Category Archives: Second Adoption

Homecoming Requests

July 13, 2012 Molly Leave a comment

I’ll be honest, I do NOT feel like figuring out all of the people I need to send this to, so I just sent it to our family, and I hope our friends will see it on our blog.

We are so excited and ready to come home! We will be in Pennsylvania tomorrow, Saturday, evening and then on Sunday, we will head home to Kansas. If you are interested in meeting us at the Kansas City airport, please email or text me or Aaron for the flight information. Also, friends from our church have set up a meal schedule for our family, so if you are considering bringing us a meal, please email me and I’ll send you the link. Thanks so much!

Like with Reed and Lena, we have a few rules that we are asking our friends and family to stick to, as Gus gets to know what it’s like to be a part of a family. He is used to have lots of adults in his life, who can pick him up or care for him, without any real consistency. We want him to be bonded with our family and know what it is like to be a part of a family. We know that everyone is very eager to meet and get to know Gus, and there will be plenty of time for that once he has settled in.

1. Please do not pick him up, hug him, kiss him or let him sit on your lap. He loves physical affection, but we are asking that this is just for our immediate family, as we bond.

2. Please do not give him food or drinks. This is also reinforces our relationship as a family, and while he is meeting so many new people, it helps teach him that he will only get his needs met by certain people.

3. Please don’t respond to him if he is crying. Again, let me or Aaron meet his needs. This is especially important if he is upset because we are not allowing him something. It doesn’t help our bonding if we are the “mean” parents and other people are treating him differently.

Also, we will probably not be up for visitors, particularly long ones, for awhile. Everything is on the kids’ schedule for awhile and we all need to adjust as a family. We are not sure how that will look– we maybe be ready in a few days, or it may take us weeks. Bringing a new child home and adjusting as a family can be very stressful and exhausting on everyone. Please keep on asking us about visits and play dates, but don’t take it personally if we decline you for awhile.

Thanks so much for supporting us through this process and respecting our requests, as Gus adjusts.

Second Adoption

Ready to go home

July 13, 2012 Molly Leave a comment

Our big event today was going to the embassy… our driver and facilitator took us. Then, they dropped us at the door, and we headed inside. There, we met the head of the Russian program for our agency, Marina, and the family we hung out with yesterday. It was fun to wait and chat with them… Marina knows our family’s story and she is such a sweet woman. She gave Gus a gift, a huge spinning top, made in Russia. It has been a huge hit!

We got his visa in record time, 45 minutes! None of the nonsense we dealt with at the Ukrainian embassy. In fact, I was not asked any questions at all, just told to sign. It’s always a big relief to be told that your documents are “well-prepared”, but I suppose if there is one skill that I might have developed through his adoption process, it would be paperwork preparation! Now, I’m developing the skill of changing diapers in odd places. I am not sure I recommend learning how to change diapers on a squirmy 17mo old boy, who does not understand your language, in a foreign country, where you often end up changing his diaper on places like window ledges and toilet seats.

So, anyways, after the embassy, I said my goodbyes to our facilitator. She has been so wonderful to work with. She gave me chocolate bars for each of my kids. They’ll love that. I can’t wait to send her photos of Gus at home with our family. She asked me to send them as often as I can, as the baby house loves that so much.

Today was kind of a yucky day, so we hung around. Eventually, we did our afternoon nap. Gus slept snuggled up next to me, with his head on my arm. So sweet.

After our nap, we wanted to walk down to the Ukraina Hotel, like we had planned. We got almost done there, and it started to drizzle. It was definitely raining by the time we made it through the doors!

I have seen this hotel so many times, but never walked in. Now, I would recommend it to anyone visiting Moscow! Because, it has the Moscow diorama. This diorama shows the Kremlin, Red Square, and some other landmarks. You can put on headphones and listen to a brief history of Moscow, in English, all for free.

After the rain let up, we found a restaurant to grab dinner at.

We were both pretty worn out by this point. So, we raced home after dinner. Gus took a long bath, happily playing the whole time. I think he would have stayed in longer, but I pulled him out because it was getting so late. Now, he’s fast asleep and I’m watching the lights on Arbat Street for one last time.

Adoption, Second Adoption

More Adventures

July 12, 2012 Molly 3 Comments

I took photos of Gus sleeping last night. I just thought he was so cute, with his feet up on the pillows. I may have sat and watched him for a bit, looking so cute and content.

Anyways, this morning, the only thing that I needed to do was to pick up Gus’s passport. Gus stayed back at the apartment with my mom. Alla and I had an interesting conversation on the way. About how Americans are spoiled because so many people in the world speak English, and she told me how the baby house and the judge both said I look Russian. I often have people talk to me in Russian– tonight, I got a rewards card for the local children’s store. I don’t think she had any clue that I had no clue what I was saying, as she went on and on, handing me my new rewards card and the little application to fill out and return.

Anyways, his passport is at the Embassy now. Yay.

After the embassy errand, we napped. Then, we wanted to walk to Gorky Park.

