Movin' Right Along

Things are coming together! I got my passport today which is a huge deal since I needed that for much of my paperwork as well as to complete our homestudy. We have collected every document needed for our homestudy and we will meet with our social worker on Wednesday for our final meeting. The homestudy should be done shortly after! We are also making good progress on our dossier. Some documents have been more frustrating than others but we are well on our way to having what we need. We are praying for and working toward a May travel date. Oksana will be 5 by the time we get her and we don't want her to live one more day of her 5th year than she has to without a family. Having said that, the idea that we might travel in May brings to mind the millions of things we need to do to prepare for her....first of which is the $18,500 we still need to bring her home. Reece's Rainbow has set up a giving page for our family where 100% of all tax deductible donations go toward our adoption expenses. If you feel led to help us bring our little beauty home you can go to www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorloraine.html or click on Oksana's picture on the right. I also called United Cerebral Palsy in Little Rock today to start to see what our options are regarding therapy and such but I'm waiting for a call back from them. So much to do, so little time!

So Glad We're Not In This Alone!

We had a God moment today. You know, one of those moments where you go "Whew, it's good to know He's there and we're not in this alone!" Let me start by sharing what happened to Larry. A few days ago he called the County Assessor's office to ask about having a letter written that we needed for our dossier that states that we own and live in a house of xxxx square feet, etc. He got a man that was very nice but explained that they would not be able to write a letter the way we were requesting it because they can not prove that we own the house. Hmmmmm....so Larry picks up the deed to our house and heads to the Assessor's office to talk to someone in person. He finds a lady who kindly types up the letter and brings it to the Assessor to sign at which point she says "I can't sign this the way it is written". So Larry ends up in her office and he is pleading with her to help him and they finally come to an agreement on the wording that makes both of them happy. She signs, the nice lady helping him notarizes, he looks at it and quickly realizes it has to be done all over again. See, the notary can not expire within the year and hers expires in April. He apologizes, explains the situation and after re-printing and re-signing they both start a journey to find a notary in the office who is actually there and has a good expiration date. One and a half hours later Larry left and his blood pressure was probably higher but he had the letter in hand. We faxed it to Reece's Rainbow and I swear to you my husband almost cried (not really but I'm sure he at least wanted to scream) when they pointed out that the notary stamp covered words and it has to be clear of any written or typed words. Sure enough, he was going to have to go back.

Larry decided that this time he would first call the nice lady who helped him and apologize profusely over the phone, explain the situation, and hopefully be able to pick up a correct letter later today. At this point neither one of us was surprised when he called and she was out for the day! So he decided to call the man that he had spoken to a few days ago when he first called and see if he could help. He called, explained the situation, apologized profusely and the man agreed to re-type the letter and have it notarized. He decided to scan it and send it to Larry for approval after it was done and sure enough the notary stamp was still covering words! Again, Larry had to call, apologize for the inconvenience, and explain the problem thinking at this point surely they were going to tell him to get lost but would you like to know what the man said? He said "It's no problem at all. This is dear to my heart because I was adopted." That was the most encouraging sentence that Larry possibly could have heard! The man re-typed the letter, had it notarized correctly and it has been approved by Reece's Rainbow! We were so thankful to the Lord for His hand in letting that man be the one to deal with us today. Whew...it's good to know He's there and we're not in this alone!

Names!

I'm so excited because I now know that I can tell you Olivia's real name! Her name is Oksana and she will be Oksana Valerie Loraine. Here's the really cool thing about her names. First of all, there was a child in the foster care system that God used to call us not only to adoption but specifically special needs adoption and her name was Olivia. When we first saw Oksana's picture and started learning about her and feeling drawn to her we had not even looked at her name yet and were shocked to see that it was Olivia! We later found out that her real name is Oksana. As soon as we heard the name we both looked at each other and agreed that we loved it. I love names, in fact naming my kids was one of my favorite parts of my pregnancy. Oksana is one of those names that I have always thought was so beautiful but never would have had the nerve to name a child without a Slavic bone in her body! God, however, decided to give me an Oksana anyway!

We made the decision to keep her name, not only because we love it but also because we know she calls herself Oksana and identifies with it. There are many opinions on either side of the "keep the name or rename" debate but we've felt confident from the beginning that this was the right choice for us. Oksana allows her a name with connection to her heritage so we wanted a middle name that would connect her to her family. That is why her middle name will be Valerie after Larry's sister. Valerie is pregnant with a daughter and Larry, of course, suggested that now she would need to give her daughter the middle name Lawrence! Needless to say that didn't go over too well :).

The things we have already learned about her name are that 1)everyone immediately says "Oh, like the figure skater!" and 2)it is commonly misspelled. We've seen Oxana, Oksena, etc. As my mom said "She'll never have a barrette with her name on it!"

As far as the process, we are still gathering and filling out paperwork and waiting for my passport, which is necessary for us to make any big strides forward. Please pray that it will come quickly!

