New Pictures of Dasha

Another family that was at Dasha's orphanage adopting their little daughter, Katie, took pictures of Dasha while they were there. Thank you so much Lisa!!

I am so thrilled by the report that we were given on Dasha! Apparently, Dasha was moved out of the room that she was in and moved in with the babies! This is so wonderful and it is a HUGE answered prayer! I have prayed so hard that God would protect her, let her be happy, and let her know she is loved until we can go back for her. I know that she gets to go outside now! She was outside two days in a row. Lisa said that she seemed happy and content. And she is dressed nicer than she was when we were there before. One of the care takers was even singing to her when Lisa took some of the pictures. I am so happy to know that she is in a better room and is getting fresh air outside now! The last several times that I prayed for Dasha I felt peace like she was okay and God was making sure she was being taken good care. What a blessing and an answered prayer to know she's in a better room now!

Our dossier should have been notarized today and it should be submitted to the SDA tomorrow. That's what my facilitator emailed me on Sunday. We know that Dasha is available some time next month (not sure when yet) and we are supposed to get our appointment date on that day. We will not know the exact day until we are approved. Please pray for a quick submission and approval of our dossier. Thanks!!

Quilt Raffle Results

Let me first say, thank you so much to everyone that participated! The raffle results far exceeded what we thought it would! Wow! We are so touched by and grateful for each and everyone of you that participated in helping to bring Dasha home and in honoring Chloe's memory. Thank you all so much from the bottom of our hearts!!

And the raffle winner is Shannon Boysworth! Congratulations Shannon on winning your quilt from the Chloe Bean Collection! It is really special to me that Shannon is the winner of this quilt. I first met Shannon when Chloe was in the hospital a few days after she had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Shannon's daughter, Liesl, had been diagnosed with A.L.L. a few days after Chloe. Shannon and her husband, Marc, were always so kind to us. Shannon even brought us a gift bag to the hospital filled with goodies for Chloe and us after Chloe took a turn for the worse. I will never forget her face that day and the tears in her eyes. She loved Chloe! It was the last time that she saw Chloe. I know that Chloe touched their lives in a special way and they have expressed this to us. It is just really special to me that now Shannon will have this quilt to think of Chloe and to share it with Liesl. Thank you Shannon for everything you have done for us! Enjoy your quilt! We love you guys!

I will be doing another quilt raffle for a toddler girl in the next few days. If anyone is interested, please check back. Thank you all once again!!

Dasha's Dossier

Dasha's dossier was recieved by our facilitator today and she hopes to submit it to the SDA on Monday or Tuesday! YAY!!!

John Paul's Trip to NC

First of all I want to say, thank you so much Kayla and Carson for the beautiful shirts that you sent John Paul!! They are so nice and they all fit him perfectly! We really appreciate you thinking of us and John Paul!!

We went home to NC for a visit last weekend. Rick didn't get to go because he had Army drill. He recently joined a new unit and I didn't realize that it was the same weekend. :( But we have a long weekend with him this weekend to make up for it. :) John Paul found some other men to hang with though. He latched onto my brother and step-dad right off! He loves men!

I've meant to post sooner, but I knew it would take quite a while to upload all of the pictures. I have to do most of my housework and extras once John Paul goes to bed because my day time belongs to him. :)

We went to NC for three occasions: 1. For John Paul to meet his grandparents and cousin Ethan. 2. For Jordan's (my friend Kelly's son) 1st birthday party. 3. My 31st birthday party.

