Thursday & Friday Thoughts

Thursday morning we met up with our frined Anya and she took us to a little inside waterpark. We thought that might be something fun to do since it is in the upper 90's here and there is only so much you can do in a hotel room with a 2 year old! He LOVED it! He was splashing around, water in the face and everything! No pictures to post on this experience because the park had a NO PICTURES sign posted..I have now noticed that sign in all stores etc.. random! We only stayed for about an 1.5 hours.. then it was home for a 2 hour nap..After nap he had his first real break down. I fixed him yet another drink in a sippy cup. (remember he did not use a sippy cup but being 2 and in a hotel with all white bedding I thought he needed one=))  I think he had tolerated it long enough and he threw himself on the floor and just started sobbing. I knew he wanted the drink so it clicked immediatly with me that it must be the lid.. so I quickly took it off and he stopped crying and took the drink like a big boy, as in chugged it in a minute, tops! The afternoon seemed to go down hill from there. He started to push back from us..That night he did not want to go to bed..He cried and cried and cried what felt like hours.. There was nothing we could do to console him.. We tried rocking, swaying, singing, patting his back.. but he just pushed us away. For a child who has never been comforted a day in his life this is something that he is not used to...we just spoke re-assureing words to him. We figured he was finally starting to grieve his loss. This was what I had imagined our first night to be like not our 3rd..go figure=) He finally fell asleep only to wake up a couple hours later and cry for hours more...

Friday..we were all too tired to do much of anything..a trip to the market for more food and to the park with lots of laughter and fun! It was a much better day! We skipped nap time hoping this would help with bedtime.. So far so good.. He fell asleep at 7:30 in under 5 minutes and it is now 11:30pm and he is still out.

The experince I have with raising my 2 girls I feel like gives me no help in learning my son..It is a completly different ballgame. In preparing to bring him into our lives I read several books etc... but I think it didn't  really all come together until he was safe in our arms..In so many ways he seems big for his 25month old life.. He can drink out of a cup and feed himself with a spoon with the same skill my 5 and 8 year old can and  he fully participates in the dressing routine and even brushes his own teeth! Yet he is probably realistically on a 14 month old level from being instituionalized for 2 years which we already knew.. we hear they catch up quick!! It breaks our hearts that when he falls down he doesn't cry.. he just rubs his little head and keeps going..why? Probably because nobody has really ever helped him before. His new game now is to walk a few steps, fall down and wait for us to say, " it's ok" and help him up! He loves getting cared for and we love watching him acclomate to being cared for!! We also noticed that until now he didn't really expect anyone to change him, feed him, help him, "rescue" him in time of need..I've read about it but then seeing it first hand seriously makes me want to cry.  It is all about learning him right now and turning his little life around.... he is such a joy and a blessing in our lives!  He loves to laugh too.  We were tickling him last night and he was belly laughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.  The joy in his eyes while he is laughing is when  you truly see God's hand on him.  We feel privledged to be part of God's work.....

