Adoption: A different perspective

Imagine for a moment...
You have met the person you've dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse. You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancee. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For he first time in your life, you understand what is meant by "soul mate," for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow.
The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day's events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world... the person who will be with you for the rest of your life.
The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner's arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for his face. But IT'S NOT HIM! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved?
You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn't understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. They new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back... even trying to stroke your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him?
Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn't speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn't seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened... that your sweetheart is gone.
You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact. Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He's finally learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don't understand his bedtime songs, you like the sound of his voice and take some comfort in it.
More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive. Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you? You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried.
The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy.
The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to "get along." You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation.
Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you've ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you've never heard before.
He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you're used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to sleep.
People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy's hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one another, marveling at how quickly you've fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you're hanging on for dear life, you've learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along.
Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly. A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait.

I think of this passage from "Adoption Parenting" almost EVERYDAY. Mostly all the time. How must she be feeling? How would I feel? Well, I think this story sums it up pretty well.

Little smiles

Here is Taryn and Tyler on Sunday, enjoying their big brother's birthday party. We took about 100 pictures hoping just one would turn out not blurry! Happy days around here!

Thomas' birthday party

Sunday (10/19) was a WONDERFUL day! We encouraged Tom to plan his entire 10th birthday party. Who was invited, what the activities were going to be and what food/drink to serve. He did a great job (taking after his mother :-)) He invited all boys for the majority of the party and conceded to let his girl cousins and baby sister participate also; but not until 4pm! Ha! He planned "stations" outdoors... trampoline, touch football, an inflatable enclosed jumper, and driveway festivities to include skateboard, ripstik, roller blades, bikes... anything with wheels. Mom and Dad surprised him with TWO gifts... skatepark ramps for jumping off of with those wheely-ma-jigs and a quick visit from the CMU Quarterback, Dan LeFevour! Yes! Dan was able to squeeze a quick visit in at our house, tossed the football around for a few minutes and said hi to everyone at the party, before heading out. It was a huge surprise and quite special, since not everyone knows DAN LEFEVOUR! Come on, now... I know you all are so jealous right about now of this 10 year old! (For those of you who have not seen Tom in a while, he is the TALL one in the maroon jersey #13... Dan's # of course!)

Anyway, the afternoon was awesome. NO INJURIES, I repeat, NO INJURIES! Everyone was good about wearing head gear while on something with wheels and the boys devoured 3 Little Caesar's pizzas, crazy bread and a Dairy Queen frozen ice cream cake. Us adults enjoyed the sunshine and laughs just watching the boys move from activity/station to station. Rick and I had very little to do to prepare; the house did not have to be spic-n-span, the laundry did not have to be put away upstairs, and we did not have to cook... so you see, it was a day enjoyed by all! Tom scored awesome gifts and many gift cards to Target; his goal was to purchase a new ipod nano so he can watch movies on it... I believe he met is goal and then some! Thanks to his great buddies and some generous mom's and dad's; Tom was all smiles ear to ear! Tom's baby sister was well received by all his friends and he was proud to show her off, finally.

As the sentimental mom, I took a quick peek at Tom's scrapbooks Sunday night; that I have completed, to observe the growth of my 1st born child. Where has the time gone? It is such a cliche to say and I really hate being "typical" but seriously, I cannot believe he is "double digits" (as Tom is proud to say). I am very proud of him. He does everyday usual child and boyish things and yet I feel so lucky to be his mom. Really. He is a great kid. I will look back on this blog some day and be thankful for posting so many everyday captions of our life. I travel with my camera everywhere hoping for a "Kodak" moment. Happy Birthday, kiddo...

