Basic Math

1 urgent, last minute, never heard of before apostilled letter needed by May 7*

+

1 husband traveling on "business" yet somehow finding himself at DISNEY WORLD tonight :-)

(wanna tell me one more time how that happened, Norm?!)

=

1 slightly nervous, slightly bored (very jealous) Karyn hopefully making a trip to Richmond on May 7 for another round of apostilling

Thankfully this is mostly cancelled out by:

2 Visa's Received Today (w/ no typos!)**

+

1 Court Photo Album Completed

+
10 Days Till We Leave for Moscow!!

=

1 VERY HAPPY (and still slightly jealous) Karyn

*We're having slight issues getting this last document that we just found out about. Apparently there have been "changes" in the Moscow region & we must have this for our court date. Please join us in prayer for a quick and successful resolution.

**For those of you who have no idea what I mean by our Visa's, it's basically a sticker placed in our passports by the Russian Consulate:

Daddy’s Say the Cutest Things!

Yesterday morning, Norm & I headed to Costco to pick up some food for our return trip to Moscow (bring on the Ramen Noodles, Easy Mac, instant mashed potatoes, granola bars and tuna – Mmmmm!!). We obviously can’t pack enough food for our entire 21 day trip, but we will definitely be able to save a little money again. Anyway, our Costco is located in a mall and doesn’t open until 10am. We got there early and decided to walk around the mall a bit to pass the time.

**Let me state my tip of the day here: Avoid taking a “leisurely stroll” through your mall if you are an adoptive parent trying your best to avoid “retail therapy”!**

Anyway, we’ve wanted to find a little pair of sunglasses for Ilya. My eyes are extremely sensitive to sunlight and I would hate for our little man to be blinded by the glare if it turns out his eyes are as sensitive as mine. We stopped by the Gymboree store (mistake!) and told the sales assistant what we wanted. She pulled out 2 different buckets and helped us find a pair for ages 0-2 years. They were olive green with a little monkey on the lens, and they were pretty cute. We had almost decided to buy those when she realized she had other buckets we hadn’t sorted through. Something distracted me – a super cute little pair of overalls with fire trucks all over them - and I stopped paying attention to the whole sunglasses conversation. Next thing I know, Norm has about 4 or 5 pairs of glasses out on the counter, with two additional pairs in each hand and pride all over his face, and he says across the store:

“Hey, Kar…which pair of these glasses do you think will match Ilya’s hair the best?”

uhhhh…‘scuse me - - match WHAT?? Ilya’s Hair?? Did I hear that correctly?

The sales associate and I were initially taken by surprise and then we started laughing so hard we both snorted. She said that usually it’s the mom who wants to make sure accessories match, but she had never heard of anyone - mom or dad - who was worried about glasses matching hair color! It was a very cute daddy moment for Norm, but the cutest thing is that he was absolutely serious and I think it took a second for him to realize why we were laughing.

I know you’re all just dying to hear how we resolved the glasses dilemma. Norm’s favorite color is blue, so we ended up going with a pair of navy glasses and chucked the olive green monkey ones back in the bucket. For what it’s worth, the navy ones were the ones he had in his hand when he asked about Ilya’s hair matching them. I realize this may be on of those moments where you “had to be there” to truly appreciate it. Trust me…it was a very cute, very endearing moment!

I've been tagged!

By Teresa! Don't believe me? Read for yourself -


"Hi Karyn, You are tagged! I chose you as one of my 3 people to tag. Please post 6 things on your blog that are a little quirky or unusual about yourself, and then tag 3 other people. Have fun!"


Only 6 things? Only a little quirky? Yikes! There are way more than 6 things about me that are more than just a little quirky! How in the world do I pick? Hmmm...


1. Anytime I need to set my clock alarm, I make sure to set it for 1.5 hours EARLIER than I really need to. Yes, this includes work days. I simply cannot start my day and hope to be functional if I don't have adequate play time with my pets.


2. I HATE for my food to touch, but you already know that. Does it still count? I think it shouuld because I really, really hate when this happens!


