Day 5 and a Court Date!

Well, it is happening...The days are all starting to run together and I have to think really hard about what day of the week it is. In the world of Reece's Rainbow we describe it like the movie Groundhog Day because every day you wake up and do the same thing over an over. To us though, it is not necessarily bad. We love every minute we get to spend with Quinton. The moments are precious. We are constantly learning new things about him and watching him develop in front of our eyes. It is amazing! 

Today we were assigned a judge and for reasons that I cannot discuss on a public forum, we had to wait until July 5th  for a court date. We were hoping for something next week like the other families, but we are just so grateful that we were able to get a date before the shut down. (Did I mention that Marina rocks?) 

So, here is a rough estimate of how the rest of our trip should go (don't forget that nothing here goes according to plans):

Court on July 5th

July 6th -10 day wait period starts

July 16th-gotcha day (where we bust Quinton out of the orphanage forever!)

July 17th-take train back to the capital city 

July 18th-start embassy paperwork to get Quinton a visa, passport, and medical exam (this could take about a week, but hopefully shorter)

Last full week in July sometime-FLY HOME!!!

Today when we took Quinton back to his nannies, I sat him down on a bench to take off his outside clothes and his whole demeanor changed. He knew that he was back with his groupa and was probably going to spend the rest of the day in his playpen and his little face got so sad. It was pitiful. He became a completely different little boy-and then I saw it in his eyes. He slipped into this zone and completely spaced out. This must be how he copes everyday. He goes into his own little world and just stays there. He is not aware of what is going on around him and he just lays and does nothing. Nothing at all. I know how ill I get when cabin fever sets in after about 2 days and I cannot imagine how it feels to do nothing day in and day out. My little guy is 16 months old, but he has experienced so many "firsts" this past week. This is the first time he has had someone love on him so much, and the first time he has had someone to cheer him on as he reaches developmental milestones. I hate giving him back everyday, especially when I know that I am giving him back only to succomb to his own little world. We are only staying about 10 minutes (walking distance) away and I want to sneak him back with me so badly it breaks my heart. I have to force myself not to think about it, but instead to focus on how much brighter his little eyes light up every time he realizes that we came back. I keep waiting for the day that he will see us in the doorway and reach for me-his mommy.

Day 4...

We were so hoping to hear about a judge today, but Marina, our facilitator (who rocks, by the way!) called to let us know that the computers were down system wide so we could not be assigned a judge :( She was able to submit our papers to the SDA for approval though. Time is precious right now, but at least we are taking baby steps. We will take baby steps over no steps at all. Marina said that she would call tomorrow and again on Saturday in hopes of getting a judge. Saturday is a working day because Monday and Tuesday the courts close down for Constitution Day. Basically this means that we may be assigned a judge by Friday or Saturday, but if we don't hear anything by then, we will not know until at least Wednesday. Enough about court systems and what not and on to the good stuff.

Quinton is a mess. He is so stinkin cute and is becoming really mobile. Today he was rolling and army crawling and climbing all over us. We loved every second of it! Sometimes when we are holding him he starts looking around to make sure we are still there. When he sees us, his little eyes light up and he smiles so big! Oh, I can't get enough of him.

When we went to drop him off with his groupa this morning, they were outside in their little playpens. The nannies trust us enough now to let us interact with some of the other kids. You should have seen their faces. You would have thought that it was Christmas morning. They laughed and smiled and held their arms out to us. I wan to bring them all home. Somebody please come rescue these precious babies! I will help you fund raise :) No, really-take a look at them on Reece's Rainbow. Not everyone can adopt, but everyone can help. You can sign up to be a prayer warrior and pray one of these babies home. Or you can sign up to be a Christmas warrior at Christmas time and help raise their grant so that they are more likely to find a family. You can even sponsor a family who is going to adopt one of these little ones. Or maybe you are interested in adopting one...If you are, please let me know and I can put you in contact with someone to help you get started. These kids need a home so badly. I have read about it on other peoples blogs and now I have seen it in person-The kids see you coming and they  reach out their arms and yell "mama! papa!" For one reason or another, they were left without a mommy and daddy of their own and they know it and it absolutely breaks my heart :(

Sorry-had to get that off my chest. On a much happier note, here are pictures from today:

His Buzz Lightyear pajamas fit! Yay! I have been waiting months to get these on him!

