Two Weeks Home

Well, as you can see, it has been quite some time since I have posted on the blog. Due to some issues with international adoption laws, we were encouraged to keep our updates private and not post anything until our adoption was final. Of course, we wanted to follow the rules and so we decided to just take the blog down for awhile. However, our adoption is now finalized and we have our sweet girl at home with us-we are officially a family of 7!! And so we decided to go ahead and put the blog back up so that we can keep everybody updated on how things are going!

Well, it has been an amazing two weeks to say the very least! Of course, it has also been an incredibly busy two weeks and that is why the update has taken a little bit of time. Little Miss O is doing absolutely wonderful with all of the transitions and adjustments. She fits so very perfectly into our family and seems to be thriving. I hope that she is happy as she seems because we are seeing lots of smiles and hearing lots of giggles!

So, what have we been up to? Well, first of all, LOTS of appointments! We are on the go quite a bit seeing a variety of specialists and starting the appropriate therapies. It wears both Mommy and OE out and we are definitely ready for bed each night! She sleeps great-about 11 hours per night and also pretty soundly. I don’t get to sleep quite so long, but I am also ready to hit the bed each night!  It takes quite a bit to keep the older four from waking her up too quickly in the morning to play and snuggle, but they are learning that the Mom is not too happy when little miss doesn’t get her sleep, so reluctantly they now let her sleep in, but they come bounding in the door after school to find her and if we aren’t home yet, my phone starts going crazy! Needless to say, they are pretty crazy about her! When we aren’t at doctor appointments, we are playing at home or working. I have been a little slow at getting back into the groove of catching up at work, but thankfully my bosses have been very patient! So blessed with an amazing flexible job! OE has also gone to work with me a little bit-of course going to my boss's house/office is a bit like a day at Chuck E Cheese for her, so I think she enjoyed it as well! They are definitely set for fun with the toys and kiddo equipment!

What are we learning? Well, what isn’t she learning? She is a very determined little love! She is already trying to hold her spoon and feed herself. Of course, she isn’t able to feed herself an entire meal or anything, but she loves to try! She is also working on eating some finger foods-she thinks this is very exciting! We are still working on drinking, but doing pretty well with the straws. She also gets a little bit noisier every day. She has totally figured out that she has six people to respond to her and I LOVE that! She knows that if she wants to keep eating or more to drink, she can fuss and we will get her more. She is learning that she doesn’t have to lie in bed alone. She can cry and we will come to love on her. My very favorite time of the day is when she wakes up-she has the biggest smile on her face and it is as though we have made her whole day just by being there! (She has no idea that it is actually our day that she has made!) She has also learned several sign language words. She knows eat, please, thank you, and more. She uses them quite frequently and in the correct context. She has also learned to point to her eyes, nose, mouth, hair, ears. Physically, she is working on rolling over and trying to crawl. She has a long ways to go, but we are amazed by all that she is trying to do. To us, she is a superstar! And oh, how she LOVES to hear the cheers and excitement when she accomplishes something! We are so thankful we get to watch her progress!

One of my favorite stories from the past two weeks…the other night we went to the Homecoming Game and she was on a lap looking back at the press box. She started smiling and waving-she was so happy. We couldn’t figure out what she was smiling at. We turned around and there was Emily up on top of the press box (getting ready to sing the National Anthem with the Show Choir.) She was waving and smiling at OE and so she was smiling right back! She knows her family…so very thankful for that!

We had a dear friend (thank you for the amazing gift, Mal!) take some family pictures for us this weekend and so I am attaching a few for you to see. Doesn’t she just fit perfectly? In many ways, it feels like she has been with us forever! We love her so very much and just can’t imagine what we did before she was here! How blessed we are to be her family!!

Thanks so much for checking in with us and following our journey now that our sweet girl is home!

Back Home Again...

Well, after 27 hours of travel back home from O's country, we hit the ground running!  It is hard to believe we have already been home for two weeks. We had so many activities going on as soon as we got back home. It was the end of the school year here at home and so lots to see and do. It has been a very busy 14 days, which is why I haven't been able to post anything on here since getting home, but we are so very thankful that our travel timeline worked out so that we could be here to celebrate all of the end of the year festivities with our children. Here's a quick recap...

Abbie promoted from the 6th grade to Middle School. It is so hard for us to believe that all of our children are out of elementary school and into secondary school. We now have a senior, a junior, a freshman, and a seventh grader. We are so going to miss having a child at the elementary school next year, but we know that it won't be long before O will be here and we will be getting her ready to start her years there. Randy and I laughed as we reflected during Abbie's promotion ceremony. We were so intentional about having our children close together so that they would be in the same season of life and be close in school.  Once O gets home and she starts school, we will have at least one child in college with the rest in High School at the same time as she is starting elementary school. Yes, we will be the "old" parents at Kindergarten Round-Up! Well, let's call us "seasoned" parents instead... So very thankful that our plans were changed and that we are starting with a little one again, but it is funny the paths life will take you on.

