How cold is too cold? That is the question we have been pondering all day long. It has been pretty cold here since we arrived, but nothing it was like today. When we left the hotel this morning, it was so cold that it took my breath away. I literally had to stop and catch my breath upon stepping outside. The actual temperature was -15 degrees F, but a 25 mile per hour wind was blowing along with these temperatures making the wind chill somewhere in the -35 to
-40 degree range. Literally, we were walking along the street with the wind blowing into our eyes so hard that it made our eyes water. Before we could wipe the water out of our eyes, it would freeze, therefore sticking our eyelashes together! This happened all day today and more tonight. We just got back to the hotel from our usual eating spot, Grand Pizza, and noted that it was actually getting colder. I'm not sure what we are in for tonight, but I am sure glad that I am inside and not out on the street. Speaking of out on the street, this city never sleeps. All businesses stay open 24 hours. You can hear people out on the street talking all night. It doesn't get quiet until around 7 am, then everything is peaceful until 1 pm when everyone wakes up and does it all again. It's amazing how much life is different here than it is in the states. I was awake at 4:30 this morning, like always, and I was taking note of this. I have trouble sleeping more than about 5 hours a night when we are here. I'm not sure why, but when I wake up, I lay there awake until the alarm goes off. Leah usually sleeps pretty well. I'm ok with that because she needs it more than me. This morning, at 6:00 am I heard about 30 guys come in from a night out and congregate in our hallway. I just listened for a while, and they eventually retired to their rooms. That is common here. I asked our translator and she acted like we were weird because we weren't like that! Different cultures are interesting in how they contrast with one another. I guess there is room for it all.
Today we got to leave the orphanage with Jonah and take him to take passport photos. When we got to the orphanage he was all bundled up and ready to go. He had on an orange puffer suit, a Russian winter hat, and they had his face wrapped up with a scarf. He was nearly immobalized! All you could see was his eyes. He reminded me of a younger version of that kid off of A Christmas Story. It was classic. We weren't allowed to take him alone, so one of his caretakers had to go with us. The photo studio was about 200 yards from the orphanage, so we trudged through snow and wind to get there. We unbundled him, and he sat on this little stool to take his pictures. The studio was creepy. Picture 80 year old building with dim lighting, 80 year old man with camera, taking pictures in the middle of his living room because he lived in the studio. That kind of creepy. All went well though, and after a 380 ruble deposit, we had our pictures ready to go. Our translator looked at them and told us Jonah looked Russian. (Duh!) haha. She meant that because he didn't smile. She told us that Russians don't really smile in their pictures. She says it's just always been like that. After the pictures we were able to go back to the orphanage and continue our visit with him. He has been pretty sick the last few days. They are pretty convinced that we got him sick. We know he was congested when we got here. Besides, we aren't even sick ourselves! The doctor told us today that she thinks he may have an allergy to our dogs, and gave us a list of medications to get for him. I mean a LIST!! There must have been 6 medications on that list, from costs equivalent to $9 all the way up to costs equivalent to $40. We know Jonah isn't that sick, so we have decided that they are using it as an excuse to get us to buy medications for several of the other kids who are sick but do not have adoptive parents that can spend the type of money it takes for the meds that will make them well again. The doctor told us that the orphanage cannot afford those types of good medicines, and just has to make due with what they have. Either way, it's all good. We are happy to help if they need help, whether they are forthcoming or not! We got his medicines and told him goodbye for the day. It was a good day all in all. The visit was not quite as long as we would like, but any time is cherished and we are thankful for every minute.
We have one more visit tomorrow before catching a 9:05pm flight to Moscow. Tomorrow will be tough. Last time we were here, we were sure that would be the last time we would ever have to come here and leave him when we leave. We didn't know about the law change, and how that would force us to relive what was one of the most devastating things either or us has ever had to expereince, but we are staring at it again. The good news is that it isn't for 3 months this time, but for only 40 days or so. It's such a tough thing to do but it is necessary. I really don't have words to describe it, or even any way to rationalize that we will be okay, but we will get by. Please pray for us heading in to tomorrow. It is sure to be a hard day.
We will fly from Volgograd to Moscow tomorrow night, and from Moscow to Houston on Thursday morning. We will both go right back to work, bright and early, on Friday. It's quite the culture shock going from being here doing what we are doing, to going straight back home and getting back to the ol' grind. It also may be the best way to pass the time. We will try to update tomorrow night, and then at least once when we get home. The update after that won't be until we get our return travel dates, then things will heat up once again. Thanks again for following our story. We are almost finished with our journey, and one more child will have been given a family. Trust me, there are many many more who are in desperate need of a family to love them. If any of you are interested in getting more information about international adoptions, or Russian adoptions specifically, please feel free to email me at Cory.Elder52@gmail.com. I'd love to show you how to get started on the best decision you will ever make.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
We went to court in a foreign country today! It was interesting!
