Mini update

I guess the weather south of us was quite a mess. The St. Louis CHI office closed early on Tuesday and Wednesday. So our papers did not go to Moscow yesterday. They will go out on Friday instead. We are told that the translation usually takes about 1-2 weeks and is done by a CHI employee. I was happy to hear that it is done by a CHI person instead of a governmental agency. I should be able to inquire in about a week and half about how much they have done (and of course I will). So here is what thoughts are keeping me satisfied today… When Justin and I left Vlad, we had ourselves convinced that we would not even hear a peep from Russia until February at the earliest. That with their holidays and such they wouldn’t really be full steam ahead until the end of January. Well not only have they been back to work for a couple of weeks now, but we have received the two documents we need to sign from them and all of our papers will officially be on their way before January even comes to an end. So for today that is what I am pulling strength from.

One more day down….

(Happy Birthday MeMa!)

What now?

Well now we continue to do what I am horrible at and what international adoption is completely centered around… continued waiting. Our packet of papers arrived at CHI on Monday morning. Pam finished reviewing them today. Fortunately everything is in good enough order to go into tomorrow’s mailing. All of the documents will be going to Moscow for translation before being sent on to Vladivostock. There are a couple of papers that we are redoing just in case they ask. There is a date on one of the forms that may be questionable. The state police reports aren’t notarized the exact way they usually are I guess. And the search on the sex offender data base needs to be redone. Again there may be nothing wrong with the current forms, but just as a precaution we will get them redone and have them on hand in the event anything is mentioned about them.

So we wait………..

Book Tag

Amy tagged me in a game to see what everyone is reading. I am usually not good about keeping this sort of stuff going, but I didn’t want to be the spoiler of the fun.

The rules:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!

Here's my read: from Adoption Parenting
"Many adopted children carry with them scars of their history that unconditional love alone cannot fix, heal, or remove. I’ve learned as a parent that sometimes love is simply not the answer to helping my child. I could not love the anxiety out of my daughter. I could not love the fear out of her, I could not love the fear out of her, I could not love the trauma out of her. Sometimes loving out children will mean difficult choices and painful decisions.”

Now my turn to tag...
1) Heather
2) Pitman's (maybe this will spur you to get back to the blog - lol)
3) Debbie
4) Joel and Clarion
5) Julie (perhaps a little distraction for you)

Happy Friday Everyone

I am quite happy it is Friday. For some reason I have been completely exhausted this week. I am ready for the weekend! Today has been a good day. Justin and I got all of our medical papers completed and notarized. He took 33 documents including the court petition and Blake’s medical information that came from Vlad to Springfield today to be apostilled and will mail them to CHI. Until we get word that we have to redo something, that should complete every document that has been requested. So we have 3 months from today before anything expires. We’ll see what happens.

I found this interesting and timely… I have a daily calendar in my office at work – this one is based on Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life. I have always been horrible about using or reading any type of daily calendar. So typically every 3rd of 4th day I remember to turn it to the current day’s date. And here is what it says for January 23rd. “Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. Wonderful changes are going to happen in your life as you begin to live it on purpose.” It then has the following scripture, “God says, I know what I am planning for you… I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. (Jeremiah 29:11 NVC)”

Tonight Justin and I are headed to Peoria for Winter Jam ’09 concert. I am super excited for the distraction. Brady and Madison will be off to be spoiled by my aunts and grandma so they are excited as well. Have a great evening!

Can't wait to to see this little guy!!



Update: We are celebrating today! Another small step. Two days after receiving the court petition we received Blake's medical form from Vlad. From what we gather this is the document that everyone scared us about that has to go to Moscow, MOE, Baby Home etc... before it is released to us. Our agency said the wait for this varies dramatically and that they have a family that has been waiting since November to get it. We are absolutely blessed. I am almost in tears over how lucky we are to have this document so soon. One more giant step toward getting Blake home! Praise God!

Brady says…

So tucking Brady in tonight he asks, “Mom, do you think someone else went to try to adopt Blake and decided not to?” My reply, “Ummmm – no not really.” (very nonchalant and noncommittal) Brady then says, “Good, I think the Lord made it that way. I just can’t wait to squeeze that little guy and hear him say Oye!!!” He then began laughing and we talked again about all of the cool things Blake will have to discover. I figured it was time to bring the conversation to an end when he pointed out that Blake would think his silver caps in his mouth (darn cavities) were cool too. I thought at that point he was trying to prolong bedtime!

