Bringing Kellsey Home

Closure...

2009-12-20T16:00:00.001-06:00

It's time for this blog to have some closure. It was made to chronicle our journey of Bringing Kellsey Home... and that journey is now complete. She is home, with her family. Where she should be. Exactly one year ago today I wrote this post on our family blog announcing our decision to adopt. It was not a decision made lightly or hastily. Many of you have asked throughout our journey how we came to the decision to adopt or how we came to choose Kellsey specifically, so I thought today would be a good time to share our story.

We actually first noticed Kellsey (then called Victoria) when she was listed on Reece's Rainbow as a baby.

At the time a couple friends of ours were adopting through Reece's Rainbow. They already had a child of their own with Down syndrome and we thought, "WOW!" So in browsing the site, we found this beautiful little baby and I thought, "Ohhh she is SO cute!" And Victoria instantly became my favorite. I watched closely to see if her "forever family" would find her. We began to pray for her daily.

Over time we watched more and more of our friends commit to adopt one or more kids with Down syndrome from other countries. We followed them closely. We prayed for them. We helped them financially when we could. We learned more about what happened to these beautiful children when they turned 5. We learned that they would be transferred to an institution on their 5th birthday where they would die within a year. And our hearts broke.

Then we received an updated picture of Victoria...

I sent the picture to Frank, who was in Afghanistan at the time, and he immediately said, "She needs to be part of our family." I immediately replied with, "You're CRAZY!" HA! We had 4 kids, one who not only has Down syndrome but has been through a lot medically. Fear overwhelmed me. What if Kennedy's leukemia returned? What if we brought Victoria home and she got Leukemia? And Frank said, "God's taken care of us so far, don't you think He'd take care of us still?" And so we committed to PRAY. We weighed pros and cons. We talked to close friends and family who were both for and against the idea. We asked them all to pray as well. I prayed that God would ease my fears and make His will clear... and I followed the journeys of our friends who were bringing their new children home very closely.

A few months later, I started promoting Reece's Rainbow and their plight on our family blog, bringing awareness, and getting our family and friends comfortable with the thought of adoption. I posted about other family's homecomings. All the while we were talking closely with Andrea Roberts and learning more about Victoria and what it would take to bring Victoria home. We prayed hard. We shed tears as we tried to seek out God's will for our lives and for Victoria's life.

Finally we talked to Kassidy and Kameron. We had already decided that if they were not 100% on board with this decision that we would NOT adopt. They are part of our family and have been through so much already. If they had reservations or fears about bringing another sibling into their lives, then that would be that. We talked to them about Reece's Rainbow and showed them the Angel tree. We told them that RR tries to find families for these kids who have no families. And then we showed them Victoria's picture. They thought she was so sweet and looked a lot like Kennedy. We asked what they would think about bringing Victoria to live here with us and explained that she has Down syndrome, like Kennedy does, and would need some extra help and therapy and time. Kassidy said that Down syndrome is what makes Kennedy so special and Kameron asked if we could get a boy too! HA! They were both instantly on board and very excited!

I was still dragging my feet however. Here was God, tugging at my heart, my husband and kids were on board, but my mind was working overtime on the "what ifs". Finally, God clearly spoke to me that I HAD to trust HIM, and on Thanksgiving night we took the leap of faith and committed to bring Victoria into our family. And Andrea said, "FINALLY!" HA! We still kept it under wraps for a little while until we were able to tell our family either in person or over the phone and then, one year ago today we went public and this blog was born.

Throughout the process I had moments of complete peace and moments of complete panic about our adoption... about adding another child to our family... about adding another child with special needs to our family. I would worry, God would calm me, and eventually my human side would take over and I would worry again! LOL Mostly though I felt extreme peace that we were absolutely doing what God had called us to do and that Kellsey belonged HOME with us.

And now, here she is... She has a daddy and mommy who love her and two brothers and sisters to run around with and cause trouble! haha Having only been home for two weeks, we are still learning about her, and she is still learning about us. It hasn't been perfect, but it's been amazing and way easier than I thought it was going to be. I know there will be hard days, but nothing worth it is ever easy. We are SO thankful that God called us to bring her home. We look forward to seeing her thrive surrounded by love and chaos and lots and lots of toys. We look forward to teaching her about the love of the Lord and how He brought her home to us. Such a perfect gift, the completion to our family, just in time for Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who has walked our adoption journey with us... the ups and downs, the frustrations and joys and tears and waiting, waiting, waiting. We hope that you will all stick around and continue to follow Life With My Special Ks.

Q&A #13

2009-11-28T13:00:00.001-06:00

Most of the questions people have asked have been answered in subsequent posts. I apologize if I missed anything. Here are a few that I don't think have been answered.

Are there any spots on her hands? If so, it could be impetigo, which I would predict very common in her living conditions.
Nope, nothing on her hands, only her face, as far as we can tell... we still haven't seen her belly or back or anything. Thankfully the cream (whatever it was) has cleared up her face A LOT! :)

Why does this have to take so long?! Has to be frustrating! Frank can take this much time off?
Fortunately, he had a lot of leave stored up, he may go a few days in the hole, but with his deployment coming up next year, he'll make that back up and his command is fine with that :).

That's awesome! Hey, why haven't you been allowed to see her in a week?
It was because of the quarantine due to the H1N1 virus there... it was finally lifted yesterday :).

She's so stinkin' smart! She must have been in a wonderful baby home! I love all the developmental toys they have for the kids. It warms my heart how well she was taken care of.
Actually all those toys are things Frank brought to her. He brings them with him every time he goes to visit and then takes them when he leaves. When he takes Kellsey out for GOOD, he will donate them to her baby home.

Whistle while you play!

2009-11-27T13:00:00.000-06:00

I didn't get to visit Kellsey yesterday for Thanksgiving but I had a good day enjoying the day with with another family that adopting here in Kiev and we had a real Thanksgiving dinner at the Radisson Hotel in the city. The dinner was a fundraiser that raised money to buy incubators for premature babies in poor rural areas in Ukraine. It's a great cause and we got to enjoy a wonderful turkey dinner. Anyway today I got to visit Kellsey along with Andy and Ellen Stumbo who were visiting their daughter Nina. We were all in the same room and the girls had a good time playing with different toys, coloring and playing with play-do. While Kellsey was playing with some stacking blocks I started whistling to her and she just stared at my lips like how are you doing that? She was totally amused by it so I kept doing it. I had to take a video of her attempting to whistle and it turned out really cute. I feel like Kellsey is totally comfortable with me and that she looks forward to seeing me now more and more every day. I'm excited to almost be done and I can't wait to take her out of there and bring her home!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A good visit.

2009-11-25T16:05:00.000-06:00

I had a good visit with Kellsey today she was in a very spunky mood and full of energy which is always fun because you never know what's she gonna do next! I took some video of her and you can really see her personality really come out in it. She has her own mind and her own way of doing things and she loves organized chaos just like the rest of the Special Ks! Ha! She also has no problem expressing disapproval if she doesn't like something as you'll see in the video. I love seeing how her mind works and I'm so excited because I know she's going to fit in so well with the rest of the kids. I don't think I'll get to see her tomorrow but I'm shooting for friday, for now we just wait for Kellseys tax code to come so we can continue the rest of the paperwork process. Oh one last thing I apologize if the video is a little shaky it's hard to video tape and play with Kellsey all at the same time. :)

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Kellsey's Birth Certificate!!

2009-11-24T07:00:00.000-06:00

Today we obtained Kellsey's new birth certificate! It only took one hour isn't that crazy? Oleg our facilitator was kind enough to inform me that he will be going today to the city in which we attended court to file for Kellseys tax code which is necessary to obtain her Visa. I'm hoping the processing won't take longer than 5 days but we'll see. Tomorrow I'm hoping they will allow me to visit Kellsey since I haven't seen her in about a week. In the mean time I've been keeping busy exploring the city and taking lots of pictures of the different historical sites in the city. I think I'm doing pretty well so far. I'll post pictures later on.

Winners of the Restaurant Gift Cards!

2009-11-21T17:00:00.000-06:00

So, I am doing major catch up blogging lately! I have SO much to catch up on... this video was obviously done the night before we left for Ukraine... so ignore the whole "we're leaving on a plane tomorrow" comment! LOL I'm just a slacker! haha

Congrats to the two winners... and one of you I've talked to A LOT lately so don't be mad at me for not telling you that you won! haha I wanted it to be a surprise! LOL If both you will email me and let me know which restaurant you want your gift card to and give me your mailing address, my friends Tina and Brian will get your gift cards out soon!

Thanks again to Tina and Brian for hosting this giveaway and to everyone who donated!!!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Adoption Update

2009-11-20T17:00:00.000-06:00

The waiting game... it's so fun, isn't it?! As of today, our 10 day wait is officially over! YAY!!! SO, what now? Frank is now on a paper chase! He will be getting Kellsey's birth certificate, passport & visa and they are also waiting on a tax code which prayerfully will come in QUICKLY as they can't leave the country without it. They need to go to the bank and draw out Kellsey's money which he will then donate to her baby home. We don't know how long these things will take... it just depends on how fast the U.S. Embassy gets it done... and well, it's a government office... enough said.

After he does all THAT he can go get Kellsey from the orphanage and walk her out those doors FOREVER! :) He will have to take her to get a medical clearance to be able to leave the country. When he has all the paperwork in hand and she is medically cleared, then we can arrange for them to fly home!! We're hoping 10 days from now? Maybe?

Just be in prayer that everything continues to go as smoothly as it has been!!! We can't WAIT to get them home!!!

PS. Frank's internet is down in the apartment. They're working on fixing it. Hopefully he'll be back SOON with more pics and stuff! :)

Colors, Colors.

2009-11-16T16:30:00.001-06:00

I wasn't able to visit Kellsey on Saturday like I had hoped but I did get go see here Monday morning and we had a blast. Yesterday I decided that I would get something new for Kellsey to play with, I found a coloring book, crayons, stacking blocks and a little baby for her to hold.

When I got to the orphanage, she was dressed really cute and she was curious about what I had in the bright pink bag that I got from the toy store. I decided that I would show her one toy at a time, so first I gave her the baby. She looked at it and then made the motion like, "um... yeah that's not mine, here take it back!" I attempted to give it back to her but she just wasn't interested (bummer).

I then pulled out the coloring book and crayons. Kellsey's little face lit up and she knew exactly what she wanted to do with the crayons and she went to town coloring! Like any other little toddler, she wanted to scribble through every page possible as fast as possible, (he he) she had a blast!

Next she played with the blocks for quite awhile and she really seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of that, just video, so I'll get that video up as soon as I can. For now I will post the pictures of her coloring. Oh and one more thing, Kellsey's little face is looking a lot better! I had picked up some medicine the orphanage director had suggested and it seems to be doing the trick. It's not completely cleared up, but it's looking much much better as you can see in the pictures.

Thank you all for your prayers and suggestions we really do appreciate you guys reading and following us in this journey. So far it has been a great learning experience for us and a blessing beyond words.

So Cute!!

What's on the next page?

Just Smile! :)

Am I cool or what?

Visiting Kellsey...

2009-11-13T10:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was the first time I got to go visit Kellsey since Renee left. It was a very rainy drab day and I was anxious to go see her again. The driver was running late because the traffic was pretty bad once he picked me up getting to Vorzel just seemed to take forever. Once we got there orphanage I went inside and I was greeted by the workers and told to wait for Kellsey to be brought to me. Once the brought her she was so funny because she walked in the room and immediately walked over to me and sat next to me it was so cute but she had a look on her face like Ok? what do you have for me today to entertain me. Ha ha She's so stinkin cute! We played for a while and she layed on my lap and let me hold her and hug her, it didn't take long for me to tickle her and it all became a game for her. I had her cracking up the loudest I've heard her laugh yet so we had a great time. Unfortunately our time was cut short because of the medical inspections they are having at the orphanages so needless to say I was disappointed. Before I left Kellsey did something cute and I figure she must have been starving because she had no hesitation to give me a hug and just wave goodbye!!

Things are pretty drab and boring without Renee here but I guess its part of the process of being the parent being left behind to finish out the rest of the process. I thank God that our court date was so quick and she was able to go home so quickly to be home with the kids. we are very blessed and I can't wait to be home with the whole family together for Christmas! For now I just hang out in the apartment and hope time goes by fast. I will be doing some more sight seeing sometime next week I'm sure but for now I just wait until I can go see Kellsey again which I'm hoping will be on saturday.