John Paul traveled really well on the way down there. He really is a great little traveler! He stayed awake for the majority of the ride and loved looking out the windows. He just loves to ride in the car! It's so sweet to glance in the mirror and see the look of happiness and awe as he looks out the window. Every thing is so new to him and he is so happy to see every little detail. He just amazes me. He has certainly made me take notice of the things that I as a busy adult might otherwise take for granted. For example, when we went to the post office to check on mailing Dasha's dossier last week, (I say check on because I decided to use Fed-Ex instead for speed), he was so thrilled to go. He LOVES to go places! And he REALLY loves being outside! Anyway, tree branches hang low all along the side walk that runs beside the post office. He looked up at the tree branches, as we walked under them, with this look of amazement and sheer delight. Then he waved his little hands up at them and squealed and babbled to them. Then when we walked past the shrubs he did them same thing. This child loves plants, flowers, trees, and grass. I would probably not have given a second thought to the trees or bushes, even though they are pretty. I was focused and on a mission to get that dossier shipped. He has a way of making you stop and notice all of the beauty that God has placed in this world for us to enjoy. I'm sure it is because he has never had a chance to see these things. What a miracle it is to be a part of this special angel's life and to experience with him the newness of his world.

He had fun at the birthday party and loved to swing! He even went up to try to push Jordan in the swing, but when he did it just pushed him down on his bottom and Jordan didn't move. It was so cute! He got up and tried again. Down on his bottom he went again, but Jordan did move a tiny bit. I was so impressed to see him try to push the baby (the baby is almost as big as JP is). It was so sweet. And I thought to myself that he probably will be able to push his little sister when she gets home because she is tiny for her age too. :) I can't wait and I think he'll be happy to have another child here too. He loves other children. He really loved being around Ethan! Ethan loved him too. He was so great with John Paul! He was so patient, loving, and sweet with him! He played with John Paul on his level and it was so adorable to see the two cousins together for the first time. Ethan is a very special little boy. He was always so wonderful with Chloe too. He loved on John Paul the same way he did Chloe. It really melted my heart! For a year now there has been an emptiness in our family where Chloe once was. While that emptiness for her will never leave until we are all with her in Heaven, John Paul has brought the joy of having a special little child back into all of our lives. His adoption is such a miracle to all of us and we love him so much!! I'm in awe by what the Lord has done. Originally, I was scared by some of the things that I saw him doing after we first met him. Things that I didn't expect or understand since he acted nothing like that when I met him in the spring. But I am so glad that I pressed through that fear and allowed God to work His miracle! He is a completely different little boy now that he is in a loving family environment. Every day he gets happier and more independent. It is a true miracle just watching him flourish and change. I say that to encourage anyone else that is adopting and may walk into a less than perfect initial meeting of their child. It really does get better and fast! It's amazing what love, attention, and proper diet can do (and of course a lot of prayer).

I didn't take pictures at my dad's house because I forgot my charger for the camcorder. :( My mom took and sent me all of the pictures that I have. He had a blast at my dad's too! I'll get pictures the next time I go back. He had no trouble digging into the toy bin after my step-mom showed it to him! He also got to meet my dad's friends, Jerry and Melba. He took right up with Melba! It's so great to see him interacting so well!

I hope to go back home in a few weeks because not everyone got to meet him. It is so hard to fit everyone in over a few days. He has so many more people that love him there and didn't get to meet him. :(

He loves his baths now! I mean LOVES them!! Tonight I let him play in the tub until he started to prune up. I let the water out and then he looked down and looked at me like, Hey where did my water go?" He even cried when I got him out of the bath tub. :( But he was happy once I started putting lotion on him. He loves the lotion and giggles when I rub it on his arms and legs. A month ago he cried and screamed like he was in agony because he didn't like taking a bath. The change in him is so amazing!

He is walking MUCH better! He walks best when I am not right on top of him. If I am there then he thinks he has to hold my hand. Today I saw him walk about 20 feet independently! He can even go up five of the steps by himself. He holds onto the spindles on the banister and goes. Then when the banister runs out, I have to hold one hand the rest of the way up. He has also learned to go all the way down the stairs by scooting on his bottom one stair at a time. I have to close the stairs off with the baby gates when I can't supervise! He'd play on them all day if I let him. They are great physical therapy for him though! Me too for that matter! He really has me going up and down them! lol!

He's still doing well with potty training. He doesn't understand to let me know when he has to go yet. He did go over to the potty one day last week though. I am still working on teaching him to push and pull his pants up and down. I just have him on a potty schedule and he goes when I sit him down. There are some accidents in between, but it has only been a week. He's doing so awesome!!

