Monday, December 12, 2011
Patiently Waiting......
The updates haven't come as often as we wanted them to since returning home from Volgograd. There are many reasons for that. The main reason is that there hasn't been too much to report. Since returning home, we have waited for, and successfully received our FBI background checks! It has been confirmed that we are not, nor have we ever been, wanted by the United States government for anything! That was good to hear. We have sent all of the remaining paperwork to Volgograd for translation. We have received confirmation that it arrived, and is currently being worked on. Once that paperwork is submitted to the judge in Volgograd, he has up to 45 days to issue us a court date. We have been assured that he works pretty fast. As soon as he issues that court date we will be ready to fly! We cannot wait to go back. Unlike last time, there are no more nerves. There is no more uncertainty. We are full of anticipation. We cannot wait to finalize this and bring Jonah home. Continue praying for us as we navigate the remainder of this process. Pray for Jonah, he is being moved into a new unit in his orphanage and we are hoping he will transition well. We will update this blog again as soon as we have more news. You guys who follow this are so valuable to us. We take comfort in the fact that we are not going through this alone. We feel like ya'll are going through this with us. Thanks again and keep checkind back for updates!
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Home's not home without Jonah...
Well we've been back from Russia for about 15 days. We are waiting on Russia to give us a court date to come back. They are waiting on a paper from us from the FBI saying we're not criminals so that they can set a court date. Unfortunately government agencies aren't really that interested in how much we want them to hurry up and send us this piece of paper. We couldn't get the document earlier because they expire every few months and when we applied for it they sent us only one copy instead of two, and Russia won't translate the document until we can send them both copies. Oh and once we actually get the second copy of the document from the FBI we have to mail it to Washington DC to be apostilled. This will take another 7 days. Needless to say this situation is tough to deal with because all this bureaucracy.
I think about Jonah all the time. I think about how rich my life felt with him in it and how much I just want to see him smile at me. I wonder what he’s doing. I wonder if he is sick and if he is I wonder if someone is holding him like I got to do that day at his orphanage. I wonder how cold it is there and if he is getting to play outside in a puffer suit.
We are starting to fill up our house with things for Jonah. He had a beautiful shower from my coworkers and some friends are giving me a shower this weekend. We bought lots of new picture frames and put Jonah in them all around the house. But even with all the new things in our house, it just isn’t home without Jonah.
Please continue to pray for us. That God would comfort Cory and I. That God would protect Jonah and that so very soon we will be able to be together as a family. Thank you all for all your support. I can’t explain how many people have walked up to me in a store or at school and told me they are reading the blog and praying for us. Thank you all. We love you and can’t wait until we can introduce Jonah to you all.
I think about Jonah all the time. I think about how rich my life felt with him in it and how much I just want to see him smile at me. I wonder what he’s doing. I wonder if he is sick and if he is I wonder if someone is holding him like I got to do that day at his orphanage. I wonder how cold it is there and if he is getting to play outside in a puffer suit.
We are starting to fill up our house with things for Jonah. He had a beautiful shower from my coworkers and some friends are giving me a shower this weekend. We bought lots of new picture frames and put Jonah in them all around the house. But even with all the new things in our house, it just isn’t home without Jonah.
Please continue to pray for us. That God would comfort Cory and I. That God would protect Jonah and that so very soon we will be able to be together as a family. Thank you all for all your support. I can’t explain how many people have walked up to me in a store or at school and told me they are reading the blog and praying for us. Thank you all. We love you and can’t wait until we can introduce Jonah to you all.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Almost Home!
Ahhhh, the words we have been waiting to say. We are going to be heading back to Houston tomorrow. As much as we have enjoyed this trip and meeting Jonah, we are ready to get back to Hull. Of course, we wish Jonah was coming with us, but since he cannot, we are anxiously awaiting to board our plane in the morning. We arrived in Moscow last night around midnight and were met in the airport by our translator, Margaret. It was cold and rainy, and we had to catch a cab out to our hotel. Airports in Russia are regoinal, so eventhough we were in the Moscow airport, it was about an hour drive to our hotel. We arrived and were immediately taken back by how beautiful this hotel is. It is a Marriot and everyone speaks English, and our room has a king size bed. We have been sleeping on two twins pushed together since arriving in Volgograd, so the king was like being in Heaven!
Yesterday was our last day in Volgograd. It was also Jonah's birthday and the day we officially filed the documents with the Volgograd courts to become his parents. We signed the official paperwork to change his name in Russia from Stadnikov Nikolay Andrevich to Jonah Nikolay Elder. It was a pretty cool event. We realized that October 31 was becoming a big day for him. In 2010 it was the day of his birth. In 2011 it was the day we legally filed to be his parents. In 2012 it will be his first birthday party in the US! We have come to terms with the fact that he has to stay here for now. It was very sad to leave him at the orphanage, but we had no choice. Hopefully we will be able to return in January to pick him up.
Next time we update this blog we will be back in Hull. It has been a long, whirlwind, 10 days, but we wouldn't trade any of it for the world. From the uncertainty of the first night when we arrived in Volgograd, to the unexplainable feeling when we first saw Jonah being brought out of that crib, to the anxiousness we both feel as we await the long flight home, it has been amazing. We will try to update weekly now that we will be back home. As we get news, you will get news. Please do not stop praying. We cherish the friendship and support we have gotten from you all throughout this time. Thanks so much. Goodbye Moscow....Until next time.
Yesterday was our last day in Volgograd. It was also Jonah's birthday and the day we officially filed the documents with the Volgograd courts to become his parents. We signed the official paperwork to change his name in Russia from Stadnikov Nikolay Andrevich to Jonah Nikolay Elder. It was a pretty cool event. We realized that October 31 was becoming a big day for him. In 2010 it was the day of his birth. In 2011 it was the day we legally filed to be his parents. In 2012 it will be his first birthday party in the US! We have come to terms with the fact that he has to stay here for now. It was very sad to leave him at the orphanage, but we had no choice. Hopefully we will be able to return in January to pick him up.
Next time we update this blog we will be back in Hull. It has been a long, whirlwind, 10 days, but we wouldn't trade any of it for the world. From the uncertainty of the first night when we arrived in Volgograd, to the unexplainable feeling when we first saw Jonah being brought out of that crib, to the anxiousness we both feel as we await the long flight home, it has been amazing. We will try to update weekly now that we will be back home. As we get news, you will get news. Please do not stop praying. We cherish the friendship and support we have gotten from you all throughout this time. Thanks so much. Goodbye Moscow....Until next time.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
It's a small world after all!
Today started off a little different than the rest of the days. My blackberry rang at 7:30 am telling us it was time to wake up and start our day. We got ready and headed down to the restaurant about 8:30 am, as we do every day, and began to eat breakfast. Then a funny thing happened, I looked at my watch and saw that my watch was reading 9:50 am and my blackberry was reading 8:50 am. Apparently, the country of Russia decided that this year, they were not going to set their clocks back, and no one told Verizon. We had 10 minutes to get to the orphanage or risk missing one of our visits we had planned today. We are not allowed at the orphanage without our translator, and if we were late and she thought we were not coming, she would leave! We left our plates full of food and dashed out of the restaurant and into the street. We made our way, as fast as we could, down the street until we reached the underground train. Luckily, we only had to wait for a couple of minutes to get on the train. When we got off of the train, we quickly moved above ground and made a mad dash for the orphanage. We were in luck! Our translator was still waiting outside and told us she would've waited for the whole two hours since we had told her we were coming! We had made it, 15 minutes late, but we made it. Record time actually.
