Sunday, January 22, 2012
We are coming
Dear Victoria,
Well the word is out, we have started telling everyone that we are coming for you. We pray every night that you are kept safe until we get to you. That everything will work out. Every time we start to get overwhelmed with all there is to do before we get to bring you home, we just say, "she is our daughter, she is a child of God and she is worth it, no matter the cost, she is worth it". We love you and can't wait till we get to be with you.
Love Mommy, Daddy, Kaelyn and Bryn
Your Forever Family
Monday, January 23, 2012
Homestudy Prep
Dear Victoria,
I want to keep a good record on your blog of everything we do to get you here. In the past few weeks I've poured over blogs of other children like you that were brought home to their families and it has been an invaluable tool for us. It helped us know everything that will be involved and showed us we can do it too. Maybe some day your blog will help do that for someone else, and another child will be rescued because of you.
Today Bryn and I drove to Ogden to turn in the application to the Home Study agency and pay for that and the post-placement reports that they will do after you come home. Your country requires 5 post-placement reports; 30 days, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years & 3 years. Bryn was very patient for the long drive, she is doing her part in bringing you home. Kaelyn got to spend the afternoon napping at daddy's work.
Tomorrow is our home study. A social worker will come to our home to meet us, ask us lots of questions and check out our house. He wants to make sure we are a good family for you and that we will take good care of you. We are also getting medical physicals done tomorrow to make sure we are healthy and strong.
In the meantime we will be sending in the documents to get our background check. We just remembered that dad needs to get a Social Security Card because his was stolen. (Scary, I know, that's why they tell you not to have them in your wallet). He is going turn in his application for that first thing Wednesday morning. The background check can take up to a month to get back, so we need to get it sent in as soon as possible.
I'll let you know how the homestudy & physicals go tomorrow.
Love Mommy
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Home Study Day & Your Song
Dear Victoria,
The home study went great today! We are pushing along in getting all the documents together so we have everything turned into them on our end. Our physicals also went really well, we are both healthy and according to the doctor, "very capable of adopting a child". We meet with our Home Study Social Worker again next week to do individual interviews and then he can start writing it up while we finish getting paperwork together. The thing that will take the longest is getting the background checks done, so hopefully Dad's social security card gets here quickly so we can turn that in.
I feel such an urgency to get everything in and taken care of. I know we will have lots of waiting to do and patience to be learned, but I just want to get everything we can do, DONE! Just knowing that you are there waiting for us to come get you motivates me like crazy.
Tonight Daddy and I are going to start the adoption education courses that we have to do for the home study. We will learn lots of great things so we can be good parents to you and be more prepared for the day that we get to bring you home.
YOUR SONG
I want to play your song for you tonight. It is by one of my favorite singers, and she is actually from Utah. Her name is Mindy Gledhill. I've listened to her music for a while now, but this song never stood out to me until a couple weeks ago.
When I first started feeling like it was time to find a child on RR and adopt, I would wake up every morning wondering if I would still feel the same way. Without fail, there was always an experience each day that would confirm that what I was feeling was right and true. On one of those morning while getting your sisters their baths we were listening to our Mindy Gledhill playlist. I heard this song and thought, "did that song just say what I think it did?" I had never noticed it before, in all the times we've listened to her songs. So I looked up the lyrics and read them while I listened to it again...and again...and AGAIN. It was YOUR song. This was before we found out that we were chosen to adopt you by the agency we were working with. I didn't want to get my hopes up that you were the one, but I wanted it to be you so bad. While we were waiting to find out, I would look through the Reece's Rainbow site to see if any other little girls stood out to me, and when I would think about asking about them, I would just cry. I just had to wait until I found out if you were ours, the "Long lost child" we were searching for. The one that Heavenly Father was telling me to find.
The first verse makes me think of the pre-existence, before we came to this earth. I can't help but wonder if we all knew about this all along, that we would be a family someday.
Mindy Gledhill - Long Lost Child
Love,
Mommy
Attachment & Fundraising
Dear Victoria,
Last night when Daddy and I were studying our adoption education course we learned about Attachment and Bonding. We learned that attachment is "the reciprocal, affectionate enduring emotional bond between individuals." and bonding is the process in which attachment is achieved. This is something that I've never though much about, because its usually something that just happen's with children and the their parents from the time they are infants. Like with your sisters, we took care of their needs and showed them love and affection from the very beginning.
We learned that this is something that is very important that we are aware of when we bring you home. That is may be really tough for you to understand what a family is all about, and that you can trust us to be there for you always. As we were studying last night I just kept having the thought that everything will be okay. I know that it will be a process and that it will take time, but I just feel like it will work out. Heavenly Father will help us through any challenges we may face, he will guide us and bring us all together. We need to trust in His plan for our family.
I spent a few hours brainstorming fundraising ideas today. I have a few things up my sleeve, but would love any ideas anyone reading this may have. Soon I will write about the costs that are involved in an international adoption like this, that is a big piece of the pie. I just have faith that it will all come together, because you know what girl, YOU ARE WORTH IT!!
There are so many people that are praying for you and for us. Many have been praying for a long time that you would find your forever family. Those prayers have been answered and many more will be throughout this process. You are a child of God and he is very aware of you and your situation. He wants more than anyone for you to have a loving family and the life you deserve, the life you were sent here to live.
Love Mommy
P.S. THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED TO VICTORIA'S FUND! We know times are tough for many of you and we appreciate every penny.
Attachment & Fundraising
Dear Victoria,
Last night when Daddy and I were studying our adoption education course we learned about Attachment and Bonding. We learned that attachment is "the reciprocal, affectionate enduring emotional bond between individuals." and bonding is the process in which attachment is achieved. This is something that I've never though much about, because its usually something that just happen's with children and the their parents from the time they are infants. Like with your sisters, we took care of their needs and showed them love and affection from the very beginning.
We learned that this is something that is very important that we are aware of when we bring you home. That is may be really tough for you to understand what a family is all about, and that you can trust us to be there for you always. As we were studying last night I just kept having the thought that everything will be okay. I know that it will be a process and that it will take time, but I just feel like it will work out. Heavenly Father will help us through any challenges we may face, he will guide us and bring us all together. We need to trust in His plan for our family.
I spent a few hours brainstorming fundraising ideas today. I have a few things up my sleeve, but would love any ideas anyone reading this may have. Soon I will write about the costs that are involved in an international adoption like this, that is a big piece of the pie. I just have faith that it will all come together, because you know what girl, YOU ARE WORTH IT!!
There are so many people that are praying for you and for us. Many have been praying for a long time that you would find your forever family. Those prayers have been answered and many more will be throughout this process. You are a child of God and he is very aware of you and your situation. He wants more than anyone for you to have a loving family and the life you deserve, the life you were sent here to live.
Love Mommy
P.S. THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO HAVE DONATED TO VICTORIA'S FUND! We know times are tough for many of you and we appreciate every penny.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Adoption Friends & Why?
Dear Victoria,
This is a picture of you when you were younger. It is the first picture I saw of you on Reece's Rainbow. The picture that touched my heart and prompted me to ask about you. When I first showed this picture to your daddy his response was, "Wow, she looks like Kaelyn". He was right, you look a lot like your younger sister.
Last night we were able to meet some other families that are also adopting little girls from your country through Reece's Rainbow. We had a great time sharing our experiences and what led us to do this. Two of the families already have experience in adopting internationally, so they had some great advice and experience to share with us. We all look forward to the day we have our girls home and we can have a play date with you all!
The Grove Family are adopting two little girls with Down syndrome and the Fillmore family adopted Anya last year and are now going back to adopt little Hazel. They are both very inspiring families and wonderful examples of going forward with faith.
Sister Grove shared something that I really resonated with, as to how to explain to someone WHY we would do this. Why we would go through so much work and expense to bring you home. We are fully aware that this will not be an easy process, and that your country is one of the hardest and most expensive places to adopt children from. I probably won't say it as beautifully as she did, but I will try my best.
"Imagine someone taking one of your children and sending them an orphanage halfway across the world and they were next in line to be institutionalized. What would stop you from going and getting them and bringing them back home as quickly as possible? Money? Paperwork? Fear? What others might think? Long flights? Going to an unfamiliar foreign land? Leaving your other children while traveling? No, none of those reasons would stop you, that is your child we are talking about. All the reasons for not doing this seem very insignificant when you look at it this way, right?
Victoria, that is how we feel about you. You are OUR daughter, you were born halfway around the world and we are coming to get you, because that is what any parent would do for their child. You belong in our family and our love for you grows each day.
In the last couple days we have been able to get documentation from our insurance agent that proves you will be covered in our health insurance plan, ordered Daddy a new passport and contacted a few people that are willing to help us out with some fundraising ideas we have. **A call out to anyone reading this that would be willing to share of their talents to help us by donating something for an auction/raffle of some sort. There are a lot of crafty/talented people reading this, we just know it :) **
Every day we are getting closer to you and we will not stop until you are home.
Love Mommy
P.S. Your little sister Kaelyn has been trying so hard to write you a message this morning, so I promised I would let her when I was done, so here you go.
Kaelyn says, " mnn inn6bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cv" (Pretty sure that means, "I love you" :)
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Adoption Friends & Why?
Dear Victoria,
This is a picture of you when you were younger. It is the first picture I saw of you on Reece's Rainbow. The picture that touched my heart and prompted me to ask about you. When I first showed this picture to your daddy his response was, "Wow, she looks like Kaelyn". He was right, you look a lot like your younger sister.
Last night we were able to meet some other families that are also adopting little girls from your country through Reece's Rainbow. We had a great time sharing our experiences and what led us to do this. Two of the families already have experience in adopting internationally, so they had some great advice and experience to share with us. We all look forward to the day we have our girls home and we can have a play date with you all!
The Grove Family are adopting two little girls with Down syndrome and the Fillmore family adopted Anya last year and are now going back to adopt little Hazel. They are both very inspiring families and wonderful examples of going forward with faith.
Sister Grove shared something that I really resonated with, as to how to explain to someone WHY we would do this. Why we would go through so much work and expense to bring you home. We are fully aware that this will not be an easy process, and that your country is one of the hardest and most expensive places to adopt children from. I probably won't say it as beautifully as she did, but I will try my best.
"Imagine someone taking one of your children and sending them an orphanage halfway across the world and they were next in line to be institutionalized. What would stop you from going and getting them and bringing them back home as quickly as possible? Money? Paperwork? Fear? What others might think? Long flights? Going to an unfamiliar foreign land? Leaving your other children while traveling? No, none of those reasons would stop you, that is your child we are talking about. All the reasons for not doing this seem very insignificant when you look at it this way, right?
Victoria, that is how we feel about you. You are OUR daughter, you were born halfway around the world and we are coming to get you, because that is what any parent would do for their child. You belong in our family and our love for you grows each day.
In the last couple days we have been able to get documentation from our insurance agent that proves you will be covered in our health insurance plan, ordered Daddy a new passport and contacted a few people that are willing to help us out with some fundraising ideas we have. **A call out to anyone reading this that would be willing to share of their talents to help us by donating something for an auction/raffle of some sort. There are a lot of crafty/talented people reading this, we just know it :) **
Every day we are getting closer to you and we will not stop until you are home.
Love Mommy
P.S. Your little sister Kaelyn has been trying so hard to write you a message this morning, so I promised I would let her when I was done, so here you go.
Kaelyn says, " mnn inn6bnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn cv" (Pretty sure that means, "I love you" :)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Miracles
Dear Victoria,
Let me just tell you that miracles are happening in your's and our behalves. I do not use that word lightly, they truly ARE miracles. I can't give all the details yet, but just know that you are so loved and that Heavenly Father is watching out for you and your new family like we could have never imagined. We are in His hands and he is taking care of EVERYTHING, from the simple to the massive details of this journey. The prayers of many are being answered every day. So many people were praying that your family would find you, I truly believe the promptings we have received to go forward with this are answers to those prayers. Strangers to both you and I, prayers that we would find each other were answered.
Today was a very productive day on the adoption front! We completed the interview portion of our home study. Daddy and I both had individual interviews with the social worker, they both went well. Also Dad's social security card came so we were able to send off the background check. We just finished up the last course of our adoption education course. We pretty much have all our homestudy work documentation ready, just waiting on a few things. The goal is to get it all in the mail Monday. Our social worker said he could get the home study written up in a couple weeks from the time we got all the paperwork in, so we are well on our way to you.
We love you and pray that you will be kept safe until we are able to bring you home.
Love Mommy
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Hands
Dear Victoria,
It feels so good to have the homestudy on its way to completion. We were able to move things along pretty quickly thanks to Heavenly Father for leading us to the right people. We have truly been guided through everything so far and we know that He will continue to keep us on the path we need to be on to get to you.
One of the most common comments we get from people when they find out we are adopting you is, "You are going to have your hands full". My response is, "Thats what I have hands for". I often think back on the General Conference talk given by an apostle of our church, Elder Neil L. Anderson, titled "Children". This was one of my favorite talks this last conference. In his talk he quoted a mother that said, "Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling... It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.”
I've always wanted to be a mother, and now that I am a mom, I love it even more than I could have ever imagined. Yes I have those difficult moments and hard days, but the good and happy days far outweigh them all. I can't wait till you are here and part of our family. We can go to the park and play, read stories, go swimming, the possibilities are endless.
Love Mommy
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Latest
Dear Victoria,
Just wanted to update you a little on where we are. We just finished up the applications for our placing agency (9 pages) and the home study review (21 pages) and will be mailing that along with a check for the fees on Friday. Then they can get us into their system and everything ready so that when our home study is complete they can get right on with the review. I also filled out the INS 1600A form (Application for advanced processing of orphan petition) today and will have that ready to mail off to the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services with fees when our home study is finished being reviewed. Then they will send us a form that states we can adopt you, and we will take that with us when we go to court. It can take about 40-50 days so we want to get right on it.
Your sisters have been so good and play while I get everything together. They can't wait to meet you!
Something VERY special is going to happen for you tomorrow night. I can't wait to tell you all about it, but you will just have to wait. Just know that it is amazing! Love you little girl.
Love Mommy
Monday, February 13, 2012
More Miracles
What a perfect little picture of you for Valentine's day tomorrow
Sorry to leave you hanging about what happened in your behalf on Thursday night. I've had a few people ask me about it, anxious to know what the big secret is, so I won't make you wait any longer. A couple of weeks ago I received a comment from Brady Murray asking me to email him because he had a fundraising idea for us. I excitedly emailed him back because I knew that he had raised over $40,000 for two little kiddo's on Reece's Rainbow,Megan & Eli, in the past few months and I knew he would have some great idea's for us. His email back to us was not at all what we expected. Your dad and I were so touched by what it said, that we couldn't hold the tears back. In fact, I get teary eyed whenever I even think about what he has offered to do for us. I want to share part of his email with you;
Thursday night we were able to attend the end of year awards banquet with their company and they had us tell our story and how we were led to adopt you. Brady talked about his little boy Nash, that is 4 years old and how they have learned about Reece's Rainbow. He mentioned how an adoption like your's can cost anywhere from $35,000 - $40,000 and how there are many families willing to adopt children like you living in orphanages with special needs, but the financial burden is just too great. He also mentioned the heart breaking truth that when children reach around the age of 5-7 they are transfered to adult mental institutions and within the first year 90% of them pass away due to the poor conditions and lack of care. Then your dad got up and talked about Kaelyn and her miraculous journey into our lives. I then shared how we came to find you. It was such a special experience for us, and we are still in awe that they are going to help us pay for your adoption. They have set up a program in their company that is based on the sales of their associates, and with each sale they will make a donation into our adoption fund. What a wonderful company, full of people who reach outside of themselves and help others.
Brady and Andrea are doing some amazing things to raise money and awareness for the children on Reece's Rainbow at his blog;http://onestepclosertohome.blogspot.com The Murray's are such great examples to us and we hope to be able to help other families the way they have helped us.
Even now, 23 days after I wrote the post "Miracles in the Making" on your little sisters blog, I am truly amazed at how things have come together so quickly. Its crazy to think that it has been little over a month since we started this journey. It feels like it has been in the works for years, and I'm certain it has been, its just what we are suppose to be doing and we can't deny it. There are so many people who are praying for you and invested in getting you here. There is no doubt in my mind that we will witness even more miracles to get you home, and this is a HUGE part of that.
I wanted to leave you with my part of our presentation on Thursday.
Love Mommy
"Shortly after we brought Kaelyn home from the hospital we learned about Reeces Rainbow. I just felt like we would bring one of those precious children home someday. Over the past two years that little thought has grown, but was still something we would do “someday”. We were the perfect candidates in my mind. We were already blessed with a child with Down syndrome and weren’t afraid of it anymore. We are well educated on the medical, social and developmental aspects that come with it. We know the blessings of having a child with Ds far outweighs any of the concerns others may have. In the mean time we have been able to witness friends who have adopted children from Reeces Rainbow and have seen the beautiful transformation that occurs in both the child and the family they have joined.
Back in September we were blessed with another little girl, Bryn. It was quite the adjustment at first for all of us, but she stole our hearts from the get go. She has been such a sweet little girl and has shown us that we can continue to expand our family and that there will always be enough love to go around. A couple months after Bryn was born, just after Christmas I saw a special on ABC News about the Cox family, from Salt Lake, who adopted Mia from the Ukraine last year. After going through their blog the thought about adopting moved from the back burner to the front of my mind. It was like Heavenly Father was saying “it’s time”. I came up with every excuse possible of why it couldn’t be time now, but each of those reasons were quickly countered with a way it could work out. I have felt the Spirit confirm to me multiple times that this is what we are supposed to do.
After mentioning it to Wayne I got the courage to search through Reeces Rainbow to see if any of the children stood out to me. I searched the girls ages 3-5 because they are the ones that are closer to being transferred to an institution and have less of a chance of being adopted. I found Victoria’s profile and picture and was drawn to her. When I showed her to Wayne he said, “She looks like Kaelyn”. He was right, she does look like Kaelyn, like she belongs in our family. I contacted the agency over her area and after a couple weeks of waiting we were informed that if we were ready to go forward quickly, we could commit to her. We said yes and haven’t looked back.
I guess you could say that we took a great big leap of faith in going forward with this. That is true, but if we have learned anything from Kaelyn’s life, it’s that God is in charge. He is mindful of His children and if we take that step into the darkness of uncertainty, He will be there to guide our path. We have witnessed His miracles in the life of our daughter and we feel this is just a continuation of her journey. We have learned that we can “Do Hard Things” and in the words of James Douglas Percy “Everything is possible; the impossible just takes a little longer”. There is a little girl living halfway around the world, in Russia of all places, that was meant to be part of our family, and we are going to get her.
We are truly humbled and extremely grateful for the kindness and generosity of your company in helping us with the adoption expenses. When Brady contacted us to let us know what you would be doing it was like a huge burden was lifted off our shoulders. We didn’t know exactly how we were going to pay for every thing, we just knew we could do it, and it would be worth the cost. It has been another confirmation to us that what we are doing is right. Once again Heavenly Father is saying, “See, I’ll handle the details, just get to work”. There are times I feel like we are not worthy of such generosity, but I am quickly reminded of the little girl who is, Victoria deserves a better life. A family that loves her and a community that accepts her and recognizes her potential. She is a daughter of God, and He is well aware of her. I know we will blessed as much or more than her, by having her in our family. We look forward the day we can hold this little girl in our arms and see a smile on her beautiful face. With each passing day we are one step closer to that dream. Thank you for helping us bring Victoria home. "
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Heart
Dear Victoria,
I just read this cute little story in an email from a friend and loved it. Wanted to share it with you.
'What does it mean to be adopted?' asked another child.
'It means,' said the girl, 'that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'"
"Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family. One little boy in the picture had a different hair color than the other members. One of her students suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, 'I know all about adoption, I was adopted.'
'What does it mean to be adopted?' asked another child.
'It means,' said the girl, 'that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy!'"
Love Mommy
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Our Road to You
Dear Victoria,
We are still waiting to get our background check back from the government inorder to finish our home study. We were hoping that it wouldn't take too long, but have been told they can take up to 30 days. So here's to hoping that it comes this week so we can get the ball rolling.
I want to share with you in a little more detail how we learned about Reece's Rainbow and the situation many children like you are faced with.
While your little sister Kaelyn was in the NICU we started a blog to keep family and friends updated on how she was doing. Shortly after, we were introduced to the "blog-world of children with Down syndrome". We met many families through blogs both here in our community, across the United States and even in other countries that were just like us. They too were blessed to have a child with Down syndrome. Many of them also faced serious medical circumstances like Kaelyn when they were born. We have all kept track of one another on our journey's and are blessed to be lifted and taught by each other. Early on, we had a mother of twin girls, one with Ds and one without leave a comment on our blog. She is also a NICU nurse and so she was extra interested in Kaelyn's story. She even wrote this really nice post about our family. They were the first ones to introduce us to Reece's Rainbow. They were trying to adopt a little girl from your country and so we followed along and learned about the need for families from the U.S. to adopt the children with Ds in your country, because quite literally they do not have a chance of being adopted in their country. Sadly, things did not work out and they were not able to adopt the little girl they fell in love with. It breaks my heart to think about the pain they endured not being about to bring her home. I know that there is always a possibility of something like this happening to us, and it does make it hard to put our whole heart into this, but I just remember that we are all in the Lord's hands. He has a plan and we will do EVERYTHING in our power to bring you home to our family, while trusting that God is at the helm. Though their story did not end how they had hoped, their journey opened the eyes of many to Reece's Rainbow, and planted a seed in my heart that we would one day adopt a child through RR.
Then there is our dear friend Stephanie, Emmie's mommy. Stephanie has been a part of our journey from the VERY beginning. She left us some very beautiful and inspiring comments starting even before Kaelyn was born. Her little girl Emilia is so cute!! Seeing her beautiful pictures and hearing her story brought peace into our hearts that having a child with Down syndrome really would be a blessing in our lives. Nothing to be afraid of, but something to be grateful for. Stephanie has spent A LOT of time and energy in the past few years advocating for the children on Reece's Rainbow and doing everything in her power to help these children find their families. A week hasn't gone by in the last while that she hasn't written a post about these children that just kept watering the seed in my heart. Her posts truly were constant reminders to me that we would do it someday, rescue one of those children that sodesperately needs a family. Thank you Stephanie for never giving up, for continuing to advocate for these precious children.
Next in line is our buddy Jaxon and his amazing mommy Lacey. We were lucky enough to have them live minutes away from us for the past 2 1/2 years, but now they are in California where Jaxon is doing much better at the lower altitude. (I'm sure the sunshine and Disneyland don't hurt either) In 2010 they adopted Jaxon's beautiful little sister Arina from the Ukraine, and we were so blessed to follow their journey here. It has been so amazing to see the transformation that has taken place in this sweet little girl. Every time I read a post about her and see pictures of her I can't help think about the life that she has been rescued from and how lucky her and her family are to have each other. My favorite is when I see her playing with and loving on her big brother Jaxon.
And just in the past months as I watched and read the journey of the Cox family to Mia Kareen, thats when it happened. That's when I knew it was time to come for you. Its amazing to look back on the last couple years and see what Heavenly Father was putting together, without us really even knowing it. I am so grateful to be on this journey to you and of course its not happening quickly enough. I have to keep reminding myself that it has barely been a month since we started the homestudy, it feels like it is taking forever. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you and wonder what I can be doing right now to get to you and to be more prepared for bringing you home. I pray that you are being well taken care of and that angels are watching over you until we can scoop you up and bring you home.
Love Mommy
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
They Came!!
Dear Victoria,
Our background checks came back yesterday!! So now our Social Worker has all our supporting documents and is hopeful to have a draft of the Home Study finished this week so we can send it to our placing agency to look over to see if there are any changes to be made before we send them the official one to review.
Love you little girl,
Love Mommy
Our background checks came back yesterday!! So now our Social Worker has all our supporting documents and is hopeful to have a draft of the Home Study finished this week so we can send it to our placing agency to look over to see if there are any changes to be made before we send them the official one to review.
Love you little girl,
Love Mommy
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Home study - Check
Dear Victoria,
The Home Study is DONE!! I can't tell you how great it feels to say that. The official copies are in the mail and should arrive tomorrow or Thursday. When they get here I'll be sending off our USCIS I-1600A form (Petition to adopt a foreign orphan), One to our placing agency for the Home Study Review and two copies will go with the Dossier to your country.
Last night I got a few more forms to fill out and instructions for the Dossier and I'm happy to tell you that they are about all done, just waiting for a few answers to finish them up. I love having tasks I can get busy on, rather than just waiting for things to come in. I know there will be lots more waiting to do, but when there is work to get done I feel good. It means we are making progress and getting even closer to you! Once I get all the documents together for the Dossier we will need to get everything notarized and apostilled up at the State Capital. My goal is to get that done sometime next week. Then we can send everything in to get registered with your country. Once all that is done we can start talking about scheduling our first travel date! So exciting, it's starting to feel even more real and I can't wait to meet you.
So in regards to the home study I have to tell you something, another miraculous piece of this story. The day after we were told we could move forward to adopt you I got on the computer to find someone to do our home study for us. We needed it done quickly, so I knew I needed Heavenly Fathers help to find the right people to help us. I sat down at the kitchen table, said a silent prayer knowing that I would need to be led to the right place. I began my google search for a company to do our home study. The first company I called took down some information and said they would be in touch.
I didn't want to waste any time so I kept searching. I got ahold of an adoption advocacy group or something that dealt more with domestic adoptions, but the really nice gentleman gave me the name and number of someone he thought could help me out. So I called the guy he mentioned. Even though he was on vacation at Disneyland when I called, he still answered and we got the ball rolling. I told him that we needed to move as quickly as possible and he assured me that he would be able to. We scheduled our first at home visit for as soon as possible and got started. A few days after we set up our appointments the person from the first agency I had called got back to me. I told them that I had already chosen another agency and I thought that was the end of the story.
Just recently I found out that 2 others families that I have met and are also adopting from your country, were working with that company on their home study. It turned out after they had put A LOT of time and money into the process, that the company was not licensed to do international adoptions and sadly they had to start all over. It breaks my heart to know that they went through all of that, but I pray that things will get moving quickly. I think they are both now working with the agency we went through, so I know things will get taken care of quickly. If anyone out there is adopting internationally from Utah I would highly recommend Wasatch International Adoptions to do their homestudy and if possible Josh to be their social worker. They are so on top of everything and have been so great to work with. From start to finish it took us 6 1/2 weeks to finish our home study and 2 of those weeks were just waiting for our background checks to come back from the state. From what I hear this is really fast for a home study.
I'm just amazed now looking back that I truly can see God's hand in lining me up with the correct people to do the home study. I know that He was with me that day while I was searching and calling around. He truly is guiding this process, I'm sure even more than I realize. You are so important to Him and he wants you home with your family. We are coming little girl, we are coming.
Love Mommy
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Our Starfish
The home studies are in the mail to be reviewed and also to apply for our USCIS paperwork. We only need 2 more things as far as our Dossier for your country is together. I'm planning to have everything together so I can take it to the capital the first of next week to get apostilled. Then we can send it in and it can get translated into your language. Once that is done it will be ready to be submitted to your country.
So I want to share a little story that I read back in January when all this started to come together.
The Starfish Story
adapted from The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"
The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."
"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.
To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."
Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"
At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"
Love Mommy
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A Conversation with God
Dear Victoria,
Happy World Down syndrome Day!!! Yes little girl, we celebrate Down syndrome in this family! (Check out your sisters blog to see what we did)Why?, because we have the inside scoop. We know something that most of this world does not understand. Down syndrome IS something to be celebrated. It has changed our lives for the better and we would never want to go back to before Kaelyn introduced us to this beautiful world.
This morning Kaelyn and Bryn got to spend the morning with Grandma Amy while I ran up to the capitol to get the documents for our dossier apostilled. We should get them back next week and then they will be sent to your country to be translated into your language! YAY, this is a big step. Then they will be turned into your country so we are registered and show that we meet their requirements to adopt you.
So while I was driving this morning I was thinking about what I wanted to tell you and this story came to my mind. In those early days back in December when all these thoughts about adopting a little girl with Down syndrome came into my life I asked a lot of questions. At times it felt like I was having a conversation with Heavenly Father, because each question was quickly answered in my mind. Answers that I know came from Him. One of those questions was "What if its hard having two small children with Down syndrome, not only that but eventually two adult children with Down syndrome?" The answer I got wasn't "It's won't be hard". It wasn't "It will be hard" either. It was simply just, "In the grand scheme of things this earthly life is just a blink of an eye in comparison to eternity. So even if its hard it will be worth it and you can do it." I believe it, it may be hard at times, but I also know that it will be awesome too! Any kind of change takes adjusting to, and we say bring it on. Thats what life is all about, learning and growing. The best part is knowing that we have Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ to help us. With them we can do anything!
