Wednesday in Serbia

Hello! We are just loving our time with Max. We also got to see ALL the kids today!!!! Yes, I have lots of pics for all you waiting moms. I will send them to your email accounts tomorrow. Sorry, we forgot the camera cord again. Today was a bit mentally stressful. It was wonderful to play with all the children but I want to take them all home. The children's home is nice. Very clean, good care but we all know a family makes a world of difference. Jasmina is working so hard to find homes for all available children. I have a few more to add to RR. It just breaks my heart that there are so many children who need homes and we are only one couple and can't do it all. All I can say is if you are not in the process of adopting, please think about it. It is needed in every country!!

We took Max outside today and walked around the playground. He was very interested in every sound he heard. He is so curious. He seemed to be feeling better today but still gets tired easily. We played in his room today with him instead of the playroom. He is so good natured and only cries when his nose is wiped. I don't think I have EVER met a child who likes that!!! He is so ticklish and even laughed when his diaper was changed.

We have called our kids a few times using a webcam. It is so fun to see them as I miss them so much. I think all is going well though and we will hurry home. We visited the castle/fortress here last evening and have seen a few sites. It is very different here but the nature is the same. Green trees, large parks, etc. The buildings are different though. I will post some pics tomorrow of the city. Anyway, we are off to eat dinner and head to bed.

Pictures from today a.m.-Tuesday

Is that the longest tongue ever??Sorry, it is sideways but this is Kevin giving him tickles
Sleeping in mommy's arms. Aaawwww.......

Day 3 from Serbia

The huge smile when I first picked him up!
Checking me out
patty cake, patty cake
He's not sure about daddy's beard

All of the pictures are from yesterday. We had another great day with Max! He is so sweet and LOVES to be tickled!!! He likes to tease us by crawling toward the door so we will tickle him. He is so cute!!! He even has a game he plays with Kevin. He holds his rattle up in the air towards Kevin and waits for him to shake his arm to make the rattle sound. He does it over and over. He really has a fun personality. Of course, you can tell by the promised pictures that he has a great smile (tongue out and all)!

Julie, I saw David today as I walked past his room. He is in the room next to Max's. He was sitting up in his crib and I waved to him. I will get to meet all the kids next week and take all their pictures. Jasmina and the psychologist wrote our report today to send to the Ministry. They have seen enough to recommend us. We have a very nice psychologist! Max is still pretty sick and a bit low energy but he still plays hard. He loves for me to sing to him and fell asleep in my arms which was so adorable. He is a thumb sucker and although I know that is a hard habit to break, it is so dang cute! I can't wait to get him home and even though it is beautiful here, I can't believe it is only Tuesday. Enjoy the pictures!

WE MET MAX!!!!!

OK, first I will start by apologizing that you will all have to wait until tomorrow to see pictures. Sorry, sorry, sorry. We forgot our cable to download the pictures back at the apartment a few blocks away. We should have DSL in our apt in the next few days and we won't have to walk to the church, although that is not a problem as it is close.

Now to the important stuff. Our meeting with the ministry was very fast as they had many meetings today. We pretty much just introduced ourselves and learned a bit about Max's birth family. Then set a schedule of events for the next 2 weeks. There was a bit of a heated discussion between the attorney of the center and the others but we are not totally sure what it was all about. Probably best we don't know so that we are just ourselves.

Then we went to the orphanage, which by the way, some prefer it to be called a "children's home" or something a bit less institutional sounding. It was not a problem, just a discussion between the others of what they should call it. Anyway, we went there and as we waited for the Center officials to arrive, I got to meet Max!!!! We went in to check if he was still sleeping and he was sitting up in his crib (yes, on his own!). My heart melted when I laid eyes on him. He is the most beautiful little guy!!! I asked if I could hold him and they said yes (even though I think we were officially supposed to wait). So of course I scooped him up and he gave me the best smile!!! Oh, I just love him! We do have great pictures, you will see his sweet smile.

We only had a minute to love on him and then we had to leave and go meet with the Center people. They were nice and just asked about us and how Max's life would be in our family. We told them our story and how we came to find Max and fall in love with him. Jasmina told them we got to see him while they were on their way and they asked what we thought of him. Of course, I gushed that he was so wonderful and I was ready to go back and give him more hugs. They were all very sweet and also surprised that Tia, my 6 year old is reading. We tried to explain all the advantages of early intervention services.

They followed us to the playroom and we got to play with Max for about an hour. He is even cuter than the pictures I have seen! Really, he is SO cute!!! The woman from the Center and the psychologist only stayed about 15 minutes and then we got to have him alone. I even got to feed him a bottle. (Which he gulped down in a few minutes and wanted more.) Jasmina came in a few minutes later and said the ladies were satisfied. I guess we passed the test. So, we go back 2 times a day for about 2 hours each. He is sick right now so he is tired. His breathing sounds like a purring cat and his nose is goopy. Ask me if I care. He is so wonderful!!!! I hope he gets better before we leave so he is comfortable on the plane. Oh, and he is commando crawling!!! He is so dang cute!