Heres a few pictures I took of her her poor little face is broken out but I did buy her some medicine will hopefully clear it up...

Clean with a wipe I just don't see the obsession with this! lol

Oh Hey! I've never seen a camera in my face before! Ha Ha

Cheese!!

Q&A #12

2009-11-11T09:00:00.000-06:00

Do you have to come home for the 10 days? (obviously you have kids back at home that need you too) Could you stay for the 10 days? Those flights must be expensive, not to mention exhausting.
Originally Frank was going to come home for the 10 days because he didn't have enough leave to stay. Now that we have a sooner court date, he will be staying, which will be much easier on everyone! :)

She is one of you already, i love the pictures. Are you calling her Kellsey or her Ukrainian name?
Right now we're going back and forth... the only way we can get her attention is to call her "Vika". We'll transition completely soon, I'm sure she'll catch on! :)

Yay! So since you didn't think court was going to be like til the 20th or something, you would have had to be in country all that time? Yikes! So yeah, you are saving lots of money then!! But after all is said and done, it still won't be til early Dec that he comes home? Ahh. Hurry hurry peeps! LOL. You will have a very merry xmas, that is for sure! How fun! Can I come? LOL
Yes, we would have, and we were praying HARD for a faster court date! Right, because Frank will need to finish the process AFTER the 10 day wait, so it still will be the very beginning of December, most likely, when they come home. We WILL have a very Merry Christmas!! You can absolutely come! Bring the kids, Nika and Kellsey will have a blast together! LOL

Renee, Since she is officially yours when does Frank get to take her to the apartment?
After the 10 day wait and after he gets a bunch of the paperwork done... whenever Nadia and Oleg tell him to basically. She's not going to want to sit around in government offices forever with him! SOON though!

so did you have the bday party???
NO! I'm hoping THEY did, but they wouldn't let us do it while we were there. We brought pastries and juice boxes like they told us to and then they said it would ruin their lunch... SO hopefully they sang to her and gave the kids the treats after lunch!

Where was court, Kyiv or Irpen?
You were right, it was in Irpen... the courthouse was so tiny! LOL I was so confused when we got there, I asked, "Is this REALLY court?!" haha

Introducing...

2009-11-10T06:40:00.001-06:00

Kellsey Jean Victoria Garcia
Daughter to Frank and Renee Garcia
Sister to Kassidy, Kameron, Kennedy & Keeghan Garcia

Court went fine today. The judge asked us a lot of questions about why we want to adopt Kellsey and if there are good programs for her where we live. She asked what our hopes are for her future and why we chose her over a boy. She really asked Frank more questions than she did to me... maybe because I started crying! LOL We showed her our photo album and she said we look like a very happy family and she was very happy for Kellsey. Then the director of Kellsey's baby home gave a run down of her medical history again, the judge asked if we had any questions, if we were SURE we wanted to adopt her, (and of course we said yes) and then she said "Congratulations, she is your daughter!" and that was that!

We went to the Embassy to sign some papers so I can fly home tomorrow and we got to stop in and visit with Kellsey for a few minutes. She was very happy today. Her little cheeks are SO broken out. Hopefully we can get them cleared up! I'm glad I got to see her before I left! Please pray that all continues to go smoothly for Frank as he finishes up here! He'll be updating the adoption blog, which is now public! :)

Court Date!!!

2009-11-06T18:10:00.000-06:00

We got our court date today! We will go to court on Tuesday, November 10th at 9:30am! This is when Kellsey will officially forever become a Garcia! YES! This is way, WAY, WAY faster than we expected (which is awesome!) so plans are changing a bit.

First, the 10 day wait will not be waived. No such luck there. No worries though. So originally the plan was for BOTH of us to fly home after court and for Frank to fly back after the 10 day wait to finish up and bring Kellsey home. Because court is happening SO much faster than we originally thought, our plans have been revised.

I will fly home on Wednesday, November 11th, by myself. Frank will stay here. He has enough leave to do this now. This will not only save us the cost of his second plane ticket, but it will allow him to continue to visit Kellsey as much as possible. After the 10 day wait, he will get all the other stuff done required to bring her home. This consists of her medical, passport, birth certificate, visa and a bunch of other stuff. At some point he will be able to get her out of the baby home forever and bring her back to the apartment here. We're not sure yet when that is. If all continues to go smoothly, Frank and Kellsey should fly home together the beginning of December sometime.

We are praising God for how smoothly everything has gone here. As most of you know, our process up until this point has been stressful and frustrating and has had a lot of bumps. We know that a lot of people have been praying us through this, and we are SO thankful for that! We miss our children A LOT and I'm excited and anxious to get back home to them and prepare for Kellsey's arrival! I'm happy that we're not BOTH leaving her here... so she won't forget us! :)

Frank will continue to update the adoption blog which WILL go back public the day after court. I don't foresee any problems, and I've gotten the official OK to do so.

SO that's the latest, I'm excited and nervous and thankful and overwhelmed and REALLY happy. Oh and it's supposed to start getting warmer here for the weekend! We plan to spend our weekend exploring the area and taking lots of pictures! Flat Stanley hasn't been out much (he's not dressed warm enough! haha) and there's SO much we've been told we HAVE to see... so it's now or never! We can go visit Kellsey again on Monday. :)

2nd Visit With Kellsey

2009-11-05T15:00:00.001-06:00

Today's visit with Kellsey went really well. We were put into a different room this time... some sort of office. They brought her in, she got upset for one second, I pulled out a gummy bear, and all was right with the world! LOL They left us alone after that and we had 2 hours on our own.

We blew some bubbles, which she thought was pretty fun. After awhile she tried to blow them on her own, it was so funny! We're going to have to work on that, she had the idea down though! We sang the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" complete with hand motions... over and over... and over. LOL She has the hand motions down perfect though! We looked at the photo album with the family pictures again. She wanted to know everyone's names and she studied my lips REALLY closely as I was saying them all. By the end she was saying something that sounds very close to "Keeghan".

We did get lots of smiles today and even some laughs. We figured out she likes to be tickled... I think. We're not sure she's ever BEEN tickled before. At first she wasn't too sure, but then she started laughing and then when Frank stopped tickling her she grabbed his hand and put it back to her neck to do it again. We're finding ways to get past our communication barrier :).

Towards the end, Frank pulled out my iPhone and Kellsey discovered the wonderful world of Spongebob *groan*. LOL It wasn't a movie, just an app, but she had a LOT of fun with it. NO doubt she'll fit in well with our crew! haha We have it on video which I'll get posted soon.

Kellsey seemed to be a little croupy today, so I'm hoping she's not getting sick, especially that she's not getting the flu! She was happy though and seemed very content to be with us. At noon they came to get her for lunch. We gave her a hug goodbye and she happily ran down the hall to eat. We're excited to see her again tomorrow!!!

Here are some pictures from today!
Looking at pictures of her brothers and sisters

Waving at daddy... look at that smile! :)

Kellsey & Daddy... what's she doing here?!

One more with mommy...

Cuddle time with dad...

More FUN pictures tomorrow, promise! I'll get the video uploaded too! :)

Q&A #11

2009-11-05T10:00:00.000-06:00

Did you get that pink-chocolate shred?
NO! They were ALL out!!! I tried everywhere! I did get the other stuff though with the caramel!! Can't wait to try it! :) I will look for the pink-chocolate shred when we go back through on the way home :).

Just wondering (and you have probably already said this and I missed it) but are y'all just visiting or are you bringing Kellsey back with you?
Just visiting and doing court and all that. She will be OURS before we leave this time. It's going to be SO hard to leave her! We will come home for 10 days while they do everything they need to do here, then Frank will come back for another 2 weeks and do her passport/visa/medical stuff and he will bring her home. :)

Is the epidemic that is going around there the same as our "swine flu" here? You all are in our prayers that you stay well, Kellsey stays well and everything goes smoothly!
Yes, thankfully that's "all" it is!! :)

Just to let you know: be careful on the"sidewalks" drivers tend to use them as an extention of the road....and a parking spot.
HA! I have noticed this and find it quite funny! And man they DON'T stop... if you're in the way, you either move fast or get hit! LOL Nadya says there are 2 types of pedestrians here... fast ones and dead ones. LOL

My boyfriend walked in the room, looked at the screen and said "I know your addicted to the computer, but WHY ON EARTH are you looking at someones bathroom and their TOILET??" lol!!
ROFL, the sadder part is, I POSTED it for you to look at!!! haha But sometimes pictures really DO speak a thousand words! :)

It's fun exploring, eh? LOL. I used to let Kyle do the talking. LOL. And then they'd look at him like he had 4 heads. LOL. And was that a TGIFriday? There actually was one in the Moscow airport that we ate at when we were on our way home! So funny!
YEP That was a Fridays!!! They even speak English in there! It's GREAT! LOL

By the way, the t-shirt they have on her is perfect!
I thought so too!!!

Who won the gift card giveaway?
GOOD question! I actually did the video with Kennedy before we left home but couldn't get it to upload! I will work on that soon and get it up! :)

Renee, are you posting the same thing on the family blog as here? If so, why the private blog. No worries if you can't answer this until a later time, I'm just curious that's all.
I addressed this right here thanks to your question. :)

can you tell us which town you are in?
We are in Kiev, the capital. :) I'm actually really glad! SO much to see and do here!

You know I wonder if she was drawn to Keeghan, because they look so much alike?
My heart skipped when you said 800 children in the buildings. What! Do all these children have down syndrome?
No they do not all have Down syndrome, or even special needs. There are many typical children here as well. Kellsey is in with mostly typical kids, from what I understand (even THEY know inclusion works! haha). I am hoping to meet some of her friends soon!!

Yeah, there is NO GETTING THE OTHER LITTLE GIRL you hear me! LOL
We are coming! They know that, right?
So the fact that they have her file ready hopefully means that they should be ready for us!
LOL Yes, they are ready for you... they just thought WE were YOU! haha

How long are you and Frank going to be there this time?
Any chance the judge will just let you bring Kellsey home with all of the H1N1 stuff going on?
Hopefully not TOO much longer... I should know in a couple days when we find out our court date. We'll leave the day after court. I'm REALLY hoping the H1N1 stuff we'll work in our favor! haha We're going to TRY!

She is adorable. Do you spend the entire time in this room? That must be hard.
We did last time, but I don't know what we'll do today or tomorrow... I'll let you know!

BUT I have to ask, was that a HARD CANDY that they gave her? Please tell me it was a gummy candy cause it looked HUGE and scared me to death that she would choke on it. You know me and choking!!!!
It was gummy candy :). I know, it looked like a jolly rancher! I thought it was too when she pulled it out, but Kellsey bit right into it and chewed it up. Nadya called it a "jelly candy". I would have been a little panicked too!

She's so pretty! Will you guys speak some Russian to her when you all get home?
Well... being that we know NOTHING lol... probably not. We've been told to submerse into English anyway, that she would pick it up faster that way.

Video Clips of Kellsey

2009-11-04T19:30:00.000-06:00

Hopefully there will be lots more of these to come... especially since she thinks the video camera is the coolest thing EVER! LOL Nadya called us earlier and they said we can stay for TWO hours tomorrow! YAY!!!!

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The rest of our Tuesday!

2009-11-03T20:00:00.000-06:00

OK I wanted to pick up where the last post left off... I hope I'm not boring you all, but it is a good record for me to look back on AND I know Kassidy and Kameron are reading this (hi guys!) so it's helping them to know what we're up to, too! :)

After we left from seeing Kellsey, (which was SO hard, by the way) we had to get her paperwork from the office of the orphanage. One set of paperwork needed copies and another set wasn't ready yet, so after waiting for awhile at the office, we drove around the little town and got some tea (hot tea!) and a candy bar. It was 1:00 by this time and we were starving! Then we drove BACK to the orphanage to see if the papers were ready... after waiting for awhile, they said they weren't. Turns out the director thought we were there for a different little girl, one that my friend is adopting, and had HER paperwork ready! HA! They asked if we were SURE we didn't want this other girl and I said, "No... her mom might be a little mad!" LOL I love that they think the kids are all interchangeable there.

