Five Days with Christy - Appointments and Waiting!

Monday morning was our appointment for Christy's medical exam.  This was done in a Bulgarian medical clinic, and we were taken there by our driver/translator team.  They also had her passport for us!  We went into the clinic and the lab was downstairs.  We were pleasantly surprised to see the other family there (the ones adopting the 7 yo boy).  After a fairly long wait (and listening to that poor boy having his blood drawn) we were ushered in to the room.  

The room looked like a small office/cubical than a lab, although there was an exam table there.  After our entrepreneur presented our documents it was time for them to draw her blood.  I'll be nice and just say that it took three pokes, two different people trying, and quite a mess before they got what they needed and poor Christy was very traumatized by it all. 

Then we headed up a few flights of stairs to the pediatrician's office.  There they listened to her breathing and lungs and looked over her paperwork.  I was surprised when the Dr turned to me and said, in English, that I was taking good care of her - this was said as they were trying to get all her layers unsnapped so the r could listen.  I think she approved or my "bundling" Christy (this ranks as the #1 indicator of a good mom in Bulgaria), but I like to think she was referring to my care in comforting Christy during the blood draw (the Dr did the final, successful blood draw).  We also found out that she weighed just over 26 pounds and was 35 inches - very similar to our 2 yo, Carese.  Long and lean.

When this was completed, we were taken to a mall so I could purchase some shoes for Christy, as all the shoes we brought were way too big.  I did find a pair that would stay on her feet, even though they were too big, and they were cute and well made.

Then we were taken back to the hotel, arriving around lunch time.  Then we all took a nap.  Then we got brave an made our way back out to Jeff's house via the subway on our own.   We not only successfully navigated the subway system, but Daryl was even able to find the way to Jeff's apartment.  It's not easy to find and they were surprised that we were able to do that!  There we enjoyed pizza from the restaurant downstairs and while Daryl played Wii with Elise, I played Settlers of Catan with Jeff and Lisa!  I surprised everyone, including myself, by winning!

Here's  a video showing how Christy reacts to "coming home" after being out and about most of the day.  She would just revel in being able to scoot around in her "safe zone"!

Then we headed home.  When we got off the subway were got to surprise a couple from England who were lost just by speaking English to them!  That was a fun little encounter all by itself!  Then it was time to settle in for the night.  Only it took a long time to get to sleep as I was not feeling well.

Tuesday we pretty much hung out all day in our room - none of us were feeling our best, and we had nothing e had to do so we just didn't do anything but eat and rest.  I did make a quick run to corner grocer with Corinna's sister, Sarah.  It was cloudy and windy, but refreshing.  When I reached my hotel room, it was raining like the sky was falling!  We had gotten back just in time.  Then the lightening and thunder began.  It wasn't as good a storm as I love (like in the mid west where the lightening and thunder are almost continuous), but it did have some great thunder.  Just at bedtime, as we were getting into bed, there was one bolt of lightening that was a simultaneous lightening strike and a crack that had both of us jumping out of our skin!  It was terrifying and so loud!  But within seconds we were laughing so hard as we both we so startled by it...and the thunder shook the hotel and caused car alarms to go off in the street below!

For some reason (sarcasm intended), Christy had trouble going to sleep that night, and Daryl took over around 11 pm, and finally got her to sleep around midnight.  So Wednesday we were very tired.  We ended up staying in our hotel room again all day, only leaving for breakfast and dinner, both of which we ate in the hotel restaurant.  

Here's a video showing Christy in "her zone" of happiness in her high chair in the hotel restaurant!  She LOVES being in a high chair, can you tell?

Thursday was our embassy appointment.  We got picked up early, we went to the medical clinic to pick up Christy's test results (she tested negative for TB, yay!), and then went to the embassy.  We ended up getting there too early and just hung out in the car for about an hour - but I was able to feed Christy her lunch and she got a short nap.  Then we went into the embassy - in order to get through security, I had to eat some of her juice and baby food to prove that it was just that!  Good thing I liked what I brought for her that day!  It took over an hour of waiting for our "interview" and we were just asked a couple of simple questions, and that was it!  We were to leave her passport with them so they could add her VISA to is, and our attorney would bring it to us on Friday!

Christy loves to scoot into tight places - this is the bottom of
the closet - she loves playing with a ball in there after I
had packed for our return trip!