Yesterday we received one of the documents we are waiting for from Vlad. It is the court petition. There is one more document to come. I haven’t quite got a complete understanding of what this last one is exactly, but from what I gather it is the document that prolongs everything. I am hoping to fully understand what exactly it is and I’ll let you know. Also yesterday we did some shopping. We bought wooden blinds for Blake’s room and found some amazing deals on some clothes. I felt like we were jinxing ourselves by shopping – I mean we don’t even know if we will return when it is still cold outside or not. Justin convinced me that it didn’t matter. If it turns out that we don’t need these things then we will have them to give to a family that is need of winter clothing next year. I did want to buy a heavy coat. I figured if we waited much longer then there wouldn’t be much to choose from unless I ordered it online. We decided to go with one of the winter coats that has two liners zipped together. Then we can separate them into two spring jackets as well. The four of us had a good time. Of course it didn’t help at all with our anxiety – but I am realizing that not much is going to help until our flight lands back in Vlad!

Tonight I would like to remind you to take a moment if you haven’t already done so to pray for our new president Barack Obama. No matter what our political or religious views are, we need to hope and pray that we can all rally behind change that can positively impact our country and the world. We also wanted to let Denny Overstreet know that we are thinking of him as he prepares for back surgery tomorrow. We hope all goes according to plan and he is back on track in no time!

We are expecting a heat wave tomorrow – a high of 37 degrees. Yahoooo!

Keeping it real.

One of the scriptures at church today will be where I pull strength from this week. It is in Philippians 2:14 which was written by Paul while in prison, and it reads “Do everything without complaining or arguing.” I wrote just a few days ago about ‘the buzz’ being contagious. Well just as goodness is contagious so is negativity. Justin and I have felt like a little black cloud has slowly begun to form over us. Our hearts are aching to hold Blake. Brady and Madison speak about him as if he has always been a part of our family. They were dividing up pictures of animals they got from a magazine and they were making three piles. They decided that the snake couldn’t go into Blake’s pile because it might scare him. I typically see little acts like that and just smile at how sweet they are. Today I see those things and my heart hurts. To top it off we know that our wait has possibly only just begun. The realists in us keeps trying to convince each other that we could be MONTHS away from going back to Vlad. The dreamers in us tries to allow ourselves to believe that we will hear good news within a couple of weeks and be making arrangements for our return. We have had couples warn us that months two and three are so much harder than the first month. I completely agree.

So for now, I am going to be deliberate about keeping the negative thoughts from squashing our hopes. I am going to try to blow that little black cloud back to where it came from. I am going to take Paul’s advice and try to do everything without complaining or arguing. It is so very tempting for Justin and I to try to take control of this situation. We HAVE to remember that when we don’t surrender our will to God’s we always mess things up!

Tomorrow is a holiday so there is no school and I do not have to go to work. We will pick up the notarized report from the psychologist and a copy of his license to practice. Then we will head to the hospital to have blood drawn to make sure we haven’t contracted any crazy disease since the last time we had our blood tests – remember those results can only be 3 months old or you have to redo it in order to get a court date!! So hopefully by keeping busy we can prevent some of the negativity from seeping in.

A few random updates for you…

Justin and I had our psychological evaluation yesterday and we are pleased to announce that not only are we not criminals, but we are not crazy either! Whewww – another relief. The appointment was about two hours long and we spoke about everything under the sun. The counselor’s conclusion was that he saw absolutely no reason we should not move forward with our adoption and had no concerns. IF he had to diagnosis us with some ‘tendencies’ he would say that Justin and I could run the risk of being anxious, controlling, and perfectionists. Hmmmmmm wonder how he came to that conclusion!?!? :o) Luckily he felt that we keep everything well balanced. Check that one off the list!

We also mailed out some photos and a card for Blake and some stickers for his group. These actually have to go to our agency in St. Louis and they put it in their mailing. They mail things out on Wednesday and Friday of each week. Then I believe it will go to our agency rep in Vlad who will then deliver it to the baby home when they are there for business. Not for sure of the exact process but needless to say it isn’t the speediest procedure.

