Week 1 - Written by Linda

We started out early Sat. morning.  Our first flight ended up being an hour late which wasn't too bad since we flew out of a small airport.  We played some games and the kids enjoyed looking at the planes.  The first flight was a just an hour and everyone was excited.  I have to admit when we took off I thought I was going to throw up.  I was scared of what our next few weeks were going to look like.  Once we landed we had about an hour to get some lunch and take 3 kids through a crowded airport. There was a mistake in 2 of our boarding passes so we grabbed some food and got to our gate.  There the lady said that our carry-ons  were to heavy and had to be checked.  Thankfully it was for free.  I kind of panicked for a moment because I packed so carefully in case luggage got lost.   Although after pulling them through the airport I didn't really care.  I knew it would make our next flight easier.  Once we got the bags checked and the boarding passes reprinted it was time to load the plane.  The kids walked on holding their lunch in their hands.  Ryan didn't eat until after we took off.  This was our long overnight flight.  It was crazy all of the different languages being spoken around the plane.  Also the amount of alcohol shocked me.  The kids were amazing.  They fell asleep during dinner which was chicken curry.  Really they were not going to eat that.  LOL then about 2 hours till we touched down they woke up and ate some breakfast and watched some TV.  Lexie's favorite part was the warm moist towelette that they pass out for the meals.  Then we landed in Germany.

 We had no problem navigating our way through thankfully.  We also had no problem going through customs.  The officer just stood up because he couldn't see Lexie over the counter and never missed a beat talking to his friend on the other side of the counter.  When we were walking to our gate I kept on asking Ryan are you sure that was customs.  LOL  I had been so nervous from hearing horror stories.  We quickly boarded and were on our way to his country!  It was a short uneventful flight.  When we touched down tears started flowing.  We were really here.  We were really doing this.  It just seemed like a dream.  

The first day was easy we got to our apartment and got settled.  We ate at a little restaurant down stairs and quickly realized that food was going to be a bigger issue than what we thought.  I think we all ate french fries.  I knew that the kids would struggle a little but I didn't think that Ryan and I would struggle too.   The next day we went to the store and were completely overwhelmed by the city life in a foreign country.  We get attention wherever we go.  We have only seen a handful of kids and never a family of 5.  They clearly know we are Americans LOL!  Thankfully no one has been rude.  In the stores I just ask for help to anyone around me.  They have many white liquids here.  Kefer is very popular and is sold by the glass at restaurants and in cartons at the store.  So I just asked the lady next to me is this milk she looked at me funny and I said moo!  She laughed and then pointed me to the right container.  I said thank you and we both laughed.  I smile at people and some smile back .  Some just look us up and down.  I love when we go into a restaurant and there is no place for us to sit as a family.  There is usually a table top with stools that look out the window we take up the whole front window usually.  The stores and buildings are very small.  At the grocery store you have about 2 choices and that's it.  The grocery cart is about the size of a Walgreens cart.  I still shop like an American.  I try to only go every other day but thats not always possible.  The meat comes in a produce bag.  I thought that was gross and unusual.  Ryan got a dirty look when he didn't put a bag of potatoes in a produce bag.  The different currency isn't too bad except that they are getting ready to switch over to Euros.  So everything has 2 prices on it.  Everything is very expensive here.  We are eating 2 meals in our apartment everyday and 1 out if we are out and about.  My grocery bill is about $250 a week.  We are not eating anything fancy either.  We have had toasted cheese sandwiches and spaghetti a bunch.  I did make fried chicken and mashed potatoes one night but we are just keeping it simple.  We have mostly just ate at casual fast food.  We have yet to find anything amazing.  We did eat at a pizza place.  The atmosphere was amazing.  Our bill for all 6 of us was around $70.  I wanted to put some real numbers out there for families who hope to be traveling soon.  We knew it was going to be more but we were surprised.  