3. I always, always lock all the doors in my house when I'm home. Even if I'm not here alone. Even if the garage doors are closed, I make sure the door leading into the house is locked and deadbolted. When I put my dogs out, I lock the door behind them (even during the day.) I cold go on and on, but let's just leave it at admitting that I'm slightly OCD about locked doors and it drives Norm and his mom nuts.


4. Before eating a bowl of ice cream, I place it in the microwave for about 5-7 seconds to soften it up a bit. Then, I mix it with a spoon so it's more of a milkshake consistency (but still in the bowl, not a glass/cup!) and eat it like that. Don't judge me, people! My seestor, Robyn, does the same thing!! I must've learned it from her since she's older than me! (But not old...not at all!)


5. I have a fear of heights...but...I love rock climbing! Go figure. Norm & I took climbing lessons about 10 years ago and I LOVE it! We had to stop because he injured his wrist/hand/elbow and I really do miss it. So how can someone who is terrified of heights climb? Well, I also am HORRIBLE at judging distance. So I'm good as long as I don't know, and no one tells me 1/2 way up, how high I'm climbing. Pre-Norm's-injury we were members of an indoor rock climbing gym and we would go every day. I'd freak when I got to the top of a wall though because I KNEW the ceiling was about 45' high. Put me on the face of a rock outside and let me have at it without telling me first (or ever) how tall it is, and life is good!


6. If you have a foot phobia, don't read this next one. Norm says I have freaky toes because they're pretty long considering how small my foot is. I can pick things up with them, pinch him when he annoys me, hold toes with my sister (we have photo documentation of this) ...all kinds of weird things. Not that I go around doing this all the time but the fact that I CAN is pretty cool. Or freaky maybe. Okay, freaky! ;-)

So who to tag now? I'm passing on the torch to Beth, Ana and Becky. Have fun ladies! If you've already been tagged, oopsie!

Travel Arrangements - DONE!

In the crazy world of international adoption, I shouldn't be too terribly surprised by the arrangements we ended up making for Trip 2. I have to laugh at the fact that it turned out to be less expensive for us to pay for one set of airline tickets, wait in Russia through the 10 day wait period, and arrange for 21 days lodging (in Moscow, no less, during an expo/convention thingamabob!), than to buy 2 sets of airline tickets, make a total of 3 trips to Moscow and pay for 11 days lodging. Also, since our court date is Thursday, May 15, technically we didn't have to fly out until Monday, May 12. Once again, our cheapest option was to fly out on Saturday, May 10 and pay for 2 extra night lodging than to fly out on Monday the 12th. Oh, and the added benefit to flying out on Saturday the 10th is that we get to take Aeroflot again, which is nonstop, way cheaper and in my opinion, still way more comfortable than American Airline (not that they fly to Moscow though). The nonstop flight home will also hopefully make it much easier for Ilya as well. Are you still with me on this?? I'm sure I lost some of you on that, but my fellow adoptive families know what I'm saying. Okay, deep breath everyone...here's our final plan:

Depart Dulles Saturday, May 10 at 7:40pm on Aeroflot
Arrive Moscow Sunday, May 11 at 1:45pm (Happy Mother's Day!)
Stay in the Pushkinskaya Apartment May 11 - May 20
Visit Ilya May 13 - 14
Court May 15
Switch to the Anastasia Apartment May 20 (will be there through May 31)
Visit Ilya May 23 - 26
Gotcha Day - Tuesday, May 27 (the day we officially get custody of our son)
Outprocess May 27 - 30
Fly Home May 31!!! (Arrive on U.S. soil @ 5:40pm and Ilya is a US Citizen!!)

We received our LOI's (letter of invitation for our Visa's) from Peace yesterday, and mailed the packet to the Russian Consulate today. Hopefully we'll have our Visa's in hand next week.

We need to go through the process of getting our "new money" again. Oh joy! And I still need to pick up gifts for the orphanage director, Ilya's psychologist, and 2 folks in our Moscow office.

