Trip 1 ALMOST over....

Hello everyone! We are finally getting access to internet and thought we would give you a quick snapshot of our trip. Heads up - we are using our hosts computer and some of the letters might switch to cryllic...but you should still be able to understand. We arrived on Tuesday 3/3 and were greeted by our host, German, at the airport. The flight was smooth and we arrived with no problems. Then we were introduced to Moscow traffic - worse than ANY we have ever seen! NOVA people have NOTHING to complain about compared to here! We were exhausted Tuesday night after a long flight and 6 hours in the car from the airport. We got up early Wednesday morning to drive to Kaluga to meet Alexander. Again, more time in the car, but totally worth it by the end of the day. We arrived at the baby home at 3pm, met with the head doctor and she explained his legal and medical records to us. We had a translator, Anna, with us the entire time - she is wonderful! Then we met him - he had just woken up from his nap, so he was very standoffish at first, but that is to be expected. They fed him lunch and then we got to go downstairs to the gym with him and play together. What an ACTIVE little 2 year old - loves to play with everything (he especially loved the bubbles that we brought). He opened up with us while we were there - smiling and laughing. We spent about 1 1/2 hours together. THen we went to dinner and our hotel. We got to see him again on Thursday for about 45 minutes in the morning and then about 30 minutes in the afternoon. It was so neat to see his face light up when he saw us - he seemed to remember us - he even was giving kisses before the day was over. It was EXTREMELY difficult to leave him, but we know that he is in good hands with the caregivers and the doctors at this baby home - they truly love and care for the children. Then back in the car to Moscow (another 4 hours in the car). We got to sleep in today (FRIDAY). Marina took us to tour a monastery - VERY BEAUTIFUL and then we got to relax the rest of the day. Tomorrow we are touring Moscow and we leave early Sunday morning to head back to the states. We still can't post pictures on our blog, but I'm sure if you see us, we will have some to show you :). Just know, he is a BEAUTIFUL boy - big blue eyes, gorgeous smile, cute laugh - good things come in small packages and he is God's gift to us. We can't wait to come home - after being in a foreign country you begin to realize how blessed we are in America. Love to all and thank you for all of your prayers - please keep them coming.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE!

We landed on Tuesday afternoon and have experienced most of Moscow from the CAR :) We are having a wonderful time. We met Alexander today....what a CUTIE :). We are in an internet cafe now and don't have long to talk, but we have sent pictures and video to our IA pediatrician for evaluation. He is healthy, happy and full of energy. Nicole lost it when we left and he ran up to grab her hand to keep playing...we will definitely share more when we return. Love you all and please continue to keep us in your prayers. We will be back in the states on Sunday 3/8 - not sure if we will have internet access again :)

Ready to Go!

This will probably be our last post for a few days. We aren't quite packed yet, but have almost everything laid out all over our bedroom - quite a mess! But, we will pack it all up tonight.

This past week has been EXTREMELY busy! Since we received the call with our travel dates last Friday, we have been shopping for items to take with us (catching some good sales on winter clothing). The first thing we did Monday was book our flights. We will be flying out Monday 3/2 from Dulles on Lufthansa and return Sunday 3/8. We overnighted our VISA application on Monday and received them on Thursday (which was a relief). The weather forecast while we are there is calling for SNOW :) and in the 30s....should be fun!

We have been corresponding with our Gladney coordinator daily taking care of last minute items. We will be staying with a host family while we are there. From speaking with other people who have "gone before us" they say that family is great - their names are German and Marina and Marina is a great cook. So, we will get to experience some authentic Russian food :) We are so excited to be finally going over to Russia to see our beautiful little boy. We are also excited about meeting all of the people that are taking care of our little one.

We should have internet access while we are over there and will update our blog as we can to keep everyone posted. We won't be able to send out email updates, so if you want to keep track, save the blogsite as one of your favorites and check it when you can.

Thanks to all who continue to pray for us - please keep them coming as we travel, meet our referral and make the best decision we can for us. We know that we are only along for the ride and God has total control of this journey we are on - but we also know he is bringing us to this little boy for a reason!

RUSSIA....HERE WE COME!!

Looks like we will be heading off to COLD COLD Russia on March 2nd. We received the call from Gladney tonight with our travel dates - we will leave March 2nd and return March 8th. This week will be extremely busy for us getting everything ready for our trip - we have to get our visas, book our flights, pack, make a photo album to leave with our referral, get gifts to leave with our host family/facilitators/drivers/orphanage caregivers, make sure we have enough layers of clothing to keep us warm and I'm sure a million other things. While we are in Russia, we will be able to see our referral for the first time, gather more information on him, spend some time with him and maybe even tour Moscow/St Petersburg before we make our decision. We cannot believe that we will actually be in Russia soon. We cannot wait to see him with our own eyes - I'm sure it will be something we will never forget. We will post one more message before we leave and depending on internet access while we are there, we may be able to keep you all updated while we are there. If not, we will definitely be in touch when we return. Please continue to pray for us this week - for organization, patience, focus, positive thoughts, the health of our referral, safe travels and guidance in making our decision. We love each of you and appreciate all you have done for us.