We made our way into the orphanage and once inside we saw our little man. He was sitting in the lap of one of the nurses, eating oatmeal. When he saw us he smiled really big at Leah, and stuck his arms out as if to say "come get me momma!" We had a great visit this morning. He seemed to be feeling better, and was playing like crazy. He loves to crawl to Leah, then lean and get me to hold him, then two minutes later reach our toward Leah. We call this his "hot potato move"! He just loves being passed around and held. As with all of our visits, this one ended too soon and we left and headed back toward our hotel.
Since we left without eating breakfast, we decided to go eat lunch. We went to our spot, Grand Pizza, and Leah had soup and I ordered a dish called "Grand Pancakes". I was expecting pancakes like in America, but I got a very thin pancake like thing that was wrapped around chicken and cheese. It was amazing. Like nothing I had ever had before. Those of you who know me know how picky of an eater I am, but in this country, I haven't come across many things that were not good. Russians know how to do food, especially if you can figure out how to order it. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest, and when we got to our room, our room key didn't work anymore. Add this to the list of strange occurances today. We went back down to the front desk and told them it wasn't working. They asked what room number, and gave us a new key.....that's it. It made us feel really secure! haha
Our second visit today was less eventful. We went to the orphanage and saw Jonah. We got to play with him in their music room, which made him feel right at home. I"m pretty sure we have the next Justin Timberlake on our hands. This kid loves all things music. Any toys that play music, anything he can beat on to make a beat, anything he can dance to, he loves it all. Once again, upon arriving at his area, he lit up and reached for us when he saw we were there. He is beginning to recognize us when we come in . That is very exciting for us and for the nurses who are with him. They all want him to be happy and want us to adopt him. I was a little worried that they wouldn't want us to have him, but they have been great. Even when he was sick, they kept coming out and telling us why he wasn't playing because they were afraid we would change our minds and want another baby. It was sweet.
Tomorrow is the day we have been dreading. The morning will be a celebration of his one year on this earth, and tomorrow evening will be the time that we have to leave him until we can go home and return in a month or so. We are very sad about this, but we are both coming to terms with it. We understand that this is just the process and we have no choice but to do what they tell us we have to do. We do not want him to feel like we are not coming back, but we have both decided that he is too young to know. We have been praying for God to comfort us during this time. This afternoon when Jonah was playing I noticed something that I knew was God comforting me. Jonah has this horse that plays music. It plays Old MacDonalds Farm, a few other songs I do not know, and It's a small world. His favorite is It's a small world. Every time he hits that button and that song comes he just smiles and dances as fast and as hard as he can. This song must've played about a million times today. While watching him play it and dance a thought hit me. It really is a small world. Compared to the vastness of the universe, and the depths of the heavens, this world is very very tiny. The God who created this small world and this HUGE universe loves Jonah and he loves Leah and I. Even though we feel like we are worlds away from our son when we leave, we are really only a short distance. That distance gets even shorter when you think about the fact that God will be holding us both and Jonah in his arms bringing comfort during the seperation. It meant the world to me. It really is a small world. It took a 1 year old with a toy horse to drive that point home. I am not sure if we will be able to post tomrrow night. Our flight to Moscow leaves at 9:05 pm and we won't get to our hotel until nearly midnight. I will do my best so be looking out for it. Until then I leave you with this..it seemed appropriate...
it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small, small world
There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small small world
We love you all.
We made our way into the orphanage and once inside we saw our little man. He was sitting in the lap of one of the nurses, eating oatmeal. When he saw us he smiled really big at Leah, and stuck his arms out as if to say "come get me momma!" We had a great visit this morning. He seemed to be feeling better, and was playing like crazy. He loves to crawl to Leah, then lean and get me to hold him, then two minutes later reach our toward Leah. We call this his "hot potato move"! He just loves being passed around and held. As with all of our visits, this one ended too soon and we left and headed back toward our hotel.
Since we left without eating breakfast, we decided to go eat lunch. We went to our spot, Grand Pizza, and Leah had soup and I ordered a dish called "Grand Pancakes". I was expecting pancakes like in America, but I got a very thin pancake like thing that was wrapped around chicken and cheese. It was amazing. Like nothing I had ever had before. Those of you who know me know how picky of an eater I am, but in this country, I haven't come across many things that were not good. Russians know how to do food, especially if you can figure out how to order it. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest, and when we got to our room, our room key didn't work anymore. Add this to the list of strange occurances today. We went back down to the front desk and told them it wasn't working. They asked what room number, and gave us a new key.....that's it. It made us feel really secure! haha
Our second visit today was less eventful. We went to the orphanage and saw Jonah. We got to play with him in their music room, which made him feel right at home. I"m pretty sure we have the next Justin Timberlake on our hands. This kid loves all things music. Any toys that play music, anything he can beat on to make a beat, anything he can dance to, he loves it all. Once again, upon arriving at his area, he lit up and reached for us when he saw we were there. He is beginning to recognize us when we come in . That is very exciting for us and for the nurses who are with him. They all want him to be happy and want us to adopt him. I was a little worried that they wouldn't want us to have him, but they have been great. Even when he was sick, they kept coming out and telling us why he wasn't playing because they were afraid we would change our minds and want another baby. It was sweet.
Tomorrow is the day we have been dreading. The morning will be a celebration of his one year on this earth, and tomorrow evening will be the time that we have to leave him until we can go home and return in a month or so. We are very sad about this, but we are both coming to terms with it. We understand that this is just the process and we have no choice but to do what they tell us we have to do. We do not want him to feel like we are not coming back, but we have both decided that he is too young to know. We have been praying for God to comfort us during this time. This afternoon when Jonah was playing I noticed something that I knew was God comforting me. Jonah has this horse that plays music. It plays Old MacDonalds Farm, a few other songs I do not know, and It's a small world. His favorite is It's a small world. Every time he hits that button and that song comes he just smiles and dances as fast and as hard as he can. This song must've played about a million times today. While watching him play it and dance a thought hit me. It really is a small world. Compared to the vastness of the universe, and the depths of the heavens, this world is very very tiny. The God who created this small world and this HUGE universe loves Jonah and he loves Leah and I. Even though we feel like we are worlds away from our son when we leave, we are really only a short distance. That distance gets even shorter when you think about the fact that God will be holding us both and Jonah in his arms bringing comfort during the seperation. It meant the world to me. It really is a small world. It took a 1 year old with a toy horse to drive that point home. I am not sure if we will be able to post tomrrow night. Our flight to Moscow leaves at 9:05 pm and we won't get to our hotel until nearly midnight. I will do my best so be looking out for it. Until then I leave you with this..it seemed appropriate...
it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small, small world
There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small small world
We love you all.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Sick babies and toy stores!
FYI, I just typed a magnificant, multi paragraphed blog entry, and lost it when I tried to publish. I will try my best to duplicate but if my literary ability is lacking, you know why.
