New Pics of John Paul!!

on his blog.

Another Blessing!

We have another huge blessing to tell! I had previously said that we were about $500 short on our airfare and that with everyone's help and donations everything else had been covered! We had someone donate $500 to cover the amount we were short on the airfare after that post! I won't mention any names, but thank you so, so much!! That was quite a surprise! A VERY nice surprise and it will really help us! We have been so blessed by you all this Christmas and we appreciate all of you so much!! Thank you all so much for putting out the word about our situation and directing donations toward us. One family that I am aware of asked for anyone that had planned on donating to their child to donate to us instead. Isn't that a beautiful reflection of Christ's love shining through in His children? Thank you so much for being so unselfish and blessing us with your love for our child and our family. That is so amazing! I hope that we will have the opportunity to return all of the blessings that we have been given this Christmas!! We have been SO blessed by all of the kindness that has been shown to us, so very blessed! As I have said previously, we simply would not be bringing Dasha home otherwise. You have all literally given Dasha a new life and us another daughter. I know that you will have treasures in Heaven for the love you have shown Dasha and us! We love you all and appreciate every prayer offered up for us and every donation. I know I have already said much of this previously, but I just don't feel like we can thank you all enough!!

There are new pics of Dasha at the bottom of the previous post!

The Incredible Journey & Dasha Pics!

We are FINALLY home! We had quite the ordeal. Once we checked in at the KLM desk in Kiev they told us there were problems with our tickets and told us to go to the transfer desk once we arrived at Amsterdam. Once in Amsterdam they told us that our ticket prices had not been adjusted from where we changed our departure date. We paid it online and even had a conformation number, but KLM apparently does not have good communication with NWA via their computer systems. After about an hour at the desk they called NWA and got it all straightened out. We never did figure out what the problem actually was, but they finally printed our tickets and sent us on our way. The rest of the flight was uneventful and went smoothly. Then we got in the car and headed for home. About 3 miles from the airport our SUV broke down. It went completely dead and it got pretty cold while we waiting on the side of the road for two hours on a tow truck. So then we piled up in the tow truck and finally came home. What a journey! We think that it is just the battery from where it had been sitting. But at 2:00 in the morning there aren't really any options for getting a new battery. We were at least able to laugh about it all as we sat in the cold waiting. I told Rick we were making memories. The tow truck driver had a southern accent so that was nice to hear in Northern Virginia as soon as we got back to the U.S.! In spite of the delirium caused by no sleep, I knew I was home at last! So now Rick is off getting a new battery to see if that is the problem. Of course the SUV started right up after we got home. But with the lights dimming and the fuel injectors not getting gas to the engine I figure it is either the battery or the computer. We're praying for the battery!

And now the long awaited pictures of sweet Miss Dasha....

These pictures are the first day we saw her (again).
Later The Same Day
Playing With Tissue Paper From Her Gift Bag So This Is a Christmas Present



I have more pictures and some video too that I will post later.

Update on Financial Situation

Thank you so much again to everyone that has helped us to be able to bring Dasha home!!!!! I have figured up what cash we still have now along with the donations to our paypal account, and to Reece's Rainbow. The $2,000 that we were short for our facilitator's fees has been COMPLETELY covered!! Praise God, and thank you all so much!!!!!!! If you remember due to court being so far out after their holidays, we also have to pay for another set of roundtrip tickets. All of you have pulled together for us and reached out to our family so much so that we are only about $500 short on our airfare!! We should be able to cover that ourselves. I cannot believe the generosity that we have been shown!!!! It is just so amazing and I am so touched!!!! This is by far the best Christmas that I have ever had in my life. It's just a miracle the love we have been shown!! Dasha means the world to us and without your help we would not have been able to bring her home. You've all given us a HUGE Christmas miracle!! And once again my words are so inadequate to express our gratitude. Here I go again, crying like a loon in the internet cafe. We're just so very, very grateful!!

