A Quick Goodbye...until Russia

Our bags are packed, so here is one last goodbye before we head for Russia. We think we have packed all we can and trust that anything we have left we will not need or can find in Russia. Our dear friends the Hood's are taking us to the airport, Thank you!

Thank you all, for the many emails, calls, and prayers over the past week. We are so grateful for the outpouring of love on our family throughout our adoption journey. We love you all!

The Last Minute Rush

Our same FedEx man came back with another package for us today. An international phone! Thank you, Russ, this will be huge for us in Russia I am sure.

Packing is in full swing...J being my point man for stretch wrapping. He has been a real good helper...he would have stretch wrapped the dogs into his suitcase but, Mom has to draw the line some where on what can go. :) We will have to save Chase and Charlie introductions for after coming home.

Emily is feeling much better and none too soon as she is our technical wizard! She has been loading every one's mp3's to the max to listen to on the trip as well as loading important files from the main computer to the laptop. Thank you, Thank you Emily!

Daddy has been diligently tying up loose ends with travel/hotel accommodations while trying to sell boxes. Thank you, Babe you have done an amazing job pulling all of this together this week!

It has not been easy but with the prayers and help of many friends this is really coming together. Okay, got to run because I think I was suppose to be getting something else off the computer instead of posting to the blog...oops! :)

Visa's are here...48hrs to go

Visa's arrived!! We actually had two Fed Ex deliveries today...I think we scared the first guy with our eagerness to greet him, he was very kind though and it was a good practice for the real delivery. The delivery man was very nice and patient while we took pictures...he was excited for us too! One of the amazing things in the past week has been the joy, strangers have shown us about our journey.

E woke up today not feeling well but she is a trooper, still working on translating for our photo books for the kids even though she is not at top speed. She is doing very well with her limited Russian. Thank you E for all of your hard work and diving in on such a huge task...you are awesome!

J. has been taking full advantage of feeling better by running around outside with the dogs while he can...they will miss each other.

One week from today...we meet

Hard to believe we are one week from meeting our children. I am in awe of how all this has come about.

Today has been the calm before the storm. J was not feeling well last night and spent most of today laying around recooperating. He seems much better tonight and no sign of anyone else going down so maybe we have dodged a bullet...bug. Kefir to the rescue!

E has been practicing her Russian for all of us. I just can't seem to sit still long enough to really consentrate on this...perhaps the long plane ride will be better for cramming.

Packing continues. I am realizing that I really can live on a lot less than I think. Thankfully, we have stretch wrap which is the secret weapon of the box salesman's packing technique. You can really pack it in with this stuff but it is easy to go over the weight limit. Putting all of my liquids into tiny bottles has proved time consuming and challenging since I am a bulk buyer but we are getting it done.

We confirmed that visas are to be delivered by 3pm tomorrow...yipeeeeee! Hotel rooms are reserved, plane tickets purchased...we are getting close to the launch sequence...so, until tomorrow, good night.

Okay....so we went a little crazy

Today was met with an early wake up call from New York needing copies of the kids birth certificates for our visas to be processed. Thankfully, a faxed copy was all that was needed and we knew that all had arrived on time. So, we will be looking for those visas to arrive on Wed.

Our itinerary has changed by one day as Russia has a holiday next Mon. (Feb. 25th). We decided to still leave on Fri. and take the extra day in St. Petersburg to recover from the long flight and time change. PTL, He knows we will need that extra time. So, we will be in the orphanages Tues, Wed and Thurs. of next week. We are still firming up our flight schedule but did confirm that our lay over is in Frankfurt, Germany. David will finally get the chance to use that German he took in college! :) HaHa

Our afternoon was filled with the divide and conquer strategy so Dad and J. took off for Academy to gather up some winter closeout deals while E and I headed for the Dollar store and Walgreens to pick up photos, photo albums, toys for the kids and travel sized everything (under 3 oz.s).

Okay, so we went a little crazy with the toy buying. It was so fun though to think about buying for them. I have not allowed myself this pleasure...I have stayed reserved but today what started as a small leak in the dam became a gully washer in a hurry. The picture above testifies to our fun and has added another aspect of realness to this journey. Soon, they will be holding these very items and for 3mos. they will represent this brief time we have with them until we return.

My favorite of these items are the photo books we put together. This was so fun, we laid out all of the pictures we had printed (80, doubles for 2 albums) then all four of us gathered and picked our favorites....it was tough in under 20 pictures to depict to our children who we are and where they are going to be living. Especially, as we are thinking about their tiny hands turning these pages over and over in the coming months until we return. Saying good bye is getting harder each day and we haven't even had the chance to say hello yet. Truly, it is only by the Lord's grace that we are able to press on and walk through this time. It is precious time though, to draw so near to the Lord and receive His peace.

Learning Russian

J.Michael-isms

What is this? J.Michael asked, as he picked up a yellow spongy object.

"Is this one of those stress-producers?

(get it, stress reducer, stress producer
-a more accurate description some might say.)

Heading to Russia...one week to go

All has gone well with our meeting today with Annise. We are set to go in one week. Yes, that is correct ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, today has been the mad dash to get our 4 visas together and sent off to New York for processing. I hope we filled everything out correctly.