So, Abbie promoted to Middle School!

Abbie was also the recipient of the American Legion Award! She joins her sister Emily in receiving this honor. The winner of this award is voted on by the staff of the school. One boy and one girl in 6th grade receive it each year. Students must exemplify six qualities that define character: courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship, and service. We are so very proud of her for winning this award and for being the wonderful young woman that she is!

After a day of celebrating Abbie's promotion, complete with a 6th grade class party, we headed to Jessica's 8th grade promotion. Jessica received an award for Gold Honor Roll and promoted to High School.

We are so proud of how hard she worked and how well she did this year!

VERY happy to be back and see these four sweet faces again!!

Later that week was the last day of school. At our elementary school, the tradition is to retire the colors and ring the bell one final time as the students load the bus to leave school for the year. As winner of the American Legion award, Abbie got to ring that bell. She was very excited to get to ring the bell as she said goodbye to North Fairview!

During the week, we also got to attend the High School Track Awards and Dinner. This mom failed and didn't get any pictures that were decent, so no pictures to post, but Tyler and Emily received several medals and were congratulated on successful track seasons! Way to go-we are so proud of you and can't wait to see you out there again next year!

The end of our first week home took a very sad turn. A young woman and friend of ours from school and church unexpectedly lost her life. Brenna was eighteen years old and had graduated from SHS only five days earlier. She was an absolutely beautiful girl who loved life and lived it to the fullest. The absence of Brenna leaves a huge hole in our community. She taught all of us so many important lessons and left a beautiful legacy in her short life. She truly lived each day to the fullest and with such joy that it just radiated through her. We know that she is in Heaven now with her Lord and that she is in a better place. But, she will be greatly missed here on earth and we pray for her family to heal from this great tragedy and loss.

It is so sad that it takes a reminder like this to realize how fragile life is and how precious each day really is, but that is exactly what it does. We are so blessed to have our four beautiful children here with us and have been holding them a little bit closer and tighter each day this past week.

However, we are also thinking of and missing our sweet daughter on the other side of the world. It is hard to believe that we said goodbye to her sixteen days ago. It was an amazing week of getting to know her and falling more in love with her. Adoption is a process to say the least-it's a difficult process. I can say that we have already been changed for the better because of the process, but it isn't easy. Seven months ago we fell in love with a picture of a little girl and I can't explain it, but we knew that she was our daughter and that we wanted to be her forever family. The paperwork process has nearly consumed us for several of those months, the waiting seemed like forever, but finally we got to meet her. It was truly just like meeting our other children for the first time-we knew she was ours and we fell in love as soon as we held her in our arms. We got to know her, we connected with her, we fell in love with her, we bonded...and then we had to say good-bye. Nothing could have prepared us for that. Leaving her was the hardest thing we have ever had to do. We could be logical and know that this is what we had to do, that it was part of our process. But does she understand that? Does she know that we will be back? Does she miss us? Does she think we left her? These are the questions that keep running through my mind and make my heart ache. We showed up to visit her everyday for a week. She seemed so happy to see us walk through that door and scoop her up into our arms. Was she waiting for us the next few days after we left her country? What must have been going through her mind when we didn't show up? I'm so afraid that she will forget about us if we are gone too long. What if we don't get to go back for a few months? Will we have to start all over again with the bonding and connecting or will she remember us? These are the many things to ponder as we sit here waiting for a court date to be scheduled and to return to see her. So, we hope and pray for that date to come soon so that we can return to her and get one step closer to having our five children here together.

Have a wonderful week and hold tight to those you love. We will keep you posted on our process as we hear anything...thanks for checking in with us!

We have had Internet connection issues all week, which is why the updates have been so few and far between. We had hoped that we would have been able to keep up with it better, but no such luck. Gotta love technology-ugh! We have had a wonderful week getting to know Olga. She is an absolute sweetheart and we are so in love with her. Yesterday, we went to sign our official referral to adopt her. As soon as we can get a court date scheduled and the adoption is granted, she will become Olga Ellise Barth and she will finally have a forever family. She will be an orphan no more, but instead a daughter with a Mommy and a Daddy. She will have a brother, three sisters, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and so many dear friends who are waiting for her back home! Her life will be completely changed and she will forever loved and cherished! We are hoping and praying for that court date to be granted soon so that we can bring her home!