We had a whole day before our first court appearance.    I am so thankful our agency told us to arrive early.  We really needed that day.  Jet lag has been awful.  Lexie 4 has had the hardest time.   She wakes up at 2 AM like clockwork hungry and wide awake.  Some nights she falls back asleep around 5 AM and sometimes around 1 PM  This makes for some tired parents.  Ryan and I trade off but we are both tired.  Caden and Libby had a hard first couple of days with sleep but are doing better now.  I laugh because every time I have had a new baby the lack of sleep has been very difficult for me.  I love sleep and really need 8 hours to function.  We joked before our travel that by adopting a teenager we would not have to go through the sleepless night.  Ha ha ha.  So the big day came. Another family from America is here adopting as well.  They are staying in the same apartment building as us along with some other families.  They watched the kids for us while we went to court.  You have no idea what a blessing that was to us.  We are so thankful.  I was worried about taking the kids because I had heard that the room is so small that they would have to wait out in the hall unattended.  I prayed so hard for God to take care of this for me.  Huge answered prayer!  So Ryan and I walk into this small office.  The floor looked like painted plywood and flexed when you walked.  There were 4  women who are what we would call social workers.  Our adoption attorney was with us.  Ryan, myself, the foster mother, and tucked away in the corner was Mr. man.  He was half way covered up by a coat rack and a plant in the corner.  We made eye contact from across the room.  We sat down and they asked us some questions. Nothing major just some basic questions.  It just seemed surreal.  We were really there.  Then it was over.  We were walking out the doors and he was with us.  It happened so fast.  We were then driving back to our apartment.  We had a 30 min drive where our attorney explained what the next week was going to look like for home visits and what not.  They dropped us off at the apartment and then we took him to our apartment.  Ryan went and got the kids while we waited.  I got the sweetest video of the door bell ringing and him opening it saying hello!  The look on Caden face is priceless.  It was wonderful and awkward all at the same time.  It was hard to pick up where we left off in some ways.  The kids were all fighting about who got to sit by him.  At one moment  he was in the middle with Caden and Libby on each side and Lexie was sitting on the back of the couch.  LOL He probably couldn't breath.  Ryan and I were sitting at his feet trying to communicate with him.  The first couple of days were a little awkward.  We did some sightseeing and just surviving.  The other day we had a home visit and it was easy.  The social workers are very nice and have known Mr. man for a long time now.  Some things were very difficult to hear.  We had walked about 45 min the day before our home visit to pick up these little cakes that our attorney recommended.   We know know that there is a bakery about 10 min away LOL.  The social workers didn't eat any so after they left we all grabbed a fork and started tasting.  Mr. man thought that was hilarious and dove right in. Things are starting to fall into place.  We have kinda found a new normal and he is starting to get more comfortable.  One of our problems is that he is not from the city so this is all new and overwhelming to him.  The kids are struggling with all of the walking and all of the down time in the apartment.  Today we bought bus passes.  Mr. man looked at the tram and said wow that's big.  I said yep we are going to ride it.  He gave me this scared look and then took Ryan's hand and got on.  He is such a trooper.  I hate that we are suppose to be here learning about him and where he is from but we are in a city that he has only visited once.  We are all counting down the days till we come home.  Every night Mr. man reminds us of how many more times he has to sleep here until we go HOME!  

We are very happy with our apartment.  Wifi is nice and the location feels pretty safe for this country girl.  Some things too get use to are the beds see photo!

Yes that is an 1.5 inches of foam on top of box springs

 We have no dryer so our clothes dry on a rack.  Honestly it's really not too bad.   We did learn that if you are line drying your clothes it is a must to use fabric softener.  Our wash machine is itty bitty.  We can fit about 3 kids clothes and some socks at a time.  We are always doing laundry.  Thankfully our apartment came with 2 little heated fans.  We have a system going and can dry a load in about 90 min.  No dish washer is just a pain.  Carrying groceries has a learning curve.  LOL  You don't buy milk, water, and juice all on the same day.  Your arms will be burning while you walk to get home.  Also add in a 4yr old who is tired of walking because we went to the store on the way home from our outing :)  Also it is smoking hot everywhere we go.  People told us to wear layers I had no idea it was going to be this HOT in our apartment.  We are cracking the windows to cool off.  Even Mr. man is hot.  The boys are in t-shirts and shorts in the apartment.  Outside it is cold and requires hats, gloves, and warm coats.  but as soon as you get in the stores you are burning up.  Another dead give away we are Americans.  When we go to the store we have one cart for food and one for our coats.  All of the other people are still bundled up.  

We went to church today and it was amazing.  I have never been in a church that spoke another language before.  Thankfully they translated in English as well.  It was a very small church.  There were 17 other people there.  The worship leader shared that he just got back from visiting America and that he actually drove through our little town on his trip.  Another member shared and he was leaving for America for 3 months to visit his family.  They sang and preached in English and Latvian.  This was the first church service that Mr. man has probably  ever heard in his language.  You guessed it I balled my eyes out during the service.  The service lasted for about 2 hours which is longer than our normal church service but the kids were amazing.  Lexie got antsy towards the end of the service so I took her in the nursery.  She instantly made a friend named Elizabeth who was also 4.  Elizabeth spoke Russian and the two of them didn't miss a beat.  They could really understand each other until it was time to say bye.  Lexie didn't understand and I think Elizabeth got mad.  At the end she told me chow.  This was monumental because I have been waiting to say chow to people.  Mr. man felt that it was very important that I knew when we came to get him that I would have to say chow.  LOL  No one has said chow at all.  I asked him why and then he sighed and said Mom you're too American Baahaahaa...  Miss Elizabeth's chow made us all smile.  Then Lexie understood and now says cha chow to everyone we see.  LOL   This church blessed us today more than words can explain.  He shared on being vulnerable.  Are you making yourself available to be used by God?  Another lady shared a blessing in her life about how God has provided her financial need to finish college. She shared that if God is leading you he will provide.   I just sat in amazement....  God's presence was in that building and it felt amazing.   

The worship leader leads a Southern Gospel Chior here, and they just returned from the United States where they studied and learned.  Here is a video that they showed this morning of what they do:

After church we ventured out on the public transportation again.  We paid $100 for 5 days so we are going to use it!  We ended up really getting our money worth today LOL we missed our stop and ended up going all the way out to the other part of the city,  At one moment the bus stopped and the driver got off.  We just sat for what seemed like 10 min on an empty bus.  We were not in the best part of town and I kept on telling Ryan HE GOT OFF!!!  After the driver returned we got back to the right stop and ate lunch at 4:00  We went to Cili Picia.  They have pizza and a huge selection of other choices.  There are 4 of these restaurants around the city and we will be eating there again.   Tonight we are watching TV , playing minecraft and eating ice cream for dinner.  Tonight is Dec 1st so we are going to start our advent devotions and get to eat a chocolate from the advent  calender that we bought the other day.  I have never seen so much Chocolate in my life.  It is amazing but at the grocery store you a have a choice of mild salsa or hot only one brand.  Then you look up against the wall and it is covered in chocolate.  With so many different choices.  

The rest of this week we are hoping to go to the zoo, WWII museum and the chocolate museum.  We still have a part of old Riga that we have yet to make it to.  We also have another visit from our social workers on Tuesday.  Thursday we are going to meet several families that are here adopting as well.  I can't wait to meet these amazing families.  I want to grab a hold of all these children and tell them you are WANTED!   You are LOVED...  The other day we were on the bus and  I noticed these 2 boys had a blue little bus card.  All of the orphans are given one of these cards so that they can access the public transportation for free.  They were standing in the connecting part of the tram.  The accordion part that pivots when the tram turns.  They were smiling and giggling and just breaking my heart.  Then this mean little girl got on the bus with her mother.  I'm going to call her Nelly Olsen started yelling at them.  I'm not sure what she said but I could tell by her tone and the boys faces that it was mean.  Her mother just laughed and talked to another lady.  Nelly got the middle part all to her selfish little self.   The boys took off and ran to the end of the tram.  I wanted to go find them but I didn't.  I am kicking myself now.   I also wanted to tell that little girl and her mother a piece of my mind but I didn't.  It is so sad. I see how people look at the orphans around town.  I see these kids and see faces of children who have been hosted.  I just want to hug them all and tell them that God loves them.  Oh could you imagine a crazy crying American lady grabbing you and hugging you!  Ya Mr. man would die of embarrassment.  I 'll tell you this much I will never be the same again.  My children's lives have forever been changed for the better.  I am so grateful and thankful to everyone who has helped us get here.  I am also thankful for all the prayers being prayed for us.  I can feel  God's comfort and peace that only he can give.  Please keep the prayers coming.   

Family Fun Night

Tonight was our Family Fun Event at Isaak's Family Fun Center in Mattoon.  We would like to thank everyone that came out and help us make it a HUGE success.  This evening we were able to raise $700 to go towards our adoption.  We excited to say that we have all of the funds needed for our first of three trips, and that we are half way to covering the second trip.  We are so very thankful and blown away by everyone's generosity.  God is truly providing every step of the way and we are in awe of him.

Family Fun Night for Adoption!

When: November 11th from 4pm – 8pm
Where: Isaak’s Family Fun
1421 Old State Road (if using gps enter 5301 Old State Rd.)
Mattoon, IL 61938
What: Come play, eat, and help get closer to adopting our child. Isaak’s Family fun offers laser tag, glow in the dark putt putt golf, a climber and play area, all within a family friendly atmosphere. Selling a slice of pizza and a soda for $2

How Much: You can pay for what you play, or choose our family saver pass.