In order to tell you the story of today, I must begin with last night. Around 5:00 pm, our translator and lawyer, here in Volgograd, came to our hotel room to begin preparing us for court. When they arrived, they told us that we would both be expected to give a speech during the court hearing. One of our speeches would be long, and one not so long. One would have lots of important information, and one would come from the heart. Leah and I had to make the decision as to who was going to do which speech. We decided that I should do the long, information filled speech, and she would do the short, more emotional one. The best part of Leah's speech was the part where she had to talk to the judge about how I would be a "great father" and that I am "a great husband". She killed those two parts! haha. Anyway, we were talked to about what should be included in our speeches, and what questions we would be asked by the judge. After that, they left us to prepare. Leah and I stayed up fairly late last night planning and preparing what we would say to the judge. How would we express to him why we felt we were the right set of parents for Jonah Nikolay? You see, over the last day or so, so much attention has shifted to "will Jonah get to come home on this trip?", that we both forgot that we were also petitioning to be granted custody of the child! We had totally placed cart before horse! You would think that after two trips across the world, mounds of paperwork, and thousands of dollars, that custody would be a formailty, but it's not. The judge has to review paperwork, listen to your case, and award custody as he sees fit. It was a sobering reality, but one we needed to take note us. We did, and prepared as though everything was riding on our speeches, because it was.
We woke this morning, met our translator and headed to court. Everything in this town is public transportation. No individual cars, just underground trains and above ground busses. The train system is quite nice, the only draw back is the fact that it is quite far to the nearest train depot. We trudged through snow in our formal court attire until we reached the train. 10 rubles a piece and we were on the train to the Central District Court of Volgograd. When we arrived at the court, we were greeted by our lawyer and then shown into a nice formal court room. Just before we were to begin, the electricity went out. Fear swallowed me up. I felt they would cancel the hearing and we would be delayed even further in this process. I feared that the building would burn down due to faulty Russian wiring! I was freaking out! I was relieved when they just took us upstairs, to a court room with windows and we started to have court by the sunlight! The judge started by asking us our names, birthdates, addresses, city of birth, and nationality. He then moved on and asked us to give our speeches. I delivered mine as good as I possibly could. I asked the judge for custody of Stadnikov Nickolay. I asked him to change his name to Jonah Nikolay Elder. I asked him to waive the thrity day waiting period so our family could finally be whole. Explained our financial situation. I explained our medical insurance situstion. I talked about our house, pets, his room and toys. Everything you could imagine, I explained to the judge, until he was satisfied and asked me to sit down. Leah was up next. She did wonderful. Leah is not too fond of speaking formally in front of people, (even though she teaches high school....), so as you can imagine, she was really nervous. I was really proud of her today. She spoke of her love for Nikokay, of her love for me, and how much we longed to bring him home to the life he deserved. She talked about how much she desired to give him the family he didn't have in Russia, and how we planned to do that. She began to cry during her speech, which caused the orphanage social worker to cry also. It was very moving. Once she finished, the judge asked her to sit down and we were through with our part. Next the social worker from the orphanage spoke of how much Nikolay meant to her. She talked about how much she will miss him, but how she knew that Leah and I were the right family for him to go with. She choked up when speaking about how special he is. He really is an extrodinary child. Maybe everyone feels that way about their kids, but this guy makes me really proud. He has overcome many obstacles in his short 15 months of life. We are proud to come along side him in his journey and help him continue to grow. After all of that happened, our lawyer and the judge went through our paperwork and the judge retired to his chambers to level his decision.
He came back after about 15 minutes and gave us some good and some not so good news. The first was that he was going to approve the adoption and that custody was ours. The not so good news was the custody didn't start until March 1. He denied our request to bring Jonah home with us now. Reason being is that he can only waive it if medical conditions show that the baby needs to get to the US for treatment asap. Our situation does not dictate that so he had to follow the law. We were a little disappointed by that news, but were overjoyed at the other news! We decided to celebrate rather than be sad. We are so thankful to God for this blessing he has given us. It has really been quite the journey. From just a thought in a late nigth conversation, to sitting in a courtroom in Volgograd, Russia hearing a judge say, through a translator, that he thought we would be great parents to a Russian child! It has been a ride! It's not over yet, but the end is within sight. We will return to Russia in early March to get Jonah and bring him home! What a day that will be. We would like to thank all of you that prayed with us last night for the waiting period to be waived. Be encouraged. There is purpose in Jonah's extra 30 days in Russia. Not sure what it is yet, but I am sure it exists. One of the most interesting things about God is how he answers or doesn't answer our prayers. How we respond to that says a lot about how we truly feel about him. Are we in this relatioship for our personal gain, or are we in it for his glory? If God answered all prayers there would be no one that was hungry, no one that was poor, no one that was widowed, and certainly no orphans. These prayers remain unanswered, and these conditions still exist. Question is, how will the believers respond to the needs? Maybe we are the answered prayers.
Tomorrow we will get to take Jonah to take his passport pictures. This will be the first time since he was an infant that he has left the orphanage walls. We will update again around this same time tomorrow. Love you all!
