Bringing Adelee Olya Home

~6 MoNthS HoMe~

2010-11-23T08:43:00.000-08:00

October and November have both flown by....

We have been so busy as a family that it has been impossible to find time to blog. Everyone is doing amazing..especially little Addy. She continues to amaze us each and everyday. It has been 6 months now that she has stepped foot in Indiana and she is such a changed girl. So different from the first time we met her. I remember her barely walking out of the orphange room..looking so tiny and sweet. Now she literally runs everywhere she goes, she is non stop into things and curious. So not the shy little one we first met. She is figuring out who she is and coming into her own personality. It is soo fun to watch.

At preschool and sometimes at home, when she is not "in the mood" for you or what is going on she stops and closes her eyes!! Not for a minute or two, but for awhile. Not sure how to handle this really. She just shuts down and is done with the situation. It happens alot when she is getting in trouble for doing something, its almost like she does not want to hear you telling her no! Such a stinker, so we continue to work on it. On the other hand, she is doing well at school. She really enjoys going and all the other kids want her to sit by her and hold her hand all the time. Soo sweet to see.:)

She is very protective of Gracie now...loves,loves,loves her big sissy. They play so well together and when she gets scoulded for something she runs to Gracie to cuddle. So amazed at how far they have come... God has been soo good to us. Our family has grown this year and we are all healthy and happy. We are truely blessed!!!

Busy Busy Times!!

2010-10-05T11:23:00.000-07:00

We have been so super busy since school has started and it seems I have neglected our blog more than usual. It seems we hardly have time to keep up with activites and our house let alone try and show off our beautiful little girl!!! She is doing great!! Preschool is awesome and she loves every minute. Her teacher is great and Addy really loves the other kids. She is learning the dance moves to songs, understanding about staying in line and raising her hand for snack. She loves to hang out with her big sis now, they will sit and play barbies forever!! I love watching them play together. We recently got a new puppy, our Westie of almost 13 years died and we could not imagine our lives without a Westie dog in it. Our new little puppy is Milton and Addy loves to carry him around and push him in her grocery cart, Im not sure how he feels about that but he does run from her when he sees her coming!!!lol We are preparing for our Buddy Walk, since it is DOWN SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH!! We are super excited. This will be our first walk, we are trying to get the word out and hoping anyone and everyone in the area will sign up to walk with us or atleast go online at firstgiving/addynorman.com and help us raise money online and find out more info!! Just a quick update I know, will post more after Halloween!!

PrEscHooL TiMe

2010-09-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Addy has started preschool!!!!

She is too cute walking into her big sisters school everyday going to her class with her little Strawberry Shortcake backpack!!

All the kids have really taken to her. Especially a little boy that has Ds. He is soo stinkin cute. He pulls her chair out for her and they hold hands!!!

The teachers said she is doing perfect,as long as she keeps her shoes on!lol

School time is off to a busy start. With three children now, it seems like my evenings fly by and feels like nothing was accomplished! Trying to keep up with all the school activites and clubs, then we lead a small group at our church on Wed. nights, and trying to run a business..... I think its safe to say Im exhausted.

Addy has had several play dates recently. With my best friend Karrie and Addy's new little bff Tori!! Also my sister and my dad and step mom have taken her out on little adventures, and she is winning them over for sure!!!

She continues to make advances with her sign language and each day Im amazed at just how smart this little girl is and how far she has come. We recieved a gift from the "grandma" that visited Addy in the orphanage awhile back. There were clothes, picture frames and cards for Addy. It was soo sweet. It has taken me awhile, but Im now sending her some recent pictures of Addy and all that she has been doing over the summer. They are very sweet photos and I hope that she enjoys them and it warms her heart to know how much progress she has made and how much she has changed for the better. God is soo good!!!! Everytime I look at Addy and see her play with her brother and sister, see her eat healthy balanced meals,see her witness to other people the love that she has, and feel His presence more and more in our lives..my heart just melts and I literally stop and thank Him! The one who raised the money for this adoption, the one who delievered us to Ukraine and back safely and the one who has given us this precious life. I feel so unworthy of her in our lives. I wish everyone could experience what we have this last year and see the impact Addy has had on our family. I feel like she is such an amazing gift to us and Joe and I have even spoke about saving another life....we have peeked at the waiting children list, and Im praying...asking....seeking.. for an answer. our sermon series at church is "Go For It"! How appropriate...Joe just sat next to me and smiled.....

Just a few new treats that Addy has given us... she loves to blow on things that are hot and sign hot!!hot!!, when she is unhappy she points her finger at you and growls!, she has to be without shoes, constantly!, She loves snuggling with her big sissys stuffed cat at night, she says dada now, clear as day, my new name is babu, not sure about that, she tries to sing "Baby" with the Justin Beiber song, she is in love with chocolate milk, has a love/hate relationship with the dogs on our house, likes to walk around our house and hold the cat by its neck, sticks out her tongue and shakes her head at you, and likes to eat lots and lots of dog bones!!!

Now on to the pictures

3 Months And Doing Great!!!

2010-08-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Addy is doing great!! Actually she is doing better than great, she is the absolute most precious child I have ever laid eyes on. Everyday I am completely surprised by her knowledge, her abilities and her strength. I love watching her grow and learn, especially when she is learning about how to be apart of a family that will fight for her everyday of her life!

Yesterday we took a break and met her daddy for lunch. Ofcourse, she looked at him through the window of our car and started sreaming. Then, as soon as we got out she started saying "Da,Da,Da"!! Joe immediatly broke down, he is such a softy! haha

We had her evaluation for preschool this week and it went really well. She was able to point to alot of pictures correctly. Her comprehension is far beyond what we thought it would be at this point. We go for her case conference next week and then she will be ready for am preschool. Im soo excited for her. We were able to visit her class and she loved playing with the kids. And to top it off, there were two other children with Down Syndrome in the preschool! She really enjoys playing now and she is creative thats for sure! I caught her in her room trying her best to actually sit on a barbie chair!!!

Noah and Gracie are both in school and loving it!! Noah really is enjoying 6th grade and Gracie says she loves her new teacher!! So things are going really well.
Now for the pictures!!!!

Too Much Fun!!

2010-08-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

We are having soo much fun this summer it is hard to put it into words. All three kids are doing great and everyone has had an awesome summer. My best friend, Karrie, and I took her two girls and mine to Pennslyvania this past week. We went to Sesame Place Park, which I highly recommend, Hershey Park, Crayola Factory and to New Jersey to the beach. We had an absolute blast. The girls were excellent, especially in the long car ride and the activities we did with the girls were soo much fun. Pictures will come soon!! Addy continues to fit right into our lives. She still does not talk, which is ok, we are learning more signs to teach her and she is picking up new ones everyday. She is now addicted to Gracie, they are best friends, and never leave each others side. It is too cute to watch them giggle for hours and play together..Very bittersweet. We are working on body parts right now and she is doing well. We also took a trip to the dentist, she has no cavities and teeth are pretty healthy..he did say to watch her gums and she could have some adult teeth missing, but no worries now. We also are doing Speech Therapy starting next week, so excited to see her progress with her signing and speech. She has gained a total of 4 pounds and has grown almost two inches and has went from a shoe size of 5.5 to a 7. I guess a little nutrition goes along way. When she first came home she slept almost 13 hours at night and took a 3 hour, if not more, nap during the day. Now she sleeps around 10-11 hours at night and if she does take a nap, it is only 1-2 hours. The malnutrition and anemia really took its toll on her, but now that she is much healthier, THANK YOU JESUS!!, she is really doing great. To look at her now and see the changes and the love that pours out of her is such a blessing. Now for the good stuff!!!!

Birthday Fun

2010-07-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

Addy's birthday was 7-7, but we did the majority of the celebration this weekend.

She absolutely loved her birthday. She did such a good job opening gifts and loved to have us sing to her. She even blew out her candles, with some help :)

Her personality is definitely emerging. She can get quite upset when other kids invade her space and she has no problem pointing her finger at them and telling them "Niet"!! (no in Ukrainian).

She continues to enjoy the pool more and more and even with strict sunscreen she has herself a little bikini tan, which is too cute!!

We visited the aquarium on her actual birthday with my best friend Karrie and her girls. The kids all had a blast. I think Addy liked the glass floor the best, she could see all the fish and sharks underneath her. I think at one point she layed down on the glass and held up the line as everyone laughed. She also got to enjoy some ColdStone ice cream, which she enjoyed immensely.

Her birthday celebration was a blast. We had a cookout with family and friends and she had a really good turnout. Lots of food, presents and swimming. She got alot of nice toys and is having so much fun playing with them!

Since early last week she has developed the "I love my mommy and will scream if she leaves my sight" idea. We went shopping and out to dinner Friday night as a family and when I went to the restroom at the restaurant I could hear her screaming all the way there. When I got back she just looked at me like...Im good now, thanks! It is soo nice to see that she knows I love her and she does have a mommy now that will care for her and comfort her. It can also be a little stressful, but in a good way.

Karrie wanted me to post the TOP TEN THINGS I LOVE ABOUT ADDY, so here goes......
I love that she is specific about where her drink and food goes on the table when she eats. I love when she crawls into bed and reaches up for a kiss. I love how she rubs my chest and face when we cuddl. I love that she uses the sign for cookie when she wants a drink. I love how she says "poo" when she goes #2 and waves her hand bc it stinkies. I love when she screams at the top of her lungs in excitement in restaurants when they deliver our food. I love to watch the attachment her and Noah have for one another. I love how she plays with our puppy and belly laughs. I love how she runs with such determination. And finally I love how she looks in her daddy's arms.

Today at church I thought alot about her birth parents. I wonder if they are thinking about her as she turns three. I know her birth mom is aware that she was adopted. I just hope she feels it in her heart that she is loved for and cared for and is part of a family that would do anything for her. My heart breaks for them. I could not imagine giving up a child that I held so close to my heart for 9 months. I do not know the specifics, but i do know mothers are encouraged to give special needs children up because of the future that they would endure in such a country. It is soo sad to think that the opportunities that we have here are soo far from the things that other countries have. Traveling there and seeing the day to day activity restrictions that these people would be faced with is enough to scare anyone. Especially a new mom. I pray that more and more people see these issues and things change so that these kids have a fighting chance there. I also pray that Addy's birth mom feels a peace about her and her life now and knows that we love her as if she came into our lives 3 years ago.

New pics of her past couple weeks and her awesome birthday fun!!!

Silly girls, dancing and the fair

2010-06-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Wow what a busy week we have had. The kids have had such an awesome time at their aunts this week. It was so nice to be able to go to work without any children at my feet! I actually got stuff done. Addy did excellent with Amy, and even screamed in excitement when we got to her house on Wed. morning. The sister bond is growing and Im soo excited. Gracie still likes to "mother" alot, which I know is normal and annoying all at the same time. But they are doing great together, and everyday gets better. We visited our local fair last night and the kids had a blast on the rides and seeing the animals. Addy loved the goats and pigs, until one pig tried to eat her shoe..and then she yelled at them!!! Just a quick update...sorry....but I will include some pics and finally a VIDEO!!!

Sweet Moments

2010-06-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

We are having such a blast with Addy. I can not even put into words how perfect our family feels now. For the longest time if I was asked if we would have more kids, I would have said absolutely not! Four in our family is enough, we are good, do not ask that question again! :)

Oh how the Lord has HIS plan for us, and it is not always what we plan for. To follow His word,to be His hands and feet, and to be obedient has been such a huge part of our life the past year and all I can say is Thank God!

Addy has fit right in to our family, just like she was meant to be. She is such a happy, happy little girl. I could not imagine our lives without her.

Within the last week she has... added please to her list of signs, has said her first English words~ hi, baby & no, seeks us out for hugs and kisses, goes to her bed and falls asleep when asked to, says eww when I change her diaper, sits on the potty and pretends to pee, plays with toys with meaning and purpose instead of just thowing them, realized she can drink whenever she wants during the day, climbed up the deck steps, found out play sand is alot of fun, caught lightening bugs with her brother and sister, walks with her eyes closed and peeks at what she is about to run into, spins in circles and laughs uncontrollably until she falls down, sat in a mud puddle and loved it, tasted rain and had her first marshmallow!!

