McGyver Strikes Again

Kolya's on spring break this week, and Tyler will be next week.  Great.  Kolya, who REALLY needs to be in school, is now going to miss both weeks because we've had a trip to Disney booked for next week since December.  I dragged him around with me running errands all morning, so I'm hoping he'll figure out that he'd be having much more fun if he were at school.   :o)  He's very excited about tennis, and he has a lesson tomorrow morning after mine.  After the tennis group last Tuesday, he came home and went into the barn to practice some more, then came and told me, "I know how to do it, now."  ha!  After baseball evaluations on Saturday, he went directly out to the practice ball and starting trying to hit - cool.

David left Saturday for his national sales meeting in Austin.  On our way home from church yesterday, I said to Kolya, "It's a beautiful day!"  He said, yes, that it was beautiful.  Then he thought for a second and said, "No, today's not beautiful, because David left."  awwwwwwwwww, David will be proud!

Last night when I went to tuck in the boys, Tyler was up on the top bunk with Kolya, and they were just hanging out! yea!

OMG - THIS IS HYSTERICAL!  Let me start with the fact that we call Kolya "McGyver."  The boy can fix just about anything that's broken, and if he can't, he'll rob parts off one to make another.  David gave him a pocket knife the first week he was home, and he whittled himself (out of a piece of landscaping tie) a little boat, dug holes for masts (sticks), tied on some guy wires (string and inserted screws) and fashioned sails (tarpaper) for it.  Then he found a battery from a toy that wasn't working, a light bulb from a broken yo-yo, and attached a working light!   Wellll, he caught a lizard yesterday and (apparently) kept it.  Today he brought it in to me to show how it had changed colors.  Then he asked if he could watch television, and I said no.  So, he had to find something else to do (alone).  He just came back in and brought the lizard in WEARING A NEW COLLAR (a twistie) AND LEASH (fishing line) - BWAHAHAAAHAHAAAA!  Too cute!

ADOPTION TIMELINE

Here goes my best rendition of our adoption timeline. 

We hosted Kolya last summer through New Horizons for Children, from June 24 to August 4.  Our first step was to write an official letter requesting information about Kolya, and particularly whether he was available for adoption.  The letter was notarized and apostilled, and sent sometime in mid-August.  Meanwhile, on September 4, the New Horizons group was at his orphanage interviewing for the Christmas hosting program.  The facilitator asked him whether he wanted us to adopt him.  He said yes - :o)
On September 17, with completed home study in hand, we had our USCIS appointment.  Our fingerprint date was October 13, and we received our approval on October 30 -- pretty darn quickly.

Our dossier was completed and Fedex'd to the agency on November 10, and was submitted to his country in mid-November (around the 18th).  We received our invitation and so knew our travel dates on December 4. 

We left home on January 19, arrived in-country on January 20, and had our SDA appointment in the capital on Thursday January 21.  Our apartment was $65 per night there.  We left on the train (16 hours) on Saturday to go to the region.  On Monday January 25 I was able to see Kolya, finally!  January 26 was "Appendectomy Tuesday!"  David left the hospital on February 1.  Saturday February 6 Tyler and David left to go home, and on Sunday morning before church, I moved to a new apartment.  That evening, Sunday February 7, the SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!!!  February 10 we received our Interpol clearance (we were delayed by this only a week, as it turned out).  Friday, February 12 was court.  My beautiful grandson was born one week later, on February 19.  I got Kolya from the orphanage on February 24, and left the country on Sunday, February 28.  I woke up in my own bed March 1 with a new son upstairs.  :o)

I'll edit this post and pretty it all up later; just wanted to get the info gathered and into the post. 

Tyler and Kolya had baseball evaluations this morning.  They did pretty well, except Kolya isn't good, yet, at hitting the ball.  Tyler is gone for his second-ever sleep-over tonight at a friend's house, and David's gone to Austin until Thursday.  Kolya is now on spring break, so he's stuck here at home with me.  I'm picking up his new friend Ilya (he's Russian, and has only been here for 6 months) in just a little while and taking them to a movie and to Sicily's for pizza.

Gotta run!

