Thursday, March 31
Tuesday, March 29
orphanage photos
It was suggested, by other adoptive parents, that we bring some disposable cameras to drop off. Any glimpses of your child during the time you couldn't be with them is so precious. We I forgot ours at home. Gladly the woman we traveled with donated two to our cause. Thank you! These photos are priceless.
The first few taken outside must have been taken right after we left in August. Because how many months after August can you be outside in your pajamas in Siberia? The other look to be taken right before we got back, because he looks about the same as when I got him.
Aww a little photo shoot in the flowers.
The first few taken outside must have been taken right after we left in August. Because how many months after August can you be outside in your pajamas in Siberia? The other look to be taken right before we got back, because he looks about the same as when I got him.
Aww a little photo shoot in the flowers.
Monday, March 28
grow baby grow
Sometimes I just need to see the pictures next to each other. People we see regularly say he is looking bigger, but I see him everyday and it can be hard to tell. Now I believe them.
Trip one 14 months
Trip two 19 months
At home, 20 months old
At home, 21 months old
Oliver's favorite grow baby grow foods include
-avocados, about 3 a week
-whole milk yogurt, everyday (we use it to give him his TB meds)
-cream of wheat or oatmeal with a hunk of butter mixed in and made with whole milk
-extra olive oil added to his dinner food (thanks auntie shelly, great idea)
Besides that he enjoys
-pretty much anything we are eating
He has no interest in
-crusty bread
-pizza
-fried foods
(wishing I shared those food issues)
Trip one 14 months
Trip two 19 months
At home, 20 months old
At home, 21 months old
Oliver's favorite grow baby grow foods include
-avocados, about 3 a week
-whole milk yogurt, everyday (we use it to give him his TB meds)
-cream of wheat or oatmeal with a hunk of butter mixed in and made with whole milk
-extra olive oil added to his dinner food (thanks auntie shelly, great idea)
Besides that he enjoys
-pretty much anything we are eating
He has no interest in
-crusty bread
-pizza
-fried foods
(wishing I shared those food issues)
day fourteen, day fifteen, day sixteen, day seventeen, day eighteen
Well, I'm a bit behind. Sometimes taking an unexpected road trip to Nebraska for a surprise party trumps home organization/cleaning. I'm catching up.
Item 5, master bath. It's ridding of soap scum and glass smudges, the towel rings now match the knobs, and there is actually a door knob on the door to the toilet...novel.
Item 33, granite counters for the kitchen. It says I'll have them installed then stand around and admire them. Well, the install date is after the forty days so I'll take credit for ordering them and scheduling the install. Photos to come at the beginning of May!
Item 36, garage. Today I started cleaning up the garage even though I didn't want to. Swept, organized, and threw stuff away.
Item 16, laundry room (hang shelf, organize) It's organized, but I decided that the shelf would interfere with the drying rack and some other things so I decided against it and went with some hooks instead.
Item 39, grace. Because none of us are perfect and sometimes a little grace is necessary
Item 5, master bath. It's ridding of soap scum and glass smudges, the towel rings now match the knobs, and there is actually a door knob on the door to the toilet...novel.
Item 33, granite counters for the kitchen. It says I'll have them installed then stand around and admire them. Well, the install date is after the forty days so I'll take credit for ordering them and scheduling the install. Photos to come at the beginning of May!
Item 36, garage. Today I started cleaning up the garage even though I didn't want to. Swept, organized, and threw stuff away.
Item 16, laundry room (hang shelf, organize) It's organized, but I decided that the shelf would interfere with the drying rack and some other things so I decided against it and went with some hooks instead.
Item 39, grace. Because none of us are perfect and sometimes a little grace is necessary
Saturday, March 26
kirill's story
Sometimes more than a village is required. Sometimes the task sounds so daunting so big and problematic that it seems like there is nothing little you can do. If the story below sounds like that to you, just say a prayer or two, or ten, but if you have an idea or a contact please let me know.
I can't even pretend to know what it would feel like to be so close and one second later to be told no. But it's not even about that, it's about a little special needs boy not being allowed to leave the orphanage and live with a family simply because of his special needs.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Kirill's Story
Please feel free to share the following on your blogs. It is a summary of our adoption journey so far. Please help us spread the word. We are hoping somehow someone will be able to help us.
