New Pics of Andrey!!!

There is a precious girl in Ukr**ne right now...she went to Andrey's orphanage today and got to spend a lot of time with him and others. She is also going to the preschool orphange (?) and the older kids orphanage. What a blessing. My heart is so full today that I cannot explain what knowing that people are there (and have been there) loving on him and playing with him. The boy looks like a handful....his favorite activity was pulling hair and taking off his hat. Thank God I have very short hair. He sounds like Cole when we first got there...he constantly grabbed me, pulled at my glasses, hit/fought at me....it was very short lived, but very tiring. On the adoption homefront, just waiting on USCIS and we are finished!!!

DONE....(well, almost)

Today I mailed our home-study and other documents, including a letter from our pediatrician, asking for USCIS to expedite our case. So, I am completely finished with our stateside stuff. I am also completely finished with our dossier minus our state police clearance forms and our golden ticket. I am going to call the TBI office tomorrow and see what the hold up is on those forms. But other than those two little things, we.are.completely.done.with.our.dossier. I can't believe how quick it went. Last time, it took 5 months just to complete the home-study. So, hopefully we will get a fingerprint appt. by next week and we will go as soon as we receive the notice and we may actually finish this up by the first of October. Get ready Andrey-here we come. We are about to rock your world!!!

My Sweet Caden

Since I am now back into the blogging world, I thought I would update on my main man, Caden. This boy is something else. I think back about when I was trying to decide whether to adopt only Cole or not. OMGoodness!!! What we would have missed out on if we had chosen not to get this little love. Caden was a BLOB when we got him. He did nothing! He could not eat, sit up, crawl, walk....nothing. I was overwhelmed when we got home because I was unsure IF he would progress! HA! That cracks me up now. This little maniac is a genius. He is very strong willed, curious, loving, sneaky, funny, and gives the best kisses in the world. He could not be any more different from Cole (will post an update on him later). He is referred to as "King Caden" because he demands your attention and he will not let anyone forget that he is in charge. He is currently being evaluated to start the pre-K program and I don't know if I am ready for that. Cole goes to school 3 days a week, so we get three mornings a week alone and I love our alone time. He follows me from room to room and does whatever I do. He puts the clothes in the dryer, loads the dishwasher...it is hysterical. He is 5% on the height on the DS growth chart and 75% on the weight! In our homestudy, our social worker described him as "of short stature and very well nourished." I call him "round pound". I let him eat too much, but he was so behind when we got him that I just let him go. We are now scaling back and he is doing well. He can eat anything. He had feeding therapy for about 7 months and then one day, he just started chewing and eating like a pro. He is not potty trained (he is only 2-will be 3 on October 16), but sits on the little potty when Cole goes to the bathroom. I just can't explain the joy my heart feels for this little boy. I miss him when I am not with him. He requires A LOT of attention, but I gladly give it to him. The one thing I worry about with our adoption of Andrey, is that Caden might loose his place as "the baby". I don't think Caden will let that happen, but he so enjoys being the baby and I hope that stays the same. He is saying one word...."Pappa", but signs more, eat, drink, please, thank you, nice, mom, dad, pig, bye bye, yes, no, help and "I love you". He knows everything you are saying and loves, loves, loves to clean and "work"! I think God that we said yes and listened to his calling when I was convinced that two kids at the same time would be too much! I will leave you with some pics!

Homestudy Update Complete!

I received an email today from our social worker. She is sending out our homestudy to our stateside helper tomorrow to make sure that everything is "worded correctly" and I actually spoke to our USCIS officer on the phone today 15 minutes AFTER the case had been assigned out. How amazing is that? He literally just got the case and I called to see (ok....I called to make sure that someone was working on our case) if they had everything they needed (minus homestudy). He was very nice and I got to tell him about Andrey and that he would turn 5 in December and that U*** took a fall/winter break, etc. I don't know if it helped at all, but it made me feel better about trying to get there as quickly as we can. Not to worry, I will calling him back since I have his direct number to "check" on him at least every couple of days until I have that needed permission slip. I am not going to get my hopes up, but I think we might make it to Andrey's country before they shut down. If not, I have to remember that it is God's timing, not mine and I am just keeping my eyes on the prize.