A very emotional post from MOM

Grab your kleenex's ladies... this one's a tear jerker. It is after midnight Friday night, so Taryn's first day is complete. We had a very teary wonderful welcome at Flint airport Thursday @ 11:30pm. Dad and the boys brought us girls flowers and balloons and big hugs and kisses. Tyler brought "baby sister" (he can't say Taryn... refuses to call her anything but baby sister) his, I repeat, HIS stroller to ride it. Tom and Trevor both brought her a stuffed animal from home and a picture they colored; and daddy gave us kisses and video taped us walking to them from the gate.

This was the most amazing day. I compare this day just like the arrival of my other children into our family, all three of which were C-section deliveries... aside from the obvious physical pain of delivery, those days are permanently burned in my memory. No mother forgets the day a child becomes a part of the family, into her arms, and more than just a dream. A real heartbeat, a real face to love and a real soul to nurture. The dream of Taryn may be a big "shoe to fit" if you will... I have had so many nights laying in bed dreaming of what she will be like and hoping that I will be the best Mom in the world to this little orphan who knows not what love is. I am sorry if I am making you tear up, this post is being done when I am the most emotional... at night. I seem to have many things on my mind and the days are so filled up that I don't get to think about the serious things until the house is quiet... you moms out there know what I mean.

So, as I crawled into bed (more awake than last night ~ comatose would describe me last night) I smiled to myself as my house was quiet, the children I love are safe in their beds, the dog is exactly where she always is, at my feet, and my husband of 12.99 years is next to me. (Our 13 year anniversary is October 28th) My dream for the last 18 months has come true. How lucky for me? How many adoptive parents come home with such a wonderful child at first? How is it that I am so lucky to deserve such a great transition? Believe me, I have read the books... I know it will not always be this easy. Nothing worth doing is easy. I am not sugar coating this part of the process with this little girl... I know it will get rocky, it will be rough at times; but how else can I describe the entire trip and first day at home other than to say it was GREAT! No, great does not begin to describe it. I am not an eloquent speaker, I do not have a large vocabulary so words are failing me; this week has been wonderful. My mother, Sue, and I left for Moscow to begin our journey to receive this little girl almost exactly a week ago. And now we are home safe, thanks to some wonderful Delta Airlines pilots and good weather to fly through and most of all GOD and your prayers... and my dream is a reality. How does anyone get to feel this good? How do I get to feel this lucky?

So, sleep escapes me and here I am talking to you...
You know, and forgive me, some of you do not know, my father passed away 20 years ago this December. Yes 20 years ago. He has been gone from my life more than he was a part of it; and yet I am the person I am because of his influence on my life for 17 years and his genes. While growing up, my father, Jerry, worked in the Newaygo County Courthouse in my home town, White Cloud, for some years before become an entrepreneur. He worked in Probate Court. My father was responsible for many job duties but the ones I remember were of him having to go to families homes at any given hour of the day or night and remove children from bad home situations. Sometimes I would wake up for school and find a child I did not know (thank goodness) asleep on our couch; having been removed late at night and not a foster home available. Maybe those early childhood memories prepared me for this road I am on. Maybe God chose me to be one of those parents to a child who has nothing. I not know where the drive and desire comes from, which is fine with me. My faith is truly at it strongest right now. There is a quote I hear often at Church; "Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door shall be opened..." Well, I knocked on God's door and asked him for a little girl and he delivered. I have her in my arms and she is truly a gift from above.

Okay, enough tears and enough preaching; jeez o' petes! You all know me well enough to know that I am the last person to push GOD on anyone and yet I can't help myself! I have posted more personal information on this blog than maybe I should have, but I have to try to express to all of you out there who email me back after a post or two about our travels to receive Taryn; how meaningful they are to me. You have absolutely no idea how important you all are to me and my family. I, again words fail me, cannot begin to find the way to describe how it feels knowing you are LITERALLY 1/2 way around the word, several time zones away, how it feels to see your names pop up in my email box. I felt just like I could reach out and touch all of you; so thank you to those of you who read our blog and let me know that you enjoy it.