We have seen so many smiles and giggles over the past several days. Olga may be tiny but her personality is so big and it is contagious-she makes your whole world light up when she smiles. And when she giggles, well just wait, you'll want to just sit and listen to her all day as well. And oh my, she is so determined! There are so many things she wants to do, but she hasn't had the opportunity or resources yet. There is a great big world waiting out there for her and she is ready to go explore it! We can't wait to share it with her.

Tomorrow is our last day to visit and it is going to be so hard to leave her. We haven't really even allowed ourselves to go down that path yet, but know that it is something that we have to do. Unfortunately, it is the way the process works.

For today, enjoy the fun pictures of her sweet smile-we sure have! Thanks for checking in with us!

Our first picture of the three of us together!

Sweet surprised smile! I think she is talking to her fun Daddy!

Look who's already a Daddy's girl!

She's a thrill seeker! This is when we lifted her stroller up high to get over the lawn and onto the sidewalk. She loves to fly!!

Another thrill seeking moment-Daddy drives way faster than Mommy!

But Mommy is pretty good at snuggle time!

Visit #2

We had another wonderful visit with Olga (Olya as they call her) today. She looked happy to see us come back today and she gave us big smiles, and came right to us. She spent most of our time together in Daddy's arms today-she looked quite happy to be there! Tomorrow we go to sign the official referral for adoption and then we will be ready for them to set a court trip and trip #2!!  Woohoo! Here are a few pictures we wanted to share with you!

This is right after I put her in Randy's arms.

Getting a little closer and snuggling up!

Getting kisses from Daddy which she clearly loved! She got the biggest smile on her face when her leaned over to kiss her cheek. : )

I got to carry her back to her room for nap time, but she was not taking her eyes off of Daddy back behind us!

Pictures of Olga!

First Snuggles!

Checking out the blanket that her family made for her! She'll be wrapped up in our 

love until she can come home with us!

She listens very intently on everything that is said to her! 

Here she is listening to the orphanage director, Olga.

She loves to be upright! Can't wait to get her home and get her the right equipment so she can 

be upright more often and start gaining some independence!

Meeting Olga

Today we were finally able to meet little Olga. After months of anticipation, today was the day! It was so hard to sleep last night as we waited with anticipation. We had no idea what to expect. We had seen only a few pictures over the course of almost six months and now we we finally meeting her. There were so many emotions going through our minds as we prepared to meet her in person. Olga is four years old, she has been waiting for a family for four years. During that time, she has seen lots of kids go home with new parents. What would she think of us? Were we what she had in mind when she pictured her parents? Would we be overwhelmed by her special needs? All of these thoughts were running through our minds. Before we could go to meet O, we had to meet with the Department of Education to receive all of the known information about her. They were very kind and very appreciative that we were considering the adoption of a special needs child as there was no place other than an institution for her in their country. We listened to all of the known information, they asked if we would like to meet her, we said absolutely, we signed a paper agreeing to visit her and off we went. T That was one of the longest car rides ever. The anticipation was so high. O is not currently in the baby house. She is staying at a rehabilitation center and so that is where we went to visit her. It was not the usual scenario for the first visit-very different than what we had prepared for, but we were just so happy to be meeting her. The director of her orphanage traveled all the way to the rehab center to be there for our first visit. We we so thankful that she did that. She greeted us at the door when we arrived. We knew that O was in strange surroundings and that she would probably be scared when she saw more new people. By having the director there, somebody that she trusts, we thought she would be more comfortable when she saw us for the first time. Soon after we arrived, the director went to get O. It seemed like we waited forever, but it was probably only a few minutes until she brought this sweet beautiful girl that we had dreamed about holding in our arms to meet us. I can't even put words to explain our emotions when we saw her for the first time. It was a moment that took our breath away. After months of paperwork and struggles, we were in the same country, looking at our daughter. She was so tiny in the director's arms. I so wanted to just scoop her up in my arms and snuggle her right away, but she looked scared to death so we kept our distance a little bit as she took everything in. She did cry a little bit at first and tense up when she saw us, so we didn't want to push it. We we taken into a small office to spend some time with her. The director continued to hold her as we sat near her. Soon, she was letting us hold her hands, rub her fingers, tickle her, and get closer. After a little while longer, the director set her in my lap and let me hold her. Oh my goodness, it was such an awesome feeling to have her in my arms after all this waiting! Randy said I had the exact same look as when I held each of our other four babies for the first time-pure love and happiness. What a joy to become a mommy again. All of our fears quickly faded away after we were with her. She so needs the love of a family and she is definitely meant to be ours. We didn't get a picture of O and daddy together yet, but hopefully tomorrow. She was definitely having fun with him, though. We brought a ball for her that has large holes that she can place her fingers through. She would throw the ball and figured out very quickly that her daddy would go pick it up and bring it back to her. We were laughing about what a game that will be when she comes home because she will have four siblings and two dogs to play that game with her, too. We can already see how she will thrive in the love of a family loving on her and working with her to gain more strength. Pictures will be coming soon! My blog site has defaulted to the language her in O's country and I am struggling doing updates. Thank you so much to all of you that have kept us in your thoughts and prayers during this journey. They have truly carried us so far! Keep checking back for updates!