Thursday night Corinna and I walked about a mile to Tony's Pizza to get take out pizza.  While we were ordering there was a flash and a bang and we all just about jumped out of our skins!  Something about the fuse box - it was like a small explosion!  The lights went out too.  Good thing we were ordering wood fired pizza!  We chose to wait outside for out pizza as one guy was messing around in an ancient looking fuse box with a screw driver!  Yikes!  By now, Corinna was convinced that being near me meant that excitement was always just about to happen! Ha!

Friday was packing day, and at dinner we finally got to meet our dear attorney, Toni.  This wonderful woman has a big heart for the orphans of Bulgaria and the families who are adopting them.  I had almost daily phone calls from her and she would be praying for us on each step of the way.  When comparing notes with other adoptive families who used other agencies, Dreams Foundation and Toni far out shown the others in the care they take to keep the families in good care every step of the way.  Thank you Toni, for all you do and I count it a blessing to have worked with you to bring Christy into our family!!!

Christy providentially went to sleep the earliest yet Friday night - and it was a good thing as we had to be up and out of the hotel by 4:15 am!  The incredible trip home will be on my next blog post as there were so many unusual things that we encountered...mostly just getting out of Sofia!

15 months ago today.....

Daryl gave me permission to look at more children who were up for adoption from Bulgaria on Reece's Rainbow.  I had already sent him links to several children, but so far none of them had stood out to us.

15 months ago today, early in the morning I saw that there were a couple of new little girls listed, and one of them had short dark hair was in an outfit that was blue and white - she really looked like a little boy!  Well, I just had to see what she'd look like in a more feminine color. So I used PhotoShop and changed the blue to lavender and added a little flower to her hair:

There, now she looked like a little girl! Then I sent the photo to Daryl, and told him that I had edited the photo...he replied that I could begin to look seriously into adopting Priscilla.  I was surprised, and he said I could ask him later what had convinced him that this was the little girl we should pursue.  I found out a few weeks later, when we were almost ready send in the paperwork and money to be committed to her and put her file on hold for us, that Daryl had decided she was the one because I had Photo-Shopped her!  God does use mysterious ways indeed!

Soon after we made inquiries into the possibilities of adopting "Priscilla" we were sent some updated photos and some videos, which only confirmed that we wanted to adopt this sweet little girl who so needed a home and proper love and care.

15 months is a long time to wait.  I'm sure that there has never been a human mother who has been pregnant for 15 months....and I thought 9 months was along time to wait to meet my newest child each time God has blessed us!

It is especially a long time to wait as we have held her in our arms, fed her meals, held her tight and made her laugh....it has been nearly 6 months since I last held her, last watched her eyes light up in surprise and delight.

When we started this process were saw that the average time of adopting from Bulgaria was around 12 - 14 months, but that it could be quicker.  Here we are 4 weeks overdue and over 2 weeks to go.  

You'd think that as the day draws near that we will fly away to have her in our arms forever, it would get easier, but it doesn't.  You'd think with my busy life the days would go by quickly, but they don't.  sure some days go be fast, but every morning and every evening I have this feeling of emptiness.  In some ways I think it is getting harder.  But God is giving me grace, and every time I start to feel bummed, something comes my way and makes the moments easier to bear.

This week I was able to forward our court decree so that we can add Christy to our medical insurance.  Today I made her very first medical appointment!  She will be going down to Seattle to be seen by the specialists at the UW Adoption Medical Clinic.  They work with the UW specialists and Seattle Children's Hospital to help international orphans get the testing the medical help they need as soon as they come home.

Today I remembered that I had purchased fabric to make her a raggedy blanket and a wrap for carrying her, so now I am looking forward to getting those done this week and next!  I also re-worked my packing list so make things more organized and easy to find!  Every day I do something to further prepare - like tonight - another meal is going in the freezer for the kids to use when we are away.  Step by step, resting on God's perfect timing!

Oh Christy, your mama is coming.  

When Christy Comes Home

Since I have not completed our adoption and have not really been super close to a family who has adopted (you know, close enough to see what the parents deal with daily as far as attachment issues goes), I really have no idea what we have in store for us when Christy comes home.

 We plan to work carefully to develop healthy attachment for her, which will start with our time in Bulgaria when it is just her and us.  Once we get home, we plan to take things slowly - only Daryl and I will feed her and take care of her basic needs.  I plan to hold her a lot and make good use of slings/carriers.

