WE ARE READY!!!!

Hey everyone! Just wanted to leave one last post before we head to Russia. We've been staying busy this week - it's definitely a lot less stressful this time around, having done it before. We are leaving at 4:50pm from Dulles Airport on Tuesday and returning on Sunday at 3:30pm just in time to celebrate Father's Day with our dads :) The packing is lighter, as the weather is supposed to be in the 70s while we are in Russia. We are looking forward to seeing what it looks like with NO SNOW on the ground - should be different. We are also looking forward to a non-stop flight - last time we had to stop in Frankfurt, Germany and going through security 2x to get to our connecting flight was kind of crazy. Nicole is trying to wrap up things at school - the kids last day is Wednesday, but her administration is being very cooperative with her giving some exams early and doing her end of the year check out the Monday after we return. We have bought a few toys to take over to "Lil Man" (this is what we are calling him for now), a couple of outfits to see what size he is, as well as a blanket to leave. We have sent over our referral information to the international adoption pediatrician and with the little information we have right now, they are positive with his growth and development, but are waiting for us to get them more information once we meet with the head doctor. The only thing that is a little nervewrecking is the fact that our visas are supposed to arrive Tuesday morning. They have assured us we will receive them by 8am - we are leaving at 11am. So, please say some extra prayers that there is no hold up with the delivery!!! You can bet that Nicole will be tracking the package every 5 minutes until it is delivered to our doorstep!!! And amid all of this preparation, we are celebrating our 7 year anniversary on Monday. The time has flown by, but we can't wait to see what the next 7 years will bring - we know it will be a much different stage of our life and WE CAN'T WAIT! We think that we will have internet access again to post updates to our blog, so save the link as one of your "favorites" (http://merzdn.blogspot.com) and check back if you are interested in getting updates. Thanks to everyone for your kind thoughts and prayers - keep 'em coming :) Love you all.

Blessing #2

First, we would like to thank everyone for all of their kind words, support and prayers over the past week. It has definitely been difficult at times and we know we wouldn't have been able to make it through the tough times without all of you. We know that so many prayers have been sent up for us and we are so appreciative of all of you. As we said, we will never forget Alex - he was our first blessing and gift from God, but he has been given back to his mother and every child deserves to be with their mother. We will always pray that he is taken care of and grows up to be a strong, young man. But, once again, God has shown us he is in control of this journey and brought another blessing in to our lives - an 8 month old little baby boy. We received a call from Gladney today at 3pm that they have another referral for us and we will be traveling to Russia, once again, on June 16th. We don't know much about him, but were sent about 15 pictures - he was born on October 8, 2008 and has a HUGE smile, chubby cheeks and a bald head :) He is adorable. We will travel over to meet him and get more information from the head doctor at the orphangage (same trip we did the first time). If we choose to accept him, we will return to the states and since all of our paperwork is ready to go over, the turnaround time should be MUCH quicker. We of course are a little more cautious going through this the second time around, but of course are excited to meet this little guy. We will probably make one more post (at least) before we leave and will be in touch with everyone once we return. For the next week, we will be sending off for our visas, booking our flights, ordering our global phone, starting to pack and patiently waiting for June 16th. Since we have done this once before, we are hoping the packing process will less stressful this time around. Thanks again for everything - we couldn't ask for better family and friends. You guys are the best and we love you all!

Please Pray

We just wanted to let everyone know what has been going on with our adoption lately. Tuesday night, we received a phone call from our caseworker at Gladney with some sad news. Alex's birth mother has come back for him. Because this is now occurring and most court systems will do what they can to keep parents and children together, Alex is no longer available for international adoption. We are of course devastated becuase we have come so close to getting him, but anyone who knows anything about adoption knows that nothing is final until it is final. This of course does not happen often (Gladney told us we are only the second case in 15 years that they have had this happen to), but it does happen and it is now just a part of our story. There is nothing anyone could have done to prevent this or to know that this was going to happen. Alex had been in the orphange for about 18 months and his mother never once tried to get him back. Everyone who we have been working with at Gladney and in Russia is heartbroken over what is happening to us and doing all they in making us a priority to find a new referral. Even though we are "grieving" right now and are shocked that this has happened to us, deep down we know and believe that EVERYTHING happens for a reason (as we have said all along). There was a reason Alex was brought into our life for this short time - to show us the love that a parent can have for a child. There was a reason that there was a hold up with sending our final paperwork to Russia for our court date - we weren't meant to be Alex's parents and God has bigger and better plans for us. There is a reason he has been taken away from us - to make us stronger, to bring us closer together as we are going through all of this and to never give up on our journey to our child. We know that many (or probably all) of you who are reading this have already fallen in love with Alex, as we have, but there is another child out there that is meant for us and for you to love. We will definitely keep you all posted as things change or as we hear news. Right now, we just ask for your continued prayers and support (as you have given us all along) and some "private time" as we continue to get through this ourselves. We love you all!

