Telling the Kids

Oh! how I would have liked to have had a picture of E and JM's faces when we told them of the referral of their brother and sister. Bigger smiles than when we went white water rafting in Colorado this summer! (pictured above) Those smiles ran so deep and wide that it might have just reached Arkhangelsk, Russia.

It seems so much more real with each passing day. I am thinking of A and V and calling them by their new names. We will talk with an international adoption Dr. on Fri to tell us what all of the Russian medical jargon really means. We are hopeful that these are in fact the children the Lord has chosen from the foundation of time to be grafted into our family. My heart is so full, I feel as if it will burst with excitement.

Tomorrow we tell the extended family. It is very special for me because tomorrow is my Dad's birthday and it was 2yrs ago that I first told him of our desire to adopt. We,-just my Dad and I-went to a Ranger's game. When I told him of our desire to adopt he was surprised, but typical of my Dad he was very supportive and I know he was excited about having more grandkids. More go-cart riders and golfers, yipee! I know our families have been waiting 2 longs yrs with us and we are so blessed to have two sets of grandparents and one great-grandmother who can't wait to meet our new son and daughter.

J.Michael-isms

It's a nice day today...I hope I have time to play with the dogs...
..."J.Michael, what is fifty-four times three?"...
...Looks like the dogs are barking at another squirrel...
..."J.Michael, are you paying attention?"...

Then J.Michael, returning to planet earth, hastily said:

"Oh, I'm Playing Attention mom!"

My Child

Not flesh of my flesh
Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute
You didn't grow under my heart-
BUT IN IT!

-Fluer Conkling Heyliger, The Saturday Evening Post, 1952

The Call

Just an ordinary January Friday....raining, cold, working on our daily home projects of school, cleaning, etc. Then the phone rings and everything stops as I hear the words I have longed to hear from our adoption agency..."we have a couple of kids for you to consider, I will be sending information and photos via e-mail". At first I did not even process what she said....I am thinking "oh, she needs a paper re-done or clarification on something" but I was not expecting a referral so soon.

So much races through my mind...trying to keep my cool with E and JM as not to let on just yet so that I can talk to their father. I call D and tell him the news...he quickly wraps up work and heads home...so I wait for him before opening the email so that we may pray over it and see them together for the first time. I have to stay out of the office because otherwise the magnetic pull towards the computer is too overwhelming. I commence cleaning as that keeps me busy.

D gets home, we send E and JM outside to play so we can gather around the computer for our first peak at our possible future children. We of course have so many questions, the children are older than we were expecting a girl, 2 1/2 (3 in May) and a boy, 5 (6 in Sept.) but they are absolutely adorable and have been brought to our doorstep.

The pictures of A are good and we received multiples (although, later we will find out that these are year old pictures). She appears to be in good health...amazingly healthy and those beautiful blue eyes just melt your heart. She is absolutely adorable. From what we could tell in the picture the orphanage looks to be very nice and well maintained. She is in Arkhangel'sk Regional Baby Home, one of the largest baby homes in this region.

The picture of V is not a good quality picture and also appears to be from a long time ago, not sure how long ago though. He has a sweet smile. We received so little information on him but plan to proceed with having both their medicals reviewed by an IA Dr. (International Adoption). We have chosen to go with Texas Children's International Adoption Services , using Dr. Tolle. We have an appointment next Friday. So, we wait some more.

J.Michael-isms

The Shiflet family was sitting around the dinner table one evening and we began to discuss Lunar Eclipses, how fascinating they are, and the astrological significance of them.

J.Michael sat quietly for a while then suddenly asked:

"What's a Looner Kleenex?"

(Get it, Luner Eclipse, Looner Kleenex.)

A New Year of Beginnings

2008 will be a year of new beginnings for the Shiflet Family. We anxiously await news of our little ones from Russia. As I look back at 2007 I think of all the hard work of filling out papers, doctors visits, fingerprinting, notarizing, apostiling, only to find out we did something wrong then have to re-do paperwork and back to notarizing and apostiling. I am not quite sure why what is simple for some is so challenging for others but putting together our dossier and completing the necessary requirements with the government proved to be a scavenger hunt of paper chasing and a test of endurance for us. Well, as difficult a challenge it was for me (I am not much for paperwork especially twice!) I know that all of this paperwork eventually gives birth to our children and that fact and much prayer gave us the encouragement to press on and accept(even laugh at times-what else can you do?) the trials of this journey. 2007 will be remembered as a year of perseverance for us and gratefulness of God's mercies.

As 2007 closed and 2008 opened I began to look forward with excitement at the thought that this year, 2008 will be "the" year. We will really bring our babies home and complete our adoption. We are just waiting now for "the call/e-mail" with pictures and a brief medical history. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness to us in 2007 and we Praise Him for the same in 2008.