Justin and I also worked on our album for court. We have to show pictures documenting that we actually were in Russia and really did visit Blake. It was fun going through our pictures for the billionth time but they are getting harder and harder to look at as the days go by. I think we are pretty happy with the book we have made. We will order it this weekend probably and have it here within 5 days.

We also hung up the letters in Blake’s room that Justin painted. It is funny because those of you that know Justin know that he is quite the handyman and a perfectionist about having things done right. Well much to my surprise he suggested hot gluing the letters to the wall. Now this is something I would suggest – not our man with the golden hands. He would normally want drywall anchors and a level and blah blah blah to put these up. They look cute on the wall above Blake’s bed (see above). Still no window treatments, but we’re working on that one.

As many of you know it has been so cold the past two days school has been cancelled. Monday is a holiday as well so Brady and Madison are loving this mini vacation. We hope to have some sort of update next week as to whether or not our Vlad documents are ready to be sent to us. Any news is good news so we’ll see what happens.

~Keep warm everyone!

(Pitman family if you read this entry, we are all dying for an update! We know that you are tired and busy, but we can’t wait to hear how you are all adjusting. We want to see pictures too! No pressure or anything!!)

The Buzz

The buzz is contagious. I can’t explain it, but I know some of you reading this will completely understand. Monday night we received our letter from the state police stating that neither Justin nor I have a record. Yeah – no surprises! We have our psychological evaluation this week. This all feels like progress. And then to top it off the folks in Vlad are back to work. I wasn’t for sure how fast after their holiday celebrations they would return to work. We were told by our agency to be cautious and that there may be no activity on the adoption scene until the end of the month. Well thanks to my new blogger friend Amy, I learned that the MOE was already back in business. I have been reading a blog of a family that is there for trip number one on their second adoption, and I have heard there is a family there for court as well. In addition, our agency rep in St. Louis told us that CHI has their documents done. We should have ours completed and sent before the end of the month so she is emailing Irina to see where the Vlad documents are. I don’t expect at all to get any answers, but it is still great to keep our name out there. I can only imagine how those that traveled before we did are feeling about their wait. I normally try not to allow myself to get my hopes up so that I am not set up for disappointment. But for today, I am throwing caution to the wind and basking in the glory knowing that God is good and that His timing will be impeccable. I feel that things are moving in the right direction... for today anyway.

The downside for some though is that the ‘nesting’ instinct is also kicking in. Justin and I are on a nonstop run. We have so much we want to get done before traveling and yet we want to travel tomorrow. My poor techies at work (I love our department) - I bet they are just wondering what on earth has gotten in to me. I have an overwhelming need to get things done RIGHT NOW. They may say this is how I always am, but…. :o)

I seriously am just filled with joy today. Joy of knowing that we have been faithful to God’s calling. Joy of knowing that Brady and Madison are so loving and ready to share their lives with Blake. Joy that Blake is a perfect fit to our family. And joy of knowing that through the trials ahead we have the support of so many family and friends. We will get through this and be so forever grateful to have Blake home.

God is good!

How can we help?

Justin and I have had many people ask us that question. How can we help? We are surrounded by so many generous people who want to help us in some way along our adoption journey and we have been at a loss as how to best involve people other than to ask for continual prayer and encouragement. We have made adjustments in our budget, spending habits, etc… to help us pay for the expenses associated with international adoption so we feel that one way or another it will work out. So again we just weren’t sure how to involve others in our journey. Then one evening it hit us. We aren’t the ones that need help. The children and the baby homes and orphanages are the ones that need our help. When we return for trip number two we will be making a donation to the Artyem Baby Home. This is customary for couples to do. Typically what happens is that you take extra money with you and then purchase items in Russia that are requested by the baby home or orphanage based on whatever their immediate need may be. Some items include playpens, diapers, medications, art supplies, playground equipment, shoes, clothing, funds for a summer camp, etc…

We would love to be able to really make a donation that will have a lasting impact for the children in Artyem. If you would like to help us make that possible and join us in our efforts we would ask that you make a monetary donation by clicking on the button on the right of this page which will take you to a secure site to enter your donation. If you wish to hand deliver or mail a donation instead of using the site, we will deposit it into the fund for you. Of course we aren’t setting this up with any official taxing bodies so this donation will not be tax deductible.

