Waiting out the Ten Days

Hey Everyone! The internet connection in our room has been crummy, so I'm down by the front desk with a much better signal, but I will keep this short to conserve internet time. We're doing great! We can't wait for the ten days to be up. They should be up on September 4th and we'll have both boys with us at the hotel. Yesterday we were able to have both of them together for a visit at our youngest boy's baby home. We had a blast and got a good taste of what we'll be experiencing when we have both boys with us. Our youngest is full of energy and keeps us running around almost constantly, while the older is a bit more reserved, but still a lot of fun. Yesterday was the first time the boys have seen each other in over a year. They had a joyous reunion and will be together for the long haul very soon. Well, we just wanted to say hello and give a brief report. We'll post again when we can. With the bad signal in our room, we may not post often, but know that we're fine and having a wonderful time here in Vlad. God's blessings to you all!

Joel, Clarion & the boys

We are Officially Parents!

Hello Everyone!  We had court today and have been approved to adopt our two wonderful boys.  It was truly an awesome day.  We will post more as we wait out the ten days, then pictures when the ten days are up.  For now, thank you to so many of you for your prayers!  To God be the glory!

Joel & Clarion

Back with Our Boys

Hey Everybody!  What a day we had today.  First of all, Clarion and I were exhausted last night (Thursday) so we went to bed early.  Naturally, we then woke up at 3AM because we were thinking about the visits with the boys that were ahead of us later in the day.  We left the Vlad Inn at 1:30PM with Lana and our driver.  First we went to see our older son.  After a couple of minutes waiting, they took us up to one of the rooms we where we met with him on the last trip.  There he was with the biggest smile on his face, so happy to see his mama and papa again.  He told Lana that he remembered us and was happy to see us.  Lana also told us that she asked him if he wanted to go home with us and he said yes.  She told him about the long plane rides and everything and he told her he wasn't scared and is ready to go.  He is still a very quiet little boy, but we had a great visit with him.  He loved the book that Clarion made from the first trip.  He really enjoyed paging through it.  The social worker joined us for much of the visit and it was really nice visiting with her.  She is very supportive of the adoption.

Next we drove to our younger son's baby home.  They told us that they would bring him down and that we would spend our time with him outside on the playground.  That's a good thing because he is still a barrel of energy.  He came down the stairs and jumped into his mama's arms with the biggest smile on his face.  Then it was papa's turn for a big hug.  We went outside to play.  This little guy took us around the entire playground.  We chased him back and forth.  He played on the swing and then the slide.  He had a blast with the little toy that Clarion brought along.  The best part is that one of the ladies at the baby home told us that he remembers us and that he continually tells everyone at the baby home that he has a mama and a papa.  That just made our day.  He has definitely grown a bit, but is still a little guy.  We had to say goodbye after about 45 minutes.  The next time we see him should be sometime after court and we will most likely have his brother with us.

Anyway, we had wonderful visits with the boys today. Thanks for your continued prayers.  We'll post again soon!

Blessings!

Joel & Clarion

Back in Vlad

Hello! Just a quick post to let everyone know we are back in Vlad.  We arrived around 11:30AM on Thursday.  It was great to see Irina when we got off the plane and bussed over to the terminal.  There is another family who just arrived as well.  They have court on Monday also.  We are going to see our boys this afternoon.  We are very excited.  We'll post more later.  Thanks again for your prayers!

Joel & Clarion

Moscow!

     Hello everybody.  We have made it to Moscow without incident.  We left Monday morning at 8:45 and flew to Atlanta.  We had a layover and at 3:30 we left for Moscow.  We arrived in Moscow after a 10 hour plane ride where Mia picked us up and we drove another hour and a half to make it to the Holiday Inn Sokolniki.  

     Once our passports were registered we decided food was in order.  So, we took a look around and thought that, for now, since we're tired, McDonalds was our best bet.  So, we had fun trying to decide how to order what we wanted.  The food was great and we couldn't beat the price, especially since we just shelled out 890 roubles for the scratch card to access the internet.

     We're saving the sightseeing until we come back with the boys in three weeks.  That way we can have the signature "Red Square" photo with all four of us in it!

     We leave for Vladivostok tomorrow at 7:10 pm and arrive there on Thursday at 10:30 am.  Once we get settled there we will blog some more.  Here are some pictures.  Enjoy!  Thanks for your continued prayers! 

Love,

Joel and Clarion 

Packed and Ready to Go!

This past week was crazy, but a great week.  We had family from out of town with us for a few days to celebrate our good news.  By Monday afternoon we had our visas ordered and our flight itinerary in the works. The flights were booked by Tuesday.  Our visas arrived Friday.  We've double, even triple-checked all of our documents and we're 99.9% certain that everything is in order.  We finished packing today and might be a couple pounds over the limit, but we'll see. We'll be heading to the airport bright and early tomorrow and we'll be on our way.  Thanks for all of your prayers!  May God bless all of you who are waiting!  We're especially praying for Cindy as we head out.  We're praying that she gets her court date this week and can join us during part of our stay in Vlad.  Our next post should be from Moscow!  After a brief stay there we'll be on our way to Vlad and to see our boys!  We can't wait!

In Christ,

Joel & Clarion

Court Date!!!

We just learned that we are scheduled for court on August 25th.  The Lord is good!  Thank you to all of you for the many prayers you have offered up in our behalf!  We'll post more later.  We have so much to do!

Love,

Joel & Clarion

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE ONE!!

Our youngest boy turns 3 today. Wow!  We had so hoped to be with him on this birthday but we must comfort ourselves with the thoughts of many birthdays to come.  We know God is watching over him and his brother as we get ready to go to Russia and bring them home.  As usual, we are hopeful the call will come this week.  Please pray that our family will be united soon.  

God's blessings,

Joel and Clarion