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.