Patience and Miracles

Hello Everyone. Hope you're all in the Christmas spirit and ready for the day to come! Over here we are making ourselves our own little set of Christmas celebrations for the day, and it feels very much like Christmas at home, just without our precious family :(

Today's visit with Julia was one of the best, but at the same time one of the shortest and hardest. We got there a little late as our driver needed to get our facilitator to a couple places as well, and pick up the Winkles so they could visit Bohden and Yuri. By the time we got there, the Winkles and us had already lost about half an hour of our time. Julia was in a very happy and interactive mood today, and just as we were really (and I mean, wholly and entirely) getting comfortable and playing really really great with her, her caretakers came in a half an hour early to get her for lunch.

While it may be better that she got her meal when she did, it was very sad to have our visit halved today. We so wish we could bring her back to the apartment with us. We really totally want to be able to play, laugh, and be with her all day. But for now, we are learning a lesson of patience and trust that God will take care of it. On the plus side though, cute videos and pictures abound.

Julia: "Your hanging me upside down 20 minutes after  giving me cheerios? Gee, the workers are right. You Americans ARE crazy."

Another positive note: Julia's passport will be back from the country's capitol tomorrow and we could indeed be looking at picking her up Christmas Day or the day after. Please pray we can have our sweet little Julia in our arms soon!

P.S. - Our luggage arrived today!!!! Now we have American food to eat and clothing for our baby girl.  Yeah!

Another Crazy Day

Hello Everyone. Sorry if this post seems a tad late as opposed to my usual schedule. I have spent the last 2 hours filing and organizing the tons of photos from the last three days or so that had accumulated into a giant mess. It feels good to be organized again :)

Anyway, Today was another full day of events. things started off with Julia, and the visit went well, even though she was a little cranky because of a little head cold going around the orphanage. We yearn to be able to play with her all day long and cater to her every need. None the less, her funny little personality and cuteness still keep us coming back.

Julia's chair climb from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

We got to share our visit with The Winkles, who are adopting two little boys, Yuri and Bohdan. So precious. They are so much fun to hang out with and we had an absolute blast of a night, walking around town and having Pizza at my parent's favorite pizza place, Celentano's.

Delish. Later that night, we toured the city in all its Christmas-glittering glory. It was simply gorgeous.

Christmas Tree in Freedom Square from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Tomorrow will be a day of visiting and getting ready for a certain upcoming gotcha day! Please pray that the passport comes back from the Country's capitol soon so we can finally complete our adoption of sweet Julia!

Exhaustion, Perspective, and hours sitting in a BMW

Hello Everyone! Happy to be back a-bloggin' about all the happenings in EE. Me and Dad are exhausted from a crazy day of paper chasing and visiting with a very special little girl. But without further adieu, let's get to the happenings of today!

So as you can tell from the title, a lot has happened today. Me and Dad got a nice early start to our day and were out the door to join Tatiana (our facilitator) and Valentin (our driver) for a day of driving around like mad men getting all papers necessary to finish the process of getting Julia her Passport and other important forms.

First stop was the court house to pick up the court decree that Jules is officially ours! So excited to be through 99% of the gauntlet and finally seeing an end in sight. From there, a matter of getting Julia's birth certificate in order to get her passport. Getting this, however, felt like a process in and of itself. Tatiana was in the office by herself for about an hour and a half before she called Dad in from Valentin's sporty little BMW. Her and Dad were in there for another half hour or so, but when they came out we had a birth certificate and an adoption Decree!

           During that time, though, I thought about a little fact of the whole story that surrounds these special orphans  I hadn't before. I knew that most of the time they hung out in their cribs, and got taken out for meal times and diaper changes. I was getting seriously annoyed just sitting collecting dust in the back seat of a sports car for two hours. These precious little souls sit in the same place, looking at the same surroundings, almost 24/7. It's not something that comes immediately to mind, how tough something like that can be. But I felt like  I had a new perspective on what my little sister's life had been like, and I won't forget it.

       From there came a mad dash for a quick lunch before moving on to bigger and better things. Me and Dad made good use of our 15 minute break, exchanging currencies and grabbing a quick meal to go from the local McDonald's. After that came the real meat of the day! Julia was going to need her picture taken for her passport, and hence we would be picking her up and bringing her around to enjoy some time together! A nurse came with her and we spent the rest of the afternoon (about 3:15 to 6:15) spending time with her while we got all of her passport stuff together. Because we were in constant motion,  I don't have any good pictures for you :-(  We will have a normal visit though tomorrow, and  I will have plenty of new pictures of our baby girl then.