Thank you everyone that put the word out for us and that put buttons on your blogs. We appreciate you all so much!!!! I wish their were words that could express how grateful and touched we are. It's just not possible.

We are heading out of Simferopol on the train tonight at 8:00 p.m. Then we will stay overnight in Kiev, and leave for home on the 26th. We are supposed to be home on the 27th and then I will go to NC to pick up John Paul, who I am missing something terrible right now!

We found out today that our court date is Jan. 14th!!!

We saw Dasha again this morning! She is so precious!!! They have a walker for her and she is pretty fast in it. It's really cute to see because she looks so tiny, especially to go so fast in it! She has grown some! I took some clothes to the orphanage to try on her. She wears a size 6 month. Her coat is a 6-9 month and the sleeves are about an inch too long. She's so tiny. When we left this afternoon I put her in her walker like the caretakers ask me to and we walked for the door. She came rolling across the room after us, but her walker wouldn't fit through the double doors because they had one closed. She started crying. No one was watching her at the time because they were getting lunch ready for the kids. I didn't want to leave her, but our facilitator was rushing us to leave because we had paperwork to take care of. I was afraid that she would some how get out of the door so I closed the open door. She started ramming the door with her walker and hitting the door with her arm screaming and crying. Want to talk about something breaking your heart? I hated to close the door, but I wanted her to be safe inside and not some how get out to the stairs. This is a very strong-willed determined little one we are talking about! It did so break my heart to leave her, but we had to go get something notarized for when we come back to get her passport. We are going back this afternoon and I hope that they take her before we leave. I don't want to leave her crying and upset like that knowing I won't see her again for about 18 days. She really seemed to recognize me this time. I was pretty amazed that she did. But I know she did. The first couple of days she acted like she was trying to figure it out and then it was like a light bulb went off. She started doing some of the things that we did last time and things that I taught her. Then she would smile and laugh. I can't wait to get her home with John Paul! It will be so wonderful to have our fmaily together at last! This would not be possible without all of the love and support that we have been shown! Thank you all so very much from the bottom of our hearts!! Merry Christmas and God bless you all!!!!!!

Thank You So Much To Everyone!

I honestly do not know what else to say right now except thank you SO MUCH everybody and praise God!!!!!! I am sitting here looking like a crazy person with tears streaming down my face in the internet cafe because I am so touched by all of the support (in prayers and donations) that we have been given so quickly!! We can't express to you how VERY grateful we are and how much all of you mean to us!!! I am honestly in awe by how God has worked through all of you to help us bring Dasha home!! Thank you all so, so , so, so, so much!!!!!!!!!! My words feel so inadequate right now. There is just no way to express our sincere gratitiude for all of your help!!

We are heading back to the orphanage now. I will try to come back down here later. It gets dark around 4:00 p.m. and it's a pretty cold walk. We have been so rushed with using the internet in between visits with Dasha. I want to take time to tell all about her later. But I just wanted to tell everyone thank you so much for right now!!!!

Dasha

We have been visiting with Dasha since Friday and she is just so precious! Her hair has grown a lot and she has gained weight. She looks much healthier overall. I cannot post pictures because we are using the internet cafe and there is no way to upload the pics here. :( Our apartment this time does not have internet and we cannot afford to get it this time. She fell asleep when I was holding her this afternoon. She is such a sweet little soul! We just love her so much!

We found out after our SDA appointment on Wednesday that we were given the incorrect price for our second adoption. We were told that we would be given a discount to help out, but apparently there was some MAJOR miscommunication. We are currently $2,000 short of the amount needed to complete our adoption of Dasha. Not only that, but with their holidays over here we cannot even get a court date until after Jan. 12th. We do not have our court date confirmed yet, but we do know it will be after the 12th. So that means we also have to buy another set of round trip tickets. Rick has to go back to work and it is just as expensive for me to stay here that long as to return home. And I cannot leave John Paul that long anyway! Even with us paying the additional $2,000 our facilitator is working for free just to help us get Dasha home! You cannot imagine how devastated we have been over here since Wednesday! On one hand I am so thrilled to see Dasha again and on the other hand I am terrified that we are not going to be able to come up with the additional funds to come back for her. We wish that we would have known we were given incorrect information before we came out here because we could have waited a few months to come up with the additional funds. We were just going on what we were told back in June. We had no idea that there was a problem at all until right after we received our referral.