In other news, we've got an exciting fundraiser to share soon, so stay tuned.
Love Mommy
Thursday, March 22, 2012
You are CHOSEN
Dear Victoria,
Oh my goodness I'm so excited to share this video with you. I just saw in on my friends blog and absolutely LOVED it and knew you would love it too. My favorite part is the song at the end. I just heard this song for the first time on the radio last week and fell madly in love with it. Ask your sisters, we have listened to it at least 15 times in the last 24 hours. It reminds me of you. Someone might think, why? You've only known about Victoria for 2 months, how have you loved her for 1,000 years? Well if you remember from an earlier post I honestly believe that we knew this plan in the pre-existence, before we came to earth. So really, its been a lot longer than 1,000 years, but that works.
In the first verse it says,
I have to tell you that for now the bravest part for me is letting myself fall in love with you. There is always that chance that something could happen and we wouldn't be able to bring you home. Nothing is certain in adoptions until after the judge has ruled in our favor, and we can bring you home. Part of me doesn't want to open myself up to the possibility of losing you, but I'm trying my best to be brave. To open my heart completely to you, knowing that its all in God's hands, and whatever the outcome, it is right. I learned this lesson while pregnant with your sister Kaelyn. We never knew if she would even live, and I prayed so hard to be able to accept God's will. It was the hardest thing I've ever done and things worked out perfectly, but it was a long, scary process. So this time around I'm doing the same. Loving you as if you were here with us now, so when you are, it will be as if you've been here all along.
My other favorite part of the video are the lines, "Once your were rejected, now you are CHOSEN" I hope you realize how very special you are and that we are doing everything in our power to bring you home, because we chose you and because God chose us. He loves you dearly and wants you to have the best this life has to offer you.
Love Mommy
Oh my goodness I'm so excited to share this video with you. I just saw in on my friends blog and absolutely LOVED it and knew you would love it too. My favorite part is the song at the end. I just heard this song for the first time on the radio last week and fell madly in love with it. Ask your sisters, we have listened to it at least 15 times in the last 24 hours. It reminds me of you. Someone might think, why? You've only known about Victoria for 2 months, how have you loved her for 1,000 years? Well if you remember from an earlier post I honestly believe that we knew this plan in the pre-existence, before we came to earth. So really, its been a lot longer than 1,000 years, but that works.
In the first verse it says,
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow
I have to tell you that for now the bravest part for me is letting myself fall in love with you. There is always that chance that something could happen and we wouldn't be able to bring you home. Nothing is certain in adoptions until after the judge has ruled in our favor, and we can bring you home. Part of me doesn't want to open myself up to the possibility of losing you, but I'm trying my best to be brave. To open my heart completely to you, knowing that its all in God's hands, and whatever the outcome, it is right. I learned this lesson while pregnant with your sister Kaelyn. We never knew if she would even live, and I prayed so hard to be able to accept God's will. It was the hardest thing I've ever done and things worked out perfectly, but it was a long, scary process. So this time around I'm doing the same. Loving you as if you were here with us now, so when you are, it will be as if you've been here all along.
My other favorite part of the video are the lines, "Once your were rejected, now you are CHOSEN" I hope you realize how very special you are and that we are doing everything in our power to bring you home, because we chose you and because God chose us. He loves you dearly and wants you to have the best this life has to offer you.
FYI Here are all the lyrics
"A Thousand Years" by Christina Perri
Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow
One step closer
[Chorus:]
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this
One step closer
[Chorus:]
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
One step closer
One step closer
[Chorus:]
And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
The Waiting Game
Dear Victoria,
Sorry that I haven't written in a while. We have some updates to let you know about. First, all our paperwork (Dossier) is in your country and in the process of being translated and prepared to submit to your country. It will probably be the first of May before we hear anything about it. Today dad and I are going to get fingerprinted, the final step in our USCIS process to be approved to adopt you and bring you home to the United States.
Our 31 bag fundraiser is going pretty good and we are only $120 away from reaching our goal. It closes on Friday, so if anyone still wants to order, they have to do it before then. Also, if you would like to order a purse at half off, but don't want to spend the initial $31, leave me a comment with your contact info and we can set that up for you. We really appreciate everyone who has helped us out with this.
So now what??? We play the waiting game. Everything is out of our hands at this point and we just have to wait to hear from your country as far as when we can travel to make our 1st trip to meet you. This is where we need LOTS and LOTS of prayers that this will happen soon. The sooner we can get to you the better. Hang in there little girl, we are coming :)
Love Mommy
Love Mommy
We pray every day that things will get moving along in your city so that we can make that first trip soon to come and meet you. There are lots of people out there praying for you. Your picture sits on top of the fire place and we look at it all the time. When I'm playing with your sisters I look up and try to imagine what it will be like when you are here playing with us.
People often ask me what happens next, so I'll try to explain it as best as I can. Once our paperwork is submitted to your country they will give us your referral, then we will get more information about you, like your medical history, whatever information they have about your family history and hopefully more pictures of you. When we get the referral we will be given our first travel date. We will have about 2 weeks to book our flights, lodging and get visa's. Then we will spend about a week in your country meeting with you at your orphanage for a visit each day and also meeting with people in your country.
Then we come home and wait for a court date. That can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks or so. We will then fly back to your country for about a week and go before a judge to plead our case to adopt you. From what I understand special needs adoptions are still fairly new in your country and its hard for them to understand why we would go through so much to adopt a child that isn't "perfect" in their eyes. I just wish they knew what we know, that you are the definition of perfection. If the judge rules in our favor, then you will be ours. We will have to wait 30 days until we can bring you back home with us, so once again we will have to fly back home without you. After the 30 day waiting period we will be able to come back and get you, bring you home and have you with us forever.
It will be hard to be away from your sisters for those three trips, but we just have to remember that it will be worth it when we have you home with us. We know Heavenly Father will watch over all of us and help things workout the way they are suppose to. We are getting close, I can just feel it!
Love Mommy
P.S. Thank you to everyone that participated in our fundraiser and those of you who have been donating to our account. Every little bit helps and we are truly humbled by your generosity to help us bring Victoria home. We also appreciate the prayers that are said on our behalves. It means so much to us to have your support.
People often ask me what happens next, so I'll try to explain it as best as I can. Once our paperwork is submitted to your country they will give us your referral, then we will get more information about you, like your medical history, whatever information they have about your family history and hopefully more pictures of you. When we get the referral we will be given our first travel date. We will have about 2 weeks to book our flights, lodging and get visa's. Then we will spend about a week in your country meeting with you at your orphanage for a visit each day and also meeting with people in your country.
Then we come home and wait for a court date. That can take anywhere from 4-12 weeks or so. We will then fly back to your country for about a week and go before a judge to plead our case to adopt you. From what I understand special needs adoptions are still fairly new in your country and its hard for them to understand why we would go through so much to adopt a child that isn't "perfect" in their eyes. I just wish they knew what we know, that you are the definition of perfection. If the judge rules in our favor, then you will be ours. We will have to wait 30 days until we can bring you back home with us, so once again we will have to fly back home without you. After the 30 day waiting period we will be able to come back and get you, bring you home and have you with us forever.
It will be hard to be away from your sisters for those three trips, but we just have to remember that it will be worth it when we have you home with us. We know Heavenly Father will watch over all of us and help things workout the way they are suppose to. We are getting close, I can just feel it!
Love Mommy
P.S. Thank you to everyone that participated in our fundraiser and those of you who have been donating to our account. Every little bit helps and we are truly humbled by your generosity to help us bring Victoria home. We also appreciate the prayers that are said on our behalves. It means so much to us to have your support.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
A Special Story
Dear Victoria,
I have a very special story to share with you. Last week I got a very touching email from a family that has a little girl your age who also has Down syndrome. It came to us at a time that we were beginning to feel discouraged and it was a quick reminder for us to put our faith and trust in God and know that he is over all. Below are excerpts from the email.
Thank you to our friend Kim who did the 31 bag fundraiser and donated ALL of her commission to our fund. Thank you to all those who purchased products in that fundraiser. We were able to raise another $325 through that. Kaelyn was so excited she wanted to help divy out the products to deliver. She crawled right over a pile of bags to get to me so she could do her part in bringing you home!
Dear Family & Friends,
As many of you know we are in the process of adopting a little 5 year old girl with Down syndrome from Eastern Europe, Victoria. All of our paperwork is together and ready to be submitted to the government in her country. The region she is in is currently closed and not accepting adoption referrals at this time. There have been rumors that it may open up in the next month, and also rumors that it may not be till September or later. No one really knows when things will get rolling again. Since Victoria is 5 it is very important that she is adopted before she is transferred from the orphanage to a mental institution where conditions are far worse. Until we are given a referral for her, the directors at her orphanage will not know we are coming for her.
We are going to fast this Sunday, May 6th that things in her region and other regions that are currently closed where many families are waiting to get to their children, will open up soon. We would like to invite you to fast and pray with us. We know at this point it is out of our hands and have faith that Heavenly Father can make it possible to bring her home quickly and safely.Thank you for your love and support.
Jeana, Wayne, Kaelyn and Bryn Bonner
"My older daughter Sarah, who turned 8 this month, is in 2nd grade at a Catholic School. Recognizing that they have been blessed with so much, the girls in her class have decided to forgo presents at their birthday parties in lieu of donations to the charity of their choice. For my daughter's birthday party, she chose to sponsor your Victoria through Reece's Rainbow, in honor of her 5-year old sister Hannah, her favorite person in the world who happens to have Down Syndrome.
"We sent out a link to your blog to her friends' families, and we also printed a page and put it on the table at the party for everyone to see adorable Victoria, read your story, and learn more about these precious children who are waiting to find their Forever Families. I am humbled (but definitely not surprised!) to say that the families responded generously. 17 little girls attended the party and I was moved to tears while opening the envelopes. Donations received at the party alone were $200. At least four other families gave online, and we are also sending in a donation in honor of both of our amazing daughers. When the final amounts are added up, I believe we have raised approximately $350 toward Victoria's adoption.
"From my family and from the families of the 2nd grade girls at my daughters school, thank you for giving us the opportunity to "adopt" Victoria and be with you all on your journey to bring her home to her Forever Family. The joy my daughter felt in making Victoria a homemade card (which I will be sending in with the donations:)) and knowing she was making a difference was the best present she could ever have received for her birthday. We wish you all the best with Victoria's adoption and will pray for your family and for all of the orphans trying to make their way to their Forever Families.
With Love,
Beth, Michael, Sarah, and Hannah"
 |
| This is Sarah and her cute classmates that donated to your fund. Sarah is the one in the pink shirt standing up. |
I'm sure you can imagine how touched we were to hear that an eight year old little girl gave up her birthday presents to help bring you home to us. What amazing little girls, such great examples to us of selfless service and working together to do something amazing! Thank you Sarah and her friends for doing this for Victoria and our family. I hope one day we can meet you in person and show Victoria the friends she has on the other side of the world.
If you look on the side bar of your blog you will see that your fund is close to $5,000!! Thank you to the many people who have donated to help us bring Victoria home. Many of our co-workers are donating and then our work is going to match their donations. We appreciate it more than you will ever know! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you to our friend Kim who did the 31 bag fundraiser and donated ALL of her commission to our fund. Thank you to all those who purchased products in that fundraiser. We were able to raise another $325 through that. Kaelyn was so excited she wanted to help divy out the products to deliver. She crawled right over a pile of bags to get to me so she could do her part in bringing you home!
So earlier I mentioned that we were feeling a little discouraged last week. Below is an email I sent out to family and friends, and we would like to make those of you following our journey aware of what is going on and ask for your help this Sunday.
As many of you know we are in the process of adopting a little 5 year old girl with Down syndrome from Eastern Europe, Victoria. All of our paperwork is together and ready to be submitted to the government in her country. The region she is in is currently closed and not accepting adoption referrals at this time. There have been rumors that it may open up in the next month, and also rumors that it may not be till September or later. No one really knows when things will get rolling again. Since Victoria is 5 it is very important that she is adopted before she is transferred from the orphanage to a mental institution where conditions are far worse. Until we are given a referral for her, the directors at her orphanage will not know we are coming for her.
We are going to fast this Sunday, May 6th that things in her region and other regions that are currently closed where many families are waiting to get to their children, will open up soon. We would like to invite you to fast and pray with us. We know at this point it is out of our hands and have faith that Heavenly Father can make it possible to bring her home quickly and safely.Thank you for your love and support.
Jeana, Wayne, Kaelyn and Bryn Bonner
There will be hundreds of people fasting and praying for you and the other children and families in the regions that are closed this Sunday. We know first hand the power of fasting and prayers, without them we wouldn't have your little sister Kaelyn with us today. We know that Heavenly Father can work miracles and we are praying that things will work out the way He has planned.
Love Mommy
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Yard Sale Time
Dear Victoria,
Wow, can I just say how truly humbled and in awe we are at all those who are supporting us through this. That was a major deciding factor in why we decided that we wanted to adopt. We knew we had such an amazing group of family and friends that would help us make this happen and be here for us once you are home. Well I think our support group has more than tripled since we started this journey to you. People we know, and even perfect strangers, that want to see you come home have stepped forward and done amazing things to help us.
Those that fasted and prayed with us were so kind to join us in our plea to Heavenly Father to help soften the hearts of those in power in your country. Many many people have told us that they were fasting and praying for you, and we know that the Lord heard our prayers and will do all in His power to make this happen. The story that touched me the most was about a girl that has babysat your sisters a couple of times. Her mom told me that she told her high school seminary class (church class) about the fast that we did for your region to open back up and they all fasted together for you last Sunday. How amazing is it that a group of 15-18 year olds would be so selfless to do a special fast for a family that they don't even know.
So its going to be a crazy-busy next few days. We are doing a yard sale to fundraise on Saturday. We put a call out to our local friends and family for donations to sell and W.O.W! Our garage and basement are stuffed full of donated items and there is still more coming. We have so much stuff that there is no way it will fit on our tiny little yard, so our next door neighbor said we can use their lawn to put more items up. We are so grateful for the many people who have helped us in this endeavor. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone that has helped us. We definitely couldn't do it without you.
We are also so thankful for those who continue to donate to our online fund. It has jumped almost $4,000 in the past month and a half. We are getting very close to being fully funded and every little bit helps. Just another testament to us that we are most definitely in the hands of our Savior and that He is taking care of each and every detail. We are so blessed to be a part of His miraculous plan.
Love Mommy
Wow, can I just say how truly humbled and in awe we are at all those who are supporting us through this. That was a major deciding factor in why we decided that we wanted to adopt. We knew we had such an amazing group of family and friends that would help us make this happen and be here for us once you are home. Well I think our support group has more than tripled since we started this journey to you. People we know, and even perfect strangers, that want to see you come home have stepped forward and done amazing things to help us.
Those that fasted and prayed with us were so kind to join us in our plea to Heavenly Father to help soften the hearts of those in power in your country. Many many people have told us that they were fasting and praying for you, and we know that the Lord heard our prayers and will do all in His power to make this happen. The story that touched me the most was about a girl that has babysat your sisters a couple of times. Her mom told me that she told her high school seminary class (church class) about the fast that we did for your region to open back up and they all fasted together for you last Sunday. How amazing is it that a group of 15-18 year olds would be so selfless to do a special fast for a family that they don't even know.
So its going to be a crazy-busy next few days. We are doing a yard sale to fundraise on Saturday. We put a call out to our local friends and family for donations to sell and W.O.W! Our garage and basement are stuffed full of donated items and there is still more coming. We have so much stuff that there is no way it will fit on our tiny little yard, so our next door neighbor said we can use their lawn to put more items up. We are so grateful for the many people who have helped us in this endeavor. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone that has helped us. We definitely couldn't do it without you.
This is the banner I designed for your yard sale. Its going to be HUGE!
We are also going to be selling cold bottles of water with these labels on them.
Love Mommy
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
On Our Way
Dear Victoria,
Back in January when I wrote the post "Miracles in the Making" on our family blog, I had no idea the significance of that title. Even now I don't think we have seen the fullness of the miracles that Heavenly Father has in store for you and our family. I am writing today to share something very special with you.
Last week we received an email telling us that the department of the government in your country over adoptions made an exception and agreed to accept the paperwork for us and another Reece's Rainbow family. We are the first families that they have allowed to move forward since adoptions were post-poned months ago. In their words they are doing us a HUGE FAVOR. There is no doubt in our minds that Heavenly Father softened their hearts and prepared our facilitator to plead our case in such a way that they were willing to make such an exception. The group fast that was held in our behalves was instrumental in this occurring, along with the faith and prayers of many many people.
We are coming to meet you in less than a month! Our travel date is JUNE 19th!!! Can you believe it? Just weeks ago we were unsure if we would even be able to make that first trip this year, and now we will see you in a matter of weeks. Your orphanage will know we are coming for you and therefore the chance of you being transfered to an institution is much smaller.
There is much to do in the coming weeks, and we can't wait!!! We are so blessed, so very blessed.
The yard sale on Saturday was amazing!!! When I decided to do it I was seriously wondering if we would even make the $20 we paid to participate. Boy did family, friends, neighbors and even total strangers step up and help us. We made $2,500!!!!! Have you ever heard of a yard sale making that much money? I sure haven't. People came in droves, we had at least 20 people in the yard from 7:00 am - 1:30 pm. We even have stuff left over that we are going to try and sale at another neighborhood yard sale in a few weeks at our sisters house. Thank you so much to all of those that donated items and time. We could have never done it without all the help. I think 1% of the items we sold were ours, everything else was donated.
In 4 very short weeks we will meet you! We will play with you. We will hold you. Our world's will change forever. We are coming little girl, we are coming.
Love Mommy
Back in January when I wrote the post "Miracles in the Making" on our family blog, I had no idea the significance of that title. Even now I don't think we have seen the fullness of the miracles that Heavenly Father has in store for you and our family. I am writing today to share something very special with you.
Last week we received an email telling us that the department of the government in your country over adoptions made an exception and agreed to accept the paperwork for us and another Reece's Rainbow family. We are the first families that they have allowed to move forward since adoptions were post-poned months ago. In their words they are doing us a HUGE FAVOR. There is no doubt in our minds that Heavenly Father softened their hearts and prepared our facilitator to plead our case in such a way that they were willing to make such an exception. The group fast that was held in our behalves was instrumental in this occurring, along with the faith and prayers of many many people.
We are coming to meet you in less than a month! Our travel date is JUNE 19th!!! Can you believe it? Just weeks ago we were unsure if we would even be able to make that first trip this year, and now we will see you in a matter of weeks. Your orphanage will know we are coming for you and therefore the chance of you being transfered to an institution is much smaller.
There is much to do in the coming weeks, and we can't wait!!! We are so blessed, so very blessed.
The yard sale on Saturday was amazing!!! When I decided to do it I was seriously wondering if we would even make the $20 we paid to participate. Boy did family, friends, neighbors and even total strangers step up and help us. We made $2,500!!!!! Have you ever heard of a yard sale making that much money? I sure haven't. People came in droves, we had at least 20 people in the yard from 7:00 am - 1:30 pm. We even have stuff left over that we are going to try and sale at another neighborhood yard sale in a few weeks at our sisters house. Thank you so much to all of those that donated items and time. We could have never done it without all the help. I think 1% of the items we sold were ours, everything else was donated.
In 4 very short weeks we will meet you! We will play with you. We will hold you. Our world's will change forever. We are coming little girl, we are coming.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
3 Weeks
Dear Victoria,
Our flights are booked, visa's ordered, sleeping accommodations and arrangements for your sisters are set up. Three weeks from today we will board a plane and get to meet you in person for the first time. Its a good thing that we have lots planned in the coming weeks to make it pass more quickly. We are doing another yard sale this coming weekend, then the following weekend I'm running my fourth full marathon, and then its here. The day we have been waiting five months for, the day you have been waiting five years for. I almost can't believe it is so soon, but its starting to feel more and more real. Everything we have done so far, all the work and prayers have led up to this moment, to meet you. I know it will be so hard to leave you there, but I also have faith that God will keep you safe and bless us with the peace and faith we need to get through the next few months until you are home with us.
I have another little story to share with you. Last week while we were cleaning up the yard sale a little boy and his mom that live down the street came over. We were just chatting about how things went and then his mom said he had something he wanted to give us. He then handed us a bucket full of money they had raised selling lemonade all day. They wanted to donate it to us to help bring you home. We are so touched by such an act of service. They worked all day selling A LOT of lemonade, and to be so selfless and to give it to us was so kind. I can't wait for you to be here and get to meet all the special people that have done so much to help us bring you home. Heavenly Father is teaching us everyday through those who are helping us with this endeavor. He knew that we couldn't do it on our own and He is providing so much help and spiritual strength through other people. It makes me want to be better at reaching out and serving others. To be more mindful of those around us and how we can help them. To give more freely of our time and means. We will never forget the love that has been shown to us. You have taught us so much about LOVE. The love that Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of his children.
Love Mommy
Our flights are booked, visa's ordered, sleeping accommodations and arrangements for your sisters are set up. Three weeks from today we will board a plane and get to meet you in person for the first time. Its a good thing that we have lots planned in the coming weeks to make it pass more quickly. We are doing another yard sale this coming weekend, then the following weekend I'm running my fourth full marathon, and then its here. The day we have been waiting five months for, the day you have been waiting five years for. I almost can't believe it is so soon, but its starting to feel more and more real. Everything we have done so far, all the work and prayers have led up to this moment, to meet you. I know it will be so hard to leave you there, but I also have faith that God will keep you safe and bless us with the peace and faith we need to get through the next few months until you are home with us.
I have another little story to share with you. Last week while we were cleaning up the yard sale a little boy and his mom that live down the street came over. We were just chatting about how things went and then his mom said he had something he wanted to give us. He then handed us a bucket full of money they had raised selling lemonade all day. They wanted to donate it to us to help bring you home. We are so touched by such an act of service. They worked all day selling A LOT of lemonade, and to be so selfless and to give it to us was so kind. I can't wait for you to be here and get to meet all the special people that have done so much to help us bring you home. Heavenly Father is teaching us everyday through those who are helping us with this endeavor. He knew that we couldn't do it on our own and He is providing so much help and spiritual strength through other people. It makes me want to be better at reaching out and serving others. To be more mindful of those around us and how we can help them. To give more freely of our time and means. We will never forget the love that has been shown to us. You have taught us so much about LOVE. The love that Heavenly Father has for each and everyone of his children.
Love Mommy
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The favorite among them both was the little toy phone. As they pushed the buttons I got emotional when I realized what some of the buttons said when you pushed them. "Let's call mommy", "Let's call daddy", "Cool, grandpa", "It's mommy, I love you", "Let's call grandma/grandpa" These are all things you don't know about yet, but soon, so soon you will know what a mommy and daddy are. You will hear the words "I LOVE YOU" every day. You will have a family of your very own and in six days you will begin to understand what that means.
Last Saturday I ran a marathon and in the last 6 miles I thought about you a lot. They were so difficult and I wanted to stop and walk so badly. I just kept telling myself, just finish this race and then you are on your way to Victoria. Just the thought of you kept me going and I finished running the whole way. The next few months until you are home with us is the last 6 miles in our "marathon to you". I know its going to be so hard to leave you and I wish so badly that we could just bring you home with us this first visit. But inorder to get to the finish line of a 26.2 mile race, you have to make it through miles 20-26. So we will keep running, keep our eye on the finish line on the little girl waiting for us at the end. We love you and are so excited to meet you!
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Visit #1
Dear Kaelyn & Bryn,
We made it safely to Victoria's country. We left our house at 6:30 am on Sunday morning and arrived here at 10:00 am on Monday morning. It was a long flight, but it went well. One of our bags got left in New York, but it looks like they are shipping it to us, so hopefully it gets here soon. Luckily it was the bag full of clothing donations for the orphanage, so not too big of a deal.
We are staying with an American Family that work for the US Embassy here and they are so wonderful! They have made us feel so welcomed and at home, it has been such a blessing. They have 3 fun little boys that have kept us entertained.
Today was a very special day. This morning our facilitator and driver, who are very lovely people, picked us up and took us to the Ministry of Education where they asked us some questions about ourselves and why we chose to adopt a child from their country with Down syndrome. The meeting went very well and they gave us our paperwork to be able to go to Victoria's orphanage.
When we first got to the orphanage and were checking out we could hear many children playing outside on the play ground. We went up stairs to meet with the orphanage director, doctor and social worker. From what we could see and learned from the director, it seems like a very nice orphanage. The people we met with today were very kind and it was apparent that they loved the children there and were happy that Victoria had a family coming for her.
After a few minutes someone came in carrying a tiny little girl. I almost couldn't believe it was Victoria, she was even smaller than I imagined. My heart skipped a few beats, she is so cute. She was crying a little and had a sad look on her face. They then told us that she was sad to leave all her friends that were playing outside. We all went into the playroom and pulled out some toys. At first she didn't really look at us and was quite clingy to the social worker. I pulled out some bubbles and started blowing them and she started getting more and more interested in the two strangers. Next we pulled out a little green rubber ball, like the ones you both got for christmas, and played catch with her. She has quite the arm and could throw really well. Each time we threw it back to her she would out the cutest little giggle.
Next I pulled out the photo album with the pictures of our family. She went through it many times and every time she would see a picture of me or your dad, she would say the word for man or woman and scoot over to us and tap our leg. It was so cute! Then when she would see the pictures of you girls she would make a little sign for "little". She loved the bows in Bryns hair. We also did some coloring and she played the little ukalalele for us. She is so smart and very good at following instructions. They told us that she plays well with other children. We had a wonderful time visiting and playing with her. We are excited to see how she reacts to us in the morning.
Daddy and I miss you like crazy, but know that you are being well cared for while we are away. Its crazy that even though we are so far away and we don't understand much of what is being said here, we just feel like this is all normal. We have a wonderful sense of peace and know that we are doing what we are suppose to be. Victoria is such a sweet little girl and will be such a wonderful sister to you both. She is going to do so well in our family and neighborhood. Here are some pictures that we took today.
We made it safely to Victoria's country. We left our house at 6:30 am on Sunday morning and arrived here at 10:00 am on Monday morning. It was a long flight, but it went well. One of our bags got left in New York, but it looks like they are shipping it to us, so hopefully it gets here soon. Luckily it was the bag full of clothing donations for the orphanage, so not too big of a deal.
We are staying with an American Family that work for the US Embassy here and they are so wonderful! They have made us feel so welcomed and at home, it has been such a blessing. They have 3 fun little boys that have kept us entertained.
Today was a very special day. This morning our facilitator and driver, who are very lovely people, picked us up and took us to the Ministry of Education where they asked us some questions about ourselves and why we chose to adopt a child from their country with Down syndrome. The meeting went very well and they gave us our paperwork to be able to go to Victoria's orphanage.
When we first got to the orphanage and were checking out we could hear many children playing outside on the play ground. We went up stairs to meet with the orphanage director, doctor and social worker. From what we could see and learned from the director, it seems like a very nice orphanage. The people we met with today were very kind and it was apparent that they loved the children there and were happy that Victoria had a family coming for her.
Next I pulled out the photo album with the pictures of our family. She went through it many times and every time she would see a picture of me or your dad, she would say the word for man or woman and scoot over to us and tap our leg. It was so cute! Then when she would see the pictures of you girls she would make a little sign for "little". She loved the bows in Bryns hair. We also did some coloring and she played the little ukalalele for us. She is so smart and very good at following instructions. They told us that she plays well with other children. We had a wonderful time visiting and playing with her. We are excited to see how she reacts to us in the morning.
Daddy and I miss you like crazy, but know that you are being well cared for while we are away. Its crazy that even though we are so far away and we don't understand much of what is being said here, we just feel like this is all normal. We have a wonderful sense of peace and know that we are doing what we are suppose to be. Victoria is such a sweet little girl and will be such a wonderful sister to you both. She is going to do so well in our family and neighborhood. Here are some pictures that we took today.