Kolya wanted to play tennis, so he started with a group clinic on Tuesday, and loved it!  Now he wants to do the Thursday group, as well.  He's very athletic, which is a good thing in our household; but I'm afraid I'm creating another monster.  Tyler plays golf, tennis, baseball, basketball, football, and soccer.  Oh, and he's doing track team at school.  At the moment, it's just tennis, golf, and track for Tyler, and tennis for Kolya, but baseball evaluations are coming on Saturday morning, so I don't know how we'll end up figuring out how and when to do stuff.  I'm having to adjust our schedules fluidly, because every day is different.  Tyler's still very young, and I've been encouraging him to play anything he wants so that he can figure out what he's good at and enjoys.  Back in the fall, he did have to choose between soccer and football, and he chose soccer.  this year he says he wants to play football, but I'm not sure he realizes yet that he won't be playing soccer if he does.  It's gettting to that point, now, I'm afraid:  he's going to have to choose between sports that he loves, and I hate that for him, but it's just the way life is...

The good news is that yesterday evening the boys got TOGETHER to play tennis in the barn - yea!  I have to go work on my Bible study, now, since we meet tonight and my homework's not done.

By the way, Randi was just accepted to TWU (Texas Women's University)!  Way to go, Baby Girl!  I think she may choose TWU, now, over UTMB, but shhhhhhhhh, I don't want to unduly influence her to choose the higher-rated school, or anything.

Still Catching Up...

I have wonderful news for anyone wanting to make this capital city their wedding destination trip!  See photo:

The final apartment in the capital was a little bit stupid.  There was no washing machine, and there was no toilet in the bathroom with the shower.  Of the four apartments, it also had the most uncomfortable bed.  No coffee pot, and no toaster.  But by far the worst thing about it was that it didn't have a self-starting stovetop, and I had no matches.  It was the only one of the four apartments that had an oven, but I of course could not light it.  Just use the microwave, one might sneer.  Oh, nay, nay!  The microwave was shooting sparks inside as if I had put something metal in it!  Jeez!  Guess, what -- I just didn't cook anything.  My plan was to pop the last of the popcorn that my most awesome facilitator had brought me, but noooooooooooooooo...!  I KNOW it was slim-pickins for apartments because of the presidential inauguration, blah blah blah, but it doesn't make one any happier at the time, now, does it??? lol!  Oh, and it was $50 per night.

Catching up the Blog...

Soooo, after getting Kolya's birth certificate that day (described in previous post), it was getting late in the day.  Needless to say, we were exhausted when we finally returned to get Kolya.  While the facilitator and I were getting some documents done, the translator picked Kolya up and took him to the store to pick up some cakes and juice for his going-away party at the orphanage.  I had brought glow-bracelets from home for the kids as a treat.  (These were perfect, by the way, because they're lightweight and take up very little luggage space!  The kids loved them.)  The party was good, and I was able to take a few pictures of Kolya and his classmates.  There were 12 kids in his class, and they were all really sweet kids.  They all hugged Kolya and I discovered that he did have a best friend (he had told me that he didn't really have friends, giving the impression that he's kind of a loner :o)).  Turns out Kolya's friend, Vova, has a cell phone.  Vova and their caretakers and teachers gave Kolya their numbers for him to call.  (He started asking to call them almost immediately!)  The evening caretaker cried and cried as we were leaving, but encouraged Kolya the whole time.  She was really nice (she complimented my Russian language skills-ha!).  The party and goodbyes lasted just about an hour and a half, so it was well after dark when we left with Kolya.  We then went back to the apartment for the night.

Here's the next day's journal entry that I wrote on the train:
February 25, 2010 - Thursday
     We left the apartment in the city at noon to pick up the passport documents at the orphanage town's passport office.  (We bought our train tickets yesterday for 5:45 p.m. tonight.)  At 1:00 we left the orphanage town to go back to the city, arriving at 1:30, and the passport office there was still closed for lunch.  At 2:00, they reopened, and we gave them our documents.  At 2:30 they told us that the computer was down, so passports could not be done, yet; but just as soon as the computer geek was to come and fix the problem, we were to be first on the list to get our passport.  At 4:45 we finally got the passport, then had to return to the apartment to load up the car with our luggage, and also to pay for the apartment.  At 5:15 we arrived at the train station and went to find the correct platform and train, carried our huge suitcases, and went downstairs, then upstairs to the train!  We got loaded up and the train left at 5:49 p.m., headed to the capital.  We are supposed to arrive just before 11:00 a.m.  Whew, again!

