Last day with Lil Man....

Prescious little hand
Coming in to the baby home through the gate
The entrance we come in at the baby home

Today was our last day seeing our "lil man". We went to the baby home around 9am and spent about 1 hour with him before his morning nap. Since he is teething, he must have been in some pain because he wasn't as smily as he was yesterday - but he LOVED to cuddle, so we weren't complaining :) We made a small photo album to leave with him that has pictures of us and Maggie (our dog). It looked like he was actually studying it and making the connection between us and the pictures. Then we left the baby home and went to the Ministry of Education to meet the inspector (she is the one who matches the families with the referrals). She was very apologetic of the previous situation with our first referral and told us we were a special family to them because this doesn't normally happen and a lot of families don't continue after losing a first referral. It was a nice visit and we enjoyed meeting her very much - we will see her again when we come back for court. After that, we checked out of our hotel, then off to lunch and back to the baby home. We spent about 1 1/2 hours again with lil man - tried on some clothes - he is size 9 mos now, but I'm sure he will be close to 12 mos soon (he's a bit of a chunk), cuddled and played some more and then watched him as he fell asleep in my (Nicole's) arms. It was so surreal....a wonderful feeling. We kissed him goodbye and watched as the caregivers took him back to his room to sleep. Our visit was quick but full of memories of meeting this sweet, precious angel. Then back in the car for our LONG, traffic filled, race car driving experience to Moscow. Also, we heard back from Dr Johnson (international pediatrician) and he had nothing but positive feedback - he says lil man is on the charts for growth, on track for developmental milestones and is comfortable with us going through in adopting him. So, that is what we are going to do. Most of our paperwork is ready to be submitted when we return - we just have to get a few papers apostilled and then off to Gladney to submit to Russia. We have no idea of a time frame for when we will return, but hope it will be soon and quicker than last time since everything is ready to go. We are looking forward to returning home. Thanks again for all of your love, support and prayers....see you all soon :)

Meet Ya Day :)

Our view of a beautiful sunrise when we woke up this morning

Our view of YUCKY rain when we arrived yesterday


Well, today we met little man. Our day began with getting up early (5am), breakfast at German & Marina's, on the road by 6:30am and arriving to Kaluga by 10:00am. We had to stop at the Ministry of Education's office to pick up the referral, then pick up our interpreter (Giardi) then off to the baby home. I do have to say that the nerves were MUCH better this time. We got there around 10:30 only to be told that lil man was sleeping (funny how they told us to come at this time - during his nap time). So, they told us to come back around noon. So, German took us to the Kaluga Space Center museum, we checked into our hotel and went to lunch (pizza). Then off to pick up the interpreter again and back to the baby home. Oh, I forgot to mention that the head doctor is on vacation, but came in today especially to meet with us, which we were very appreciative of. When we got there, she wanted us to meet lil man before we talked with her - he is in a room with about 8 other infants. They were changing his diaper when we saw him and he immediately started smiling when we walked up. What a smile!!!! Nothing but gums and a cute little baby laugh! It was precious. Then we went to speak with the doctor for about 45 minutes and received information about lil man's parents and medical background. Everything is positive, nothing abnormal and his growth is on the chart's which is a WONDERFUL thing for children in an orphanage. We have still sent the information we received to Dr. Johnson (international pediatrician) for reassurance. After speaking with the doctor, we got to play with him for about 1 1/2 hours. It was of course different this time than last - an infant doesn't do as much or require as much chasing around as we did with Alex - but we know that will only come with time. He is teething right now, so EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. He can sit up, roll over front to back and back to front, stand with help, is tickelish and LOVES to suck his thumb. All of the caregivers say he is a happy baby and they "love him with all our heart". We are now back at the hotel relaxing. We will go back to see him tomorrow morning and then head back to Moscow. We will continue to have internet access while we are in Russia (German & Marina now have Wi-fi), so email or leave us a message on the blog. Love you all and can't wait to be back home!!



P.S. - German's driving is still CRAZY and the traffic is still HORRIBLE - but Russia is MUCH PRETTIER now than it was in the winter!! They actually have grass and flowers! And it doesn't get dark here until after 11pm....very tricky!!!!

We are here

Greetings from Russia. We left Dulles airport successfully on Tuesday 6/16. When we checked in at the ticket desk, Dennis showed his military ID and we were upgraded to economy plus (more legroom) - the benefits of being in the military!!! Then when we got to our gate, they asked if we would be in an exit row (since we spoke English) and most people on the flight were Russian speakers - so we had even more legroom - MUCH BETTER THAN THE LAST FLIGHT!!! We were about 30 minutes late leaving (just sitting on the runway), but our flight was peaceful (NO TURBULENCE) and we were even able to sleep. We arrived to Moscow and couldn't get off of the plane until the Health Department came on and took everyone's temperature to make sure we were healthy enough to deplane. There were 2 ladies who walked down the aisle and took our temperature in our ear with this laser type thing. Once the whole plane was seen, they told the pilot we were good to go. The line to get through passport control was MUCH longer than last time, but again we had no issues. Our luggage arrived safely and we found German and off to the Moscow traffic :) It only took us 1 1/2 hours to get home this time. The weather here is about 65 and rainy - but everything is so GREEN!!! I guess you would figure that with the amount of precipitation (snow and rain) they get all year. We came back to German and Marina's apartment, had lunch and took a nap!! It is now 8pm Moscow time and it is German's daugther's birthday, so they are having some people over for dinner. Our plan is to leave for Kaluga early tomorrow morning to go and see "lil man". We will spend the night in Kaluga and return to Moscow Friday evening. We thank everyone for their prayers for safe travels and it is nice to be back in Russia, seeing our future child. We love you all and check back tomorrow for updates on "lil man" :)

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