We will be elated to report back to you what we are able to do for the Baby Home once we are in Vladivistock. We thank you in advance for your generosity.

Sincerely,
~Justin, Heather, Brady, Madison, Blake and the children in Artyem.

Blake’s room almost done.

The sunshine room has been transformed into an adorable little bear lodge. We still need to do a few things – mainly window treatments of some sort. Of course we have lived in our home for two and a half years and have not put up one curtain or blind (woohoo for country living!) so I am hoping that by starting in Blake’s room we will feel inspired to branch out into other areas of the house. I don’t have any good pictures of the entire room yet and will post more later, but here is a sneak peak.

Here is the bedding and the adorable lantern light on the nightstand. You can see some of the lodge looking border and fun green color. I love that the color is bright and happy – but not obnoxious.


This cute little bear is a piggy bank. Well actually it is a bear bank but you get the idea. It is so cute. And that little lantern clock…. We found it in the WalMart Christmas decoration isle for 75% off. I have no idea why they were there, but it was like $2. I love a bargain and it is such a cute touch in the room.


And this quote is one of those sticker type things that come off with a hairdryer – so we are told. We thought this was a perfect saying for Blake. It is on the wall above the dresser.

One month ago – One month down.

So as I watch the little turtle across the screen, I realize that it is officially one month since we first laid eyes on our little guy. One month ago today that we were freaking out that our papers hadn’t arrived from Moscow and that we would not get to go for our first visit. One month ago today that we went to the Ministry of Education for our official invitation to see ‘our referral’ in a little town of Artyem. One month ago today that we walked through the red doors of the baby home and up to the room with the brown couch. One month ago today that our referral flashed his smile at us and became our son!

Initially I was thinking of this day as marking the first month that has passed that we have not been with Blake. I then thought it might be better to look at it as one month down in the waiting process – one month closer to being reunited with him. So today instead of being negative I want to be happy and thankful. As I reflect back to our time in Vlad here are some things to be thankful for…

Clean air; treadmills that don’t shock you (poor Justin); traffic signs and lights; toilet seats; toilet paper!; skim milk; fresh fruit; power adapters; smiles from people as you pass them; friends who are willing to share their experiences to make yours easier; innocent love of children; God’s promises; and the fact that children around the world all smile in the same language.

One month down – one more to go. (Wishful thinking I KNOW!!!)

America’s Most Wanted – Not Us!

I think I have said several times on here that we celebrate even the smallest steps. Well today we are celebrating that we are officially not one of America’s most wanted. Our FBI background checks have returned and we are pleased to announce that we have no arrest record. Yeah for us! We are now waiting on the state background checks and our updated document from CIS – and of course the folks in Russia to invite us back.

So this weekend Madison randomly asked me… “Mom, will Blake know how to bowl?” I think this thought came after a highly competitive game of Wii bowling with Brady. I took this as an opportunity to remind her that Blake has not had any of the life experiences she has. (Never mind the fact that Blake is 3 and most 3 year olds can’t bowl or that he struggled with lifting a full water bottle we had with us. I am sure he couldn’t handle a bowling ball.) I reminded her that Blake hasn’t ridden in a car; he hasn’t been to a grocery store; or (to her horror) WalMart. We will have to introduce all of these things to him – and hopefully in a way that is not overwhelming for him. So for the rest of the day Madison would tell me all of the things she is going to teach her little brother – how to do cartwheels; how to read; how to climb stairs (he has that down already); how to do a backbend; etc… They are sure going to be busy.

Blake’s Room – Before

Just a quick update. On Friday night, we began to transform the guest bedroom into Blake’s bedroom. I just about forgot to take some before pictures. I am a bit sad to see the bright sunshine yellow (JoJo's Tweety Room) color get covered up. I really did have plans for that room – they just never came to fruition and now I know why. I am quite sure that Jake and Jackie (Justin’s brother and his wife) will be quite happy to have new colors to look at when they come and stay! I love every little step we make toward getting Blake home. I do have to say though – it doesn’t help my anxiousness any by having his room nearly done and not having him here with us.

I found this scripture on another blog. It is a Living Bible translation of Habakkuk 2:3 and I feel like it is written for times like these. "...these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day."

Here are a few before pictures. When we have a couple other things done, I’ll upload the after pictures.

Before


Another Before


Our little helper!


Such a good big sister!


