We're still alive!

For those of you who are still reading our blog, God bless you. I have really neglected our blog since bringing Paul home from his first surgery and I regret that for several reasons - mainly because I know some of you (I have heard) are getting frustrated checking the blog and finding nothing new AND because this is my way of documenting our journey for Paul Daniel to read one day!!

Well, I will do my best to catch you up. Paul Daniel has healed up very nicely from his first surgery. We have had no complications whatsoever. Three weeks after surgery we visited the pediatrician, an ENT doctor, an Audiologist and pediatric dentist. All said Paul looks great. He also had his hearing re-tested and his results were normal. Paul had a speech evaluation this past week with a private therapist and together we have decided that Paul will begin speech therapy next week and will have therapy twice a week. I am excited that the library is about to kick off storytime for the new year...I plan to take Paul to the one-year-old storytime session and the 2&3 year old session to give Paul the extra help with language, but I'm also hoping it will help him learn to focus BETTER and for LONGER periods of time.

Carl and I drove to Alabama for Christmas this year. We broke up the trip both going and coming with an overnight stay in Little Rock. Paul did okay for the most part. Going he slept a good bit. Coming back he was more wired and fussy, but we managed. We stayed at Grandmother Irene's house (my Dad's mother) and she fell in love with Paul! She was so hoping that he would be interested in her and boy was he ever!! I think he could sense the love! He also bonded right away with Papa (my dad). Papa introduced Paul to a puppy dog puppet and Papa and Paul played and played together. It was fun to watch. It was so nice that Paul got to meet his aunt and uncles and his cousins. I look forward to the day when he understands the word "family." Paul's only real difficulty in Alabama came the last day we were there - Christmas day. As more and more family arrived to meet our new son, Paul became overwhelmed with all the noise and people. But Christmas day aside, we were actually very pleased at how well Paul seemed to handle this change of environment.

We then traveled north to TN to visit Carl's mom (Christmas afternoon). We got to visit with some of Carl's family over supper at her house. We saw a lot of friends at worship on Sunday and visited with our good friends, the Marshall's on Sunday afternoon. We decided to leave TN on Monday, rather than Tuesday. As I mentioned earlier, Paul was fussy on the trip home but I think he was just ready for the journey to be over.

The best news I have is that my sweet mother in law has returned to TX with us. She is going to stay with us a month, unless I can convince her to move in. :) She is loving her new grandbaby and it thrills Carl and me to see them together. Paul is blessing all of our lives and we all feel so fortunate to have him with us. He has such a sense of humor, so much energy and seems to be very eager to learn. If I haven't told you, he now says "all gone," "Grover," he has said "thank you" a few times, and he's trying to say "mama," we think. He now is giving kisses on the cheek and two arm hugs!! This is big! We have a long way to go, but there's progress.

Our second surgery is scheduled for Feb 23, if I haven't mentioned that already.

Thank you to all who sent us warm wishes in your Christmas cards. We loved getting them! Thank you again for keeping up with us. This really means a lot to us...more than we can express.

Photos of Paul from Photographer

I'll just be honest...

I'm not sure if I'm going to have time to do another entry ever again! :)

Mom has come and gone and I'm re-learning how to do laundry. We had a great time. She adores her new grandson and of course, he can do no wrong in her eyes. Well, good. She's a normal Grandma. And of course she is gloating that Paul can say "Nonna." It's going to be a while before Paul is able to say, Mama, Daddy and Papa. These are all sounds he will have to learn to make because of the new way he will be able to use his lips and tongue.

We are busy now doing doctors appointments - he had 3 this week. Sometime I will do Christmas cards and finish Christmas shopping. We rec'd the photos from the photographer in Ohio. Oh my, they are cute. I promise they will go up on our blog soon.

And so the next question is...once again, when will I end this BLOG? Well..I'm changing the end date. It will be after surgery #2 in Feb. THEN I will end it. As far as we know, surgery #3 will not come until he is 8 years old and I can't blog that long!!!!

For a quick update on Paul...he is doing JUST dandy! His arm braces are off and NOW he sleeps all through the night. Yea for all of us! He is happy. Hungry as ever. Learning all kinds of new stuff. He has finally figured out his wooden puzzles and now he flies through them at the speed of light. We are so proud of this new accomplishment. Paul is frustrated that the weather has turned cold and he can't go out as much. So I had the brilliant idea of making him a mini sandbox and bringing it indoors. Oh my. Well, a little sand all over the house never hurt anything. Um, what else? Well, I have to be the bearer of bad news. Carl and I have decided that Paul is not ready to do a 2wk trip cross-country to AL, GA AND TN. From everything we know about adopted children, this would be too much for his senses and it would be a rough time for him. Sooooo...please forgive me GA and TN friends. We are only going to AL this year because we promised my grandmother last year we would be in AL on Christmas day. Carl's mom and aunts will come to AL to visit with us and we'll just have to make a special trip to GA in the Spring. I hope you will all bear with us! sniff. sniff.

Webcast

The link below is the extended interview that Nationwide Children's will put on their website. I don't exactly know when it will go up...but I imagine it will be sometime next week since that is when the commercial will be airing and the newspaper ad will run. I will try to post a copy of the newspaper ad tomorrow if I can find a split second. As I said in our previous post, they sure did a good job of condensing our interview down to 4 minutes...I'm actually surprised I was able to conceal how nervous I was. I was SWEATING! Carl, on the other hand, was cool as a cucumber, as always! And for someone who hates to be the center of attention! :)

Let me know if you have a hard time getting this link to open. This link will expire in 14 days...

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=1000405305&email=58c1cc1358de25fab5447441137f00fb

Commercial Ad/Webcast

Nationwide Children's Hospital sent us a sneak preview of the television commercial - it will start running in Columbus next week.

(It's amazing how they were able to take an hour of our rambling and run-on sentences and reduce it down to this! :) Just so you know, we had to do the intro about 5 times. Paul was not being cooperative at ALL! Then one of the girls gave me these two little play cans of vegetables and Paul calmed down! Notice he's missing one shoe, as well! Anyway, notice how he is looking directly into the camera as he sits on my lap!! Wow!

If you want to see this commercial, you will have to hurry. This link will only be active for 14 days. Let me know if you have trouble opening it!

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=batch_download&send_id=999439907&email=a620d99f9b1124bcaa18cc04a088016d

We're Home!

Paul Daniel had his follow-up appt with Dr. Kirschner on Monday. The camera/film crew were there once again to get footage of Paul. He was quite the entertainer. Dr. Kirschner was pleased with the way Paul's mouth looked but emphasized how incredibly important it is that we protect those stitches for the next 3 weeks. They are very fragile and with Paul so active, there are about a billion ways he could damage them. He does have arm braces on that lock his arms straight. They certainly keep his fingers out of his mouth, but the certainly don't keep him from falling face first...and I can't tell you how many times he has already done that but somehow managed to catch himself in such a way as not to hit his mouth!

Monday night we spent packing, doing laundry, cleaning our room, doing our chores, cleaning out the fridge and pantry at the RMH. There is definitely work involved in staying at the RMH but we can't say enough good things about that place. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and we will be staying there again in February for Paul's second surgery.