 I have read a couple of books and many articles/blog posts about attachment, but I know there is so much more to learn!  Children with Down Syndrome have a different psycho/emotional makeup, so attachment disorders can look different than those of a typically developing child, but again, every child is different.

When we visited Christy in October, she seemed to enjoy being with us, cuddling and playing.  For this to be real bonding would be ignorant...she just loved the attention and was happy to get it from any source.  We don't even expect her to remember us when we come to pick her up (but we did leave some books with our family members photos in them, so she might remember us, but we can not expect that).

From what I've seen in other families who have adopted children with Down Syndrome (and no, I do not know of any families in real life, but I interact with lots of families through Facebook and follow several blogs), these children struggle with appropriate affection - they are just as content to get hugs and kisses from complete strangers as they are getting them from their adoptive parents/siblings.  This can be a very long term problem.

So we are going to be working very hard in the first 6 months (and beyond) to create healthy bonding with Christy.  I plan to treat her as I would a newborn - and that is what I have read over and over again - no matter how old the adopted child, you need to start as though they are a newborn.  Think about how you cared for a newborn and do the same thing...you keep them near you/in your arms most of the time, you feed them yourself with close physical proximity (if not still in your arms), you snuggle with them and kiss them and show them love constantly.  And you limit other people's interaction with your baby.  You stay at home and concentrate on getting to know this new life.  I have even read that it is a good idea to go back to bottle feeding, wrapping/swaddling and such.  I plan to try this too (I've packed several types of bottles to try as she has swallowing issues and has problems with aspiration too).  Christy was never swaddled, never held while given a bottle, never rocked to sleep, never held during the long nights.  But she needs that, even though she is 3 1/2 years old!  Developmentally she is about 8 - 9 months, so in many ways she is still a baby, and that will make this easier (as in it would be weird/difficult to bottle feed/swaddle a 10 year old, but many families have found this to be helpful even with older children).

This means that we won't be allowing anyone outside out immediate family to hold her or show her physical affection until we see that she is learning to bond with us, and then it will be a purposeful expansion of her "close enough for affection" relationships.  From here I see it progressing from just Daryl and I, so adding our children, and then to others who regularly see her.  I know this makes if hard for close family who have prayed for us to bring her home and have loved her already.  But if you do not regularly see her, then it will be a long time before we will allow Christy to interact with you in a friendly/affectionate way.  We do not want to be mean or to offend anyone, but we need to do this for Christy's sake and for her safety, or she will go through life allowing anyone who shows her attention/affection to do just that, and reciprocating this behavior, and I'm sure you can see where that leads.

Also, just for your information, not all children who are adopted deal with attachment issues, but most do.  When you are talking exclusively about children with Down Syndrome and attachment disorders, the percentage of those children with attachment issues is far lower, but it does happen. Children with DS have a different makeup, especially in the phsycological and sociological realm.  This can lessen the impact of living without a family during their early years.

I hosted a poll on the Reece's Rainbow Facebook group (there's a lot of families there who have already adopted children with DS so it's a great place to get  this kind of information!

Here's what I polled about:

"If you have adopted a child with Down Syndrome have you had to deal with attachment disorder?"
The options were:

Not at all

• 
• 
• +4

We have dealt with indiscriminate affection

• +2

It has taken a long time, but we are making good progress

• 
• +1

My child has RAD for sure

• +1

I have lost hope of ever developing healthy attachment in my chid

Our child has not bonded well with us at all

What you can't see here is that there were 10 who picked the first choice!  For some reason I can't get those poll answers to show up!  I guess you'll just have to take my word on it!  So children with DS can have attachment issues, but the majority are either minor or non-existent!  Plus, children who have DS and were never abandoned and have remained with their birth parents can have issues with indiscriminate affection - these children are just so much more affectionate most of the time - I have had hugs from complete strangers who have DS and were never adopted.  Their parents apologize, but I don't mind at all.  I think these kids/adults just have a better perception when it comes to others need for reassurance and affection!  There was a lot of discussion with that poll, and there seemed to be some agreement that their children from orphanages had fewer attachment problems than those who came out of a foster system - I found this very interesting!