All of you are special to us and some of you have gone above and beyond to step in and help during these travel weeks... you know who you are... Thank you from the very depths of our hearts. Thank you for keeping our boys safe and their "life" running smoothly, and just being such good wonderful people. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This process to get our daughter would have been unbearable without you, so you all should know how special you are and that your kindness has not gone unthanked.

The next post shall be all business... just details... no tears I promise! :-) As I hit the POST button I realize my first born son is 10 YEARS old! WOW!

Taryn is a US Citizen quick post

We are home! Taryn and 6 other Russian children became US citizens about 6pm Thursday October 16, 2008. Our flight from Moscow to Atlanta was interesting... she was not happy for about 4 hours... finally got her to sleep after much struggle. She slept for about 6 of the 11 1/2 hours. Grandma and I did not sleep at all. We figure from Wednesday until we got home we were up over 36 hours. Events happening just did not let us get any sleep.

I am working a special post for our arrival home to see our family. I will get it posted just as soon as I can.

We are all doing well. Taryn slept through the night, had some breakfast, some play time with brothers, a bath with Tyler and is now sleeping in her bed for her first nap.

So, you bloggers... relax and be patient; I will post more information soon. I promise.

Thanks for watching! See you soon.

Ready to fly home

Good morning everyone, We are at the airport. We made it through customs, security, checked our bags in and through passport control with no problems. We are flying business class back home so we were able to sit in the Delta Lounge for a while before we board. They have internet in here, so I am posting a quick few words before we board. It is 4am your time right now and I can hardly wait to sleep in my own bed again. None of us, none slept last night. I had so much anticipation about coming home... Grandma said she did not sleep well either and Taryn only slept about 4 hours and then was up the rest of the night tossing and turning.

So when we touch down in Atlanta Taryn becomes a US citizen. We will have a long lay over in Atlanta and during that time, Passport control will interview us, which could take up to an hour. We also have to get our bags and transfer them too. So the 5 hours will be good. We can all eat and walk some before getting on the next flight to Flint.

So, there you have it... our complete trip has been blogged... I feel so connected to everyone when I am able to blog it for you to share.

Tom, T-Rev, and TY... get ready... momma is bringing your baby sister home! Daddy; get ready... you're gonna love her! I promise! :-)

Grandma Sue said HI to everyone who is watching the blog on her behalf. She is smiling and kissin' on this baby girl like always.

Sweet dreams to those of you still sleeping... we shall see you all soon!

Love, the GIRLS in Moscow!

U S Embassy trip

Hello everyone, Tuesday night was great sleep for everyone. Taryn went to sleep at 9pm and did not wake up until 9am! We all had a great night sleep. Taryn woke up happy and hungry! We took our time getting around this morning and headed downstairs for some lunch before our Embassy appointment.

Natasha picked us up at 1:oopm and we had just a short trip in traffic to arrive there. Natasha could not go inside with us, but she informed us very well on what to expect. We processed through the steps and sat in a small area with 10 other families. Yes, 10 others! We think our world is so small and that we are the only ones going through this right now... turns out that two or three families are at the same hotel we are! Huh! As near as I could tell, only 2 children appeared to be younger that Taryn, probably 2 were the same age and the rest were older than her. A few families had 2 children with them to take home. We spoke with one family that will be on the same flight as us tomorrow. Their home is Charlotte NC. Anyway, the appointment was really just a formality. Verification of Taryn's spelling, check her picture to make sure the child matches the paperwork; a few other questions and that was it! This was the easiest step of the entire process! Really!

So we waited about 10 minutes and then we received all our paperwork, originals, and passports with visas to travel home. That was it! Total time was about 50 minutes.

We went back to the hotel after the appointment because it was Taryn's nap time. She fell asleep in my arms within minutes. She slept about 1 1/2 hours, and now it is dinner time.

We may not post again until we are in the US. We have a long layover in Atlanta to be sure we get through passport control. They warned us it may take up to an hour to get through with Taryn because her citizenship becomes official as soon as we touch down! YEAH! After we get through passport control we will try to login again and post a quick few words on how she did on the flight home.