We got THE CALL!!!!

Let me start off by saying we have experienced God's plan for us in so many ways these past couple of weeks. As you all know, our last post wasn't the best of news, but we were still positive that we were getting closer to our child. It turns out we may be closer than we thought!!! Less than a week later (Wednesday Feb 4th), we received a call from Gladney asking us if we would be interested in a child that was out of the age range we had asked for (we originally requested a child no older than 18 months). This was not a call for a referral - just an "are you interested in changing your age range" call. The child they were asking us about was 2 years old - that is all they told us. After talking about it, we figured "sure. why not!". So, we told her yes we would extend our age range and she said she would let them know. On Friday Feb 6th at 3pm, Dennis gets a call from Gladney saying that they have a referral for us. I was actually on my way to his office to meet with him so he asked if we could call her back before she told him anything so we could hear it together. When I got to his office, we called Jennifer and she sent us an email with the referral for a 2 year old little boy. She discussed with us some of the things mentioned in the email and what the next steps are. They sent us about a dozen pictures, which we can't share right now, but we will as soon as we can - I PROMISE!! But, I will tell you he is ADORABLE - he has big blue eyes and light brown hair. So, what we have done so far is sent the pictures and the little bit of information they sent us (mainly his measurements) to a pediatrician out of Minnesota that was recommended to us by our agency and several others, who specializes in international adoptions. He has given us his feedback (as good as he can from a few pictures and a few pieces of information about him) and tomorrow we are talking with another pediatrician to get his evaluation, along with a social worker at Gladney. From there, we are going to let Gladney know that we are interested in traveling to meet this little guy and see how he is for ourselves. Once they tell the orphanage that we are interested in traveling, they will let us know when we can come. It could be in a week or a month from now - they will decide. So, once that is scheduled, we will go over for our first trip (7 days) and make our final decision from that trip. I can't tell you the emotional roller coaster we have been on the past few days - it's a miracle that all of this is happening so fast. We are feeling everything from excitement to being scared - but mostly excitement. We can't believe that we will soon be traveling to Russia to meet our referral. We know our lives will be changing in a dramatic way, especially because it has only been the 2 of us (and Maggie) for so long! The fact that it will soon be the 3 of us is AMAZING!!!!Once we got the referral, the first people we wanted to tell was our parents, so we made a special trip up to NOVA to tell them in person. It was priceless to see their reactions and just share that moment with them - it is something we will never forget. I think they are ready to be grandparents! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we travel and that God will give us the guidance we need to make the best decision possible and that this 2 year old little boy is as healthy as he can be. Even though we started this process in August 2007, we feel that this is the REAL beginning of our journey. We will keep you posted when we know our travel dates. Love ya'll!!!!

We wait, we wait, we wait.....

Hello to all! We hope this long and overdue post has found you all doing well and enjoying 2009. It's been awhile since our last post, frankly because there hasn't been much to say! We are still waiting! And it looks like we will be waiting some more. We had a conference call last week with Gladney on some things that are occurring. First, some of our paperwork has expired during this process, so we are currently updating things like fingerprints, medical work and our homestudy. Not a big deal and it's kind of nice to be doing "something" again. Second, on the conference call Gladney discussed the current situation in Russia and how that is affecting adoptions. We will try to explain it as easy as possible: 1) Two years ago, Russia closed down international adoptions and required all agencies to get re-accredited. Since there were no international adoptions occuring, Russia opened up orphanages within the country and Russian citizens began adopting. So, when agencies began to get reaccredited again, it's not like there was a ton of children waiting because they weren't begin adopted - there was actually less. 2) So, with that being said Gladney is no longer taking any new applicants to the Russia program. 3) They will continue to work with the 40 families who are currently in the process 4) They have told us not to expect to get referrals for children under the age of 2 and probably with more developmental/health issues. So, where does that leave us? We continue to wait, keep our paperwork updated and PRAY PRAY PRAY. We have known from the time we began the process that it was going to be a long and trying one and it was all going to happen in God's time. Even though we may think we have a plan, we know in reality He has THE plan for us. So, we look at it as His way to make sure that we are ready, it is the right time, we are able to save the remainder of the money that we need to complete the adoption (THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HAVE HELPED US WITH YOUR "CONTRIBUTION" - it means more to us than you will EVER know) and we use this time to become the best parents we can for our Russian angel. All we ask from our friends and family is to keep us in your prayers and continue giving us the love and support that you have from the beginning of our journey. As we have said many times, we wouldn't be able to do this without all of you and are so grateful for the love that our child will one day receive from you. We love you all!

