Please Help Us Bring Josiah Home!

Nine months ago the Lord set our eyes on a beautiful little boy. He told us that he was ours. We followed our hearts and did everything we were told to do. Some things we did two or three times over. All for the love of a beautiful red-headed boy.

A month ago we got to meet him. This is what I wrote after meeting him for the first time:

There are no words to describe the feelings I felt when I set eyes on my boy for the first time. He is now real. Not just a picture and some words on paper. Not just in dreams.

The sweet smell of his little neck, his soft skin, his bright eyes, huge smile and contagious giggle. Boy can that boy giggle! Today was amazing. I will never forget the feeling I had when I held him in my arms. He is so much more then I had dreamed he would be.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us this blessing of this special boy. Thank you for choosing me to be his Mama!


Now we are in the home stretch. We’re almost there--just waiting for a court date which will most likely be in early February.

And one other little thing. We still need to raise $15,000 to cover the remaining expenses.

$15,000. A number. That is what stands between a mommy and daddy, a family full of brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents… and one little boy. A number! Why does a number have to mean so much?  We don't like to ask for anything from anyone. But something we have learned with this adoption is that we can't do all things on our own. We just can't!

So we would like to ask something of each of you who are reading this. Whether you have been going through this long journey with us, or are just reading our blog for the first time and can sense the love that exists between this precious boy and his soon-to be parents…will you help us bring him home?

Thank you, and God Bless!

Merry Christmas and some new pictures

We are so blessed to have such a caring coordinator . she went to visit V Josiah  and took him the woody doll and music toy we left with her. she gave them to him for Christmas, she spent time with him and took a bunch of pictures for us. She said that he remembered her and when she walked into the room he came and gave her a hug, I'm so happy. She said he remembered the music toy as well and loved it .

Look they have a Christmas tree in their playroom.

He looks like he has grown a little and he got a haircut handsome boy cant wait to kiss on him again.

extending the giveaway to the 29th

we have decided to extend the date for the iPod touch giveaway to the 29th to give people more time to donate.

Letter to an orphan

Took this from another moms blog
Letter to an Orphan

http://www.silvamoose.com/MoosePages/MomsPage/tabid/59/EntryId/170/Letter-to-an-orphan.aspx

1 month

Wow I can't believe it has been a month since the first time we got to kiss and hug that sweet little boy V Josiah! Our dreams of him after looking at his pictures for 8 months had come true. He was even better then our dreams, with that wonderful giggle and sweet smile. A month has gone by but that just means we are a month closer to bringing him home. :)

A name what is in a name?

 We have decided to keep the name they call him in his baby home the name he knows his self as  His name means "How perfect that is Josiah means "God saves."   We have really strong feelings about why we are keeping his name, they are personal feelings for him. I just can't take his name away from him it's the one and only thing that is his. He will not get to keep anything else. not the people he has grown to love, not the bed he sleeps in, not the toys he plays with, not the food he eats, not the smells he smells,not the clothes he wears and not even the language he speaks. He will leave that place he knows as home with nothing but his name. and I just can't take that away from him. I know that others change the names of the children they adopt I am not saying it is wrong we were planning to as well. But after seeing where he has spent the last three years of his life, how loving the nannies are to him and how well they take care of him. I think that his name will bring him good memories. If he were in a bad place like other children I have read about I would for sure feel differently and have no problem in changing his name and giving him a clean slate.But I truly believe he has been loved.

So his name will be V--- Josiah Nine of course people are free to call him Josiah if they like I'm sure he will have many names he goes by once he is home. Amelia has at least four, Amelia, Milli,Milli Mae and Mae Mae.I even call her Maezy sometimes lol. It will be fun to see what we all end up calling him once he's home maybe it will be pumpkin or carrot or red since his hair is that color lol. but on his birth certificate it will say V--- Josiah Nine. I can't wait until the day I have that paper in my hands and get to announce to you all that he is ours not only in our hearts but legally as well. that is going to be a wonderful day.

9 months today

Today it has been 9 months since the day we committed to adopt Josiah. Since I have met him, looked into his sparkling eyes, kissed his sweet face, held his cute little hands, listened to his magical giggle I am changed!! As Mike has said, "He has a joy for life in his eyes and smile that I can't really describe.."