We have no idea what we are going to do about this. We had budgeted for the price we were given, not this new price. Right now this seems impossible to come up with this amount of money, but I know that God can work it out.

I am honestly at a loss for words about it. I just wish that we had known ahead of time so that we could have waited instead of getting here unprepared and having to stress about how we are going to come up with all of this extra money in a matter of a few weeks.

The hardest thing is that we find ourselves asking God for a miracle to not let us lose another two year old little girl that we love beyond what words can express. It gives me a lump in my throat just thinking about it. I believe that everything will work out and that God will provide for us to be able to bring Dasha home, I just don't know how right now.

Please just pray for this situation and if anyone feels led to donate, I have put a paypal buton at the top right corner of this blog. We will appreciate all the prayers and any donations that may given more than we can express!!

We Got Our Referral!!

We had our appointment today and it went great! The lady at the SDA was so kind to us. She seemed to really enjoy the pictures that we took of John Paul. She giggled at his pictures
and said he is a handsome boy. Yulia told her to look at how much of a difference a short period of time makes from being out of the orphanage. She agreed. It was so awesome to have that opportunity to share John Paul with her! He's such a blessing!

They even got our referral paper for us the same day. Yulia was great! She asked them if we could have it the same day. She told her she couldn't make any promises, but she would try. We waited around for about 30 minutes and they gave it to us. That was nice! We haven't left for Simferopol yet though. We were unable to get train tickets out today. So we are leaving tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. to go down there. I can't wait to see Dasha! It will be Friday before we get to see her, but we're getting closer!

Pictures of Our Flat

Here are a few pictures just to show you where we are staying.

Entryway


Living Room Area (We have to line dry because there is not a dryer)


Bed Area (Notice Rick with His head Covered Up, LOL!!)


Kitchen


Bathroom
(yes, that is mold/mildew) I was surprised to find that because this apartment is actually pretty nice and clean. All except for the bathtub. I would really like to bleach or A-Jax it and clean it up, but I have no idea what those product containers look like here. So I am just trying to ignore it and stay away from it. Looking at it makes me feel light headed. I am a germ freak by the way for those of you that don't know. It doesn't mean I can't be messy! lol!! I just can't handle black, funky, mold growing in a shower very well. On the bright side it is just one corner. I still have 3 other corners to put my shampoo bottles on and this may be our last day here.




Outside View (It snowed yesterday) :)

We're in Kiev

We made it here yesterday morning around 11:00 a.m. We had good flights and everything went smoothly. We just got internet today in our apartment which is great! We were in a different apartment last night, but switched today. The first
one we had stayed in back in July. It didn't have a washing machine or a stove. This is a lot better!! The last apartment was warmer though because it was smaller and had a space heater. This apartment is FREEZING!! Yulia said the whole country is this way. I guess it must have something to do with Russia. I have read about how they cut their gas off for not paying bills and for political pressure. Maybe that's what is going on. I don't know if that is it, but Yulia said Ukraine is in an economic crisis and I saw on the world news that they are in a recession. I'm not sure, but it is COLD! I have on thermal underwear, a thick turtleneck sweater, corduroy pants, and two pair of thick socks and I am STILL freezing! I will probably have to grab a triple layer here before much longer. I am trying not to use up all of my clothes in one day! I didn't bring that many clothes because last time I brought WAY too much stuff to have to keep up with and drag around! This time I packed lighter and the clothes are thicker so I don't have near as many clothes to wear. I didn't realize I would need to wear everything in my suitcase as one outfit. Wow! It is cold though! I guess I will get used to it though. It sounds like if we can't get court before the holidays then I will be here a really long time. I'm really concerned about that because I DO NOT need to be away from John Paul that long, but I don't know how we would afford the extra plane tickets for me to make another round trip. And Rick HAS to get back to work! Please pray that some how we will get a miracle and get court BEFORE they close for the holidays. Yulia is not sure that it will happen and we are VERY nervous about it! Thanks!

