Saturday, April 10 Day #25 since we left home – that’s a LONG time to be away!
John just woke up from a nap (before we head back to the baby house) and he slept so hard he said, “Wow, I felt like I was on another planet.” Then he looked out our apartment window and said, “And we’re still there.” All good things must come to an end and we are very ready for this journey to be over (and Scott Kirill to be home with us). I had read in another Kazak adoption blog about this happening…. We have no COLD water in our apartment as of last night. Thus the toilet works (only if primed with a bucket of water from the sink) and a shower is very risky. The first 2 minutes in the shower this morning were nice and warm (long enough for me to lather my head with shampoo). All remaining water was (and is) scalding. Scalding water to get out one’s shampoo is better tolerated standing with one’s head handing over the kitchen sink and darting the head in and out of the faucet water very quickly!
Both our visits with Kirill today were wonderful. Nearly an hour of our morning visit was spent outside (upon Kirill’s request for “u-litsa”). It is freezing here – still a lot of snow and ice in areas that don’t see much sun. We are impressed with the efforts that these caregivers go to in order for these children to receive some fresh air. To help dress a class of 10 or more little ones (one group of adorable kids look to be 2-3 years old) in sweaters, jackets, boots, and hats for a 20-30 minute walk on the driveway which circles the baby house is commendable. Much of the time, Kirill would hold his hands up high in order for John to pick him up, swing him and hold him. He has such a look of pleasure and contentment when he is held that there is never a rush to put him back down. He has a lot of being held to make up for! We made a fun game out of John and I standing about 15 feet apart and counting, in Russian to 3 and having Kirill run from me to John and be picked up and spun around. Then I would count to 3 in English and say “go” and he would run and do the same with me. As long as he is content with an activity we just stay with it. For the afternoon, Carolyn (one of the 3 American moms) gave us a small container of playdough she had bought for Kirill. He was happy playing with this for nearly an hour (Yes, the boy can stay on task!!!) Then he crawled up into John’s lap and the two of them played a car racing game on John’s i-phone for another 45 minutes. We would try changing games (for a bit of variety) and he kept coming back to “machinas” (cars). Kirill’s response to my, Ya tee bya bl-yu (I love you) spoken softly in his ear while he sat on my lap was received with a sweet, sweet smile.
So if you have been following along, you can see that our time with our son has gone incredibly well. This is such an answer to prayer. We entered Kirill’s word just over 2 weeks ago as complete strangers. His acceptance of us as new parents couldn’t be stronger. This is where John and I are struggling to keep the faith and not be overcome with doubting. Our bonding was completed on the 8th. Our scheduled interview (pre-court) was delayed until Monday by our attorney because she was in Astana with a new client who is just beginning her adoption process. Our evening last night with our attorney (who has just returned from Astana) to finalize our preparations for our interview and for court was a disaster. We had gone to the apartment of a different translator (Zhanat was not able to meet at 8PM on a Saturday night) to work through the court petition that John and I had written a week ago. Our attorney became very offended that she was not allowed to bring a drink near our translator’s computer, so she quickly gathered all our paperwork, called a taxi, and we left – very, very frustrating to be caught in the middle of such unnecessary conflict that is not helping our case. Our 2 years and 8 months of pursuing a child we felt called to pursue is coming down to these last few days. Much has been accomplished to prepare for our time in court where we will be asking a judge to allow us to be this boy’s forever family. Nothing has gone particularly smooth thus far.
18 Against all hope, Abraham , in hope BELIEVED and so became the father…. 19 Without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that…. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18-21 Our only hope is in the “ableness” of our God. Our circumstances are a mess. I have found comfort in remembering a scripture where God spoke wisdom through a donkey (not making a literal comparison of our attorney and a donkey but it serves as a good reminder that God does not need a calm and eloquent speaker to accomplish His work). PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR COURT DECISION. Pray that this judge would look at the pictures of where this little boy has lived for half his life, the evidence that his mother has made no attempt to come back for him in 9 months, the joy on this boy’s face with his new parents, our ability to love and provide for him, and find favor on our case. As far as we can tell, this decision (our court date) will be Thursday. Because we are 10 hours ahead of US time, your petitions to The Judge we answer to needs to be before midnight on Wednesday. Let us all finish this race we began and not give up the fight for this little guy – Scott Kirill King.
