Knight Family Adoption

It's been a LONG time!

2011-08-01T21:58:00.002-05:00

Unbelievable! I have not posted on our blog for over a year. It has been a great year - full of family activities, house construction (and destruction), sports, plays, vacations... Having four kids is so crazy fun.

As I was leaving my kids' piano lessons a few weeks ago, all four kids were talking to me at the same time. I was smiling and nodding and giving appropriate "ohhh" & "wow" - an older woman came up to me and said, "My goodness! You look as tired as I feel!" The sad thing was, I didn't feel tired at all! That's the life of a mom of four.

What has brought me to blog today is a comment I received recently from one of my posts. I cannot seem to get to the other blog to respond. So... Michael, I would love to chat with you about your adoption of a little girl from Vladimir. Please give me your contact information and I would be more than happy to get back with you!

Tess is doing awesome! She's a blessing to our family and makes us laugh every single day. I could tell a million stories about her, and still miss a few! She starts kindergarten two weeks from today. Amazing that only 18 months ago she didn't know one English word. Now she's more than ready to start kindergarten. Such a smart and beautiful little girl! I hope to post more soon. I forgot how much fun blogging can be!

Audrey's 8th Birthday "Baby Animal" Party!

2010-06-19T13:26:00.007-05:00

My sweet girl turned 8 years old! She has always loved anything tiny! Tea sets, toys, and animals. So she decided to have a Baby Animal Party. It was so fun planning this special surprise for her!

When I took this picture before the party - little did Audrey know that she would soon be playing with a baby goat, bunny & chick!

My wonderful friend's daughter Cassidy "showed" the baby animals. She's very involved in the 4-H club. She actually helped birth these baby goats. Thank you, you darling girl!

Audrey got to name this baby goat. She thought and thought, then decided on "Popsicle".

The world's calmest bunny!

A "teenager" chicken

Some of Audrey's sweet friends

Slip N Slide Smiles

2010-06-07T22:00:00.004-05:00

We have had a great start to our summer! We have had nice, hot weather - perfect for the pool! And, perfect for the Slip N Slide in the yard!

My four darling kids!
Tess 4, Audrey 8, Will 9 & Blake 10

Tess at School

2010-05-17T13:03:00.005-05:00

Tess continues to make leaps and bounds in her English! She has little phrases she uses all the time. Like, "Last time..." "But Mommy..." "I'm too little to do..." "That's too tricky for me!" Sweet baby girl!

As I am typing this she is doing a puzzle and singing at the top of her voice, "The Ants go Marching Down" I have a couple of pictures I took last Friday of Tess at her school. She started going to pre-school in January. It's one day a week for 3 hours. I call it "puppy class". There are more speech pathologists and PT's than kids! We're so sad it's over! Her last day is this Friday.

But, we are so ready for summer here at our house! One more week!
All smiles with her Strawberry Shortcake backpack!

What a cutie pie!

Blake went on a pretend "Missions Trip" to Africa with his class at school. He did "security".

Meeee!

2010-04-28T22:23:00.001-05:00

I have been going through the zillion pictures I took in California. This is not the best one, but it made me laugh. We were having a "photo shoot" on the beach and they were all getting winey. So, I said, "Who wants candy?" The three big kids straighten up real quick and faked being snuggled and cute. But Tess jumped infront, raised her hand and yelled, "Meeee"!

cominghome2010.blogspot.com

2010-04-28T21:22:00.005-05:00

We're Moving!!

A major monumental change is about to occur in our lives. We are selling our home and moving a whole 5 miles away! Crazy?! Here's how it all has happened...

For the past couple years, after I drop the kids off at school, many times I take a "scenic route" home and just drive by different pieces of land. We have always thought it would be cool to build a house on a few acres someday. As crazy as it sounds - about a year and a half ago I just started knocking on people's doors. If there was a raw chunk of land, I would go to the nearest house and try to find out who owned it. I had a TON of people tell me they would sell us some acreage, but there was always a problem with it. Too rocky, a flood zone, an easement through it, etc. One time the property was actually too close to an "ancient" cemetery and could not be built on w/in so many feet of the graves. Spooky!

Anyway, on one such day in October of 2008 I drove down a gravel driveway that lead through trees and found a little house tucked back in about 1/4 mile off the road. I went up and knocked on the door. (Yes, I am very nervy!) The sweetest people in the world came to the door. I asked it they would be interested in selling their land. They told me that their kids (who are our age) had moved to Colorado and they had sometimes talked of moving there. The women actually said, "I have always said that the only way I would leave this place was if someone came up and knocked on my door!" And so started our relationship with the beautiful 7 acres of land.

Now the problem was we were in limbo with Russia at the time. We thought we were heading to go get "Tess" (the abstract Tess) at any time. The couple told us to take our time and keep them informed. In the past year and a half we have visited them about 5 or 6 times. The kids have been there and played in the woods. It just seemed right, you know? We really feel like God lead us to the land - obviously!

So, last Friday we put our house up for sale in this crazy housing market. On Saturday we had a couple come look at it and said they're very interested. We have also had about 5 other phone calls and emails. So, we'll just wait and see. It is so extremely hard to leave our house in many ways! We LOVE our neighbors! Our kids' sweet friends live here. My girlfriends are here. We have the consolation that we will only live 5 miles away. But, it's not the same and just walking across the street. Plus, our blood, sweat and tears are in this house! We have changed every single room top to bottom. Literally! Plus, when we moved here Blake was 2 1/2, Will was 16 months and Audrey was 10 days old! This has been our life for the past 8 years. Just brings a lump to my throat.

We are praying the Lord will bring the perfect family to live here and enjoy it as much as we have. And we feel confident this is the right move at the right time. Tess is nice and settled. That would not be an issue at all.

We are trying to sell it "By Owner" first. I have tried to do my own adverting. So, what better way than the start a BLOG?? We have it printed on signs all around town. I wish I could know how many people have gotten on and looked at it. If you would like to check it out it is: cominghome2010.blogspot.com

Seriously, God is so good to us. I just cannot believe that we have the chance to live in such a beautiful piece of His creation! If everything goes as planned, we will be building a house around the existing house. We need bedrooms and a family room. It will be a very interesting challenge. Rob has a ton load of ideas running through his mind.

If you know of someone in the Kansas City area wanting to buy, send them our way! Our house has 4+ bedrooms and our yard is one acre. Then, direct them to our house blog!

San Diego

2010-04-25T21:56:00.004-05:00

It's been way too long since my last post! Oh my goodness! So much going on! We took a vacation to San Diego a couple weeks ago. It was perfect! Tess loved it. It took her a couple days to used to being "dirty" with all the sand. She loved the pool and ocean. Although she really threw a fit the first few times I put shorts on her, she ended up telling me, "Me likes short pants!" I took over 700 pictures. I know it's crazy! But, you just have to capture the moments!! I really haven't had a chance to go through everything. So, here are a couple that each tell a story. I'll post more soon.

About 30 minutes after we took this picture we felt the 7.2 earthquake in Mexico. It lasted about 30 seconds. It felt like we were standing on a dock in very wavy water. Turned out it was a big one, but we actually didn't know to be impressed!

It took Tess a while to figure out that the tide stopped at a certain spot. She just kept running...

Preparing For Warmer Weather

2010-03-09T21:23:00.004-06:00

Finally some nicer weather! Tess was able to go to the "tornado slide park", as we call it, and go down the big 'ol slide. The first time I went down that slide I "made a train" with 16 month old Will, 2 1/2 year old Blake and I was 9 months pregnant with Audrey. Those were the days!! This was a much different 1st. You'll notice I was the one taking the picture and my kids did most of the mothering on that first trip down the tornado slide.

We are planning a trip to California in a few weeks. Our first family of 6 vacation. Tess is such a good girl. We'll have so much fun! But, because she has never been in the US when it has been warm, I have been slowly preparing her for what lies ahead. And this is why: A while ago Tess and I were looking at a book and a boy was wearing shorts. Tess said, "Uh oh! Boy's pants broken!" So, I know there are going to be MANY things that are confusing for her. So today I got out some girly capri pants and a tank top. Tess said, "Tess no like that. That too little for Tess." So, I got out another summer outfit and let her "pick" which one she wanted to wear. She picked the first one. ;) She kept pulling the legs down and saying, "My shirt arms all gone." I just smiled and, "Do you want to look at a book?" She's so easy to distract. I had our photo album from the last trip we took to the ocean. We talked about the sand, beach, ocean, waves, water, sandcastles. She looked at a picture of Audrey with her swim suit on and said, "Audrey goin' outside in undies?! Nooo!" Then about the boys, "No shirts outside! You silly boys!" She thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Also for preparation, I have given Audrey and Tess their goggles to wear in the bath tub. They love it! I've been throwing in pennies and they dive for them in the 6 inch deep water. Audrey is such a good big sister. She pretends it's so hard to find the pennies and goes crazy for Tess when she finds them. Tess totally goes under and holds her breath. I wish you could hear her tell you all about her "ga-does". She's the most animated story-teller! I'll be anxious to share pictures of my wonderful, darling kids with their ga-does on!

The Stairs Games

2010-03-06T17:03:00.006-06:00

So, this is how the game goes: Blake, Will and Audrey pile on top of a bean-bag chair which is on top of a sled. They perch themselves on the very top edge of the steps and then...Tess pushes them down. Do you think they played that game on the blue stairs at the orphanage? ;) Tess is LOVING life with her crazy fun brothers and sister!

Too Hard Uh Me!

2010-02-28T22:02:00.004-06:00

If you were to hear Tess say, "Will, do Yoda to me" - this is what you would see...

Well, my latest challenge I have given Tess is - no more cave-man talk! So yesterday she ran out of ranch dip for her broccoli and she wined, "More dip". I said, "You can ask nicely for dip." And she told me, "It too hard uh me ask nice uh dip!" Hummm, I don't think that's too hard if you just said all that!

Orphanage Memories

2010-02-23T21:30:00.006-06:00

When we met Tess for the first time we asked what were her favorite things do. The orphanage care-takers unanimously said, "Kick a ball and sing." And they were right! So, we have signed up for spring soccer! Rob will be coaching the tiny 3-on-3 games with 4 year old girls. I bought Tess a brand new, bright pink soccer ball. She loves it! We have really had to help guide her in the sharing of her soccer ball. When the kids got home from school today Will went downstairs with Tess to play. She had to make the trip upstairs just to tell me, "Tess sweet. Share'n MY soccer ball."

Orphange Memories...
First, I'm not sure I have mentioned that Tess seems to have "no memory" of Russia. Which is a completely internal defense mechanism God puts in us! Sort of self preservation. After she was here for 7 weeks she dropped ALL Russian language. If I ask her something in Russian she tells me "no, Mommy". But, if she does answer me, she answers in English. For example, yesterday I asked her in Russian, "Show me your arm." She said, "No...(long pause)...arm". When I have shown her pictures of the orphanage all she does is comment on herself or the clothes people are wearing. But, then suddenly...

Last week I was going through some pictures and Tess saw a picture of the outside of the orphanage. (You know those beautiful bright teal shades the have in Russia.) She gasped and smiled real big and said, "That MY house!" I said, "Do you want to go there?" She put the picture down and said, "No. Stay home. MY mommy, MY house, MY daddy, MY sister." So, with that in mind, I got on the computer today and pulled up the pictures from Russia. I was hoping to get a little information from her about her memories before they really are all gone. I found the picture she had commented on last week. She got on my lap and smiled real big and said, "That my house!" I told her, "Now THIS is your house, I am your mommy, this is your computer." She smiled and hugged me then I asked her if she wanted to see more pictures of her "old house". She said yes. It was so amazing. A little light went on in her brain. She pointed to the front door and said, "My door, upstairs, blue stairs, my room up up, high." I asked her if she was sad at her old house she said, "Nooo, Tess happy."

I showed her the pictures of the small room with 10 little beds all lined up. She pointed out her bed (the care-takers had told us which one was her bed). She said, "My bed!" I said, "Did Mommy lay down with you in your old bed?" She said, "No...Tess sleep" Just to make sure she was understanding I asked her, "Does Mommy lay down with you in your bed upstairs?" She said, "Yes! Mommy read Bible, pray, sing..." So I know she was completely understanding we were talking about two different places.