That is alot for one week and I even think I left a few things out. :)

God is sooooo good!!!!

She did her own hair here!!!

Hopefully video to come soon!!!! She is a doll baby, you have to see her in action!!!

My Beautiful Little One

2010-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

This little girl surprises me each and everyday.
Everyday she learns new things, new signs, new ways to communicate and show her love. She defintely gets it now, we are her family!!! She is such a cuddle bug, loves to kiss us and she has some pretty good tickle spots. Her laughter is soo contagious.
Gracie and Adelee are doing much better. We still have our moments, but their sisterhood bond is getting stronger. Noah is in complete love with her and tells us that on a daily basis, what an awesome big brother to two little girls he has made. :)

We thank Jesus daily for showing us the need and giving us the courage to step out in faith and bring her home. I could not imagine our life without her in it. I look back now at the long waits we had, the paperwork that we compiled, the hardship we endured being away from home and more waiting...it seems so trivial now. The love we have for this little precious child outweighs the process by far.

We have gotten her to try more foods, but the mushier the better, so we keep trying. She got to experience our pool last night for the first time and was unsure at the beginning but loved it. She now loves the dogs and cats, chases them around and plays with them. She enjoys being outside, riding in the car, the grocery cart, and her swing on the deck.
She uses the sign for cookie to get a drink and it is so cute I think we will just keep it as her sign for drink, it makes me giggle each time she does it. It is such a blessing to watch her and Joe together, he has fallen head over heals for this little girl.
I will defintely get more pictures up soon, I will leave you with a few pics of her trying an oreo cookie!!!!

Has it really been 2+ weeks!

2010-06-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
WOW what a whirlwind life can be. Just a quick update...
Things are going good but extremely busy. Between our business, catching up at home (no real yard work done for the first two months of spring YIKES, and the three kiddos we really find some days a little overwhelming :).
As for Adie she amazes me each and every day. What a blessing she truly is, the joy in her smile stops me daily and refereshes me totally. How these precious children are tossed aside is beyond comprehension. I am so thankful that we found her and saved her. God Bless Andrea and everyone that gives of themselves for RR to do what they do.
Sorry for the vague hit and run update... hopefully we can update with some good pics soon.

JOE

1 Week In

2010-05-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

We are 1 week in and doing great!!!

This week has been more than I could ever imagine. It has been absolutely great having her home. Three children are not easy, I have had my struggles, but the struggles and the learning have also been great.

She is in love with every woman we encounter. Seriously!! She hugs them and even tries to kiss them. It is very cute, but Im trying to convince her a simple wave is just as good. :) She will sit in the highchair forever and feed her self. She loves that independence. The only thing I have found that she does not like to eat is coleslaw and anything too chewy or with alot of texture. She really enjoys yogurt and bananas!!
Addy takes naps well and sleeps allnight, although I do find her in the middle of the night on the floor after she has rolled out of the toddler bed...we are working on that.
She does get anxious around other children and men. Not sure if she feels competition from the children, but its getting better. She does really well sitting in carts at stores too.
She loves watching ketchup being squirted out, smiles from ear to ear when I refill her plate of food, splashes, ALOT, in the bathtub, and chases our dog around with her walker until she hits him and laughs!
Signing has worked out really well. She now uses three signs appropriately. Thank you, all done and more. She also fist bumps, thanks to a friend at a cookout this weekend.

Joe and I can sit and watch her for hours. She amazes us each and everyday. Her love and excitement at life is such a blessing to witness. We thank Jesus everyday for showing us this journey and we pray that her life continues to blossom with us and witnesses to others the pure joy that the Lord has given us.

Home At Last

2010-05-24T13:06:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know Joe and Olya made it home at 11pm Saturday night!!!
They ended up missing their last connection in Detroit, at this point Joe has so tired of people telling him they could not help... He got a rental car and drove the rest of the way home.:)

It was not the airport arrival and welcome we were anticipating. But it WAS great!!
Family and friends were here to great them with a very warm welcome. So bittersweet to hold her in my arms and have our entire family of 5 together.

She has been doing great! It has been overwelming, I wont lie. But fabulous at the same time. She sleeps through the night in her toddler bed. She has also been eating everything we give, without problems. Its soo cute to see the look on her face when she clears her plate and I actually put more on it, its like "I actually get more!!".

Noah is in love, literally!! We took her into school this morning to show his friends and classmates his new little sister and the look on his face of pride was amazing. He has such a good heart!
Gracie and Olya, thats a different story. There is definitely love between the two of them, but competition is there too. Olya does not like her to be really close and to try and help with things. This has upset Gracie and she feels left out. Im trying to get them to understand each other, I think time is only going to do that.

I will leave you with a few pics

Flight Update

2010-05-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

Just a quick blog!

Joe and Olya could not fly out of Kiev, there was an emergency light on the plane. They had to wait 7 hours in Kiev and then eventually flew to Frankfurt Germany. They were on standby for four hours and were not able to catch that flight. They were way overbooked!!!
They are not able to fly out until tomorrow...;( Lufthansa did set them up with two free meals and a night stay in a hotel. Per Eldon, the most fabulous travel agent ever!!!, "only God knows where their luggage is". So he was able to get some clothing, diapers, contact solution and some other neccesities at a local pharmacy. They will hopefully be home tomorrow evening. I cant wait to get my hands on both of them. I have missed Joe something awful and to think it has been well over a month since I have seen my little one.
Joe did say that she is doing great and has been a trouper through this long airport journey. Hopefully her spirits will continue for the long day tomorrow that they have. Thanks for all the prayers and support.
Will update again soon!
LeaAnn

Kick the tires and light the fires!

2010-05-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

After a LONG day of run here, run there, then back to here via there I have Olya's visa! We made our self set line in the sand and WILL be able to fly out Friday morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a mere 7 hours I will have to rise, get ready, somewhat prepare a 2 year old and off to the Kiev airport for our 5:30 departure. If all goes well, oh how i pray it does, we will be into Dayton at 3:15 local time to put the final nail in this chapter of our saga and open up a new can 'o worms as we all adjust to America life as a fam of 5! Just a short update, off to bed and hopefully a little sleep. Next update from HOME sweet HOME!

Slow but Sure

2010-05-19T11:24:00.001-07:00

After several agonizing days of waiting and wondering we got Olya's passport this afternoon. So tomorrow will be a day filled with running to U.S. consulate to beg for a same day visa, medical, then returns to each place to hopefully retrieve those last few valuable papers to make an early plane to the states Friday. This is still not set in stone, if the consulate decides to play spoiler it could be Friday before we can get visa and then a Saturday trip home if I can get a flight. Right now all is geared for a Friday return. I have the apartment until Friday with little or no back up availability for an extra night and we put our plane hopes in a Friday booking with very limited or no space to squeeze in for a change to Saturday. Please keep our little duo in your prayers that all goes well Thursday to make a trip home Friday a reality.
Not much else to add other than Olya and I keep plugging along each day hour by hour figuring each other out little by little. My counterpart is coming out of her shell more and more as she realizes that 'ol Papa is not so bad other than that he says "no no" a lot! She continues to test more and more with her surroundings and my patience at times as she checks something out over and over despite my most heart felt retorts of "NO". AHHHH, the terrible twos are not halted by orphanage life! I will try to get out a quick update but if all goes well tomorrow it will be a mad rush between Thursday wake up and Friday TAKE OFF. Hope to see many of you SOON.
-Joe

Hurry Up and Wait

2010-05-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Much like the spare tire above my belt I have a wait problem! It should be the keyword for our adoption. Another day of no news, no firm dates that anythng will happen and tra la la la la. It is the hardest part of being here five out of the last seven weeks, you cannot plan a single thing concerning your own well being and find that outside of yourself no one here gives a hoot. If I didn't have my little companion to think of I would be out of my mind with boredom and the blah feeling of not knowing when I can get that treasured plane home. Kiev is not bad at all but I have seen enough, done enough... check please! To add just a little salt we have watched two other families that had SDA and court after us get thier children and are ALREADY HOME. To get it off my chest HURRY UP ALREADY!!!
On a happier tone, Olya is doing great. She entertains me daily and is figuring me out a little too fast. For the first time she showed just a little "woman" at dinner tonight and fussed about until we ate and got out quick to her enjoyment to walk back and yell "oooooffff" at pigeons on the sidewalk. Earlier today we ventured out to a nicely sized park and had just gotten there good when clouds rolled in from ???? and put down some rain. So we double timed it back to the coffee house close to the apartment when the real gusher hit with heavy rain and thunder. But it was short lived to allow us time to get back "home" for apartment playtime and nap.
I will close with the obligatory pics and wish everyone a good day. Ahhh to be in the company of some of you raunchy old americans...JOE

Chasing some pigeons "OOOOOOFFFFFF"

Apartment Playtime

You Scream I Scream...

2010-05-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

...for ICE CREAM!!

MMMMMMMMM!

CHOCOLATE!

Sorry for post delay, we had to switch to another apartment just for Saturday night and it was definitely a "last resort" flat. It was not as "new" as some of the other units and the phone line was apparently dead so no internet. We have moved back to our regular stomping grounds @ 19 Baseina Street for the rest of our stay.It is my third move this trip and Olya's second but it gives her a chance to ride in a car so all is good.
Yesterday after settling in our new digs we hiked to Kreshchatyk St. to take n the huge Saturday crowd and get some dinner. We went to Fridays and Olya had chicken fingers and fries, YUMMY. Afterward we got an ice cream from one of the vendors on Kreshchatyk and sat on the curb to enjoy (see pics). Then the uphill trek with toddler and backback in tow to the apartment. Today is very rainy so we are taking in our new NICE apartment. It has an all window balcony with views of the the cars and people and Olya loves it! Hopefully rain will settle long enough for a quick market run for water. Then tomorrow, hopefully, we will get passport news or the passport and start the 2-3 day dash to get everything done and a flight HOME.

Another Day Closer?

2010-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

We are officially one step closer to coming home! We went to the passport office today for Olya's picture and paperwork to get her passport on it's way. So the question is WHEN will we be home?? I understand that everyone wants an answer to this question, and believe me I want that date etched in stone more than anyone! However, and please understand, I will not know the exact date we can leave until her passport is in our hands and this usually takes 2-3 days but can take up to five. As soon as the passport is here I can pin down the day we come home but not until then. So if you are wondering, SO AM I! We have had another good day. Olya loves to ride in the car! Today on the way back from the passport office she spent the whole time sitting on my lap looking out the window chatting to herself, it was way too cute! It looked like rain so chef Papa whipped up some grub in the apartment and got the lil miss a good bath and now it looks like she is about ready for bed (we missed nap due to passport office trip :)) Please enjoy this little video and pray for a quick passport turn around, then a safe delay/ cancellation free route home!

Cab Chatter

-Joe

FYI her birthday is 7-7-07

2010-05-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Had to put this video up. The toy store was a big hit after a nice little Ukranian dinner. I can't put words to how absolutely fantabulous this day was. I may have to stay here to keep her to myself!

Please remember our house is only so big LOL!

JOE

GOTCHA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-05-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

After basically 3 days of cancelled flights, delayed flights, changed flights I made it back to Kiev late Wed. evening. Sorta settled in, slept like a hammer and awoke to beautiful Ukraine sunshine and the knowledge that today would be Olya's last day (morning) in the orphanage. To quote David Crowder "OHHHH, Happiness!" Oleg picked me up at 9:00, we then picked up Nadya and off we went to Vorzel. All said it was very quick and painless! I signed a few papers, then played with Olya until the papers were wrapped up, then a change of clothes and a few pics and the sweetest words "PAKA PAKA Vorzel." Olya has been a dream to be with thus far. She is so inquisitive, she watches and takes in everything she can. So far she has had passport pics taken, a visit to Ukraine "Grandmother" ( a story that can't fit on a blog page lol), a car ride with Oleg :),an apartment change, a trip to the market, and confinement with me without a tear YAYYYYYYYYYY! I could ramble on and on, what a joyous, blessed day. My cup truly runneth over. However, I know everyone wants some pics so here ya go...

