On Dec. 22, 2009

Roman was 9 mos old in these pics - close to when we received his referral.

This is when Roman was 4 months old when he first went to the orphanage.

One year ago we received our Christmas miracle of our referral for Roman :)

Here are some of his referral pictures! We are so blessed and thankful to have him home this Christmas!!!

New Posts

Hey everyone - I've just posted 4 new posts. You'll see 2 below here of pictures that I've been VERY delayed in posting. They are all out of order, but I labeled them. So, you can see how Roman has changed since coming home :) Then, the final one is an update of how things are going.

Hope you enjoy - thanks for stopping by!

Claire

Coming Home Pictures - May 2010

Day 2 or 3 home - I don't remember! :)

He looks shocked! :)

Meeting for the first time

Random Pictures

Roman - July 2010

South Georgia Cousins!

Me, the kids and Mom with Grandaddy - July 2010

Kate - the morning of her bday - July

July 4th

Troublemaker - June

First Family Photo

Sweet Brother and Sister - May

Wes & Roman - Roman wearing Wes's baby outfit

Mother's Day - May 2010

4 Months Home & 6 Month Post Placement Visit

2 more months have gone by since I've posted. I have come to find that it's impossible to find quiet time to update this. The only time I usually have is at night, and I'm too tired to think! Ha! I'm actually at Starbucks now (on a Sat), and Wes is home with the kiddos.

Anyway, I have much to update. Roman is doing fantastic! He has continued to adjust well to our family. He and Kate continue to be typical brother and sister. They love each other, but really love to torment each other as well :)

I took Roman about a month ago for his hearing test....my last dr. appt I needed to do to get him looked at up and down upon arriving home. The audiologist said he had fluid behind his ears, so she wouldn't be surprised if he failed the test. Well, she was right. He only had a partial pass in one ear. So, I took him to the dr., and she put him on some amoxicyllin. We went back in 2 weeks, one ear was better and one was now officially infected. So, she put him on a stronger antibiotic and that cleared it up. He still has constant congestion that she says may be allergies, and so I can give him some Zyrtec once a day. It's strange to me, though how he's had the same congestions since we first met him in Russia. You would think that whatever allergies he has would change with his major change in environment. Oh well....I guess we'll have him tested when we can.

Developmentally, he is doing great. He is all boy and very active climbing, running and climbing some more. He loves to push buttons on the cable box and change the channels....which brings a lot of drama when Kate is watching "her" show. I'm sure that's why he likes to do it :)

The one problem we've had lately is his middle of the night scream-fests. Ugh!! Now when I say scream, I don't mean crying. Roman just happens to wake up in the night and talk VERY LOUDLY! All our bedrooms are clustered together in our house, so we hear him very well. We are SO thankful that Kate sleeps through it.....we think b/c there are closets between their rooms, that it blocks the sound pretty well. We, on the other hand, are across the hall, and the sound travels very well to our room. We just don't get it......why does he have to be SO loud?? The lady at the hearing center said that the fluid behind his ears would also make him sound loud to himself, so he can obviously hear how loud he is too :) Oh well.....hoping this stage passes quickly.

Roman, Kate and I made a trip down to south Georgia in late July to go visit family and most importantly see my granddaddy. I braved the long drive by myself..10 hours in the car with 2 small children. Roman settled in about 4 hours in......did I mention that he doesn't like being restrained? :) Once he settled in the trip went great! The kids had an absolute blast, and we had an awesome time with family.

He is doing great in his 2 day/week school and even gets excited when we pull into the parking lot. His teachers love him to death and say he is so good. I asked if he was loud and dramatic with them too....they said no. ha! He knows several words, but this will hopefully be a continual area of improvement. Here are the words he knows that I can think of right now: mama, dada, K for Kate, hey, hi, bye bye (aka buh bye - with a wave of course), nigh-night for night night, doh for dog, a version of thank you that I can't figure out how to type phonetically....

Kate is the awesome big sister who passes toys to Roman in the car when he can't reach them. She loves to go with me in the mornings to get Roman out of bed. She loves to help me drop Roman off in his classroom. And she loves to tell me at home when Roman needs help with a toy, needs more snack on his tray, etc. etc. You get the picture. Wes likes to call her my Luitenant. One day it was about the 3rd time she had to tell me he was about to mess with the tv buttons. As I was walking toward him she said, "Come on, let's get him!" She cracks us up!!!!

I looked at some pictures yesterday of our 2nd trip to Russia as well some pictures of when we first brought Roman home, and he as changed so much! A lot of it has to do with how much his hair has grown and how he now has 8 teeth coming in. He is still so stinking cute!! Even cuter! Same personality that has just come out more and more as he's gotten comfortable. I remember thinking everyone was crazy who said how much fun they had in Kras, b/c while we were there it was so boring and tedious. But now, I think back on that trip and say "Awe - I miss it." And I realize that it's b/c it's the first time we had to spend with Roman, and he was so new to us. What great and truly fond memories I have of the entire experience.....no matter how stressful and crazy it all was!

So, crazily enough it was time for our 6 month post placement visit this past week. Our report is actually due Oct. 13th, which is 6 mos. from our court date of April 13th. However, we can't have it apostilled more than 20 days from the due date.....they just like to keep it confusing don't they?!

I'll post some pictures in a separate post.

2 Months Home!!

Wow!! Where do I begin? These past 2 months have gone by so fast, yet it seems like Roman has been here for so long :) I know I've read that in other adoptive family posts as well, but it's so true! He has changed SO much in 2 months - it's unbelievable. He has adapted so amazingly well. I have been totally surprised. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was braced for much worse!