Next I showed her the pictures of the room where she ate her meals. All the tables lined up together with little chairs. She said, "My table!" I asked her what she did in that room. She just stared at me so I said, "Did you paint on that table?" She said, "Nooo, eat soup." And, then it was over. She blanked out again and said, "All done". Soooo interesting! Over the years I think she will have days like today. Things will come back and she'll have the vocabulary to tell me. What a life our little girl has had. Can you imagine?

Tess Tale

2010-02-22T21:29:00.004-06:00

Our sweet little Tess sometimes has a very stubborn attitude at mealtime. I never ever make my kids eat things that are totally weird or slimy or spicy. But, when it comes to a good 'ol peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you're ganna have to eat it!

Even if you fall asleep...

There are soooo many cute and funny things that happen with Tess everyday. So, I thought a good way to make sure I document them is an accountability group. Even if the only person who reads this is my mom, I am pretending that dozens of faithful readers will be disappointed if I let them down. From this day forth I will try my best to tell a "Tess Tale" every day. If I miss a day, I will tell two the next day. ;)

"Tess Tale" for today...
Tess and I were putting a puzzle together that has opposites. Match the wet hippo with the dry hippo, etc. I got up and went into the kitchen for something. Tess said to me, "Mommy. Will you play this with me?" Every word was in perfect order and perfectly pronounced. It completely took me off guard. As you can imagine I flew to the living room and started kissing her all over. "Of course Mommy will play this with you!" She was giggling and said, "Mommy, you's sweet." Ahhh...

Just One to Savor

2010-02-19T21:49:00.009-06:00

Let me tell you, it's very different to have just ONE kid to play with! All my parenting years so far have been a three-pack! Blake and Will are 16 months apart. Will and Audrey are 16 months apart. When Audrey was born, Blake was 2 1/2 and poor baby Will was right in the middle. Needless to say, they do not know life without each other. More like triplets! So, my parenting has been more refereeing and playing with a gang of coo-coo kids. Lots of fun fun fun - but, hectic and a little chaotic. That is one reason I was still pushing all three kids in a double stroller when their legs were dragging on the ground. I always liked to keep them "compact". Right under my wings.

Now, I have just one to savor. I have to kiss her a millions times a day! Today we went to the grocery store. She is soooo dang cute! She does not stop talking. I really only answer by saying, "Oh", "That's right", "Wow". A typical conversation she has with me (pretty one-sided)..."Mommy, apples yummy. You like apples? Look green apples! One, two, three... lots of apples! No red apples. Oh no, red's all gone. Hey! Red apples, too! One, two, three..." Seriously, she goes on and on about ANY topic. I just laugh all the time.

We were in the car a couple days ago and the song "B-I-N-G-O" was playing. She started laughing and said, "Hey Mommy! You's song!" (She says you's as in - those are you's shoes). I asked her what song and she sang, "B-I-Angela, B-I-Angela..." Is that amazing? My sister-in-law told me last week she asked Tess, "What is your mommy's name" and Tess told her "Angela". That is VERY smart if you ask me! Anyway, now she's walking around the house singing "Mommy's song"!

She has totally mastered "you, me, my, your". And, she is just starting to say "I". Usually she says, "Tess go get my shoes". But, yesterday we were at the park and she was jumping from one step to another. We were pretending that the ground was water full of sharks. She is awesome at pretending! She was acting all shaky like she was about to fall in and said, "Save me, Mommy! I'm scared!" Fortunately, she did NOT get eaten by a shark. As it turned out she told me, "No mean shark get me. Sweet dolphin!"

It's funny. The more I get to know her, the more I know when she's totally faking. You know how it is when you're the mom. You just KNOW. Today she was in her room crying and yelled to me, "Help me boots on! Too hard! Tess no can do it!" I walked over sat down with her on the floor. I said, "You can put your boots on. Let me see you try." She said, "Okay, Mommy". And put them on in two seconds. Rob and I like to say, "Acting! Brilliant!" ;) If you remember the Saturday Night Live routine from the 80's.

Alive & Well!

2010-02-14T21:18:00.006-06:00

It's been one month ago that I last blogged! Wacky crazy! We've had so many (fun) things going on I have set my blogging aside for a bit. But, I'm anxious to share cute stories and pictures. It really IS a stress relief. To write something and re-live it for a bit, puts a new perspective on things. Plus, I'm ready to get back to checking everyone's latest news in the blog world!

We went Tubing a couple weeks ago at Snow Creek which is about an hour from our house. We loved it! Tess is so game for anything. She tried to lug her little tube right along with her sister and brothers. From looking at the picture you might know that I'm working diligently on getting her to NOT say "Cheese" when we take pictures! Who started that anyway?

Since I started this blog as an adoption story, I always like to tell the most about our little Tess. Seriously, you would NOT believe the amazing changes in her these past three months. October 30, 2009 we were starting with words like, "more", "drink", "eat", "done". And, fast forward 14 weeks... Tonight Tess told me tonight, "Oh no! Forgot Bitty Baby! You wait here. Tess go find her. Be right back." NO JOKING!!!! Is that incredible or what? We have normal conversations with her. She eats, plays, laughs, cries, whines, and sleeps like any other 4-year-old. Of course, we still have break-downs. But, they are fewer and fewer. Praise God for making the human mind so miraculous!

Can't wait to post more soon!

Happy 9th Birthday!

2010-01-15T13:26:00.006-06:00

My funny cutie boy Will turns nine years old today! Oh, man. Has it been that long? Nine years ago today Rob said, "Another boy! Blake has a brother!" We are so blessed.

No Commentary Necessary

2010-01-12T21:51:00.001-06:00

A picture tells a thousand words...

Back to School

2010-01-04T22:01:00.010-06:00

Back to school...back to school...
The three "big" kids had to wake up bright and early this morning for their first day back after two weeks off school. The boys were dragging. But Audrey was all peppy and ready to see her friends. She said the only thing she does not like about school is that she has to leave me all day. What a sweetie! Of course I was sad to see them go, too.

This is one of my favorite pictures. We got Audrey the most darling baby doll I have ever seen. I made her a fluffy pink dress with a matching bow and blanket. Of all the things she got for Christmas she said that baby is her favorite. She defiantly plays with her more than anything else. I am so glad that God created Audrey to be such a sweet girly-girl. I'll keep encouraging playing "house" as long as I can.

Blake built the LEGO Tajmahal! It took him 14 hours and 55 minutes. Amazing! It's beside the Iffel Tower in the boys' room.

Will built the LEGO Carousal! It actually goes around and plays music. He did an awesome job! It was his first big LEGO project. He finished it about 30 minutes before Blake finished his. Right at 14 hours 25 minutes.

Some of Tess's favorite books! Baby Jesus, Christmas Cookies and the B-I-B-L-E!

Although we were sad to see the big kids go, Tess and I had an awesome day at home today! We are starting to focus on letters of the alphabet. She WANTS to learn. We were reading a book last week and we can across the word watermelons. She pointed to it and said every letter, "w...a...t.."etc. What the heck? I first realized her fascination with letters when she started pointing out all the t's, e's, and s's - from her name. That was three weeks after she was home! Since then I just talk about the letters in words and obviously she's paying attention! So, now I'm going through the curriculum my kids used in kindergarten. Seriously!

Also, Tess will start preschool this Friday! I am so excited. It's just three hours once a week. This is not normal preschool...she will be with a speech pathologist, occupational therapist and a physical therapist! And, there are only 7 kids in her class. Each kid has their own set of goals. Tess's primary goal is to have age appropriate language - so talk like she's four. Right now she talks like a 2 1/2 year old. The class is set up like preschool and the "teachers" are young and energetic! Each week they will give me a set of goals to work on for that week. I am so pumped!

I have to tell a story. We went sled riding last week on this awesome hill! I'm telling you, I have gone sledding a million times in my life, and this was one of the best hills! They are monster hills with really big slope landings. Well, Will and Tess were on a pink sled together and they started going crooked and somehow flipped off. Tess took a face dive into the snow. I was going down on a sled right behind them. I scooped up Tess and she was crying saying, "all done!" Poor baby. We all sat there for a while showing her sympathy - which she loves! Despite a bruised chin, nose and forehead, she decided to sled more. We were there for two more hours and had the best time! There were no more accidents - just four tired kids and a dog-tired mommy!

So, Tess loves to tell the story of what happened. She says, "Pink sled, snow, fall down, hurt, ouch, bummer! Pink sled broken, yellow sled okay!" She has told that to at least 15 people. She likes the reactions she gets. Lots of "ohhh, poor Tess!"

Thank you, Jesus for a wonderful Christmas and four perfectly healthy babies. We are blessed. It takes my breath away.

Happy Twenty-Ten!

2010-01-02T21:48:00.001-06:00

My kids inform me that I cannot say "two thousand ten" I HAVE to say "twenty-ten". So...
Happy Twenty-Ten from our family to yours!

Snow!

2009-12-30T14:35:00.009-06:00

Over the Christmas weekend we ended up with about 12 inches of snow. AND it's still snowing today. What a perfect Christmas break for the kids. We've played outside in the snow every day. So fun!

Snow ice cream! Tess could not stop eating it long enough for me to get a picture of all four kids looking at the camera. ;) She just kept says, "Ummm, yummy!"

That snow-drift was three feet high!
Sisters! Doesn't Audrey look big?

We made a snow ramp in our yard to sled down with a bump in the middle to make you pop into the air. Lots of work, but totally worth it. We worked on it for an hour. It goes between our fence and a cluster of trees. So, I had to make edges on the path to make sure the kids flew in the right direction. But, I love that kind of stuff. I didn't get any good pictures of it because I was the one doing all the work and when it was totally done, the kids were ready to go inside for hot chocolate. You know how that goes! I'll try to get some pics tomorrow.

When I asked Blake what he wanted for Christmas he said a black-face hat. It looks a little freaky, but he says it's warm.

Sugar Cookies

2009-12-29T11:44:00.005-06:00

Oh my goodness! We had the best Christmas! I just got a chance to download some pictures. We have around 500 from the past week. Making cookies, opening presents, playing in the snow, etc. How to choose? I'll post more as time allows! In the mean-time, I'm enjoying the kids being home from school!

Tess has a thing for glasses. She says, "Oh no! Tess's glasses!" And she runs to find them. Apparently she can't see very well with out them - just like Audrey. Go figure!

Lots of sugar cookies to share with our neighbors!

Sweet Tess

2009-12-23T22:06:00.005-06:00

We are having FUN this Christmas! Oh, I just love having Tess here. She is so much fun. She can tell the whole Christmas story. Maybe I'll post a video...humm I'll see if I can figure that out. She says, "Angel told Mary, ganna baby. Mary happy! Go Beth... (lots of mumbling). Mary rode donkey, Joseph walk. No place to stay! Barn, cow, donkey. Baby Jesus born! (then she sings Away in a Manger). Angels, shepherds, camel...1,2,3! Presents! (then she sings Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus)."

I am totally serious that she says all of that!!!! She is amazing. Of course, obviously, I talk about the whole story constantly. We read LOTS of books, LOTS of times, over and over. She's a book girl. But, really. To remember all of that with only 8 weeks of English? We are so so so so blessed with this perfect genius baby girl! Praise the Lord forever and ever!!

I just love it when she gives her sideways glances! She uses those big eyes, that's for sure. Tired, angry, happy, sweet - she's got all the eye expressions down!

Look at Tess's black eye! We made a fort in the basement. We turned out the lights and had flashlights. Tess was laughing, running and looking the wrong way...it's all fun and games until someone looses an eye! ;) She's painting a piggy bank Blake won for her in a game at school. What a good big brother!

Forgotten "Gotcha Day" Pictures

2009-12-20T20:03:00.006-06:00

These are some pictures I never got to post. Time went by very quickly...

Our "gotcha day" pictures are almost non-existent. When we left the orphanage Tess was screaming (in Russian) "I don't want to go!" She cried and cried. I had to carry her to the car kicking. It was very traumatic for her. The only pictures we got were when she finally settled down and was in the car seat drawing on the magnadoodle. It was fascinating to her. She fell asleep pretty quickly after that. She was seriously exhausted from sadness.

Some people have asked us if it was exciting, sweet, fun to finally get to take her out of the orphanage. For us, it was really different. We knew it was going to be very hard for her. I would say our emotions on that day were more anxious to get it over with.