With all six of my pregnancies as my belly would grow I would have the feelings will I love this baby as much as I love the others? Will I feel that same strong bond? Will this baby love me ? Then the baby was born and there was no doubt. That is the same way I felt about Josiah when I first held him in my arms. I am so thankful to God for that. I can honestly say I love him with everything in me, just as if he had grown inside me for nine months. That saying "born not under my heart but in it" is so true. It is hard now because we can't be with him,he is so far away from us and we don't know when we will get to see him again maybe not for 2 or 3 months. I have to keep reminding my self of what all we have already done, how far we have already come, that we are in the home stretch rounding third base, we are almost there.

Cute little Constance

click here to be taken to her page on Reeces Rainbow http://reecesrainbow.org/constance-2h
Constance she is a little girl in Josiah's groupa, I noticed her right away as I watched the children play. I looked at my coordinator and said,
" find out who that girl is she has down syndrome and we need to get her listed on Reeces Rainbow so she can find her family." when I went in and sat on the floor with the kids she came and sat next to me, she scooted closer and closer slowly until she was in my lap. she sat in my lap as long as I was there holding my hand. she didn't say anything just sat so sweet. we found out her name and she is 4 years old although I had guessed 2 years old by her size she was smaller then Josiah. we got some pictures of her but they were not great ones they do not capture her sweetness. I also have her picture from the Data base. If you want more info about her please let me know I would really love for her family to find her.

All I want for Christmas this year is help to bring my boy home

all I want for Christmas this year is my little boy home so if you want to give me a gift please donate to our adoption. thanks so much http://puzzle.chipin.com/christmas-gift

playing with fish

l
This puzzle has fish pictures he would take them out and pretend they were swimming and eating and make cute fish sounds for them.

I miss him!

 We have been home now for 4 days only 4 days and life is getting back to normal, my wonderful fulfilling life with my awesome husband, my fantastic kids and my dream job, in my nice big warm house. yet I yearn to be in that little hotel room around people that don't speak my language, crazy drivers, rubles instead of dollars, strange food. Just so I can go see my boy, I miss his sweet smile, his cute little voice, his facial expressions, his dancing but most of all his giggle oh his giggle melts my heart. I told myself that coming home without him would be ok. I didn't get too upset when we had to say bye bye for the last time. because I knew he was in a good place, well taken care of.  All my questions were answered about him. I would be fine! but our coordinator emailed today saying our court date could be as late as March MARCH!!! no! he will grow so much, change so much in THREE months. I want to go back and get him now! I want him here to see his face light up looking at the Christmas tree,  to watch him open his gifts Christmas morning with his brothers and sisters and to watch him dance with Amelia at church. I want him home with us.So now you ask me was it hard to leave him? no not at the time, but now that I'm home and doing this darn waiting game again it is really hard probably the hardest thing so far.

he loves to look at Amelia (Mae Mae's) picture

SWEET DANCING BOY

we got home last night around 5:30 after a long trip home. while in Frankfurt Germany sitting in the airport I saw a lady pushing a stroller I jumped up ran to her and said MEL!!!! she looked at me odd and said yes?? I said its Katrina she said HI and we hugged Mel is one of my good friends from the Reece's Rainbow yahoo group we have been great friends to eachother it was so great to see her and her new little boy Timothy she was on her way home with him Timothy is so cute.it was so much fun meeting them.

when we got home the kids were so happy to see us and we where happy to see them and be home, we showed them pictures and videos told them all about our trip and Josiah then went to bed. I was so tired I slept until 2 pm the next day. yep we missed church, I slept right thru it. guess I really needed the sleep! I still don't feel like my self, hope I feel better tomorrow since my normal life starts back up, daycare kids at 7:30 .I have missed them all so it will be good to see them. I'm trying to upload some videos of Josiah its not working too well but I'll keep trying.

