Hope for Every Child

2012-02-04T17:15:00.001-05:00

Here is Julia on her big sister's recent birthday. So precious!!!

A Valuable Life

2012-01-15T13:22:00.001-05:00

Recently my mother gave me an excellent article written by columnist, Cal Thomas. Cal writes beautifully about his younger brother who had Down syndrome. In light of a situation that occurred this past week, where doctors in a U.S. hospital have refused to give an organ transplant to a child because she has developmental delays, I thought this article about Cal Thomas's brother was poignant. Cal describes so clearly about how valuable his brother's life was and how he touched the lives of others.

He also references the following book about the valuable contributions of another child with Down syndrome, Robin Elizabeth Rogers (daughter of Roy and Dale Rogers, famous entertainers) who only lived to 2 years old. This book is wise, touching and informative all at the same time and Tom and I enjoyed it very much.

Angel Unaware on Amazon

As the reading in church this morning spoke about all of us being the temple of the Holy Spirit, I pray that each person whether "typical" or special needs will be recognized as being valuable and worthy of any type of care they may need.

Here is the link to the article http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=3441

Update on Valentin

2012-01-07T17:24:00.000-05:00

We were so happy to find out yesterday that Valentin has a family. If you would like to read more about them and find out how you can help, here is the link to their blog www.headoptedusfirst.blogspot.com. Please join us in praying for the Ashton Family as they start out on their third adoption journey.

Help for Valentin

2012-01-01T13:58:00.001-05:00

Please check out this post by a family who has adopted from the same orphanage as our dear Julia, about a little boy still there who desparately needs a family.

Help for Valentin!

Christmas Present

2011-12-26T18:07:00.002-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,

We always like to watch/read multiple versions of Dicken's "Christmas Carol" over the holidays. This year we had the added benefit of Joshua appearing in a performance of it at the local theater as one of the Cratchett children. Consider this post your tour of Christmas Present.

It is hard to believe that one year ago we were picking up our dear little Julia at the orphanage. Here she is in her Christmas pajamas waiting for Santa this year, with her Mom and Dad.

We definitely did not get a white Christmas (which is Ok by Tom - check out Addisu riding the camel).

The kids definitely had visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads up until Christmas morning.

There were many tasty treats prepared and consumed by all.

Ah the glow of Christmas on the carefully selected and made gifts below...

The little kids were excited when it came time to open their gifts.

And everyone looked beautiful or handsome for church as appropriate.

Our photographer got his own portrait studio equipment...

and yes - there were lots of trains.

That is about all the Christmas joy that will fit in one blog post. Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to you and yours!

Thankful Hearts

2011-11-29T22:55:00.001-05:00

I love the line in the Veggie Tales song that says "Because a thankful heart is a happy heart...". Very true. Well we are thankful for a very blessed weekend gone by.

I'm also learning that in today's cyber world there are Facebook people, blog reading people, email people, and then a very rare breed that do all of the above. So even though our weekend goings on have been posted multiple times by different people in different places, I'll post it here again for the benefit of those blog only people.

We had a great visit with Andrea G from Canada including a great hike at Mount Mohonk.

And a great visit with Uncle Lau including a Christmas wonderland display.

Addisu's first visit to see Santa - ever!

And there is the ever adorable Julia.

As we work our way through Advent season, time to prepare to celebrate the coming of the infant Jesus. Christmas will be here before we know it.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T16:57:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We have been busy all this week preparing for Thanksgiving 2011. We are very excited in our household, because this will be our first Thanksgiving with Julia at home. Tom and I met Julia last year on Thanksgiving Day. That evening we went out to Celentano's Pizzeria, in Kharkov, to celebrate Thanksgiving. Along with the joy of meeting Julia that day, Tom and I were also sad, since we were missing our children back home very much. So this year we are really looking forward to spending Thanksgiving together, along with two special guests.

My uncle will be spending the long weekend with us. He lives a pretty quiet life in rural upstate New York and I'm sure, on some level, he is happy to return to his little home in the country after of a couple of days with our group. :)

Our other guest is coming all the way from Canada. Many of you may also know this special person. Around our home she is affectionately called, "Andrea the Missionary". I discovered Andrea's blog when I saw a comment she left on another RR family's blog. It just so happened that Andrea had been on a mission in another region in Ukraine at the same time Tom and I were over there. She is home now, so I decided to contacted her. We have read each others' blogs and exchanged some e-mails. I could tell from just reading Andrea's posts that she is a special person and I knew we could spend hours talking about orphan care and RR. I invited Andrea to come and visit with us and I thought Thanksgiving would be a fun time for her to come to the "States". So, needless to say, we are all very excited that Andrea took us up on our invitation and will be coming for a visit. We can't wait to hear about all of the missions she has gone on. You can visit Andrea's blog here.

We hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We pray for safe travel for all those making a trip to visit friends and relatives.

Happy Birthday Julia!!!!!!

2011-11-17T00:05:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Julia baby! 5 years ago today, you came into this world. We didn't know you then, and we wouldn't for another 4 years. But how amazing and blessed we are to think that a year ago today we were getting ready to travel to you, and a year from then, we now have you home with us! You are funny, sweet, silly, independent- I could go on and on.Your spontaneous little giggles light up our lives more than you know. You have shown me personally things I never would have learned on my own. You have taught me so many things in just one year of being home. I so hope you enjoy your first birthday with us, and I can't wait to celebrate them with you for the rest of our lives.

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

June 2011

July 2011

August 2011

September 2011

October 2011

November 2011

Happy Birthday Beautiful :)

If They Could See Her Now

2011-10-21T21:22:00.000-04:00

I can hardly believe that Julia has been with us 10 months already. In some ways it seems just like just yesterday that Tom and I were in Ukraine to meet her and in other ways I can't remember our life before her. This Thanksgiving we will be celebrating our year anniversary of the day Tom and I met Julia. I remember the day so clearly. We were brought to the orphanage by our driver, the facilitator and a very nice lady from the government who needed to witness our first meeting with Julia. I experienced such a mix of emotions that morning. I was excited, nervous, and a little anxious. I thought I was hiding my emotions well until our facilitator and the lady from the government speaking to one another and pointing at me. Then our facilitator says, "You look so nervous and scared. Don't worry. I know Yulia (Julia) she is a sweet, pretty little girl." So much for hiding my emotions.

I can still hear the "click clack" of the nanny's shoes as she came down a very long hallway from Julia's groupa room with Julia in her arms. All of the sudden a tiny, quiet little girl was placed in my lap. I think my brain shut down for a moment. It is hard to believe that after all the paper work, waiting for a travel date, plane rides and a long train ride that your new daughter is sitting in your lap. My first impression of Julia was that she was very quiet and sweet. Our visit was sort of rushed and there was a lot going on. The orphanage doctor was telling us about Julia and our facilitator was translating and asking if we had any questions. It was very hard to form sentences at that point, since I was trying to concentrate on Julia. I did notice that Julia did not look at us and seemed a little bit in a "fog". I knew from the reading I had done that some children who have been in an orphanage for many years may have what is known as institutional autism. I was pretty sure that Julia had some of those characteristics. This observation, of course, was in no way going to change our minds about bringing Julia home. She was our daughter and we would do anything to help her.

Today, ten months later, I attended Julia's first parent-teacher conference at her school. Wow, all I could think about when I was driving there was the first time we met her. Tom and I had no idea what her future looked like, but we wanted to be sure that she had every opportunity to grow and learn. Well, this determined little girl has accomplished so much. We are grateful to her teacher, the therapists and aides. Julia is using sign language, (almost every sign is food related :), she is walking, she is holding a crayon, she is playing with toys appropriately and seeking out interaction with her classmates. She has learned to feed herself and chew her food before swallowing. I know you other adoptive families with understand how exciting this is.

I know the workers at the orphanage would be very proud of her. I wish they could see her now and know that each child that they take care of has so much potential. We are grateful to the nannies who took care of Julia for four years. We could tell that many of the workers cared about her and did the best they could for her.

We also are so glad that I "happened upon" the Reece's Rainbow (RR) website in November 2009. Thank you, Andrea Roberts, who founded RR and works tirelessly to advocate for the children who are in need of a family. Julia has blessed our life greatly. Each member of our family is better for her being in our lives.

Where is My Family Friday?

2011-09-30T13:23:00.000-04:00

For two years now, the children of Reece's Rainbow have never been far from my thoughts on a daily basis. I know from the communication I have had with other RR families and individuals who advocate for the children the same is true. Our family feels so blessed that, Julia joined our family in December of 2010. We wish we could bring more children home, but for right now I must focus my time on my 6 wonderful kids in my house. That being said, I still want to advocate for the children on RR and pray that many families step forward in faith to bring a child(or children) home. I have been praying especially for the "older" children lately. In reality, they are only 6-9 years old, but are considered the older children. Their risk of being transferred is much greater than the children slightly younger than them. It breaks my heart. For this Friday, I want to tell as many people as I can about Kate and Dasha. They are in the same orphanage and could be adopted together. From what I understand they are in an orphanage where they are being well taken care of and educated. How awesome is that? To top it off, they are as cute as can be. So, here are Kate and Dasha. Please pray with me that their forever family or families come forward for them soon.

Please keep our, Julia in your prayers. She will be having an endoscopy next Wednesday in an attempt to figure out some of her "tummy issues". We hope we get some answers. Thank you and have a great weekend.

A person's a person, no matter how small...

2011-09-01T03:01:00.001-04:00

Our Joshua and the local "Kids on Stage" theater group put on a wonderful version of Seussical the musical this past weekend. Josh played Horton, the big hearted elephant who protects those whose voices are too small to be heard by most of the world/jungle. The messages and corollaries to the plight of orphans and other helpless children around the world were too loud and touching to be ignored in this simple little story.

From Seussical

"Alone in the Universe" - Click below to view the duet between Horton and Jo-Jo the Who.

Alone in the Universe from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Reminded me of another little angel who is still finding her voice, and needs some standing up for now and again.

We're glad Reece's Rainbow and Andrea Roberts are out there, raising the cries of these little ones so they can be heard (Happy Birthday Andrea!).

Ukrainian Buddies Reunited

2011-08-14T20:04:00.000-04:00

For those of you that did not already see pictures/videos elsewhere, here is how the recent re-union of Julia with two of her buddies from the orphanage went.

Hinz/Lococo/Conley Family get-together from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

We love these kids, and we so appreciate the opportunity to share this time with other families that have walked the same path.

9 years ago today....

2011-07-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

We received a 6-month-old Guatemalan peanut at JFK airport.

And our tiny family of 5 would become a family of 6.

Freaky how 9 years can change things, ain't it?
And our tiny little 6 month-peanut.........

Is now a little lady, who's insanely photogenic and fun-loving

Gabby, you're our humor, our randomness, our creative artist. You can make us laugh so easily. your creations are one of a kind. And you were the special little bambino that first opened our hearts to adoption. Happy 9th Gotcha Day sweetie!

Julia's first day of summer school

2011-07-11T22:22:00.001-04:00

Today with great trepidation we sent our little angel off to summer school to continue the therapies and learning activities she began here at home a couple months ago. She had a wonderful day of activities including some outdoor water fun and plenty of developmental games.

She did really well and made it through the whole day! We missed her so much and were very glad when she arrived back home in the afternoon. Looking forward to the developmental doors this will open for our little girl.

We'll leave you with a couple other random acts of cuteness including snuggling with her big sister.

We'll keep you posted as the school experience unfolds.

RR Gathering Montage

2011-07-09T11:21:00.000-04:00

By popular demand, here is Caleb's summary of the Reece's Rainbow gathering in upstate NY that happened over the Fourth of July weekend.

Reece's Rainbow Reunion 2011 Slideshow from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Thanks go to Andrea Roberts and her family for the effort that went into bringing us together and hosting two wonderful barbeques with the folks from Pathfinder Village.

Julia meets some Reece's Rainbow Friends

2011-07-08T13:45:00.001-04:00

In our last post we mentioned our upcoming vacation over the Fourth of July week. That has come and gone and we are back. What a wonderful vacation it was. We spent lots of time with friends from Reece's Rainbow, visited sites in Cooperstown including the Farmer's Museum, cruised along the Erie Canal and stayed at a real nice Jellystone campground.

Julia got to meet lot's friends as you will see below.

Here are several girls with Andrea Roberts, founder and director of Reece's Rainbow (and mother of Reece and Owen!).

Some Reece's Rainbow moms having a grand old time:

And some dads too:

Not to mention lots of fun for the kiddos:

Here's a slideshow of the whole thing (for those of you with Flash player capability)

For a more in depth perspective on the value of this "reunion" see Caleb's post. He's got a lot of great pictures and will be posting a more sophisticated multimedia collage soon.

Now on to the rest of the summer. Talk to you all soon.

Signs of summer

2011-06-15T23:09:00.000-04:00

While the weather may still be fluctuating wildly here in NY state, we've had some good swimming days and Julia is a fish! The following pictures will give you some idea.

Here's Julia the rock star - she loves that Barney guitar...

On Memorial Day we even got the following family shot (minus Caleb the photographer).

Which brings us right up to the almost birthday of our almost sixteen year old. Guess where he wanted to go? You got it - a camera store and photo gallery. ;-)

We're keeping busy and so looking forward to the Reece's Rainbow celebration over the 4th of July weekend. Hope to see you there!

5 months ago today...

2011-05-25T22:11:00.002-04:00

Me and Dad officially had the privilege to begin the process to bring Julia to the United States to a family that anxiously awaited our return.

Don't they look just radiant? :D)

And now, 5 months after knowing the
love and care of a family......

The Little Orphan we met in November of 2010...
Is one cute, happy little love muffin :)

Who ponders the deep thoughts in life

Fan? I think Yes. from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

And forms opinions about what she likes VERY quickly

Julia's Walking! (kinda) from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

and takes little baby steps towards being one very mobile toddler every day.