Daddy's girl on the airplane. How do you like that cute shirt Tess is wearing? I found it at Baby Gap. It was her "going home" shirt. Tess calls those dolls "ma-to-ths-ka" because she has a lisp. I can't even remember how to say it correctly! We bought one for her while we were on our first trip to Russia. She still takes it apart and puts it back together every night - 7 weeks later!

And finally, a US Citizen!

Tess & May

2009-12-15T22:54:00.005-06:00

Just a quick story. Our dog May has had some, ummm "gas problems" lately. So, from listening to our conversations about our little pooch, this is what Tess did...

May was in Tess's room while we were reading books. Suddenly a smell drifted our way and Tess stood up and said, "May toot. Yucky, stinky." Then she went to her bedroom door and pointed out into the hall and said, "Open the door. Get back, May. Yucky! No Tess's room." I had tears rolling down my cheeks I was laughing so hard. Then, Tess came over to me and cradled my head in her arms and said, "Awww, Mommy cryin."

May the tooter

Star Wars Symphany

2009-12-13T19:29:00.005-06:00

Rob and I took our boys to the see Star Wars in Symphony at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. It was so so good. I can guarantee there have never been more males at a symphony performance ever! It was so sweet to watch my boys' faces. They loved it!

So Many Words In Six Weeks!

2009-12-11T13:22:00.005-06:00

Today Tess has been home six weeks!

Because I use this blog as a journal - somewhat - I decided to think of all the words Tess knows in English. Six weeks ago today she knew NOTHING. Also, as of today the only Russian word she uses is "etta" (that). Isn't that amazing?! Well, I think I'll keep coming back to this list throughout the day and add as Tess and I play together. She'll probably say something new today anyway! ;) Don't feel like you need to read the list, it's really more for me anyway! So, these are the words she says on her own with no prompting after living in the US for six weeks.

Here we go...

Tess, Mommy, Daddy, Blake, Will, Audrey, May (our dog), Grammy, Aunt B, Grandpa, Papa, Grandma, Baby Nate, Uncle Joel (Rob's twin brother - we've drilled on this one. Even when they are sitting side-by-side she calls them both Daddy ;),eye, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, ear, arm, hand, fingers, fingernails, paint nails, leg, tummy, belly-button, feet, toes, knee, hair, bow, socks, shoes, jammies, undies, pants, jeans, shirt, jacket, coat, boots, "Mommy help" (used often), zip, tie, button, snap, on, off, ouch, hurt, fall, down, up, out, good girl, sorry, yes, no, wow!, up-stairs, down-stairs, tv, outside, inside, cold, burrr, hot, no touch, open, shut, laundry, chair, table, cook, water, drink, eat, carrot, grapes, banana, juice, yogurt, orange, strawberry, pineapple, apple, pizza, tomato, broccoli, snack, plate, napkin, fork, spoon, knife - ouch, scissors, glue, cut, paper, makers, pencil, fan, lamp, bed, pretty, sweet, mean, happy, sad, crying, laugh, dirty, clean, wet, dry, truck, car, bus, potty, boy, girl, (Tess no boy! Tess girl!)bath, soap, mermaid, polly pocket, baby, sleeping, shhhh, bottle, open the door, shut the door, stay back May, toot, stinky, yuck, snow, hat, mittens, book, kitchen, flower, bumble bee ouch, dinosaur, bug, stop, go, wait, come-on, music, toothbrush, brush teeth, (she count 1 thru 10), pink, purple, yellow, green, blue, black, orange, red, all-gone, full, empty, big, tiny, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, angels, shepherd, wisemen, blanket, happy birthday!, wreath, Christmas tree, snowman, presents, uh-oh, wow!, swing, slide, bike, walk, chalk, circle, cut, paint, line, ball, kick, throw, flip, bless you, I love you, thank you, amen, pray, sunshine, tree, and her favorite - bandaid!

animals - makes all the sounds to go with them... frog, turtle, dog, cat, rabbit, rooster, lion, bear, cow, owl, chicken, chick, whale, dolphin, zebra, sheep, camel, penguin, snake, seal, mouse, worm, donkey, hippo (then she shruggs her shoulders because hippos don't make a noise), giraffe-long neck, monkey,

Okay, it's about time to go get the "big kids" from school. Oh, I forgot, she says "kids school". See, I'm going to keep remembering things! But, I have to make myself stop! Isn't she amazing???? She's stringing these major sentences together. For example, she threw a ball inside and it knocked own a picture frame with her picture in it. She said, "Oh no, Mom! Ball, picture, Tess, fall down, ouch. Sorry!" Oh, I love her so so so much!

Watercolors

2009-11-29T21:25:00.005-06:00

The girls painted some beautiful pictures this weekend. When they dried I hung them on the wall in the kitchen. Since that time, anything Tess draws she sticks on the wall with little stickers. So funny.

Sleepy Girl

2009-11-28T21:57:00.003-06:00

Tess falls asleep in the car every afternoon when we pick up the kids from school. I took this picture while we were at a stop light. Two seconds later she was out cold. Couldn't you just kiss that sweet face!

Flipping Around

2009-11-24T22:42:00.005-06:00

Now, why in the world do my kids love their daddy so much? Probably because he does crazy-fun airplane flips to them! It hasn't taken Tess long to figure out how much fun it is to be turned upside-down and tossed around.

Tess has the tinest little 4-year-old body. When she came home three weeks ago she weighed 25.5 pounds. Now she weighs 28.5 pounds. In just three weeks!

Laughing hard and upside-down!

Audrey's turn. And, Tess? She's comin' back for more!

I have to follow up on the kids' "Tess show-and-tell day". She did great. For the most part Tess performed well for them. She sang "Jesus Love's Me" with the classes. And Blake, Will and Audrey did a lot of, "Tess, say..." Then they would give her some random Russian word to say. When she repeated them the class would laugh like it was the cutest thing! Sometimes she's like a little puppy dog doing tricks!

I took her to the "Infectious Disease International Adoption Doctor" that is at the Children's Hospital near us. Of course everything checked out great. They did some lab work called "titers" to check the levels of the immunizations they gave her in Russia. Sometimes in Russia they use expired or half-dose medicines that don't really do much. They're also checking to see about her iron level. The Russian doctor told us she was anemic. Of course this is the same doctor that "weighed" Tess by picking her up under her arms. He said in his deep Russian voice, "24 pounds. No less than 23. No more than 25". When we brought her home she weighed 25.5pounds. Oops - should I report him to the Russian authorities? Everything has to be so perfect on the US end. Yet, when it's coming from Russia they just make it up as they go along. Don't get me going on that hypocrisy! I'm sure all you adoptive moms could write a book on that stuff!

Tomorrow we're putting up our Christmas tree! What in the world will Tess think of all the lights? We can't wait!

Burning the Cat-tails

2009-11-24T22:23:00.007-06:00

For some reason - every fall my dad burns down the cat-tails that grow along the edge of their pond. There might be a real reason. But, personally, I think he just does it because the kids think it's cool!

Blake really got into the blow-torch thing!

Will's turn. Audrey did not want to try it. And my mom took Tess inside for the whole ordeal. With her personality, she'd probably want to try the torch, too!

First Family Photo

2009-11-17T08:06:00.002-06:00

First family picture! What a shot. I set the camera on the piano bench, clicked on the timer - and got this. I think seeing mommy running like a nut to get into my place before the blinking stops makes everyone smile.

Things get better everyday with our little Tess. We had four great bedtimes, but last night she cried again. It's totally a different story now with the crying. She's crying, "Maaamaaa". Now what do you do with that? Of course you go in and snuggle. Time will work it out.

Sunday night was her first ever outing away from our house. After 16 days I was ready! We went to my nephews 2nd birthday party. She did really good considering all that was going on. There were lots of kids. She pretty much stayed the opposite place the kids were. If they were in the basement, she was upstairs with the adults. If the kids were upstairs, she was in the basement playing with all the toys. I just sort of hung back and watched her. We played together a little bit, but she really couldn't focus on just one thing. Her brain was going a mile and minute.

She freaked out twice. Once when it was time for dinner and everyone else was already in the kitchen ready to pray. I brought her up from the basement and when we came into a room of silent people who turned to look at us, she became a limp noodle, slid to the ground and started screaming. I took her into a different room and she settled down real quick.

The other time was even more sad. Rob went to out heat up the car. Blake and Will ran out into the cold with their boy cousins. I looked down and she was completely panicking trying to get her boots on. She was saying "shoe, zip, shoe, zip". She thought we were leaving her. Poor baby girl.

Today I am taking Tess to the kids school for "show and tell". They are all so excited. I asked them what they were expecting from Tess. They said they want her to talk in Russian and hug their teachers. Hummm, good luck with that. I'll report back on that one.

The Four

2009-11-13T21:56:00.006-06:00

Here's the four best, sweetest, silliest, craziest, happiest kids in the world! And, I'm serious. I even checked in Russia. These are the best ones. ;)

This is the only decent picture I took for our Christmas Photo Shoot Take #1. None of them truly represented my kids' personalities. Like, take Will for example. That is not the face of Christmas joy. That is the face of strain because Mommy's said 15 times, "just a few more!" Christmas Photo Shoot Take #2 went better. Those are the pics I'm using for my Christmas cards. Tomorrow is Saturday. I'll try to take some better candid shots of the four of them. It is tough getting everyone within the view of the camera lens at the same time!

Tess's New Haircut

2009-11-12T09:21:00.011-06:00

This is her hair before. Uneven and a little stringy.

The haircut

Is this cute or what?

This is a face Tess makes often. She does this when we don't understand her or she doesn't understand us. It always feel like the scene in Finding Nemo where Marlin is with the sea turtles. The tiny, darling baby turtle explains how to exit the Current. He has that happy, squeeky voice. But, Marlin says, "You're really cute, but I don't understand a word you're saying." Poor Tess.

Tess's 4th Birthday!

2009-11-12T08:14:00.006-06:00

The birthday girl!

Getting a closer look at the yummy cake. I have not given her sugar, except for the sucker on the plane and one sucker on Halloween. So, just the smell of the sugar made her smile.

Blowing out the candles like a pro! We blow dandelions outside, so maybe that's why she did so well? They told us at the orphanage that she had never had a cake with candles. At any rate, Rob is very happy that I taught her to blow by spreading weed seeds all over the yard.

Tess with Mommy and Daddy

Tess had a very fun 4th birthday! We didn't know for sure if we should have a house full for the celebration. But, with Miss Spunky-pants, we decided she'd love it. So we had some of the cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents over. About 20 people including us.

I want to give a quick update. I haven't posted in a while. Tess and I have been getting to know each other better. I have only left this house two times in the past 13 days! She has only been in the car once to go to a neighbors house to take Christmas pics. (We had to take advantage of these warms days!) I'm so glad we have been together non-stop. She really loves to snuggle up with me. She says, "Hold you." when she wants me to pick her up. Something I LOVE to hear!

Anyway, our little Tess...
~dressed up for Halloween, by her choice! She wore Audrey's pink bunny costume from when she was three.
~Loves to wrestle with her bros and sis. They have taught her to do somersaults, sword fight, go off the slide backwards and spin around until she's dizzy and falls over, then play like she's dead. You know - important things for a 4-year-old to know.
~Still cries at night. Last night was the best night ever. The night before was the worst. You just never know.
~Has fewer and fewer fits. She's starting to understand that if I'm trying to help her turn a puzzle piece the right way I really don't want to take it from her.
~LOVES to sing! Sings Russian songs, makes up songs and sings song I've taught her. Wheels on the Bus, Jesus Love Me, Away in a Manger and a ton of others
~Finally has let her guard down and will go around the house without shoes on. She was even wearing them with her jammies!
~likes to ride a bike with training wheels
~could swing on the swing set all day! She says, "swing outside".
~loves taking baths with Audrey. They play for an hour. I have to refresh the water with warm because they're in so long it gets old.
~is awesome at puzzles! 80 piece puzzles. Not baby puzzles.
~takes her turn very well when we play games. Likes Animal Bingo, Oh Rats, Duck duck goose...
~loves playdough! She got an "ice cream shop" for her bday. We "eat" pretend ice cream cones for hours!
~loves to play in our little play kitchen. Likes to bake pizzas the best. :)
~likes sidewalk chalk
~recognizes her name spelled out. We're working on "T"
~Can name most of her body parts. eyes, ears, neck, foot, etc

That's all I can think of right now. I could write forever, but that gives a rough idea of what we've been doing the past 13 days! I am having so much fun with her. She's a little love-bug. I have to say though - it's all on her terms. But, that's getting better, too.