We Have Travel Dates!!!

Guess what I am doing on Mother's Day? Traveling to meet our sweet girl! Happy Mother's Day to me! It could only be a better day if we were bringing O home and I got to spend it with all 5 of our children! Obviously that can't happen yet, but we are so thankful things have moved quickly and we get to go for our first visit.

We actually received a note on Friday night that we would be traveling and that our appointment had been scheduled for May 21st. This is the one week had asked to not travel (of course!) because it is the last week of school and our children have promotions, awards ceremonies, parties, etc. However, it is urgent that we get there before the end of May to prevent O from being transferred, so we can't put our trip off until a week later.

After a small (or maybe not so small) breakdown about missing all of the activities that were scheduled for our kids here, I emailed our agency to see if there was any possibility that we might be able to go a week earlier. The agency director said that she would do some checking and get back to me. Last night we heard back from her and she said it was a go-we get to meet O the week of May 14th!! So exciting and such a blessing. But now we have to kick it into high gear to pull a trip like this together in 12 days! YIKES! People have done it in less and so we know it is possible, but it is going to be a busy two weeks. Right now our minds are just swimming with what to do first-so many details to cover for not only our travel, but all of the details for our four children while we are away. It is so hard to think about leaving them while we travel for several days, but we know that they will be here with their grandparents and that they are in great hands!

We Have A Crib Ready!!

Hello everyone! Can you believe it? The Barth Family has a crib up and ready again! We are so excited. When we put the crib away ten years ago (actually we sold the crib) we didn't dream we would know the joy of having a little one again. However, God's plan was bigger and better, so here we go again! Auntie Marit, Uncle Frank, and Mia shared Mia's crib with us since Mia now has a big girl bed. Thank you so much for this great gift! And Noni made a beautiful quilt for O's bed from fabric that Emily, Jess, and Abbie picked out that looks great in her bedroom.

Here is a picture of her crib.

O is going to share a room with Abbie when she comes home. This is the view that O will have from her crib-looking up at Abbie's bed.

Abbie is so excited to be a big sister! For almost 12 years, she has been the youngest in our family. Everyone has taken care of her. Well, now she gets a chance to be the "big kid." On the first night we had the crib set up, I went in to get Abbie all settled in bed for the night. As we were going through our nighttime routine, she kept staring down into O's crib. (Abbie is in a bunk bed, so she is up off the ground.) She told me that she was the luckiest one in the family because she gets to watch over O every night and be the one to help her if she needs anything at all. She also said that she gets to be the very first one to see her happy face every morning. And then she even followed up to say that she was so thankful that she was finally getting to be the big sister and that she promised to be the very best one ever. I have no doubts that she will because she has such a huge heart and she has had three wonderful older siblings that have been such a great example to her! Oh, how that made mommy’s heart melt (and yes, okay, my eyes filled with happy tears-not a surprise to any of you who know me, I know...) to hear her excitement and enthusiasm to be a big sister!

Perseverance

Definition of perseverance-Continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

When we began this adoption process 4 1/2 months ago, other adoptive families told us that it would be difficult and that it would test us at times, but that it would be so worth it and we would never regret it. Adoption is definitely not for the faint of heart. We have been on an emotional roller coaster that I can't even explain in words. It is such an exciting journey and there are days we are absolutely amazed at the blessings we are seeing unfold before our eyes. And then there are days of frustration and heartache because we have paperwork issues or it takes another 4-6 weeks to get something we should have had 6 weeks earlier. It simply can't happen quickly enough for us because all we want is to have O home with us and safe in our arms. But, aside from getting our paperwork in order, it is truly out of our hands. So, we must trust that it will all work out and continue to enjoy our lives while we wait.

It has been awhile since I have had any updates to post about our adoption process. We have just been waiting to hear something. Well, today, we finally have news to report.  Our completed dossier paperwork arrived in O's country today!! So, now we wait (yes, more waiting...) for the paperwork to be translated and registered and then we get our first travel dates to go and meet our sweet girl. So excited for this news and we feel as though we have definitely persevered over the initial paperwork hurdles!

Meanwhile, while we have been waiting, we have been enjoying life with our four kiddos at home. They are truly such gifts to us and they bring us so much joy, even on the most difficult of days. Can't even imagine going through this process without their love and encouragement. They are so excited to add O to this crazy busy family. So today I wanted to share with you a little glimpse into what's been going on in their lives.