Today was alot like the other day. We started moving around about 7:30 and headed to the orphanage about 9:30 to make out 10:00 meeting with Jonah. He wasn't feeling very well during our first visit. When they brought him to us he could barely hold his eyes open. He has been sick all week and they had just given him some medicine that wiped him out. He was a trooper and played as long as he could, but he eventually ended up asleep on Leah's chest. He slept for about 1:30 of our 2 hours visit, but that was ok. As a matter of fact, it was one of the sweetest visits we have had with him. The second visit, he was much more active. He played with toys, walked and crawled, laughed...he was just all around fun. We have been noticing he is very musical. They told us that on our first visit earlier in the week, but we have been noticing it lately. He likes any kinds of toys that make music. He loves tamborine toys, toys that sing songs that he can dance to, little mexican shaker toys. Anything that can make a beat he loves. So today, after we visited him, we headed over to a toy store near our hotel and bought him a toy piano for his birthday. They orphanage workers asked us earlier today if we knew that Monday was his birthday. We told them yes and asked if we could bring gifts. We are also going to bring a cake, but they said he couldn't eat it, but they would be glad to!
Leah and I were talking about his birthday and it led to a converstion about his birth mother. Monday is not only a celebration of his birth, but also a day to thank God that he led his birth mother to make a sound decision. You see, she could have done just about anything on that day. She is a drug addict, they say she is probably a prostitute. She could have had him and put him in a dumpster or left him somewhere to die. She could have aborted the pregnancy before she had him, but she didn't. She went to a hospital and had him. She left less than two hours after he was born and left his birth certificate without a mother or father on it, but at least she did what she did. Even then, a year ago, God was not only orchestrating Jonah's safe arrival in baby orphanage #4, but he was orchestrating our decision to adopt. It wasn't until January that we made the decision, but our hearts were already beginning to turn. Before we deciced to adopt, before we chose Russia, God had already chosen Jonah for us. It's beautiful. We will thank him every day for the rest of our lives. We don't deserve this kind of favor. We are filthy sinners who have no claim to the riches of God, but through the cross all those things are reconciled. Through the cross we are given purpose and made whole. It is because of the cross that we live, and we will teach that to Jonah. It's clear how much God loves him, his story is already amazing and he is not even 1 yet! Until tomorrow....
Today was alot like the other day. We started moving around about 7:30 and headed to the orphanage about 9:30 to make out 10:00 meeting with Jonah. He wasn't feeling very well during our first visit. When they brought him to us he could barely hold his eyes open. He has been sick all week and they had just given him some medicine that wiped him out. He was a trooper and played as long as he could, but he eventually ended up asleep on Leah's chest. He slept for about 1:30 of our 2 hours visit, but that was ok. As a matter of fact, it was one of the sweetest visits we have had with him. The second visit, he was much more active. He played with toys, walked and crawled, laughed...he was just all around fun. We have been noticing he is very musical. They told us that on our first visit earlier in the week, but we have been noticing it lately. He likes any kinds of toys that make music. He loves tamborine toys, toys that sing songs that he can dance to, little mexican shaker toys. Anything that can make a beat he loves. So today, after we visited him, we headed over to a toy store near our hotel and bought him a toy piano for his birthday. They orphanage workers asked us earlier today if we knew that Monday was his birthday. We told them yes and asked if we could bring gifts. We are also going to bring a cake, but they said he couldn't eat it, but they would be glad to!
Leah and I were talking about his birthday and it led to a converstion about his birth mother. Monday is not only a celebration of his birth, but also a day to thank God that he led his birth mother to make a sound decision. You see, she could have done just about anything on that day. She is a drug addict, they say she is probably a prostitute. She could have had him and put him in a dumpster or left him somewhere to die. She could have aborted the pregnancy before she had him, but she didn't. She went to a hospital and had him. She left less than two hours after he was born and left his birth certificate without a mother or father on it, but at least she did what she did. Even then, a year ago, God was not only orchestrating Jonah's safe arrival in baby orphanage #4, but he was orchestrating our decision to adopt. It wasn't until January that we made the decision, but our hearts were already beginning to turn. Before we deciced to adopt, before we chose Russia, God had already chosen Jonah for us. It's beautiful. We will thank him every day for the rest of our lives. We don't deserve this kind of favor. We are filthy sinners who have no claim to the riches of God, but through the cross all those things are reconciled. Through the cross we are given purpose and made whole. It is because of the cross that we live, and we will teach that to Jonah. It's clear how much God loves him, his story is already amazing and he is not even 1 yet! Until tomorrow....
Friday, October 28, 2011
Day 3 in Volgograd....
Day 3 started off alot like day 2. I woke up before the sun and could not go back to sleep to save my life. Unlike day 2, I didn't wake until 4:40 am so it is getting better. I am shooting for 6 am tomorrow morning. It's getting colder and colder here. The days started off at about 31 in the mornings and now they are starting around 25 or so. Our mornings always start with the same journey, a 15 minute walk to the underground train station, buy train ticket, ride train to next stop, and a 15 minute walk to the orphanage. It's quite the journey, but one we look forward to making daily. Actually we make it twice daily! Most of our days are taken up by walking....come to think of it, that may not be a bad thing for me! Today was a little different. When we arrived for first meeting with Jonah, we were told he was sick. We had seen signs of a cold, snotty nose, watery eyes, cough, but had hoped he would fight through it. They were just warning us that he was feeling bad. I was glad, I had worried they would shut down our visits if he got sick. He was definately feeling bad this morning. He didn't want to play, he was cranky and fussed and whined most of the visit. To be honest, I was sort of happy to hear him cry. He hadn't cried, fussed, or even made much noise since we had been visiting, and I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with him. So to hear him cry kind of sent an overwhelming calm over me. I know it's weird, but that's how it went down.
Our second visit was great! He had just taken a breathing treatment and was feeling great when we arrived! We walked, played, laughed, we even shot some amazing video of him dancing! Trust me, it's great video! Mom, it's in the email! We were told we would be interviewed by a social worker from the Russian government during this visit, but she didn't show up. This means that on Monday, our last day to visit, one of our visits will be shared with a social worker and questions about discipline methods and why we want to adopt. I guess it's just part of the process so it's all good.
The longer we are here the harder leaving seems to get. We leave for Moscow on Monday night to start our medical examinations Tuesday morning. One very important piece of cargo stays in Volgograd, his name is Jonah. He must stay here and wait for us to finish the medicals, go back to the US, get our FBI clearance, get our court date in Volgograd, and fly back to make the adoption final. It will be roughly 1-2 months between when we leave and when we can come back to get him. Just thinking about it tears my heart out. I apologized to Leah today and told her that I loved her a whole lot, but I have never loved anything as much as I love Jonah. She understood and said she felt that way too. Leaving him on the other side of the world seems like an impossibility, but it is necessary in order to finish the process. Please be praying for that day. I try not to think about it, but I know it is coming. I hope he understands why we have to leave and that we are coming back. I'm pretty sure he will. (I may be giving babies a little too much credit here, but who knows!) Until tomorrow......
Our second visit was great! He had just taken a breathing treatment and was feeling great when we arrived! We walked, played, laughed, we even shot some amazing video of him dancing! Trust me, it's great video! Mom, it's in the email! We were told we would be interviewed by a social worker from the Russian government during this visit, but she didn't show up. This means that on Monday, our last day to visit, one of our visits will be shared with a social worker and questions about discipline methods and why we want to adopt. I guess it's just part of the process so it's all good.
The longer we are here the harder leaving seems to get. We leave for Moscow on Monday night to start our medical examinations Tuesday morning. One very important piece of cargo stays in Volgograd, his name is Jonah. He must stay here and wait for us to finish the medicals, go back to the US, get our FBI clearance, get our court date in Volgograd, and fly back to make the adoption final. It will be roughly 1-2 months between when we leave and when we can come back to get him. Just thinking about it tears my heart out. I apologized to Leah today and told her that I loved her a whole lot, but I have never loved anything as much as I love Jonah. She understood and said she felt that way too. Leaving him on the other side of the world seems like an impossibility, but it is necessary in order to finish the process. Please be praying for that day. I try not to think about it, but I know it is coming. I hope he understands why we have to leave and that we are coming back. I'm pretty sure he will. (I may be giving babies a little too much credit here, but who knows!) Until tomorrow......