Here is my rambling of how Roman has changed from when we got him on April 23rd (in no particular order):

He has been a great sleeper from the beginning. He slept in a pack 'n play or crib in a separate room from us since we had him with us in Russia. He used to wake up several times in the night, cry out briefly, and then go right back to sleep. I can't tell you the last time he's done that. When we first picked him up, he was, of course, very excitable about his food. He always looked like he was on the edge of his seat, and when the food stopped coming we had major meltdowns. Now, he will actually sit back in his chair and enjoy his meal and not get upset when food is over. We deduced on our own that he has an allergy to cow's milk. Now that he is on Soy milk he doesn't spit up like he used to do SO much. He has gone from me hardly being able to get him to drink much fluids to drinking about 3 cups of milk per day - out of a sippy cup! Yay! He's gained about 5 pounds since we got him! He's still amazingly strong, which we noticed in Russia. I'm pretty sure if he knew what one was, he could do more pull-ups than me!

His top 2 teeth came through the gums shortly after we came home, and he now has 2 more bottom teeth already poked through the gums. He still sits and goes potty for us - he wears diapers, but still goes potty at least 3 times a day. He was on the verge of walking when we were in Russia - we were able to get him to walk those quick few steps between us at the apartment in Kras, but really started walking long distances after being home about 3 weeks. He walks everywhere, and is very fast. He also prides himself on his climbing skills - hoping he doesn't learn to climb out of the crib anytime soon!

I think the most amazing advancement he's had is language. He's 16 mos old, and in the past few weeks he has picked up the following words: Hi (with a wave), Mama, Dada, "K" for Kate, nana for banana (this was actually his first English word that he learned while we were in Moscow - he LOVED the bananas we stuffed him with :), doh for dog, woo woo for woof woof, "nah" for nose, "moh" for mouth. He can point to his nose and mouth when you ask him. He understands tons more as well - especially the phrase "no, no!" Ha! He mostly hears this phrase when he's grabbing a computer, cell phone, or tv remote - he loves electronics! He already called 911 on my cell phone one day (an old one without a sim card - didn't know it was possible!).

He cracks us up all the time. He LOVES his sister, and she LOVES him!! It's awesome - they play so well together when they aren't snatching from each other :)

And the BEST part about Roman is not only his personality, but how much he loves to be loved!! He will squeeze you when he hugs you and give you so many kisses. It totally melts your heart.

God has blessed us SO incredibly much - we are loving having Roman here with us. 2 families that we met on our 2nd trip have been in Russia picking up there children this week, and it's been so awesome to know it's happening for someone else!

I'll try to write more now that we are "settling in" a little bit more. So many changes so quickly!

Pictures!!

Ok, I know I really need to post some things on the blog! SO much has happened!! BUT, we just had the pictures of Roman done 6 weeks after returning home, and I had to post a sample! Isn't he PRECIOUS!!!?? And our photographer is amazing!

His 6 weeks home baby pics :) God is SO good and amazing! Enjoy!!

HOME!!!!!!!

A week and a half after returning home, I'm just now finding time to blog about it! Whew - it's been a tiring time. I developed strep throat on the 24 hour travel time, which only got worse as the time went on. Not fun! Poor Wes stepped it up though and took care of Roman most of the trip. I felt terrible, but I literally could hardly move. I took all the Advil I had, and Wes bought me more when we were stateside in NY. He literally had two crying babies to take care of on the flights home, me and Roman.

Roman did NOT sleep but about an hour and a half on the first 9.5 hour flight. He stayed awake during our entire layover in NY (about 4 hours I think), but he did finally sleep in our flight from NY to Memphis. Poor Wes - he did an amazing job though!!!! What a wonderful Daddy and Husband!!! I couldn't have done it without him. At one point I was sobbing in his lap telling him I wasn't going to make it - obviously I did! But, the most important thing is that Roman did TOO!! YAY!!!

Everything went smoothly in NY going through immigration, and we ended up getting home around 10:30 p.m. Memphis time on Sat. night, May 1st. We went to my parent's house that night, and Roman slept all night.

Since we've been home, he has done amazingly well! He's been eating and sleeping great. We've had a few ups and downs. At first he didn't like to lose sight of me for a second. Now, I would say it's been extended to at least a few minutes :) Kate and Roman have been working things our as new brother and sister. We've had our moments, but I can't complain there at all. Kate has been awesome, and she's going to be a great big sister!

Life has been hectic adjusting to two (as expected), but we've already made a trip to Target and Dada's shop. We've been blessed to have meals brought to us by our community group which has been a life saver! I've been so out of it from being sick, jet lag and having a little bug this week as well. I'm ready to feel "normal" and myself again, so I can enjoy the kids together! Maybe with 2 I'll never fell that way - ha!

We are truly blessed by our Lord, and He worked many miracles to bring this little guy home. We are now a family of four :)

US Embassy

Today went great at the Embassy appointment!!!!! YAY!! Roman's visa is in hand, and we are packing away :)

We're trying to make sure we have enough food for the long day - he is quite an eater!!

Please pray our flights go better than our first one!! Regardless, we're come home tomorrow, and I'll be thrilled :)

Last post from RUSSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Moscow

Our flight to Moscow was terrible - Roman was not a happy camper! Not scared, just tired and teething! We have our embassy appt. tomorrow and then we leave for HOME on Sat. - CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Post from Kras!

