5 weeks home...

We are now at 5 weeks home. Slowly, we are settling in.

God has provided us an excellent opportunity to increase our understanding of our complete inability to love well without Him. Let's just say that up front. There have been more than a few challenges! Thankfully, our trend over time continues upward and God continues to be faithful, though often not in ways that we can comprehend in the moment.

Addy is over a sinus infection that was disrupting her sleep. She is now even happier than before. Her favorite things to do during the day are to climb the stairs without us knowing it and to eat things from the floor, preferably not food, again without us knowing it. She is not yet walking but is stronger all the time.

Lizzie is strong, capable, vocal, purposeful, and curious. We have childproofed just about everything that can be childproofed and have added a few bungee cords for good measure. She can be very loving, sweetly kissing Addy good-night. In fact, she is generally kind to Addy, surprisingly.

Rina has started kindergarten full-time, 9:00-3:00 every day. This is a very good thing! She loves her sisters, but there's a limit! She and Lizzie play well together at times: when Rina pushes Lizzie around in a toy stroller or when they chase each other around. Rina agreed to give Lizzie her dollhouse for Lizzie's birthday last Friday. Sweet, eh?

They are all sleeping well, for which we are thankful! We originally had the little girls in the same room, but a few weeks ago decided that everyone would sleep better if they were separated. Poor Addy is now in a crib at the foot of the guest bed.

We are getting there...

Here are some photos, finally. We don't have any as yet from our time in Russia, but these are better indicators of the girls anyway.

We are finally beginning to feel human again. Lizzy is sleeping well, Addy hasn't decided yet to sleep consistently. Well, she is consistently early in waking. We felt pretty good about things this morning when she got us up at 5:30 if that gives you any indication. Hopefully she is still messed up from a time zone standpoint!

We have shared some incredibly frustrating moments and some incredibly happy moments. We've had all three girls in the bathtub at the same time the last few nights and the happy splashing and shrieking is music to our ears. Especially since we'd had unhappy splashing and shrieking the first couple times we tried to bathe Lizzy. Lizzy's face just lit up tonight when Scott gave her chocolate pudding. She fully appears to think she's died and gone to heaven with the wonders of plentiful food and freedom (pretty much!) to run and play.

Both girls love Rina; she can get them to do things that we cannot without a fight. Rina thinks there are some real high points and some real low points about this whole little sister thing. We've heard her scream on a number of occasions, "Go home stupid babies!!!" but a few moments later she'll be leaning in close to one and saying, "Ya teb-ya loo-bloo loo-bloo." If you leave off the last "loo-bloo" that's "I love you" (phonetically) in Russian.

Whew!

On Saturday night we arrived back into Zionsville with two sleeping little girls. Oh. My. Word. Were we glad to be home!!! We were (and still are) utterly exhausted, and would have been so even if we hadn't picked up two little kids in the process.

The plane trip home was nothing short of excruciating! We had set our expectations low, but apparently not quite low enough. The best part of the trip was coming in to Indy early and getting our baggage immediately so that we were out of the airport about an hour earlier than we'd anticipated.

Adelle (Addy) and Elizabeth (Lizzy...in person she doesn't seem like an Elizabeth) are doing well in their adjustment to their new life. The transition to Indiana time from Moscow time (+8 hours) is difficult (we were up at 2 am for good the first morning), but we are getting there. We had less crying on Sunday than on Saturday, and less today than on Sunday.

Rina is thrilled to be a big sister, though she found out within 2 hours of her arrival back home that it isn't all a big party. Sometimes she wants to send them back, particularly Lizzy who is big enough to get into her stuff and has come to us fully committed to being a 2 year-old.

We were in Kirov with an Irish couple and two German couples who were all adopting. We had camera problems while we were there, so they all took lots of photos for us. We'll post some when we get a chance.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us over the last few weeks by taking care of Rina (number one big need we had), taking care of the cat and dog, watching the house, getting us prepared meals and fresh food, mowing the lawn, etc and etc. I'm sure I've overlooked some major thanks that need to be made. My brain just shut down. I could feel it!

We'll post more later!

Out the Door!