So, hugs and kisses to all of you... thank you for diligently watching our blog... thank you to those who emailed me while I am here... hearing from everyone makes me feel not so far away. We will be home quite late Thursday night so Friday we will be sleepy. We will see everyone shortly.

Love, The GIRLS in Moscow!

Tuesdays adventures in Moscow

Here's some photos of our sightseeing trip today(Tuesday).





The famous KGB building.








Lenin's grave/masoleum inside Red Square. Did you know that Red Square stands for "Beautiful Square" ? Not red because of the bricks. The walls around the Kremlin used to be wood, then white brick and now they are red. But just because the bricks are red, is not why it is called Red Square. The president does not live in the Kremlin. He does not even work there. He has an office outside the city proper and what is inside the Kremlin now are just a few governmental offices, a museum, and other historical buildings.










Julie and Taryn in front of St. Basil's Cathedral.


This is our friend, Natasha. She works for Adoption Associates out of the Moscow office; which is actually her home. There is no official office in Moscow. All three AAI employees here in Moscow work from their homes. Natasha has been taking care of us while we have been here. She is absolutely wonderful and we want her to come and visit the US and stay with us and other Michigan families she has helped in the past. Hopefully someday soon she will come.



And here is Taryn asleep in the car. She did lots of walking today while we went sightseeing. Natasha took us also to a "market" similar to what you find in Nassau or in Mexico... we bought some Christmas ornaments (hand carved out of wood and hand painted), we found a beautiful purse compact for her when she is old enough to carry a purse, we also bought her an authentic hand made Russian girl's dress. It is really pretty. Maybe she can wear it in her 2 year old pictures, or maybe for Christmas time pictures. One other thing we purchased at the market was a hand made "Snow Girl". Russians do not have a Santa Clause. They believe in "Grandfather Frost" and "Snow Girl". The Grandfather Frost looks very similar to our Santa, but the Snow Girl puts a new spin on Christmas. So we bought Taryn a Snow Girl too.

She was absolutely wonderful today. It is 11pm here in Moscow and so I am going to bed now. I will post again tomorrow (Wednesday). We go to the Embassy tomorrow for Taryn's appointment to receive her visa to travel home. YEAH! One more day and we will begin the journey home.

Oh, for those who are wondering... Taryn is wearing the 12-18 month clothes that I brought along. Some friends have emailed me asking what size she is. She is wearing the size 4 and size 5 shoes I brought also. She LOVES, and I mean LOVES the little purse I brought her and her headband. She already knows when we get ready to leave the room that she gets her shoes and her headband and her purse. It is so darn cute! She is a smart little thing! She watches me very closely. If I start getting "prettied up to go" that she gets her stuff ready too.

The doctor this morning had a quick evaluation of her for the Embassy appointment and he thinks she weighs about 25 pounds.

Until next post...

Playing ball

Hi everyone. We had a great evening and great 1st night with Taryn. She fell asleep about 9pm almost instantly. She slept all night in a pack-n-play crib. I checked on her several times (just like you do with a newborn :-) ) and she was fine. We had to be up at 6am this morning for a Doctor to do a quick evaluation here in the hotel room; required by immigration. This doctor was very kind and our friend here in Moscow, Natasha, told us that he is THE leading plastic surgeon in all of Russia! And here he was in our hotel room doing an adoption evaluation. How awesome!

So after the doctor left, we fed Taryn and showered and went downstairs to eat ourselves. After we ate, we sat in the hotel lobby for a while. Attached to this post is my first video... you can see for yourselves how happy she appears!

After playing for a while, we decided to do some sightseeing. Natasha took us to Red Square/Kremlin and then to a "market" to get some Russian souviners. We stopped at a grocery store to get Taryn some food, bananas, a couple diet cokes, and then headed back to the hotel. We had a small bite to eat (nachos) and fed Taryn again then headed up to the room for a little down time. Natasha took all our paperwork to the US Embassy today and our appointment is tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2pm. We have an interview for about 1 hour and as I understand we will receive her visa tomorrow after the appointment. Then tomorrow afternoon we pack up and get ready to leave Thursday morning for home! Yeah!

