The BIG Day! -Day 1

I'm glad I didn't know what I was expecting today, because I could never have been right! So I left my mind open to pretty much any and every scenario! So here is how it went down…

Somewhat nervous of the unknown, was how it started. We met out translator at our hotel and she took us to the orphanage. We walk almost everywhere. (Many blisters!) She introduced us and we were taken to a VERY small room with some old mostly broken toys. They talked to us a minute about her physical history and development. They say she is practically perfect in every way. This is expected as they don't really want us to know anything that might be wrong. We will get her thoroughly checked once home! Then they brought her in. As a normal three year old she saw toys and we didn't exist!! LOL But once we started showing her some things and giving her food (who doesn't like someone with food!) she started warming up! It was beautiful out so we went outside for quite a while and played. She loves to swing. She let us hold her and she seemed to enjoy herself. Once back inside they brought her lunch and the caregiver helped me help her eat! That was great!! Then it was her nap time so we went to eat lunch.

In the afternoon we went back and had to stay inside because the weather turned. The room was so tiny that we lasted for about an hour in there and she got sick of it. She did however discover my phone and enjoyed the baby app i have on there for about 30 minutes. She also enjoyed the link blocks they had. Then we chased her around halls and stairs for about an hour. I can't say that was my favorite part. By that time her primary caregiver was with us so we didn't exist again! No food for bribing her to like us!! LOL

Adoption is such a hard thing. We are SO SO excited to have her and give her every opportunity to thrive (and she will). And at the same time, she loves the ladies so much that take care of her now. They are going to be so sad to part each other. They, of course, want her to have an amazing life, even if they are sad for her to leave them. She will not be able to understand why we are taking her away from the only home she has ever known. We can only pray for her and for us. That we may form quick bonds and that we can comfort her. I don't even want to think about how we will get her back to the US. We have a couple of months before we cross that bridge (or ocean)!

Here are your pictures of Day 1!

If you have food I will go anywhere!

We see kids all over with this rolling toy

more food

and more food

They must have thought she was going to freeze. It was 65 and she had on a winter coat two layers of clothes and a hat!

stylin

she thought I needed food (evidently she did not notice that I did not!

Our hotel (girls wanted a picture. We are in one of the towers so our room is like a triangle!)

Anyone there? 

did not take much to get her addicted!

Don't even try to take this away!!!!

A promise is a promise

I promised so many people that I would post everyday. We get to meet N tomorrow!! Less than 24 hours! I can't even get my arms around that! What an incredibly gracious God we have to get us this far! And a ton of support, that He has brought into our lives. It is so overwhelming. Thank you doesn't touch it!

Now I will focus on what we did today…

I slept for 15 hours last night, after being up for 24 straight hours to get here. I knew I was exhausted, but geez! Luckily when I got up it was 8 am here and I was ready to go for the day! Good thing to because the first thing we did was go on a walking tour of the city! It was so interesting and really was a crash course on the history of the country and a chance to see places that we probably would not have seen. We also saw many places to shop along the way, so we now know where to go back to later this week. They have a mineral spring here that they have built a collecting system around, so water flows 24/7 and people just bring their jugs down and fill up. It is, obviously, as pure of water as you can get so they collect it, take it home, cool it down, and drink it. No water filtrations or anything. It has no smell, and just taste fresh… but is quite warm if you try to drink it straight out of the spickit. There are many churches, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish, so it is quite a diverse city. The history is so rich, the city is built in layers, kind of. The things the Romans built are pretty low. As a matter of fact, they have been slowly uncovering it since they built their metro. Then a layer of the Ottomans, and a layer of the Russians, until todays modern buildings.

We ate breakfast at our hotel, where they have a VERY nice buffet set up. I thought the food was wonderful…. Matt was afraid he may not eat for a week! LOL We ate lunch at a very cute little restaurant that was authentic and this time we both thought the food was great! We both had different chicken dishes.