Brady had spent the night with a friend on Friday so he pitched in on Saturday.

Heart Felt Comments/Gestures

I am so appreciative of all of the things that people say and do that just help to solidify that Blake is a natural part of our family and that we have so many people supporting us. The emails and comments on the blog are always so appreciated. Here are a few other things that are coming to mind right now that I want to journal. I have already shared in a previous post that my mom has added Blake’s photo to the grandchild photo gallery on her wall. So sweet. Justin’s sister-in-law explained to us over Christmas that when she opened the picture we emailed out she was surprised that Blake looked so familiar to her - like she in some way knew him already and that he would fit nicely in the family. Exactly what Justin and I felt! We have had a couple of people marvel at the fact that we did not travel to Russia and pick him out from a group of children. – that he was picked for our family. It just seems like such a perfect fit. People are at a loss of how this can happen. I have no doubt in my mind – God’s divine plan! Another super sweet thing to share is that Blake ‘received’ his first Christmas gift this year. It came from Denny and Kathy Overstreet. It was so sweet it brought tears to my eyes. They gave him some first word picture books, an adorable handmade pillow case, and a beautiful quilt that Kathy made. Justin and I also got a beautiful quilt! Of course I claim to not even know how to sew on a button so the fact that people have such talent is amazing to me. We got a real quick quilt lesson and found out that Kathy chose the quilt pattern because it is called Around the World and felt that was very appropriate for Blake. I guess the name comes from the center square being one color and then spirals out from the center and the pattern continues. So sweet!

I have really enjoyed the past two weeks of having Brady and Madison home from school. We are going to have a hard time getting back into the normal routine. Back to nagging them to get ready for school, to get their reading minutes in, practicing piano, get to bed, get to sleep, rush, rush, rush. I have been able to be super productive at work and get several things organized. I am feeling a need to be on top of everything so that when it is time for us to make trip number two I don’t have too many major loose ends. I have also used some of this holiday time (between games of Pictureka and Guess Who) reading several blogs of other adoptive families. I just finished one from a family that received their court date within two months of returning from trip one. That is the fastest I have seen so far. I find myself getting my hopes up a bit…

Blake's Quilt - Around the World pattern



Back side of the quilt.

Huge Relief and Happy New Year!

I have realized that I need to celebrate even the smallest of successes and that is what I am doing today! When Justin and I were in Vlad we used our new tiny video camera. It is one of those cheaper ones that are super handy and record to a sd memory card - yes another gadget. Well anyway, we recorded some on visit one and two with Blake. On visit three I got a little nervous because I could not see the videos we had recorded the day before. I wasn't too worried though because I had put in an extra memory card so I was pretty sure that the video camera just moved them to the disk and couldn't access them from the playback menu on the camera. We decided to stop recording until we figured out what was going on. We didn't want to record over everything we had already recorded so we just put it away. Well back at the Vlad Inn I inserted the memory card into my laptop and there was nothing. The computer wouldn't even read the card. My heart sank. To make a long story a bit shorter, I just now finally got up the nerve to pick up that camera again. I just wasn't ready to confirm that I had in fact lost those videos. So feeling a bit braver, I tried the card again in the laptop. Still nothing. I then entered the memory card into my card reader and inserted it into my desktop computer. The files were there! Every single one of them! I immediately began to open each one of them. Watching Blake's little feet scurry all over the visiting room, grabbing things off the shelves, smiling, laughing, hearing us say Nyet (no), hearing him sing to himself, watching him search for the album we brought him, etc... My heart just filled with happiness and relief. I am so excited to share these videos with Brady and Madison. I'll let you know what they think! Such a great gift to 'see' him again - even through video!!!

Justin and I also wanted to wish everyone a very Happy 2009. Tucking Madison into bed the other night she asked me what holiday comes after Christmas. I told her that in just a few days we would celebrate New Years. And that 2009 will be a great year for our family because Blake will finally be home with us. She sat straight up in her bed, eyes wide open, and a smile across her face. She said, "You mean you are bringing Blake home in three days?" Ohhh I feel bad that I have to keep telling her no. She just does not understand why Justin and I don't get right back on the plane and bring her brother home. I am running out of ways to explain things to her. She and Brady are just so excited.

We hope that you all have a great New Year's celebration and that 2009 brings peace and happiness to all!