Carl and I were up at 4:15 am on Tuesday to get loaded up and checked out at RMH. We were on the way to the airport by 5am for our 7am flight. We dropped off the rental car and were at the counter checking our bags by 6am. We had two seats lined up on the bulkhead row...Carl asked if we could get a third. No problem! Then the lady at the counter asked us for the letter from our doctor saying Paul Daniel is well enough to fly. We would not be able to get on the plane without that letter. Carl pulled out our envelope from the nurse with all our records. We had requested this letter, so it should be in there. Well, you know where this is going. It was NOT in there! So the lady says, no problem, I can get you on a 1:15 or a 6pm flight while you go back to the hospital to get a letter. Are you kidding? We asked can we get a letter faxed from the hospital? Sure, she said. And she gave us the fax number and went ahead and checked our bags but put us in the system in such a way that we were not allowed to board the plane without this fax. So Carl called the hospital immediately (yea for me for memorizing the hospital phone number). He got transferred twice but the person he spoke to last said he would call Dr. Kirschner on his personal number. They reach Dr. Kirschner (still in bed). He calls us back. He says he can't get a fax to us for another hour but he could talk to someone directly or he could send an email. The lady at the gate said they could accept an email. So Dr. Kirschner saves the day and we got to board the plane at 6:40am. We love Dr. Kirschner and NATIONWIDE!!! They are so awesome!

Unfortunately I had to terrify Paul Daniel again by changing his diaper in the airplane bathroom but it was a stinky one so I couldn't do it on the floor. We still haven't figured out what scares him so bad about the airplane bath but it is terrible and I hated to do it. But I knew he wouldn't sleep if we didn't get him changed. Thankfully when I got him back to his seat, Carl traded places with me and he sang Paul Daniel to sleep. He slept the whole flight.

Thank you to the Winn's for picking us up at the airport. Paul was thrilled to be back home! He went right to his playdoh table in the garage and got to work.

Mother arrived on time Tuesday evening at 7pm. We met her at the airport and then went to Cracker Barrel for supper.

Paul Daniel has been sleeping with us since surgery and will have to continue to sleep with us until the arm braces come off. He is a fitful sleeper anyway, and his tossing and turning means he gets his arms stuck behind him or underneath him when he rolls around. Without going into detail, let's just say our first night home meant very little sleep for all of us.

On Wednesday, Mother got started on helping us catch up on laundry. Carl and I got completely unpacked. Mother, Paul Daniel and I went out for a little while to give Carl sometime to do some work. We went grocery shopping and I actually enjoyed the Thanksgiving crowd! Mother and I made chili for supper and then about 7pm I was done. My body just gave out. Carl said he would sleep with Paul by himself and I could go upstairs to sleep. This is the hard part. There is perpetual guilt when you so desperately need sleep and so does everyone else. But you know you can't keep going without it!! Well, Carl came up with the great idea of taking the chairs from the living room and putting their backs up to one side of the bed to keep Paul from rolling out. It was perfect. I've been up for over an hour now and Paul and Carl are still sleeping soundly. I hope they had a good night. Tonight will be my turn to sleep with him and Carl will sleep upstairs.

Well, that's the report. Sorry I don't have a whole lot of humor to throw into each entry, but I don't have the energy these days! I will say this, God is GOOD. Once again he has blessed us more than we deserve. We had a wonderful trip to Columbus...no issues whatsoever. We have new friends. We have a son who now has one surgery behind him and is doing so well. We have one of the BEST surgeon's in this country taking care of Paul and we have an army of Christians supporting us at every turn. There is much to give thanks for today.

Trip to Cleveland yesterday/Follow-up Appt Today

Since we've discovered that Paul gets his best sleep in the car, we decided to stop driving around in circles in Columbus (although driving circles in Columbus has been fun!). We decided to drive to Cleveland to see my cousins, Bernie and Kim, and my great Aunt Mary. It was a 2 1/2 trip and Paul Daniel slept the ENTIRE trip! It was great for him! We made it to Bernie's house by Noon. We ate at a local meat and three restaurant, Sammy's. Then Bernie took us down to Lake Erie so Paul could see it. The weather was gorgeous - in the lower 60s. We came back to Bernie's and Paul Daniel got some running around time. He got to see his first Christmas tree at Bernie's house. He loved it...of course. We had a nice visit before Paul was tuckered out and ready to go. We left Bernie's at 4:30. (By the way, he LOVED Bernie and Kim! He even let them hold him!) Anyway, Paul was asleep before we made it to the interstate. Wanted to go by and see my grandmother's old house but it would have been too much for Paul Daniel (and probably for me, too). So we headed back to Columbus. We stopped an hour outside of Columbus for CRACKER BARREL! Yea for Cracker Barrel!!! Paul is starting to get his appetite back - ate some meatloaf, green beans and carrots (mashed). Paul slept every time we cranked the engine. Last night we rotated sleep. Carl held him until about 2am or so, then it was my turn. Guess what! He slept beside me the whole night. Every now and then he would need me to help him get his arms adjusted...but other than that he slept soundly!)

Today we have to clean the room and bath. Our follow-up with Dr. Kirschner is at 2pm.

Tomorrow we head back to Dallas - our flight is at 7am.

Funny Story...

Well, today has gotten off to a rough start. It's Saturday morning. Carl stayed up all night so that I could sleep. Paul Daniel slept in his arms the whole night, but it was a fitful sleep. Daddy tried to feed him this morning but nothing would make him happy. "More." "All done." "More." "All done." Carl brought Paul back to the room...we gave him a bath in the rubbermaid tub Carl bought. He endured it. We did the ear drops and got him dressed. Carl went back to the kitchen to eat his breakfast while I got ready. Paul was playing pretty good when I heard some rustling outside our window. I raised the shade and standing outside our window was a group of men with ladders hanging Christmas lights. "Great!" I thought. This will give something for Paul Daniel to watch. So I stood him up on the windowsill and he loved it. Well, here comes a camera crew! ABC Channel 6 was here covering the Christmas lights going up at Ronald McDonald House. They immediately spotted Paul Daniel in the window...so they filmed him watching the Christmas light crew. Then they came over and asked if it would be okay if they showed him on TV. So tonight at 5 or 6pm, we might see our little man on the nightly news. Oh me. We're going to have a lot of great stories for Paul when he grows up...

Here's one more photo for you (taken BEFORE Paul's surgery). It's Paul Daniel in the makeshift tub we bought for him...

Back at RMH

Update by Carl

We were released from the hospital today and are back at the RMH. After leaving the hospital, we went to the store to get some clothes for Paul that do not have to be pulled over his face. We drove around a little while both he and Wendi napped, then we picked up lunch and brought it back here to eat. As luck would have it, the RMH was having a huge bake sale so there was tons of food here, but since we had not been here for a couple of days we didn't know. We did sample some cookies baked by Amish ladies that were very good. There were some firemen here making chili that smelled great...but oh well.

We will stay here through the weekend and see Dr. Kirschner for a follow up exam on Monday. If all is well then we will fly home on Tuesday morning as scheduled.

Paul Daniel is feeling much better today, and is he ever wound up. Since we have been back at the house, he has only slept for about 30 minutes. The rest of the time has been playing and eating. He has started drinking really well today, so that is a good sign. Wendi is trying to put him to bed now, but he is resisting. Hopefully, he will sleep in his crib tonight and let mom get some rest.

