We made it home earlier than we had thought (11:40 p.m.).  Hollynn was passed out already but Hudson was up.  It is good to be home.  Yesterday was so emotional for me, though.  I'm not typically one who cries but I could have cried at any given moment, and did at some points.  I couldn't wait to get home and then hated leaving him.  Praying for mountains to move and us get a really quick court date!

Not Goodbye, but See ya later...

Today we told our little one we'd be back soon.  I prayed over him the same thing I prayed over my other two when I left them, that the Lord would bless him and keep him make His face shine upon him and be gracious to him.  Gave him a kiss on the cheek and there he went.  I can't wait until the day someone doesn't come get him and we walk out of there forever.  I can't wait for the day we land in Nashville and Hudson and Hollynn get to meet their brother.  And I can't wait to parent three (yes, many people have told me it won't be easy but you know what I still can't wait)!  

We learned quite a bit more today as we met with the doctor and the director of the orphanage.  We thought his birthmom was from Uzbekistan but she is really from Kazakhstan and was living in Uzbekistan and more than likely came to Moscow to work and send money home.  There are 2 other children that she has, born in 03 and 05, we have no other info. on them.

The Dr. came and examined him and she was fantastic and spoke english really well.  The only thing we were a little concerned about is his head is flat on the back of it but she and Dr. Prine both said the same thing, that it will be straightened out by the time he is 5, this is common in babies that have laid a lot of their life.  I know this, but it was good to be reassured.

He can crawl already and pull himself up to stand.  But he is content to just chill with us too.  He is such a happy guy and seems to be Mr. Personality.  Smiles and laughs constantly!  He really enjoyed checking Jason out and he would start laughing before my hands could get on him to tickle him.  He babbled a lot today, so sweet!  

 Room we played in.

 Holding Daddy's finger.

 Outside of baby home #13

Prayer request:  We could be back as soon as 6 weeks or 10 weeks.  Please pray with us that it will be 6 weeks.  I want him home for his 1st birthday.  I want to see his first steps and hear his first words.  Also continue to pray for us financially as we have a $10,500 check due not long after we return home.  I need to sell some horses!!  

Heath James

We couldn't have asked for a better first time to meet our son than today except of course to just take him home right this minute!  He was smiling instantly, and not just little smiles, but big huge toothy grins!  We have a great video of him laughing, too.  He was very ticklish!  And a little cuddler, which will fit right in with my other two.  At one point he just laid over on me and put his head up against my neck.  He is definitely teething and I'm glad I brought several toys just to chew on, he would have one in each hand and go back and forth chewing on them.  

His birthmom is from Uzbekistan, and we have her name that was on her passport so it should be legit.  You pronounce his Russian name Nurlan (be sure to roll the r :)  He and Hollynn are exactly 9 months apart, his birthdate is July 15, 2011. 

Tomorrow we leave much earlier.  Our agency is paying to have a dr. meet us at the baby home and do a thorough exam since we didn't have enough time to consult with our pediatrician on his medicals and video.  We get to see him two times tomorrow in between naps.  We also get to meet with the director of the baby home and ask her all of our questions about his schedule, etc.  I will try on some clothes I brought to get an idea of what size he is.  I'm thinking right now he is in a 6 month.  He is very skinny, but seems to be long.  On the growth chart he fell at the 5% mark for wt. and 62% on ht. 

I just have this feeling he is going to fall right into place as a Carney, he seems to be happy and enjoy everything, and I'd like to think we are a fun, happy crew! 

St. Basil's

Yesterday we spent the day hanging out with Heather and Girish at the Russian market and then around Red Square.  We ate at a Russian fast food place (which was way nicer than American fast food), called Mymy's (pronounced moo moo's).  It was very good.  

And so today is the day we have been waiting for.  I just shared on facebook and I think this sums it all up...