Visit #2
Dear Kaelyn and Bryn,
We had another great visit with Victoria today. We were able to play outside with her. Right when she got there she came up and gave me and daddy great big hugs. She loved the toy phone that we brought, the one that you two loved so much. She would push the buttons and then walk around to everyone and hold it up to each of our ears so we could say hello Vika. We played catch again with the green ball and she started getting mischievous and throwing it extra far into the bushes so she could do some exploring. She reminds me so much of you Kaelyn, it makes me smile to think of the three of you getting into mischief together. She loves to run around and her favorite activity of the day was having us lift her up so she could throw the ball through the basketball rim. She just wanted to do it over and over, so when we all got tired we tried to distract her and get her to kick the ball into the soccer goal, but she went right back to the basketball hoop and insisted we lift her up.
She also did more coloring and bubble chasing and blowing. She is so good to put each crayon away when she is done with it before she pulls out the next crayon. We got to give her some strawberry fruit snacks today and she loved them. After our play time was up we got to walk with her up to her room and watch as she took off her extra layer of clothes and shoes and put on her inside shoes all by herself. She is such a big girl and will be a great example to her younger sisters. She was very excited to show us that she was wearing a big red hair bow today. She kept looking at the pictures of you two and pointing out your bows and then pointing to her bow. I can't wait to give her the cute pink bow I brought from home for her. I'll be sure to take a picture of her wearing it.
We miss you and can't wait to see you soon. We will be sure to bring you something fun home from Victoria's country and tell you all about our trip when we get home. It will be very hard to leave Victoria in a few days, but it is so nice knowing she is being so well cared for. Even the man at the security gate told us how happy he is for the little girl that will get to come home with our family.
Love Mommy
We had another great visit with Victoria today. We were able to play outside with her. Right when she got there she came up and gave me and daddy great big hugs. She loved the toy phone that we brought, the one that you two loved so much. She would push the buttons and then walk around to everyone and hold it up to each of our ears so we could say hello Vika. We played catch again with the green ball and she started getting mischievous and throwing it extra far into the bushes so she could do some exploring. She reminds me so much of you Kaelyn, it makes me smile to think of the three of you getting into mischief together. She loves to run around and her favorite activity of the day was having us lift her up so she could throw the ball through the basketball rim. She just wanted to do it over and over, so when we all got tired we tried to distract her and get her to kick the ball into the soccer goal, but she went right back to the basketball hoop and insisted we lift her up.
She also did more coloring and bubble chasing and blowing. She is so good to put each crayon away when she is done with it before she pulls out the next crayon. We got to give her some strawberry fruit snacks today and she loved them. After our play time was up we got to walk with her up to her room and watch as she took off her extra layer of clothes and shoes and put on her inside shoes all by herself. She is such a big girl and will be a great example to her younger sisters. She was very excited to show us that she was wearing a big red hair bow today. She kept looking at the pictures of you two and pointing out your bows and then pointing to her bow. I can't wait to give her the cute pink bow I brought from home for her. I'll be sure to take a picture of her wearing it.
We miss you and can't wait to see you soon. We will be sure to bring you something fun home from Victoria's country and tell you all about our trip when we get home. It will be very hard to leave Victoria in a few days, but it is so nice knowing she is being so well cared for. Even the man at the security gate told us how happy he is for the little girl that will get to come home with our family.
Love Mommy
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Visit #3
Dear Kaelyn & Bryn,
I was happy to hear that you both had a good day today and that you slept all through the night for Tiffany. I'm sure you are having so much fun! Thanks for being such good girls so that Daddy and I could make this trip to meet Victoria.
Today was another great day with her. It was so fun to watch her walk up the sidewalk towards us. She had the cutest little pony tail right on top of her head. She came up and gave us both hugs and then went straight for the backpack. She was excited to see the baby doll that we brought her, and was able to take it back to her room with her when it was time for us to leave. She was much more silly today and we are all feeling more comfortable with each other. There were a few times that she let our the cutest little laughs, I will have to post a video when we get home.
I can't believe tomorrow is our last visit and then we come home on Saturday. Its not going to be easy to walk away from her orphanage at the end of our visit, but I just keep telling myself that its all part of the plan. We will get home and quickly gather the remainder of our paperwork so we can get back here for court as soon as possible.
Little Victoria has learned that she has us both wrapped around her little fingers. She would walk from one end of the playground to the other just to see us follow her. Then she would tell us to sit down next to her. One time she even climbed up on my lap and we got some great pictures of her. We did some spins around and around, just the way you like it Kaelyn. She was so happy, she smiled more today than the other two days combined. She is so curious about the world around her, she is going to have so much to keep her busy when we finally get her home. I can't wait to show her this big beautiful world!
See you soon girls,
Love Mommy
I was happy to hear that you both had a good day today and that you slept all through the night for Tiffany. I'm sure you are having so much fun! Thanks for being such good girls so that Daddy and I could make this trip to meet Victoria.
Today was another great day with her. It was so fun to watch her walk up the sidewalk towards us. She had the cutest little pony tail right on top of her head. She came up and gave us both hugs and then went straight for the backpack. She was excited to see the baby doll that we brought her, and was able to take it back to her room with her when it was time for us to leave. She was much more silly today and we are all feeling more comfortable with each other. There were a few times that she let our the cutest little laughs, I will have to post a video when we get home.
I can't believe tomorrow is our last visit and then we come home on Saturday. Its not going to be easy to walk away from her orphanage at the end of our visit, but I just keep telling myself that its all part of the plan. We will get home and quickly gather the remainder of our paperwork so we can get back here for court as soon as possible.
Little Victoria has learned that she has us both wrapped around her little fingers. She would walk from one end of the playground to the other just to see us follow her. Then she would tell us to sit down next to her. One time she even climbed up on my lap and we got some great pictures of her. We did some spins around and around, just the way you like it Kaelyn. She was so happy, she smiled more today than the other two days combined. She is so curious about the world around her, she is going to have so much to keep her busy when we finally get her home. I can't wait to show her this big beautiful world!
See you soon girls,
Love Mommy
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Visit #4
Dear Victoria,
I'm finally getting around to posting about our 4th visit with you. It was magical. It was like you figured out we were there Just. For. You. You were so much more excited to see us, and when you spotted us down the road you let go of your teachers hand and ran to us. You even tried testing the waters to see what you could get away with us :) Snatching my packet of gum and some other fun things. Somehow you figured out you could get away with more with me, so hopefully you don't remember that when we come home :) You are so curious and are going to have so many things to check out when we get you home. Good thing I've been running a lot this summer, I'm going to need to be in shape to keep up with you and yours sisters.
You loved the little bow that we brought you from home and had me put it right in your hair.
After our wonderful visit we walked you up to your room and you were so excited to take the toys we brought into your class. You filled your hands with everything you could and busted through the door holding them above your head. The other kids went wild with excitement. It was so cute! It was definitely hard to walk away from the orphanage that day, knowing that we wouldn't be coming back the next day, and that you would be expecting us. The social worker promised to take our book of family pictures into you everyday and look through them with you so you don't forget us. Its been so reassuring knowing that you will be well taken care of while we are away.
I stayed up late the other night compiling your pictures into a little video. I'm going to put it on the iPad so your sisters can watch it lots and get to know you! We love you so muh and can't wait till we get to come back to see you again!
Love Mommy
I'm finally getting around to posting about our 4th visit with you. It was magical. It was like you figured out we were there Just. For. You. You were so much more excited to see us, and when you spotted us down the road you let go of your teachers hand and ran to us. You even tried testing the waters to see what you could get away with us :) Snatching my packet of gum and some other fun things. Somehow you figured out you could get away with more with me, so hopefully you don't remember that when we come home :) You are so curious and are going to have so many things to check out when we get you home. Good thing I've been running a lot this summer, I'm going to need to be in shape to keep up with you and yours sisters.
You loved the little bow that we brought you from home and had me put it right in your hair.
After our wonderful visit we walked you up to your room and you were so excited to take the toys we brought into your class. You filled your hands with everything you could and busted through the door holding them above your head. The other kids went wild with excitement. It was so cute! It was definitely hard to walk away from the orphanage that day, knowing that we wouldn't be coming back the next day, and that you would be expecting us. The social worker promised to take our book of family pictures into you everyday and look through them with you so you don't forget us. Its been so reassuring knowing that you will be well taken care of while we are away.
I stayed up late the other night compiling your pictures into a little video. I'm going to put it on the iPad so your sisters can watch it lots and get to know you! We love you so muh and can't wait till we get to come back to see you again!
Love Mommy
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Court Paperwork
Dear Victoria,
We have been busy the last month since we saw you. We had lots of documents to gather and prepare in order to submit for a court date in your country. We were very happy to get it all together and mailed to your country this week! Now we get to play the waiting game again. We are hoping to get back to see you and for our court trial in September. In the mean time we will be studying and preparing to go before the judge to plead our case for adopting you. We are learning that up until this point there has never been a child with Down syndrome adopted in your city. I really can't believe that and it just breaks my heart. There were so many sweet children with Down syndrome in your orphanage. I'm hoping that we can prove to the judge and other officials there that we can care for you and provide you with a family and a life that will help you reach your greatest potential. We can't wait to get you home and see you soar.
Our good friends that use to be our next door neighbor are doing a fundraiser for you this coming Saturday, August 4th. We would love if anyone living close by could help us spread the word.
Love Mommy
We have been busy the last month since we saw you. We had lots of documents to gather and prepare in order to submit for a court date in your country. We were very happy to get it all together and mailed to your country this week! Now we get to play the waiting game again. We are hoping to get back to see you and for our court trial in September. In the mean time we will be studying and preparing to go before the judge to plead our case for adopting you. We are learning that up until this point there has never been a child with Down syndrome adopted in your city. I really can't believe that and it just breaks my heart. There were so many sweet children with Down syndrome in your orphanage. I'm hoping that we can prove to the judge and other officials there that we can care for you and provide you with a family and a life that will help you reach your greatest potential. We can't wait to get you home and see you soar.
Our good friends that use to be our next door neighbor are doing a fundraiser for you this coming Saturday, August 4th. We would love if anyone living close by could help us spread the word.
Love Mommy
Monday, August 20, 2012
Court Date
Dear Victoria,
WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!! We will be coming back to your country the end of September and will get to see you again. Then on October 1st we will meet with the Judge and go over everything and explain why we want to adopt you. We are so excited that we finally have court date and plane tickets to come back to see you again and keep the ball rolling. If everything goes well in court we will just have to wait 30 days to bring you home. We will come back home, get everything together and ready for you and then be on our way to come and get you! Can you believe it? There is an end in sight :)
Love Mommy
WE HAVE A COURT DATE!!! We will be coming back to your country the end of September and will get to see you again. Then on October 1st we will meet with the Judge and go over everything and explain why we want to adopt you. We are so excited that we finally have court date and plane tickets to come back to see you again and keep the ball rolling. If everything goes well in court we will just have to wait 30 days to bring you home. We will come back home, get everything together and ready for you and then be on our way to come and get you! Can you believe it? There is an end in sight :)
Love Mommy
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Faith
Dearest Victoria,
We will be on our way to see you again in less than two weeks! I knew this time would fly by and it has. I want to share something with you and have it written down so that I remember it. The last week has been a bit difficult as your country is going through some changes in their adoption laws and it is requiring more paperwork/procedures for us. Also there is hesitation coming from people from your orphanage as they don't understand why we would want to adopt a child that has Down syndrome. They do not understand why it is so important for you to have a family to love and care for you. The opportunity to shine and be seen by the world. In their culture they believe that children with special needs, need to be under the care of nurses in an institution. We are breaking new ground and trying to show them how you will thrive being part of a family and going to school.
As these new requirements have developed I started feeling very anxious and worried about our court date coming up. I thought of everything that could possibly go wrong and felt helpless and scared. Thank goodness for your Dad because he reminded me of a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, a leader in the LDS church, that I feel was written just for me. Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence He talks about personal revelation and tells how the story of Moses parting the Red Sea is a great example of revelation. He was doing what the Lord asked of him in leading the Children of Israel out of bondage, but still came upon obstacles in the process. Even when it seemed so impossible when they were surrounded and faced the Red Sea in their path, the Lord provided. Miraculously the Sea parted and they were able to escape and Moses was able to lead them through it. This was all possible because the Lord was helping him.
"Moses' message to you today is, "Don't let your guard down." Don't assume that a great revelation, some marvelous illuminating moment, or the opening of an inspired path is the end of it. Remember, it isn't over until it's over."
We are continually being reminded that Heavenly Father is paving the way before us and even when set backs come we must remember that He is still here, orchestrating this journey.
We will be on our way to see you again in less than two weeks! I knew this time would fly by and it has. I want to share something with you and have it written down so that I remember it. The last week has been a bit difficult as your country is going through some changes in their adoption laws and it is requiring more paperwork/procedures for us. Also there is hesitation coming from people from your orphanage as they don't understand why we would want to adopt a child that has Down syndrome. They do not understand why it is so important for you to have a family to love and care for you. The opportunity to shine and be seen by the world. In their culture they believe that children with special needs, need to be under the care of nurses in an institution. We are breaking new ground and trying to show them how you will thrive being part of a family and going to school.
As these new requirements have developed I started feeling very anxious and worried about our court date coming up. I thought of everything that could possibly go wrong and felt helpless and scared. Thank goodness for your Dad because he reminded me of a talk given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, a leader in the LDS church, that I feel was written just for me. Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence He talks about personal revelation and tells how the story of Moses parting the Red Sea is a great example of revelation. He was doing what the Lord asked of him in leading the Children of Israel out of bondage, but still came upon obstacles in the process. Even when it seemed so impossible when they were surrounded and faced the Red Sea in their path, the Lord provided. Miraculously the Sea parted and they were able to escape and Moses was able to lead them through it. This was all possible because the Lord was helping him.
"Moses' message to you today is, "Don't let your guard down." Don't assume that a great revelation, some marvelous illuminating moment, or the opening of an inspired path is the end of it. Remember, it isn't over until it's over."
We are continually being reminded that Heavenly Father is paving the way before us and even when set backs come we must remember that He is still here, orchestrating this journey.
"I wish to encourage every one of you today regarding opposition that so often comes after enlightened decisions have been made, after moments of revelation and conviction have given us a peace and an assurance we thought we would never lose. "
"After you have gotten the message, after you have paid the price to feel his love and hear the word of the Lord, "go forward." Don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord was doing here for the children of Israel. Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There's always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Brethren [and, I would add, sisters], shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!" (D&C 128:22)."
"The third lesson from the Lord's spirit of revelation in the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea is that, along with the illuminating revelation that points us toward a righteous purpose or duty, God will also provide the means and power to achieve that purpose. Trust in that eternal truth. If God has told you something is right, if something is indeed true for you, he will provide the way for you to accomplish it."
I'm trying really hard to strengthen my faith and remember that yes, Heavenly Father did tell me and your dad that adopting you was right and so we must continue to remember that and the many miracles that have gotten us this far. He will not leave us now, He is with us to the end, and will be here even after you are home with us.
The lesson in Relief Society on Sunday was also very valuable to us at this time. I would like to share of few excerpts from it, the title is "The Strengthening Power of Faith", by President George Albert Smith, a past prophet of our church.
"Faith is a gift from the Lord through which the righteous are empowered to do remarkable things"
"It is this principle, my brethren and sisters, that points us heavenward, that gives us hope in the battle of life. When we become confused, and find ourselves confronted by obstacles we seemingly, cannot overcome, having faith in the Redeemer of the world, we can go to Him and know that our prayers will be answered for our good."
"Now remember, give the Lord a chance. You are going to ask a favor. Give the Lord a chance. Ask him to open the way."
"The Lord has a way of accomplishing things that we are unable to do, and never asks us to do anything that he does not make the way possible. That is what he told us through Nephi. He will not require anything without preparing the way."
"If you have something that the Lord asks or expects you to do and you don't know just how to proceed, do your best. Move in the direction that you ought to go; trust the Lord, give him a chance, and he will never fail you.
"What a wonderful thing it is to know that we can if we will hold our Heavenly Father's hand and be guided by him."
We will do as Elder Holland and President Smith advised by GOING FORWARD, doing our best, and trusting that the Lord will make up the difference. We know that many people will be praying for us as we go before the judge and that her heart and the others making decisions in your country will understand why we want you in our family. Why we would go such great lengths to get you. You are worth it! You are a daughter of God and He has a plan for your life. We are so blessed to be a part of that plan. I can't wait to see you! I'll be counting the days until we meet again.
Love Mommy
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| It won't be long until you are part of this picture! |
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Trip 2
Dearest Victoria,
We are back home and happy that we were able to have two great visits with you while we were in your country. It was so exciting to see you and for you to show us that you did remember us. When we were leaving after our last visit you were waving and blowing us kisses, it was so sweet. We were also able to get our medical appointments done while we were there. We were very lucky to be there at the same time as another mamma who is adopting a little girl with Down syndrome in your country. We are the first two families to adopt children with Ds in your country and we are definitely blazing new trails.
So our day at court did not go as planned and we are sad to report that we had to re-schedule our court date due to some missing paperwork. It was a hard day as we sat there and saw what unfolded in the court room and that we would not be able to bring you home as soon as we had hoped. For now we have another court date next week, but we will have to wait a few more days to see if it is possible to gather the missing paperwork by then.
We are trying to be as positive as we can and trust that we will see the reason this has happened when we look back. We are praying that Heavenly Father will help those in your country that are working day and night to make this happen.
Here are some of the pictures that we took in our visits with you.
Love Mommy
We are back home and happy that we were able to have two great visits with you while we were in your country. It was so exciting to see you and for you to show us that you did remember us. When we were leaving after our last visit you were waving and blowing us kisses, it was so sweet. We were also able to get our medical appointments done while we were there. We were very lucky to be there at the same time as another mamma who is adopting a little girl with Down syndrome in your country. We are the first two families to adopt children with Ds in your country and we are definitely blazing new trails.
So our day at court did not go as planned and we are sad to report that we had to re-schedule our court date due to some missing paperwork. It was a hard day as we sat there and saw what unfolded in the court room and that we would not be able to bring you home as soon as we had hoped. For now we have another court date next week, but we will have to wait a few more days to see if it is possible to gather the missing paperwork by then.
We are trying to be as positive as we can and trust that we will see the reason this has happened when we look back. We are praying that Heavenly Father will help those in your country that are working day and night to make this happen.
Here are some of the pictures that we took in our visits with you.
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| Heading out to our spot |
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| You loved to sift through the fallen leaves and pick out the perfect ones to put in our pockets. |
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| Playing with the matching game Aunt Wendy sent with us. |
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| The play dough didn't go over too well. When I handed it to you, you took a big bite out of it. Ha ha |
Love Mommy
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Patience
Dear Victoria,
We are still waiting for word from your country as to when we can come back for our court hearing. One of the social workers that needs to do the work is on sick leave and so we have to wait until she is back to work. Until then I will continue to obsessively check my email every few hours waiting for word. Patience, patience, patience.
Love Mommy
We are still waiting for word from your country as to when we can come back for our court hearing. One of the social workers that needs to do the work is on sick leave and so we have to wait until she is back to work. Until then I will continue to obsessively check my email every few hours waiting for word. Patience, patience, patience.
Love Mommy
This past week has been incredibly difficult. One of the hardest weeks of my life. I haven't told you a lot of what has been going on since we left you last, its been very complicated and got more and more complicated each day. It was starting to look like we were no longer going to be able to bring you home, ever. In fact it would truly take a miracle for things to change, they were almost certain. Oh how my heart ached, it was so much like when my daughter Kaelyn was so sick and we didn't know if she would be able to survive. I was so sad, so very sad. I kept reminding myself to trust in Heavenly Father and in his plan for you and us, but it was so hard.
This morning I got up very early to go exercise and when I got home I was in the shower thinking about things. I wanted so badly to picture things working out the way we have always hoped, but it truly felt insurmountable. I wouldn't let myself go there because I knew it would make the news I had started to expect, that we would have to let you go, even more devastating While I was in the shower we received a call from our agency, the minute I got out your dad came and gave me a big hug with a smile on his face. Yes, YOUR DAD. The releases for us to adopt you were signed today, we will be going back to court in a few weeks, this time with all the necessary paperwork.
There is so much more to this story, more than I feel able to share on your blog at this time, but eventually I will. You are so loved little girl, so very loved. If I have learned anything from this heart-wrenching experience it's how much I love you, how much your daddy loves you. The thought of never seeing you again, not having you as part of our family was almost too much to bare. It took us to a very sad place. I will cherish you even more now than I could have ever before this. There is no doubt in my mind that this has come about due to many answered prayers. God is working miracles, its true. He loves you and he loves us. He loves all his children, more than we will ever know. Today is a very special day.
Love Mommy
This morning I got up very early to go exercise and when I got home I was in the shower thinking about things. I wanted so badly to picture things working out the way we have always hoped, but it truly felt insurmountable. I wouldn't let myself go there because I knew it would make the news I had started to expect, that we would have to let you go, even more devastating While I was in the shower we received a call from our agency, the minute I got out your dad came and gave me a big hug with a smile on his face. Yes, YOUR DAD. The releases for us to adopt you were signed today, we will be going back to court in a few weeks, this time with all the necessary paperwork.
There is so much more to this story, more than I feel able to share on your blog at this time, but eventually I will. You are so loved little girl, so very loved. If I have learned anything from this heart-wrenching experience it's how much I love you, how much your daddy loves you. The thought of never seeing you again, not having you as part of our family was almost too much to bare. It took us to a very sad place. I will cherish you even more now than I could have ever before this. There is no doubt in my mind that this has come about due to many answered prayers. God is working miracles, its true. He loves you and he loves us. He loves all his children, more than we will ever know. Today is a very special day.
Love Mommy
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Our court hearing went very well! It was a very special day to hear the judge say that she granted our petition to adopt Viktoria. We still haven't decided what we will call her, but her nickname is Vika (Vee-Ka) and she goes by that now. We are so so happy to call her OUR DAUGHTER! We will go back in January to bring her home forever. In the mean time we will get everything ready for her to join our family. Thanks for all your prayers, they were answered!
Dear Jaymi Viktoria,
I may never truly know the reason behind the failure of our first court date and the week we spent in despair believing that we would never be able to bring your home, never see you again. I can however speculate, and focus on the good that I have seen come from those times of trial and sadness. The most important to me being the single, short hour and a half visit we had with you on our last trip. We waited for you in a small office while you finished juice time with your group. You walked in with a big smile on your face and ran to daddy and gave him a big hug and let him hold you and tickle you. In that short visit, this mama's heart was calmed and many fears of bringing you home were washed away. A confirmation that you were ours, you were always meant to be ours and you will always be our little girl. I cannot tell you how much I needed that. Thank you for showing me the way little love. In 36 days we will pick you up from your children's home, dress you in your very own new clothes, walk with you hand in hand outside those gates and bring you home forever. There is a great big world full of lots of love awaiting you. Two small little girls at home that will be your best friends forever. It may be a little bit late, but you will be the BEST, most very SPECIAL Christmas gift our family will ever receive. See you soon, we are counting the days, the hours, the minutes!
Love Mommy
Well the week has been put to rest and now we are doing our best to get geared up for the coming week. I'm here with my sweet friend Becky Preece and we are two mamas on a mission. I feel like we have been friends forever although we have only met in person just a week ago. I can't help but think we were meant to be on this escapade together, because I know I couldn't be here doing what I'm doing alone. Her husband went home to attend to their children and family business yesterday so now the real adventure begins. We are trying our best to stay busy and have laughed so many times this week. The quote by Marjorie Hinkley keeps running through my head,
After breakfast we quickly had baths and got ready for another media interview. We met with the gentleman from the Associated Press that we spoke with on our second day here after the judge would not turn over our court decrees. It was so nice being able to share our happy ending with him as things were so unsure that first day. Before he left he said he was so glad that he got to report a happy ending because he was very worried for us after our first interview. He has been a reporter here in Russia for years and I'm sure he has had many experiences where things did not workout so favorably.
After naps we had two special visitors. First "Babushka Sally", their Russian grandmother. She is the American lady Becky and I stayed with last week. So not really Russian at all, but she does know a few words and has some serious hookups at Ismylova market! She came with a bag of tricks that included Subway sandwiches for us mamas and a McDonalds happy meal for the kids to share. She even chose the healthy sides of carrot sticks and apples, such a responsible lady. Boy did the kids get a kick out of her! I think she just might be in the running for the World's Funnest Babushka! She was tickling, giving pony rides, providing a head of hair for brushing. It was just too fun.
Then our sweet friend Yulia came by, I just can't say enough good about her! She brought Vika the cutest little doll and Gabe a fun airplane toy and sandals from Finland. Vika was so excited when Yulia handed her the doll and helped her get it out of the packaging. I just loved watching her and Vika talk and interact. She was also nice enough to write up a list of Russian words I have been trying to learn and how to say them. We all hope she will be able to travel out west next time she comes to the US so we can take her skiing in Utah and show her where we live.
Sadly Becky has come down with something and was not feeling well. I ordered her right to bed for rest while the kids and I finished out the evening doing a couple tub loads of laundry to get us through the rest of our stay. I felt like pioneer, only thing missing was a wash board. Oh yes and I'm staying in a very comfortable hotel, so maybe not too much like pioneer. We had a blast playing with the bubbles, swirling the water and scrubbing the clothes.
Then the three of us headed out for a walk around the hotel. We checked out the overpriced souvenirs in the gift shop, the beautiful cakes and pastries in the bakery and said privet to anyone that would look at us. Our kids are just soaking up every experience here no matter how small and it just makes us smile. I can't wait to get home and show them the world awaiting them and the loved ones that have all contributed to bring them home!
Attachment & Bonding
"Dear Ms. Bonner,
Please accept our heart felt sympathies. Our thoughts are with you and your family.
Sincerely Jaime, Bellman Radisson LAX"
As Becky so nicely put it, "coincidence that his name was Jaime? I don't think so."
One of the most important lessons I learned throughout this whole journey came from this experience. A reminder for me to not only "Believe there is good in the world", but to "BE THE GOOD". To be like Jaime the Bellman. To be kind and loving to everyone. I hope he realizes how great an influence he had on Becky and I that night. That he will be rewarded in life for being "the good" in the world. I hope I can follow his example and reach out to those I come in contact with, even if its just for a short moment, to show them they are loved and are not forgotten.
Thank you Jaime for treating us so kindly. It will not be soon forgotten and I hope to pay it forward, to try and make this world a little bit better.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Details
Dear Victoria,
I was just going to write this particular experience down in my journal, but I decided that it needs to be on your blog. I don't want to forget it, because I'm certain I will need to look back on it at another time and remember it.
A week and a half ago was fast and testimony meeting at church. We have this meeting the first Sunday of every week and during our Sacrament meeting anyone can go up and bare their testimony. We were fasting for you and our adoption and all day I had been thinking about some things related to that. About the lessons that I have learned about faith and trust in God throughout this past year. As I sat in the meeting I felt like I was suppose to get up and say a few things. I wasn't quite sure what I should say, but I just felt like someone there needed to hear something I had to say. The prompting was so strong I couldn't push it away and I walked to the front of the chapel. I began by saying that I didn't know what I was suppose to say and just hoped that the spirit would prompt me as I spoke.
I don't remember a lot of what I said, but I'll write down what I do remember. I said that even though we didn't know what was going to happen at this point in our adoption I just felt such peace in knowing that it was in Heavenly Father's hands. That I had learned so much about the power of faith and prayer in our lives. That many of the things we do are guided and led by Heavenly Father and that we need to trust that he will provide a way. I wish I could remember more...
This was before some major things started to unfold in our case, before I had any idea of what news was coming our way in the following days. During the following week, as we became aware of what was going on my heart began to break. I had to constantly remind myself to TRUST IN GOD and remember that we are in his hands. That you are in his hands. That whatever was best for you would happen. It was very scary and confusing and I wish I could say I did not let my faith waver, but it did at times. When those moments of uncertainty and fear began to set in I would think back to the prior Sunday, to my testimony. It didn't take long to know that the things I said then were for me to hear. So that when the testing and trial came, I could remember how I felt, what I believed. By saying them out loud, in front of my friends and neighbors, they were etched in my mind even more that they would have been if I had kept them inside. There were times I would think, "Why did I get up and say that, things were so simple at that moment and now they are so complicated". I was almost mad at myself for saying them, but then a loving Heavenly Father wrapped his arms around me and reminded me that I said them because they were true. He has proven to us so many times this past year that he is here and that we can trust him.