Since the surgery, we have seen some of the anxious behavior that we saw right after picking him up from the orphanage. Most of that had started to fade away in the six weeks he was at home. Hopefully, after he gets back home and the memory of the surgery fades, he will settle down and start to relax again.

The Weiler Family

We thank God for the Weiler family and their hospitality to us...complete strangers. Their love and example are firmly etched in our hearts. I hope their kindness has influenced you to reach out to strangers as they have reached out to us. They have certainly influenced us. And without a doubt, they have been one of our greatest blessings on this trip.

We have not yet been able to get a photo of Steve, but here are photos of Mary (mother), Claire and Grace. There is also a photo Grace and one of their adorable pooches. Paul Daniel loved those dogs!!! They are precious!

One day after surgery

Starting to feel much better. The day after surgery, we got to disconnect the IV and take a stroller ride around the hospital. That was a lot of fun.

The first photo clearly shows the result of the lip surgery. The skin under Paul's right nostril that was completely open is now fused together, creating a partial cleft similar to his left side. The plastic piece in his nostrils is a nasal conformer that will remain in place until the next surgery to help shape the cartilage. In about 12 weeks, he will have another surgery to completely close both sides of his lip. That one should be much easier for him to endure.

Post-surgery

Immediately after surgery. We thought we were prepared for what we would see, but I guess you can't really be prepared for this.

Everyone at the hospital was wonderful and took great care of Paul Daniel (and us!) after he was out of surgery and in his room. Still, he looked for protection if the nurses got too close!

Pre-Surgery

Clowning around before surgery. He has no idea what is about to hit him.

Pictures from Photoshoot

Here are some pictures we took during the photoshoot for the newspaper ad and hospital materials. It took him a few minutes to warm up, but after that he put on a real show.

In addition to the newspaper ad and TV commercial, the hospital is also documenting Paul's surgery to use in educational materials for other cleft palate patients.

We will get copies of the photos taken by the photographers at a later date.

He's a tough little dude!

Oh me. Well, nothing could have prepared me for the way he looked after surgery. Before he came out of OR, Carl and I both rehearsed the expressions on our face and the words we would use when Paul Daniel sees us for the first time. I don't think either of us followed through. The poor little guy was quite swollen, bloody and exhausted. My only real wish is that we somehow could have prepared him for the idea of surgery. He has been up here having a blast with mommy and daddy with no idea what was about to hit him. Anyway, the nurses have been great. They have kept him on regular pain medication and have really been so understanding of his fussiness. Paul refused to sleep in his bed, so I held him all night last night. I found myself drifting to sleep only to jerk myself awake and of course, jerk Paul awake at the same time. Carl and I are hoping we can coax him into sleeping in his hospital crib tonight. Today Paul ate yogurt, apple sauce, some chicken sticks and a little milk. Dr. Kirschner dropped in this evening and feels pretty confident that Paul will be released tomorrow morning. Our friend, Steve, came by to visit Paul Daniel today. Instead of borrowing a stroller for us, he went out and bought us one! Unbelievable. We are going to leave it with the Ronald McDonald House so other familes can use it between our trips back to Columbus. Carl and I are rotating sleep tonight. It is now my shift to sleep...so I must run. Thanks to everyone who has posted comments and sent us emails. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Post Surgery Update

Note: Update by Carl

Wendi asked me to post a quick update while I came back to the house for some extra clothes and food. Paul Daniel is doing fine after his surgery - although he might not say so himself. He is a little fussy, and he looks a little rough, but I got a brief look inside his mouth and I can already see a world of difference. Right now, nothing will do except for him to be held by his mom, so that is just what Wendi is doing. Since he has been asleep most of the day, this may be a long night, but we are prepared for it. The nurse said that we may stay an extra day in the hospital - not because anything is wrong, but just because of the extent of the surgery and to be cautious - and we are fine with that. We plan to be here through the weekend anyway.

Thanks to everyone for all the acts of kindness, encouraging words, and prayers - they mean more than you could know. We will try to update during his recovery as we are able.

Surgery is done

Paul's surgery is complete and he is now in recovery. We will get to see him in about an hour when they take him to his room. We spoke to both surgeons and they were both very pleased with the outcome.

We will try to update again later tonight after we find out, in Dr. Kirschner's words, "how mad he is at us". :)

Surgery update

We just received a call from the nurse in the OR - Paul's surgery is going great so far. Dr. Kirschner has completed the lip portion of the procedure and is currently working on the palate. The ear tubes come after that, so he will be in for a while yet.

The nurse said he has been great through the whole thing - he put on a little show for the camera crew before going to sleep, and showed off his toys that he took in with him. He cried a little when it was time to go to sleep, but not too bad.

We will try to post updates as we get them, and as soon as we can after he is out of recovery.

In Surgery...

Just wanted to let everyone know that Paul is now in surgery. We got here at 9:50...he went into surgery at 12:45. He will be in surgery about 4 hours.

The film crew has been here all morning and will be here throughout the day to document Paul. Everyone has been so good to us. Both photographers said they would give us a disk of the photos they take of Paul - we are thrilled! Even the photos of Paul in surgery! We are happy Paul will be able to look back and see all of this in such great detail!

We'll try to keep you posted.

Evaluation complete

Today was a full-day of evaluations from a team of doctors - ENT, audiologist, speech therapist, dentist and our surgeon, Dr. Kirschner. Paul Daniel was a trooper. The worst part of the day took place with our first evaluation. The ENT needed to clean Paul Daniel's ears to get a better look at his ear drums. It took two of us to hold him down so the doctor to could insert the instruments in his ear. I looked at the things the doctor pulled from Paul Daniel's ears...one thing in particular - I said, "Is this a raisin?" He said, "no, that's just the accumulation of ear wax that he had in his ears." So, on the one hand, I was surprised by this because our pediatrician looked at Paul Daniel's ears and said they looked really good. I'm wondering now why he didn't tell us or notice he had this build-up in his ears. On the other hand, I'm not surprised by the build-up because the orphanage director was pretty clear that Paul Daniel's ears have been virtually untreated in the orphanage. Paul's hearing test revealed that he has mild to moderate hearing loss because of fluid in his ears and the ENT recommended tubes. He will have the tubes put in his ears tomorrow as well.

We have to be at the hospital at 10am and surgery begins at Noon.

We are thrilled with Paul Daniel's surgeon. He is a very down-to-earth, personable man who has an impeccable record. Everyone that knows him here has sung his praises. We are so thankful to Greg and Lisa Burleson for connecting us with Dr. Kirschner...we are truly indebted to you. The surgeon will close the palate tomorrow - but not completely. There will be a hole left in the palate that will be repaired on our second surgery. The lip will also not be completely repaired. This is the first stage of lip repair...the second repair will come at the end of February. Yes, there will be more surgeries after that...and Lord willing, we will have them all done here in Columbus.

Following our day of evaluations, Steve invited us back to his home to visit and relax. We talked a bit and then he took us to the third floor where there is a playroom. Paul found plenty to play with, but his favorite were the ping pong balls. I think we'll get him some ping pong balls when we get back to TX. Carl and I played a little ping pong and then I took a quick nap. We stayed at their house for about an hour and a half to two hours. Paul was so happy. He loved every minute. This was certainly the highlight of our day and so, so appreciated.

After we left Steve and Mary's, we headed out to eat and then back to RMH.

