An Anniversary And A Birthday!

Well it looks like from here on out, January is going to be a big month for our family!  We had lots to celebrate this past week, and there is more to come as the weeks move on.

On January 8th we officially celebrated ONE MONTH HOME for Bronwyn and Leo!!!  The time is moving by so quickly, and already it seems like they have always been here.  It is amazing how that happens.  With each adoption I have tried to savor those last few days before the big addition, the big change to our family, just because I know the status quo won't ever be the same again.  But each time it surprises me how quickly everyone settles in, adjusts to the new normal, and starts to just get on with life again!  This time has been no different.  I think some people thought it would be different or more difficult bringing not one, but TWO teenagers home at one time.  But it has been blessedly wonderful and..... knock on wood!.... pretty easy so far!  ;)

That is due in part to their fantastic personalities.  They are both such easygoing, fun and sweet children.  They try to please most of the time, as it usually goes during that "honeymoon" phase of adoption.  But I don't think this is a phase for them.  They really are just that laid back and loving.

There have been little challenges as we get to know each other better and as they come to learn what is expected of them living in a family with a Mom and Dad to answer to and brothers and sisters to consider.  Hygiene, chores, respect, it has all been a part of the learning process.  As well as seeing where they fall academically so we can ready them for school in the fall.  But really all in all, so far so GOOD!!

I am just so thankful that these kids are home with us where they belong!  I was more worried this time around about adopting than any time before.  Mostly because of finances.  As you might remember, we decided to commit to them while we were still completing our adoption of Charlotte and Atticus in May.  The financial "How will we pull this together?"  was what stressed me out.  Starting from scratch.  But as usual, God had a plan and it was perfect.  And so 5 months later, here they were, on American soil, and they were ours!  We are really looking forward to the weeks and months ahead!

The next big celebration came in the form of a BIRTHDAY!  Little Miss Charlotte turned SIX!  Hard to believe she is a six year old in that tiny little package, but anyone who knows her personality knows she definitely has the spunk and determination to go with her years.  We kept it pretty low key for her- a party at her preschool with cupcakes, some presents and new outfits to open, and some birthday brownies to celebrate that night.  All in all it was a good day, and I think she really enjoyed herself!  Hopefully next year, when she is walking and has more friends her age, we can blow it out with a big par-tay!!  Just what Momma loves!

All ready for school in her new birthday dress!

Yeah!  My own computer!!

This girl loves some shoes!!

A tutu!!

 Then, this past Saturday she got the present she had really been wanting....... getting her ears pierced!!  She wanted to have earrings like all her older sisters, and now she does!  She did so well too, just a few seconds of crying and she was done.  Great job girlie!  They look so pretty!

 So, we have survived the month so far, and there are two more birthdays to go.  This time for the big boys of the family!  Gideon turns the big SIXTEEN this month on the 20th and then Leo turns fifteen on the 29th.  Whew!  I told you January was going to be big from now on!  Nothing like all these celebrations to ease the doldrums once the holidays are over huh?

I for one am just continuing to take time to remember my blessings. There are so many!  I am really loving being the mom to many.  They are all such a joy and I can't think of a better way to spend my time than with my family.  It is only when I get caught up in the worldly things that I forget this.  Listening to who has a new this and who is going where and who got what.... worldly stuff that I shouldn't long for anyway.... it is then that I lose my sense of purpose and contentment.  When I focus on all I have been given, THEN I am at my best as a wife and mother and then I am grateful and happy.  And these kids definitely bring me happiness!  Such joy can be found at the hands of a child-- toddler or teenager-- and that joy is the joy I am after.  Not the momentary joy of a new THING.

So with great thankfulness for all we have been given, we move into 2013 with a bang!  Onward and forward!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

As we look back on this past year of 2012 we can definitely say that we had our ups and our downs.  But overall, we were richly blessed!  We had times of trial to be sure- health issues, money worries, marriage stressors, school issues, you name it.  But that is life, and we are human.  And you know what?  We came through it.

BUT, we also have to remember all the amazing and WONDERFUL things our lives were blessed with this past year, and most of all remember that in most every instance, God used the bad to bring about some greater GOOD!

Of course the biggest blessings for our family in 2012 came in the form of four new Rowe children!  We accomplished something really great this last year.  We gave four kids hope.  Hope for their futures when there was none before.  We gave them love.  Unconditional love that will carry them throughout their lives and support them in their bleakest moments.  We gave them family.  A backbone to strengthen them, build them up when they are down.  We gave them acceptance.  They can now feel and act like any other kid, without the stigma of  "orphan" attached and limiting their lives.