Posted by one Happy PaPa!!
Joe

He made it!!!

2010-05-13T06:28:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Joe made it safe and sound, after many delays and changes in his flight.

He will blog soon about his journey and new pics of sweet little Olga!!!!

Thanks for all the prayers!!!!

LeaAnn

Have I Ever Told You How Much I Love Volcanos!!!!!

2010-05-10T11:36:00.001-07:00

Ok, that was a lie!

Who would of ever thought last November when we started this journey that a volcano would be a stumbling block!!

Joe was all packed and ready to leave this morning, when we saw that his long flight to Germany had been cancelled due to the ash from the volcano reaking havic once again.;(

Thanks to our trusty travel agent, he will be leaving, with our fingers crossed, in the morning. He will fly out around 11am and arrive in Kiev Wednesday afternoon.

This does add a bit of changes to getting Olga. The orphanage does not allow children to leave in the afternoon, catch me in about a two weeks and I will fill you in on my reaction to this!!:) He will be able to get her on Thursday, which will be such a blessing to check the blog and see the photos of the two of them together!!! I can not wait!

Oleg gave us a possible return home date of next Tuesday or Wednesday. So please keep praying that round 2 in Ukraine goes smoothly and Olga's transition time with her daddy is filled with fun, laughter and cuddle time.

Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

I will update on Joe's arrival in Kiev.
Thanks for everyones support!!!!!

He is Headed Back!!!!

2010-05-06T06:23:00.000-07:00

We heard today that Oleg wants Joe to come back next Wednesday!!!

Soo exciting!!! I have so much to do between now and then. Help Joe pack for himself and for her!!! I cant wait to start packing her clothes, shoes and socks!!! Everything little and tiny and PINK!!!! Joe had said this morning, "if we do not hear from them today..Im just going back first thing next week and will get her out of the orphanage!" I know he is so eager to walk out those doors with her in his arms.

I will be trying to get him a flight out Monday or Tuesday at the latest. That way he is there for sure on Wednesday and will be ready first thing that morning to break her out.

We are praying that he will bring her home the end of next week or that weekend. With how our time over there has been, it might be early that next week. But we are fine with that. The more time she can spend with Joe over there will help him create that bond with him that he has been dying to have.

I can not wait to see him coming through the airport with her. To see the look on the kids faces when they see their sissy and if anyone knows Joe and how he has been with this adoption I know he will be a crying mess!!!

She is almost home!!!!!!!

Waiting...

2010-04-29T06:38:00.000-07:00

Oh the waiting game...not so much fun.
It is so strange being here, in this country, and knowing that our little girl is off in another country, without us. :(

I want so badly for her to be here, to be home with us. I know the procedure, i know we wait and wait some more. It doesnt get easier. I feel like there is a missing piece, a hole in our family.

I watched and listened today as Noah was getting his shoes on this morning for school and Gracie was fixing her hair for the hundreth time, they were discussing who was going to squeeze Adelee the hardest and longest when she gets home, so sweet. Gracie then reached over and grabbed the sweet little picture of her baby sister and started to kiss all over it. I can not wait for the bonds to start to form between these three children. To witness the love that has over flowed from Noah and Gracie all these months to engulf this little girl. She will not know what hit her. There are soo many people here waiting with us.. Waiting to see her and to experience the wonder she is going to have over all of lives.

Joe and I have spent sometime talking about the difficulties we will have. We know it is not going to be easy. We know that there is going to be a long transition for her, for us, for everyone. We are so looking forward to having her here and making our family complete. Hard times, Good times, sad times.... we are looking forward to it all. GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!!!! We know this, we have lived this, even during my hardest moments in Ukraine-I felt this.

We are trying right now to figure out when Joe will be returning to Ukraine. We know that there are ALOT of holidays in Ukraine during the month of May. There is the international Labor Day-May 1-4, Victory Day-May 9-10, Holy Trinity-May 23-24 and Memorial Day May 31. I know this will through some kinks in our plans.. We will let everyone know when we hear from Oleg or Nadya when we return and when Joe can walk out those orphanage doors and THIS TIME be the one to HELP Adelee wave PAKA!!!!!

Home Safe

2010-04-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Joe made it home safely Thursday afternoon.
He is very tired and trying to adjust to our time here, but safe and sound.

The next travel date will be in two weeks. Joe will return to Ukraine and get Olga immediately!!! He will then have to finish up the rest of the paperwork, her passport and medical. Then she will be on her way home, at last!!! It seems very surreal. We will be spending the last couple weeks preparing last minute details of her arrival and making sure I have everything needed for her.
We want to thank everyone for the prayers and support. We loved hearing from everyone during our trip. We will keep everyone updated on when Joe leaves again and when he will be returning with our little girl..

LeaAnn

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCING....

ADELEE

OLGA

NORMAN

Final Court Visit... CHECK! We are now officially a family of five! All is gravy in Kiev tonight. Olga is our daugter. AND the airlines are open so I will get to fly out super early (2:30 wake up, 5:30 first flight Ukraine time). If all goes well I should be able to fly back in approx. 2 weeks to get Olga and finalize paperwork allowing her to come to America.

Thanks again to everyone that has kept our family in your thoughts and prayers. It is not quite over yet but WOOOOOOOO what a step in the right direction!

O O Cheerios!

2010-04-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

I departed to the orphanage this morning armed with a new weapon. Cheerios! Well the Ukrainian equivelant. Taking advice from adoption veterans Rett and Tony I thought an edible peace offering may aid me in this mission to convince Olga that this strange man is trying to win her over to his side. Overall they worked GREAT! Every time she seemed to be getting annoyed with me or things in general I offered up some Cheerios. During the entire visit she had no tears or need for estrogenic intervention. We had a relatively quiet visit with the last 25 minutes with my little girl asleep across my chest. I am not sure of the schedule at the baby house but Olga has seemed tired during several of our visits.I figure it could be any of the following or a combo!
1. She is just waking up when I arrive.
2. She has been up a while and is paying for it.
3. She is still getting medication for her bad cold or any other number of things that they choose to address with a medicine.
4. I am boring!
Knowing that option 4 is untrue I wish I could ask the doctor about some of these things but since I visit the orphanage without a translator my best communication is to nod alot and smile like I kinda know what is going on.

Let's try a video today!

Volcano Watch 2010

2010-04-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Really nothing all that thrilling to post. I had no ride to the orphanage Sunday so it was just another day filled with me trying to find any way possible to kill time. I spend most of my time (not at orphanage) on the internet, taking walks exploring just a bit further each time, or watching the news channels to see what is new with the airlines and the volcano. Seems prehistoric to be concerned with a volcano but right now I am REAL interested in them. Had just over an hour visit with Olga this morning. We did get to go outside ALONE for a short time. The groupa dressed her like a blizzard was forcasted and we went for a short stroller walk and then played on the one swing in the play area. After 15 minutes or so the doctor was returning from one of the other buildings and of course swung by to make sure all was okay. She felt Olga's fingers and nose and went on into the baby house. Not two minutes later a groupa came out and signaled to me that our outdoor adventure time was over. Olga put up with me for about 35 minutes back inside and once she decided it was time to return to her baby room, that was it. She began to cry and instituted the estrogen program to which I have no chance to withstand. A groupa came to the rescue and it was paka, waive, gone. I am going back tomorrow and then have court Wed. to hopefully wrap this first visit up on the high note that she will finally, legally be the fifth member of our little family. Then a funfilled Thursday playing avoid the ash cloud on airplanes.

A Couple Pics

Solution = Balloons + Jesus

2010-04-17T04:02:00.000-07:00

After feeling sorry for myself yesterday for the so-so visit to Olga and wondering how I might manage to make it to Wed. for my final court and Thurs. AM for a plane ride HOME (please pray for the volcano to settle or the winds to change) I mustered up the courage to go to the orphanage this morning.
Two things came to light today that refocused my being here.
1)Balloons

I took some balloons with me today and they did the trick, it was a good time! Olga still looked at me a couple times like "Easy fella I'm still not 100% on this papa deal." But overall it was good. 3 other children were out with a groupa in the "lobby" area the whole time (I assume they were having Sat. morning cartoon time)and we all played with balloons and toys. One little girl was Angelena. She is the other child we considered adopting that was on RR site as Ashleigh.

2)Jesus

During the ride this morning I was listening to Hillsong United on the IPod and God laid this on my heart, " This whole trip/ adoption IS NOT ABOUT ME!" I am following HIS call to save this little girl. Who am I to focus on MY needs, MY feelings, MY etc. Some of the lyrics to the song "Solution" really got my head right so I will share them, they are not exact but close :)

GOD BE THE SOLUTION

Open up our eyes so blind
That we might find
The mercy for the need

Fill our hearts with your Compassion

GOD BE THE SOLUTION

It is not too far a cry
Too much to try
To HELP THE LEAST OF THESE

Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Saviour and our King

GOD BE THE SOLUTION

We will be your hands
Be your feet

We will run this race for the least of these
Your Love is all we need

GOD BE THE SOLUTION

In the darkest place
We will be Your Light

We will Run with the Solution
GOD BE THE SOLUTION

THANK YOU JESUS FOR THIS ANGEL!

Hope this Saturday finds you all in a good place!
Noah and Gracie, Daddy loves you and misses you both like crazy.

Joe

Island of Estrogen: Day 1

2010-04-16T03:32:00.000-07:00

My plan to get some quality solo time with Olga crashed and burned this morning. When I got to the baby house I had to wait a few minutes while they finished Olga's "massage". 1st problem: Massages! I know its not mud masks and cucumbers but how am I supposed to be a step up from a massage?
After my short wait they brought out my little girl, OKAY PAPA TIME! 2nd problem: Papa time only sounded good to me. Olga stood staring at me like "no way dude, where is the female that usually brings you?"
Not to be disuaded I turned up the daddy charm and we started to play with her toys and I even got I few smiles, usually when she would throw a toy on the floor and look at me, grin, and say with those deep brown eyes, "get'em sucker."
We were okay for about 40 mins. until, 3rd Problem: Boogies, yes boogies! Poor Olga's nose is still running strong and one of the ladies gave us a tissue to use. This is where I overstepped my bounds. I took the tissue from Olga, not good, and attempted to whipe her nose, to clear the boogies. This put her over the limit, she began to cry and when I tried to make it all better it got worse. This started the 4th and final problem: Estrogen, it is all Olga knows! As soon as she started crying I was way outnumbered! The house Groupas and doctor swarmed her and I had no chance to even try to show that I was a caring dad. Olga knows them and despite their efforts to tell her while looking at me "Papa, Papa" Miss Olga was done. They might as well looked at me and said space ship, space ship because she has no clue what a papa or a space ship are! So they returned her to the safe confines of the inner island and I left a little deflated wondering how I could go back tomorrow.
So how is everyone else! That was just the morning! To help it is raining so another funfest day in the apartment WOOOO HOOOOO!

All in a days work to save a life LOL. I didn't get any pics this AM but I will try to get some from Wed. when I had my estrogen anchor with me ;)

Going Solo!

2010-04-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, time for a minor update and a big change. This is Joe and I will be your Ukraine correspondant for the forseeable future. LeaAnn is currently on her way to Indiana to get back to Noah and Gracie. Praise God I checked her flight and all looks good, she was not held up by the closures in northern Europe and UK.
I will be here in Kiev until they decide to dig up our interpol clearance lol. Right now it looks like early next week. Today, after rising way early to see LeaAnn off to the airport my mission was to secure another apartment. As with all things Ukraine adoption it had complications! They took til almost noon to even find an open apartment, uh oHHH, I spent the morning considering life on the streets of Kiev :)
No worries I was able to stay in the same building just on the 7th floor now in another studio that is good but has not seen the update of some of the others. Any hoo, I ventured out for the first time without my travel buddy today and found my way back and everything!
I am going to see Olga in the morning, hopefully she will be feeling even better so I can start my plan to convince her that papa is numero uno!
Thanks so much for all your prayers and support back home. Keep em coming! I will try my hand at posting with some pics of everyones favorite Norman (Olga not me).
Please pray for LeaAnn to have safe return flights and that Noah and Gracie can withstand the "MOM ATTACK" that is upon them.

