Friday, September 30, 2011
Another big blessing
After court, God provided us with another HUGE blessing. I can't really go into detail on this blog, but I will say that something we thought we would have to wait a week for came early. If you talk to any of our family they can fill you in. After getting back to the hotel, we realized that now it's another waiting game. There is not much to do here except sit around and wait. Daniel of course is handling this much better than I am. Every time I talk to the kids I want to cry. I guess knowing that I have 17 more days until I see them again, makes it worse. I just miss them so much. I have had time to think about all of the people who loved us through this process and provided so much in the way of prayers and money and other things to help us bring Lex home. I want so badly to tell you all how much you mean to us. We are so truly blessed to have such a family, set of friends, and church family that love us so much. So on top of missing my children, I now miss all of you. I know my emotions are high, and that's hard for me. I 'm not usually the emotional type. It's been such a long road. I told Daniel after court on Thursday that I feel like I've been holding my breath for a year. Hoping no one found anything that would affect our adoption. Praying that God would provide the money we didn't have. Worrying about Lex while we weren't there. Worrying about our kids while we are gone. Now I feel like I can finally breathe. I can take a deep breath and know that Lex is ours and soon our family will be together again. I guess that is where these emotions are coming from. A place of relief....a place of love.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Oh What A Day
Today started earlier than expect for Abby and I both. She just happened to wake up at 4:15 am while I had been awake for 15 minutes. I awoke with the thought that the time on my phone was set wrong and what if we miss our court time. I was so convinced my phone was wrong that I went to the window to check and make sure it was still dark outside. After laying in the bed for two hours the alarm went off and we got out of bed to prepare for our big day in court.
The ride to court was very quiet, except the times I told Abby, "I got to get my game face on." This was me trying to hide the fact that all night I kept thinking that I was going to really mess this up in court. So we get to the court room and wait in the court room for about 30 minutes before the judge walks in. And then it begins.....
They asked basic question to start and then it was all on me! From the time we went into court until we finished, I was very calm. I did mess up a little on the medical information we got on Lex, but overall I did very good. My question time was much shorter than expected and I had to explain what a Children's Pastor was. I guess over here the church does not minister to children. Then it was Abby's turn and she got more questions than I did. She did great, expected she talks with her hands too much and she wouldn't keep them still.
After our questions the prosecutor stood and read her opinion of what she heard in court. All remarks were good. Then the social worker stood gave her opinion about the adoption. We found out that they offered Lex to 8 families and no one wanted him. They also ran his picture on the TV station showing the orphans and no one called about him. She then went on to read that she thought the adoption was good for Lex and approved. The judge then sent us outside so she could decide what she wanted to do.
As we waited for a few short minutes I thought about how far we have come and now we get the final say on a year long journey. The judge opened the door we walked in and stood to hear the verdict. I will cut to the chase....SHE APPROVED OUR ADOPTION OF LEX DANIEL COOK! I started to tear up but thought if I cried the judge may think something is wrong with me and change her mind.
We celebrated as much as me and Abby celebrate and hugged and thanked God for this awesome process. After we left the court we went to see Lex Daniel Cook and it was great knowing that he is now ours.
We could not have made it this far without the prayers and support of so many people. I could tell we had many people praying for us during our court hearing and thank you! It made a huge difference. We now wait 10 days for the court hearing to be finalized and then it is time to prep to come home. So it has been an emotional ride today and we both are slap tired! So if this blog made no since I am sorry. I would love to give more details but this blog is long enough already. God is good and without Him none of this would be possible.
The ride to court was very quiet, except the times I told Abby, "I got to get my game face on." This was me trying to hide the fact that all night I kept thinking that I was going to really mess this up in court. So we get to the court room and wait in the court room for about 30 minutes before the judge walks in. And then it begins.....
They asked basic question to start and then it was all on me! From the time we went into court until we finished, I was very calm. I did mess up a little on the medical information we got on Lex, but overall I did very good. My question time was much shorter than expected and I had to explain what a Children's Pastor was. I guess over here the church does not minister to children. Then it was Abby's turn and she got more questions than I did. She did great, expected she talks with her hands too much and she wouldn't keep them still.
