No News is Good News?

Maybe in the real world "no news is good news", but in the adoption world that saying isn't true. We haven't heard from Russia concerning our court date and that is what we are waiting for now. We should get a two week notice because we need time to get our visas. We are still hopeful that we will go in April!

Last Saturday some of my friends give us a baby (little girl) shower, and it was the first time since all this started I was actually able to celebrate our adoption. I had no paperwork to think about or wondering when we were going on trip one, so this day allowed me to share, celebrate and rejoice with others. You may think, well that's weird, haven't you been celebrating, well no, because most of time my thougths and busyness are tied up in all the stuff you need to do for an international adoption, and that really gets in your way of the essence of this wonderful event. So, during the party I was able to laugh, cry and be happy that soon Hannah will be coming home. Thanks everyone who came to hear our stories and share in our joy. I can't wait until I can introduce her to all of you!

I also share in the joy of many other families that are in my chat group online that are travelling to Russia on trip one or trip two. My friend Karen (who I have never met, but hope to someday) is in the same region we are in and went to Voronezh two weeks after we did, so we are both waiting to hear about trip two. It's great to have someone in the same region so we can share information, but what is even greater is seeing movement in Russia and children going home to their forever families. We are waiting Lord in your perfect timing!

There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

A New Paperwork low

Well, if it can actually happen, it did with me yesterday. I hit rock bottom with re-doing paperwork. It has to be beyond perfect and I'm trying to make sure that is happening, but obiviously that is not happening. So, I'm running around yesterday getting things notarized, and seeing the sites in Annapolis again from the state office who seals my documents. I know them, and they know me by now. I feel like I should have lunch with them sometime. Christi gave me good advice yesterday, always expect the worst and then it won't be so bad. Well, anyone who knows me knows, I am the glass half full type of person. My lows aren't too bad and seldom happen, and I'm thankful for that. For someone like me to expect the worst, well it's not how God designed me to be, so that's a hard place to go, but going through this journey of adoption has opened many emotions that I didn't know existed. There is not one person who has adopted that hasn't mention the endless paper trail, so as I march in the trenches of wasted trees please recall that alone I am not. We have our moments of "That is Enough," and perhaps we have an adult temper tantrum, and then God grants us a brand new day! See the glass is half full!

Your love oh Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness stretches to the sky........

To ski or not to ski......

Well, that was the question over the past few days because we were not sure if during Luke's spring break we would be skiing or in Russia. We would rather be in Russia, but it doesn't look like we will hear anything until the end of March which translates to leaving sometime in April. So, we are going skiing in Whistler, which we usually go every year, but this year we were prepared not to go. We made the plans long before we knew about our first trip to Russia. Scott and I love to ski and now Luke has become a very good skier, and now he waits for me to catch up to him on the mountain and I don't like that, but I knew the day was coming (so soon?). Skiing is my favorite vacation and we have a blast! We go on horse-drawn sleigh rides, have dinners in teepee's, go tubing, sit in a outside hot tub while it's 20 degrees outside and snowing, go to ranches and sing cowboys songs,and attend church service outside on the mountain while sitting in a twenty passenger sleigh. I remember last year we were on the mountain looking for bear cubs because someone told us they were out(what were we thinking). Eveyone knows where there's baby cubs, the mommy's not far away! Anyway, its fun and I glad we are going, but still wish we were going to Russia instead. I wonder if Hannah will like to ski. I think she will experience it one way or another in this skiing family.

I had some paperwork returned to do-over, boy, I hate do-overs, but I have sent them back and hopefully that is all. We have Hannah's room all ready for her. It is painted pink and yellow with a quilted bedspread of flowers and butterflies. I have been buying her clothes and now they are hanging up in her closet ready for her to wear. A friend of mine got Hannah two coats (a great deal this time of year)which I will take to Russia. One is white with furry trim and one is purple and sparkles. I never really thought a lot about all the cute little girl clothes, but right now I am having fun buying them.

Some friend of ours are having a shower for us next week, and I'm so grateful for this kindness. It has been a long road and I wish to celebrate this wonderful moment with everyone. Some folks have said to me or Scott, you will be changing her life to such a better life, but what I want everyone to know, she is changing our life forever too. God personally picked out Hannah for us and we are the lucky ones.

