...no, no, no, not all the way to Eastern Europe! Just to the Twin Cities! This would be to catch our flight to Eastern Europe on Tuesday, May 22, at 10:50. The catch...we have to leave around 5:30 a.m.
We're hoping to avoid leaving at 4:30 the previous afternoon on the airport shuttle (which does not leave early enough Tuesday morning). Our trip is going to be long enough already!
In other news...we are packing and preparing like crazy. Things are feeling a little frantic around here, with everything that needs to be done. We'll be posting more once we're actually on Alex's home country's soil. : )
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Nesting Post?
If we had time to type about nesting, I guess we would.
It's been NUTS. So many little things have gone awry in the past few days we feel like we have "made it into the club." (This is apparently incredibly common.) People doing these adoptions talk about spiritual warfare, and I've got to tell you, this process will make you a believer that it is real. And yes, we're fine.
Anyway, we're getting there. I (Susan) am packing like crazy, and Jerry is pulling together a lot of things to pass on to our kids' caregiver(s). We have tickets. We're having talks with the kids about what to expect. We're having incredible problems with Skype. My computer is nearly on the fritz. But we're getting there!
The amount of support from friends in the community, at our parish, at my work, has been remarkable. I can't even begin to quantify it. We are very blessed. And SO many people are looking forward to meeting Alex. (We have to keep putting it out there--Alex may be "under wraps" quite a bit for a while, to get him acclimated to our family and regular life. But it's great that people are excited!)
We had a conversation this week with the special education teacher at Bluffview, the director of the school, and a school psychologist for the district about Alex's needs and school this Fall. We all know it is premature before we know Alex, but we wanted to have a conversation about possibilities before everyone cleared for the summer. Well, we left the meeting pleased. They're looking forward to the challenge and simply in terms of physical accommodations, came up with some great possibilities right away (impressive in that they have never had a Kindergarten student who could not walk). We also talked about ELL (formerly ESL) options, and psychologically what may be possible to address. They seem willing to do a "slow break-in" to schooling (part time, or not starting until November, etc.), given Alex may have had no schooling at all. We're hopeful this will work out well. I've got to say to the locals who read the blog--we do love Bluffview Montessori.
Posting may be light, but it is because we are in high gear! Please keep us in your prayers!
Peace, Susan
It's been NUTS. So many little things have gone awry in the past few days we feel like we have "made it into the club." (This is apparently incredibly common.) People doing these adoptions talk about spiritual warfare, and I've got to tell you, this process will make you a believer that it is real. And yes, we're fine.
Anyway, we're getting there. I (Susan) am packing like crazy, and Jerry is pulling together a lot of things to pass on to our kids' caregiver(s). We have tickets. We're having talks with the kids about what to expect. We're having incredible problems with Skype. My computer is nearly on the fritz. But we're getting there!
The amount of support from friends in the community, at our parish, at my work, has been remarkable. I can't even begin to quantify it. We are very blessed. And SO many people are looking forward to meeting Alex. (We have to keep putting it out there--Alex may be "under wraps" quite a bit for a while, to get him acclimated to our family and regular life. But it's great that people are excited!)
We had a conversation this week with the special education teacher at Bluffview, the director of the school, and a school psychologist for the district about Alex's needs and school this Fall. We all know it is premature before we know Alex, but we wanted to have a conversation about possibilities before everyone cleared for the summer. Well, we left the meeting pleased. They're looking forward to the challenge and simply in terms of physical accommodations, came up with some great possibilities right away (impressive in that they have never had a Kindergarten student who could not walk). We also talked about ELL (formerly ESL) options, and psychologically what may be possible to address. They seem willing to do a "slow break-in" to schooling (part time, or not starting until November, etc.), given Alex may have had no schooling at all. We're hopeful this will work out well. I've got to say to the locals who read the blog--we do love Bluffview Montessori.
Posting may be light, but it is because we are in high gear! Please keep us in your prayers!
Peace, Susan
Monday, May 7, 2012
May 24th it is!
We got a lovely 6 a.m. wakeup call from Nancy at Reece's Rainbow this morning, letting us know that we finally got our travel date (*only* six months after submitting all our paperwork, but who's counting?). We have to be at the government's adoption office in Alex's home country at noon on May 24, which means leaving here on May 22. Then it's about three weeks in country, and home in early to mid June. We're praying for a SHORT trip!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Alex's orphanage
Well, we didn't get a travel date today...it could come any day now, really...but we did connect with another family who is adopting another child from Alex's country, a 15-year-old girl who we were considering adopting at one point (in addition to Alex). And they have a connection to a U.S.-based organization, Serving Special Orphans, that visits that institution about once a year. Here are some videos from the institution; one is from Serving Special Orphans, the second is from another organization's 2008 mission trip, and the third is from February 2011 (also Serving Special Orphans).
Here is a link to the third video, which I can't embed:
http://servingspecialorphans.blogspot.com/2011/02/orphans-in-znamenka-sing-their-hearts.html
The woman who runs this organization has also described a couple of her recent visits; you can find those descriptions here: February 2011 visit (scroll down to last paragraph); June 2011.
I think the videos and the descriptions capture the complicated picture in the orphanages over there. On the one hand, you will see smiling and happy children there -- and that's good. On the other hand, you will also see children living in inhumane conditions. Another take-away for me...as the author describes, this orphanage is vastly improved over where it was 10 years ago. The trend is in the right direction. International organizations and the families who adopt these special needs children are contributing to that trend.
Here is a link to the third video, which I can't embed:
http://servingspecialorphans.blogspot.com/2011/02/orphans-in-znamenka-sing-their-hearts.html
The woman who runs this organization has also described a couple of her recent visits; you can find those descriptions here: February 2011 visit (scroll down to last paragraph); June 2011.
I think the videos and the descriptions capture the complicated picture in the orphanages over there. On the one hand, you will see smiling and happy children there -- and that's good. On the other hand, you will also see children living in inhumane conditions. Another take-away for me...as the author describes, this orphanage is vastly improved over where it was 10 years ago. The trend is in the right direction. International organizations and the families who adopt these special needs children are contributing to that trend.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Share the Hope for Harper
In any case you didn't know, I (Susan) and Jennifer Doloski (mom to RR's "Patrick", now Joshua) have been beating the bushes for our mutual friend Vera, who is trying to adopt a 4 1/2 yr old girl code-named "Harper" from the same Eastern European country. Vera's got a heart-tugging story here and Harper is in need of more advanced medical care asap. But most of all, we care a lot about Vera, who has been in the thick of this dossier prep process with us. And she needs to fundraise $15,500 as quickly as possible (probably within 2 months).
So we're doing a great big fun giveaway fundraiser! You can help them out by sharing that blog post link, and/or donating yourself.
Vera's adoption blog is here (and not private!). Please keep them in your prayers; they are trying to move super-fast and their dossier may be in the mail this week!
So we're doing a great big fun giveaway fundraiser! You can help them out by sharing that blog post link, and/or donating yourself.
Vera's adoption blog is here (and not private!). Please keep them in your prayers; they are trying to move super-fast and their dossier may be in the mail this week!
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