We woke this morning, met our translator and headed to court. Everything in this town is public transportation. No individual cars, just underground trains and above ground busses. The train system is quite nice, the only draw back is the fact that it is quite far to the nearest train depot. We trudged through snow in our formal court attire until we reached the train. 10 rubles a piece and we were on the train to the Central District Court of Volgograd. When we arrived at the court, we were greeted by our lawyer and then shown into a nice formal court room. Just before we were to begin, the electricity went out. Fear swallowed me up. I felt they would cancel the hearing and we would be delayed even further in this process. I feared that the building would burn down due to faulty Russian wiring! I was freaking out! I was relieved when they just took us upstairs, to a court room with windows and we started to have court by the sunlight! The judge started by asking us our names, birthdates, addresses, city of birth, and nationality. He then moved on and asked us to give our speeches. I delivered mine as good as I possibly could. I asked the judge for custody of Stadnikov Nickolay. I asked him to change his name to Jonah Nikolay Elder. I asked him to waive the thrity day waiting period so our family could finally be whole. Explained our financial situation. I explained our medical insurance situstion. I talked about our house, pets, his room and toys. Everything you could imagine, I explained to the judge, until he was satisfied and asked me to sit down. Leah was up next. She did wonderful. Leah is not too fond of speaking formally in front of people, (even though she teaches high school....), so as you can imagine, she was really nervous. I was really proud of her today. She spoke of her love for Nikokay, of her love for me, and how much we longed to bring him home to the life he deserved. She talked about how much she desired to give him the family he didn't have in Russia, and how we planned to do that. She began to cry during her speech, which caused the orphanage social worker to cry also. It was very moving. Once she finished, the judge asked her to sit down and we were through with our part. Next the social worker from the orphanage spoke of how much Nikolay meant to her. She talked about how much she will miss him, but how she knew that Leah and I were the right family for him to go with. She choked up when speaking about how special he is. He really is an extrodinary child. Maybe everyone feels that way about their kids, but this guy makes me really proud. He has overcome many obstacles in his short 15 months of life. We are proud to come along side him in his journey and help him continue to grow. After all of that happened, our lawyer and the judge went through our paperwork and the judge retired to his chambers to level his decision.
He came back after about 15 minutes and gave us some good and some not so good news. The first was that he was going to approve the adoption and that custody was ours. The not so good news was the custody didn't start until March 1. He denied our request to bring Jonah home with us now. Reason being is that he can only waive it if medical conditions show that the baby needs to get to the US for treatment asap. Our situation does not dictate that so he had to follow the law. We were a little disappointed by that news, but were overjoyed at the other news! We decided to celebrate rather than be sad. We are so thankful to God for this blessing he has given us. It has really been quite the journey. From just a thought in a late nigth conversation, to sitting in a courtroom in Volgograd, Russia hearing a judge say, through a translator, that he thought we would be great parents to a Russian child! It has been a ride! It's not over yet, but the end is within sight. We will return to Russia in early March to get Jonah and bring him home! What a day that will be. We would like to thank all of you that prayed with us last night for the waiting period to be waived. Be encouraged. There is purpose in Jonah's extra 30 days in Russia. Not sure what it is yet, but I am sure it exists. One of the most interesting things about God is how he answers or doesn't answer our prayers. How we respond to that says a lot about how we truly feel about him. Are we in this relatioship for our personal gain, or are we in it for his glory? If God answered all prayers there would be no one that was hungry, no one that was poor, no one that was widowed, and certainly no orphans. These prayers remain unanswered, and these conditions still exist. Question is, how will the believers respond to the needs? Maybe we are the answered prayers.
Tomorrow we will get to take Jonah to take his passport pictures. This will be the first time since he was an infant that he has left the orphanage walls. We will update again around this same time tomorrow. Love you all!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Getting Ready for Court- How You Can Help
Today we woke up to a winter wonderland. All last night we watched the snow coming down in sheets and woke this morning to see that the streets were even more full of snow and the trees that had once shown a little green were now fully white. We ate a quick breakfast at our hotel (I actually tried porridge and it was delicious!) and at noon we headed to the orphanage to see our love.
The way there was slightly treacherous due to mounds of snow and me (Leah) slipping around on stairs that were covered in ice. The park we have to walk through had snow so deep that it went up to the top of my boots. Finally we finished the tricky journey and arrived. We met with our translator outside and quickly went inside. Jonah walked through the door and threw his arms up for us and ran for me, he came ready to play. We got to play with him in the music room again- which is 1000 times better than playing with him in his room since there is only the three of us and our translator in a wide open room. We noticed yesterday that toward the end of the visit he was noticably tired and starting to get very cranky so we asked them if the 4 hour visit was good for him. They told us about 7 days ago he got moved up to a new schedule, and that he used to get to sleep about every two hours but now they made him stay up for 4 hour periods and that whether he was with us or them he would just have to be cranky until he got used to it. That made me feel better.
We played for about 3 hours. We had a lot of fun and Jonah smiled and laughed. Sometimes when I would be holding him in my lap and Cory would tickle him he would laugh so much that we could see all his teeth! He has the best smile and the best laugh. Even our translator who was sitting in the corner reading her book started laughing when he laughed. I told him some stories about his Meme and Dede and sang him some songs. He definantly started getting cranky around 3 but when his nurse came around 3:45 he smiled and waved "paca paca" to us in good spirits. He melts my heart.
After the visit we went back to the hotel and met with our lawyer and translator. They gave us the run down on court tomorrow including that we both had to give speeches. Cory is currently writing his since its really long and has to contain a lot of numbers about finances. Mine is shorter and is more supposed to be an emotional appeal of how much we love Jonah already. So obviously my part isn't hard. They told us that they judge will ask us a lot of questions about ADHD meds and about how we feel about the parents of Russian adopted childrent that have abused the children and sent them back. They also told us to expect them to give us a lot of questions about why we want to adopt and about being "so young".
As we prepare we covet your prayers. If you live in Texas our court will be at midnight your time. We just ask that you cover us between now and the time you go to bed tonight in prayer. Someone posted on Darla's status that if God could turn the heart of a King that she knew he could turn the heart of a judge. We are praying for just that.
To conclude I will give you the end of my speech that I will make in court tomorrow:
The first time I saw Jonah, in the arms of the nurse in the orphanage I knew that I loved him. We immediately formed a bond and I knew that our lives would never be the same without him. When we had to leave him I felt like I left my heart here in Volgograd. Nothing has been the same since that first day. There has been no better feeling that I have had in my life than when we walked back into that orphanage Saturday and Jonah stuck his arms up and smiled at me and called me "Mama". I am ready for him to come home with us so we can start our lives together.
We have many family members and friends that are very excited to meet Jonah and help us to raise him and teach him. Most of our family lives within ten miles of our home and will be there to support us and Jonah as well as close friends and neighbors.
I promise to love Jonah Nikolay as if he were my own born son. I promise to take care of him and to provide him with love everyday. I love this baby more than I ever knew that I could love anyone or anything. Your honor please waive the wait period and let us bring our son home today.
The way there was slightly treacherous due to mounds of snow and me (Leah) slipping around on stairs that were covered in ice. The park we have to walk through had snow so deep that it went up to the top of my boots. Finally we finished the tricky journey and arrived. We met with our translator outside and quickly went inside. Jonah walked through the door and threw his arms up for us and ran for me, he came ready to play. We got to play with him in the music room again- which is 1000 times better than playing with him in his room since there is only the three of us and our translator in a wide open room. We noticed yesterday that toward the end of the visit he was noticably tired and starting to get very cranky so we asked them if the 4 hour visit was good for him. They told us about 7 days ago he got moved up to a new schedule, and that he used to get to sleep about every two hours but now they made him stay up for 4 hour periods and that whether he was with us or them he would just have to be cranky until he got used to it. That made me feel better.
We played for about 3 hours. We had a lot of fun and Jonah smiled and laughed. Sometimes when I would be holding him in my lap and Cory would tickle him he would laugh so much that we could see all his teeth! He has the best smile and the best laugh. Even our translator who was sitting in the corner reading her book started laughing when he laughed. I told him some stories about his Meme and Dede and sang him some songs. He definantly started getting cranky around 3 but when his nurse came around 3:45 he smiled and waved "paca paca" to us in good spirits. He melts my heart.
After the visit we went back to the hotel and met with our lawyer and translator. They gave us the run down on court tomorrow including that we both had to give speeches. Cory is currently writing his since its really long and has to contain a lot of numbers about finances. Mine is shorter and is more supposed to be an emotional appeal of how much we love Jonah already. So obviously my part isn't hard. They told us that they judge will ask us a lot of questions about ADHD meds and about how we feel about the parents of Russian adopted childrent that have abused the children and sent them back. They also told us to expect them to give us a lot of questions about why we want to adopt and about being "so young".
As we prepare we covet your prayers. If you live in Texas our court will be at midnight your time. We just ask that you cover us between now and the time you go to bed tonight in prayer. Someone posted on Darla's status that if God could turn the heart of a King that she knew he could turn the heart of a judge. We are praying for just that.
To conclude I will give you the end of my speech that I will make in court tomorrow:
The first time I saw Jonah, in the arms of the nurse in the orphanage I knew that I loved him. We immediately formed a bond and I knew that our lives would never be the same without him. When we had to leave him I felt like I left my heart here in Volgograd. Nothing has been the same since that first day. There has been no better feeling that I have had in my life than when we walked back into that orphanage Saturday and Jonah stuck his arms up and smiled at me and called me "Mama". I am ready for him to come home with us so we can start our lives together.
We have many family members and friends that are very excited to meet Jonah and help us to raise him and teach him. Most of our family lives within ten miles of our home and will be there to support us and Jonah as well as close friends and neighbors.
I promise to love Jonah Nikolay as if he were my own born son. I promise to take care of him and to provide him with love everyday. I love this baby more than I ever knew that I could love anyone or anything. Your honor please waive the wait period and let us bring our son home today.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Reunited!
