Another Day with No News.........

Well several people have asked for an update, and unfortunately we have no update. So here is for you Lucille Brown, who said to post anyway and say we have no news. So before I tell you about the news we do not have about Russia or Wyatt, let me just say that I am sad because today was Lucille's last day with VistaCare. Many of you may not know Lucille by name, but you know that I have always said we have a nurse at the office, that if anything ever happens to me and I require a nurse that Justin is to call Lucille. She is also the one who several weeks back was at our home before 7:00am doing blood draws for me and Justin. Well, she has moved on for a different opportunity and I am sad about this! I wanted to be ugly, and shelfish but Lucille makes it very hard. So good luck Lucille, and if you change your mind you can always come back. Will you think about it?

About Russia:

There were two couples ahead of us, their court date has been set for February 7th. Hopefully, this means we are getting closer.

Irina is snow skiing in Japan this week with her family. I hope she makes it back safe and sound so that she can get our court date scheduled. Hopefully, next week we will know a return date. Cross your fingers?!?!?!?!

The couple that Irina said would email me pictures of Wyatt did so this past Sunday. I emailed them and asked if they could send me a copy in the mail because it was such large pictures I could not view them. But, today at the office I was showing Cara K and she worked her magic, and got me pictures to look at. She printed them in color, and then Julie laminated them. Thank you ladies because now I have recent pictures of Wyatt to enjoy. Not the same as being there, but at least it is new photos to enjoy! Wyatt has on a homemade hat because of his ear infection, either they are on to something and I need to patten this, or ............. Not sure or else what because it is funny looking.

Well for nothing to say, I took up a lot of space today. I hope that everyone has a nice weekend, and I hope to share some good news in the coming days. Remember, in order to be home by Wyatt's 1st birthday we have to be back in Russia by February 15th. If we miss the February 15th deadline we will then pray that we can get there in time to spend his 1st birthday with him.

Wyatt has an ear infection

I got an email from Irina this morning, and she tells me Wyatt has an ear infection. Another couple from the US have been there this week, and they took some pictures of Wyatt. Irina put this couple on a plane yesterday, and told them to email me Wyatt's pictures when they got here to the United States. Hopefully, we will have some updated pictures to look at later this week! Irina says I will be able to look at the photos, and see that he has grown since I left him. All I know is we better get invited back soon, or all of these clothes that I have in the closet for him will soon be to small.

Have a great weekend, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

Crazy or Not....

Well, it is official we were both given releases and told that neither of us were crazy! But, I have to say it has been the hardest part of the process, at least in most recent days. Justin, had his appointment first thing this morning, and afterwards he called me to share his experience. Let me say that I already had concerns about the upcoming appointment, and it did not help that Justin told me several times " less is more". Justin told me I would go into the Doctors office sit down, and that the Doctor would not talk for 10 minutes, but that he would look up occasionally and take notes of nothing specific, I guess. That is exactly how it happened, but during the silence all I keep hearing was tick,tick,tick. There was a clock in front of me, a grandfather clock to the side of me, and a clock behind my head. Tick, Tick, Tick.... The doctor asked me a series of questions like have I ever had a depressive state ( No, I said) have I ever had a manic state, according to him where I was hyper, very active, lots of projects going, and not much sleep ( No, I said) Did I hear voices in my head (No, I said) tried any drugs, ever ( No, I said) had any violations with the law ( No, I said) even a citation, well Okay yes to that question. He asked about my earliest childhood memory, good, bad, or otherwise. I told him about the time my mom left me ( I was two) and my oldest brother at the gas station in Seymour, Texas. He asked if I had abandonment issues, I said No. I told him I had my hands on my hips when she came back for us and said, Why did you leave us? He asked if I had anger issues. I keep reminding myself less is more, and I keep thinking to myself treat this like a job interview, and choose your words wisely! I will say based on a comment I made about Justin during my session, he suggested that Justin might benefit from a follow up visit!!!! Justin and I laughed a lot today about this entire, crazy experience. Justin said the Doctor could not even help me because I was not honest with 50% of my answers. I said just for that I will call and make you that appointment that the Doctor suggested.

All of our requirements are completed, and as soon as I get the letter in the mail from the Oncologist, I will bundle everything together and mail it to European Adoption, which should be early next week.