Family Saver options:
$35 in advance or $40 at the door. This allows your family unlimited golf, unlimited climber for ages 3-12 and a minimum of one 15 minute game of laser tag for ages 6 and up (more games subject to availability)

Family meal saver:
2 large 1 topping pizzas for $20. Additional toppings for $1.65 each
Prepaid pre-orders will be available with your request of delivery time

We will also have a Cookie Lee Jewelry and Scentsy Consultant with products to purchase if you would like as well!

Drawing for the mini iPad and Bulls Ticket will be held at the event as well.

http://tiny.cc/miniipadgiveaway
http://tiny.cc/bullsticketgiveaway

Proceeds going to help fund our adoption.

Use the link below to pre-order:
http://tiny.cc/familyfunnight

Gods Timing is Perfect

I woke up this morning and the first thing I did was check my phone to see if we had an email from our agency.  No luck...  I went about the rest of my morning at work, working on the various projects that I have going on when my co-worker asked if I knew when we would be traveling yet.  I had just told him no and just as I said that, an email from our agency came into my inbox.  I could not open it fast enough.  My heart started beating faster knowing that I was going to find out when exactly it was that I was going to be able to see him again!  I opened it and read the email finding the dates that we were being invited to the country!  As I was reading it,  Our adoption agency called to make sure that we got the email.  These dates are almost the exact dates that I had been telling Linda and others that I thought that we would be traveling for the last few weeks.  For security reasons, I wont tell you exactly what the dates are, but we will be back in time to spend Christmas at home.

So about God's timing.  We thought we knew when would be good for us to go.  We thought that the middle of September - October.  Turns out that would have been a terrible time for us. Over the past 48 hours the number of blessings that we have been made aware of is crazy.  We received a letter from our agency with a list of donors and the total dollar amount that had been sent into them on our behalf.  The amount was larger than we thought it was.  We had multiple people in the last 48 hours let us know that they were helping us out, and to top it off last night we were blessed by our amazing Church.  Last night was our quarterly business meeting, we were sitting in the pew expecting to talk about normal Church business when we got to the new business portion of the meeting our church voted to donate toward our adoption.  Linda and I were stunned.  My lip started to quiver and tears began to roll down Linda's cheek.  We did not expect this at all.  It is absolutely awesome to see our Church come along side us and support us in this way doing exactly what the Church is intended to do.  The donation was added to our puzzle filling in the middle of our puzzle and it will be a great reminder to us and him that he has an entire Church supporting him along the way.

After coming home from Church we pulled the puzzle out and added all of the pieces that we needed to add After adding those it left just 9 pieces left in order to complete the puzzle.  About 20 minutes before I got the email with our dates, I received a message saying that we could count the puzzle as done and that the funds were being sent to complete the puzzle.  WOW, I was blown away.

After talking about all of this timing stuff, I then went back to look at the statistics on our blog and I noticed that it was 1 year ago tomorrow that I wrote our first blog post.  Are you kidding me?  I could have started writing this blog on any day.  This time last year I was thinking that we were going to be finding him a home, and that we were going to show him Christs love and what a family was like, and that one of our friends, or someone that read this blog would be the ones that would fall in love with him and adopt him.  1 YEAR AGO,  It amazing to look back on that first blog post and see where we were, and see where we are now, and see where we are going.

We are so incredibly humbled and grateful to everyone that has helped us get this far.  We still have a ways go, but I just wanted to take a moment to recognize Gods PERFECT plan and timing.  Now we work on getting our travel plans together and figure out what happens next! 

The Call - written by Linda

Oh there has been so much going on lately.  I have been getting so many messages asking what does a referral mean.  Before we go there I want to share steps leading up to this process.  A couple weeks ago our Dossier was submitted to the court.  The dossier is the important paper work that the court has to approve before you are allowed you to adopt from their country.  Every case is different but in most cases it takes a couple of weeks to hear back from the court.  We got a notification that our Dossier was submitted.  We started praying.  Not as though we have ever stopped praying throughout this journey but you know what I mean.  We were told that it was going to take a couple of weeks so we thought we were prepared.  LOL  The first week we did pretty good with waiting.  The second week I started marking days on the calender.  Then a couple days into the 2nd week I started FREAKING out.  Ryan and I were both about to come out of our skins. On Tuesday we were hit with the information that something needed to happen on the courts end that could hold up the process.  We both wanted to throw up.  I think we both cried ourselves to sleep.  We were going to have to make a decision as to rehost or just wait.  We were sad we didn't want to rehost we wanted to adopt.  At church on Wed. night I just wanted to cry as I talked to everyone about the situation.   On Thursday Ryan and I were just down.  Ryan came home for lunch and he was just having a bad day.  We were sitting down eating lunch and the phone rang.  I said oh I pray that this is our adoption agency.  Sure enough it was.  I told her " I'm not sure if it's good news or not but, I was glad that she was calling."  Just getting information means so much at this point.  She then went on to tell me that she had good news!  The tears started flowing then she said we got the referral.  At that moment I started balling my eyes out.  I couldn't control it.  I told Ryan and then he burst into tears.   The kids came running in to see what was  wrong.   Ryan told them and they were running around screaming.  At this point I'm sure she thinks we are crazy.  She said oh this child is LOVED.  I only cried harder. 