Emily turned 16!!

With Mom and Dad



We had Junior/Senior Prom!!

Now, first I have to share a picture of Tyler and Emily together that was taken when they were little. It is one of my very favorites of them. When I saw them dressed up for prom last weekend, this picture was the first thing that came to my mind!

Here they are 13 years later...

With their dates...

Our girls...

All four of our kiddos...goodness they are growing up WAY too quickly!

Thanks for checking in with us-we will keep you posted as things progress!

The Barth Family

Moving Forward?

Hello everyone!
Yes, there is a question mark at the end of our post title. Every time I think we are making steps forward, we take about 5 steps backwards. UGH! So, I am hesitant to get too terribly excited yet, therefore, the question mark.  However, this time it feels like maybe we are finally moving forward with our adoption process and getting closer to traveling to meet O. This week, I wrote some pretty big checks and sent paperwork to Alabama (our home study agency), Arizona (our adoption agency), and Texas (USCIS). So, we are thinking this must mean something positive!

This journey continues to be a test of perseverance. When we began, the main thing I was really concerned about was leaving our children here and traveling across the globe two times. (It has since changed to three times...) I thought that the paperwork would be a breeze-I do paperwork everyday for my job, I am detail oriented and organized, so no problem. HA! This paperwork process has been a total confusing mess! Therefore, mailing many of the documents to other locations was a huge sigh of relief this week! I know that won't be the last of the paperwork, but at least we've got a good chunk done. And I may be starting to get a grasp on how they want things done?? Or maybe not!!

At this point, there really isn't much else to report. Just wanted to share that much of our paperwork is on the way. Meanwhile, we wait for the news that we can travel to visit O. I continue to eat my way through chips and candy as I wait... This week I actually bought sugar free candy instead. I figure if I am going to continue to snack like this I better be a little more cautious. My kids were less than impressed when they saw the candy jars filled with sugar free candy. (I must say that they have benefited greatly from Mommy's cravings lately-the candy jars are refilled much more often!) Even though they fussed about the sugar free, I did notice that there are several pieces missing, so they must have enjoyed them as well!

Thanks so much for checking in with us! I will post again when we hear any news about our progress. Have a great rest of the week!

The Barth Family

Home Study Approved!

Woohoo!! We have an approved Home Study and are applying for USCIS approval. These are big steps in our adoption process. We are so excited to be moving forward-another step closer to bringing Little O home!

The approved Home Study basically proves that we are fit parents and capable of adopting and raising a child. Now, this is not only great news for our adoption, but also for our four children that we have been raising for over 17 years-we are fit parents! I'm sure they will be glad to know this. : )

This approved study also allows us to begin applying for grants to help us fund our adoption. This will be an important piece of our adoption journey and I am ready to kick that English degree into gear and start applying! Just needed that "approval" of the Home Study first.

It has been a long three months getting to this point. This adoption has been much more emotional for me than having our children through pregnancy. It is such a roller coaster and there are so many unknowns. When I was pregnant, I had that baby with me all the time-I couldn't see the baby, but I knew they were there and later in the pregnancy, I could even feel them there. This time, I have no idea where our child is, what she is doing, how she is feeling, no control over her circumstances or the people making decisions regarding our adoption-so frustrating! What have I learned through this? Well, first lesson, I am a control freak and really not a patient person at all. I really thought I was patient, but it turns out I am only patient when I am in control of what is happening. Sad, but true! : ( Other lesson learned-I REALLY love jalapeno kettle chips and peanut M & M's. Yep, very enjoyable but unfortunate, because I have eaten more than my fair share of those lately. I am thinking that unless I get this under control pretty quick, I will be gaining 30-40 pounds of baby weight with the adoption of Olga. (Maybe next week I will get that under control!)

When not busy filling out adoption paperwork or eating chips/candy, Abbie and I read an awesome book together about a little girl with Cerebral Palsy. It is called Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper. Loved it and I highly recommend it! It is about a girl in 5th grade with CP who can't talk or walk. It is written from the young girl's perspective. Of course, she is treated as though she has very limited capabilities, but she is so smart and she is so special. She has so many thoughts in her head and is able to do so many things, but she can't share any of it because she can't talk. The book goes through the process of people investing time in her and seeing her potential, and eventually helping her to learn to communicate through a voice activated computer and it changes her life so much. Helped to give us a perspective of everything that goes through O's mind. She may not be able to articulate her thoughts, but she has them, and we will do everything we can to help her share those thoughts as soon as we get her home-no waiting until 5th grade! Anyway, if you need a good read and want to learn more about CP, I highly recommend it.

I think that about wraps it up for us! Thanks so much for checking in with us-we'll keep you posted as things progress! Have a great week!