After our questions the prosecutor stood and read her opinion of what she heard in court. All remarks were good. Then the social worker stood gave her opinion about the adoption. We found out that they offered Lex to 8 families and no one wanted him. They also ran his picture on the TV station showing the orphans and no one called about him. She then went on to read that she thought the adoption was good for Lex and approved. The judge then sent us outside so she could decide what she wanted to do.
As we waited for a few short minutes I thought about how far we have come and now we get the final say on a year long journey. The judge opened the door we walked in and stood to hear the verdict. I will cut to the chase....SHE APPROVED OUR ADOPTION OF LEX DANIEL COOK! I started to tear up but thought if I cried the judge may think something is wrong with me and change her mind.
We celebrated as much as me and Abby celebrate and hugged and thanked God for this awesome process. After we left the court we went to see Lex Daniel Cook and it was great knowing that he is now ours.
We could not have made it this far without the prayers and support of so many people. I could tell we had many people praying for us during our court hearing and thank you! It made a huge difference. We now wait 10 days for the court hearing to be finalized and then it is time to prep to come home. So it has been an emotional ride today and we both are slap tired! So if this blog made no since I am sorry. I would love to give more details but this blog is long enough already. God is good and without Him none of this would be possible.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
It all comes down to this......
While many of you are reading this we are TRYING to get a good night sleep before the biggest day of our life with Lex. While many of you are heading to church tomorrow night we will be heading to court. Now that I think about it that way, what better place could we have the people who have support us through this process, other than in church praying for us. I hope that each of you will take some time tomorrow, especially around 7:00 pm to pray for us while we are in court.
We found out today that the man goes first and many of the questions are to him. I know that is the way it should be, but I also know a lot is riding on this one final hour. I keep reminding myself of the great things God has done up to this point. I also know that He has brought us this far and He is not going to leave us know. As big and bad as I like to act, I will admit this is a little nerve racking.
It all comes down to this....this one hour....this final hour. We were told it will take about an hour to answer the questions then we will leave the room. The judge will make her decision and then we will be ask to come back in to hear the verdict.
So tomorrow please pray that we will not be nervous, that the judge will hear our hearts, that God will speak through us, and most of all that God will get the praise and honor for this journey in our life.
-Daniel Cook
We found out today that the man goes first and many of the questions are to him. I know that is the way it should be, but I also know a lot is riding on this one final hour. I keep reminding myself of the great things God has done up to this point. I also know that He has brought us this far and He is not going to leave us know. As big and bad as I like to act, I will admit this is a little nerve racking.
It all comes down to this....this one hour....this final hour. We were told it will take about an hour to answer the questions then we will leave the room. The judge will make her decision and then we will be ask to come back in to hear the verdict.
So tomorrow please pray that we will not be nervous, that the judge will hear our hearts, that God will speak through us, and most of all that God will get the praise and honor for this journey in our life.
-Daniel Cook
Monday, September 26, 2011
So we met again...
Today was our first full day back in country. We went to sleep last night (well technically it was still afternoon..but who's counting) around 5:30. Yeah 5:30 that's pm not am. We slept until around 6:00 this morning, so we got a good 12 hours of rest. That might be the most sleep I've gotten in, how old is Mayson?...11..ok 11 years. It was great to be able to sleep for that long except Daniel had the a/c turned down on "north pole" so I froze all night even with a shirt, pajama pants, socks, and 3 blankets. Needless to say I vetoed the a/c as soon as we got up. We had a great morning until my darn straightener broke. Apparently the luggage people were not very nice to my luggage because my ridiculously expensive straightener came out in 2 separate pieces. If you've seen me lately, you know my hair desperately requires a straightener. Oh well, it is what it is.
We got to Skype the kiddos this morning. They were just getting home from school and we caught them before we had to run out the door. We had a good talk. They all were happy. So much so that Micah and Levi spent very little time talking to us and more time playing with their cousins. That's a good sign though that they aren't missing us too much. It really helped to be able to talk to them and tell them we love them.