I will forever look back on this experience and know, truly know that he is in "the details of our lives", no matter how BIG or small they may be. That he will answer prayers and heal our hearts. Our plane tickets are booked, new visa's are ordered, we will be on our way to you in 2 1/2 weeks! I'm so excited to see you!
Love Mommy
I was just going to write this particular experience down in my journal, but I decided that it needs to be on your blog. I don't want to forget it, because I'm certain I will need to look back on it at another time and remember it.
A week and a half ago was fast and testimony meeting at church. We have this meeting the first Sunday of every week and during our Sacrament meeting anyone can go up and bare their testimony. We were fasting for you and our adoption and all day I had been thinking about some things related to that. About the lessons that I have learned about faith and trust in God throughout this past year. As I sat in the meeting I felt like I was suppose to get up and say a few things. I wasn't quite sure what I should say, but I just felt like someone there needed to hear something I had to say. The prompting was so strong I couldn't push it away and I walked to the front of the chapel. I began by saying that I didn't know what I was suppose to say and just hoped that the spirit would prompt me as I spoke.
I don't remember a lot of what I said, but I'll write down what I do remember. I said that even though we didn't know what was going to happen at this point in our adoption I just felt such peace in knowing that it was in Heavenly Father's hands. That I had learned so much about the power of faith and prayer in our lives. That many of the things we do are guided and led by Heavenly Father and that we need to trust that he will provide a way. I wish I could remember more...
This was before some major things started to unfold in our case, before I had any idea of what news was coming our way in the following days. During the following week, as we became aware of what was going on my heart began to break. I had to constantly remind myself to TRUST IN GOD and remember that we are in his hands. That you are in his hands. That whatever was best for you would happen. It was very scary and confusing and I wish I could say I did not let my faith waver, but it did at times. When those moments of uncertainty and fear began to set in I would think back to the prior Sunday, to my testimony. It didn't take long to know that the things I said then were for me to hear. So that when the testing and trial came, I could remember how I felt, what I believed. By saying them out loud, in front of my friends and neighbors, they were etched in my mind even more that they would have been if I had kept them inside. There were times I would think, "Why did I get up and say that, things were so simple at that moment and now they are so complicated". I was almost mad at myself for saying them, but then a loving Heavenly Father wrapped his arms around me and reminded me that I said them because they were true. He has proven to us so many times this past year that he is here and that we can trust him.
Love Mommy
Friday, November 30, 2012
National Adoption Month
I did not want this month to pass by without writing a post in honor of November being National Adoption Month. It still feels almost unreal that we are nearing the end of this process, that we ever even began this process. Our adoption is very different from what I envisioned adoption in general being, before we began this journey. Adoption is hard. Plain and simple. It's scary and at times painful. It requires sacrifice and immense patience. It's humbling and at times heart wrenching. Like anything of great value in this life, it is worth all of it. It changes the way you see the world. We have seen so much good come from this experience, so much love and support from those around us and even complete strangers. They have helped to lift us up when things got hard. Kind words, letters in the mail with sweet notes and donations, neighbor children selling candy after school and bringing us their profits because they want Victoria home so they can play with her. So humbling. It has increased our desire to give of ourselves, our means and our love to other because of the beautiful examples we have seen step forward to help us. We are not the only ones sacrificing to bring this little girl home. So many of you are helping to make this all possible and we will forever be indebted to you for your contributions. Thank you for your kindness, thank you for your love. Adoption truly is love, a kind of love we had never experienced until now. A love that reminds us that we are all God's children and that he loves each of us, no matter our circumstance. I see him smiling down on us when we work together to make wonderful things happen in the lives of his children. I feel privileged to be on this journey.
If anyone reading this is considering undertaking adoption of this kind, my advice would be to remember that you will not be alone. There are so many people out there that will step forward and support you if you give them a chance. People want to help, the just need to be given the opportunity. Let God lead you through this process and trust that he will not leave you alone in such an endeavor. I know we will need his help even more once we get Victoria home, to help us all transition in our new life together, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he will help us through it. No, adoption is not easy, I knew it wouldn't be, and it is even harder than I thought it would be, but it is even more rewarding than I could have imagined. It has forever changed me for the better, it has taught me eternal lessons that I would have missed out on if I pushed away the promptings I had almost a year ago.
When I wake up we will be heading out on our third trip to Victoria's country. We will go before the judge again and pray that all is in order for our hearing to proceed and that we can finally plead our case for adopting this precious little girl. We would love if you will join us in prayer that all will go smoothly. Can't wait to see Victoria again, watch the video below and you will see why, she is amazing.
If anyone reading this is considering undertaking adoption of this kind, my advice would be to remember that you will not be alone. There are so many people out there that will step forward and support you if you give them a chance. People want to help, the just need to be given the opportunity. Let God lead you through this process and trust that he will not leave you alone in such an endeavor. I know we will need his help even more once we get Victoria home, to help us all transition in our new life together, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that he will help us through it. No, adoption is not easy, I knew it wouldn't be, and it is even harder than I thought it would be, but it is even more rewarding than I could have imagined. It has forever changed me for the better, it has taught me eternal lessons that I would have missed out on if I pushed away the promptings I had almost a year ago.
When I wake up we will be heading out on our third trip to Victoria's country. We will go before the judge again and pray that all is in order for our hearing to proceed and that we can finally plead our case for adopting this precious little girl. We would love if you will join us in prayer that all will go smoothly. Can't wait to see Victoria again, watch the video below and you will see why, she is amazing.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
She's Ours!
Introducing Miss Jaymi Viktoria Bonner!
Our court hearing went very well! It was a very special day to hear the judge say that she granted our petition to adopt Viktoria. We still haven't decided what we will call her, but her nickname is Vika (Vee-Ka) and she goes by that now. We are so so happy to call her OUR DAUGHTER! We will go back in January to bring her home forever. In the mean time we will get everything ready for her to join our family. Thanks for all your prayers, they were answered!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Calm
Dear Jaymi Viktoria,I may never truly know the reason behind the failure of our first court date and the week we spent in despair believing that we would never be able to bring your home, never see you again. I can however speculate, and focus on the good that I have seen come from those times of trial and sadness. The most important to me being the single, short hour and a half visit we had with you on our last trip. We waited for you in a small office while you finished juice time with your group. You walked in with a big smile on your face and ran to daddy and gave him a big hug and let him hold you and tickle you. In that short visit, this mama's heart was calmed and many fears of bringing you home were washed away. A confirmation that you were ours, you were always meant to be ours and you will always be our little girl. I cannot tell you how much I needed that. Thank you for showing me the way little love. In 36 days we will pick you up from your children's home, dress you in your very own new clothes, walk with you hand in hand outside those gates and bring you home forever. There is a great big world full of lots of love awaiting you. Two small little girls at home that will be your best friends forever. It may be a little bit late, but you will be the BEST, most very SPECIAL Christmas gift our family will ever receive. See you soon, we are counting the days, the hours, the minutes!
Love Mommy
Friday, January 11, 2013
I Love You
Dear Jaymi Viktoria,
These last few weeks have been very hard because your country has passed a law banning US adoptions of Russian children. We are still not sure how/if this law affects us. Your dad and I have tried our best to stay positive, prayerful and hopeful. I haven't prayed this hard for anything since your little sister Kaelyn was very sick in the hospital.
This is what I wrote on facebook yesterday:
These last few weeks have been very hard because your country has passed a law banning US adoptions of Russian children. We are still not sure how/if this law affects us. Your dad and I have tried our best to stay positive, prayerful and hopeful. I haven't prayed this hard for anything since your little sister Kaelyn was very sick in the hospital.
This is what I wrote on facebook yesterday:
"As of this morning, I'm leaving for Russia, by myself, on Sunday. Wayne is finishing up his last class of his MBA and can't leave now. Things are still very much up in the air, but I want/need to be there, so if the opportunity becomes available to bring our girl home, I will be there. We are so grateful for all your prayers and thoughts and would love if you will keep them coming. This is very much a leap of faith on our part, probably the biggest yet and we need The Lord to prepare the way before us. Lets pray our little girl home!"
I woke up early yesterday morning and felt this sense of urgency that I needed to go to Russia as soon as possible. Even after it looked like that wouldn't be possible, I just couldn't kick that feeling. Then a few hours later it was looking possible and I made the needed arrangements to leave. By the end of day I was all packed and ready to go. I am praying that Heavenly Father will watch over me as I travel and that things will be in order to bring you home. I'm so lucky that another family, adopting a cute little guy also with Down syndrome from the same city, will be traveling this week. I'm so excited to finally meet them and have support while in country alone.
There are so many people praying for you and us, I know Heavenly Father has not forgotten our pleas and will do all in his power to bring us together.
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| Your Christmas Angel ornament hanging on our Christmas tree. There have been people praying for you to find a family for years. |
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| This is the first picture of you we ever saw, the one that said, "I'm your's, come get me" |
Over Christmas break I made 20 little quilts, with the help of family, to bring to your orphanage to leave with your friends. It was a very spiritual experience sewing those quilts and thinking of all the beautiful children with special needs that may never have a chance to live with a family. It took a lot of faith for me to continue making them as I was in the middle of them when we found out about the law in Russia and that we may never be able to go back. I just kept telling myself that I was going to deliver those blankets, I just had too. Well, deliver them I will, they are packed and ready to go with me this weekend.
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| Thats me, working a way. |
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| Dad and little sisters being very patient at the fabric store. |
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| Your great-grandma Ruth working away. She is the very person that taught me how to sew and inspires me to keep doing it. She inspires me to keep doing a lot of things and she CANNOT wait to meet you! |
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| Little sister Bryn wanted to be part of the excitement and send her love to your friends. |
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| Uncle Ryan and cousin Shane were pro's on the quilting machine. Grandma LaJean helped tie lots of knots of love into each quilt. |
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| The quilts on the left are all packed and ready to go in their vacuum sealed bags. |
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| Making these quilts is one of my most favorite Christmas projects yet. Maybe we will have to make it tradition. |
I'm coming little girl and I assure you I will do everything I can to bring you home. I will be buoyed up by the strength and power of prayers of many who are concerned for us. This past year has been an incredible journey, with many ups and downs, failures and triumphs, fears and miracles. It has opened my eyes to so much, for that I am so grateful, so determined to change the world, one day at a time, in any way the Lord needs me.
I love you,
Love Mommy
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Sunday Update
Dear Friends and Family,
Well the week has been put to rest and now we are doing our best to get geared up for the coming week. I'm here with my sweet friend Becky Preece and we are two mamas on a mission. I feel like we have been friends forever although we have only met in person just a week ago. I can't help but think we were meant to be on this escapade together, because I know I couldn't be here doing what I'm doing alone. Her husband went home to attend to their children and family business yesterday so now the real adventure begins. We are trying our best to stay busy and have laughed so many times this week. The quote by Marjorie Hinkley keeps running through my head,
“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.” We are seriously considering writing a travel guide with all our helpful hints that we are learning each day.
Becky is a really great writer and is keeping a very good record of all the legal business and happenings that we are going through over here, so rather than trying to hash it out myself I'm going to refer you to her blog.
Thursday morning I was able to go see my girl! We had a wonderful, fun visit together. She walked in with her big cute smile, I held out my arms and gave her a great big hug! She loved all the toys I brought to play with and like always her favorite things were my running magazine and boarding tickets from my flight. She loved dressing up in all my gear and was heading outside to play. Its way to cold to play outside these days, she was a little bummed about that. At one point she was holding my phone up to her ear listening to Jordan Sparks song, One Step at a Time and she just walked over to me and gave me a hug. It melted my heart. She is such a special little girl and I can't wait until I can finally bring her home and everyone can meet her.
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Yesterday Becky and I decided to REALLY be adventurous and try our hand at the Metro. This being my fourth trip here, I hadn't even laid eyes on the metro, but we knew we didn't want to sit around all weekend and feel sad and lonely. We left the hotel feeling all sorts of brave until we ended up about 6 levels underground at a dead end. I felt frozen, I couldn't move my body, my brain wouldn't process what to do and I could barely talk. After doing a few circles and getting plenty of strange looks we made it to where we needed to go. We were so proud of ourselves! We even rode the metro to church again today and now we feel like a whole new world has opened up to us :)
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At one point my toes were so cold I thought I wasn't going to be able to walk anymore. They were soaking wet so we searched high and low for some respit inside. Also the pinky on my right hand was STARK WHITE! We ordered some meat-sticks and went upstairs to try and warm up. We sat across from the group of gentleman below and they kept motioning for us to come sit by them and speaking in Russian. It was kind of creeping us out but then the waitress came in and we figured out what they were saying. They saw my wet freezing toes and were telling me to come sit there because there was a hot pipe I could put my hands and toes on to warm up. Then the lady brought over a seat cushion for us to put on our laps. I'm sure they were having a good time joking about what a fool I was for coming to Russia dressed like that. They were really nice though and even brought us a shot of Vodka, thankfully they didn't seem too offended that we didn't drink it.
Becky is a really great writer and is keeping a very good record of all the legal business and happenings that we are going through over here, so rather than trying to hash it out myself I'm going to refer you to her blog.
Thursday morning I was able to go see my girl! We had a wonderful, fun visit together. She walked in with her big cute smile, I held out my arms and gave her a great big hug! She loved all the toys I brought to play with and like always her favorite things were my running magazine and boarding tickets from my flight. She loved dressing up in all my gear and was heading outside to play. Its way to cold to play outside these days, she was a little bummed about that. At one point she was holding my phone up to her ear listening to Jordan Sparks song, One Step at a Time and she just walked over to me and gave me a hug. It melted my heart. She is such a special little girl and I can't wait until I can finally bring her home and everyone can meet her.
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We walked down to Red Square one night and I just about froze to death. As the gentleman in the picture below told me, "Russia, Cold" Yep, Russia is C.O.L.D and the "pretend boots" I brought are NOT cutting it. I've had more than one experience where I was sure I'd be leaving my toes in Russia due to frost bite. Yesterday I marched into the mall on Red Square and bought a pair of REAL boots! I also bought a pair of wool socks and liner gloves, a scarf and some thick tights. My next purchase will be a decent coat. On our other trips we hardly spent any time outside so I packed really light for myself this time around. So don't be surprised if I return wearing a knee length full fur coat :) Jk, those are VERY expensive, but everyone has them.
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| St. Basils Cathedral on Red Square Thank goodness for the fitness room at our hotel, its been a great place to workout and keep the stress from building up. We even took our some frustrations on the punching bag! |
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Yesterday Becky and I decided to REALLY be adventurous and try our hand at the Metro. This being my fourth trip here, I hadn't even laid eyes on the metro, but we knew we didn't want to sit around all weekend and feel sad and lonely. We left the hotel feeling all sorts of brave until we ended up about 6 levels underground at a dead end. I felt frozen, I couldn't move my body, my brain wouldn't process what to do and I could barely talk. After doing a few circles and getting plenty of strange looks we made it to where we needed to go. We were so proud of ourselves! We even rode the metro to church again today and now we feel like a whole new world has opened up to us :)
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| Me looking like a deer in headlights once we got on the train |
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| Becky looking very calm and collected after boarding our train |
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| The escalators down to the metro are unREAL! They are like a 1/4 mile long and almost straight up and down. |
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Our adventure took us to the Ismylavo (sp) market. Its where you buy all sorts of things for good prices. If we weren't so cold we would have stayed much longer. The dolls were about 1/4 the price we have been paying on our previous trips.
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| Entering the market |
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| Thanks to them I still have my toes and my right pinky |
Today we were able to get a hold of some missionaries that took us to church with them and then our sweet friend Sally, who Wayne and I met last trip, picked us up and is letting us do our laundry and feeding us dinner. Its a small world when you are a member of the LDS church and we are so grateful for the wonderful people we have met over here and how they have wrapped their arms around us.
Well I'll try to do better about blogging, last week was such a whirlwind I just couldn't keep up with what day it was and what we had going. Thank your for all the prayers, I know they are providing me with some much strength. Becky and I joke about all the angels that had to be called in to watch over us while we are here without our husbands. Hopefully they are getting a good laugh at all our blunders, we sure are.
Keep the faith! We will get our little one home :)
Monday and Tuesday
Yesterday we were able to attend an event at the U.S. ambassador to Russia's private residence and were able to discuss with him our specific case. He was able to share some information with us on their efforts to get information from Russia. It was very nice to know that they really are working hard for the hundreds of families caught in the middle of this.
Becky wrote a very detailed post about the evening if you would like to read it here http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/spaso-house_22.htmlToday was a pretty laid back day. This morning I did an interview with a Russian television station that have been working with us to try and educate the Russia people about the families adopting their children and in our case a child with special needs. It was a great experience to be able to share our story with these two young girls and to see their desire to harbor change in their own country.
This evening we were absolutely honored to attend the Russian ballet at the Kremlin, with a local friend of Becky's. It was truly magical, everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Everything about the performance from the venue, costumes, back drops, the orchestra, dancers, oh the dancers, was truly majestic. I can't imagine the hours and hours of practice and dedication that is put into it. This evening was just what we needed to take our minds off the frustrations our circumstance. it was so fun to be able to experience it with a local. Yulia was so kind to spend the evening with us, we have met some remarkable people here that have left such sweet imprints on my heart.
Minutes before we left for the ballet we got a call from one of our helpers here informing us that the top story on the news is that the Supreme Court here in Russia sent a letter of direction to all the lower courts instructing them that anyone with a court decision made before January 1st are able to leave home with their adopted children. This is exactly the instruction our judge was waiting on. Praying that tomorrow will come with the news that we can pick up our decrees as soon as possible and that we can begin the process of bringing our kids home. We go to bed feeling very optimistic and encouraged by today's news, I will be sure to update you on what we hear tomorrow.
Thanks again for your prayers, they have carried me through this time and brought me more peace and comfort through this time of uncertainty than I could have ever imagined possible.
To close, some words from my husband Wayne, hope he doesn't mind me sharing.
"I truly believe and know that Jaymi is our daughter and will be in our home with us soon. If the Lord wanted it NOW, it would happen NOW. For this reason, I feel that we are a part of a bigger plan. I just hope that a few years from now, we will understand what that plan is. "
As Becky and I watched as all the other families we knew here specifically, in similar situations go home with their children in hand, it was hard not to feel a bit defeated and abandoned. Thankfully in those moments of weakness and sorrow, Heavenly Father wrapped his arms tightly around us by putting someone in our path to lift our spirits and strengthen our resolve to press forward. I have not for one second felt alone on this journey, a tender mercy indeed. I like Wayne, believe that our struggle in the final hours of this adoption are part of a greater plan, one that I may not understand in the near future, but one that I'm honored to be a part of.
Becky wrote a very detailed post about the evening if you would like to read it here http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/spaso-house_22.htmlToday was a pretty laid back day. This morning I did an interview with a Russian television station that have been working with us to try and educate the Russia people about the families adopting their children and in our case a child with special needs. It was a great experience to be able to share our story with these two young girls and to see their desire to harbor change in their own country.
This evening we were absolutely honored to attend the Russian ballet at the Kremlin, with a local friend of Becky's. It was truly magical, everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Everything about the performance from the venue, costumes, back drops, the orchestra, dancers, oh the dancers, was truly majestic. I can't imagine the hours and hours of practice and dedication that is put into it. This evening was just what we needed to take our minds off the frustrations our circumstance. it was so fun to be able to experience it with a local. Yulia was so kind to spend the evening with us, we have met some remarkable people here that have left such sweet imprints on my heart.
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| Pretty sure this is the world's largest coat closet! Its amazing how most building have rooms just for hanging up your coats, its quite the system. |
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| Becky and Julia holding on to each other to keep from slipping and falling down. |
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| The inside of the Kremlin theatre where the ballet was held. |
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| The stage was huge, bigger than any stage I have ever seen before. |
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| The women next to Becky is Yulia, such a kind lady. |
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| Loved the "concession" stands during intermission. Very different from the popcorn and candy usually found in America. Meats, Cheeses, Mushroom soup, pastries, sandwiches, wine, tea and juice. Becky and I opted for an apple juice. Cracked Yulia up that we ordered the same thing. |
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| Becky's poor feet, once again we didn't choose wisely in the footwear department for the evening. We were hobbling around by the end of the evening in our fancy heeled shoes. |
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| Final curtain call |
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| Orchestra pit |
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| Becky and Yulia |
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| The first building of Moscow University. |
Thanks again for your prayers, they have carried me through this time and brought me more peace and comfort through this time of uncertainty than I could have ever imagined possible.
To close, some words from my husband Wayne, hope he doesn't mind me sharing.
"I truly believe and know that Jaymi is our daughter and will be in our home with us soon. If the Lord wanted it NOW, it would happen NOW. For this reason, I feel that we are a part of a bigger plan. I just hope that a few years from now, we will understand what that plan is. "
As Becky and I watched as all the other families we knew here specifically, in similar situations go home with their children in hand, it was hard not to feel a bit defeated and abandoned. Thankfully in those moments of weakness and sorrow, Heavenly Father wrapped his arms tightly around us by putting someone in our path to lift our spirits and strengthen our resolve to press forward. I have not for one second felt alone on this journey, a tender mercy indeed. I like Wayne, believe that our struggle in the final hours of this adoption are part of a greater plan, one that I may not understand in the near future, but one that I'm honored to be a part of.
Wednesday
Oh dear, here we go again. Although the news from the Supreme Court yesterday was indeed good, we have hit yet another obstacle. Our coordinator called our judge first thing this morning to see when she can come get our decrees and the judge said that because of the ruling she made last week of not giving us our decree, we now have to wait until next Wednesday for it to be reviewed and another hearing set before we can get it. Does that make sense, NO? well it doesn't make sense to us either.
The Supreme Court came out with its statement yesterday in response to an inquiry from our attorney about our cases specifically and yet we are still at a stand still. Although very discouraged, it is a step in the right direction. We will bring our children home, its a matter of when. Now Becky and I are once again not knowing the timeline and if we should stay here while things get sorted out, or if we should return home and come back. Both options require difficult decisions, emotionally, physically and financially, for us and our little families back home.
I'm trying my best to look for the good and trust that there may be more work we are needed to do to further Gods plan. We will continue to press forward and invite opportunities to advocate for change and increase understanding in behalf of the precious children throughout the world, especially here in Russia.
I did have a wonderful visit with Jaymi today. I just fall more and more in love with her each day and I know this time we have to spend together is precious. To be able to hold her and spin in circles with our cheeks smashed together is priceless. She is learning to trust me and I am learning I can be everything she needs. I know this is part of the process and preparation for us to spend eternity together, and for that I'm so grateful. When I'm with her it's a feeling of pure joy and clarity of why I'm here doing what I'm doing. She will fit perfectly into our family, like she was always with us, I have no doubt. She's our girl.
She is so cute when she eats her snacks that I bring. She goes across the room, sits down and eats it quietly. That is just what Bryn does because she knows that if she sticks around by me I'll help her eat it and she's not okay with that :)
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| The lady next to her is Alla, our coordinator. This woman is moving mountains, she is the most loving and humble person I have ever met. She is no longer allowed to be employed by our agency because of the new law so she is working day and night for us out of the kindess of her heart. She is a hero in every sense of the word. So many children are home with families because of her tireless efforts. We keep assuring her that some day soon we will have a BIG party in the States and invite all the families she has helped over the past 20 years so she can see the lives she has changed. |
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| She LOVED her new boots! She marched around in them our whole visit. |
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| She walked around to everyone in the room to show off her boots! This girl is going to LOVE all the goodies we have for her at home. |
This evening Becky and I were able to meet up with a friend of a friend, that is now our new friend Sarah :) She was so nice to have us to her house for some delicious comfort food and great conversation. She is also from the states, Texas in fact, my dad would be glad to know that! She is also a volleyball player so thats pretty awesome. Her husband is over here working and she is busy doing volunteer work. We made it to her house just fine via the metro but got a little disoriented on the way back and ended up trapped in the middle of this park surrounded by heavy traffic. We thought we were not going to be able to cross over again but thankfully we found a break in traffic. My goodness its just one adventure after another. We would have been fine except for the Red "M" that is found on the outside of the Metro stations. I spotted one a bit up the road from where we were and when we got to it we saw that it was a sign for the Metro Diner!! Seriously? We are definitely getting our exercise walking around this city, thats for sure.
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| Matching Russian dresses for the girls. When I asked the lady at the market if she sewed them, she told me her sister did. We are now a little skeptical of that since we have seen identical dresses in shops all over the city. ha ha, or maybe her sister is just very busy |
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| We were a little creeped out when we saw these things sitting above the fur coats in one of the stores we were in. |
Friday, January 25, 2013
Friday - Week 2
Three weeks, I will be here in Russia for at least another three weeks. That means that I will have been in Russia approximately two months total in the past year by the time I get my little girl home. Pretty crazy, but it will all be worth it. If you want to read why we have to be here so long check out Becky's post.
http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/patience.html?m=1
So what do we do for then next two weeks before we can get our little ones from the orphanage? We are going to stay with our sweet friends the Murray's in their nice place just outside the city. That will save us lots of money and help us not feel so isolated while we are here. We are also considering hoping on the train to St. Petersburg to check it out for a day or two. Hopefully we can stay busy and the time will pass quickly for us and our families at home. We both miss our kids so much and can't wait to give them big squeezes when we get home.
So I have a few funny stories to share, we are always laughing at ourselves as we try to get around and fit in here in Moscow. I just don't know what it is, but everyone can tell we are not locals and just stare at us when we are out and about. Like this evening we walked over to Red Square for a bit of retail therapy and dinner. (Btw, great time of year to buy warm clothes for good prices). So we are sitting at our table eating our Russian style crepes and I look up at this group of older men carrying on and catch a glimpse of one of them just staring us down. I thought maybe was dreaming it up, but Becky confirmed, he was giving us quite the crusty face. If looks could kill sorta thing. It went on the whole time we were there. Just kinda crazy, we were just minding our own business. But whatever, I guess some things we will never understand.
Then in one of the stores we were shopping at a young girl working there gave me this crazy look and then rolled her eyes at me. I wondered what that was all about until I was I the dressing room trying something on and saw that my coat pockets were so stuffed to the max with my scarf, hat and gloves that I looked like a pack mule. I just burst out laughing, she probably thought I was trying to steal merchandise or something.
The sun was shining today, it was so nice, even though its still really cold, it just seems better with the sun hitting your face. We walked around Red Square taking some pictures and I decided to do a snow angel outside the Kremlin. I'm sure it's something that may be frowned upon, but we needed a good laugh. Okay now I'm sure you are thinking, "and you wonder why you stick out and everyone is staring at you"?, but usually we are pretty well behaved :)
http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/patience.html?m=1
So what do we do for then next two weeks before we can get our little ones from the orphanage? We are going to stay with our sweet friends the Murray's in their nice place just outside the city. That will save us lots of money and help us not feel so isolated while we are here. We are also considering hoping on the train to St. Petersburg to check it out for a day or two. Hopefully we can stay busy and the time will pass quickly for us and our families at home. We both miss our kids so much and can't wait to give them big squeezes when we get home.
So I have a few funny stories to share, we are always laughing at ourselves as we try to get around and fit in here in Moscow. I just don't know what it is, but everyone can tell we are not locals and just stare at us when we are out and about. Like this evening we walked over to Red Square for a bit of retail therapy and dinner. (Btw, great time of year to buy warm clothes for good prices). So we are sitting at our table eating our Russian style crepes and I look up at this group of older men carrying on and catch a glimpse of one of them just staring us down. I thought maybe was dreaming it up, but Becky confirmed, he was giving us quite the crusty face. If looks could kill sorta thing. It went on the whole time we were there. Just kinda crazy, we were just minding our own business. But whatever, I guess some things we will never understand.
Then in one of the stores we were shopping at a young girl working there gave me this crazy look and then rolled her eyes at me. I wondered what that was all about until I was I the dressing room trying something on and saw that my coat pockets were so stuffed to the max with my scarf, hat and gloves that I looked like a pack mule. I just burst out laughing, she probably thought I was trying to steal merchandise or something.