I vacuumed the hallway tonight, Carl is doing laundry. We're going to TRY to get Paul Daniel into bed early, but we'll see.

Thanks to Mom and Dad for the balloon and stuffed puppy. Paul has been boxing the balloon tonight, taking out his frustrations I'm sure.

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for Paul and for your continued prayers for him tomorrow and through his recovery. The love you all have poured onto us through Paul's adoption and treatment has been overwhelming. Thank you for keeping our spirits lifted and for showing us such kindness and concern. We truly thank you.

Commercial...check!

Today was another wonderful day. Our whole day was centered around this commercial. We got up early - well, around 8am, I guess. Carl ironed our clothes for today while I attempted to give Paul a shower. There's no tub in our room, only a walk-in. Oh my. Paul was terrified of the nozzle! I thought I could get him warmed up to it, but no. He was scared to death. So I scrubbed him down with a wet wash cloth again. We had breakfast and then drove around a little before getting an early lunch at a little deli near the hospital.

Just to keep things short, the photo shoot with Paul was just about perfect. We spent 45 minutes with the first camera crew - they were responsible for the tv commercial and website photos. I had to do a lot of tricks to get Paul to laugh, including a LOT of crawling around on the floor...but the cameraman and the public relations team said this was one of the easiest photoshoots they had ever done. Paul, despite having a room full of people watching his every move, had a really good time. Then another cameraman showed up. He is doing a documentary on Paul for the hospital - including photos of the surgery and photos following the surgery. He spent another 45 minutes or so taking photos of Carl, me and Paul all playing and reading together. Then we took a break for about 20 minutes. We got Paul a snack and changed his diaper. Now it was time for the interview of Carl and me. I stammered through every question but CARL WAS AWESOME! It was as if he were born for interviews!! He was so good they offered him a job in media relations! I'm telling you, he was great and I am so proud of him! I guess the interview was 45 minutes - and then it was time to film us playing with Paul. Paul did absolutely fantastic. Everyone was marveling how well he was doing and so was I!!! The poor guy had not had a nap! We wrapped up around 3:30...so we went back to the room, Carl changed clothes and we hopped in the car so Paul could finally get his nap. We drove around for about an hour while Paul slept and then we went back to Schmitz's for supper. Paul is playing with Daddy in the lobby and I'm about to join them.

Everything is going just fine. We are making the most of this trip - driving around a lot to see the city. I LOVE German Village. I've had the radio playing every since we've been here because some radio station has started playing Christmas music. I told Carl feel free to turn it off if/when he gets sick of it, but so far he is enduring it quite well. Paul and I love it. :) I'm now feeling very festive having spent so much time driving around the tree-lined, brick streets of German Village looking at all the old houses and peeking inside windows. Can't wait to get home with Paul to begin making Christmas memories together. I'm so thankful Carl could be off work to be here during Paul's surgery. There's a lot of bonding going on with all of us.

Grandmother, I hope you feel better and get out of the hospital soon!!! We are praying for YOU!

God keeps blessing us...

This morning we went to the RMH kitchen to eat our breakfast. There is a fridge for us in the kitchen where we are keeping yogurt, milk and such. In one section of the kitchen there were about 5 teenage girls and 5 adults baking cookies and cupcakes. I couldn't help watching them work... they seemed to be having so much fun together. I wondered who they were - I couldn't help admiring them. I assumed they were volunteers. I was wishing I knew more about them.

After about 15-20 mins, one of the men in the group came over and introduced himself to us. His name is Steve. His daughter and some of her classmates had come to RMH to bake cookies and cupcakes for the RMH residents as a service project with her class. Steve was intently focused on Paul Daniel...well, it turns out, Steve was born with a cleft lip and palate himself. He had all his surgeries done at Nationwide and he was so excited that Paul was having his surgery there. Steve has been on missions with Operation Smile to assist in surgeries in the Honduras and Peru. It is no wonder my eyes were drawn to this group. Steve just blew us away with his kindness. He gave us all his contact information and insisted that we call him if we needed anything. He even offered to let us borrow a car if we needed one. He asked us if it would be okay if he visited Paul in the hospital. And THEN...he asked us if we would like to come home with him for the afternoon!! We were amazed. We said, sure! So we rushed to the room to get Paul out of his pajamas into regular clothes and then we followed Steve to his BEAUTIFUL house in a beautiful neighborhood. He called a neighbor and asked if he could borrow a stroller for us. I visited with his wife Mary while he and Carl threw a football. Then Steve's sister, Wendy, came by. We got to visit with her a little bit. Then we took the stroller out for a walk through their neighborhood. Paul had a blast. He loved being outside...there is NO place he likes better. Paul couldn't be happier. Steve and Mary had another daughter, Grace, that we got to meet. And Paul loved their two Golden Doodles or whatever you call that mix. Anyway, we were there for 3 hours or so...and then it was about 2pm, and we were all getting hungry. So Mary told us about the restaurants close by. We ate at a place they recommended - The Rusty Bucket. Then we drove around Bexley and German Village as Paul slept. (Bernie, we drove by your old house. sniff. sniff.) We stopped by Kroger and then came back to RMH. I did our assigned chore - vacuumed the west hall and then did laundry. Now it is approaching bedtime.

In short, we had an absolutely wonderful day. Paul was so happy all day long. And we attribute that to God - and Steve, Mary, Claire and Grace. What a beautiful example of the compassion Jesus had towards others. We were so moved by their kindness towards us and we have been challenged now to be more hospitable ourselves.

We are so thankful.

Now in Columbus...

Shirley arrived to pick us up this morning right on schedule. We left the house a little after 9am. Our flight was at Noon. We managed to get bulkhead seats once again. This trip we decided to bring Paul's carseat onto the plane. Great plan and Carl gets credit once again! Paul loved sitting in his carseat and he was great the entire flight!!! Okay, I'll take a little credit. I bought him a brand spanking new toy from Target - a toy cell phone. He loved it. Every time you flip it closed it rings. At one point an airline attendant came walking down the aisle scanning seats...she was looking for the person with the cell phone. She was wondering how in the world we were receiving calls in the air! Ha.

As soon as we sat down in the rental car, Paul fell asleep. He got a total of 15 mins napping as we drove to the restaurant for supper. We ate in German Village at Schmitz's. (Thanks to Bernie for introducing us to this restaurant several years ago.) There was a chocolate shop across the street so I went over and bought a few handmade pieces. Carl doesn't eat chocolate (well, rarely), Paul doesn't yet know chocolate exists...so guess who is going to be eating them. :)

We checked into the Ronald McDonald House between 5 and 6pm. Carl went to the grocery store to pick up some food for tomorrow's breakfast. I stretched out on the bed while Paul played with his toys. (Thank you, Walton's, for the nifty little Paul-size backpack. It has been perfect for this trip.) Anyway, there's no TV in the room, so I turned on the alarm clock radio. The station that came on was playing Christmas music. And that made me think of my grandmother. We're only 2 hours from Cleveland. The cold weather and Columbus landscape make me think of our annual trips to Cleveland each year to be with Grandmother and Papa. Every year we drove 12 hours from Moulton, AL to Cleveland - there was no such thing as DVD players in the car. We did something really strange. We looked out the windows. Anyway, we made that trek for 17 some odd years - and when you do it that long, you began to memorize everything. So Dad, as we drove I-71 through Columbus...I got misty-eyed. I called Grandmother tonight and talked to her and started to get her misty-eyed too, so I quit talking about it. Please don't read her this part of the blog...I don't want to make her sad. Anyway, where am I going with all this. Well, as I'm sitting there talking to Grandmother, listening to Christmas music and watching Paul play, I think it is now MY turn to make beautiful Christmas memories with our son. Pressure!