That's about it I think. At least I don't think I forgot anything.....

(very) Special Delivery

Look what came addressed to Ilya today - his very first DHL package!

And inside we found....

Home sweet home! Woo-hoo!

Wednesday works too!! :-)

Holy Cow! I just received the biggest, most unexpected surprise - -

A COURT DATE OF THURSDAY, MAY 15!!! ohmygosh!

Our timeline will be:
May 15 - Court
May 27 - Assume Custody of Ilya
May 31 - Fly HOME!!

THANK YOU EVERYONE for your prayers, support, encouragement, friendship. You have no idea how much it all means to us!

Time to get to work on travel plans - stay tuned!

Maybe Friday?

The good news is that we were assigned to the non-vacationing judge! Thank you, everyone, who prayed for this to be the case.

The not-so-good-but-not-terrible news is that we still don't have a court date but there is hope! Here's the deal, apparently there were a few documents missing from the baby's dossier. (Yes, Ilya has his very own dossier that was prepared! Lucky for him, someone else did all the running around, unlike the dossier WE had to prepare!) The missing docs may have something to do with the fact that he was born in a different town than his orphanage is in, thus slightly delaying the arrival of some documents to MOE. I don't know for certain that that is the case but regardless, there were some things missing. Which meant no court date assigned today.

"S" in our Moscow office will be meeting with the judge this Friday to discuss our court date, and we SHOULD know then when we'll be heading back to finally see our son again. There's a chance our court date will be Thurs., May 15th or Monday, May 19th. But as we all know by now, anything can and will happen with international adoption, so I'm trying not to get myself hooked on either of these dates.

Sooooo....this leaves me to once again recruit prayer warriors for good news on Friday. We would prefer our court date be as soon as possible. We will happily take either the 15th or 19th of May but we also want to remember God's plan in all of this.

Our friends Aaron & Dana DID get their court date today. Yay! Please join me in celebrating this milestone for their family.

A Letter to My Son

Hello, my son! You’re turning 13 months old today, and growing into a strong and handsome little boy. I wish we were able to celebrate this day with you but for now we must continue to wait until the day we are finally reunited. I admit that each day of waiting chips away a piece of my heart. I’m afraid there won’t be much left to chip away at if we don’t receive news of our court date soon. There are so many family members and friends who want to meet you. Daddy & I want to see you again and bring you home.

Your daddy and I miss you terribly. You have no idea how much we want to see your smiling little face and hear your adorable laugh. We want to hold you close and feel your little arms wrap around our necks again. We want to watch you play and to play with you. We want to give you our fingers to hold onto as you walk. We want to feed you, read to you, bathe you and dress you in some of the adorable little clothes we and Grandma have bought you. We want to see in person, not on video, how cute it is when you suck on those two chubby middle fingers. We want to rock you to sleep, to watch you sleep, and be there for you when you wake up. Ilyusha, we want to be there for you ALWAYS…and we will be. Please know we will.

Today is also the anniversary of when we last saw you. I’ve looked at your pictures and videos every day since, but that just isn’t the same as having you here…having you home. There’s a possibility that today we will know which judge will preside over your adoption hearing, and that we will also learn of our court date and the date we will get to see you again. I’m afraid to become too excited over this possibility, because I’ve been disappointed every Monday we’ve been back home. I thought each of those days would be “the day” we got “the call”, and each time I was wrong. But that doesn’t mean you’re not coming home. You will, according to God’s will. I won’t give up hope of receiving this news, I hope you won’t either.

On Friday we recruited a chain of prayer warriors across the U.S. to pray for your homecoming, as well as little Kaden’s. Please don’t think, though, that if we don’t receive the news we want today that that means prayers are “wasted” or never answered. It just means that God’s timing isn’t matching our own, for reasons we don’t yet understand. After all, years of prayers led us to you, our sweet boy, and none of those prayers, no not one, were wasted. You are our son, our precious baby boy, and we are waiting with open arms and open hearts to bring you home once and for all.