Red Square and Adjusting in the USA

2009-11-02T22:34:00.011-06:00

So much to tell...

Tess and Daddy. Doesn't get better than this.

Traditional Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral pictures taken by a fellow tourist.

Just taking it all in.

Tess's angry face. Pretty cute, but watch out. She ain't kidding!

Running to Daddy with a huge smile! (Blast those wretched yellow lines!)

Prepare to be amazed...Tess has gone to bed the past two nights without one tear! I have a discovered that (like my other kids) Tess likes routine. If we follow the schedule, things go great. So we brush teeth, read same Bible, point and name same animals, sing same song, and she falls asleep and I leave. Is that a miracle child or what? Praise God!

Our main struggle is that she absolutely cannot accept the word "no". If she wants to do (or not do) something she has the biggest screaming fit. I'm telling you, mouth open wide, shaking her head, rolling on the floor, kicking and screaming at the top of her voice. It has been hard to know what to do. I definitely cannot reason with her. I don't want to yell or get angry, that just makes things worse. So, what I have done the past two days has worked incredibly. I pick up her writhing little self, set her on the toilet on the bathroom (somehow she doesn't fall off with all the fitting she's putting on), squat down and say in a deep authoritative voice "No screaming. Are you done?" I put out my hands, she shakes her head, I leave for about 1 minute. I come back, with my hands out, "Are you done?". It takes about 3 or 4 times. Then she snaps out of it puts her arms up and says, "Done". And, we go back to whatever we were doing. Today it was a puzzle that had a piece that "wouldn't fit". Because I tried to help her turn the piece the spaz-out happened. After the Jeckle and Hyde routine, we returned to the puzzle and finished with a smile.

Language - Keep in mind she has only been in the United States of America for 4 days! She just gobbles up anything I say. Her re-call is incredible. She can sing (more like mumble the tune and throw in various words) Jesus Loves Me, Away in a Manger, Father I Adore You, Wheels on the Bus...just to name a few. When she wants something I tell her what it is, she repeats me, and she remembers. She can say "drink, eat, outside, swing, more, all done, help, shoes on, brush teeth, coat on/off, Amen." She says all the kids names, Grammy, Grampa, May (our dog). I'm sure there's more I'm not thinking of right now.

Before we left Russia, a woman came up to us and started talking with Tess. We asked her what she said. The lady told us that Tess said, "I like your beautiful red coat." So, we know she has a major grasp on words. I think that's why she's moving at record speed. It's so sad. If she jabbers to us and we just stare at her blankly she shrugs her shoulders. She's probably thinking, "poor fools".

All in all, she's doing amazing! She hugs me, sits on my lap, holds my face and kisses me. It just completely blows me away. Thank you, Jesus - right, Ana?
God has brought this little girl into our family. Everyday she fits just a bit tighter in.

Home! Home! Home!

2009-10-31T16:00:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to say real quick that we are HOME!!! The 22 hours of travel was AWESOME! Tess was incredible. She only slept one hour. She just played, watched a DVD and ate lots of snacks. She's very easy to please. We had one melt-down. A new trick I highly recommend - I could since the fit coming on, so I got an emergency Tootsie-roll Pop and as soon as she opened her mouth and threw her head back, I popped the sucker right in. Sugar must be a universal language! ;)

We've been playing, playing, playing today! Having so much fun! Blake, Will and Audrey are so sweet with her. Praise God.

The low point was bedtime last night. She screamed her head off. I slept with her in her bed for a while then on the floor in her room. Pleasant. Hoping things are better tonight. We're NOT giving her a nap. The plan is that she'll just be dog tired and go right to sleep. Will she follow the plan? We'll see. I'll post pics when I get a chance.

The Picture You've Been Waiting For

2009-10-28T13:41:00.006-05:00

Here she is...Tess Katerina Knight!

What a cutie pie, hu? She's small for her age. But, she's a big girl at heart. Very independent and happy - most of the time. :)

Rob, Tess and I walked to Red Square this morning and had a "photo shoot". So cute! This picture is when we were leaving. We took almost 200 pictures! So they are going to take me a little while to go through! This was one of the last ones we took. Easy to find. I'll post more when we get home.

So, I've had lots of blog friends aking questions about bedtime. To be honest - it has been a mess. The first night she cried for an hour. I sat on the floor and held her and rocked her. It was good that she wanted to have me hold her during all of it. When she finally stopped crying and somewhat fell asleep I just laid down on a mattress on the floor with her. She slept all night. Bedtime #1.

Today was our first time to put her down for a nap. She always naps at the orphanage from 1:00 -3:00. It was about 2:00 and she was very tired. So, I tried laying down with her in our bed. She still cried - more like screamed - for about 45minutes. It probably sounds mean to let her cry like that. But, she was so tired, and it was kind of a ridiculas cry. No tears, not scared - just plain not wanting to go to bed. I kept my arm around her and kept saying real quietly, "It's alright, Mommy's here." At one point she had a little pathetic sob and said, "It's alright, it's alright." Maybe she thought that's what we Americans say at bedtime. ;) Bedtime #2

Well, before I tell about bedtime #3 let me explain something...

Tess and Rob have made a very sweet connection. It was seriously of God what happened yesterday in Vladimir. Rob and I are always on the edge of being confused here. The interperters will tell us something, we think we understand, and then next thing we know we're getting out of the car somewhere and doing something totally different. They're saying, "Hurry get out and come with me!" We rush out the car with our coats half on. Then we go into a room and they tell us to sit and wait while they dissapear for half an hour. Then they come out and say, "Let's go." Anyway, that's just a little explaination backdrop.

We asked seveal times what the plan was yesterday. The order of things. Just trying to understand. Paperwork, different paperwork, more paperwork, then the orphange to get Tess. They have told us over and over that we should have an outfit for her to go home in. So, Audrey and I thoughtfully picked out this darling, funky dress - purple with big daisys on it, cute tights, matching purple shoes, little purple bow. And I mean little - no more mega psycho bows they like the girls to wear in Russia. I'd say they're more like a bow you'd put on a large Christmas package!

Anway, all of a sudden we find ourselves at the orphange. The interperter says, "Rob, get the girl's outfit and give Angela your passport. We need to hurry. She will finish the paperwork and you will change and get the girl." So, we're totally frantic! What about the cute pictures I was going to take to make memories for her?! Plus, Rob just said, "Oh, man. Moms are better at this stuff." I tossed him our little Canon Sure-Shot camera, the outfit and a handful of balloons and he was whisked away. I told our interperter, "Wow, we didn't expect that." She said, "We must hurry. You will be there when we pick her up." Well I hope so for goodness sake!

Okay, they had told Rob we'd be back in an hour. And 2 1/2 hours later we got back to the orphange. I was worried he was out of things to do. BUT, to my most pleasant surprise, as I was walking in I could her Tess laughing. Rob and her were playing like old friend! What a sweet moment. He came over and said, "We had a lot of fun together." God is so good. If I would have been there I would have dominated the playing. I know I'm like that. I try not to be, but I'm a first born, what can I say?

Another thing that happened as I walked in, Tess looked at me and said, "Peesit, Mama" (pee-pee). Then she wet the biggest truck-load all over the place! Fortunately Rob had not changed her clothes into her trendy little dress. He knew it was going to be sad for her, so he was holding off as long as possible. The cook or maid - some lady with an apron on - took us to a big bathroom with two tubs and a shower. She handed us a towel and walked out the door. Welcome to our family Tess!

We stripped her down, put her in a tub, turned on the cozy warm water and Rob sprayed her off - in fun Daddy style. I collected the wet clothes and got her new clothes all ready. I took her out of the tub, dryed her off and started getting her dressed. The whole time I was smiling at her and talking really sweet, but she was screaming her head off. The maid lady came back in told her something that made her stop crying and finished getting her dressed. Oh so cute, topped of with the bow.

So, since that time, Tess has had the two bedtime episodes, wet herself again (with a pull-up on), hit me in the face three times, (by the way, I got my point across the third time that was not acceptable and she hasn't done it again - if you know what I mean). So, what is Mommy? The disiplainarion. What is Daddy? The super fun person that's like an amusment park! Of course that's what Daddy's are for. ;)

Okay, the ending to my very long story - bedtime #3. Rob and I decided that he would put her to bed tonight. He said he couldn't handle the crying for an hour so if it got out of control he'd call me in. We braced ourselves, Rob said, "Tess, spawt" (sleep) She stood up, walked across the room to him smiling, and passed me with a defiant look and went to bed. Not one bit of fussing. She just went in and laid down - that was it. Rob came out 2 minutes later and we started laughing like crazy (quietly). Maybe because we're tired half out of our minds.

Needless to say, we're going to have some Mommy issues to resolve when we get home. But, I'm up for the challenge. Bring it on, Girlfriend. ;)

Well, I'm heading off to bed now. Sooo tired. Sorry this post tured into a novel. If you got sleepy and had to read it in two installments, you haven't offended me! Ha!

I'll post more pictures as time allows. P.S. my spell check is not working - sorry for any crazy mis-spellings!

GotCha!

2009-10-27T11:01:00.002-05:00

Today, Tuesday, October 27, 2009 our little Tess Katerina was placed in our arms forever! And, what a moment! Do you think she was filled with joy? Did she wrap her arms around us? Nope - she cried the saddest, mornful cry. Poor baby. We knew it would happen, it was just so sad to see. She was crying in Russia "I don't want to leave!" Man, that was tough. But, I brought lots of distractions and it didn't take too long before she was playing in the car seat as the van left Vladimir.

Right now Miss Busy-buns is opening every drawer and door in our apartment. She's also playing with Daddy. Balloons seem to still be her favorite. So, a little exploring, a little balloons and so on.

I could write so much more about our day and the things we been through on this trip. Things like Tess wetting her pants two times w/in a hour, flight delays, wrong hotel, etc. But, I'll save that for another time. Or maybe I'll just skip it altogether. No use re-visiting. ;) I'll see if I have time to write again when she goes to bed. Now, that is an interesting thing we'll be tackeling for the first time in about 1 hour.

But, really, things are great. She's a doll baby! So silly and funny. Can't wait to get her home!

The Trip To Bring Tess Home

2009-10-24T09:40:00.004-05:00

The fun never stops with my sweet kids. The other day we made a volcano out of baking soda and vinegar. It doesn't matter how many times we do that, it's always amazing!

It's finally here!
We leave tomorrow for our last trip to Russia (Sunday, October 25th). The schedule is: Sunday leave 1:30pm, Monday arrive Moscow, Tuesday 6am drive to Vladimir & pick up Tess from the orphanage, Wednesday US Embassy am, Thursday US Embassy pm, Friday fly home.

The past week has flown by. As anxious as I am to get Tess here, I feel sad that it will not be just my three kids. It's a strange mix of emotions. Rob reminded me that I felt that way before the births of each of my kids. I specifically remember being big and pregnant with Audrey and rocking Will in his room when he was 16 months old. I remember telling him, "I'm so sorry." But, then little Audrey Jewell came. Oh man - our love GREW, not divided! I know that will happen again.

Anxious is the best description of how I feel. All of the unknowns and what-if's. I think more than anything else, right now I have that horrible flight from Russia to the US in my mind. Honestly, I hate that flight. What in the world will Tess think of it? I have packed so many toys and books and DVDs. It's hard because I don't know what will entertain her. I'm just planning on the worst case scenario - she throws up on me, cries the whole time, runs up and down the isles, throws food on the people sitting around us, bites the little girl across the isle... Now if I plan on that, surely I will be pleasantly surprised with a "peaceful" trip home! Don't you think?

Anyway, we're all packed and ready to leave. This is the beginning of the next chapter of this story. Please pray for God's protection and wisdom to surround us. I'll blog again from Russia...

Pre-Halloween Show

2009-10-23T22:04:00.010-05:00

The kids were off school today, so we had a little pre-Halloween show. Rob and I bring Tess home October 30th, so I know Halloween will be a little odd this year. What to do about that one? So, I decided we should dress up and just have a bunch of fun today and eat candy. Why not?

Our cute little kitty, crazy clown and scary Vader

Funny boy Will. That boy makes me laugh so hard all the time. Once I had his face painted he stopped talking. You know, clowns don't talk. Audrey told him, "Will, you're totally freaking me out!"

Doesn't Blake do an incredible impression of Darth Vader?