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Thank God for Grand Pizza......
Sleep is hard to come by here in Volgograd. We went to sleep last night around 7:30 pm (we were tired, don't judge), and I woke up around 1:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Leah, however, slept like a baby. I find that my mind is running a million miles an hour these days. I laid in that bed and thought of Jonah.....wondered how he was sleeping....wondered if he would remember us when we left for the orphanage this morning, things like that. Finally the alarm went off at 7:10 and we were ready to get up and eat breakfast then start the journey to baby orphanage #4. We eat breakfast each morning here at the hotel. It is included in the price of the room which is a really cool thing. The only draw back is it is not very good. Yesterday morning I thought I had scored some good ol' American sausage patties, but upon biting into the first one, discovered it was good ol' Russian liver patties! yum. I ended up eating some kind of fried bread and fried mystery meat. This morning was different, when I arrived in the breakfast restaurant my heart stopped! I looked on the big table and saw a huge bowl of cocoa puffs! They must've had a meeting and realized that they had to feed the big American before he got angry! If they have cocoa puffs the rest of this trip, life will be good. Food has been an issue for both of us. It's hard to eat when you cannot read menus or communicate with servers. We had eaten a meal in the airport in Houston on Monday night, and pretty much lived off of cheese crackers until last night we made a monumental discovery! Right around the corner from Hotel Volgograd (our hotel) is a little cafe called Grand Pizza! Pizza! We went in and, somehow, managed to order a chicken pizza and some green tea. We ate there last night and tonight. I feel that we will eat there every night until we leave. You can get a whole pizza and drinks for about 380 Rubles (just a little over $10). Life is good.
The reason we have to ensure that we eat good at night is because it is really the only good meal we get each day. Breakfast is hit or miss, and the trek to and from the orphanage takes away time for lunch. We are allowed to see Jonah from 10-12 and from 2-4 each day. He is on a very tight schedule. When we walked in for our morning meeting, he was just waking up and eating breakfast. It took him a while to get going, but once he did, he was hard to catch. We get to go into this toy room and play with him. He loves it in there. There are toys everywhere and he loves to try to play with them all! He can even point his crooked little fingers and tell you which ones he wants. He is very smart. This afternoon was a really sweet moment for us and him. When we walked in, the nurses brought him out and he was smiling and yelling for us! They had him all bundled up and we were told we could walk outside with him. We went for a walk around the orphanage and talked to him about what life was going to be like when we got back to Texas. Talked about his room, his toys, his new dogs (romo and sophie), even talked to him about his DeDe and Pops, and his MeMe and Papaw. He seemed very interested. Our second visit was cut short due to our translator having to help another American couple to the airport with their newly adopted baby. They were headed back to Indiana, and we cannot be at the orphanage without a translator. The day ended watching Jonah ride off standing on the back of a little bike, waving his little hand saying "paca-paca". (an informal goodbye). We got almost to the door and the nurses yelled at us to come back and he was standing, staring at the doorway with his hand in the air. We can tell that he already loves us, and we know we already love him. We can't wait to see him again tomorrow.
The reason we have to ensure that we eat good at night is because it is really the only good meal we get each day. Breakfast is hit or miss, and the trek to and from the orphanage takes away time for lunch. We are allowed to see Jonah from 10-12 and from 2-4 each day. He is on a very tight schedule. When we walked in for our morning meeting, he was just waking up and eating breakfast. It took him a while to get going, but once he did, he was hard to catch. We get to go into this toy room and play with him. He loves it in there. There are toys everywhere and he loves to try to play with them all! He can even point his crooked little fingers and tell you which ones he wants. He is very smart. This afternoon was a really sweet moment for us and him. When we walked in, the nurses brought him out and he was smiling and yelling for us! They had him all bundled up and we were told we could walk outside with him. We went for a walk around the orphanage and talked to him about what life was going to be like when we got back to Texas. Talked about his room, his toys, his new dogs (romo and sophie), even talked to him about his DeDe and Pops, and his MeMe and Papaw. He seemed very interested. Our second visit was cut short due to our translator having to help another American couple to the airport with their newly adopted baby. They were headed back to Indiana, and we cannot be at the orphanage without a translator. The day ended watching Jonah ride off standing on the back of a little bike, waving his little hand saying "paca-paca". (an informal goodbye). We got almost to the door and the nurses yelled at us to come back and he was standing, staring at the doorway with his hand in the air. We can tell that he already loves us, and we know we already love him. We can't wait to see him again tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Day We Met Jonah...
Today was one of those days that will forever change our lives. Sort of like the day we went out on our first date, or our wedding date, but, truth is, this was bigger than that. Today we met Jonah for the first time. Of course, his name is Nikolay, but we are calling him Jonah, and the orphanage workers have begun calling him that also. This day couldn't have come at a better time for us.
Monday evening, we left Houston on a Singapore Airlines jet bound for Moscow, Russia, 13 hours later we landed in Moscow. Neither of us was able to sleep on the plane due to the fact that it is just hard to get comfortable on an airplane! Once in Moscow, we met our translator, Alex, and he took us to the S7 airlines jet that would get us to Volgograd. We had a 4 hour wait for our plane, but eventually we were able to board and we flew to Volgograd. This was all last night. We got off of the plane in Volgograd and immediately noticed that we were not in Texas anymore. The Moscow airport looked alot like Houston. Big, busy, english everywhere. The Volgograd airport was no airport at all. Our jet landed and we climbed down stairs out onto the runway, which was about 31 degrees, and walked to the baggage claim. The baggage claim was a conveyor belt, that was outdoors, and we all huddled around it anxiously awaiting our bags to come around. We got our bags and could not find our guide who was supposed to be meeting us there. Fortunately, after what seemed like days, but was actually minutes, she found us. My short sleeved shirt tipped her off to our Americanism. I told her it was 90 in Houston 20 hours ago when our journey began!! She loaded us up in a black audi, driven by a young, non english speaking, man and he began to drive us to our hotel. I must admit, I thought we were being abducted. The Volgograd airport is about 20 minutes outside of town. 20 long, dark, foreign minutes. At one point I had decided that they were driving us somewhere to dump us and take our money! I had already formulated a plan for escape. Thankfully they got us to the Hotel Volgograd and helped us check in instead of killing us. We went inside and saw that our room was about 175 years old and consisted of three twin beds, two small chairs, and a TV that didn't work......that's it. "Dungeon-like", I said to Leah! Once everyone had left and we were all alone, it hit me. It was all finally real. We were on the other side of the world, literally, about to begin visiting a baby, who was counting on us to give him a good home. This thought broke me. I became very overwhelmed at the magnitude of what was happening in our lives. Those thoughts and 30 sleepless hours, at that point, and I was actually thinking of changing my plane tickets and flying home when the sun came up! Luckily, I am married to a level headed woman who loves me and Jesus, who reminded me of why we were there and assured me that if we got some sleep it would all be better in the morning. She refered to my condition as "culture shock" and told me she went through that in Paris in July.
