The Day We Have Waited For!!!
Wednesday,June 28---Day 1-Visitation
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who is reading our blog and posting comments. It is one of the highlights of our day to come to the cafe to read to messages. It means a lot to have so much support!
Well, we had a roller coaster of a day! We were told we would have our meeting with the City Department of Education between 9am and 10am. We did not get a call until 11:15am from Lena. She stated that they were still trying to get an appointment time and she would let us know. Finally at around 1:45pm she called and said that the lady that we need to meet with there will not be back until tomorrow or Friday and that she(Lena) would be coming by the apartment in 1 hour to bring a letter by that we need to sign. She stated that they were going to try to get this letter that we need without the meeting and we could possibly complete the meeting later this week. We all got on our knees and prayed together that if it was God's will this would work! God definately answers prayers...
At approximately 3:30pm we got the call.........WE GOT THE LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our driver and Lena picked us up at 4:40pm and off we went to the baby house! We had a meeting with the Baby House director scheduled at 5pm. It is hard to describe the feelings we had driving to the baby house. We were all smiling, shaking, excited, and in disbelief. After all the waiting, it was hard to believe we were actually about to meet Baby Landen!!! How do you prepare yourself for such a milestone in your life?
We pulled through a gated entrance and came to a stop. We were here...at the baby house. It is a very large building--and looked as if it was 2-3 floors. You could see a playground through some bushes and trees. We waited in the lobby for about 20 minutes. This was the longest 20 minutes of our lives. Finally, the director came through the front door. She is a very pretty Kazak lady about our age. She was very friendly. She asked us to step into her office. We were directed to sit on a leather couch in front of her desk. She introduced herself and immediately began asking us a ton of questions. She started with "What type of child would you like to adopt? Age? Gender? Special needs? 1 or 2?," "Why adopt from Kazakhstan?," Why did we choose to adopt rather than have another child of our own?," What is our income?"....The next thing we knew a caretaker brought in a little boy named David, who is about to turn 1 on July 3rd. He had several medical issues, but was adorable! He sat right in our laps and looked around and started bouncing. We played with him for about 10 minutes (by the way they brought him with no diaper on!) Then.......a caretaker brought in a little boy named, Ruslan. We immediately knew this was our son! Everyone in the room--the director, our translator, and 3 caretakers all started commenting about how much he looks like Bobby. He was placed in Bobby's lap (I was still holding David.) The first 5 seconds he looked as if he was going to cry...he definately did not know what was going. Then he was all smiles, and much to our surprise...out of nowhere he said "Papa"....then the next word out of his mouth was "Dada" which he several times during our visit. We know they have probably been working with him on this, but it definately brought us to tears and sealed that bond! Bobby could tell I was about to have a fit to hold him, so he finally took David, so that I could hold Ruslan(Landen). I was overwhelmed with emotions. This is our son! He looked at me with his big brown eyes and started smiling. I held him up and he just started to giggle. He literally laughed and smiled the entire visit, which was about 30 minutes. He started playing with Rylee and he already has a new game of pulling her hair! They both were belly laughing. I could not believe that at the first meeting he was already so comfortable with us. Around 6:00pm, they came to take him for his snack. It was so hard handing him over, but we know that he is well taken care of and you could tell he loves his caretakers.
We were not allowed to take pictures of him today, but we will be able to tomorrow. We were told that we will get to talk to his doctor tomorrow and find out a lot more details about him. They asked us if we wished to adopt him or if we would like to think about it....we immediately said, yes...and they stated then he will be our son and our 14 day visitation period begins today.
We are only allowed 1 visit through Saturday for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We are not allowed to visit on Sunday, but can start 2 visits a day on Monday. We are looking forward to getting to know our son/brother.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who is reading our blog and posting comments. It is one of the highlights of our day to come to the cafe to read to messages. It means a lot to have so much support!
Well, we had a roller coaster of a day! We were told we would have our meeting with the City Department of Education between 9am and 10am. We did not get a call until 11:15am from Lena. She stated that they were still trying to get an appointment time and she would let us know. Finally at around 1:45pm she called and said that the lady that we need to meet with there will not be back until tomorrow or Friday and that she(Lena) would be coming by the apartment in 1 hour to bring a letter by that we need to sign. She stated that they were going to try to get this letter that we need without the meeting and we could possibly complete the meeting later this week. We all got on our knees and prayed together that if it was God's will this would work! God definately answers prayers...