Email from Irina

I received an email from Irina today and thought I would share it with you. It reads:

Reconstruction of the social services is almost over. I'll do everything I can for you to be back as soon as possible. I've seen Wyatt today, he was sitting in his crib when I got in, in a good mood. He says Hello. You know, I think he put some weight on him. I saw him about a week ago and today when I was there it was the first thing I noticed about him. He pulls himself up and I think grew. I'll ask for his new measurements tomorrow, will email you.

Irina

I have said this before, but Irina is a wonderful Russian lady who communicates well with us. We are blessed to have her there working on behalf of little Wyatt Andrey and me and Justin. I guess she knew just what to say when she said, " Wyatt says Hello", Who prompted her to say that?

Just another day of waiting!!!!!

Well we have nothing new to report today, but I thought I would let you know that. I did send Irina an email earlier today asking for an update. I think I mentioned in an earlier post, but they haven taken the month of January to reorganize the court system, notaries, and family education department. These are all the departments we need to complete the process, go figure!

With each passing day we miss him more, and more. Justin asked me yesterday how many trips was I going to make to the nursery, and how long was I going to stay in Wyatt's room. I found myself moving, straighting, folding, organizing, planning, moving back what had already been moved, just whatever to stay in the room. I asked Justin if he thought I was crazy? He said, let's just get through the appointments this week before he answers that. My heart aches a little deeper with each day of not knowing, and just wanting to be back with him.

I promise when I know something each of you will know something, until then here is my prayer.

Dear Lord:

Thank you for this blessing that you haven given us, and that you have trusted us to love one of your children. Protect Wyatt today, place your arms around him and allow him to feel the extra love we are sending. Also, be with the care team as they love, nurture and keep all the little ones safe at Baby Hospital #3. Be with me and Justin, and help us to remember this is all in your timing.

Amen.

It appears we are Cancer Free!!!!!!!!!!!

Well one specialist appointment down, and one more to go. We went to see Dr. Olsen today who is a wonderful Oncologist, and just a great man. He examined both Justin, and I and reviewed the lab work that we brought with us. After, the examination he determined we looked good, and gave us the okay, said he would complete the required form and we would have it next week.

Weekly I am reminded of how blessed we are, and how prayers are being answered for us often. After our exam today, Dr. Olsen said he would keep our charts on file in case we ever had a need, and said not to worry about stopping at the scheduling desk on the way out. As I started down the hall to leave, I wondered where we would settle our bill then. I had already been told that today's appointment would cost $160.00 for us both. I turned around went and found the Dr. and asked about the bill. He looked at his nurse, turned to me, and said there is nothing owed today. So, let me say thank you to a few people. Becky Armstrong for getting us this appointment in the first place, to Dr. Olsen and his staff for being kind, and showing great support for our cause. We really appreciate each of you very much. I hope that you never have a need for an Oncologist, but if you do please remember Dr. Olsen and his staff.

Still no update on a return trip, and every day I think will be the day we get a call giving the next set of directions. We are still hoping and praying for a return date of mid February.

Today started off with a nurse visit before 7:00am

As part of the process for all of the Dr's appt we have scheduled, we needed some labs drawn. So we made arrangements with our good friend Lucille Brown, LPN to be at our house at 7:00am this morning to draw blood. She rang the doorbell promptly at 6:54 am, and got started right away with her patients. For those of you who do not know Justin well, let me just say that he would rather do ANYTHING than give blood. We let him go first, and I tried to give him a play by play, but he was not interested! After, that I was up and gave my blood sample. I am a pro at blood draws, and needles. I have my own red hazard box in this house if that tells you anything! You can not go through as many years of fertility treatments as I have and not grow use to the needles, and blood draws. Justin did good, and Lucille did even better. Thank you, Lucille for being gentle with us both, and getting it on the first stick.

What are we going to do with these lab results you ask? Well we have an appointment on Thursday at 2:30pm with an oncologist, who will review the labs and hopefully determine we are cancer free and write the note we need for Russia. After that the only thing left is our appointment with the psychiatrist, which is scheduled for February 12th. It has been very difficult to find a Dr. willing to do this evaluation, and write this note. When I ask why, and if it is a liability? I am told actually it is because you usually can not tell in one session if someone is really crazy, unless they are extremely crazy.