After catching up and scoffing down a cream cheese bagel and Coke, we were off to the baby home. Seeing Lex again was a little surreal for me. We've been gone almost 3 months and every day when we were home, I would think "What's he doing right now?" I'd do the math on the time difference and picture him doing whatever part of his daily routine he should've been doing at that moment....which was usually sleeping. It was so weird to have spent so much time picturing him and then all of a sudden walk in and actually see him sitting there eating lunch. He's grown since we left. He's gotten taller and gotten more hair and teeth. He has 8 and a half teeth now and it looked like he had gotten a hair cut. He looked at us and just stared for a good minute or so. He looked like "I think I've seen them before" and he was trying to figure out where. The baby home has gotten more children since we left so he had been moved to a new room. They cleaned him up, dressed him and then handed him to me. We stayed in his room and played with him for about 2 hours. It did not take us long to realize that while we were gone, our baby learned to walk. He can stand up all by himself and walk. He is so confident and strong. I was so impressed, but selfishly part of me was hoping he couldn't quite do it on his own yet. Taking their first steps is one of those milestones every parent waits for, and Lex took his without us. That's super selfish I know, but I hate that I missed that part of his life. It makes me think though of all the milestones we will be a part of. I can't wait to see what God has planned for this precious baby boy.
After lunch, we had our medical exams. It would be the understatement of the year to say that it was a little awkward. We went in a little room with 8 doctors. 2 of them asked us questions about our mental state, drinking, smoking, jobs, children, etc....1 of them looked like some detective off of a New York cop drama (black leather jacket, shirt unbuttoned on top) Then... in came the calvary. There were 2 small beds. 1 behind a curtain (if you could call it a curtain) and 1 in the open. I got the "curtained" one. I was instructed (in Russian) to undress from the waist up. After being examined and having my breathing and blood pressure checked, the last doctor had me stand up, close my eyes, and touch my fingertips to my nose. Then I had to squat down and up. It was the most interesting medical exam I've ever had (kind of comical too). But...we passed...again. That was I think the 5 or so medical exam we've done. Guess they had to see for themselves.....So, tomorrow it's back to see Lex and then court preparations. Can't wait!! 23 days and counting....
We got to Skype the kiddos this morning. They were just getting home from school and we caught them before we had to run out the door. We had a good talk. They all were happy. So much so that Micah and Levi spent very little time talking to us and more time playing with their cousins. That's a good sign though that they aren't missing us too much. It really helped to be able to talk to them and tell them we love them.
After catching up and scoffing down a cream cheese bagel and Coke, we were off to the baby home. Seeing Lex again was a little surreal for me. We've been gone almost 3 months and every day when we were home, I would think "What's he doing right now?" I'd do the math on the time difference and picture him doing whatever part of his daily routine he should've been doing at that moment....which was usually sleeping. It was so weird to have spent so much time picturing him and then all of a sudden walk in and actually see him sitting there eating lunch. He's grown since we left. He's gotten taller and gotten more hair and teeth. He has 8 and a half teeth now and it looked like he had gotten a hair cut. He looked at us and just stared for a good minute or so. He looked like "I think I've seen them before" and he was trying to figure out where. The baby home has gotten more children since we left so he had been moved to a new room. They cleaned him up, dressed him and then handed him to me. We stayed in his room and played with him for about 2 hours. It did not take us long to realize that while we were gone, our baby learned to walk. He can stand up all by himself and walk. He is so confident and strong. I was so impressed, but selfishly part of me was hoping he couldn't quite do it on his own yet. Taking their first steps is one of those milestones every parent waits for, and Lex took his without us. That's super selfish I know, but I hate that I missed that part of his life. It makes me think though of all the milestones we will be a part of. I can't wait to see what God has planned for this precious baby boy.