She was so right! We woke up this morning, met our translator, and began the 20 minute walk to the orphanage. After meeting with the Russian department of education, we were officially approved and were able to go see the baby. The DOE let us know that Jonah's birthday was October 31, 2010! That's right, Halloween! To make things better, that is Monday, and we will be here to celebrate with him! This is significant because I have been worried that he wasn't going to be able to have a 1 yr old birthday party, but now we get to give it to him! How cool is that? After the DOE meeting, we headed to meet him. His area is called "stars". There are 6-8 babies there at all times, and his nurse told us that he was the "smartest baby in his group". She said that he "is loving, loves attention, and loves to dance!" All of the workers just gushed about how smart he was and how lucky we were to be able to get him. Then they brought him out, and we realized that everything they were saying was true, and so much more. Time stopped as I watched them walk him out of his group room and into Leah's arms. He smiled at us, and let us hold him. He gave us hugs, and played with toys with us. He crawls really fast. Really really fast! He is almost walking, as a matter of fact, he may have taken him first steps with us this afternoon. I'm not sure on that because the nurses speak Russian and I forgot to ask the translator to ask them. We get to visit with him from 10-12 and 2-4 each day until we leave Monday night. We are loving our time with him, and cannot wait for it to be forever. As we were leaving from our last visit today, the nurse was holding him and he reached out and grabbed my jacket and pulled me close to him. He reached for Leah as she walked by. It made us happy because that means he is bonding already. We feel very lucky to have not only gotten a child, but gotten one who seems to be extraordinary. Last nights anxioity, is todays joy. There is no where else in the world I would rather be than in Volgograd with my son. I cannot wait to bring him home.
We will try to update this blog every day or so until we leave Moscow again. We will be flying out Wednesday at 11:00 am and landing in Houston on Wednesday at 2:15 or so. Another 13 hour flight with hours lost due to time difference. Please continue to pray for our travel, our sanity, and Jonah. As of today, his name was erased from the Russian Database of Orphans. He is an orphan no longer......today, he is an Elder.
Monday evening, we left Houston on a Singapore Airlines jet bound for Moscow, Russia, 13 hours later we landed in Moscow. Neither of us was able to sleep on the plane due to the fact that it is just hard to get comfortable on an airplane! Once in Moscow, we met our translator, Alex, and he took us to the S7 airlines jet that would get us to Volgograd. We had a 4 hour wait for our plane, but eventually we were able to board and we flew to Volgograd. This was all last night. We got off of the plane in Volgograd and immediately noticed that we were not in Texas anymore. The Moscow airport looked alot like Houston. Big, busy, english everywhere. The Volgograd airport was no airport at all. Our jet landed and we climbed down stairs out onto the runway, which was about 31 degrees, and walked to the baggage claim. The baggage claim was a conveyor belt, that was outdoors, and we all huddled around it anxiously awaiting our bags to come around. We got our bags and could not find our guide who was supposed to be meeting us there. Fortunately, after what seemed like days, but was actually minutes, she found us. My short sleeved shirt tipped her off to our Americanism. I told her it was 90 in Houston 20 hours ago when our journey began!! She loaded us up in a black audi, driven by a young, non english speaking, man and he began to drive us to our hotel. I must admit, I thought we were being abducted. The Volgograd airport is about 20 minutes outside of town. 20 long, dark, foreign minutes. At one point I had decided that they were driving us somewhere to dump us and take our money! I had already formulated a plan for escape. Thankfully they got us to the Hotel Volgograd and helped us check in instead of killing us. We went inside and saw that our room was about 175 years old and consisted of three twin beds, two small chairs, and a TV that didn't work......that's it. "Dungeon-like", I said to Leah! Once everyone had left and we were all alone, it hit me. It was all finally real. We were on the other side of the world, literally, about to begin visiting a baby, who was counting on us to give him a good home. This thought broke me. I became very overwhelmed at the magnitude of what was happening in our lives. Those thoughts and 30 sleepless hours, at that point, and I was actually thinking of changing my plane tickets and flying home when the sun came up! Luckily, I am married to a level headed woman who loves me and Jesus, who reminded me of why we were there and assured me that if we got some sleep it would all be better in the morning. She refered to my condition as "culture shock" and told me she went through that in Paris in July.
She was so right! We woke up this morning, met our translator, and began the 20 minute walk to the orphanage. After meeting with the Russian department of education, we were officially approved and were able to go see the baby. The DOE let us know that Jonah's birthday was October 31, 2010! That's right, Halloween! To make things better, that is Monday, and we will be here to celebrate with him! This is significant because I have been worried that he wasn't going to be able to have a 1 yr old birthday party, but now we get to give it to him! How cool is that? After the DOE meeting, we headed to meet him. His area is called "stars". There are 6-8 babies there at all times, and his nurse told us that he was the "smartest baby in his group". She said that he "is loving, loves attention, and loves to dance!" All of the workers just gushed about how smart he was and how lucky we were to be able to get him. Then they brought him out, and we realized that everything they were saying was true, and so much more. Time stopped as I watched them walk him out of his group room and into Leah's arms. He smiled at us, and let us hold him. He gave us hugs, and played with toys with us. He crawls really fast. Really really fast! He is almost walking, as a matter of fact, he may have taken him first steps with us this afternoon. I'm not sure on that because the nurses speak Russian and I forgot to ask the translator to ask them. We get to visit with him from 10-12 and 2-4 each day until we leave Monday night. We are loving our time with him, and cannot wait for it to be forever. As we were leaving from our last visit today, the nurse was holding him and he reached out and grabbed my jacket and pulled me close to him. He reached for Leah as she walked by. It made us happy because that means he is bonding already. We feel very lucky to have not only gotten a child, but gotten one who seems to be extraordinary. Last nights anxioity, is todays joy. There is no where else in the world I would rather be than in Volgograd with my son. I cannot wait to bring him home.
We will try to update this blog every day or so until we leave Moscow again. We will be flying out Wednesday at 11:00 am and landing in Houston on Wednesday at 2:15 or so. Another 13 hour flight with hours lost due to time difference. Please continue to pray for our travel, our sanity, and Jonah. As of today, his name was erased from the Russian Database of Orphans. He is an orphan no longer......today, he is an Elder.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
To Russia We Go...
Tomorrow at 5:30 pm Cory and I leave for Russia Moscow followed by a 4 hour layover in Moscow , and then another hour and a half flight to Volgograd Volgograd Russia
I can not even begin to explain how this feels, mostly because I haven’t even come to grips with it yet. I haven’t completely even reconciled this in my mind yet. I can’t explain how I have already come to love this little boy, and I know that it will only be worse when I actually hold him in my arms. How can I even explain how many people have stepped in along the way and helped Cory and I? So many friends, coworkers, and family members have helped us that my sense of community will never be the same. I feel like Jonah is the most loved baby in the world already.
After spending about a week in Volgograd we will fly back to Moscow
When we leave Russia
We truly believe in the sovereignty of God. We believe that when he knit Cory and I together in our mother’s wombs he knew one day that we would be in this moment. We believe he knew that Jonah’s mom would be pregnant with him and give him to the orphanage and that he would one day be ours. I believe this is the same God that has been, and will continue to take care of my son. He was taking care of him long before I ever filled out the first piece of paper for this adoption. He was the one that put adoption on our heart, so I know that he is the one in control. He is also the one that I believe will comfort us and give us peace about this situation.
Our adoption agency is telling us that we could return to get Jonah as soon as December. We may have him home by Christmas! What a beautiful present that would be.