      I really broke the ice today with her, and she seems a little more comfortable with me which was a very satisfying feeling. We snuggled together in the car some while Dad caught some Z's on the way back to the orphanage. When we had to give her back tonight it was a little bit harder to do. We should have her in our arms forever by Christmas or the day after though, so our spirits are still high and excited.

After that, we did a little bit of grocery shopping in Dad's favorite store, Billa.

                   (It's officially strange to walk into a store and have NO English labels :D)


Thank you all again for your supportive comments. We appreciate them as you guys go through your own processes, adjust to life with your new additions, and counsel us newbies as we learn along the way. 

I will have new pictures of Julia tomorrow and will have plenty of pictures posted to a public web album VERY soon. See you then!

Finally Here!

Hey Everyone! We are finally in country and are so happy to be! As Mom posted earlier, me and Dad had a flight cancellation on the 19th when snow in Europe was slicking up all the runways. They put out cots and some type of chocolatey-granola  bar-like thing and TONS of water bottles, and a few people took some. Needless to say though, the airport in Germany was a crowded building full of mayhem.

Some people who saw that other flights to their destination were available stood in line for 4 hours+ just to be wait-listed. Flight gates were changing constantly, and hence people were running in every direction just looking to reach their long-awaited flight. In the end, though, me and dad got on a flight and were in country very quickly. From there we took another long trip, this time in the form of a six-hour train ride. We had our car almost entirely to ourselves, and we caught up on some much-needed sleep. Once we got to Julia's district, we were met by a very nice driver who spoke very fluent English. He then took us to our apartment, which exceeded my expectations entirely.

Albeit internet connections are very tempermental, it is an awesome place to stay for our trip.

From there, we got our first visit with the princess herself! We were so excited to see her. (I have a couple videos qeued up for upload on vimeo, and will post them when they are available. Pictures will follow as well.).


Going to Julia! from Caleb Lococo on Vimeo.

Julia's district over all is a very metropolitan city with everything we need to get by for 10 days or so. But there are many cultural differences I am yet to adjust to. I come from a family of non-smokers. None of my relatives smoke any more either. So being in a country where the smell is not uncommon is a bit odd. In the same respect, we in America truly are so priveleged with our resources. Whenever it snows, you can expect plows to come through at any moment on the double. Here, ice is ice and snow is snow, and you walk on it anywhere anytime. The sidewalks are literally caked with a good two or three inches of snow and ice that form a very hard, very slippery walkway that makes you feel like you're in March of the Penguins or something. But on the whole, i'm just happy to be in the same country as my little sister :)

Tomorrow begins the paper chase to get Julia with us ASAP. Please pray that all moves smoothly and that we can be home soon!  We even bought a stroller tonight to cart her around the city and through the airports on the way home.

(Editorial comment by Dad - isn't it too cute to see brother and sister finally united? Can't wait to get the rest of the crew in on the snuggling).

They have arrived in Julia's country

We just got a text from Tom and he and Caleb have arrived in Julia's country.  They must be beyond exhausted!  Now they will catch a train to Julia's region.  Those poor guys.  I hope they can get a good rest on Monday night so that they are ready for their hectic day on Tuesday collecting up all of Julia's documents.

Thank you for your prayers

We just recevied a text from Tom that he and Caleb are boarding a plane for the capital of Julia's country.  In short, the getting to go where they need to go :)  Once they get off the plane, they need to board a train to get to Julia's region.  This will be a trip that they will never forget!

Thank you, again.

Stuck in Germany

Tom and Caleb left yesterday for EE to bring our Julia home.  They have been sitting in an airport in Germany for the past 12 hours, trying to get to the capital in Julia's country.  Severe snow storms have hit this area of Europe and the airlines have been brought to a stand still.  I'm thinking of the families this past summer that were effected by the volcano ash that was floating above Europe.  Snow or volcanic ash, if it isn't one thing it is another!  Tom has sent us an e-mail explaining what it is like in the airport.  They have set up cots and put out water bottles and Twix bars to keep the "masses" from getting too cranky.  I wonder how that is working ;)

We would appreciate prayers for Tom and Caleb and all those traveling during this difficult time.  I know there are other RR families who are traveling right now too.  Some for their first trip and others returning to bring their children home.  Let's hope that everyone reaches their destination safe and sound.