Gotcha Day!!! Tuesday

So here is the run down on one of the best days of my life! At 9:00am we had an appointment at the notery's office. From there back to our hotel to wait for 1.5 hours until our next appointment at City Hall at 12:00. We waited for almost an hour there.. no air and it was hot! From there we went to the Visa Department to get a number (to wait)..then to the supermarket to get 2 cakes and 3 bottles of champagne for the head nurse and director..Then at 2:30 we made it to the orphanage. We went into the head nurses office and they asked for his clothes including a diaper. While we waited they gave me the only baby picture they had of him. It was a picture of him when he was 3 months old=) Then they brought him to us!! So cute in little boy clothes! His shorts and shoes were massive on him!! I even measured on trip one.. I somehow still got it wrong=) He seemed to remember us..After only a couple of minutes they said, "ok..get the child and lets go!"...so off we went! Surpriseingly he was all smiles on our way out!! All smiles until we got into the car and into the car seat! You have to remember.. as far as we know he has never been outside the orphanage so everything from this point on is a new experience for him.  Once we got him in the car seat I gave him what every child loves... Cheerios! He was in heaven! Next stop... back to the Visa Department..this time we were there for an hour...yea for cheerios.. he ate all of them...I was now out of food=( From there we went to the Supermarket so our translator could show us what kind of milk etc.. to buy for him... wow..this was an experience... all that food..he wanted all of it and didn't understand why he couldnt have it! I had to take him out of the store..Once we got into the car we opened up a yogurt drink and poured it into a cup.. (he didn't have a clue how to drink out of a sippy cup..they only do cups in the orphanage) he downed the entire drink in under 1 minute.. then continued on to eat some crackers!!He did not stop eating all afternoon.. if we tried to stop him.. he cried..by the time we got back to the hotel I think he was in a "food coma"... he was about ready to pass out! He was as we said all day "cautiously happy"!! As soon as we got into our room we skyped Kennedy and Mika! He was to into his toys to really care about the computer..After dinner.. like he really needed to eat again.. we gave him his first bath. It went much better than I thought! He was nervous but he did well. We were trying to keep him on his schedule and get him to bed by 8...not so much.. after his bath.. he came alive!! He was so funny! He was "talking" and laughing about everything! He would not go to sleep.. He didn't want the party to end! Everytime we would change his diaper, feed him, or do anything to help him he gave the biggest smile!!! It's like he knows.. not in the same sense that you or I know.. but I think he somewhat gets it! This boy is soooo happy!  He is so good too... I hope it stays this way!
When it finally got dark out side.. around 12:00am he got scared..the orphanage does not have room darkening shades! So once we figured out why he was crying we turned a light on.. then his bug bites started itching..no air in the orphanage and Russia is having a heat wave so it is in the upper 90's.. so they leave the window open with no screens.. so a little medicine later he calmed down...but no sleep.. we tried walking, bouncing, singing, but nothing seemed to work.. ultimately he fell asleep at 2 AM leaning up against a pillow in between us......
Nothing says good morning like waking up to your son staring at you and when you look at him he gives you the biggest smile possible..That one single smile in that one moment made everything worth the wait!! He is an amazing little boy and we are truly blessed to be a part of his little life!

Day 2-Wed.

With all of our paperwork done we are free for the rest of the week.. just waiting for his passport to be finished. We woke up around 9:30.. he ate..then we went to the "mall" in search of shoes that would fit him. He loves his stroller and all the way to the mall he was just singing and talking to himself...We finally found some shoes that we thought were a good price for Russia. After that we stopped for lunch.. My boy can eat! I was looking forward to a 3 hour nap that the orphanage said that he took everyday...because I really needed one... how about a 1 hour nap! I think they just put them in their beds for 3 hours.. they don't really sleep for that long.. even when he woke up he just laid there.. no crying.. but when we got him up.. he was all smiles! Then we went to the park.. he loved it!!  He finally got to see bubbles!! He wasn't real sure what to think of them.. He wanted to blow them too.. but instead just put the blower in his mouth..he played in the sandbox.. ran around and played with a ball. After the park it was time for dinner.. bath.. then bed..it is 8:30pm and he is out!!! yea!! I think tonight will be much better!

He loves his hat!! At the orphanage the kids always had a hat on outside..so he looks for his hat when we go outside and he keeps it on!

What a Week!

I thought this would be the longest week of my life! Not so much.. I can't believe we are leaving tomorrow!!! I had a list a mile long

-Michael had a ton to get done at work
-I had to work 3 days this week
-The girls had a denists appointment at 9:30am Monday morning.. Kennedy has an "absessed tooth"..  we get to have that pulled when we get back
-I had to take the dog to the vet to get her updated rabbies shot (thought this might be good since she is staying with my parents out in the country while we are gone=) )
-Clean House
-Laundry
-Pack for 5 people for 2 weeks
-Collect final documents for the US Embassy - last 3 years W-2's, Homestudy, Employer Letter's, I-600 Form
-Bank to get more "new" money
-Pharmacy to get precautionary prescriptions for Andrew
-Make final hotel/airfare reservations for St. Petersburg and Moscow- yuck
-Send out info. to all family members keeping my precious girls-contact info. etc..
-In all my shopping for Andrew.. I forgot to buy shoes!!! So I went shoe shopping and I also bought a couple of smaller outfits.. just in case I measured wrong.
-I ordered a dresser for his room 3 weeks ago..it finally came while we were gone.. so we put it together this week too!! Now his room is finished and his clothes finally have a home=)
-Add Andrew to our health insurance
-Make Andrew's initial doctors appointment and his first eye doctor appointment (he has strabismus and will need a minor corrective surgery)
-And I am sure there are a few other little things I am forgetting.. I'm just tired and can't remember=)

