The Plan...

Here is the plan for when I (Vanessa) return to Eastern Europe.

I am leaving on March 11th to head back to Eastern Europe.

I will get there on March 12th this is when we should get the paperwork from court saying that Baby A is our son and this is technically "Gotcha Day." Gotcha Day is when you get to take your child with you and they leave the orphanage or hospital for the last time. We have decided it would be better for Baby A to stay in the hospital until the day before we fly back home. So even though I could take him that day I wont. That is also why our Gotcha Day counter changed because I moved it to the date I will take him from the hospital.

During my stay I will be getting Baby A's birth certificate, passport and I will also have an interview with the US embassy then they will give me Baby A's visa so we can bring him HOME!!! We have more paperwork to fill out and I'm not really sure what all will happen that week. I will try to spend as much time with Baby A as possible so hopefully his transition will be smoother.

On March 15th Sandy will fly into Eastern Europe (where I'm at) to help me with Baby A and she will also be flying home with Baby A and I. Sandy has visited Baby A several times and has taken EB supplies to his hospital.  She works with EB kids from all over the world and we have developed a really neat friendship over the last year. We call her Aunt Sandy :) She will stay at our house for the first few days we get Baby A home which will be a HUGE help. Thank you Sandy!!!

Sandy, Baby A and I all fly out of Eastern Europe March 17th and once we land in America Baby A will officially be a US Citizen. Jason and I have talked a lot about if we were going to have a big welcome group at the airport and we have decided that it would be better for Baby A if we didn't have a big group there. Let me just tell you all this BREAKS my heart. I so wanted everyone to get to come and share in our joy but after flying for 13 hours then having a 4 hour layover then one more flight home I don't know how Baby A will react and we want to try to keep it as low key as possible for him. Jason, Kenya and Judah will be there and our AMAZING photographer Michelle Monk will be taking pictures so you will all get to see those first few moments of our family together.

We were also talking about if we would let our families come see him and how we wanted those first few weeks and months to go once he is home. Here is our plan. We are going to let our families come over for the first week we are home then after that we are going to go into hiding for several weeks to several months. We really want to help Baby A bond to us as his Mom and Dad and we know that won't happen with a ton of people around. We are so excited to show our SON (he is our son... so EXCITING!!!!) off to all of our friends but that will all come in time. We love you all and hope that you are not hurt by any of this.

I can't wait to share pictures of our son with you all. Hopefully 2 weeks from today we will have the paperwork we need and can start sharing :)

Some things to pray about:

1. Please be praying there wont be any delays in the paperwork we really don't want to have to change our flights.
2. Please be praying they won't try to search Baby A (at the airport) and please pray they wont give us a hard time since he is bandaged. Please pray they would listen to me if I need to tell them how to handle him.
3. Please be praying that we can get 3 seats together on the flight home. It is pretty full I know they can get 2 together but I really need Sandy to sit with us so this is a big one.
4. Please pray for Baby A as his whole world is about to get turned upside down. Please pray that he would do well on the flight and that the pressure wouldn't hurt his ears. Please pray that he would be able to sleep on the fight and that he would eat well on the plane.
5. Please pray for our family as we add Baby A to it. We know it will take him time before he realizes we are his parents and Kenya and Judah are his brother and sister. We are willing to do whatever it takes to help him bond to us.

Thank you all so much for everything. I can't wait to bring our son home!

Jonah's EB Auction

Hey guys please go check out Jonah's EB Auction all proceeds go to DebRA.


Here is the description from the site: 

THE AUCTION IS LIVE! BIDDING IS OPEN!

For the third straight year, we will be celebrating Jonah's birthday by holding an auction to raise funds for DebRA, an organization that supports EB patients and families AND provides research funds in search of a cure for EB.

The 2012 auction begins Friday (2/24) at 8pm EST and runs through Monday (2/27) at 9pm EST. 

CLICK HERE AND START BIDDING :) 

EB and adoption.

I am part of an EB community on FB and I have learned a TON about EB from that group. There are several families who have adopted their EB children so we have a separate group to support each other.  One of the Moms Trisha already has a son with EB and they were in the process of adopting a boy named Seth who also has EB. She flew to meet him for the first time a few weeks ago and well things did not end as they had hoped. Please go read her update and pray for their family. I bawled like a baby reading what happened. I know her family could really use all the love and support they can get right now. HERE is the post. 

Baby A is an orphan NO MORE!!!!

Praise God from whom ALL blessings flow Baby A is an orphan NO MORE!!!! 

Thank you guys so much for praying for us God is so so faithful!!! We love you all so much!