Anyway, we left without that paperwork... it was something to do with her medical forms. We got the rest though. Then we drove back and dropped the social worker off and found a place to make copies and headed back to town to a notary office (and here I thought we were done notarizing things! LOL). We waited there for about an hour while Nadya ran all over the place getting stuff ready, and then we signed on all the lines, officially named Kellsey, applied for her passport (I think... it was something to do with her passport...) and a bunch of other stuff. In the meantime, Oleg ditched us! haha He went off to get something ELSE done for us. He earns his money, let me tell you!

Nadya called a cab for the 3 of us and got us back to our apartment and then she took off. Tomorrow she and Oleg are going back to the orphanage to pick up the paperwork that wasn't ready and get that taken care of. It was a LONG day! We got back here, laid down for a few minutes and then went to dinner with one of the other Reece's Rainbow families here in the city. It was a lot of fun! She has her 2 children with her, so it was fun getting to talk to them and hang out for a bit. They are hitting all kinds of bumps and snags in their adoption process so please be praying for them! I'd link you to their blog, but I don't have permission, so I can't yet, but God knows who they are :).

So what next?! We are allowed to go visit Kellsey 2-3 times a week for 1 hour each visit. We are going back on Thursday and then again on Friday for her birthday :). They said we could bring cookies and juice boxes for her birthday and throw her a little party! I'm SO excited!!! We'll go shopping for that stuff tomorrow. We are also going to try to find her a book or something that lights up and/or makes music. She's definitely into toys that DO things! It won't be anything too big though, because I doubt it will stay with her... but that's ok! Hopefully lots of kids will get use out of whatever we get!

We should also know in the next couple days when court is. Oleg said he thinks it could be as soon as the end of next week! That would be fabulous!!! Please be praying for that! (Have I mentioned it's COLD here?!) :) At some point we need to go to the embassy or the consulate or somewhere and do something... (that was so helpful, wasn't it?! LOL) before we leave. I'm just going to let Nadya and Oleg tell us when to be where and we'll be waiting! LOL

Tomorrow we are laying LOW! I will work on getting the video posted that I have and we're going to go shop a bit for her birthday and just try to stay WARM. Warm is good! Watch for the video tomorrow! :) I am off to bed... it's really late here and Frank is already snoring away next to me. Hope you all are having a good evening! :)

Meeting Kellsey

2009-11-03T12:00:00.000-06:00

Today was another whirlwind day!! Oleg, our facilitator, picked us up at 8:00. We went to pick up Nadya (translator) and a social worker and Inspector then headed to Kellsey's baby home. Once we were there we sat around for awhile while they got paperwork ready, and then we went to her home...

This is where Kellsey lives right now. There are about 20 children in her home... about 800 in all the buildings combined.

We went into the office of the doctor. She was a very pleasant woman, and seemed very happy to have us there. She told us a little more about Kellsey... some that we already knew...

Kellsey was born on November 6, 2006 and weighed 5 lbs, 9.5 oz. She was born at 37 weeks gestation. Her mother was 29 years old. Kellsey was actually the 4th pregnancy and the second live birth for her mother. She had 2 miscarriages. I'm not sure if Kellsey has a brother or sister or how old they are. Kellsey's mother was in good health. She gave up all rights to Kellsey at the hospital and left her there when she learned she had Down syndrome. At the age of 1 month Kellsey was moved to the baby home and has been there ever since.

She was born with a 2 holes in her heart, one of which has since closed. The other is a minor murmur which should not require any surgical intervention. Her adenoids are enlarged. She has been sick 3 times in her life with the flu at the ages of 3, 6 and 9 months. She was hospitalized one time for bronchitis. She is otherwise very healthy.

Kellsey is very social and curious. She likes to know what is going on around her at all times. She has a high capability to learn. She follows directions well and speaks a lot. She knows the names of all her caretakers and friends. She LOVES candy and oranges, but the citrus fruit causes a reaction if she eats too much. She is potty trained, brushes her own teeth, plays appropriately with toys, and is very loving.

With that they said they would bring her in... they warned us that she was not familiar with the doctor's office (and it was too cold to go outside) so she might feel uncomfortable at first. She cried for a second when she walked in the door, but I was SO happy to hear her cry. She was scared... it was appropriate for her to cry! I've heard of so many kids who DON'T cry because they think no one will come anyway.

Nadya offered her candy and she stopped crying and came in and sat down. The doctor talked to her a little bit and then we showed her pictures of Kassidy, Kameron, Kennedy and Keeghan. She loved that. She looked at them over and over. My mom, Frank and I were in the pictures too, but she was more drawn to the kids, especially Keeghan. We told her they were her brothers & sisters & grandma and mama and papa.

After she was done with her candy, the doctor gave her a baby wipe to clean her hands. She wiped her hands and face and then cleaned mine and Frank's hands, it was so sweet. It became a little game. We would put our hands down and she'd grab them back up and flip them over so she could clean them more.

We played with some toys with her and the doctor got her to sing a song, it was so cute... no clue what it was! Frank pulled out the video camera and recorded her and then played it back to her... she was in AWE! He then became the coolest guy on the planet! LOL She wanted him to do it over and over so she could see "Vika".

She finally let him pick her up and then not long after I got to hold her. Ahhh it felt SO good to have her in my arms!! I gave her a kiss on her cheek and she said, "thanks" (in her language! LOL). We took some pictures with the regular camera, which she took from me and held up to her ear like, "WHY isn't this thing talking to me?!" She thought it should talk like the video camera did! Smart cookie, I tell ya! :) She liked looking at herself on there too though!

Then it was time for us to say goodbye. She gave me a hug and then Frank picked her up and she gave him a hug and wouldn't let him go. I think she's going to be a daddy's girl already!!! The doctor promised her we would be back, so she finally let go and waved bye and walked out. Man I hated to leave her there!!!

OK this is long enough and I know you all are waiting on pictures so I will get this posted and then tell you about the rest of our day later. LOTS more to tell!!!

The 3 of us...

With "mama"

With "papa".. she was still trying to figure everything out.

Playing with toys...

Our sweet girl!!! I can't wait to get her HOME!!!!

Why the double posts

2009-11-02T22:40:00.000-06:00

OK so, so far, everything that has happened has been good and easy and able to be shared in public which is why, for the most part, updates have been posted on both blogs. Sorry for the double posts (especially for the few of you getting stuff via email). I'm doing this for 2 reasons... 1: I want everyone who's NOT part of this blog to be able to see as much as possible, and 2: I want everything HERE so the time line is smooth. So later I can go back and read about this adoption process and not have to bounce back and forth between blogs. I hope that makes sense. I hope to continue to be able to post on both blogs... BUT if there's something I can ONLY post here, I will just post a thing on our family blog letting you know so you know to check in over here. As we get closer to our court date, this may very well happen more often. For now, I have to get ready to go meet my daughter! :) That will be on both blogs for sure! Thanks for bearing with me!

Monday Night Update...

2009-11-02T15:00:00.000-06:00

Well, the rest of our day was somewhat uneventful... we went to lunch and got pizza (I'm pretty sure it was Papa John's) that was really good. Frank also got a traditional soup here called Borsch (I'm SURE I botched that spelling!). He really liked it.

This afternoon we went back to the SDA and stood out in the cold for a LONG time waiting for Kellsey's referral. We finally got it, and we got our dossier back... didn't think we'd ever see that again!! This means we can see Kellsey tomorrow!

We came back here and Frank went shopping for a hat and found these burrito type things for dinner. They were... interesting! LOL We watched a movie, and now we're getting ready for bed.

Oleg, our facilitator, will be here at 8am to pick us up. We will first go to see the social worker (aka inspector) to get another clearance to see Kellsey and then we get to go to her baby home! To say we're excited is an understatement!!!

If you can please be praying, they are talking about closing down the orphanage to visitors as well as closing down the grocery stores (not sure if this would include restaurants) due to the H1N1 running rampant here. Of course we want so badly to spend as much time as possible with Kellsey, and we also need access to food and water. Everyone is really freaking out here over the virus, kind of like the U.S. was earlier this year. We'll know more tomorrow about what is being shut down and when.

OK that's all for now... tomorrow... PICTURES!!! :)

SDA Appointment

2009-11-02T04:05:00.002-06:00

This morning we had our SDA appointment... we went into a room with Nadya, our translator, and another woman who works at the SDA. She first asked us how we heard about Kellsey and we told her that we had friends who were here before us who met her and told us about her. She then explained to us that Kellsey was a "difficult" child (meaning she has Down syndrome) and asked us why we would want to adopt her, specifically. We told her about having Kennedy at home and already knowing about Down syndrome and that we felt we can provide Kellsey with a loving, stable home and a good life. This made her smile at the thought of Kellsey having a big sister "like her". She asked how old Kennedy was and how she was doing.

Then she told us that Kellsey was born in the hospital on November 6, 2006. She had no brothers and sisters and her mother abandoned her there when they told her she had Down syndrome and gave up her rights to Kellsey shortly after. There was no mention of Kellsey's father. We do not know how old Kellsey's mother was or if she is the one who named her. I would guess not, though.

She said that Kellsey was born with a hole in her heart (which we knew) and enlarged adenoids, which is pretty typical. We'll get these things checked out thoroughly when we get home with her. Otherwise, no other health problems were noted.

She showed us the sweetest newborn picture of Kellsey which we can have if we can give them a more recent picture of her to keep on file. We're working on that. Oh she was SO beautiful!!!

We showed the SDA worker a recent picture of Kellsey on my phone and she asked to see a picture of Kennedy and asked us to send her a picture of the 2 girls together after we got home :). We said of course we would!

Later today we are going back to the SDA (I'm pretty sure) to pick up her referral. We can't go to see Kellsey until tomorrow morning. (DARN!) Something to look forward to though!!!

Frank and I are off to find lunch. I can't believe it, but it's even COLDER here today! Snow flurries are falling and everything! BRRR! I'll update again later!

Ukranian Rules of the Road! LOL

2009-11-01T19:00:00.000-06:00

We're sleeping right now (it's 3am here), but you're not, so here's some humor for you. Frank has a "Kyiv in your pocket guide" with all kinds of handy tips... and this was in it. Can you imagine if this was in America?! We were seriously rolling!!

Driving in Kyiv

Most Westerners will find driving Kyiv's main thoroughfares relatively easy. The problems kick in when you drive anywhere outside these well-surfaced and signposted routes. The condition of most roads in Ukraine is wretched, especially after the winter thaw.

Another problem is the decrepit traffic lights. They are not all that bright and sometimes it is difficult to tell which light is actually lit and which just has the sun shining on it to make it appear lit. Road markings, especially the all important center line, often go missing. In this case, you should do what the locals do and decide for yourself where the line is! (WHAT?!) Just make sure that other drivers understand your intentions. (Uhh yeah, I think that would be a good idea! LOL)

The following is a short list of unofficial rules of the road:
If you're running late during peak, feel free to drive on sidewalks, cut through the park, or drive in the opposite lanes, against the flow of traffic. (Because THAT'S safe!)

If you're car overheats, just leave it in the lane where it stalled and come back later after the traffic jam you just caused dies down. (And pray no one behind you is mad enough to shoot you! Do people have road rage here?! If not, they should!)

If you're driving on the highway and you miss your exit, pull over into the right lane, turn your hazard lights on and proceed in reverse until you get back to the exit you wanted. Don't worry about the cars speeding towards you. They are likely to get out of your way. (The real question is, HOW likely?!)

Wearing your seat belt can be very irritating and can even cause injury. To disable that annoying seat belt alarm, try stuffing a small piece of cardboard into the buckling mechanism. (I can think of a few people at home who will try this now! *ahem*)

So, anyone up for a Sunday drive?! LOL

Our first full day...

2009-11-01T13:20:00.000-06:00

Today was a nice day... we had to move apartments at noon... I liked our first apartment better. This one has no microwave, which hopefully we can fix tomorrow, and it's much smaller... but we'll survive! It also has no shower, just a bath tub. We asked about a shower and the manager lady was very confused! haha We have a stove, which we need to light with a match. We have a refrigerator and a little bar with stools to eat at... here let me just take some pictures! LOL
Toilet and washing machine... it's VERY small, I can't imagine washing clothes for 6 people in this! LOL
Sink and part of our bath tub...

