On Friday we all had physical appointments for our adoption paperwork. We decided to go ahead and make it Blake’s kindergarten physical while we were there. He had to get three shots and he was such a tough guy! He is 41 inches tall and whopping 35 pounds fully clothed. We were all healthy and feeling fine. Of course later that evening I began to feel horrible and my throat has been killing me. I am sure we picked up something from the doctor’s office!
Also this weekend we attend the visitation and funeral for Justin’s great Aunt Grace Cochran. She was 98 years old. It is a blessing that she no longer has to suffer. The funeral was nicely done and I loved hearing stories about her generosity to others.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Our twin neice and nephew!
I know that we are a little biased, but I have to tell you that my twin niece and nephew are the cutest ever! We can't get over how sweet they are. We are happy that they are both healthy were able to come home with my sister this weekend. They were welcomed home by their big brothers Dawson and Dalton! What a great edition to our expanding family!
Presenting Dani Lyn and Dallas Liam being spoiled by the Overstreet's
Presenting Dani Lyn and Dallas Liam being spoiled by the Overstreet's
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Ringing in 2011
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Random Christmas Pictures Part 2
The Vancil Family Christmas - and very soon there will be 3 additions to this clan!
My nephew Trevor was so sweet and gave me a cute sock snowman he made!
Dalton was having a blast with the Christmas wrapping and bows!
The kids have fun taking turns opening their presents so they can see what each other received.
What did Grandpa get?!?!
Look at the twins in their matching jackets! Their twins will be arriving any day now!
Check out those smiles. Alexis and Trevor were shocked to receive the Nintento DS's they had been asking for!
Random Christmas Photos Part 1
There are so many Christmas memories from this year. I wish I had time to write about all of them. Here are a few photos to help us remember!
Brady, Madison, and their cousin Sydney enjoying a coconut they cracked open! They love having Uncle Jake, Aunt Jackie, and Sydney stay with us!
The Sunday after Christmas, Alexis invited us to her church to hear her sing some songs. She did a great job and we were very proud of her!
Christmas morning - we slept in until about 8:00 a.m. it was great!
Check out Madison's loot!
Blake was so sweet and thanked Madison for the gift she gave him!
I love that Brady is so into reading!
Madison made Justin and I a calendar for us to hang in the office. She did a great job!
Even Annie got in on the Christmas gift exchange!
9 months of chocolate
On our last evening in Vlad we took Irina and Lana out for dinner to their favorite Chinese restaurant downtown. During dinner we got on the topic of what Justin and I had given up for about 9 months as a way to remain in constant prayer over our adoption. Both girls could not believe that I had given up all chocolate for that period of time. (Honestly – I think I need to give it up again as a weight loss measure!!!) The next day we headed downtown to get one last document notarized before heading out on the plane that afternoon. As I gave Irina a hug goodbye she handed me a gift bag. She said she had gotten me 9 pieces of chocolate for each of the months I had given it up. That was so thoughtful of her! I wanted to include pictures as a reminder of how sweet those two girls are!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Random Thoughts from Russia
Ussuriysk Baby Home (Little Guy's) vs Artem Baby Home (Blake's)
Ussuriysk Baby Home Number 3 is in the middle of Ussuriysk City which has a population of several thousand people. Artem Baby Home is outside the town of Artem in a village which appears to be in the middle of nowhere. It took us 45 minutes to drive to Artem when visiting Blake. Because of the icy roads, it took us 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Ussuriysk. Artem’s Baby Home is larger and houses 120 children while Baby Home 3 in Ussuriysk houses 80 children. The director of Artem deals more with the business side of things and did not appear as hands on as the director in Ussuriysk. The Ussuriysk director is also a doctor and an adoptive mother and seemed very involved with the children.
Black American
On our second visit at the baby home, Lana – our interpreter – knock on the staff’s door to let them know that we had arrived. Lana began to chuckle. She said the workers had asked if she brought a Black American couple to visit today. They do not see very many African or other dark skinned people in Vladivostok. The only other ethnicity that can be seen besides Caucasian is Asian. They are very interested in other ethnicities and think it is intriguing that the US is a melting pot of people. We smiled at Lana and said we were sorry to disappoint them but we were not Black Americans.
Tori Hannsen
That is the name (maybe not spelled correctly) of the lady that sent her adopted son back on an airplane by himself in April. While this is a private blog, I won’t say much as there is nothing ever truly private on the internet. But while in Russia it was very interesting to hear another point of view on this situation. We had never even thought of a possible ‘conspiracy theory’ surrounding that situation. Very interesting.
Strollers
For those that have been in Vladivostok, you know that you must bundle up your child to go outside. Even in weather that many of us would wear a sweater or light jacket, it is expected that children wear winter hats and mittens. In the winter babies are bundled up very tight and then put in carriages that have wool lining. It struck me as funny that at the Vlad Inn couples would park the carriages outside the restaurant in front of a window. They would leave the baby outside and come in to eat. It was probably 15 degrees outside. Granted the baby had to be warm and I am sure they didn’t want to go through the trouble of unbundling them, but I still just couldn’t get over the idea of leaving a baby outside while going in to dine.
Ussuriysk Baby Home Number 3 is in the middle of Ussuriysk City which has a population of several thousand people. Artem Baby Home is outside the town of Artem in a village which appears to be in the middle of nowhere. It took us 45 minutes to drive to Artem when visiting Blake. Because of the icy roads, it took us 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Ussuriysk. Artem’s Baby Home is larger and houses 120 children while Baby Home 3 in Ussuriysk houses 80 children. The director of Artem deals more with the business side of things and did not appear as hands on as the director in Ussuriysk. The Ussuriysk director is also a doctor and an adoptive mother and seemed very involved with the children.
Black American
On our second visit at the baby home, Lana – our interpreter – knock on the staff’s door to let them know that we had arrived. Lana began to chuckle. She said the workers had asked if she brought a Black American couple to visit today. They do not see very many African or other dark skinned people in Vladivostok. The only other ethnicity that can be seen besides Caucasian is Asian. They are very interested in other ethnicities and think it is intriguing that the US is a melting pot of people. We smiled at Lana and said we were sorry to disappoint them but we were not Black Americans.
Tori Hannsen
That is the name (maybe not spelled correctly) of the lady that sent her adopted son back on an airplane by himself in April. While this is a private blog, I won’t say much as there is nothing ever truly private on the internet. But while in Russia it was very interesting to hear another point of view on this situation. We had never even thought of a possible ‘conspiracy theory’ surrounding that situation. Very interesting.
Strollers
For those that have been in Vladivostok, you know that you must bundle up your child to go outside. Even in weather that many of us would wear a sweater or light jacket, it is expected that children wear winter hats and mittens. In the winter babies are bundled up very tight and then put in carriages that have wool lining. It struck me as funny that at the Vlad Inn couples would park the carriages outside the restaurant in front of a window. They would leave the baby outside and come in to eat. It was probably 15 degrees outside. Granted the baby had to be warm and I am sure they didn’t want to go through the trouble of unbundling them, but I still just couldn’t get over the idea of leaving a baby outside while going in to dine.
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