Audrey is a PINK furry animal for the 4th time in her 7 Halloweens.

Just a few more pictures I had to share

If you squint real hard, you can make out the amazing tackle made by DeSoto Wildcats #2. Hey, wait a minute - that's Blake's number!

Will's all bundled up for one of Blake's freezing cold football games. There's that awesome player #2 behind his back.

So, Audrey came upstairs dressed like this, and then...

...she handed me this note!

An Environmental Day

2009-10-21T21:31:00.005-05:00

Audrey had a field trip to the Shawnee Mission Environmental Center. She had a great time exploring outside and learning about the various animals they keep inside. I love field trips like this.

Bird watching - with plastic binoculars that don't really magnify anything. It's the thought that counts.

A girl after Mommy's own heart. I've got a thing for reptiles. I know, not very feminine

Great Wolf Lodge

2009-10-17T22:55:00.006-05:00

We took a mini-vacation and stayed one night at the Great Wolf Lodge which is 20 minutes from our house. But, if you stay in a hotel, eat at a restaurant and swim in an indoor pool - it's a vacation to our kids! We had lots of fun! I was in the water most of the time so I didn't get a chance to take very many pictures. There are sometimes more important things to do than take pictures! But, here are a couple that I snapped.

Our hotel room had this cute "wolf den" for the kids to sleep.

The big bizillion gallon bucket of water dumping on my kids!

We spent most of our time playing tag in the Lazy River.

Little Miss-muscles climbs across the logs

It's Good To Be Home

2009-10-09T23:07:00.002-05:00

I made it back to KC safe and sound. Oh, I love my family. My kids first words...Audrey, "I missed you Mommy! Did you ever stop crying?" Blake, "I'm so glad you're home Mom. I love you." Will, "Did you bring us any presents?" ;)

It was an uneventful trip home. I didn't sleep at all on the plane. It's hard when you're sitting by strangers. Particularly when it's a big guy and you're on the aisle. Oh well. Next time I'll have my hubby to lean on and then our little Tess girl on the ride back HOME. Most likely I'll be doing my best to console her. Poor little thing. What in the world will be going through her head on that plane ride home? At four years old she will likely be mourning the loss of her "family" at the orphanage. 9 brothers and sisters and 4 care-givers. You should see her with them. She is a snuggle bug with them. I pray God will give her peace and assurance that it will all be okay.

Anyway, we leave again in two weeks. I have so much anxiety about it. Good and bad. Lots to do between now and then. And, then our life will never be the same. I'm trying to eat up the time with Blake, Will and Audrey. Squeezing every bit of fun out of the time. Soon, Mommy's going to have a lot more on her plate! I'm so anxious to see what God has planned for our family of SIX. And, I know He's my constant companion. I love that!

Going Home... again

2009-10-06T22:52:00.002-05:00

I'm in Moscow. I had a great visit with Tess yesterday. She was thrilled to see me! She ran up and hugged me and kept saying, "Mama...mama!" Oh, I needed that so much! She DOES care!

I brought out the balloons again and she remembered from the day before and said, "Balloon!". Genious! You can tell she's a Knight! ;) She can say balloon, kick, up, spider (from I book I brought), circle (we were drawing together), ready...set...go! I don't think language will be too much of an issue with this girl! But, I am still thinking the obeying me might be our biggest challenge. I just read a book about abandoned kids. Their only control allie is anger. I can see that. We'll be playing and she'll just switch real quick to, "Neight" (no) and have a very grumpy face. But, I discovered if I just keep playing like I didn't hear her, she snaps out of it in just seconds. She especially does that when I touch her skin. I've heard a lot about that. If I rub her arm or whatever. So, I have made a point to touch her during our playing. If she's tossing the ball I made sure to touch her hand when I give it back. I was helping her ride the little bike in the play room again. I put my hands over her hands on the handle bars. And when I helped her peddle, I held on to her legs instead of her shoes. She forgets about the "touch" when it's in play. Just lots of learning on my part. There is light at the end of this tunnel. I can see it far far away - if I squint! ;)

My driver will be here to pick me up in 30 minutes to take me to the airport. I"m going HOME HOME HOME! Praise the Lord for Skype. I got to talk w/ the kids for an hour this morning for FREE. Not too many things in life are free!

I'll blog again at home soon. I'm ready for this stinkin' 15 hours of travel today. Did I mention I'm heading home?

Vladimir's Idea of WiFi

2009-10-05T10:43:00.003-05:00

Finally! I have been trying to get computer access for an hour! I asked to stay at a hotel in Vladimir that had WiFi. I guess their idea of WiFi is "dial-up". Maybe the meaning gets lost somewhere in the translation!

Well, I had good flights. A little delay in Wash DC. But, not a biggie. I sat by a nice man. I helped him with his Russian flash cards. He was impressed with my ability to speak Russian. Just shows you how bad the poor guy knows Russian himself.

I was supposed to stay two nights in Moscow. The plan as emailed to me was
Sun - fly
Mon - arrive 11am, go to Moscow hotel
(4pm meet with my missionary friends in Moscow)
Tues - 6am go to Vladimir
visit orphange and do passport paperwork
back to Moscow pm
Wed - fly home

BUT, that changed. I found out as we were driving down the road on our way to Vlad! Anyway, all's well now. I got ahold of my friends, we're meeting up tomorrow night instead. I am staying the night in Vlad which means I get to see Tess two times. So, that is very very nice!

I have AWESOME news about our little Tess! She was so happy to see me! We played for two hours! Oh, she was so fun and cute! It makes me crazy that I'm "not allowed" to sit on the floor and play with her - cultural thing. So, this time and sat on my knees. Made things much for fun for both of us! Plus, I figure she's mine now!!! Oh, I know that God had to make this special meeting today. I am sad to be by myself, hungry, thirsty, tired, etc. But, the past two hours made it all seem brighter! We played with balloons. Of course we bounced one around. But, the funnest part was when we both had a balloon and were trying to blow them up at the same time and knock them out of each other's mouths. Imagine two people with a purple and a yellow half blown up balloon sticking our of our mouths. Kind of "jousting" with them. I love four-year-olds!

I might be able to post again tomorrow - Tuesday. We'll see how it goes. Today I traveled 17 hours by airplane then drove 3 hours directly from the airport then went to the orphanage for 2 hours. I am dog tired!

Please continue to pray for me and my family. We miss each other and we're so ready to have all 6 of us together at home.

Oh, by the way, Tess was not at all sad to see me leave. But one out of two is not that bad! ;)

Offically Ours!

2009-10-01T13:09:00.004-05:00

Today, Thursday, October 1, 2009 we are officially the parents of a new little sister! A beautiful, sweet little girl born November 7, 2005.

Tess Katerina Knight!!!

We will bring her home October 30th. One week before her 4th birthday. We had totally planned on posting a picture today, but our agency said it was a good idea to wait until she was actually with us. She is still in the orphanage in Vladimir. We wouldn't want to do anything that might make the people there unhappy. For all I know they have our blog and check it! So, I'm so sorry. But, I'm not posting any pics on our blog or Facbook. Nothing public until she is home. It won't be long!!!

She has big brown eyes and light brown hair (which is straight - I'm going to have to learn how to fix straight hair!!) I'll keep posting updates. Again, so sorry to disappoint all my blog friends!

I'm indescribably excited and a little freaked out - I have FOUR kids!!! But, I'm ready to take it on! To God be all the GLORY!

Final Trip Dates

2009-09-28T21:41:00.003-05:00

We found out that our travel dates for our final trip to Russia will be Oct 25 - 30. That means our little girl will be home October 30th! My kids reaction, "Man, you better get going on our Halloween costumes, Mom". Priorities, priorities.

I'm a little bummed because our Embassy appointment could be as early as October 19th, but there's some hold-up in Vladimir. So, we have to wait until the next week. Although it does work out nicely for Rob's schedule. He has the week off already. And, if we went earlier I would have to miss a field trip to the visit the capital in Topeka with Blake's 4th grade class. So, it will be fine. I am just ready to get her home!

About the Embassy appointment. I am going to try to find out more information about that. I don't really know exactly what that's all about. I think it's the US Embassy. Can any of my fellow adoptive moms help me out here? It's all a little cloudy from here. I know I have the info in all of my paperwork, but I haven't got that far yet. And, I won't be doing that any time soon. I have some Halloween costumes to sew.

I'm making a clown suit for Will (if you know him that is just so typical), a pink kitty for Audrey(her 4th year being a pink animal of some sort), Blake's going to be Darth Vader so I only need to adjust his mask. And Audrey has chosen fluffy purple fabric for her new little sister's costume. She wants her to be a purple cat - so they match. I have tried to explain to my children that it all might be just a BIT confusing to be in a house full of dressed up children her FIRST full day in the US. Plus, she could be totally freaked out by other scary kids. Tonight Will and I talked about it again. He said, "I think it's a good idea for her to stay home with you and not go trick-or-treating. You guys can just pass out the candy and if a scary kid comes, just don't let her look." Ummm, yeah, maybe that might work?? Besides the fact that "sharing" and "candy" might not be exactly in her vocabulary at this point. Anyway, we'll just see how it goes!

Picking Apples

2009-09-28T09:41:00.007-05:00

We spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon picking apples at an orchard near us. I love the sweet smell of slightly rotting discarded apples laying underneath apple trees.It just reminds me of my childhood. Anyone else relate?

We ended up with three overflowing baskets of apples. My job today... making a ton-load of applesauce.

Will trying to get the highest apple on the tree. Those are the best ones, you know!

One of the hardest things a kid has to learn in life. Just because a kitten is free doesn't mean we can take it home. And, just because we cannot take it home doesn't mean your parents don't love you. Audrey cried a pathetic, quite sob the entire 20 minute drive home.

Another Trip to Russia

2009-09-25T12:37:00.002-05:00

Okay, so trip #3. This is to register her passport. I am not looking forward to traveling again - not one bit. I'm still tired. I'll get to see our little girl for about an hour, so that definitely helps. I have my flights scheduled. I leave next Sunday, October 4th and get home Wednesday, Oct 7th. Another really quick trip. After this one, it will be 10 business days then we'll bring her home. We don't know the exact dates yet. But, man, I am ready!

A Teaser

2009-09-23T12:50:00.005-05:00

A friend requested a "teaser picture" of our little girl. I thought this was the perfect shot. A view of the hair-do and her cute little hands! We'll be able to post the real thing in 9 more days!

We only got to visit with her for 30 minutes right before court. They brought her into the room like last time we were there. She was darling of course! They had her all fancied up for us. Her hair resembled Cindy-lou-Hoo. Gotta love it! I stood up when she came in and went over with my arms out and very happily, and softly said hi to her(in Russian). Her reaction - she turned her lip down and clung to her care-takers neck. She didn't want anything to do with us. But, hey, she only saw us for 3 hours a month ago. Who can blame her? Blake, Will and Audrey would have done the same thing at 3 1/2. Plus, the orphanage workers told me they had explained to her that "Mama and Papa" were coming to visit and she'd be going away with us soon. No wonder she was a bit freaked out. And, in every adoption book I've read it says it is a wonderful sign if your child cries for their caretakers. It means she cares about them and she has the ability to bond. I'm praying that bonding will be a smooth transfer to us. Only time will tell.

Well, of course she ended up having fun with us. I dug in my backpack and told her to come help me look. We shuffled through it together and found - the ultimate - bubbles! Lots of smiles, lots of blowing (a little spit mixed in) and lots of stomping bubbles! She's too cute. Her laugh is so adorable. It makes you laugh just to hear it. She has a deep, good-ol' belly laugh.

Just like last time, when we left she completely did not care. She just wanted to keep the bubble wand with Dora on the end of it. She walked off down the hall with a big smile and a little nod to us over her shoulder. Cute baby girl!

Success!

2009-09-23T12:13:00.006-05:00

We're home! We got in from our long flight from Russia last night. What a crazy weekend! We didn't sleep much while we were there. So, I slept like a brick last night! I feel halfway refreshed today, besides a headache.

Court went wonderfully! It lasted about 50 minutes. The judge was a woman. She was fair didn't question us to death. She even cracked a tiny smile twice. ;) Rob did most of the talking. He did awesome! When our interpreter prepared us for court she started the conversation by saying, "When you stand to give your speech to the judge make sure to address her as your Honor..." What the heck! Our speech! Now, talking is one of my finest specialities, but not as a speech. I'm more the conversationalist, you know, "Hey Judge, I like your black and white smock..." And, Rob just said to me under his breath, "Oh man, this is not good for me." But, God gave Rob "elegance of speech". That's what I have prayed for. And He did.