And on top of all that....

She's planning to be a rock star :D

Happy 5 month-a-versary Julia! You are a HUGE blessing in our lives, and we are so happy to have you here. We know God has great things in store for you, so keep on shining like you do! :)

Answering the Call (more awesome Caleb videography)

2011-05-19T11:01:00.001-04:00

Dear Friends - when last you saw the fine photography and videography of our very own Caleb Joseph, he was documenting our journey home with Julia. In the latest installment he documents the opportunity he had last weekend to witness nine men answering a call every bit as important as our passion for adoption. The call to serve others in consecrated, religious life.

Congratulations to all the new priests. And to you Caleb - we are so proud of you!

Ordination 2011 Slideshow from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Introducing the Lococomotive

2011-05-06T11:08:00.002-04:00

Our new 12 passenger van.

First of all, kudos to Dad, who literally jumped through all the hoops to find a van that could fit his large family. After much hard work and time and energy! We now have a beautiful van to fit all of us!

Don't we all look happy? :)

Lots and lots of new photos

2011-04-29T23:45:00.001-04:00

Our Easter Egg Hunters!

Snugglin' with Mommy

Julia: "I find that falling asleep while doing my afternoon yoga is much more conducive to a good nap then a crib."

"I'm lovin' me some big brother time"

"And Gabby seems to like snuggling with me too. Come to think of it, who in this family doesn't?"

Typical Julia Cuteness :)

And cuteness in the stroller too :)

Even MORE cute video!?!?!?

2011-03-30T23:29:00.000-04:00

Well, Dad sure did get some cute videos and pictures of the swinging Julia! Now we have something new for you- Julia learning CPR! :D

Now, for those of you with an eyebrow raised, no, Julia did not LITERALLY learn CPR, but Mom's been working with Julia on repeating actions, and activating Tickle Me Elmo Julia-style looks VERY much like CPR. Still, its a cute video!

(excuse the mom jibber-jabber at the beginning :D)

Elmo gets CPR from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

The Giggly Girl is back in video again!

2011-03-27T23:46:00.001-04:00

Some of you may recall a certain video clip of Julia back when we were in the Ukraine of us swinging her and her giggling over and over. It became a family favorite here and the kids watched it again and again.

Well things have thawed out just enough that we can start to get her outside for a little outdoor playtime. This weekend she did some swinging on our swing set, and really enjoyed it. Here are some photos and video to share it with you.

Julia Swinging Video 1 from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Spring, Slideshows, and Happy WDSD!

2011-03-22T00:43:00.002-04:00

First, thank you to all of the people who read and commented on the last post! VERY encouraging I'll have you know :)

Secondly, Happy World Down syndrome Day! Whether or not the rest of the world realizes it, Down Syndrome is a life blessing and life-altering little thing that has changed hearts and minds of so many people.

Well, as the snow mound commonly known as New York state has officially thawed itself out for the most part, I've been out and about taking plenty of pictures of the beautiful springtime scenery! I've taken some of the best and made it into a slideshow, featuring the song "Spring is Coming" by Steven Curtis Chapman. The slideshow is also a tribute to the families in the adoption process that have gone through trials as they follow God's calling for them. If you have been/are a family in this situation, know that you are truly inspiring ot us all, and we admire your courage.

(Movie Theater Announcer voiceover): "And now, our feature presentation"

"Spring Is Coming" Slideshow from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Hope You Enjoyed!

Our Little Immigrant

2011-03-19T23:47:00.003-04:00

We've had our little immigrant home for close to 3 months now. And, honestly, its amazing to see the difference.

When we first me Julia, she looked like this:

Now, almost 4 months to the day she met her new Mommy and Daddy for the first time, here she is in America:

See any difference?

Julia is undeniably a huge part of our lives now, and honestly, she's also the life of the party around here :D She's getting much closer to walking than ever before, and on occasion she'll surprise us and stand upright without any assistance for a minute or two! She just had her first round of evaluations, and Mom tells me the Psychologist and the Social Worker that worked with her were wrapped around Julia's pudgy little finger :) Naps are still a bit of a work in progress, but on a day like evaluations where she's out and about, she goes down real easy, so needless to say we're thinking therapies=easier nappy time :D

I could easily fill up a couple blog posts with all of the pictures I take of Princess Ukrainia, but I'll whittle it down to some of the best:

Julia: "Ya know, Big Brother, you're great and all, but I'm starting to think that camera is a detachable body part of yours."

As you can see, our blessings abound. Julia is much more smiley and giggly than even before and has started babbling a little more, as well as doing the occasional sign when asked. We are BEYOND excited to see Julia's orphanage emptying out, with the Schwenzer Family over there right now, lovin' on Julia (not ours :D) and Sergei, and we are also BEYOND excited that the Hinz family Family will be going to visit our precious Sonya and sweet Dusty for the 1st time! God is GOOD!

At the same time, we ask you to keep the Davis family in your prayers. as you probably know, the judge in the region they are adopting from said no to their plea for adoption. Keep them in your prayers as they try and sort through their problem and pray that God will use this amazing couple to pave the way for the two families going over (one for a court date) soon.

Well, that's all for now. As we continue to pass through Lent and prepare for the Rising of our Savior come Easter Morning, I hope God will rise in all of your lives personally and will raise up the families travelling right now as well!

Sonya has a Family- and we have new pictures!

2011-03-10T15:50:00.002-05:00

Our family was thrilled beyond belief this week, when we found out that Miss Sonya has a family. This is the little girl from Julia's group in the orphanage. Caleb got to spend some time visiting with her on Julia's "gottcha day". There have been many people praying for Sonya and our prayers have been answered. The Hinz Family will be going to get Sonya soon. They will also be bringing Dusty home, he was in Julia's group as well. Please pray for the Hinz family as they travel to bring home their new daughter and son.

It is wonderful to know that in the past few months, seven children (that I know of) from Julia's orphange have found their forever families. Some are already home and others are in the process of coming home. While we rejoice for these children, please pray for the little ones left behind. I think this is one of the hardest parts of the adoption journey. We see the other children in the orphanage and you want so badly for them to have their forever families too. Two little girls at Julia's orphange that I can't stop thinking about are Shawna and Lindsay. (See the side bar on the left for their pictures.) Both of these girls are nearing the age of being transfered out of the baby house. This is just too heart breaking to think about. Another little girl who has captured my heart is Kate (46).

She is just beautiful. The RR families that have met her say she is a gem. Please pray for these girls and all of the other children that are still waiting for their Moms and Dads. Thanks so much.

Julia is doing well. We saw the ENT specialist last week. She is being treated for another ear/sinus infection. The doctor also mentioned that Julia is a great candidate for ear tubes. I sort of saw that one coming. I think that will happen in the spring. We have Julia's evaluation next week, to see what services/therapies she will receive. She is starting to take some steps on her own, but we can't wait until she starts taking PT and really gets moving. I'm sure we will need to put some gates up around the house. This will be strange since we haven't used gates in about 6 years.

Caleb, our resident photographer, will add some of his latest photos to the blog soon. He has a lot to pick from, so it may take a while to decide on his favorites.

Since it is Thursday, I guess it is o.k. so say, "Have a Great Weekend."

Well, here's some updated ones! Talk about Miss Photogenic :)

"Sleep in Heavenly Peace..."

The Little Ukrainian Eskimo baby

Snuggling with big brother :)

And Big Sister :)

And because I don't have a couple thousand dollars to buy all of the studio backdrop and lighting gear, I wish I could afford, I've been making due with some comforters, work lights and eager little siblings as models :)

Anybody in need of some family/child portraits? :)

Well, here they are! New Pictures!

2011-02-28T23:56:00.002-05:00

Me Like Snacky Time.

And the puppy lip can be employed if necessary!

Ah, so hard to believe we've had our little blessing home for 2 months now :)

Back into our regular routine

2011-02-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately, our family field trip did not happen on President's Day. We had a mini snow storm, but it was enough to keep us home. We had planned to visit Eleanor Roosevelt's home called Val-Kill. Most of our children have been to the main Roosevelt Estate on school field trips, but none of them had visited Val-Kill. We were all disappointed, but decided that a springtime visit would be more enjoyable. So we will try to go during Easter vacation.

Now we are back to our various school routines and many doctor appointments. Julia had another round of blood work done last week and everything came back normal. We are grateful.

Caleb has taken more pictures, so I will let him post some when he gets a chance.

We are so happy to see that Sonya, from Julia's groupa, has had an increase in her grant fund. We are praying so hard that she, Shawna and Lindsay have families soon.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Construction Girl and Glasses Take Two

2011-02-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

Life remains busy and crazy here meeting the needs and schedules of our six little angels (and some of them aren't so little). Julia's big news is she got a second pair of glasses that are lighter, more comfortable, and generally fit her face a lot better. Here is a view of glasses take two, plus a view of Julia learning to drive her brothers tractor.

Tomorrow we are planning a little family trip for President's day. We'll see how it goes and maybe have some pictures to share from that outing.

More Medical Updates

2011-02-16T22:17:00.001-05:00

Today Julia saw the heart specialist. We did not have specific concerns , but we wanted to have her checked out just to be safe. Dr. F. told Julia, "She had the prettiest little heart he had seen all day". So it was wonderful to know that her heart is healthy. She was her usual squirmy self during all the tests, but somehow the technicians were able to get the information they needed.

We also received a call that her re-tests for giardia and h-pylori came back negative. So the medicine worked the first time!

We have one more appointment with an ENT. If everything checks out well there, I'm hoping we will be done with many of the medical appointments.

We are looking forward to Julia starting to receive therapy services. She has started to stand on her own for brief moments and she will walk with holding only one hand. It will be so wonderful to see all the accomplishments Julia will make.

As we make our way through all of the medical appointments, our family cannot stop thinking of the little ones in Julia's group that were left behind. Luckily, we know of four children from Julia's orphanage that have families that will be traveling soon to bring them home and for this we are so excited. We are still praying for Sonya, Shawna and Lindsey. They are still waiting for their families and they are nearing the age of transfer. Please join us in prayer that these children and many others will have families step forward for them this year. Thank you.

6 weeks, 1 cute little girl and lots of pictures

2011-02-13T23:24:00.001-05:00

Well, this Friday was our 6-week-aversary with our little Julia. Has it really only been six weeks? This has been such a big journey in so many ways. It's funny how one little girl can change your life :)

Julia continues to adjust well. Wearing glasses is coming along quite nicely. The pair of glasses she has right now fits her alright, but we have a better pair from a brand specifically for Children with DS on the way (Thanks for the info Mrs. Thibault!) Sleeping is getting better, and she has gotten a HUGE kick out of moving upstairs with Gabby. She has such a little personality. One second she can be super quiet and concentrated on something and the next she's smiley-giggly-all-around-happy girl. she gives us such joy every day.

As always, though, it wouldn't be a complete post without some new pictures!

I also got a chance to put my photography skills to the test and get some winter shots of the other siblings out in the snow. Here's some of that fun!

Forever family button girl!

2011-02-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

Guess who made it on a Reece's Rainbow button for this year!

Superbowl SUNDAY

2011-02-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

The emphasis being on the second word in the title, "Sunday", we went to church as a family together this morning for the fourth time or so. Although Julia doesn't like being out in real busy public places, church seems just fine. She just hangs out in my arms making the loudest raspberries possible for an hour. After church people said, "Was that her?". "It sure was", I replied. She'll find a new voice soon enough.

No doubt many of you were engaged in Superbowl revelry this Sunday. What were we up to? Well the photo nuts of the family Tom and Caleb were engaged in separate "photo shoots". Here's a summary of the forty or fifty pictures of Julia, Tom shot this afternoon.

There were too many cute pictures to fit in a four by four collage. Here are a few more.

She's got the phone thing down. Here she is talking to her stock broker.

Fun time between mother and daughter.

Perhaps Caleb will post some pictures from his shoot soon. Have a great week ahead.

Ms. Personality

2011-02-04T00:13:00.000-05:00

Hi Everyone. Sorry for the posting (or lack thereof) of late. Mom and Dad have been busy running a household and getting Julia to her various doctor's appointments, and I have been down in D.C. for the March for Life, and trying to get school done amidst relentless blizzards. That said, Julia is doing very well with the doctors given that she's only been home a month and is adjusting otherwise quite well. Her brand-new glasses came in today, and while she wasn't cool with them at first, she kept them on without any fuss for about 45 minutes this afternoon. Progress!

While she still likes to be Mom's personal alarm clock and wake up at 6 every morning, she works great with her new schedule. She even decided yesterday afternoon would be a great time to laugh and shout hysterically for about an hour, just being Miss Happy-Go-Lucky.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a proper post without some new pictures!

Ah, what joys old spatulas bring joy to a child :D

Sisterly Love

2 cute to be true. Literally.

Glasses!

" Hmm, Maybe these aren't so bad after all ."

"What am I laying on again?"

"Oh, right, him. That's ok"

Pictures!

2011-01-22T22:10:00.001-05:00

Miss Tea Party Girl :)

Huggin' Big Brother :)

Hope You enjoyed!

Further adventures in the medical world

2011-01-22T14:10:00.001-05:00

Well, the hives are gone. Our pediatrician felt that Julia's reaction was not to the giardia medicine, but the augmentin that she was on for her ear infection. So we did a little test by giving Julia a small amount of giardia medicine, and guess what, no hives. It seems that she is allergic to the penicilin in the anti biotic. We are now forging ahead with treating the giardia and h-pylori. Wow, who knew this part of the adjustment for Julia would be so challenging.