Joe

Day 18 Here in Kiev

2010-04-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

We were able to see little Miss Olga again today!! She seemed to be feeling a little better, but still not 100%.

The orphanage was really busy today, lots of activity, so she was distracted alot.
She loves to be held and rocked and loved on. She just lays very still and listens to us, its so cute.

We also went to court today. Not very eventful. We sat in an office of an official and she read our adoption petition. We answered a few questions and then we were done. That was that. Our interpol form did not come today :( so I will be leaving in about 12 hours on a flight back home by myself. It was not want we planned, but we are fully relying on God, and His plan isnt always ours. It will be nice for Joe to spend some more time with Olga, since he is the one coming back to get her and we want her to be used to him as much as possible.

The flight home will be a long one. I have never flown by myself and on the way here I was soo nauseated and sick from the flight. Hopefully with my Dramamine I will be ok.
Evidently the Ukraine airport is crazy in the mornings, hopefully I will navigate it and figure things out.

Please pray that the interpol paper comes yet today or even tomorrow. Joe will be able to finish things up here and fly home this weekend. I know he wants to get home as bad as I do, he just doesnt show it.

We were able to eat lunch with a family that has been here awhile. They had there 11 yr old adopted son with them. It was very nice to talk with another family that is in the same process and share our stories.

I will try to post pics later, blogger is not letting them download.
Thanks!!!!
LeaAnn

Sorry it has been awhile..

2010-04-13T06:23:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend and Monday we continued getting the same information about Olga. "She is sick, has temperature, no visit".

There is such a long story and I would love to share it with everyone, but since we did not make the blog private, I will refrain. Just know we have been tested more in the last week than we have this whole journey. I have leaned on the Lord more in the last few days than I have my whole life.

We did get some bad news that I can share. Nadya called on Monday and told us our interpol paper, the foreign background check that is an extra paper they started this year, is not in. The State Dept. of Adoption says that we have cleared and all is good, but they need the actual paper in their hands to release our adoption approval.

And it currently is "in the mail".

It could possible be in yet today, or even in the morning tomorrow.

If it comes in, yay!, we will be offically her parents after court and will be on our way home Thursday.

But if it does not come in by court tomorrow, Joe will remain here to finish up for a few days, and I will be flying home by myself Thursday.

Joe should only have to be here a few days, just until that paper gets here. Please pray that our meeting tomorrow with the judge goes well and that the interpol paper surprises us in the morning.

We were able to visit with Olga today. She is still such a sick baby, her cough sounds horrible and she has white snot coming out of her nose. Yuck!
But it doesnt change the fact that she has one of the sweetest faces I have ever seen.
She played a little, threw lots of toys (starting to look like a bad habit we started :) ) and we carried her around.

We will also be going in the morning to visit with her before court.
It makes the day so much better to spend time with her and have her in our arms. I thank the Lord that she is on the mend and close to becoming a Norman!!

Today we also went with Nadya to buy some small things for the kids. Hope they will enjoy them. And we finished the afternoon with a lunch at a traditional Ukrainian restaurant that Nadya recommended. It was really good.

I will leave you with some pictures of sweet Olga( you can tell she is not feeling well) and some random photos of Ukraine.

Ok, it must of been Daddy day!!!!

In the pics above we found some beautiful streets to walk along. Joe loved this Audi!!

Poor Little Olga ;(

2010-04-10T03:33:00.000-07:00

We drove the long 1 1/2 hour drive this morning to find out again that we are not able to see little miss Olga. When we walked in the nurse was shaking her head no and saying temperature. I asked if we could atleast see her, and she shook her head no.
We were so disapointed. I wish we knew exactly what was wrong with her.

When we went back to the car, Sivlet, our driver, said he would call Nadya. After Nadya called the physician that gave us permission to go today, Sivlet took us back into the orphanage. We were told they would bring her out, but we were not allowed to touch her and to keep our distance. Are you serious!!!

We stood there while this little precious gift of ours walked out holding the hands of one of the workers. She looked pale and tired with a red nose. But she laughed and smiled when she saw us. They held her back from us. The nurse picked her up and loved on her.

She just looked at us, lost...confused.... it was so sad.
Ofcourse not 1 minute later, they told her to say "Paka" (bye) and she was gone.....
All I could do was cry. Sivlet kept saying he was sorry and she was a "good girl".

Im not sure why they wont let us even touch her, whisper in her ear we love her or even spend more than 1 minute with her. They said we could not come back until Monday.

I pray that they let us actually spend time with her Monday. Tuesday is a busy day and we have court on Wed. I want so badly to spend more time with her, especially since I will not be returning on the second visit.

Please pray for her. Pray that her little body stays strong through this illness. Pray that she fights it and is better by Monday. Pray that even in our absence she remembers us and feels and sees the love that we have for her.

I know in my heart they are wanting to protect her, to make her well. They do seem like they care for her. With the language barrier and no contact it is just hard to understand it all. But Im trying, really trying.

Today is our 14th day. We went to our coffee place for lunch. The ladies in their smile at us, and might think that we are stalking them a bit. But the coffee is to die for and the salads are yummy. We even splurged today and tried the cheesecake, it was very good.

Thanks for listening, not much of an update, but its something. One day closer to court date, where she will offically be ours!!!

A Cheese Bouquet we had at a nice restaurant, yummy

We caught a peek of another room at the orphanage. THere was the most precious little girl in there. I started waving at her clapping and she did it right back. She just stood there and smiled. If you look to the right of the picture there is also a baby lying in a play pen. Very sad to know that they will be here once we leave....please pray about adopting...there are soo many more precious gifts here that need a family

There are lots of dogs and some cats that roam the streets. They seem to be everywhere in Olga's city of Vorzel. This dog, if you can see it, is standing at the automatic door entrance to a store. He is thinking very hard about going in everytime it opens. Joe and I thought it was soo cute

A Shell Gas Station. The gas here is cheap, about 1 dollar a gallon

Sorry the picture is poor. We are driving with Sivlet and the traffic is bad. Everyone just does what they want, make a new lane, drive on the other side of the road. Here you can see to the right, they are coming at us in our ditch. Very funny. Sivlet kept saying "little cars, go bump,bump" the ditch is NOT a place to drive, the roads barely are decent.

Day #4 Without Olga

2010-04-09T04:39:00.000-07:00

Today was much like the last few days, no Olga. , (

Nadya said that she would call the orphanage doctor this morning to just make sure it was okay to come and visit. When she called, she said the doctor stated she still had a cough and that 10am Saturday we could come back to visit.
It has been so hard this week. Trying to find things to do, stay focused on why we are here, wake up everyday thinking you are going to be able to see her ...
It feels like we have just been here an entire week, and have accomplished nothing.
I could be holding little Olga who is sick and show her love and comfort, or I could be home this week with my other two kids and comfort them, because I know this has not been easy for them either.
I know that is why our court date is next week, I will treasure the time we get to spend with her this weekend and early next week. I hope that she has a simple cold, and that it is not worse than what we are thinking. The doctor has not been specific about it.

Noah is also sick at home now, he sounds horrible on the phone. And even though he says he is fine, all I want to do is be at home with him too. The pull your emotions have on you here is amazing. Throughout the day, there are such a mixture of emotions, it is exhausting sometimes.
I hope the time with her this weekend is precious. Early next week we will be really busy finalizing things and then court. Hopefully one last kiss to our little girl and then off we are to the US.

Please keep Olga in your prayers, that she is feeling better and up for a visit tomorrow. Also Noah, who is at home sick. And little Gracie who keeps asking me when Im coming home.

Hopefully tomorrow we will have loads of pictures for you!!!!

Cant Wait For Tomorrow!!!

2010-04-08T05:20:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we get to return to the orphanage to see our little princess.
We are soo excited. It has been since Monday that we were able to see her, so we can not wait to love on her.
Last night we were able to enjoy authentic tasting Mexican, it was really nice. They also had a live band and they would sing American songs that we could understand every 2-3 songs, so it was nice.
Today we slept in a little. It was nice, very peaceful and the sun was shining in our apartment. We decided to try the sushi restaurant that Nadya said was good, CywuR (sp?) something like that. We did not eat sushi, not our thing :), but we did try the crab potato thingies, which were good. And we both had the fried rice. It was a nice change from the usual. We drink the Coke Light in the bottle and not one place we have been to do they serve it cold. Anyone knows me they know I need my fountain diet coke, so the bottle is just not as good! ;0

We ventured to the market again. We were getting low on stuff and did not know when we were leaving. So since we will be here another week, we stocked up on some stuff. Laundry detergent, soap, toothpaste, water, and Coke Light. We even were a little adventurous today and tried some new things. We bought yogurt, ice cream and milk. Joe is such a milk drinker at home, so it has been almost 2 weeks without it now. So we bought the Moloko, he says it takes just like milk!
Tomorrow we will start to go back to the orphanage. We will go again on Saturday and hopefully convince them to let us come on Sunday!
I think once we start into next week the time is gonna fly. Nadya is taking us shopping on Monday to buy some souveniers for the kids. On Tuesday we are going to the US Consulate for me to sign papers so that Joe can return by himself. Then on Wed. is court and packing, and then Thursday we leave to come home!! Hopefully we will get to see Olga everyday next week and Wed. after court. It will be so hard to say goodbye to her and leave her here, especially after Wed. when they announce her our daughter!!
Im soo excited to have her home the begginning of May. To enjoy the summer with all three kiddos!! We are both excited to let her begin to melt everyones hearts like she has ours.

Not sure why they paint the trees white at the bottom, but we have actually seen them doing it

Beuatiful statues and buildings

Menu at Japanesse Restaurant!!

Daddy eating with chop stiks

The yogurt is super yummy, this one is strawberry and they are in little glass jars!

We Got Court Date!

2010-04-07T07:13:00.000-07:00

Nadya called and told us that our court date is next Wed. 14th at 9am. It is definitely not what we expected, but it is what it is. We are thankful that we got the court date and there is no more waiting to see if and when we get it.
We will be hopefully flying out Thursday morning, our travel agent did not see anything immediatly available, but he said he would work on it.
We are still not allowed to see Olga. The orphanage doctor said that she has a cold and needs to rest. Which is best, but I do wish that we could atleast go and hold her. We will be able to go on Friday. We are thankful that we get to see her several more times before we leave, since we have not seen her much this week.

We also will not be getting the same women judge that was expected. She will be on vacation so we will have a new judge. Please pray that he has a kind open heart and will grant Olga to be our daughter next Wed. without any problems.
Joe and I definitely need to keep busy. When we are idle is when we worry and become discouraged.
I think tonight we are taking a taxi to the mexican restaurant called Tequilla House. It will be a nice change and we can celebrate getting our court date.
Now the count down begins. Once we are home, Joe will come back and bring her home.
Like my best friend Karrie said, when I look back on this it will not feel like such a long time and I will cherish the time I spend her country.
Thanks for all the prayers!!!!
Will leave you with some pictures

Olga's Orphanage

A Walmart type store

I will try and post one more video sometime today or tomorrow, our computer does not want to download it right now.
Luv ya!!!

No Court Date :(

2010-04-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

We did not recieve our court date today. We waited most of the day and finally called Nadya out of anticipation. She told us that they were able to submit everything needed today to the judge. Which is great, the social worker was able to get everything together. Nadya said that the judge was too busy today to look at it, so we will hear the court date tomorrow.
I have a feeling in the pit of my stomach that court will not be until next week, but Im trying to remain positive.

We drove to the orphanage this morning, like every other morning. When we arrived one of the workers kept trying to speak to us in Ukrainian, we could not understand what she was saying. She put her hand to her head and we realized she was talking about Olga being sick. We called Nadya to translate for us and sure enough she is a sick little baby. They told us to come back another day!!!! I wish they would of let us sit and hold her and love on her. We would not mind her being sick around us. But they pretty much told us to leave.;( We then drove the almost hour back to Kiev.