Kitchen...

Our messy bed... it's actually made. There's no real blanket, but the sheet thing that's on it is thick, and our apartment is warm.

The bar... and Frank on his computer. He's not online though, since I am. We only have one Internet connection in here, so we have to share. This could cause marital problems. LOL Only kidding!

Several people have asked about our water. We can't drink the water here, or brush our teeth with it, due to parasites and other stuff in it. We'd get VERY sick. So we had to wait to get bottled water. When we moved to this new apartment we actually didn't have ANY running water for several hours, but they finally got it fixed.

After an afternoon nap, we went out shopping and went to dinner here:

Flat Stanley went with us too :).

We found an underground mall after dinner and got hopelessly lost when we came back out! LOL We wandered around for about an hour, finally asked for directions, the best we could, and eventually found our way back. We were JUST about to call our translator and ask her to help us, but we figured it out. Actually, FRANK figured it out. I had NO idea where we were! haha We bought Kellsey a teddy bear to take to her tomorrow or Tuesday, whenever we get to see her, and we found her a cute tiger that sings a lullaby in her language. The lady at the store promised us she would know it. We may save that for her for Christmas though.

Some observations from today:

Cars like to park (and drive) on the sidewalk. LOL

Our TV has the Hallmark channel! YAY!

It is REALLY nice to hear someone speak English! :)

People who work in the stores are either going to try REALLY hard to help you and understand you, or they're going to completely ignore you when they figure out you're American.

The exchange rate for money is different everywhere. This boggles my mind!

You can still get sticker shock even when shopping with grivna! There are some expensive stores here! We saw a scarf that cost over $100! (The ones we bought cost $6.25)

EVERYONE here smokes. We're very much in the minority. Frank said we should take up smoking to fit in. NOT!

I guess that's about it for now! SO excited for our SDA appointment tomorrow!!! We're hoping to call the kids on Skype before we go to bed. My mom said they are being GREAT so far! :) OK until later!

Morning!!

2009-11-01T02:00:00.000-06:00

It's COLD here. Really cold! Frank and I got up and out early this morning. We were starving! We intended to go out last night and exchange money, go to a store for water, and get dinner, but at 5:00 we laid down to close our eyes for "a minute" and woke up at 10:00! HA!

SO we woke up at different times in the middle of the night and got online for a bit and then went back to sleep, and woke up this morning STARVING and unable to brush our teeth. EWW, I know!

Being Sunday almost everything is closed right now. We did find a place to exchange some money though and found a little cafe type place for breakfast (thanks Lyndi for directions!). I have NO idea what it was that we ate, but it was pretty good. We bought bottles of water and now we are hanging out in our apartment (with clean teeth and fresh breath! haha)

We have to go to a different apartment at noon today. Ours that we had reserved wasn't ready for us yesterday so we are staying in a different building right now. After we move, we will go out and explore a bit, and maybe buy some scarves. REALLY, it's COLD! We walked by a lot of shops with really cute kids clothes in them, so I want to go back there once they're open!

We can't wait for our SDA appointment tomorrow! Hopefully we will find out more about Kellsey, maybe some info about her birth parents and hopefully some medical history. We'll see!

Well, it's 2:00 AM in Tennessee which means you all are asleep... it's 10:00 AM here. I just heard church bells in the background :). We're going to miss going to church today! I hope all you from Grace have a great morning! We miss you guys! We'll catch the sermon online tonight sometime.

I guess I will sign off and try to get some emails answered! I'll blog again tonight...

More from Vorzel...

2009-10-31T21:00:00.001-05:00

Another beautiful video from Vorzel. I can't wait to get there!

Welcome to Ukraine...

2009-10-31T09:05:00.000-05:00

now try not to die! HA! We arrived safely a few hours ago, got through the airport, met Nadya, our translator, and now we are in our apartment right in the middle of Kiev. Frank is trying to find something he understands on TV. :)

Some first observations:

They have a lot of the same cars we have... BMWs EVERYWHERE... I've seen Toyotas and Nissans and Mazdas and Kias and a bunch of other familiar names... and then of course a few I've never heard of... and people drive CRAZY. I will never complain about Frank's driving again. At least for a little while.

The Golden Arches of McDonald's need no translation.

It's fun to try to figure out what the billboards are saying, and make up silly things you THINK they could be selling instead. :)

The apartment buildings here are HUGE, and they are everywhere! I can't imagine how many thousands of people live in this city.

OK more observations later...

When Nadya picked us up from the airport she informed us that there is a really serious epidemic going on here right now... some type of pneumonia type virus is spreading and has killed almost 200 people in the last 2 days. Schools and businesses are closing down and people everywhere are wearing flu masks... and there are no more flu masks to buy anywhere! Please be praying that we stay WELL. We are going to be very smart. We have lots of sanitizing wipes with us. Also, please pray that Kellsey is ok!! Nadya didn't know if this has affected Kellsey's baby home or not... or if it will shut down to visitors because of it. She said that we should still be able to get IN but she doesn't know how often we'll get to go. They need to protect the kids there.

So, what's next? It is just after 4:00 PM here right now. We are going to try to stay awake until tonight. Exchange some money, grab some dinner, and crash early. Tomorrow we are on our own to lay low, rest up, and explore the city (but not let anyone breathe on us! haha). Monday morning at 11:00 is our SDA appointment where they will give us Kellsey's referral. We will confirm she is the one we want and then we need to wait for a paper saying we can go visit her. Hopefully we can get this by Monday afternoon, otherwise we'll have to wait until Tuesday morning to see her. I feel like we're in the Army right now: Hurry up and wait! :)

I talked to my mom and the kids are all doing well. HI GUYS!!!! WE MISS YOU!!!! They have an exciting week coming up so I know that time is going to fly for them, too! :)

Frank looks somewhat amused by what he found on TV... I don't think it's English though... hmmmm... LOL. More babble from me later!

In Holland! :o)

2009-10-31T02:20:00.000-05:00

We are in Holland waiting for our flight out... we should be boarding soon... have to make this quick as I only purchased 90 minutes of internet time... I was going through major withdrawals! LOL

The flight from Detroit to Holland was LOOOOOONNNNGGG! WOW! But it was good... we watched a movie (I watched one, Frank watched three! LOL) I slept some, and I made friends with the lady next to me and a couple flight attendants who got to hear all about Kellsey and our adoption story and all the kids with Down syndrome waiting for forever families all over the world. :)

When we arrived here in Holland (which REALLY is the Amsterdam airport), the pilot announced over the loud speaker "Welcome to Holland to Frank and Renee and congratulations on getting your baby! Best wishes to your family!" And everyone cheered. It was so neat! SO on the way OFF the plane we got to share Kellsey's story with MORE people!

Fortunately we had a LONG layover here and got to buy lots of souvenirs that say HOLLAND on them! SO excited about that!!!!

Anyway, this next flight is about 3 1/2 hours I think, and then we need to meet our facilitator, get to our apartment and SLEEP!!!! Our SDA appointment is on Monday. Not sure what time yet. Hopefully afterwards we will get to go meet Kellsey! We have to get clearance to do so... if we don't get it Monday, then we'll get to go Tuesday for sure. Be praying for Monday! :)

OK I'm going to sign off before it boots me off! More later!

We're on a plane...

2009-10-30T19:00:00.000-05:00

Right now we're flying over the Atlantic Ocean... I think... right? I'm pretty sure... Geography was never my strong point... neither was geometry... or geology. In fact, I never took geology AT ALL! Hmm. Who cares about rocks anyway?! Not me.

ANYWAY, we're flying over some ocean SOMEWHERE on the way to Holland. Hopefully I am sleeping. Or reading. But I need to be sleeping, because I'm TIRED! My mind has been going a million miles a minute for the last several weeks. I'm pretty sure I've stressed out everyone around me! Sorry everyone!!! :) You still love me, right? (For those of you who have known me a LONG time, remember how bad I was before my wedding?! This was NOTHING compared to that! For the rest of you, be thankful you didn't know me then... be very, very thankful! HA!)

So, I wanted to list a few things here that you can be praying for, specifically. I like to pray specifically... not because God doesn't know what we need, I know that He knows WAY better than we do (thankfully), but it just helps me keep my priorities straight in my own head.

First, please pray for our pilot... pray that HE is good at geography and is flying over the RIGHT ocean and will NOT have to know about geology and crash into the rocks... or oceanography, as the case may be... LOL. Seriously, I'm usually not a nervous passenger, but this is a REALLY long flight! :)

Second, be praying for Kellsey's caretakers and the judge in court... that they are receptive to us being there, as her parents. That they are as excited as WE are that she is going to have a mama and a papa to call her own. That they can see that we already love her and want the VERY best for her, always.

Third, be praying for Kellsey!! She is probably going to be VERY confused! I have heard that she is VERY social and loves people, but her world is about to be turned upside down (for the BETTER, but still!). Be praying that the transition goes smoothly for her and for us as we try to figure out her needs to make that possible.

Fourth, be praying for my mom here as she takes on day to day life with the 4 kids. They are great kids with a VERY busy schedule!!! I know they are in great hands, but my mom is going to be exhausted at the end of the day! haha Pray for her as she takes on not only the day to day stuff but also the added missing mom and dad stuff. I know the kids are in the BEST possible hands while we're gone!! The kids are so excited to be with Grandma!! Thank you mom for everything you do!!!

Fifth, be praying for the kids teachers. I'm not too sure how this is all going to come out at school. Kassidy is a talker. She wears her heart on her sleeve and I'm pretty sure EVERYONE will know exactly how she's feeling at all times. (NO clue where she gets THAT from! LOL) Kameron tends to act out in other ways... and I don't even think HE realizes what he's doing. He seems to stress. (Not sure where he gets THAT from either! haha) I'm mostly worried about Kennedy here because she doesn't fully understand that we're going to be gone SO long. So, extra prayers for Mrs. Reece would be nice! ;)

Sixth, be praying for my friend Karla as she watches Keeghan during the day while my mom works. He's two. Enough said. LOL

Seventh, be praying for Frank and me... that we stay safe of course, and that we enjoy this time together! We're going to have a LOT of down time to spend together as husband and wife instead of mom and dad. We really haven't had time like this in our marriage since we were newlyweds! We are looking forward to enjoying each other and just reconnecting. We are excited to use this time as a chance to strengthen our marriage and grow closer to God.

OK I guess that's it!!! I'll let you get back to your day now! I will try to update from Holland via blog or twitter or facebook or something. I make no promises though. My first priority is to SHOP! :) I WILL update when we reach our destination, right afte the jet lag wears off!!!

Thank you all for traveling this journey with us!!!

Map of Ukraine

2009-10-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

Here is where we'll be. We will be in Kiev, which is the capital. :) Ukraine. Ukraine. Ukraine. ;)

A glimpse...

2009-10-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

of where we'll be... I dare you to watch this and not cry. All these beautiful babies. I wish I could take them ALL.

Answers to questions...

2009-10-29T17:35:00.001-05:00

Why we're private... why the secrecy... why we couldn't say Ukraine... the burning questions!!! LOL

SO according to Ukrainian law you're not allowed to pre-select your child. We did. Obviously. Which is why we've been saying Eastern Europe for the last year. Of course it wasn't that hard for people to figure out if you REALLY wanted to, I know! ;)

Why we're private now: We want to be able to share our REAL adoption experience... the good, the bad & the ugly. We can't do that if we're public. If someone in the Ukrainian court system happened to be reading this and we were complaining about them... well... that just probably wouldn't go over too well! HA! NOT that I anticipate complaining! ;) The chances of them finding our blog? Slim, probably. But it's still a chance we can't afford to take. As soon as court is over we will go public again :)

Oh, and Kellsey's given name is Victoria... we may or may not be keeping this as one of her middle names... they call her "Vika" in the baby home. We want to see if her parents named her or if the baby home named her, and then we'll decide if we leave it as part of her name or not. We will start calling her Kellsey right away... from the advice of other families who have gone before us, this is the best way to get her used to her name. Their kids have had no problem adjusting :).

Oh, and yes, be sure you sign out of this blog before you leave comments on other blogs or you will leave comments as Kellsey! haha

Where we're going!!!