So, enjoy the video and we will post again before bed with some more photos. Love to you all!

Our first day together

So, our first day together with Taryn is coming to a close. She has been absolutely wonderful. She is smiling and laughing and very good. We are having lots of smiles together. Taryn eats anything we put in front of her... anything! Unlike our boys, who are discriminating eaters, she ate everything we gave her today! She drank water like she had never had it before. We bathed her and she had a long nap and then we went for a walk to a small park around the corner from the hotel tonight. We then had dinner in a restaurant in the hotel and it was very good. Julie and Sue both ordered a drink/glass of wine to relax and Taryn was so good at dinner... a 180 degree different child than our TY who can't sit still for more than one minute. Here is Taryn in the hotel lobby and another one of her in a pink sweatshirt and a brown headband.

She had one more quick bath before bed and was asleep on Julie by 9pm Moscow time. She fell asleep within minutes. Big day for her and for us. We are getting ready to go to sleep now. More posts again tomorrow.

HERE SHE IS

Taryn Julianna McGuirk is ours! Here are some photos of us picking her up at the train station, this morning @ 10:08am when her train arrived. She was very calm and did not cry at all! We went straight from the train station to a medical clinic for a blood test and she did cry then; but as soon as it was over, she calmed right back down. We then came to the hotel and played with her a short time, then gave her a bath. Here she is with a smile and with Grandma playing with her toys. She is absolutely calm... no crying at all. We had her smiling and laughing in no time! Within minutes in the room, she started smiling and seems to be very comfortable with us. We are just playing with her and after her bath we are kissing her and hugging her and rubbing her back and she is really making good eye contact with us too. She is happy, or so we think!

One more note... we are confident that God and our loved ones in Heaven are shining down on us at this very moment... The skys were gray and cloudy on the way to the train station and now it is sunny and bright. They are just as happy as we are! We will post again soon. Hi boys... here is your baby sister, Taryn! Mom finally has her in her arms and we will be home very soon! We love you. Have a great day at school. Tell your teachers to check our blog so they can see her too!

Tom will be 10! on Saturday, October 18th

Hi everyone, This post is dedicated to Thomas! Our 1st born will be TEN YEARS OLD, next week! How does this happen? He is an awesome child and he lives for his friends. I have never met such a social child. He is very sincere, very loyal to his brothers and family and a very good student. He makes us proud every day.

He is playing "rocket" football with kids ages 10-11 and is pretty good (not biased at all)! We attend football practices 3 days a week with games on Saturdays. We have a team that plays well together and each week we see progress in their sportsmanship and their attitude.

We just want everyone to send Tom some HAPPY BIRTHDAY emails this week. He loves to get emails, even spam ones! tom@unitedapts.com is how you can reach him. He is looking forward to a double digit age! Too funny!

Happy Birthday Thomas, Tommy, Tom!

Mom and Dad love you very much!

PS, this picture is last year's season, but you get the idea, right?

CMU beats Temple!

Here is a picture of the boys with CMU's QB, Dan LeFevour. CMU's Homecoming game was yesterday and CMU beat Temple 24-14! Way to go Chippewas!

Rick took all three boys to the game and after hung around waiting to see Dan. As you can see from the picture, we all think Dan is IT! Dan is an incredible athlete and an even better CMU representative. He makes his entire team proud with his amazing outreach to the Mt. Pleasant community. When Dan attends church at Sacred Heart, parents can get their kids to church really easy! "You need to get up, Dan might be at church today." He is really an awesome guy.

