Transitions

The dictionary defines transitions as:  movement,  passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another; 

change.  

It's probably that word "change" that evokes the most emotion in any of us.  Some of us avoid change at all costs.  We run from anything that hints at different... and when we are forced into change we have a feeling of dread, hopelessness, fear etc.  

For others "change" is a welcome friend.  Something to look forward to.  It evokes a feeling similar to a fresh cool breeze blowing on your face.

In either case, change comes... welcome or not.

At our best I think we should fall somewhere between the two extremes.  Personally I don't necessarily seek out change but when it comes, I, usually, take on the challenges that it might present and try to focus on the positive outcomes that may result.  Sometimes, successful.  Sometimes, not.

Regardless of my feelings,  change has come to our home.

But more obvious and more importantly, change has come into  the lives of Katya and Mariana... in a most life changing way. 

And it is a change in every aspect of their lives!

There really isn't a part of their teenage experience that has not been touched by this change...  culture permeates every part of everything we do... often without our recognition of its effects.  And they have had to leave behind one culture and learn another.

 

Relationships, chosen and circumstantial, also greatly influence our daily routines and our thoughts and actions and emotions.  Every relationship they had in Ukraine is now long distance at best.  And they are having to work at developing new relationships.

And language!  You never realize how many words you use in a day until they are not there for you.  Think of all the people you know that tried to learn a second language in school and succeeded.  

Not many, right?

Learning a language is very difficult... or else we would all be, at least, bilingual.

 

Today is two weeks that we have been home... all together under one roof.  I would be lying if I said that it has been all smooth sailing.

But each day has seen some kind of progress... Praise God!

We are thankful for each forward step... 

Katya and Mariana are working hard to learn everything new.  Kenzie, Hunter, Emy and Nic have been encouraging, supportive and welcoming in every way imaginable.

I have great kids!  All six of them :)

ONE WEEK HOME!!!

As promised I want to share some of our pictures from the reunion at the airport.  We feel so very blessed to have been able to experience such a momentous day like this, twice in our lives.  Once when we came home with our little boy and once this past week arriving home with our girls.

Words can't really express the range of emotions... I'll just let the pics tell the story!

Spotting our loved ones...

 

First hugs...

 

Sisters reunite...

 

 

Momma's Big Boy...

 

 

A very happy Daddy...

 

Me and My Dad...

 

Cute little cousins...

 

Tearful friends...

 

  

My MOM...

 

No more separation...

 

 

 

My four favorite teens...

 

 

Heading home!!!

 

Baby Steps!

 

This is my sweet Nicholas when he was first learning to walk... taking baby steps!  

Our family has now been under one roof for 3 days!  And I believe that success is going to be measured in baby steps... for awhile.

Although the first part of our adoption journey is now finished, we begin the next phase which I will call, "finding the new normal for the Wells."  I am not sure of what it will look like... but I do know that it will take time.

Thank you for all of your support and prayers through this part of our journey... we could not have done it without you.  But prayers are even more important now as the girls adjust to everything new and let go of everything that was familiar.

Stay tuned for all the airport reunion pics... coming in the next post!

Tough Stuff!

Tomorrow Ty and I and Katya and Mariana will board a plane headed toward home.  Although Ty and I are so excited to see our family and friends, our daughters are having to say good-bye to family and friends that mean so much to them.

It is tough stuff!

Tears have already begun to be shed by those who love the girls!  Although everyone may be in agreement that having a solid, in tact family that will love and protect them is best for the girls it is still difficult to know that they will be separated by 6000 miles from everyone and everything they know.

No child should have to make the decisions that our girls have had to make... and yet, it is what it is.

Please pray!  I know I have said this a zillion times before but please pray for our girls as they transition to a new life in the Wells' family.  And please pray for the family and friends left behind.  There is not really anything else we can do...

... but prayer is effective and God is Sovereign.

Slava BOGU!!!

SLAVA BOGU!!!  That is PRAISE GOD in Russian.  We got the passports for the girls today!

Today was another day filled with lots of frustrating and stressful waiting.  All par for the course with Ukrainian adoptions, I know.  You would think that with the end in sight Ty and I would have more patience but it seems that the opposite is true.  Our patience meters are running on empty.  So when our ONCE AGAIN DELAYED passports were still not ready and we realized that we would be at least one hour late for our US Embassy appointment, we were both struggling with how to respond.  Instead of boring you with details I will just give you a picture of what we really felt like inside... Fighting Mad!

To add to that... blood sugar was running dangerously low, (all of you who know me know what this means) due to the delays and the enormous amount of waiting required at every single appointment!  By 2:30 "my tongue was hanging out" and I couldn't think straight.

But SLAVA BOGU!  At the end of the day we had success!  Our first of two Embassy appointments was successfully completed.  The required medical appointments for the girls was accomplished (a quick side note...  Ty and I had been to this same facility almost 6 years ago for the medicals for Nicholas... quite a strange deja vu.)

Tomorrow we go to our final appointment which will be at the US Embassy to get the Visas for Katya and Mariana.  We will then be ready to spend the day on Thurs. packing and saying our good-byes!

Our hurdles to getting home are becoming fewer and fewer.  

Our final push will be the 24 hours of travel that will eventually land us in wonderful Orlando, Florida!

At which point we will feel like this...  and then some!

OK so some of you might think I am really stretching to get in pictures of my kids (and dog) on the blog... but at this point creativity headed out the door when patience left so you are just going to have to humor me.

FLYING HOME and Crazy Cold!

Well the big news is that we have tickets to fly home next Friday, February 10th!  As incredibly exciting as this is to us we still have a few hurdles to get through so we are counting down the days... while still  holding our breath.

When we get on the plane on Friday we will probably feel like this...

Now I know that this is an old picture and I will probably get in trouble for having posted it but I thought it best depicts the excitement and anticipation and just pure joy we will feel when we board that plane next week.

The last four days have been consumed with going back and forth between notary offices, internal passport offices, external passport offices, many times over.  Our facilitator told us that this has been the most complicated passport application that she has had in her eleven years of working in adoptions... LUCKY US!

Seven hours just today of waiting in the car, waiting outside of offices, driving back and forth etc... but I have to say our girls were troopers!  Thankfully at the end of the day we can say that things are still moving in a forward momentum.

Some of you who follow me on Facebook have seen me post how cold it is here in Ukraine.  In the news today, it said that 101 people have lost their lives to the intensely cold conditions in just the last week.  Most of those are homeless people as 64 of them were actually found dead on the street.  It's quite tragic!!!  Upwards of 1000 have been hospitalized with hypothermia and frostbite and other related conditions.  It's expected that tonight could drop down to -25.6 F in some areas of Ukraine.  

The elderly and homeless are of course most at risk and could certainly use our prayers!

Ty and I thankfully have a nice little space heater in our room... although the heat works in the apartment it just has too much cold to keep up with.  Here is a pic of my honey warming his feet, reading a book and drinking his tea...