2009-10-29T09:25:00.000-05:00

OK first of all, if you haven't figured it out by now, which many of you have, because I've let it slip here and there when I wasn't supposed to, we are going to Ukraine!! I've been dying to say that FOREVER. Ukraine Ukraine Ukraine. I'm no longer going to say Eastern Europe on this blog, ok?! OK! Ukraine!!!! HA!

Kellsey is in an orphanage (which they call a baby home) just outside Kiev called Vorzel. Fortunately, it's one of the better baby homes there from what I've heard. We can't WAIT to get there and hug and love on her!!!

More later...

Are ya here?!

2009-10-28T20:50:00.000-05:00

OK if you're here reading this post, congratulations! You made it past my craziness! LOL I'm trying to help those having issues! PLEASE sign your names when you leave comments! I won't be able to tell who is who anymore!!! :) I'll post again later with the first part of the fun details! More soon...

It's just something that can't be ignored...

2009-10-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, this is no longer Kellsey's fate... but it was... and it still IS the fate of many of her little friends who are waiting for their forever families. This particular institution is in Serbia, but Eastern Europe is no different. What are YOU doing to help?

Don't forget!

2009-10-24T12:15:00.000-05:00

Don't forget that we still have the chip in going on for the gift card giveaway! AND Tina said that if the total gets up to $150, she will throw in a SECOND gift card worth $25 to another winner!! Thanks Tina! :)

10 Days Away... And I'm Wondering...

2009-10-23T09:00:00.002-05:00

I wonder...when it was 10 days before I met God and He adopted me, was HE this excited?

I wonder if His stomach did flips and He got tears in His eyes when He thought about holding me for the first time.

I wonder if His heart ached when He thought about my life without Him as my Daddy.

I wonder if it grieved Him to know that I was living as an orphan and had no hope of a future without Him.

I wonder if He was as okay with paying my ransom as I am with paying Kellsey's.

I wonder if, for Him, there was no cost too high, no sacrifice too great.

I wonder...

(Poem by Chris & Mary Malone and used by Reece's Rainbow families around the country.)

Everyone's talking about it...

2009-10-20T11:30:00.000-05:00

It's Never Enough... Or Is It?

2009-10-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Throughout our adoption process we have been asked, "But how can you afford another child?" Or "Why would you take on ANOTHER child with special needs?" My simple answer to that is: God called us. We answered. We believe that He will provide in all areas.

During my blog reading, I ran across a post that addresses this very issue, much more eloquently than I could have said it, and so, I link you all to read. I have had SO many people email me saying they have the heart to adopt, but they just don't know if it's the right time, or if they can raise the money... maybe this will help.

It's Never Enough... Or Is It

One last Chip In!

2009-10-16T19:45:00.001-05:00

Our friends Brian and Tina have offered up a $50 gift card to one of these fabulous restaurants to help bring Kellsey home!! As a thank you for donating to our adoption fund, one lucky winner will get a gift card to one of these restaurants (winner's choice!) and can enjoy a date night or family night out! Each $5.00 you donate is another chance to win!!

The choices are:
Applebees
Ruby Tuesdays
Olive Garden
Red Lobster

Kennedy will pick the winner on October 29th (the day before we leave!) and Tina will mail out your gift card! Thanks so much Brian and Tina! We appreciate it! :)

Our Trip to Holland

2009-10-15T10:55:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite poems that was given to me after Kennedy was born was Welcome to Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley. It's one that I've held onto throughout the years as our daughter has taken us on this trip we never planned on taking. And now we are about to embark on another journey, for another beautiful little girl... one that we wouldn't have known about if it weren't for Kennedy.

Yesterday we booked our flights for our trip to Kellsey's country. I was consumed with dates and times and how we were going to get to where we need to be and when. I was consumed with the details... like I tend to do a lot in life. Then my mom pulled out her world map and said, "Guess what? Your layover is in Amsterdam!" I replied that I knew that already and she said, "Well, I guess your girls are finally, REALLY taking you to Holland."

We won't get to leave the airport, but I will enjoy every minute that we are there. I am thankful for my daughters and for Holland, and for being able to slow down and not dwell so much on the details. It's truly a beautiful place to be.

Welcome to Holland
By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987. All rights reserved.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Q&A #10

2009-10-13T21:00:00.000-05:00

Quick question, once you get your travel date, does that mean its the date you travel to Europe to actually pick her up or just to meet her? Im not familiar with International Adoptions. When you "anticipate" being home with her? Not sure if there's even anyway to guess?
November 2nd is the date of our SDA appointment. We have have to go for 2 trips. Frank will be going on the second trip on his own where he will bring Kellsey home. More on that later. :)

Just a question - whos going to be looking after the other kids whilst you and Frank are here in Europe??
They will be with my mom :).

I'm with Kass and Kam, so exciting WOOHOO!!! Do you know how long you will have to be there?
About 2 weeks, depending on red tape of course. We have our tickets set for 2 weeks after our appointment date and then we can change them if need be.

YAY!! Great news! Will you be bringing Kellsey home with you at this time?
No, we'll have to make 2 trips. Frank will be making the second trip on his own and he'll bring Kellsey home at that time. :)

Congrats. Three weeks and you can see that precious girl. Just wonder is the private thing a permanant thing?
Just temporary... once we are home we will be public again. :)

Congratulations! :) Can I please be added so I can keep up with the blog too? Thanks!
Diana, can you please send me your email address so I can add it to the list? Thanks! CAmommy2KJ@aol.com

APPOINTMENT DATE!!!!

2009-10-12T10:15:00.000-05:00

We have our appointment date in Kellsey's country!!! We are scheduled to appear in court on NOVEMBER 2nd!! Which means we will be leaving here around October 30th. We're working out a schedule with the airlines right now.

Kassidy, Kameron, Kennedy, and Keeghan will be staying with my mom. They will be staying in their consistent routine of school, swimming, ballet, homework, and church while we are gone. Kassidy and Kameron are SO excited that this day is finally here!

Please be praying for all of us as we get ready for this final part of our adoption process! We still have a little ways to go on our fundraising but we know God is faithful and will provide! Thank you to everyone who has helped us get this far! We appreciate you all more than you know!

PS. Our blog will be going private in the next week or so. If you have not already emailed me to let know you want to continue to follow along while we're gone, this would be the time! CAmommy2KJ@aol.com

Update...

2009-10-05T18:20:00.001-05:00

WELL, what I would REALLY like to do right now is tell you all our travel dates... we should have our travel dates by now, but as with everything else in this adoption process, God is showing us that all things are in HIS time, not ours. SO here's where we stand right now:

The SDA (court system in Kellsey's country) kicked back ONE document on Friday. For ONE stupid reason. (Don't tell my kids I said stupid.) SO our facilitator is working on fixing it. If he can't, then we're going to have to get it re-done here which is going to cause another BIG delay instead of this small delay. SOOO we've been praying that he DID fix it and that he resubmitted it today. Hopefully we'll hear that soon... if he DID, then we'll get our travel date the end of this week or beginning of next.

All in God's timing. Right? Right. Hang in there with us!

iPod Touch Winner Announced!

2009-09-30T21:35:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the winner!! Please email me and I will get your iPod out to you!! :) Hope you all enjoy Kennedy's silliness tonight! LOL

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Submitted!!!

2009-09-29T10:10:00.000-05:00

Our dossier was submitted to the SDA yesterday!!! This means that we should be getting our travel date within the next week!!! YAY!!! Time to start stepping up those prayers!! We're getting SO close to meeting Kellsey! This also means that we are one step closer to this blog going private. If you would like an invitation to keep following this blog while we are gone, please email me!

An Orphan's Prayer

2009-09-22T17:00:00.000-05:00

I am waiting…somewhere far…far away
on the other side of the world.
I may not know who you are or what you look like
But some how deep in my heart I know you are out there.
That one day you will come and find me.
It’s a long journey, and it takes a lot of time…
I wish it could be easier.
But I know that the ones who come for me
will not count the cost.
They will only see the joy of finding me.
For now I abide in the fields of the fatherless.
Day by day wondering why I was born here
and not somewhere else?
Asking…why my life couldn’t have been different?
It is so lonely…Even though I am surrounded by
hundreds of other children,
I know that something is missing…
I know in my heart I need a place to call home.
My arms long to be wrapped in a father’s embrace…
I long to be saved by a mother’s love…
Gazing out the orphanage window I offer a
prayer of hope,“Oh God please help them
come quickly.”
Even as I lay in the darkness of each night
somehow I feel assured,
That no matter how lost I appear I am not alone.
Holy hands guard my steps; sacred fingers wipe
my tears, touching my lonely heart.
The one who made me,
The God that knew me before I was born
Hears me every time I call
He whispers His promises in my ear.
I listen with hope to His voice.
But what I worry about most is that no one wants to look for me.
The fields are vast and there are so many scattered all over the earth.
I wonder how one little child, so lost, can be found?
Yet He calms my heart and assures me that He will find you.
That He will make sure that you hear His voice clearly.
He has promised me that He will make a way through the fields,
That He will personally cut a path and lead you right to my orphanage door.
My prayer is…When He speaks…Please don’t forget to listen…
When He calls don’t be too afraid to go
For I am waiting…somewhere, far…far…away
On the other side of the world
To come Home

Pasta Dinner!!!

2009-09-21T20:30:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who braved the rainy weather and came to the pasta dinner and Cross Street Live last night!!! With your help we are now $800 closer to bringing Kellsey home!!! We are so grateful! There is still time to enter the iPod Touch giveaway if you're interested!

Our Dossier should be submitted to the SDA next Monday. I'm waiting for confirmation on that and then we'll get our travel date about a week after that! We're getting close, and SO SO excited!!! I'll keep you posted on things as I know them!

Thanks again GCC! You ROCK!!!

Don't Forget!!!

2009-09-20T09:05:00.000-05:00

If you live locally, tonight is the pasta dinner to BRING KELLSEY HOME!!! and then stay after for

When: TODAY!!!!
Pasta Dinner 4:45 PM
Cross Street Live 5:30 PM

Where: Rossview High School
1237 Rossview Rd.
Clarksville, TN 37043

Cost: Donations to Bring Kellsey Home!!!

Thank you Grace Community Church for helping us get our girl home!!!

PS. If you're reading this early, there's still time to join us for church too! We'll be at the 11:30 service! See ya there! :)

iPod Touch Giveaway!!!

2009-09-17T12:45:00.000-05:00

Just bumping this to the top!!! Less than 2 weeks to enter!!!

So, I had this post set to publish before checking mail, but FRANK GOT HIS PASSPORT TODAY!!! Thank you GOD! Prayerfully we will have NO MORE red tape now! :)

As we get closer to bringing Kellsey home, the crunch is on to raise the last of our funds needed to get her! A second generation iPod Touch has been donated to us to giveaway to one lucky person who donates to our adoption!! Every $10 you donate is another chance to win!!! Here are the specs of the iPod:
(you can click on any of these to enlarge)

To enter, simply donate in increments of $10 using the chip in below! Every $10 is another chance to win! Please help us by spreading the word to everyone you know! Thank you so much for your continued help to bring Kellsey home! Winner will be announced on September 30, 2009!

Adoption: For the few or almost everyone?

2009-09-16T18:15:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting question and even more interesting comments! Spend some time reading through, you'll meet some pretty amazing families through the comment section and learn a lot of interesting perspectives!

For The Few Or Almost Everyone?

Cross Street Live and Pasta Dinner to Bring Kellsey Home!!!

2009-09-14T14:30:00.000-05:00

If you live here in Clarksville, or anywhere in the Middle Tennessee area, please come join us this Sunday night, September 20th for a Pasta Dinner to Bring Kellsey home sponsored by Grace Community Church and Cross Street Live! Afterward, you and your children are invited to stay for Cross Street Live where kids bring their parents to church! It's a fun, exciting evening full of music, drama, and God's word that your kids will be sure to talk about for a long time! They'll be begging you to come back every month! You can visit their website to learn more about this exciting program!

Please bring your whole family and invite all your friends for this fun evening!!

When: Sunday, September 20th
Pasta Dinner 4:45 PM
Cross Street Live 5:30 PM

Where: Rossview High School
1237 Rossview Rd.
Clarksville, TN 37043

Cost: Donations to Bring Kellsey Home!!!

See you there!!!

Just one of the many ways...