I've been busy, busy packing!!! Yay!! It takes a while to pack up 3 weeks worth of stuff after you've "settled in" at a place :) I think I've got all I need for Roman in my carry-on, his suitcase is packed, and mine is packed except for a few last minute items.

We have to get up and be ready by 4:30, but I don't care!! I'll just be ready to go! Actually I was thinking about that even if I get up at 3 or 3:30 a.m., it's really helping me transition to Moscow time, since it is 4 hours behind us. So, really I'll be getting up at 7:00 a.m.

Anyway, nothing really new to report. Roman did well again today not taking a morning nap. He at lunch and we put him down at 1:00. He napped 3 hours yesterday, and has napped 2 hours so far. He is teething, so he did hit a very grumpy spell around 10:30 this morning, but once he got passed it he was fine.

Wes goes around 6:00 p.m. with our facilitators to pick up Roman's passport - I can't wait to see it :) One step closer to going home!

Ready to Go Home!!!!

We're totally bored now and ready to go home!! Only one more day (Tues), then off to Moscow on Wed and then home on Sat.....can't wait!!

Roman is napping now. He woke up a couple of times in the night and cried out as he has been doing. I don't know if he's dreaming, or if he slightly wakes up and is unsettled. I'm not sure, but I'm thankful that he goes right back to sleep. Today we tried to keep him up all morning, did lunch and then put him down for a nap at 1:00. I really think he's in that in-between stage of dropping his first nap, b/c the past couple of days he would take a really long nap early and then not nap in the afternoon. So, I thought we would try this today, and so far it's been working!

The most amazing thing to me is that Roman is actually using the potty! We decided to keep him in the habit of using it (while still using diapers, of course), and he has continued to amaze me. This may gross some of you out, but after eating a huge breakfast, I put him on the potty about 30 min. later and he did numbers 1 & 2 - and he's only 14 mos old! Craziness!!

Anyway, after he gets up from his nap we're going to go bum around at the baby store here. It's great weather outside - sunny and 54 degrees! I hear him stirring now......

2nd Day & Night

Roman finshed the day wonderfully yesterday. We did realize later in the afternoon that he didn't get enough lunch. Because he was so hungry he couldn't settle down for an afternoon nap. Once we realized the problem, we fed him a large snack :) Then, he fell asleep on my shoulder for about half an hour around 5 pm which was perfect, since it was closer to bedtime.

I'm going to give Wes his props here, b/c you can just call him baby chef extraordinaire!! He made Roman a soup with veggies in it, very similar to what we fed him that day in the orphanage. You could look at his face and tell he was so excited and recognized it was similar to what he was used to!

He slept great again last night - all night, and has done great so far today. He ate breakfast like a champ, had a mid-morning snack, and is napping now.

A great lazy Sunday!

Gotcha Day Pictures

Having fun with Dada before bed

All clean!!

Oh boy - I recognize this from my old house! He didn't go, but sat there for a while!

Dinner time - yummy in my tummy!

Chillin with Dada

Isn't he so cute in his outfit??!!

Sleeping in the car after leaving the orphanage - so sweet!

Obligatory picture with Momma

Obligatory picture with Dada

First Night and more

Last night couldn't have been better! He slept all night until about 7 this morning. He slept better than I did :) I didn't sleep as well wondering how he was doing, etc.

He woke up happy and ready for breakfast! I obviously didn't make him enough oatmeal, b/c after eating that and the fruit we had for him he wanted more! So, I made more, and he loved it. Afterwards, he drank some milk. We then got him down and he played - very busy! We Skyped with my parents so Kate could see Roman again. We did last night too, and Kate was very sweet :) She told Roman she loved him. Today she sang for him "Twinke Twinke Little Star," and Roman clapped for her! He loves any kind of music! We can't wait to get those two together - one more week. Hopefully it will go quickly! We miss Kate and are ready for her to meet her brother in person!

I'm able to blog now, b/c Roman is actually down for his morning nap. Amazing that he is doing this well! He went right down, woke up once and then went right back to sleep. Once he gets up, it will be time for lunch.

He's loved the apartment, and he's been SO excited about his walking. He's taken a couple of falling steps - which means he takes some steps as he is falling :) But, he really, really wants to do it now. At the orphanage he really wasn't interested, so I don't know what changed. But, it's fun!!! I do know that :)

Wes has gone with our facilitators for a few minutes to the Office of Vital Statistics to work on getting Roman's birth certificate. Tuesday we pick up his passport, and then we leave Kras VERY early on Wed. morning. They pick us up at 4:30 a.m. - whew! Anyway, that's about all we have to do between now and the time we leave here. Yay! We get to have fun and hang out with Roman! He's so happy and sweet - we couldn't have asked for better!

I'll try to post more pics later - maybe during afternoon nap if he takes one :) We'll see!

Introducing Roman Anthony Pennel :)

Gotcha Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today couldn't have gone any better!! It was awesome!! I couldn't sleep last night, b/c I was so excited :) This morning we had a great morning - Wes found chocolate croissants - yummy! SO much better than my attempted dessert last night at the coffee shop - remind me later to tell you about that. Anyway, I mostly cleaned this morning and "nested" so to speak.

They picked us up right on time! I had been anxious this morning, but once I was in the car on the way I was totally at ease and relaxed. The Lord really blessed me that way - and the weather was wonderful - nice and sunny :) Everything looked prettier outside today.

