baby austyn

here is our families ray of sunshine this holiday season. this is his first christmas. we were hoping he would share it with Markus and Aleksander. but we have decided that our boys gifts will just stay under the tree til they come. then Austyn can share in their christmas as well.

well it is confirmed no court in 2008

this is Austyn Riley , he was born the day our adoption journey began
he is my cousin's baby boy. we borrow him to take up time for now. lol

well i heard from barbara today. she just wanted to make sure we understood about our boys. we are going into everything eyes wide open. those two little boys complete our family. when we knew having children could be dangerous and we found markus it was a great blessing, but then we met aleksander and it felt like he needed to be with us to complete us as a family. now we wait til 2009 to get here so we get a date to go make them legally ours forever. i want to thank Melonie for going and getting us the pics. also thank all of the people whom we have met online that have been a support system in during this process .

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO US

Our Chistmas elf and Dallas Aleksander

here is our precious James Markus

Our Big 3 year old Dallas Aleksander

well this morning we got the second best gift we could get .(first would of been getting a courtdate to bring our young ones home) someone had compassion enough for us to go visit our baby boys and send us photos. (thanks from the bottom of hearts)

IM VERY THANKFUL

today as we meet for thanksgiving dinner , i think of my two little boys so far away and not knowing they have a family waiting to bring them home. after reading all the CRAP on the yahoo group . my husband is concerned for our young boys if people start causing trouble for the children being adopted. we have decided that no matter what others think about FAS we are lucky that God brought my young cousin into our lives so we are prepared for the boys. hmmm some would say it is his plan for us. and i believe it. i do want to vent one thing here because i can... the people on the estonia group has put a bitter taste in our mouths for people , not for the children just the adults who got what they wanted a child to love and then they complain about it. i know first hand that venting to someone is a great help when dealing with FAS , my mother has helped me through it all. she has been through it all with us. when i knew that we couldnt have biological children ,i read everything i could about adoption and when our SW did our homestudy she was blown away with how well Arly behaves and does in school. she questioned Arly about us bring children into the home and she was ready for it. You get out of the child what you put into them most of the time but when dealing with FAS you never know what you get. and my undeerstanding from AHI they told us everything and if i ask anything from them they try to find out what they can. but no matter what they tell us about our boys it can never change my mind about loving them because i love them with all my heart. and im sure people are thinking well you havent got them home yet. but i didnt at first want my cousin she was kinda left on us but i never regret it. and we have chosen our boys.

happy birthday Aleksander

well my little boy turns 3 today , thousands of miles away from his family. although he isnt legally ours yet , we think of him as our son and cant wait to bring him home where he belongs.

need to vent i guess

well i been reading on the yahoo group about FAS children and adoption. both my precious little boys have been said to have FAS . i know that it is alot of work ,that it can push you to the edge at times but it can also be a rewarding experience. i know everyone has to decide for them selves about adoption and noone can decide for you. i know FAS is something people could save their children from but in most cases they dont care. but just because the mother doesnt care enough to chose healthy life style while pregnant , does this mean that the child doesnt deserve a family or someone to truly love the child. my little ones arent home yet but i am preparing myself for the worst. we have been raising my cousin since she was 10. when we first got her we had no idea that she had FAS. plus her mother refuses to believe that her party lifestlye effected her daughter. Arly didnt know how to bath or brush her hair or any of your basic life things.she wet to bed everynight for years but after being strict on her intake we have controlled her bedwetting. it takes alot of work but it is worth it to see her be happy she accomplishes something normal children do. she believes everyone at face value and lies more then 100 teenagers. school kids use her if they can to pass notes or be a slave but we handled that and now she watches herself to not let them use her. we work on everything it wasnt easy we been working on this for 7 years and she has gotten alot better. she still struggles with school but we encourage her and as long as she does her best then we let it be. i dont know what doctors gave advice to the person on the group but i have never read anything about violence and sexual acting out. i will begin to read more and find out if it is something new. after reading all the emails about FAS it makes me aggrevated to think that people regret taking in children. all i can do is pray for those who have regrets. and i pray everyday that my little boys get the chance at life that my cousin has gotten with us.

well i tried to email and ask if there is any news yet but i know it wont do any good. i just wonder how many others are in front of us waiting to go bring their children home. i just wish i had a glimpse of how exactly this waiting thing works. does the time start when the dossier is sent in or when the court applications are turned in. hopefully it is from when our dossier was submitted . that was back in may . i really cant wait to bring home the boys. we have decided to do their room in Zootles. baby jungle animals it was meant to be we got everything on sale. we also heard rfom the workers again they say markus is improving alot with making sounds and playing with more toys. Aleksander is starting to talk more.

well it has been 9 months since the adoption process began and at the rate it is going who knows it could be 9 more. sometimes i wonder if when they have trouble with other cases do they forget about the other files they have and concentrate solely on the one. it would be nice if someone knew something about what was going on with our case but no one does. sometimes i want to just email the ministry of social affairs and ask wwhat is going on. but i know it wouldnt help. i really just wish we had the boys home. i dont even need 2 weeks in advance i could leave today if we had to. thats how ready i am to bring our precious little guys home.

another day and no courtdate

well we keep waiting and it seems we will be waiting forever :( i guess im starting to get a little down because Aleksander has a birthday coming up soon and we wont have him home for it. i know i really shouldnt be down but i truly wanted to have them home before the holidays. hopefully the courts get busy and give us a date so we can bring them home by christmas.

november is passing

november has come and is going fast. and still we wait to bring home our precious little boys. im not even sure now when we will get them home. we sent our dossier out in may and now we still have no idea when the court will give us a date. we hope to bring them home before 2009 gets here, but if not we will go as soon as they allow us too.

hmm is there a method to God's plans

well i received the oddest email today . a family my nephew goes to school with emailed about estonian missionaries whom they heard speak at their church lastnight. the Cartmills are wonderful people they told the missionaries of our journey to adopt our little boys.the family has offered any help they can give us even as far as to offer their home open to us whilst we are in estonia. God truly does make a way for everything. now if we could just go bring home our precious little boys.

well atleast God heard my prayers again

well i found out today that my prayers were answered just not how i wanted them but thats ok. another family is going to be in estonia on my little ones birthday. atleast one more child will be going to their forever family. which means that it is getting closer for my precious little boys to be home. we continue to pray that we get them home soon but if not atleast in God's time.

october is gone

well october is gone and yet we wait still. hopefully we get a date in november, but if not we will continue to wait for these little guys are ours (the courts just got to realize we want them home now) my husband is still convinced we should go see the boys if we dont get them home by christmas. i think we should wait. although they are not here it seems everyone in the family talks about them as if they are already here. funny how two little boys can be part of something and not even know it. there is a whole host of family just waiting to show them what a family is and what it means to really belong somewhere and be loved. we are working on the boys room at the moment. trying to decide what to decorate it in and what color to use. currently the room is dark green and has a pirate creature on the wall( Arly is moving rooms so the boys get hers.) who knows how it will end up but once i get a court date i will jump into over drive and complete it before we go.