2009-09-12T13:00:00.001-05:00

God is working to bring Kellsey home!

My friend Leah called and told me this story the other day, and then she blogged about it so I thought you all might want to read it too. You never know when one of your comments is going to speak to someone else! :)

Lesson on Tithing

Please be praying for Leah as she strives to go to Bulgaria with our friend Shelley to complete her third and FOURTH adoptions through Reece's Rainbow! Shelley is a fellow Army wife and will soon be the proud mama to 4 beautiful boys with Down syndrome through the blessing of adoption! I am so proud to call her my friend!

Shelley's Blog

Q&A #9

2009-09-11T12:00:00.001-05:00

She is sooooo cute!!! It looks like she's in a really good baby home huh? Hope she gets to come home soon though.
Yes, fortunately Kellsey is in a good baby home! We feel very blessed she has good caregivers and that we are getting to her before she goes to an institution! :)

Oh goodness, she is so adorable, your arms have to be aching to hold that precious little girl. If you are going to Kara's orphanage, maybe you can take some pictures of Kara to her orphanage for me.
Yes, I would love to take pictures of Kara for you!!! Please email me and I will send you my address and you can mail me some pictures!

This is such awesome news. So how much longer until you'll get to go get her now that you've actually got the paperwork you need? Frank is leaving again soon isn't he? I'm so excited for you.
We should be going very soon! Hopefully we'll have a travel date soon we can share with you! Frank will be deploying sometime next Spring.

I'm doing the Happy Dance for you! Are you going to be able to sleep tonight? :)
We have lost a lot of sleep the last couple weeks! LOL Both with excitement and paperwork frustration! I guess it's just part of the process! :)

Is it sad that the first thing I thought of when I read that was how excited I'm going to be to see your blog header/background when it changes to add in Kellsey!! haha only the important things!!!
LOL Yes me too! We have our photographer on standby! I can't wait to get a new FAMILY picture done! :)

Just curious tho., I see you still have like $11,000 left to raise. Does that hiccup interrupt your travel? Just curios on how all this works.
We are trusting God to provide, just as we have since the beginning of this process. He has brought us this far and we have faith that He will help us attain our goal. We have several people here in town working hard to help us bring Kellsey home and we are forever grateful! More on that soon!

Woohoo, great news! Any idea how long it generally takes for a country to get back to you? Or rather her country? I'm hoping not too long. How much longer do you have until Frank goes overseas again?
I'm not really sure... I think it depends on how busy they are? How many cases are ahead of us? Frank leaves in the Spring so Kellsey will be home LONG before that!

It was probably checked in two different places. Do you think it will make it there sooner than Tuesday? Seems like she's making good time ;).
Yes! I think it will! It left France at 8pm and midnight last night (STILL not understanding the 2 times!) so hopefully it will be there SOON!

Our dossier...

2009-09-10T17:15:00.000-05:00

Is in France! It's traveling fast!!! :)

Sep 8, 2009 7:18 PM Picked up CLARKSVILLE, TN
Sep 9, 2009 6:50 PM Left FedEx origin facility CLARKSVILLE, TN
Sep 10, 2009 12:23 AM Arrived at FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
Sep 10, 2009 1:33 AM Departed FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
Sep 10, 2009 5:00 AM Departed FedEx location MEMPHIS, TN
Sep 10, 2009 1:51 PM Arrived at FedEx location PARIS FR
Sep 10, 2009 5:04 PM Arrived at FedEx location PARIS FR

My question is... how did it depart Memphis twice AND arrive in Paris twice?! Don't tell me it's split in two! Maybe it's TWINS!!! (JUST KIDDING MOM, don't have a heart attack! LOL)

It's a GIRL!!!!

2009-09-08T20:40:00.001-05:00

Our dossier is on its way via Fedex to Kellsey's country!!! It should arrive there on Tuesday and then hopefully we'll get our travel date VERY soon after that!

I'm pretty sure the Fedex guy thought I was crazy when I told him that he needed to grab my package should the building happen to catch on fire because my CHILD was in there! haha He thought I was even weirder when he pulled out the cardboard envelope and I asked him if he had anything "safer" to put it in. Yep. Pretty sure he thought I was crazy. Then I pulled out my phone and took a picture of my dossier on the scale.
One pound, six ounces... her first official weigh in. *sniff* I know. I'm crazy. He told me I could ship it for $40 cheaper and it would arrive three days later. Uhhh NO!!! "As FAST as you CAN!" I repeated for the 10th time. It's ok if he thinks I'm crazy. Our daughter is in that package!!! We're coming for you Kellsey!!!!

What now?

2009-08-21T23:00:00.001-05:00

So what now? Well, we are getting closer and closer to the time when this blog gets REALLY exciting! I can't WAIT! We are still waiting for Frank's passport. We got a call from the passport processing place today, but Frank's phone didn't ring (GRR) and it went straight to voice mail. Frank spent the afternoon trying to call him back and HIS phone was going straight to voice mail. By the time Frank got through the guy was gone for the day and won't be back until Monday. All the message said was that he had some questions about his passport application. *sigh* We are praying hard there is NO red tape! We've had MORE than enough of that!!!

We got Frank's Certificate of Citizenship last week. It was really very anti-climatic. This $400 piece of paper we've been waiting for for the last 6 months... I was going to take a picture of it and post it here, but it says right on it that it's illegal to photograph, SO... no picture! (I'm too busy to go to jail and too poor to be fined! HA!)

So now, when we get Frank's passport, we need to get all the papers in our dossier notarized. Then we need to get them apostilled (which is a state level of notary). THEN we submit all these papers to Kellsey's country... and wait for approval. And a travel date. Which hopefully will come VERY quickly. We're hoping this all snowballs and happens very very very fast! We are PRAYING it does! We want our girl HOME! Home for Halloween? Or at least in time for birthdays! Kameron's birthday on November 3rd, Kassidy's on November 4th and Kellsey's on November 6th! What a week of celebration that will be!

Also!! We are now a domain! I thought it would be easier while we travel! You can now find us at http://www.bringingkellseyhome.com ! The old address will still work too, so don't worry if you don't want to change it! :)

More from us soon! :)

Winner of the Tungsten Ring Giveaway!

2009-08-15T21:30:00.001-05:00

Enjoy the video... you'll hear some "Kennedese" in there! haha The winner can email me at CAmommy2KJ@aol.com for details! :)

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

OOPS!

2009-08-15T11:45:00.000-05:00

I forgot about the drawing for the ring giveaway!!! Sorry!! We are on our way out to a barbecue, but I will make up the little slips and have Kennedy pick a name on video tonight! Thanks Renee for reminding me! This month went by WAY too fast!

Avon Fundraiser!!!

2009-08-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

My friend Christina just started selling Avon and has decided to donate 10% of all orders she brings in on this campaign to Kellsey's adoption! This is a great time to stock up on all the fun stuff you love from Avon! I know Kennedy has had her eye on a "Hello Kitty" nightgown which she may or may not get for Christmas. We'll see! :) (OK She probably will... but don't tell her, ok?!) Anyway, if you love Avon stuff as much as I do, please go shop and help us out! :) If you DO place an order, please come back here and leave a comment with your name so Christina will know that you found her through me. This campaign ends on September 4th at noon so Happy Shopping! :)

A REAL update!

2009-08-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

I can't believe I actually have a REAL update! NO we don't have Frank's Certificate of Citizenship... BUT yesterday I wrote to our contact at our Senator's office AGAIN and just told her that we are desperate. We've exhausted all our options with the Immigration office and they PROMISED us this COC by the end of July and it's STILL not here and we NEED to go get our daughter. Time is not on our side now for so many reasons.

She asked if we've gotten our notice of action from them yet saying they are working on his COC (we got that MONTHS ago). I told her yes and she said that she has known them in the past to issue temporary passports in cases like this to people who have their notice of actions and all we could do was call the passport office and ask. (WHY she didn't tell us this months ago, I'm not sure!)

SOOOO Frank called the passport office today and pled our case and he is on the way right now to apply for his ONE YEAR passport! It's going to cost a lot and he'll have to get a "real" one when his COC comes in, but WHO CARES?! NOW we can finish our dossier, get everything notarized and apostilled and submit to Eastern Europe! FINALLY!!!! Things are moving forward!!!!

I think I'm in a little bit of shock right now. I don't think I expected this to actually work! Wooohoooo!!!! Thank you God!!! We really ARE coming for you Kellsey!!!

A homecoming!!!!

2009-07-26T21:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Gillian is home with her new daughter Evangeline!!! She is the 4th daughter to Gillian and Sergei and sister to Elaina, Zoya and Polina (who also has Down syndrome). After spending 7 weeks in Ukraine going through lots of red tape Gillian and Evangeline are home and they can now begin their lives together as a family of 6!

Please stop by their blog and welcome them home!! If you scroll down you can read all about their adventures and see lots of pictures!

An update

2009-07-22T16:00:00.000-05:00

Every day now I am standing anxiously by my mailbox waiting... ok... that's not entirely true. Let me start over. Every day now when the mailman comes, I send Kassidy out to the mailbox (that's better) to check the mail because we still ARE anxiously waiting for Frank's Certificate of Citizenship. Last month he drove to the Immigration office in Memphis where he was told we would have it in our hands by the end of July. It's now July 22nd... no certificate yet. They still have nine days so I guess I can't be too upset, but dang, how long does it take to print out a piece of paper and slap a picture on it? I know, patience, patience!

In the meantime, if you haven't noticed our little thermometer over to the side, we've surpassed our $10,000 mark in fundraising! YAY! Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us get this far! We have a few more exciting things to give away soon so be watching for those!

Two of my friends will be home soon with their kids and once their blogs are public again I will link you so you can go over and welcome them home! It's so exciting to see these kids come home to their new families!!! We're coming for you Kellsey, all in God's timing!!! :)

Win a Tungsten Wedding Ring! :)

2009-07-13T14:10:00.001-05:00

The people at Tungsten Rings has offered to help bring Kellsey home!! To thank you for donating to Kellsey's adoption, they are offering one lucky person a ring of their choice (up to $120 value*)!!

*Choose one of these great rings OR choose any other ring from their selection for $120 off the price!

To enter, simply use the chip in above! Every $5.00 donation to bring Kellsey home is another chance to win! Kennedy will choose the winner on August 13, 2009! :) Thank you for helping us bring our daughter home!!! And thank you Tungsten Rings for sponsoring this great cause!!

Facing Life Head On

2009-06-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

The Kayes Family has 19 children. Sixteen of them have been adopted internationally and many of them have special needs. You can read about this family here and also watch a documentary here. This family is so inspirational. Take the time to watch this, they have some amazing children!!!

Q&A #8

2009-06-22T11:35:00.000-05:00

Congrats! When do you plan on getting to bring her home? I was wondering too, did you guys already meet your 20,000 goal? If so, that was really quick.
Hopefully sooner rather than later!!! We are still waiting on Frank's Certificate of Citizenship so he can get his passport. It's really the huge thing holding us up right now. We've raised almost $10,000 of our $20,000 goal. Watch for more fundraising efforts coming soon! :)

She is adorable! I wonder if they are sunning, the kids for Vitamin D lol hahaha my only thought. We get plenty were we are, I read that many country’s just take a Vitamin D tablet, but I’d think vitamins would be too expensive in a baby home.
LOL They could be, who knows?!

Oh my goodness she is soo cute! Is it just me or can I see your girls in her??
I totally think she looks just like my girls!!! I can't wait until I can put them ALL in matching dresses! haha

Oh Renee, that's going to make matching outfits sooooo much easier! Three kids wearing the same size clothes. You'll surely get people asking you if they are triplets ;).
I can hear it already! :)

What the heck??? It's been TWO days since you posted last? Hello, are you going through withdraws? LOL
LOL This blog has been sorely neglected I'm afraid. I'm trying to find things to say.

Do you need a recommendation for someone to facilitate your adoption on that end? If so and have not already hired a placement agency, we'd love to recommend the attorney who did ours - he funtioned as attorney, translator, tour guide and caretaker of the whole thing - and it probably saved us thousands of dollars by not having to hire a placement agency stateside. Please let me know if you'd like his name - thanks and good luck! I will continue to follow your progress!
We have a GREAT facilitator already waiting for us there, we have heard wonderful things about him... maybe it's the same person?! Thanks though, we appreciate it! :)

A couple more Kellsey pictures!