In all fairness, after I have thought long and hard about both of these Dr.'s appointments. I realize it is for good reason that Russia is asking for them. I was told that cancer will usually get you disqualified from an adoption program here, and we (Americans) have got some bad press recently about some adoptions that went really wrong. The children were adopted by Americans, came to the USA and were killed through neglect or abuse. So, with those things happening the Russians just want to make sure their children are going to good forever homes. I think in the years a head these appointments will not be so hard to get, but we happen to be the pioneers for the program requirements. Go figure.........

We still have not heard anything about a return date, but as soon as we know something you all will be the first to know.

Our newest Addition...

To our wonderful family, and friends I have shared a couple of photos with you. He is precious to us, and we can not wait to share him with all of you!

Continue to pray for us as we work through the necessary paperwork, and pray for Wyatt that he continues to hold his own, and maybe even get a little more good food. Irina emailed me today and said his weight gain was very little, but she is continuing to keep an eye on him. She also commented that he is able to sit up without assistance now.

I can not get back soon enough for me! I am ready to shower him with love, kisses, and goodnight stories.

Surprise baby shower.........

Tonight I was blown away by a surprise baby shower given by all the girls I play Bunco with. I had no idea, and it felt so odd. Odd in the sense that it is really happening for me and Justin, after years of hoping, praying, planning, and trying to have a baby it is really happening!!!! I feel loved by so many people. I feel excited about my future. I feel overwhelmed with emotions. I feel like the luckiest mom in the world. I feel this surprise came at a great time. Oh my gosh, did I say MOM, that is me AKA Lisa.

Thank you girls for an enjoyable evening, and Justin has already said how many diapers does one child need? He loved everything, he loved the games, he loved the snacks. I showed him every last gift tonight, and the dogs were so interested wondering what was going on. After, I showed the ouchy Horse, I put it back in the sack and Joni proceeded to get it out. Justin said maybe she has an ouchy, I said maybe not. We took everything up to Wyatt's room, and closed the door for the evening.

Dr's, Dr's, and more Dr's

For two very healthy people we are having to schedule lots, and lots of Doctors appointments. We have to go see our primary care Dr. again for an updated medical. Mind you we already saw these Dr's back in July for an adoption physical! Now, I am also scheduling an appointment to go see an Oncologist to make sure that neither of us has cancer, and an appointment with a Psychiatrist to find out if either of us is crazy. I want to tell them, all of this is what is making me crazy!!!!! I will let you know once we hear back that we are cancer free and crazy free....... Also, yesterday I went to the Police dept to find out if either of us has a criminal history, or have committed a crime in the past 3 months because again I have already taken the time, and paid the money once to have these forms completed. I was glad to see my husband is free and clear of any crimes, I on the other hand received a speeding ticket, and no seat belt ticket since the last time they pulled records. Thank God they did not include that on the form. Although, in Russia it is probably not what they are looking for considering no one wears seatbelts, they do not even put children in car seats, and they all play by their own traffic rules. You should see the driving in Russia.....

We have not heard any updates on a court date which will determine our return trip, and no weight updates on Wyatt. He will be weighed on January 11th and Irina will email me at that time with an update. It has been a hard week... I miss the little guy, and the last couple of nights I have gone into his room, turned on the lamp and sat in the glider. The glider we have decided to put in his room was in my grandmother's living room, and has been in my own living room until this past weekend when we decided to move it into Wyatt's room. It brings me a lot of comfort, and I feel her in the room with me! GiGi and grandaddy both would have been so excited for this new addition in to our family. I guess as you prepare for a new life, it is a good time to reflect on past lives, and I find myself missing them a lot.

We have been home a week!

We have been home a week, and the time can not go fastest enough for me. I miss Wyatt so bad, and I find myself going to his room to dream about what is ahead of us! Justin and Tim painted his room tonight, and tomorrow we will put his furniture in place. It is starting to look like a little boys room. I want to give you all a website that you can go to if you have time for extra reading, it is http://www.russianmunchkin.com/, this is one of the couples that we met on our first trip, and I had said in one of my earlier blogs they were over there for their 2nd trip. It talks about and shows pictures of the VLAD Inn which is the place we will stay for 3 weeks on our next trip. It appears they feel comfortable posting pictures, so I will try this week to update our blog site with some photos.