We began our long journey back to Volgograd on Thursday morning. Leah went in and worked half a day, and I prepared everything we would need to leave for the airport, and when Leah got home around noon, we set out for IAH and a Singapore Airlnes jet that would carry us all the way from Houston to Moscow, Russia. Just a sidebar, if you ever have to fly to Moscow, Singapore Airlines is the way to go. It's fairly inexpensive, but they are first class when it comes to amenities. Good food, no charge for new movies and TV shows, and best of all, a change of socks and a toothbrush mid flight! I'm not sure if the socks and toothbrush thing impresses anyone, but you can score big points with me by thinking of the little things, and they do that quite well. We were expecting 13 hour flight, but because of unexpected high winds, it only took us 10 1/2 hours to arrive in Moscow. I had no idea that wind could affect a flight that much. It's a little scary if you think about it....that's why I try not to think on planes. I feel quite helpless on airplanes. The emotion is one that is like no other. If I"m in a car, I feel in control. In a plane, I understand that I have control over nothing except for what movies I watch. You just kind of have to let go and trust in God to make sure you arrive at your destination, and if he chooses not to let you arrive, you have to be ok with that. (All of life is like that, but you get my drift) We landed in Moscow at 12:15 pm yesterday. We were so excited when we saw that there was no line at customs. Last time we had to wait for over two hours in lines full of people who didn't speak our language. It was also my first time in a real foreign country (Mexico doesn't count), so I was very nervous. This time we walked right up to the man in the box and gave him our passports. He spoke English and was very interested in why we wanted to visit Russia. After explaining to him why we were going to Volgograd, he wished us luck and let us pass. We met with our translator/guide after gathering our luggage and found a seat. It was four hours until our plane left for Volgograd so we had to find somewhere to rest. Between trips we bought an IPad...it is the best investment we have ever made. We were able to get wifi in Domodedovo airport and, as I speak, I am typing this blog on the wifi in my room in Volgograd. We also bought a bluetooth keyboard to aid with the typing. It does wonders. My Russia facebook activity has picked up significantly. We will be posting pictures of Volgograd, on facebook, as we go through our trip this time. After waiting for four hours, we were ready to board our plane to Volgograd. the flight is only about 1 1/2 hours so it's not bad. In Russia, when a pilot lands a plane, the passengers all clap. I told Leah that I am not comfortable with landing a plane being an action worth celebrating. It should be a given. People shouldn't be excited when you land safely, you should just be normal, cause landing safely is normal.....but that's just me. We got off of the plane in Volgograd with stairs, and walked straight our into -10 F temperatures. I have never felt anything like that in my life. It was stunning. We also realized that the entire runway was frozen....solid. Our plane landed on a long, wide, sheet of ice. (Maybe the reason for the applause) After processing that, it was off to the car, and off to our hotel room . This time we have a room for two people with one queen sized bed. Beats those three twins we had last time. Snow is falling everywhere! There are piles of snow all along the streets and sidewalks. It's like nothing I have ever seen anywhere. It is so beautiful. I wasn't expecting that.
We got to sleep in this morning. They have changed the visitation times at the orphanage since we left. We were seeing him from 10-2 am and from 2-4 pm. Now it's just from 12-4, once daily. That is quite the long visit, but we woke up this morning ready to do it. We ate breakfast, then came to the room to bundle up for the walk to the train. We had on thermals, jeans, fleece, gloves, huge jacket, hat, scarf, and face cover. It was still cold through that stuff, but we toughed it out. We remembered how to get to the orphanage from last time, so we went out alone and made it happen. Everything was just as we remembered but snow covered! When we arrived at the orphanage, we met with the doctor and got an update on his health. He is doing great. Pretty much the same as last time, but he has grown a bit. They also let us know he was walking like crazy and talking a lot. By this time, we were ready to stop talking and go see him. They led us down to the music room, and we took off all of our layers until we were ready for his arrival. After about 5 minutes, we heard the door open and he came walking through. He had on a knit hat, a sweater, and a pair of overalls with a gorilla on the front. He came storming into the room and stopped dead in his tracks. He just stared at us, and we just stared at him. The nurses told us they had been showing him our picture book we left him last time, and he was very familiar with who we were. He even knew how to point in the book and call Leah, Mama, and Me, Papa. The look he was giving us was the look you see in kids when they see Walt Disney on ice for the first time. They've seen cinderella in the cartoons everyday, but when they first see her, in person, on ice, they're kind of shocked. He seemed to be experiencing this. He had been shown our picture every day for months now, and now we were really in the room! It took him a couple of minutes of staring, but soon he reached his arms our like he did last time and asked Leah to pick him up. It was then on! He ran all over that room. He was pulling stuffed animals off of the wall and saying the Russian word for "baby" over and over again. We played on the floor, we played by the window, we played by the mirrors, we played everywhere! For 3 hours he was going strong, but in the fourth hour, he began to wind down. We could tell it was nap time. His walk got slower, he would lay down on piles of stuffed animals and rest, and most of all, he wanted to be held and rocked. We took turns doing this. He fought sleep with all he had and made it to 4 with our falling. Right before the nurses came to get him, he reminded us of his love for music. He walked over to a piano in the room, pointed at the keys, and did the dance he showed us last time. Moved his head from shoulder to shoulder over and over again. We told him we didn't play piano, but his DeDe was learning and would play it for him. He seemed to be ok with that. The nurses came to take him away, and he wouldn't let go of Leah's neck. He fussed and fought until they finally got him away from her. We didn't know how to show him that we felt the same way. We are hopelessly in love with him, and four o'clock will always be bitter for us. All in all it was a great visit. It felt so good to see him again, to know he was still there and still waiting on us to finish this process. I had all of these insecure fears about this trip. I was afraid that they would bring us another child and tell us they had adopted him out by mistake! I know it's stupid, but it's what was going on! Thank God he walked through that door holding our hearts. We cannot wait for all of you to meet this remarkable little boy.