We still can't share details until after the 30 day wait is over so PLEASE don't post his name or picture until after I say it's okay. 

Today is going to be a great day :)

I am glad the judge wasn't able to tell us her decision yesterday and here is why... I came home (to our apartment in Eastern Europe) after court with an awful headache. I went to bed at 6:45pm and didn't get up till 8:30am... Yes I slept for 14 hours :) I was pretty emotionless during court because my head hurt so bad. I think if she told us we were approved yesterday I would have been excited but wouldn't have really been able to enjoy the moment because my head we killing me. I am now rested and refreshed and ready to hear that he is officially our son (Lord willing that's what she will say) :) Love you all thank you guys so much for all the words of encouragement and for all the prayers! We will post as soon as soon as we can so you all know the news!

God has blessed us so much during this trip, well really during the whole adoption process. We can't complain about any of it because everything that has happened has been according to God's will and for His glory. We will continue to praise God because He alone is worthy of our praise! 


This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Court again tomorrow!

The Ministry of Education rep was for us as well as the Procurator (to our surprise) so things just kept getting better and better for us throughout court today. When the judge left to make her decision she came back and was looking for one more piece of paper that she had to have to let us know her decision, well it was not found so we have court again tomorrow. Please keep praying! 

Today was a good day.

• Today was a great day! First we went to court and Jason was able to explain to the judge why we want to adopt a child with special needs. He did a great job! I don't believe the judge hates us or is trying to make us work harder for no reason but I believe maybe we didn't fully convince her that we are ready to take on the care of Baby A so she is just going through this extra step so that she can be sure we are ready. We are by no means upset or discouraged about having to get the psych evaluations done. In fact our psych evaluations went really good and were kinda fun! 

   We will have court on Tuesday and come home on Wednesday. I'm thinking I wont blog over the next few days just because we are so busy it is hard to keep up with it. Everything is fine and we are doing really really good. I am working on a post about why I respect the process to adopt from Eastern Europe and I can't wait to finish it. 

  Love you all! 

How court went today..

Court didn't go as we expected. We were there for an hour and a half and I thought it was going pretty good (as good as that sort of thing can go), she was asking us tons of questions which we had great answers for (well at least I think so) :) then she said she needed to take a break. She came back and said she wants us to have psych. evaluations done in Eastern Europe before she will decide. We are going back to court tomorrow at 10am and she will tell us where we will be going for our evaluations then we will go back one day next week for court where she will decide if we can adopt Baby A. I am of course bummed out but I am also filled with peace knowing that God is sovereign over all of this and I fully trust Him! Love you all! Please keep praying! Please don't post our names or Baby A's name if you ask others online to pray about this for us. I DO NOT want the media over here finding out what is going on!

I was listening to Emilio's sermon on Philippians 4:1-7 before I went to bed last night so I was filled with peace as the court hearing was going on. I kept saying Philippians 4:4-7 over and over and over during court I kept saying my hope is in the Lord not in what this judge tells us. God is faithful and amazing and right in all He does and I trust Him! 

We love you all!!! Please keep praying for us and for the judge! 

Please don't post our names or Baby A's name if you ask others to pray for us online. We DO NOT want the media over here finding out what is going on. 

Love you all!

Court is TODAY!!!

• Today is the is day!!! We are about to leave for court!!! It will be several hours before we post anything because after court we will go see Baby A but Lord willing you will all wake up to some exciting news!!! Please be praying for us and the judge. Thanks and we love you all!

Day 7 (2nd trip)

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday I totally forgot to do it...

This wont be a long post either because we still have a lot to do to get ready for court.

I am so blown away by God's faithfulness to us. It amazes me that in 12 hours we will stand before a judge and tell her why we want Baby A to be our son. God has blessed us so much and I can't wait until Baby A is officially our son.

We are going to let y'all know (hopefully tomorrow) if the judge approves our adoption but it is EXTREMELY  important that you all know you CAN NOT post online anywhere his name and say he has been adopted until after the 30 day wait is over. I know it's lame but it could result in us not being able to bring him home if we don't do this the right way. I am totally bummed out that we can't share his name, pictures or any of the fun details but in 30 days you had better believe that you will be overwhelmed with the amount of pictures and details you will be seeing. And when I give the go ahead you can post details wherever you want :)

Please be praying for wisdom for us during court. I am so nervous and so ready for court to be over. More than anything we pray that God is glorified through all of this and that His name will be made great. This has nothing to do with us but everything to do with glorifying our great God and savior.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 1Corinthians 10:31