Our Russian Angel is from......

the Kaluga region of Russia!!! We just received an email from Gladney today saying that we have been assigned to Kaluga. It is located southwest of Moscow (about a 3 hour drive). We are trying to research more about that region, so as we find out more information, we will keep you posted!!! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we get closer to expanding our family!! Love you all!

No News

Happy Summer everyone!!! It's been a busy one for us....lots of little trips here and there, many visitors and the summer is almost over. One more month and Nicole is back to work (which she is NOT looking forward to). She has enjoyed MANY days at the pool, sleeping in and relaxing and watching "Adoption Stories" (on DiscoveryHealth channel) every day at 3:30 (and cries every time). It is amazing how every couple's story is different, but the same. If you get a chance to watch the show, I'm sure it will enjoy hearing the stories, just as much as we have. But, it's good to be busy because it has made the waiting easier. Last post, our paperwork had been sent to Russia. That is still the latest news we have. Just waiting for a referral (which could happen any time in the next year). We have been taking advantage of this time and educating ourself about the rest of our journey - talking to others who have been there before, getting advice, finding a pediatrician who specializes in International Adoption, still deciding on possible names, still deciding on what to do with the baby's room,making a list of everything we need (and want) to do "before baby" and realizing that we are going to be parents - scary and exciting. We are going to embark on learning some Russian - we have the Rosetta Stone program and hope that will teach us some basics to help us while we are in the country. Be ready, as we will practice our Russian on all of you as well!!! We can all learn together :) We just wanted to keep all of you updated, since you have been our support through it all. We hope you are enjoying your summer too and we will talk to you soon....love ya'll :)

In the mail

Hello everyone! As we are heading in to summer (it's 100 degrees in Hampton today - HOT HOT HOT), we just received an email that our paperwork has been sent off to Russia!!! According to the agency, it was just sent this week to the in-country facilitator for processing and translation. So, the time frame they are telling us now is 9-12 months for a boy and 12-15 months for a girl. Since we do not have a preference, hopefully the wait time will be sooner than later. So, we just keep waiting!! It's a good thing that we are busy or the wait would be very hard! School is almost over, so Nicole is busy wrapping things up with that. Dennis is keeping busy with the Coast Guard. We are sponsoring a military officer from Lithuania, who is attending a class in Yorktown (where Dennis is stationed) and have had a great time getting to know him and learning about the Eastern European culture. We have had fun teaching him about America and taking him to some fun events around the Hampton Roads area. We hope to introduce him to many of you, since he will be in the US until August. We have a couple weddings to attend in June. We have family and friends visiting us in July and August. Then it's back to school and start the cycle all over again. We hope you are all doing well! We will be in touch as more information is shared with us....Love to you all :)

We are......APPROVED!!!!

Yes, everyone, you read it right....we have been approved to pursue international adoption through The Gladney Center! So, how did we get to this point and what is next? Well, since the last post, our homestudy was approved. The actual process was a piece of cake....it was putting together the final paperwork and making sure all of the wording in it was PERFECT and how Russia wanted it that has taken some time. They are VERY PARTICULAR in what they want and how things should be worded and nothing should be abbreviated or crossed out....it's definitely a TEDIOUS process, but well worth it. The people we are working with have been great at making sure things are done right, so we have been lucky to catch the "mistakes" before it all gets sent to Russia. We have made quite a few trips to the bank to papers notarized for the dossier. They know us now when we walk in - it's kinda funny! So, by the end of the week, Kate (the lady who is putting our dossier together) should have all of that complete. She will send it to Gladney and they will look it over and send it Russia. Once Russia receives our paperwork, they will review it and begin looking for a match. The estimate they have told us on finding a match is 6-9 months for a boy and 12-18 months for a girl. We are open to a boy or girl - whatever becomes available first. It's exciting to know that Russia will finally know who the Merz's are!!! We are definitely getting more excited...it just seems more real now that we have gotten through the first 1/2 of the process. We are thinking more seriously about how we are going to transform our "DINK" house into a "child friendly" home. We have been discussing names, nursery ideas, baby shopping - not buying anything, but just looking, applying for grants to fund the remainder of our adoption expenses and just praying that the rest of our journey continues with the success that we have had so far. All we can do is stay positive, pray for our child every day and thank God for all of our friends and family who have been so supportive of us since the beginning. It has been so fun sharing each step with all of you and we can't wait for the day to share our child with you!! This baby has no idea how lucky they will be to have each and every one of you a part of their life! We love you guys and will continue to keep you posted as things progress....