Julia's transition continues to go well. She eats like crazy. She has gained three pounds according to the doctor's scale. We think she is growing in length as well. All of the Onsies I bought for her are now popping everytime we pick her. Time to make the switch to undershirts.

Caleb has some good non-hive pictures that he will be posting later.

Please continue to pray for all of the families who are working so hard on their dossiers to go get their children. There are some families who are all ready to go and just waiting for their child's country to give them the green light. These situations are so heart breaking.

If you haven't had a chance, please check out a blog that our three oldest kids have started with a good friend of theirs. They are hoping to advocate for the children who are still waiting for their forever families.
http://www.speaking4thesilent.blogspot.com/.

Pictures to follow.

Mostly Medical Update

2011-01-17T14:41:00.002-05:00

Julia continues to adjust to her new life quite well, even if it is throwing her some curve balls. She tested positive for giardia and h-pylori. No surprises there, until we started the medication for it. The poor little girl broke out in hives everywhere. We stopped the medicine and are waiting to hear from the pediatrician as to which medication we should try next. Once we get the giardia taken care of, we will treat the h-pylori. We saw the eye doctor today. It amazes me that he can determine a perscription when the patient is twisting around in her mom's lap and swatting him away with her hand. However, the doctor was able to get a look at her eyes, once I held her arms down. No surprise here either, Julia needs glasses. I was so impressed that the doctor knew all about the special frames that are made for children with Ds and he told me to have the optometrist's office help me order them.

Our next appointment will be with a heart specialist. The pediatrician has no immediate concerns, but we want to have Julia's heart checked out just to be sure everything is o.k. After the heart appointment we will see the ENT doctor. In the mean time, I will be working on the paper work to request services for her from our local school district.

I'll have Caleb post some pictures of Julia once the hives have disappeared. She doesn't seem to notice them, but she just looks so uncomfortable.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of some of Julia's siblings having fun in the snow this past weekend.

Our New Slideshow!

2011-01-09T22:48:00.003-05:00

Hey Everybody! I am SO excited to introduce my brand new slide show for our trip to Julia! This has some of the best pictures of Julia from the album, as well as some exclusive footage from homecoming! Enjoy!

Our Journey to Julia from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

And as promised....

2011-01-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

New Pictures!

I'm back with a bajillion of 'em! I just love taking pictures of her!. She is definitely starting to like the picture taking thing, and some of the best pictures are the ones she doesn't realize you're taking :D We just love our little cupcake.

Antibiotics are definitely working in the cold department. As you can see from the pictures. She's looking really great.

("Oh, Addisu, that's so funny. I think these Americans are crazy too.")

One Week Home & Her First Visit to the Doctor

2011-01-07T00:15:00.001-05:00

Julia has been home with us exactly a week today. I think we are doing pretty well with getting into our new routine as a family of eight. All the school aged kids started back to school this week, some at home and our one daughter in public school and things are going well even with all the adjustments being made. Julia loves spending time with all of her brothers and sisters. She is practicing her walking a lot by holding one of the kids hands. Her main goal is to take them from the family room to the dining room where her high chair is located. This girl loves to eat. So the kids spend most of their time redirecting her and trying to get her interested in some thing else.

Julia is still adjusting to the time change. She is convinced that the best time to get up in the morning is 5 a.m. Ugh! We hope this trend passes soon.

I made an appointment with our family pediatrician a week before Julia came home, so that she could be checked out and we could start working on any medical needs she might have. Well, what I thought was going to be a "well" visit turned into a sick visit. The poor little girl woke up from her nap in Wednesday with super goopy eyes and a bad runny nose. It was a good thing I had made this appointment, because Julia has an ear infection and conjunctivitis in both eyes. Amazingly, she is already responding well to the drops the doctor prescribed and she will be on oral antibiotics for 10 days.

We also put together a plan to have her see an eye specialist and a heart specialist just to look her over. This will be the year of the "Doctor Appointments".

Most days have been really enjoyable and Julia is adjusting really well to her new life. We have had some periods where Julia is very upset and seems overwhelmed. We wish so badly at those times that we could communicate with her and she could tell us what she is thinking and feeling. Since this is not the case, we do our best to console her and help her through the rough patch.

One thing that really seems to make her happy and relaxed is bath time. She goes crazy in the water. We can't wait to get her in the pool this summer.

Thanks for checking in with us. It has been a busy week and posting on the blog sort of took a back seat to all the activities.

I'll have Tom or Caleb post some pictures soon. Bye for now.

Photos of Julia at home and in the Ukraine

2011-01-03T06:15:00.001-05:00

As we adjust to life at home, here is the complete photo essay on Julia's journey home, organized into more manageable albums so you can pick the phase or topic that interests you.

Albums in order of interest (as they relate to Miss Julia of course): The names are fairly self explanatory
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/JuliaAtHome# - This one will continue to grow over the next few months as we settle into life at home
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/JuliaComingHome# - The princess on the road towards home
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/JuliaOrphanage# - pictures of our visits to the orphanage - both trips
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/GreenForestSeleniyGuy# - the orphanage and villages around where she lived
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/AdoptionFriends# - some of the wonderful people we met along the way
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/Kharkov# - City of Julia's birth, and our time there - former Soviet capital of the Ukraine
http://picasaweb.google.com/tomljmj/Kyiv# - Current/historic capital of Ukraine - Kyiv (Kiev in former days)

There will be more updates and captioning as we get time, but wanted you to have access to these.

New Year, New Life

2011-01-01T00:49:00.002-05:00

Hey Everybody! Happy New Year! I hope everyone is having a blessed end of the holiday season for 2010. The three musketeers are safely back home, and all went quite smoothly. Most of the time Julia simply sat on Dad's lap or played nicely, and she also slept for about 4 hours on our longest flight (which was 8 hours). Mom, the four kids, and my Grandma met us with smiles and lots of tears at the airport, and Julia slept the whole drive home (about 90 minutes).

This morning Julia was up bright and early, and so were we. Playing, loving, cuddling and adjusting occupied most of our morning. Julia adjusted to her new schedule very well, and we even got in a two hour nap!

(In case you're still wanting more, just click here for several related albums, from first departure to arrival home)

We are very happy to all be home with each other for New Year's together. We are so happy to have Julia here with us. Our hearts will never forget those other little orphans we had the privilege of getting to meet and interact with.

While I was over in Julia's country, I watched all three Lord of the Rings movies (yes, literally, all three, from start to finish). I could watch those endlessly forever, they are just so good. While all three obviously made big $$$ and got great critical buzz, none quite beat Return of the King. It won 11 Oscars, and rightfully so. It ended the trilogy so darn well. No matter what emotional state I'm in, the end always makes me cry. But there's one scene before the tear fest I always admire. We have come to the end of the road. Our four main hobbits (Frodo Sam, Merry, and Pippin) have endured the many trials to arrive back at their little town of the Shire, with the peace of knowing the outside world has been restored to peace as well. As they sit in their little Pub sipping cups of ale, they sit in silent admiration of each other and what they accomplished in the year the journey took. The mood has been very much the same here. We are all in amazement over what occurred in a mere six months of our lives that will so drastically change everything. But we couldn't be happier.

It has been a pleasure blogging here. while this is certainly not my last post here, I will be posting a lot back at my own blog ( www.hisworld-caleb.blogspot.com, AKA Swimming AGAINST the Tide ), so feel free to stop by for plenty more orphan advocacy posts, more pictures of Princess Julia, and lots of other stuff.

Have a Happy, loving and blessed 2011. Always remember, there is Hope for Every Child.

HOME

2010-12-30T21:12:00.000-05:00

It is 9 pm and we are all together again. We picked up Caleb, Tom and Julia up this evening at the airport. She did really well traveling across the globe. We will post more details in the upcoming days and pictures of Julia with the rest of her brothers and sisters.

Pictures, gotcha day, and other stuff!

2010-12-28T06:22:00.004-05:00

Hey Everybody! Forgive the lack of blogs from the in-country side of things. Thanks to Mom, though, you guys have been able to keep up with all of our comings and goings. But I'm back with the general run-down and showing plenty of pics!

So Christmas Day 2010 was Gotcha day for us! The orphanage asked that Julia stayed until the afternoon so they could celebrate Christmas with her and say goodbye. My heart really does break for those ladies.

Even though they were happy to see someone come who was just as in love with her as they were, I can imagine how tough it must be to say goodbye to someone you've taken care of for four years. Our time in the orphanage was pretty quick, but during that time, another little girl captured my heart.

This is sweet Sonya from Reece's Rainbow. she is too darn cute for words to describe. She wrapped me around her little finger and I got to play with her for a good 10 or 15 minutes. The meeting was indeed a bittersweet one though. Besides having to leave her without the comfort of knowing she had a family on the way, the countdown to transfer is coming up very quick. Someone needs to step forward for this adorable little girl. She has so much potential and beauty inside and out.

Once we got back to the apartment with miss Julia, we spent the night adjusting and enjoying each other's company. Julia adjusted like a duck to water ,and mealtime and playtime were no problem. When bedtime came, it was a little tougher, but given the circumstances that she was in a completely new environment and all, she did pretty well.

The next day was already departure from Julia's Region. After walking down to the church me and Dad had went to the day before and saying some prayers, we headed back home and started packing. After that was done, our good friends the Winkles came over for a visit.

We were all happy to see each other one last time, and Julia definitely liked them a lot. It was very hard to say goodbye. They had had us over for an awesome dinner on Christmas Eve, and they had been great company and support in general. From there, Tatianna and Valentin took us back to the train station, and we all said our goodbyes. Tatianna and Julia spent some great time together too :)

From there we boarded the train back to the Capitol. Julia was a little bit cranky because she was still running on her orphanage schedule, which we obviously couldn't follow with trying to pack up, board trains and whatnot. Once we were in the capitol, our good friend/driver Nikolai picked us up and brought us to our apartment....

Which is quite gorgeous! It was also nice to have a bed for one exhausted traveler to crash on. ;-)

The Next day was one of two U.S. embassy visits. Our first stop on the first one was to the embassy itself. After filling out a few forms and meeting another adopting family that had the courage to bring their five kids (besides the two they were adopting), we headed over to the U.S. Medical Clinic. The wait there lasted a good hour, and was a bit frazzling for all kids and parents involved. After a quick checkup, we went over and had a nice meal at a little cafe attached to the clinic.

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the apartment, catching up on laundry, updating pictures (just click one of the ones in the post and you'll see my full album), and giving Julia her first bath (which she loved!).

Today was one more quick visit to the embassy for Julia's American Visa. We were there for about an hour, and got to meet some other adoptive families while we waited. Tonight we are scheduled to have dinner at a nice Italian restaurant with some other Reece's Rainbow Families.

As this trip draws to a close, so much is thought of. I can't believe it's only been 10 days. This trip has certainly taken up a lot of time and energy, but it's all totally been worth it. We have met so many great people. I could really sit in these buildings all day just to meet these beautiful people who walk through those doors, following a call from God. I am really happy to be going home to my family.

At the same time, though, I think the trip has changed me personally. I have so much I want to say and do for this cause now, for these little kids who can't speak for themselves, who need a voice.

Please pray that all goes well in the coming hours, as we fly back home to the US, and have a happy New Year!

Embassy Appointment and Bath Time

2010-12-27T15:52:00.000-05:00

We just skyped with Tom, Caleb and Julia so we have a little update on their day. The appointment at the Embassy and the clinic, where Julia had to have her pre-going home physical, all went fine. Tom and Caleb are learning so much about Julia now that she is with them full time. One thing they have learned is that when it is Julia's meal time, you better have a meal made for her. She is pretty much happy if she is fed on time. Tom gave her a bath today and he said she loved it. In fact, he said she was a crazy girl in the tub and seemed to really be enjoying it. While we were talking with Caleb for a little bit, Tom was trying to get Julia to sleep for the night by rocking her in the stroller. She did fall asleep and it was so cute to see her over the computer. Tom is doing such an awesome job taking care of Julia and finishing up the adoption process in EE. I'm so glad Caleb is there to help him.

We had a "little" blizzard here on the east coast last night. Actually, I think some of the drifts were about a foot or more high. I had a friend come and plow most of the driveway and then a neighbor came over and helped me with the rest of the clean up. The kids, here at home with me, had a chance to play in the snow.

I found out today that a friend at our church has a ton of baby equipment that she would like to offer to us. I was blown away. She has a high chair, pack-n-play, exersaucer and car seat for us. She also offered us a toddler bed, since Julia will be getting our three year old son's crib and he will need a toddler bed. I am so thankful for her generosity.

Our family has truly been blessed through this whole process. We are so grateful to God, our church, our friends and our families. I was explaining to my children the other night how God has truly shown us many of His miracles during this journey. We are all forever changed.

Back in the Capital

2010-12-26T19:04:00.000-05:00

Tom, Caleb and Julia are back in the capital. The train ride from her region was a little rough. Julia was o.k. the first two hours and then she decided she was done with this part of the adventure. Well, they had about 5 hours left to the journey, so Tom and Caleb tried everything to comfort and distract her. Snacks ended up being the solution. This girl loves to eat!

Embassy visits will fill the next two days and then they will head home on Thursday. Please pray that Julia will be relaxed on the plane rides. The flight from Germany to D.C. is long as it is, imagine adding an unhappy little girl to the mix. Yikes!

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Christmas news from Eastern Europe

2010-12-25T20:03:00.000-05:00

Tom and Caleb picked Julia up today after she attended her own Christmas party in the orphanage. We were able to Skype with them and things seem to be going really well for them and Julia. Tom said she ate a huge dinner. She ate the meal that Tom prepared for her and then she dove into the meal that he had prepared for himself and Caleb. What a relief that she is eating well. The only challenge Tom had tonight was getting her to go to bed. After several hours of trying to get her to go to sleep, she finally gave in at 11 pm.
They will all be leaving Julia's region tomorrow to head back to the capital city. They will have two US Embassy visits to make and then, hopefully, they will be headed home early Thursday morning.