This is our only "court" picture. We forgot our camera in the car at the courthouse. But, at least we took this self portrait in our hotel room. Note the two double beds. Not too much snugglin' going on at the "Russian Village"!

I already got the info on my next trip. This time it will just be me - alone. I have to apply for her passport in person in Vladimir. We found out that the mayor of Vladimir is highly against international adoption, and that might be the reason for the extra hassle with the passport. Our interpreter said it's kind of like, "You said you really wanted this child and you had the means to support her. So, prove it and jump through another hoop for us." What else can we do? I will leave for Russia again Oct 3rd.

A picture of God's artwork out our plane window. I always feel like I could dance on the puffy clouds.

Half way done! We're almost there...

Leaving for Court Tomorrow

2009-09-18T09:26:00.003-05:00

Well, we leave tomorrow (Sat, Sept 19th) at 7:30am for Vladimir, Russia! Trip #2. We will be home by 6:30pm on Tues, Sept 22nd. So so quick. I am so stinkin' dreading that flight again. To pass the time I have a ton load of yard and crochet hooks in my carry-on bag. I'm planning to crochet my first blanket. Of course it will be for our new little chickie-poo. If I can finish it without any major holes or errors, it will be a miracle!

Oh, I can't remember if I've mentioned this before. You know we lost all our luggage the first trip. Well, I had put a "reem" of yarn and a crochet hook in my backpack planning to make a scarf. Just practicing for my blanket, ya know. Well, I had a gift for the orphanage director in our lost luggage. I really wanted to give her something. So, on the drive from Moscow to Vladimir I crocheted her a pink scarf. It was my third attempt to make a scarf. It was absolutely not perfect! But, the color was really cool, so that helped camouflage the holes, etc. It ended up being a really sweet gift. The orphanage director was very appreciative. I just kind of acted like it was the plan all along. A labor of love. ;)

Okay, lots to do. My kids have a half day of school today, so I have three hours to do my final packing, etc. Please pray for us. I'll post soon...

Our Big 10 Year Old

2009-09-17T13:29:00.003-05:00

Our big boy Blake turned 10 years old this week. I get a lump in my throat every time I think about it. That's just too big. Every age and stage has wonderful things. I love 10year old boys! The pre-teen humor starts, and I actually think it's pretty funny!

Our tough football player at his first tackle football game.

10 years ago...
Rob was a Resident at St. Luke's Hospital, I quit my job and became a full-time mommy, we lived in our cute little house in Raytown, we both drove small cars, we only had one baby to play with, I started singing bedtime songs, I was in a constant state of tired-ness. We pinched every penny: didn't have cable TV, Internet, new furniture, name brand clothes or cell phones.
10 years ago, my heart grew a little deeper in love with my sweet baby boy.

A Day At The Pond

2009-09-14T10:58:00.011-05:00

We had a great Labor Day at my parents house. Lots of fishing in the pond and yummy food to eat. Nothing better than getting dirty and having fun!

Grandpa Mike taking care of the grandkids at his pond

Reeling in a big one!

One of TWO catfish I caught that day!

Rob is not so proud of his bass (after my big catfish). Not very fun to reel in, but very yummy to eat.

Audrey caught a perfect little perch. Grammy helped her get it off the hook. And, yes, that is the way Audrey always dresses - even going fishing! A very girly girl.

Will inspecting the catfish that Blake caught

Daddy frying the catfish and bass the next day.

And finally...eating our catches!

Fall 2005

2009-09-10T11:15:00.005-05:00

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this on our blog. If you look at our timeline on the right you can see that we first started talking about adoption in the fall of 2005. Well, by no coincidence...our new little girl's birthday is in November of 2005! Just another sweet confirmation that we are following God's ultimate plan for our family. Thank you, Lord, for making all things work together as we follow Your call on our life.

New Camera Lens

2009-09-08T12:03:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple of my first pictures trying out my new lens for my Canon. I'm having fun! I just need my "subjects" to humor me a bit more! This is our sweet Will. Isn't he a cutie pie?

Why 4 Trips?

2009-09-05T21:52:00.009-05:00

The first day of school! Blake 4th, Will 3rd, Audrey 2nd Just too big...

Starting another school year is always so sad. I miss my babies while they're gone all day. Blake told me, "It's going to be hard to remember to follow all the rules and sit still. All summer we didn't have to obey at all." I asked him if I should be more strict next summer. He gave me a little smirk and said, "I don't think so, Mom"

I have been getting a lot of questions about our number of trips to Vladimir. So, I thought I should explain it a little better.

Our little girly is in the city of Vladimir. Since it is just a couple hour car drive from Moscow, we are going with the option to just fly back and forth from Moscow to US instead of staying in Russia for four weeks. The four week stay is typically what people are doing with the second trip.

With a Russian adoption, nothing is easy. It used to be one trip to Russia, meet your child, go to court and come home. But, not anymore. The typical routine is as follows...
First you wait for Russia to call with your referral (child). Trip One usually takes about seven days. You travel to the region in Russia to meet the child and get the court documents started. Then you come back to the US and wait for Russia to schedule your court date. There is typically 4 - 8 weeks between your first visit and court. Trip Two takes about four weeks. You go to court when you get there, but the adoption is not finalized until after a 10 day waiting period. Then you have to get your child's Passport and Visa from the US Embassy (we have not done this part so I don't know for sure what all happens with that).

BUT - for us, we have decided to NOT stay in Russia for four weeks (sometimes more). We are just coming home between things that need to be done in Russia. We do not want to be away from our kids at home for a month. Plus, we wouldn't get to see our girly in Russia everyday anyway. Another thing about Vladimir is you apply for the passport in person and that happens after the 10 day waiting period.

So, what we have chosen to do is this:
~1st Trip - August 16th-22nd~
We met our little girl in Vladimir, Russia - yeah!
~2nd Trip - set for Sept 19th-22nd~
Go to court in Vladimir Monday, 21st
~3rd Trip - probably around Oct. 1st
Apply for her passport in Russia
~4th Trip - probably around Oct 15th
Bring her home!

That's the plan. Hopefully that makes more since. You see, the problem with explaining everything is - I really don't know what I'm doing either! :)

I-171 H Form Renewal is Here!!!

2009-09-03T16:04:00.002-05:00

Yeah! Only you adoptive moms can understand this...our I-171H form expires October 3, 2009. I sent away for the "one-time-no-fee" renewal a few weeks ago. Since I am the complete opposite of a procrastinator, I've been anxious to get the renewal back. Just to be sure.

Well, I just got it in the mail! Praise the Lord! We can breath easier now.

For those who don't know - this is the form from Homeland Security that says I can bring an orphan into the US. Without it, no little girl. It takes weeks (months) to be approved. US Citizenship and Immigration Services sends a copy to Moscow. It's a BIG deal!

Getting It All Together for Court

2009-09-03T10:32:00.002-05:00

Well, I've mailed off our visa applications for our 2nd trip. Almost all of our court docs are together. I'm feeling pretty good.

This time around we are planning to not check any luggage! If we could get by the first time with things we didn't really need, we can get by this time, too. I'll just make sure to have the essentials with me!

I got a new digital camera and nicer lens for my big Canon camera. Since these are "once in a lifetime" shots of the orphanage, I thought it would be best to have some good quality pictures. This trip we will only get to visit her once. I am so stinkin' ready to get her home! It will be here soon, I know. Couldn't be soon enough for me! I'm anxious to know which challenges we're going to have to go through. I feel like a race horse waiting in the starting block - scraping my hoof in the dirt, ready to get it going!

Adoption Baby/Memory Book?

2009-08-31T21:17:00.002-05:00

Hey Bloggers,
Do you know where I can find a cute baby book that has spaces for adoption related events? I've looked, but I'm not finding anything I really like. I want the kind that records adoption story, "forever family tree", doctor visits, weight/height, etc. If you have advise, I'd love to hear it!

Court Dates!

2009-08-30T22:06:00.003-05:00

I think we can squeeze one more little girl right in the middle, don't you?

We have our court dates! We leave Saturday, Sept 19th, court is on the 21st and we will be home on the 22nd. Quick trip! On the morning of the 21st we'll visit our little girly and have an apt with a doctor about her. Then, that afternoon we will go to court to officially say, "Yes! We want to adopt this little girl!" We have heard a lot of terrible stories about families going to court. Please pray that everything goes smoothly and that the judge is feeling gracious on that particular day. Favor, please, Lord!

I feel pretty good right now. I have some court paperwork to get together, but I think most of it is repeat or fairly simple. Well, as simple as Russian adoption paperwork can be.

I've been going through Audrey's 3T and 4T clothes. Good memories in those little outfits. I'm so glad we get create more memories in them! Soon, oh so soon, we will be able to have that girly home. I'm just so ready to move on. I want to get started with all the challenges that are ahead - language, adjustments, routines... It's getting to be more of a reality everyday. Nervous? Yes. Ready? Yes!

Silly Kids

2009-08-25T10:13:00.005-05:00

Just a few silly things that happen at our house on any given day...

It isn't everyday that a life-sized Barbie and a skeleton man get married. This was a pretty rare event! Good thing I got it captured on film.

Audrey gives her first haircut - with permission. The "Kelly" Barbie doll had gotten her head popped off in an unfortunate free-fall from the top of our stairs. By her brothers I might add. But, we made the best of it. We just duck-taped her head onto her neck and played beauty shop.

Hopefully the boys didn't enjoy it too much. There might be more flying Barbies in the future. They got some male Barbies and had them waiting in line for their haircut. We stopped it at one.

Moscow - Red Square

2009-08-24T11:32:00.004-05:00

Here are a couple pictures from our one free night in Moscow. We had a busy, busy trip. But, this was a beautiful night. It was a one hour walk from the Radisson Hotel to Red Square.

These crazy "guards" made me pose like this! Funny!

Ahhhh...It's Good to be Home

2009-08-22T09:09:00.003-05:00

Well, we made it back to the US with no travel problems! Praise the Lord for that! As far as our luggage - ended up it spent the week in Munich, Germany. It was delivered to the airport in Moscow Friday morning at 4am. Our flight home left at 7am. (three hours later) So, we checked it all "out" at customs (hassle)then walked right over and turned around to check it "in" at customs (hassle), put it on the plane and then left Russia. Besides the fact that Rob looks like a mountain man for not shaving the whole week and my hair-do was major spazy for lack of hair products, we are not too bad off!

Oh, I wish I could share some of our pictures of little chickie-po, but we can't until we've had our court date. They are kind of estimating we will go back to Russia for court the middle of September. Then, the next trips will fall close in behind those. They're still thinking we'll have her home by October.

Surprisingly, the weather was beautiful. I imagine Russia as cold and gloomy. But, it was sunny and about 70 degrees everyday. Perfect fall-ish weather. On our one free night we walked to "Red Square" and the Kremlin. It was about and hour walk away from our hotel. Part of the walk was in this, sort of, "art district". Very interesting. We saw three guys rapping in Russian and break-dancing, an odd looking girl who was dancing with strings and appeared to be a little drugged out, and my favorite - a old Russian woman with a monkey and a sign that said, "Monkey Photos Here".

We walked to the big red brick walls of the Kremlin and took pictures of the "Pokrovsky Cathedral" at Red Square. I'll post pictures soon.

But, man, it is so nice to be home! It just smells good. Nothing like the smell of home. I missed our kids so bad! We are so thankful for our parents and my sister for staying with them while we were gone. It was pretty much life as usual for the kids. School, football, gymnastics and dinner around the table. We are incredibly blessed.

It was so cute. When we got home last night Audrey walked around with the video camera watching the videos of her new little sister. She went to her room and laid on her tummy on her bed and watched it all three times! I made a very simple photo album for our little Ruskie-baby which thankfully I kept in my backpack so I was able to leave it with her. In one of the videos I am pointing to each person in our family and she is repeating me, "sestra" (Russian for sister), "Audrey"... Such a cutie pie! Of course all three of the kids loved hearing her talk in Russian!

Sorry I couldn't post more while we were in Russia. Between lack of WiFi access, little battery power and scarce time, it was impossible! Hopefully the next trip will go a little more smoothly. Rob and I just kept reminding each other while we were there that it was not a vacation. It was a "business trip". Praise the Lord we accomplished what we set out to do. We got to meet our new little girl and the court paperwork is moving forward. Good deal!