Now on to a more serious matter. We explained to you all that there would be a thirty day waiting period between court and when we could being Jonah home. We had not even considered that the judge may waive that waiting period, because we were told it was nearly impossible. Well today, in our first meeting with our lawyer, she told us that she was working on getting him to waive it and let us bring him home with us on this trip. It is still a long shot, but she thinks that because we are the first couple in all of Russia to go to court for an adoption since the new law was put in place, and we started the process under the old law, we may have a decent shot at waiving it. In her words, "maybe he will feel sorry for you and take this into consideration". We are, in no way, counting on this to happen, or trying to sell everyone false hope. We just want to ask you all to pray about this. It has now become something we must think about, and we just want to petition God and ask him to make this so, with the understanding that if he does not, we will still give him all the glory and honor of that decision also. We know he is sovereign, and we know he is in control, so we trust him to handle this. Thank you guys for doing that for us.
This was long, but we had a lot of ground to cover. Thank you all so much for following. You are all special to us, and it means alot that you care enough to read all of these words I we type. We will blog again tomorrow, around the same time, so be looking for that. Hopefully we have new stories and new good news. We love you all.
We got to sleep in this morning. They have changed the visitation times at the orphanage since we left. We were seeing him from 10-2 am and from 2-4 pm. Now it's just from 12-4, once daily. That is quite the long visit, but we woke up this morning ready to do it. We ate breakfast, then came to the room to bundle up for the walk to the train. We had on thermals, jeans, fleece, gloves, huge jacket, hat, scarf, and face cover. It was still cold through that stuff, but we toughed it out. We remembered how to get to the orphanage from last time, so we went out alone and made it happen. Everything was just as we remembered but snow covered! When we arrived at the orphanage, we met with the doctor and got an update on his health. He is doing great. Pretty much the same as last time, but he has grown a bit. They also let us know he was walking like crazy and talking a lot. By this time, we were ready to stop talking and go see him. They led us down to the music room, and we took off all of our layers until we were ready for his arrival. After about 5 minutes, we heard the door open and he came walking through. He had on a knit hat, a sweater, and a pair of overalls with a gorilla on the front. He came storming into the room and stopped dead in his tracks. He just stared at us, and we just stared at him. The nurses told us they had been showing him our picture book we left him last time, and he was very familiar with who we were. He even knew how to point in the book and call Leah, Mama, and Me, Papa. The look he was giving us was the look you see in kids when they see Walt Disney on ice for the first time. They've seen cinderella in the cartoons everyday, but when they first see her, in person, on ice, they're kind of shocked. He seemed to be experiencing this. He had been shown our picture every day for months now, and now we were really in the room! It took him a couple of minutes of staring, but soon he reached his arms our like he did last time and asked Leah to pick him up. It was then on! He ran all over that room. He was pulling stuffed animals off of the wall and saying the Russian word for "baby" over and over again. We played on the floor, we played by the window, we played by the mirrors, we played everywhere! For 3 hours he was going strong, but in the fourth hour, he began to wind down. We could tell it was nap time. His walk got slower, he would lay down on piles of stuffed animals and rest, and most of all, he wanted to be held and rocked. We took turns doing this. He fought sleep with all he had and made it to 4 with our falling. Right before the nurses came to get him, he reminded us of his love for music. He walked over to a piano in the room, pointed at the keys, and did the dance he showed us last time. Moved his head from shoulder to shoulder over and over again. We told him we didn't play piano, but his DeDe was learning and would play it for him. He seemed to be ok with that. The nurses came to take him away, and he wouldn't let go of Leah's neck. He fussed and fought until they finally got him away from her. We didn't know how to show him that we felt the same way. We are hopelessly in love with him, and four o'clock will always be bitter for us. All in all it was a great visit. It felt so good to see him again, to know he was still there and still waiting on us to finish this process. I had all of these insecure fears about this trip. I was afraid that they would bring us another child and tell us they had adopted him out by mistake! I know it's stupid, but it's what was going on! Thank God he walked through that door holding our hearts. We cannot wait for all of you to meet this remarkable little boy.
Now on to a more serious matter. We explained to you all that there would be a thirty day waiting period between court and when we could being Jonah home. We had not even considered that the judge may waive that waiting period, because we were told it was nearly impossible. Well today, in our first meeting with our lawyer, she told us that she was working on getting him to waive it and let us bring him home with us on this trip. It is still a long shot, but she thinks that because we are the first couple in all of Russia to go to court for an adoption since the new law was put in place, and we started the process under the old law, we may have a decent shot at waiving it. In her words, "maybe he will feel sorry for you and take this into consideration". We are, in no way, counting on this to happen, or trying to sell everyone false hope. We just want to ask you all to pray about this. It has now become something we must think about, and we just want to petition God and ask him to make this so, with the understanding that if he does not, we will still give him all the glory and honor of that decision also. We know he is sovereign, and we know he is in control, so we trust him to handle this. Thank you guys for doing that for us.