2 Steps Forward!

This weekend we had our first home study visit and received our dossier! It is just 2 small steps forward but important ones in bringing Olivia home. Right now I feel overwhelmed with the paperwork and all that needs to be done. It's amazing how particular everything has to be down to the color of ink that you use. We are prepared that there will be mistakes and are thankful for the wonderful ladies at Reece's Rainbow who are guiding us through this process. I just keep telling myself to take it one document at a time!

What does it really mean to be in an institution?

I've mentioned before that Olivia was due to be sent to an institution. Back in December a family was there and they told me that Olivia's baby house was for children ages 2-4. Since she was at the top of that age spectrum, and they were running out of space with other little ones coming in behind her, they were beginning to discuss her transfer. This is not uncommon as most children are transferred around age 5. This family begged them to keep her longer so they could try to find her a family. But why? What does it really mean to be sent to an institution?

The other day I jumped onto the website of a family who had adopted a little girl with CP from the same country as us. I was scrolling down learning a bit about their time home with her when I came upon some pictures of Reece's Rainbow kids who needed families. She had listed them in December in hopes that someone would see their child in those eyes. Imagine my surprise when as I scrolled down I was met with the eyes of Olivia! This was written under her picture:

If nothing changes, each of these specific children will soon be sent to live in an institution where they will be confined to a bed. Most sent to the institution die soon after. There is not adequate nutrition or medical attention and there is most certainly not adequate stimulation, attention, connection, or love... This is not a life, even for those who manage to survive. I see glimpses of this existence any time Mary reverts back to her self-soothing rocking pattern. It aches so deep within me to see her do that (which is rare and if she does begin again, we stop her immediately, reminding her: "You have a Mommy and Daddy to rock you now, baby, you don't have to rock yourself... ever again"). The ache is for her past, yes, but also for the present and future of SO MANY like her.

I recently found a report from The Today Show that featured Serbian institutions. Olivia is not in Serbia but this will give you an idea of what so many of the beautiful children in Eastern Europe are facing. It is a harsh reality and I'll warn you that you will need a tissue:

There are so many more out there like Olivia and some won't have a family come to take them away. I can't tell you how it kills me to see the faces of all of the waiting children on Reece's Rainbow's website. Each of them is so beautiful and has so much to offer a family. I truly believe that we are the ones who will be blessed beyond measure because of this little girl's place in our lives. Everyday is a day closer to Olivia and we just can't wait. Please pray for our funding and for all of the details of our paperwork to come together quickly!

More updates

We got notification today that Reece's Rainbow received our inital paperwork and in the next few days we should be getting a whole new load of paperwork! They will also create a profile for us where donations to our adoption can be made directly through them. 100% of all donations will go toward our adoption.

I forgot to mention in my last post that we were told to prepare to bring her home in August! We have the first visit for our home study next Saturday the 16th and just got landed with a bunch of paperwork for that too which those of you who have adopted understand.

Yesterday I had a long talk with a new friend named Ellen who just got home from bringing her beautiful daughter home from the same orphanage! Her daughter, Nina, and Olivia were friends in the orphanage and both have CP. Ellen has been such a blessing to us. We learned all kinds of information about Olivia's personality and what to expect when we are over there. They live in Iowa and we intend to meet after Olivia is home so that the girls can be reconnected. We also decided yesterday that her middle name will be Valerie for Larry's sister. Her real first name is very clearly from her country so we liked that she will have a name that connects her to her heritage and a name that connects her to our family.

The most common phrase in our house right now is "I can't wait to meet her!" If only she knew how much she was loved by a family half way across the world!

The Journey Begins

We are excited to tell you that we are in the process of adopting a 4 year old girl from Eastern Europe! Olivia has mild Cerbral Palsy that only affects her legs. She does not walk independently but does pull up and cruise furniture. We have been very blessed to be connected with a family who just returned from her orphanage who has given us tons of information about her! We know that at her age and in her country she was nearing the time when she would be sent to an institution. The statistics after that are grim to say the least. Olivia is precious, as you can see below, and we are told she is a cuddle bug who desperately wants a family. God clearly called us to a special needs adoption awhile ago and were prepared to start training through the state of Arkansas, but little did we know He had other ideas! We were on one path and rather quickly God plucked us off of that path and stuck us on the one marked "international". Before we had time to say "Wait! That's not the path we were on!" He introduced us to our daughter and then we really didn't care anymore where the path was leading! We will continue to use this blog to share our progress through this journey.

I will add that her country requests anonymity. All I can say on this blog or on Facebook at this time is that she is from Eastern Europe and I will also tell you that Olivia is not her actual name but is the name given to her by the organization that we are working with. If you are a person who we have told privately more than this please do not post that information in any comments. Thank you!

If you are interested in learning more about the organization we are working with you can find them at www.reecesrainbow.com. Their goal is to place children from overseas who are facing institutionalization because of their disabilities. The majority of their children have Down Syndrome but they also have what they call "other angels" who have other disabilities. This is where Olivia was listed....now she's under the section that says "My family found me" :).