Lows and Highs (and a "Signature Sara" Bonus Feature)

(Sara and her Thursday apple sauce disaster is being featured in this post, since it was incredibly gross and since I really don't have any other related pictures - enjoy!)
 
For the past few weeks, we've been living in a holding pattern while waiting to hear if Kolya is officially available for adoption. Our agency in GA told us we may hear news on Monday, which became Tuesday, and then, well, you get the picture. We would stay up late each night hoping for any bit of news from our agency, finally fall into bed exhausted, sleep poorly (if at all), and then get up early to see if there was any news about Kolya yet. I have always been pretty diligent about checking my email, Facebook, and phone messages, but this past week, I was beyond obsessed. The days ticked slowly by with no word. Wait, wait, wait. Apparently, God knows I need to work on patience, because we still have a lot more waiting ahead of us. By Thursday, I was resigned that we were not going to get our news that week. Then on Thursday afternoon, our hosting family group on Facebook started buzzing. Someone had received news about their child, then another and then another. By the time we went to bed that night, the old worry germ was attacking again. Other families knew and we didn't. It was another long night with little sleep. One thing is for sure, with all the wakefulness, I had LOTS of time alone with God to pray. And I think I prayed for just about everyone I knew (especially my Aunt Margaret who just lost her husband, Uncle Donnie, to cancer Wednesday morning - the funeral is today, and we are with the family in spirit today).
 
Finally, around 10 on Friday morning, we got the news that we were hoping for! Kolya is on the official orphan listing and is adoptable! However, he is on the "closed" list. This means that the children are available for adoption only within their own country for a 12 month period before they become available for adoption internationally. We were told it will still be "a few more weeks" (read: probably much longer than a few more weeks) before we find out when he is free for international adoption. What this does mean, however, is that, at some point in the next 12 months, if he is willing, we will be able to adopt Kolya!! We are so relieved and excited and still nervous all at the same time. It's a strange mix of emotions. Some time "in the next few weeks" (here we go again!), we have also been told that someone will talk to Kolya to see if he wants our family to adopt him. Then it's a matter of LOTS more paperwork, pulling LOTS of funds together, and waiting again until everything goes through and we are ready to bring our boy home for good. So exciting!!!

A few hours after we found out Kolya's status on Friday, our social worker from our Ohio agency called to schedule her home visit. She had a cancellation and could she come over at 3 on Saturday? YES, please! So, today we had our home study visit. Unlike our social worker for our foster care home study two years ago, our new social worker is so nice and we both found her very easy to talk to. She has eight children who are all adopted and was incredibly encouraging. She stayed for three hours! Libby gave her the tour of the house before she left and was seemed so grown up. All of the kids actually acted civilized and even Sara was on pretty good behavior. That's a miracle in itself, considering how she usually is - applesauce photos are my case-in-point!

We're off to eat pizza for dinner now and relax in front of the TV for the Cleveland Brown's pre-season opener game. Football season means that fall is nearly hear and that we are one season closer to bringing our family all together. I'm excited to see how it all works out!

*Sara Update: I just rescued a tube of ChapStick from Sara - she was literally biting off pieces and eating it!!!*

A Giving Spirit

Libby-girl

The Tooth Fairy came to our house last night and left $.50 under Libby's pillow for her front tooth. Libby was all excited and came in my room to show me her two shiny new quarters. Caleb and Sara were climbing on me in bed and I didn't pay much attention to Libby as she played with her quarters. The next thing I knew, Libby came to me and quietly told me to look under my pillow. She had somehow sneaked the two quarters under my pillow. She told me that the money was for me, since "you and Daddy don't have much money". I laughed and told her we had just enough money and that she should keep her money in her piggy bank. She got really quiet and serious again and then offered her tooth money to me to help with Kolya's adoption fund. I thought it was sweet and said OK.

Love this gap-tooth smile!

Libby's eyes lit up then! She grabbed her piggy bank, and started dumping coins and bills on the bed. As she counted through the money, she asked, "Mommy, if I give you all the money in my piggy bank, is it enough so Kolya can come home now?" Awwwwwww. I teared up at that one! We scoured the cupboards and found an old fish bowl for Libby to save the coins she finds to help bring Kolya home. She tore the house apart looking for spare change and kept adding it to the fish bowl. Each time she found another penny or quarter, she would let out a little cheer and then show me what she had found. I am so proud of my big girl for giving all of her money to bring her big brother home. Like the widow's mite in the Bible, it's not much money, but it's all she had. That's huge! I love my little girl and her selfless heart. And I hope her little big donation helps bring her big brother home very soon.