All in all it was a highly productive day of almost finishing E and JM's current Unit study (one day to go), filling out visa paperwork, finding someone to take care of the animals (Thank you Steph B. and kiddos), cancelling milk orders for the next two weeks, finding a travel agent (thank you, Voddie), cancelling dinner plans with dear friends (so sorry, Malynda-I can't wait to try those enchiladas when we get home) and of course calling the grandparents who are on the edge of their seats now waiting for those new pictures of their grandbabies.


I still have so many friends to call but I am hoping you are checking the blog. If you hear it first from here treat it as if I had called you...because I would have loved to call everyone I know and let them know that this day is finally here. Thank you for your support...keep checking...more to report soon but for now I am totally exhausted...signing off til tomorrow.

Shiflet Valentine Tradition

For the past few Valentine's the kids have made this day very special for their parents. E and J.M. get dressed up, prepare and serve their Mom and Dad a special Valentine's dinner. It is so sweet to see how creative they are and how much they enjoy serving and honoring their parents in this way. Each year they seem to become more detailed in doing special things like vases of freshly picked flowers from the yard, cut out paper hearts to decorate the table as well as specially arranging the candles around the table. Oh and how could I forget the "walkie talkie" system J.M. created for us to let them know when we need refills...so cute! and quite ingenious. Truly a blessing I look forward to.

They are such good cooks now that most of the work is done by them and they shoo me out of the kitchen to get dressed up and wait for Daddy to come home...I am so proud of them and grateful for children who love to give and serve.

Our first Valentine with Emily...I spent all day decorating Emily's bedroom to look like a restraunt, I hung sheets to divide the room, and picked flowers-we lived in the country. Then I got dressed up and prepared a special meal for the two (three, Emily (4 mo. old) was sleeping though!) of us to surprise Daddy when he got home from work. It worked and he loved it.

We were so young and going out was a huge luxury that we just could not always afford-even for Valentines. Over the years though, I have grown to love this Shiflet Valentine Tradition...I would even say I am spoiled by it because I would rather do this than go to any restraunt! Thank you, my precious children for carrying on the tradition.

Blessings of a Blog

Now that we are getting closer to travel time I am so thankful for this blog. I am grateful for the opportunity to tell family, friends, and aquaintances about our journey in real time. Although, I would love to tell each person we know individually, time does not permit but how wonderful to be able to send you to this blog to check in and receive updates as often as you like.

We are so grateful to all of our family and friends who have been so supportive over the years as we have pursued and persevered through this adoption process. We are nearing the home stretch...which really is just the beginning of our life with our new children. I cannot thank you all enough for your kind words, hugs, phone calls, emails and especially prayers (keep them coming). The adoption process is a huge mountain to climb and we have been so blessed to have so many dear people help us carry the load and urge us on during the trying times. Thank you for your love and committment to our family.

We hope to have travel dates soon.....so keep checking back!

Moving Forward

Today, we have just decided to move forward and begin plans for our trip. We cannot wait 2 more wks to begin our travel plans...it has come down to a matter of faith to step out and just trust the Lord and go. I have wanted this day to come for so long and now that it is here it is surreal to me. I am trying to hold on to every part of this to remember, so one day when we look back we will remember how the Lord lead us by faith to two more incredible blessings. This blog is a memorial, chronicle of this incredible time in our lives.

So, what next? Well we will phone conference with our agency caseworker, Annise, who has been a huge help and all the way from Michigan she oversees all of our paperwork and logistics for our time in country along with AAI's Russian Staff. Friday, we will be briefed on our next phase....packing, packing, packing and looking for warm clothes. Houston is not exactly the place where you need snow boots but Arkhangel'sk is at a very chilly lo of 6 degrees F this time of year. Seriously though, we will be briefed on our itinerary for while we are in country, how much time we can see the children, what type of information we can obtain as prospective adoptive parents - as well as where to stay, where to go to get permission to be in both orphanages etc.

E and J are ready to go...especially J who told me tonight he would have his bags packed tomorrow. They are so precious and so anxious to finally lay eyes on their long prayed for brother and sister. The Lord is so good. We have much to be thankful for.

J.Michael-isms

"J.Michael, can you please read the shopping list again?"




"Lettuce, Tomatoes, Water, Cardstock, and Refired Beans."


(get it, refried beans, refired beans?)

More information on its way

Waiting, waiting, I thought the hard part was when we were completing paperwork and waiting for I-171 letters to arrive but that has nothing on this kind of wait. It will be two weeks tomorrow since we recieved our referral and one week since we met with the IA (international Adoption) Dr. who has some serious reservations about V. His concern is mainly lack of information for his age so, we wait, hoping to receive additional information on V to make a better medical evaluation.

Initially, I was concerned about the older ages of our referral but after much prayer, talking to friends who have adopted and reading many, many posts of those who received "surprise" referrals for older children like ours, I am less stressed on this point. I have come to a place where I think older would work well for our family even though it was not what I first thought...I was thinking babies, but then my 9yr old is still my "baby" so 3 and 6 are definitely still baby in my book. Hoping to hear back soon from our agency and have new pictures of my babies!

J.Michael-isms

A birthday package for J.Michael came in the mail from his grandparents, he ripped the tape off the box, and opened it up-it was the radio he wanted!!!!

And J.Michael said:

"Alright, now I have a radio that's not a handy-down!!!"





(get it, hand-me-down, handy-down)

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.