We have had some men in here working for the last several hours. Apparently when I washed clothes it flooded the apartment below us. The have a hole in the wall now and are working on it. They have been here for a few hours. But they did get the internet fixed for us while they were working on the leak! That was awesome!

Anyway, our appointment is on Wednesday at 3:00. We will just be hanging out here until then. Then I think we have to wait until Thurs. to pick up our referral paperwork and then I assume we can be on our way! We are planning on taking the train down again. I'm kind of dreading the 18 hour train ride, but I have a little golden nugget waiting for me at the end of it! lol!

We went to a small market across the street and bought some dumplings. That's what Yulia called them in July. They were great! I actually bought some in the U.S. and they were called pierogies. These are MUCH better though! The type I bought today had meat and cheese in them. It was a mystery meal because I had no way of knowing what was in them since I can't read Ukrainian. They were great! I also found some round things that were battered. I bought some sun flower oil and fried them. They turned out to be some sort of fish patties with onions in them. It doesn't sound very good, but it actually was! Then we had some peanut M & M's for dessert. No fear that they would melt in our hands here!

Rick just had to take this picture of me freezing while updating the blog!

Heading Out!

Sorry for no update. I have been really busy trying to get ready to go. John Paul is at my mom's house in NC and has been having a good time so far. It appears that he is going to be just fine. Sunday he will get to spend time with his cousin Ethan, uncle Shane, and great grandmother. He'll love that!

Our flight leaves today at 4:00 p.m. We will be leaving home around noon since it takes an hour to get to the airport.

I apologize for any emails I have not had time to respond to. I will try to get updates, pics., etc. for those that have asked before I return home.

I'll update once we get internet. Our appointment isn't until Wednesday so we will have a few days in Kiev before we go see Dasha. I'm hoping we can take the next train out after our appointment. I can't wait to see her again!!

Thank You and More Answers

First of all thanks everyone who has been and are praying! And thank you to Lynn for always being so faithful in praying for our family! Lynn started praying for us and for Chloe back when Chloe was in the hospital being treated for Leukemia. She continued to carry our family in prayer through the loss of Chloe and throughout both of our adoptions. She's just a really special person and dedicated prayer warrior. We really appreciate her prayers and the support that she has given us through out everything. What is even more special about Lynn is that we were complete strangers to her when she started praying for us. But that didn't matter to her. She saw a family in need and unselfishly dedicated her time to write encouraging comments and to pray for us. We have never met Lynn and only know her through the comments she has left for us on Chloe's journal at Caring Bridge and on here. Lynn, we just want you to know how much we appreciate you and for all of your support, the love, and dedication that you have offered our family. The scriptures you have left have also really spoken to me at numerous points through all of this. I always look forward to seeing your comments and it is so awesome that you are still here! :) We are so thankful for you!! Thank you so much!!

And now to answer your questions.

Q: So how long were you there last time? I can't remember.
A: It was right at 5 weeks, give or take a few days.

Q: Any chance you'll be home for Christmas?
A: Unfortunately not. I'm hoping we'll get a court date by Christmas, but
even if we do we will have to wait 10 days before we can begin to get her
passport, new birth certificate, and visa to come home. I am guessing that
we'll be back toward the last two weeks of January. But from what I understand
they celebrate Christmas in January over there and I'm not sure if that may slow
things down for us. I have been told that Dec. and Jan. are the worst times of
the year to go adopt due to their holidays. But we shall see. :) I'm praying it
will go fast because I really want to be able to get back to John Paul ASAP.