Happy and toothless little girl

 PS Please excuse the messy mop of hair on this girl. I dragged her away from her cozy spot on the couch for her pictures :)

Sara-Bear is 2! and other stuff

We celebrated Sara's 2nd birthday today with Mom and Dad R, Zack and Josh. Sara enjoyed her cake, but as soon as she saw her little pile of gifts, she was ready to open presents.
Her eyes got big and she kept saying, "Oh my goose (goodness)!" She was so cute! She loved her little baby dolls and her duplicate Mrs. Potato Heads - thanks to her parents and her Uncle Zack getting her the same toy. She loved everything about her little party.

Once we finished with gifts and dishes, we all went swimming. Sara actually swam by herself with her little water wing floaties for the first time. She must be part mermaid, because she loves swimming! After she went under a few times, she learned to keep her mouth closed and would come back up and spit the water out of her mouth and grin. All of the kids enjoy the water. I'm so glad they have the opportunity to swim at Grandma and Papa's house.

After swimming, sunning, napping, and relaxing, we settled down to eat dinner. It was only then that I noticed Libby's other front tooth was missing! It was very much there at lunch time when I tried to pull it and she freaked out on me. She must have lost it in the swimming pool or eaten it with her dinner. Not sure. . . But it's gone anyway. Daddy is currently in negotiations with the Tooth Fairy to bring Libby a little something despite not producing the actual tooth for an even exchange. We'll have to see about that one. . .

I finally made connections with our facilitator at our adoption agency in GA yesterday afternoon. She said that we may hear about Kolya's legal status this week - possibly as early as Monday or Tuesday. If he has been put on the "international adoption list", we are good to proceed with his adoption. If he is not on the list, we are either not able to proceed or are potentially looking at a 14 month waiting period before he is officially available. I'm really struggling with the waiting. Patience has never been one of my virtues. Most nights I can't sleep for all the thoughts jumbling around in my head. I can't believe that Kolya has only been gone a week. It seems like a month since he left. I really miss him - a lot. He was a huge help with the little kids and I miss his company. He is such a sweet kid with a funny sense of humor. Whenever I think of his goofy grin, it makes me smile. I'm holding on to the good memories and praying that we get good news soon.

Who knew?

Who knew how quickly we would all come to love Kolya?

Who knew how much we would miss him when he was gone?

Who knew how quiet the car is without the stereo blasting LeCrae and the Black Eyed Peas?

Who knew how sad three active little kids would be when their beloved ringleader is missing?

Who knew how boring it is to go the speed limit without Kolya constantly urging us to go faster on the highway ("No Polizia, Daddy! Go, Go!")?

Who knew?

God knew.

And now we know.

And we will be doing everything we can to bring our son home to us soon.

July 4th in Pictures and Random Updates

Family movie night - watching Spiderman

We all spent most of July 4th in the pool at Mom and Dad R's house.

Libby the Seahorse

Kolya helping Caleb onto a raft

Caleb-man

Everyone had a fun time together and enjoyed splashing unsuspecting victims at every opportunity.

Josh showing off

The guys (and Libby) showed off their diving board skills and not-so-skilled skills.

Nathan has mad skills

Libby - obviously shares Nathan's obsession with weird pool behavior

another weird diving form

It was entertaining anyway!

Sara wearing Libby's goggles

After Mom and Dad's, we went to the Cleveland Orchestra's American music concert and fireworks show at Blossom. The music was beautiful and everyone had a good time. Kolya was pretty quiet, but we were all exhausted after playing in the sun all day earlier.

At Blossom - Libby taking the picture, so it was a little blurry and poor Kolya was exhausted!

Everyone under 18 slept in the next morning - and I mean slept in! Caleb emerged first at 10:00 AM. Libby followed at 10:30. Sara didn't show up until 11! Finally Kolya appeared around 1:00. It was a really strangely quiet morning for me, as I am used to be woken up at dawn by wild children who are ready to face the day (and the only thing I want to see is the other side of my pillow).

Sara-bear

The week has continued to go well and we are all enjoying our time with Kolya. He loves to tease and horse around with Caleb, especially. Caleb loves the attention from his "big brother" as he calls Kolya - so cute! We have discovered that Kolya does not like Taco salad, but he does like spaghetti. He is very courteous and helps out whenever he is asked. He makes his bed every day - something I'm still trying to get the rest of the kids (and Nathan) to do.