Thank you, Dad, for making that trip to OH all those years...I KNOW it wasn't easy.

Carl is watching the FL/SC game in the RMH lobby and Paul is playing at his feet.

All is well. Thank you for all your prayers. I'll do my best to keep you posted every day.

Fly to Columbus tomorrow...

I needed Misty Cawthon today. She has held my hand before every major step in our adoption and she was not here today. I miss you, Misty. I'm glad we got to talk on the phone. Texas will NEVER be the same without you here.

Well, I'm nervous again. All these firsts. First major surgery with Paul next week. I made a mistake today...felt like I ought to do something really special with Paul since he's about to have a rough week. I gave him half a cupcake from Sprinkles bakery. You know where the other half went. Well, now I know what Paul is like on sugar.

I've been busy packing. Carl got a haircut for his television debut. I bought some new mascara. Paul will be wearing overalls. This TV commercial must be a big ol' deal because we have received 5 phone calls and 3 emails about it. It will take 5 hours from start to finish. Paul's surgeon, Dr. Kirschner, will be interviewed after our part is complete...so hopefully we'll get to meet him that day.

Everything is going as it should, I guess. Please pray for us.

Helen is gone...:(

Having Helen here this past week was wonderful. I was smart...I took her to the Farmer's Market and the grocery store her 2nd day in town...we stocked up on enough food for the week and she cooked and cooked. Yes, I helped. I got her to make her world-famous baked apples (or fried apples, as some would say). They are......................I have no words. Delicious does not do it justice. My mouth starts watering just typing about them. Anyway, I got her to make two batches! She enjoyed Paul Daniel...and he enjoyed her! The weather was great almost every day. The one day it wasn't that great was the day that I had to take Paul to get vaccinations. It was nice having her to help me load and unload in the rain. It felt like old times having Helen here to talk to. Well, I'm getting sad writing about Helen, so I'll move on.

We leave Saturday, November 13 for surgery. The filming for the commercial takes place on Monday, November 15. Evaluation on the 16th. Surgery on the 17th. If all goes well, he'll be released on the 18th. Our follow-up appt is the following Monday and we go home on Tuesday, Nov 23. We are staying at the Ronald McDonald House. Thank you to the Giesecke's for once again taking us to the airport and the Winn's for picking us up. Thanks to all the neighbors for watching our house, watering our plants and getting the mail! We appreciate it so much.

Well, just as we are new to parenthood, we are new at taking a child to have a cleft lip and cleft palate repaired. I really have no clue. I don't know how long it will take to recover, how much pain, how much work to feed him...I'm totally relying on our doctor and hospital for this. And at this point, I totally trust they will guide us the whole way. My heart does break for our little guy - he has no idea what awaits him next week and there's no way to prepare him. Carl's a little worried about the plane rides...I told him I can most certainly handle him for 2 hours. If I have to stand the whole way, hop on one foot, rub my belly and pat my head at the same time, whatever...I'll do it.

Please do continue to go to God on our behalf - for our safety in our travels and no complications in surgery.

Thank you for all your encouragement. We are so blessed.

Helen is coming!

Build a little fence of trust
Around today.
Fill the space with loving deeds,
And therein stay.
(Mary Francis Butts, from Gary Henry's daily devotionals)

We have found one thing that little Paul can hardly stomach - Poly-Vi-Sol - the liquid vitamin his pediatrician recommended that we give him. He tries, he really tries. But every time he takes a spoonful, he shudders. It's sad, sweet and funny at the same time.

Paul and I are starting to understand each other. I don't know how to explain it, but this week has been the best week thus far. I'm trying to tie strings with him at every turn. We chase his big bouncy ball all over the house. We play hide-and-seek. We do eskimo kisses and butterfly kisses. We are learning "eyes, nose, mouth, ears." Carl has been bonding with Paul especially well, too. Paul now lays his head on daddy's shoulder. For the first time, Paul fell asleep as Daddy rocked him in the rocking chair.

Well, I would write more, but my little guy just woke from his nap! Time for the great outdoors! :)

---Ooops. False alarm. He's still asleep. Where was I? Oh yes. Well, bottom line...we're making strides. I can see we are all bonding and it's very encouraging...especially as surgery approaches.

Our most exciting news is that Helen Marshall arrives tomorrow! She is my friend from Tennessee, the sweet lady I lived with with for 3 years before Carl and I got married. She is now family. And she is flying in to see Paul Daniel, as well as cook, clean and generally take care of all our needs while she is town. Ha! Just kidding, Helen! :) Anyway, we are excited she's coming. The house isn't spotless, but it's in decent order and the sheets on HER bed are clean. :)

Today is the best day of 2010! It's cool outside!!! We might be wearing long-sleeves soon! :)

Thank you, God, for all the blessings we see and help us see the ones we've failed to notice.

We're all sick and all getting better...

As everyone else in the state of Texas, Carl and I have had a cold this week. I started the week with it...fortunately I had a doctor's appt already scheduled so my doctor gave me a prescription for an antibiotic. Carl now has it and has been treating his with over-the-counter medicine. He stayed home from work for a couple of days - I was only able to convince him to stay home so he wouldn't spread it around.

Paul and I have been doing a lot of wagon rides this week, a lot of acorn-collecting, a lot of play-dohing. He has learned how to blow a kiss, he has learned the sign for "all done" and "more please" and he has learned that "we don't hit or throw toys in the face."

We had wonderful meals brought to us from our Christian sisters...thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who took the time to prepare us meals. We enjoyed EVERYTHING!!! You all took a good bit of stress off of me as I have adjusted to being a mommy. Thank you so, so much.

We are still working on having some medical records translated for Paul Daniel. Our Russian friend, Alexandra, is not comfortable translating medical info, so we think we may have found a company online that will do it for $70. We need these medicals translated so we will know what vaccinations he has had.

At the beginning of the week Paul Daniel had the unfortunate experience of having blood drawn. Oh me, oh my. I should have asked Carl to come with me for this appt. Paul was good right up until he saw the needle come out and then... it got ugly. I thought I was holding him pretty good but the nurse had to pull the needle out of his arm, show me a better way to hold him and then go do the other arm. They needed seven vials of blood for all the tests he is having run - I'm sure it only took 5 minutes but of course it felt like an hour. The nurses couldn't believe how strong he was. He was screaming at the top of his lungs - sweating so bad that I could hardly hold his head. He was drenched. Anyway, every mommy has one of these stories...so I'll quit going on about it. This was just my first experience with it...I'll do better next go around.

As I've mentioned before, Paul Daniel will eat ANYTHING I put in front of him!!! We are so thankful for this. Last night I thought I would really test him - I gave him white beans, collard greens and cornbread. He begged for more! We had it again for lunch today. I am going to milk this for all it's worth! :)

What we are doing now...

Trying to figure out how to get a routine.