When we got to the orphanage, our facilitator took the clothes we had brought for him to his room and his caretakers changed him. It didn't take long, and then they brought him to us :) Our little Roman!!!!! He did AWESOME in the car!! I think the previous car ride helped tremendously. He tried to cry once at the very start, but then he settled in. He started to get fussy after about 15 min., and I put him on my shoulder and he fell asleep for the remainder of the time in the car. He had his 3 layers on (including a ski/winter outfit on top), so we were roasting!! I guess babies can only sleep when they're that hot! Ha!! His little head was all sweaty - it was so sweet and cute :)

So, we got back to the apartment, and he had a blast!! He just crawled around checking things out. We played for quite a while. He drank some water out of a sippy cup (one of those disposable ones), and then he threw it and of course it went everywhere :) But, he did well drinking it. Wes was awesome and cooked dinner while I fed Roman. We fed him (and will continue at least probably until we get home) baby food consisting of a jar of veggies, some beef (which he wasn't a big fan of), and some oatmeal and plums. He did great! Later he had some milk that we bought for him. It smells and looks really gross to me (very different than what we're used to), but he loved it! Afterwards, we gave him a bath, and he love it!!!!! He loves to splash and doesn't care if he gets it in his eyes. We played a little longer after bath, and then he was crashing - it was about 9:00. So, I tried to just put him in the pack n play, but he cried. So, I comforted him and we rocked back and forth for a while. He was very close to going to sleep, but would never give it up. So, I put him back in there and let him cry about 10-15 minutes and he fell asleep about 9:45! We're hoping it works all night :) He was really tired, so I hope so!

Our God is an awesome God to bring us this far - we can't wait to finish up our trip and be a family of four!

I'm having trouble with my memory card, so I'll have to post earlier pics instead of ones from today - oh well!

By the way....

I MISS my sweet Kate SO much!!! Love that girl!!

Wednesday and Thursday

I didn't blog on Wed, b/c there wasn't really much to report. We had a great lunch at Travelers, but paid as much for some bottled water as we did our lunch! Then, we went for another late afternoon visit with Roman. Pretty uneventful.

Today, Thursday, we went at the 11:00 time to the orphanage. We are SO ready to be finished with that drive! We were so excited to leave today knowing that we only have to do it ONE more time!!! YAY!

After our visit at the orphanage today, I did some cleaning up and getting Roman's clothes organized. Then, we went to the grocery store and bought some food items for us and some food items for him! I have NO clue what he'll think of the food we got for him.....should be interesting! We, of course, looked like pigs of Americans, b/c we had about 10 times more food than any of the Russians in the store! Our check-out lady just looked at us very strangely. It was a little embarrassing, but oh well!

Tomorrow they pick us up at 3:00 pm, we go by the court to pick up paperwork, and then head to the orphanage. All we have to do while we're there is change his clothes and come back here to the apartment! SO thankful.

We were excited to go out to eat for our last night alone, but the weather is not cooperating - it's raining here. I can't believe the weather it will be here starting on Sunday - the forecast says sunny and a high of 56 degrees!

Tuesday - Passport Picture Day!

Well, today went great! We relaxed this morning, then went out and about for lunch, the bank, and to shop for some tweezers. It may sound strange, but my eyebrows needed some help :) We went to the grocery store, pharmacy and then finally found them at the "mall" at a cosmetic/beauty shop there. Very interesting.

Anyway, that trip occupied us for a couple of hours and then when we came back it was almost time to go to the orphanage. When we arrived, Roman was already suited up to leave the orphanage in a PINK snowsuit. It was a dark pink, but it was definitely pink - ha!

He was a little unsure when we got into the car, but the music on the radio helped. He didn't get sick, and overall did very well! He liked being outside, and we waited outside for a little while because there was a line. I couldn't imagine 3 other people in that very small town getting their passport picture made, but oh well! He got a little fussy while we were in there, and he really wanted to get down. But, I held him in the chair while he got his picture made, and although he wasn't smiling, I thought it was a pretty good picture!

Afterwards, we went back to the orphanage, and Wes and I walked him around some outside since he was already dressed for it. He really enjoyed being outside, so that was nice. It was a great day for it all too -sunny and not cold. I was thinking on the way to the orphanage how it almost seems strange that the same sun that shines at home in TN is the same sun that shines here - all the way in Siberia - which seems to be a bit of a depressing landscape! Crazy...anyway.....

We took Roman inside, and several of his class/roommates were playing in the room we normally play in. So, we had fun watching Roman play with his peoples :) It was so cute, b/c 2 of the girls came up to both of us at least twice to hug us. And the only other little boy in there kept pointing at me and saying Mama, and you heard the caregiver say that we were Roman's Mama and Papa. There were twin girls in there, and it was just all so interesting to watch. Roman did great, and he was still very interested in playing with us even with the other children and caregiver were in the room. So, I thought that was a good sign of attachment.

Overall, great day. Only 2 more days of going to the orphanage to play with him there....then we get to bring him with us! That's not long at all!

One side note that I meant to mention yesterday. Roman was so cute and played peek a boo with Wes yesterday. This was the first time we really got him to do it, and he was standing up and down looking at Wes over the toys - SO cute!

Monday

Today was another good visit with Roman! He was glad to see us I think. I wasn't sure how he would respond after not seeing us for a couple of days, but he did great! He seemed a little sleepy at first, but he perked up.

I was playing with him and holding him over me (I was kind of lying on my back), and it was obviously a little too soon after lunch to be doing that. He did more than spit up on me, and it went down my shirt. It was SO gross! The smell of it made me feel sick, and there wasn't anything for me to use to clean up except a small napkin. Anyway, that was my not-so-fun experience today. I think I'll be taking a change of shirt from now on :)

Tomorrow we're going to take him to get his passport picture made. That should be interesting. I'm hoping and praying he does well in the car and doesn't get motion sickness. Wes had a case of that today, so we haven't done much since returning to the apartment. It really could happen to anyone.....it's cold outside, hot inside, our driver drives like a maniac, the roads are full of pot holes and the pollution/exhaust is just terrible. It's enough to make anyone sick to their stomach.

