Happy 4th Gotcha Day

Four years ago today Gary and I got Peyton and Caleb out of the orphanage.  When I think about that day, I can remember so many details so clearly.  If I let myself think too long it's overwhelming.  I can still see our long walk from our hotel to the orphanage in the rain, two times.  I can see us walking into Caleb's building and the nannies wanting the clothes I brought him to change him but I didn't let them.  So they stood over me while I changed him I assume to make sure I didn't take any of their clothes.  Yes, he left with nothing but he was smiling the whole time!  Then on to the building where Peyton was.  We found her in gym class and I took her to change her clothes.  Again, leaving with nothing and she didn't care.  They had a family now.

Here is the link to the post from that day.

 http://garyandtinabell.blogspot.com/2012/10/my-joy.html#links




Happy Gotcha Day Peyton and Caleb.  These sweet kids have taught us so much about life.  What patience we have gained and eye-opening stories we have heard.  What experiences we would have missed out on if we had said no to God's calling.  I sometimes wonder about people who live in their comfort zone.  Do you realize that you are missing out on your best life?

~Tina

   

Update

Wow my poor neglected blog.  I will try to do better at updating now that school is about to start.

Summer has been full of learning; for all of us.  Anna is doing good for the most part.  We have had a few learning moments because well, my boys don't like being hit for no good reason.  If they got too close to something Anna was doing or had, she would hit them on the arm and hard.  We have that under control now but not without lots of tears and hurtful words from Anna.  I hope you don't mind my honesty as it is not all sunshine and rainbows.  It is a daily struggle but to be expected since she spent 10 years in an orphanage and had to fight for what she got.

Peyton has picked back up on her Russian language now and that has been good and bad.   I am glad that Peyton can now be bi-lingual but in turn that hinders Anna from learning English and really Anna has little desire to learn English. We found a wonderful tutor through the Adult Literacy Program at our library and I was so hopeful that that would really help her. The lady is just great and Anna is so smart but again you can lead a horse to water but you can't make her drink.  

I think starting school next week is going to be a turning point for Anna.  We enrolled her in the sophomore class and Peyton is in the Freshman class.  They may have one class together but we decided that it is time for Anna to choose her path without the aid of Peyton.

Anna was really misled by someone in Ukraine; someone at the orphanage,  our facilitator, her brother, her aunt, we are not sure.  She was under the impression that her brother, who is in his twenties, would be making his way to America and she can't understand why he has not come for her yet.  She also knows that at age 18 she can choose to go back to Ukraine.  We have a lot of work to do to get her to see the opportunity she has here as opposed to the life she will have if she chooses to return to Ukraine.  I have had Peyton explain to her the realities she will face in Ukraine and I'm not sure she really can comprehend it because she was in the orphanage for so long.  I daily put it in God's hands because as hard as I try this is all far more than I can do.  Anna really is a smiley girl and loves to give hugs; sincere hugs.  She is very bright and can have a wonderful future if that is what she wants.  We are hopeful that she will start to see her future here and we will fight for her to the end.

As hard as this summer has been we have had several blessings including our sweet Carson accepting Jesus this last Sunday.  He has been talking to us about it for a while but we needed to make sure he realized what he was doing as he is only 9.  He amazes me what he grasps at this age.  He sure has been listening in church.

I want to give a shout out to my sweet friend that sent me a wonderful gift and letter this week, at just the perfect time, God's timing.  Included in the package were butterflies.  If you have been following our adoption stories you will know how significant butterflies were to us.  Thank you my friend!

We have been doing a lot of canning this summer as we have had an abundance of cucumbers,  Good thing the kids like pickles.  We made Dill, Bread and Butter, Sweet Pickles and Relish.  Yummm!

Enjoy a few photos from our Summer.

~Tina

homemade popsicle - blueberry banana chia

Carson's baptism

She Got It

 A couple days ago the kids helped Anna try to ride a bike.  They were so patient and encouraging with her.  She just took it all in stride with a smile on her face.  Well, by the next day she was riding the bike by herself.  The kids came running in the house and said mom come and look she is riding the bike.  I was so happy for her.  I clapped and clapped and she just smiled and laughed.  Can you imagine never learning to ride a bike until you were 16?  This girl had pure joy on her face!  I am so glad she is a go-getter and isn't afraid to try things.  I am so impressed with how confident she seems; oh she is shy around new people but I am just amazed that after all the years she was in the orphanage that she still has a spark in her. 

I was talking to Gary about how Anna had been available for adoption since she was 6 years old.  And, you know, all the whys that go along with that; why did it take us so long to get to her, why couldn't it have worked out to get her in 2010 or 2012 when we were there and so on.  My sweet husband, being the wise and level headed one said "Tina, this was about God's timing not ours."  Of course he is right.  We got her at the perfect time. Thank you God for your protection over Anna and for sending us to make her a part of our family!  We are so blessed!