Folks, it did not take long for the exhaustion to set in and take over.  I know I've been conspicuously absent from my blog, but even now it is already 10:45 p.m., and I've been awake since 4:00 a.m.  When we woke up after our trip home, it was Monday, March 1, already.  On Saturday I drove to Texas to see Lane (oh, and Julie and David - ha!).  He's perfect, of course.  Beautiful.  He's three weeks old, now.  I returned at about midnight Monday night, and tried to sleep in on Tuesday, but it wasn't easy with Tyler having school, David having to work, and Kolya hanging around bored stiff.  We finished out last week with Rosetta Stone, then Kolya started school on Monday.

Kolya was really afraid to go to school.  Very intimidated.  I stayed with him for a long time, but he seemed to be settling in okay, so I left when he was going to lunch.  The kids were so sweet to him.  They all wanted to be his buddy, and they all want to teach him.  They were prepared for his coming, and so were really excited for his arrival.  When I picked him up after school, he jumped in the car all smiles, said "Skol --" and gave a big thumbs up and a grin.  Whew -- what a relief!  He does, however, every day ask whether it's the weekend - lol!  He has enjoyed his week so far, and today brought home a teacher's note that he's name-calling, trying to get laughs.  Oh, boy!  And now, it's off to the races with my newest smart-aleck child.   :o)  

The competition is of course heating up between Kolya and Tyler, but the first week and a half were pretty good between them, which is what I needed to try and recuperate.  It seems they tend to alternate who's going to have a good day.  Sunday they both melted down.  I HATE daylight savings time!!!  It takes me all 6 months to get used to it, and I really never do.  I got the boys signed up for baseball yesterday, and they'll have evaluations on the 27th.  Kolya has never played organized sports, but he's very athletic, so we'll see how it goes.

It's 11:15.  I have to get to bed!  Please continue to pray for us during this transition.  This type of parenting is not for the faint of heart, but I can do all things through Christ's strength, can't I?  Oh, and for those of you considering hosting this summer, DO IT!

Here's a pic of Nana's boy!

Home Sweet Home!

We're home and having some down time today.  By the time my little dog woke me up at 7:15 this morning, David had already fed the boys breakfast, gotten Tyler all packed up and ready for school, and the boys had been playing outside for an hour.  After Tyler and David left, I took my shower (ahhhhhh), fixed a big cup of coffee (ahhhhh, again), and I'm going through a huge stack of mail and bills (grrrr), while Kolya's watching Star Wars and playing with Tyler's Nerf machine gun and a new pocketknife.  He's just hanging around in his longjohns, and he comes up and gives me big hugs every now and then (sweeeeeeeeeeet).

The trip home was fairly uneventful, but loooooooooooong.  Ten hours on the flight to the U.S., then a couple hours layover at JFK, and a two and a half hour flight to N.O., then the hour's drive home.  I did not sleep one wink on the trip.  Kolya slept the last hour and a half, and that was all.  We were up for 24 hours straight, and my bed felt really good (of course, that was after I stayed in Tyler's bed for him to fall asleep - been missing my baby boy).

I'm far too busy to be blogging today, but I promise to fill in those blanks regarding the end of the adoption process soon, including a timeline.  Best to all!

Our first day at home went pretty well, I must say. David took Tyler to school for us, and I worked in the office until noon going through the mail and paying bills (yuk). While I did that, Kolya played with toys from the playroom, then asked if he could watch television. I said no to that because I figured he wanted to watch cartoons, about which I am pretty particular. Then he explained that he wanted to watch a "disk." So, I told him that would be okay, since I was working in the office, anyway; he chose Star Wars, Episode I, and by the time it was over, I was finished in the office. He's terribly bored, and keeps asking when Tyler's coming home from school. He was shocked and disappointed that the answer was 4:00!


The boys have been so excited about having each other here that they haven't even had a fight, yet. Of COURSE, I know that's coming; it just hasn't happened, yet. It's "Come on, Tyler," and "Come on, Kolya," and they happily bound off to wherever to play.