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!

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.

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.
    
    

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.

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....

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......

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.