We're in Russia!

2009-08-19T13:19:00.004-05:00

We're here in Russia!! We've had a crazy few days...
We left our house Sunday at 10:30am. After bad weather in Chicago, three missed flights we arrived in Moscow at 10:45pm on Monday! Then we found out ALL our luggage was lost. We arrived at our hotel in Moscow at 2am Tuesday, with no luggage! We left that morning at 6am to drive to Vladimir. Yes, that's 4 hours later!

We droved three hours to Vladimir. When we got there we met our cooordinator who is wonderful. We signed some paperwork and left for the orphanage. We met our new little cutie pie at 11:00am on Tuesday, August 18! Man, what an entratnce she made! They had us sit on a sofa in a big room with toys and a table. She came skipping in with two of her "care takers". She had two big bows in her hair and a cute little dress. She had a gigantic smile and was singing some peppy little Russian song. Now, that totally discribes her personality. ENERGY!!! She giggles at everything and has awesome fine and gross motor skills! Threads tiny string into beads, goes up and down stairs one foot at a time, etc. We got to visit her three times. One time we played outside with all the other kids at the orphanage, too. That was an experience, let me tell you. Rob got the brunt of it - after he taught them to "give him knuckels" they all thought it was appriopraite to punch him. 15 little pre-schoolers just wacking him and cracking up. A little out of control! But, they were sweet. It was so sad to live our little baby girl today. She, however, just hugged us and waved "paka" then ran off to have lunch! (Goodbye)

Because we have no luggage we have no electrical converters, so we can't recharge our computer. We plan to Skype our kids tonight - finally!! So, I have to go to conserve energy. But, I'll blog again when we get home.

Oh, and by the way - we have learned that you really can get by with only a few clothes, 6 granola bars, a toothbrush and deoderant while in a foreign country. We're trying to look on the bright side!

We Leave Tomorrow!

2009-08-15T17:39:00.009-05:00

These are some of my sweet friends and family who celebrated and prayed with me as a little "send off" party. They also donated gifts I am taking to the orphanage. What a blessing!

I can hardly believe it...in two days we will get to meet our little girlie! I am going to have to hold myself back from just running over and squeezing her! Man, what in the world will she be thinking when she meets us? I pray so much that we'll make her smile. Her sad little world will be full of happy silly-ness soon! I have all these fun things to play with her when we get there. I've tried to think of all the senses. Oh, pray that she just has fun with us. And, gosh, at three-and-a-half she might remember this moment forever. Just amazing.

So, I'm all packed and ready to head out tomorrow morning! But, oh my goodness, I am going to miss my sweet kids at home. That is the only part that really makes me sad. I praise the Lord for Skype! Hopefully all goes well, and the WiFi is up and running at our hotel! At this point our kids are not sad. They are excited for their grandparents to spend the night with them! Hopefully that excitement lasts all week.

The next time I post it will be from Russia! Pray for safe travel and for our connecting flights. Chat with you soon!

Fresh From Our Backyard

2009-08-08T20:29:00.004-05:00

Look at all those veggies - freshly picked from our garden! It's so amazing to plant seeds and with a little tender care, they become delicious things to eat! As the little old farmer in our country nursery said, "A person can plant a seed, water, and weed and get a vegetable. But, remember, only God can make the seed."

Getting Ready

2009-08-08T12:42:00.005-05:00

Well, we mailed our applications for Russian Visas yesterday! We paid to have them expedited and if all goes well, we will have them by Friday. Which is pretty freaky considering they will be completely in Russian and will have to be translated. Plus we are leaving the US Sunday - just two days later! I guess people have done it before. I'm just praying that I filled in all the zillion blanks correctly! Perfectionism is not exactly my speciality.

We have also booked our flights from KC to Moscow. EAC will take care of the arrangements once we are in Russia. They'll have our car, translator, hotels, etc all ready when we get there next Monday. We leave KC Sunday and arrive in Moscow on Monday.

I checked the weather in Vladimir. This week it will be between high 50's to low 70's. Rob says, "perfect!" I say, "burrr!" I'm packing in "layers". I'm really not packing a lot anyway.

As far as our three kids here - life is normal. I am trying to spend as much time as possible making their last few days of summer fun and relaxing. Praise the Lord we will get to be here on their first day of school. That would be really hard for everyone!

We're all excited!!! My sweet girl says she plans to have her new little sister sleep with her every night. Sounds like a good arrangement! ;)

First Trip Travel Dates!

2009-08-06T22:04:00.003-05:00

Yeah! We have our dates for our first trip to Russia! Praise the Lord! Everything is moving very fast. We leave next Sunday, August 16th! Lots to do... lots to do...!
I'll write more soon!

We Have a Referral!

2009-08-01T10:41:00.007-05:00

Hello to all! Did you think we fell out of the adoption world? We have made some changes in the past month. I am so excited to share some news...

We have a referral! She is three-and-a-half. We will be traveling to Vladimir, Russia within the next few weeks! Oh, God has blessed us so much!

What a testimony we have to share about God's providence and plan. During all the waiting, I just kept declaring that I will choose to praise God, even when I don't "see" Him. There are some things we can already see that show us He was working in the unseen places. Other things we might never know or understand. This has been such a great learning experience for our kids, too. No matter how long or difficult - if God calls you to something, don't give up. The Lord is there to strengthen you, if you'll just trust and rely on Him. This we are sure of - God holds time in His hands. He is so faithful and has blessed us more than we could have imagined.

We are excited for the weeks ahead and hope to get our travel dates soon. We'll let you know...

It's All Good

2009-07-17T23:18:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to send a little update to say everything is going really well right now. We're making a few shifts and following God's leading. The emotions are indescribable when you get the chance to see God's plans unfolding before your eyes. To God be the Glory!

A Little Bit of Our 4th of July

2009-07-08T13:25:00.004-05:00

Every time Daddy would light any of the "big" fireworks, the kids would yell "take cover!" and hide behind our wagon.

Oh, our wonderful boys! They had a great time blowing up anything we said they could destroy. In this pic they are thrilled to have blown off Yoda's feet. Nothing better to a couple of crazy boys!

Our sweet girl picking our first peach from our peach tree! So yummy!

Whitewater Rafting

2009-07-01T14:23:00.003-05:00

Rob, our boys and our dads went Whitewater Rafting while they were in Colorado last week! Obviously they had a wonderful ride!

They got hit by a big one! Thankfully everyone stayed in the raft!!

The Ultimate Guy Trip to Colorado

2009-06-29T21:23:00.010-05:00

Our boys spent a week hiking and camping in Colorado with their Daddy, Grandpa and Papa!

A "dude trip to Estes Park, Colorado.

They hiked to Emerald Lake and played in the snow on the first official day of summer!

There were four elk outside their cabin!

They hiked to Alberta Falls.

Daddy with his boys.

The boys with their Grandpa (my dad) and Papa (Rob's dad)

We are so blessed! They will have priceless memories forever!

A Little Bummed

2009-06-27T22:42:00.002-05:00

Well, I have to admit - I am feeling bummed right now. I have been going through my gigantic adoption folder. We have 21 documents that will expire in August and September. I am really thankful that I found everything now. It will take me longer to re-do everything with the kids home for the summer. And, praise the Lord we live in the age of computers. Most of the docs are saved and I just have to update and re-print. Which is what I have been doing tonight until I decided to take a break and blog about it! So, now our loyal blog-followers know what's up! ;)

A Greater Plan

2009-06-25T12:29:00.004-05:00

I wanted to let you know that we still have no news to share about our adoption. Lots of waiting. All is quite on our end.

I am doing Beth Moore's study on Esther. So good. When I was studying my workbook this morning Beth wrote a paragraph that was just for me. (We ARE good friends you know! That's a little comment for my Bible Study girls - ha!) Here's what is said...

"At some of the hardest times in my life, I have been able to make the more difficult choice out of pure blind-eyed, bent-kneed acceptance that I was somehow part of the great plan. I was beaten by a conviction that throbbed relentlessly against my strong self-centeredness. As much as my flesh wanted relief, I knew that when all was said and done, I'd sit on that side of glory having much rather fulfilled my calling than served myself all the way to meaninglessness. I had to accept that I was not called to an easy life. I was called to a purposeful life."

So, I am re-energized again today. I will stay the course to complete what God has started! A Great Plan for my family and for our little girly somewhere in Russia!

Our Big Boy

2009-06-25T09:33:00.002-05:00

Our cutie-pie big boy. Is he handsom or what?
My boys and hubby are in Colorado with our dads for a dude-trip. Can't wait til they get home. I miss them so much! I'm looking forward to some good stories and pictures!

Cinderella

2009-06-24T12:59:00.003-05:00

Our sweet girl at her dance recital. This is just a small portion of our family! grandparents, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles... What a very loved little girl!!

7 years old?!

2009-06-17T08:11:00.000-05:00

Our sweet girl turned 7 years old! She had a "Rainbow Party", because of course, her favorite color is "rainbow". Isn't everyone's? She said the only present she wanted from us was Daddy to take her to Build-a-Bear and Chuck E Cheese. She is such an easy girl to please!

Snuggling Together

2009-06-16T09:58:00.000-05:00

Snuggling together on my thirty-something birthday. Can't wait to squeeze another baby girl into that mix!!

Our Boys

2009-06-15T13:09:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of my boys hunting for any kind of "critters" from Grammy and Grampa's pond. We kept a darling turtle and named him Dribble - like Peter's turtle from the book "Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing". Oh, sweet boys! There's nothing like 'em!

Praying for Guidance

2009-06-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Just to let you know where we are...

Our paperwork is still in Astrakhan. There is a snag in switching to Moscow. CHI said there is no availability to any 2 to 4 year old girls in Moscow city. The girls coming off the database there are 18 months and younger. We are still re-evaluating and praying for God's direction. Please pray with us. We need to have peace with a decision. Where is God's leading us? We want to follow His plan. And, we want to get that baby girl home!

Making Changes

2009-05-30T22:31:00.001-05:00

I just want to give a little update...

Recently, Rob and I have been re-evaluating some things within our adoption process. We have been praying for God's direction from this point on. We know God has called us to adopt a little girl. We know our destination is Russia. But we've been wondering if there a different route God wants to take us to get there. With all our hearts, we want to follow His plan to get to our little girl!

In the past few weeks, when I spend time in prayer, God seems to be drawing us to Moscow City. And, so this week we spoke with our adoption agency and made the decision to remove ourselves from Astrakhan and switch to the Moscow City region in Russia.

It's a crazy move, because we're right up there for Astrakhan, and all of our paperwork is submitted and completed for that region. But if our little girl is in Moscow, then that's where we're headed! Another thing that makes the decision non-logical is that the region is pretty much closed for the summer. The Dept of Education in Moscow is not even accepting dossiers right now. But, that's fine. We will re-do our paperwork now and get it sent to Moscow. Then when they re-group in the fall, we'll be ready.

Speaking logically, the decision to switch to Moscow City does not make any since at all. But, last Sunday our pastor at church said "God doesn't work within human logic." And, when I talked with my mom about things she said, "This whole adoption is not logical. But, logic is not what God is asking for."

Rob and I have prayed so much about this decision. We have an amazing peace. I pray we are moving in the direction God wants us to go. So we are resting in that knowledge. Please join us in prayer for our little girl. She needs her family!

To God be the Glory!

Still Praying and Believing

2009-05-11T10:17:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let you know that we have had no updates since my last post on April 22nd. Still praying and believing...

Growing Within Our Hearts

2009-04-29T21:37:00.000-05:00

"We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time and miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands."

That takes my breath away. Thank you for our little girl, Lord Jesus. We will wait on You.

Fun in Florida

2009-04-27T14:07:00.000-05:00

Our beautfiful babes at the beach in Florida last week! Rob and I are so blessed! It was a much needed break from all the "waiting" these past 17 months!

No Summer Travel

2009-04-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure you will be totally surprised by this...we had another expired document we didn't know about. Our "Parent Post Adoption" letter had to be updated, notarized, apistilled, etc etc... We mailed it today.

Today our adoption agency told us there will be very little travel to Russia this summer. So, I'm thinking this fall will be the earliest we will go. Whatever. Life is good. God is blessing us in so many other ways, we have nothing to complain about.