We are trying to teach him to feed himself. He can scoop food up and put it in his mouth with my hand on his. The funny thing is that I am not helping him. I just have my hand there. He's really doing all of the work. But if I take my hand away then he stops and won't try at all. He'll get it though once he feels more comfortable with it and then he won't want my help. lol! That's how he did me the other day with his toy. I was showing him how to use a new toy and then he started getting frustrated, so I stopped helping him because it appeared that he wanted to do it himself. Then he smiled and started making the toy go on its own. What a big boy he is becoming...and so fast! And he is learning so quickly! I only have to show him how to operate most of the toys once or twice and he does it. No wonder he was so frustrated in a restricted environment.

He likes to be my little helper in the kitchen too. When I empty the dishwasher he will push the racks back and close the door. He learned that from watching me and was never shown how to do that himself. When I open the refrigerator door he closes it for me. One day he opened one of my cabinets and took out a lid to one of my pots. Then he closed the cabinet back. I didn't mind him playing with it until he started bashing the cabinet door with it. So I told him, "No, No Roma, John Paul. Put it back. Put it back." He looked at me like he was trying to figure out what I was saying. Then he opened the cabinet door and put it back and then closed the cabinet again. That got him A LOT of hand claps, Yays, and kisses! He probably thinks, wow this mama lady sure does get excited. You can imagine how shocked I was that he did it though! It's not that I have low expectations of him (THAT IS FAR FROM TRUE)! It's that I am so amazed that he is doing so well in spite of the language barrier and in such a short amount of time. He has gotten very motivated and is into everything! And I am so happy and thankful that he is into everything!

Oh, if you notice the picture of him eating cake with that huge fork, it is because he CHARGED me for some birthday cake. Ok, this in itself was amazing because it is the first time EVER that he has tried to eat ANYTHING that we are eating. And we have tried over and over. He only knows how to suck. He doesn't chew. He charged at me after my cake and it was such an amazing thing that I wasn't going to lose the moment by being proper and getting him his own plate and fork. He ate the rest of my cake by literally sucking it down! But it was something other that pureed food! Yay John Paul!!

And he didn't particularly like the prayer bear. :( I think the fact that it was talking freaked him out a little. My grandma bought it for him for a welcome home gift, but she thought it was funny because he was so adamant that he did not want it near him. She gave me the receipt to return it, but I'm not because I know he'll come around. It's just foreign to him. He likes stuffed animals a lot, but he just didn't know what to think about it talking. We have a stuffed animal (cat) that meows and he wasn't real impressed with that either. So I haven't broken out all of the talking animals yet. The toys that we mostly play with that do talk are things like the Leap Frog Playground, telephone, music table, etc. Nothing that looks like an animal or anything. I think they scare him for now.

Lots of Updates...

I just realized that it had been over a week since I last updated! Wow! I have been really busy between taking care of John Paul and getting Dasha's dossier together. There has been a lot of running around! I picked up our updated medical certificates from the doctor's office today and our social worker's license came in the mail today as well. The notary had made a mistake on the previous copy that she had sent me. So guess what? I have a completed dossier! YAY!! Most of the documents are already out getting apostilled. I have the last batch that I am overnighting out tomorrow. So as long as everything gets back to me (with no mistakes) I should be able to ship Dasha's dossier to Ukraine next week! Of course she won't be available until Oct. and we may not travel until November, but at least it will be there and can get submitted. They are probably close to giving out October travel dates anyway, if they aren't already. I can't wait to get that little girl home. John Paul and I watched some of the video of him and her from the orphanage the other day while Rick was at work. John Paul said, "Dah, Dah". I think he was trying to say Dasha. He was smiling at her and started laughing when he heard her laughing in the video. His eyes got huge when he saw himself. He was intrigued by seeing himself! It was so cute!!