We can't wait to get our little boy! Please be praying for him as he makes this transition..We have been waiting and praying for him for some time now.. he has not been waiting for us.. He has no idea what is about to happen. His entire world is about to change. Everything that is familiar to him will change, smells, sights, sounds - from Russian to English , even his name. We know he will probably have some time of grieving..we are just praying that we will do our best in helping him through this and adjusting to his new life=)

Trip Home

I can't believe this week is almost over! It has been so busy and I haven't even posted about our trip home.. not that I really want to re-live it.. but just a quick update.
We left for the airport last Saturday at 4:00am..We flew from St. Petersburg to Moscow..with an hour 1 1/2 between our flight from Moscow to New York we knew we had to hurry..we did NOT check our luggage all the way through after our recent experience with Moscow=) We then had to get our tickets for our next flight... 2 ticket agents and one long line...we missed our flight..So this babushka (grandma) working told us " you, when you are in New York, you hurry...when you are here in Moscow you think nothing and you go slow...you.. this is your fault you miss flight!" Seriously?? Seriously!! So, we had to wait 4 hours for the next flight!! We finally made it to New York then our flight to Dallas was delayed 2 hours! We finally walked in the doors of our house at 3:00am on Sunday morning.. When my husband reminded me that we would be back on a plane that same time next week.. I wanted to cry!

Court Day

Today was the big day! We had our court appointment at noon.. I don't think I have been that nervous in a long time...Not only did we not have our dress clothes, we did not have the required pictures of us and Vitya from our first trip (in the lost luggage) and we had a couple of documents that were not apostilled as they were last minute documents so there was no time...I knew it could only go 1 of 2 ways=) Luckly she had mercy on us and granted a favorable decision!!! She did not waive the 10 day waiting period(which we already knew she could not) but she did count the 10 days including weekends.. So we get to pick up our son on Tues. the 27th of July!!! I am so excited I can't even sleep!!  It is now 3:00am here and we have to leave for the airport at 4:30... so why not blog?! The whole thing only lasted 1 hour.. My husband did a fantastic job of delivering our speech.. the judge asked a few questions then we were done. We are now an offical family of 5!!

After court... we went to the airport to finally collect our luggage!!! Yea!!! Everything was there=) So now we go back home for all of 7 days then turn around and do it again..I kind of wish we could just stay and not have to deal with more traveling... but we do have jobs we would like to keep and most importantly we have 2 little girls who miss us very much and we miss them.. Our next trip we will have to be here 2 full weeks..I don't think I could hang out here for 25 days without my girls=) Thank you for all your prayers!!!

Orphanage Visit

In all of my ranting I left out the single best part of our trip so far.. We did get to visit Vitya at the orphanage this morning for about 1 hour!! At first when they brought him to us he began to cry but when I got out the little book we had brought for him the first time that he loved so much.. he stopped crying and began smiling.. This was the best visit we had with him! He has changed so much in 5 weeks!! He has more hair now, he is walking soooo much better, he is a little "chatter" box! He tried to imitate several words.. He smiled, laughed, and gave hugs the whole time.. I feel like we all really connected..This visit reminded me that I would lose my luggage for a month if needed to bring my baby home! He is sooooo worth it! When it was time to say goodbye..for the first time you could tell he didn't really want to go.. Our last visits when we said good-bye he would dive right into his caregivers arms...this time he looked at he caregiver then looked back at us and hesitated before going to her...This of course made it harder for me to say good-bye but I know that in 10 days he will be mine forever!!! We got some awesome pictures but I can't download them because my cord is...in my lost luggage... oh, I forgot to mention,  I even brought bubbles this time and put them in my checked luggage so they wouldn't get taken away by security.. now.. they are lost!...one day my baby will see bubbles.. one day=)

Russia-2nd Trip-Traveling Nightmares!