When I was at the Christian Bookstore today I looked at Corrie Ten Boom's book "The Hiding Place." I read a quote that said, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God." What a perfect way of thinking.

Blog Facelift

2009-04-19T22:32:00.000-05:00

Thanks to a sweet friend of mine, I'm learning more about "blog scrapbooking". I'm just starting, so as time allows, there will be more to come...

"Perfect" Paperwork

2009-03-30T12:38:00.000-05:00

I just talked with our rep at CHI. They recieved all our documents from last week. And her exact words were, "Everything looks perfect. They will be approved by Russia, without a doubt." Now, that's nice to hear!

Keeping Papers Updated

2009-03-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

While our kids were on Spring Break last week, we spent a beautiful sunny day at the Zoo with shorts on! Our grand plans this weekend are to stay inside and snuggle up with our kids to stay warm. A great itinerary for a wintry "spring" weekend!

This week Rob and I got three difficult documents finished which were pretty tough to complete.

After all the hassle with the CPA docs, Russia added another form! Plus, we were missing a tiny detail on the originals. We had to go back to the CPA - during tax season - and ask if he could complete the forms...again! Oh, my goodness, what a blessing that man has been to us! He's in the process of adopting, too. So, he has an understanding that few can truly know. After the papers were signed and notarized I had to take them to be appistilled at the Secretary of State in Missouri because that's where they were notarized.

Did you know that fingerprints expire after one year? My dad was in shock about that one! He said, "If someone dies when they're 80, can't you identify them with the fingerprints from birth?". That's the impression I had! But, apparently, these days, they only work for one year. So...Rob and I had to go back to Homeland Security to have our fingerprints updated on our I-171H form. For those who don't know, that is the form that costs a lot and takes a long time to be returned by the government. And, we cannot take our little girl out of Russia without it. Not something you want to expire if you can help it!

Then the last thing we had to complete was an update on our Picture Pages. We have sent Russia at least 5 copies of our pictures from our house and family. This one needed more pictures. And, like always, it had to have a cover letter that had to be completed and signed by our social worker, then notarized and then appistilled in Topeka before I could send it. Nothing is easy!

So, at this very second all our paperwork is updated and nothing else looks to expire until this fall. "Oh, Lord, let it be so!" Still no news on travel dates. In some ways our family is on "pause". But mostly, we just have another "DVD" playing a lively show while the "paused" one waits to be started again!
"I will constantly speak the Lord's praises!" Psalm 34:1

Cute Little Girly Room

2009-03-19T22:10:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics of the room we have all finished for our new little baby girl. We don't have any more news on travel dates. Actually, there's no news at all. From our end, all seems to be very quite in Russia right now. Just waiting...

Waiting with a Smile

2009-03-03T18:21:00.000-06:00

Well, we sent our updated certified Marriage Certificate to Russia two weeks ago. We still have not heard a definitive answer if that was the document they were referring to a month ago. It's sometimes hard to get the lines of communication open between us and Russia. We're just really praying that when our names come up again at the Dept of Education in Moscow they won't say, "Oh yeah, this family again. We're still missing their document..."

But, some encouraging news. Amazingly, we got our new and revised Financial Statement completed for Astrakhan. It was extremely detailed! Praise God we found a CPA who has been through the adoption process. He was a huge blessing to us!

The past two weeks have been very good. We have seen over and over again how personal God is. I heard a speaker say, "Sometimes we're waiting to hear a voice, when God has already spoken a verse". He has spoken - almost cheered - several scriptures to me these past two weeks. They have come up several times through different sources. One of those cool things God does, you know? I am trying to memorized every scripture that God drops into my heart. It's been fun. Here are two from the past week.

I Thessalonians 5:16 -18 "Always be joyful. Never stop praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful. For this is God's will for those who are in Christ Jesus".

Psalm 34:1-4 "I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speaks His praises. I will boast only in the Lord. Let all who are discouraged take heart! Oh, let us tell of the Lord's greatness. Let us exalt His name together. I prayed to the Lord, He answered me, freeing me from my fears".

What a personal, sweet God we have. The verses from Psalms are especially cool. I am thirty-four and we have four kids - counting our Rooskie baby. That's what my uncle affectionately calls her ;) So, we wait for His plan to unfold. And, we will never stop praying for our sweet little girl across the world waiting for us!

Expired Document Found?

2009-02-17T13:26:00.000-06:00

We were told by Russia several days ago that one of our registration docs is expired. However, they could not tell us which one. Our reps at CHI looked through our paperwork and couldn't find anything. I may have found the document Russia was talking about. Our marriage license doc expired two weeks ago. About 3 days before they called us. CHI cannot verify that. They have emailed Russia a couple times and are not getting a response. So, I'm just going to re-do the form. I'm heading to the Sec of State in KC tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the right one and we can get registered in Astrakhan.

Will's 8th Birthday!

2009-02-13T22:53:00.000-06:00

Our sweet Will boy is 8 years old! He wanted a "Bug Party". In the winter it's a little tough to find bugs, so we had to get creative. We did kind of a Fear Factor type of party. They had to dig their hands in cold speghetti noodles and try to pick out the gummy worms - while blindfolded. Boys love that kind of stuff! Will is the funnest, cutest, nicest 8-year-old in the world! We love him so much!

Registered, not Registered, Registered, not Registered...

2009-02-11T12:34:00.001-06:00

Well, we were told again today that we are NOT registered yet with Astrakhan. One of our docs is (or is about to) expire. However, CHI does not know what docs the Dept of Ed in Moscow is referring to. They have been waiting for a reply - since Thursday. Two other families were registerd yesterday - sort of passed us up. They want babies, so hopefully that won't effect us too much. I'm tired. I'll post again when we have more info...

Documents Headed for Astrakhan

2009-01-30T19:07:00.000-06:00

Well, after lots of re-do's and many trips to Topeka, we have our "final" (ya right) paperwork headed to Astrakhan. We had a very hard time getting the correct wording from a CPA for our Financial Statement. Almost two weeks of drafts, final drafts, semi-final drafts... But, I think we've got it now!

It's all a bit confusing, but apparently when Russia receives these documents we will be officially registered with the Department of Education in Astrakhan. Before now we were just considered assigned to that Region. It's hard because we seem to be learning these details as we complete each step instead of beforehand. Oh, well.

Russia's adoption is moving very quickly right now. Our agency, CHI, completed three adoptions in the first two weeks of January. That's crazy fast. Two families left today for Astrakhan. They are both requesting kids under 18 months. So then, it's just us.

Last week when I was having my quite time with the Lord, I felt this urgency to pray for the Power of God to work in the heavenly realms. There is major battle going on that we cannot see. I have been praying for God's unseen strength to break through strong-holds in Russia and in the US. I would love for you to join with us as we pray for all that paperwork to fall into the right hands.

Mostly, we are praying for our little girl in Russia who needs us. She needs to be home. We want her here. God knows her name and is preparing her for us.

We are preparing for her, too. Her room is totally ready now. Paint, curtains, decorations - Will (our 8 year old) even helped me put sheets on the bed!
We're ready, Lord! Bring it on!!

The "List"

2009-01-19T09:39:00.000-06:00

We talked with Children's Hope last week. They said we are FIRST on the list to adopt a toddler! There are two other families wanting to adopt babies under 18 months, but that does not effect us.

We have a conference call scheduled for this morning. It will include me and Rob, and the three reps in St Louis who are working with our family. This also includes the actual transalator who has direct contact with Russia. Primarily we are going to talk about where we are right now in our adoption process. All of the CHI people seem to be a little confused about the "referral" we got in September - supposedly to travel in October, etc. I know we're confused, that's for sure! Hopefully we'll get everyone on the same page and figure out what has happened.

Beginning a New Year

2009-01-02T15:49:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! We had a wonderful Christmas and are looking forward to 2009 with great expectations!

We met with our new social worker this morning. Our adoption agency Children's Hope International has closed their branch in Kansas, but they are still operating in Missouri. Because of this we have to change some of our original documents to the new social agency Family Christian Services. Also, sadly to say, our Home Study documents from last year are expiring, so we have to re-do much of our paperwork.

Our new social worker is very sweet. We are glad for that. She has been with Family Christian Services for over 25 years. So, we are hoping we will not have to change again in the future!

Our CHI representive in St. Louis will be back in the office on Monday. Hopefully we'll hear some type of update next week.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-19T13:52:00.000-06:00

Hello to all of you blog-checkers! I cannot believe Christmas is here. This is such a sweet and busy time of year. Our kids are out of school for two weeks, and I love it! We are going to have so much fun. Wearing jammies until noon, playing games, and of course - with a mother like me - doing crafts! Our latest discovery is the hot glue gun - low temp. Oh, man that can bring hours of creativity! We made a whole town out of saltine crackers, marshmallows, and sugar cones. We are so so blessed!

I'm sure you're waiting for an update on our adoption. For those who are reading our blog for the first time, I'll back up a bit and condense the past year as quickly as possible. Also, for major dates of interest you can see our "time line" in the right margin.

Well, in November of 2005 Rob and I first discussed adoption. We went through the rational reasons NOT to adopt. We have three kids already, we're a healthy, happy, strong family. Why would we want to mess that up? But, our hearts were softened, and we began to realize, what a great situation we have to offer a little child who has NOTHING. Another thing, I am a huge supporter of Life, and oppose abortion with a passion. Adoption is such an active way to take personal responsibility and thank a mother who chose life for her baby - even though we will most likely never meet her.

Through lots of prayer, research and confirmations we submitted our application to adopt in January 2008. We decided on Russia pretty much through the process of elimination. China has a three year wait, Guatemala is closed, Columbia won't adopt if you already have three kids, etc. We knew for sure we were to get a little girl and she should be "older". We have specified a little girl between 24 - 48 months old. Initially we had pictured the little gymnast with blond hair and blue eyes. But, we learned that Russia is so huge - making up 1/3 of the world's land, they have many different backgrounds. So, we are totally open to Gypsy or Asian features. Whatever, it doesn't matter to us.

We completed our "dossier" - the major pain the rear paperwork nightmare - in April. And less than two weeks later we received a referral - which means a child matched for us. That was amazing because after Russia receives your paperwork, it has to be translated into Russian before the Department of Education in Moscow will begin the process.

To make a long story short, in August, that little girl in the region of Vladivostok, ended up being adopted by her grandmother before she officially "cleared the data-base" - which is when the child is still open to domestic adoption. So we were back on the waiting list.

Then in September we received another call for a referral in the region of Astrakhan. We had to re-do some additional paperwork for that region very quickly. They asked if we could travel in October. Typically after you receive your referral from the Department of Education in Russia, you receive your official travel dates within a week. After waiting two months, there was some confusion, and that referral fell through as well. So, here we are just playing the waiting game, and back on the list.

I have gone through a series of emotions. Being excited, sad, happy, frustrated, etc. And, Rob - he's a rock. So steady and patient. He just says the time has not been right, and it will happen when it happens. What a guy! We have come to the realization that just because we are following God's call, we are not exempt from heartache. Man-kind is so full of failure. Even if the people in Russia are making a mess of things, our God can make it good. Besides, He is much more concerned about shaping our character than making things happen when we think they should. God is not bound by time. "He makes all things work for good TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE". We believe that!!

It is seriously such an honor that God placed this call on our life. We know whatever challenges we will face, He will be faithful to our family. Hopefully you feel caught up on our process, so I'll wrap it up now. Rob just looked over my shoulder and said, "You're really bloggin' it up".

Please check back again! When we receive news, I always report it on this blog site. Thank you so much for caring about us! Keep praying for God's purpose to be fulfilled in us. Pray for our little girl over in Russia - her health, comfort, diet, care, etc. Love to you all.

A Step Back

2008-11-22T22:31:00.000-06:00

We were told this week that we are back on the "waiting list" for a referral. Life goes on...
Of course we are praying that the Lord will shape us to be the best we can for Him. We trust Him to work through us to save a little girl who needs a family. We'll be right here.

A Little Note from Audrey

2008-11-09T13:04:00.000-06:00

Audrey 6 years old:
"We're ganna get Tess soon, but we don't know when. My mommy is fancy and she has good lookin' style. Daddy is handsome every time he steps on the pathway. Blake likes football funner than everything. Will loves dogs. Me, I am wacky all the time. And I gotta say something else about May (our dog). She got married to Grammy's dog. The End."