I guess that's about it. Thanks for checking in!

The Weekend

Well, we had a good weekend despite not being able to see Roman. I slept in both days which was really nice! I figure what else is there to do in Siberia with no children around?? :)

On Saturday we Skyped a while with family which was nice. It's wonderful to be able to see Kate on the webcam - she's such a cutie! Then we had lunch here at the apartment, read a while, then went to the Russian ballet that night. It was interesting....and it really would have helped to understand the story line! Ha! But, it was something to do that got us out and about, so that was good. We stopped and had some pizza at the pizza place on the way home.

On Sunday we relaxed that morning, skyped again, then went to lunch at Traveler's. We had some really good sandwiches....the most Americanized meal so far (besides the pizza). It was funny, b/c the girls that work there know these weird Americans are coming in almost every day and I always order a mocha. Well, I didn't even order one this time, and she brought one to the table. oh well - it was good! After lunch we walked around and took pictures of the town and streetscapes. We came back to the apt. for a while and I read while Wes worked on his Quickbooks. Then, we went to the grocery store to pick up something to cook for dinner. While we were there we saw our facilitators! It was like seeing an old friend - it was great! ha! They said that the couple that was supposed to be coming in today for their first visit couldn't get here due to the ash cloud that's causing so many flight problems. So, instead of taking us to the orphanage early, we are leaving around the "normal" time of 11:00.

Can't wait to see Roman today :) After today, only 3 whole days without him. We get to pick him up on Friday!!!!

Friday

So, we get to pick little Roman up one week from today - yay!!! Our facilitators said that they didn't think we'd have problems with what is happening in the news, especially since we've had our court date. He said it would take Russian supreme court to overrule Krasnoyarsk court decision. However, they had already talked to the judge twice today, and she told them they were going to add an extra required visit with a child on the first visit (making it 4 visits with child on first trip) and an extra visit with child before court on the second trip (2 visits before court). Also, they were going to have more supervision on the visits - by a govt worker perhaps. Anyway, we're still hoping for not much difficulty processing everything that remains.

Yesterday we had a great time with the American couple we met at the orphanage over dinner. We were able to walk them around a little bit and show them a few places - which will especially be helpful for their second trip.

Today we had a very lazy morning. Our facilitators weren't picking us up until 3pm today, so we skyped with family this morning and got to see and talk to Kate. She's a cutie!! She's having so much fun playing outside and enjoying the weather, so that has been great. After talking on the computer, we got dressed and went to lunch. We saw the same couple at the restaurant, so that was fun! After that, we went to the grocery store, went to the apartment, and then it was time to go to the orphanage.

Roman was good today - he had gotten a vaccination earlier that day, so he was a little tired. But, I did get to try on some outfits on him today to see how the sizes fit. He was SO funny - he liked being "nakey baby" as we call it at our house. He didn't want to put all those heavy clothes back on!

We had fun talking to our facilitators today - they were very talkative on the way home. We won't see them again until Monday. Tomorrow or Sunday we'll try to take more pictures around town.

Going Great!!

Sorry I haven't updated, but we've been somewhat busy :) The past 2 days, we've had good visits with Roman. He's warming up faster and faster each day.

Wednesday, the first day after court, we Skyped with family members and got to see Kate on the camera. She LOVES seeing herself in the computer screen, so she kinda makes you sea sick b/c she's dancing around like crazy :) It's SO wonderful to be able to see her and talk to her. I cried at breakfast today thinking of her and missing her. This is already been the longest I've gone without seeing her. Hopefully, the remainder of the trip will seem to go quickly.

Anyway, we had a great visit yesterday. We're starting to see more and more of his personality the more we get to play with him. After going to the orphanage our facilitators took us to New York cafe (yahoo ladies will know it :) for business lunch. They've been trying to get us there for business lunch since we came in Jan!! ha! Business lunch is cheaper and goes from 12 - 4. We arrived at about 3:30, so they were out of the 2 entrees Wes and I wanted, so we were stuck with beef liver stroganoff - yuck!! oh well, we survived. While we ate, our facilitators checked out ballet tickets for us. We could have chosen Romeo and Juliet for last night or a Russian ballet for Sat. night. We chose the one for Sat. night, b/c we can't go to the orphanage on the weekends, so it gave us something to do. Even Wes is excited about it - ha! So, since we had such a late lunch, we just snacked for dinner. We were so proud of ourselves, b/c we stayed up until 10pm! Woohoo!

This morning we knew they were coming a little earlier to get us, b/c we were going to be able to see Roman eat his lunch and see his room. So, we got up, got dressed and went to Travler's Coffee for breakfast. It was great! Our visit today was awesome!!! We took pictures and video of Roman's rooms......the sleeping room, play/eating room, and the bathroom (VERY interesting). Roman uses a potty and he's only 13 months old - I forgot to ask what they do at night. I'm guessing cloth diapers? Diapers are too expensive for the orphanage to use, so they set him on the potty every couple of hours (and after lunch, nap, etc.).

He did great eating his lunch. Wes is convinced that they gave him more lunch today than usual :) I'm not sure, but he ate it all! And he enjoyed it very much......kicked his feet while eating. He started out with some soup, then he had an oatmeal-like muesli and fruit compote. We got to feed him, and when he was done, give him his fruit juice. He did great!

