Friday, March 20, 2009
WE ARE HOME
We arrived home last night at 9:00pm and Bryce has touched 50% of everything in our home. The world as we used to know it no longer exists. We will post more later but we wanted to let you know that we are HOME and so grateful for this time of exploration and transition.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Final Hours
It is just after 3:00pm here in Moscow on Wednesday afternoon and we are getting all of the final details finalized before we head out to the airport at 4:30am. We are going to a birthday party for two little girls that were adopted by a family we became firneds with tonight and it is off tomorrow for the long trip home.
We arrive into Newark Liberty International Airport at 5:20pm via Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Bryce will then be a US citizen. What a test of endurance this has been and we are excited to start this new journey when we return home. It will be nice to have some space, show Bryce his new room, meet many new friends and do some wash. (We did the wash in the sink but nothing comapres to the machine) We spent last night in the Old Arbat section of the city and had dinner and enjoyed our time together. It was very nice. Please be in prayer for Bryce as this trip will be long (3.5 hours to Frankfurt and 9 hours to Newark) I hope he sleeps...
This is our last post from this side of the big ocean but we look forward to keep this updated for those that might want to see Bryce grow and for other families in the midst of the Amazing Race!
Billy for the 4 of us
We arrive into Newark Liberty International Airport at 5:20pm via Lufthansa from Frankfurt and Bryce will then be a US citizen. What a test of endurance this has been and we are excited to start this new journey when we return home. It will be nice to have some space, show Bryce his new room, meet many new friends and do some wash. (We did the wash in the sink but nothing comapres to the machine) We spent last night in the Old Arbat section of the city and had dinner and enjoyed our time together. It was very nice. Please be in prayer for Bryce as this trip will be long (3.5 hours to Frankfurt and 9 hours to Newark) I hope he sleeps...
This is our last post from this side of the big ocean but we look forward to keep this updated for those that might want to see Bryce grow and for other families in the midst of the Amazing Race!
Billy for the 4 of us
Monday, March 16, 2009
Embassy Visit Complete
This afternoon we went to the US Embassy and finalized Bryce's visa and citizenship. It brought back a lot of memories of the past 5 years and this journey and I started to cry right in front of the Consular Agent. Embarrasing. We have his US Visa and Russian passport. Bryce will hold dual citizenship until 16 then he can decide what to do next. The interesting thing is that if he does not renounce his Russian citizenship and he coames to Russia between the ages of 17-29 he could be drafted into the Russian army. Interesting...
When Bryce's feet hit the ground in Newark he will be an official US Citizen. We are excited about the reality that we leave for home in just 2.5 days. We have meet so many wonderful people and Bryce has been haivng some play dates here with a family that works for the Dutch Embassy but they are from Serbia. Very Cool.
We talked this AM with a family from Munich Germany about their adoption and we have plans to see Red Square with a family we were with in KRAs Tuesday and we have a birthday party for two girls Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn. Then its home...
How do we even begin to tell you how God has placed this love in our hearts for our little man and the part that each of you have played. We would not be here without you! From the financial help to the workds of encouragement to the rides to the airport to the countless prayers on our behalf. We are so grateful.
Billy for the four of us
When Bryce's feet hit the ground in Newark he will be an official US Citizen. We are excited about the reality that we leave for home in just 2.5 days. We have meet so many wonderful people and Bryce has been haivng some play dates here with a family that works for the Dutch Embassy but they are from Serbia. Very Cool.
We talked this AM with a family from Munich Germany about their adoption and we have plans to see Red Square with a family we were with in KRAs Tuesday and we have a birthday party for two girls Wednesday night at the Holiday Inn. Then its home...
How do we even begin to tell you how God has placed this love in our hearts for our little man and the part that each of you have played. We would not be here without you! From the financial help to the workds of encouragement to the rides to the airport to the countless prayers on our behalf. We are so grateful.
Billy for the four of us
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Updates
We have been in Moscow for 4 days now and we leave for home on Thursday. This has been an amazing journey for each of us in so many ways. A few updates...
- Bryce is an Eagles fan. For all you Giants fans we gave him the chance to say EAGLES and Giants and he easily said EAGLES but would not say GIANTS. I hope that this puts to rest all of the questioning from a certain few giants fans.
- The young lady that is staying at our home is single and a college graduate as some of you have asked. Wonderful young lady.