One amazing woman I have met through the adoption groups is Amanda U.  She has adopted 20 children - 12 from foster care here in the US, and now 8 from Bulgaria, making a total of 21 children.  She is doing an amazing job with these children and they are blossoming in her care!  She had this to say:

" I adopted 6 children with Down Syndrome. 5 were from Bulgaria and 1 from US foster care. They were varying ages. NONE of them have RAD. There is some orphanage stuff with some of the kids at first, but that is called "smart enough to survive". . . if they didn't learn to get the attention of adults then they wouldn't have survived. Every one of them showed preference to us as their parents very quickly. Every one of them have attached. Every one of them knew that we were their "safe" people very quickly. Children with Down Syndrome are often outgoing and extra friendly. . . I think people tend to blame that on "attachment" when their children are adopted. My children are firmly attached. Anita is our only one that can be somewhat manipulative, but I think that is her personality and how orphanage life affected her. I think when kids come home, then you "cocoon". You work to get past any learned orphanage behaviors and try to remember what caused the behaviors. Try to put yourself in their shoes and think how you would act if you had lived through the same things they have. . . . Most of the time you realize you wouldn't do nearly as well as they do. Our little ones with DS are VERY resilient and such amazing kids"

Pray for us, pray for her, that this bonding process will to quickly and that she will develop healthy. appropriate bonding.  Pray for her health.  Pray for my preparations for the trip so I will have packed all the right things/be able to find what we need in country.  Pray for my other children as this bonding process will be hard on them - they will all want to shower attention on her from the second they meet her!

For further reading on this subject, please check out the following, especially if you are part of my life and will be a part of Christy's life (or a part of the life of any adoptive family!).

Upside Down, Attachment  From an Adoptive Mother

We have our travel dates!

We will be going to bring Christy home in the first part of May.

We will be gone for over two weeks once you count in travel time.

Pray for us as we continue to prepare for our trip!  I am working on putting together some gifts for Christy's care providers, and I am considering getting some ladies together to make some rag quilts for the children in her group home - email me if you are interested in helping with the quilts (purchasing flannel/donating money for flannel or sewing a quilt and shipping it to me if you aren't local, or even cutting the squares if you are local!).

I have booked our flights and we are pleased with the layovers and such.  I was also able to book our rooms for our time in Sofia.  Our agency will have to book the hotel near Christy's group home as hotel.com did not have any rooms available at the hotels they work with there.  Something about a holiday that day.

So I won't be posting much of anything for a while since we are basically now waiting to go, but have over 7 weeks of waiting!

I am working on a blanket for Christy, and have made a hat and a sweater, so when I complete that I might post photos - they are turning out so cute!

Blessings to all!

Urgent Pray Request for Families Waiting Court Like Us!

Oh, I so miss this precious girly - can't wait to feel her in my arms again!

Marin for the Schildback family

Nellie for the Schildbach family

The Offices of the head honcho in Christy's country had the vice minister sign some of the dossiers that are headed to court (ours could be in the 15 dossiers that are involved in this, or our is just behind these).  This was done in order to speed adoptions along as the minister is a very busy position and sometimes it takes quite a while to get signatures. This was approved by the minister and is legal, but one of the family court judges is saying that he will deny any adoptions that have the vice ministers signature.  This would not mean that the adoptions would not go through, but that they would have to be resubmitted, causing about a month's delay.

Hannah for the Carr family!
Here's their Reece's Rainbow Grant Page

Today we found out that the minister's office has held off on sending these dossiers to court and are trying to get it worked out so that they will not cause delays with these (and future) adoptions.

Ria for the Mayr family!

Please pray that this can be worked out quickly and favorably for these (and all other families in process) dossiers, and that in the end it may means a speedier process so these precious children can be home forever!

Marnie for the Horton family

Gary for the Horton Family

I've included some links here to families the I know (who use the same adoption agency we use and I have gotten to know through a Facebook group) who could be effected by this.  Please consider praying for each family specifically, and it would be seriously awesome if you can also see if these families still need financial help as they are getting so close to needing the money to make this final step in their journey to bring their babies home!

Trinity for the Johnson Family

Felicity for the Johnson Family

Remember these are mommies and daddies who have held their precious children, said goodbye to their babies with special needs, and are now counting the days until they can ransom them and bring them home.  This is THE hardest part of the adoption process.  Waiting and having nothing to do but pray.  The possibility of an extra month's delay just seems cruel to both children and parents.

(I have visited these family's blogs and some of them list the country where these children are located, please do not include this country in your comments, thank you!)

Christy ("Priscilla" on Reece's Rainbow) and Daddy....can't wait for this to happen again!

FBI Background Checks....Check! Updated Photos...Check!