That was a long walk! We only had about a half hour to walk around, as we were meeting up with another adoptive mom and her son. We saw the carousel, space shuttle, a fountain with music, ping pong tables, volleyball courts, among other things. Then, we grabbed a quick bottle of water and made the walk back. It is nearly 3 miles, longer than we realized!

Then, we met up with our new friend. I am not sure how public she is, as she does not blog. But, we had a great time together. Her son was adorable and so well behaved through our souvenir shopping and dinner. We went down to Arbat Street and walked around and eventually stopped for dinner. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe. I objected at the name of it, but when I looked at their menu and realized how well all of the waiters spoke English, I was wooed. We have officially reached the point in the trip when I am wooed by English speakers and American food.

Meet Niko, our waiter.

Anyways, we had a nice dinner. Gus had what was very likely his first, real vegetables, not pureed. I had some grilled zucchini on my veggie burger, which he got to try. And he loved.

After dinner, we headed back, parted ways with our new friends and headed down to the grocery store. I had to stop and check out the toy store, which was really quite interesting. One thing that I really wanted for my kids was blocks with the Cyrillic alphabet. We have 2 Cyrillic alphabet books, including one that talks, so I thought some blocks would be a fun addition. I found some very cheap. Then our grocery shopping. Wow. We needed water and some smaller things, and my sister requested a bottle of vodka. So, we had one baby, one stroller, lots of souvenirs, some small toys, water, vodka, and some other groceries to lug up and across the street. It would have been pretty simple, if we didn’t have to navigate the underground tunnel to cross the street. But, we made it home. Phew.

This sweet boy was a rock star. He sat in that stroller for 7 hours, and didn’t seem to mind at all. He had a pretty cute moment, as he figured out how to get food out of his snack trap cup by himself. But, then the problem is that he thought he is not allowed to feed himself, so he held it up to me to feed him. I guided his hand to his mouth… and he was off. He woofed down every last bite that was in his cup.

Second Adoption

Changing Direction

July 12, 2012 Molly 6 Comments

As I laid down with Gus for a nap, I thought about how his future has changed in the past few months. As an orphan, at 16, he would have been turned out onto the streets of Moscow. Many orphans commit suicide, because they see no other option for their future. Others turn to crime to get by. Life looks pretty bleak for an orphan, like this sweet boy was a few months ago.

People often make the parallel that adopting a child is like being adopted into God’s family. I never quite saw the entirety of it before.

At our church, “repentance” is often defined as “changing direction”. When we said our “yes” to Gus, his life changed direction.

Yes, we will love you forever. Yes, all of your needs will be met. Yes, you will always have enough. One “yes” can mean so much. An orphan no more, loved and treasured.

God used us to change his life forever, and him to change ours.

Isn’t it interesting that when we say “yes” to Jesus, our lives change direction, too? We are no longer wandering the streets of life, alone, trying to figure life out and struggling to get by. Our eternal needs are met.

Unlike Gus and other orphans, we don’t need someone to say “yes” to us… we must willingly change our own direction, to meet the One who already loves us.

Just my tiny glimpse of the bigger picture.

Second Adoption

Adventures in Moscow

July 11, 2012 Molly 3 Comments

The view from our window at night, New Arbat St. lit up.

Today we went to explore. We walked down to Red Square, and we ended up in the underground mall right next to it, trying to get there. Underground malls seem to be very popular in Ukraine and Russia. We went into two in Kiev. Anyways, we cut through the mall and came up on the Red Square. There was some kind of event going on, not sure what, but there was a big banner saying Russian and German. Russian and German, what? That is left to be determined.

The first place we slowed down was GUM. GUM is another mall on Red Square. I knew it was pretty interesting inside, so we went in to check it out, and enjoy the air-conditioning. By this point, Gus fell asleep.

I really wanted to get a photo of Gus and me in front of St. Basil’s, which is right outside of GUM, but Gus was asleep. Don’t wake the sleeping baby, right? So, we decided to grab a drink inside GUM. At which point, he woke up. So, we grabbed some food and sat down.

Can you find us? We’re sitting on orange chairs.

Outside of GUM.

St. Basil’s. Now, talented photoshop friends, who can remove those two ladies from the left side of this photo?

Smiling in Alexander Gardens. Ha, I’m smiling. He’s ready to sleep again.

The roof of the underground mall. Love it.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior.

Peter the Great.

Walking back, down New Arbat, dancing.

We got back, and I unbuckled him, and he was slightly annoyed at me for doing that, so I let him sit there and this is what I got.

He took his first real bath tonight. Well, I’m sure he’s been bathed before, but I think it must have been the first one where he was encouraged to play. At first, he was a bit scared, but within a minute or so, he was splashing and laughing like crazy. It was so cute!

And, we got to bed in record time tonight. He had been rocking every night and nap time. Tonight, he did his typical protest, which ended when I handed him his drink. And he had a drink, passed it back to me, started sucking his thumb and grabbed my hand with his other hand and fell asleep.

For the most part, he seems comfortable. He is obviously happy and enjoying our company. But, he also is comfortable protesting and getting upset with us. 4 days and we will be HOME. I cannot wait to see how he does with the rest of our family.