Ways you can be praying for our family:
Peace for Cory and I
Jonah to be comforted by meeting us, and not upset when we leave
Safety
Finances
We love you guys and hope to be able to update the blog while we are gone so check back soon!
Cory and Leah
Sunday, October 9, 2011
New News in the Pursuit!
Wednesday October 5th was the best day of our lives so far. On that day Cory sent me a text immediately and told me to call him asap. I called him immediately and he told me there was something he had to tell me but he couldn’t until I came home. “Is it about Jonah?” I asked. Somehow I just knew. He wouldn’t tell me but I rushed home at 3:45. He told me Anya our Adoption agent had called and had sent us the referral. It was in Cory’s email. He hadn’t even opened it or looked at it because he wanted us to see it together. He told me that she had told him that our referral was for a baby boy who was 11 months old. He had blond hair and six teeth. Living in Hull
Anya had told Cory that she could not believe how fast everything is going with the adoption for us. She said that people are usually not nearly this far along in the process yet. Cory and I know that God is blessing us. Our cup is overflowing.
Tomorrow we have an appointment with an international adoption specialist doctor at Texas Children’s Hospital. Cory will take everything the agency gave us to them and let them look at it and give us any advice they have. Then we will call the adoption agency and give the official acceptance of the referral. From there we will soon get travel dates and more information.
Blessed beyond measure by an amazing God is what we are. It’s hard not to look back on the last year and be amazed. A little over a year ago with Cory’s support I promised God to follow him wherever he led, even if it didn’t make sense at the time. With Cory’s support I left my well paid job, went on a mission trip across the world, and now we are adopting the baby that God has set apart for us. God definantly “ruined our lives” by a lot of people’s definition, but we there is no where else we would rather be. I feel this sense of urgency to express to everyone that we are only here because of the God that we serve.
I can not tell you thank you enough for praying for us. We know that everything has gone so smoothly because so many prayers are being offered on our behalf. At homecoming Friday night so many people stopped me and asked about Jonah and told me they had been praying. It is so moving how our church, our family and our friends have cared so much.
Please pray for Cory tomorrow as he makes the trip to the doctor. I am not going because I need to save as many days as I can to travel to Russia
Monday, August 1, 2011
Full Circle
Two years ago at Darla’s, (Cory’s mom), house I saw a Christmas card that changed my life. Usually I know everyone in her cards, so when I saw this one and asked about it Darla told me about Aaron and Charity Clayton and their story of adoption of their son Sam from Kazakhstan. She told me about their blog, and when I read it, it struck a cord in my heart and I never forgot it or Sam’s little face.
Last summer I found myself at Super Summer (leadership youth camp). I was praying, and asking God to just let me know how I could follow him better. Through a few different methods, he showed me that I needed to go on the mission trip they were offering the next summer, and that I needed to quit my job as a nurse and become a teacher. I am not the sort of person who does irrational crazy things like that, so I told God that I would take one application to one place to be a teacher, and if he opened that door I would walk through it. So I made a resume and drove it to Hardin High School
Ever since Cory and I first got married we had talked about adopting. And since I saw Sam’s picture and subsequently read his parent’s blog, we knew it was something we wanted to do. At the beginning of this year we changed in an idea for something more tangible, as we started contacting adoption agencies. Cut to now, and we are neck deep in this whole adoption, just waiting on pictures and medical information to show up any day now.
I spent the last two weeks in Paris , France Dallas
I called Cory and told him how everything had come full circle. To me it seemed that everything from the moment that I had first seen Sam’s picture two years ago at Darla’s house had led up to that moment, from quitting my job to becoming a teacher to going on this mission trip. I was so thankful that for a moment in this crazy process of adoption that God allowed me to see some of the puzzle pieces as they fit together. Even though he didn’t owe it to me, he let me see how a few steps of obedience had put me exactly where I needed to be, and yet the strength I had to be obedient hadn’t even come from me but from him. Thank you God, for adoption of me, just as I was, sinful and wretched.
Monday, June 27, 2011
We are just the shoreline...
Jonah 1:17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
I know it has been a while since we updated. The last two weeks have been full of Super Summer and Youth camp. Along the way we met and told so many people about adopting Jonah. We have been so blessed by their responses.
In the middle of all of our travels, we decided to buy a new car. The number one thing we were looking for is a car that would be good for Jonah. Yesterday we were driving and Cory turned the air vent toward the back seat and said “There you go Jonah” and we laughed. Our hearts yearn for our son. Every time we see a little boy we smile at him and watch him and wonder how old he is and it makes us think of our son. We want nothing more than to be holding him already, comforting him already, and protecting him already.
We got the rough draft of our home study yesterday. We edited it and sent it back to our social worker. She will send it to our case manager (tomorrow I think) so that she can make sure that it is up to all the Russian government standards. After that, it should only be a few months until we receive our referral. The process is moving quickly, and we are thankful for that.
About a year ago Cory was teaching the youth group from the book of Jonah. As we went through the book he said something that stuck out to me. He said that the fish swallowing Jonah was actually God’s way of saving Jonah. God appoints the fish to swallow Jonah. Growing up I had always perceived the fish as the punishment of God, but never as the grace of God.
Our son was born into a crazy situation. He was thrown overboard into turbulent waters. He was floundering in the sea. He can probably relate to the prayer: “The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains” Jonah 2:5.
But at just the right time God appointed a fish to swallow up our Jonah. To some, the orphanage he is in might seem like a terrifying place to be at, but we understand that it is the vehicle that is carrying him from a turbulent sea to a calm shoreline where we are. Some days time crawls by as he is in the fish but at just the right time “the Lord will speak to the fish, and it will vomit Jonah out upon the dry land! Salvation belongs to the Lord!” Jonah 2:9-10
At times we as Jonah’s parents may get confused and think that we are the fish. But we are just the shoreline. We are just the lucky ones who get to experience this, and get to have an opportunity to love a little boy, and increase our faith in our God as each payment gets met and he provides for our every need. We are just the shoreline, waiting for a fish, appointed by God to spit up our son.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
So many people to thank...
So here's what's going on in the pursuit:
This week we are trying to get everything finished and sent in by Friday so that Kathy can finish writing the home study.
We have had some friends and family step up in some big ways this week to help us get this finished. God has blessed us with so many different people with different talents. Last night my brother, Chet, was here from the time he got off work until 10 pm measuring each room and drawing a scaled diagram of our house. Thankfully he is a talented guy who took some drafting classes with his pipefitting!
Today our friend, Chris Rayburn was here from 8 am to almost 11 am taking pictures of the inside and outside of our house. I mean this guy didn't just take pictures, he staged each room with extra lighting and the pictures are so good I want to sell my house almost.
Yesterday I went to the courthouse and got the 4 marriage certificates, my birth certificates, and Cory's birth certificates. Then I went to the vet to pick up Romo and Sophie's shot records so that we could send those in as well. My superintendent and Mrs. Carol got an employment letter for me, and Cory's sent one as well. My uncle who is a police officer is helping us get background checks going.
All in all its a busy time but things are going well.
Friday Cory and I both have doctor's appointments for physicals for the adoption. Not so excited about that but thankfully our doctor is Brandon and we know he will make sure that all of our paper work is done and turned in. We actually switched doctors so that we could have someone we know actually cares about our adoption in charge of sending all our medical papers in. (After being a nurse I know that many doctors have a tendency to lose paperwork.)
I am so thankful that so many people are so willing to help us. We could't do this alone and we can't believe how blessed we are. One day Jonah we read this and realize how blessed he was by so many people who hadn't even met him yet, but loved him already.