The sun was shining today, it was so nice, even though its still really cold, it just seems better with the sun hitting your face. We walked around Red Square taking some pictures and I decided to do a snow angel outside the Kremlin. I'm sure it's something that may be frowned upon, but we needed a good laugh. Okay now I'm sure you are thinking, "and you wonder why you stick out and everyone is staring at you"?, but usually we are pretty well behaved :)
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| Becky hard at work blogging away. Internet is $25 a day so we have to get our money's worth on the days we pay for it. |
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| Becky & Old Man River photobombing my self portrait outside the Kremlin |
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| Ah, the sun! |
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
See the good
After finding out that Becky and I would be here in Russia for at least 3 more weeks before being able to travel home with our kids, I decided I needed to change my attitude a bit to get me through the waiting period. Though part of me wanted to crawl into bed and stay there until it was time to come home, I knew that would only make the time pass slowly and I would be miserable. So I decided I would look for the good each day and focus on the opportunities that I would have missed out on had everything gone the way we had hoped it would.
- I have had three wonderful visits with Jaymi and with each visit we are getting more and more attached. She is always giving me loves, just because she wants to, not because she is asked to. It really is so tender and brings so much peace to my heart that things will be okay once we leave the children's home together. Throughout this whole process one of my greatest fears has been that week after we take her from the children's home and we are finishing up paperwork in order to come home. I just didn't know how hard it would be to take her from the only life she has ever known. After these past couple weeks I feel more confident that she will be okay during the transition because of the bond we are beginning to form. Instead of fear, I now feel great anticipation and excitement for that day and week I will get to have her all to myself. I get to be the person that shows her this beautiful city she has lived in her whole life. I get to be her window to the great big beautiful world that is waiting for her. Such an honor and a privilege.
- Becky and I were able to spend Saturday with our friend Yulia. She is the one that took us to the ballet last week. She was born and raised here in Moscow. Oh what a beautiful person she is, both inside and out. She has been so hospitable to us and even sent me away with the most beautiful hat. I loved talking with her about religion and her experiences volunteering in an older children's home here in the city. I want to be a better person after being with her, I want to do more to help those around me. I will never forget her kindness and humility.
-Sunday we had the opportunity to attend the international ward with our new dear friends the Murray's. the talks in sacrament meeting were about the importance of family and they were just what I needed to hear. Although I miss my little family at home so badly, my heart is at peace because I know the sacrifice of this time away will be worth it for all of us. I can't wait for my little girls to finally get to play together, I just get so excited when I think of all the adventures we will have together. From lazy days where we stay in our pajamas and play, to trips back east and to the west coast to visit
friends and play on the beach.
Wayne has been good to send me pictures and videos of my silly girls at home. They make me laugh and smile even when I'm thousands of miles away.
-Staying with the Murray's is quite the treat. When I told a friend that knows Sally that we were staying with her, he replied "it's a good thing Wayne has your girls as collateral or you might not have returned home". Ha ha, yes he knew how good she would be treating us here. She is like a long lost mother to Becky and I while we are so far from home. Some day I hope Becky and I can get together with our moms and our "Moscow mom", I know they would love Sally as much as we do and be so grateful to her for watching out for their baby girls. I just hope Sally's house is still standing by the time we leave. Yesterday Becky and I blew the circuit in her garage due to our exercise regimen using the elliptical, treadmill, television and two heaters. Then at lunch I burned Becky's grilled cheese sandwich. We will see what I manage to destroy today. Ha ha. Anyone that knows me well knows I tend to be a bit on the accident prone side of things.
-We have been able to have some great talks with our facilitator Alla and I respect and admire her so much. She is a hero in every sense of the word and I plan to keep in touch with her forever. I wish we could bring her and her family back to the states with us. I really hope she will be able to come visit us and we can show her our part of the United States. Very different from her visit to New York City.
-On our previous trips to Russia we weren't able to sight see very much. It's been amazing to spend more time out and about. Yes I wish it was a bit warmer, but everything is so beautiful with a blanket of snow. I wish Wayne could be here to enjoy all the sights and especially to see the small town girl he married brave the Moscow metro. I really am a different person after this past year. I joke that before all this I didn't dare call the neighbor to see if I could borrow and egg, and look at me now. Doing news stories and confronting governmental officials. This mammas heart of mine has proven much more brave than I could have ever imagined. It all started 3 1/2 years ago when our little 1 pound miracle joined our family. I was changed forever. Any way, I digress. This country has so much history and I just thirst to learn more about it. I want to be able to teach my girls about the place their sister came from.
- I have had three wonderful visits with Jaymi and with each visit we are getting more and more attached. She is always giving me loves, just because she wants to, not because she is asked to. It really is so tender and brings so much peace to my heart that things will be okay once we leave the children's home together. Throughout this whole process one of my greatest fears has been that week after we take her from the children's home and we are finishing up paperwork in order to come home. I just didn't know how hard it would be to take her from the only life she has ever known. After these past couple weeks I feel more confident that she will be okay during the transition because of the bond we are beginning to form. Instead of fear, I now feel great anticipation and excitement for that day and week I will get to have her all to myself. I get to be the person that shows her this beautiful city she has lived in her whole life. I get to be her window to the great big beautiful world that is waiting for her. Such an honor and a privilege.
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| She was thrilled when I pulled out the flower clips to put in her hair. |
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| Her favorite thing in the magic backpack today was the notepad from the hotel. She is pretty easy to please. |
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| The beautiful tree in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. I love the angels. |
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| A wedding party outside the cathedral. |
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| Love this blue building across the street from the Pushkin Museum |
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| Pushkin museum |
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| The Cathedral of Christ the Savior. It was much bigger than I imagined and very beautiful and spacious inside |
-Sunday we had the opportunity to attend the international ward with our new dear friends the Murray's. the talks in sacrament meeting were about the importance of family and they were just what I needed to hear. Although I miss my little family at home so badly, my heart is at peace because I know the sacrifice of this time away will be worth it for all of us. I can't wait for my little girls to finally get to play together, I just get so excited when I think of all the adventures we will have together. From lazy days where we stay in our pajamas and play, to trips back east and to the west coast to visit
friends and play on the beach.
Wayne has been good to send me pictures and videos of my silly girls at home. They make me laugh and smile even when I'm thousands of miles away.
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| Kaelyn still loves her piano and played me some songs on skype last night. |
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| Yep, every toy they own is scattered throughout the house. Gotta love it. |
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| Apparently Bryn is all grown up and lounging about on the couch. |
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| CHEESE! |
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| Sally and Steve took us to the Moscow equivalent of a super target. It was pretty impressive, its inside a nice mall too. We will be hanging out there tomorrow, yes we feel like teenagers again asking Sally to drop us off at the mall. |
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| Becky and I were working out in Sally's garage until we blew the circuit and had to head over to the community center. |
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| Sally trying to make a snowball to throw at me. Luckily the snow is just powder so she did not succeed! |
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| Sally showing of her mad skills on the lanes. They were so kind to invite Becky and I to the Tuesday night bowling extravaganza! |
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| Becky bowling away, check out that follow through! |
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| Thats me whipping that ball down the lane, check out my hair blowing in the wind. |
-We have been able to have some great talks with our facilitator Alla and I respect and admire her so much. She is a hero in every sense of the word and I plan to keep in touch with her forever. I wish we could bring her and her family back to the states with us. I really hope she will be able to come visit us and we can show her our part of the United States. Very different from her visit to New York City.
-On our previous trips to Russia we weren't able to sight see very much. It's been amazing to spend more time out and about. Yes I wish it was a bit warmer, but everything is so beautiful with a blanket of snow. I wish Wayne could be here to enjoy all the sights and especially to see the small town girl he married brave the Moscow metro. I really am a different person after this past year. I joke that before all this I didn't dare call the neighbor to see if I could borrow and egg, and look at me now. Doing news stories and confronting governmental officials. This mammas heart of mine has proven much more brave than I could have ever imagined. It all started 3 1/2 years ago when our little 1 pound miracle joined our family. I was changed forever. Any way, I digress. This country has so much history and I just thirst to learn more about it. I want to be able to teach my girls about the place their sister came from.
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| We saw a number of people rubbing this statue of this dog. Found out later that it was for good luck. |
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| I decided to join the club, but I don't know if my luck has kicked in yet. |
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| We did some window shopping in the Bosco store at the Gum mall on Red Square. I saw a coat I liked and we checked out the price tag...$1,200!!!! Yikes, no wonder we were the only ones in the store. |
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| This is me inside the Gum Mall, its HUGE! There are 3-4 big hallways like this. |
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The ball is rolling
So we got great news yesterday that our court decided to make the decision now to give us our needed documents rather than waiting until next week! We are so excited because this will get us home a week sooner than we were initially told and now we don't have to spend all weekend wondering if there was going to be something else come up to keep us here even longer. It was definitely an answer to many prayers. I'm really missing my family back home and can't wait until we are all back together again.
As always Becky has been slaving away on her blog, keeping such a great record so rather than recap it all, I'll send you over there. Ha ha, yes I'm being lazy. Our friend told Wayne he could just picture me lounging about eating grapes while Becky is putting in the hard work on the blog, and that pretty much sums it up. I'm the entertainment and she is the public relations in our duo. That's what she gets for being so good at it.
http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/celebration.html?m=1
She did however forget to tell you about our day on Wednesday. You see lately I've been the one causing a ruckess where ever we go but Tuesday was her day in the limelight. I have to admit it was nice for me. Ha ha.
So it started when we were walking around the GUM mall. It's this fancy high end mall right on red square. We were looking around in this gadget shop and were turning around to head out and Becky knocked over a display of about 13 containers of ribbon and bows. We quickly started picking them all up cracking up while doing so.
Then a bit later we were in our favorite store. It's a british called Accessorize. Kind of like a Claire's but much cuter, every time we go to the mall it just sucks us in. It's where she found the cute Russian had for Gabe. So while she was checking out she saw a cute nesting doll Santa so she picked it up to see the dolls inside. When she picked it up the bottom fell off and the pieces went flying all over the floor.
I quickly hit the ground trying to pick them up and I couldn't quite reach one that had gone between the feet of a woman that was waiting in line. When I looked up at her just staring at me like I was complete idiot down on the ground I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe. She didn't even budge an inch. When I got back up and handed the piece to Becky we saw that it had cracked. Becky tried explaining to the teller that she would pay for it but the lady just examined it, gave us "the look" and set it aside. Becky handed her the cash to pay for the hat and the lady stuck out her hand and said something in Russian. Becky asked if it was on sale because she thought she had given her enough. Then the lady said, 20 rubles. She was asking for exact change.
It's funny because everyone here wants you to pay with exact change. So different from the states where I almost feel silly when I give exact change for something. I rarely pay for things with cash so it's just different. We are definitely brushing up on our math skills, always trying to convert rubles to dollars. I still feel like I'm paying with Monopoly money. For instance if something costs 3,000 rubles, that means its $100 US dollars. So I'll be carrying around a wad of 100 rubles bills and think I'm so rich and then I do the math and its only like $20.
To top if off when we walked out the door the alarm went off and they had to pull all the stuff out of my bag to make sure I wasn't stealing anything. At that point we were so embarrassed we just wanted out of that place. Good times indeed. I was so excited to report Becky's blunders to Sally when she picked us up and let her know its not just me doing all the crazy things over here. We had a good laugh.
Here are some pictures from the produce market we went to yesterday and the bag of goodies I got to bring home and take to the kids at Jaymi's orphanage to go with their blankets.
We are hoping to pick the kids up by Tuesday and will most likely be home the following Wednesday.
As always Becky has been slaving away on her blog, keeping such a great record so rather than recap it all, I'll send you over there. Ha ha, yes I'm being lazy. Our friend told Wayne he could just picture me lounging about eating grapes while Becky is putting in the hard work on the blog, and that pretty much sums it up. I'm the entertainment and she is the public relations in our duo. That's what she gets for being so good at it.
http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/celebration.html?m=1
She did however forget to tell you about our day on Wednesday. You see lately I've been the one causing a ruckess where ever we go but Tuesday was her day in the limelight. I have to admit it was nice for me. Ha ha.
So it started when we were walking around the GUM mall. It's this fancy high end mall right on red square. We were looking around in this gadget shop and were turning around to head out and Becky knocked over a display of about 13 containers of ribbon and bows. We quickly started picking them all up cracking up while doing so.
Then a bit later we were in our favorite store. It's a british called Accessorize. Kind of like a Claire's but much cuter, every time we go to the mall it just sucks us in. It's where she found the cute Russian had for Gabe. So while she was checking out she saw a cute nesting doll Santa so she picked it up to see the dolls inside. When she picked it up the bottom fell off and the pieces went flying all over the floor.
I quickly hit the ground trying to pick them up and I couldn't quite reach one that had gone between the feet of a woman that was waiting in line. When I looked up at her just staring at me like I was complete idiot down on the ground I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe. She didn't even budge an inch. When I got back up and handed the piece to Becky we saw that it had cracked. Becky tried explaining to the teller that she would pay for it but the lady just examined it, gave us "the look" and set it aside. Becky handed her the cash to pay for the hat and the lady stuck out her hand and said something in Russian. Becky asked if it was on sale because she thought she had given her enough. Then the lady said, 20 rubles. She was asking for exact change.
It's funny because everyone here wants you to pay with exact change. So different from the states where I almost feel silly when I give exact change for something. I rarely pay for things with cash so it's just different. We are definitely brushing up on our math skills, always trying to convert rubles to dollars. I still feel like I'm paying with Monopoly money. For instance if something costs 3,000 rubles, that means its $100 US dollars. So I'll be carrying around a wad of 100 rubles bills and think I'm so rich and then I do the math and its only like $20.
To top if off when we walked out the door the alarm went off and they had to pull all the stuff out of my bag to make sure I wasn't stealing anything. At that point we were so embarrassed we just wanted out of that place. Good times indeed. I was so excited to report Becky's blunders to Sally when she picked us up and let her know its not just me doing all the crazy things over here. We had a good laugh.
Here are some pictures from the produce market we went to yesterday and the bag of goodies I got to bring home and take to the kids at Jaymi's orphanage to go with their blankets.
We are hoping to pick the kids up by Tuesday and will most likely be home the following Wednesday.
Tomorrow
Dear Jaymi,
Tomorrow is the day we have been waiting over a year for. I will leave my hotel around 10:30 and head to your orphanage to pick you up forever! It still feels unreal, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. I spent some time this afternoon reading through your blog. I'm so glad I took the time to write down our experiences on this journey to you, I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life.
I am going to do my best to record the events the rest of this week so we can always remember this special time. I wish your dad was here with me to experience this day and I can't wait till we arrive home and he can give you a great big hug!
Tomorrow is the beginning of these rest of our lives together as a family. We are so blessed.
Tomorrow is the day we have been waiting over a year for. I will leave my hotel around 10:30 and head to your orphanage to pick you up forever! It still feels unreal, but the more I think about it the more excited I get. I spent some time this afternoon reading through your blog. I'm so glad I took the time to write down our experiences on this journey to you, I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life.
I am going to do my best to record the events the rest of this week so we can always remember this special time. I wish your dad was here with me to experience this day and I can't wait till we arrive home and he can give you a great big hug!
Tomorrow is the beginning of these rest of our lives together as a family. We are so blessed.
Last trip to the children's home
Dear Jaymi Viktoria,
Exactly one year ago today I wrote this on your blog;
"Let me just tell you that miracles are happening in your's and our behalves. I do not use that word lightly, they truly ARE miracles. I can't give all the details yet, but just know that you are so loved and that Heavenly Father is watching out for you and your new family like we could have never imagined. We are in His hands and he is taking care of EVERYTHING, from the simple to the massive details of this journey. The prayers of many are being answered every day. So many people were praying that your family would find you, I truly believe the promptings we have received to go forward with this are answers to those prayers. Strangers to both you and I, prayers that we would find each other were answered."
I could never have imagined how many more miracles we had yet to see when I wrote that post. Reading it today is a tender mercy and sweet reminder of the faith we had from the very beginning of this process and how our Father in Heaven took that faith and multiplied it.
I'm sitting in the lobby waiting for our driver and facilitator to take me for my last drive to your orphanage. This time I won't have to leave you, we will leave holding hands. See you soon!
Love Mommy
Exactly one year ago today I wrote this on your blog;
"Let me just tell you that miracles are happening in your's and our behalves. I do not use that word lightly, they truly ARE miracles. I can't give all the details yet, but just know that you are so loved and that Heavenly Father is watching out for you and your new family like we could have never imagined. We are in His hands and he is taking care of EVERYTHING, from the simple to the massive details of this journey. The prayers of many are being answered every day. So many people were praying that your family would find you, I truly believe the promptings we have received to go forward with this are answers to those prayers. Strangers to both you and I, prayers that we would find each other were answered."
I could never have imagined how many more miracles we had yet to see when I wrote that post. Reading it today is a tender mercy and sweet reminder of the faith we had from the very beginning of this process and how our Father in Heaven took that faith and multiplied it.
I'm sitting in the lobby waiting for our driver and facilitator to take me for my last drive to your orphanage. This time I won't have to leave you, we will leave holding hands. See you soon!
Love Mommy
A New Life - February 5th
The day we have all been waiting for. Wow. I don’t quite have the words to express how this day went. Thankfully my new dear dear friend Becky was there and took the most amazing pictures. They tell the story much better than I ever could, but I’ll try my best.
We were scheduled to meet Alla our facilitator at 10:30 am in the lobby after she picked up our official decrees from the courthouse. At 11:40 we started getting worried because Alla is never late and she hadn't arrived yet. Becky ran up to the room to grab her cell phone incase Alla had tried to call. She was gone for what seemed like forever andI started wondering what could possibly be going wrong now. The judge had told Alla over the phone theday before that they would be ready to be picked up first thing in the morning. Becky came back down to the lobby and said she couldn’t find the phone, of course it took coming all the way back to forher to remember right where it was. We all know how that goes J So she went back up to the room and talked to our other in-country facilitator Marina. She told her that it was taking Alla longer than she expected to get everything, but that she did have the completed and signed decrees in her hand. Boy was that a relief. So we hung out in the lobby for a while longerand then decided to go wait it out in our room. I'll tell you those last couple of hours of waiting seemed to be the hardest for us. All I could do was pace around the room as I frequently looked out the window waiting for our silver car to arrive.
Initially the plan was to pick Jaymi up around 11:30, before lunch and naptime, drop us off at the hotel and take Becky to pick Gabe up around 4:00. Since Alla was delayed at the court house we had to change plans and go to pick Jaymi up first, it was about 2:00 when we got to her children’s home and then we drove straight to Gabe’s Baby house to get him. I'm so glad it worked out that we could be there for each other's pick up, it made it even more fun!
The drive to Jaymi’s baby house seemed so surreal. I had goosebumps and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, not that I wanted to, but I wouldn’t have been able to if I tried. Our first stop was a small grocery store to purchase our cakes to leave with the orphanage. In Jeana and Becky style we tried snapping a few photos of the momentous occasion and mid-click the security officer started shouting at us in Russian to stop, that we could not take pictures in the store. Oops, we weren’t aware of that rule, poor Alla had to try and explain to him but he was less than impressed. Luckily we were able to holdour giggling in until we got out of the store.
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| Our illegal photo, shh don't tell |
Next stop was the flower shop to purchase roses to go alongwith our beautiful cakes. Before gettingout of the car I assured Alla that I would not be taking any pictures in the flowershop. :) We had a good laugh, I’m sure Alla is not quite sure what to do with us silly mamma’s sometimes, but she is so good to us.
It is customary in Russia to present the orphanage staff with a cake and flowers to celebrate the day your pick up your children. It is also bad luck to give an even number of flowers in Russia. Which is kind of funny because they price the roses by the 10's, but you would never buy 10. I was also able to leave some necklaces with some of the caretakers to remember little Vika by. I will be sending them frequent updates on Jaymi Viktoria so they will be able to see how she is doing in our family. We have been so impressed by Jaymi’s orphanage and the loving people there we have met, I wish we could have left them a million dollars to build a state of the art facility for the children with special needs to live until they were all adopted by loving families. We will always pray for the people there and especially the dear children that have been Jaymi’s bestfriends and family for the last couple years.
Then it came, the familiar turn I’ve made 10 times over the last 8 months. You would never know her little children’s home was there unless you had been to it. It’s quietly tucked between tall apartment buildings and a park with a lake. We got out of the car and waited at the security checkpoint while he called us in. Alla laughed when he told the person on the other end of the call that Vika’s “American Mother” is here. The security guard walked us up to the door and helped me carry my big bag of blankets to leave for Vika’s group members up the four flights of stairs. We met in N’s office, the Children’s home social worker. She is the sweetest lady and even though we don’t speak each other’s language, it was apparent from the first day we visited Vika that she loves our little girl so much, and Vika loves her too. We will forever be grateful to N for her testimony in the courtroom back in December stating that she was in favor of our adoption and that she has seen that Vika has bonded with Wayne and I, especially Wayne J It didn’t matter that we didn’t speak the same language, we both know how much each of us loves this little girl. Love is something that you feel, something that you see in the eyes of another, love spoke to both of us and I will forever feel a connection to this sweet woman and appreciate the love she showed to my little girl over the past couple years.
We waited in her office for about 15 minutes while we completed some last bits of paperwork and while Jaymi’s care givers woke her from her nap and changed her into the new clothes I brought for her. I passed out the necklaces that I made/bought to the Director, Social worker and teacher. I had one necklace but wasn’t sure who I would give it to. Finally the door swung open and there was my little girl, dressed perfectly in the clothes I bought for her months ago. The most fitting was the sweater on top witha bird that said “Fly Free”. She announced her self the way she always does and ran over to me and I scooped her right up and gave her the biggest squeeze. We talked a bit more to the women in the room with us. The women that have loved and cared for Vika over the past couple years. It was so special to be in the same room with all of them, if only I could have spoken Russian and told them all that was in my heart. I would love to return to Russia one day with my whole family to show them all the beautiful city their sister Jaymi Viktoria is from and to meet upwith these beautiful women.
Vika went around giving hugs and “Paka Paka” (Goodbye’s) to everyone and we finished dressing her in her warm coat, hat and gloves. She was so excited to go outside. It was so touching to see the caregiver that brought Vika to us hold her little face in her hands and kiss her over and over. She then gave her the biggest hug as tears streamed down her face. I knew I needed to give her the last necklace. I will never forget the sight and the love that was felt for our special little girl in that room.
Vika and I grabbed each other’s hands and headed for the door. After going down a couple flights of stairs she looked up at he director and waved paka paka to her one last time. Once again I could see and feel the love this dear woman felt for my little girl. We made the long walk to the car following behind Alla and the Social Worker N. When we got through the big green gate I felt another rush of emotion as my little girl stepped out into this great big world, with me, her mama at her side. As we headed for the car we turned back for her to give N one last hug, that’s when I couldn’t keep the tears inside any more. As the car door shut N broke down and began to sob. I tried my best not to let Vika see me cry, but I couldn’t stop the tears. I was so over joyed that I was finally picking up my little girl, but my heart broke for the dear friends she was leaving behind and the caretakers that have grown to love her so much. After our first trip we left a book of pictures with N to take into Vika and show her each day so she would remember us the next time we came back. N told us that when she would look at the pictures with Vika she would cry because she missed us. Now I will be the one showing Jaymi pictures of these dear women often, so she never forgets those that loved and cared for her here in Russia.
As we drove away we pulled out the Matroyska doll that the orphanage sent home with us for our other girls, such a sweet and tender gift. Then we pulled out the cute baby doll and backpack they sent for Vika to remember them by. Oh how she loves her dolly, it will always be keepsake to be treasured.
In the car we all headed to Gabe’s orphanage for his patient mama to pick him up. Vika and I waited in the car with Igor our driver and listened so some Colbie Calait on my cellphone. It was such an amazing site to see that cute little boy bust out of the orphanage doors with his mama. He got in the car and went on and on about the beep, beep, beep we were riding in. As soon as Vika saw him she got so excited and gave him a big hug and a kiss! Oh how it melted my heart. Another tender mercy to come out of this waiting period is that Jaymi and Gabe have each other to play with while we finish up and head back to the states. Seeing them together after all this time is so special. Gabe had us all laughing hysterically on the drive back to the hotel. My face quite literally began to hurt alittle from smiling and laughing we were doing. It was awesome!!
Before dropping us off at our hotel we stopped at a metro stop for Alla to get out. Before she gotout of the car she told us that today was the start of a “New Life” for our little ones. When she got out of the car and looked back the kids were both chating away on their mama’s phones. It was so cute.
Igor dropped us off at our hotel and we walked hand in hand up to our rooms with our kids. We were lucky to get adjoining rooms and so the kids played and explored together. Both kids absolutely loved their time in the tub. We were a little worried about whether they would like baths because it’s not likely that they had them often, if at all in the orphanage. Thankfully they both had a great time and they ask to take baths multiple times throughout the day. It feels so good to finally have them with us. It almost feels like we are living a dream, thankfully one that we never have to wake up from!
Here’s to a NEW LIFE for all of us!
New Life - Day 2
Today was a nice chill day here at the hotel. We didn’t have any appointments to attend so we spent lots of time playing, eating and snuggling. The kids were both up and ready to go by 6:00 am so we got an early start to the day. We got the kids dressed and ready and headed down to breakfast in the hotel. The Marriott hotel we are staying at has an adoption rate that includes a big breakfast buffet so we have lots of choices each day. Vika is such a good little eater and feeds herself just fine. She has learned some very good skills at the orphanage and will be a great example to her little sisters at home when it comes to dressing, feeding herself, throwing trash away and cleaning up her toys and clothes. She makes sure we are keeping our hotel room nice and tidy. She is such a Bolshoi “big” girl.
We bundled the kids all up and went for a little walk around the block to grab something at the store. It was fun to get out and about. Gabe loved playing in the snow, we were afraid he wasn’t going to come back inside.
This afternoon we did a television interview with the Russian station that has been following our story from the first day we got here. It was so fun to show them our kids and to be able to finish the series with a happy ending. The kids were both hamming it up for the cameraman. Gabe pretty much broke out in song and dance for the camera and had us all laughing. The reporter told me when she left she was so glad she got to report a happy story, because most of the stories she does do not end the way ours did. She is hoping that our story will inspire change and soften peoples hearts when it comes to the children living in orphanages.
Here is a link to the news story, incase any of you speak Russian :) Or just to see our cute kids in action. http://ria.ru/tv_society/
Here are links to the other videos this same agency did of our story.
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130118/918649720.html
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130123/919362288.html
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Today the kids woke up at 6:00 am again so we got right up and headed down to breakfast. Yesterday at breakfast Gabe got so excited when he saw the chef come out in his big white hat and at one point hopped out of his chair and ran over to him to get a closer look at him. So today when he walked out and Gabe shouted out to him he waved at us and brought the kids chef hats of their own. They were so happy!
At 9:30 Alla picked us up and we had the kids checked out by a doctor for part of our Embassy paperwork. He gave me a bit of a scolding for wanting to comfort Vika when she started crying during the examination. He continued with quite the lecture about how if I babied her she would be crying all the time when I got her home. He did make a few good points, but his ideas were a bit extreme for this mama's heart. I understand where he was coming from, but I didn't let it make me feel bad at all, as I don't think those were his intentions.
After the doctor we went to the photographer to get the kids passport photos taken. It was so funny because when they told Vika to smile for the picture she bit her bottom lip just like she did in the picture on the top of the blog. Thats one of the first things Wayne commented about when I showed him her picture early on because she did it in both of the pictures we had seen of her. He will be happy to see her showing the same face on her Russian passport. After the photos were taken we went to the passport office to turn in all our paperwork. Thats when things got tricky :)
The kids were getting pretty hyped up when we got there and wanted to do some exploring. Becky and Alla went into the office while I stayed in the waiting area with the two kids. The first 15 seconds went well as we held hands and did a game of ring around the rosies, except when we all "bent down" Gabe got loose of my grip on his hand and bolted for the door into another hall. Holding Vika's hand we darted after him, but I knew if I let go of her I would lose her too, so I picked her up and ran after him. When I turned the corner I couldn't see him so I poked my head in a room full of ladies, didn't see him, so I went back in the hallway and panic struck. Mind you this was all in a matter of 15 seconds. Thankfully one of the ladies called out to me and pointed to the corner and lo and behold was the little guy just hiding in the corner acting like everything was cool. I grabbed his hand and said "niet" many many times as we walked back to the waiting area. Becky's husband Brian has asked me many many times not to lose his wife while we are here, but he forgot to remind me not to lose his son! Thankfully I was able to get in about 10 more minutes of ring around the rosies until Alla and Becky came back. As I went in to sign my papers I was sure to caution Becky to not let go of either of them for even a second.