By the way...my baby boy was wearing pink panties today when I picked him up. Just wait until we get him out of here. Never. Ever. Again. LOL

Day 3 With Our Angel :)

Today was incredible! I can't believe how much Quinton is changing already. It is amazing what a little one on one attention will do. The first day we met him, he was so quiet. He had difficulty even holding his little head up for more that a few seconds at a time. Today he did so good. He trunk muscles and neck control are improving every time we see him.

When we went to take him back after our morning visit, I was surprised when someone greeted me in english. She invited us in. Usually when we come to pick him up or drop him off, we have to wait outside of the door, but today there were missionaries there who were able to translate for us. They told us that the nannies are so grateful that we are taking Quinton home to the United States where he can have a good life. The nanny who brought Quinton in for us to see for the first time said that she could tell by the look on my face and the tears in my eyes that he was meant to be ours. 

The nannies invited us in and the missionaries asked if we could take pictures and interact with some of the other kids.I got to hold Leeza and Trenton who have a mama of their own working hard to come get them! It was so sweet. Leeza is considered a "laying down" baby and spends most of her time in a crib on her back. I was so excited to be able to cuddle on her and whisper in her sweet ear that her mama is on the way. We made some great contacts with one of the missionaries who lives locally and it is my hope that we will be able to work something out through her so that we can continue to provide for the kids that we have to leave behind :( She has been coming here since 1997 and has good contacts with the orphanage director. They offered to come pick us up one night after our afternoon visit with Quinton and show us around the city and take us out to eat. It was such a blessing to meet them and I can't wait to see them again.

This afternoon we went to the market and bought a blanket to lay down on the ground so that Quinton could have some tummy time. He loved it. As much as he likes being held and cuddled, I think it was getting hard for him to stay still for 4 hours a day. He is such an angel and absolutely beautiful. He is going to be a perfect fit for our family. We love him so much already and we would go to the moon and back for him. I think we are going to have to turn our office into a spare bedroom for my dad. He is never going to want to leave once he gets his hands on Quinton. 

Keep praying for our judge and court date. We should hear something tomorrow (hopefully). Also, we got word today that the SDA is not handing out appointments any more. They are shutting down on July 11th and any families who have not gotten appointments yet will have to wait until the new adoption ministry is built. This breaks my heart. This could have easily been us. We faced shut down several times and by the grace of God, we made it. Other families will have to wait which is hard enough for them, but think about the kids-some with significant health issues. They will have to sit and wait another 3 months for someone to come rescue them. Please pray that God will sustain their little bodies as they wait and for patience and peace for their families during the rebuilding process. 

Enough about me. I know this is what you are really looking for:

Love him!

He wasn't too sure about this move LOL

 Sweetheart

Funny Face :)

I don't think I will ever get enough of that smile.

Whatever you do, don't tell the nannies we let him sleep. He's been really congested and rhaspy and I just couldn't resist letting him fall asleep in my arms for the first time.

 

Holding his Daddy's hand

Too stinkin cute!

And Now For the Blog Post You’ve All Been Waiting For…

We met him!!! I thought this day would never arrive! I may be a little partial, but he is absolutely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life! We took an overnight train to Quinton’s region last night and arrived at 7:00 this morning. As soon as we got off of the train, it was go, go, go until 6:00 pm. We had to go to the social worker, notary (lawyer), and visit with the head doctor among other things. We went into the head doctor’s office and we were given some more information about him. We were told that they would bring him in momentarily and every time that door cracked, my heart jumped. My entire body was shaking and my hands and arms were numb. Finally after about the fourth knock, they brought him in. I was in absolute awe. (Yes-I cried like a baby and I am not ashamed to admit it.) I went and picked him up and it was love at first sight. We were only able to visit for about 20 minutes since we had lots more paperwork to do to get the adoption started. We were all over town for the rest of the day, but we made it back in time for an hour and a half visit this evening. It was honestly one of the best days of my life. Please, please pray that we get a court date before July 11. The SDA will be dismantling then and we must have a court date by then. This is very urgent and we would appreciate any and all prayers. We want to bring  Quinton home as soon as possible. We feel truly blessed to have such supportive friends and family and we honestly can’t thank you enough. I will leave you all with what you have been waiting for….pictures of course:

Right now Quinton is about 17 pounds and 29 inches tall. We brought 12 and 18 month outfits with us and one 6-9 month outfit from a friend. Guess which one fits??? The one and only 6-9 month outfit we have. It fits him perfectly, so I expect he will be able to wear his 12 month clothes in no time, but for now it looks like we will have to buy him a few outfits :)