We had three rough days with him after he had his vaccinations. He just was not himself at all. He was very fussy and temperamental for days. And he didn't want to eat very much at all. I was starting to get really concerned and was going to make him a dr. appointment on Monday, but then he woke up Monday morning smiling and started eating good again. I guess it just took a lot out of him. I did not realize that it would wipe him out like that for going on four days. I learned something new about him and next time I'll know to expect it. He only had two vaccinations. They were going to give him four at once, but I would not let them. I'm just really cautious about vaccinations and boy am I glad! I can only imagine how bad he would have felt if he had received double what they gave him.

He was so wiped out that I didn't even take him to get his blood work done until yesterday. He needed a break in my opinion. Apparently he has veins like I do. Tiny and hidden! They stuck him twice, once in the arm and once in his hand. And they were not able to get any blood. I felt so bad for him. We have to take him to the hospital lab to let them do it now. The lab next door to the pediatrician's office said that she only tries twice and then she refuses to stick kids again. I'm kind of dreading that because I had a bad experience at the hospital when they were trying to draw blood on Chloe. They were very impatient and rude with her and of course that did not fly well with me at all. That has been almost two years ago so hopefully they have new, nicer staff now. I'll try with him next week. I'm giving him a break from it until then.

He was so funny when we got home from the lab! They had put a band-aid on his hand after the last stick. He was sitting in the floor while I was fixing supper and he looked down at the band-aid and gave it a mean look! Then he ripped it off and threw it down on the floor hard and fast while making a mean face. Then he rubbed his little hand and looked up at me and whined. I could not help but laugh on the inside because it was so cute to see him do that! So smart and adorable. Supper had to wait while I gave him some love and cuddling. He loves to get hugged and kissed! And he is such a little cuddler (that is when he is not too busy for it).

Here's another funny thing he did! I put gel in his hair, after his bath this morning, and spiked his hair up. It looked so funny! Here was this sweet little innocent face with this wild hairdo. It was so cute that it made me laugh. He gave me the stink eye (because I laughed at him) and pushed his hair back down. That of course was even funnier because it surprised me that he would do that. He surprises me more and more every day! I wasn't going to leave his hair standing up like Billy Idol's by the way. I was just playing and having fun. He was not as amused as I was. lol! I must have given him a slight complex because through out the next several hours I saw him pushing down at his hair like he was making sure it was still down. lol!!

The BIG accomplishment for the day was that he used the potty for the very first time ever in his life (twice)!! Not to give out too much information, but I am so proud of him! He did a number one the first time and a number two the second time. He bent over and looked in his potty (to see what all of the praise was for) and then babbled a little and smiled from ear to ear. He seemed proud of his new accomplishment.

He went with me to my doctor's office to pick up the medical certificates and had a fun time flirting with the nurses. What a little ham he is! One nurse was bent over talking to him and he reached for her stethoscope. We were the only ones there and it was the end of the day. She sat in the floor and played with him. She took her stethoscope and said, "Do you want me to listen to your heart?". That little stinker cut her a smile and lifted his shirt up for her!! He did this about ten different times with her and then he backed up to her and sat in her lap. He is such a loving little boy! Today he reminded me so much of Chloe and how happy she always was entertaining every one. It made me really happy because I know that he must realize how loved he is now and it is beginning to really shine through in his personality. He's becoming the little boy that God intended for him to be and he's getting so secure and confident. He is such a miracle to us! We just love him!! I looked down at him this morning when I was wiping his face after breakfast. Looking back up at me were these sweet and innocent little eyes with the shape characteristic of Down Syndrome. Those sweet little creases under his eyes. I couldn't help but cry tears of joy as I thought how nice it is to see those little eyes again in my family. The sweetest and most beautiful little eyes you will ever see. My heart is so full! Then I thought about how awesome it will be when Dasha is here too. Two perfect little angels. Who could ask for anything more? Other than having Chloe here with all of us during this happy time. But we accept God's reasons and know that God used Chloe to lead us to John Paul and Dasha. I know she is smiling down and loves her new brother and soon to be sister. It is so remarkable because several of the toys that John Paul has claimed as his favorites were Chloe's favorites. She's definitely smiling down. :)