We just sent Rina off with our friend, Donna. Zeke's at the kennel, Scout is ruling the roost in kitty cat heaven at Melinda's house. The house is cleaner than it's been in two years. The car's packed with a lot of stuff, only about one-third of which is clothes. I'd say we're ready! Our flight leaves at 10:30 this morning; we go through JFK and arrive in Moscow about 10:00 am local time. We will try to update the blog when we arrive back in Moscow after picking the girls up.

Thanks for all of your prayers.

By this time next month we'll have 3...

Hey, we got the call! We are heading to Russia on Friday, August 7! We actually have 3 weeks notice--that's much better than we'd ever hoped for. Here's our itinerary:

August 7: Overnight flight to Moscow
August 8: Overnight train to Kirov
August 9: Visit kids in orphanage
August 10: Court date
August 11: Get passports for kids and pick them up
August 12: FLY (yeah!!) back to Moscow and see an American-certified doctor
August 13: Apply for visas for girls
August 14: Get visas for girls
August 15: Fly home

There's other stuff in there, I'm sure. For example, I know they take us shopping in Kirov to buy diapers and food so we don't have to pack all of that. And I hope we get to do a little souvenir shopping there as well to pick up something unique to the area. I imagine we'll get to visit the girls on the 10th as well. Hope so. Can you imagine how terrified they are going to be to get whisked out of that orphanage by people they've barely met?? Please pray that they are prepared to let us be their parents. And that WE are prepared to be their parents!

Preparations are proceeding apace here on Oak Ridge Drive. Their room needs some work yet, we need to buy all the little things (diapers, wipes, bibs, bottles, etc), and we need to re-babyproof the house. There are other things, to be sure, to take care of but we have the Big Three: van that can house three car seats; beds; and the 'gifts' we need to take along to Russia for the people who have helped us, whether we know them or not.

We'll update more in the upcoming weeks...

By the way, anyone know how I put the photos at the top side-by-side?

Finally, some decisions!

We are thrilled to let you know WHO, exactly, we'll be bringing home at the end of the summer. Meet Elizabeth Katherine and Adelle Grace. They are unrelated...right now. Pretty soon they'll be sisters to each other and to big sister, Rina, who is absolutely beside herself with excitement. They will be coming home at the end of the summer sometime...we have no firm date as yet.

Elizabeth will have the distinction of being the only redhead on either side of the family. A whole new color palette to explore! She seemed very much the toddler, insisting on putting things in her mouth and refusing to give interesting items, such as sharp pens, up.

Adelle, at 9 months old, is smaller than our experience--Rina was 12 months old when she came home. But Scott was absolutely lost when that baby first looked him in the eyes, then fell asleep in his arms. It was a sucker punch, and he fell for it.

Many people have asked us where Kirov is, and where it is in relation to where Rina is from. Check out this map...Kirov is roughly in the center, Moscow is to the southwest, and Ekaterinburg, where Rina is from, is to the southeast.

Anastasia and Alexandra, the sisters we went over to see initially, have been removed from the orphanage, presumably by someone in their birth family. We do pray for their safekeeping and for great love to be lavished on them. We were convinced as we travelled to Kirov a couple of weeks ago that they would be joining our family by God's grace. We wrestled mightily while in Russia with the realization that maybe this was not to be. We have come to rest in the belief that God will bless our family, whatever it looks like. We thought initially it would include a girl from DRC; then, the sisters from Kirov. Now, we'll have Elizabeth and Adelle (nicknames to be supplied in the future) instead. It's a wild ride, and exciting!

Unexpected Outcome

We are back and at least a little bit rested. We've showered and I've had half a pack of Oreos to catch up on several missed or light meals.

To make a long story short, we will not be bringing home Alexandra (Sasha) and Anastasia (Nastya) but rather different child(ren). It will again be two girls, this time unrelated, who we met at the orphanage; it is possible, though, that it could just be one of them. We will be very happy with either outcome, believe me. Clarity will come next week, at which time we'll give you more details! No matter what, we won't be travelling back again until late summer instead of mid-May as we'd originally thought.