Here are some pictures…

What the????

There are lions everywhere

Mosque

Such neat architecture. Needed pic of it!

More things with lions

Old Church, unused now

Roman Ruins

More Roman Ruins

McD's EVERYWHERE!

Old Bath House, being renovated

Mineral water spring

Government building

Government building

Roman Highway between Constantinople to  somewhere (I can't remember)

Remnants of Roman wall that enclosed the city

Where the President is

Oldest building in city, old mosque turned museum

Tradition to have these little bracelets and hang on first trees to bloom

Russian Church under renovation

Cathedral- the inside was BEAUTIFUL!

More Cathedral

This guy….ya

Lunch

Into the Great Unknown

The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1 NIV)

Who ever thought this day would get here? Certainly not me! To think we have been waiting and filling out paperwork, and sending money for over a year now! Wow. We have been through so much in this year. And now the day is here, we finally leave to meet our angel! I don't know if I can fully get my arms around it. What will she look like now? We haven't seen a picture of her except what they gave us a year ago! Will she warm up to us while we are there? I mean, we do have phones and in one of the videos that is how they were getting her to walk, so I guess we have that going for us! How hard is it going to be to leave her there after spending a week with her? I'm not even going there yet! 

None of this even touches my fears of leaving my country to go to a part of the world that hasn't exactly been peaceful! Luckily where we are going is safe, but it is strange to think how close we will be to where it is not safe!

Will we get in the right lines at the airports? Will people in the other countries be able to communicate with us? We will have a translator with us when we visit N, but not when we explore the city. 

I want to thank everyone for praying for us as we take this epic trip! I will have plenty of time to spend in prayer also as I know only God has control of this! We are only trying to follow where he is leading us. The verse I used in this post will be repeated over and over in my head as I get myself on the airplane to fly over an entire ocean to meet a daughter that was born over 3 years ago! But God knew, this was always His plan! And this is His timing! 

I will post daily to let you know everything we do! And I hope to have pictures Monday! Luckily we will be 6 hours ahead of you all so you will get photos early!!

God bless you all and thank you for all the support you have given us over this last year! We are almost there!!

The Perfect Plan

Gods plan is something that we, as humans, question constantly. It is perfect and it is all done in His timing. We are reminded pretty regularly as obedient Christ followers that it is not our job to assume or to make our own plan. I always imagined bringing N home and getting pictures with the family. Celebrating together and introducing her to everyone. That was suppose to include Bobby. He was our inspiration from the start. It is because of him I know there is a better life for her than an institution. I don't want to act like I did not know this was a possibility, but at the same time I thought I knew the plan. However, Gods plan is bigger than me. Bobby always told me he was an Angel, and he is. He told me how much he loves Jesus and now he has got to meet Him. He always told me when he died he will be our guardian and now he will fulfil that promise. Two weeks before we go to meet our N for the first time. I have no doubt about this, God has called him to be our guardian angel. Not just Matt and I as we travel, but also as we start our new family journey. The thing is Bobby is everyone's angel. His love was limitless on Earth and now reaches from Heaven to every life he ever touched. And there are more than can be counted because he didn't know a stranger! My tears are not for a life lost, because there was no lose. My tears are of gratitude that I was blessed enough to have known Bobby. To have hugged and kissed him. To have been one of his "sweetie pies". There will never be a greater distinction. 

Here we GOOOOOO!

I have waited a couple of days to post this because I have been answering so many questions on Facebook and such. It has given me more direction for posting  in the blog and has given me time to come up with the best way to express my feelings!! Everyone now knows, WE. HAVE. TRAVEL. DATES. The plane tickets are purchased, the hotel room is reserved, some gifts for the orphanage are bought. This is happening! OMG, it is so real now. There really is a little girl, and she really does need us to come save her and we really are going to do just that! And our lives really are going to totally change. For the better. We have a great God and He has not led us here to forsake us. This is for real! 

