Friday, November 7, 2014

let me be blunt...

I want to adopt this baby:

http://reecesrainbow.org/81881/truman-2


But now is not the time for us.

Adoptions have slowed down in his country because people are scared. Last year at this time, a baby would be snatched up within days of being listed. Truman has been listed now for over a month, and nothing. Girls are adopted more often than boys, so he has less and less of a chance as he gets older. He's so young now, that he would still qualify for Early Intervention therapies. Oh, how he would blossom as a cherished son.

Let me tell you, do not be afraid. The Lord's work is often hard and treacherous. That doesn't mean we give up trying. The team available to help you in country will keep you safe.

This boy is in the Western part of his country. Far away from any tyrants. A more modern area than the one we adopted from.

I imagine most of my readers are parents. You have watched your children fall asleep peacefully in your arms, at your breast, in their swaddles, breathing them in, cherishing their every coo.

This baby doesn't have that. They are carried face out like animals. They are often fed by propped bottles with cut nipples which can lead to aspiration and worse.

Uncherished. Unloved. No mommy to watch them fall asleep. No mommy's milk or skin to skin contact to comfort them.

Instead, an orphanage with too many lonely faces deprived of the thing we all need most. A family.



Truman isn't the only baby listed, either....


This is baby Basil. St. Basil, pray for these children! (He has a family!)
http://reecesrainbow.org/82595/basil
Baby Andrea. (She has a family!)
http://reecesrainbow.org/80483/andrea
Sweet Maureen
http://reecesrainbow.org/category/waiting-children/girls-down-syndrome-0-2

Adorable Darah. (She has a family!)
http://reecesrainbow.org/77318/darah

These children are just from one country. The ones fortunate enough to be listed on Reece's Rainbow so they can be seen.

Adopt!

Can't adopt? Donate!

Can't donate? Share!!

And most of all, PRAY!

I'm honestly tired of the excuses. These sweethearts do not have time for your excuses. Ask me how you can help!!


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Thursday, November 6, 2014

One Year Ago Today - Part 3 - METCHA!!!

Oh my. This year flew by. I will try not to be overly sappy, but I have been teary all day. So much has changed in a year. Our boy has grown in so many ways. He is the sweetest little guy.

Happy metcha day, Maks. We love you soooo much! I'm so glad I'm your momma!

I will post my post from a year ago in our travel group and some pictures.


"I'm so sorry you all. That'll teach me to give a time while we're in Ukraine. Things are unpredictable here.

It's 9:35 pm and we just now got wifi in our new apartment.

Ok, from the beginning, the driver was about 45 mins late, so we didn't get to the orphanage until way after 10.


They took us in and we waited around a bit. I was surprised by how nice the orphanage was. I was already choking back tears, it was surreal to be there.

Waiting to meet his big brother


They took us in to talk to some people, they said they admire us for taking a baby so far and for taking on Maksim too. They were all so sweet.

They took us into the music room and we sat down, someone came in to talk about his history. His birth mom is younger than me, but the father is older. They have one other child, a little girl, and they came to visit him one time, just this year in April.

Then the orphanage doctor came in and told us about all of his medical stuff. He has speech therapy and other therapies and responds very well. He's very smart, and can match flash cards to the correct pictures when asked, they said. He began trying to walk on his own, using a chair. He is affectionate and not aggressive at all. He had heart surgery last year and his heart is completely fine now. He started gaining weight after that.

Then they brought him in. Oh my, he is HUGE! This is a good thing, but his belly is adorable and made us laugh. He absolutely loves Kyle. He was kissing him and laughing. It was so so cute.

"I've been waiting my whole life for you to get here."
"I like daddy better."



He wanted to dig in my purse and would pull something out and show us, like "see?" It was so cute. He found the phone the team gave us so they can contact us and he knew exactly how to use it, you'll see in the pics.


But then he saw our notebook and pen and wanted to look and that and draw! He is amazing. He sat with me and we pretended to talk on the phone and then drew, and then the doctor came and he showed off his walking skills. Precious.



We took him back to his groupa after a while because it was time for lunch. We're smitten, you guys. They asked us if we liked him and if we still wanted to adopt him. Yes! We do!


We spent the rest of the day running around trying to find a notary that was working and tracking down a gov worker to leave our paper work with. It was fun, actually.

Our new apartment has 2 rooms, but it's on the 5th floor, no elevator. I'm gonna be so thin after this trip, haha... (2014 comment - I wish that were the case!!!)




I am going to have to send home as much as possible with Kyle, and buy a stroller, because he is so big, I'm not sure I will be able to carry him on my back very much. I also don't think most of the clothes I brought will fit."

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Tuesday, November 4, 2014

One Year Ago Today - Part 2

November 4th, 2013, I barely remember. Traveling for 24 hours straight takes its toll on a person's memory. We had the whole morning and midday before our DAP appointment, so we set out to find food and a baby hat for Sam. Unfortunately, we only found a super expensive boutique and spent about $50 on THIS HAT:

"The most expensive baby hat, ever."


We were picked up and taken to the DAP office for our appointment.

It is right next to this breathtaking church:

St, Andrew's

Our appointment was short and sweet. Here is the post I made that day:

"We're back from our dap appt! We meet Max on Wednesday morning.
Apparently the team calls me "crazy mommy." And we got scolded by Serge because Samuel wasn't covered enough even though we were sweating lol.
Here's a baby pic of our boy!"
Baby Maksim!
We had dinner that night with some Reece's Rainbow families. I wish we had gotten pictures. It was so nice to talk to people who had been in country a while.

We bundled up Sam so we wouldn't be scolded anymore:


Officially Ukrainian



And that was that! We were inching closer to meeting our sweet boy and I was enjoying the city, but I so wish we could've toured it and explored some more.


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Sunday, November 2, 2014

One Year Ago Today - Part 1

One year ago today, we set out on an amazing journey. A journey to Ukraine, with a newborn in tow, to meet our son, Maksim.

6:30 AM before our first flight.


Our first flight was 4.5 hours to Dulles airport. Then we boarded our 10 hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany (AKA: The worst airport EVER!)





We took one last flight to Kiev, and like a surreal dream, we were in our son's country, just 3 days away from meeting him.

First stop was the grocery store and I was sure to get myself some of the chocolate every mom raves about.

Yum! You will never want an American candy bar again!!

Samuel trying out our first apartment.
We passed out and slept off and on until we felt human again.... Our adoption ministry appointment was coming just the next day.

To be continued...

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