We made it back to the hotel around 2:00, had a late lunch and then we were all able to take a much needed nap. After naps we played, watched some Russian Disney channel and Becky headed over to the grocery store next door to find somethings for dinner. Little did we know she would come back with the workings for a gourmet meal that we prepared in the hotel coffee pot. We served pasta noodles with spaghetti sauce, roast chicken, yummy bread, carrot/celery sticks, banana and cucumbers. It hit the spot for all of us! We will have to send her shopping more often.
Here are links to the other videos this same agency did of our story.
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130118/918649720.html
http://ria.ru/tv_society/20130123/919362288.html
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| Reading her documents. She loves little pieces of paper and anything that looks "important". |
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| Bundeling up for our adventure outside. She's looks like she's dressed and ready to hit the ski slopes with Daddy soon! |
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| All geared up for her breakfast fit for a king. She is so good to sit and wait for me to bring her some breakfast. She loves just about anything I bring her. Oatmeal, bacon, fruit, juice, bread, eggs and so much more! |
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| Look at the nutella covered face welcoming me when I got back from picking up some dinner at the grocery store. To say she LOVED it was an understatement. |
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| Tucked nicely in her bed, it takes a little convincing to get her to go to sleep, nothing a few primary songs can't handle though :) |
Thursday, February 7, 2013
New Life - Day 3
Today the kids woke up at 6:00 am again so we got right up and headed down to breakfast. Yesterday at breakfast Gabe got so excited when he saw the chef come out in his big white hat and at one point hopped out of his chair and ran over to him to get a closer look at him. So today when he walked out and Gabe shouted out to him he waved at us and brought the kids chef hats of their own. They were so happy!
After the doctor we went to the photographer to get the kids passport photos taken. It was so funny because when they told Vika to smile for the picture she bit her bottom lip just like she did in the picture on the top of the blog. Thats one of the first things Wayne commented about when I showed him her picture early on because she did it in both of the pictures we had seen of her. He will be happy to see her showing the same face on her Russian passport. After the photos were taken we went to the passport office to turn in all our paperwork. Thats when things got tricky :)
The kids were getting pretty hyped up when we got there and wanted to do some exploring. Becky and Alla went into the office while I stayed in the waiting area with the two kids. The first 15 seconds went well as we held hands and did a game of ring around the rosies, except when we all "bent down" Gabe got loose of my grip on his hand and bolted for the door into another hall. Holding Vika's hand we darted after him, but I knew if I let go of her I would lose her too, so I picked her up and ran after him. When I turned the corner I couldn't see him so I poked my head in a room full of ladies, didn't see him, so I went back in the hallway and panic struck. Mind you this was all in a matter of 15 seconds. Thankfully one of the ladies called out to me and pointed to the corner and lo and behold was the little guy just hiding in the corner acting like everything was cool. I grabbed his hand and said "niet" many many times as we walked back to the waiting area. Becky's husband Brian has asked me many many times not to lose his wife while we are here, but he forgot to remind me not to lose his son! Thankfully I was able to get in about 10 more minutes of ring around the rosies until Alla and Becky came back. As I went in to sign my papers I was sure to caution Becky to not let go of either of them for even a second.
We made it back to the hotel around 2:00, had a late lunch and then we were all able to take a much needed nap. After naps we played, watched some Russian Disney channel and Becky headed over to the grocery store next door to find somethings for dinner. Little did we know she would come back with the workings for a gourmet meal that we prepared in the hotel coffee pot. We served pasta noodles with spaghetti sauce, roast chicken, yummy bread, carrot/celery sticks, banana and cucumbers. It hit the spot for all of us! We will have to send her shopping more often.
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| Becky slaving away over the coffee pot |
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| Check out that spread! As Gabe would put it, "Yum, Yum" |
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| The kids and I played a nice game of balloon ball while Becky was at the store. |
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| Vika loves to brush my hair, she always gives me a big hug afterwards. She is so patient and sits very still when I do her hair. I LOVE doing little girls hair so I'm excited for another head of hair to do. |
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| Getting ready for bed, Jaymi thought it was time to take another picture so she got the camera all ready. Good night! *In case you were confused, we call her both Jaymi and Vika. She goes by Vika now, but we plan to transition to Jaymi. If I point to her and say Jaymi, she says "Da". We will probably always keep her nickname Vika though, its just so fun to say. "Veee-ka" |
Friday, February 8, 2013
New Life - Day 4
Today we had another chill day here at the hotel without any outside appointments. We began the day at 6:00 am again even though its still pitch dark until around 10:00 am, the kids keep waking up early early. I was too tired to climb out of bed that early so I pulled out my google translate app and practiced some Russian words on Vika. It was so cute, when I would say a word her face would light up and she would give me a hug. I wish I would have learned more Russian throughout the year, but I will keep practicing and learning. Anyone aware of a "Russian for speaking with small children program"? kind of like signing time, with pictures and using the words kids and parents need to communicate with? That would be awesome.
Instead of heading right down to breakfast today we decided to eat a few things we had in our room and have more of a bunch around 10:00. Becky and I stayed up way too late last night blogging, skyping, instagraming, face booking, you name it, so just didn't have the strength to head right out. Luckily Becky was able to get a bit more sleep while I played with the kids in my room. We had a great time watching Bob the Builder in Russian, doing performances in the curtains, they think its a stage, and singing head, shoulders, knees and toes. I also used this time to practice more Russian in the children. They really do love it when we try to speak Russian to them. Becky and I laughed today about the silly way we communicate with them mixing the few Russian words we know with English. Gabe's favorite thing to do is clean, cheesta, so today I was asking the kids if they were "cheestaing" the bathroom. Ha ha, we are trying. It is amazing how well we can communicate with the kids though, it's much easier in that regard than I expected.
Then after we got back from the hotel "brunch" we played, played and played some more. Both kids LOVE taking baths and ask to do it all day long. Vika kept asking and then insisting that I give her a bath and I just kept telling her "later" in Russian. She was not very happy with me, but got over it fairly quickly. We spent a good amount of time playing "Balloon Ball". We all get really excited when the static makes it stick to the ceiling and one of the kiddos has to knock it down. I made Vika go to the bathroom mid-game because she was laughing so hard I was afraid she was going to wet her pants. Nothing in the world like laughing so hard your sides hurt!
Once we finished nap time I was able to show her why she had to wait, we were taking them swimming in the hotel pool. It was so fun to see them experience another first. Gabe was extra brave and got in the big, cold pool with Becky. Vika was intimidated by the big pool so we just go in the baby, warm pool. She wasn't quite sure about it at first but then she ended up loving it. I think she will really enjoy the little splash pool in our neighborhood. Both my girls at home love spending the hot summer days there, and so does their mom. It's nice to have somewhere to cool down and lounge in the sun so close to home.
After the pool we came back up to the room and Vika got that bath she had been waiting for all day. I can't wait to put all three of my little girls in my big tub at home. They are going to have a blast and Vika can show them how to wash their body and shampoo their hair.
We were so lucky this evening to get to meet up with a local couple here that also belong to our church. It was so inspiring to hear their conversion stories and to be reminded of how blessed we are to have been raised in the gospel. It was so fun to visit with them, they spoke beautiful English. The kids loved talking to them in Russian. We all got a good laugh when I told them I was using the word das to tell Vika good. I figured that if das vedanya meant good bye, then das was good in russian. Ha ha, I guess not. Das is a lot easier to say than the real word, but they taught it to me and I will keep practicing so I can tell Jaymi how good she is doing :) Thanks to the Aland family for putting us in contact with each other. It was another drop of sweet blessings we have enjoyed during our time here in Moscow.
We finished off the night with a mommy daughter pedicure and Skype with Daddy as Vika drifted off to sleep. I also went to sleep shortly after and had a wonderful nights rest. Vika slept soundly until almost 8:00 in the morning, such a nice gift to her mama. As I lay in bed at night I feel like my soul is about to burst from being so incredibly happy inside. It's amazing how the through this process we have gone from one extreme of happiness to the complete opposite of sadness many time, yet the happiness I feel now infinitely outweighs it all. I'm so grateful for the many miracles we have witnessed over the past year, and I know there was many more being made that I don't even know about. We have been so blessed, so blessed.
Instead of heading right down to breakfast today we decided to eat a few things we had in our room and have more of a bunch around 10:00. Becky and I stayed up way too late last night blogging, skyping, instagraming, face booking, you name it, so just didn't have the strength to head right out. Luckily Becky was able to get a bit more sleep while I played with the kids in my room. We had a great time watching Bob the Builder in Russian, doing performances in the curtains, they think its a stage, and singing head, shoulders, knees and toes. I also used this time to practice more Russian in the children. They really do love it when we try to speak Russian to them. Becky and I laughed today about the silly way we communicate with them mixing the few Russian words we know with English. Gabe's favorite thing to do is clean, cheesta, so today I was asking the kids if they were "cheestaing" the bathroom. Ha ha, we are trying. It is amazing how well we can communicate with the kids though, it's much easier in that regard than I expected.
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| Having fun with pipe cleaner. Grabbed these last minute at the grocery store and they have proven worthy of all kinds of excitement |
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| Gabe "Cheestaing" my bath tub |
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| They love trapsing around in the hotel provided slippers |
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| Gabe vacuuming our carpet with the puppy dog leash backpack thing |
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| More cheestaing. |
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| Modeling her first ever swimsuit! |
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| "Who wants to go swimming?!?" |
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| Look at that little fish |
We were so lucky this evening to get to meet up with a local couple here that also belong to our church. It was so inspiring to hear their conversion stories and to be reminded of how blessed we are to have been raised in the gospel. It was so fun to visit with them, they spoke beautiful English. The kids loved talking to them in Russian. We all got a good laugh when I told them I was using the word das to tell Vika good. I figured that if das vedanya meant good bye, then das was good in russian. Ha ha, I guess not. Das is a lot easier to say than the real word, but they taught it to me and I will keep practicing so I can tell Jaymi how good she is doing :) Thanks to the Aland family for putting us in contact with each other. It was another drop of sweet blessings we have enjoyed during our time here in Moscow.
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| Her first experience in a restaurant. She ate mashed potatoes, sausages, orange juice, bread and tried some of my pizza |
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| Our picture with Renat and Elena |
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| Now we have matching toe nails |
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| She sat perfectly still while I painted her nail until they were dry |
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| Munchin down on some gold fish crackers! Wait till she sees the huge box of these babies we have at home! |
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| Jaymi has been toting this hotel copy of the Book of Mormon around everywhere. She is going to be quite the little missionary! |
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| Gabe straight up told his mom to put Vika's pony tail holder in his hair. When she tried to fix it he gave her the stomp an finger wave, he didn't want it messed with. |
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| Hey had to go straight to the bathroom to check it out. |
After naps we had two special visitors. First "Babushka Sally", their Russian grandmother. She is the American lady Becky and I stayed with last week. So not really Russian at all, but she does know a few words and has some serious hookups at Ismylova market! She came with a bag of tricks that included Subway sandwiches for us mamas and a McDonalds happy meal for the kids to share. She even chose the healthy sides of carrot sticks and apples, such a responsible lady. Boy did the kids get a kick out of her! I think she just might be in the running for the World's Funnest Babushka! She was tickling, giving pony rides, providing a head of hair for brushing. It was just too fun.
New Life - Day 6
Late last night I got a message from our new friends Renat and Elena inviting us to church with them today. They offered to come over early to help get the kids ready and take us with them via the metro. We hadn't really decided what the plan was for Sunday, but I decided that it would be a special experience to take Jaymi to her first ever church meeting right here in the city she was born in. So I wrote back telling them I was in!
When we got up and went in Becky's room it looked like she was going to die. Poor thing was so sick, so I told her to keep sleeping, the kids and I would go down to breakfast and hangout in my room. Then after seeing how sick she really was I asked if we could take Gabe with us to church so she could rest.
Breakfast went well, both kids were great! When we got back to the room we got the baths going. Wow it's been a while since I got two kids ready for church, good thing we had a couple hours to do it. It's even trickier here because after you get them ready, you then have to gear them up in their snow clothes. Pants, gloves, sweaters, extra socks, tights, scarves, hats and a coat. Then you have to book it outside before the kids start sweating to death. Thankfully Renat and Elena were there to help with that part. Of course in true little boy fashion, the second we get Gabe all decked out and ready to walk out the door he informs us he needs to go to the bathroom. Thankfully his little snow bibs unzip so we didn't have to completely undressed his cold gear layers. We had a good chuckle when they were unzipped and it looked like he was wearing a long brown dress. Of course he didn't have to go potty once we got him in the bathroom. At least we got a laugh out of it.
As we were walking out the hotel lobby I told Elena we were being VERY brave. I would have to say taking two kids to their first three hour church meeting in a Russian speaking ward is probably the bravest thing I've done here ;). Thank goodness I had good help.
We walked a good 20 minutes to the metro stop. Gabe took about two steps and decided he wasn't walking anywhere, so Renat carried him the whole way. Jaymi walked more than half the way. I would carry her for a bit, switch hips, carry her a bit longer and then I had to set her down because my back was killing me. She is a heavy little girl. I was so proud of her for walking so far. I have even noticed an improvement in her gate over the last week. Gabe is a quick little guy and is a good example when it comes to gross motor skills. She has also improved her stair climbing skills with all the practice we get. She can walk up the using one foot per step where before she would step on each stair with both feet before moving on to the next one.
Once we made it to that infamous red "M" we headed inside to the worlds longest escalators. Vika was pretty scared going down so I held her close a kept telling her we were going to the choo choo. When the train pulled in it was apparent the kids were pretty nervous. Just like the first time Becky and I braved the metro a few weeks back. The car was pretty full but luckily we found seats. Trying to ride the metro standing should be an Olympic event!
When we started going the kids looked pretty freaked out so we started doing choo choo sounds and it didn't take long for them to join in. Every time it stopped they would start chanting choo choo and making their little train motions. It was too cute. There was a cute lady that across from us that was just so sweet with the kids. The three of us were just loving seeing the kids soak up their first time riding the world famous Moscow Metro. I'm glad they got to experience it. It was strange to me how just about everyone else on the train just kept up with their straight faced, blank stares ahead. I mean really, not even two of the worlds cutest kids having the time of their lives on their first choo choo ride doesn't make you smile? I just don't understand. At all. Then when it was time for our stop Gabe was not happy we were getting off the train and her threw a bit of a tantrum. At that point I thought, "Oh dear, what have I done?" Luckily he was distracted and did well moving on to the next adventure.
When we got to the church building the first people we saw were the same sister missionaries we met our first week there. One of them talked that first week and what she spoke about really brought comfort to Becky and I. I pretty much cried through her whole talk as she spoke of how much our father in heaven loves us and is aware of us. Of course the kids ran up to them and gave them both hugs. They told us they had been praying for us and our children the whole month and were so glad to see that things worked out. I'm guessing that's why the kids hugged them, they knew they were part of the reason they were now with their mamas.
Being at that meeting felt like we had come full circle from where we were four weeks before. Then we were sitting in that chapel trying desperately to fight the fear that we may not return home with our children, to now feeling the pure love of Christ as these precious souls were sitting right there in the room next to me. I know Heavenly Father knew that is how it would end up and in his infinite wisdom he prompted that sister missionary to remind us of his love.
The kids were just awesome during the whole thing. They were the most well behaved kids there. I did teach Renat and Elena a very important lesson in church attendance with small children. It is a lesson I myself have recently learned with little Bryn. You feed them snacks for an hour straight. You can get about 30 minutes out of a serving of gold fish crackers and another 30 minutes out of fruit snacks, apple sauce packets and a drink. I like to try and get 15-25 seconds out of each piece of food, so that requires some creativity like the airplane to mouth maneuver or pretending you are going to eat it. Yes there is a science to it. Timing was perfect because it was right during lunch time.
They both also loved the hymns that we sung. Vika got a kick out of me signing "in Russian" as I made up my own words. The speakers were senior missionary couples from the states so it was all in English with a Russian interpreter this time, rather than vice versa. The sister talked about something that has been very near and dear to my heart over the past few weeks. I even wrote a journal entry in this very topic on the flight over to Russia. I'll have to post it on here later.
After sacrament I took the kids to primary. I figured they would love interacting with the other kids and hearing the stories of Jesus in Russian. Sadly when we got their the other kids didn't pay much attention to them. It did hurt my mama heart a little, but these two are so loving it didn't make them feel bad. They just kept being sweet and kind even though it didn't seem to be reciprocated. I'm guessing the kids had never seen children with Down syndrome before, so they didn't know how to react, engage with them, and I can't blame them for that. I hope they did have an impression on them and maybe some day they will look back on the two orphans that had parents chose them, because they are special too.
Like I said, Jaymi and Gabe were the best behaved in primary too. They sat quietly and listened to everything the teacher said. When she asked if someone would volunteer to say the opening prayer who was the only one to raise their hand? Mr. Gabe. Then when the next class began and the teacher asked for a volunteer to come up and say the prayer Jaymi hopped right up and stood by the teacher. Another girl came and said the prayer but the teacher was really cute with Jaymi and held her hands and made her feel included. To top if off and get me giggling uncontrollably the teacher asked for someone to come by her and read a scripture. Gabe jumped off my lap and sat down on hers and recited his little Christmas poem with the biggest smile on his cute little face. Another example of me being the only one getting a kick out of it while everyone else except the cute, kind teacher sitting straight faced. There is just such a cultural difference here that I have a hard time with. Part of me really wonders if its because of their Down syndrome. I hate to even think about it, but we have had a few instances when it's pretty obvious that is the case. It breaks my heart. These children are so precious and so so smart! But for everyone bad experience we have have twice as many good experiences where someone has gone out of their way to thank us, congratulate us and interact warmly with our kids. Thank goodness for the loving examples of these little ones to spread love rather than anger, because the mamma bear in me just wants to be just as rude back to people that look down on my daughter. She reminds me that it's love that teaches and changes the world, not anger and unkindness.
Thankfully we found a couple that drove out of their way to take us back to our hotel in their car so the kids didn't have to walk back from the metro. It worked out perfectly and was so much fun getting to spend another day with our friends and the kids getting to be surrounded by the Russian language.
To finish out the evening the kids and I got to visit with another adoptive mom Whitney in our region that is here picking up her cute little guy tomorrow. She was so kind to the kids and let them kid proof test her room and play with all the sweet toys she brought for her son. They had a great time once again enjoying the simple pleasures in this new life of theirs and letting me come along for the ride.
When we got up and went in Becky's room it looked like she was going to die. Poor thing was so sick, so I told her to keep sleeping, the kids and I would go down to breakfast and hangout in my room. Then after seeing how sick she really was I asked if we could take Gabe with us to church so she could rest.
Breakfast went well, both kids were great! When we got back to the room we got the baths going. Wow it's been a while since I got two kids ready for church, good thing we had a couple hours to do it. It's even trickier here because after you get them ready, you then have to gear them up in their snow clothes. Pants, gloves, sweaters, extra socks, tights, scarves, hats and a coat. Then you have to book it outside before the kids start sweating to death. Thankfully Renat and Elena were there to help with that part. Of course in true little boy fashion, the second we get Gabe all decked out and ready to walk out the door he informs us he needs to go to the bathroom. Thankfully his little snow bibs unzip so we didn't have to completely undressed his cold gear layers. We had a good chuckle when they were unzipped and it looked like he was wearing a long brown dress. Of course he didn't have to go potty once we got him in the bathroom. At least we got a laugh out of it.
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| Who's ready to go to church? |
We walked a good 20 minutes to the metro stop. Gabe took about two steps and decided he wasn't walking anywhere, so Renat carried him the whole way. Jaymi walked more than half the way. I would carry her for a bit, switch hips, carry her a bit longer and then I had to set her down because my back was killing me. She is a heavy little girl. I was so proud of her for walking so far. I have even noticed an improvement in her gate over the last week. Gabe is a quick little guy and is a good example when it comes to gross motor skills. She has also improved her stair climbing skills with all the practice we get. She can walk up the using one foot per step where before she would step on each stair with both feet before moving on to the next one.
Once we made it to that infamous red "M" we headed inside to the worlds longest escalators. Vika was pretty scared going down so I held her close a kept telling her we were going to the choo choo. When the train pulled in it was apparent the kids were pretty nervous. Just like the first time Becky and I braved the metro a few weeks back. The car was pretty full but luckily we found seats. Trying to ride the metro standing should be an Olympic event!
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| Don't mind my closed eyes, Jaymi looks so cute. Also notice the straight-faced people in the background. |
Being at that meeting felt like we had come full circle from where we were four weeks before. Then we were sitting in that chapel trying desperately to fight the fear that we may not return home with our children, to now feeling the pure love of Christ as these precious souls were sitting right there in the room next to me. I know Heavenly Father knew that is how it would end up and in his infinite wisdom he prompted that sister missionary to remind us of his love.
The kids were just awesome during the whole thing. They were the most well behaved kids there. I did teach Renat and Elena a very important lesson in church attendance with small children. It is a lesson I myself have recently learned with little Bryn. You feed them snacks for an hour straight. You can get about 30 minutes out of a serving of gold fish crackers and another 30 minutes out of fruit snacks, apple sauce packets and a drink. I like to try and get 15-25 seconds out of each piece of food, so that requires some creativity like the airplane to mouth maneuver or pretending you are going to eat it. Yes there is a science to it. Timing was perfect because it was right during lunch time.
They both also loved the hymns that we sung. Vika got a kick out of me signing "in Russian" as I made up my own words. The speakers were senior missionary couples from the states so it was all in English with a Russian interpreter this time, rather than vice versa. The sister talked about something that has been very near and dear to my heart over the past few weeks. I even wrote a journal entry in this very topic on the flight over to Russia. I'll have to post it on here later.
After sacrament I took the kids to primary. I figured they would love interacting with the other kids and hearing the stories of Jesus in Russian. Sadly when we got their the other kids didn't pay much attention to them. It did hurt my mama heart a little, but these two are so loving it didn't make them feel bad. They just kept being sweet and kind even though it didn't seem to be reciprocated. I'm guessing the kids had never seen children with Down syndrome before, so they didn't know how to react, engage with them, and I can't blame them for that. I hope they did have an impression on them and maybe some day they will look back on the two orphans that had parents chose them, because they are special too.
Like I said, Jaymi and Gabe were the best behaved in primary too. They sat quietly and listened to everything the teacher said. When she asked if someone would volunteer to say the opening prayer who was the only one to raise their hand? Mr. Gabe. Then when the next class began and the teacher asked for a volunteer to come up and say the prayer Jaymi hopped right up and stood by the teacher. Another girl came and said the prayer but the teacher was really cute with Jaymi and held her hands and made her feel included. To top if off and get me giggling uncontrollably the teacher asked for someone to come by her and read a scripture. Gabe jumped off my lap and sat down on hers and recited his little Christmas poem with the biggest smile on his cute little face. Another example of me being the only one getting a kick out of it while everyone else except the cute, kind teacher sitting straight faced. There is just such a cultural difference here that I have a hard time with. Part of me really wonders if its because of their Down syndrome. I hate to even think about it, but we have had a few instances when it's pretty obvious that is the case. It breaks my heart. These children are so precious and so so smart! But for everyone bad experience we have have twice as many good experiences where someone has gone out of their way to thank us, congratulate us and interact warmly with our kids. Thank goodness for the loving examples of these little ones to spread love rather than anger, because the mamma bear in me just wants to be just as rude back to people that look down on my daughter. She reminds me that it's love that teaches and changes the world, not anger and unkindness.
Thankfully we found a couple that drove out of their way to take us back to our hotel in their car so the kids didn't have to walk back from the metro. It worked out perfectly and was so much fun getting to spend another day with our friends and the kids getting to be surrounded by the Russian language.
To finish out the evening the kids and I got to visit with another adoptive mom Whitney in our region that is here picking up her cute little guy tomorrow. She was so kind to the kids and let them kid proof test her room and play with all the sweet toys she brought for her son. They had a great time once again enjoying the simple pleasures in this new life of theirs and letting me come along for the ride.
New Life - Day 7
Today was the big day, the day we completed very last piece of documentation we need to leave Russia with our little ones and return home to our families that we miss so much. Many times in this process I've felt torn between my little girl in Russia and my little girls at home. No matter if I was at home or in Russia, someone was living with out their mom, and that has been hard. I have to remind myself that there are seasons in life and each of these moments have just been for a season and we would one day all unite as a family and stay that way forever. I can relate to the song by Brandi Carlile, Dying Day.
So we started the day early and headed to the passport office to see if the kids passports were ready. Of course they were not. They were waiting on a letter from the Department of Education stating that they were being adopted. Really? Isn't it pretty obvious by now? Any how they hoped they would be done by the end of day or first thing in the morning. They let us take copies of them to the embassy so we could try and finish up everything there as that is the last stop.
While we were leaving the passport office a woman stopped me to say congratulations. I could just see the love in her eyes as she thanked us for what we were doing and for our patience. Then with sadness in her eyes as she apologized for all that her country had put us through to do it. I told her that it was all worth it as I pointed to our children playing on the couch. She told us she wished us all the happiness in the world, and I knew she meant it. Sweet moments like this are so special to us and give us strength to continue the fight, because we know we are not alone, even being so far from home, we are not alone.
So next stop was the Embassy of the United States of America. We have driven past this building time and time again just longing for the day we finally got to enter with our kids and complete this last and final step. Thankfully they were understanding and got right to work on our paperwork. Poor Alla stayed up all night long translating everything for us, that woman is too amazing. So selfless, so humble, so kind.
It was eerily quiet at the embassy because we are quite literally one of the very last families that had court prior to January 1st to leave the country with our children. We did get the presidential treatment and everyone was really nice. When we got to the first window and Alla told them our names the girl said, "Oh yes I just read and article about you two this morning in the New York Times."
Then when we moved down stairs we were met by Ryan Haley, the man we hung out with at the inaugural celebration at the Ambassadors home weeks ago. He is the man over the finalization of Russian adoptions here at the embassy. He was so kind to hangout with us the whole time we were down stairs and play with our kids. Then we were met by the embassy photographer. He was really nice and cute with the kids. Gabe was just inthralled with him. As Alla put it, Gabe needs his papa, as does Jaymi. No one gets them laughing as hard as their papas do.
After spending so much time in this building the kids started getting a bit wild and got lots of lessons that we don't run away from mama in public places. I have a feeling we will be working on that one for a while. While we waited we had a visit by our new friend Ambassador McFaul. He took a chunk of time our of his day to come see us off and meet the little children we have fought so long and hard for. He congratulated us and thanked us for our efforts and called us the ambassadors for US Adoptions in Russia. It's amazing what a mother can do for her child. I tell Becky that she is the pretty face and brains and I'm the enforcer. Ha ha. Her husband has come up with quite the nickname for me after all this. I better keep it a secret though ;)
After snapping some photos he gave us his business card and told us to keep in touch. I've already used that invitation to send some information his way for some of our friends caught in this mess that were not as lucky as us to have our court before the ban.
After we got back to our hotel we got an email from Alla that she had the passports and we were really finally going to be able to leave, to go HOME!!!
We then met with an NBC correspondent to share our story for a special they are putting together about the ban to air on the nightly news. It was our funnest interview yet as we bundled the kiddos up and went to a park and let the kids swing and play in the snow while we told our stories. He was a great interviewer and asked new question and brought up some new issues. It felt liberating to speak with him after having our kids. We didn't have to be so careful about what we said and how we felt about this whole situation. We had our kids and we did not have to fear that they would never be able to join our families. The truth is I'm outraged at this ban, I think it is absolutely disgusting and only harms the most innocent, vulnerable and helpless of God's children. If Russia's goal is to take care of their own orphans, that is a wonderful goal, but they should actually do it, not just talk about it. Then when they are taken care of and there is not a single orphanage remaining, then there will not be a need for international adoptions. Until they can prove that their country men and women will indeed step forward and provide loving homes for the children with special needs, please let us adopt them. They do not belong in institutions, they have so much more potential than is being offered to them. Their lives having meaning and value. Do not deny them their only chance at having the resources they need to excel in life.
We went right from that interview to another one with Reuters TV and print. The reporters were so great and also asked some great questions that got to the heart of why Becky and I am still speaking out to the press. Not only to share our happy ending and the hope that it holds, but to advocate for the other families I this process and ultimately for children with special needs here in Russia and other parts of the world. We want to show the love and joy our adopted children, along with our biological children bring into our lives. To show the joy having a family brings into a child's life that has grown up without a mom and dad to call their own. Please join us in speaking out. Even if its just in response to a comment from someone here I the US that says we should only be adopting children from our country, or that bringing kids will special needs into our families is wrong because it just raises our taxes and medical care costs. Help them to see there is a human side to this, that these are human beings that are being tossed aside as if they don't matter. They do matter and they need us to stand up for them. When you see someone trying to do something good in the world, trying to make a difference, tell them you appreciate and recognize it. There are so many out there that take the time to spread hurt and unkind words, lets drown them out with the good we can do and say. This includes me, I need to do more to support those around me in their efforts to help and serve.