At approximately 3:30pm we got the call.........WE GOT THE LETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our driver and Lena picked us up at 4:40pm and off we went to the baby house! We had a meeting with the Baby House director scheduled at 5pm. It is hard to describe the feelings we had driving to the baby house. We were all smiling, shaking, excited, and in disbelief. After all the waiting, it was hard to believe we were actually about to meet Baby Landen!!! How do you prepare yourself for such a milestone in your life?
We pulled through a gated entrance and came to a stop. We were here...at the baby house. It is a very large building--and looked as if it was 2-3 floors. You could see a playground through some bushes and trees. We waited in the lobby for about 20 minutes. This was the longest 20 minutes of our lives. Finally, the director came through the front door. She is a very pretty Kazak lady about our age. She was very friendly. She asked us to step into her office. We were directed to sit on a leather couch in front of her desk. She introduced herself and immediately began asking us a ton of questions. She started with "What type of child would you like to adopt? Age? Gender? Special needs? 1 or 2?," "Why adopt from Kazakhstan?," Why did we choose to adopt rather than have another child of our own?," What is our income?"....The next thing we knew a caretaker brought in a little boy named David, who is about to turn 1 on July 3rd. He had several medical issues, but was adorable! He sat right in our laps and looked around and started bouncing. We played with him for about 10 minutes (by the way they brought him with no diaper on!) Then.......a caretaker brought in a little boy named, Ruslan. We immediately knew this was our son! Everyone in the room--the director, our translator, and 3 caretakers all started commenting about how much he looks like Bobby. He was placed in Bobby's lap (I was still holding David.) The first 5 seconds he looked as if he was going to cry...he definately did not know what was going. Then he was all smiles, and much to our surprise...out of nowhere he said "Papa"....then the next word out of his mouth was "Dada" which he several times during our visit. We know they have probably been working with him on this, but it definately brought us to tears and sealed that bond! Bobby could tell I was about to have a fit to hold him, so he finally took David, so that I could hold Ruslan(Landen). I was overwhelmed with emotions. This is our son! He looked at me with his big brown eyes and started smiling. I held him up and he just started to giggle. He literally laughed and smiled the entire visit, which was about 30 minutes. He started playing with Rylee and he already has a new game of pulling her hair! They both were belly laughing. I could not believe that at the first meeting he was already so comfortable with us. Around 6:00pm, they came to take him for his snack. It was so hard handing him over, but we know that he is well taken care of and you could tell he loves his caretakers.
We were not allowed to take pictures of him today, but we will be able to tomorrow. We were told that we will get to talk to his doctor tomorrow and find out a lot more details about him. They asked us if we wished to adopt him or if we would like to think about it....we immediately said, yes...and they stated then he will be our son and our 14 day visitation period begins today.
We are only allowed 1 visit through Saturday for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We are not allowed to visit on Sunday, but can start 2 visits a day on Monday. We are looking forward to getting to know our son/brother.
posted by Woodard's Adoption | 9:14 AM
4 Comments:
What an amazing story. I am speechless reading your first meeting with Baby Landen. He will be home soon, loved and adored by his family and friends.
Please give him a big hug for us and take pictures, many many pictures.
I can only imagine what an awesome day you guys had. I bet you are SO relieved to have actually been able to see and hold him and know for a fact now that he is the right one for you.
We are thinking about you every day and I look forward every day to coming home from work and reading the blog! I just cant wait to meet Landen! But right now I just cant wait to see pics!!!! Post them when you can!!
Jamie
Congratulations. What an incredible experience. I know you guys are very excited and have been patiently waiting for a long time. Enjoy your new baby!
Bobby and Kim, I'm so excited for you! I could hardly read the e-mail because of the tears in my eyes! I have been praying so hard for you guys that this experience was everything you hoped it would be. To God be the continued glory!! Kiss Landen for me and keep the updates coming!
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