In short, we gave them our hearts.  And it is WE who are better for it.  Blessed beyond measure.

So yes, 2012 was a very good year!  The ups outweighed the downs, the positives outweighed the negatives. And as always, God showed us that He was in control.

So here is to 2013!  May it be a great year, full of growth, health, happiness and love.  May we continue to stretch ourselves beyond what we think we are capable, and venture outside of our comfort zone for the benefit of others.  May we always be seeking to do good, and esteem others higher than ourselves.  May our children continue to learn that humility is one of our greatest possessions, not material goods, and that it is the ultimate looking glass through which to view our lives.

Here's to new beginnings, a fresh start, a clean slate, a new outlook.  Here's to another year full of promise and God's grace and mercy and blessing.  Here is to a whole year in front of you to do good and the ability to make your corner of the world and better and brighter place.  Here's to 2013!

Cancer

Cancer sucks.  It is like a vicious, evil plague taking over our country, our world.  Days like today just make me think and ponder the enormity of cancer.  It is everywhere.  It it awful.

Ever since Atticus's diagnosis I have tried to stay positive.  Tried to be brave.  Tried to comfort myself with the fact that he has done SO well with all of it so far.  But sometimes, the reality of the situation is just overwhelming.  Like on days like today.

Just about once a week my sweet little buddy and I trek into Charlotte to Levine Children's Hospital for his treatment.  We hike up to the sixth floor around 8:30am, usually before most other appointments arrive, sign in, and wait to go back for treatment.  And today was no different, except we were not alone today in the waiting room this morning.  Instead, sitting across from us was a mom and dad, and their daughter Addison.  Addison was probably about three or four years old.  Her mom and I struck up a conversation which eventually lead to her asking what Atticus had, and I told her.  After discussing his Leukemia a bit, she told me that her daughter had Wilms Tumor- a tumor of the kidneys.  They had found out recently.  Today was their first visit to the clinic.

And so what do you say to a woman you just met who breaks down in front of you and says the enormity of it all is just too much.  What do you say?  The only thing I could say....... I understand, and I will pray for you.  Because I do understand.  Now.  And I wish I didn't.  But I do.

My baby has cancer.  He has cancer. And every week I am surrounded by others that do too.  Like little Addison.......  and like the teenage boy with Down Syndrome in the waiting room today when Atticus and I left, whose mother's eyes met mine and gave me a knowing smile....... and like the other teenage boy waiting with us for the elevator who removed his hood to reveal his bald head, and who probably drove himself to his own appointment today because he looked about my Evan's age.

Cancer is everywhere it seems.  There are friends in our church who have been recently diagnosed, friends and acquaintances in my adoption support groups who have it or whose children do.  And the dear Lord knows I had plenty of experience with it before now too.  My mother passed away from it at age 48, my uncle- her brother- had esophageal cancer and died at 51.  My grandmother.... my great-aunt..... yes from the time I was a young girl I had my fair share of exposure to life with cancer.  But those were adults at least.  They may have died way to soon, but at least they had gotten a chance at life. When you are talking about children, well it is just a different matter all together.

There are no easy answers, no simple treatments, no guaranteed cures.  There is nothing anyone can really say to make it better, make the burden lighter, make the worry go away.  There is prayer, and understanding, and that is why those were the things I offered to that woman today.  The only things I could give.  The only things that might help, if just a little.

But in the meantime, it still sucks.  And I never use that word.  But it really does.  And on days like today when I call my husband sobbing because the weight of it all just comes crashing down on me, and the reality just slams me into a wall with such force that I am not sure where else to turn, I realize that the Lord is the only place I can turn, and He will direct my steps and He will guide me through it.  Me and all those other moms and dads who carry this weight upon their shoulders.  The weight of cancer, and their child having cancer, and the worry and the what-ifs...... He will carry us through all of it.  Just like He has before as referenced in that Footsteps poem.  And I have to rest in Him.  Because sometimes, it is just too much to bear.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well here we are, at the end of another year, and preparing for yet another Christmas holiday!  This year, Christmas will be even happier, livelier, jollier and more full of merriment now that ALL of our sweet children are HOME!!