~Tina

PS - I try to always share when one of my kids has something funny or interesting to say.  So here it goes.  I cannot make this stuff up. 

We were sitting eating lunch and the subject of our cats came up.  My child, who shall remain nameless,  said did you know cats know 16 words.  I said oh really.  This child then said, I want to learn what those are so I can talk to our cats.  Oh my word!  I may have spit something out of my mouth.  Never a dull moment!

Here they are trying to teach her.

 Look at this smile!  Priceless!



 

 

 

 

She wrote this all on her own.  She is
quite the artist.
 

Peyton's pretty flower

dueling hula hoops

 

   

We Are Home and All Is Well

We got home on Saturday night about 12:30.

Things are going well and Anna is doing great.  The kids are so excited for her to be here.  It is just awesome when I think about how they had all prayed for her for months and she is finally here; an answer to our prayers.  Sometimes I catch them just looking at her and I wonder what they are thinking.  Anna just chatters at them like they know what she is saying.  The boys all ask Peyton what is she saying?  Peyton may be getting a little tired of translating.  We have already taken a trip to Wal-Mart and she was amazed.  She loves playing outside and loves our kitties.  She tries to do whatever the kids are doing; swinging, basketball, tag etc.  She hasn't attempted to ride a bike yet.  I can't imagine a 16 year-old not knowing how to ride a bike.  We will fix that if she wants.  She has tried everything I have made to eat.  The kids get such a kick out of her eating sunflower seeds,  She is a pro at cracking them with her teeth and getting the seed out; all in one motion.  The boys crack one to her 10.  They just laugh and laugh.  She is really just adapting so well.  Obviously there are things that we need to work on but nothing major yet.  She has always had someone get her clothes out and tell her what to wear each day,  so getting in the closet or drawer and picking out clothes for the day is going to take time.  We haven't started to work with her on English.  I'm trying to figure out how best to do that.  One step; one day at a time.

We roasted hotdogs (yuk) tonight and they all had a good time.  Here are a few pictures.

~Tina

Yes my sweet husband
 is yawning.  It was a
long almost 3 weeks
without mama.

We Got It!

We got the passport with the stamp and we are going home tomorrow!!!!

Thank you to all of you who have followed, prayed for us and cheered us on.  We surely couldn't have done it without you and God.

We are so excited!!

I will continue to post here although maybe not daily like I did while we were here in Ukraine.  If you want to know when I post,  just put your email in on the top right of my blog and it will send you a notice.

~Tina

Well, "Definitely" Not

So for this to be a positive post, I will say that I am positive we did not get the passport today. Although I was told "definitely" tomorrow ( meaning today) I guess definitely doesn't mean the same to everyone.  I am not sure why I believed "definitely"because this adoption has been no where near "definite" at all except for the fact that Anna has definitely been great!

Anna and our facilitator travelled to Zhytomyr this morning and arrived to the passport office around 10 am.  The passport had not arrived yet and so they waited.  The time came and went for the package to arrive from Kiev with the passports in it so the reply, sorry come back tomorrow.  They will have to stay the night in Zhytomyr and tomorrow the passport with the background clearance "should be" in.

I am cancelling my flights for tomorrow (Friday) and hope to get a flight home for Saturday or Sunday.  If we don't get the passport tomorrow, it will be Wednesday before we can fly home.  The US Embassy is closed on Monday for Memorial Day so it will be Tuesday before we can have our final appointment with them.

God's timing; perfect timing.  He "definitely" has a good reason for all of this and that is a definite I can believe.

~Tina

Enjoy this video and DO LIFE BIG.

Good News

Anna will travel out to Zhytomyr with our facilitator tomorrow.  She was supposed to go today but the passport is not in.  The facilitator said it will "definitely" be in tomorrow.  We will go to the embassy in the afternoon and you know what, WE ARE COMING HOME on Friday.  Oh my goodness that sounds so awesome!

I'm so glad that God is so faithful!  This has been such a hard trip for me. But God showed me He had it on a daily basis.  Not sure who followed our other blog when we adopted Peyton and Caleb but God revealed Himself to me through butterflies.  So many times I would doubt and second guess and there would be a butterfly in random places.  It would be on a picture in a restaurant, on a woman's skirt passing by, a waitresses' hair clip, or dangling from the mirror of the taxi we would get in. Too many odd places to be a coincidence.  I reminded Peyton of that story and she said you know mom I have been seeing butterflies around us now.  I said I know Peyton, it's God's way of showing us it's gonna be ok.  He's got this. I'm glad Peyton got to experience this and hope she will remember for the future.

Did I say Friday we are coming home?  Yes!  The boys back home are so excited.  Please pray for our travels.  It may be busy on Friday with it being a holiday weekend.  We are going home!

(It rained today so not many pictures.)

~Tina

Do you see these things?  They are flying
off the trees.  Some days they are so thick
we get them in our mouth.  If you have allergies
be glad you are not here.

Can you see them in the air in
this picture?

See the rain clouds.