Our Little Immigrant

We've had our little immigrant home for close to 3 months now. And, honestly, its amazing to see the difference.

When we first me Julia, she looked like this:

Now, almost 4 months to the day she met her new Mommy and Daddy for the first time, here she is in America:

                                                              See any difference?


Julia is undeniably a huge part of our lives now, and honestly, she's also the life of the party around here :D She's getting much closer to walking than ever before, and on occasion she'll surprise us and stand upright without any assistance for a minute or two! She just had her first round of evaluations, and Mom tells me the Psychologist and the Social Worker that worked with her were wrapped around Julia's pudgy little finger :) Naps are still a bit of a work in progress, but on a day like evaluations where she's out and about, she goes down real easy, so needless to say we're thinking therapies=easier nappy time :D

I could easily fill up a couple blog posts with all of the pictures I take of Princess Ukrainia, but I'll whittle it down to some of the best:

                          Julia: "Ya know, Big Brother, you're great and all, but I'm starting to think that camera is a detachable body part of yours."

As you can see, our blessings abound. Julia is much more smiley and giggly than even before and has started babbling a little more, as well as doing the occasional sign when asked. We are BEYOND excited to see Julia's orphanage emptying out, with the Schwenzer Family over there right now, lovin' on Julia (not ours :D) and Sergei, and we are also BEYOND excited that the Hinz family Family will be going to visit our precious Sonya and sweet Dusty for the 1st time! God is GOOD!

At the same time, we ask you to keep the Davis family in your prayers. as you probably know, the judge in the region they are adopting from said no to their plea for adoption. Keep them in your prayers as they try and sort through their problem and pray that God will use this amazing couple to pave the way for the two families going over (one for a court date) soon. 

Well, that's all for now. As we continue to pass through Lent and prepare for the Rising of our Savior come Easter Morning, I hope God will rise in all of your lives personally and will raise up the families travelling right now as well!

Sonya has a Family- and we have new pictures!

Our family was thrilled beyond belief this week, when we found out that Miss Sonya has a family.  This is the little girl from Julia's group in the orphanage.  Caleb got to spend some time visiting with her on Julia's "gottcha day".  There have been many people praying for Sonya and our prayers have been answered.  The Hinz Family will be going to get Sonya soon.  They will also be bringing Dusty home, he was in Julia's group as well.  Please pray for the Hinz family as they travel to bring home their new daughter and son.

It is wonderful to know that in the past few months, seven children (that I know of) from Julia's orphange have found their forever families. Some are already home and others are in the process of coming home.  While we rejoice for these children, please pray for the little ones left behind.  I think this is one of the hardest parts of the adoption journey.  We see the other children in the orphanage and you want so badly for them to have their forever families too.  Two little girls at Julia's orphange that I can't stop thinking about are Shawna and Lindsay.  (See the side bar on the left for their pictures.)  Both of these girls are nearing the age of being transfered out of the baby house.  This is just too heart breaking to think about.  Another little girl who has captured my heart is Kate (46).

She is just beautiful.  The RR families that have met her say she is a gem.  Please pray for these girls and all of the other children that are still waiting for their Moms and Dads.  Thanks so much.

Julia is doing well.  We saw the ENT specialist last week.  She is being treated for another ear/sinus infection.  The doctor also mentioned that Julia is a great candidate for ear tubes.  I sort of saw that one coming.  I think that will happen in the spring.  We have Julia's evaluation next week, to see what services/therapies she will receive.  She is starting to take some steps on her own, but we can't wait until she starts taking PT and really gets moving.  I'm sure we will need to put some gates up around the house.  This will be strange since we haven't used gates in about 6 years.

Caleb, our resident photographer, will add some of his latest photos to the blog soon.  He has a lot to pick from, so it may take a while to decide on his favorites.

Since it is Thursday, I guess it is o.k. so say, "Have a Great Weekend."

Well, here's some updated ones! Talk about Miss Photogenic :)

                        "Sleep in Heavenly Peace..."

                                The Little Ukrainian Eskimo baby

                                Snuggling with big brother :)

                        And Big Sister :)

                              And because I don't have a couple thousand dollars to buy all of the studio backdrop and lighting gear, I wish I could afford, I've been making due with some comforters, work lights and eager little siblings as models :)

Anybody in need of some family/child portraits? :)

Well, here they are! New Pictures!

Me Like Snacky Time.

                                      And the puppy lip can be employed if necessary!


Ah, so hard to believe we've had our little blessing home for 2 months now :)

Back into our regular routine

Unfortunately, our family field trip did not happen on President's Day.  We had a mini snow storm, but it was enough to keep us home.  We had planned to visit Eleanor Roosevelt's home called Val-Kill.  Most of our children have been to the main Roosevelt Estate on school field trips, but none of them had visited Val-Kill.  We were all disappointed, but decided that a springtime visit would be more enjoyable.  So we will try to go during Easter vacation.

Now we are back to our various school routines and many doctor appointments.  Julia had another round of blood work done last week and everything came back normal.  We are grateful.

Caleb has taken more pictures, so I will let him post some when he gets a chance.

We are so happy to see that Sonya, from Julia's groupa, has had an increase in her grant fund.  We are praying so hard that she, Shawna and Lindsay have families soon.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Construction Girl and Glasses Take Two

Life remains busy and crazy here meeting the needs and schedules of our six little angels (and some of them aren't so little).  Julia's big news is she got a second pair of glasses that are lighter, more comfortable, and generally fit her face a lot better.  Here is a view of glasses take two, plus a view of Julia learning to drive her brothers tractor.

Tomorrow we are planning a little family trip for President's day.  We'll see how it goes and maybe have some pictures to share from that outing.

More Medical Updates

Today Julia saw the heart specialist.  We did not have specific concerns , but we wanted to have her checked out just to be safe.  Dr. F. told Julia, "She had the prettiest little heart he had seen all day".  So it was wonderful to know that her heart is healthy.  She was her usual squirmy self during all the tests, but somehow the technicians were able to get the information they needed.

We also received a call that her re-tests for giardia and h-pylori came back negative.  So the medicine worked the first time!

We have one more appointment with an ENT.  If everything checks out well there, I'm hoping we will be done with many of the medical appointments.

We are looking forward to Julia starting to receive therapy services.  She has started to stand on her own for brief moments and she will walk with holding only one hand.  It will be so wonderful to see all the accomplishments Julia will make.

As we make our way through all of the medical appointments, our family cannot stop thinking of the little ones in Julia's group that were left behind.  Luckily, we know of four children from Julia's orphanage that have families that will be traveling soon to bring them home and for this we are so excited.  We are still praying for Sonya, Shawna and Lindsey.  They are still waiting for their families and they are nearing the age of transfer.  Please join us in prayer that these children and many others will have families step forward for them this year.  Thank you.

6 weeks, 1 cute little girl and lots of pictures

Well, this Friday was our 6-week-aversary with our little Julia. Has it really only been six weeks? This has been such a big journey in so many ways. It's funny how one little girl can change your life :)

Julia continues to adjust well. Wearing glasses is coming along quite nicely.  The pair of glasses she has right now fits her alright, but we have a better pair from a brand specifically for Children with DS on the way (Thanks for the info Mrs. Thibault!) Sleeping is getting better, and she has gotten a HUGE kick out of moving upstairs with Gabby. She has such a little personality. One second she can be super quiet and concentrated on something and the next she's smiley-giggly-all-around-happy girl. she gives us such joy every day.

As always, though, it wouldn't be a complete post without some new pictures!

I also got a chance to put my photography skills to the test and get some winter shots of the other siblings out in the snow. Here's some of that fun!