When we  left our house on Tuesday morning at 7:00am I never in a million years imagined this trip would be as crazy as it has turned out...God must be teaching us something... and we are trying to learn our lesson quickly! We should have known when..... we got to DFW to get our tickets and they only had us booked to JFK...but they checked our luggage all the way to our final destination-St. Peterburg.... then we get on the plane..a Delta plane and sat for over an hour before they told us there was too much weight on the plane and they needed to remove a few passangers and their luggage... then they proceded to shift passagengers around on the plane to balance it out! Just a little scarry people!! Flight went well..
At JFK.. we went to get our tickets for the next flight.. when they asked for our luggage we told them it had already been checked to our final destination...The lady said... "This is not possible!!! It can't go straight to St. Petersburg.. since you are stopping in Moscow first your luggage has to stop there and go through customs" ... GREAT!!! So, we thought maybe she was wrong so we asked someone else...they basically said.. no worries.. so we had no worries.. good 9 hour flight to Moscow..we got there and ask where to go to catch our next flight.. the lady there looked at our papers and said that we first needed to get our luggage... snap!!! There is only 1 hour in between flights! It took 40 min. for the luggage to even make it to the baggage claim...we waited, waited, and waited... NO LUGGAGE... so we went to Lost and Found... not helpful.. they just made us fill out a claim.. in the meantime we missed our connecting flight to St. Petersburg...we are at this point thinking that our luggage did just go straight through..so we get another ticket and wait for our next flight...We found a TGIFridays in the Moscow airport.. we were so excited.. we deserved some American goodness...we split 1 burger, 1 order of fries, and 1 coke=approx. $40 dollars!! I heard Moscow was expensive... but I almost had a heart attack! On our way through security.. me of all people gets stopped.. not sure why..This is how the conversation went... "you.. you open your bag!" ok... so I do..The securtity guy flips through everything in my backpack  and I think he is a bit disappointed in what he finds...so he asks"Why you fly?" I wasn't sure what to say.. If I said adoption would it cause problems? So I said"tourism"... then he asked" you speak French?" me- "No" .. so then he flips my backpack shut and says, " then just go!"... Well ok Mr. angry Russian man! Short flight later we land in St. Petersburg and..... NO luggage!!! It is now Thursday evening 10:00 and we have done nothing but chase down our luggage!!! We found it.. stuck in Moscow..but everyone we talk to they say, "I don't know" or "This is not possible" etc.. etc...How hard is it to just put it on one of the 16 flights they have going back and forth..They don't seem to care that we have court tomorrow at noon.. and the judge expects to see us in a suit and tie, skirt, jacket, heels, MAKEUP!!! We went shopping for clothes for about 30 min..then quit... I am not willing to pay the prices they have.. we are in the middle of the city.. It would be like buying clothing in New Your City! The judge gets Michael in  plaid shorts and T-shirt and my jeans with holes in the knees and T-shirt!!! I hope she still tells us yes! Where is a Target when you need one? Anyways, after a very long day the airport people tell us that our luggage will be here tomorrow at 12:20 in the afternoon...after our court time!! Did I mention that we have been in the same clothes since Tues.??? I am really good at handwashing clothes now=) We wouldn't care so much about the luggage.. everything is replaceable.. It's just that is has our clothing for court, pictures of us with Vitya that the judge requested, and several gifts we brought back over for the orphanage caregivers etc..This is a trip not to be forgotten! I know one day...far, far, far away we will sit back and laugh!
Thank you God for your continued reality checks on us and reminders to truly be greatful for ALL you have given us.. even the little things..are not to be taken for granted.. a little more understanding for those that do not have and a greater appreciation for all! This reminds me of a verse we recently studied..James 1:2-3 "Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perserverance."

Adoption Update

Greetings friends and family, I hope you are having a great summer. Most of you are aware of the Cagle Family adoption journey. It has been amazing yet the single most challenging thing I’ve been part of. From the stirring in our hearts over the past few years, filling out the applications, to traveling to Russia in June to meet our soon to be son Vitya. Vitya turned 2 while we were in St. Petersburg and it was a blessing to be with him.


