The Tenth Day!

Today marks day 10! That is the last day allowing for appeals to challenge our hearing to make Daniel ours. So in the eyes of the court, he is ours.

 

We still have a few days before we fly out. We were hoping to fly out this weekend; however, when we saw what the flights were going for this weekend, we decided to be a little more patient. Holding off on traveling another week also allows us not to get stuck with the upcoming holiday. The US embassy will be closed for Veteran's Day, which would have caused us to elongate our trip at least a day. So Lord willing, our trip will be as short as possible.

 

When we arrive in country we will begin the "paper chase". Our facilitator will be picking up our court decree next week, so we can head straight to the passport office. Passports generally take four days, with expedited fees. Once we have his passport, it will be time to break our little boy out of the orphanage and head back to Kiev where he will have two embassy appointments and a medical. Then we are cleared to go home!

 

We see the light at the end of the tunnel! Only a few more days!



Day 18-Mine all Mine!

 

He is ours forever!

 

We are proud to introduce our new son!

 

Daniel Dmitry Turley

 

Born into this world January 29, 2012.

 

Born into our hearts forever, October 18, 2013.

 

Our joy is overflowing! The road has been bumpy, but we are so thankful for our precious gift!

 

We are headed home to Phoenix as we wait for the court decree to be granted following a mandatory 10 days of waiting. But we will be back to bring him home forever.

 

Day 17-Unexpected Delay

We are very saddened today. We woke up, packed the remainder of our belongings, went to the orphanage for a final visit, ate lunch, then waited for our facilitator to pick us up to take us to court.

 

However, today was not meant to be our day in court.

 

About 30 minutes before we were supposed to be standing before the judge, we got a phone call. Our facilitator was calling to let us know that we would not be having court today. We were missing a signature on our court document. We were not able to proceed without this signature.

 

Adam and I were speechless. We had assumed that any delay would have been told to us prior to 30  minutes before court. We thought we were safe.....

 

We would have to cancel our flight home.....one more night away from our Tessa and Nate.

 

We still don't know if court will be tomorrow. They are doing everything they can to make court happen tomorrow, but we still don't know.

 

Here are pictures from what we thought would be our last visit with our son.

 Saying goodbye...

 

Praying our journey is only delayed by a day. We will see what tomorrow brings.



Day 16-Our Last Normal Day

Today we just soaked in our little man. Tomorrow is the day! The day that he will no longer be considered an orphan! Tomorrow he will be ours in the eyes of the world! 

 Watching his brother and sissy!

 I got to hold him as he crashed again...pure bliss! He fits so nicely in my arms! 

 I see you sweet boy!

 More fun in the ball pit!

 Peek-a-boo!

Tomorrow he will be ours! Oh sweet day! 

Day 15-Greeted with a Smile

This is the smile we were greeted with when we arrived at the baby house today! We were so happy to finally capture his excitement!

 He was fascinated with my hair today. He was actually quite gentle, just enjoyed holding it.

 Squishy face!

My precious boy!

 Taking a stroll in the park after lunch.

 

Little man had another hat on for our second visit, so cute!

Looking outside, admiring the gloomy weather I assume!

 

Look what I found! A little kitten tried to follow us home. Too bad customs wouldn't let me bring home a stow-a-way. :-(

 A better view of our little restaurant. It almost looks like a little church.

 This is our apartment building!

Tomorrow is our last "normal" day. Court is still scheduled for Thursday!

Day 14-Slow Day

Our little guy seemed happy to see us today. We were able to return to our normal room for play time. We are struggling with keeping him busy. He has already breezed through all of the toys we have brought. They hold his attention for small bits of time, but he is quickly ready to move to the next thing.

 

I know a few of these pictures are repetitive, but each one displays such a special look. I couldn't choose one, so I am posting them all!

 Love this face!

 He enjoyed laying over my leg while I patted his back. He stayed in this position for quite a while. Our little guy is starting to like getting "tossed in the air". This seems like such a common thing for most parents, tossing their children in the air and catching them. The first few time we did this, you could see he was very fearful. He is starting to trust us and now smiles as we are doing it (while still clinging on to us for dear life).

 

This is the little restaurant that we go to. They make us happy because they have their menu translated into English!

Our cab driver was late to picking us up today, so we missed out on our afternoon visit. Oh well, we are just happy we have one more day down.

 

We booked our flights home! Our facilitator is 99% sure court will be on Thursday, so we are taking a risk and booking it. Praying that they will not have to be changed!

Day 13-Day of Rest

Today Adam and I decided to take a day of rest. I can't say what we are doing here is physically grueling, but there is definitely a tiredness we feel emotionally.

 

We are happy we took this day to slow things down and just rest our bodies and our hearts.

 Still missing our kids like crazy, but we know they are in good hands

Looking forward to seeing them in a week, hopefully!

Day 12-The Wall

Today Adam and I hit a wall. We miss our kids, we miss our home, and we struggle with the tediousness of it all. The two areas we continue to find joy in is visits with our little man and skyping our kids. These moments take up such a small percentage of our day. We are beginning to feel like we are staring in the movie "Groundhog Day". It was a hard day....

 

Our little man continues to get such joy from our visits. We were fortunate enough today to see and spend our afternoon in the room that he sleeps in. I do not think that he gets the chance to roam the room exploring every crevice, so he took advantage of his freedom when the nannies closed the doors. He was so busy today. He reminds me so much of my other two at home. He has blown through every toy we have brought. We know we will have our hands full keeping this little guy occupied on the long plane ride home.

 Today he found enjoyment in watching videos of his sister and brother on daddy's phone. He was mesmerized by them and sat and watched them numerous times. I wish I would have had a camera to take the picture of little man in daddy's lap watching videos on his phone, but I have a feeling that won't be the last time I witness that.  

 Adam spotted this poster close to our pizza place. He was admiring the man in the reindeer sweater, pretty snazzy!

Today we worked up enough courage to ask the nannies for permission to take little man outside. We received a very brief "Nyet". I guess we will try again on a different day with a different nanny. We are not sure if they feel it is to cold or if they do not trust us. Less then a month and we will not have to answer to any more nannies.

This is his little room where he sleeps. The beds are made so tightly. We have noticed numerous stuffed animals strategically placed everywhere, but no children playing with them. We think they are more for "decorative purposes" showing a soft side of the orphanage.

The orphanage appeared to be somewhat shut down today, with the gates closed and all the doors locked. We have permission to visit, but we have decided to take a day of rest tomorrow. So we will resume visits with our little one on Monday. Praying for a sunny day with the hopes of a trip outside.