I was mostly amazed at being able to see the other children in his group as well as his sleeping room. There are 16 beds/cribs in the room. They had a mixture of ages. When I videoed the sleeping room, there were some toddlers in there napping. It broke my heart to see those children (around Kate's age) sleeping so soundly and knowing they don't have mommies and daddies. I just can't imagine. I will say that the caregivers seem amazing, and the orphanage is great. We couldn't ask for a better place for Roman to have stayed. It's very clean.

There has been another couple on their first trip who have been visiting with a child in the same room while we've been visiting with Roman. We asked them if they wanted to go to dinner tonight, so we told them we'd meet them at their hotel at 5:30. Well, we had previously asked our facilitators to let us take them out to eat to thank them for everything. So, it turns out they took us up on that for a business lunch at a restaurant right here by our apartment at 3:00. Of course we said sure, and it was a great time!! But now, I just ate and have to go eat dinner again in an hour! Oh well :) I'm sure it will be fun!

Will post more soon..........

The Judge Said YES!!!!!

Praise the LORD - GOD is good!!!!!!!!! Everything went very smoothly today. Wes did great on answering his questions, and I think I did well on my questions as well. What a relief!!!! This has been the longest day ever! And I can't wait to see Roman tomorrow - our SON :)

His name will be Roman Anthony Pennel. I can't wait to post pics - ladies of the yahoo group, when can I do that again?? I couldn't remember if it was once you're in Moscow or after court.

I'll update more later - off to celebrate!

Day of Court

Well, today is the day that the Lord has made - I will rejoice and be glad in it!

We are both awake very early this morning, unfortunately. We crashed so hard after coming back from the orphanage yesterday. We both fell asleep at 6, and then I forced myself to get up at 8 and put a movie in, so that I would hopefully stay awake until about 10:00. It partially worked. I woke up at 4:30 this morning with a sleep headache - you know those kind? So, I got up and took some Advil, but never really went back to sleep. So, here I am tying away.....

Our visit with Roman yesterday was awesome! He was not happy with us at first....cried and had to get used to us again. But, once he did he was so fun to be with and watch!! He's crawling on all fours now (last time he just did the military crawl just using his arms), and he can even walk with assistance!! Even one handed :) SO cute! He has a great attention span, and he can play with one toy for quite a while. His hair has grown, and he has definitely put on weight since we last saw him.

In the car on the way back to the apartment, our facilitators and translator prepped us for court questions. Parts of it were just hilarious, b/c they would ask Wes a question (as the judge would in court), and he would give a one word answer. That was not sufficient - they made him expand on all his answers. And the way they phrased the questions are so funny - anyway, it's hard to explain. So, Wes will be doing most of the talking today in the court. Once he finishes, they'll either ask me a few of the same/similar questions, or just ask me what I would like to add.

Our court time is 3pm here, so we have all day to "rest" and get ready as they said. We'll probably go out for a big breakfast or lunch is what I'm hoping, since we didn't eat dinner last night. We were gone from 11:00 until 4:30 yesterday, and all I had were some peanut butter crackers - and I had a Luna Bar for breakfast. When we got back here we snacked, but no real food.......probably one of the reasons I had a headache this morning. As my work friends know, Claire doesn't do well when she doesn't eat :) Ha!

So, on a more serious note, here are some verses the Lord gave me yesterday while praying about the situation with the news and our court date.

Psalm 3:3 But you, oh Lord, are a shield around me, my glory and the one who lifts up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord and He answers me from his holy hill.

Psalm: 5:11-12 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice, let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them so that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, Oh Lord, you cover them with favor as with a shield.

Psalm 7: 9-10 Oh let the evil of the wicked come to an end but establish the righteous, you who test the minds and hearts, Oh righteous God. God is my shield who saves the upright in heart.

So my favorite is the middle one, and I can picture God being our shield with the judge and she will look upon us with favor. I'll update as soon as I can after court.

Since Wes is Napping.....

I'll give a quick update, since Wes is napping and catching up on some sleep. I apparently am more caught up, b/c I slept about 4 hours on the long flight and he didn't sleep any. We both slept about 5-6 hours at our "rest" hotel in Moscow, so that was great. We took the overnight flight to Kras, and that 4.5 hours is really tough!! You leave Moscow at 9pm which is 1am Kras time, and then you arrive at 5:30 in the morning. So, you lose a night somewhere in there!

Anyway, we're here at the apartment (pics posted below), and it is fantastic!!! It's SO much better than the hotel we stayed at last time, so we are thankful. Soon after we got here we walked to the Travelers Coffee shop and it was thankfully open! I had a mocha, and Wes had a hot tea. We then walked to the grocery store to check things out. We didn't buy too much. We decided we would buy some water bottles and go back later for a larger purchase. Wes is definitely going to be in charge of cooking our meals from purchases there :) The only thing I saw that I knew what to do with is the frozen broccoli!! ha! Anyway, we came back to the apt, and I took a shower that was much needed! It felt so good to get clean and get things unpacked and organized.

We'll probably eat at a pizza place around the corner for dinner tonight, and we go to the orphanage tomorrow - YAY!

Pictures of Apartment

This is the entry hall when you walk in the door.

Very nice bathroom - the shower was awesome after our long travels! See the washing machine under the sink?

Kitchen

Breakfast area by the window

T.V. with no English channels, but there is DVD player - and we brought movies!

The veranda :) This totally reminds me of House Hunters International!!