7th and last visit

7th visit today was our last visit. we got there and they took us to the closet room, they brought Josiah in and like always he came to me with his arms open wide. he played with a puzzle with mike and played peek a boo in the drapes.and of course looked at his family album found Amelia and gave her kisses, he is going to love her. he danced with his music toy as well and we got some great video. I cant load it from here but will when I get home. I dreaded the time that they would come get him. but then about 15 min before time he messed his pants. I would have been willing to live thru the stink but we were in that little closet room and it was pretty bad. our coordinator said," lets take him to be changed" and of course when we took him they kept him. we loved him up, told him we loved him, gave the family album and the Micky mouse  toy to the Nannie for him. we  tried to give them some bananas for his group but they could not take them, said they are on a strict diet with the children. thenwe said bye bye, it was sad we will not see him now for at least 8 weeks.
we then dropped off our coordinator said our goodbyes and Boris our driver took us to the winter palace. it was beautiful so much art work and we didn't even see 1/2 of it. but were there about 3 hrs. maybe we can go back and see the rest when we come back for court . it was a good time for us to go just after saying goodbye because it kept our minds off of Josiah for a while. otherwise we would have gone back to the hotel and I'm sure I would have spent the rest of the day crying. we leave in just  3 hrs to go to the airport, Boris has to pick us up at 1 am so we don't get stuck on the island because the bridges go up for the night. we don't have to be to the airport until 4 am so he is going to drive us around the city to look at the lights. we will be home at 5:45 pm on sat, we gain time this time so maybe we can get our sleep back on track.

6TH VISIT

6th visit we got to have a 2nd visit this day because of the snow cutting our morning visit short. so we went back at 4:00 there was no place for them to put us so they let us go into the physical therapy room, a place that has balance beams and stuff like that. it was hot in that room, they brought him in and he was so happy .he saw the rocking horse and that's what he played on for a long time .I showed him the family album and again he looked for Amelia's picture and kissed it and tickled her . he played with mike on the floor and walked the balance beam. he found our water bottle so I gave him a drink, he was hot he chugged it down a couple drinks.in no time at all they came back to get him.we went back to the hotel and crashed until 1:00.

5th visit

Our 5th visit was this morning, it snowed and our driver got caught in traffic so he was an hour late. so we didn't get as much time with Josiah as I would have liked. it was the first snow of the year our coordinator said they will have snow now until march.

When we got to the baby house they made us wait, they said they had other parents visiting and had no room to put us in. so we had to wait for one room it was a room we had not been in yet . I guess it’s an office had desks and no toys or play area jusy a small sofa like the other room we were in. the door opened and a lady was holding a baby they came and took the baby and the lady left .then we could hear Josiah coming and I stood at the end of the hall and knelt down, when he saw us he came right into my arms and hugged me it was really sweet .then we went into the room Mike got out his favorite toy and he went over and sat on Mikes lap playing with the toy dancing his little dance , then I tried to get him to color but he didn't want much to do with that .we tried giving him other toys but he would push them away and say no. he only wanted the music toy, he would push the buttons until it came to the song he wanted to hear then he would stop and listen until it was over and look for another song. he knew what ones he wanted to listen to.He put his hand up for me to kiss again like I did the other night. And when it was time to go we kissed him told him we loved him and said "bye bye",he waved and said "bye bye" ,the nurse that was taking him back smiled and looked at us with a look like wow he already knows how to say bye bye,  they don't say bye bye they say packa. so he has learned that just from us. he also learned the word no lol not from us telling him no but from when we try to give him something if he pushes it away I say, "no you don't want it?" and he says "no" and shakes his head no.checked out the overalls he was wearing and they were 18 mo so I think we are safe with the 2t clothes I bought him and his shoes are size 5 good to know .

 I talked our coordinator in to taking us back for another visit tonight since our visit was cut short today. so we are going back at 4:30 yeah!!! Then we have the morning visit tomorrow and that’s the last one it is going to be hard to say good bye.
We didn't go to the winter castle because of the snow so Boris our driver is going to take us tomorrow after our visit. then we have to leave the hotel by 1:00 am because the bridge goes up for the night and if we don't get over it we miss our flight. our flight is not until 6:20 but we have to be at the airport by 4:00 to register . so Boris said he would take us for a drive around to see all the buildings light up. he said it is very beautiful so that should be fun .then we will be on our way home after that ugggg 3 flights two 3 hrs and one 9 hrs I don't mind the 3hrs but the 9 hr flight is hard. But it will be good to see the kids.