The rest of the day was spent getting our internet back up and running. This evening we went to the Italian restaurant for dinner. We were able to speak to the kids tonight. Gracie has bronchitis, so please pray that she starts to feel better. I dont like being away from my kids when they are sick, Gracie or Olga!

Nadya said that the orphanage asked us to come back maybe THurs or Friday when she is feeling better. So now tomorrow we have no plans. I think we might go to the Chernobyl museum and maybe purchase a few gifts for Nadya and the orphanage ladies.

We want to thank everyone for all the kind words and prayers. It is so nice to hear from everyone back home. We are hoping the next time you read the blog we will have a court date!!!!
God Bless,
LeaAnn

Post #1

2010-04-05T08:07:00.000-07:00

VIDEOS!!!!

Post #2

2010-04-05T07:14:00.001-07:00

>

Sorry we have not posted since Saturday. We are not able to connect to the internet in our room. We have continued to go to the office, since it is in our building, frequently and ask to have it fixed. Nadya told us to be persistent. They do not seem real eager to fix it, but we hope that now that we are currently sitting in their office using their wifi, it will encourage them to fix ours!! ;)

Sunday was quiet. Church bells started to ring periodically Saturday night and went on unitl Sunday afternoon. It was beautiful to hear. People were also walking down the street with lit candles. We went to our coffee place and had cottage cheese type cakes with jam, they were good. It was raining off and on, so we stayed in most of the day.
Today, we were able to see our little stink bug. She came out and I held out my arms and....she went right past me to go and clung to him. :) Today was all about daddy. She sure does get a kick of him. We played and played. She loves to do things and watch out reaction. She has mastered her computer book with the mouse now!!
SHe started to get sleepy when I was holding her singing "Jesus loves me", the lady came out and motioned to take her if she was asleep, I said no and we tried our best to keep her awake so that we can keep her with us. She went back and forth between the two of us and finally fell asleep in daddy's arms. THe lady came back and noticed she was asleep and took her. Gosh, I wish she would understand how good it feels to hold her when she is sleeping.
Joe and I also fall asleep on the way back to our apt listening to our ipods. Very relaxing :) Besides the huge potholes that Sivlet has to do try and miss!! We bought him two packs of his cigarettes that he smokes and gave to him this morning, he said celebration!!! And asked if we were catholic? It was nice to try and speak with him about his religous beliefs. He said he is also christian.
Tonight we are going to stay low and maybe do a quick dinner. Tomorrow is one of the big days, Nadya and Oleg are going to court to submit everything and get us a court date. We are super excited about this, I have butterflies in my stomach! We are still praying they will tell us Thurs or Friday of this week will be court!
Ok, here are your pics!!!

2010-04-03T05:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, whoever said it felt like groundhog day here, they were right!
Today Sivlet drove us the 40 mins to the orphanage again. He is a man of few words, and few English words. But he is kind none the less.
Today, the weather is much like the last two days, mild,overcast and raining. Please do not tell me what it is like at home ;)
When we arrived, the ladies now all know why we are there, "Olya's momma, pappa!!!".
It is so sweet, and they are so nice and gentle with her.
She came out and was all business. She looked for the strawberry shorcake bag and when she saw it she screamed. Everytime she looked in it she screamed with excitement. It was the first time she has done this.
We played with her stacking cups and the baby doll with the magnet pacifer JOe had bought her back home. She loved it. Actually what she still loves the best is to throw it all on the floor and point with her tiny cute finger and looks at Joe! Already training him!!

We bought her a cloth book with a magnet type mouse that you move over the book and it makes sounds, she caught on quickly and enjoyed that too. We keep trying to get her to dance to the music of a toy, but she wont. Then one of the ladies came out and said dance in Ukrainian and she started right away!!!Too cute.
A young girl arrived and brought decorated glass type eggs to be hung up for Easter and a large sign that said something in Ukrainian with a picture of Jesus. It was nice to know someone brought that to the orphanage!! She also brought in candy for the children and balloons. When Olga saw those she was done with us. She kicked and threw the ballons around for atleast 45 mins. She loved them.
The young lady came over and said did you speak to my grandmother yesterday? Ofcourse I looked at her in confusion. She said that the lady is her grandmother and not related to Olga but has come everyday for 9 months to see Olga. So this explains the older women yesterday, she is not Olga's grandmother, just someone who comes to visit her. Hope Im making sense;) The young lady said that her grandmother had a son with Down Syndrome and she loves to come visit the children here and has become attached to Olga. She also said that they do know Olga's mom, her name is Linnia (sp?) and Olga has an older sister!! We exchanged email addresses to keep in touch.
It is nice to know a little more information about Olga's family and know too that she has touched the lives of others.
Our visit ended and they held her and told her to blow us kisses and she did. We both kissed her and said PAKA!! One of our few words we know.
We will not be able to see her Sunday. We are going to eat a nice breakfast in the morning and then watch Passion of the Christ, we are still not adventurous enough to try and find a church.
Monday we will go see her again and on Tuesday Oleg and Nadya go to court for us to get a court date, for hopefully sometime that same week!!
We want to first thank Jesus, for leading on us on this amazing journey. We are thankful that He has brought us here to her, no matter how difficult it has been. We also want to thank everyone at home for the encouraging words and love that you have shown.
I will leave you with a few pictures of our sweet angel!

Day #2 With Olga

2010-04-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

Today started off much like yesterday. Early to rise, about 1am your time!!! Thankfully the traffic was not as bad and it only took 40mins to get to the orphanage. This time we were only taken by our driver, Sivlet. He is very kind though.
When we arrived they brought her out to us quickly. She was so stinkin cute and just giggled as she walked towards us. All of the ladies there rub our arms and say Mama and Papa, so that Olga get used to us. She sat on Joes lap for quite some time trying to take it in. We are kinda strange people ;)

After her brief moment of shyness, she came out of it!!! She loves the stackable cups, thanks Rett for the idea!!. She did start to throw them and make papa go get them. Which I thought was funny, so did she!
We were allowed to spend 2 hours with her and the time went by so fast. We were left in what I call the lobby area and there is lots of distraction. She adores the women that work there, they all tease her and she smiles. Very reassuring to know what they have tried to provide for her the last 2 1/2 years.
She loved playing with this popping toy, everytime it made a sound she looked at us and we jumped and she laughed. We did "get the mama" again, and ofcourse she giggled alot. And she loves Joe's cell phone, with the dice game. She shakes it like crazy to get it to work!!!
She reached for me and put her head on my shoulder and I sang You are My Sunshine (Gracie, she likes it just like you), I must of sang that 4 times and she almost fell asleep. Very sweet girl.

And then we had a surprise. A lady came in that we recognized from some pictures that we had gotten from another family. When Olga saw her she just lit up. All of sudden the women started crying hysterically, holding Olga, pointing towards to ceiling saying "Jesus" and a bunch of other stuff we could not understand. Tatiana,I think she is one of the doctors or one of the head ladies came out and must of told her to give her to us, then she left. The lady continued to cry and cry and hold onto her. I called Nadya and asked her to please speak to her and find out what she is saying.
Come to find out, she is Olga's grandmother. She has wanted to take Olga for along time but has not been able to. And she said she has prayed and prayed that Jesus would bring a mommy and daddy for Olga. Nadya said she wanted to give us her blessing and her phone number. THe grandmother took the phone again and started bawling. I felt so sorry for her, the two sides of the pain of such an answered prayer for her granddaughter, losing her and her finding a family. I spoke with Nadya one last time and she told me that Olga's mother has alot of addictive problems and she does not want her to be with her. She hugged and kissed JOe and I. At this point many of the workers came out and were talking to her matter of factly. Pointing to us, saying Papa, Mama!!! Olga was upset by this point and did not know what to do. One of the ladies grabbed a ball and started helping us distract Olga while she walked out.
I dont know if we will see her again. Or if Olga will see her again. I felt so sorry for her, I cant imagine what she is feeling. I just hope that she saw the love in our eyes for Olga as we stared helplessly at her.
We finished the day playing and laughing with her. And then it was over. THey took her for lunch and we said PAKA!!! SHe waved and then was gone.
Joe and I went back to our little coffee house and had salads and coffee and gelato (sp). We also went to a toy store and got her a baby doll that sings a nursery rhyme (we are guessing) in Ukranian.

THis is our coffee spot!! They have good lunch too!!

Loving on Papa!!

Sweet baby!

More of sweet little Olga!!
Keep us in your prayers, still no word from Social Worker.
Love ya LeaAnn

Meet Adelee Olga!!!

2010-04-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

I know everyone wants to see pics, so we will show them first and talk last!!!!

This little girl has already won over our hearts. I cant wait to bring her home!!Noah and Gracie be ready, she is silly!! Today, we were picked up by our driver and Nadya (our translator). It is usually about 30-40 mins to orphanage, but the traffic here is crazy. They are also trying to fix some of the roads after winter, so everyone stopped and honking constantly. :) We picked up the social worker, who is in a city next to Olga's. It took awhile, but we were finally on the road to Vorzel. We went to the orphanage director's office and spoke with him as to why we wanted to adopt Olga and a special needs child. After answering him, we were given permission to go to her groupa and see her. Her little home looked so familiar, after seeing it on video. The little giraffe slide and the sign with the baby and pacifier. Soo neat to actually see it! We started walking towards the door, when I realized I forgot my SD card for my camera! shoot! We still had my camcorder, which is not the best, and Joe's cell phone!! When we walked in we sat on the same couch that little Olga sat on and had her picture taken months ago. The staff all looked at Joe and said she looks just like you!!! So sweet! The doctor came in and went over her history with us, i wil try to list it to make it easier: 1.She follows instructions well 2. She wallks on her own, yay!!!!! 3. She is high functioning compared to other children with ds in orphanage 4. Her oval window (hole in her heart) is closed!!! ANother YAY!!!! 5. Thyroid condition is minor, and she is on medicine 6. She has had 3-4 colds since birth, and thats it! 7. Her mom had a normal pregnancy 8. She weighed 3kg 300grams and apgar was 7,8 9.She has an umbilical hernia, they say does not need repair 10. Her eyesight is normal Very good to hear that she is a healthy little thing! They told us that they were getting her dressed nice and they would bring her in. When she first walked in my heart sank, I did not imagine her walking in! She was soo cute. She initially walked over to me and smiled, but then immed. went to Joe held out her hands and smiled!! Ofcourse, you know JOe started to tear up! She is so funny, curious about everything, loves to look at the cars outside and make a motor boat noise and wave her hand up and down. She sticks her bottom lip out and makes a funny noise when she looks like she is thinking about something. Everyone she sees she runs up to and grabs for them and smiles! SHe loved playing the "get mama" game where Joe held her and lowered her to me and I tickled her!!! Her laugh is contagious! We played with bubbles, she did not like to get her hands wet with the bubbles though! She really spent most of the time playing with the animal cars we brought. I picked her up and started rubbing my nose with hers and she about fell asleep! So sweet. She just took it all in. She then layed her head on my shoulder and I sang Rock a bye baby, and she did not budge once. She was very intent on listening to the song. It was then time to say goodbye, PAKA!! I just held her hand as the lady took her back into the other room. All the workers there were like, that is your Mama & Papa, and she looked at us like what is that? SHe will know very soon, what love we have for her and what love is waiting for her through Jesus and the family back home waiting to kiss all over her!! THey asked us are you going to take her, YES YES! YES!! No doubt in our minds we met our third child today!! We went back to the directors office and he wanted to know what we thought of her. Ofcourse we are in love and he could see that on our faces even if he cant speak english! HE said he thanks us for taking her and that her life here would be over soon and that is very sad, but medically they cant take care of special needs here. It was so nice to hear him speak so nicely about adoption of special needs kids!! SOrry so long, trying to recap our day for you!! We came back to Kiev, Nadya took us to a restuarant called Schnetizel (sp?) I had soup, JOe had chicken schnetizel with potatoes. It was a nice place, very quiet and seemed to be for 20-30 yr old business people. We waited for about 1 hour at the notary office to get our petition for adoption done and notarized and then back to the apt. Very busy day, we are exhausted, both mentally and physically. We are able to see Olga (she understand Olya we found out) everyday except Sunday from 10-12 or 4-6. We will only be able to do one time session a day because we have a driver that waits for us during our visit. One quick prayer we need is to pray that the social workers office will get our information to us tomorrow that we need for them to go to court and submit to get a court date. I guess they are having some problems and do not know when they will have papers ready. THe social worker that went with us today doesnt even normally do this. We so need these papers tomorrow so that they can go to court and submit!!!! Keep praying!!! Joe says that i need to stop writing the novel, so thats it. Hopefully more pics tomorrow and maybe I can upload the video, it doesnt want to seem to finish. Love U GUYS!!!! LeaAnn