This was long, but we had a lot of ground to cover. Thank you all so much for following. You are all special to us, and it means alot that you care enough to read all of these words I we type. We will blog again tomorrow, around the same time, so be looking for that. Hopefully we have new stories and new good news. We love you all.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Going back to Russia!
Wow!! Where to begin? It seems like we just returned from our first trip to Russia! The busy holiday season made the three and a half months go by much faster than expected! As you may already know, we will be flying out on Thursday, the 24th, to head back to Volgograd for court! We are very excited about this, and ready to get in the air! Since the last time we blogged, we have been informed of some law changes in the country of Russia that have affected our adoption. The original plan was for us to be able to bring Jonah home immediately after our court date. We have been informed that, on January 1, 2012, Russia implemented a 30 day waiting period between the court ruling, and when it is made final. This means that we will go to court, come home, and have to return to Russia in early March to bring Jonah home with us. This was quite the blow to our plans. We have everything laid out and ready for him to be with us this month, but that will not be the case. We have made peace with it, and will do what we have to do to make sure that he gets home at the earliest date possible.
We are very excited about our return trip to Volgograd! We will get to visit him twice daily, and even get to take a trip outside of the orphanage with him to do paperwork. We cannot wait to see him again. We have been wondering how big he has gotten, or how long his hair is, or if he will remember us! Thoughts like those have overtaken us since we returned to the states after the last trip.
We are spending this week packing and preparing for a very cold journey to the other side of the world. I was looking at weather forcasts for this weekend, and they are expecting snow. Highs are around 0 degrees F with wind chills of -33f. Needless to say, we spent time in Humble this weekend buying big jackets, thermals, fleece, gloves, ear muffs, hats, hand warmers, and thick wool socks. I'm still not sure if we have enough layers to fight off that kind of cold. I told my agent today that I have never felt anything below around 20 degrees. She laughed, since she is from St. Petersburg Russia, and working out of North Carolina, she thinks it's funny that it stays so warm in Texas. She made me promise to send her pictures of mine and Leah's first experience in the Russian winter. They are also expecting lots of snow this weekend. That will definately be an experience. We have seen Texas snow. You know, the kind that doesn't even stick to the ground. I'm not sure what either of us will do when we see mounds of snow taller than our heads! We will post pictures of this onto our Facebook for you all can have a good laugh!
Our court appearance is on Monday January 30. We are a little nervous, but we have a very experienced lawyer and have been assured that everything will be ok. This process has gone very smoothly. Please pray that it continues to go smoothly. We are in the home stretch now, and we can almost see him in his little bed when we look at it. That's how close it feels. A mere 6 weeks seperates us from completion of the adoption process to the transition of being parents to an adopted child. It never gets easier, but we are excited to be on the journey. Please begin praying for Jonah's adjustment to life in the United States. Pray for patience for Leah and I as he adjusts. We'd like to think it will be seamless, but we know that challenges are ahead.
Thank you all for your prayers. As with the last trip, we will update the blog each day that we are in Russia. Hopefully we have some more good stories for you all! Each of you are important to us. It's amazing to feel the support and love from, not only our family and close friends, but people that we haven't even met. We look forward to sharing our story with you and introducing you to Jonah in the near future.
Lots of you have asked about pictures of Jonah. As soon as the court decision is final (early march) we will be allowed to post pictures on the blog. Until then, it is a violation of Russian law to do so. Just wanted to clear that up. We are not holding out on ya'll, just trying not to get locked up! haha. Until next time...
We are very excited about our return trip to Volgograd! We will get to visit him twice daily, and even get to take a trip outside of the orphanage with him to do paperwork. We cannot wait to see him again. We have been wondering how big he has gotten, or how long his hair is, or if he will remember us! Thoughts like those have overtaken us since we returned to the states after the last trip.
We are spending this week packing and preparing for a very cold journey to the other side of the world. I was looking at weather forcasts for this weekend, and they are expecting snow. Highs are around 0 degrees F with wind chills of -33f. Needless to say, we spent time in Humble this weekend buying big jackets, thermals, fleece, gloves, ear muffs, hats, hand warmers, and thick wool socks. I'm still not sure if we have enough layers to fight off that kind of cold. I told my agent today that I have never felt anything below around 20 degrees. She laughed, since she is from St. Petersburg Russia, and working out of North Carolina, she thinks it's funny that it stays so warm in Texas. She made me promise to send her pictures of mine and Leah's first experience in the Russian winter. They are also expecting lots of snow this weekend. That will definately be an experience. We have seen Texas snow. You know, the kind that doesn't even stick to the ground. I'm not sure what either of us will do when we see mounds of snow taller than our heads! We will post pictures of this onto our Facebook for you all can have a good laugh!