Poison Ivy, Funeral, Shower, Room, Still no news

As you can tell by the title of this post it has been a busy couple of weeks. Per our last post, we were still waiting for our paperwork. And that is where we still stand...but we are a little further along. We received our homestudy update in the mail yesterday. We were excited because that meant we were one step closer to sending everything off. After talking with our agency, we decided it would be faster if we drove the documents to Richmond ourselves to be authenticated (one final seal) and then just send the documents directly to them. So, we were ready to do that on Wednesday, when we received an email to wait because the salaries that they had in our homestudy report didn't match our employer letters. SOOOO....we have to wait for them to fix it, send us a new one and then go to Richmond to get them authenticated. Needless to say, we are a little frustrated and growing impatient. But, as we have said all along, there is a reason for everything and our trip to get our son will happen at the perfect time.
Amidst all of this chaos, Dennis got poison ivy, Nicole went to Texas for Grandmother Hall's funeral, now Nicole has poison ivy and Mary Ellen (Dennis' mom) threw us a wonderful shower on Saturday. Alex got some cute stuff to add to his room....which we are ALMOST done with. The only thing we have left to do is stain the glider and cover the cushions and then it will be done. So, in some ways we are progressing, but still not fast enough in our eyes. We will keep everyone posted as we hear more news. Enjoy the photos of Alex's room and the shower :)

Some toys in his new room

Team Safari bedding

Excited parents-to-be

Nicole with her mom and mother-in-law

Nicole & Cristin at the shower

One of the many beautiful items made by Bobbie

Amazing food!

Beautiful cake made by Bobbie

The bathroom....monkey themed :)

Dennis putting together the crib

Special Day :)

Today is Alex's 25th monthday! I know it's not a BIG birthday, but it's still a special day! And it's been exactly 1 month since we've been home from our 1st trip. Maybe all of these "special days" mean something good is happening soon??!?! Please keep the prayers and support coming...it's been tough waiting lately!

Nesting?? Cleaning, laundry and the beginning of a room :)

Friday night we decided to try it again and put together the new crib we got for Alex. It was MUCH easier than the first one we tried and we like it a lot better. It's still convertible all the way to a full bed, cherry finish and kind of sleigh-like. We also bought some wooden letters that spell out ALEX and put that over his bed. So, that means - NO MORE GUEST ROOM! But, don't worry, we will have a pull-out in the office for any visitors. It's so neat to walk by and know that soon our little boy will be sleeping/playing in that room. Then yesterday, I (Nicole) did some laundry of the clothes that we have picked up for Alex as we've been out and about. They are SO SMALL!!! AND ADORABLE! I also bought some sensitive laundry detergent, just in case. But, everything we have so far is clean and ready for him to wear and hanging in his closet. I also think that I've been "nesting" - I have been going on a cleaning, organizing, throwing things out rampage. Isn't that what pregnant women do towards the end of the pregnancy? I HATE cleaning and I have been cleaning like crazy - dusting, cleaning out cabinets, organizing drawers, vacuuming, caulking along the baseboards, mopping - you name it, I've done it! The house looks great and we are just ready to fill it with the pitter patter of little feet!

Police Letters Came!

Besides waiting for the final copy of our homestudy update, another document we have been waiting for is our police clearance letters - and they came today! Just in case you were wondering, Dennis and I have NO criminal record :) Anyways, now that's checked off and the update is in the process of being sent to Gladney, we are getting closer to going to get Alex!
We also got a neat package in the mail this week from Meemaw - she is the best in case you didn't know! But, she has been doing some spring cleaning and came across some Russian souveniers she has collected over the years (not knowing that she would have such a close tie to the culture one day in a great-grandson) - a silver star she received from a party that her and Tapaw went to at the Russian Embassy when it opened in Washington, DC, an icon of St Nicholas (patron saint of Russia), a medal of St Gerard and a piece of cloth that touched his relic from Fr. DaRosa and a sweet gift from her friend, Kay, from church. It was so neat and we were very touched by the thought! We have also enjoyed following along with our fellow "adoption bloggers" who are slowly getting their calls for referrals, court, trips, etc - it gives us an idea of what to look forward to!
We hope that you are all doing well and enjoying Spring. I (Nicole) am off next week for spring break - so you guessed it - I will be doing some spring cleaning of my own before Alex comes, as well as getting his room started. We are excited to spend Easter weekend with our family in NOVA. We wish you all a blessed Easter and we will be in touch soon! Love, Dennis & Nicole