At some point I promise, I will get around to sharing the pictures I have of their arrival home just about two weeks ago, and the days that followed, but for now I just wanted to post a few pictures of our gang, and wish everyone a very happy, healthy and blessed Christmas!

Decorating the tree!

She was so enthralled by the lights!  She just kept saying "wow.  wow."  while we were putting them up.  :)

Photo bomb by Evan!

Helping me make Christmas goodies

Snuggling with Alice

Aren't we cute in our Christmas outfits!?

Mine has my name on it!

All my dapper young men

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

I hope that the following days are filled with love and joy for your family.  I know we have had many friends who have had recent tragedies in their lives and as we think of them and pray for them at this time of year we are reminded of how precious our time together is, and how it should never be taken for granted.

So MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!  Have a cup of cider for me!!

They Are On Their Way Home!!

Yet again, I have to apologize for being lax in keeping up with my blogging.  I have done lots of updates on Facebook, but there just never seems to be the time to sit down here and compose my thoughts and pictures the way I would like, so I put it off.

But I must now because there is some exciting news to share!  Our children will soon be coming home!!!!!!  We are finally in the last stage of this adoption process.  The medical appointments have been completed, the visa appointment was held at the Embassy, and they are due to pick up their visas tomorrow afternoon!  The flights are booked people!

On Saturday afternoon my husband, daughter and two newest children should be touching down on American soil, making Bronwyn and Leo official American citizens!!!  We are so thrilled that this time is finally here!

Everything these past couple weeks has been going very well.  Tim and Schuyler waited out the required 10 day waiting period until the children were officially ours.  Then he and our facilitator did the mad scramble last Friday to run to the cities of our childrens' births to have their birth certificates changed.  It was very exciting to see the new ones, with their new name of  Rowe!  Such a momentous occasion.

The official court decree!!!!!!

The plaque outside the office where you get the birth certificates.  Notice the parents holding the child

One of the buildings where they got the birth certificate

The statue of Stalin in Bronwyn's hometown of Saki

Leo's hometown, Konstitushya

Waiting.....waiting.....  It was a long day.

Bronwyn's new birth certificate!!

Leo's new birth certificate!!


After that, the children were released to Tim's custody.  He said that although they were going to miss their friends at the orphanage, they were very happy and very relieved to say goodbye to that lonely place that had been their home for years.  Home being used in its loosest term.

Watching movies in Russian!

He had a lot of fun with them during their last couple weeks there!  They had to go shopping for some new clothes as they were not allowed to bring much of anything with them,  Bronwyn loves her new coat and boots!

He also brought Leo for a haircut, and got one himself while he was there  :)  They got to go exploring a bit and headed to the park across the street from our apartment with some friends we know who are also there adopting two wonderful teenage boys!  Between that and checking out some new restaurants, and finding some movies in Russian to download and watch, they have been biding their time chomping at the bit to come home!

Our friends the Hamiltons who are adopting two amazing teenagers

Bumper cars anyone??

The very cool park!

Taking pictures.  Of course!

The boys are going to do some target shooting!

Ah the smiles of a boy with a gun.  Hmm....  They were only shooting targets though :)

Leo got a little haircut with Papa the other day!

Before they left, Tim was able to organize a class party for each of them which was very fun!  He brought cakes and juices got to take a few pictures of them eating and having a good time.  He also brought flowers and chocolates to the director and social worker at the orphanage, and chocolates for the kids' teachers.  He said he has more pictures of their official " Gotcha Day" and I will post some of those once I get them.

The weather over there has changed dramatically since I left too!  The streets of Kiev are covered in snow.  I love the snow, but I am petrified of slipping and falling.  So it is probably better that Tim is completing this last leg of the trip instead of me  ;)  They don't clear their sidewalks or steps or streets for that matter over there, so I would probably be on my behind in a millisecond!  :)

This street was where we had our first apartment when we traveled for our first trip to adopt Charlotte and Atticus.  Ahhh memories!  It wasn't covered in snow though!

Here it was before!  BIG difference!

He has defected!  ;)

So now, we wait.  They are scheduled to pick up their visas tomorrow at 2pm.  Then around 4am on Saturday they will head to the airport and begin the long journey home.  Lots to do before they arrive!  Like clean, clean, clean, bake, and clean!!  Just kidding, we are pretty much ready.  I do want to bake a few "welcome home" treats for them though  :)  CAN"T WAIT!!!!!