We are Alive, Well and Blessed!

Our first family picture outside of the orphanage gates. God is so Good!

We are all together! I'm not sure were to begin since so much has happened since we were able to post last time. The most important news of all is that we have rescued Marcus and Macey. It was not the Gotcha Day we planned for or anticipated. But none the less we are all here in Odessa together. We were told early Thrusday morning that our court decree was not ready and that we would have to wait until Friday to pick up the kids. We were disappointed to say the least. We went to our regular morning visit and saw Timur first. Irina was working with the principal to get any paperwork for pick up started. We were to meet Irina upstairs after our morning visit to sign our "release" papers. It was going to be an exciting time for us. It turned out to be one of the hardest moments of our lives. All I can say at this point is that is cost ($) us ALOT to rescue our children that day. I believe in my heart it would have cost ($) us any other day the same. Wayne and I were caught off guard and defeated! Just know that our main focus has always been Timur, then Natalya when we learned of her. It remains our focus today! I will be glad to share my heart at a more appropriate time. After our morning visit and our "meeting" with the principal we headed to the internet cafe' to SKYPE The Malones. I wanted to hear their voices. Even in the mist of our "unusual" day I wanted to know about Eli. It was wonderful to speak with Chris and get the details, pray with him and encourage him to take care of himself. I then called Mary at the hospital were we were able to share our day with one another. I loved knowing she was there with Eli and could give him hugs and kisses from me. I wanted to be there for Mary and Eli myself. It was hard to be happy about our afternnon visit knowing Eli was so sick. I hung up being encouraged and reminded who our provider is and that we serve a just God. The best part about this adoption journey has been doing it together with the Malone's and knowing that there are belivers praying for us back home while we are here "alone." I will never take for granted the fact that we are "like minded" with so many and then there's others that we come in contact that don't believe. My prayer has been that we can show the love of Jesus with those we meet, even if we don't speak the same language. Our afternoon visit Thursday was actaully our time to rescue our kids, both Marcus and Macey were coming home! I was not prepared emotionally or physically, I was drained. It was not a big-to-do, a party or anything I had expected. Let me tell you, I have had to lower my expectaions this entire trip. The ONLY thing that has been MORE than I can imagine is Macey and Marcus. We even decided that we wanted to bring home THE outfit of Timur's, guess what, it is a groupa "uniform." The orphanage had several of them and reluctantly traded with a NEW outfit we had bought for them. We did the best we could with pictrues and video, not the best. They brought Timur to us sick. Just from the short time that we left him until it was time to rescue him, he had broke out in a fever and a hoarse cough. They were reluctant to send him with us but decided too since we bought a whole list of medications to care for him. So we left our "special" day with two sick kids. They said that Macey was better, but she still has a cough we are treating her for. Our first stop with the kids was dinner at the cafateria with Todd Hollis, Alina and Irina and her husband. The kids ate mashed potatoes and a fish nugget. They were both hungry and did great! We then took them back to our small apartment to take a bath and get ready for bed. It was a long day and it was late. Let me tell you now, there were no pictures of their first bath. It was heartbreaking. Neither one of them would sit down in the tub of water. They both stood there crying like I had never seen before. Macey stood with her face to the wall and her back towards me, like "Wash me and get it over with, FAST! I was devistated and so sad for them both. We got them out quickly and held them close while they smealt so good and clean in their new, fresh PJ's. Timur's hair even fluffed out and Macey looked like such a big girl with her hair down out of 3-4 picktails. It was so sweet to put them to bed that night. It was a great ending to a difficult day. Yesterday, we left for Odessa at 8:30am. We arrived at Macey's hometown and waited 3 hours for her birth certificate. Three hours in a van with two sick babies. We then traveled quickly to Odessa just in time to receive Timur's birth certificate and legalize them both before ending the day at 8pm. We were driven to our apartment late, in the dark were me and the kids settled while Wayne was driven to the market for essentials. We fell into bed after 10pm. It was a long day to say the least. We started today with high hopes for a good day. I knew I would be staying home with the "littles" while they were getting well. We didn't need to keep them out another day. Wayne and Taylor went to the market with Irina, had lunch out and bought this internet card for us to use. Tanner, Marcus and Macey all took a nap after our lunch together. Neither Marcus or Macey have had a fever today, Praise God. We pray each day they get stronger and might want to do some sight seeing while we are here. We are literally on the Black Sea. We have bought NO souvineirs. There have been none to buy. Hopefully we will find something here in Odessa, it is a much bigger town. We will not have as easy access to the two places we liked to eat or the market here. We also have to pay more and wait longer for a cab. Now, we need a mini van taxi to go anywhere together. :) We will eat more here at this apartment than before. We will get up early Monday to apply for the kids passports and ID numbers. We are praying GOD speed to get these completed this week. IF, they are completed Thursday we would like to do their medical and visa in Kiev on Friday. I will keep you posted on the progress. We are hopeful the rest of our adoption process goes quickly. We will do much better and the kids too when we are home. Taylor and Tanner are doing great! They have been a HUGE help and love to care for their new brother and sister. I could not be more proud of them. This has been a learning experience to say the least. There are some things I wish they never would have heard or had to go through but it's all part of the process. We are praying God is changing each one of us for His good. I will do my best to keep posting. Trust me, I miss you all and want to come home! We have our kids, the "vacation" is over.

UPDATE: Eli Malone does not have Luekemia! Praise God!

I know my friends at the Scrappin Pad are having a well deserved time of pampering and are productive with their albums. I miss you guys and wish I were there. I will have lots to work on next time. :)

Blessings,
Meghan