On a more somber note. I have talked about Uncle Bobby when I first started this blog. He has shown me I can do this. I can handle this. Grandma did it for 64 years and I can do it to! Grandma will still be here to help me get started. However, the possibility of Bobby being here is looking dimmer all the time. Because of Bobby I know there is a light in Down Syndrome kids that no other human being possesses. I know there is a faith in Down Syndrome kids that never questions our great God and His great plan to bring us to His side. I am not negligent of the temper or the potential for hard times. But I am hopeful to find a strength I didn't know we had. I am hopeful that, even if Bobby doesn't ever meet Natalie, he will surely be just as much her angel as he will be ours. He promised and he said Jeaus verified this to him. Who am I to doubt? 

We have most of the things we need. And we have resources that we are very grateful for. The total cost for this adoption is going to be around $35,000.00. We got about $1000 from our garage sale and Amy Mansur did a fundraiser for us and we got about $300! Jenny Voigt did a fundraiser for us and I was able to get some Christmas presents so that we could save some money! We have gotten a couple of random donations that we have been so thankful for. And we still have a ton of shoes to get rid of and collect money for!

I want you to know that we also have a link. It is https://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/help-us-go-get-natalie/118494

This is for traveling and supplies! There are several things we will need for Natalie. Medical costs, a bed, a stroller, clothes, etc. the list is long! I am excited to provide more for her than she could have dreamed of in an orphanage. And if you are moved to help in any way I just want to give you that opportunity. For Amy, Jenny, Heather, Susan, and anyone else that has provided support or will provide support I am going to make a blanket that has everyone's name sewn into it. Pictures to come:) But I want Natalie to know that bringing her home isn't something that just Matt and I did, but rather something we did as God's family, together. To make one less orphan!!

Any day now

I am so excited. As more families on the Facebook page for CHI are traveling I know that we are so close!!! We will be one of the next to get our referrel and travel to visit our N!!! It is starting to seem so real and so exciting! I have the normal (I think) anxieties about if she will hate us, or something unexpected happens, but really I just want to see for myself who God has led us to! And of course see how many pictures I can take in 1 week!! Speaking of which, I think they also send new pictures when they send the referral!!!! She is prob so much bigger now than a year ago! It is hard to believe we have been waiting almost a year now and at the same time I am glad that we have the time to get prepared and get really excited! It stinks and makes it so bittersweet at the same time. The longer it goes on the more I hate to think of her living an orphanage life, when she should be living an amazing life with us! She is so loved already and we haven't even met fave to face. Perhaps we have met heart to heart?

The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands. (Psalms 138:8 NASB)

New Year, New Family

I am so excited for 2014 to be here, because I know it means the best changes EVER! We are getting so close to having everything B needs for us to issue a travel date! Tomorrow I will send out the last paper they need to be apostilled by the Sec of State before our first trip! Then once I get that paper back and then sent to the country we will get a travel date!!!!! It may be slightly more complicated than that, but you get the idea. None of it is easy! We did buy Natalie a couple of Christams presents, maybe out of excitement, or maybe as preparation! I still would like a couple of really soft throw blankets for her and a taggie! I have splurged and attacked the Matilda Jane clearance sale and bought a few outfits! Hey, a girl will have to have some style.... Maybe she should be their model?!!!!!

Some may ask if knowing that a travel date just means our first trip makes us sad. Yes and No. Yes because it will be heart breaking to see her, hold her, and then leave her there. No, because it will be real. She will no longer be a picture from a year ago. We will be able to take pictures of us with her. We will be able to take presents and we will be able to show her that she has a family. I don't know how much she will understand. And I don't know if she will understand that we are coming back. That is in Gods hands. To comfort us in the space between visitation and pick up. We have come this far. For almost a year we have been staring at a picture of a girl who doesn't know how lucky she is about to get!!! That is worth it all!

You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror. (Psalm 10:17, 18 NIV)