Getting Closer to Registration

Well, folks, we're making progress on the paperwork front. With the documents I had apostilled today and mailed to our agency, I think we'll have everything we need turned in for registration in Vlad. We should find out next week if the agency is good with our paperwork. If so, they're off to Russia. Then we'll see what the MOE says.

It's been an interesting couple of weeks in our household. Two weeks ago we ALL had the flu. We all got over it after two or three days except for Nadya, our exchange student from Russia. Her temperature kept spiking, even one time to 104.7 degrees. Scary! We took her to the emergency room at our local hospital. They sent her home with some meds. Uggh! We had hoped they would do more, but unfortunately didn't. When she was even worse the next day we took her back. They did a chest x-ray and discovered she had pneumonia. During the course of three days here in the hospital it got worse. They transferred her to Cardinal Glennon in St. Louis. Despite the ride down there in the midst of all the snow last Wednesday night, the rest of the experience was very positive. They were able to get her on the road to recovery and by Saturday we were heading home. She's on a seriously strong antibiotic that has to administered through a picc line. That's been fun, especially the one at 3:30am every morning. Oh well, we're glad she's on the mend, and we're very thankful for the prayers of family and friends.

While we were all down with flu, we received our little guy's medical, but it was still in Russian. Nadya took a stab at it and did a pretty good job of translating it, aside from some of the big medical terms. A couple of days later they sent us an English translation. He has the usual developmental delays and some other minor issues, but nothing earth shattering. Thanks be to God. Now we just pray that the next couple of months fly by so we can go meet him. Paperwork hasn't been too bad. It's nice to have another family using the same agency as us as well as the same home study agency. The dilemmas that they solved in the past couple of months with paperwork have helped us get things done the right way the first time (or second time). Anyway, we certainly don't wish paperwork hassles on anyone, but the frustrations and hard work of others often prove fruitful to other families who are trailing them in the paperwork stage. So thanks to Justin and Heather! Their paperwork dramas have helped us avoid dramas, at least we hope. Please keep them in your prayers as they await news of a court date! Blessings to you all.

Joel, Clarion, Slav, Sergei & Nadya

Can you say "apostille"?

New Year Greetings, Everyone! Well, we just returned from a whirlwind trip to Texas. We left Illinois the day after Christmas and drove to Houston to visit family. The boys were very excited and Nadya was really looking forward to seeing "The Republic of Texas!" We had an awesome week. Before we left we had a stack of papers ready to take to the Secretary of State's office in Springfield upon our return. Thankfully, while we were gone our amended home study arrived. (We had to have it amended only days after it was complete once we received the news about our sons' biological sibling in Russia. The original home study only specified a girl.)

Anyway, Joel, the boys, Nadya, and a friend from Armenia headed to Springfield today with documents in hand. We had 47 documents apostilled today. Whew! (We never knew what that word meant until our first adoption!) And we were able to spend some time at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum while we waited. We even had lunch at the Cozy Drive-in where the corn dog (they call it the cozy dog) was supposedly invented. Anyway, we're getting closer to being registered in Russia. Tomorrow, the apostilled documents will be on their way to our agency, and hopefully next week on their way to Russia. That's it for now. Blessings to all of you in this New Year! We continue to rejoice in all of the blessings God is pouring out on us. Thank you for all of your prayers! Our prayers are with all of you who are adopting, especially those of you who are ever so patiently waiting to travel.

Love,

Joel, Clarion, Slav & Sergei