We had a nice Christmas here at home, but we missed Tom, Caleb and Julia greatly. We are so grateful that she is officially our daughter and with Tom and Caleb. We can't wait until next Christmas when we will all be together as a family.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Happy New Year to all!

Video cuteness and the best Christmas Ever

2010-12-23T21:15:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends. Tom here, interrupting Caleb's excellent blogging coverage. He is sound asleep in bed where I need to get back to myself. Had some network challenges getting videos uploaded, but they are ready now. Switched them to my Vimeo album because we were having some other technical glitches with uploads under his album.

Every father should be this lucky!

Moon Angel from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Miss "J" demonstrating her awesome fine motor skills.

Julia New Ring Stacker from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Miss "J" doing what she really enjoys the most - biting things. Not in a bad way, just in a way that gives her some comfort and allows her to explore things orally until we can get her little eyes better focused. We see glasses in someone's near future.

Ring Stacking and Biting from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

When our luggage was delivered tonight our facilitator confirmed her passport will be available Friday which means the last remaining impediment to Gotcha Day is just about clear.

It is looking increasingly likely that Gotcha Day will be Christmas Day, the day that Jesus Christ was incarnated as man, yet still God, in the form of an innocent baby in Bethlehem. It reminds me of our Lord's words that we will see him most clearly in the eyes of every poor child or person we serve. This Christmas I am seeing that most clearly in the deep blue eyes of this little baby girl in Eastern Europe. Thanks to Him for this moment, and to the heart of a mom for orphans that would not rest until justice had been done for at least one of the "least of these".

Merry Christmas to all. We are looking forward to being amongst our friends and family in the US soon to start a whole new year together, with blessings beyond measure. May God bless you all this Christmas.

Patience and Miracles

2010-12-23T12:39:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone. Hope you're all in the Christmas spirit and ready for the day to come! Over here we are making ourselves our own little set of Christmas celebrations for the day, and it feels very much like Christmas at home, just without our precious family :(

Today's visit with Julia was one of the best, but at the same time one of the shortest and hardest. We got there a little late as our driver needed to get our facilitator to a couple places as well, and pick up the Winkles so they could visit Bohden and Yuri. By the time we got there, the Winkles and us had already lost about half an hour of our time. Julia was in a very happy and interactive mood today, and just as we were really (and I mean, wholly and entirely) getting comfortable and playing really really great with her, her caretakers came in a half an hour early to get her for lunch.

While it may be better that she got her meal when she did, it was very sad to have our visit halved today. We so wish we could bring her back to the apartment with us. We really totally want to be able to play, laugh, and be with her all day. But for now, we are learning a lesson of patience and trust that God will take care of it. On the plus side though, cute videos and pictures abound.

Julia: "Your hanging me upside down 20 minutes after giving me cheerios? Gee, the workers are right. You Americans ARE crazy."

Another positive note: Julia's passport will be back from the country's capitol tomorrow and we could indeed be looking at picking her up Christmas Day or the day after. Please pray we can have our sweet little Julia in our arms soon!

P.S. - Our luggage arrived today!!!! Now we have American food to eat and clothing for our baby girl. Yeah!

Another Crazy Day

2010-12-22T15:26:00.003-05:00

Hello Everyone. Sorry if this post seems a tad late as opposed to my usual schedule. I have spent the last 2 hours filing and organizing the tons of photos from the last three days or so that had accumulated into a giant mess. It feels good to be organized again :)

Anyway, Today was another full day of events. things started off with Julia, and the visit went well, even though she was a little cranky because of a little head cold going around the orphanage. We yearn to be able to play with her all day long and cater to her every need. None the less, her funny little personality and cuteness still keep us coming back.

Julia's chair climb from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

We got to share our visit with The Winkles, who are adopting two little boys, Yuri and Bohdan. So precious. They are so much fun to hang out with and we had an absolute blast of a night, walking around town and having Pizza at my parent's favorite pizza place, Celentano's.

Delish. Later that night, we toured the city in all its Christmas-glittering glory. It was simply gorgeous.

Christmas Tree in Freedom Square from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Tomorrow will be a day of visiting and getting ready for a certain upcoming gotcha day! Please pray that the passport comes back from the Country's capitol soon so we can finally complete our adoption of sweet Julia!

Exhaustion, Perspective, and hours sitting in a BMW

2010-12-21T13:10:00.001-05:00

Hello Everyone! Happy to be back a-bloggin' about all the happenings in EE. Me and Dad are exhausted from a crazy day of paper chasing and visiting with a very special little girl. But without further adieu, let's get to the happenings of today!

So as you can tell from the title, a lot has happened today. Me and Dad got a nice early start to our day and were out the door to join Tatiana (our facilitator) and Valentin (our driver) for a day of driving around like mad men getting all papers necessary to finish the process of getting Julia her Passport and other important forms.

First stop was the court house to pick up the court decree that Jules is officially ours! So excited to be through 99% of the gauntlet and finally seeing an end in sight. From there, a matter of getting Julia's birth certificate in order to get her passport. Getting this, however, felt like a process in and of itself. Tatiana was in the office by herself for about an hour and a half before she called Dad in from Valentin's sporty little BMW. Her and Dad were in there for another half hour or so, but when they came out we had a birth certificate and an adoption Decree!

           During that time, though, I thought about a little fact of the whole story that surrounds these special orphans I hadn't before. I knew that most of the time they hung out in their cribs, and got taken out for meal times and diaper changes. I was getting seriously annoyed just sitting collecting dust in the back seat of a sports car for two hours. These precious little souls sit in the same place, looking at the same surroundings, almost 24/7. It's not something that comes immediately to mind, how tough something like that can be. But I felt like I had a new perspective on what my little sister's life had been like, and I won't forget it.

       From there came a mad dash for a quick lunch before moving on to bigger and better things. Me and Dad made good use of our 15 minute break, exchanging currencies and grabbing a quick meal to go from the local McDonald's. After that came the real meat of the day! Julia was going to need her picture taken for her passport, and hence we would be picking her up and bringing her around to enjoy some time together! A nurse came with her and we spent the rest of the afternoon (about 3:15 to 6:15) spending time with her while we got all of her passport stuff together. Because we were in constant motion, I don't have any good pictures for you :-( We will have a normal visit though tomorrow, and I will have plenty of new pictures of our baby girl then.

      I really broke the ice today with her, and she seems a little more comfortable with me which was a very satisfying feeling. We snuggled together in the car some while Dad caught some Z's on the way back to the orphanage. When we had to give her back tonight it was a little bit harder to do. We should have her in our arms forever by Christmas or the day after though, so our spirits are still high and excited.

After that, we did a little bit of grocery shopping in Dad's favorite store, Billa.

(It's officially strange to walk into a store and have NO English labels :D)

Thank you all again for your supportive comments. We appreciate them as you guys go through your own processes, adjust to life with your new additions, and counsel us newbies as we learn along the way.

I will have new pictures of Julia tomorrow and will have plenty of pictures posted to a public web album VERY soon. See you then!

Finally Here!

2010-12-20T15:13:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone! We are finally in country and are so happy to be! As Mom posted earlier, me and Dad had a flight cancellation on the 19th when snow in Europe was slicking up all the runways. They put out cots and some type of chocolatey-granola bar-like thing and TONS of water bottles, and a few people took some. Needless to say though, the airport in Germany was a crowded building full of mayhem.

Some people who saw that other flights to their destination were available stood in line for 4 hours+ just to be wait-listed. Flight gates were changing constantly, and hence people were running in every direction just looking to reach their long-awaited flight. In the end, though, me and dad got on a flight and were in country very quickly. From there we took another long trip, this time in the form of a six-hour train ride. We had our car almost entirely to ourselves, and we caught up on some much-needed sleep. Once we got to Julia's district, we were met by a very nice driver who spoke very fluent English. He then took us to our apartment, which exceeded my expectations entirely.

Albeit internet connections are very tempermental, it is an awesome place to stay for our trip.

From there, we got our first visit with the princess herself! We were so excited to see her. (I have a couple videos qeued up for upload on vimeo, and will post them when they are available. Pictures will follow as well.).

Going to Julia! from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Julia's district over all is a very metropolitan city with everything we need to get by for 10 days or so. But there are many cultural differences I am yet to adjust to. I come from a family of non-smokers. None of my relatives smoke any more either. So being in a country where the smell is not uncommon is a bit odd. In the same respect, we in America truly are so priveleged with our resources. Whenever it snows, you can expect plows to come through at any moment on the double. Here, ice is ice and snow is snow, and you walk on it anywhere anytime. The sidewalks are literally caked with a good two or three inches of snow and ice that form a very hard, very slippery walkway that makes you feel like you're in March of the Penguins or something. But on the whole, i'm just happy to be in the same country as my little sister :)

Tomorrow begins the paper chase to get Julia with us ASAP. Please pray that all moves smoothly and that we can be home soon! We even bought a stroller tonight to cart her around the city and through the airports on the way home.

(Editorial comment by Dad - isn't it too cute to see brother and sister finally united? Can't wait to get the rest of the crew in on the snuggling).

They have arrived in Julia's country

2010-12-19T19:36:00.000-05:00

We just got a text from Tom and he and Caleb have arrived in Julia's country. They must be beyond exhausted! Now they will catch a train to Julia's region. Those poor guys. I hope they can get a good rest on Monday night so that they are ready for their hectic day on Tuesday collecting up all of Julia's documents.

Thank you for your prayers

2010-12-19T16:22:00.000-05:00

We just recevied a text from Tom that he and Caleb are boarding a plane for the capital of Julia's country. In short, the getting to go where they need to go :) Once they get off the plane, they need to board a train to get to Julia's region. This will be a trip that they will never forget!

Thank you, again.

Stuck in Germany

2010-12-19T14:36:00.000-05:00

Tom and Caleb left yesterday for EE to bring our Julia home. They have been sitting in an airport in Germany for the past 12 hours, trying to get to the capital in Julia's country. Severe snow storms have hit this area of Europe and the airlines have been brought to a stand still. I'm thinking of the families this past summer that were effected by the volcano ash that was floating above Europe. Snow or volcanic ash, if it isn't one thing it is another! Tom has sent us an e-mail explaining what it is like in the airport. They have set up cots and put out water bottles and Twix bars to keep the "masses" from getting too cranky. I wonder how that is working ;)

We would appreciate prayers for Tom and Caleb and all those traveling during this difficult time. I know there are other RR families who are traveling right now too. Some for their first trip and others returning to bring their children home. Let's hope that everyone reaches their destination safe and sound.

Trip #2

2010-12-17T13:08:00.001-05:00

Hello, everyone. Sorry for the silence during the past couple of days. Tom and I arrived home on Tuesday night. Wow, it was great to see our children. We had missed them so much. It was great to be back in America as well. We are so blessed in our country.

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind of getting ready for Trip #2. Tom and our oldest son will be returning to bring Julia home. Our son (who is 15 years old) is so excited about this trip and can't wait to meet his new little sister.

Grandma and Grandpa have returned to the warmth of Florida. We are so grateful for the help they gave us while we were away.

Tom & I want to thank all of the people who have helped us during this adoption journey. We have been blessed with financial support, prayers, and friends & family helping out with the care of our children at home. We know that all of the help has made it possible for us to bring Julia home. Thank you!

So, once Tom and Caleb are back in Julia's country, I'm sure they will be updating the blog often. We will miss them on Christmas, but we know they are bringing home such a beautiful gift with them, Julia.

Please join us in praying for all of families that will be apart this Christmas for many different reasons. Also, please pray for all the children around the world who wait for a family. Maybe by next Christmas they will be home with their new Forever Families.

On the way home

2010-12-12T08:08:00.000-05:00

We're back in the capital after a quick and uneventful train ride. We're back in the same apartment we stayed in our first night in country, so things are looking comfortingly familiar.

Here is a shot of the difficult parting at the last visit with Julia before we left.

In one of our last walks around the local city it was snowing heavily on Saturday afternoon. Saturday is the day local brides get their pictures taken in the local parks. Even when it is freezing out!

From Adoption Trip 1

This spot kept reminding us of the scene in "Mary Poppins" where they all hop into the chalk paintings in the park.

This footbridge is a popular place for wedding shots, when it is not covered with ice that is.

The strangest thing was watching brides smoking and spitting while waiting for their pictures. Interesting!

So tomorrow we make a quick stop by the US embassy to sign some papers and then first thing Tuesday we fly for home. America - here we come!

Court Day - Part 2 - two heart attacks and a decision

2010-12-10T14:33:00.000-05:00

Ok - it's Friday night over here, and we already told you the big news earlier in the day. The way the court day happened was almost as interesting as the outcome.

Our appointment was for 11am. We were picked up in the city at 10am because the driver also had to bring a couple other officials needed for the adoption hearing to the courthouse. As we sped out of the city at around 65-70 miles per hour, a policeman on the side of the road motions for us to pull over. The driver nearly locks up the brakes on the highway, slides off the pavement and through a few potholes. We start wondering if this whole altercation is going to make us miss our court appointment. We find out later it was a dispute over speed limits, and they claim we were at least 10 kilometers per hour under the published speed limit and the police are just harassing them. That was heart attack number one.

The courthouse is a long two story brick building in the middle of the countryside. There are always cars and people swarming all around it like you would not believe. In all prior visits, we have never been allowed inside. As we enter the building there is a metal detector active that you have to walk through and a security guard standing by. Everyone sets it off, but no one is stopped or examined. Interesting.