This week we are trying to get everything finished and sent in by Friday so that Kathy can finish writing the home study.
We have had some friends and family step up in some big ways this week to help us get this finished. God has blessed us with so many different people with different talents. Last night my brother, Chet, was here from the time he got off work until 10 pm measuring each room and drawing a scaled diagram of our house. Thankfully he is a talented guy who took some drafting classes with his pipefitting!
Today our friend, Chris Rayburn was here from 8 am to almost 11 am taking pictures of the inside and outside of our house. I mean this guy didn't just take pictures, he staged each room with extra lighting and the pictures are so good I want to sell my house almost.
Yesterday I went to the courthouse and got the 4 marriage certificates, my birth certificates, and Cory's birth certificates. Then I went to the vet to pick up Romo and Sophie's shot records so that we could send those in as well. My superintendent and Mrs. Carol got an employment letter for me, and Cory's sent one as well. My uncle who is a police officer is helping us get background checks going.
All in all its a busy time but things are going well.
Friday Cory and I both have doctor's appointments for physicals for the adoption. Not so excited about that but thankfully our doctor is Brandon and we know he will make sure that all of our paper work is done and turned in. We actually switched doctors so that we could have someone we know actually cares about our adoption in charge of sending all our medical papers in. (After being a nurse I know that many doctors have a tendency to lose paperwork.)
I am so thankful that so many people are so willing to help us. We could't do this alone and we can't believe how blessed we are. One day Jonah we read this and realize how blessed he was by so many people who hadn't even met him yet, but loved him already.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Hey this is Leah!
Today is my 26th birthday and I can't believe that most likely before my next birthday I will be a mother. Adoption has been on my brain so much lately I can't even explain it... An old friend from childhood got in touch with me this week and I have been enjoying reading the journey of their adoption of their daugher Lily from Ethiopia. I was able to get a lot of information about taxes, finances and support from her blog. (Thanks Terra and Sharon)
Well Saturday we had our home study. To get this done we spent like $400 dollars at walmart the night before on fire extinguishers and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. (Yeah I know we should have probably already owned these!) At the home study, our social worker Kathy, stayed for almost 5 hours. She really didn't look around the house at all our newly acquired detectors as we had suspected. Instead she spent most of the time asking us questions and explaining to us what we could expect when we get Jonah home.
Out of the five hours of talking there is still one thought, one picture I can't get out of my head. She said that when we bring Jonah home that we shouldn't leave him alone in the room, especially at night. She went on to explain that he had probably never been alone in a room before. She also told us that in the orphange, up to 30 babies are usually all in one room with 2 or 3 caregivers. I started to think about this: about babies, all night long, turning in cribs and rolling around, and just constant noise of little ones and never quiet. Two very close friends are having babies next week. They are both due on June 22.. I think about all the joy we have had planning their showers, and how we have watched their bellies grow. I think of how much fun I had when I went to Gradee's house last night and saw how beautiful Teegan's room is and looked through all her beautiful things just waiting on her to wear them. Then I think of Jonah rolling around in his crib in a place where he is never alone and it is never quiet and my heart breaks for him. I wonder how his mother felt with him growing in her belly and how different it was for her than it is for my good friends.
I know Jonah's story will be different than a lot of his friends, and I know that it will be for his ultimate joy and God's glory, but just for tonight I am praying that he is safe, and that some how in all of the noise of that room with all those babies that there would be this silent moment where he knows he is loved already.
The more I think of the adoption of Jonah the more it makes me realize our adoption as children of God. When we get Jonah, it won't be because he was the best baby in the nursery, or because he is the cutest. He won't love us first, because we already love him and he doesn't even know we exist. But for no reason of his own he will be adopted as a son and all the rights of sonship transfered to him. Its not a perfect example, but God has definantly used this experience so far to teach me more about the gospel and how I am like Jonah. I have done nothing to deserve being adopted. This is the gospel and its everywhere and in everything. We just have to let God reveal it to us. Praise God we are adopted as sons and daughters.
Today is my 26th birthday and I can't believe that most likely before my next birthday I will be a mother. Adoption has been on my brain so much lately I can't even explain it... An old friend from childhood got in touch with me this week and I have been enjoying reading the journey of their adoption of their daugher Lily from Ethiopia. I was able to get a lot of information about taxes, finances and support from her blog. (Thanks Terra and Sharon)
Well Saturday we had our home study. To get this done we spent like $400 dollars at walmart the night before on fire extinguishers and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. (Yeah I know we should have probably already owned these!) At the home study, our social worker Kathy, stayed for almost 5 hours. She really didn't look around the house at all our newly acquired detectors as we had suspected. Instead she spent most of the time asking us questions and explaining to us what we could expect when we get Jonah home.
Out of the five hours of talking there is still one thought, one picture I can't get out of my head. She said that when we bring Jonah home that we shouldn't leave him alone in the room, especially at night. She went on to explain that he had probably never been alone in a room before. She also told us that in the orphange, up to 30 babies are usually all in one room with 2 or 3 caregivers. I started to think about this: about babies, all night long, turning in cribs and rolling around, and just constant noise of little ones and never quiet. Two very close friends are having babies next week. They are both due on June 22.. I think about all the joy we have had planning their showers, and how we have watched their bellies grow. I think of how much fun I had when I went to Gradee's house last night and saw how beautiful Teegan's room is and looked through all her beautiful things just waiting on her to wear them. Then I think of Jonah rolling around in his crib in a place where he is never alone and it is never quiet and my heart breaks for him. I wonder how his mother felt with him growing in her belly and how different it was for her than it is for my good friends.
I know Jonah's story will be different than a lot of his friends, and I know that it will be for his ultimate joy and God's glory, but just for tonight I am praying that he is safe, and that some how in all of the noise of that room with all those babies that there would be this silent moment where he knows he is loved already.
The more I think of the adoption of Jonah the more it makes me realize our adoption as children of God. When we get Jonah, it won't be because he was the best baby in the nursery, or because he is the cutest. He won't love us first, because we already love him and he doesn't even know we exist. But for no reason of his own he will be adopted as a son and all the rights of sonship transfered to him. Its not a perfect example, but God has definantly used this experience so far to teach me more about the gospel and how I am like Jonah. I have done nothing to deserve being adopted. This is the gospel and its everywhere and in everything. We just have to let God reveal it to us. Praise God we are adopted as sons and daughters.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Home Study Madness!!
Hey everyone! I am sorry for the delay between posts. I have already been scolded by my mother and brother for waiting so long to update! Hopefully you all will forgive me! haha We have been very very busy in the last few weeks. Leah is winding down her first year of teaching at Hardin, Super Summer is coming up in about 8 days, and youth camp is the week after that! Add all of that to the mound of paperwork associated with the home study and dossier process for the adoption, and you can see why we have not had time to update! I am going to remedy that now!
This Saturday, our social worker is coming over to complete the home visit part of the home study. This has been an area of concern for us over the past few weeks. We really have no idea what to expect. I understand that our social worker will look around our home. She will take photos of the rooms in our home. She will photograph the yard. All of this to ensure that Jonah will have plenty of room to live and play. She will also complete a fire safety checklist. We currently have no smoke detectors!! (Guess what I will be doing tomorrow??!!) The visit is going to happen at 5 pm, so I am planning on cooking dinner for her in hopes of winning her over with pork loin and baked potatoes! Always works on me!
