Home…well sort of…

After nearly 17 hours in the air yesterday, we arrived home late last night.  The travel gave Krista and I plenty of time to reflect upon the week.  We have begun to realize that the past week has been far more emotional and exciting than we ever expected. 

We both admitted that we never fully expected to fall in love this week.  We have always felt a sense of duty and obedience to care for an orphan and provide when no one else would.  What was we truly underestimated is how quickly and how deeply this little boy would impact our hearts.  On Thursday night, I began to realize that Krista really didn’t want to leave Tomsk without him.  I also found myself entertaining the notion of leaving her there because I didn’t want to leave him either.  We realized that the burden of a 3+ week trip in the near future made it impossible financially to allow Krista to stay indefinitely, but even our consideration made me very aware of the bond that we have already formed with Valera.    So we are home for now, well sort of.  I find that a good portion of my mind and heart are still in the Baby House in Tomsk with Valera.  I know that Krista’s heart and mind never really left.  

As I spoke with friends at church this morning, one of them pointed out something that I also recognized this week.   I have seen a depth of joy in Krista that I don’t recall ever seeing before.  I’m not completely sure how that can be, but I also can’t deny that I have seen her transformed this past week.  Her interaction with Valera has brought out a side of her that I didn’t know existed.   When I realize that God called her to adoption nearly five years ago, I realize that this joy I am witnessing now must also be the fruit of His Spirit in her life.  I must admit, it’s very exciting to see the transformation.  Our friend said the change was so evident that it brought her to tears. 

Even though it was very hard to leave Valera in Tomsk, its been great to see how excited Brittany & Alyssa are.  They already want to go clothes shopping and showed Valera’s pictures to as many people as they could this morning at church.

Well, I will continue to share via the blog over the next couple of weeks as we learn about the timing of the return trip.  Please continue to pray for favor with the courts in Tomsk in order that we might return as soon as possible.  We are hoping a July 6^th pre-court date. 

I also would like you to consider coming to a celebration (shower) on the weekend of June 27/28 to see pictures and videos of Valera and just hang out with us so we can thank you for your support and prayers.  We will post details here as they are finalized.

Thanks again for your love, support, and prayers,

Chris

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Ma..ma!

Orphanage Shoes

While preparing for our adoption, Krista mentioned to me that the judge would ask us in court if we had formed a bond with our child on the first trip.  We thought, how much of a bond can be formed with a child in an orphanage in only a few visits over a three day period?  Now, I realize that after more than four years of waiting for this trip to arrive, it would be quite possible for us, especially Krista, to become emotionally attached in a very short period of time.  In fact, I was surprised how emotional I was after just a few hours with Valera.   As I sat and journaled yesterday morning, I was overwhelmed by how much love I felt for this child, but what really stirred my heart was that I realized that God has adopted me into his family.  If I feel this strongly about a child I’ve never known from a foreign culture, how much more God, who created me, must feel about met.  It was quite an overwhelming realization and still is.  But the question in my mind was: “what does Valera think of us?”  Yesterday morning as we were walking onto the grounds at the Baby House, we noticed that Valera’s group had already been taken out for play time.  Our eyes quickly scanned for him, realizing they aren’t that easy to identify when they all (boys and girls) are wearing bonnets, and noticed him sitting in a large play pen.   He was just sitting all by himself.  No other children had been placed in the pen with him and absolutely no toys in there with him.   His head turn toward us, his face lit up, he jumped to his feet, put his hands in the air and said “ma..ma” and waved to us.  He recognized us (well at least Krista).  It brought tears to our eyes.  A moment I will never forget.  As we made our way around to the gate of their playground, he made his way to the closest corner of the play pen and pulled himself halfway up the side of the crib with both feet off the ground and let out a yell that he wanted out.   Of course they brought him to us and we went off to play with him for the rest of the morning.  He has really become very comfortable around both of us and loves playing some of the same games.  He loves to be chased, blow bubbles, and climb everything.  He also loves kisses.  He just laughs and smiles (mostly at Krista), but only goes to us and not to our agency workers.

While playing with him yesterday morning we noticed that he had a foul smell.  (I know what you’re thinking, but unfortunately this story is much sadder)  We realized that his shoes and socks reeked of urine.  Our agency worker mentioned that the children his age do not wear diapers because it’s too difficult for the workers to keep up with a 15-1 ratio and so if the child doesn’t go potty at the allotted time, they wet themselves, it runs down their legs and into their shoes.  While their clothes are frequently washed, their sock and shoes are apparently not.  Very sad.  We were heartbroken and determined to do what we could to help.  We bought Valera a pair of new shoes and also more than 10 pairs of new socks for his buddies.  The orphanage director did request clothes and shoes, but also mentioned that nothing can be shipped directly to the orphanage due to customs laws.  So we intend to bring back money to go shoe shopping for all the children in the orphanage.  Krista and I ask that you would pray about contributing to a fund for us to purchase new shoes and socks for all the children.  The department stores here are very similar to the ones’ in the US, so new shoes cost about $25 and socks about $2 per pair.  Our coordinator is going to look around for some better deals to prepare for our return trip.

Speaking of our return trip, our coordinator mentioned yesterday that it may be possible for us to return for a court date as early as July 6^th.  We were actually quite shocked, but it will have a lot to do with which judge is assigned to our case.   We think we have about a 50% chance of getting a judge that will be easy to work with.  We ask that you pray for favor with the court system and an opportunity to return as soon as possible. 