Right now there's a little boy who needs his mom and there's a mom who needs her little boy. And there's a devil who is trying to be distracting but there's is Jesus who = peace and focus! I get to wrap my arms around my little boy here in a few hours, I'm excited, just thrilled, the butterflies are fluttering like crazy! Pray for us, as while you are sleeping good tonight TN, we will be wrapping our arms around the one He knit together just for us! We are coming for you Heath James, and we will not leave you as an orphan, just like our Father hasn't left us and one day we pray, you will know that your true Father did not leave you too!

I cannot post pictures of him on the blog but will definitely update it when we return to the hotel.  I can however, send an e-mail with pics in it and if you aren't on my e-mail list, as I know some of you aren't but read the blog all the time and have been praying and supporting us like crazy, and you would like to see a picture, please e-mail me lindsey@treasure2farm.com and I will include you on the list.

 

 Tuesday we spent checking out some cool stuff.  These first pics were taken at a place where the Tsar and Tsarina's lived.  The detail was amazing!

 My Francine River's girls, in the Mark of the Lion trilogy, remember the communal bath tubs, this is what this is, it was my favorite room just because I felt so educated on it! Ha!

 I need some help, fellow bloggers, with this new layout I can't figure out why my pictures won't turn the right way when I upload them.  I have them saved on my computer the correct way and then I upload them and this is what happens.  Need your help, you know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to this stuff!

 View of it from the outside

 So this is definitely my favorite picture, it will go in a frame!  This church was my favorite and behind us is the Moscow River and in the distance is Bratislavskaya which is where going on 4 years ago was the home to my baby!
Our driver/translator is also a photographer.  I told him he is the man! 

 Had to take a pic of the tractor for my boy!

Wednesday we are venturing to Red Square, but here it is from the distance.

This is Heather and Girish, whose baby is also with our Heath and since they are the same age, we assume they are in the nursery together.  We are so thankful to have another couple going through this at the same time especially one that we click with.  We have had a great time with them so far and are already planning our next trips out with them! 





I am getting home sick.  This is hard because I haven't gotten to see him yet.  Every time I talk to the kids I'm just sad and then I watch our video of Heath and remind myself why I am here and then I am okay again.  We are trying to stay busy.  My body is not adjusting well to time.  I cannot sleep at all when I would normally be working in the afternoon, which is of course is around 1 a.m. here.  And then by the time it is afternoon here I cannot hold my eyes open.  Of course, Jason can sleep anywhere and he is feeling good!  Praying that Wed. goes fast and our appointment for Thurs. to go sign paperwork is in the a.m. so we can spend lots of time with Heath, pray that with us, please!!

Meeting at the Ministry

Sorry for the glare off the window but wanted to share the view from our hotel.  I was awake as the sun was coming up this morning and although I do not like to see the sun come up, this was a pretty site.  Jason slept for over 10 hours last night while I got in a whopping 4.  I think in all of my life I have never been on such little sleep as the past 4 days but jet lag is not kicking my tail like it normally does.  Oh wait, I just had a flashback to when Hollynn was a baby and I had no clue what sleep was.  Maybe that's where I learned how to hang!!

Today was our meeting at the Women's Ministry of Affairs.  We were prepped before we left but the only thing they mentioned was our homestudy agency's license expires on June 30th so we will need to update this.  I loved that the harder lady of the two couldn't help but smile when she started looking through our pics and saw Hudson and Hollynn.

We wanted some good Russian food today the problem is not many places have english menus but our driver made a call and took us to a place where I had veal stuffed with pears with a raspberry sauce on top (awesomeness!).  Jason had lamb, which he had never had before, he didn't care too much for it but he liked his Russian pancake stuffed with cabbage. 

We spent all yesterday afternoon with the couple that is doing everything the same time as us.  We are really enjoying them and since we have 2 days of down time we are going to hang out with them and do some site seeing tomorrow.

On a really weird note:  Everything I say in my head has a Russian accent to it! Ha!  I remember doing this last time too!!