2009-06-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

Since it's picture day on the family blog, I decided that Kellsey should have some pictures here too!! Gillian sent these to me yesterday! She was visiting Evangeline and Kellsey's groupa was playing right next to them so she snapped a few pics. First she got this one...

i wonder what Kellsey was doing here? Was she playing a game? Using her imagination? I often see Kennedy's arms in this same motion as she flies across the room. I can't wait until they fly together!

This next picture made me laugh because Gillian said she looked over once and all the kids were there playing in these cute little clothes and then she looked back and...
every last one of them were stripped down! LOL At first I thought maybe it was just Kellsey that was naked and I had a stripper on my hands! hahahaha But she assured me only hats and shoes were left! :) SO funny!

I also forgot to mention that yes, Kellsey is a chunk! Gillian said she is probably the size of a typical 3 year old (she is 2 1/2). And Kennedy is the size of a typical 3 year old... And Keeghan, well, he's the size of a 2 year old, but he's growing fast. See where I'm going with this?! LOL Ohhhh I can't WAIT to get her HOME!!!

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying family picture day! :)

Kellsey pictures!!!

2009-06-12T21:30:00.001-05:00

My friend Gillian is in Kellsey's baby home where she got to meet her daughter Evangeline for the first time today. Evangeline is BEAUTIFUL! As soon as she is home and her blog goes public again, I will link you!! She got to snuggle Kellsey today too!!! And these pictures answered some of my questions from my earlier post. She IS getting fresh air! And she looks happy :). Does a mommy's heart good!

Gillian said she seems to be really well cared for and her section of the baby home is clean and has lots of toys! The main doctor for their group seemed to really care about the kids too. She kept telling her that Kellsey was their 'omnichka' (smart one). :) That's my girl!!!

Apparently it was "candy time" hence the dirty face! hehe I guess we'll have to start scheduling candy time around here too! (My crew would LOVE that!)

I may have more to share later! :)

Update and video... please watch

2009-06-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

This blog has been like a ghost town lately. I hate that. I just really have nothing to say. The truth is, we are waiting. We are waiting on the stupid immigration office to print out Frank's Certificate of Citizenship and tape a picture on it and mail it to us. Something that seems so simple yet they're making it so complicated. We've been waiting for MONTHS. Once this paper is in our hands, he can get his passport, which means we can fill in the last few missing pieces of our dossier, get everything notarized and apostilled, and we can submit everything to Kellsey's country and get a court date to bring our baby girl HOME!!!

I have days when I am totally at peace with this wait. Sure I am anxious. I am fully aware that if everything in our process went smoothly, we could be in her country right now meeting our daughter. But God is on His throne and it's all in His timing. I can see His hand in every circumstance. However, I am the first to admit patience is not my best virtue, and there are days when this wait KILLS me. Days like today when I am painfully aware that we should be in Kellsey's country right now bringing our daughter HOME!

Right now I wonder what she is doing... is she happy? Healthy? Is it as hot there as it is here? Is she in a cool place? Does she get to play outside and get fresh air? Is she hungry? I may get answers to these questions soon as 2 of my friends are traveling to her baby home to finally meet their own children. They are hoping to get to see Kellsey... hold her... take some pictures of her. I made them promise they would tell her that her mommy and daddy are coming for her and that we love her. We're trying. All in God's timing.

Through the course of our adoption process, we've been asked over and over why we've chosen to adopt internationally instead of choosing a child here in the United States. I've explained that kids with special needs are not cared for in other countries like they are here... when they turn 4 or 5 (depending on the country) they are sent to institutions and basically left to die. I've explained. But do you get it? Please watch this. This is not Kellsey's country, but this is someone's daughter... turned away because she has a disability... and left... like this. Please Lord, protect our baby until we can get to her.

The marathon!

2009-05-19T19:15:00.000-05:00

Remember the marathon I told you about? My friend Theresa ran the Boston Marathon last month (the WHOLE thing! Craziness!) and used it as an opportunity to help us bring Kellsey home! Well, I never reported back, but she raised over $1,700 for us!!! We were thrilled and SO humbled that she chose to help and love our family this way! Thank you Theresa and thank you to everyone who donated to her marathon!!! It means so much to us!!!

Another bake sale and our church!

2009-05-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

We have seen such an outpouring of love from our church with Kellsey's adoption, both in prayer and financially. My friend Lori and the Girls of Grace decided to do another bake sale for us yesterday since the first one went SO well! Earlier in the week they asked me to come record our story so people understand WHY we are adopting. Fortunately, the awesome technical guys there were able to edit out the majority of my "ums" haha. I think they did a great job adding the pictures in!! The bake sale did EXTREMELY well too!!!! Grace Community Church ROCKS. I'm just saying. I thought you all might like to see this, even though most of you know our story already!

(Sorry some of the pictures are blurry... not too sure why!)

Approval!!!

2009-05-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

YAY!!! We got our approval today from USCIS which basically means that the U.S. says we can adopt! WOOHOO! SO normally the next step is to submit our dossier, but in our case we need to wait till someone figures out Frank's certificate of citizenship. PLEASE pray that something happens where we can get his certificate FAST!!! We're one step closer to bringing you home, Kellsey!!!! :)

Q&A #7

2009-05-03T23:20:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or does it seem kind of ironic that you have to wait 60 days to get a letter to find out if the process can be expedited or not? I don't know somehow that just seems really wrong. You are much more patient than I am. I would be flipping out about all of that red tape.
I know, it's SO frustrating! Hopefully we will hear SOON!

If it comes down to it can you get her without Frank :s shouldn't all his military stuff be enough? geez.
Nope, apparently that doesn't matter. *sigh*

do you mind sending me a pic of your whole family and of kellsey so we can keep them on the fridge and have a daily reminder of prayer ;)
Absolutely! I will send them right now!

Bake Sale!

2009-04-30T23:25:00.000-05:00

(I meant to get this up earlier in the week, but I was having technical difficulties and couldn't get my pictures uploaded! Sorry about that!)

This past Sunday, the women's community group from our church put on a bake sale for our family to help bring Kellsey home! My friend Lori asked me to make a poster and she and her group did ALL the rest!! I couldn't believe how much yummy stuff they had out there! AND the best part?! They raised $1,000 toward our adoption!!! We are so lucky to be surrounded by a wonderful, loving church!! Thank you so much Lori and Girls of Grace!!! We appreciate all your help to bring our baby home!!

Here are some pictures from Sunday!
Our family right before first service got out...

People browsing for a yummy treat to take home

Kassidy selling baked goods with the Girls of Grace :)

Poster I made... it's kind of falling apart...
~~probably because it was ME who made it!~~

Kennedy checking out the donation jar... though I think she was really looking for chocolate! haha

Even more people!

My beautiful Kassidy

Keeghan and Daddy, hanging out

(Kameron was busy running around with the other kids and I didn't manage to snag a picture of him! Sorry, Kam!!!)
Thanks again Lori, Girls of Grace and Grace Community Church! We love you all!!!

Adoption Process

2009-04-22T14:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone,
I know I haven't updated in awhile on where we are in our adoption process so I want to take a few minutes and do that now! :) Things are going slow but sure. We've raised about $5,000 and we are waiting on paperwork. From everyone. LOL

USCIS (immigration here) has all our paperwork now. They were just missing our background check from California (which took FOREVER to arrive) and now we are just waiting on our approval from them to adopt! :) Hopefully it will be here soon.

Our Dossier (which we submit to Kellsey's country) will be done soon, I hope. It's coming along piece by piece. Slowly. My passport should be here any day now, I applied for it about 3 weeks ago, so hopefully I'll get it sometime this week.

Now, here's the red tape... (You knew it was coming, right?!) Frank has lost his original Certificate of Citizenship (COC). We have notarized copies, but for his passport, he NEEDS the original. SO we paid the insane amount of money to GET the original and now they're telling us it could take a YEAR to get it. SO we've applied for the expedited service (and he just got a letter telling us it will take 60 days to even get a letter saying if they WILL expedite it or not) and we have Senator Alexander's office working on helping us get it quicker as well. We are also have connections to an immigration lawyer who is trying to help us.

Please pray that this will work out and we can get this certificate quickly. We don't have a year for SO many reasons including the fact that Frank will be deployed a year from now. And of course, you know, we want our baby girl HOME!!! Kass and Kam are asking almost daily now WHEN we are leaving to go get her! (Think they are trying to get rid of us?! hahaha)

So anyway, that's where we are... knee deep in paperwork and praying this red tape gets cut quickly! Thank you so much for all your prayers for our family!

Penny and Kris

2009-04-16T20:20:00.000-05:00

Lisa is trying to get a hold of you to talk about your auction items. She is emailing you at the address you provided with paypal. If this is not the right address, please shoot me an email and let me know! CAmommy2KJ@aol.com . Thanks!

Auction update!

2009-04-15T10:00:00.001-05:00

We still have a few auction items that have not been claimed by the winners! If one of them is you, please email me at CAmommy2KJ@aol.com. Thanks so much!!! Here are the items we're still waiting for people to claim:

The Sincess Gift Set

Handpainted 12x12 Sign

Also, this Custom Onesie was never bid on, but you can still buy it here and the proceeds will still go toward Kellsey's adoption!

A Marathon for Kellsey!

2009-04-05T12:50:00.000-05:00

One of my new friends here in Clarksville is going to be running the Boston Marathon on April 20th. The proceeds she makes will be going towards Kellsey's adoption! How cool is that?! Here is the letter she sent out to over 100 people! Thank you Theresa for helping us bring Kellsey home, and good luck with the marathon!!

March 26, 2009
Dear Friends,
I will be running the Boston Marathon on April 20th. As part of this endeavor I am asking for donations to help a Clarksville family adopt a child with Down syndrome.
I have been following life and times of the Garcia Family for a few years, since mom Renee began a Caring Bridges blog about the medical challenges of their 3rd oldest child, Kennedy.
Kennedy was born with Down syndrome and in 2007 she was diagnosed with Acute
Myelogenous Leukemia. She has undergone six rounds of chemotherapy and is currently in remission.
Frank and Renee had always intended to adopt and raising their own child with special needs has prepared them for this journey. In the years that I have followed Renee’s blog, I have always been amazed by her positive attitude and endless compassion. She never projects self-pity or hopelessness and more often raves about life’s blessings. This woman is an inspiration!
Even more impressive is the Garcia Family’s eagerness to take on the challenge of raising another child with special needs when most would agree they already have their hands full with four children.
Personally, I have no problem avoiding added responsibilities, relying on the standby excuse that I have “a lot on my plate right now.” Here is a Renee’s take:

“There are times that I feel completely overwhelmed, but I don't know of any moms out there who DON'T, even with only one child. We feel that we can raise Kellsey, give her a good home, a loving family, a chance at life.”

Your gift will help pay for the costs involved in adopting Kellsey and bringing her home from the Eastern Europe. Kellsey has Down syndrome and has been an orphan for all of her two years of life. She is just one of over 1.5 million children in Central and Eastern Europe who have been abandoned by their families and are living in "public care”.

Enclosed is the donation form, which can be mailed back to me with your check. Or, donate online at here. If you choose to donate online, please drop me an email so I can track your gift.

Your gift is a 100% tax-deductible donation to Reece’s Rainbow, a registered 501(c)3 charity that promotes the international adoption and rescue of children with Down syndrome exclusively.

Any amount you can give is greatly appreciated. Mahalo for your support.
Ua ola loko i ke aloha (love gives life within),
Theresa Gerry

Cruise Giveaway Winner!!!

2009-04-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you to everyone who entered our cruise giveaway! We raised $1,200 to go towards Kellsey's adoption!! We are getting there slowly but surely! And now for the WINNER!!! Watch and see! :)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Thank you!!!

2009-03-31T00:30:00.004-05:00

Thank you to everyone who made Kellsey's Silent Auction such a huge success!!!! Whether you donated items, bid on items, or spread the word, we appreciated you so much! We raised over $1,600 with your help!