All our love,
Mommy & Daddy

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Workee, workee workee! That was us today. I cannot believe how quickly this day went – and I was up & out of bed at 6:30am. Oh, and I didn’t even have time to obsess or complain about our court date (or lack of). Woo-hoo!

My co-workers have been teasing me lately, telling me that I’ll be surprised at the things I’ll do for my child once he’s home. What they’re referring to are some of my phobias and things I’m creeped out by. Two examples: snotty noses give me the heebeejeebies, and I have an eye phobia. And now you’re thinking to yourself “And…you want a kid??” :-) I cannot watch Visine commercials, nor can I look at you if your eyes are bloodshot, teary or anything other than what I consider normal. I can’t watch scenes in TV shows or movies where there’s an eye injury involved, and God help me if Ilya ever ends up with pink eye. Surprisingly though, I’m not all that bothered by puke or messy diapers. I told Norm awhile back that if he handles issues with Ilya’s nose and eyes, I’ll gladly take care of the other orifices.

What’s that have to do with today? Well, there’s one thing I dislike nearly as much as waiting for a court date and that is yard work. Can’t stand it. Don’t wanna do it. Will avoid it at all costs, and trust me my plants thank me. They cringe in fear when I walk by. Avoiding yard work is also a measure of self preservation for me. I always, ALWAYS, get hurt somehow: stung by some horrible flying or non-flying insect, misjudging distance with shovel in hand and nearly ending up with a few less toes, tripping over, well, something, coming face to face with frogs, snakes, spiders, earthworms…blech! Me & creepy crawlers do not get along at all, and usually they are the victors because I run, screaming like a little girl.

All that said, I actually did yard work today! Lots of it in fact. Norm mowed, I raked and weeded…and ran away whimpering from a mound of earthworms I found huddled under a pile of leaves. My incentive for all my hard work? Preparing an awesome, safe yard for Ilya to play in once he is finally home. See there? I stepped out of my comfort zone and survived unscathed! Norm’s riding mower, on the other hand, nearly didn’t survive me trying to drive it in reverse into the shed, but that’s a story for another day. (It's also Norm's fault, not mine even though I was the driver!)

After we cleaned up from the yard festivities, we treated ourselves to a late lunch at Moe’s. We didn’t realize it was nearly 2:00 when we finally sat down to eat! After that, we tried to find our remaining thank you gifts for the orphanage director, a few folks from our agency and Ilya’s psychologist. We didn’t have any luck with that, but we did pick up a few things to take for Ilya when we do make it back to Russia.

Once home, we remembered we have an issue with Ilya’s crib. Since he’s probably going to be a little more mobile than we originally expected, we decided we needed to drop his crib down a notch so he’s not climbing out of it his first night here. That took a little longer than expected but it’s done. Next, we laid out a few clothes for him that we know we want to take to Russia with us, and decided which stroller will go as well.

We just finished dinner and because I’m feeling a little nutty today (must be from all the yard work), I mixed my corn with my mashed potatoes like Norm does! This is a big step for me…remember I don’t like my food to touch. Again, stepping out of that comfort zone. This doesn’t mean, however, that I’m going to graduate to watching a show on the health channel where someone is having a pencil surgically removed from their eye! ;-)

Apparently Norm is feeling a little nutty also. He just said he wants to go to Michael’s tonight…which is a craft store…yes, a craft store. Just who are these imposters pretending to be Karyn & Norm? Yard work, mixing corn into mashed potatoes and now craft stores? Welcome to the Twilight Zone!

SIDE NOTE:
Okay, not only is Norm feeling nutty but he is brave. Very, very brave. I started typing this entry prior to cleaning the kitchen from dinner, with the intention of posting it afterwards. Norm came in to dry the dishes for me and our conversation went something like this (keep in mind that I’m lucky if I’m 5’2” and Norm’s about 5’11, so he towers over me).