We Got Referral

2010-03-31T08:23:00.001-07:00

We went today to the SDA again with Nadya.We were about 5th in line. We walked in got her referral paper, signed our name by our passport numbers and out the door we went. We were able to see our entire dossier packet too, which was nice.
Other than that, today was spent resting and doing laundry. We also found a nice Itallian restaurant that Lyndi suggested. I was finally able to eat, which I though I would never be able to do.We also met some American missionaries at the restaurant. THey have been here for over a year working within the orphanages and in homeless shelters and will be here for quite some time. They were so nice and able to give us some tips and places to go. The women explanined to me how she felt when she first arrived. It was very comforting to speak to them. We also spoke with a couple at the SDA that adopted a little girl when she was 5 here in Ukraine and now she is 11 and they are back for her sister!!!!How amazing. They had the girl with her and she was absolutly gorgeous.
We were not able to go to orphanage today ;( We have to take the social worker with us from Kiev to the orphanage on the first visit and she was unable to go today. We will be going at 8am in the morning to see her. Nadya said we would have about 2hours with her. YAY!!!Im soo excited to see her.
Nadya said when she was taking her pictures last Nov/Dec Olga and another little girl were being very silly. Hugging each other and laughing and making faces. Those of you that have seen the picture with Olga acting silly with her hands on her head that was it!! I cant wait to see her personality and how she interacts with us.
I want to thank everyone for the prayers, support, words of encouragement and scripture that you have given us. I would have to say this is the most difficult thing I have ever done, but I know in the end will be the most rewarding.
I leave you with a few pictures of the city and hopefully tomorrow we will have the pictures we have all been waiting to see!!

Read post after this one first, lost server connection

2010-03-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to be honest to everyone so that prayers continue and also for those that are behind us in their own journey, escecially the mommy's can prepare for their own feelings. Last night was pretty bad for me. I ,cried and cried and got on my knees and prayed. I felt lost, scared, homesick and seriously felt like I was having a panic attack, in which I have never had. Joe has been the absolute best husband, I know if he could he would take the feelings I have away. I know why we are here, I know Olga will die one day soon if we do not save her. I just wish these feelings would stop. I talked with my sister Amy last night and she prayed with me on the phone, I also spoke with Karrie and she had alot of encouraging words for me. I was also excited to see the kids on skype and happy to know they are having alot of fun.
The only thing I can come up with is that I need that court date, I need to be able to count down the days till Im home again. So please pray we are told our court date friday. And the countdown can begin. Im def. not a world traveler. Ive come to that conclusion quickly. Im hoping once we go to the orphange and get to see her I will be on a mission at that point.
Thanks for listening...will post tomorrow
LeaAnn

SDA Appointment

2010-03-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

Today we went for our appointment to get Olga's referral. Nadya picked us up and we took a taxi. It was nice to see the "main street" which had alot of stores and restaurants. Very busy place.
The building we went to was not what I had imagined, very small and it was a side door to a building. Inside we waited with other families in the lobby area. Nayda said everyone there was waiting for the same thing and our wait could be awhile.
Not 2 minutes later they called us in!!!
We sat down with a woman psychologist and she asked us to tell her about our family and why we want to adopt a child with special needs, easy enough. She then showed us Olga's referral packet!
We were told that she has DS(we knew), that she has the oval window of her heart (we knew that too), and that she also has a hernia, we did not know this, and do not know what type, but very fixable.
We were told that her parents abandaned her at birth at the hospital and signed away all rights at that time and that they knew nothing about her having any brothers or sisters. Such a sad little story she has, so far atleast.
We were then asked how our two kids back home feel about Olga and what state we live in. I showed her the photo album we brought and who each person was and what each place was. She seemed very pleased with our answers and told us we had beautiful children back home.
Nadya tried to get them to exchange our photo that we have of Olga with the newborn picture, but they said they would not do it now that we would have to wait till later, which is fine.
We were out the door in less than 10 minutes. Nadya is hoping that we will have our court date by Friday or MOnday and is pretty sure it will be next week sometime that the official court date will take place. I pray this is true.
We have to go back to the SDA tomorrow and wait in line with everyone else to pick up our referral. to go see her. Nadya said she is going to try and arrange us to go directly to the orphanage after that, but we will have to wait and see.

I want to be honest with everyone so that the prayers continue and to those that are behind us in the process, espc

Second Day

2010-03-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

Right now it is 4pm here. After sleeping 14+hours, Im doing much better. The initial shock of being in a new country along with jet lag was not pleasant. But Joe and I both have actually laughed today!!
We got ready and went to another market, which was nicer than the last one. I was on a search for water, I have never been so dehydrated and thirsty for water before. We kept buying water, but it was carbonated and not quinching our thirst. Finally I found Evian.
We continued to walk around the area and also found a toy store,they have the same toys that we have in the states.
We are now back in our apartment. We will try the TGI Fridays restaurant that we have heard from other families tonight and try and relax and watch a movie. Our SDA appt. is tomorrow at noon. We are soo excited to get the process started here and be able to find out information about Olga.

Here we are doing our many flight!

YAY!!In Ukraine Airport

Our apartment, very bright and cheery, exactly what I need ;)

Sidewalks here are for driving on first, then walking

Gracie, they have barbies here just like at home!!!!

This is apartment from across the street. The buildings here on the outside look alot different from the inside.

I will post after our SDA appt. tomorrow. Thanks for all the prayers and support. It is great to know we have so much support. Love you guys!!!

We Are Here!

2010-03-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

After countless hours in multiple airports, three flights, one of those in which I thought was never going to end ...here we are. In little Miss Olga's country of Ukraine!!
It has been a major culture shock on top of the fact that we are jet lagged and just plain exhausted. When we arrived, our facilatator took us to our apartment, which is pretty nice. We both got cleaned up and went to a local market to try and figure out what to keep in our apartment in the way of food. We both are soo confused as to what is ok to eat and what is not, we ended up with some pasta and sauce and some Coke Light, which thankfully tastes like Diet Coke.
Not sure if anyone else was ever really overwhelmed, scared and lost, but I surely am. I hate feeling like this, because I know what this trip is for, it is to save Olga. But I have creid non stop since we have gotten to apartment, I think I have actually scared Joe a little.
We were able to take a nap for a couple hours and now Joe is trying to cook the pasta. I hate having these feeling, I alomst feel disapointed in myself, that just because Im out of my comfort zone, Ive broken down.
I have tried to tell myself that it is short lived, that Jesus went through much more and that little Olga is depending on me to be strong. But if prayers could please be sent this way it would be soo thankful.
Will try to get much needed rest and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to post a few pictures.
Having trouble with our email, so if anyone that usually just responds via email, try to leave a post here.
Talk soon :)

Leaving Tomorrow!!!

2010-03-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Bright and early in the morning we will be quietly kissing the kids goodbye and sneaking out of the house. We are saying our goodbyes tonight to family and friends at dinner and hope to cuddle at home with the kids the rest of the evening.
Oh how I will miss them. My heart hurts to know that I will be without them for such a long time.
The journey is one that God is sending Joe and I on and I know he will pave the way and comfort us along the way. Im praying too that He provides comfort and security to the kids and allow them to undestand the importance of this time in our lives and how incredible it will be to have Olga at home with us.
This little girl so far away has no idea that we are coming for her. She has no clue that when we see her for the first time, we are going to be overwhelmed with joy and happiness and Joe will most likely cry, alot! ( hopefully this will not scare her ;) )

We are soo excited to begin learning about her and who she is!! Please keep us in your prayers!! IF you see the kids, please give them a hug and let them know they are brave! And keep checking the blog, we will be updating while we travel.
We decided not to make our blog private, we want to share with everyone!!
So stay tuned.....

Where are the nerves!!!!

2010-03-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, everyone keeps asking me if Im nervous! Now I feel like I should be.
Where are the nerves!!!
So I started thinking about all the things I have postponed and put off because Im not rushed and not nervous.
So now if anyone wants to know, Iam nervous!!!! :)

I feel like time is running out and I have soo much left to do. I know we are not supposed to worry, God is in control. I get that.
But now I feel like my head is spinning and I cant think of what needs to be done!!!

Our living room is a mess with our travel stuff and so is our dining room table!! So no fancy homemade meals this week!

It was so funny this morning I was getting ready and Gracie said, "Shouldnt you be packed and ready, dont you leave the country in a few hours!". Too funny, even though we do not leave for 4 days, even my daughter is reminding me to get things in order! ;)

I was up late last night listening to Hillsong United, if you have never heard of them they are an Australian Christian band that I absolutely love!!!
The song Hosanna came on, in which I love and there were a few verses that have really been weighing heavy on my heart, so here they are....

Heal my heart & make it clean,
Open up my eyes to the things unseen,
Show me how to love like you have loved me!
Break my heart for what breaks yours,
Everything Iam for your kingdoms cause,
As I walk from earth to eternity!!!

I know this journey will not be an easy one, for the kids, for us in a foreign country, for the families watching our kids... But I also know that the Lord will give us strength, and give the children comfort. When we look into the eyes of our little girl, so lost and broken, we will know our purpose and continue to look to what the future holds for her.
Our suffering does not compare to the what the Lord endured for us!!

Less than a week away!!!

2010-03-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week!!! We have finalized flight and apartment plans and continue to make list after list of last minute things that need to be done.
We are soo excited to finally be on our way to meet her. God is soo good and we are very thankful to be on this journey with Him guiding us.
We spent our last weekend at church for awhile and it was great just to sing His praises and to feel His presence. It seems like our time is spent making sure kids will be content when we are gone and that everything is in order with our business and home. We have forgotten to stop and take time to be before Him and thank Him for all He has done in our lives this past few months.
The kids have spring break this week, it worked out perfectly to have time with them this week without the hustle and bustle of school and activities. We are spending time cuddling, reading books and watching movies!! I will miss them soo much. I keep reminding Gracie, who is a mama's girl, that even though we will miss each other, that to keep in mind that Olga needs a home and a family. Everytime we talk about her she just smiles and says "I love O-ga". She always forgets the "L" in Olga!!!Soo cute :)
The Pampered Chef party went really well. We had a really good turn out!!! Thanks to everyone who ordered and especially to Amy and Karrie for putting everything together!!
Will continue to post during our frantic packing and organizing, thanks for all the prayers and support!!!!

WE GOT IT!!!!!!

2010-03-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

I opened the email less than 10 minutes ago and screamed at the top of my lungs in our office!!!
Our SDA appointment is March 30th!!!!!!!!
Im in absolute shock it is that quick. Less than two weeks away we will be in our little girls country. Our appointment is where we get her referral to see her in the orphanage.
We all started crying, even our secretary!!
They want us there on Sunday March 28th. I have soo much to do and get done and think about. All the things I have postponed are now an immediate task.
Thank you so much for the prayers and support.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! Praise God!!!!

Awaiting Our Travel Date

2010-03-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

We are now just awaiting our travel date. Our in country facilitator said that all documents looked really good and he did not foresee an issue with the State Dept. of Adoption. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that they feel the same way!
We hope to get the appointment date soon. There are still tons of things we need to do before traveling, but I have been procrastinating quite a bit.
My best friend Karrie and my sister Amy are putting on a Pampered Chef party for us to finish raising the last bit of money needed for the traveling expenses. We are soo excited they are doing this for us!! If anyone wants to place an order just let me know and I can add it on!!! We are doing the actual party Saturday the 20th! Just leave me a msg. for details:)
As soon as we get the news I will post. But for now just keep us in your prayers that our dossier will breeze through and we will be ready to go!!