In other news, we will be celebrating the boys being home for ONE year in two weeks. Can you believe that? I don't remember what life was like before they were here (well, maybe I do remember sleeping past 6 am). They have blessed our lives so tremendously that I can't even begin to describe it.

I will leave you with some cute pics of my babes!

Cutest baby on the planet! Just to make you smile!

What's in a Name?

So, I have been thinking about our new babe's name....I don't really even know his real name. I think it is Andrey, but that might not be it at all and even if it is, the caregivers never call him anything, so does he even know this name? Anyway, all three of my boys names starts with "C"-Cody, Cole, and Caden. My daughter is Danielle. So, the kids want to change it up a bit and give him a "D" name so that Danielle is not a loner! So, I am asking the readers (if there are any) what do you all think? Here are our choices: 1) Keep Andrey....2) Dreyson (still has the drey in it).....3) Dallas (don't ask)......4) Cullen......5) Camden........6)Corbin...

That is what we have come up with. I seriously have no idea which one I like best or even if I like any of them.

On the homefront...I am waiting on our Doctor's license and the state clearance forms, the homestudy final draft, and the golden ticket and we are finished with the dossier. I have been emailing/talking on the phone/preparing for all of these documents and I finally got them all and took my notary and off we went today. I am going to send them for approval tonight.

More later............

Check-In

Well, our homestudy should be done by next week and I am working on the dossier packet now. I have sent off our I600a application (and they have cashed the check) so maybe, just maybe, we may get there sooner rather than later. I have refocused and now I am ready to tackle this packet of papers. My back is feeling much better from my two herniated disks and I am hoping that will give me my motivation to complete all of this.

I found a video on a blog with Andrey in it for just a few seconds and I have to say that first, he is beautiful. Absolutely perfect. He looks just like a blue eyed version of my Caden. I could not believe how much they look alike and they look the same size even though Andrey is two years older than him. But anyway, the video broke my heart into. We need to get there quickly and get him out of that box and onto the back deck with hundreds of toys! Cole and Caden will teach him everything he needs to know about how to play with toys, especially toys you can push around like lawn mowers!

My heart is heavy and I am doing some real praying and talking with God about what is on my mind. I keep going to Andrea G.'s blog and reading about all the other kids that are in the orphanage with Andrey and it is so sad. It is so unfair that these babies have not had a good start. I have never thought about adopting a child that is blind, or that has some disease that I have never heard of, but now I am quietly trying to picture what it would be like in my home with one of these children. I have not brought this up to hubby at all, yet, because I myself am not sure what is going on inside my head and heart. Please pray for me and pray that I will be able to do what God would want me to.

Stephanie

Video by Cody!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7vyP-mJlI

Cody made this video for me and gave it to me yesterday. Please watch until the end!

Update!!

Just a little update...I have mailed our USCIS application (permission from the US to adopt/AKA "the golden ticket"), have an appointment for our social worker to come to the house for our homestudy update on September 14th (sent an email to see if she can come sooner), and have stared the dreaded paperwork for all of the dossier documents. I have went to the doctor and had all my labs/urine tests done, ordered new birth certificates, etc.

Tomorrow is Cole's 5th birthday!! Can you believe they have been home almost a year? I remember his last birthday. We were sitting in a concrete playground and chasing him around like he was a wild animal. He would grab my face and knock my glasses off. It was horrible. It is hard for me to think back to the time when he acted like that. He is now so sweet and gentle. He is so easy to take care of. I wonder if his birth mother will be thinking of him tomorrow. I would love to know her and what she thinks about him. I wonder if she is missing him or she has just completely forgotten about him. She really has missed out. I feel sorry for her. I cannot imagine how hard it would be to just walk away like that. Tonight when I was putting Cole to bed, I was telling him "Oh, 5 years ago I was just starting to have back/stomach pains and starting to go into labor with you." It was pretty cute because he stopped and looked at me with the biggest grin and then signed "I love you" to me. I really wish that were true and that I would have given birth to him so that I could have taken care of him for his entire life instead of just the last year. He really is a gift, that I don't deserve, and I am so glad that he is mine! We are having a little party at the house tomorrow for him (and my mother) and then we will have the big party in a couple of weeks to celebrate their one year home. I promise to take pictures and post them.