The Barth Family

Fundraiser

Oh my goodness-we will never be able to find the right words to express our thankfulness to all of the people that supported us through the recent food fundraiser that our friends held on our behalf! This wonderful group of ladies (thank you to ALL of you!) took orders and made food to help with the adoption expenses for both our family and another family adopting from Taiwan. They raised over $4,000 to help bring these two sweet kiddos home!!!! Such a blessing for us!

Of course, we appreciate the funds that will help cover many things right now, but even more, we appreciate the love and support of so many people who want to help us bring Olga home. Adoption can be a long and bumpy journey, but we have had so many special moments and been touched by the kindness of not only our dear friends, but strangers who simply want to help make a difference in the life of a lonely child. It was amazing to see how many people bought food and supported us. So, to everyone, we want to say, "Thank you, Thank you!!" We can't wait to share this story with Olga and we can't wait for her to meet you! We love you all!!

Waiting

Was hoping that we would have something new to post by now, but we don't-still waiting. We have finished everything we can do for our Home Study. Now we just wait for that to be reviewed and finalized and sent on to Immigration for clearance.  We will post something as soon as we hear any confirmation of these things.

We did hear from a friend we have met through this process (her daughter is in the same baby house as Olga) and she responded to our post on Olga's name. She said that the "E" in Olga's name is her last name and that the middle name she currently has will be a feminine form of Olga's dad's name. But, of course we won't be able to find that out until our first visit, so we probably need to have a name prepared ahead of time.

A dear friend gave me a daily devotional to read as we go through this journey. It is about enjoying "Peace in His Presence." Yep, could use a little peace at this time! One of today's scripture readings was this: "They do not fear bad news; they confidently trust the Lord to care for them." Psalms 112:7

Taking heart in that today as we wait to hear from so many people concerning our process and as we wish we could be closer to holding Olga in our arms. We have to remember that God put us on this journey for a reason and it will all happen in His timing-He will work out all of the details. We don't have to worry about anything. But even more importantly, we have to remember that Olga is His and that He loves her and cares for her!

Have a wonderful day and thank you so much for checking in with us!!

Olga's Name

Many have asked about Olga's name and wondered if we will be keeping it or changing it when we bring her home. This has been a topic of many discussions in our house as there are a few differing opinions. When we first began our process to adopt Olga, the kids actually all wanted to change her name to Olivia. They did refer to her as Olivia for the first few days. However, Randy was not at all comfortable with changing her name. He felt very strongly that somebody had given her that name and that she had been called that for four years, so why would we change it? So, we tabled the topic and referred to her as "Olga" when we talked about her, prayed for her, etc.

It is our understanding that Olga was named after the Director of her orphanage. The people that gave her that name have been her family for her entire life so far. They hold a very special place in our hearts already as they have cared for her and gotten her through the first four years of her life. We want to show our appreciation to the director by honoring her with keeping Olga's name as it is.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of ours (thank you Gerralee!) looked up the meaning of Olga's name. This is what she learned. The German meaning of the name is: blessed, holy, successful. The polish meaning is: Healthy, lucky. It just seems absolutely fitting for her! We love the meaning of this name and it is everything we want for our little girl, so we really don't feel like there is any reason to change it. And honestly, after talking about her so much and praying for her by name, any other name sounds wrong. She is our Olga-our "Little-O" or "Baby-O" as we refer to her around here!

We don't know what Olga's middle name is. We have seen the initial "E" on some blogs, but don't know anything else. So we are in the process of trying to come up with a middle name that we will use together with Olga. Apparently, we need to have her name picked out by the time of our first trip and when we are officially matched to her. A few of the possibilities we have come up with are Olga Elise and Olga Eve. Elise means special to God. Eve means breath of life. Emily likes Eve the most because Olga was born on New Year's Eve. The rest of us a little more partial to Elise.

So, to wrap up-yes, she will keep the name Olga, but definitely not sure about the middle name. The kids are keeping very busy with googling names and have come up with some very interesting ideas! Abbie had her heart set on Olga Felicity for a few days. When we asked her where she came up with that, she replied that she had simply googled names that went well with Olga and that is what the computer came up with. Hmmm...needless to say, that one didn't stay on the list, but it is a fun story to share and is so our Abbie!

A Thank You

This is a post that is very important to us-we want to say a huge thank you to all of the people who have been supporting us in our adoption journey to Olga! This support means the world to us-the encouraging words and prayers have been amazing. Not everybody understands adoption and not everybody agrees with our decision to add another child, especially one with special needs to our family, but for the most part we have been overwhelmed by the kindness of people and their willingness to support us!  So, thank you, thank you!