We are led to a waiting area in the upstairs hallway. All doors on the hallway are shut at all times, but people come in and out of each door about once every 30 seconds. It all appears quite comical when you can't read any of the signs and have no idea what is going on. We wait for a while and the facilitator briefs us on some questions we may get and how the hearing will proceed. Shortly all our party has arrived but we have not been called yet. It's about noon when our name is eventually called. We enter the courtroom, but still no judge. We wait for another 10-15 minutes and then he appears. He reads the introductory papers on the case, and then calls a five minute recess. Hmmm. The interpreter politely tells us "no one knows what is going on". Ok - that clarifies things. Eventually the judge returns and proceeds to read through a number of documents and recommendations regarding this adoption from the orphanage, local administration and state department. Everyone is giving us a green light. We are called to answer some basic questions - name, date of birth, address, occupation and why we are adopting this child. The judge calls a fifteen minute recess to issue a decision in the case.

Snow is falling heavily outside the window as we wait for the judge and his two assistants/witnesses to return. Everyone makes small talk about the weather and what it is like where we come from. We actually get to talk to our facilitator more then we have since we have been here about her adoption work and the orphanage in general. Then the three men return and begin to read their official decision. No big deal, right? This is when heart attack number two begins.

As the judge reads the first couple paragraphs our facilitator's jaw drops, she sighs loudly and shakes her head. We look at her eyes for some sign this is going to be ok. Nothing but a look of fear and confusion. In a few minutes that felt like a few years I start playing back in my head. "What could we have possibly done to cause this judge to deny or delay this adoption?" No answers come. He continues to read and the courtroom is dead silent.

Then our facilitator's face begins to relax. She translates - "Child's new name will be Julia Mary,... this petition is approved,...". A wave of relief washes over us. We're done. Julia will be our daughter if nothing adverse happens during the ten day waiting period.

What was the fear and confusion about? Communication problems. The judge is speaking Ukrainian. Our facilitator's primary language is Russian. She is struggling to convey it all in English for us. She thought he was saying no to our adoption petition, but he was speaking about something else. The joys of international adoption.

Sorry for the long story, but it demonstrates what international adoption is really like. It is long, complex and confusing, and at every moment it hangs on many people doing the right thing. Any misstep or miscommunication along the way can halt things temporarily or permanently. In that moment everything hung on that judge believing that it was in this little girl's best interest to move across the sea to a new life with a new family in a foreign culture. Thank God he did. The administration even said we are "very good people".

The courtroom was strictly business. No teary pictures with the judge or anything. A couple quick hand shakes and congratulations. Here are some smiles outside the courtroom afterward.

So another major step is behind us. We got to spend the evening with Julia and celebrate this little moment.

Court Day 1 from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

See her big smile at the end? We think that is because she knows court is over. ;-)

Stay tuned for the trip home and the beginning of Trip 2 to bring Julia back to America.

Julia Mary has a new family

2010-12-10T07:19:00.001-05:00

In the words of Christian musician Matthew West, there's one less lonely orphan in the world tonight.

We passed court today around 1:15pm local time! We'll tell you the whole hilarious (and scary) story of how it happened later today after we go see the little angel. For now, know how relieved and grateful we are to be through this major step of the adoption process.

Stacking cups - the next generation

2010-12-08T10:35:00.001-05:00

Our assigned visiting time at the orphanage is normally 10am-Noon. And we are almost always late because of the never ending "DOC-u-mehnts" that have to be delivered here there and everywhere and signed, which our driver usually does on the way to the orphanage because the courthouse is nearby. So when get there, sometimes we have to wait for them to "prepare" Jenny. Sometimes she is sitting waiting in our usual meeting place for us. Today we were close to on time, and she was all ready sitting there waiting for us.

We walk in the door and start greeting her with her birth name and nicknames as we usually do, and she starts laughing, babbling and reaching up to us as if to say "where have you been - welcome back". We actually had just been there at 6pm last night. The shouts of welcome were not momentary. It went on for about five minutes. All the nurses were coming in to see what she was making the fuss about, and giggling about the way she had latched onto her Mama. If you want to see what she looks like going on at a great rate, here is a new video from today after she proudly climbed up into a nearby office chair and sat herself down.

Sitting and Rocking from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Today was sort of an early Christmas for Jenny. We were pretty sick of the toys we had brought for her and played with for the last eleven visits, so Tom hiked across town after our visit last night and picked up a couple little surprises. The main one, is a combination ball, stacking bowls thing that you can play all kinds of games with. This video doesn't quite do it justice, but she loved it and played with it for quite a while on her own. The whole set nests inside itself with a little yellow ball with a jingle bell inside in the center. It reminds us of the Russian nesting dolls so popular in this part of the world.

Nested Balls from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

The other gift was a Little People farm set with a tractor, cow and cute little farm girl in a pink dress. That was not good for much except gnawing on the girl and cows feet, so we mostly stuck with the stacking bowls.

Snacktime was the usual frenzy of hunting for Cheerios and clawing onto the juice cup for dear life. In this video, you can catch a few glimpses of her happy smiles when we managed to pry the cup off of her face.

Drinking Juice 2 from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Our final accomplishment of the day was trying to take a mommy/daddy/daughter shot of the three of us since we don't have any yet. There was no one in the room to help, and we didn't have a tripod, so we improvised using a nearby desk, and continuous shooting mode on the camera to take 10 shots in 10 seconds and hope one would come out good. Jenny proceeded to be a wriggling worm the whole time resulting in some comical shots. Here is the closest we got. See the album link for some other interesting iterations.

From Adoption Trip 1

In other news, our travel is all booked and confirmed for returning home next week, and for Trip 2 that will commence with 4 days of being home. Can't wait to see our family and home. Feels like we have been away forever. Can't wait to get our little Christmas gift and baby New Year all wrapped in one home to the family.

Stacking cups are fun!

2010-12-07T16:31:00.000-05:00

It's late, were tired - not a lot of energy to blog here. We had an afternoon visit because Jenny had something going on in the morning. (What, we do not know).

Of all the toys and books we brought, the stacking cups are definitely the biggest hit (as they were for our little guy from Ethiopia).

Julia Stacking Cups from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

That's all for tonight!

We have a court date!

2010-12-06T07:59:00.000-05:00

Not as early as we had hoped, but we have a court date and time. This Friday the 10th at 11am. Our little buddy was so happy, she sang us this song.

Julias Song from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

There were other good signs today as well. When we came in they had her sitting on the floor in he middle of the room. She made signs to Patty to pick her up, and when she did, there were lots of hugs and kisses to go around. On this, our tenth visit, she seems to be recognizing us some.

The visit was rather short because of the time we spent at the courthouse signing documents and getting things ready for court. During the playtime that followed we got some more serious shots of her to counterbalance the wacky side demonstrated above.

And then there was this....

With that tonsillectomy to leave you with, we can say this.

The end of Trip 1 is in sight. Trip 2 will be following on very closely. With the Lord's blessing, this little angel will be celebrating New Years with a new family in a new country.

The Joy of Food

2010-12-04T17:05:00.000-05:00

Today we saw Jenny in the afternoon because they have swimming time on Saturday's apparently. Patty took the morning to watch "A Christmas Carol" (Albert Finney's Scrooge) and Tom got caught up on work for his job.

We brought a couple different toys to liven things up. One was a full size beach ball which surprisingly she was not so interested in. The other is a set of stacking cups which we had brought once before but she was getting confused thinking they were for drinking. We allowed her to play with them, and gave her a snack including a drink from a real cup to illustrate the difference. Here are some of the priceless faces that resulted.

And then came the snacking frenzy...

Eating Time - Cheerios from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

Drinking Time - Apple Juice from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

And Jenny wasn't the only one enjoying the available delicacies. We went out to dinner for Pizza and Italian food, and then to the local equivalent of Starbucks coffee house ("Coffee Life") and enjoyed a cappuccino and some dessert.

So no one is starving over here tonight. Talk to you all soon.

Visit #8

2010-12-03T07:47:00.000-05:00

Today our visit with Jenny was short. The traffic was very busy on the way to the baby house and we also stopped at an administrative office to do some paperwork. Our normal visiting room was not available so we spent time with her in the main reception area. We played with toys and practiced her walking for a little. She likes to get her "airplane" rides from Daddy. We thought we would give her the day off from the camera flash, so no new pictures today. We will be visiting her tomorrow in the afternoon instead of the morning. We will update all of you and hopefully, have new pictures.

Once we got back to the apartment, we treated ourselves to a lunch at a cafeteria. The food is good and they have English subtitles on the menu. This is always helpful. Then we went to check out a local coffee house. Luckily, the young girl behind the counter spoke some English. She was very kind and helpful. I was able to get a decaf cappuccino and Tom got a decaf latte . Yay! We also had a slice of a yummy chocolate raspberry cake.
That's all for today. Please pray that we get a court date soon. Thank you so much.

Visit 7 - and answers to questions about our story

2010-12-02T10:26:00.004-05:00

Today we visited with Jenny for the 7th time. She was so full of life and laughter. Here is a video and picture that captures that light.

Playing on the Bench from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

It's funny how many questions you get about adoption when you are involved in the process, especially for the third time around. We've done a couple posts in the last week to try and answer some of those questions. Here is our last attempt to hit the unanswered questions.

Many people ask us, why have you adopted three times? Why these countries? What are you really up to?

The short answer is, we are growing our family in a way we feel called to. There is a longer answer though, and some important underlying questions that need to be addressed. This post is written from Tom's perspective but Patty has reviewed and contributed to it as well, so you can view these as our answers.

This blog is part of an adoption story. It began in May of 2010 when our Lord and savior touched my heart with the fact that our family could and should adopt again. It began for my wife seven months before when she became aware of the needs of eastern European orphans and the eyes of her heart and mind would not be shut to what she had seen. Maybe it began in 2001 when we knew it was time to begin our first adoption. Maybe it began the day of our marriage in May 1994. Maybe it began the day he formed each of us in our mother’s wombs for each other, for Him, and for these children that were in his plan from the original beginning.

Everyone in this world is gifted with abilities and an opportunity to fulfill the mission God has lain before them in this world. There are not many things in this life that are sure, but one thing I know for sure is that Patty and I were made with hearts that love children, and those bonds are not affected in the least by whether they were created through our bodies, or whether they came to our family only through the love of our hearts.

A woman in Ethiopia where our second adoptive child came from once told me that adoption is not the answer. Children are made for their families and international adoption like all other inventions of men is fraught with problems and weaknesses. It is too complex, too expensive and is open to greed, selfishness and too many other human vices for me to name. So I agree with our friend from Ethiopia and pray for the day when there are no orphans needing families and thus no need for adoption. Sadly this won’t likely occur in this world.

In the mean time, those of us touched with a heart for orphans, and the opportunity to do something for these children must do what we can. We did not create the current world economy or crisis or the bureaucratic governments of this world, but we can work through them to address these problems one child at a time. This story is part of our attempt to do that.

People ask, "Why adopt internationally when there are needy children here at home?" "Why these countries?" These are good questions, and they deserve answers.

There are answers, but like adoption, they are complex. We did not plan this sequence of adoptions or countries. Circumstances led a different way each time. Different agencies. Different countries. Different kinds of children. We believe those circumstances were part of our calling and vocation. You may judge our actions differently, but we experienced forces that went way beyond us, and we have responded as we felt we could and should.

As to the international versus domestic route I can say this. We feel for the orphans of the USA every bit as much as we do for those from anywhere else in the world. They are not more or less valuable in God’s eyes. Domestic adoptions are a different process with different requirements and risks. We know people including my own parents who have offered their love and homes to the foster care system, some have adopted domestically and we praise and thank them for their efforts and dedication to these children. Back to the point about gifting and callings, it is simply not where we were led in our efforts to expand our family through adoption.

This leads to a point about charity, volunteerism and development to help children in need. Adoption is not enough. It is like trying to plug the holes in a dam that has sprung 10 million leaks. There are so many relief organizations locally and globally serving the needs of these children and others living below the poverty line. We all have a role to play in addressing those needs and our family is no exception to that rule. Giving to these missions and contributing our time and talents where we can, will continue to be part of our story. Every agency we have worked with in our adoptions remain committed to serving the families and children left behind in addition to those who come home to adoptive families.

People also ask, "Why a special needs adoption?" Hopefully our prior post about "What It Means To Be Loved" answers a lot of those questions. If not, all I can say is this. We are all needy in one way or another. If nothing else, we are all in need of a Saviour. There are so many things the world looks down on as bad or limiting that really are just different and in fact "special" in the very best sense of that word. We must look beyond labels like "special needs" to the beauty and potential in every one of God's human creations.

Enough about the whys and why nots. Adoption can be a gift and a blessing. It has been to us so far. We pray it will continue to be for our family and for all the other adoptive families we know.

Visit 6 - Meal Time

2010-12-01T08:21:00.000-05:00

Today our facilitator Tatyana was able to accompany us to the orphanage so that we could find out more about Jenny's daily routine.

Jenny came in dressed in this gorgeous, Christmasy looking dress.

We were hoping with those little red shoes, if she clicked her heels together just right, we could all go home to to Kansas.

After playing together for a while, we were able to go back to "Room #8" with her to watch her eat her lunch and learn from her caretakers how best to feed her. The room was a beautiful multipurpose nursery setup to care for about 10 children at a time. Much of the room was taken up with ten little cribs around the perimeter. The remainder of the room is filled with equipment such as swings and walkers for those who cannot walk on their own. There are also a couple kid sized tables with chairs where the children are fed.