I am done with my paperwork

As many of you know, I have been struggling to complete our paperwork for trip two. After many doctor's visits, fingerprinting (again), test results etc...I got it done yesterday. I finally had all the necessary documents ready, and early yesterday I started out knowing I wanted to complete this task. I went to get things notarized first and then to the county seal place, and last but not least, I headed down to our state capital to get the Maryland State Seal on all our documents. The last thing I did was FedEx all those documents off to America World, so they can send them to Russia for tranlation. To give you an idea how many documents we are talking here, at last count I was way over 100 sheets of paper and then I had to make four books of that 100 sheets of documents. How much fun! I was still nursing my flu, so I came home for a little nap before Luke got home from school. I thank God for helping me through that day knowing I wanted so much to get all of that done.

We are still waiting for a court date which will be set by the judge in Russia, so it depends on his/her schedule as to when we will leave. We are hoping soon!

Her name will be........

We have finally decided her name and want to share it with everyone. When we found out that she wasn't called Tatiana at the orphanage, we thought about changing her name to something else but keeping Tatiana in her name somewhere. So, her name after much input and thought will be Hannah Tatiana Sheldon! Hannah in Hebrew means Grace (of God) or favor which we believe she is grace given to us from God. Hannah in the bible was Sammuel's mother and she has a beautful prayer in Samuel 2. One part in verse 2 "There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God."

A bit of good news: I talked with Christi (our coordinator here) and she told me that Hannah has been released from the Russian data bank and now the judge is looking for a court date, so we may be leaving in late March to get her. We are planning to take Luke with us this time, and he is very excited about meeting his sister. We should be gone for three weeks or more and feel like this is the right decision for our family. He will miss a lot of school but his school would want it this way too!

My paperwork is going, but not great. We have had lots of sickness here(mainly me) which has slowed me down a little bit, but soon that will be a blink of an eye forgotten.

Keep it Cool-help purchase a refrigerator for the Kantemirov Orphanage

We asked at the orphanage what their greatest need is if our friends, colleagues, and families from our church and Luke’s school wanted to contribute to a gift that we would purchase in Russia. What they really need is a new refrigerator so they can keep milk fresh when the local farmers donate it. On our last day in Voronezh, we went to a Best Buy-like store and found a suitable refrigerator for 13,999 Rubles which at an exchange rate of 23 – 25 Rubles per Dollar equates to around $600 plus up to $150 delivery charge to transport the refrigerator the four to five hours from Voronezh to Kantemirov.
Additionally, we have shared with many of you our story of not needing our toilet seat covers when we went to the orphanage. In essence, you need a toilet seat in order to use a toilet seat cover, and to have a toilet seat, you really need a toilet; it is unnecessary to use a toilet seat cover on a hole in the ground. When we first asked the orphanage Assistant Director, she mentioned the need for toilets, but when she realized we were really considering buying something, she emphasized the pressing need for the refrigerator. While we want to honor the orphanage’s request for the refrigerator as our first priority, we’ve noticed how for many of our American friends, the need for toilets seems to be a compelling rallying cry. With that in mind, if God blesses this fund raiser with enough donations, we’d love to be able to also purchase a toilet for the orphanage. To be fair, we used the “toilet” facilities in a separate building from the one where Tatiana lives. The building where Tatiana lives does have two child size toilets (still no toilet seats) for the kids to use that were donated by Mormons on a mission trip.
If you’d like to help out, there are two ways you can contribute to the purchase of the refrigerator and toilet. For some of you, the simplest thing will be to give us cash or a check when you see us. For those who for tax deductibility or anonymity purposes would like to contribute through our Church, you can make tax deductible contributions as follows:

Make your check payable to Columbia Presbyterian Church Mission Discretionary Fund, and put on the memo line: Gift to Kantemirov Orphanage. Mail your check to Columbia Presbyterian Church, 10001 Route 108, Columbia, MD 21044.

Finally, and most of all, we know many people are praying for our family’s adoption, and we’re extremely grateful for your prayers. We will keep you updated, as we hear from Russia.

Loads of paperwork

The reason I haven't been writing much is I have loads of paper to complete before we go back to Russia. I have paperwork for our paperwork, if that is possible. This is stuff the judge needs from us to complete our adoption. I figured they had enough stuff on us, but they need more. I must say I wish I didn't have anymore to do because I have redone our dossier three times and that means about one inch of paper work each time. I need an attitude adjustment, but that may take some time, so my motto is just do it and don't think. Maybe that will work for a while, but in the real world.........

Anyway, the most common question we are getting is "hey, when are you going back?" And my most common answer is, "we are praying in March!" Things can change so quickly, and we are hopeful this will be true. I think I asked this question around five times in Russia and most of the time the same month was mentioned----March!

I think about Tatiana every day and pray for her in so many ways, but most of all for her to join us soon, so we can love her, care for her, and be her family.