I have already almost read my over 600 page book, that I started on the plane ride over.  I brought another one but I got mixed up and brought the second in the series, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself since reading is how I put myself to sleep.  I guess next trip I will just pack a whole bag full of books!

We are here. Jason just spoke Spanish to our waitress I think jet lag is starting to set in. Going to take a quick nap and then head out, will post later.

New York

I'm not sure why blogger keeps putting this on sideways.

We made it to New York City and are now ready to say so long to NYC!  I have always wanted to come here but now that I am here I am ready to go.  I came back to the hotel, showered, and still feel dirty.  But I am glad to have gotten to see everything, there was some really cool things.  Of course the best thing was going to where Jimmy Fallon is taped, unfortunately he is not doing any more taping until May but I still was extremely excited :) 

We were blessed with a free plane ticket to New York (which we had to use today) and found a good deal getting out of JFK tomorrow straight into Moscow.  We arrive in Moscow 7:30 a.m. their time.  I will post when we get there.  We go to the Ministry of Women's Affairs on Monday morning for our meeting and then we won't get to see him until Thursday.  Things are a little different now from when we went through it with Hudson, and we have to wait on the paperwork to be finished before we can see him.  So we will have a few days of down time.

I have more pics to upload but since blogger keeps on uploading them sideways I'll wait until I can figure it out :)

Change in Plans...

Hello family and friends, I want to update you all about a change in our plans. This morning I awoke with an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach, I can't really describe it, it was just uneasy. I went to the couch to read my devo. like I usually do and the very last line in it was something Corrie TenBoom said, "Do not hold tightly your possessions; hold them loosely, that way when God takes them out of your hand it will not be so painful." That didn't help my feeling any!

I went ahead and called to check on all of our flights and hotels to just make sure I had everything lined up correctly and while I was doing that our agency beeped in. It was Sonya, the Russian director, delivering us some bad news. A Russian family came in the orphanage 2 days ago wanting a child. They picked, who we thought, was our next son. It was all confirmed this morning. Our agency went to bat and fought tooth and nail for us but b/c we haven't signed any paperwork there was nothing they could do. Sonya was distraught. This has only happened 2 other times in over 20 years of our agency doing Russian adoptions. She had not eaten or hardly slept since yesterday, worrying over all of it. I sat there in shock.
She told me she could tell us about another little boy that had just came into the data base, he turned 9 months old on the 15th. But she wanted me to process this all first. I told her to let me call Jason and see what he has to say.

I called Jason and cold chills ran up my spine when he said, "Well, we won't lean on our own understanding but the Lord's. This child needs a home like every orphan does." So I called Sonya back and asked them to e-mail us the video and a pic. and his medical. Of course, it wouldn't open on my computer and we needed an i-phone to get the app and Jason was on a job. So he came home, had to do something to his phone since it wasn't working correctly and an hour later we could finally see his video. He is Eurasian, absolutely adorable, big stout guy. At 8 months old he could pull himself up and stand. He laughs and plays in the videos. The agency offered to pay for all of the stuff we have already paid for if we decided not to go. They also offered to pay for a dr. to come meet us with our first meeting with him and examine him. He seems and they all say he is healthy and much stronger than the other kids his age, I believe that just from the video.

So we are still leaving tomorrow as planned. We have been on our face this a.m. We trust the Lord. We know He alone is Sovereign. I know He is going ahead of us and even though I can only see an inch in front of me, He makes our paths straight, He guides us. We have asked Him throughout this whole process to shut it down if it wasn't His will. Seems He is opening another door. His plans are good, I will cling to this!

Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; -Isaiah 12:2

I have that peace that is indescribable. What's crazy is the feeling I had this morning left completely after I got off the phone with Sonya and Jason and I have total peace about this. Yes, total peace. I am sad we lost our first referral but he has found a forever home, and I will pray for his sweet face still. I am also looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us and meeting this new little one.