Yesterday's Adventures

Yesterday we met up with the McFarland's (a family from Alabama also adopting through Reece's Rainbow). They are staying in an apartment a little closer to Independence Square than we do, so they were able to show us around. We met for lunch at a little cafeteria and ordered pizza. Take a look-it was much more "normal" than our last attempt at pizza:

After lunch we walked to Independence Square. It was really fun. There was a lady there giving an outdoor concert and lots of vendors on the street. There are people dressed up as different characters that will try and get you to take a picture with them (using your own personal camera) and then try and get you to pay them for the picture! Luckily, the McFarland's were able to warn us before hand. We walked around for quite a while just sight seeing and enjoying a new experience with American company :)

Here, cars and people play chicken fight on the roads. Sidewalks apparently are made for driving and parking on and if you are going to cross the road, you had better run...no joke. There are very busy intersections that are too big to cross, so you have to go underground to cross the street. These little underground passageways are actually underground malls. They are filled with little Ukranian kiosk type shops and most of them lead to actual little malls with food courts. We walked all around them yesterday. On the way back to the place where we needed to catch a cab, we stopped for a soft served ice cream cone. I got cherry vanilla. It was amazing! We were exhausted to we headed back to our apartment and called it a day.

Today is Father's Day and I think this is the first time in 27 years that I have not been with my dad :( It makes me pretty homesick just thinking about it, but I know it will be worth it to him and to me when I bring him his first grandson! We are overjoyed that we will be on an overnight train tonight (what an incredible Father's Day gift for Brian) on the way to meet our son! As excited as I am, though, I cannot help but think about all of the people who struggle with this day-the people who have lost their fathers, the people who never had a father figure in their lives, and for people like Brian and I who have wanted to be parents for so long it hurts. Hang in there. Special thoughts and prayers to you all. Love you guys!

Here are just a few pictures from yesterday:

Happy Father's Day to my dad!

Clinging to Images of Home

Until today, everywhere we went, we had to pay a driver because we had no earthly idea where we were. This evening, however after studying a map (ok-Brian studied the map. We all know I am directionally challenged.) we decided to walk to the "big market" to get enough food to get us through the next few days. It is probably about a mile away, but a pretty straight shot. On the way there, I found myself clinging to anything I saw that was written in english. I got excited when I saw images like these:

Would I normally care about Tropicana, The Gap, or whatever the Fresh Factory is? Nope, but in a foreign country where I can't understand a word anyone is saying to me, I find myself clinging to these images as somehow they remind me of home. Weird? Maybe, but next time you encounter a person who does not speak english, offering up a game of charades to try and help them out would probably be more appreciated than you can imagine. While we were at the market one of the ladies at the meat counter yelled at Brian. We don't know exactly why. (ok, maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was trying to take a picture of some kind of furry animal leg with a hoof on the end for sale...eww!) It felt awful though because we did not know if we had done something to offend someone or if they don't allow cameras in the market. Who knows? Another lady though was very kind and helpful. She was our cashier and she did play charades with us. She was trying to ask us if we needed bags to carry our groceries. Their bags are not free. They have barcodes on them that they scan and you have to pay for them. After a second or 2 she realized that we had no idea what she was saying and acted out taking a bag and putting groceries in it, smiling the whole time. I gestured toward my book bag and she put the bags away and smiled. We packed the groceries and headed back to the apartment for dinner. It was such a blessing for a complete stranger to reach out us. Just remember that a kind gesture no matter how small can go a long way.

This is completely off topic and more so for me to remember my trip more than anything else, but here is a recap of yesterday and today:

Yesterday we went to go pick up Quinton's referral which allows us to enter his region, visit him, and start his adoption. We got there early so that we could be one of the first in line as we had other places to go afterwards. I was surprised that there were people there adopting from all over the world. I am sure that I heard some Italian, French, and Spanish among other languages. I was not meaning to eavesdrop on conversations, but I definitely found myself listening closely to the hispanic couple, trying just to understand something that someone was saying. Then I said something to Brian and a lady gasped and smiled big. She said "you speak english!" I could feel my face light up. I told her "yes" and the conversation took off from there. It is so funny what not being able to talk much will do to a shy person like myself. Neither one of us could stop talking. We talked about where we were from and who we were adopting and anything else we could think of. Today I can't even recall her name, but God keeps sending me these small little blessings that help me get through my time here. It is not that I don't like it here, I am just a real homebody and being away from home is really difficult.

