Brilliant!

This photo is from the batch of new pictures our dear translator got for us. I wish you could see his little face fixed in concentration at his masterpiece. Can you believe this boy of ours is only 27 months old from the sight of this picture? I can hear his caregiver, Lala saying "show mama and papa how you hold the pen. Show them you are a good boy!" As my bloggy friend Amy would say "He's brilliant!" (Of course he is!) One of my mom's friend that works at her school evaluates children for gifted and readiness for kindergarten, noted his other hand, flat against the paper. She said that skill was more impressive than his "pen skills". I was so impressed with the way he was holding the pen even holding it with his right hand (He is left handed) I didn't even think about the other hand. But I guess this makes him doubly brilliant (Of course!)
Thought we could all use a little pick me up. Hang in there my brilliant boy.

Say What?!?!

Things that were said to me this week and I am not making this up, as if this weren't already the suckiest suck-fest experience we have ever been through.

1- It will all be fine, if you say you are a Christian then you should know that.

2- Maybe you'll get pregnant while you are waiting

And the winner is....

3- You could give up the "referral" and try your luck in a different region. (Isn't that mentality what got us into this mess in the first place, Ms. Torry Hansen? That these precious children are like library books that can be returned or a pair of jeans that makes your butt look fat after you leave the store? Hello?)

AND JUST THINK IT'S ONLY TUESDAY. yipee.

While you were out.....

While Chad was on the White Water trip last week, I had a little project to keep me busy- Charlie's bathroom! Here are the before and after pictures. I love it. I am trying to stay as busy as possible, it's really how I deal with, well whatever it is that I am dealing with waiting for Charlie to come home. Next task, converting our messy cluttered office into a office/kid friendly playroom. Now for that, there may not be any "before" pictures! That would be embarrassing!

Only one question- how long does blue paint take to get out of dogs fur?

Ta-Da!

Yippee! We have a complete robot bed, built just for Charlie, by his dad. His eyes are click on night lights, his ears those little door stopper thingies, and his face opens up to store all of Charlie's treasures. I was waiting  to post this because Mr. Robot needed a smile painted and Chad had been gone all week on a white water rafting trip with the youth group. So here he is.....I love him! How fun!

News Update...

Rumor has it that the Russian adoption task force are in town until Friday evening, they have extended their stay in Washington to keeping working out some more details. Here is a brief update, finally some stories are coming out, there for a while I was starting to wonder.

Russia, US Officials Near Adoption Accord
UPDATED: 11:11 am CDT June 17, 2010

MOSCOW -- Russian and U.S. negotiators have agreed to set up licensed adoption agencies and allow monitors to visit the homes of adopted children as part of a new accord, Russia's children's rights ombudsman said Thursday.
Adoptions in Russia became a highly emotional issue after an instance in April when a Tennessee adoptive mother put her 7-year-old boy on a plane back to Russia -- unaccompanied by an adult. International outrage immediately followed, and new adoptions by U.S. parents in Russians virtually stopped.
Pavel Astakhov, a lawyer representing Russia in talks aimed at renewing adoptions, said a breakthrough occurred after U.S. negotiators gave in to Russia's demand that the accord be retroactive so that it protects children already adopted.
"For a long time U.S. officials did not want to give their consent to this," he said in a statement, "but Russia managed to accomplish this decision."
Astakhov said that the new agreement will set up a number of licensed agencies that will have the right to assist potential adoptive parents in finding a child. All adoptions through unaccredited middlemen will be banned, he said.
Training will also be mandatory for adoptive parents. "They will have to undergo training in a special course, for which they will receive the appropriate certificate," Astakhov said.
The agreement also calls for monitoring the adopted child in its new environment, going as far as to allow home visits official monitors.
"This was very difficult for the Americans to agree to this given that their right to privacy is sacred," Astakhov said.
The Russian ombudsman said talks have proceeded "constructively" and could have already been wrapped up were it not for U.S. negotiators, who need to agree everything "with their bosses."
Astakhov said U.S. officials needed additional time to coordinate provisions in the new agreement with the laws of several states. He said the agreement was two-sided and would apply to any U.S. children adopted by Russian parents.

From Father to Son....

We knew a toddler bed would be in our future when we first saw Charlie scale a stack of chairs and crawl into a window in 2.1 seconds flat at the orphanage. As I watched him pull himself up into the window like a monkey, I thought of the beautiful crib in his room. It does turn into a really nice full sized bed, but he looked so small to be in such a big bed. So when we returned we started looking at an inexpensive option to just get him by for a year or so until he was ready for a big bed. We couldn't find anything to our liking. We searched for HOURS. We wanted a robot bed. We found trains, cars, and even a pirate ship. No robots. So Chad said "I think I'll just make him a bed" My husband, the youth pastor and apparently, part time carpenter. I just gave one comment "It needs to be safe, sturdy, no visible nails." Then I turned him loose at Lowe's. For weeks he gathered materials. He worked on it for days out in the garage. His head (red cube pictured) is going to be a toy box. His feet, a little place to sit. I would peek in every now and then and see the work in progress. Occasionally, Chad would pop in and say "I need some more_______, gotta go back to the store." But other than that, this really wasn't my project. So imagine my surprise when Chad called me to the garage to show me the frame. I was shocked! He said "you didn't think I could do it, did you? I sheepishly said "well no....." He said "it's OK, I didn't think I could either." We laughed. I took down Charlie's crib and cried. Chad moved the finished robot into his room and cried. Our boy is outgrowing his things and he doesn't even know it.

 I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband. I really think this was Chad's way of staying connected with his son. I buy things to shower him with, Chad builds him a bed that will be the beginning of sweet dreams, night time prayers, and bedtime stories. What a precious gift. What a great dad. Just wait till you see the finished bed! I am saving it for the next post. Sweet dreams Charlie.....

300th post (just kidding)

So, on my dashboard of the blog it said that this was going to be my 300th blog post. I really felt that was monumental, so I've been thinking about what I could say to pay homage to this momentous occasion. I decided to take a stroll down memory lane and trying to come up with some thought provoking message of where we have been and where we are going, the highs and lows throughout this incredible journey. Then I realized I had like, 20 "drafts" that I needed to subtract from that number. A few of them I tried to write from my phone that ended up in binary code, but mostly the ones that I thought twice about posting. Posts that were just me blowing off steam, you know stuff like "if you don't have something nice to say....." So good news, I have a few weeks before my 300th anniversary. No pressure. So, something a little more, well, less momentous.

We have gotten A LOT of Target gift cards. We are saving the majority of them for necessities to get him after he comes home, things we may need. But I just couldn't resist this! I can't wait for it to arrive! It's made by Italibike and it will work as a trike, push or petal and will last until he is able to ride a big boy bike, with the adjustable seat. How cool, huh? So here's to post number 288.