Kolya having fun

The dentist apointment went well yesterday, but we found out Kolya will need a root canal to fix one really bad cavity in a molar. YIKES! The dentist's office did some bargaining and got us into a specialist very quickly for the root canal on Tuesday morning. I feel so bad for him! I'll be stocking soup and pudding in the pantry this week. . .

Libby helping Sara

After the dentist, I took Kolya to Dick's and we picked out some soccer cleats and shin guards. He was sooooo excited! It was cute to see his eyes light up about the shin guards especially. We are looking forward to the weekend and enjoying each other's company at home.Maybe a trip to an amusement park, maybe just staying at home. We'll see how it goes.

Kolya playing volleyball

Monday we are meeting friends at the Cleveland Zoo who are also hosting a boy from the Ukraine. I think it will be good for the boys to be able to talk to each other in complete sentences.Can't wait to see what new things we learn about Kolya this coming week!

Kolya enjoying air hockey with Nathan

Potato Chips and Gatorade

Our first few days with Kolya have been great! The language barrier is a bit of a problem since he speaks a mix of Russian and Ukrainian. Overall, we are doing OK and at least communicating the important things through the iPod translator and lots of gestures. Darn that Tower of Babel!. Kolya is very quiet most of the time. When he does speak, he is very gentle and polite and always says "Thank you". He makes his bed every day, clears his dishes off the table, and constantly watches out for the little kids. Just today, he started to really loosen up and tease and wrestle with Caleb for a little bit. It was really good to see him having fun and settling into the "big brother" role.

Waiting for Kolya to get off his flight

Kolya started on his journey to America late evening on Monday in our time and finally arrived in Cincinnati on Tuesday at 7:30 PM. We got him home just after midnight and then stayed up till one o'clock trying to use the translator on the iPod with him. He was pretty tired all day on Wednesday, but seems to have caught up now.

Finally! Kolya and our Family at the airport

So far, we have discovered that he loves potato chips (a man after Nathan's heart!), and seems to like pizza, too! We have enjoyed several trips to the park where Kolya has displayed his impressive soccer skills. He likes playing ball, bike riding, and just being outside. He also likes to play Wii and any game on my iPod whenever possible. He has seen nearly every movie in Nathan's collection and enjoys going through them and watching them one by one each night. We're working on getting an MP3 player set up for him. I had one purchased for him, but I corrupted it by accident when I unplugged the USB before it was done loading. Ugh! I've ordered him a new one, and we'll get the music on it for him ASAP.

Sara and trouble in the making

Today, we spent most of the afternoon outside playing with smoke bombs and little fire crackers and sparklers.

Kolya and Nathan lighting the fuses

Kolya getting sparklers ready

Kolya playing with smoke bombs

Lighting a bunch of smoke bombs at once

Nathan with a blue nose from handling the smoke bombs and rubbing his face:)

The little popper things (that explode in a little "SNAP!" when you throw or step on them) were a huge hit and Kolya enjoyed throwing them right under Libby's feet, since he got a big reaction from her - she screamed every single time, of course.

Libby-girl

Caleb loves following Kolya around and copying him whenever possible - so he threw poppers at Libby and Daddy.

Super-Caleb-Man

Kolya putting a smoke bomb on Caleb's head

Sara ran around grabbing the little bits of paper and burnt bits of fire crackers, having a grand time getting in the way and making a general nuisance of herself, as usual.

Sara running through STINKY orange smoke

Libby and her sparkler

cleaning up the mess

Kolya and Libby and I played a little prank on Nathan, too. When he walked into the living room this afternoon, we blasted him with silly string! Libby unfortunately aimed it the wrong way and sprayed herself in the face. Boy! Did she ever get mad! After she got over her issues, she begged and begged to get more silly string at the store. Um, NO! We had fun cleaning it up; it was everywhere in the living room and dining room! Caleb even found some on the wall in dining room that we had missed.

Nathan covered in silly string!

Kolya and Nathan enjoyed a quick game of chess before dinner and we wrapped up the evening playing video games and watching the Matrix with Josh. We are all pretty beat, so it's off to bed to get ready for Sunday and our first full week with Kolya!

Kolya and Nathan playing chess with an audience