visit #4

Visit #4



This morning we were picked up at 9:00 am we first went to a notary to get something signed then we went to see Josiah it was already 10:30 so we had missed 30 min when we got there the kids were playing outside again I hoped that Josiah would not be upset like he was the last time after coming from outside. We got into the home put on our booties lol and went to the room they brought him to us and he came right to us and I picked him up and kissed him his little face was cold so I think they had just come in but he was not upset he was happy. He sat on my lap and played with the music toy and looked at the photo book I made with the kids pictures and mine and mikes on the front I would point to the kids and say their names and sister or brother he pointed to Jordan and said brother and he kept going back to Amelia's picture he even kissed it and pointed to her eyes then to his then he shut the book and said papa he knows mike is papa and he pointed to mikes picture. then they told us it was time to go he was going to have lunch so we stood up I gave him hugs and kisses and then he reached to hug mike and he put his hand up to feel his beard sweet then the nannies asked me if I wanted to help him wash his hands of course I did she sent us to the back room where there were three little sinks just his size we washed his hands then he went out and sat at the table they gave him his soup and he held his hand out for his bread and he ate like a big boy we waved and said bye bye and he waved back saying bye bye. It was a great visit. Then we went to take all the paperwork we had signed over the last couple days back to the committee. Then or coordinator took us to have pancakes but they are not like home they are thin and they put stuff inside them it was good. We also stopped and got a pizza from pizza hut to eat later at the hotel the pizza tastes the same as it does at home only better the coke even though its in a coca cola bottle from the coca cola co it does not taste the same and all drinks are warm here no ice. Oh its almost 7:00 am in Portland we are going to Skype the kids its 6:00pm here. Sorry I cant add pictures for some reason I can’t.

3rd visit .

Visit #3 we got to go back and see him for a 3rd visit usually they only let you come once a day but they said we could come back after his nap so of course we did. So we got there around 4 pm and the children were having tea is what they said, they get tea and cookies or cracker or fruit after nap. I guess like I give my daycare kids snack after nap but I would sure never give them tea our coordinator said tea is given to Russian children almost from birth. .They wanted to let him finish his tea So they took us up to this little room the size of a close.t it had a small sofa and a book shelf with a few toys but also a file cabinet and some other stuff like maybe storage, it did have a window. Mike and our coordinator and I all had to fit in this room and somehow play with a 3 year old boy lol. at first we thought it was crazy but it worked well it was easier to contain him and he was not distracted by his little friends coming to the door, he just sat on my lap and played for the most part. He loved the little music toy I brought that plays songs and nursery rhymes. he figured out fast how to work it and would choose the same song over and over. he would put it up to his ear to listen and he danced a little so cute. I also brought some animals for him to play with, he liked them and choose the giraffe to hold but would take the others out and I would say the sound and he would look at me and giggle so hard then our coordinator told me the sound they make for the animals in Russia (who knew animals sounded different in Russia lol) anyways that’s why he was giggling because I was saying it wrong. The room we were in was the path to the Dr office where they give the kids shots and checkups, when the nurse came thru Josiah moved up in my lap and made a funny face. she said," no no its ok no shots." and patted his heads he was ok then lol he knew what that room was. earlier when we where there for our visit the nannies would take tow kids out at a time they were crying they told us they were going to get a flue shot, then when they came back they were all smiles. not sure what they did after the shot maybe gave them a candy. While we were playing with Josiah I took his hand and kissed his palm, he like that and kept giving me his palm up to my lips then once he grabbed my nose and giggled. when he giggles it is not just a little giggle it is a GIGGLE! he's so cute and has such a since of hummer he likes to tease. We had a taxi take us for this visit and he waited for us we told him one hour so we had to go, it was already past an hour. Josiah didn't want to go, I’m glad. When we got back to the hotel the Internet was not working I’m so upset I need to call the kids! it is still not working now but I’m writing this on the desk top and will copy it over as soon as I can. we will be leaving soon to go back to the committee to sigh the last of the papers. then to the notary to get them notarized. and then to our 4th visit. We have not done any sight seeing and to tell you the truth we don't really care we are so tired we just crash in the hotel. but I know we need to go see something or we will regret it. I think Boris our driver will take us someplace tomorrow maybe the winter castle. The hotel we are staying in is right near the bay of Finland and we can see it out our windows it is pretty. they also have little gift shops all thru the hotel 3 restraints a bar and the water park that also has video games and stuff for kids I think a lot of the locals come here for those things.