One year ago today! (Part three)

This entry celebrates two big anniversaries. One year ago today, we met Andrey and Ilya for the very first time. And eight months ago this week, we brought them home to Kansas. We'll try to chronicle our first whirlwind trip to meet the boys and let you know how they're doing now that we've been home eight months.

"They tell me you're my new Mom."

After a harrowing two-day travel schedule, we got to Krasnoyarsk on 4-27-06. We were whisked away to the Ministry of Education to get permission to meet the boys. Then, with a bit of trepidation, we went to meet the boys. They were in two seperate buildings, which makes us pretty sure they had never met each other. We first met Carson, and it wasn't a happy introduction. We scared the heck out of him, and he bawled for 15 minutes or so. He finally let Mama hold him, but was warry of both of us the whole time. The journal entry documents, "Sweet kid, a little scared, quiet but endearing."

"They dressed me all fancy just to meet you."

Conner was another story all together. We'll never forget sitting in the tiny lobby when he came in from outside all bundled up in a fake-fur winter coat (it was probably 60 degrees outside). He gave us a big smile and a giggle when we pretended to tickle him. When they took us to the visitation room, he came in and dutifully gave Mama a hug, and commenced to playing with ever toy in the room. Wore us out! The journal documents, "Big smile, funny outfit, ACTIVE!, loved chasing bubbles...put away every toy when asked to do so."

Another moment we'll never forget was being told by the orphanage physician that Conner had been diagnosed with bronchitis nineteen times, and hospitalized five of those times. Holy cow! That wasn't in the two-page medical history they sent us. How could they leave that out? Was he ok? Sure was an active kid for being so sick. We decided, with western medicine, he would be ok. We were right. Look at them now!

Our first trip to Krasnoyarsk was a whirlwind. Barely enough time to process everything. And so much was yet to come! We were wisely told to tour Moscow while we were there, and had a wonderful time with Phillip, our private tour guide. We went home very motivated to get back asap to bring the boys home. Looking back, it was miraculous that we got through the process during such turmoil. We feel that we may possibly be one of the very last people to bring home two unrelated toddler boys from Russia.

Our most sincere thoughts go out to the families who are waiting for news of reacreditation. It can't be possible that Russia will forever close its borders to parents willing to give a better life to these children.

One year ago today! (Part two)

We have reached the one-year anniversary of the most incredible day of our adoption process, and perhaps of our lives. In our last entry, we left you at the point of a very traumatic decision that we made on April 10, 2006. We decided we were not prepared to adopt a child with severe developmental challenges, so we declined a referral for two boys, one of whom was a healthy boy named Ilya. We were told that it could be nine to twelve months before we received a second referral, and that Russia was not allowing many/any two child referrals anymore.

The decision was heartbreaking enough, but to be told we may well wait for a year only to get a referral for a single child...that made it almost impossible to say no to Ilya. But we stuck to our guns and decided to wait for as long as it took to get our two little boys.

On April 11, 2006, less than 24 hours after we said goodbye to two sweet boys, our agency called again. We were sure they were just calling to check up on us; see if we were ok. No, it was for what they called a "replacement referral." What?! Surely you don't mean... One of us (Rochelle) screamed with joy through the phone. The other (Curtis) just didn't get it. They were calling to say another boy had been identified for us, and was being offered along with Ilya!

Andrey Victorovich Milaskin was 20 months old, and located in the same orphanage as Ilya, but in a different building. We worked feverishly fast to get his medical history reviewed, and learned he was a healthy little boy. Within hours, we formally accepted the referral and two days later we had our itinerary for the first of two trips to Russia. In between that time, we learned that our friends, the Parracks, who were in Krasnoyarsk at the time, were bringing home two boys from not only the same orphanage, not only the same building, but the same 15-child playgroup! They sent us this picture of Andrey they took while visiting their boys.

Victorovich, as you might guess, means victory. Milashkin means sweet. Sweet victory is a pretty good way to describe the events of April 11, 2006. We were finally going to bring home two little Siberian boys and it felt like a miracle. Now, it was also a miracle that we got through the whole process, because we faced some extreme hurdles and obstacles from April 12th until we brought the boys home four months later. Maybe we'll continue posting one year anniversary entries to give further snapshots of this amazing adventure.

We'll promise some new photos along the way too. The boys are doing very well, despite a frustrating cold spell that has kept us indoors way too much. Not fair that in our first seven months of being a family, we've had an unusually cold winter plus a spring cold spell.