When our family started this process of international adoption, we knew the financial commitment was huge. It is no secret that there is a big price tag, but we believe bringing Olga home to us is worth every penny and we also knew that the money wouldn't hold us back. However, we didn't feel comfortable asking others to help us fund our adoption. We had heard that there are lots of adoption grants available, there are low or no interest adoption loans available, families can borrow against their 401K, etc. At this point, we have not asked anybody for anything, but I have to say that the gifts we have already received have been both humbling and overwhelming. So many people have stepped forward and graciously given to us. A few people have directly given us money and so we have been able to personally thank them, but we don't even know who most of the others are as they have donated anonymously and so there is no way for us to thank them in person. We hope and pray that they are keeping up on the blog so that they know how much we appreciate them when they read this post! I just have to share a few of the ways that people have helped us already!

Food Fundraiser-some dear friends at church are conducting a food fundraiser for us and another family at our church in the process of adopting a little boy from Taiwan. They are currently taking food orders and are then going to spend an entire day of their time preparing these meals. These women are amazing (!) cooks and they do enjoy cooking, but they are taking time from their own busy lives and their families to benefit us. All of the profits are going to be split between the two families.

Monica-I already posted about this, but somebody who doesn't even know us created a puzzle and sold it piece by piece for $500 to bring Olga home. She loved Olga before we even knew about her. Amazing!!

Youth Group Leaders-our children have a wonderful leader in youth group named Neva who makes beautiful crocheted pieces. She makes these really cute beanie hats, so she offered to take orders, make them, and sell them with the profits going to Olga's adoption. Thank you, Neva! : )

Youth Group Boys-several of the boys (really, young men) in our son's youth group took up a collection and gave the money to us to use in our adoption process. This really touches my heart simply because they are teenage boys! They get how important it is to bring her home to us. Seriously, there is so much other stuff they could be spending money on, but they collected some money amongst themselves to help bring Tyler's little sister home. Those are some sweet boys-so thankful for their huge hearts-love you all!

Misc. Donations-One day we were just handed an envelope of cash and were told that several people donated to it-have no idea who they all were, but it added up to enough to take care of a good chunk of our Home Study. So, whoever you are, thank you!

In closing, thank you to everyone! Thank you for loving us, thank you for loving Olga and for wanting to help us bring her home to our forever family!! There are really no words to express our gratitude. I assure you that Olga will know how much everyone did for her-we are keeping notes, cards, and journaling everything people have done along the way. We love you all!

Finding Olga

We have been asked how we found Olga and what led us to adopt her. When we decided to move forward with our adoption process, we looked at all of our options and decided together that we would proceed with domestic adoption-it seemed as though it would be a good fit for our family. In our minds we pictured us adopting a young boy, maybe five to eight years old, and probably with no physical handicaps because our house isn't wheelchair accessible. That is the list we gave to God. And of course we thought things would go accordingly because we had felt called to do this-we were following His lead, right? Ha! Lesson #1-Don't tell God what you can or cannot do! While in the domestic process, we hit a few speed bumps that slowed us down. Yes, were frustrated and they took us by surprise, but we hadn't given up, we were just in a holding pattern waiting to hear back from the local agencies on a few things...

Fast forward a few weeks to our son's birthday. All of our children had gone to bed after his birthday celebration. I took one last look at my email for the night. I had an email that was an urgent prayer request for a little girl who was about to age out in her country and would be moved to the mental institution because she has cerebral palsy. (First of all, let me explain that this was not the first prayer request like this that I had seen. This was far from the first picture of an orphan needing a family that had crossed my computer screen. Throughout this journey, I had become connected with a group of wonderful families advocating for children and these needs came through from time to time.) I went ahead and opened her picture and I am pretty sure my heart stopped for a moment-I for sure had to catch my breath, and yes, tears filled my eyes. Olga looks so much like our children and particularly like our son-we had just looked at his baby pictures that day. (This is what we do as part of their birthday celebrations.) I then showed Randy the email and he had the same response I did. Those of you that know him realize that it takes quite a bit to render him speechless, but he really was. I could not sleep that night-could not get her sweet face out of my mind, but I tried not to get excited about it because I didn't think the rest of our family would feel the same way I did.

The next morning we shared the picture and urgent need with our children as a prayer request. Again, this is something we had done in the past with other children. They agreed that she was adorable and felt sad for her, but didn't say too much more before they left for school. Throughout the day, I felt like I had to find out more information about Olga. I contacted the appropriate agencies to learn whatever I could about her. I hadn't heard anything back by the time everyone came home from school. However, here was the amazing part. As our children came home at different times, they all had the same response, they all wanted to help her, they all wanted to bring her home, they all wanted to be her family. Immediately we were all on the same page and decided to move forward to find out more. We knew we had to move quickly because of her urgent situation.