My biggest challenge at the moment is one thing - well, two. First, how to get a routine going with Paul. Second, how to get things done - laundry, dishes, general cleaning. I'm now starting to analyze those mommies nearest to me to see how they do it. Carl has been W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!! Let me repeat, WONDERFUL!! He just goes about doing laundry, picking up, doing dishes, helping me get supper ready, helping me clean up...just so light-hearted about it all. Just gets it done. He's my inspiration. Maybe I just need to watch him and see how he does it!

Today must be the most beautiful day in Texas for 2010, thus far. Paul played outside with Daddy while Daddy replaced the brake light on his truck. Then I took Paul for a wagon ride. He loves the red Radio Flyer wagon I bought on clearance a good 8 years ago...fifteen buckaroos at Cracker Barrel! He sits in it on a little towel with all 6 acorns he collected. I say, put the acorns down and hold on! He puts the acorns down and holds on. A few minutes later I look back, he's got the acorns back in his hands and is not holding on. We go over this and over this. Finally he leaves the acorns alone and holds on. He could ride for hours.

The little folding table and chairs I ordered for him arrived today. We sat outside and got out the play-doh. We did that for an hour. Carl brought back some Lenny's subs and I fixed Paul a plate of peas, macaroni, apple sauce and chicken sticks...we had a little picnic outside. Then it was nap time. The little guy fell asleep after only a 10 minute rock in the rocking chair. Now it's time for me to race around here and see how much I can get done before he wakes up.

Everything is going just fine. He's still sleeping through the night. Still eating good.

Oh yeah, mom, Carl just hung the blue swing in the oak tree. We'll try it out as soon as Paul wakes up.

Back to Once/Wk Posts until Surgery

The problem with starting a blog for me was/is...when do I bring it to an end? It's not in me to be a perpetual blogger! I've thought about this and decided that I will continue the blog until the completion of Paul Daniel's surgery in November. I'll do my traditional once/wk posts until his surgery - and the week of surgery I'll do my best to blog once a day.

Paul Daniel is scheduled for surgery in Columbus, OH on November 17.

We are having an excellent week with Paul Daniel. Still eating and sleeping normally. Still taking 2 naps a day...still happy, happy, happy! Paul has had tons of firsts this week. First appt with his pediatrician. First tooth brushing. First bath. First chocolate chip cookie (in a moment of weakness I gave it to him. It was soft enough)

Carl is doing a WONDERFUL job bonding with Paul Daniel. I love it when Carl gets home and gets to play with him. Carl is a great teacher. At the end of the evening, Carl has something to show Mommy that Danil has learned. Night before last - Paul learned the word "gentle." He now knows how to shut doors "gentle." Last night he learned that the motion detector light comes on - not by sound, not with a button - but through moving! He thought that was very cool.

Well, I wish I could come up with a good ending, but Paul Daniel is now awake and nothing will do until he has food in his belly.

We're alive and all is well!

This will be my fastest post ever! Carl has been entertaining Paul Daniel for the last 45 minutes as I quickly tried to get through all my emails. He's doing great and I LOVE hearing all that laughter downstairs. Paul Daniel has the cutest laughter I have EVER heard and every time I hear it I think it adds a day to my lifespan! Well, the quick update is that our first night back home we only got 4 hours sleep. The next night we got almost a whole night. And the last two nights we have been able to sleep ALL night! I've learned how to get Paul to sleep. He's really not that difficult to comfort. We have discovered the quickest way to sleepland is a stroller or car ride. Works like magic. Today we had Paul's first doctor's appt. We did not do bloodwork today, but did get one really good report. His ears are FINE! No problems!! That's big news!!! We were so worried because his ears have been virtually untreated at the orphanage. It is truly amazing that they are fine! Paul Daniel's doctor is wonderful and he was very complimentary of Paul Daniel. He said that Paul Daniel was remarkably social. He has great fine motor skills. He said he has treated many children who have spent the first years of their life in an orphanage...he said we should be very pleased with how our little boy is doing. We will have to do breathing treatments over the next week to help Paul with the congestion in his chest.

Nationwide Children't Hospital called today (that's where we are having Paul's surgery). They asked if they could feature Paul Daniel and us in a televison commercial. They will interview us and Paul Daniel's surgeon - it will run on the local stations in Columbus. We said, of course!!! How fun!

Paul is doing just great. He plays. He sleeps. He eats and eats and eats. He is sooooo happy. He hates to have his diaper changed, but we are working on that. He loves outdoors. He learned about acorns and squirrels and bubbles today.

Our church family is bringing us food every other day for the next 3 weeks. This is a tremendous blessing. Thank you sooooo much! I know there is going to come a time when I have to learn how to cook and watch a 20 month old at the same time. I'm just glad I have a little time to work up to this. Thank you so, so much. It is such a load off of me right now.

Video

And one video, for good measure.

Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our trip to pick up Danil. I will add comments a bit later, but wanted to at least get some pictures up today....(I've added comments at the bottom!)

Picture 1 - First day back to the orphanage on our 2nd trip! It takes a minute - but he remembers us!

Picture 2 - Carl and I stand in front of the building where our court took place! Our 10 day waiting period was waived. We are literally walking on air.

Picture 3 - Paul Daniel and Wendi, about to leave the orphanage.

Picture 4 - Paul Daniel saying goodbye to the Director of the orphanage.

Picture 5 - Carl and Paul Daniel on a walk.

Picture 6 - The amazing toy store we told you about.

Picture 7 - Paul and Wendi in Val's car on shopping day (the day before we leave Moscow)

Picture 8 - Paul in the lobby of our Moscow hotel - in the ever-so-loved stroller

Picture 9 - Paul happily eating his breakfast in the hotel room.

Picture 10 - Paul puts our neck cushion on his head.

Picture 11 - Paul puts on my boots

Picture 12 - Paul, Carl and Wendi at the highest point in Moscow

We're HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME!!!!!!

I know I keep saying this - but it just all seems so unreal. We're finally home. Carl and I are so, so thankful that our 10 day waiting period was waived...neither of us could imagine spending another 2 weeks in a hotel room. One more day would have been one too many!!

Our trip home started at 6:30am (Moscow time). I was very proud of us - we were up, packed and waiting with Danil when Val arrived to the hotel lobby. We made it to the airport at ....I don't know what time. We had bulkhead seats!!! Yea!!!! But there was an issue with Danil's ticket. So Carl stood at the ticket counter with Val for an entire hour while the issue got worked out. And I attempted to entertain Danil for an hour. We walked back and forth, back and forth, around in circles, in and out of the mobs of people in the airport. Danil was not a bit afraid of all the hustle and bustle...he watched everything intently. He got tired of walking (actually tired of holding my hand) so I got a luggage cart and sat him on it and wheeled him around for a while. Finally, it was time to go through security and customs...the good thing in Russia is that if you are traveling with a child you can go directly to the front of the line...no matter how short or long. Val taught us this unwritten rule and we took full advantage! We were on the plane in no time and off we went.