After spending 3 days getting acquainted with Vitya, learning his story and much of his birth mother’s background, it is clear Vitya is indeed our son. I wish I could write in detail how God orchestrated our paths; I simply do not have time now. Hopefully soon, certainly when we bring Vitya home.

Many of you have been praying for the adoption process and God has answered your (ours) prayers in amazing ways. A year ago I valued prayer a lot, now I see it more valuable than anything. We commenced the process in November 2009 and Lord willing Vitya will come home in August 2010. International adoption in 9 months is nothing short of a miracle. Praise God!

From the outset of the process, Leigh Ann and I knew God would have to provide in every way, including financially. We reviewed our fiscal prospectus provided by our agency, prayed over it and began initiating fundraisers, adoption update letters, and sharing our  journey with others, including the financial need. In short, there are fixed cost ($25,400) and variable cost such as social worker fees, appostilling fees (state seal), travel (airfare, hotel & food) and medical exam for our little boy.  The "variable" cost are a difficult to predict.
Our initial cost forecast in November revealed we were short $19,000.  This began our plethora of fundraising ventures.  Praise God, we raised $19000 in 4 1/2 month,s and shut down fundraising, thinking we raised enough money. While I am still in amazed that God provided in such an awesome way, the variable cost are higher that we originally forecast, sadly, by $9000. Upon this realization, I was so sad, confused and full of mixed emotions. I prayed and asked God for perspective, not wanting to lose faith. As I pondered the reality of the situation, I remembered quickly that although this seemed enormous to me, we just saw God answer a prayer for $19000, an additional $9K is no problem for Him. His provision began quickly as I won an unexpected sales award receiving $1000. Our need is already being met and is now $8000.

My conclusion while this is a trial for sure, it is in no way to big for our God, who has not only provided financially but in countless other ways. Philippians 4:12-13 says (paraphrase), whether in season of plenty or great need, it is the “SAME” strength that gets us through. Christ’s strength! Raising these funds to rescue a little boy who otherwise has a life expectancy of 30 years, and having the privilege to parent a son we always wanted is possible!

It is with this need, I appeal to you to help bring our little boy home to his new family in Texas, the Cagle family who eagerly awaits his arrival to love and embrace as our own (he already is ours in our hearts and minds). If you help rescue Vitya through your prayer and financial giving, Leigh Ann &  I will commit to raising him in a loving home, full of grace and love, because that is what our heavenly father has given us, as his adopted children. I have never asked a friend or family for money (parents excluded). Without hesitation I ask you to consider giving toward saving Vitya’s life? It may be the best investment you will ever make. If you cannot give financially, please commit to praying over the next 30 days as they are crucial in finalizing Vitya’s adoption.

In summary I have 2 “asks”. First, please watch this 4 minute video to enhance your understanding and perspective of the need these orphaned children have (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpQbjJyqE7k)?

Secondly, if you want to give financially, our blog has a link allowing easy donations. If you live in Rockwall, Sachse, Wylie, Royce City or Frisco, we have coupon cards given to us for anyone who donates to Vitya’s adoption (the cards have relevant discounts). If you don’t live in the aforementioned cities, well, I’m about to spend 3 weeks in Europe (St. Petersburg, Russia) and I will give you a big Euro “smelling” hug when I get back!!

By Faith,
http://www.thecagles.blogspot.com/
The Cagle Family

Court Date!!!

It's been awhile... but we have a tentative court date of July 16th!! I say tentative because St. Petersburg has not recieved the required paperwork from Moscow.. It takes 2 weeks to several weeks for the papers to arrive.. We recieved a court date 2 weeks after we were home, which is really quick..We are praying these papers show up before court because if they don't... well, there will not be court...next available date... September! We have already booked flights, hotels, and applied for Visa's..If we wait until the papers show up then it might be too late for us to get Visa's, flights, etc... So please be praying!! We asked our agency about this and they said the papers typically show up on time.  I am still really excited..It will be a quick trip..we leave on the 13th and return on the 17th.. Our 3rd trip will be in Russia for almost 2 weeks.. but at least we will have Andrew with us=) We can't wait!!!