Our view from Kitchen window

For those of you who don't already know.....

There has been a story in the news that broke on Friday about a single mom from Shelbyville, TN who sent her 7 year old adopted son BACK to Russia on a one-way ticket with a letter explaining to officials that she could no longer parent this child. She said he had mental problems that the orphanage caregivers lied to her about, etc. etc. You can read about it online. The big problem is that this outraged Russian govt. (understandably so), and they said they wanted to halt all Russian adoptions until a new agreement/reform could be put in place.

So, we learned about this from Wes's sister while we were at JFK getting ready to board our plane to Moscow. We spoke with our family coordinator, and her contacts in Russia told us to continue with our plans. Their hope is that since our court date is so soon (Tues), that we'll still be fine and be able to continue as planned.

PLEASE continue to pray that God will work miracles and pave the way for our court date to go as planned. We feel that He will take care of us. However, the court hearing will be very stressful with this breaking news, b/c I'm sure the judge will be concerned about this and probe us with many questions.

Thanks everyone!

Made it to Kras!!

We finally made it! Whew! Everything went perfectly smooth, so that was great. We're glad to be here at the apartment, and we are about to run to the grocery store. Will post more later......thanks for all your prayers!

Leaving Tomorrow

I really should go to bed, but I had to post one last time........I can't believe we leave tomorrow. Today was an emotional day, but I have to say that Kate was the one who cried when we left Lucy at the kennel! So sad :( But, she's going to get lots of perks that I signed her up for while she is there.

Kate couldn't be any happier. She is getting to spend the night with her cousins (my 2 nieces), and she hardly even noticed that I was leaving :)

I think I'm officially over-packed, and I'm ready to go. Whew I'm tired, but not as tired as my poor husband. It's 10:20 p.m., he is still in Jackson, hasn't packed, and still has more work to do. I don't know if he'll be getting much sleep tonight.

Pray for him to get here safely, that all goes well with our travels, and I'll try to update soon.

Mixed Emotions & Big Blessing

Well, we are only a few days away from leaving!!!! I'm getting excited, but I'll be really excited once I'm on my way to Memphis with all my bags packed and everything done! I'll be sad to leave Kate and even sad to leave Lucy (our dog). I hate to board her for so long and then bring home another child to torture her. Kate will be having a blast with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, but I'm going to miss her terribly! I can't believe I'll miss 3 weeks of her little life - she's so cute and sweet these days! But, I know it will all be worth it, and she's excited about baby Roman. Oh and for those of you who don't know already - his name is Roman :) and we'll keep it as his first name. Roman Anthony Pennel - I think I'm allowed to post that........I can't wait to post his pics online for all to see :)

The happiest part of my day today was when I called Delta to see if they could refund the fees they charged us for changing our tickets (due to the judge changing our court date). They agreed!!! Yahoo!! $400 back :) makes me happy!!! Praise the Lord!

Getting Ready :)

I've officially pulled out the suitcases and started organizing items for our trip :) Yay!! This is the fun part....all the other prep is stressful, but this actually makes me excited to bring home our little boy!!!

We received our visas back today, and it all looks great to me! Thank goodness we don't have to worry about that this time :)

My office is throwing us a little shower on Tuesday, so that will be fun!

Counting down the days.......one week from Friday!! Yay!

COURT DATE.....again

Ok, so I was feeling like a very bad blogger for not posting last week as soon as I found out (on Wed) that we had a court date for April 6th! Yay!! We've been busy getting ready, and I was on top of everything. I booked our tickets, sent our visa paperwork off to be processed, etc. etc. I was feeling grrrrrrreat (as Tony the Tiger might say).

So, I get a call from my family coordinator this morning and knew it was important for her to be calling instead of using email. She said she had some important news. The judge decided (at this moment in the conversation I was imagining the worst possible scenario in my head, which is that the judge was requesting paperwork from Wes's stay in Africa. We all know this would pretty much be impossible.) that her schedule was too full on April 6th, and she was moving our court date to April 13th. Well, that was quite a relief to me :) (compared to what I was thinking) And not only that, but I had an extra week to prepare for the trip!

Unfortunately, it adds more stress to Wes's life (poor guy - like he needs any!). His grand opening was scheduled for May 1, which is now the date we are flying home from Russia. So, he's having to move a lot of things around, but I know it will happen.

The most frustrating part of all of this was moving our flights - the first lady was super helpful, and she got us the right dates, but her system wasn't working correctly. She had told me they would waive the fees for changing the tickets, since the change of court date was out of our control. But, the guy she transferred me to to actually re-issue the tickets was not so helpful. I know he was probably just following protocol, but it was still very frustrating. He told me that I would have to have a letter from the court explaining the change in court date. I tried to ask if I could have something from the agency....that there was no way I could get something from a court in Siberia!!! He obviously didn't understand or didn't care. Anyway, $500 later we have our tickets changed.

SO - APRIL 13th is our officially updated court date :) YAY!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see him. Please pray for our sanity - thanks for checking in!

I've GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise the LORD - my USCIS form I-171H came in the mail today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woohoo! I'll be busy on Monday getting it notarized and then driving to Nashville to have it apostilled and overnighted to our coordinator!

YAY YAY YAY YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pray Pray Pray!

I got an email from my family coordinator today saying that they are submitting our paperwork to the court without our I-171H, and they are trying to get us a court date for April 20. We REALLY hope we get this date, b/c she said if our court date is any later we'll have to red0 our medicals in Moscow that we already completed on trip 1 (about $1,700!!!). We should hear next week for sure.