Two years ago Greg and I began praying for God to do whatever he wanted with our lives. We handed him a “blank check” so to speak, and told him to cash it. He opened our eyes to children with disabilities wasting away across the ocean in Eastern Europe. We joined God and started our adoption journey.
Our family is more than equipped to handle a child with special needs. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education. I am a member of the Board of Directors of Best Buddies of Alabama. I have volunteered for RISE and Eagles’ Wings. All of these organizations serve individuals with special needs. My husband I have close friends and family who have special needs and we are a big part of each other’s lives. Our wedding party included some of these special people. Our involvement with individuals with special needs led us to adopt a child with special needs; specifically, we chose Down Syndrome.
As we prayed over the faces of thousands of orphaned children with Down Syndrome, we ultimately chose a little boy named Sergey from Russia. Eight months later, as we neared the finish line of our adoption, one of Sergey’s family members in Russia stepped forward to adopt him. We were heartbroken for our loss, but God showed us that we were following him, and his ways are perfect. We knew we still wanted to adopt, so the way we saw it, two children would find homes because of our journey…Sergey went to his family and now we would choose another child to come into our family. We took great comfort in knowing that God could see this when we first committed to Sergey! We were honored to be a part of his plan.
Shortly after losing Sergey, we received a new referral with a grainy photo of a four-year-old blond-haired boy wearing pink glasses named Kirill. We were instantly in love with him. We had to re-file a lot of our paperwork because of the change in referrals and regions of Russia, but we were fast and we thought we were looking at three more months at the most until we would have Kirill home.
That was well over a year ago.
Since then so many things have happened. A tragic story of an adoptive mother sending her child back to his country alone on a plane with a note pinned to his shirt rocked our world…he was from Russia. Adoptions in Russia came to a screeching halt. Kirill’s region stopped processing adoptions for eight long months. The judge refused to accept any Amercian adoption cases until an official treaty was signed between the United States and Russia.
Even though we wouldn’t be able to finalize the adoption in court until the treaty was signed, we were allowed to go visit Kirill and sign our official petition to adopt him in August 2010. We fell more deeply in love with him. This was our son.
During that time, we found out that Kirill is the first child from his region EVER to be adopted with Down Syndrome. A birth mother keeping her child with Down Syndrome is unheard of in this area of the world. Adoptions of children with Down Syndrome just don’t happen there, these children are literally hidden away from society in orphanages and mental institutions. As our process continued, it became apparent that Kirill would be a pioneer. If our adoption was approved, it would pave the way for other children with special needs to be adopted from this region.
Then, a miracle happened around Christmas and the judge in this region suddenly changed her mind and began processing American adoptions again. We were elated. Could this be the light at the end of a very long tunnel? I was somewhat nervous about Kirill being the first child adopted with Down Syndrome from his region, but our agency was very confident that if we got a court date, our adoption would be approved. In seventeen years, they had never had a case rejected IF the family was issued a court date. We were told not to worry, so I didn’t. After meeting the judge’s requests for several supporting court documents, we were finally granted a court date-March 17, 2011. St. Patrick’s Day…I was thrilled. This would be our new favorite holiday! Our son was coming home!
Our other son, Clayton, who had just turned three when we started this adoption process, has prayed fervently for his brother. He is now almost five. When we told him Kirill was coming home, oh my…we had an excited big brother on our hands! At one point he even went to his room, dumped out his toy cars and divided them into two stacks…one for him and one for Kirill.
Last week, as we sat in the courtroom and suffered through five agonizing hours of difficult questioning, we were not prepared for anything but an approval of our case. Two doctors, two social workers, and the Minister of Children’s Services all made very strong statements on our behalf. They fought for us. Hard.
But when the ruling was read, the judge said, “Your application to adopt is rejected.” The basis given was that Kirill was “not socially adaptable” due to his “medical condition” and he was better off in an institution than in a home with a family. As the judge read her ruling, she stated several times that we were a good family, that we met all the criteria to adopt a child, but that she would not approve our adoption because Kirill has Down Syndrome. She told us that we could adopt another child, because legally our application had no problems according to Russian adoption law. She said she would approve our adoption for a “typical” child, but not this child. Why? The only reason? Because he has Down Syndrome. Even though we were approved by our home study and by the USCIS to adopt a child with special needs. It makes no sense whatsoever. Denying a child a family because he has Down Syndrome is a violation of human rights at its most basic level!