MARCH 4TH!!!

2010-03-02T11:29:00.000-08:00

We just received our submittal date to the SDA in Olga's country.
Our facilitator will be turning in our dossier to the State Dept. of Adoption!!

One step closer!! Hopefully it will not be long after that. We are still not sure how quickly it will be. When we look at other families journey's it all seems to differ. And now with the new interpol form, it may take a couple weeks longer.
But we are defintely excited today to get the news!!

We are coming soon Olga!!!!!

We are in Paris France!!!

2010-02-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

Well, actually our dossier is, not us personally. ;)

Very exciting to keep track of our important papers as they travel to our facilitator in Olga's country.
On Monday we went to Indiana Secretary of State office bright and early to get all documents apostilled and ready to go. Seems like we always run into red tape. We were allowed to have 20 documents apostilled and have them back same day, any more than that it would take several days to get them back. We were hoping to have several of the documents bundled together so we would fall below the 20 mark. Evidently you can not bundle papers together if they are each individually notarized, even if they are the same notary. How on earth was I supposed to know this. Ofcourse, after talking with her for a few minutes I was not getting anywhere. She was very rude which in turn made me start to cry. I ended up leaving the room and Joe spoke with her. She ended up agreeing to have them done that day but would not give us a time.
It ended up being a nice day spent with Joe. We ate lunch and did some shopping for Olga. The papers were finished at 5pm and we were able to get them to the fedex right after that.
So now, our dossier is on its way. Hopefully it will be there by the end of the week. WE know now that we will not travel until April, due to the interpol form taking approx 40 days to clear. The interpol form is an international clearance. It may be sooner we are not sure. We do know that this is in God's hands and we will be with our baby in His time. It may not be when we want it to be, but we are praying she continues to be cared for and remains healthy. We are also praying that our dossier is perfect and no changes need to be made. We will be spending the time before we travel getting things in order with our business that we own, continue to prepare the kids for when we are gone and getting all of our travel stuff in order.
I have cards for the kids to open each day to encourage them, they will also have fun things to do while we are gone, movie tickets, bowling passes and small 'We love you" presents to open. We know they will be in good hands and we are grateful for that.
Please keep us in your prayers as we wait for news from her country.

WE GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

We recieved our 171H approval letter from immigration today!!!! We are now offically allowed to bring one child under 48 months with special needs into the United States.

We are soo excited!!! Actually on my way to get our doctor to sign the last form and then we are good to go. I will go the the Secretary of State office on Monday to have things apostilled and then will send the entire bundle of paperwork to Olga's country!!
I can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now. We wanted to travel in March, so this works out great. Hopefully, we will not have to do any corrections on our paperwork and we will get our court date quickly after Oleg translates it all and submits it.
We are taking the kids out tonight to celebrate!!! We are almost there Olga, mommy and daddy are coming soon.
Thank You JESUS!

Still Waiting....

2010-02-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

The wait continues.
It seems like everytime I go to the mailbox I hold my breath and say a prayer, but the one piece of paper that we are waiting on is still not there smiling back at me.
When the day comes that I see it there I may not be able to control myself. It seems like forever since I mailed the i600a app out. Granted it was Dec.28th but it still feels like forever.
I continue to email and harass the immigration on weekly basis. We now know our fingerprints have cleared!!! Very excited about that. She did say in the next sentence that we "are in line" to get adjudication, the final go ahead.
In the meantime, I continue to make Lyndi work hard and find my constant mistakes with my medical forms. There is acutally one more form that I need to go have restamped my the doctors office to have everything complete for our dossier. I seriously think the our doctor will go crazy this time. It will be the fifth time I have gone in there wanting changes to be made to these documents. Not sure he was real enthusiastic about it to begin with. So Im sending Joe this time. I have went the four times before, now its his turn. Thanks honey!
We are also trying to get everything together for our will, so that when we meet with our attorney we will have everything together.
Will post as soon as I get that approval letter!!!!Keep Praying

Some new pics!!

2010-02-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you a picture of the table that I set up at our church. Sold quite a few of my tutus, thats actually what I should be doing right now!!
Gracie has also been drawing a lot of pictures at school that include Olga. She is soo excited. This one in particular is my favorite, she has such a sweet heart-most of the time ;)

I also wanted to post a couple pics of Noah and Gracie. They are soo excited about bringing little Olga home and we are blessed to have such an awesome family!!

We are currently waiting on our approval from immigration. We are hopeful that it will be here this week and we will be ready to submit to our country we are traveling to. I have had to fix a few problems on our documents, but nothing to major. And thanks to our wonderful notary, TONY!!!, we have been able to get things finalized quickly.
Keep us in your prayers!!!!

2010-02-03T08:04:00.000-08:00

God doesn't give children with special needs to strong people; He gives children with special needs to ordinary, weak people and then gives them strength. Raising a child with Down syndrome doesn't TAKE a special family, it MAKES a special family...

Lyndi posted this on her facebook and I had to copy it ;)
This has always been our goal. To get people to see that God is guiding us. He is in control and has set us out on this journey. The only thing Joe and I did was be obedient to Him.
Last year at this time if you would of asked us if we wanted more children, the definite answer would of been NO!! But God had different plans for our family. And we are soo excited.
We were able to get our immunizations for our travel last week. Ouch!! I think we each got three, and I convinced Joe to get the H1N1, so we would not have to deal with that along the way, which would not be fun.
Our SW sent our police checks and summary homestudy to us, so now we have every piece of paperwork needed. We can finally breath a sigh of relief.
Will definetly let everyone know when we get the immigration approval letter. Everyday I say a prayer as I pull up to the mailbox, and even though it has not been there, I do find a comfort knowing that it will be on its way soon.

Our Weekend!!

2010-02-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

Our family had a very important and busy weekend. This was the weekend we were able to get in front of our congregation at Fountain City Wesleyan Church and speak about how God is moving in our lives and to ask for prayer and support from our church family.
We were very moved by the responses we received from each of the three services. We were able to convey the message regarding the treatment of special needs children in Eastern Europe and to also talk about how God has sent us on an amazing journey to bring little Olga home.
I was able to sell around 9 more tutus, which is great and will keep me busy during this nervous time. And we have not yet ran a total on what was donated, but we are forever greatfull no matter what the total is.
We were able to hear from people within our church their own adoption stories and also a few stories of how they were deeply touched by Olgas smile and her joining our church family.
Joe did the talking at Saturday night service, and was doing well until he saw Olga's picture on the slideshow and he almost lost it. Bless his heart :)
I was able to talk during the two services on Sunday, and even though talking to a crowd at one service that had probably 600 people in was overwhelming I think it went well.A few pictures will be coming shortly.
Can not wait to bring her home and show her off now!! Hopefully immigration will be quick and we can receive our approval and send our dossier off.
Keep Praying!!!!!

Our Prayer

2010-01-28T09:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Joe and I decided that we would take our chances at the immigration office. The waiting was driving us both insane and I needed to hear them either say yes we can do it or no you have to wait. I felt like atleast I tried. Right?

I think the whole drive there we said maybe 5 words to one another, he was praying constantly and I was worrying. At immigration we prayed that the Lord would put someone before us with an open heart. Someone that would be kind and understanding and know our struggle.
When we got there, there were about 6-8 people waiting. Which was a surprise!! I was thinking it d b a packed house in my head. But grateful that it was not!
We explained our needs and how our date for the fingerprinting was not until Feb. 16 but we were really wanting it before then. And they let us!!!! We could not believe it was that easy! It was definitely God changing hearts and placing us there at the right date and time. We were soo excited and were in and out in about an hour.
So now, the wait does continue. But I do feel like a weight was lifted. Now we wait for approval from the US, which should be a few weeks. And then finally I can send that huge amount of paperwork, that I stare at daily, to Eastern Europe!!!!
Thank you for all the kind words and good advice. Im so glad we went and took that chance.

Now we are able to focus on speaking to the congregation this weekend. We are very excited to let people know about what God has called us to do and about the orphan ministry at our church. We are very excited to allow the church in on what we are doing and having all those prayers for us during our travels. We want a very big welcome when we bring our little girl into the church and we want people to understand what we are doing and how special she is!! Will hopefully get some pictures to add too!!!

Trying to remain postive

2010-01-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

We received our fingerprint appt. on Friday of last week.
Our appt. is Feb 16. Not exactly as expedited as I was hoping.:(
Trying to convince Indianapolis Immigration that we are adopting a special needs child and we would like a sooner appt. has been dismissed.
Feeling very frustrated today. Not sure what else I can do.
We also hit a brick wall with our congressman Mike Pence's office, which was unfortunate.
The good news that came out this, is that we received a receipt from immigration stating that all the paperwork they have receieved is correct and as soon as fingerprints are done, we should be good to go. They say it can take up to 3-6 weeks to get approval. But after this waiting period of 3 weeks before the fingerprint appt. I might be extremely convincing that they need to get my approval form asap.:)
I keep reminding myself this is on His time. I need to be patient and pray that we do not hit any more bumps in the road.
This is difficult to do when you know there is a little girl that is waiting in an orphanage for a family and needs medical care and there seems like nothing you can do but wait.
As our faith is tested, we will continue to pray that Olga is well taken care of, is safe and knows in her heart that we are coming as soon as we can.

Stalking...just a little ;)

2010-01-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

So I have never been a very patient person when it comes to something I want.
Therefore, this adoption has tested me for sure, but has also taught me quite a bit during my times of prayer. I definitely have not prayed for patience, but rather prayed for comfort and guidance.
We submitted our USCIS documents, HS and i600a, on Dec. 28th. And still no word from them. I did receive our receipt number-showing they got it. But no news about our fingerprint appointment.
I emailed them, called them and all I got was we are working on it. So now Im just frustrated. I know this will all happen in God's time, but working with the government is not much fun.
I contacted our congressman rep. Mike Pence's office yesterday. A lady from there called today, got all our information and why we needed it expedited. And at the end of the conversation she says, Im calling the field office right now. I was so excited.
I hope and pray that she convinces them of the importance of not delaying this process. Im eager to get that confirmation from the USCIS and to send our dossier off.
Please keep us in your prayers.

On a brighter note, we are speaking to our congregation the last weekend of Jan. at all three services. We are very excited to let the church know what God is leading us to do and allow them to get a glimpse of the need to help these orphans find forever families. We will also be in the lobby with literature and a video of Olga. We are also praying that the Lord will provide us with the remaining moneys that we need to finish the adoption. We are excited to see how the Lord will provide!!!
With A Full Heart,
LeaAnn

An Orphan's Prayer

2010-01-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

I am waiting…somewhere far…far away
on the other side of the world.
I may not know who you are or what you look like
But some how deep in my heart I know you are out there.
That one day you will come and find me.
It’s a long journey, and it takes a lot of time…
I wish it could be easier.
But I know that the ones who come for me
will not count the cost.
They will only see the joy of finding me.
For now I abide in the fields of the fatherless.
Day by day wondering why I was born here
and not somewhere else?
Asking…why my life couldn’t have been different?
It is so lonely…Even though I am surrounded by
hundreds of other children,
I know that something is missing…
I know in my heart I need a place to call home.
My arms long to be wrapped in a father’s embrace…
I long to be saved by a mother’s love…
Gazing out the orphanage window I offer a
prayer of hope,“Oh God please help them
come quickly.”
Even as I lay in the darkness of each night
somehow I feel assured,
That no matter how lost I appear I am not alone.
Holy hands guard my steps; sacred fingers wipe
my tears, touching my lonely heart.
The one who made me,
The God that knew me before I was born
Hears me every time I call
He whispers His promises in my ear.
I listen with hope to His voice.
But what I worry about most is that no one wants to look for me.
The fields are vast and there are so many scattered all over the earth.
I wonder how one little child, so lost, can be found?
Yet He calms my heart and assures me that He will find you.
That He will make sure that you hear His voice clearly.
He has promised me that He will make a way through the fields,
That He will personally cut a path and lead you right to my orphanage door.
My prayer is…When He speaks…Please don’t forget to listen…
When He calls don’t be too afraid to go
For I am waiting…somewhere, far…far…away
On the other side of the world
To come Home