John Paul's Doctor Appointment

John Paul had his first doctor appointment since he has been home today. We got
referrals to the cardiologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, and physical therapist. We also got a referral to Children's Hospital to get orthotics for his feet where he rolls his ankles inward when he stands and walks. I realized after I left that they didn't give us a referral to the E.N.T. like I had requested so tomorrow when we go back for his labs I will make sure they get that taken care of too. The doctor said that he could hear his heart murmur today. That was contrary to what we were told by the medical examiner in Ukraine. Once we get into the cardiologist that will reveal what is going on. We were told in Ukraine that he has an ASD defect.

He did really well with the doctor today. He only got upset when they gave him two vaccinations, and that is understandable! I personally hate needles! We were at the doctor's office for two hours and by the time we were done it was lunch time. So since he was grumpy from the shots, ready to eat, and getting tired (since nap time is right after lunch), I decided to wait until tomorrow morning to have his blood work done. I figured he had been through enough today.

In general, he is doing really well. He has stopped crying through his baths and is starting to enjoy bath toys. So that is awesome! He's playing more independently with his toys. He's still eating really well! He loves the cats and likes chasing after them. He's just an awesome little guy!

This Is for "Anonymous"

The anonymous that apparently is a member of the car seat patrol and left the following comment...

im so glad hes home safe,
but i see hes not in his carseat right the straps need to be higher up and also that car seat is more then 7 years old so i hope for his saftey you get a new one.
thank you

August 13, 2008 10:03 PM

First of all, if you don't have the nerve to even show who you are, then please do us the great favor of staying off of our blog and leaving your nasty grams.

Second, what makes you the authority on the age of my car seat? Where did you obtain the purchase receipt from? Not that you deserve an explanation, but for the readers that I do care about, the car seat is less than three years old and it was only used for about 4 months. It was bought for our daughter, Chloe, and then she had to grow into it. So it sat unused for about a year in the box it came in. Then Chloe spent the majority of the last seven months of her life living in the hospital where she obviously did not need a car seat. Let me guess, you maybe bought one or someone you know had one like it seven years ago. Guess what? So did my nephew, but they didn't stop making that model of car seat after you and my nephew got one. Further it was bought brand new less than 3 years ago at a major department store that would know if the car seat had any recalls that would make it a danger to a child. So if you have a problem with a car seat being sold for more than four years, then you should really take that up with Wal-Mart. And I can't see as to how a new car seat that sat in its box for a year, then was used for 4 months before our daughter passed away, and then stored unused for another year makes it unsafe. The key word here is "unused" and if you knew us and the details of our life then you would know that. In addition to that the car seat has never been involved in any auto accident that would make it unsafe. So I don't know where you are coming from.

And as far as the strap height, I don't see a problem with it. Neither has anyone else, except you, a stranger that doesn't have the nerve to identify yourself. He is in between strap heights. While I am very aware that the current strap height is a little low, the higher strap is too high and I did not like the strap that high and near his face. I picked the safer of the two options. And for your information we had already bought him another car seat before I read your comment today. And we didn't buy it because the current is one old and ragged. As a matter of fact, it will be used in our other car. We bought the new one because it is softer and will be more comfortable for him on long trips.

So I'll end this by saying, mind your own business please in the future regarding circumstances that you know nothing about. And take your judgments else where.

Thank you for your uneducated assumption regarding our child's safety.

And to our loyal readers, thank you for your continued support and prayers. I apologize for this post, but not to the "anonymous" individual that it was intended for. Any comment other than insinuating that we don't provide safety for our child would probably have been ignored. I found this over the top and insulting and could not let it go, even though as a Christian I probably should have. I apologize for being less than perfect, but I will not stand idly by when false accusations have been made about my child's safety. As a result of this, comment moderation has been enabled and anonymous users will blocked from leaving comments.