We spent the day in Red Square and getting a tour of the area. It was a lot of fun. Last night we meet a family here at the hotel that are working for the Dutch Embassy. They are 1/2 Serbian and 1/2 Dutch and it was fun to spend some time with them. We are trying to give Bryce more down time in the morning and it seems to be working well.
Tomorrow at 1:00pm (6:00am PA time) we head to the US Embassy for the final stages of paperwork and payments. We will let you know how it all works out. We have leanred so much about patience, people, God, Evangelism, materialism, political systems etc and we as a family are so grateful that you have been with us on this journey.
B for the F
- Bryce is an Eagles fan. For all you Giants fans we gave him the chance to say EAGLES and Giants and he easily said EAGLES but would not say GIANTS. I hope that this puts to rest all of the questioning from a certain few giants fans.
- The young lady that is staying at our home is single and a college graduate as some of you have asked. Wonderful young lady.
We spent the day in Red Square and getting a tour of the area. It was a lot of fun. Last night we meet a family here at the hotel that are working for the Dutch Embassy. They are 1/2 Serbian and 1/2 Dutch and it was fun to spend some time with them. We are trying to give Bryce more down time in the morning and it seems to be working well.
Tomorrow at 1:00pm (6:00am PA time) we head to the US Embassy for the final stages of paperwork and payments. We will let you know how it all works out. We have leanred so much about patience, people, God, Evangelism, materialism, political systems etc and we as a family are so grateful that you have been with us on this journey.
B for the F
Friday, March 13, 2009
No, I dont want your boogy!
Julia and I agree that this is now the title of our trip. Last night Bryce was "picking his nose" and offered the rewards to Cindy. She kindly turned him down with the following words...
"No I do not want your boogy, but thank you"You know that having a two year old boy is not like a girl. Julia and I were laughing so hard when she responsed this way.
Classic. We have a son who has been in an orphanage for his entire life and it has lacked a lot of love and nurturing. He is fascinated by EVERYTHING. The list would be far to long to re-write today but every step is a new step in this journey.
- He touches everything that we walk past and his little fingers go into everything. Even his tongue gets to touch a few things as well. Every car he can touch when we walk him, every little hole we walked past, every groove in the woodwork etc.
- Bryce has already learned a lot of English in one week. He talks 50% in English and 50% in Russian. My guess is that two weeks in America and the Russian will be gone.
- He watches and mimicks EVERYTHING Julia does. It is one of the special parts of parenting as you watch your kids interact.
- Active is an understatement. I know that part of it is the 9 year lesson with Julia compared to the boy stage but the goodnews is that we have been very consistent with working with him and we are seeing good improvement.
- When we sing (especially Jesus love me or the I love you Barney song, he watches so intently)
Today is Friday here in Moscow and yestarday we started our day at 3:45am. We left the Hotel Krasnoyarsk and made the 45 minute trip to the airport. We checked in and waited the 90 minutes or our flight to take off and Bryce quickly fell asleep. He slept for the first 1.5 hours of the 5 hour flight back to Moscow and that was very nice. We was then busy for the reamiander of the flight but not nearly as bad as I might have thought it could be. One of the highlights of the trip for me was the last 90 minutes of the flight and Cindy and I look over and Julia and 2 teenage Russian girls are working at talking to each other using pictures, the dictionary that Julia wrote out and sign language. These girls are a part of the russia winter olympic porgram and they were coming back to Moscow from training. There is Julia enjoying the culture at 35,000 feet talking to these two girls. It brought me to tears.
We arrived in Moscow and made our way right away to the Medical Clinic here for Bryce. Another $120 and Bryce had his first visit with the doctor as our parents. He then went to have blood drwn and did not cry one little bit. He is tough and he had to grow that way in the orphanage to survive. We are working to eliminate that and he runs to each of us calling out our name (Papa, Momma of Julia) and gives us the biggest hug/kiss.
We then came to the hotel in Moscow and tryed to keep him awake until the last possible time we could to get him on the Moscow time. Krasnoyarsk is 4 hours ahead of Moscow.
We are slept from about 8:00pm to 5:00am. We had breakfats this AM and Bryce ate 3 hard bollied eggs and cereal. The food has not been terrible but it is a challenge each meal. He will eventually eat. He drinks a lot.
We have been told that with recent issues here in Russia with adoption that we will not be able to leave early. We are bummeed but it is what God has for us.