We got updated photos of Christy!  These were taken the day after Christmas.  She looks so great!  These were sent to a mutual friend by the orphanage director, who knew that we knew each other!  What a blessed surprise!

This is the toy we sent to her through another Washington State adoptive family,
whose little girl lived with Christy.  They were able to drop off some toys for us
when they went to take their daughter home forever!

We had to have our FBI background checks done again, just in case (see my blog post a few back about details).  This time we are using National Background Checks.  This is an FBI Channeler and one of the few that provides physical copies on FBI letter heads that can be notarized.

Usually it takes 6 or more weeks to get the background checks back, but with the handler we got it back in 3 weeks.  It would usually be even faster, but we were dealing with both the holidays and the severe weather that effected mail as well.

So now I'm sending those off to be apostilled by Caring Hands in Washington D.C.  I am glad I decided to blog about this, as I totally forgot that I can have it sent directly to our agency contact from Caring Hands, saving time and money over having them send them to us, and then forwarding them to the agency contact!

This should be the last thing I have to do as far as paperwork is concerned!  Hurray!  Hoping to hear good news about our dossier going to court by the end of this month...please pray for that to happen!

Awesome Fundraiser to Bless Many Families!

I LOVE these products! 

Sevenly is doing a fundraiser again this year for Reece's Rainbow, but this year the proceeds are benefitting families who are waiting to travel to bring their child home! 

That includes us! I haven't said much, but with the new regulations, we are no longer fully funded (we will be needing around $1,500 or more in addition to what we have already raised). But so many other families are far short of what they need to bring their child/children home!

 All the proceeds from this fundraiser will be divided equally between all of the families! Check it out and order some T-Shirts - $7 from each item purchased will go to these families  - these are the "almost home" families/children, and we are only one of many families in this category!

These hats are hand knit by women in Uganda

Over $3,000 has already been raised for these families already!  This campaign only lasts a week (I think it started today, but I am not sure).  

These are made in Costa Rica providing jobs there! 

Please consider purchasing something, and please share on your social networking (blog, FB, twitter, Google+) and help these families bring their children home!!!

This event ends January 6, so don't wait to order!

Surprise Blessings!

Photos taken 12/14!

We had something amazing happen last week!  While I was reading a blog from a family who was on their "meet ya" trip this week in Christy's country, I recognized Christy's city!  This family was able to bring their son to stay with them for 3 days instead of visits twice a day like we had!  Then she commented that now they have to find things to do.  I contacted her, as I had seen that she had the same translator/driver that we did (Yavor), to see if it would be possible to check in to see if the thickener I was able to have brought to Christy was working and how the supply was lasting.

Not only were they able to do that, but Yavor was allowed to visit Christy and take photos!  He said she was quite tired (probably just laying down for a nap).  He also found out that the thickener is working well, and that the supply I sent should last a long time.  The nurse also requested that we send her some orthotic hose to help with her legs as she is super flexible and they think it would help to limit her movement.  It would take yet another miracle, actually a series of miracles, but we might just be able to pull it off and get her some "hip huggers."  I will work to get the hip huggers to our adoption agency attorney over there through a family who is going over there for their first trip in early January, and then she'll need to give it to Yavor and he would have to be going to her city with another family and have time to go to Christy's group home in order for us to get them to her, but it is possible...Please pray that we will be able to do this for her.

Her email was so fun to read, I'll quote it here:

"Dear Ruth!

We were able to go to Christy's group home today twice. The first time we went and Yavor went in and the nurse wasn't there until 12:00. This was in the morning. Yavor got to see Christy, and the care giver told him that Christy was doing really well, but she didn't know about the thickener, or anything about the supply of it needed. She said he should ask the nurse. Yavor said Christy was doing really well, though, and the caregiver told him that she'd had a medical appointment the week before and that went great!

So we went and had Jerry's visa picture taken and then we went to the mall and had lunch and then came back to the group home after noon. I said to Yavor, "see if you can get some photos of Christy and tell them her American Mama would be soooo happy!"...so Yavor took my camera and went in to check with the nurse. On his way in he said.."Now you realize that I probably won't be able to take any pictures, but I"ll try anyway!"...and then when he came out he brought me these on my camera!

Oh Ruth! She's so beautiful! I'm so thankful that we got to encourage you in this way! I said to Yavor..."Bravo!" "Bravo!"..he was beaming that he got to do that!