Here is a rough timeline of how things went:
Thursday-Saw Olga's picture
Friday thru Sunday-Communicated with so many people who had information about her and knew what agency she was listed with, etc. We even got in touch with the family that had tried to previously adopt Olga and so they had lots of great information. We got all of the application forms filled out and ready so that they could be sent to the agency on Monday morning.
Monday-Called the agency to let them know we were interested and were told that another family had already moved forward for her. We were so happy for her, but disappointed for us.
Tuesday-Tried to get Olga out of our mind, but couldn't do it. We decided to email the agency and let the know that if anything changed, we still wanted more information. We heard back later that day. The agency had received 3 emails that morning. The first was from the other family saying that they had decided not to move forward with her, the second was from an O/T that had just come back from seeing Olga in Russia and wanted to be put in touch with anybody interested in Olga so she could share information, and the third was from us saying we still wanted her. The director said she just couldn't believe the timing (oh, but we totally believed the timing of it!) and asked if we still wanted to submit our application? YES we did!! So, we submitted it that day.
Wednesday-Verbal approval from the agency and international contact. WOOHOO!!!
Thursday-Paperwork Trail and Journey to Olga Begins!!

It was a crazy whirlwind week trying to find out more information and learning what we needed to do, but everything so perfectly fell into place-that is what also sealed the deal for us-we now knew that this was God's plan for our family-no speed bumps, just full speed ahead and He was working out ALL of the details. He was keeping us available for Olga-He knew she was supposed to be our daughter. It has been the most amazing time of our lives. I can't even explain the emotions, but we seriously just look at each other almost every morning in awe of Him and can't believe what He did the day before and look forward to what is going to happen next! Unless you have felt it for yourself, I really can't even explain the peace and joy that a journey like this brings.

Why Adopt?
We have been asked by many why we are feeling led to adopt. Our answer-"Why Not?" Now that doesn't mean that we just jumped into this decision. This journey began long ago and the decision took lots of conversations, educating, and prayer. We made this decision together and didn't proceed until all six of us were on the same page. There are hundreds of practical reasons that could have kept us from proceeding with adoption, but there was one incredibly special reason to move forward-her name is Olga and she desperately needs her family.

Here are just a few of the comments that we have heard. "But you already have four children. Why do you want more?" "Your children are getting older and starting to move on to college. Why would you want to start over?" "How are you going to afford this?" "How will you have time for another child, especially one with special needs?" "Don't you think this will take away from your children? They are going to have to sacrifice so much." Trust me, these are all things we discussed at great length. We do have four children and we have a very busy life. Our children are getting close to begin their college careers and move out to live on their own, our calendar is very full, our house is a little crowded, and our bank account is small. But we have absolutely everything we need and honestly, most of what we want. I don't think any of our children would say they feel deprived of anything. And most importantly, our children know that they are loved and treasured every single day of their life. That is not the case in the life of an orphan. Not only do they not have most of their basic needs met, but they are lonely as well. We know that we can be a family for Olga-she deserves a family, everyone deserves a family! She doesn't have a family to hold her and kiss her, she doesn't have a family to make her boo-boos better, she doesn't have a Mommy and Daddy to rock her and sing to her, she doesn't have brothers and sisters to play with, she doesn't have anybody to kiss her good-night... So, to answer these questions, no we don't need more children, but Olga needs us! This decision isn't as much about growing our family as it is about giving a lonely child a family and giving her a chance to be all that she can be. Anything is possible with the love of a family. No, we won't be taking any expensive vacations, we won't wear designer clothes, buy a nicer house, drive a new car, but we believe bringing Olga home to our family will leave a much greater impact on our children and that we will all be the better for this decision. I can share that after being on this journey, all of our eyes have been opened and our lives forever changed. We are learning what is truly important in life and we are so thankful that our children can learn that at their young age. We believe that adding Olga to our family will benefit all of us much more than it will benefit her. Oh, the things she will teach us...

We LOVE our children-we feel so blessed and privileged to be their parents and nothing has brought us greater joy than raising them. Are we perfect parents-definitely not. We make lots of mistakes. Are our children perfect? Nope, but they all have huge hearts. Do they always get along? Absolutely not, but in the end, they are always there for each other. And we all want to be there for Olga! We can't change the lives of every lonely child, but we can make a difference for one. 

Hello Family and Friends!
I know I have been promising to get this blog started ever since we began our adoption journey so that I could keep everyone updated on how things are going. Sorry it has taken so long...been a little busy with paperwork. Just a few papers to fill our when you are pursuing an adoption. : )

Have SO many things we are excited to share with everyone, but it will have to be one post at a time. It has taken me most of the evening trying to get this much accomplished so we will have to see how this first post goes. Needless to say, this may be a case of trial and error!

Keep watching and we'll keep posting!