And thank you MamaPoRuski for the compliment on our blog! I'm glad you like it. I took the top picture of Dasha in April and she just happened to have Christmas lights on her sleeper. Maybe God was trying to tell me she was going to be our Christmas present? :) Thank you for your prayers as well!

Answers to Questions

Here are some answers to a couple of questions that were asked recently. The first question was, "how old is John Paul?" He is four and will be five in May. Second question is if he will be going with us back to Ukraine. He will not be going and will be staying with my mom and step-dad in NC. I wish that he could go, but the cost is just too expensive and I am not sure that taking him back to the orphanage would be healthy for him. He will be in good hands with my mom and I'll have my web cam so we can see eachother. I am really bummed about leaving him though. :( I'm also going to have to stay the entire time again because we simply cannot afford the extra round trip ticket for me to come back. Last time we traveled during peak season and this time it is the holidays. But, I'm not going to complain. I am just so happy that we are going to be able to go get Dasha and John Paul will have a sister soon!

We Are Leaving in 10 Days!

I made our flight reservations and we will be leaving on Dec. 13th!

We Got Our Appointment Date!

Our facilitator went to the SDA today to ask about our appointment date again and they gave it to her! It is December 17th at 3:00 p.m.!! I am so happy and excited to finally get the date! I can't wait to hold Dasha again, and this time she'll finally be coming home with us! I'm ecstatic! Thank you every one that has been praying for us and for leaving your kind words. We really appreciate your support!

No News

I had hoped since the package was delivered on Wednesday that we would hear something by the end of the week. However, I haven't heard anything at all. I know it was delivered because the tracking confirmed it, but I have no idea if our facilitator has given it to the SDA or not. We're just waiting to hear something from her. I'm really hoping to hear something by Monday.

The Package is There!

I can't believe it! The package is there a day early! Just last night it looked like it was going to be a day behind because Paris held onto it an extra day. It was delivered within a matter of hours once it arrived in country! I am so thrilled and excited! It still has to be traslated and taken to the SDA, but I am sure praying that we get our date by the end of the week! The package arriving sure was an answered prayer!

A Slight Delay

We found out last Thursday that the SDA wants one more document from us before they will give us our appointment date. They wanted an affidavit stating that I am unemployed. We didn't need this last time, but apparently they have a new lawyer that wants it. They did say that they will give us our appointment date as soon as they get the last document. So that is very exciting! We are getting so close now! As of right now Fed-Ex tracking says the document is in Paris. It is supposed to be delivered on Thurs., but from the way it looks it will probably be Fri. Maybe not, I am praying it will get there Thurs. But last time it took a day longer than they quoted me, and so far it was in Paris a day longer than last time. It took three days before it was delivered last time after it arrived in country. It was a total of 6 days for delivery. That is the fastest I have ever had anything to get there. Previously another one took ten days! I pray that doesn't happen again, but it is in God's hands and it is all under His control. But I will be so glad when it gets there! I am so ready to get her. Technically I have been waiting for her since April when I met her. That's a long time and there has been set back after set back. But, there must be reasons for it and if I learned anything from our adoption of John Paul, sometimes set backs and changes turn into miracles! We're just holding onto that, praying we'll get the date God wants us to have, and trying to wait patiently. That's hard. I must have checked the Fed-Ex tracking fifteen times today to see if it was in her country yet. lol!

As soon as I get news and get the date I will post it.

Dossier Submitted!

Our dossier was submitted today, I heard back from our facilitator and they did take it! Now we are just waiting for our appointment date. I am so excited!! I'm praying that they will approve it quickly and give us a travel date as soon as possible. I miss my little princess. I'm ready to get that date so I can count down the days until I can hold her again! :)

I can't wait to have both of my kids here! I just can't wait! And to think that all of the joy that John Paul has brought us will double soon. I am amazed by how God has worked to bring these children into our lives. They are miracles, all three of my angels.