After lunch, we had our medical exams. It would be the understatement of the year to say that it was a little awkward. We went in a little room with 8 doctors. 2 of them asked us questions about our mental state, drinking, smoking, jobs, children, etc....1 of them looked like some detective off of a New York cop drama (black leather jacket, shirt unbuttoned on top) Then... in came the calvary. There were 2 small beds. 1 behind a curtain (if you could call it a curtain) and 1 in the open. I got the "curtained" one. I was instructed (in Russian) to undress from the waist up. After being examined and having my breathing and blood pressure checked, the last doctor had me stand up, close my eyes, and touch my fingertips to my nose. Then I had to squat down and up. It was the most interesting medical exam I've ever had (kind of comical too). But...we passed...again. That was I think the 5 or so medical exam we've done. Guess they had to see for themselves.....So, tomorrow it's back to see Lex and then court preparations. Can't wait!! 23 days and counting....
Sunday, September 25, 2011
We are here!
We are officially here! We made it after what seems like 2 days of being on an airplane. Quick dinner and shower tonight. Up early tomorrow to go see Lex. We will visit him tomorrow and do our medical exams. We should get to see him again on Wednesday and then court Thursday morning. Court is at 10:00 am Thursday morning so make sure you pray for favor with the judge. We are 15 hours ahead so 10:00 am here Thursday will be 7:00pm Wednesday for everyone at home. Keep us and Lex in your prayers. Can't wait to see him again.
24 days and counting...
This trip has been a long time in the making...almost a year in fact. As we sit here in Seoul, South Korea awaiting our next flight, I am missing my children more than anything else in the world...ALL of them. I miss Mayson, Micah, Colby, and Levi so much it hurts, but I also miss Lex just as much. Everyone kept asking us before we left if we were excited, and the answer, though I didn't always give it so convincingly was YES!! We are beside ourselves with the excitement and anticipation of bring Lex home. God has worked in a miraculous way in the lives of our family to bring this little boy home to us. We absolutely cannot wait to see him this week and get to hold him again after being gone for 3 months. So many questions...so much still to do. On the other side of that same coin though are 4 sweet babies at home wishing Mama and Daddy could be there and us wishing we could too. It's so strange to be so filled with joy and so filled with sadness at the same time.
Let me just say that Daniel and I have the most amazing parents any couple could ask for. They are such a blessing to our family, and honestly without them there is no way we could do this. As much as we miss our 4 at home, we know they are in good hands and will be fine until we get back. It's funny how your heart and your mind often times are in such opposition to each other. My mind knows that my children are fine. That they are probably laughing right now and playing together. Micah and Colby are probably fighting over something or playing house together, and Levi is probably playing with a ball or bat. Mayson is probably outside kicking the soccer ball or running around the block with her dad. I KNOW they are fine, but my heart still wants to be there in those moments to laugh with them, or break up their fight, or throw the ball, or play outside. It's all just such a strange emotion.
The joy of this occasion I know, in the end, will erase any small memory of sadness we feel now. And seeing their new baby brother for the first time will erase it in the memories of Mayson, Micah, Colby, and Levi as well. I can't wait to come up that escalator in Atlanta and see them all standing there. I can't wait to see there faces as they lay eyes on Lex for the first time. This trip has been a long time coming, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I know the end will be here soon enough. 24 days and counting....
Let me just say that Daniel and I have the most amazing parents any couple could ask for. They are such a blessing to our family, and honestly without them there is no way we could do this. As much as we miss our 4 at home, we know they are in good hands and will be fine until we get back. It's funny how your heart and your mind often times are in such opposition to each other. My mind knows that my children are fine. That they are probably laughing right now and playing together. Micah and Colby are probably fighting over something or playing house together, and Levi is probably playing with a ball or bat. Mayson is probably outside kicking the soccer ball or running around the block with her dad. I KNOW they are fine, but my heart still wants to be there in those moments to laugh with them, or break up their fight, or throw the ball, or play outside. It's all just such a strange emotion.
The joy of this occasion I know, in the end, will erase any small memory of sadness we feel now. And seeing their new baby brother for the first time will erase it in the memories of Mayson, Micah, Colby, and Levi as well. I can't wait to come up that escalator in Atlanta and see them all standing there. I can't wait to see there faces as they lay eyes on Lex for the first time. This trip has been a long time coming, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I know the end will be here soon enough. 24 days and counting....
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