Two women were helping Jenny eat, while the rest of the children in the room were watching and eagerly waiting their turn. About six of them sat around the tables with Jenny and were so well behaved as they watched and waited. Some of them came up to us to say hello or get a little attention while we watched her eat and Tatyana translated each of our questions to the caregivers. The meal they gave her was very substantial. The main course was a chicken broth with what looked like big dumplings in it and a slice of bread. To our surprise there was a second course or dessert which looked to us like a flan or creme brulee, a cooked treat with cheese, wheat, cream and what looked like a carmelized sauce over the top. Whatever it all was, both plates were empty when they went back to the kitchen. Jenny is a healthy little eater. To give you proof is this, we found out today that she weighs 26 pounds. Our facilitator, who has known her for a while, commented that Jenny has grown a lot in recent months.

The crib where Jenny sleeps was right next to the feeding area. They were able to tell us about her sleeping schedule and that she naps for a couple hours after lunch each day.

We do not mean to make light of institutional living in any way, and each child's experience and care can vary by their group or facility. What we can say honestly from everything we have seen of the children in this group, they are well cared for. The facility is clean. The children are nicely dressed. The workers appear to genuinely care for their little charges.

That was visit six. While we were there Tatyana also visited the local courthouse to submit our paperwork, so hopefully we will have word on a court date for next week soon.

Visit 5 - Groundhog Day!

2010-11-30T10:12:00.001-05:00

We visited the orphanage for the fifth time today. Although it can get repetitive visiting the same building, playing with the same toys for two hours at a time, I don't think we could ever get tired of playing with this little angel. We had a nice, quiet indoor visit today. It was good just to be together.

After the visit, there was a brief patch of clear, sunny weather and we walked around the neighborhood near our apartment, doing a little shopping for family back home and seeing a couple more churches and sights we wanted to see.

If you are wondering why the last shot has a tank in the foreground, it is because right outside the church and monastery gates, is a square that includes a war memorial complete with tanks and artillery. It makes for an interesting contrast to say the least.

Then the weather turned cold and cloudy quickly and alternated between hail, snow and freezing rain. Good time to stay inside organizing pictures and videos. Those of you viewing the full Picasa photo album will notice it has been reorganized: Jenny visits first, then all other sites and scenery of the country second.

Tomorrow our facilitator is joining us at the orphanage and we hope to get a chance to observe Jenny drink and eat so that we know how best to replicate her current mealtime routine. We don't want to confuse her with cups, utensils and food that are drastically different then what she is used to. The poor little kid will have enough to adjust to as it is. Kind of like what we are dealing with right now, but we know enough to know our changes are temporary. She doesn't know what is coming, and her changes will be of a more permanent nature.

Happy Tuesday everyone! Talk to you soon.

Escape from the "Turtle Room"

2010-11-29T09:17:00.001-05:00

We need to begin today's post by wishing a Happy Birthday to a very special young lady who is 14 today, our oldest daughter.

Back at the orphanage, it was a big day. We were released from the turtle room described in a previous post, and allowed to visit with Jenny for close to two hours in what appeared to be a nurse's office, a lovely, clean room with a desk, two beds and plenty of room for a little girl to wander around.

With this extra space and time we were able to see a lot more of Jenny and her abilities. For example - Crawling:

Standing by herself and walking:

Playing with her toys:

She has the cutest giggle and laugh which we captured in some video - here it is!

Giggling Girl from Tom Lococo on Vimeo.

And then there was this priceless mother and daughter moment.

Lest you be mislead by our pictures of the major cities we have passed through, wanted to share some shots of the small town around Jenny's orphanage, and the way people live in the country.

Here is the local "grocery store".

And what we believe is the school.

In amongst the small brick and corrugated steel homes is the contrast of new commuter homes that are being built.

Back in the city, here is what the front of our apartment building looks like.

Today was the first significant snowfall we have seen, although it is switching back and forth to freezing rain, so not much sticking yet.

That is all for today. See you all tomorrow.

Reflections

2010-11-28T10:18:00.001-05:00

As I sit in our apartment in EE today and think about all that has transpired in the past year, it is a little overwhelming. It has been a year since I “happened” upon Reece’s Rainbow. I was reading an adoption blog that mentioned RR, so I clicked on the link. That is how it all started….. I couldn’t stop looking at the pictures of these children, these “hidden treasures”. I received a lot of good hearted teasing from my family. “Oh, no, Mom’s looking at RR again.” Then, wouldn’t you know it, my children started looking at the RR kids and we were all following the journeys of many of the families who were in the process of adopting. We had just brought our son home from Ethiopia in July 2009, so I assumed that another adoption was out of the question.

In May 2010, my husband told me of his interest in bringing another child into our family. We had some rough patches at the beginning of the process, but we persevered and in June 2010 started the process to bring our “Jenny” home.

Adoption is an amazing, scary, wonderful, emotional process. It stretches you spiritually, mentally and physically. We ask a lot of our children at home, of our relatives who are taking care of our children, our friends, and our church. We have been blessed that we have received their help, support and prayers.

Back in December 2009, I came across a blog post that told of a man, who was a champion of orphans, named, Derek Loux. Sadly, he had passed away due to a serious car accident. He and his wife have adopted many children and run a ministry for orphan care. Derek and his wife had been in EE in December of 2008 to adopt three special needs children. He wrote a post about their adoption experience and his emotions at the time. I read it in December of 2009. It had a great impact on me. Just yesterday, I felt compelled to find that post on the Internet so that I could read it again. After searching for about an hour, Tom found it and we read it together. Powerful! God truly spoke to Derek and I’m so glad that he shared it with the rest of us. Here is the text. I hope you find it as inspiring as I did. Please keep the Loux family in your prayers during this Christmas season. I’m sure Derek’s absence is still strongly felt by all of them. Thank you, Derek, for your words of wisdom.

Redemption by Derek Loux - Friday, December 12, 2008

"Renee’ and I are sitting in the office of a telephone company in Novograd Valenski, Ukraine, using wireless internet. We are in the middle of adopting three special needs boys from an orphanage here. Two of the boys have Down Syndrome. Roman is high functioning, energetic and happy. Dimitri has serious mental retardation, failure to thrive, and though he is five years old, he is the size of a 1 year old. He has sores on his face, a distinct smell of death on him, and yells out if we try to do anything with him other than hold him. Because he has less ability to respond and learn, he naturally gets less attention and care from the orphanage workers in this world of limited resources. The harsh reality of the “survival of the fittest” principle is a life and death struggle that this little boy is losing fast. Our third boy Sasha, is a brilliant six year old who has Spina Bifida (the condition our son Josiah died from in 1996). He is like a learning sponge that can’t get enough! He is happy and alert and thirsty for knowledge and experience. So with two of our boys, we get an immediate return on any investment we make. With Dimitri, there’s not much immediate gratification. In fact, it’s unknown when and if there will be a return at all. This is the kind of situation that makes the carnal, fallen, human reasoning think, “Why try? What’s the point? What will this produce? What good will this do? Why not select a boy who has more potential? This looks like a lost cause.

Two days ago we drove for hours into the Ukrainian countryside to the village where Dimitri was born. We met with officials there and signed papers and answered their questions. We also went and saw Dimitri’s house. The day had been long, we were still recovering from jet lag, I was beginning to really miss my six daughters at home and all the familiar things our fragile human hearts entangle themselves with in feeble attempts to feel secure. Sitting in the dark on our very long drive back to Novograd that night, the Holy Spirit began to whisper to my heart, and new understanding about redemption began to take shape.

I was thinking, “Man, adopting this little boy has been so much work. This is exhausting, expensive, uncomfortable … and it doesn’t feel very rewarding right now.” What am I doing in some little Soviet car in the dark, in the middle of rural Ukraine in frozen December, as the driver dodges cats and potholes? What if Dimitri doesn’t improve at all? What if we get “nothing” out of this? … Ahhh, there it was; that dark, fallen, unreedemed, selfish human love, rooted in the tree of the knowledge of “good and evil”. The love the Greeks called “erao” love. The love where we treat someone as precious and treasured for what we can get out of it. This is unlike “agapeo” love, the God kind of love that treats someone as treasured and precious for their good, not for my good. It’s when I love a person in order to meet their needs, having no expectation of them meeting any of my needs. At a whole new level, God is working His kind of love into my weak heart, and He’s using little Dimitri to do it.

On the drive home that night, the Lord whispered in my ear, “This is Redemption. Derek, do you know how far I traveled to get you and bring you back? I had to be separated from my Son, in order to get you, just like you are separated from your children in order to get these boys. Do you know how expensive it was for Me to purchase you? It cost me everything. Do you know how broken, sick, damaged, twisted, dirty, smelly, and hopeless you were? And at the end of it all, you had nothing to give me or add to me. I did it for you. I emptied myself and became nothing so that you could have it all. This is redemption.

My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him. And when He redeems us, we can’t even really appreciate or comprehend it, just like Dimitri will never comprehend or fully appreciate what is about to happen to him … but … he will live in the fruit of it. As his Daddy, I will never expect him to understand all of this or even to thank me. I just want to watch him live in the benefits of my love and experience the joys of being an heir in my family. This is how our heavenly “Papa” feels towards us.

Today, settle your busy heart down and rest in the benefits of redemption. Enjoy the fruits of His goodness, and stop trying to “pay Him back”. You’ll never get close you goofy little kid."

Saturday's Visit

2010-11-27T14:55:00.000-05:00

We had a fun visit with Jenny today. She was very active and showing a lot of personality. It was a real joy for us to hear her first giggles. She loved when Tom would play "airplane" with her or bounce her. She definitely knows which of the toys are her favorites. She loves the toy camera that plays music and has a flashing light. Tom and I were both giving her kisses on her hands and soft, little cheeks. She caught right on and started giving Tom kisses on his cheek.

We brought little cookies for her again. She loves her snack time! The time always goes too quickly when we are visiting her. We won't be seeing her tomorrow :( The driver needs a day off. We are looking forward to Monday when we will see her again.

She was making lots of cute faces tonight. Here they are...

We struggled through another day of not being able to communicate with anyone. In general, people are very kind and try to help us the best they can. Not many of us stop and think about how important being able to communicate with other people is. We couldn't even order ourselves a pizza today for lunch. Luckily, Tom saw the pizza man taking out a pie that looked good, so he pointed towards it to say "gimme one of those". It ended up being really good, but it is still strange not being able to read the menu or ask for things. Tonight in McDonald's the manager brought over a big laminated menu for us so that we could point to things and the server just entered the order into the cash register. I can't wait to get home and go to the grocery store and a restaurant and talk with every employee I see!

Tomorrow we are going to Mass at a Catholic church which is in walking distance from our humble abode. Depending on what Mass we attend, we have the chance of hearing it in three different languages (none of which we will know). This entire trip is an experience we will never forget for so many reasons.

We hope all of you have a peaceful Sunday. We will post more Jenny updates on Monday.

Thank you all for following our journey and for the prayers that are sustaining us during this time. We are most appreciative.

Editoral Notes:

There is so much happening we are sometimes posting more then once a day. Use the "Older Posts" link at the bottom of the page or "Blog Archive" in the upper left to see other posts you may have missed.
The photo album of most of our pictures of visits with Jenny and views of the country and city are available at Adoption Trip 1. The pictures in these posts barely scratch the surface of available cuteness and things we are taking in.

Using the power of music - Thanks to Mark Schultz

2010-11-27T01:59:00.004-05:00

God uses the power of music to change hearts and minds. I know because I have seen it happen more times then I can count, and because it happened to me.

Besides my wife and children, I need to thank another person for making this adoption journey possible. His name is Mark Schultz. He wrote a song called “What It Means To Be Loved”.

This song broke down every barrier I ever built to prevent me from following God’s will to places I didn’t think I could go. The song grabbed me by the heart, ripped me out of the selfish place I was in, and changed me forever.

It did so by reminding me so powerfully of a few simple things I should have known all along:

1. The value of life is not determined by the length of life, or by apparent “quality of life” in the world’s terms

2. It’s all in God’s hands and nothing we plan for, or against can change that

3. Things that seem hard at first are blessings in disguise – it is the only way to grow

4. Faithfulness to His calling is always rewarded – it is up to us to open our hearts and recognize how – or be satisfied realizing we’ll know when He brings us home

Mark – Thanks for opening my eyes. Because of you a little girl will soon have a loving family.

A blessing each day

2010-11-26T12:35:00.001-05:00

We met our little angel again today. There are so many blessings occurring each day, I struggle with where to start, and what to share. For those of you not familiar with the region we are in or where Jenny lives today, the orphanage looks something like this.

The visit started with a walk outside with the abominable snow baby dressed as follows.

If you view that picture in closeup you will see that Jenny (and probably several other children before her) like to eat the rubber padding on the safety bar. Since we couldn't get her to stop, we lost the stroller and carried her little chunkiness ourselves.

After our time outside we went inside to a room known by adoptive families as the “turtle room”. It is called this because the perimeter of the room is lined with a collection of orphanage “pets” including bunnies, many parakeets and yes, a turtle. There is also a large vinyl turtle on the floor kids can sit or climb on. This menagerie of animals leads to some interesting smells, but we won’t go there.

Once inside we unbundled our little princess. She was dressed in the cutest little pink velour sweat suit. We found out she is wearing about 18 month clothing sizes. Let the wardrobe buying frenzy begin!

We spent the time playing with her with some of the toys we had brought, and a set of stacking rings she seemed to be very familiar with and loved pulling apart and putting together.

We also wanted to share a little snack with her to understand her eating capabilities. They had warned us that she really likes to eat and that we would need to give her things in small quantities. We tried a tiny bit of apple juice (which they had recommended) in a plastic disposable cup. Her little hands, mouth and teeth latched onto that thing like it was pure gold and she slurped away with all her might. It was all I could do to pry the crumpled cup out of her hands. Then we thought we would try a child’s biscuit we had brought. Patty said we should break it into small bite sized pieces and feed it to her. I said “just let her hold the biscuit and feed herself”. We gave her the biscuit and guess where the whole thing went in one piece? You got it. Luckily her little teeth made short work of it, and there was no choking involved. Next time we listen to Mom’s instincts.