The trip itself was utterly exhausting. Our train ride was pretty cool, though, (see photo at right) even though it took 14 hours. Dinner on the way out of salad and soup and rolls came plus an apple and cookies to be kept for breakfast. Scott asked for a beer and was given a Miller Light...guess that's what they think Americans want!

More to come in a few days, including some photos of the kids...

Hallelujah!

Hello, all! Welcome to our very utilitarian blog! Maybe I'll pretty it up a bit as time goes on, but at the moment I am extremely thankful that I even have the opportunity to use this vehicle to keep everyone abreast of the happenings in our lives! Many thanks to Bob for setting this up!!

OK: What brought us to where we are now, staring at our first trip to Russia in 36 hours to adopt two little girls?? And why did no one know about this possibility? (Including us)? Well, God just has, in addition to incredible wisdom and grace, quite the sense of humor.

Scott and I had decided near the end of 2008 to adopt a child from Democratic Republic of Congo. We had completed our home study and our application for the I600, the all-important piece of paper from the federal government which allows you to bring a child from another country into the US as your child. Out of thin air came a call from Inna Pecar, the director of KidsFirst Adoption, the agency which facilitated our adoption of Rina. She told us of two little girls, sisters, who were available for immediate adoption in Kirov, Russia. But we'd have to get the paperwork started quickly.

Amy: "How quickly?"
Inna: "By the end of the day."

Now it was 2:30 p.m. at the time, and end of the day equated to 5:30. On with the conversation.

Inna: "You'd be traveling over soon."
Amy: "How soon?"

Inna: "In about 11 days."

After picking our jaws up off the floor of the car we continued on with our original mission, buying a birthday present for Rina. Immediately afterward, we drove to KidsFirst and started the process rolling. We had no paperwork actually done for a Russian adoption. And there is a lot of paperwork. We've spent the last week completing that, making travel arrangements, making phone calls, making arrangements for Rina while we are gone, and packing. No plans have been made for actually HAVING two more little girls in the house!!

The girls are beautiful with beautiful names: Alexandra (to be 3 the beginning of June) and Anastasia (to be 2 the end of July). We know nothing about them other than their names, birthdates, and faces. You better believe we are extremely eager to meet them and assure them that they are going to be part of our family. Well, I suppose we'll kid ourselves that we're assuring them of that. They'll have no idea since they won't understand English and our Russian is mighty limited. But they'll like the toys we bring!

We are amazed at God's grace, again. To have two--TWO--girls dropped into our lap out of the blue! With this little information we could be very nervous. Instead, we find ourselves grateful for the opportunity and confident that God will give us the strength, creativity, patience, and help we need to meet and overcome any obstacle. Again we are reminded of His hand through our many faithful and loving friends: Linda and Joe, who are taking care of Rina while we are gone next week. Donna and Mark, who will take care of her for part of the time we are gone the next trip. Another of a large list of friends, yet to be finalized, who will take care of her the rest of the time. Julia and Dave and Mary and Scott, who will take care of the cat and the house. Jill, who is buying all the gifts we have to take over. Various friends who will be taking Rina for play dates while we are gone. Friends who will be shopping for a blackout curtain for the girls' bedroom for us. Bob, like I said, who set this blog up for us. And all our friends who are praying for us.

We will be flying from Indianapolis on Sunday morning, through New York and on to Moscow, arriving around 10 a.m. That afternoon, we'll board an overnight (13 hour?) train on the Trans-Siberian Railway to Kirov. We'll be in Kirov one night, visiting the girls at the orphanage for parts of two days, then we'll go back on the overnight train to Moscow. After one night in Moscow we will fly back home on Friday night. Yeow!

Kirov is about 500 miles ENE of Moscow just west of the Ural Mountains. Rina is from Ekaterinburg, which is further from Moscow...maybe 700 or 800 miles?...to the east. Kirov is at 60 degrees N. latitude. We are at 40 in Indy. Mexico City is 20. The northern borders of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, etc., are at 60. Pretty far north! Check out this webcam of somewhere in town. There was a fair bit of snow on the ground when we first checked it a few days ago.

OK...all for now. Maybe we will have a chance to update this while we are travelling but who knows????