Some of you have asked about our flight home and wanting to come to the airport...
We arrive back to the US next Thursday (yeah, only 6 days) at 5:20pm into Newark Liberty International Airport. We are flying Lufthansa Airlines and we are coming from FRankfurt. Let me know if you need and specific details and we can give them to you.
Billy for the Family
We
"No I do not want your boogy, but thank you"You know that having a two year old boy is not like a girl. Julia and I were laughing so hard when she responsed this way.
Classic. We have a son who has been in an orphanage for his entire life and it has lacked a lot of love and nurturing. He is fascinated by EVERYTHING. The list would be far to long to re-write today but every step is a new step in this journey.
- He touches everything that we walk past and his little fingers go into everything. Even his tongue gets to touch a few things as well. Every car he can touch when we walk him, every little hole we walked past, every groove in the woodwork etc.
- Bryce has already learned a lot of English in one week. He talks 50% in English and 50% in Russian. My guess is that two weeks in America and the Russian will be gone.
- He watches and mimicks EVERYTHING Julia does. It is one of the special parts of parenting as you watch your kids interact.
- Active is an understatement. I know that part of it is the 9 year lesson with Julia compared to the boy stage but the goodnews is that we have been very consistent with working with him and we are seeing good improvement.
- When we sing (especially Jesus love me or the I love you Barney song, he watches so intently)
Today is Friday here in Moscow and yestarday we started our day at 3:45am. We left the Hotel Krasnoyarsk and made the 45 minute trip to the airport. We checked in and waited the 90 minutes or our flight to take off and Bryce quickly fell asleep. He slept for the first 1.5 hours of the 5 hour flight back to Moscow and that was very nice. We was then busy for the reamiander of the flight but not nearly as bad as I might have thought it could be. One of the highlights of the trip for me was the last 90 minutes of the flight and Cindy and I look over and Julia and 2 teenage Russian girls are working at talking to each other using pictures, the dictionary that Julia wrote out and sign language. These girls are a part of the russia winter olympic porgram and they were coming back to Moscow from training. There is Julia enjoying the culture at 35,000 feet talking to these two girls. It brought me to tears.
We arrived in Moscow and made our way right away to the Medical Clinic here for Bryce. Another $120 and Bryce had his first visit with the doctor as our parents. He then went to have blood drwn and did not cry one little bit. He is tough and he had to grow that way in the orphanage to survive. We are working to eliminate that and he runs to each of us calling out our name (Papa, Momma of Julia) and gives us the biggest hug/kiss.
We then came to the hotel in Moscow and tryed to keep him awake until the last possible time we could to get him on the Moscow time. Krasnoyarsk is 4 hours ahead of Moscow.
We are slept from about 8:00pm to 5:00am. We had breakfats this AM and Bryce ate 3 hard bollied eggs and cereal. The food has not been terrible but it is a challenge each meal. He will eventually eat. He drinks a lot.
We have been told that with recent issues here in Russia with adoption that we will not be able to leave early. We are bummeed but it is what God has for us.
Some of you have asked about our flight home and wanting to come to the airport...
We arrive back to the US next Thursday (yeah, only 6 days) at 5:20pm into Newark Liberty International Airport. We are flying Lufthansa Airlines and we are coming from FRankfurt. Let me know if you need and specific details and we can give them to you.
Billy for the Family
We
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Photos
We have been so busy with this little man that putting photos of our journey up has been a challenge. I finally I have a chance...
We leave Krasnoyarsk in less than 24 hours and Cindy is already packed. We are ready to be home. Enjoy these photos.
#1: Megan has been staying at our home while we are away with another former youth grouper and she locked her car keys in her car while the car was still running and we want to thank Bob for coming to the rescue.
#2: Bryce is his new EAGLES outfit. Go Birds.
#3: Bryce wearing Julia's soccer t-shirt in honor of the Socceroos.
#4: Bryce after his first bath. We started with a washclothe then to the floor with some water then Daddy in the tub then Bryce in the tub then Julia in the tub and he LOVED it. We were all soaked but he is clean.
#5: Julia and Bryce on the ice slides.
We leave for Moscow tomorrow at 4:30am. Needless to say not much sleep.
We love each of you and thanks for following along. What an amazing journey. We have never been more challenged and yet sensed amazing joyat the same time.
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