Paperwork SENT

I know I haven't written since we have been back home, but we have been pretty busy! It was hard going back to work after being off for 1 week, but we were definitely glad to back into a routine for now. The day we returned home, we were already receiving calls from Gladney, our homestudy agency and our dossier preparation agency on what we needed to be doing next for our court dossier. Lots of updating paperwork - medical exams, employer letters, fingerprints and police clearance letters and about 1 pound worth of documents to be notarized. But, we finally finished it all (just waiting for our police letters to come back) and put it in the FedEx yesterday! Luckily all of the people we have had to get signatures, information and notaries from have been really understanding. YAY :) Now, they (Gladney) will look it over and make sure everything is done correctly (they are EXTREMELY specific in their guidelines) and if it's ok, it will be sent off for translation and then to the court. In the meantime, we have been preparing for Alex to come home. We made our first big purchase - the convertible crib. We are not sure if he is ready for a toddler bed, since he has been in a crib his whole life, so decided the convertible bed that he can use forever would be a good investment! We ordered it online, it came on Monday, Dennis put it together Wednesday only to discover that a couple of the pieces didn't fit together. So, we took it apart and are sending it back. We have also enjoyed shopping a little bit - getting some clothes and shoes and toys to take with us when we pick him up. Any suggestions for what to entertain a 2 year old with on a 10 hour plane ride?!?! That should be fun! We have started registering - I think Dennis has picked out a lot of toys that HE will enjoy playing with and have compromised on what his room will be - Dennis wanted sports and I wanted baby animals. So we found a set called "TEAM SAFARI" at Babies'r'Us that is a great mix of the two! Once we get the room set up I will definitely post a picture for all to see :) It's going to be ADORABLE - all it's missing is Alex! Stay tuned to our blog for updated information....love to you all and please keep the prayers and support coming!

Moscow Sites

View of Moscow from Red Square

Historic Museum in Red Square

St. Basil's Cathedral

Where we spent most of our trip - IN THE CAR!!!

In Red Square - it was COLD that day

Back Home

We are finally back home in Hampton and trying to settle back into some sort of normalcy! We landed on Sunday evening with no problems. The Merz's picked us up at the airport and then we went to the King's for dinner and "debriefing" of our trip. We were so exhausted and were asleep by 9pm - and VERY glad to be home. We took off work on Monday and returned to work today. We keep replaying the trip in our heads, looking at his pictures and watching the video we took of him over and over - it's our way of keeping in touch with him while we are apart. We left a teddy bear, blanket, lamb and photo album with him - the caregivers said they will show him the album so he will remember us when we come back. We also left a disposable camera with him, so they could take pictures and we can see how he changed. The next couple of months will be busy - we have to get our 2nd dossier together for court and once we have all of the paperwork for that, we will get it sent off and translated and then hopefully be assigned a court date. They are giving us a 2 month time frame, but we have learned that it can happen whenever - remember we are not in control :). So, we continue to wait, tear down our guest room and turn it into a room for a precious little boy - so if you want a nice bed to sleep in when you stay with us, you need to come visit us soon - or else it's a pull-out couch to rest your head on...ha ha ha. We also want to thank all of you who were thinking about us, praying for us and pulling for us last week - the trip had NO glitches/issues/problems at all and we know it was because we had all of you surrounding us and God leading the way for us! We will never be able to thank you all enough, but know that we feel your prayers and love every day! Now our prayers have changed a little - we pray for patience during the waiting, we give thanks for a safe trip, we pray for a speedy completion of the next set of papers, we ask for safety and protection over Alexander (we say extra prayers to St. Alexander and St. Christopher), we ask for diligence and guidance over our adoption agency and everyone involved in our paperwork that they complete their part in a timely manner and we lastly pray that we become the parents that God needs us to be for this little boy and gift he has given to us. We hope you are all doing well and we will definitely keep you posted things progress! Love, Dennis & Nicole