 So what does the referral mean?  It means that you receive approval from the country to adopt a child.  You also receive information on the child.  We read the information and accepted the referral right away!  Now we are waiting for our official invitation to their country and our travel dates!  I can hardly believe that I am typing this.  We will soon be traveling.  We are hoping to learn the dates next week and then things are going to get crazy.  Most families get their dates about 2 - 3 weeks out. This could mean early Nov.  In that time we will have to find an apartment and book our flights.   The first trip will be for a couple of weeks.  We will rent an apartment and live there with him to "bond."  Oh I can't wait to see him again...   We have never traveled out of the country nor have we ever taken all of our children on a plane.  This should be fun!   Our plane ride will be around 9 hours with a lengthy lay over.  If you can't tell I am a little nervous about the trip.  The longest plane ride I have ever been on was about 3 hours and I thought I was going to come unglued.  I'm not scared to fly I just struggle to sit still that long.  Hmm I wonder where my kids get it from.  

 A huge blessing that I am so thankful for is that we will have other families in country with us.  This is huge to me.  Just having others there comforts me.  I do have a huge prayer request.  We have dear friends who are waiting for their referral.  Please join us in praying for them.  Their child will be aging out soon and we are praying without ceasing that they get their referral next week.   Another prayer request is that we are able to come up with the funds that are needed to make this trip.  We know that God has brought us here and he has provided every step of the way.  We have seen Gods work throughout this whole process and it is amazing.  My faith has grown so much during this process.  This is all out of our hands.  We are not capable to do this on our own.  God is leading and we are following.  I love the illustration of the foot prints in the sand.  Lately it feels like God is just carrying me.  I like to control my situations.  I like to plan and love to be organized.  I have been struggling with a health problem.  Nothing life threatening but I do need an out patient procedure done next week.  Oh perfect timing?  Ummm  NO...  I am just ready to be feeling normal again.  Prayers for a quick recovery would be greatly appreciated. 

 So in the next few weeks we will be doing as much fundraising as we possible can. One way you can help us greatly is by sharing our fundraisers with others.  If you are on Facebook please share the post.   We just got done with a garage sale where we brought in a couple hundred dollars.  Huge THANK YOU to all that donated.  We are selling reusable bags for $5.00 plus shipping that say " This bag helped a child find a forever home.  What did your bag do?"  They come in red and grey.  We ordered 200 of these babies and we need help selling them.  In case you haven't seen we are selling tickets for a chance to win Bulls tickets for Dec. 14, 2013.  We are also getting ready to sell tickets for an I Pad Mini.  For our last fundraiser  will be having a family fun night  at Issak's family fun.  We just love this place.  They offer putt putt golf, laser tag, and a climber.  It will be a great family night.  Nov. 11th  VETERANS day from 4-8.  We will also be drawing the winner of the Bull tickets and I Pad Mini that night.  You do not have to be present to win.  

 WOWZERS here we go!  

Our newest fundraiser!

Eeeekkk they are finally here!  Our bag fundraiser is officially underway.  I love how they turned out thanks to a good friend for putting together the design.  We ask that you donate what you would like, but are asking for a minimum donation of $5.00 (if paying via paypal please add 50 cents to cover the paypal fees).  I think it would be a great way to wrap your Christmas presents this year!  I love that every time I  use this bag I will get a chance to share our story.  I hope that in doing so more children get hosted and more children find their forever homes!  Let me know if you want some bags and we can arrange a drop off, or for a little extra we can ship it to you (Shipping usually costs between $3 and $5 thanks). 

Paypal:

Out of our hands!

Well, in a few short hours (Monday early AM) everything will be out of our hands officially and we will be waiting... waiting for a referral which we hear could come in the next 2-4 weeks!  Will you please pray for those that are looking over all of our paperwork and pray for us as they do.  We are so excited to get there!