So..the report from the nurse:

Christy is doing great. She's off of her heart medicine now and only on her brain medicine. She's growing and actually outgrowing all of her clothes! She doesn't need any more thickener at this time. It's working well, but she has enough for a long time to come she said. Also, she mentioned wanting some stretchy ortho type socks or tights that would help to keep her legs straighter. Not sure what that meant, but she thought you might know, and if you could send those, that would be great. When you come for picking up, you'll need to bring her bigger clothes, the nurse said!

Okay..love to you!! Praying this blesses your day greatly!

 Mary!!!

Um, yeah!  That totally blessed my socks off!  And she's a woman after my own heart with all those exclamation points!  LOVE IT!!!!!!

As far as our adoption stuff goes, we were able to get our fingerprints done last Thursday, and I will be mailing them in through an FBI Channeler.  This way we should get our background checks back in about 2 weeks instead of 6 - 8 weeks!  Then I will have to send them to Caring Hands (a service that hand delivers documents to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC to get apostilled) and we will have them send the apostilled background checks directly to our adoption agency!

I am still hoping to hear any day now that our second stage dossier has been submitted.  These fingerprints/background checks will not be needed until we are assigned a judge/court date (and they might not be needed at all, as it depends on which judge we get), so this is not slowing anything down.

So here are the steps we still have left to go through:

-Article 5 translated/authenticated and  added to complete dossier submitted to Big Wig (approx 12/18)

-Complete dossier goes through 1 month of passing through lots of hands (finish approx 1/20)

-Gets signature from big wig (approx 1/27)

-is taken to the courts. (approx 1/31)

-assigned to a judge (approx 2/14)

-assigned a court date (approx 2/20)

-court date/adoption granted (approx 3/1)

-adoption gets signed court decree from the judge (approx 3/10)

-new birth certificate is applied for (approx 3/11)

-travel dates given once new birth certificate is done (approx 3/18)

Then we get to go bring her home (end of March?)

We also were blessed to have one of our photos of our visits with Christy put in a video that was just released today!  Please share this video, and consider participating in the 2013 



And please read about the Winslow family and there visits with their precious children last week.  This is the family who worked with Yavor in order to get updates on Christy! They still stand in need of funds to complete their adoption, so please consider donating to their grant!

Thank you Mary Winslow!

Thank You Yavor!!

Thank You God!!!

Our First Week Home

Since getting back from our trip to meet Christy, I was very sick with a virus.  I was having much difficulty thinking clearly.  But starting on Tuesday I began to tackle the paperwork needed for the second stage dossier.

I was able to fill out the I800 (application to immigrate
 a particular child) and gather the required documentation.  I was also able to print out the three documents that needed to be notarized and apostilled and had Jessica drive me so I could meet up with Daryl and get the signatures notarized.  The went out to the Washington Secretary of State on Thursday, and I expect those to come back late this week.

This week our assignment is to get to the local City Police and have them run a background check, and on Monday Daryl and I go see our family doctor for an updated medical report.  Then those two document will be notarized and sent in to get apostilled.

We also authorized a payment from our Reece's Rainbow grant for the last payment to our adoption agency.

That's it!  So much easier than the first stage dossier!

So the waiting is once again upon us!

We hope to bring her home sometime in February and are already making plans for that trip.  I plan to go through all our girl's clothes that are in storage (and elsewhere since Esther just grew out of the sizes that Christy will be wearing) to find all the 3T clothing we have around here.

We are in need of a LARGE suitcase to bring the necessary equipment and clothing for our time with her on our second trip (the second trip has now increased to 10 days instead of 5 due to a change in policy by the US Embassy, as they now require a TB test and positive result before we can bring her home) .

We have gotten the words "Fully Funded" removed from our FSP on Reece's Rainbow, as this extended trip, plus expenses on our first trip being higher than we expected, will cause our adoption to accrue more costs that we originally projected.  At this point, it looks like we are running somewhere between $1500 and $3000 short.  If you feel led to help with this shortfall, we greatly appreciate your generosity!  I know that God will provide, so do not feel pressured to help us out - there are so many other families with greater needs that we have!

I think the most amazing thing that I've experienced since coming home is two things - I've accidentally called Carese "Christy" twice officially making her a part of our family, and when I watch videos and look at photos I can almost feel what it felt like to hold her in my arms, and it's nearly a physical ache.  I thought other adoptive parents were just overly sentimental about missing their babies between trips, but I can verify that it's all true.  They get into your hearts and make an indelible impression on your arms so very, very quickly!