pictures which we are unable to post since we have not officially completed the adoption. Tomorrow we visit them again in the morning, as Big Sister goes to school sometime after lunch. She was asked by the orphanage director whether she would like to have Tony and I as her “Mama” and “Papa” (in her office in private) - she said yes. Later, the director told Lana, our interpreter, who told us about this conversation. Of course we were happy to hear that! It was so sweet to have hugs from them, and we all had a good time together. They are very well cared for apparently, and all the children we saw seemed happy and in good health. It is clear that they do the best with what they have at the orphanage. I am very impressed with the good character of the orphanage folks as well as the CHI folks here.

It has been good meeting the other adoptive families here and talking with them. The Vlad Inn where we are staying is very accommodating as well.

We miss Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah at home in Alabama. We have heard from them that they are doing well and are glad about that. Sarah would like to ice skate here in one of the outside frozen skating areas. Jeremy would get a kick out of all the interesting antenna configurations we see on the way to the orphanage. Christina would of course understand and communicate in Russian much better than Tony and I. It is cool to note so many things that are the same over here. We drove past the Coca-cola plant.

Diet Coke is “Coke Light”. Also, the bottled water is either plain or carbonated, and you want to be specific about which kind you want. We had to order “without gas” to get the uncarbonated water (“vada”). We have noticed that the people drive very fast here. We tried to ascertain if there was a speed limit. If there is, we don't think it is really enforced, or heeded. Amazingly, there are very few wrecks, however. People just dodge whomever or whatever, and keep on going. City driving is pretty crazy, but amazingly, it seems to work just fine, as there seems to be very few rules other that don't hit anyone or be hit.

We are already thinking about how difficult it will be to say goodbye to these children knowing that it will be a while before we can come back for them. We hope to be able to explain a bit more to them and assure them that we are coming back. We will be happy to be home, however, and see Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah.

Thanks for all of the prayers and please continue to pray for our family.

Good night from Russia!

Dawn