N: Hmmm…as he's staring at me very intensely
K: What?
N: Hee-hee! Looks like you're about due to have your hair colored again!
Referring either to (a) my roots showing through or (b) the 2 strands of gray hair coming through. (Really, there are only 2!) Neither of which, by the way, has won him any brownie points tonight. Trust me!

Mistake #1 - making the comment in the first place
Mistake #2 - not running from the kitchen after he said it!

Guess I never mentioned to you all that I married a comedian, huh? Albeit a foolish comedian...

Update...

…but certainly not the one I wanted to receive or to post. Here’s a short version of where we stand:

1. Our case hasn’t even been assigned to a judge yet. This may happen on Monday, 4/21;

2. There are 2 Moscow judges who are assigned adoptions, one of them is on vacation;

3. If we are assigned to the judge who IS NOT on vacation, there is a chance we will know our court date on Monday (but this is not a guarantee);

4. If we are assigned to the judge who IS on vacation, we will not be able to get a court date until he/she returns. I don’t know how long the vacation is scheduled for.

Our adoption buddies, Dana & Aaron, will have their case reviewed on Monday as well. Dana & I have started a prayer chain in our respective communities asking for people to join us in zealous prayer this weekend for the following:

That we both receive our court dates on Monday, and that both our court dates will fall on either May 12th or May 19th (right after the Russian May holidays). Additionally, we request both boys be lifted up in prayer for their health, happiness and well-being. Oh, and I could use a real good dose of patience and peace, with a few less tears, as well!!

If you feel led to join Dana & me, our families & friends, in prayer this weekend please do so! We truly appreciate any and all prayers on our behalf.

Thanks everyone,
Karyn

AACK!! - **UPDATED**

**UPDATE: Turns out a copy of the 171 is FINE. Woo-hoo! Still no news on our court date though and we may not know anything until next week or possibly even later. Trying not to be disappointed but it's tough. Please continue to pray for our son's health and happiness until we're all reunited. Thanks, all.**

All I can say is Thank Heaven for our agency’s Yahoo group! There is a wealth not only of information but also support from fellow CSS families, which I have definitely needed both throughout this process. Any question I have, I know I can post and receive tons of advice on within minutes (sometimes seconds!). I think we’re all addicted to the Yahoo group…no matter what time of day I log on, someone seems to be there ready to step in and help. Thanks everyone!

So this brings me to our latest adoption saga, which this time happens to be self-induced. Grrr… I posted a question on the Yahoo group yesterday about bringing any or all of our dossier with us on Trip 2. This morphed into a discussion about needing your ORIGINAL 171 (immigration approval) for our Embassy visit … hold on … ORIGINAL??

Uh-oh!! That’s a bit of a problem seeing as how we had our original notarized, apostilled and sent to Moscow in Susan’s carry-on!! We made a copy of it for ourselves and for our Asheville office, but the lovely original is sitting somewhere in Moscow, brightly gleaming in all its originality! Again, I say Grrrr……

I immediately sent an email to our Asheville office asking how badly I had messed up, and followed up by voicemail this morning in case the email never makes it to them. I don’t know if us having the original on us at the Embassy is an absolute necessity or if we can get by with our copy. I don’t know if the Moscow office can somehow get our original back to us if we do need it, or if we’re going to have to contact USCIS again (double grrrr….) and beg/plead to have another original sent asap. I don’t know what the process is for getting a new original 171 is, if there will be a fee, or how long it will take to finally receive it. UGH!!

As annoyed as I am with myself right now, I am so grateful we realized this error while we were still in the States and might have a chance to fix it. Can you imagine not discovering this until we're in Moscow, trying to bring our son home??!!

As soon as we have some solid word on what we do from here, I’ll update this post. In the meantime, if you read this please pray for an easy resolution to our oversight. Oh, and also feel free to lift up a quick little prayer that when I speak to Asheville about this, they also have a court date preferrably IN APRIL lined up for us!! :-)

Out of my “funk” – THANKFULLY!

