Day 4 - Picked Up Referral and Leaving for Region

We had fun day walking around and seeing some sights.  Last night we had pizza at a "fancy" restaurant.  We had to rely on our knowledge of Italian to order because the menu was in Russian and Italian.  Today, we ate crepes filled with apples in the mall.  Delicious! 

We noticed some interesting things about the mall:

• People do not smile.
• There is a shoe/boot place in every corner.
• The people walking around look like they are in a fashion show.  Women wear miniskirts with high heal boots.
• Man carry "purses" or European carry all if you watch Seinfeld.  : )
• The mall is very quiet.  People speak quietly and there are few children around.
• Not very many people on cell phone or texting.
• There is no access for people with disabilities in the mall or anywhere in the city.
• There is little diversity.
• We have seen one black person
• No people with disabilities
• Most people are thing and attractive

After the mall we went to the SDA to pick up our referral to visit "Grady's" region and meet him. We are leaving tonight at 9:00 PM and will arrive tomorrow at 10:00 AM.  Please pray for safety and rest.

Day 3 - SDA Appointment and Pictures of Area

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

We had our SDA appointment today. We drove there with another RR couple who is adopting a little girl with DS. The meeting went well, and we received some more information about “Grady”. I will share those details later. After the meeting we went to TGIF with another couple, and had a nice time getting to know each other. We then tried to find our way back to our apartment (walking) and got lost for a few minutes. Thank goodness a lot of people speak English here, and we were given directions back. Tomorrow we will go back to the SDA to pick-up our referral papers and hopefully get on the train to “Grady’s” region. Thank you for your continued prayers.

Below are pictures of SDA Office, surrounding streets, and church next to it.

Us and another RR family at TGIF enjoying our lunch.  The menu was in English and our waitress spoke English as well.

Pictures of Apartment

The elevator was not working today, so we had to climb stairs.  We are on the 5th floor.  : ) 

 

The 2 front doors and the entrance w/ 2 "closets".  The outside door has a deadbolt.  We feel pretty safe here.  Everyone is walking around, and we were told that there is very little crime here.

 This is our kitchen and dining area.  The kitchen is small, but it has everything we need. 

This is our bathroom.  I had an interesting shower experience this morning.  All I can say is that the water went everywhere, and I was slipping all over the place.  

This is our bedroom.  There is only one plug in this entire room.  If you are planning to adopt in this area, don't forget an extension cord and several adapters.

The balcony/patio area is used for drying clothes.  We are drying sheets.  We have a washing machine but no dryer.

This is the view from our balcony and the side of our building.

Every Waiting Child Deserves a Home

I wanted to also update you all on our adoption funding.  We are now FULLY FUNDED!  WOW!  I am so very thankful to all of you who donated to help us bring our son home.  Your generousity has taught me so many lessons about giving. 

I wanted to share that in our progress towards finding "Grady", we looked at several other children, but as we prayed for them and over them, we did not feel called to bring them home.  Most of these kiddoes have now found families.  One little girl that touched my heart has not.  Oksana is a beautiful little red headed girl with DS.  If you have felt God's call to donate towards our adoption, but have not had the opportunity previously, we would like to encourage you to donate towards her grant.  Children with larger grant accounts sometimes have a better oportunity of being seen and chosen for an adoption.  Please consider giving her a chance to be noticed.

Recess Rainbow Description

Oksana M.

Date of Birth: January 29, 2006
Gender: Female
Eyes: Gray
Hair: brown
Nature: Calm

Oksana is a beautiful carrot top with blue eyes! She is HEALTHY, with no heart condition. She does have hard astigmatism in both eyes, so she will need to wear corrective glasses. But she is active and happy, described as affectionate and playful. Won't you give Oksana a family of her own? FULL MEDICAL INFO AVAILABLE!

Day 2 - We are here!

We arrived at our destination 30 minutes later than expected. We flew on a direct flight on Aerosvit. We were concerned about the airline, since it is not well known, but it was fine. Not a lot of frills, the food was OK, and the price was great. We heard that many of the flights stopping in France or Germany were being delayed 5-10 hours, so I was very glad for a straight flight, and the weather was great.

We had a driver waiting for us at the airport. He did not speak English, but knew where we were going. He was very nice. Our apartment is great…clean and in a good location (close to the market). Our regular driver later came by the apartment to give us our cell phone with minutes and showed us were to exchange money and go to the market. We can see both places from the window of our apartment. Our driver is a very nice man, and I have come around the world only to meet someone who lived in Cuba (where I was born). He lived there for several years and worked as a translator. Part of the time he worked in the same city I lived in. His son was actually born in Cuba, and he speaks beautiful Spanish. This truly is a very small world.

We ventured out and bought some things at the market. We got some delicious bread and pastries and some fresh cheese and Canadian style ham. I did a lot of pointing, and was able to get what we needed. I am sure we look like a “deer caught in the headlights.”

W e did some skyping with our daughter and showed her the apartment. We are so lucky to have internet access here. There is a lot of guilt and fears associated with leaving Madison for this long of a time. We know it is for a good reason, but it is still difficult.

