Ready to return to Siberia

We so miss this darling boy with the cute dimples! I look at his picture several times a day, wishing he were in my arms again!

It’s been a difficult two weeks since we came home from Russia, but we have spent every waking hour working on paperwork so we could return to Geniy.  Nick saw a psychologist right away, but we were having great difficulty finding a psychiatrist who would see us (or even return our call!)  You see, psychiatrists just don’t do what we were wanting done.

So many have offered their help.  A friend at karate, a doctor, asked Dave what he could do to help us.  Dave told him we needed a psychiatrist to call us back and he said he could help us there.  The very next day we had an appointment to see a psychiatrist a couple days later.  We were so excited!  We found a babysitter for Nick and arrived in the psychiatrist’s office early.  When the secretary gave us paperwork to fill out, she only gave Dave a set.  He was the only one who had a doctor’s referral, she said.  We were so disappointed!  We begged her, if we could just get in front of him and explain what we need, maybe he’ll see us both.  A few minutes later, Dave was called in.  I sat in the waiting room and did everything I could to NOT cry.  The last thing I wanted was for a psychiatrist, who I was wanting to say I’m emotionally stable, to see me falling apart in the waiting room!  About ten minutes later, Dave came out and invited me in.  The doctor said, not only would he see us, but that he would see us on Friday (two days away), his regular day off, and would have the paperwork in our hands before we left his office.  Yippee!  We saw him again on Friday, he had the letter already written, signed, and notarized, and we were there about ten minutes.  He wished us well, and we left.  It was amazing!

So now all the paperwork is turned in and we just wait.  We feel we will receive a call as early as this Friday, the 24th , and expect to get travel dates for March 10 – 24.

So many have said “we’ve been praying for you”.  Well, I want you to know that we can feel it!  We feel like the luckiest family in the world to have been given such wonderful family and friends to watch out for us and two wonderful children to boot!  God bless you!

The good and the bad of it all

We got used to grabbing a little sleep any time we could

I promised to tell you what went wrong in Novosibirsk. We needed the last couple days to grieve this setback, but now we are ready to tackle it head-on.

A couple hours before we left the region, we had a meeting with our facilitator. She explained to us that Geniy's social worker had some concerns and was not able to give us a favorable recommendation for adoption.

Last year two major news stories regarding Russian children whose lives were taken at the hands of their adoptive parents made big news in Russia. We were even afraid that Russian adoptions would come to a halt because of this news. Geniy's social worker felt that Dave's military background and the fact that he is a karate instructor could lead to domestic violence and, therefore, did not feel she could give us a favorable recommendation when we return for court in March. Sounds crazy, I know, but she is just looking out for Geniy's best interest. And, although we are heartbroken, we appreciate knowing this BEFORE court and not DURING court.

So, the ball is in our court (no pun intended). We must prove her wrong! We will obtain a psychiatric report on both of us and Dave will contact the head of the American Bushido Kai Association for a letter regarding karate. We have some hoops to jump through and some money to spend (psychiatrists take only cash, no insurance). But we will get it done and Geniy will come home.

What we need now more than anything else is prayer.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
–Proverbs 3:5

Dad helps Geniy make a Slam Dunk. 

The Thomasons have arrived!

We arrive back in Moscow after a 4-hour plane ride from Novosibirsk (and NO sleep). We did not receive good news when we left Novosibirsk, so we were very sad when we arrived in Moscow. I'll elaborate on that later, as I'm in the Atlanta airport right now waiting for our connection to DFW.

Shari

The boy can scream!

Our last day with Geniy before heading back home to the States

Geniy kept waiting for the "click" of my camera, but I was taking video. He kept posing and waiting for the sound of the shutter, wondering why I was teasing him so! In the videos, he's telling me over and over again, "Take a picture of me, Mom!"

In the second video, Geniy has a boo-boo on his knee and is getting LOTS of attention from Daddy over that - until he realizes the camera is on him and he goes into full drama mode! We laughed all day long.

Brothers at last!

Today was our last day to visit with Geniy. He was well aware that we would have to leave and then would return for him. "Come back for me in March", he said. "I will wait for you".We asked him if he would like an American name, and he was excited and said, "yes, yes!". We asked him if he liked Zack. He did. We taught him how to say his American name and used it from them on. We showed him how to spell it just one time and he spelled it himself on his MagnaDoodle over and over again (he even had a great time spelling Nick's name).

We spent a lot of time today teaching him how to say several things in English, and feel he will catch on very, very quickly. Zack's social worker joined us today to observe. She asked about sibling rivalry between Nick and Zack and we told her we had not yet seen any. She stayed with us about 30 minutes and when she left we played a game of Concentration. That's when we started to see the sibling rivalry finally kick in. Zack was very competitive, counting how many cards he had against how many cards Nick had. It was also very difficult for him to wait his turn. But when he is told "no" he accepts it. Later he and Nick were playing basketball taking turns throwing the ball into the hoop. Since they each had a ball, they had to wait for the other to throw when it was his turn. Zack tried several times to slip in a quick slam dunk when it was not his turn, and when he was reprimanded, he got a little powty. They say this is completely normal - the kids in the orphanage will do everything to please you at first, but then their true personality will eventually come out. It means they've become comfortable enough with you to feel safe in showing their true emotions.

So tomorrow we load up on the Russian plane "Siberian Airlines" where we will be served some kind of Russian who-knows-what for dinner. We should be exhausted and sleep on this flight. Then we'll spend the night in Moscow Saturday night and fly to the states on Sunday. We'll leave Moscow around 1:oo in the afternoon and arrive in Dallas that night. With a 9-hour time difference, that's 20 hours of traveling on Sunday, not including the 3-hours it will take us to get our luggage, pick up our car, and drive home. I think we'll sleep about 48 hours after we get into our own beds!

Thank you to all who have prayed for us and left us messages; it helps us to not feel so alone here in Ice Country!

I kissed an angel today

We are so enjoying our daily visits with Geniy. We continue to be astounded as to how smart he is! He likes to impress us by reciting his ABCs, writing words, and putting puzzles together. Yesterday he showed off his athletic prowess while he, Nick, and Dave played basketball together. Somehow he knows he will be coming home with us (I guess kids in the orphange tell stories of such things) and he is so, so happy. He has been there since July of 2000, so he has no other memories of being anywhere else, but the kids here, although they are all taken care of very well, strongly desire to be part of a family.

Today we will talk to Geniy about the fact that we will have one more visit with him on Friday, then we will have to leave for about two months before coming back to get him. We want to do this today so that our last visit can be nothing but upbeat.

I pray thanking God every day for this blessing He has bestowed on us. It's an overwhelming feeling to have been given so much!