If you can't tell I'm very passionate about this, it all goes back to this mommy heart of mine. This has been a long difficult process, but now that I have my little girl it's all been worth it. Every sacrifice, if you can even call it a sacrifice because what we get out of having her in our life far outweighs all that we put into it. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for loving little Jaymi, even before you met her. It means so much to us that she will be coming home to to many that prayed so hard for her. Now lets pray for her friends, the ones that were left behind, that they will get the same opportunities and love that awaits our girl.
So we started the day early and headed to the passport office to see if the kids passports were ready. Of course they were not. They were waiting on a letter from the Department of Education stating that they were being adopted. Really? Isn't it pretty obvious by now? Any how they hoped they would be done by the end of day or first thing in the morning. They let us take copies of them to the embassy so we could try and finish up everything there as that is the last stop.
While we were leaving the passport office a woman stopped me to say congratulations. I could just see the love in her eyes as she thanked us for what we were doing and for our patience. Then with sadness in her eyes as she apologized for all that her country had put us through to do it. I told her that it was all worth it as I pointed to our children playing on the couch. She told us she wished us all the happiness in the world, and I knew she meant it. Sweet moments like this are so special to us and give us strength to continue the fight, because we know we are not alone, even being so far from home, we are not alone.
So next stop was the Embassy of the United States of America. We have driven past this building time and time again just longing for the day we finally got to enter with our kids and complete this last and final step. Thankfully they were understanding and got right to work on our paperwork. Poor Alla stayed up all night long translating everything for us, that woman is too amazing. So selfless, so humble, so kind.
It was eerily quiet at the embassy because we are quite literally one of the very last families that had court prior to January 1st to leave the country with our children. We did get the presidential treatment and everyone was really nice. When we got to the first window and Alla told them our names the girl said, "Oh yes I just read and article about you two this morning in the New York Times."
Then when we moved down stairs we were met by Ryan Haley, the man we hung out with at the inaugural celebration at the Ambassadors home weeks ago. He is the man over the finalization of Russian adoptions here at the embassy. He was so kind to hangout with us the whole time we were down stairs and play with our kids. Then we were met by the embassy photographer. He was really nice and cute with the kids. Gabe was just inthralled with him. As Alla put it, Gabe needs his papa, as does Jaymi. No one gets them laughing as hard as their papas do.
After spending so much time in this building the kids started getting a bit wild and got lots of lessons that we don't run away from mama in public places. I have a feeling we will be working on that one for a while. While we waited we had a visit by our new friend Ambassador McFaul. He took a chunk of time our of his day to come see us off and meet the little children we have fought so long and hard for. He congratulated us and thanked us for our efforts and called us the ambassadors for US Adoptions in Russia. It's amazing what a mother can do for her child. I tell Becky that she is the pretty face and brains and I'm the enforcer. Ha ha. Her husband has come up with quite the nickname for me after all this. I better keep it a secret though ;)
After snapping some photos he gave us his business card and told us to keep in touch. I've already used that invitation to send some information his way for some of our friends caught in this mess that were not as lucky as us to have our court before the ban.
After we got back to our hotel we got an email from Alla that she had the passports and we were really finally going to be able to leave, to go HOME!!!
We then met with an NBC correspondent to share our story for a special they are putting together about the ban to air on the nightly news. It was our funnest interview yet as we bundled the kiddos up and went to a park and let the kids swing and play in the snow while we told our stories. He was a great interviewer and asked new question and brought up some new issues. It felt liberating to speak with him after having our kids. We didn't have to be so careful about what we said and how we felt about this whole situation. We had our kids and we did not have to fear that they would never be able to join our families. The truth is I'm outraged at this ban, I think it is absolutely disgusting and only harms the most innocent, vulnerable and helpless of God's children. If Russia's goal is to take care of their own orphans, that is a wonderful goal, but they should actually do it, not just talk about it. Then when they are taken care of and there is not a single orphanage remaining, then there will not be a need for international adoptions. Until they can prove that their country men and women will indeed step forward and provide loving homes for the children with special needs, please let us adopt them. They do not belong in institutions, they have so much more potential than is being offered to them. Their lives having meaning and value. Do not deny them their only chance at having the resources they need to excel in life.
We went right from that interview to another one with Reuters TV and print. The reporters were so great and also asked some great questions that got to the heart of why Becky and I am still speaking out to the press. Not only to share our happy ending and the hope that it holds, but to advocate for the other families I this process and ultimately for children with special needs here in Russia and other parts of the world. We want to show the love and joy our adopted children, along with our biological children bring into our lives. To show the joy having a family brings into a child's life that has grown up without a mom and dad to call their own. Please join us in speaking out. Even if its just in response to a comment from someone here I the US that says we should only be adopting children from our country, or that bringing kids will special needs into our families is wrong because it just raises our taxes and medical care costs. Help them to see there is a human side to this, that these are human beings that are being tossed aside as if they don't matter. They do matter and they need us to stand up for them. When you see someone trying to do something good in the world, trying to make a difference, tell them you appreciate and recognize it. There are so many out there that take the time to spread hurt and unkind words, lets drown them out with the good we can do and say. This includes me, I need to do more to support those around me in their efforts to help and serve.
If you can't tell I'm very passionate about this, it all goes back to this mommy heart of mine. This has been a long difficult process, but now that I have my little girl it's all been worth it. Every sacrifice, if you can even call it a sacrifice because what we get out of having her in our life far outweighs all that we put into it. Thank you for your love and support. Thank you for loving little Jaymi, even before you met her. It means so much to us that she will be coming home to to many that prayed so hard for her. Now lets pray for her friends, the ones that were left behind, that they will get the same opportunities and love that awaits our girl.
New Life - Day 8
Paka Paka Russia, until we meet again.
Yes one day I hope to return to Russia with my family. To show them the beautiful city their sister was born in. To let Jaymi visit those that loved and cared for her best they could while she was here. I hope that when we do, the attitude towards people with special needs has softened and there will be a greater understanding of their value and worth. I know its not just in Russia that these attitudes exist, there are many people here in the United States that say and do hurtful things towards people with disabilities. I pray that those of us with children, family members and friends with special needs will continue to educate the world about the love we have for them and their contribution to this world.
This afternoon Becky and I ventured out to Red Square with our kids. We were able to go with a reporter from Times Magazine. He was so nice to us and brought the kids gifts, got us a cab to and back, and just visited with us about our experience. He was born in Russia and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child. It was so interesting to hear his experience and perspective. The kids loved seeing the sights on Red Square, it was a great way to spend the last day in Russia. It was exhausting keeping up with them, but worth it.
Yes one day I hope to return to Russia with my family. To show them the beautiful city their sister was born in. To let Jaymi visit those that loved and cared for her best they could while she was here. I hope that when we do, the attitude towards people with special needs has softened and there will be a greater understanding of their value and worth. I know its not just in Russia that these attitudes exist, there are many people here in the United States that say and do hurtful things towards people with disabilities. I pray that those of us with children, family members and friends with special needs will continue to educate the world about the love we have for them and their contribution to this world.
This afternoon Becky and I ventured out to Red Square with our kids. We were able to go with a reporter from Times Magazine. He was so nice to us and brought the kids gifts, got us a cab to and back, and just visited with us about our experience. He was born in Russia and his family immigrated to the U.S. when he was a child. It was so interesting to hear his experience and perspective. The kids loved seeing the sights on Red Square, it was a great way to spend the last day in Russia. It was exhausting keeping up with them, but worth it.
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| Playing peekaboo in the shower curtain |
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| Tickle wars |
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| The view outside our hotel room |
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Attachment & Bonding
Dear Family and Friends,
As we have prepared ourselves for the upcoming day of bringing Jaymi Viktoria home, we have learned a lot about attachment and helping her adapt to her new surroundings. To best help Jaymi adjust and form a strong bond with her sisters and parents, we have a few guidelines that we ask you all to respect and follow.
Jaymi loves to give hugs and will give them to anybody she sees. Typically, she will just walk up to the person and hug their legs. We ask that, for the first little while, if she does this to you, please just gently pat her on the back and/or give her a high-five or thumbs-up. Please do not bend down and hug her or pick her up. We NEED her to learn that she can't hug any stranger, and right now, everybody other than Jeana and Wayne are strangers. We know that this will be difficult to resist the temptation of hugging her back, but the day will soon come that returning the hug will be just fine.
Another guideline is in direct relation to the last. Again, we NEED Jaymi to learn that she cannot expect any person she is with to care for her. We are her parents and will be the ones meeting her needs. As such, if she asks for food, a drink, to go potty, or anything similar to this please tell her to go ask Mama or Papa.
We are so happy to have such wonderful family members and friends that have supported us through the past year and know that we would not have been able to get to this point without you. Thank you! And please talk to us directly if you have any questions or concerns about how to help Jaymi.
With much love and gratitude,
Jeana, Wayne, Kaelyn, and Bryn and Jaymi!
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
A letter from Papa
Dear Jaymi,
I have spent the past year thinking about tomorrow. The thoughts have included fear, uncertainty, joy, and excitement. But the past 5 1/2 weeks of waiting have been the hardest as your new Mama has been in your country working tirelessly to get you home. You are so lucky to have a Mama that has spent her whole life preparing to be a mother. I love her so much and know that she has been prepared to care for you, Kaelyn, Bryn, and maybe some others :-) She is such a good mom and wife and I'm so happy that we have her.
Luckily, I have been able to video chat with you and Mama just about everyday. Every time I see your smiling face, you blowing me kisses, and leaning up and kissing the phone, all the fears and concerns disappear. I get so excited to see you in person and it gives me the energy that I need to push through another day.
I've reflected many times on the visits we have had together and the bonds that we have already made. Be sure that it melted Papa's heart when you wanted to play basketball more than anything else during a couple of those visits. But, the thing that completely melted my heart was on my last visit with you. I hadn't seen you for over a month and we were waiting in the room for you to come see us. As soon as you walked in the door you locked eyes with me and ran right to me with your arms outstretched to give me the biggest hug. I will never forget the pure joy that filled my soul as we hugged. It was very similar to the same joy that came when both your sisters were born. I am certain that the joy will be even greater when I get to hug you when you arrive home.
The journey to get you home has been long, and at times difficult, but generally good. I have learned so much, but most importantly to trust in God, His plan, and His timeline. As good as it's been though, I'm ready for the journey of getting you home to be over and to have you here with your eternal family.
I love you and can't wait to start our new journey as a family!!!
I have spent the past year thinking about tomorrow. The thoughts have included fear, uncertainty, joy, and excitement. But the past 5 1/2 weeks of waiting have been the hardest as your new Mama has been in your country working tirelessly to get you home. You are so lucky to have a Mama that has spent her whole life preparing to be a mother. I love her so much and know that she has been prepared to care for you, Kaelyn, Bryn, and maybe some others :-) She is such a good mom and wife and I'm so happy that we have her.
Luckily, I have been able to video chat with you and Mama just about everyday. Every time I see your smiling face, you blowing me kisses, and leaning up and kissing the phone, all the fears and concerns disappear. I get so excited to see you in person and it gives me the energy that I need to push through another day.
I've reflected many times on the visits we have had together and the bonds that we have already made. Be sure that it melted Papa's heart when you wanted to play basketball more than anything else during a couple of those visits. But, the thing that completely melted my heart was on my last visit with you. I hadn't seen you for over a month and we were waiting in the room for you to come see us. As soon as you walked in the door you locked eyes with me and ran right to me with your arms outstretched to give me the biggest hug. I will never forget the pure joy that filled my soul as we hugged. It was very similar to the same joy that came when both your sisters were born. I am certain that the joy will be even greater when I get to hug you when you arrive home.
The journey to get you home has been long, and at times difficult, but generally good. I have learned so much, but most importantly to trust in God, His plan, and His timeline. As good as it's been though, I'm ready for the journey of getting you home to be over and to have you here with your eternal family.
I love you and can't wait to start our new journey as a family!!!
Tuesday, February 13, 2013
New Life - Day 9
Today started out early as we had to do a few last minute packing maneuvers to fit everything in our luggage. Becky was throwing out things left and right so I took what I could. I scored some animal crackers, a block train set (That I can return to its rightful owner if need be :) ) and some sweet hot pink and yellow belts she had to buy to get a black one to go with her night at the Spaso House ensamble. I'm still trying to figure out how to incorporate those into my wardrobe, but when I do, I'll be sure to send Becky a picture!
After we got through customs we went right to the flight board to see which gate we would board at. We did not like what we saw. We stood there for about 5 minutes reading and re-reading it, making sure we were looking at the right flight. Sadly it was true, our flight to LA was delayed 3 hours. So that meant we had over 4 hours to kill in the airport with two little kids and worst of all, we would miss our connecting flights home in the U.S. Thankfully Wayne was still awake as it was close to midnight at home and he called Delta, figured out new itineraries and booked us a hotel room in LA. To say we were disappointed would be an understatement. Since we had no choice we did our best to suck it up and press forward, something we had come quite well at over the past month. It was harder to do with our kids with us though. We were already concerned about how they would do on the 13 hour flight and four hours in an airport seemed like asking too much of them, especially since they were both sick.
We went to our gate to see if anyone could explain to us what was going on. Of course no one was there and once they arrived they told us they didn't speak any English. We set up camp in the corner and Becky went and found us some dinner. She came back with two sandwiches, 3-4 bottles of water and some potato wedges. Our last over-priced meal in Russia and it came to just under $50!! There are a few things I won't be complaining about any time soon and one is the cost of food here in the States. The other is the size of my wardrobe. After wearing the same two pairs of jeans and rotating between two sets of workout clothes for over a month, my closet will feel like a mall when I get home.
Thankfully Jaymi took a small nap on my lap until I had to stand up because I did not have any feeling left in my backside from sitting on the floor :) We went on a few walks and took many trips to the bathroom.
When it was time to board the aircraft we were pleasantly surprised when the co-captain of the plane spoke english came up to us and told us we could board early with the kids. As we walked down the jetway we kept telling the kids we were going on the airplane home to papa! They were getting so excited. Once we got settled on our row of 4 seats, they were so excited. Jaymi kept waving her arm back and forth saying something in Russian and laughing so hard and loud. We had no idea what she was saying or where she picked that up from but it was sure cute.
Thankfully the kids did so well on the flight. Jaymi slept for close to 9 hours! Amazing, I know, especially since she was feeling sick. She did have one time when she woke up with a fever and was so sad. Luckily the medicine kicked in quickly and she was able to get back to sleep. She was on the isle so I was so paranoid that she would stick her leg out in the isle and get hit by the drink cart that I only slept for about 30 minutes total. I did get about 8 hours worth of blogging done though, so that was nice. I was just happy that Jaymi was able to sleep and wasn't miserable on such a long flight and feeling sick. However my lack of sleep would come back to bite me once we arrived in LA.
Along with my blogging marathon, I got lots of shots of everyone's sleeping positions which was fun. At one point I stole the idea of a kid a few isles up and made Jaymi a tent to block the lights when they turned them back on. When the flight attendant saw practically let out a squeal from her surprise, which I thought was a little strange. The kid a few isles up was doing it for quite a while, but his blanket wasn't quite as wild I guess.
When we landed down in LA I was sooooo excited to finally be home. I was just ready to jump off the airplane and be welcomed with open arms back into the United States. I'll write more on our experience in the next post because its a whole separate story of its own and I learned a very valuable lesson that I don't want to forget. Well part of it I want to forget, but its all about learning lessons in life, right?
We got all packed up and headed down for our last breakfast at the buffet. We hope the kids enjoyed their last day of 1,000 choices for breakfast. Then we got all our luggage loaded on to two carts and headed downstairs to meet our driver. It was so surreal heading out those hotel doors for the last time, we were finally going home.
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| On the way to the airport |
We got through the airport check-in and customs pretty smoothly and were 2 hours early by time we made it through security and customs. Our bags were WAY too heavy, but thanks to our language barrier, the lady at the check in had pity on us, or just wanted us out of her hair, she waived the $300 overage fee. We called that a blessing and moved on. Getting through customs was not too bad, there was a really nice lady standing at the line that kept telling our driver Igor to stay by us and say goodbye. Though we were never able to speak to Igor, you could just see that look in his eyes that said, Finally, you are on your way. What a great guy, I will always treasure the night we had him drop us off at the wrong hotel and how hard we all laughed he returned 3 hours later. Then he took us past the circus and we got some sweet pictures in the clown car. Very fitting ending for the evening.
We went to our gate to see if anyone could explain to us what was going on. Of course no one was there and once they arrived they told us they didn't speak any English. We set up camp in the corner and Becky went and found us some dinner. She came back with two sandwiches, 3-4 bottles of water and some potato wedges. Our last over-priced meal in Russia and it came to just under $50!! There are a few things I won't be complaining about any time soon and one is the cost of food here in the States. The other is the size of my wardrobe. After wearing the same two pairs of jeans and rotating between two sets of workout clothes for over a month, my closet will feel like a mall when I get home.
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| Oh yea I forgot to mention the time I killed modeling my knit sweat suit. I think it would be a great sale for classy yet comfortable travel attire. Ha ha, totally kidding, it was an accident that I paired these two pieces together, but we got a good laugh out of it. |
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| One of our walks in the airport |
When it was time to board the aircraft we were pleasantly surprised when the co-captain of the plane spoke english came up to us and told us we could board early with the kids. As we walked down the jetway we kept telling the kids we were going on the airplane home to papa! They were getting so excited. Once we got settled on our row of 4 seats, they were so excited. Jaymi kept waving her arm back and forth saying something in Russian and laughing so hard and loud. We had no idea what she was saying or where she picked that up from but it was sure cute.
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| Watching some cartoons in Russian. I was proud our myself for navigating the entertainment system in Russian to find her a show to watch. |
Along with my blogging marathon, I got lots of shots of everyone's sleeping positions which was fun. At one point I stole the idea of a kid a few isles up and made Jaymi a tent to block the lights when they turned them back on. When the flight attendant saw practically let out a squeal from her surprise, which I thought was a little strange. The kid a few isles up was doing it for quite a while, but his blanket wasn't quite as wild I guess.
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| The bent in half position, this one is popular with our flexible children with Ds. Yes thats me holding on to her so she doesn't face plant. Luckily this one didn't last too long, it was making me nervous. |
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| The tent sleeper |
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| The sprawled out over everyone |
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| The face in the isle |
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| The good old fashion desk sleep, I'm sure we've all used this one a time or two in our school years. |
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| The mom pillow |
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Be the bellman - Arriving at LAX
So like I mentioned in the last post, I had some high hopes and expectations of our arrival back into the good old United States of America. It really was my first set of high expectations of this trip, as I was pretty level headed throughout the whole experience because I new things could change any minute. So at this point I was over the fact that we would not be making it all the way home today. I was sad that we would be missing our welcoming party in Utah, but wanted to make the best of being back in the U.S. We were the last ones off the plane as we waited for everyone else to move out so we wouldn't slow anyone up with all our carryon luggage and small children.
We made the stop at the top of the escalator for a photo op, commemorating our children's first steps on U.S. soil deeming them instant citizens of the United States of America.
We did it! We were home...almost. When we got to customs people didn't welcome us with open arms like I had hoped. There was one lady that was really cute and gave us big smiles, but about the next six people we had contact with were anything but inviting. Something I was not prepared for and especially not emotionally and physically capable of handling well, and I'm sad to say I didn't handle it well. The nicest person to us in the airport was a Russian woman that worked for our airline. She set us up with another kind gentleman that lugged our two carts of luggage all over the airport for us. I wish I would have focused more on those three people while we were in the airport, but I didn't. I just saw one rude person after another and it brought me lower than I have been in a long time. The straw on my back was an customs agent that was abrupt and cold to us when we were just trying to cross an aisle to get to another part in the airport. Well I gave him a look that could kill and he rudely told me to get off my phone. I was just hanging up with Wayne finding out what we were suppose to do now that we were in LA and getting an update on my daughter Kaelyn that found herself admitted to the hospital with RSV and pneumonia just hours before we left Russia.
When he saw the look I gave him he sternly said, "Is something wrong?" With tears in my eyes I said, "Yes, somethings wrong, we have been in Russia for over a month trying to bring our kids home....", I really don't remember what else I said. Then he came back with something about me being on my phone and Becky told him I just found out my daughter was in the hospital at home. With no sense of care or emotion he said, "Well I didn't know that", in which I reply, "Well people are going through hard things in life so you can at least by kind". Then he walked away. I'm sure I created quite the scene and the poor security guard hauling our luggage, I'm sure I scared him half to death. I had had it though. I just wanted someone to show concern and understanding for all that Becky and I had been through in the last 24 hours, let alone month. I even so much as told Becky that "There is no more good in this world", something I knew wasn't true, but it felt like it at that very moment. Thankfully God didn't let me believe that for too long and he sent some very special people into our paths in the coming minutes and hours.
I spent the next little while sobbing uncontrollably until we arrived at the hotel. I felt horrible for being so out of control, I couldn't even look at the happy little girl holding my hand because I felt so bad for crying so much. It was like the flood gates were open and I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Looking back I am even more able to see how much divine help I had throughout my time in Russia. Had I been left to my own power I would have been a sad little girl while there, but I know Heavenly Father was blessing me greatly even just by keeping it together and staying happy the entire time.
When we got to the hotel I have finally been able to compose myself enough to look somewhat normal. Then a gentleman came out and loaded up all our luggage and showed us where to go to check in. After checking in he took us up to our rooms. He was being so kind, telling us every last bit of information we would ever need to know about their hotel and asking us about our situation. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore. It was like Heavenly Father sent down an angel to remind me that, yes indeed there is good in the world and I don't want you to ever feel like there isn't again. Especially after all your have witnessed over the past year. Then I REALLY lost it. I felt so stupid for crying so hard infront of a complete stranger while he took me to my room with the luggage cart. He just kept telling me how sorry he was for whatever I was going through and that he wanted me to know it would work out. He even gave me a hug. I felt so bad because I didn't have any US bills to tip him with since we weren't planning on staying in LA and then I remember I did have some money in my wallet. It was quite a bit more than you would normally tip someone, but I thought back to my experience at the airport and I just wanted to show him how grateful I was for his kindness. I could barely speak to tell him how much his kindness meant to me and then he left. Thankfully Becky was able to watch Jaymi while I called Wayne and cried my tears dry and got it back together. I just felt like I was letting Jaymi down by being so emotional at such a happy time for us.
In talking to Wayne on the phone I was still so discouraged and told him I didn't think I could face anyone at the airport, I was at the end of my rope and holding on for dear life. He was so kind and understanding even though things were difficult for him back home with Kaelyn in the hospital and Bryn also had RSV. I'm so thankful for such a loving husband and amazing father, we are so lucky to have him!
When I got back to Becky's room she had dinner ordered and on its way, the kids were having a great time and there were a few priesthood brethren of a local ward coming over to give us all blessings. Thanks to her sister-in-law for lining that up. Another testament from a loving Heavenly Father reminding us that we were not forgotten and left alone at the end of our journey. The spirit was so sweet as these young men blessed us and our children. It was so special to see our small children sit quietly with their arms folded while they were blessed to overcome the sickness they were feeling and to prepare them for the entrance into their new lives. Gabe was so excited he was ready for another blessing after Jaymi's. Immediately after Jaymi's blessing the fever she had been battling for 2 days was gone and it never returned. No amount of Tylenol or Ibuprofen was controlling it and I know it was this blessing that healed her. I also felt much better emotionally and physically after my blessing. I will never forget this experience and the comfort and peace it brought to my tired soul.
We all chowed down on some good old Papa John's pizza and salad which also helped. Finally some comfort food that didn't cost an arm and a leg. While we were hanging out in Becky's room we got a delivery. A big bottle of water and a tray of sweet chocolates concoctions. Our bellman friend sent them our way and also came by and dropped off a card for me. It was so sweet how concerned he was about me, about us. His card read;
We made the stop at the top of the escalator for a photo op, commemorating our children's first steps on U.S. soil deeming them instant citizens of the United States of America.
When he saw the look I gave him he sternly said, "Is something wrong?" With tears in my eyes I said, "Yes, somethings wrong, we have been in Russia for over a month trying to bring our kids home....", I really don't remember what else I said. Then he came back with something about me being on my phone and Becky told him I just found out my daughter was in the hospital at home. With no sense of care or emotion he said, "Well I didn't know that", in which I reply, "Well people are going through hard things in life so you can at least by kind". Then he walked away. I'm sure I created quite the scene and the poor security guard hauling our luggage, I'm sure I scared him half to death. I had had it though. I just wanted someone to show concern and understanding for all that Becky and I had been through in the last 24 hours, let alone month. I even so much as told Becky that "There is no more good in this world", something I knew wasn't true, but it felt like it at that very moment. Thankfully God didn't let me believe that for too long and he sent some very special people into our paths in the coming minutes and hours.
I spent the next little while sobbing uncontrollably until we arrived at the hotel. I felt horrible for being so out of control, I couldn't even look at the happy little girl holding my hand because I felt so bad for crying so much. It was like the flood gates were open and I couldn't stop the tears from coming. Looking back I am even more able to see how much divine help I had throughout my time in Russia. Had I been left to my own power I would have been a sad little girl while there, but I know Heavenly Father was blessing me greatly even just by keeping it together and staying happy the entire time.
When we got to the hotel I have finally been able to compose myself enough to look somewhat normal. Then a gentleman came out and loaded up all our luggage and showed us where to go to check in. After checking in he took us up to our rooms. He was being so kind, telling us every last bit of information we would ever need to know about their hotel and asking us about our situation. Finally I just couldn't take it anymore. It was like Heavenly Father sent down an angel to remind me that, yes indeed there is good in the world and I don't want you to ever feel like there isn't again. Especially after all your have witnessed over the past year. Then I REALLY lost it. I felt so stupid for crying so hard infront of a complete stranger while he took me to my room with the luggage cart. He just kept telling me how sorry he was for whatever I was going through and that he wanted me to know it would work out. He even gave me a hug. I felt so bad because I didn't have any US bills to tip him with since we weren't planning on staying in LA and then I remember I did have some money in my wallet. It was quite a bit more than you would normally tip someone, but I thought back to my experience at the airport and I just wanted to show him how grateful I was for his kindness. I could barely speak to tell him how much his kindness meant to me and then he left. Thankfully Becky was able to watch Jaymi while I called Wayne and cried my tears dry and got it back together. I just felt like I was letting Jaymi down by being so emotional at such a happy time for us.
In talking to Wayne on the phone I was still so discouraged and told him I didn't think I could face anyone at the airport, I was at the end of my rope and holding on for dear life. He was so kind and understanding even though things were difficult for him back home with Kaelyn in the hospital and Bryn also had RSV. I'm so thankful for such a loving husband and amazing father, we are so lucky to have him!
When I got back to Becky's room she had dinner ordered and on its way, the kids were having a great time and there were a few priesthood brethren of a local ward coming over to give us all blessings. Thanks to her sister-in-law for lining that up. Another testament from a loving Heavenly Father reminding us that we were not forgotten and left alone at the end of our journey. The spirit was so sweet as these young men blessed us and our children. It was so special to see our small children sit quietly with their arms folded while they were blessed to overcome the sickness they were feeling and to prepare them for the entrance into their new lives. Gabe was so excited he was ready for another blessing after Jaymi's. Immediately after Jaymi's blessing the fever she had been battling for 2 days was gone and it never returned. No amount of Tylenol or Ibuprofen was controlling it and I know it was this blessing that healed her. I also felt much better emotionally and physically after my blessing. I will never forget this experience and the comfort and peace it brought to my tired soul.
We all chowed down on some good old Papa John's pizza and salad which also helped. Finally some comfort food that didn't cost an arm and a leg. While we were hanging out in Becky's room we got a delivery. A big bottle of water and a tray of sweet chocolates concoctions. Our bellman friend sent them our way and also came by and dropped off a card for me. It was so sweet how concerned he was about me, about us. His card read;
"Dear Ms. Bonner,
Please accept our heart felt sympathies. Our thoughts are with you and your family.