I mentioned before that I wanted to be as honest as possible on this blog, and I think that means admitting to having bad days as well as good ones. Well, here goes…Wednesday was a HORRIBLE day for me…one of the worst of our entire adoption journey thus far. A lot happened on Wednesday to contribute to this (which I won’t go into here), but basically what it boils down to is (i) letting my emotions control me rather than me controlling my emotions and (ii) forgetting that God is much better at handling these things than I am! I’m obviously not equipped to do this on my own.

I was definitely in a better place yesterday, and today I’m happy to say that I’m back to being Karyn! Yay! I have to thank my wonderful husband/best friend for not letting me let my funkiness totally consume me on Wednesday. (I had Wed. off and he & I spent the day together.) No matter what my frame of mind is, he has a knack for being able to make me laugh at any situation (including myself!). Here’s one example of the lengths he goes to for me. Our “agreement” when we got married was that he would cook and I would clean up afterwards. I’m just dangerous around any kitchen appliance/utensil other than the fridge & sink. (Actually, I'm dangerous around the fridge too if there are Thin Mints in the freezer!) I have another confession – I don’t like my food to touch. Ever! It just grosses me out, so Norm will make sure my food items are clearly divided when he puts it on my plate. Yes, he prepares my plate for me also. Yes, he spoils me! No ladies, he doesn’t have a brother. Sorry! Sometimes when he’s dividing my food so it won’t touch he’ll actually make designs…such as a smiley face or maybe a pyramid with nuggets and the veggies as a retaining wall or whatever. It’s always interesting to see what design he comes up with next and it definitely adds a bit of humor to each meal! I digress, sorry!

On the adoption front – still no news of a court date and I don’t expect to hear anything today. It’s already 10am EDT, which means it’s 5pm in Moscow. If a court date had been received today, I’m certain the Moscow office would have informed the Asheville office by now, and they in turn would have contacted us. At least this waiting means we are now 1 week closer to bringing our son home. I think that puts a more positive spin on things rather than saying we’re about to enter our 4th week of waiting (but who’s counting?).

We also received a surprise adoption donation yesterday, which we weren’t expecting it at all. It’s kinda funny that it came when it did because we recently sent our final (and largest!) payment to our agency, and Norm & I spent part of yesterday trying to budget for our return trip. Yeah…we’re in a state of sticker shock! Possible court dates for us are 4/28 (unlikely at this point), 5/12 or anytime after that. There is ANOTHER EXPO in Moscow the week of 5/18 which is making lodging scarce and the rates skyrocket again. It’s like our first trip all over! I was a little freaked out over our numbers, and then we get this awesome surprise in the mail. Adopting our son really is a financial undertaking, and he is absolutely worth every single penny. We are confident that God will continue to provide financial sustenance through additional donations - - or other means that our human minds just can’t comprehend right now.

Oh, and we were able to check something else off of our to do list – gifts for our son’s caregivers! He has 2 caregivers & 4 tutors and we decided to go with a kitchen theme for all of them: an alderwood trivet similar to this, a silicon pot handle sleeve similar to this, and 3 piece mixing spoon set similar to these but black. We’ll buy gift bags & tissue paper as well, and stuff the bags once we’re in Moscow. We still need something for the orphanage director, our son’s psychologist who he is VERY attached to so it has to be special, and “S” and “I” in the Moscow office.

I guess that’s it. Lengthy post I know, but being back to Karyn means being chatty!! Poor Norm…

Good or Bad, other family’s timelines are not my own

Evenin’ Blog Stalkers! Yeah, I’m guilty of blog stalking, too - - especially when we’re so familiar of each other’s timelines and expect on certain days to hear news of court dates, travel dates, dossier registration, dossier translation, etc., so we can celebrate these milestones with each other. Even if it is a virtual celebration!

Most families with our agency have received their court dates on their 3rd Monday home from Moscow. Notice I said “most.” Today is our 3rd Monday home. Needless to say, we did not get our court date today, nor do we have estimation as to when we may get it. We are at the mercy of a judge in Moscow. I hope she’s in a good mood!!