Happy Birthday Rick, Daddy!!

Yesterday was Rick's 35th birthday!! We got an icecream cake (his favorite) and hung out. He had a good birthday! I took some video of John Paul eating some birthday cake, but I wasn't thinking and had the digital camera turned sideways, so I apolgize for everyone having to turn their head to watch the video. lol! I finally found a toddler spoon that fits John Paul's mouth! The Gerber brand spoons are too big and the spoon part has a huge scoop in it. It just didn't work for him. I have been trying to teach him to feed himself with an infant spoon, which has not been an easy task. I found this generic brand spoon and fork set today at the grocery store and it was a great fit for him! The video was the first time he has ever used it. The icecream cake was still really hard and frozen so it was hard to scoop, even for me, thus the huge scoops of ice cream on his spoon. He hasn't got the hang of putting the spoon in his mouth all on his own yet, but he is working on it. He can feed us however, lol! He uses two hand though. We're not sure if he is going to be left or right handed yet. We try with both. You can tell in the beginning of the video that he is trying to figure his new spoon out. We're working on getting his hand and arm strength built up. He does really good though, we are proud of him. So here are some new pictures and video of our little man.

Dossier Submission Date

We found out today that the SDA scheduled our dossier for submission on November 17th! I am so happy to have a definite date of submission! We're getting closer to getting our little Dasha! I cannot wait!!! Thank you everyone for your prayers!

Please Pray for Zoey

Please pray for this beautiful little girl. I have placed a button to the right of this post. Clicking on it will take you to her blog. Zoey was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and has just started chemo. Please pray for her parents and family as well. If you have a blog, her parents have asked and will appreciate if you put her button on your blog. Let's reach as far as we can and get as many prayers for this little girl and her family as possible. Put her on your prayer request lists at church even. Just lift them up. Thank you.

Our Dossier

Our facilitator is going to try to submit our dossier tomorrow, Monday! Please pray that they will accept it on Monday and that everything will be fine with it! Also that they will approve it quickly and give us a travel date ASAP! Thanks!!

I also updated John Paul's blog with him in his Halloween costume. :)

John Paul's First Professional Pictures!

Visit John Paul's blog to see his first pictures!

Dasha is Doing Fine :)

I received an email from our facilitator today and she has received our updated criminal background checks. She has already translated them and notarized them, so once again our dossier is ready to go! We can't wait until Dasha is too!

She also said that she called the orphanage and told them that we would not be able to come for Dasha until the end of the year. I had asked her to call them because we had originally told them in July that we should be back for her in October. I was afraid if we didn't show up in October then they may think we changed our minds and put her back in her old room. Maybe they wouldn't have, but I just wanted to make sure they knew we are still coming for her as soon as we are allowed to. She said that they told her Dasha is doing fine. :) She also asked them not to cut her hair for me. They promised her that they would not cut Dasha's hair. :)
That makes me really happy!

Oh, I can't wait to see her again!

John Paul started doing some new things today. I am trying my hardest to get them on video so I can post them to his blog. He stops when he sees the camera and starts pointing at it and then starts trying to grab it from me. lol! Maybe when Rick gets home I can distract him and get Rick to video it.

New Pics on John Paul's Blog & Dasha's Room

It took me a few days, but I finally have the new pics on John Paul's blog from his grandparent's visit.

On the adoption side of things we are just waiting until the end of the year so we can go get Dasha. We're praying that everything works out and we will be able to go get her ASAP. Still missing the little bug. Below are some pics of Dasha's room I thought some of you might want to see. It is all ready and waiting for Miss Dash. I still have to put her name over her bed and add pictures, but right now we are more concerned with getting her home than buying artwork.