It was like a terrible dream. We were so unprepared for this outcome. As we left the courthouse in a mental fog, the doctors and social workers that had testified came to us and said, “If you appeal, we will fight for you. Appeal. Fight this decision.” Of course we were going to appeal…I could no more walk away from our biological son, Clayton, at this point. Kirill is just as much my son.
So here we are, asking God to move the mountain that is standing between Kirill and us as we appeal to the Supreme Court in Moscow. There are also three other families who are in various stages of adopting children with Down Syndrome from Kirill’s region; one of the families has a court hearing set for next week.
We are hoping that someone will hear our outcry and help us bring our son and these other waiting children home. His adoption will set the precedent for many other children in his region. There are 98 children in his orphanage with special needs alone. It is one of many orphanages in this region that houses children with special needs. This is about more than just one child, the lives of hundreds of children with special need are at stake. Please help us.
I can't even pretend to know what it would feel like to be so close and one second later to be told no. But it's not even about that, it's about a little special needs boy not being allowed to leave the orphanage and live with a family simply because of his special needs.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Kirill's Story
Please feel free to share the following on your blogs. It is a summary of our adoption journey so far. Please help us spread the word. We are hoping somehow someone will be able to help us.
Two years ago Greg and I began praying for God to do whatever he wanted with our lives. We handed him a “blank check” so to speak, and told him to cash it. He opened our eyes to children with disabilities wasting away across the ocean in Eastern Europe. We joined God and started our adoption journey.
Our family is more than equipped to handle a child with special needs. I have a degree in Early Childhood Education. I am a member of the Board of Directors of Best Buddies of Alabama. I have volunteered for RISE and Eagles’ Wings. All of these organizations serve individuals with special needs. My husband I have close friends and family who have special needs and we are a big part of each other’s lives. Our wedding party included some of these special people. Our involvement with individuals with special needs led us to adopt a child with special needs; specifically, we chose Down Syndrome.
As we prayed over the faces of thousands of orphaned children with Down Syndrome, we ultimately chose a little boy named Sergey from Russia. Eight months later, as we neared the finish line of our adoption, one of Sergey’s family members in Russia stepped forward to adopt him. We were heartbroken for our loss, but God showed us that we were following him, and his ways are perfect. We knew we still wanted to adopt, so the way we saw it, two children would find homes because of our journey…Sergey went to his family and now we would choose another child to come into our family. We took great comfort in knowing that God could see this when we first committed to Sergey! We were honored to be a part of his plan.
Shortly after losing Sergey, we received a new referral with a grainy photo of a four-year-old blond-haired boy wearing pink glasses named Kirill. We were instantly in love with him. We had to re-file a lot of our paperwork because of the change in referrals and regions of Russia, but we were fast and we thought we were looking at three more months at the most until we would have Kirill home.
That was well over a year ago.
Since then so many things have happened. A tragic story of an adoptive mother sending her child back to his country alone on a plane with a note pinned to his shirt rocked our world…he was from Russia. Adoptions in Russia came to a screeching halt. Kirill’s region stopped processing adoptions for eight long months. The judge refused to accept any Amercian adoption cases until an official treaty was signed between the United States and Russia.
Even though we wouldn’t be able to finalize the adoption in court until the treaty was signed, we were allowed to go visit Kirill and sign our official petition to adopt him in August 2010. We fell more deeply in love with him. This was our son.
During that time, we found out that Kirill is the first child from his region EVER to be adopted with Down Syndrome. A birth mother keeping her child with Down Syndrome is unheard of in this area of the world. Adoptions of children with Down Syndrome just don’t happen there, these children are literally hidden away from society in orphanages and mental institutions. As our process continued, it became apparent that Kirill would be a pioneer. If our adoption was approved, it would pave the way for other children with special needs to be adopted from this region.
Then, a miracle happened around Christmas and the judge in this region suddenly changed her mind and began processing American adoptions again. We were elated. Could this be the light at the end of a very long tunnel? I was somewhat nervous about Kirill being the first child adopted with Down Syndrome from his region, but our agency was very confident that if we got a court date, our adoption would be approved. In seventeen years, they had never had a case rejected IF the family was issued a court date. We were told not to worry, so I didn’t. After meeting the judge’s requests for several supporting court documents, we were finally granted a court date-March 17, 2011. St. Patrick’s Day…I was thrilled. This would be our new favorite holiday! Our son was coming home!