It was another wonderful visit that ended too soon. They whisked her away for lunch 15 minutes earlier then we thought they would, and we were left missing her once again.

The driver brought us back to the city, to a children's store so that we could get her some sippy cups and more mouth safe toys as that seems to be where most stuff ends up. We found exactly what we were looking for, and can’t wait to share them with Jenny tomorrow.

Another wonderful visit all in all.

Stay tuned for more total cuteness tomorrow!

We met "Jenny"

2010-11-25T07:38:00.000-05:00

What a special Thanksgiving Day we have had so far. This morning we were able to meet Jenny. (We will reveal her new name after court.) She was as sweet as can be. She was friendly and playful. She interacted with both of us really well. We had brought a couple of toys and she showed a lot of interest in all of them. We are planning on posting more later. We need to get out around town a bit to find a church for Sunday, etc. We hope all of you are having a blessed Thanksgiving.

Another day, another city

2010-11-24T14:09:00.000-05:00

We took the late night train to the city nearest to the orphanage last night.

They were out of 2nd class tickets, so we had to travel first class. Oh darn! The cabins were very comfortable.

We were not able to visit the orphanage today due to meetings going on. We took the time to get some groceries and see a few sights near the center of town where we are staying. Here are day and night shots of the main cathedral in town.

You should have seen us shopping in the local grocery store tonight like old pros. Matching up Cyrillic words in our travel dictionary with words on packages. On the way to the store someone from the agency called and said - "Make sure the milk bottle has a word starting with 'M'. If it has a word starting with 'K' that is a yogurt drink.". Boy - that info would have come in handy a couple days back.

After a fine dinner of cheese, fruit and a couple tasty mystery meats we found out that we have a concert pianist upstairs from us, right over our bedroom. The extra entertainment makes up for the fact that there are no English language TV stations available.

So tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We wish all our American friends a happy Thanksgiving. There may be no turkey for us, but there is a little angel we hope to meet that we are quite thankful for.

And now for an added bonus

2010-11-22T17:02:00.000-05:00

Tonight we had the added bonus of a wonderful Italian dinner with two other Reece's Rainbow families that are here adopting children - the Cornishes (Meredith and Mike) and the Parkers (Molly and Aaron). Both families are working on bringing home two children each. May God bless their courage and devotion to these children. As many of you know Meredith is also the genius behind the wonderful adoption handbook and some of the electronic forms processing that makes this process that little bit more doable. We were really glad and blessed to get to spend the time with these two families.

Through another step - Permission to visit Jenny

2010-11-22T06:41:00.000-05:00

We completed our appointment with the adoption authority this morning and now have permission to travel to the region where the orphanage resides and visit Jenny! It was a quick and pleasant meeting and we got to see a few pictures of our angel we have never seen before. So cuuute! Because we have adopted previously from Ethiopia and Guatemala the official asked us if we were trying to keep up with Angelina Jolie. Thank you but no. Jenny's description in the official file is "healthy and quiet".

The street where the government office was looks something like this.

From Adoption Trip 1

And this beautiful church was right next door.

From Adoption Trip 1

Last night we got to have dinner out, and stroll down the equivalent of Broadway in good old NY City back home.

From Adoption Trip 1

And now for some stupid American stories.

We have been getting groceries at a little store around the corner to eat some meals in the apartment. We were interested in breakfast cereal, which our driver told us is just not normally eaten here. We were so proud when we found a box with the familiar Honey Nut Cheerio bee, so we grabbed the box and marched off to the dairy section to purchase some milk to go with it. There were some bottles that looked like milk bottles, and had percentages that looked like milk fat (1%, 2%,....). Most of the label was in the native language, but in English there was a logo that said "Milk Life". We figured we were golden, and went and paid for our groceries in local currency like real pros.

This morning we dished out our cereal and bananas and opened the milk ready to enjoy a familiar breakfast treat. As we pour the milk we notice the consistency is something like thick yogurt. We had bought ourselves a great vanilla yogurt smoothie type drink. Very good for digestive health. Not so good for floating your Cheerios. We enjoyed our cereal and yogurt breakfast nonetheless and marched off to our appointment. Later this afternoon we went grocery shopping with another couple, and this time we had our dictionary in hand to make sure we checked the label more carefully. It's still a lot different then our milk at home. Either it is not homogenized, or we bought coffee creamer. Either way, it's going on the cereal tomorrow.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for what happens when you lock two crazy Americans in a train compartment for twelve or so hours.

Things we are thankful for

2010-11-20T13:19:00.001-05:00

Here we are, in the capital of an Eastern European country that most of you know by name. We have much to be thankful for tonight.
a) We arrived safely
b) So did our luggage!
c) The apartment our facilitator arranged for our first few nights here is simply gorgeous
d) The apartment even has Internet connectivity, so we don't have to sit in a McDonald's or Internet cafe to post this.

We are so tired from traveling for a day that we are going to collapse right here.

The place even has a living room:

and kitchen:

So for tonight we are being spoiled and we are grateful. Stay tuned for more stories from adoption trip, part 1.

For those who want to see more of the arrival pictures, see the full album here. We'll add more pictures here as we take them, and eventually add captions etc. but if you want to see things as they happen, check it out.

A very special date

2010-11-14T17:21:00.001-05:00

This may be our last blog post from this side of the Atlantic. We are doing last minute preparations for departure on Friday. Grandparents arrive Tuesday to watch the family while we are away. Thanks, hugs and kisses Dad and Mom!

Wednesday, November 17th is a very special day. It is, according to the records we have, the 4th birthday of a special little angel that we hope will soon be part of our family. We plan to go out to dinner and celebrate, even though she is not here with us yet. She already has lots of presents. Toys we are bringing to play with her while we are there. And these cute little girl shoes that will be one of two "first Christmas" tree ornaments we have for her.

Two days later we will be on a plane to her home country. Two days later our first appointment with the department of adoption before we can meet her.

We have made leaps of faith in our lives before but never like this. First of all we don't know exactly who is meeting us when we get there, or where we will stay. Second of all, there is the issue of an upcoming government vote in the birth country (while we are there) on whether they will be freezing all international adoptions for six months or so (which would invalidate almost all the paperwork we painstakingly prepared).

What reason do we have to believe this will even happen? Simply our faith in a Saviour that cares for every orphan, widow and person in need, and does not desire this little one to be lost. There is also the overwhelming testimony of Reece's Rainbow families that have gone before us, which helps to strengthen our faith when it gets weak. We're in His hands on this 100% and that is a good place to be. The final outcome will be part of his perfect plan, whatever that ends up being.

Thank you to all who have supported us through prayer, donations and comments throughout the process. Stay tuned for the upcoming roller coaster ride. We will post from the road whenever we can get Internet connectivity.

The Great Pumpkin

2010-11-01T15:49:00.005-04:00

We had a fun time last night. For a change of pace, we decided to stay home and have a little family party for Halloween. We had a delicious treat of cookies, donut holes and mulled apple cider. Nothing says the holidays are on their way like a cup of hot, mulled apple cider. Yum!

We decided to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Now I've been watching this special since the mid-60's (oops! I'm giving my age away) and I never noticed this one very funny line that Lucy says. It is the well known scene where she is trying to convince Charlie Brown to kick the football. She assures him that she has a legal document promising that she will not pull the football away. Of course, she pulls it away and sends poor Charlie flying and landing flat on his back. Then Lucy says, "Funny thing about this document it was never notarized." Well, we all got the biggest laugh out of this line. I guess after doing the adoption paper work process three times, even the kids got the humor.

We also watched the new Veggie Tale dvd. This story is called "It's a Meaningful Life". It was really cute and, of course, we enjoyed it even more because adoption is a big part of the story.

I also wanted to thank all of you who have stopped by our blog recently for a visit. Your kind comments mean so much to us.

Wishing all of you a good week. Please know that we are praying for all adoptive families wherever you are in the process, especially those who are waiting to be submitted and those waiting for travel dates.

We have our date in Eastern Europe

2010-10-27T09:14:00.004-04:00

Good Morning Everyone!

We just received notice that our appointment in Jenny's birth country is on Nov. 22. We are so excited. It is sort of hard to believe that we have made it to this point in such a short period of time. Our two other children who came home to us through international adoptions took nearly a year for each one.

I know Jenny has no idea how her life is going to change in just a few short weeks, but we can't wait to meet her and shower her in hugs and kisses.

We will update as we get our travel plans together.

The Waiting Game

2010-10-24T12:39:00.000-04:00

So what do you do when you are in the middle of the adoption process and waiting for clearance to travel? Well if you are us, you go get travel luggage that will be appropriate not only for international plane travel, but also for a 12 hour, in-country train ride and whatever other local travel we have to do. At the advice of many parents who have gone before us we purchased some duffle bag luggage that looks like this.

Because vehicles are on the small side over there, flexible luggage is really helpful. The neat thing is they have handles, wheels and backpack straps for carrying. We've already started loading them up with things for our little darling and travel in general. These babies will be filled to the brim before you know it, so when that long awaited call comes, we'll be ready to go! With the backpack straps, we'll be like a couple back packers across Europe. We got some of the other items on the recommended travel list too. It was a big shopping day and we feel a little bit closer to being ready to go.

SUBMITTED

2010-10-15T11:02:00.003-04:00

We found out this morning that our dossier was submitted yesterday. We are so excited. We can not wait to get Jenny home. Now we wait to find out our travel date. Needless to say, this is a great start to our weekend.

The eagle (dossier) has landed

2010-10-08T21:16:00.001-04:00

Another busy but important week. We received notification Tuesday that our dossier has arrived in country. Now the wait to see if it is all acceptable. If all is well, it will be submitted and then we wait to receive an SDA date. In the meantime we will begin preparing for the first trip phase. Thanks to God and all your prayers!

The Holy Spirit and Paris

2010-10-03T22:32:00.002-04:00

What do these two things have to do with each other you might ask? Here is the answer. The first has to do with our son's confirmation, and the second is where our dossier is, en route to Eastern Europe! Go Fed Ex go!

Our son Joshua was confirmed today in a beautiful ceremony. After studying for several months, and dutifully reading several books on the life of Christ and the early church, he was confirmed today by Cardinal Egan, former Archbishop of New York.

It was a beautiful fall day, and we had a wonderful brunch afterward which you can see if you view the full album.

On another recent beautiful fall day we held a fundraiser at our community day that looked something like this.

From Hardscrabble Fundraiser

It was an enjoyable chance to visit with neighbors and talk about the wonderful work of Reece's Rainbow, but we barely covered the cost of our table and supplies. ;-(

We'll keep you posted on the ongoing travels of our dossier across Europe. ;-)

On the way to Eastern Europe - the complete Dossier that is

2010-09-30T22:40:00.000-04:00

It's in the mail! (Fed Ex actually). The complete dossier is on its way to the birth country. Can you believe it?

Please pray with us that translation, approval and submission go smoothly. While we wait for all this we will start to plan for eventual travel and associated logistics.

Quick Update

2010-09-24T21:34:00.001-04:00

I-171H letter has come and gone. We received it yesterday. Today we had it notarized, county certified and sent it off to Albany for apostille on Monday. Once it gets here next week - the dossier is complete!

Tomorrow is also our big community fund raiser day. We're baking ferociously, preparing posters, handouts,... and praying for some generous visitors to our adoption table.

If you are not yet aware of the Spitz families courageous journey to bring home Lyla check out their story at "Lucky to Love Lyla". Keep them in your prayers and donate if you can using the link at the left under fundraising.

It's in the mail!!!

2010-09-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

Our immigration approval that is (aka the USCIS 171-H "Favorable Determination" letter). We talked to USCIS today and we are approved to bring little Jenny home! As soon as that letter gets here we'll be expressing it off to the capital to be apostilled and our dossier will be ready for shipment to our facilitators in Eastern Europe. How's that for good news?

Also in the good news department... If you look at our fund raising section, you'll see through the generosity of our church and some friends we've raised over $2,000. We are so grateful to those who have stepped forward and joined us on the journey. Still a long ways to go, but every little bit counts.

Clearly all your prayers are working. Things are moving along as fast as they possibly can. Keep up the labor of love, and pray there are no documentation or translation problems prior to submitting to the foreign government agency.

While we are waiting for time to pass, we've had some fun events to attend in the last couple weeks, one of which may be of interest to those of you that follow adoptions. Most of the family got to see a great evening of music and prayer with the Chapman family, founders of the Show Hope orphan ministry.

It was a wonderful evening full of uplifting music, and plenty of orphan advocacy as well. You can read more on the evening and what led us there at this blog entry.

Hope you are starting to see some of the colors of fall! We'll write again soon once the dossier is sent.

Goodbye Summer, Hello School

2010-09-11T16:37:00.001-04:00

With the end of summer, comes the beginning of a new school year. As a mostly homeschooling family, that means we are pretty busy.

We wound up our summer with a great trip to the Long Island Sound and Norwalk's Maritime Aquarium. For the full story, check out the album below, or our son Caleb's blog entry on the day.

From Norwalk Aquarium

Then we had to close the pool concluding the glorious days of summer swimming and splish splashing fun.

On the adoption front, we had some great news. We called the USCIS Thursday and they said our immigration review officer has been assigned! We have to go to the nearest USCIS center for fingerprints on Tuesday. We're hoping that means we'll have that pesky 171-H letter in our hands around the end of the month, allowing us to submit the complete dossier for review by the birth country.

Praise the Lord - and bless all the little orphans waiting for a family to bring them home!

The beast is complete (well almost)

2010-09-03T21:54:00.001-04:00

Today some of our family made the trip to the state capital to have the bulk of our dossier certified ("apostilled") by the department of state. That means our dossier is 99% complete. All we need is that pesky I-171H letter from the USCIS.

