Six-Month Celebration

Hey Everyone! Today is the six month anniversary of our court date. On August 25th we nervously sat down in the courtroom in downtown Vladivostok with Lana, our translator. We answered questions about our boys, our jobs, our finances. About 45 minutes later we were declared the parents of Slav and Sergei. What a day! What a celebration we had that evening! We continue to praise and thank God for the wonderful gift of family and for all those (all of you!) who prayed for us and encouraged us through the journey of adoption. To God be the glory!

Today we celebrated the six-month anniversary of our court date in a very special way. We're out in Los Angeles visiting family and we decided that today would be a perfect day to go to Disneyland. So off we went! We could've spent several days here riding the rides and having fun, but we managed to do as much as we could in one day. We all had a blast! The boys got to meet Mickey Mouse and everything! What a day! What a celebration! We're so thrilled to be a family!

Our six-month post-placement report went very well. One of the social workers from our adoption agency came over earlier this month to do the home visit for the report. We had a great visit with him. He was impressed with how well the boys are doing, especially their language skills.

We recognize the importance of following through with the post-placement reports and are happy to let our Russian friends know how well our boys are doing. Our prayers go out to all of you who have been affected by the recent list of home study agencies which were blacklisted because they supposedly didn't follow through with post-placement reports. We pray that all will come together and that your adoptions will proceed without difficulty. We pray also for your children who are waiting to be united with you. May God continue to keep them in His tender care!

Below are some pictures from our special day today!

Love, Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei