Going back....

I'm literally walking out the door to head to the airport with Aimee.....prayers please!  Neither of us are fond of flying, to put it mildly ; )  Next time I write will probably be Friday when we arrive.  Stay tuned......

We made it home!

Phew!  We're home : )  It was a loooong trip, but we made it.  We arrived home on Thursday evening and have been trying to recovery and get so much done at the same time.  As soon as we got home, the countdown started in my head that I have 6 days until I turn around and head right back.  Even though it is short, I really needed to see my kiddos that were here at home with my mom and also get recharged.  Besides being at home and seeing my kids here, I REALLY missed tortilla chips and salsa.  The last day we were in Kiev I was able to get some at the TGIFridays.  But yesterday we went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Salsarita's and had a ton of chips and salsa.  Tonight we are going to Carlos O'Kelly's for dinner and I will surely have some more!!  Did I mention that I LOVE chips and salsa?

We are very excited about tomorrow also.   One of my greatest friends, Ruth, had her baby days before we left for our first trip.  I was bummed that I was going to miss out on his first few weeks.  She did post pictures for me and that was awesome....he is soooo cute.  Anyways, baby Seth Martin Robbins is being baptized tomorrow and Steve and I are his godparents!  This is our 5th godchild and how we love and pray for them all!!  We are very much looking forward to this blessed event and sharing this time with our good friends tomorrow.  God is good :)

So....there is also so much to do before I leave on Wednesday, April 13.  It is hard trying to balance all that I need to do before I go back. I need to get ready to go bring home Julia and Aaron. I also need to spend some time enjoying what I have missed so much while we were gone for almost 4 weeks.  We also miss Julia and Aaron very much.  Coming home and seeing Evan reunited with his older brothers and sisters was just a taste of how joyous it will be when they all finally get to meet their new siblings for the first time.  We cannot wait.

It is also so incredible to have so many friends praying for, supporting and encouraging us through this journey in our lives.   We take so many things for granted in life all of the time. We all do it.  We know we have good friends, but when we stop to think of what they mean in our lives and what they are willing to do for us, it is just so awesome.  My wonderful friend, Aimee, is taking 2 weeks out of her busy life with a husband and 4 kids to come back with me to help me bring Julia and Aaron home.  I know she knows how much this means to me, but it still warms my heart when I think about what great friends God has placed in our lives.  Please pray for her husband and kids at home that the time passes quickly for them as we know she will be missed.   Also, Ruth will be coming to my house two days a week to watch my four kids while Steve is at work.....and she has 3 of her own kids, one of them a new baby, and she homeschools too.  My neighbor and another one of my dearest friends, Lena, will be coming over one day a week to also watch the kids.  And Steve's mom, who came with us on the first four week trip to help us watch Evan will be coming over one other day to take care of the kids.  And my mom leaves on the train this morning to head back to her home in  CT.   She has held down the fort here with our three oldest.....shopping, running them around to their activities, cooking meals, doing laundry, homeschooling, etc., etc., etc......I LOVE MY MOM!!  She is the best mom I could ever ask for.  It was so comforting to be so far away and not need to worry.....I knew my babies were in good hands.  The sacrifice of so many people to have this all come together means so much to us.  We cannot begin to thank you all enough or convey to all of them how much we appreciate the sacrifices!

Lastly, we want to thank each and every one of you who has contributed financially to this entire adoption process.  What a testament to God's army being joined together for His glory.  For us personally, it has been such a blessing to not have to worry about how we would be able to afford what God was calling us to do.  We have thought about this every step of the way.  Many times, while we were visiting Julia and Aaron at the orphanage, I was thinking about how this was all possible....and how many people besides us fell in love with them and knew how important is was to us and God to bring these children into our family.  We are so looking forward to the day we leave the orphanage with them and even more for the day they walk into our home forever.

IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!

Carey and I are the proud new parents of Julia Adeye Schwenzer and Sergey Aaron Schwenzer!!

Court went well. The judge asked us some questions pertaining to where we live and why we want to adopt 2 more children and why we are interested in adopting children with special needs. Our lawyer and translator let the judge know that we love children and feel that we are the last hope for these little ones. Then a whole lot of documents were read by the judge. Then the judge asked us one last time what our request is. We told her that we wanted to adopt Julia and Aaron and stated what we wanted their names to be. Then she left with the jury (two older gentlemen who sat on either side of her during the proceedings) and said she would be back in 10 minutes with her decision. One of the two jurors looked over our way and gave us the thumbs up as he left the courtroom. 10 minutes later the judge and jurors returned and the same juror gave us a big smile and another thumbs up. I was feeling confident, but still nervous until I heard the decision read. The judge read the decision, which was a 3 and a half page, single spaced, small type document. It took quite a while to read. Finally, she got to the last paragraph which was the actual decision, and Tatyana, our lawyer, turned to us and said the judge is satisfied...which was to say we could adopt them into our family and they could take our name! Carey, who had been calm as a cucumber up to this point shed a few tears of joy after the decision was read. We received many congratulations, hugs and handshakes from everyone in the courtroom, including the jurors. I couldn't stop smiling. I was so stressed out before the appearance. It's just so amazing to think that those kids are ours now. Yay! Спасибо тебе, Боже!

Now we can't wait to get them home...the ten day waiting period has begun. We will be taking a train ride back to Kiev this evening and going to the embassy tomorrow to fill out several forms and have them notarized. Then we head home on Thursday. Carey will head back here the following Wednesday to finalize all the paperwork and bring our "newborns" home. Carey's good friend Aimee is going back with her for this two week trip to help her get them home. I can't wait to meet them at the airport and scoop them up and take them home. What an amazing journey it will be for them. And us!

Until next time...до свидания

13th and last visit on first trip

So today was our last visit with the kids.  Tomorrow we have court at 9:30 in the morning.  As long as everything goes well, tomorrow night we leave here and take the overnight train back to Kiev to take care of some things at the embassy so that I can come back and bring the kids home without Steve.  We fly home on Thursday, April 7.  We had Tatiana explain to Aaron that we are going home and that I will come back.  He said he will not cry while I'm gone.  So cute.  Today I got Julia laughing again.  It is so wonderful to hear an all out full belly laugh out of her.  It is so sweet.  We video taped it again, but it is still not working for us to upload videos onto the blog.  We are so bummed.  When we get home we will find a way to post them.  Aaron has learned so many English words and is starting to use them with me.  He knows: mama, dada, mama help, mama fix it, good boy, hello, I love you, bye-bye, mama open, close it.  He is also very good at picking up the toys he plays with, even without being told.  Amazing!  He will learn some bad habits from our kids at home.  Hopefully they can learn to be better about this from him.  He is very polite too.  Today I helped him tie a string around a toy for him.  After I was finished he took the toy and said in Russian, "Thank you mama."  Such a sweet boy! 

 

  

  

  

11th and 12th Visits

So happy to see us!

  

   She loves reaching for our faces now : )

  

Check out these acrobats!  She arches her back completely off the ground so that she balances on just her head and feet....amazing!

  

Looks like Aaron is a leftie : )

   

   

   

We went out on a patio where there was more sunlight....the photosensitivity of Cockayne Syndrome is apparent in this picture.

  

  

Checking out daddy's scruff!

  

Julia almost on all fours.  Strong little girl!