Our social worker is named Cathie. We really like her. We actually chose her agency to complete the home study because she was so easy to talk to on the phone. The good thing about Cathie is that we feel like she cares about our adoption as much as we do. That is really big for us. We have cleaned, we have baby proofed, we have gotten the dogs groomed.....we think we have thought of everything! Hopefully we have!
We may not know what to expect, but we know who is in control. It is so easy to get hung up in the details and forget that a sovereign God is at the helm. We can only do as much as we can do, we have to rely on God to spin it in motion, and he has never failed to do what he says he is going to do. We feel so privileged to have been chosen by God to be family for this child who, otherwise, would not have one. God knit (or will knit) our son together in his biological mothers womb with Leah and I in mind. That is an awesome thought! Continue praying for us and we will update you guys, letting you know how the home visit goes!
Your support means the world to us,
Cory and Leah
This Saturday, our social worker is coming over to complete the home visit part of the home study. This has been an area of concern for us over the past few weeks. We really have no idea what to expect. I understand that our social worker will look around our home. She will take photos of the rooms in our home. She will photograph the yard. All of this to ensure that Jonah will have plenty of room to live and play. She will also complete a fire safety checklist. We currently have no smoke detectors!! (Guess what I will be doing tomorrow??!!) The visit is going to happen at 5 pm, so I am planning on cooking dinner for her in hopes of winning her over with pork loin and baked potatoes! Always works on me!
Our social worker is named Cathie. We really like her. We actually chose her agency to complete the home study because she was so easy to talk to on the phone. The good thing about Cathie is that we feel like she cares about our adoption as much as we do. That is really big for us. We have cleaned, we have baby proofed, we have gotten the dogs groomed.....we think we have thought of everything! Hopefully we have!
We may not know what to expect, but we know who is in control. It is so easy to get hung up in the details and forget that a sovereign God is at the helm. We can only do as much as we can do, we have to rely on God to spin it in motion, and he has never failed to do what he says he is going to do. We feel so privileged to have been chosen by God to be family for this child who, otherwise, would not have one. God knit (or will knit) our son together in his biological mothers womb with Leah and I in mind. That is an awesome thought! Continue praying for us and we will update you guys, letting you know how the home visit goes!
Your support means the world to us,
Cory and Leah
Saturday, May 14, 2011
The Pursuit of Jonah....
Well Hello! If you are visiting here, then we must assume that you have heard the news! We would like to thank you for being willing to follow our long journey of adoption. It is a road that we have thought long and hard about going down. We changed our minds at least a hundred times, but in the end, it was very clear what the Lord was calling us to do, and international adoption was it. Leah and I began talking about adoption around 2 years ago. We both felt like it was something we would like to pray through and see where it led. After a few months of praying, we were both sure that the Lord was leading us to adopt. We were not really sure where to start, so we just began by googling agencies and reading other's online stories of adoption. Let me give you a word of advice, if you are thinking about adoption, do not read other's online stoires of adoption early on in your process. They tend to be full of disappointment, heartache, and other things that would scare you off, and scare us off they did. We tabled the idea, and even began talking about having a baby.
We wrestled with this for a few months, until one day, Leah came home from her small group and said these words to me, "Cory, delayed obedience is still disobedience". She was talking about the adoption. See, we had pushed the command that God had made in our life to the side in exchange for the comfort of doing things the way we wanted. In that moment, we both knew that it was time to begin the adoption process. The next day we applied for adoption through Christian World Adoption, and were accepted later in the week. Soon after that we decided that Russia was where we felt led to adopt from. We were assigned the region of Volgograd. It's due south of Moscow in the Southwest part of Russia. We know that we will be adopting a boy and we know that he will be less than two years old. At this point, that is all that we know. We are currently covered by a mountain of paperwork that has to be done in order to be referred a child by the Russian government. Above all things, we know that this adoption is in God's hands. Nothing happens here that doesn't first pass through his fingers. There is a lot of comfort in that thought. We have been told that we will get the opportunity to choose our child's name when we get referred. We are going to name him Jonah. Even though we know nothing about him, giving him a name makes him seem like he is already a part of us. The name of this blog is "The Pursuit of Jonah", and that is what this adoption process is. We are actively pursuing our son, just as Christ actively pursues us day in and day out. For this we owe him everything.
We are going to blog during this experience so that you that choose to follow the blog will know how to pray for us and for the process. We want to use this blog to be open and vulnerable to you guys as we go through this process. We want to show our friends and family the very grace of God that has brought us to this decision and that we believe is going to lead us through this entire process. We know that there are going to be things and days that are hard, but we believe that by living this out loud that we can somehow show others what happens when we allow others into our own private lives.
We also want you to know that we covet your prayers! We truly believe that God hears our prayers and just knowing that you all will know exactly where we are at and what we need prayer for is so important for us. Here are the things you can be praying for right now:
1. Jonah (he may or may not be born yet, we don't know. Pray for his biological parents also.)
2. Volgograd
3. Cory and Leah as we plow through all of this paperwork
4. The home study process
5. Finances (This is a very pricey process. God will provide. Keep this in your prayers)
6. Pray that we would be carriers of the Gospel every step of this process.
7. Our families.
Thank you so much for your prayers. Check back frequently as we will be updating this blog regularly.
Until then, the pursuit of Jonah continues.......
We wrestled with this for a few months, until one day, Leah came home from her small group and said these words to me, "Cory, delayed obedience is still disobedience". She was talking about the adoption. See, we had pushed the command that God had made in our life to the side in exchange for the comfort of doing things the way we wanted. In that moment, we both knew that it was time to begin the adoption process. The next day we applied for adoption through Christian World Adoption, and were accepted later in the week. Soon after that we decided that Russia was where we felt led to adopt from. We were assigned the region of Volgograd. It's due south of Moscow in the Southwest part of Russia. We know that we will be adopting a boy and we know that he will be less than two years old. At this point, that is all that we know. We are currently covered by a mountain of paperwork that has to be done in order to be referred a child by the Russian government. Above all things, we know that this adoption is in God's hands. Nothing happens here that doesn't first pass through his fingers. There is a lot of comfort in that thought. We have been told that we will get the opportunity to choose our child's name when we get referred. We are going to name him Jonah. Even though we know nothing about him, giving him a name makes him seem like he is already a part of us. The name of this blog is "The Pursuit of Jonah", and that is what this adoption process is. We are actively pursuing our son, just as Christ actively pursues us day in and day out. For this we owe him everything.
We are going to blog during this experience so that you that choose to follow the blog will know how to pray for us and for the process. We want to use this blog to be open and vulnerable to you guys as we go through this process. We want to show our friends and family the very grace of God that has brought us to this decision and that we believe is going to lead us through this entire process. We know that there are going to be things and days that are hard, but we believe that by living this out loud that we can somehow show others what happens when we allow others into our own private lives.
We also want you to know that we covet your prayers! We truly believe that God hears our prayers and just knowing that you all will know exactly where we are at and what we need prayer for is so important for us. Here are the things you can be praying for right now:
1. Jonah (he may or may not be born yet, we don't know. Pray for his biological parents also.)
2. Volgograd
3. Cory and Leah as we plow through all of this paperwork
4. The home study process
5. Finances (This is a very pricey process. God will provide. Keep this in your prayers)
6. Pray that we would be carriers of the Gospel every step of this process.
7. Our families.
Thank you so much for your prayers. Check back frequently as we will be updating this blog regularly.
Until then, the pursuit of Jonah continues.......
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