After the SDA we went to TGIFridays again to meet some more American families also adopting through Reece's Rainbow. We had a great time showing off pictures of the kids we are going to adopt and exchanging experiences. We will all be heading out this weekend sometime to go meet our little ones and hopefully we can all finish up around the same time, because I would LOVE to have dinner with them on the way out of the country and us all have our little ones with us.

Today we mostly stayed in. I try not to complain too much because I feel very fortunate to be here, but we were just kind of bored. Brian made breakfast and afterwards I went right back to sleep. I think I slept until 11:00 just because there wasn't much else to do. Then I got up and made lunch. I boiled some noodles and a sauce packet of beef stew gravy. Well, we did not have a whisk so it was lumpy and there was no flour to thicken it with so it was runny, as hard as we tried to pretend, beef flavoring is just not the same as meat. So, we will call that one a bust. Oh well, live and learn. (In case you did not know, I brought like 40 packets of dry sauce mixes with us since from what I understand, meats are not refrigerated in the region we are traveling to.) Brian and I layed down to watch a movie (Simon Birch) together to pass the afternoon which bwas followed by our walk to the market and that's about it for the past 2 days. Thank you for reading and leaving comments. Hearing from you all makes me feel a little closer to home. Love you guys!

-To Riley, Sydney, and Jonathan: Thank you guys for your prayers. You guys might just be kids, but you are making a big difference. Thanks for helping us get Quinton home!

We Are Going to Meet Our Son Tomorrow!!!

The day I have been waiting for is so close I can't stand it! This evening we will pick up Quinton's referral for adoption and then take an 8 hour train ride to his region. We should hopefully be there in time for the morning visitation hours. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! I just can't wait to get my hands on him! I just hope that my expectations don't get the best of me. I have been loving him for 8 months, but he has no idea who I am. He is not used to being hugged and kissed on and I know that it will take time for him to get used to us. I am trying my hardest to prepare my heart for this. I want him to love me as much as I already love him. I can't wait to look into his eyes and tell him how much he means to me and that we will never ever leave him.

 Although adopting is a long process, it is instantaneous in a way. Today, Brian and I are a family of 2, tomorrow we will be a family of 3. There were no ultrasounds or growing tummies to remind us that a baby was on its way-not really even any shopping for baby stuff. We did not paint a nursery for him or pick out a crib. We did not spend lots of money on toys and cute clothes (this took complete self control because I was dying to do all of this). We picked up extra work and saved and fundraised up until two days before we left to come get him. Tomorrow our story will come alive. What has been a dream, a very surreal dream, will become a reality and we can't wait.

Besides the SDA appointment, nothing new really went on, but I will leave you with the story and a few pictures of what happens when you try and order pizza for lunch:
We went to a pizza place for lunch yesterday that several people had recommended. We walked in and both of us just kinda looked at each other. Brian walked up to the counter and asked if the cashier spoke any english. She said that she did speak a little, but did not look confident. Brian said "cheese pizza?". She shook her head and said "yes, 4 cheese pizza?" We looked at each other and our eyes lit up because she knew what we were talking about. We did not intend to order 4 cheese pizza, but we were sure we were getting something semi-normal. We ordered two Coke Lights (that's their version of Diet Coke) and sat down to wait. Within 10 minutes, the pizza came out and this is what it looked like (well, the whole thing was there. I took the picture after we had both taken a piece.):

The picture definitely does not do it justice. There was so much grease on that thing that I had to use all of my napkins to soak up one piece. I was not sure I even wanted to try it because as you can tell, their 4 cheese is obviously not the same as American 4 cheese. I still don't know what those big chunks of cheese were, but I didn't eat mine. Brian looked at me and said "you first". So I did. I tasted it first and it was actually ok. I ate a piece but then I was done. No more for me. We have had so many unique experiences and we have only been here for going on 4 days and I am sure we will have many more to come. Here are some pictures from the pizza place. How would you like to try an order from a menu that looked like this?

As we were leaving, I picked up a menu off of the table and guess what?...They had english translations!

Update: We just got a phone call from our driver. He is taking us to pick up Quinton's referral, but there will not be any officials in his region to "accept us" :( Don't ask, I have no ideal what this means. What I do know is that the plans now are for us to leave on Sunday and see him on Monday. It is really not a huge deal in the scheme of things. Just a few more days.