I am positive I am going crazy....

I know it has been too long between posts....but I do have an excuse. Maybe not a good one, but one all the same...

We have been going like crazy since we returned from Russia. I want to note that leaving Landen in Tyumen was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life....hands down.

We are dealing by staying busy (not like we have a choice), but there is a huge hole in our lives now and until we get him home where he belongs...that hole is gigantic.

We found out on that last day of visiting that the court wanted to pencil in a date of July 20th for us to come back and have our day (or days) in court. This is awesome news!

Problem...we got a letter from immigration the day after we arrived home saying they needed some more info from our home study (one line...no I'm not kidding). So we had to wait for our social worker to get back from vacation and then for her to actually make the changes....I was only able to get the paperwork just today (won't get to immigration till tomorrow), and I got charged to fix the problem. I am still trying to figure out why it took them 3 months to figure out they needed more info. Also we have not heard a thing from the FBI about our finger prints.

We need both of these forms before we can go to court. We have about 2 weeks to get these forms back from the government and get them apostilled and sent (or take with us) to Russia. Plus, that means we won't know until the last minute if we are traveling or not. Can't wait to see the price on those tickets!

So much to get done....so much I have absolutely no control over! GGGGRRRRR!

On a brighter note, we received new pictures and an update from our rep. in Tyumen, this was a wonderful thing! I spent the day getting paperwork together and sent out, calling Congressman Hoekstra and asking for help in getting our paperwork pushed through, and painting Landens room with Holly and Lisa. All in all...got alot done today.

We are praying for the paperwork to go through...and that we can travel to get our boy in July...otherwise we would have to wait until September. I know it's only really a month and a half difference....but we have already missed so much, we really just want to bring him home!

FYI: For those who do not have facebook, you can get to some pics here http://ourgreatadventure2010.shutterfly.com/

Password is: landen

What an amazing day

Today we became parents. That fact still amazes me. We had a long day, we were waiting for most of it to have our meeting at the DEPARTMENT (that is what I am calling it now). When we got there, our representative kept telling us not to be nervious...but I could see she was nervious herself (not helping).

I believe we were one of the first (if not the first) families to come to adopt here in Tyumen (after that stupid lady...) so we were told they are very strict and will ask lots of questions. The first lady we encountered was actually nice, she asked us about Muskegon and our home.

The "head" lady was very stern looking and I am not sure she liked us at all! It is very hard to read the people here, they don't smile much (especially if they are an offical something). We we both so nervious and I am afraid our answers got lost in translation some times. She asked about our finances, our ability to provide for a child, or experiance with children, our home, our families.

Then she asked about discipline....we told her we did not believe in "hitting" a child but that if he were to stick his hand in a light socket...his hand would get a smack. Again, I think this was lost in translation....she looked confused and maybe not happy....maybe I am just thinking thats what she looked like? And last but not least we had to share out feelings about "that woman"...this was awkward.

I am still not sure what she thinks of us, she will speak at our court hearing when we get the ok to adopt Landen (next trip), so I hope we did OK. She gave us the paperwork to go and see him, so we didn't totally stink. She did say we were lucky they liked Americans after we talked about "that woman". She also told us many Russian families looked at him, but did not take him....I really have no idea why this is. I am glad because I believe he was ment to be our Son.

Glad that the meeting was over, I was nervious because we were told they would look to see that he liked us too...for some reason I was worried about this. No need though! He was cautious at first, he let me hold him but you could tell he wasn't sure about who I was. After about 10 min. of playing he leaned into me and snuggled right into my shoulder! I have to say that is a feeling like non I have ever had. When he hugged me.... my whole world fell into place. He took to Tim in the same fashion, the doctor told me she was suprised by this because he has not had much, if any contact with men (only women work at orphanage).

We were able to hold him and play alot. I was able to hold him and hug him while we talked to the head doctor of the orphanage (the head doctor in Tyumen too). She was very nice, talked to us like people and was very complete with all the medical info she had. There wasn't much more then the paperwork we recieved so we didn't have alot of questions. His iron is good now, that was really the only change. Learned a little more about how he came to the orphanage, he was left at the hopital by his birth mom. She gave no reason and they searched for her. She has 3 other children, it is assumed they are with her. He was in the baby hospital for 1 month, then he was moved to the orphanage. We got to see a video of him at 6 months, we are going to get a copy made :)

We then went outside to play in the little area they have. They bunndled the kid up like it was the middle of winter...yikes. He had me sweating! We were able to hold his hands and he walks with help. It was awsome, first steps with Mom and Dad. The rep. said he will be happy because she thinks he looks like me :) (some wives tale here). He has Brown hair, with maybe a hint of very dirty blond and very big, very brown eyes!

We get to go back tomorrow and spend alot of the day with him :) We will have people from the DEPARTMENT watching us to see how we interact with him and him with us. Even so, it will be a great day! We should even get to go for a walk to the big park in the middle of town.

So Thank you all once again for your love and prayers...we have felt them!

(sorry if anything is spelled very wrong...the spell check thinks it should all be in Russian...no help!)

getting a move on....

Well just a quick update....

We are taking off from the GR airport around 11:40 AM Friday, we will land in Moscow around 11 AM (their time) Saturday. We are staying in Moscow for the night, then heading to Tyumen on Sunday.

Monday morning we have to meet with the DOE people to get permission to visit the orphanage. Then we get to travel to meet our Son! I have no idea how far the orphanage is from where we are staying. We will get to visit Tuesday and Wednesday too.

Wednesday night we hop back on a plane to go back to Moscow, where we will stay until our flight the AM of the 11th. We will be back in town very late on Friday night.

I think I will be more excited once we are on the plane. With so much to do and remember it all seems a little surreal right now. We are almost packed (hard to fit all the toys and such in with my clothes). Holly is awesome and is going to take care of the house and Dogs for the week. So I am hoping Friday gets here fast :)

Hopefully I can get some Internet while in Moscow and give updates!

Thank you everyone for your continued prayers!