A small album of pictures of the day are available below. Only had a mobile phone camera with us but they came out ok.

From Albany Capital

I just love pictures of churches, these glorious places people devote their time, talent and treasure to, to honor and reach out to their God. Here is a picture of a recently renovated cathedral, right next to our state capital.

Hard to believe Labor Day is already here. Here's hoping you all have a chance to rest from your labors, enjoy friends and family, and prepare for the coming of fall!

Beautiful Summer Sunday

2010-08-29T20:37:00.002-04:00

Time is flying - where did August go? Had a quiet day today going to church, getting in some walking and swimming.

We then spent some time putting together materials for our upcoming fund raising and awareness day.

We also did a big special needs adoption banner for the front of our table but it is not entirely pieced together yet. In addition to the blog bracelets we showed you last time we got a bunch of generic Christian bracelets printed with various virtues and walking with Christ slogons. We'll be running our table in front of a local church, so hope lots of people will be feeling the love and stand along side us in this adventure.

It was good to be doing something for the adoption other then checking notary stamps. ;-) Have a great week and talk to you soon.

3rd time's a charm!

2010-08-26T21:15:00.004-04:00

So much to share tonight. Best news is our final home study has been received by USCIS, according to the US Post Office at least. We need a lot of prayers for a world record completion time on this phase of the process.

Second thing was not so good. The forms that caused us the most problem were definitely the medical forms. They were rejected once because they were not signed in blue ink. For some reason out of all the forms, the birth country wants these signed in blue ink so they can be sure they are not photocopies. Apparently no one told them high quality color photocopiers are pretty easily and cheaply available at this point.

With the second copy of those in hand (and signed with blue ink) we took them to the county clerk for certification prior to state certification/apostille. Patty's were rejected immediately by the clerk because the expiration date on the notaries stamp did not match the official date on record. Tom's were authenticated but when we got home we realized the clerk had crossed out the expiration date on his too, writing in new numbers, thus invalidating the entire form. All four medical forms would have to be done again. What are the odds both of our notaries would not know their correct expiration date and no one would ever have checked or told them?

Since neither of our doctor's offices have a current notary, we had to get notaries to meet us there again for the third time. By this point, everyone at our doctor's offices and most of the notaries in the county know us pretty well. On the third try, the county clerk accepted the documents. Yeah! At this point we have every document we need for the dossier except for the USCIS approval. We have to take the whole package to the state capital for certification soon.

We also received the following fund raising bracelets today, emblazoned with the name of this blog "Hope 4 Every Child".

We are going to run a fundraiser and adoption awareness table at an upcoming community day, advertising for Reece's Rainbow and our little Jenny.

I mentioned to a friend today how this waiting part of the adoption sometimes feels like when the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness waiting to enter the Promised Land. He wisely suggested that when we are facing impossible bureaucracy or other setbacks that we use the prayer Moses said each time the Israelites set out on a new journey.

Num 10:35 - "Rise up, O LORD! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you."

With that encouragement, let us rise to meet any challenges that remain and get this little girl home soon!

Quick adoption update

2010-08-22T13:24:00.001-04:00

So the good news is, we have the final, notarized home study in our hands. That will be express mailed to USCIS on Monday to get that process jump started. While that percolates through the US government, we will need to visit the Dutchess County Clerk and NY state capital in Albany this week to get the remainder of the dossier documents county and then state certified.

Next stop will be one more set of fingerprints (we've had three done so far for this adoption, not to mention the 6-8 sets we had done for the last two adoptions). Then we'll just be waiting on our 171-H approval letter so that we can get the final dossier off to Ukraine for translating and review, hopefully by Oct. 1st at the latest.

Keep praying for us. We've gotta get over these last few hurdles soon.

She came home a rapper

2010-08-22T12:55:00.004-04:00

In our last post we wrote about how we much we were missing our two oldest young adults. Well - they're back! Our young lady Elizabeth who went away with former talents and experience in ballet, step dance, acting and singing came home a gangster rapper. ;-) All that time spent with the kids at camp from the Bronx have corrupted her small town background. Just kidding - no offense to our neighbors from the south.

The girls did a talent show act the last night of camp. For those of you immersed in "Camp Rock" hoopla this summer, you can think of it as their "Final Jam". Their performance included 4-part harmonies and hip-hop versions of Salve Regina ("Hail Holy Queen") and a chant about prayer and praise to Jesus.

It was actually really creative and well done. Here is a video that will give you a sense of it. Elizabeth is right in the foreground in the black/yellow checked sweatshirt.

Audio quality is not that great. We are looking for a better video from any of the other campers that were there (about 175 kids total attended). Since you can't hear the words real clearly, here is a transcript of the song lyrics.

Hey Veritas,
God can transform you;
Christ is our king
and he came to save ya.

He died on the cross
to save us from sin;
evil may come,
but in the end we'll win.

He can change your life,
make you soul new,
make you never wanna go back
to the old you.

The camp director Ryan Young said their performance was amazing and that their vocals were outstanding.

On a more serious note, the camp ended with a wonderful mass celebration by Archibishop of New York, Timothy Dolan.

From Camp Veritas 2010

He even stuck around to talk and shoot photos with many people present including our own Caleb Joseph.

From Camp Veritas 2010

It seems a good week was had by all, and everyone came home refreshed in their faith and renewed for the journey ahead.

Places I remember

2010-08-20T20:24:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time we had a couple little people around our house getting ready for a new school year. Check them out. Aren't they cute? They have been away at camp all week this week and we sure do miss them.

Time flies when you are raising four or five kids. It's hard to believe they are both teenagers now off adventuring for a week on their own. We are real proud of them and the fine young people they are becoming. Tonight they are doing a talent show at camp. Hope all goes well for them, they remember their words and sing their little hearts out.

Makes us think about a little girl far away who we have never met but hope will be joining our family soon. That is the great thing about waiting to become a parent either by birth or adoption. Preparing for what God has in store for that person and your family even though you have no idea what is coming. Imagining what they will be like, the things they will experience and do. The times you will share together.

This week (and month really) has been one of those in between times. A time of waiting. If you've every read "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss you might know what I'm talking about. A time when you have to go through your routine, but you wish you had a time machine to jump forward to an important thing you are waiting for.

Tomorrow we'll get to see our two biggest kids again. We pray our littlest family member is healthy and happy in her orphanage somewhere. May the USCIS process fly to completion so that we can get approval to go get her and bring her home. Bye for now.

The long and winding road...

2010-07-31T22:45:00.000-04:00

Things continue to move along, albeit a little slower as we reach the end of the first phase of the paper chase. We thought we had finished the last of our medical paperwork this week, but a couple forms need to be re-done and our doctor is now on vacation. We need to get the home study finalized so we can get that off to immigration to get the final phase moving.

If we needed any motivation, we found out recently that there is a deadline of Nov 1 to get our dossier accepted in the birth country, or they freeze new applications until Feb 1. 4 months! Backing that off a month for shipping, translation, corrections, etc we need to have our final dossier mailed by Oct. 1. Being that we are at Aug 1 that gives us 2 months. The problem is the USCIS although they can be as quick as a month, are sometimes taking 11 or more weeks!

Pray for quick homestudy completion and USCIS approval so our little girl doesn't get stuck waiting for four months on paperwork. We sure are!

Progress - keep the cards and letters coming

2010-07-18T12:50:00.000-04:00

It has been ten days since our last post. We are not the most prolific of bloggers eh? Truth be told we have been very busy with medical physicals, document authentication,... We greatly appreciate those of you who have commented on our story or connected with us. It is very encouraging during this long and sometimes challenging journey.

Two important things have happened in this last week. We are about at the point where we have completed all the paperwork for the dossier and homestudy that we can. We're pretty close to being in waiting mode, dependent on a number of public agencies to respond (USCIS, Homeland Security,...). We had a couple notarized documents that needed to be authenticated in far away towns and states that we sent out this week and need to wait for them to come back. All documents that have been notarized to date in our own county have been authenticated and are ready for our big trip to the capital in Albany to get the whole package certified there.

The other thing is, we had our first contributor to our adoption fund. Her name will be withheld to protect the innocent, but you know who you are, and we thank you. Only $23K and change left to go. ;-)

With so much paperwork behind us we took some family time Saturday to enjoy one of the great new sites of the Hudson Valley, the "Walk Over the Hudson". For those that are not familiar with it, this is a state park built from an old abandoned railway bridge that crosses the Hudson River near the Mid Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie. These few pictures will give you a sense how beautiful the Hudson Valley is. The walkway is a unique landmark due to it's high and unrestricted views in all directions. It feels like you really are walking through the clouds.


From Walk Over the Hudson

It was a really enjoyable afternoon and our little guy slept through most of it in his stroller, and then woke up and sprinted the last quarter of the walk.

And to connect this all, the last picture above shows the county office building where we spent all our time Friday doing adoption paperwork (if you know where to look).

Hope you are all enjoying your summer's too! Bye for now.

The changes a year can bring

2010-07-08T22:01:00.000-04:00

One year ago on July 3rd we returned to the US with our son from Ethiopia. He was almost 2 and somewhat frightened by the sixteen hour flight home and these strange new things called seatbelts.

For this 4th of July, here is what our happy little immigrant looks like:

What an adorable little brother and sister. Who but their heavenly Father could have known that these two little people with such different birth heritages and stories would come to be siblings?

This 4th of July we are thankful to have them in our family, just the same as their other brothers and sister. They really enjoyed the fireworks.

We hope by next July 4th to have another smiling little face to add to the mix!

On the current adoption front, we are completing paperwork and appointments fast and furious as you can see on our Timeline page. We got out first official docs on the way to the birth country and completed our home study visit today as well!

We are official!

2010-07-01T23:08:00.001-04:00

Today we were quite excited to see that we are officially listed on the "committed families page" for Reece's Rainbow. Those of you that know us, know that perhaps we should be committed for other reasons, but what this means is many other adoptive families can now track our progress and status as we move through our home study and dossier prep towards an official travel date. It also means we have a "family support page" where people interested in helping sponsor such an adoption can do so safely, anonymously and in a tax deductible way. Donating this way also guarantees people that the money will go towards this childs adoption even if for whatever reason we were not successful in completing the process.

Each day brings new challenges as we get our backgrounds checked ten different ways, have four different kinds of fingerprints taken, and are generally scrutinized in every way imaginable. But the tasks keep getting checked off, and we know each one takes us another step closer to the little face we long to bring home, and she has been waiting long enough.

Little milestones like this are an oasis along the way in the arid desert of adoption paperwork. Keep us in your prayers, and chip in to Jenny's fund if you are able.

If you have an account with Paypal, the process is as simple as this:
1) Click on the "Bring Home Jenny" picture to the left
2) Follow "Click HERE to donate to this families adoption"
3) Click on the "Donate" Paypal button
4) List our family name and Jenny's name in the comment field for the donation

Or just send a check to Reece's Rainbow as mentioned on the family support page listing our name in the comment field on the check.

She and we will be forever grateful. May God Bless you and yours!

On the road again

2010-06-27T13:38:00.000-04:00

The changes a week can bring. We've dedicated ourselves to a path and now the sea of paperwork begins. Our home study team is onboard and is scheduled to meet with us in the next couple weeks. We're quickly compiling the documents we can on our own, and kicking off the things we need others to do for us (references, employment letters, medical reviews,...). The pile of home study and dossier paperwork on the official "work table" is quickly growing.

With a child identified at the end of this journey, this feels so different then our last two adoptions. Then we didn't know if the child we were to adopt was even born yet, so the pace was a little less frantic. This time there is a little girl out there that has been in an institution for too long, so every day we have to wait is one too many.

We know this process is in God's hands, and there is no guarantee she will still be there when we get there, but we are hopeful. We can't wait until we are official enough to share her adorable little face with you.

In the meantime, we hope, we pray, we photocopy, we notarize, we fill in more forms and we wait. What a complicated process. And it is all different then when we did it all less then two years ago, partly because it is a different country, partly because US and international adoption requirements have just gotten that much tougher.

Keep us in your prayers - we sure can use them!

To adopt or not to adopt, that is the question...

2010-06-20T01:04:00.000-04:00

Adoption #3 began in the strangest of ways as you might surmise from our Adoption Timeline. We started with a concern for children in eastern European orphanages, and a desire for a little girl based on our family makeup and bedroom logistics. We found a girl, then lost a girl and had to regroup. We considered a different country because of concerns of travel requirements and other country restrictions. We considered a boy since demand is so much higher for girls. We found a little boy and began reviewing his case in detail. When certain facts came to light about the program and additional medical conditions, we had to reconsider.

At this point we thought, we wondered, we prayed. Are we supposed to do this at all? Where and when? Our hearts were drawn back to eastern Europe where we had begun. But what about this two trip requirement. Could we really get that much time off from work? Could we afford it? Two little girls faces came into view. One was getting close to aging out of her orphanage and needs to be brought home soon. The way became clearer. We figured out a way to deal with the two trips we hadn't considered before.

We stepped forward and said "Yes, we will do this, with the Lord's help". There is peace. The destination seems clearer tonight then it has in a long while. We know who our angel is, we just have to get to her, and hopefully soon.

This has been in a mother's heart for a long time. We've been seriously engaged in searching this out for just about a month, but it seems like so much longer, like it was always the plan. I think in fact it was - just His plan and we didn't know it yet. We are at the beginning of this journey. There will be crazy fingerprinting, document preparation, signing, copying, certifying, mailing again and again to get it all together, but it will get done. Who knows, if all goes well, by Christmas we could have the best blessing ever, another child beside us in front of the manger at the feet of Jesus. But now we are really getting ahead of ourselves. Back to the paperwork!