The short version of the plane ride is this...Danil was PERFECT for the first 8 hours. He ate, he played, he took his nap on schedule. He didn't try to escape our row of seats...he didn't whine, he didn't cry. Carl and I were high-fiving each other already celebrating our BIG WIN when we entered the ninth hour. And that, of course, is when Danil came unglued. He was done. He was tired to the point of delirium. He couldn't be consoled. There was nothing we could do - no amount of food, holding, playing, talking, singing, stroking, running up and down the aisles...nothing could make it better. The other element to this equation is that neither Carl nor I had had a wink of sleep the entire trip so we were on the edge of a breakdown ourselves. When I literally had no ounce of energy left, one of the airline attendants came over and talked to Danil. She did this impromptu comedy routine that was hilarious. I was laughing almost to the point of tears. Danil had stopped crying and was completely enthralled with her. She gave us two rolls for him to eat and play with. He was content the last hour of our plane ride to Houston...and fell asleeep for the last 30 minutes!!!!! What an ending!!!! Singapore Airlines is G-R-E-A-T!!!!! They were so wonderful to us the entire trip and we appreciated it sooooo much!

With all that said, please don't ask me about our experience at the Houston airport. Do not ask, do not ask! My blood pressure will skyrocket and I may have to be put in the hospital!!!! One word will sum it up - RUDE!!!! (COLD, HEARTLESS and EGOTISTICAL also come to mind...) Carl said he was treated better at LaGuardia than he was at Houston! Just don't ask.

Okay, I promise I'm bringing this story to an end. So in our last 3 hours on the plane from Moscow I looked at Carl and said, "I don't think I can handle a 4 hour layover in Houston and another hour plane ride to Dallas. Can we please just rent a car and drive the rest of the way?" Carl didn't even blink at the request. "Yes."

So we drove the rest of the way to Dallas. Carl was exhausted. I was exhausted. At one point I panicked because Danil was so hot. He was dripping with sweat...I thought he was running a fever. I took him out of his carseat. He didn't act sick but he was so hot. After about 30 mins he cooled down...I decided just being in the carseat had made him so hot. Poor Carl could harldly keep his eyes open. He stopped at a convenient store for a cup of coffee and a Red Bull. I don't know how he did it, but he did. We were home and Danil was in his own bed at 9pm. He slept until 1:30am. Then he was wide awake the rest of the night. Carl and I just decided to get up with him. We played, unpacked, did laundry and played some more. Danil ran from room to room checking the place out. I'm sure he was thinking, "Wow! I really like this hotel room!" At about 9am, the little dude once again ran out of fuel. It was back to bed for Paul Daniel. I got an hour and a half nap while Carl took our rental car back to the airport with Patrick. Then Carl came home and now he is sleeping. It's almost Noon and our little guy is out cold. Hoping to take him for a stroller ride this afternoon.

So that's the story. Now for the moment all have been waiting for....PICTURES! TODAY is the DAY! I vow to have photos up on our blog before the day is over ...maybe even video. We would have liked to put them up sooner but our agency asked us to wait about putting photos on our blog until we get home. So today is the BIG DAY! Can't wait for you to see our little guy!!!!!!!

Please pray for our safe trip home...

Val took Carl, Danil and me out today to do some toy shopping for Danil for the plane ride home. I asked him to take us to a toy store and oh my, what a toy store he took us to. It was like a toy store in some movie - a toy store that doesn't really exist. It was decked out with the window displays - the kind that they used to have at Christmas in the center of shopping malls. Animated figures, miniature houses, trees, fences....The whole place was unbelievable. There was a person for each department (each age group) and that person walked around with you and helped you select the right toy. There were rocking horses as beautiful and detailed as carousel horses. There were Oscar de La Renta strollers - almost $3000. There was an animal house with little movng animals inside and outside, each doing something different - a monkey sawing wood, a bear working on a clock, etc. Danil loved it and it was a mere $20,000. There were SO many cute things! But all we wanted were a few small surprises to occupy Danil on the plane and we found them! I just wish I had 3 days to spend in there but Val rushed me in and out in 30 minutes. I think Carl conspired with him ahead of time! :)

Well, then we went to a couple places looking for Dad a hat. We think we found a good one - hope he doesn't mind that it's Austrian!!! It's what everyone is wearing here in Russia!

Next it was off to the Russian Consulate to pick up more paperwork and then back to the hotel.

Poor Danil, every time he went to sleep today we would stop the car and go in some place different. He never got a full nap today and bless his HEART, it was ROUGH on him. Carl and I cannot even imagine how difficult the next transition to Texas is going to be for him. Then surgery in November. Then visiting our families at Christmas. I just hope we are not putting too much on him. From all that we have read and all that we have been told, what he needs more than anything in TX is a ROUTINE and a calm, peaceful environment. We can definitely give him that. I just hope these disruptions aren't too much. We'll just have to see how he does when we get back from surgery.

All that being said, this is our last night in Moscow. I liked Moscow much better once we had Danil with us. I enjoyed people watching more than anything. I got a lot of chances to do that with all the time I spent pushing Danil in the stroller in the hotel lobby. Carl and I have had some precious moments with our new son - we are smitten. We are tired. We are so hoping we know what we are doing. I told Carl I may be on the internet every night trying to find the answer to some new parenting question I have - like I've been doing every night here!

We called Singapore Airlines today to try to get bulkhead seats. The guy on the phone said, "You need to do that online." I told him that we tried to do that online but ALL the seats are blocked off and we couldn't reserve them. He told us to go back to the website and try again. We tried again. Same problem. We couldn't choose bulkhead seats - they were blocked out. He said, "Well, I guess you are just going to have to wait and talk to the folks at the ticket counter tomorrow. Maybe they can work something out for you." I said, "Sir, we have a 2 year old little boy who is NOT going to be happy if he has to sit confined in a normal row of seats. And I can guarantee you that your entire plane of passengers will NOT be happy if he has to sit confined the entire trip. In fact, if you like, I can give you a sample of what it is going to sound like on that plane if you want." And at that precise moment Danil let out a few of his cranky "not-had-a-nap-today" noises. The man said, "Okay maam, just one moment and I'll see what I can do." He came back on the line if a few seconds and said he thought he had it handled for us. Couldn't have scripted it better if I had tried...

Please pray for our safe travels back to the U.S. - and pray that we can keep our nerves calm for the 11 hour flight back to Houston, the four hour layover and the 1 hour back to Dallas...

And thank you so much for all the petitions you've made to God on our behalf....

One step closer to home!

Well, we had to do a little research on the sleep situation. Paul now doesn't seem to want to go to sleep. He plays and plays until he nearly falls over. Actually, night before last he did. He played in the dark until he literally just laid down on the floor and went to sleep. He has started this thing of crawling in my arms and getting down, crawling in my arms and getting down...he does this for almost an hour straight before bedtime! We read that this is likely a result of over stimulation. Too many new sights, sounds, smells, tastes...more attention than he is used to. More touching than he is used to. All that. So, we'll manage. He keeps us laughing all day so it's easy to love the little dude (as Carl calls him). :) We're glad to report that he LOVES the stroller. The hotel loaned us one and we get him in that thing now about 4 times a day and stroll him all over the hotel. The front desk is getting pretty used to seeing us. Probably tired of seeing us.

Yesterday afternoon, we had our interview with the immigration office at the U.S. Embassy to get Paul Daniel his immigrant visa. He was approved without incident, so he can now enter the United States. Once his visa is stamped when we enter the U.S. at Houston, he will be a U.S. citizen. We can then get him a US Passport. He will also remain a Russian citizen until his 18th birthday, at which point it will be up to him to decide whether to retain dual citizenship. He has a while before he needs to think about that.