The football team even comes to the elementary schools. A few weeks ago, Tom and Trevor had Dan's signature in permanent marker on their forearms. I could not get them to wash their arms for days! Just last week, the football team was at a different area elementary school for recess. How lucky we are to have such good examples of "kids" for our children to look up to. Coach Butch Jones is a really neat guy too and he has made the CMU football team approachable and real for our kids in our community. There is such CMU spirit in the elementary schools come Friday before a CMU game. We are very proud to be Chippewas!

CMU hosts Western Michigan next weekend, October 18th.

Julie and Sue are in Moscow, Sunday

Good Sunday morning everyone. Julie and Sue have arrived safely in Moscow. We had a great flight, after a mechanical problem caused us to change planes and a 2 1/2 hour delay. We didn't mind, we feel our safety is 1st priority! Plus we had no pressing plans for when we arrived in Moscow. Our "person" Natasha picked us up just like last time and wisked us into crazy Moscow traffic. We arrived at our hotel, Marriott Courtyard. It is a beautiful hotel. We are in our room, showered and ordered some room service before sinking into bed. It is 4:30pm here on Sunday as I am writing this post, which is 8:30am in Michigan right now.

Our plans are to receive Taryn tomorrow morning! If I wasn't so tired I wouldn't be able to sleep... I have so many emotions running through me right now!
Grandma Sue is doing very well. She slept on the plane on and off and seems to be enjoying herself too. We are both anxious for tomorrow.
Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of our lives! Isn't that the truth! Live each day for today, for you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Thank you all for watching our blog. We will post again soon, with some pics of Taryn and Mom and Grandma! Love to you all!

Prayers for a dear friend

A dear friend to our family, Jeff, was injured in a hunting accident yesterday. He fell from a tree and was air-lifted to Peoria, Illinois, St. Francis Medical Center where Jeff had surgery last night and is in recovery in the Critical Care Unity of the Illinois Neurological Institute.

We are unsure of his prognosis and we need your prayers for Jeff, for a miracle and recovery of his spinal cord, for his wife Nesa and his 3 kids.

Please keep my friend in your prayers.

Thank you so much,

Trevor, our soccer STAR!

Here are some pictures of Trevor in his soccer game, last Sunday. They won the game 1 to 0.

He is so excited about his abilites this year; it is so refreshing. We are just so proud of his athletic abilities!

Julie and Sue travel to pick up Taryn

Hi everyone,

The travel plans have been confirmed.

Julie and Grandma Sue will be flying back to Moscow on Saturday, October 11th. We arrive on the 12th, and we will see our daughter on Monday, October 13th.

We will keep her forever on that very day!

We will have some medical things to do on the 13th and on to the US Embassy on the 14th and then some final paperwork on the 15th and if everything goes as planned, we will begin flying home on Delta Airlines from Moscow to Atlanta to Flint on Thursday October 16th. Times of flights are still up in the air, but I will post more when I know.



So, we have little more than a week to make our final preparations for her arrival into our lives.



Rick/Dad is staying home this trip.



Thanks for watching and I will post again in the near future.

Family gathering in Holland MI

On Friday, September 26th, Julie's grandmother on her dad's side of the family, Cornelia Jellema, passed away. Beppie (Grandmother in Dutch) was 96 years old and the family matriarch. She immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands with her husband and 5 children who were born there and eventually another daughter born here in Michigan. Our family is going to miss her but we are all at peace with her passing as her earthly body was giving out and we are glad she can now be where she will be forever happy with her husband and Julie's Dad and other family members who have gone before.

The memorial service for Beppie was wonderful. She was able to make one more effort to speak to all of us family about her faith and love of God.

Family came from all across the US on Monday, September 29th; Oregon, Georgia and many parts of Michigan. It was a wonderful day of family fellowship and lots of laughs and pictures. Thank you to all of the family able to travel to be with us on Monday, and to those unable; well you were sadly missed and there in our thoughts.
Thank you Beppie for very wonderful memories, great parties, lots of dried beef, orange candy slices, and rubs on the cheek. We love you and will miss you. Peace to you and be at rest.