Please pray for us, I know I have been asking for a lot of prayer here lately, but if you happen to think of us during this time, please pray! We are ever so grateful.

Moscow Bound Very Soon!

T-SHIRT INFO. IS ON THE NEXT POST SO IF YOU ARE WANTING TO LOOK AT THEM, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN.

Next Friday we will be boarding a plane for New York and then leaving the next day to head to Moscow!! Then on that Monday we will go before the women's ministry of affairs to "accept our referral". The only stinky thing is we won't be able to see him until Thursday. My prayer is that this changes and we can somehow get in there sooner to see him. Something about how we havea to wait on the papers we sign on Monday to be finished and they should be finished up on Wed. We will have Thurs. and Fri. with Heath and then return home on Saturday.

I had gotten to my desperate point, I just wanted to hear something so bad and it was looking like it was going to be later than we expected and then the phone rang asking if we were ready to go to Moscow!! I am sooooo excited and in that same breath, I'm also dreading leaving Hudson and Hollynn. I have never been away from Hollynn, and the only time I've been away from Hudson is when I had Hollynn in the hospital and when we went one night away for a couples retreat. It bothers me just to think about leaving them even if it's only for 8 days. I think I am going to spend the next several months torn in two, until we are all together, forever.

Our t-shirt sales are doing well, but we still need to sell even more so keep putting the word out. I have someone coming today to look at a horse to buy, so say a little prayer that this may be the right person for her. If she sells, we should have everything we need for our first trip and then can begin getting ready for our next big payment and our second trip! Thank you so much for your support in this!!

I cannot type on this blog without praising the Lord! Do you know who I am? Do you know the pit that He pulled me out of? Do you know I am the wretch? Do you know I am the most undeserving? And yet, His grace washes over me every day. He blesses me beyond anything I could ever put into words. He just keeps on providing. I have been so overwhelmed by Him lately that at times all I can do is sit with my head in my hands and tears streaming down my cheeks, telling Him thank You, thank You! And then at other times I throw my hands in the air and praise Him with more tears and just stand in awe at Him. You won't see me cry very often, if at all, but He can move me to tears instantly. He holds me when I don't think I could be any more desperate, He comforts me when I am broken, He sits with me in the quiet, He speaks to my heart, He celebrates with me (and we celebrate BIG TIME), and He shows up even when I think He might be late-He's right on time!

Bring Justice

Is this not the cutest model you have ever seen?

We are selling t-shirts to help raise money for our adoption. This is so different for us this time around because we don't have much time to prepare, not that I am complaining, I wish it would go even faster b/c I can't wait to get my hands on our baby! We are doing some fundraisers to help with the cost. We have to have over $30,000 by July! This is the most radical thing God has asked me to do. While I don't mind stepping outside of my comfort zone, I actually find that kind of fun. This is wwwaaayyyy out of my zone. I am the saver, the be prepared for things, but this has caught me off guard. I know we serve Jehovah Jireh, and He will provide. And as He is doing it, we are going to praise Him b/c the only way we can pull this off is with His mighty hand!

I chose this verse because by buying this t-shirt, you are helping to bring justice to an orphan, my little Heath! Maybe this t-shirt will strike up a conversation in the grocery store or with a family member and you can tell them our story and spread the need for adoption. If you are able to buy a t-shirt or two, know that we are ever so grateful!

T-shirt prices for children's Small through adult XL $15

2x $17 and 3x $18 If you need it shipped, please add $1 to help with shipping costs.

If you are local, we will deliver to you.

If you buy or help us sell 4 shirts or more OR give a $50 donation your name will go in the drawing for some really cool prizes...

Signed items by Pat Summitt (these can be personalized with your name or whoever you would like)

Don Ponchos gift card

Trail Ride

Yard Mowing

Really cool hand made cutting board

31 bag

and more!

Please comment on this post if you would like to purchase a shirt or more :) or you can e-mail me at lindsey@treasure2farm.com or send me a message on facebook!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!