Sorry, this is so long. I told Jasmina I will be in big trouble if I don't take lots of pictures of the other kids who have families from Reece's Rainbow waiting. She said, yes I will get to see them all and take pictures. So, hold tight ladies. Also, there is a 5 month old here we will meet (DS) who is now ready for adoption. We asked Jasmina to put her in our backpack! Shelley, I think you met her right? Anyway, this has been such an awesome day!!!! I will for sure post pics tomorrow. Sorry!

Greetings from Serbia!!!

We are here! All of our luggage made it too---hooray!!! You should have seen us trying to shove 4 suitcases and 2 carry-ons into a YUGO. It was a bit tight. Pretty funny. Belgrade is much bigger than I thought it would be. It is a beautiful time to be here. It is very green. There was a downpour for about 10 minutes but then it stopped. Unfortunately, it happened when we were out walking two streets away from the apartment so we got a bit wet. :-) The buildings in our part of town are old and have a lot of history and nice architecture. There are several bombed buildings still standing. The US Embassy now has cement blocks where the windows used to be. (Since it was attacked and set on fire a few months ago during a demonstration.) Guess you just can't be too careful, huh?

Our apartment is nice. Nothing fancy but it is perfect for us. We are not very high maintenance. LOL The man helping us from the church (the Branch President) is wonderful. He has really set everything up for us. Right now we are at the church using the internet until they get ours installed this week. He even stocked our apt with some food so we would have something to eat when we arrived.

The flight was exhausting and I am really looking forward to sleeping tonight laying down! Tomorrow is the big day!!!! We will meet with the Ministry and then meet Max for the first time!!! I cannot wait, as you might have guessed. So, check tomorrow and I will try to post pictures of the big moment. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.

What??? Only 2 more days???

I just got my plane tickets from the Fed Ex man!!!!!   I now have a plane ticket with my son's name on it.  Granted, it is not the name Max, but his current name with our last name.  I totally got goosebumps reading it!!!   I cannot believe I will be meeting him on Monday!!!  I am SO happy to add him to our family!  I am so in love with him!

So, how's getting ready going???  Actually, I am doing OK with it.  I have WAY more stuff than I thought I would.  I may have gone a bit overboard on the gifts.  I learned from the best---thanks mom!  I have half of my house clean, now for the other half.  Did I mention how much I dislike cleaning?  I just want to play with my kids as much as I can before I leave.  Tia is very excited to get Max home.  We have been talking about him since Christmas time.  She keeps telling me all the things she wants to do with him.  Read him stories, sing him songs, play with toys, feed him milk...  The list goes on and on.  Tyler hasn't talked about him too much.  When someone asked him (for the millionth time), "Who is that picture of?"  Tyler, knowing full well it was Max, replied, "STEVE!"  It was pretty funny.  He likes to answer easy questions with wrong answers for attention.  I'm not sure how well that will go over at testing time at school!  LOL  He is a true comedian.  I am going to miss them so much for two whole weeks!!!!  

Oh, and all of you waiting for your little ones in Serbia, I will have my camera handy at ALL times to take pictures of them and send them home.  I know that is what we thrive on until the day comes!!  OK, back to cleaning.  Sigh!!!

Where will we be?

The time is short and I have 100 things to do.  If I were a better housekeeper, I would have a lot less to do.  Too late.  LOL  My nephews (J & C) requested that I post where we will be traveling on our way to Belgrade.  So, here goes.   Saturday afternoon we fly from Phoenix, AZ to Los Angeles, CA.  We make a VERY quick transfer to another gate (same airline, so hopefully our luggage makes it).  We will leave LA at 5pm Saturday and fly all night long to Frankfurt, Germany.  It will be 4:30 in the morning AZ time, but already Sunday afternoon in Germany.  We will then fly to Belgrade from Germany and arrive there about 4pm.  AZ is 9 hours behind Serbia. 

We will come home on the 17th.  (And of course, by "we" I mean Kevin, me and our newest son Max!!!)  We leave Belgrade first thing in the morning and fly to Paris, France.   I get to go to Paris!!  OK, I get to see a few gift shops in Paris, still, it's PARIS.  We leave Paris at 1 pm and even though we fly for hours and hours, we arrive in New York at 3:15 pm.  Crazy!! We then finish our trip by flying home to Phoenix.  We arrive there at 9:30pm.  Just in time for BED.  Hooray!!!  I'm exhausted just writing it.  LOL

OK, I am off to clean.  Tyler is home with croup this week.  I really hope it clears quickly since the cousins will be moving in on Friday!  I just want to give a special thanks to my sister and her husband for taking care of my 2 on top of their 3.  It will be a bit crazy and hopefully she will still be speaking to me when this is over.  Come to think of it, now I owe her so I am sure she'll stick around.  LOL