Bidders, please check your items to see if you've won!
Winners, please email me at CAmommy2KJ@aol.com with your shipping info. You can submit payment below or email me if you'd like to send a check. Once payment is complete, your item(s) will be mailed to you! (If you need to talk to the seller about personalization, make sure I have your email address so I can get you in touch with them!) Shipping IS included in your winning price. When you send paypal payments, please let me know which item(s) you are paying for! Thanks!
Sellers, I will be in touch!

Don't forget about the Cruise Giveaway!
Winner will be chosen on April 1st!

Today's the day!!!!

2009-03-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

Kellsey's Silent Auction ends TONIGHT at 11:59 PM Central Time!!!!!! Be sure to scroll all the way down to see all the new items!!! You'll even see Kennedy at the very end! ;)

Kellsey's Silent Auction - Rules and Regulations!

2009-03-11T02:35:00.014-05:00

Looking for the cruise giveaway? click here
Be sure to check out ALL the NEW auction items at the bottom!
Welcome to Kellsey's Silent Auction!! We're so glad you're here! Take a look around at all the wonderful items we have in store for you! Here are just a few things to know before you bid!

1. To bid, simply leave a comment under the item you wish to bid on with your bid amount. Please raise your bid by at least $2.00 above the highest bid price.

2. The minimum bid price for each item is posted in its description. This amount will change as other bidders up the price. Since I can't always be at my computer, please look at the LAST comment to make sure you're bidding high enough!
***When someone bids, I raise the minimum bid price to $2.00 higher. The minimum bid price will be changing every time someone bids. The bids you see in the comment section will usually be lower than the minimum bid price because of this :).***

3. If you are outbid, feel free to bid again as often as you'd like.

4. Bid on as many different items as you'd like! All is fair in love and auctions!

5. PLEASE only bid if you are serious about buying! We are so grateful to each of our contributors and they have truly awesome items to share with you.

6. If you have any questions about any of the items, please ask them on THIS post and not under the actual item.

7. The auction will end at 11:59 PM on March 30, 2009. Be sure to keep an eye on your auctions!

Please feel free to post the button for the auction on your blog, facebook, whatever! We'd love to see this reach far and wide! If you have any questions, post them here and I will get back to you! Happy Bidding!

Copy and paste this code to your HTML/Java Script:

Auction Item #1 - Baby Quilt

2009-03-11T02:34:00.013-05:00

This beautiful pink and white quilt was lovingly made by Mary Costello who is mother to Anna who also sports an extra chromosome :o). Pictures just do not do this quilt justice! It is so beautiful and would be perfect for the baby girl in your life!

Specs:
Pattern is called "Flea Market Fancy" and the quilting pattern is called "stipiling". This quilt was originated by AmandaJean at Crazy Mom Quilts. The quilt was sewn together by machine, but the binding was finished by hand.
The fabric is all cotton and the batting is 80% cotton, 20% polyester. It is machine washable and dryable and comes to your home washed and ready for use!

Winning Bidder: Whitney! $100 PAID

Auction Item #2 - Scentsy Starter Kit!

2009-03-11T02:33:00.011-05:00

"The Hottest New Thing In Candles!"
Unique Scentsy warmers use a 25-watt bulb to melt the wax slowly, maximizing the fragrance time of the Scentsy Bar or Scentsy Brick. With no flame, soot, or wick, the Scensty system is a safe way to enjoy more than 80 Scentsy fragrances without breathing in burnt wax and black soot.

To choose your Deluxe warmer and Scentsy bars, visit Kelly at Scentsy.com!

Never heard of Scentsy before? Me neither! When Kelly first told me about Scentsy products, I was intrigued and checked them out. Like many women out there, I LOVE candles! I usually burn them once a day. However, our new entertainment center doesn't allow us to keep them high enough to be out of reach of little hands, so I've had to stop burning them until the kids are asleep. Now there is a solution!!! SCENTSY!

Specs:
Authentic Scentsy Bars are incredibly potent bars of highly scented wax. Because a sooty candle is never our problem, we can pack each Scentsy Bar with more fragrance oil than most 12 oz. jarred candles. With over 80 fragrances to choose from, there is one sure to please everyone.

Scentsy warmers are specifically designed to perfectly melt Authentic Scentsy Bars into an impressive wax pool that throws the maximum amount of fragrance over the longest period of time. Scentsy Warmers melt wax at a lower temperature so there is never any danger of burning children or pets. With dozens of colors and styles to choose from, there is a Scentsy Warmer to fit every decor.

Up for grabs is 1 Scentsy System!
Includes:
1 Deluxe Scentsy Warmer of choice
3 Scentsy bars of your choice (each bar yields 60-80 hours of "on" time)

Winning Bidder: Maria $46 PAID

Auction Item #3 - Crocheted Lapghan

2009-03-11T02:32:00.008-05:00

Ma Bunny over at Able's Antics has lovingly crocheted a lapghan just for you in honor of Kellsey! She sells these beautiful lapgahn for $60 each so be sure to start bidding at this super low price! Your lapghan will be a mixture of blues, it's being made right now just for you!
Winning Bidder: Rebecca Ruiz $43 PAID

Auction Item #4 - Crocheted Hat #1

2009-03-11T02:31:00.007-05:00

DD Fowler handmade this beautiful children's hat!

Specs: Circumference 17 ½”
Top to bottom 6”
Top to bottom with brim up 5”

Winning Bidder: Karyn Reed $7.00 PAID

Auction Item #5 - Ready Made Scrapbook

2009-03-11T02:30:00.011-05:00

Kara has graciously donated her time, talent and materials to make you a ready to go scrapbook! All you have to do is add pictures and viola! Instant memories ready to share!

Specs:
This chipboard scrapbook is 6x6 and will come 90% completed and will be extremely easy for you to personalize with your favorite pictures! The pages are geared toward children, so all you busy mamas out there, get to bidding!

Here is the actual scrapbook you will be getting! (You can click on the pictures to make them larger!)

Winning Bidder: Megan $55.00 PAID

Auction Item #6 - Down Syndrome Awareness Gift Set

2009-03-11T02:29:00.016-05:00

This trio of Down syndrome awareness products has been generously donated by Dawn over at Mama Monkmee.

Included is this Down syndrome awareness key chain

This beautiful bracelet personalized with your child's name

and this Down syndrome awareness cell phone charm

Show your pride and bid today!

Winning Bidder: Leondra $88.00 PAID

Auction Item #7 - Embroidered Bag #1

2009-03-11T02:28:00.008-05:00

This bag was handmade by my friend Kim and can be embroidered with your name or initials or whatever else you'd like. :)
This bag measures 13 inches wide and 11 inches high

Winning Bidder: Ashley $18.00 PAID

Auction Item #8 - Shabby Chic Jewelry Holder

2009-03-11T02:27:00.016-05:00

This item is hand made by one of my best friend's daughters Jessica. This beautiful jewelry holder would look great in any bedroom and will help you keep everything organized! (jewelry not included!)

Winning Bidder LeAnna $25.00 PAID

Auction Item #9 - Custom Boutique Embroidered Gift - Winner's pick!

2009-03-11T02:26:00.014-05:00

Jenny Stover at MaddiMoo Boutique has offered to make one lucky winner a custom item of his/her choice! These are all so great, I don't know how you'll decide! You have a choice of:

pillowcase,
set of 2 burpies,
mug,
tee shirt,
towel or
tote bag & wipe case.

Here are a few pictures of her work!

Total personalization is available!!!

Winning Bidder: Jessica $40.00 PAID

Auction Item #10 - Mary Kay Timewise Set

2009-03-11T02:25:00.011-05:00

Sandy is contributing a bunch of Mary Kay products! Don't miss out on this great chance to pamper yourself!!

Included in this set:
Timewise Miracle set - Cleanser, Moisturizer, day solution, and night solution - choice of normal to dry skin type or combination to oily skin type

You will also get:
Timewise Microdermabrasion set (2 step)

This is a total retail value of $145!!!

Winning Bidder: Jane $100.00 PAID

Auction Item #11 - Pampered Chef Products

2009-03-11T02:24:00.014-05:00

Lora Leigh has generously donated Pampered Chef products! If you love to cook, this auction is for you!!!

Up for grabs is this set of prep bowls:
These are perfect for all your baking needs!

She has also put together this wonderful gift set with these items:
Garlic Peeler
PC Reusable Shopping Bag
Season's Best Cookbook - Spring/Summer '09
Mini-Whipper
Round up from the Heart Trivet

Winning Bidder: Michelle $50.00 PAID

Auction Item #12 - Mommy Pampering Gift Basket

2009-03-11T02:23:00.010-05:00

Tina has lovingly put together this basket full of goodies just for YOU!!!

Included is:
Lavender Oil Face Mask
Body Shimmer
3 nail polishes
Bath Pillow
Udderly Smooth Hand Cream
Body Poweder
7 way nail buffer
Hydrating mask
Satin Hands Samples
Lavender Bath Crystals
Body Butter
Bath Fizzies
Lavender Body Lotion

Winning Bidder: Carol $34.00 PAID

Auction Item #13 - Handmade Size 5 Dress

2009-03-11T02:22:00.005-05:00

This beautiful dress was made by my friend Kim's mother! She made Kennedy several outfits to wear with her halo last year and she makes her granddaughter the most stunning outfits!! This dress is called Serendipity and would look beautiful on the little girl in your life!

Winning Bidder: Lynda $20.00 PAID

Auction Item #14 - Embroidered Bag #2

2009-03-11T02:21:00.010-05:00

Auction Item #15 - Portrait Session

2009-03-11T02:20:00.006-05:00

For those of you who live in or around Middle Tennessee and have admired our kids portraits we have done every year, this is a special treat just for you!!!

Our most awesome photographer, Jamie, from Jamie Wright Photography has offered up a FREE sitting fee and 8x10 portrait!!

This is a total value of $65! You can visit her blog to see more of her amazing work!

Winning Bidder: Lyndi $17.00 PAID

Auction Item #16 - Sox That Rock Gift Card

2009-03-11T02:19:00.008-05:00

Lynda emailed me about her store called Sox That Rock! I totally love this and am going to be buying some for Kennedy! They are just the thing that every little Sincess needs!

Go check out her designs!!! They are seriously great!

For this auction, Lynda is offering a $25 Gift card to her store! Don't miss out!!!

Winning Bidder: Janet $25.00 PAID

Auction Item #17 - Crocheted Hat #2

2009-03-11T02:18:00.007-05:00

DD Fowler handmade this beautiful children's hat!

Specs: Circumference 21”
Top to bottom 7 ½”
Top to bottom with brim up 6”

Winning Bidder: Karyn $7.00 PAID

Auction Item #18 - Book - Down Syndrome: What You CAN Do

2009-03-11T02:17:00.016-05:00

Qadoshyah contacted me about this book several months ago and I was just waiting for the perfect opportunity to present it all to you! Here it is!

Down Syndrome: What you CAN Do is written to inform you about Down syndrome and to give you hope. It is written to tell you all that you can do for someone with Down syndrome. It has stories in it from those with Down syndrome so that you can see that they can live normal, and sometimes, extraordinary lives. In these pages you will find the information, the facts, the stories and the encouragement to think differently about down syndrome.

You can read more about it on their website! If you are the winner, I can't wait to hear your feedback!

Winning Bidder: April Kovars $45.00 PAID

Auction Item #19 - The Sincess Gift Set

2009-03-11T02:16:00.012-05:00

Do you have a little sincess in your life? If so, you'll definitely want to bed on this set! Don't let it get away!!!

This set has been generously donated by Lisa. I just love all my crafty friends!!!

First item is five medium sized solid color bows! Pick any colors you wish!!

What good are bows without a custom bow holder? Perfect for any little girl's room! You pick the letter and colors!

Last but not least is this adorable girls tutu! She is sure to feel like a true sincess when she prances around the house in this! Pick your choice of colors!

Winning Bidder: Ashley $64.00

Auction Item #20 - Giant White Tiger

2009-03-11T02:15:00.007-05:00

OK time to hide the blog from your kids, because they are SURE to want this next item! It would make a GREAT birthday or Christmas gift for your little animal lover!

Jamie has offered up this giant white tiger:

Isn't it beautiful?! This tiger is about 75" long and about 20" tall. This is not the exact tiger you will be receiving, but it looks exactly like this, except with hazel eyes. :) This item retails for $100. Go on, bid, you know you want to! :)

Winning Bidder: Tina $32.00 PAID