Our other son, Clayton, who had just turned three when we started this adoption process, has prayed fervently for his brother. He is now almost five. When we told him Kirill was coming home, oh my…we had an excited big brother on our hands! At one point he even went to his room, dumped out his toy cars and divided them into two stacks…one for him and one for Kirill.
Last week, as we sat in the courtroom and suffered through five agonizing hours of difficult questioning, we were not prepared for anything but an approval of our case. Two doctors, two social workers, and the Minister of Children’s Services all made very strong statements on our behalf. They fought for us. Hard.
But when the ruling was read, the judge said, “Your application to adopt is rejected.” The basis given was that Kirill was “not socially adaptable” due to his “medical condition” and he was better off in an institution than in a home with a family. As the judge read her ruling, she stated several times that we were a good family, that we met all the criteria to adopt a child, but that she would not approve our adoption because Kirill has Down Syndrome. She told us that we could adopt another child, because legally our application had no problems according to Russian adoption law. She said she would approve our adoption for a “typical” child, but not this child. Why? The only reason? Because he has Down Syndrome. Even though we were approved by our home study and by the USCIS to adopt a child with special needs. It makes no sense whatsoever. Denying a child a family because he has Down Syndrome is a violation of human rights at its most basic level!
It was like a terrible dream. We were so unprepared for this outcome. As we left the courthouse in a mental fog, the doctors and social workers that had testified came to us and said, “If you appeal, we will fight for you. Appeal. Fight this decision.” Of course we were going to appeal…I could no more walk away from our biological son, Clayton, at this point. Kirill is just as much my son.
So here we are, asking God to move the mountain that is standing between Kirill and us as we appeal to the Supreme Court in Moscow. There are also three other families who are in various stages of adopting children with Down Syndrome from Kirill’s region; one of the families has a court hearing set for next week.
We are hoping that someone will hear our outcry and help us bring our son and these other waiting children home. His adoption will set the precedent for many other children in his region. There are 98 children in his orphanage with special needs alone. It is one of many orphanages in this region that houses children with special needs. This is about more than just one child, the lives of hundreds of children with special need are at stake. Please help us.
Wednesday, March 23
eat, sleep, poop
Eat
Oliver remains an adventurous eater. He will try whatever we feed him. However, he as scaled back the amount he eats. Instead of eating like hungry hippo he eats more like a two year old, excellent. He is also more interested in touching the food then he was before. I find it annoying because he knows how to eat with a spoon and fork, but I remind myself he has probably has never really been able to touch it before. I also tell myself that if he isn't nervous about getting his hands messy with food maybe he won't be one of those kindergarten students who refuses to touch the paint or paper mache.
Though the destruction of a few sippy cups I managed to teach Oliver how to suck strong enough to use a straw. The ability to drink from a straw makes going in the stroller a little less dramatic. It also makes turning your pasta dinner into pasta soup more challenging, which is a plus.
Sleep
As of current we have no sleep issues. This amazes me. We read a lot about sleep in our adoption books. Do we family bed? Does he sleep on the floor in our room? Does he sleep in his own room? Crib? Bed? Will he have bad dreams? Does he need music on?
Family bed? No. I love the idea of it. I enjoyed sleeping with Oliver in Moscow, but it just didn't work at home. Jim gets up at 4am and I am not risking baby wake up at 4am. Also, Oliver is an active sleeper and our bed does not have that much space. So we tried it, once and discovered it's not for us.
Oliver sleeps in his own room, in his twin size bed with a railing, no night light, no music, just sleep. I like that he sleeps in a bed because it means I can lay with him while we read stories and then we can chat and cuddle with the lights off before bed time. Things got a little tricky with daylight savings time. Suddenly 7:30 was bright instead of dark and he knows how to climb out of the bed, so would he? At nap I always put him in the pack and play to assure that he would stay there. I started putting him in his bed for nap. Day 1, he tested it to see what would happen. He got up 4 times over the course of 10 minutes. Each time I went back in his room and put him back in his bed, he went to sleep and has only climbed out a handful of times...only at nap time not at night.