This morning we were scheduled to go to a toy store and to a couple other stores but Val was stuck in traffic and needed to take some of our paperwork to the Russian Consulate...so he said the shopping trip would have to wait till tomorrow. The weather is cold and damp now so we are trying to occupy ourselves in the hotel. We learned yesterday that there is a playroom in this hotel, so Carl played with Paul this morning while I did all our laundry in the sink. Would love to let the hotel to do our laundry...but just to launder one pair of socks costs $4.50. So you can see why we prefer the sink.

Carl is out strolling Paul Daniel around the halls on our floor. We hope we can keep him asleep long enough to eat our lunch. He doesn't understand right now that he can't eat big people food so he gets very offended when I have to tell him no to certain things on my plate. He would try to eat a T-bone steak if we sat one in front of him...

Two more days until the plane ride home...we can do this. God has blessed us at every turn and we trust that He will help us through this. We are so, so thankful for our new son. We know there is much work ahead...we'll do the best we can. He just seems so, so happy. In fact, Carl just brought him in the room still asleep in his stroller and he giggled in his sleep. This is so great. Thank you, God.

Another good ending...

As concerned as we were after the plane ride yesterday, everything was downhill from there. We borrowed a stroller from the hotel and took Paul Daniel for a walk. We found an outdoor cafe just down the street from the hotel where se stopped for lunch. We fed Paul Daniel first, then we both ate a little. Then Carl walked him around some more while I ate, then I walked him around while Carl ate. Paul Daniel finally fell asleep. He does not seem to be at all afraid of the city noise and traffic like we thought he might be. We stopped at the pharmacy for more baby wipes and the grocery store for bottled water. We brought Paul back to the room where he slept in the stroller for about 30 minutes - and that gave Carl and me a 30 minute nap!!!! :) The rest of the night, we played and played. Paul Daniel has got a great sense of humor. He laughs at himself when he falls or bumps his head. He thinks I'm REALLY funny. We rolled around on the floor laughing, playing with balls, standing up Coke bottles, dancing to the musical toys, tickling, and generally acting silly. He was running around the room and giggling with delight for the entire time. When he was able to stand two Coke bottles up at the same time (one with each hand), he gave himself a standing ovation! When it got close to bedtime, we had some more food, a diaper change (with minimal fussing), and then our nightly routine of lights out and singing hymns. He was fast asleep within 5 minutes. This morning we are meeting Val at 9Am to take Danil for his medical evaluation in Moscow, and then to do some paperwork at the Embassy. We should be finished and back at the hotel by 1-2PM.

We're back in Moscow!

Yesterday was our last full day in Kemerovo. We thought we would try to get out and do some walking around with Paul Daniel. Not that he would remember a thing - but somehow we thought we ought to get Danil out into the city he has lived in for the last year and 8 months, but has never seen. We started out letting Danil walk, then Carl took him. We walked to a nice park near our hotel (a fifteen minute walk). Carl immediately took Danil to the swings and within 5 minutes of Carl swinging with him, he was asleep. So Danil slept through our walk through the park and back to the hotel...but at least he got a nap. We ate at a restaurant near the hotel - Danil did well sitting in my lap. We once again decided to try singing Paul Daniel to sleep at 8pm and it worked like a charm. We are so thankful we at least know how to do that!

We were up at 4:30am for our flight to Moscow. Oh my. That was a challenge. Danil started screaming as soon as we sat down in our seats. After about 15 minutes, the lady in front of us turned around and asked, "Why is your baby crying." We told her this was Danil's first time on an airplane. She said, "Oh" and said nothing else. Really don't know her point - if maybe she was going to offer some advice or something...just not sure. Well, he put up the fuss of a life time. It was like trying to hold a wild animal. I looked at Carl. He looked at me. We were clearly thinking the same thing...4 hours on this flight. Eleven hours on the next. Well, once again, Carl had the solution. He pulled out food. And more food. As soon as we got one jar finished, we pulled out another. When Danil finally got full, he started another tantrum. I took him to the bathroom to do a diaper change - he screamed bloody murder. After the diaper change, I stood the rest of the flight and rocked him. I had him so close to sleep, but it was time to sit back down and buckle our seatbelts. He started his screaming again, but we made it. Val met us at the airport and took us to the hotel. No car seat, but most in Russia don't use them. Danil fell asleep in my arms. He slept for 30 minutes and woke up when we arrived. He's been playing wide open for the last hour. Carl and I are trying to figure out how we could just get a smidgen of rest before 8pm tonight...but that may just be the way it is. We're about to take Danil for a walk again. Got to get rid of some of this energy! Carl and I are scared! Can we keep up?????

We've got him!!!!

Yesterday Irina picked us up from the hotel at 11:15am. She took us by the court house to sign more documents, then to the grocery store to buy two cakes for the orphanage and some extra food for Danil...then it was off to the orphanage! Irina took us to the director's office for our last chance to ask questions... at that point, we couldn't think of any more to ask. We gave the director his Robin Williams movies...they didn't work in his DVD player but they worked in another dvd player in the orphanage. We found out the little girl we fell in love with on our first visit has been adopted out. We were happy to hear that. I brought clothes for the orphanage to change Danil into - a caregiver came and got the clothes from us to go change him. After about 20 minutes in the director's office, they brought Danil out in the clothes we brought. Well, needless to say, he was a cutie pie. But it turns out he's not big enough for 12 months clothes yet and his shoe is not a size 7. Oh well.

There wasn't any fanfare when it was time to say goodbye. The orphanage director gave him a hug and some kisses. We all had a picture made together. Danil didn't fuss or cry. He just left with us and sat quietly in Carl's arms all the way down the mountain. Just riding in the van was a big adventure for him. We were back to the hotel by 2:30 pm. Carl had to go with Irina to get Danil's passport and do some more running around. He was back to the hotel about 4:30. We "skyped" my parents at 5:00pm - which would have been 5am for them. (They asked us to call them no matter what time it was when we got Danil back.) By that point Danil had missed his afternoon nap so he was quite fussy. We decided we would just play until bedtime @ 8am. We knew this unfamiliar environment would throw him off - and it did. He ate good, though. He had one jar of chicken and gravy baby food, one vegetable baby food, one juice box, and two bowls of oatmeal. Eight o'clock came and went and Danil was showing no sign of winding down. So I finally picked him up and attempted to rock with him on the small couch in our room. We discovered early on that Danil loves music so Carl put in a cd I brought of piano hymns I bought at Hobby Lobby. We turned out the lights and sat together on the couch. Danil loved the music. Carl said, "He's liking this. Start singing." So we sang to every song - "Be Thou My Vision, Nearer My God to Thee, In the Garden, What a Friend we have in Jesus, Softly and Tenderly..." Danil was jelly in our arms. We sang every song on that cd and Danil sat and cooed. I realized this qualified as our first family devotional and the #1 most special moment Carl and I have shared together in our almost 8 years together. Our little boy went to sleep and slept the whole night through.

We were up this morning at 8am. We've done nothing but eat and play...when I finally get showered, we'll go out to explore. Our flight out of Siberia leaves tomorrow morning at 7:30...we'll spend the week in Moscow and fly out on Friday.

Paola and Callan, we haven't booked our flights yet but it looks like we'll be arriving around 9:15pm...we will let you know when we know. Hope that time works for you...

Gotta go...gotta a little boy to chase...