As you can only imagine, this trip has been life changing for us.  We knew it would, but had no way to tell how before we actually arrived.  I look forward to sharing with all of you all of the details that have happened and how God has blessed us on this trip.  We don’t look forward to leaving tomorrow, except that we do dearly miss Alyssa and Brittany, and know that it also puts us one step closer to calling Valera our son.

Thank you to so many of you for your love, support, and prayers.   We so look forward to being able to share Valera with you.

Chris

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Valera

Okay…the last 24 hours have been hard to put into words.  I’m sure words like “joy, excitement, amazement, humility, and gratitude” would all be appropriate, but simply not adequate.  We met Valera yesterday afternoon for the first time.  I’m not sure that I will ever be able to accurately describe our emotions when we first saw him.  I’m not sure we could describe his either.  He was reserved, cautious, but opened up when we sat down and starting sharing some toys with him.   Over the first 15 minutes he began to warm up to Krista and then we were invited to take him to the Director’s Office and discuss his personal and medical histories.  The meeting went extremely well and Valera became comfortable with both of us.  By the end of the visit we were so pleased with everything.  The orphanage was decent, the workers seemed genuine and the Director was very easy to talk with (of course, through a translator).   Valera showed far more development than we expected.  He had great fine motor dexterity, problem solving, imitative speech, use of sounds to express himself, and very athletic.  He actually did a chin up on the side of the Director’s desk when he wanted up  (literally pick up both his feet of the floor), not to mention knock at least three chairs over just wanting to rearrange the furniture.   His disposition was excellent as well.  He was very patient and could easily be redirected when needed.   Overall, Krista and I are simply stunned.  We have both spent time praying to God thanking Him for his grace and provision.  We both expressed that we have never felt more undeserving in our lives.  

Today was a great day that included two visits to the orphanage to visit/play with Valera.  He clearly remembered Krista and warmed up to me must faster than yesterday.  We tried to remain a little more low key as to not wear him out too much.  Valera has never had one on one attention in his life and I’m sure our play time with him last night was very exhausting.  We spent 10-11am and 4-5pm today with him both outside and inside.  Both visits were great and we also informed the Director that we will be signing the paperwork tomorrow to notify the courts of our desire to adopt Valera.  We will visit with him at least twice a day for the next two days before travelling home on Saturday.

We are already aware that saying goodbye to him Friday is going to be extremely tough.  I ask that you pray for us and especially Valera.  Please pray that the rest of this process goes smoothly and that we can return as soon as possible to appear before the judge and complete the adoption.

We are so grateful for you love, support, and prayers.

Chris

p.s.  In case you are wondering, we are unable to share any of our pictures of Valera on the internet because he is still in the custody of the Russian Federation.  As soon as we can we will share them with you.  Thanks for the understanding.

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Moscow…

Red Square

First full day in Russia started great. Well, at least well. Krista l started with the obligatory post overseas flight greeting of “are you already awake?” the answer was of course “yes”, too bad it was only 5 am. But things drastically improved from there. 5 miles on the treadmill while Krista was facebooking and then our enormous American style breakfast (included in the room rate) was delivered by room service. We then enjoyed perfect weather and a walk to Red Square to get some great photos and visit St. Basil’s Cathedral and GUM, a very old and beautiful shopping mall. This afternoon we spent some time just resting and getting ready to do what we are really here to do. Not that being a tourist is all that bad, but our calling is to be parents again. So we are eagerly waiting for our driver to take us to the airport for our flight to Tomsk, Siberia…and of course a little boy named Valera.

Chris

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Over the Ocean…

Greenland

Whew, what a trip. Maybe it’s just me, but the trip over the Atlantic seems as long as ever. Then again we have never flown this far east. One thing is for sure…Russians aren’t much for sleeping on the plane. Up all night talking, laughing, and walking around made for a really long 10 1/2 flight. It was super easy to get through Passport Control and also was really nice to see our Limo driver waiting for us with a sign right outside Customs…well worth every penny. We are completely worn out, but took a short walk from our hotel late this afternoon and we are forcing ourselves to stay up as long as possible to adjust to the time change. We are glad to be here, but really are looking forward to Tomsk and getting a chance to do what we are really here to do…meet Valera!

I also underestimated how much we would miss Brittany and Alyssa. We love you girls and we will bring you on the second trip if you want to come!

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. Our trip has actually been very smooth and absolutely zero drama so far!

Thanks again,

Chris

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‘Twas the night before…

It almost feels like the night before Christmas…only more hectic. Several times today we have stopped long enough to look at each other and say, “is this really happening”? It still seems hard to believe that we are going to board a plane for Russia tomorrow on our long journey to adopting a son. This journey began nearly five years ago and quite frankly, I personally spent many of those years in disbelief that this day would ever come.
Today has been filled with emotion, but also a sense of calmness I didn’t expect. Almost like I can feel that someone is watching out for us. Maybe it’s because I know that this endeavor wasn’t really our idea to begin with. Many of you that have known us for our nearly 17 years of marriage also know that our lives have been very blessed with our beautiful daughters, a great church family, and flourishing careers…but God wasn’t done with our family. He had a bigger plan in mind.
That plan now has a name. Valera. He’s 18 months old and has no idea how much his life is going to change. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? How many times in your life have you had no idea what was about to happen and how it would change the course of your life and possibly your eternity? This is the part that encourages me that I’m a part of something that God is doing. He is changing our family just as much as he will change Valera’s life. For that, we are all grateful.
Well… I’ve got to get back to packing… and hopefully the next post I will send just walking distance from Red Square.

Thanks for all your support and prayers,

Chris

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