Our court appearance is on Monday January 30. We are a little nervous, but we have a very experienced lawyer and have been assured that everything will be ok. This process has gone very smoothly. Please pray that it continues to go smoothly. We are in the home stretch now, and we can almost see him in his little bed when we look at it. That's how close it feels. A mere 6 weeks seperates us from completion of the adoption process to the transition of being parents to an adopted child. It never gets easier, but we are excited to be on the journey. Please begin praying for Jonah's adjustment to life in the United States. Pray for patience for Leah and I as he adjusts. We'd like to think it will be seamless, but we know that challenges are ahead.
Thank you all for your prayers. As with the last trip, we will update the blog each day that we are in Russia. Hopefully we have some more good stories for you all! Each of you are important to us. It's amazing to feel the support and love from, not only our family and close friends, but people that we haven't even met. We look forward to sharing our story with you and introducing you to Jonah in the near future.
Lots of you have asked about pictures of Jonah. As soon as the court decision is final (early march) we will be allowed to post pictures on the blog. Until then, it is a violation of Russian law to do so. Just wanted to clear that up. We are not holding out on ya'll, just trying not to get locked up! haha. Until next time...
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Court Date!
Well we finally have a court date!!! February 1st we will go to court in Volgograd, Russia. This wonderful news came packaged with some not as good news. As of January 1st Russian laws change and now after our court date we have to wait 30 days for the courts decision to become final instead of ten. This means we will stay in Russia about five days and them come home for about a month before going back to get Jonah. On this trip we will stay about 7 days.
I have told Cory all through the Christmas holidays that the day that I got a court date I would be satisfied but when it came with the additional waiting period I was initially heartbroken until God showed me through some events how sovereign he is. I just want Jonah to be home. The nursery is ready, the car seat put together, the clothes are hung, books sit on his shelves, and the pack-n-play sits in our room. I can't wait for Jonah to be here. I can't believe that in 2012 he will be here. I would say that in 2012 I would become a mother but the truth is that I became Jonah's mom the day I opened his picture for the first time. Since then not an hour goes by that I don't think of him. How could we have known a year ago what all was in store for us?
With new years day being today I can't help but look back and think about this roller coaster we have been on. There have been so many highs and some very low moments but if there is one thing that we have learned its that we are not in control of any of it. God is sovereign. I think in some of the scariest and lowest moments we have been able to really learn to trust him and to really open up our lives and our hearts to let people in for this journey. Thank you so much for reading our blog and following our journey. I keep meeting people I don't even know who tell me that they are praying for us and reading our blog and I am amazed at the way our big God can use anything to bring glory to himself.
Pursing Jonah has taught me more about God, myself, and my husband than anything else I have ever done. I would have never chosen this path for myself, but God led us here. If God is placing adoption on your heart I pray you say yes!
Leaving you guys with a song that I love that's been on my heart for a few days.
Stephen Miller
You are sovereign here
You can make the rain fall on me
Or fly away
You can make the sun shine on me
Or hide for days
You can make the wind cool my face
Or tear apart this place
It doesn't mean You're far away, No
Oh, I trust in You, I trust in You
You are Sovereign here
Oh, I hope in You, I hope in You
You are Sovereign here
You can make the seas calm or rage
And both to praise Your name
You can make the skies fall with flames
To show Your glory
You can break my heart to bring me joy
You can take it all to make me more like You
I have told Cory all through the Christmas holidays that the day that I got a court date I would be satisfied but when it came with the additional waiting period I was initially heartbroken until God showed me through some events how sovereign he is. I just want Jonah to be home. The nursery is ready, the car seat put together, the clothes are hung, books sit on his shelves, and the pack-n-play sits in our room. I can't wait for Jonah to be here. I can't believe that in 2012 he will be here. I would say that in 2012 I would become a mother but the truth is that I became Jonah's mom the day I opened his picture for the first time. Since then not an hour goes by that I don't think of him. How could we have known a year ago what all was in store for us?
With new years day being today I can't help but look back and think about this roller coaster we have been on. There have been so many highs and some very low moments but if there is one thing that we have learned its that we are not in control of any of it. God is sovereign. I think in some of the scariest and lowest moments we have been able to really learn to trust him and to really open up our lives and our hearts to let people in for this journey. Thank you so much for reading our blog and following our journey. I keep meeting people I don't even know who tell me that they are praying for us and reading our blog and I am amazed at the way our big God can use anything to bring glory to himself.
Pursing Jonah has taught me more about God, myself, and my husband than anything else I have ever done. I would have never chosen this path for myself, but God led us here. If God is placing adoption on your heart I pray you say yes!
Leaving you guys with a song that I love that's been on my heart for a few days.
Stephen Miller
You are sovereign here
You can make the rain fall on me
Or fly away
You can make the sun shine on me
Or hide for days
You can make the wind cool my face
Or tear apart this place
It doesn't mean You're far away, No
Oh, I trust in You, I trust in You
You are Sovereign here
Oh, I hope in You, I hope in You
You are Sovereign here
You can make the seas calm or rage
And both to praise Your name
You can make the skies fall with flames
To show Your glory
You can break my heart to bring me joy
You can take it all to make me more like You
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