I haven't quite got John Paul's room like I want it yet. It was originally decorated for Nadia and it was pink and green. Dasha's was decorated for Zhenya (who ended up being a boy, and now we learned recently that he is not available for adoption for a while), so hers has been done for quite a while. The walls are still green in John Paul's room and I have made it look like a boys room, but I will probably end up painting the walls because I think tan will look better with what is in there for him. He's happy with it though. :)

Dasha's Room

John Paul's New Blog

I have created a new blog just for John Paul. I am going to devote this blog to our adoption journey of Dasha. I hope that you will follow along on both blogs!

His blog is: johnpaulsnewstart.blogspot.com

Please say a prayer for Dasha and for all of the orphans. Thanks!

The Quilt Raffle Winner is...

Jane Erickson! I hope you enjoy your princess quilt! :)

Thank you so much to everyone that participated in the raffle! We really appreciate your kindness so much!! Thank you!!

Dasha News

We found out today from our facilitator that Dasha will not be available in Oct. like we were told in July. We found out that it will be the end of the year. :( We were hoping to have her home by Christmas, but it's not going to be possible. The only way is if they pass the law waiving the international waiting period for children with DS. Still praying that will happen. We are really saddened by this because we want our little girl home with us so badly. But we do have peace in knowing that she was moved in with the babies. I actually had a feeling come over me when I found out that she had been moved. First, I was so thankful to God! Then I felt like God moved her to a better room because she will have to wait longer. Turns out that feeling was right. I am really thankful that God is looking out for our little Dash. Please pray that we will be able to travel for her as soon as her wait is up. I have been longing for this little girl since I met her in April. Spending time with her in July was an answered prayer, but bonding with her for three weeks is making this wait a lot tougher on me, in particular, because I spent so much time with her. Part of our family is still over there...it's just hard. And honestly, it doesn't make it any easier with Chloe already missing from our family. There will always be an empty spot in our family, no matter how many children we have, until we all get to Heaven and have that BIG reunion. I just wish we didn't have two empty spots. Hopefully that won't be for much longer.

I know God is in control of it all and if it is His will, we will bring her home as soon as we are allowed. On the up side, God has blessed us with a perfect little boy and I am so thankful that we have him home and did not have to wait for him too. He is such a joy and a blessing to have in our home. We love him more and more every day, every minute really. He is starting to kiss and hug now. He's so sweet. The wait will give him more time to continue to adjust and I will be able to get an extra trip or two in to NC before we are able to go for Dasha. John Paul will be staying with my mom in NC while we are gone. So he will have more grammy bonding time before we leave. There is a reason for this wait, God doesn't make mistakes. I know He'll keep my Dash safe. I just hope some how she knows how loved she is.

Another mom, Lisa, that just saw Dasha while she was adopting told me that she was making a kissing noise. I taught her how to do that in July. :) I was so touched to hear that she is still doing it. Maybe she remembers me?

Still Waiting

We are still waiting to find out when our dossier will be submitted. We haven't heard anything at all in 11 days from our facilitator. The last thing we heard was "hopefully tomorrow". She has three other families over there now, so I am certain she is very busy. We are hoping to hear something soon though. Another family had to wait 21 days from the time their letter was submitted until they gave them a date they could submit their dossier. Tomorrow will be 21 days for us. But I have no idea if they are still working within the same time frame. Hopefully they are and we will hear something soon.

John Paul is doing well. He is starting to clap his hands a lot more. He has started to take more interest in the baby signing time videos. I have been trying to get him to sign "eat and drink". He has started to tap his fist on his face. I'm trying to figure out if that is his way of starting to sign. It's not hard hitting like he was doing in Ukraine, so hopefully it is his way of beginning to sign.

I told him "no" yesterday and he said "O" back to me. It was the cutest! He was saying "mama", but he has put that on hold for the last few days and is saying "dada" a lot more. He has the sweetest little voice. He's babbling a lot more and is getting really vocal.