Sincerely Jaime, Bellman Radisson LAX"
As Becky so nicely put it, "coincidence that his name was Jaime? I don't think so."
One of the most important lessons I learned throughout this whole journey came from this experience. A reminder for me to not only "Believe there is good in the world", but to "BE THE GOOD". To be like Jaime the Bellman. To be kind and loving to everyone. I hope he realizes how great an influence he had on Becky and I that night. That he will be rewarded in life for being "the good" in the world. I hope I can follow his example and reach out to those I come in contact with, even if its just for a short moment, to show them they are loved and are not forgotten.
Thank you Jaime for treating us so kindly. It will not be soon forgotten and I hope to pay it forward, to try and make this world a little bit better.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
A Valentines to Remember
Waking up to sunny California weather was such a treat. After a good nights rest and the sweet experience we had at our hotel the night before I felt like a new person. Excited to head home and finally be with the rest of my family. Excited for our world to finally meet little Jaymi and partake of the goodness that just radiates from her perfect little soul. Excited to hold my two babies at home and for Wayne to hold Jaymi in his arms again. Just plain excited! Jaymi was pretty excited too! She was up and ready to go at about 4:30 am. We spent some time watching the movie Tangled, very fitting for a little girls who "life was just about to begin anew". A little girl who had been locked away from this big beautiful world that has so much to offer her.
Around 6:30 am we headed down to the lobby for some breakfast and exploring. We came back to the room, got bathed and ready for the day. I'm telling you just being back in the U.S. for less than a day made me so grateful for so many things. One of those being the bright warm sunshine on our face. Oh how we missed seeing the sun while in Moscow. I literally think we only saw it for 5-6 days while we were there. It was so nice to look out the window and see the palm trees and feel the heat of the sun.
It was also so nice to see the smiling faces of strangers and passers by in the hotel and airport. People were so sweet with us and it helped this mama's heart after some disheartening experiences we had while on the flight over. It made me proud to live in a country where for the most part people saw my beautiful little girl as just that, a beautiful little girl. I know this country isn't perfect and there are still people that don't understand and see the worth of person with a disability and how treasured they are, but I believe that is changing every day and I hope that more and more people will know how precious every person is, not matter their genetic makeup.
As we waited for the shuttle to pick us up we took some, "WE DID IT!!!" victory pictures. The kids were so cute! I emailed Wayne and Brian the pictures and told them we were on our way! Pretty sure they both teared up a bit when they saw them. Okay, I know they did because they both admitted to it. :)
Our flights went well and we made it home! Our flight from LA to Utah was so fast it felt like we got up in the air, flew for a few minutes and headed back down. I guess thats what a 13 hour flight the previous day will for you, perspective. The kids slept for most of the flight and were well rested for their grand entrance into this new life of theirs.
When we got into Salt Lake we took our time saying goodbye to Becky and Gabe. Becky's sister in law was there to greet us as she had a flight to Arizona in a few hours, that she may or may not have boarded. It was hard saying goodbye to our new sweet friends. Becky and I had spent the last 30 days together almost every second of the day. She is one of my dearest friends and we will be sure to keep in touch for the rest of our lives. We already have our children bet-roved to each other :) I can't wait for all of us to get together. You better believe we are already planning something for this spring. Gabe and Jaymi will always hold a special bond as they were best friends during this journey into their new forever. Even 2 weeks since we have been home she gets so excited when she sees a picture of her Gab-ey.
At last my little girl and I found our way through the airport, hand in hand, ready to say hello to this new life awaiting us. I savored every last step of that walk with her, knowing that I didn't get to keep her all to myself anymore. That her life and love was meant to be shared with all that will come in contact with her. I gave her a big hug and said, "Lets go see Papa". As we stepped onto that escalator down to our family and friends, I couldn't take my eyes off her, because just the thought of those waiting there was too much for my eyes to take in. I tried so hard not to cry, but I failed...and thats okay.
Waving the tiny American flag Becky's sister-in-law brought for her, she entered this new life with more grace, poise and excitement than I would have ever imagined. She probably gave out over a hundred hugs in those first 30 minutes, most of them to our nieces, nephews and friends children who have been diligently praying for her to come home for over a year. I know Heavenly Father was aware of each and every prayer said in behalf of our little girl, I know that is why we were led to find her over one year ago. She has had people praying for a family to find her for years. My sister-in-law brought a Princess Dress and Crown for Jaymi to wear and boy did she eat that up! She was loving all the attention and love, it was so fun watching her soak it all in.
It was so fun seeing all our loved ones gathered in to meet our little girl and to welcome us home. WE HAVE THE BEST FAMIY AND FRIENDS IN THE WORLD. We could have never done this without their love, support and prayers. There were balloons, signs, gifts, smiles, laughter and tears. It was sad not having little Kaelyn there to great us as she was still up at the hospital, but luckily she was doing better and would be able to come home in the next day or two. If it hadn't been for Kaelyn we would have never been on this journey to bring Jaymi in to our family. She opened our eyes to children with Down syndrome and how great they are. We also say that Bryn brought a message with her from Heaven, telling us that she had a sister in Russia waiting for us to come get her, as she was only three months old when we began this process.
We are so grateful to all our loved ones that came to the airport to welcome us home. It meant so much to me! Its funny because on our trip home from court I was feeling a little bit sad as Wayne and I rode down that same escalator thinking that we wouldn't have many, if anyone welcoming us home when we brought Jaymi home because our flight from JFK would have put us into Salt Lake around mid-night. I knew that was too late for people to be there. So although things were much harder than we anticipated they be back in December, I'm grateful for the sweet experiences we had along the way. One of those being an embrace with our sweet friend Whitney who is adopting a precious little girl with Ds from Russia. She and her husband met and bonded with their little girl in December, just before all this broke out. My heart hurts so much for them as they are still waiting and hoping that a way will be made possible for them to bring their precious little girl home. I will never stop praying and believing that things will workout for them and all the children and families still caught in the middle of this.
A few local news agencies/papers covered our homecoming if you want to see some footage of that. They are some great photos and video shots.
-February 14, 2013 - KSL: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=24085933&nid=148&title=s-jordan-family-finally-whole-after-daughter-arrives-from-russia
-February 15, 2013 - KUTV, Utah: http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_3856.shtml
-February 15, 2013 - Deseret News, Utah: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55832499-78/jeana-jaymi-russia-russian.html.csp
-February 15, 2013 - Salt Lake Tribune, Utah: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865573219/South-Jordan-couple-stuck-in-legal-limbo-brings-home-daughter-from-Russia.html
After we left the airport, Wayne went up to the hospital to see Kaelyn and talk to doctors about when she could come home. The girls and I headed home with Grandma and Grandpa Bonner. As we entered our street I saw that the trees leading up to our house were all tied with big pink bows. I was so surprised to see this, once again the tears rolled and I asked my mother in law who did it. She said there was a note on the door. When we pulled in front of our house I saw they had decked our whole porch out in ribbon and of course it was none other than our cute neighbors the Buncher's and Carlson's. I've talked about them both before as the Buncher's have a son with Ds who we love and the rest of their kids have been praying for Victoria since we met them back in May when they first moved into our neighborhood. The Carlson kids did a lemonade stand for us and raised over $200 to help bring Jaymi home. We are so lucky to live in such a great community. I can't tell you how many people have been so supportive and loving throughout this whole journey and especially sweet since we have brought Jaymi home. If there is one thing this little girl will never run out of around here, its love.
Bryn and I had a great time showing Jaymi her new home. Bryn totally loved having a big sister the minute we walked in the door. It has been such a special experience watching their relationship develop. After we got settled in and Bryn down for a nap, my sweet in-laws headed up to the hospital to be with Kaelyn so Wayne could come home since she wouldn't be discharged until the next day. After Bryn was in bed we were hanging out on the family room floor and I was trying to stay awake so I could watch the story of us on KSL. I laid down on the floor and Jaymi laid on my back like kids do when they don't want you falling asleep. About 45 minutes later I woke up to Wayne asking what we should do with Jaymi. She had fallen asleep just as instantly as I had. We were definitely exhausted. I was able to stay awake through the story and it was so neat being able to see all the pictures and film of our arrival. It was all kind of a blur to me so it was special indeed.
The following morning Wayne headed up to the hospital to bring Kaelyn home. It was so special when she got home and we were all finally together under one roof. Kaelyn was still pretty sick, so she isn't quite sure whats going on, but I know her and Jaymi will have a special bond. I'm so excited to be their mom and for Bryn and their future siblings (if we are so lucky) to have them as their sisters. I can't wait to see our story continue to unfold and to enjoy the simple pleasures of spending quiet days together at home, as a family. I know it will take some adjusting, as does anything in life, but I will continue to try and take my own advice and always "look for the good", even when things are hard an the way seems long.
Around 6:30 am we headed down to the lobby for some breakfast and exploring. We came back to the room, got bathed and ready for the day. I'm telling you just being back in the U.S. for less than a day made me so grateful for so many things. One of those being the bright warm sunshine on our face. Oh how we missed seeing the sun while in Moscow. I literally think we only saw it for 5-6 days while we were there. It was so nice to look out the window and see the palm trees and feel the heat of the sun.
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| Whoa that things bright! |
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| What is that thing? |
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I guess its not too bad, I could get used to this!
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As we waited for the shuttle to pick us up we took some, "WE DID IT!!!" victory pictures. The kids were so cute! I emailed Wayne and Brian the pictures and told them we were on our way! Pretty sure they both teared up a bit when they saw them. Okay, I know they did because they both admitted to it. :)
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| Waiting for the Shuttle |
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| Becky and I had to laugh when we noticed we were sitting in the Smoking Area. Just so used to all the smoke in Russia, we didn't even notice. |
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| VICTORY!!! WE DID IT!! |
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| Yep friend, we did it! |
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| Okay can we put our arms down now? We are tired :) |
When we got into Salt Lake we took our time saying goodbye to Becky and Gabe. Becky's sister in law was there to greet us as she had a flight to Arizona in a few hours, that she may or may not have boarded. It was hard saying goodbye to our new sweet friends. Becky and I had spent the last 30 days together almost every second of the day. She is one of my dearest friends and we will be sure to keep in touch for the rest of our lives. We already have our children bet-roved to each other :) I can't wait for all of us to get together. You better believe we are already planning something for this spring. Gabe and Jaymi will always hold a special bond as they were best friends during this journey into their new forever. Even 2 weeks since we have been home she gets so excited when she sees a picture of her Gab-ey.
At last my little girl and I found our way through the airport, hand in hand, ready to say hello to this new life awaiting us. I savored every last step of that walk with her, knowing that I didn't get to keep her all to myself anymore. That her life and love was meant to be shared with all that will come in contact with her. I gave her a big hug and said, "Lets go see Papa". As we stepped onto that escalator down to our family and friends, I couldn't take my eyes off her, because just the thought of those waiting there was too much for my eyes to take in. I tried so hard not to cry, but I failed...and thats okay.
Waving the tiny American flag Becky's sister-in-law brought for her, she entered this new life with more grace, poise and excitement than I would have ever imagined. She probably gave out over a hundred hugs in those first 30 minutes, most of them to our nieces, nephews and friends children who have been diligently praying for her to come home for over a year. I know Heavenly Father was aware of each and every prayer said in behalf of our little girl, I know that is why we were led to find her over one year ago. She has had people praying for a family to find her for years. My sister-in-law brought a Princess Dress and Crown for Jaymi to wear and boy did she eat that up! She was loving all the attention and love, it was so fun watching her soak it all in.
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| I love the lady's face in the maroon shirt behind us. |
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| Bryn was still mad at me for leaving for so long, she would barely look at me. |
We are so grateful to all our loved ones that came to the airport to welcome us home. It meant so much to me! Its funny because on our trip home from court I was feeling a little bit sad as Wayne and I rode down that same escalator thinking that we wouldn't have many, if anyone welcoming us home when we brought Jaymi home because our flight from JFK would have put us into Salt Lake around mid-night. I knew that was too late for people to be there. So although things were much harder than we anticipated they be back in December, I'm grateful for the sweet experiences we had along the way. One of those being an embrace with our sweet friend Whitney who is adopting a precious little girl with Ds from Russia. She and her husband met and bonded with their little girl in December, just before all this broke out. My heart hurts so much for them as they are still waiting and hoping that a way will be made possible for them to bring their precious little girl home. I will never stop praying and believing that things will workout for them and all the children and families still caught in the middle of this.
A few local news agencies/papers covered our homecoming if you want to see some footage of that. They are some great photos and video shots.
-February 14, 2013 - KSL: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?sid=24085933&nid=148&title=s-jordan-family-finally-whole-after-daughter-arrives-from-russia
-February 15, 2013 - KUTV, Utah: http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_3856.shtml
-February 15, 2013 - Deseret News, Utah: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55832499-78/jeana-jaymi-russia-russian.html.csp
-February 15, 2013 - Salt Lake Tribune, Utah: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865573219/South-Jordan-couple-stuck-in-legal-limbo-brings-home-daughter-from-Russia.html
After we left the airport, Wayne went up to the hospital to see Kaelyn and talk to doctors about when she could come home. The girls and I headed home with Grandma and Grandpa Bonner. As we entered our street I saw that the trees leading up to our house were all tied with big pink bows. I was so surprised to see this, once again the tears rolled and I asked my mother in law who did it. She said there was a note on the door. When we pulled in front of our house I saw they had decked our whole porch out in ribbon and of course it was none other than our cute neighbors the Buncher's and Carlson's. I've talked about them both before as the Buncher's have a son with Ds who we love and the rest of their kids have been praying for Victoria since we met them back in May when they first moved into our neighborhood. The Carlson kids did a lemonade stand for us and raised over $200 to help bring Jaymi home. We are so lucky to live in such a great community. I can't tell you how many people have been so supportive and loving throughout this whole journey and especially sweet since we have brought Jaymi home. If there is one thing this little girl will never run out of around here, its love.
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| She came right in and made herself comfortable, like she has lived here all her life. |
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| This is your very own bed, it has been waiting for you for months and months |
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| Opening the beautiful quilt aunt Caryn and Grandma Amy made/gave her. |
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| "So I hear I'm a Utah fan, okay, sounds good to me" |
The following morning Wayne headed up to the hospital to bring Kaelyn home. It was so special when she got home and we were all finally together under one roof. Kaelyn was still pretty sick, so she isn't quite sure whats going on, but I know her and Jaymi will have a special bond. I'm so excited to be their mom and for Bryn and their future siblings (if we are so lucky) to have them as their sisters. I can't wait to see our story continue to unfold and to enjoy the simple pleasures of spending quiet days together at home, as a family. I know it will take some adjusting, as does anything in life, but I will continue to try and take my own advice and always "look for the good", even when things are hard an the way seems long.
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| Papa and his girls, together at last |
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| Kaelyn and Jaymi finally meet |
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| Mama and her girls, all finally together |
So happy to be home. So happy to have Jaymi home. May I never forget the lessons, love and people we have met along the way. Life. Is. Good.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Their Quilts
This past week as I have been privileged to spend day after day with this beautiful little soul has made me reflect on the children we left behind in her children's home. Her friends, the only family shes ever known. I often think back on the last visit of our first trip to Russia. We walked Vika back up to her groupa and carried all the toys, books and activities we had brought with us to entertain her while we played. We were leaving them with her so her friends and she had some new things to play with. As we made the walk up the stairs the social worker explained to her that she was going to get to keep everything we had in the backpack.
When we got to the coat closet she hurriedly changed her clothes and shoes and grabbed everything she could fit into her hands (it reminded me of Gus Gus on Cinderella trying to carry all those orange marshmallow things. The door into here room swung open and we saw the kids sitting at the table doing something quietly. Vika ran in holding her spoils over head and let out the most excited DA!!! she could! The kids just went wild exclaiming Vika, Vika, Vika! She was so proud to share these newly acquired goods with her little friends. We only got to look in the room for about 20 seconds total. There was so much commotion going on but I will never forget making eye contact with a little blonde girl with the cutest chubby little cheeks that also has Down syndrome. Most of the children in Vikas children's home that I saw have a Down syndrome.
As we walked back to the car I tried to memorize her little face because I felt like she stuck out to me for a reason. I vowed then and there that after we got our little girl home safe and sound I would do everything I could to find out who she was, raise money for her and find her a good family.
When we got back to the states I looked up the a russian database of waiting children and looked over every picture of girls in Moscow City around the same age as Vika. I think I might have found her, but the picture is such poor quality that I couldn't tell for sure. So late one night when I was still suffering from jet lag I started brainstorming how I could figure out for sure if the girl I found was the same girl in Vikas orphanage. I had the idea to make some quilts for the children in her goupa for her to pass out to her friends personally when we picked her up on gotcha day. The next day I told Wayne about me plan and Kaelyn and Bryn and I headed to the fabric store to pick out the brightest, cutest fabric we could find. This was going to be my big project over christmas break. I have thought about this little girl often over the past 7 months and when I found out about the new law banning Americans from adopting orphans my heart broke for this little girl. At the time we felt almost certain that we wouldn't be affected since we already passed court.
I spent the week before Christmas sewing the blankets and all the while sending out prayer after prayer for the children and families that would be affected by this horrible law. Horrible. I prayed and prayed that there would be a way made, that God would intervene and stop this from happening. That these innocent children would not be deprived of the chance of living with a loving family. I prayed and I cried, I prayed and I sewed, I prayed and I hugged my little girls at home extra tight. I could hardly eat or sleep. I needed to get these blankets done for her friends, because it may have been the only way I could show them how much they were loved, that they were not forgotten.
My plan was to spend a day quilting them at my grandma Ruth's house when we went out to visit my parents a couple days after Christmas. She has this amazing quilting machine that I wanted to use so they looked extra special. I did not scrimp on this project, I bought the best most beautiful fabric I could find. A few days after Christmas Wayne and I packed up the car to head out earlier than we planned to try and beat the winter storm that was coming. Everything was in the car ready to go, we were getting the girls changed and I saw I had a message on Facebook. It was from Becky Preece. When I read it my heart stopped. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I looked at Wayne and he could immediately tell something was horribly wrong. I handed him the iPad, it was an article in the New York Times that quoted a Russian official saying that after January 1st, no Russian child will leave for America. Period.
The tears burned my cheeks like acid, it felt like someone reached inside my chest and ripped my heart out. Yes, it was that bad and even worse.
What were we suppose to do at that very moment? How were we suppose to get in a car, drive three hours and spend all day quilting blankets that we would never be able to deliver? To take with us to pick up the daughter we would never get to have. Just writing it hurts to think back on the heart break we felt. How could this be happening, after all we had already been through, how? Why?
In those first moments I knew we had to go. We had to be surrounded by loved ones. I couldn't give up now. Completing those quilts was an act of faith on my part that I wasn't giving up. That I knew that we were following Gods plan for our family and he wasn't going to leave us now. Please Lord, don't leave us now.
So we went, and we quilted for 13 hours straight. Thanks to the help of family we got them all done in one day. All the while keeping the hot tears bottled in. Everyone asking if this new law would affect us, we just said we don't know. I just kept telling myself I was going to deliver these quilts, no matter what. That's how I kept going, my quilts.
After everything that went on my blanket delivery didn't go as planned. We picked Jaymi up at nap time so we just left the quilts with the orphanage staff. I have since asked to get a picture of her groupa with their blankets for a book I'm putting together with all the pictures we have of her children's home. I don't want her to forget her friends there. When I get the picture I will cross check it with the database and find the little girl in my mind. The one I promised to find a family for. I will never give up on her. I won't give up on any of the children with special needs locked away in Russia. Hidden. They are precious and they deserve so much more. No child anywhere should be raised in an institution. Never. I will be their voice in any capacity I am given.
When we got to the coat closet she hurriedly changed her clothes and shoes and grabbed everything she could fit into her hands (it reminded me of Gus Gus on Cinderella trying to carry all those orange marshmallow things. The door into here room swung open and we saw the kids sitting at the table doing something quietly. Vika ran in holding her spoils over head and let out the most excited DA!!! she could! The kids just went wild exclaiming Vika, Vika, Vika! She was so proud to share these newly acquired goods with her little friends. We only got to look in the room for about 20 seconds total. There was so much commotion going on but I will never forget making eye contact with a little blonde girl with the cutest chubby little cheeks that also has Down syndrome. Most of the children in Vikas children's home that I saw have a Down syndrome.
As we walked back to the car I tried to memorize her little face because I felt like she stuck out to me for a reason. I vowed then and there that after we got our little girl home safe and sound I would do everything I could to find out who she was, raise money for her and find her a good family.
When we got back to the states I looked up the a russian database of waiting children and looked over every picture of girls in Moscow City around the same age as Vika. I think I might have found her, but the picture is such poor quality that I couldn't tell for sure. So late one night when I was still suffering from jet lag I started brainstorming how I could figure out for sure if the girl I found was the same girl in Vikas orphanage. I had the idea to make some quilts for the children in her goupa for her to pass out to her friends personally when we picked her up on gotcha day. The next day I told Wayne about me plan and Kaelyn and Bryn and I headed to the fabric store to pick out the brightest, cutest fabric we could find. This was going to be my big project over christmas break. I have thought about this little girl often over the past 7 months and when I found out about the new law banning Americans from adopting orphans my heart broke for this little girl. At the time we felt almost certain that we wouldn't be affected since we already passed court.
I spent the week before Christmas sewing the blankets and all the while sending out prayer after prayer for the children and families that would be affected by this horrible law. Horrible. I prayed and prayed that there would be a way made, that God would intervene and stop this from happening. That these innocent children would not be deprived of the chance of living with a loving family. I prayed and I cried, I prayed and I sewed, I prayed and I hugged my little girls at home extra tight. I could hardly eat or sleep. I needed to get these blankets done for her friends, because it may have been the only way I could show them how much they were loved, that they were not forgotten.
My plan was to spend a day quilting them at my grandma Ruth's house when we went out to visit my parents a couple days after Christmas. She has this amazing quilting machine that I wanted to use so they looked extra special. I did not scrimp on this project, I bought the best most beautiful fabric I could find. A few days after Christmas Wayne and I packed up the car to head out earlier than we planned to try and beat the winter storm that was coming. Everything was in the car ready to go, we were getting the girls changed and I saw I had a message on Facebook. It was from Becky Preece. When I read it my heart stopped. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak. I looked at Wayne and he could immediately tell something was horribly wrong. I handed him the iPad, it was an article in the New York Times that quoted a Russian official saying that after January 1st, no Russian child will leave for America. Period.
The tears burned my cheeks like acid, it felt like someone reached inside my chest and ripped my heart out. Yes, it was that bad and even worse.
What were we suppose to do at that very moment? How were we suppose to get in a car, drive three hours and spend all day quilting blankets that we would never be able to deliver? To take with us to pick up the daughter we would never get to have. Just writing it hurts to think back on the heart break we felt. How could this be happening, after all we had already been through, how? Why?
In those first moments I knew we had to go. We had to be surrounded by loved ones. I couldn't give up now. Completing those quilts was an act of faith on my part that I wasn't giving up. That I knew that we were following Gods plan for our family and he wasn't going to leave us now. Please Lord, don't leave us now.
So we went, and we quilted for 13 hours straight. Thanks to the help of family we got them all done in one day. All the while keeping the hot tears bottled in. Everyone asking if this new law would affect us, we just said we don't know. I just kept telling myself I was going to deliver these quilts, no matter what. That's how I kept going, my quilts.
After everything that went on my blanket delivery didn't go as planned. We picked Jaymi up at nap time so we just left the quilts with the orphanage staff. I have since asked to get a picture of her groupa with their blankets for a book I'm putting together with all the pictures we have of her children's home. I don't want her to forget her friends there. When I get the picture I will cross check it with the database and find the little girl in my mind. The one I promised to find a family for. I will never give up on her. I won't give up on any of the children with special needs locked away in Russia. Hidden. They are precious and they deserve so much more. No child anywhere should be raised in an institution. Never. I will be their voice in any capacity I am given.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
What it means to be a kid
A year ago when Wayne and I were completing the adoption education course we learned about a number of issues that institutionalized children come out of the orphanage with. There are so many behaviors that are learned growing up in that environment that are detrimental to their development. Even those that come from the best orphanages have behaviors that a child raised in a loving home would not have.
Each day has been a learning experience for Jaymi and I. She is learning what a mother is and it's very clear she loves having a mommy. I am learning how to be a mommy to a little girl that has lived her whole life without knowing there are mommies in the world. She is trying to navigate through this new found freedom as I try and show her the way. My little girl is too perfect. Really it sounds silly, but she has been on such a strict regimen with many rules, that she doesn't know how to be a kid. As the doctor at the exit medical put it, orphanage life is like the marine core, there are vey strict rules and consequences. How else can so few people take care of so many children at once. So our learning process the past week has looked a little something like this.
Vika - "is this okay to do."
Mama - "yes Vika, that's fine"
V - "what about this?"
M - "yep, that's okay too"
V - "okay, what about this?"
M - "no, that is not okay"
V - "are you sure, maybe I'll try again"
M - "no, nyet, that is dangerous"
V - "I don't understand why, so I'm doing it again"
M - "no, no no. Come sit on my lap why I try my best to help you see I mean no. That is dangerous and scary and it can't be done"
V - "okay, I won't do it"
M - "yay Vika!!! Good job, maladietz, horoshow, bolshoi Vika, big girl". I'm a firm believer in positive reinforcements. Even if I only have three Russian versions, I use them with lots of exclamation marks, hugs and smiles.
Becky and I had a good late night laugh the other day about how our kids are so patient with us trying to communicate with them with the few Russian words we know and say incorrectly and the motions we make. I said I probably look like a monkey half the time oooo oohing and ahhh ahhh anhing all over the place. We are ALL learning more and more patience, that's for sure.
It seems to be working, but their are six years of lost time we have to learn about together, so it will take time, and patience and help from heaven, but it will workout. She is such an amazing, loving, beautiful little girl. She has been on cloud nine just living in a hotel room for a week, she has no idea how much better this life gets! I can't wait to be there to witness it all! The world is your canvas little one, you have already painted the most beautiful picture with what you were given. It will only get bigger and brighter from here.
Each day has been a learning experience for Jaymi and I. She is learning what a mother is and it's very clear she loves having a mommy. I am learning how to be a mommy to a little girl that has lived her whole life without knowing there are mommies in the world. She is trying to navigate through this new found freedom as I try and show her the way. My little girl is too perfect. Really it sounds silly, but she has been on such a strict regimen with many rules, that she doesn't know how to be a kid. As the doctor at the exit medical put it, orphanage life is like the marine core, there are vey strict rules and consequences. How else can so few people take care of so many children at once. So our learning process the past week has looked a little something like this.
Vika - "is this okay to do."
Mama - "yes Vika, that's fine"
V - "what about this?"
M - "yep, that's okay too"
V - "okay, what about this?"
M - "no, that is not okay"
V - "are you sure, maybe I'll try again"
M - "no, nyet, that is dangerous"
V - "I don't understand why, so I'm doing it again"
M - "no, no no. Come sit on my lap why I try my best to help you see I mean no. That is dangerous and scary and it can't be done"
V - "okay, I won't do it"
M - "yay Vika!!! Good job, maladietz, horoshow, bolshoi Vika, big girl". I'm a firm believer in positive reinforcements. Even if I only have three Russian versions, I use them with lots of exclamation marks, hugs and smiles.
Becky and I had a good late night laugh the other day about how our kids are so patient with us trying to communicate with them with the few Russian words we know and say incorrectly and the motions we make. I said I probably look like a monkey half the time oooo oohing and ahhh ahhh anhing all over the place. We are ALL learning more and more patience, that's for sure.
Facebook Post from February 9, 2013. "I just woke up from a deep sleep, just hours after I drifted off and this song came to my mind. I haven't heard or thought about this song since before I was a mom, probably not since high school. As I listened to it the tears began to stream down my face as I reflect on the past week and the sacred experience I've had of watching these two precious children absolutely embrace their new found freedom to simply "be a kid". When getting Jaymi ready for bed last night I gave her a hug, looked into her big beautiful eyes and told her, "Part of having a mom means you have some one to help you everyday, so if you need help, I'm here for you." Even though she doesn't understand what I'm saying yet, I knew at that moment she knew what I said. Her face lit up, she hugged me back and she let me help her zip up her Jammie's."
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please
Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It's time to let them go
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
Let them be little
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please
Let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It's time to let them go
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
Let them be little
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