I admit that I am disappointed. The title of this post is something I learned very early in the adoption process but I guess I let it slip my mind. I have to remember that our journey to our son is just that – our journey – and it is not to be determined step-by-step by those who traveled before us. We can use their experiences as a guide but it’s not fool proof. Nor would I want it to be, because frankly there are some hardships other families have endured that I really don’t know I’d be able to handle! Some families are fortunate and get their court date within 2 weeks, and sadly others wait upwards of 5-9 months. So good or bad, other family’s timelines are not mine & Norm’s. It is ours alone and once again, we hand it over to God to handle and hope that He will continue to provide us the same level of peace we’ve had since leaving Moscow last month.

Back to today. By noon I realized we wouldn’t hear any news today and spent the afternoon feeling sorry for myself. I hadn’t planned on posting anything tonight because I knew I’d make it into a sob, poor me story. God has a sense of humor, though, and in His great plan, He had 2 emails waiting for me to give me the boost I needed to “get over it” and carry on. Here’s a portion of one that I thought I would share:

“I just went through your Blog again today and never get tired of doing so. Keep up the good work and God will bless both of you. You inspire others with your letters and stories.”

I’ve never thought of myself as being inspirational, but one of the many reasons I keep this blog is to try and encourage others in the adoption process. While some of my entries may be less than joyful, my main intent is to keep this honest (which includes the good & the bad!). I hope other adoptive families will realize that what they experience and feel to some extent has been experienced and felt by others, and in the end it all works out. Somehow, some way, it all works out.

I also realize that Norm & I are truly blessed in so many ways, one of which includes this wonderful little boy waiting for us in Russia. I put Revelation 3:8 in my header for days like today, as a reminder God led us to Ilya, and He will lead Ilya home!

“Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut.”

So, bring on the court date - - according to God’s will!

P.S. THANK YOU, Aunt Rosemarie, for your words of encouragement. You have no idea how badly I needed to receive a message like yours today. Love you!

Notarized, Apostilled & FedEx'd!

Norm made one last trip to Richmond today to have our 171H and FBI fingerprints apostilled. They're now sitting in FedEx waiting for someone to deliver them to Susan in TX so that she can hand carry everything on Wednesday, 4/9, when she makes her final trip to Moscow to bring little Artem home!

Thank you so much, Susan, for taking these documents with you! Beth was kind enough to take our dossier back in January. We are so thankful to you both...words just can't explain. Susan, you should have a visit from your FedEx guy on Monday! He BETTER show up! ;-)

(Susan, I nearly forgot to tell you...make sure you open the FedEx envelope, there's something more than our docs in there!!)

I also have to give a shout out to our wonderful agency. I have C's home phone number and had questions about our 171H before having it apostilled today. I hated to call her last night, but our question was pretty important and Norm needed to leave super early this morning to head to Richmond. So, waiting till our agency opened today wasn't really an option. C was not upset at all that we had called her at home, at 7pm, and graciously answered all of our questions and set our minds at ease about a few other things that popped up during our conversation. I don't know if other agencies routinely hand out their home numbers to their adoptive families or not, but it seems to me like that's going above and beyond. I am so grateful to C's unwavering commitment to CSS families. The entire staff is wonderful, and my fellow adoptive parents are superb!!

Bob Barker - I'll take door #1! :-)

Norm has a honey-do list for things to do around the house before Ilya comes home. #3,212,007 on the list (kidding, that's actually Ilya's b-day) is to hang doors in our basement, especially the 2 doors that lead from our exercise room and my office into the shared bathroom between them. The doors have actually been hung for awhile but the handles and door jam thingamabobs were missing. (They've been hung so long that I haven't thought about them for a few months.)

So as is my routine, I called Norm when I left work today to let him know I was on my way home. He tells me he has a surprise for me, which I know by past experience can be either a really good thing or a really scary thing. I was trying to decide whether I should rush home at wharp speed (after all, I know all the deputies and can talk my way out of a ticket) or pretend to be stuck in traffic, when Norm said "I think you'll really like what I've done to the doors."