Cardioloist Update

We have a BIG praise report! John Paul had his echocardiogram today. They also did an EKG. The EKG showed that he does have a murmur, which we already knew. But we did not know the cause of it. The murmur is something called a Still's murmur and it is innocent. It will not cause any problems for him now or in the future. It's a vibration that is made when the blood is pumped through his heart. And the echo, in the doctor's words, was "uneventful". There are no holes or open valves, nothing! All of the blood flow and pressure is just like it should be. Praise God! We were told in Ukraine that he has an ASD heart defect, but now we know for certain that he does not. The doctor even told us that we do not need to follow up with him for any reason because there is absolutely nothing wrong with his heart. And I trust this doctor because he was the only doctor out of three that found Chloe's small hole in her heart. He's great. I about cried when he told me the good news! What a HUGE answered prayer!! Now he can get his teeth cleaned without worry! :)

He also started clapping his hands this evening while we were eating supper. I guess he was happy about his good news today too. He even picked a small piece of cornbread up and put it in his own mouth! He has NEVER done this before and I have tried so hard. He swallowed it whole, but hey no complaints here. I am so thrilled that he just put something in his mouth! He did it two times after that too! Then he drank some of his Pediasure from his glass until it was empty. I was going to refill his glass for him. We both grabbed for his Pediasure bottle at the same time. So I took my hand back to see what he was going to do. He picked up the bottle and poured what was left into his glass! Then he sat the bottle back down, picked his glass up and drank the rest of it! Rick and I sat there in awe. Amazing! I forgot to mention that he also dropped a piece of cornbread into his drink (on purpose) and then drank it. lol! Have I mentioned how much I love this little guy?! What a miracle he is!

Our dossier for Dasha hasn't been submitted yet. Please pray we will get some good news soon! We should hear something before too much longer, but the waiting is so hard. We sure do miss our little Dash! We lovingly call her Dash because when I met her in April and emailed back home about this little angel I met, the "a" key stuck and everyone thought her name was Dash. My mom said she thought, "what kind of a name is Dash"? lol! So it stuck! I call her my Dash. :)

Bath Time Fun

It is so amazing to see my little guy having so much fun and enjoying his baths now! In the beginning he was terrified of the entire water/bath scenario, and would scream and cry. Now he absolutely loves his baths! I have learned that a morning bath, rather than a bedtime bath, makes for a happy John Paul all day long! And when he gets one in the morning and night he is super ecstatic! He just gets happier every day. He is starting to take more interest in the TV and loves to watch Sesame Street, especially Elmo. So far he hasn't taken much interest in the Signing Time videos, but I am hopeful that he will soon. He understands when I say eat, bed time, bath time, and potty. He imitated a little girl on Sesame Street today. She was moving her hands like she was stirring eggs. He did a similar motion and it was obvious that he was imitating her. So I am hoping that he will take more interest in the signing time videos soon. Not only will they build his vocabulary, but we will be able to communicate better. Right now I am just reading his body language and it is effective for the necessities. It's so nice that we have bonded enough that I can tell what he is thinking or wanting by his facial expressions and actions. Pretty cool because in the beginning there were tantrums because he was frustrated that he could not express his needs. It's really neat that we are getting in tune to each other. :)

He's getting up and down the stairs really well now and he is doing very well walking. He is starting to walk better in grass and is balancing a lot better when he transfers between the sidewalk and the grass. He's starting to babble a lot more and is saying mama clearly. He is getting very motivated and is exploring his environment wonderfully. It's amazing how much he has changed.

He has his cardiologist appointment next Monday at 1:00, for his echocardiogram. Prayers for positive results will be greatly appreciated.

We are still waiting to find out when our dossier will be allowed to be submitted for Dasha. Please pray that it will be soon. :) Our petition letter was submitted last Monday, but we are still waiting for permission to submit the dossier. Thanks!