We Spotted Her

2010-01-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, Me, Joe and my sister played detective this morning.;)
We were watching the video of the orphanage Olga is in on youtube. And we spotted her, it was Olga sitting on the blanket outside. Not a very clear shot of her and Joe was not convinced. But I knew!!!! That was my baby girl!
My sister noticed that one of the missionaries had on a Hokie shirt, which ofcourse means nothing to me. But evidently it is the Virginia Tech maskot?
So we knew they were from Virignia, so from there we searched the site. We were on a mission at this point.
We found within the context of the youtube site some abbreviations. After googling that, we discovered it is a youth lead church at Virginia Tech. Yeah!!! At this point we were so excited.
We found on their site information about the need at Olga's orphanage with diapers. I guess the orphanage lost their sponsership with Pampers and they are back at only changing the diapers once a day:( Which is sooo sad.
Within the staff page we found one of the girls that was there with the children, so I called and left her a message to see if she had anyother pictures of the kids or any little tidbit of information in regards to Olga.
The most exciting thing was that we found more video footage and we were able to clearly see little miss Olga laughing and playing on the blanket. IT WAS HER!!!!
I told Joe not to doubt a mother when it involves her child!!!! :)

It was so awesome to acutally see video of her. Pictures are great, but there is nothing like watching her move and play and smile.
Ofcourse it brought tears to my sweet hubbys eyes. He is such a softie!!!
Every so often God gives us a glimpse of our little miracle waiting for us. He gives us hope, that the day will be soon that she is in our arms. He gives us light and clarity, showing us that this is where He is leading us. And most of all showing us His LOVE, through the smile of a little girl that already melts the heart of her daddy!!!!
If you would like to see the video clip, I can email you the link.
With Full Hearts!!!!
LeaAnn

Finally!!!!

2010-01-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

We submitted to US immigration on Monday December 28. I was so happy to send the i600a off with that big fat check!!!!!
Thank you to everyone for your prayers and kind words. Also I want to say thank you to everyone who purchased tutus. I really enjoyed making them and hope to continue to sell more.
We are very excited to start this new year, we can now actually say we will be a family of 5 this year!!! We continue to ask that you keep us in your prayers as we send out our prepared documents in the coming weeks. We are eagerly awaiting our fingerprint appointment. We hope that it comes quickly and that they aprove us just shortly after the fingerprints, therefore we will be able to submit our dossier by Feb.1.
We are now in the process of changing the girls bedroom. We are not sure if we are doing bunk beds or just a toddler bed to start out with. The room will be bubblegum pink and Joe will be painting the walls in the bedroom to welcome little miss Olga in, like he did Gracie.
I think the nesting stage has started. I continue to clean, rearrange and get rid of stuff. I feel like I need to do this stuff now, so that when the time comes to get ready to travel, this part will be done and behind me.
Please let me know if anyone has anymore fundraising ideas. And if there are still people wanting to order tutus, let me know!!!
Thanks,
L

New Pics Of Our Princess!!!!!

2009-12-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

So excited to share the new pictures!!!
My new friend Joann, who is also bringing home a little one or two ;), sent me some pictures of Olga. I was soo excited to see the pictures. It appears the kids are playing outside and she looks happy. Check out Joann's blog @ torresfamilyadoption.blogspot.com.
I was having a difficult day on Friday. Trying to sell tutus like crazy, which is going well, but wish they were selling more. Not much of a fundraiser/selling type.
Also, feeling a little disheartened with some responses we have recieved about our adoption. But we stand firm in our decision that the Lord is guiding us in our journey and we are more than excited about bringing her home. We are doing this for Olga, for the Lord and for us, not anyone else.
Having that said, we received more pictures of our precious little girl friday night. Our facilitator sent recent pics of her and Im so excited to share those too. She has changed since the summer and is so stinkin adorable, we cried and cried.
Noah said, "Are you crying because she is so cute?" I explained to him that she is precious in our eyes no matter what, but we were crying because she looks sooo happy, and this makes us happy.
We are super excited now to get over there and bring her home. She looks like such a stinker and silly girl, that she should blend in just fine with my two here at home.

By the way, our homestudy is being emailed to us today or tomorrow, completely finished. We will get it approved and then its finally complete. Im so happy it has not taken long, less than a month, for it to be complete. Our social worker is excellent and we are so thankful to have them do our homestudy.
Enough said, here are the pics. Hope you enjoy them as much as we have!!!!!;)

Passports!!!!

2009-12-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

We received our passports over the weekend!!!
We were soo excited, the kids started yelling, and then Gracie said, "What is a passport anyway?". Too cute!
Now we can finally finish alot of the documents that need our passport numbers on them. We have got everything in and ready to go except our homestudy:(
I called our social worker today and she said we would have it by the end of this week or early next week. Then I think it just needs to be reviewed by "the gals" and then we can offically send it in. Im getting so excited. Everyday I check things off and we are getting closer to traveling!

We may be getting some new pics of her. Some people had traveled to her orphanage earlier this year and said they have some pics and maybe even a video clip of her. So we will see.
I have already sold some tutus, but Im still making them every week, so please let me know if you would like to order one!!
Please keep us in your prayers, as we continue on our journey to Olga!

Paper Chase

2009-12-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

So I have been gone from my blog because of my exhausting paper chase I have been doing. It started with getting, by mistake, the wrong facilitator documents and having already printed, signed and notarized about 11 papers from the original set. Then I have spent hours on the phone pleading with an out of state loan company to put together, sign and notarize a document. Unfortunatley, not one person I spoke to was compassionate or helpfull! Thankfully, I was able to get our county officals to do it for me.
I had to have all documents redone because I did not do them in blue ink! Oops

And last, but I feel is the best one yet, I ordered 3 apostilled marriage certificates from Tenn., my hubby and I were married there almost 12 years ago! They arrived today and at the same time I received an email from someone in Arkansas that wanted to know if I was the same LeaAnn married to Joe on 5/30/98 in Tenn. When I responded yes, she then proceeded to tell me she received my marriage certificates and that I received hers!!!! I just had to laugh, who else runs into such things!
She has spoke with the Tenn. vital records department and all will be taken care of, but it just figures it happens to me:)

Even though I have had an eventfull time with the paperwork, Meredith and Lyndi have been excellent to work with. Better yet we should also be getting our passports by Tuesday and our homestudy next week too!!! So we should have most of it done next week.

I also wanted to post that Im still selling the tutus. They could make excellent Christmas presents and moneys go to Bringing our little one home. I have included some pictures of the ones I have made and the approx. sizes, they do adjust some because of the ribbon. Please email me at earlywinepestcontrol@verizon.net if you would like to purchase one.!!!

The pink and silver tutu is approx. 22 inches and I have a second one that is 18-20 inches in waist.
I also have a peach, gold and white one, which is really cute!, and the waist on it is approx. 24 inches.
The 3 toned purple is approx 24 inches. And the purple, yellow and black is approx. 25 inches.
They all are approx sizes and can be adjusted slightly to fit. I can also take orders if you want something specific. Just let me know!

Home Visit

2009-12-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

Well the home visit went really well. The social worker was extremely nice.
He really just sat with us and talked about our lives together and as a family. Also how bringing Adelee into the mix will be and what our motivations are for adopting.
It lasted right at 2 hours and we were relieved afterwards.
He said it would be done next week!!!!! So we are really excited.
Still on our mission to get all of the paperwork done asap. We are really getting close.
Please keep us in your prayers. We are still needing to raise quite a bit more money. I think Im going to need some help on this part of it, not much of a fundraiser myself. So I may be enlisting some people to help ;) Also pray for Olga, that she is being loved and well taken care of and that she will find comfort knowing there are people out there that love her and are trying really hard to bring her home.

A little Overwhelmed

2009-12-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, today is our medical appointments. I started to review all of the fine details of all the paperwork, and let me just say, its a tad bit overwhelming.
Hopefully the appts. will go smoothly. Im such a planner and organizer, and to feel confused or lost is not a good thing. Meredith from Reeces Rainbow was soo helpful this morning. I know my questions were lame, but I have never done this before, so her help was deeply appreciated!! Thanks Meredith!
We are also trying to get all the other paperwork so that when our homestudy is finished in the next week or so we will have the rest of the papers needed coming in. It is all very sureal and exciting. We are coming Olga!!!
WE NOW HAVE A BUTTON---Please see sidebar and copy our button to your page!!!!

Fundraiser

2009-11-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

Fundraiser Time Begins...
I have recently learned the art of making tutus from my best friend, Karrie. Im very excited about making this into a fundraiser for bringing our little Olga home!

Gracie was a great helper and decided to model for me (see sidebar for picture). I have made several already and super excited about making more.

Please let me know by email if you would like to purchase a tutu and help us in our adoption process. The price of the tutus are $20.00 each (shipping included).Turn around time is 1 week or less. Email me at earlywinepestcontrol@verizon.net, and let me know the following info.
1.Aprrox waist measurement of child.
2. Up to 3 colors you would like.
3.Any other specifics you may have.

We are very excited for this fundraiser to begin and hope to do even more in the near future. These are the perfect gift for little girls!!!!

We have also donated a tutu to arewethereyetla5.blogspot.com. Sarah is doing alot on her site to help bring home Duncan, who is also a special child wanting to come home.
Thanks!!!!!
L

Paperwork Begins

2009-11-24T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today I received an email from RR with the start of our paperwork.
How Exciting!!!
I also printed off the 45 page "How to" guide for the paperwork. Everytime we check something off or move onto the next step, its such an awesome feeling knowing that we are guided by Him and we are one step closer to bringing her home.

Please keep us in your prayers, we will have our home visit next week. Hopefully everything will go smoothly and we will be finishing up the homestudy.

Exciting News

2009-11-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Just found out we may be getting more pictures and current information on little miss Olga. There is a family in the same country adopting a child from Olga's orphanange. I was able to communicate with them via email and their translator is going to help them meet Olga and spend some time with her. Thank You Jesus!!!!

We are soo excited to learn more about this little girl that love overflows for. We are eager to learn about who she is and what she likes/dislikes. Noah and Gracie are also asking questions daily about her and this morning Gracie woke up and the first thing she said was "Is Olga awake right now". Bless her heart, she keeps trying to figure out her little sissys time zone.

Yesterday we went for our firt homestudy appointment. It went very well. The social worker was excellent, very open about her expectation, excited about our journey with a special needs child, and understanding of the urgency of getting the homestudy finished in December. We have our parental questionaire finished and ready to email to her tomorrow. She said the home visit would be scheduled a few days after she receieved that. Very exciting!!!

We are getting passport pictures done tomorrow and the physicals and immunizations will be scheduled tomorrow also. Trying my best to keep everything in check, making my to do lists and find an overwhelming satisfaction when I check mark things done!!!

Joe and I have discussed fundraiser ideas. So soon we will post what and when those will be. I also have made tutus and they are very fun to make, so I may start selling those to assist us. Any ideas welcomed by the way.

Will keep you updated on our progress and any new information about Adelee Olga will be posted asap
In Him,
L

The Journey Begins

2009-11-12T09:36:00.001-08:00

We are so excited....
Joe and I have decided to take the leap of faith and adopt. It has weighed on our hearts for years now but we have always pushed it aside. Thoughts of impossibility would far outweigh the constant nudging of our hearts.
Adelee Olga is waiting for us in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. Back home, Noah and Gracie are impatiently waiting for her. The love in Noah's eyes when he talks about her overwhelms me. He has such an awesome heart! Gracie is slightly confused as to why she is not here with us now, but already willing to give of her heart and toys!
She is such a special child. She has Down Syndrome with an oval window of the heart and hypothyroidism. But we are determined to not let this be her label. To definitely not let this be her only story. We feel so blessed to know she is waiting on us to come get her. The love that we have for her already is amazing.
The process of our home study is underway and should be done in December. If all goes well we are told we should travel in March or April. The process for special needs children is faster because of the urgency to find them forever families.
We are hoping to keep family and friends updated through the blog and let you in on this amazing journey that God is leading us on