Huh?? Doors? What doors? Then it dawned on me that he must've finally fixed the handles and door jam thingamabobs.

15 minutes later I pull up to our mailbox 1/2 hoping but not expecting to see our 171H waiting for us. I open the mailbox and not only is there no 171H, but no mail of any sort. Bummer - disappointed yet again.

Norm met me in the basement, pride written all over his face because of the surprise waiting for me. He drug me into my office and said "See! Aren't they nice?!" Referring to this:

We ooh'd and awe'd (yeah, we're dorky like that!) and he said, "Open the door and see the other one!" And I saw this:

Wait a second...what's that taped to the door? Need a closer look? Here ya go! WOO-HOO!! Yes, our 171H came today - APPROVED!! Norm has already faxed a copy to C and we're hoping she got it in time to fax/scan and send to I in Moscow so she'll have it tomorrow morning.

One last picture to show how impressed Bandit is with all of this! (Please excuse my Hello Kitty pj's!)

Thank you all so very much for your prayers, support and encouragement. This is a huge weight off our shoulders and a MAJOR step closer to getting Ilya home!

Love this!

Prayer for Our Baby

May you be safe and sleep soundly through the night
May you be safe as you wake to the morning’s light
May you feel our love from so far away,
May it comfort and protect you throughout each day.
We will pray for you, my little one,
Until our time of waiting is done.
We will pray that the Lord keep you safe from harm,
Until the child of our hearts becomes the child in our arms.
–Anonymous

We love you, our sweet boy!
Mommy & Daddy

Peace

When I sat down to write this entry I was feeling very positive and content, even though we don’t have any solid news on our court date. As soon as my fingers touched the keyboard, however, two pesky & annoying visitors stopped by for an unwanted visit….first there was Anxiety, followed quickly by his best friend Impatience. I’m trying to kick them out, as I really don’t have the time or desire to see them before going to work this morning. They’re persistent little buggers though, and they won’t go away. Sigh…

So instead, let me try to focus on what I had planned on writing. Perhaps Anxiety & Impatience will take the hint.

Up until 5 minutes ago I had been holding up much better during this wait time than I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong - - I absolutely want our son home with us, receiving proper care & nutrition, cuddle time, hugs…but at the same time I know that he is in VERY good hands. I have seen him interact with some of his caregivers and I know they love him and he loves them. Their bond is very strong and I am so grateful for that. Knowing this, seeing it with my own eyes, made departing Moscow 11 days ago somewhat tolerable (but barely!). Yes, I miss our little boy more than I could ever express in written words; more than you can imagine unless you, too, are an adoptive family and you’ve been-there-done-that. As I mentioned in Moscow, it physically hurts to not have my son in my arms. I’ll be honest, it just plain stinks!!

With all that said, however, God has definitely blessed me over the past week with a sense of calm, patience, and peace as well as the knowledge that He is looking after our son along with the caregivers. I know this probably sounds like I’m contradicting myself and in some ways I suppose I am. But isn’t that what faith is about…contradicting your own desires, timelines, demands & priorities by handing them over to our loving Father, trusting 100% that He will handle thing much better than you? Letting someone else control situations that you have significant personal interest in is not something many of us is accustomed to doing. It’s a tough concept to get used to at first , but when you do decide to hand it over to God, the sense of relief is wonderful and exhilarating.

Even though I’ve released this wait time over to God to handle, that does not mean that I’m walking around 24/7 about to spontaneously burst into song and dance. (Which Norm is very thankful for, sense I have no rhythm and certainly can’t carry a tune!) I do spend the majority of my day rejoicing in this miracle God is working in my life, but I also have times in my day where I seek God’s sovereign hand to bless me with patience that I know I would never, could never, achieve on my own. In these tough times, when I focus my eyes on Jesus and not the sinking waters below me, I can feel His strength pulling me back to the surface, reviving and renewing me.

There! Now I feel better. Impatience has left the building and Anxiety is quickly departing as well. See ya boys! Actually, skip that. Nothing personl but I hope not to see them again!