Poop
We use cloth diapers so if there is a chance to get the poop onto the potty I take it. At the first sign of the classic red faced grunting baby I say "poop goes on the potty" and we jot upstairs quickly undress and assume the proper position. Then cheer when we are victorious. Today 2 out of 3 poops made it to the potty.
Oliver remains an adventurous eater. He will try whatever we feed him. However, he as scaled back the amount he eats. Instead of eating like hungry hippo he eats more like a two year old, excellent. He is also more interested in touching the food then he was before. I find it annoying because he knows how to eat with a spoon and fork, but I remind myself he has probably has never really been able to touch it before. I also tell myself that if he isn't nervous about getting his hands messy with food maybe he won't be one of those kindergarten students who refuses to touch the paint or paper mache.
Though the destruction of a few sippy cups I managed to teach Oliver how to suck strong enough to use a straw. The ability to drink from a straw makes going in the stroller a little less dramatic. It also makes turning your pasta dinner into pasta soup more challenging, which is a plus.
Sleep
As of current we have no sleep issues. This amazes me. We read a lot about sleep in our adoption books. Do we family bed? Does he sleep on the floor in our room? Does he sleep in his own room? Crib? Bed? Will he have bad dreams? Does he need music on?
Family bed? No. I love the idea of it. I enjoyed sleeping with Oliver in Moscow, but it just didn't work at home. Jim gets up at 4am and I am not risking baby wake up at 4am. Also, Oliver is an active sleeper and our bed does not have that much space. So we tried it, once and discovered it's not for us.
Oliver sleeps in his own room, in his twin size bed with a railing, no night light, no music, just sleep. I like that he sleeps in a bed because it means I can lay with him while we read stories and then we can chat and cuddle with the lights off before bed time. Things got a little tricky with daylight savings time. Suddenly 7:30 was bright instead of dark and he knows how to climb out of the bed, so would he? At nap I always put him in the pack and play to assure that he would stay there. I started putting him in his bed for nap. Day 1, he tested it to see what would happen. He got up 4 times over the course of 10 minutes. Each time I went back in his room and put him back in his bed, he went to sleep and has only climbed out a handful of times...only at nap time not at night.
Poop
We use cloth diapers so if there is a chance to get the poop onto the potty I take it. At the first sign of the classic red faced grunting baby I say "poop goes on the potty" and we jot upstairs quickly undress and assume the proper position. Then cheer when we are victorious. Today 2 out of 3 poops made it to the potty.
baby talk two
Did you miss baby talk, the original? Check it out here
Owl was the first word Oliver said, but how useful is owl? Not very. That being said he has added a few others including...
dada
mama
NO (only said loudly)
banana (nana)
bye bye
night night (ni ni)
da (I guess he prefers Russian version of yes)I know he is saying yes because he shakes his head yes and uses it in proper context.
woof (when he sees a dog or when I say dog)
--
he still, very much, wants to say "on" and "off" but he just hasn't managed to get more than the OOO sound out.
The unspoken
I say "where's Oliver?" he covers his eyes
I ask him where something is that he can't see and he lifts both hands in that "I have no idea sort of way"
When sitting on the potty we play puzzles, don't you?, when he gets a piece in he lifts an arm or two and does a "ya I did it kind of cheer" We celebrate everything. You should see the cheer when something turns up in the potty. "Whoa!"
Signs
please
milk
more
sorry
thank you
*I tried to teach him the sign for mama since he still insists on patting himself while saying mama, but he refuses.
Owl was the first word Oliver said, but how useful is owl? Not very. That being said he has added a few others including...
dada
mama
NO (only said loudly)
banana (nana)
bye bye
night night (ni ni)
da (I guess he prefers Russian version of yes)I know he is saying yes because he shakes his head yes and uses it in proper context.
woof (when he sees a dog or when I say dog)
--
he still, very much, wants to say "on" and "off" but he just hasn't managed to get more than the OOO sound out.
The unspoken
I say "where's Oliver?" he covers his eyes
I ask him where something is that he can't see and he lifts both hands in that "I have no idea sort of way"
When sitting on the potty we play puzzles, don't you?, when he gets a piece in he lifts an arm or two and does a "ya I did it kind of cheer" We celebrate everything. You should see the cheer when something turns up in the potty. "Whoa!"
Signs
please
milk
more
sorry
thank you
*I tried to teach him the sign for mama since he still insists on patting himself while saying mama, but he refuses.
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