It is almost 3 AM. I have already slept about 7 hours (Randell only 4), but I am going to try to sleep some more. We have our SDA appointment at 11:00 in the morning, and I hope to have some more details about Asher then.  Please pray that everything goes well.

Day 1 - We are on our way!

On Sunday, December 19, 2010, we left our house at 6:00 AM to adopt our son accross the world.  Ready or not, here we go.

Madison got teary eyed when we said goodbye, but grandma and aunt took her to get donuts after, and she was OK. Aunt Karen said she tried to Skype us as soon as they got back home. Please keep her in your prayers. I know she will be spoiled by grandparents and aunts, but it is a long time for us to be away.

We had some hiccups with Delta at DFW. Since we did not have return tickets or a visa to the country we were headed to, they would not forward our luggage to the next connection. I guess there must be an influx of US citizen wanting to leave the country and immigrate to a 3rd world country. : ) Our flight to New York was running late, but the time was made up in the air, and we actually arrived before the original scheduled time. According to Delta, since we were a risk of not returning to the US, at JFK we had to get our luggage from the baggage claim, and then go through the ticket counter to get our boarding passes for Aerosbit airline and check our bags. We had an “angel” sent to us who helped us get our bags from one terminal to the other and showed us the way. We would have been lost and Randell would have been in a lot of pain had he not helped us.

Once we got to Aerosbit it was not a problem. We checked our bags and went through security without a body scan or being “felt up”. : ) Randell’s back is doing well so far. He is being very careful and I am doing most… OK all… of the lifting and carrying. He said he was glad he married a sturdy woman. Finally the extra pounds have come in handy!!! Please pray for him. He is in pain and stressed out over his back…which only cases his back to get worse.

Prayer Needed!

Please pray for Randell's back.  He can't hardly move and is in a lot of pain. His hip is twisted (probably from lifting something) and this has caused a bulging disk that is pinching some nerves!  We have lots of meds, and he is going to physical therapy the next couple of days. Sitting is what causes him the most pain, and 15 hours of sitting in planes is not going to be easy.  Please pray for a miraculous healing before we leave on Sunday.

I am prepare to carry him through the airport if necessary, so I have downsized our luggage to only one carry-on.  I wonder if a large man strapped to my back in a "papoose" would count as a carry-on or a personal item?  : ) 

One More Week!

At this time next Sunday, we will be on our way to Easter Europe.  WOW!!!!  We are packed (mostly) and ready to go.  Everyone said to pack light!  We tried, but there is a lot.  Thanks to the comment from the post on "Packing ...Help?!," I used the "suction bags" and we were able to fit a lot more. : )  Now I need to weigh the suitcases.  : (  We are taking 2 medium size suitcases, 2 carry-on bags, and a backpack for all the electronics.  Our return flight will be much lighter since one of the suitcases is full of items for the orphanage.

We celebrated Christmas with our daughter today, and we will be celebrating with the rest of the family on Saturday.  Please pray for our daughter while we are away.  I know she is excited to have her brother home, but it is a long time to be away from mom and dad. 

Only $4,000 more to go before we are fully funded.  WOW!!!  We have one more week until we travel, and I know that God will continue to provide.  Thank you to all of you who have been so generous in your giving!!!  I have A LOT of thank you cards to write! 

If you would like to donate towards bringing "Grady" home, please click on his picture on the right side of the screen.  Your giving will save the life of an orphan and will also truly bless our family.  Thank you!

Funds Updates:

• In the past couple of weeks we have gone from needing $9,000 to be fully funded to only needing $4,000.
• There is now $2,300 in the Reece's Rainbow donation fund.  WOW!  Thank you to all of those who have donated.
• I had a baby shower last Saturday.  It was so kind of my friend to organize it and invite some coworkers that I had not seen for a while.  Although we work in the same district, we don't always get to see each other.  It was amazing to hang out with some old friends, and we had a lot of fun.  Their gift was a donation towards our adoption.  What a blessing!  Thank you bilingual team!
• My coworker and friend, who truly has the gifts of caring and giving, felt led to organized two fundraisers. One was selling candles and the other was a caring coins collection.  Between the two she and my coworkers have helped to raise $340 towards our adoption.  My coworkers/friends have been an amazing support system!  They have donated, prayed, and encouraged me every step of the way.  THANK YOU!
• Our family continues to bless us with financial support.  We received yet another large donation from our family members.  Thank you!!! 

New Section to Blog

At the bottom of our blog, we have added a section on our journey.  Part tells the story of how God called us to this adoption and the other part has the dates of our process and all the answered prayers.  Please read below how our prayers and the prayers of those who have followed our process have been answered.  God has worked miracles throughout our journey.  We will continue to add to the dates section as we travel.  Thank you for your prayers and support. 


Prayer Requests:

• Safety in travel to EE.
• Smooth process in SDA appointment
• Full funding of adoption before we travel

We have a travel date!!!!!

God is so good! He has given us the best gift possible for Christmas. Our SDA date is December 21 at 11:00 am! We are so blessed!