John just woke up from a nap (before we head back to the baby house) and he slept so hard he said, “Wow, I felt like I was on another planet.” Then he looked out our apartment window and said, “And we’re still there.” All good things must come to an end and we are very ready for this journey to be over (and Scott Kirill to be home with us). I had read in another Kazak adoption blog about this happening…. We have no COLD water in our apartment as of last night. Thus the toilet works (only if primed with a bucket of water from the sink) and a shower is very risky. The first 2 minutes in the shower this morning were nice and warm (long enough for me to lather my head with shampoo). All remaining water was (and is) scalding. Scalding water to get out one’s shampoo is better tolerated standing with one’s head handing over the kitchen sink and darting the head in and out of the faucet water very quickly!
Both our visits with Kirill today were wonderful. Nearly an hour of our morning visit was spent outside (upon Kirill’s request for “u-litsa”). It is freezing here – still a lot of snow and ice in areas that don’t see much sun. We are impressed with the efforts that these caregivers go to in order for these children to receive some fresh air. To help dress a class of 10 or more little ones (one group of adorable kids look to be 2-3 years old) in sweaters, jackets, boots, and hats for a 20-30 minute walk on the driveway which circles the baby house is commendable. Much of the time, Kirill would hold his hands up high in order for John to pick him up, swing him and hold him. He has such a look of pleasure and contentment when he is held that there is never a rush to put him back down. He has a lot of being held to make up for! We made a fun game out of John and I standing about 15 feet apart and counting, in Russian to 3 and having Kirill run from me to John and be picked up and spun around. Then I would count to 3 in English and say “go” and he would run and do the same with me. As long as he is content with an activity we just stay with it. For the afternoon, Carolyn (one of the 3 American moms) gave us a small container of playdough she had bought for Kirill. He was happy playing with this for nearly an hour (Yes, the boy can stay on task!!!) Then he crawled up into John’s lap and the two of them played a car racing game on John’s i-phone for another 45 minutes. We would try changing games (for a bit of variety) and he kept coming back to “machinas” (cars). Kirill’s response to my, Ya tee bya bl-yu (I love you) spoken softly in his ear while he sat on my lap was received with a sweet, sweet smile.
So if you have been following along, you can see that our time with our son has gone incredibly well. This is such an answer to prayer. We entered Kirill’s word just over 2 weeks ago as complete strangers. His acceptance of us as new parents couldn’t be stronger. This is where John and I are struggling to keep the faith and not be overcome with doubting. Our bonding was completed on the 8th. Our scheduled interview (pre-court) was delayed until Monday by our attorney because she was in Astana with a new client who is just beginning her adoption process. Our evening last night with our attorney (who has just returned from Astana) to finalize our preparations for our interview and for court was a disaster. We had gone to the apartment of a different translator (Zhanat was not able to meet at 8PM on a Saturday night) to work through the court petition that John and I had written a week ago. Our attorney became very offended that she was not allowed to bring a drink near our translator’s computer, so she quickly gathered all our paperwork, called a taxi, and we left – very, very frustrating to be caught in the middle of such unnecessary conflict that is not helping our case. Our 2 years and 8 months of pursuing a child we felt called to pursue is coming down to these last few days. Much has been accomplished to prepare for our time in court where we will be asking a judge to allow us to be this boy’s forever family. Nothing has gone particularly smooth thus far.
18 Against all hope, Abraham , in hope BELIEVED and so became the father…. 19 Without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that…. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:18-21 Our only hope is in the “ableness” of our God. Our circumstances are a mess. I have found comfort in remembering a scripture where God spoke wisdom through a donkey (not making a literal comparison of our attorney and a donkey but it serves as a good reminder that God does not need a calm and eloquent speaker to accomplish His work). PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR COURT DECISION. Pray that this judge would look at the pictures of where this little boy has lived for half his life, the evidence that his mother has made no attempt to come back for him in 9 months, the joy on this boy’s face with his new parents, our ability to love and provide for him, and find favor on our case. As far as we can tell, this decision (our court date) will be Thursday. Because we are 10 hours ahead of US time, your petitions to The Judge we answer to needs to be before midnight on Wednesday. Let us all finish this race we began and not give up the fight for this little guy – Scott Kirill King.
No comments:
Post a Comment