Seriously?

Wow is all I can say to the email I received yesterday from my family coordinator! She asked me the status of our I-171H and told me that they went ahead and submitted our paperwork to court. They expect a court date to be issues next week sometime, and they think it will be in April.

This is definitely an "up" on the up and down roller coaster, but it totally through me into a tailspin yesterday. All I could do was laugh, b/c this whole process is so unpredictable to me! I'm very excited, but will remain guarded until next week. I'm also praying we get our I-171H back soon!

Something Positive

I know my last several posts haven't been very positive - at least they are truthful and fully express the range of emotions felt during this adoption process. Twice recently the Lord has reminded me with two different scriptures that I should be thankful and praising God for these difficult times.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

I pray that I am learning perseverance in my walk with God, and that my faith is being increased. I also pray that GOD is glorified through this entire process.

For those of you who don't know everything about our lives, Wes just opened a new business last week - an auto repair shop named Christian Brothers Automotive. It's a franchise, so you may have heard of it. So far things are going great, and we are both so thankful. We are thrilled the Lord has blessed us SO much for so many reasons. It really hit me that as frustrating and difficult this adoption paperwork is, that I should be SO thankful for all the ways God is blessing us. He's blessed us to be able to open the business and complete our adoption in the same year!!!!! Not without a lot of stress, but how awesome is that??!! The hymn sung at church on Sunday really hit home. Here are the lyrics that definitely apply to my life right now:

Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
to Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

So, on an even more positive note, I received an email this morning from my family coordinator with pictures of our little boy at his bday party :) He was so precious, and has changed since we saw him in Jan. His hair had grown a little more, and he looked like he had put on a little weight! He looked like he enjoyed his balloons, and his cake looked awesome!! I had asked for our facilitators to take some cake and/or presents to him for his bday, but this was the first I had heard about whether they were able to do so. It made my week!!!!

International Adoption Process = Emotional Torture

If you are every considering international adoption, let me tell you that you should be completely prepared for total emotional torture. That's the best way for me to describe my feelings lately. In my brain I know things are going to be unpredictable, so I don't know why I'm surprised when things go wrong.

While I was in Memphis this week, Wes got our letter from USCIS that we had been waiting on. He was excited to call me with good news. However, it didn't turn out that way. Instead of our hoped for Form I-171H, we received a request for more evidence. They asked us to send a home study addendum outlining our monthly income. They proceeded to state that our monthly expenses were listed, but not our monthly income. The most absolutely, horribly, frustrating part of all of this???? Our ANNUAL salaries are listed in the home study, not once, but TWICE!!!!!!!!! Can they not do simple division???? Maybe I should give them my niece's phone number, b/c I'm pretty sure she could do this math for them.

I emailed my social worker, and she said that she gets these kind of stupid requests from the Memphis office pretty often. She'll send them the addendum asap.

I'll never understand why this is so much harder than it should be.

His First Birthday

Today is his 1st birthday - can't wait to celebrate with him and family when we get to bring him home :) Miss him!!

Paperwork Excitement and Disappointment

So, I know it's been forever since I posted on here, but I've been VERY busy putting together our court paperwork. Last week I was able to get 37 documents apostilled and sent off to our family coordinator to send over to Russia. It was a great feeling, since I had been carrying this stuff around forever. I got so excited about sending it off, that I didn't take the pictures of it that I wanted to. So, I asked my coordinator to humor me and take pictures of it when it arrived at her office. She was kind enough to do so....see below. It may sound silly, but you work SO hard on getting this all done, that you want to remember it!

So, the bad news is that we are still missing a very important document from USCIS. This is because not only did our fingerprints expire with them in Jan., but we also moved. Therefore, we had to get re-fingerprinted (which we did on Monday), and now they will send us a new form with our current address on it.

I was VERY disappointed to find out today (our little guy's 1st bday) that we need this immigration form to get a court date. This is not what I was originally told, so I thought we were already in the process of "getting" a court date. SO frustrating, and it made me so sad.

The one thing I know is that there isn't anything I could have done to speed this process up....we moved in Nov, our social worker visited in Dec and wrote our updated home study, our fingerprints expired in Jan, I sent updated home study and re-fingerprint request in Jan, we were mailed our fingerprint appointments for this past Monday (2/22), so now we are waiting on our immigration form. All I can trust is that GOD's hand is in all of this, and that HE is sovereign. Hopefully, we can still go in April - we'll pray, pray, pray!

Romans 5:3-5

Back Home

We've been home for several days now, but I'm just now updating :) Lots of laundry, sorting pictures, organizing more paperwork, etc. has kept me busy!!

Our flights home were great, but long! For those of you whose children watch Dora, you might appreciate that I couldn't help but sing the theme song when our last flight landed......"We did it, we did it....lo hicimos, we did it!!" Sorry........sidebar

Anyway, we hope to send our family coordinator an important document asap - our updated home study - in order to receive our court date. Unfortunately, our paperwork isn't as clean as I would like it to be.......moving complicated things! I had everything in order, and then learning I had to have everything updated with our new address threw a wrench in my plan :) 2 important forms (our immigration form that is required for us to bring an adopted child into the U.S. and our FBI clearances) are the ones I'm worried about, because they are both government forms. You can't always "rush" them along if you know what I mean.

So, we are busy working on updating our last court documents and just excited about what this year will bring!! Wes starts the shop in a month, and then hopefully soon after that we'll get to go back on our 2nd trip and bring home our baby boy! Yay!!!! I'm ready to settle into our "new normal."

Moscow Pics