Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Home Forever!



Yesterday, we took our kids home forever, for the first time! No longer will they live or sleep in an orphanage. No longer will they be sequestered at a scary sanitorium if they are sick. And did they know it! They were all smiles and grins as it was their day! We had shopped with them this past weekend for some special, "Go Home" clothes and they were eagerly awaiting for us when we arrived. Galina sent the house nurse to go and rescue our Julia from the sanitorium while the other two proceeded to change into their dress clothes.

Julia arrived and was very happy to be busted out! We spent the next two hours at the Dietski Dom because the staff had to have the "send off". Galina exchanged gifts with us, she gave us a pretty nice Matriska (sp?) doll and we presented her with a framed family photo, the same one a few posts back where Kolya is doing the rabbit ears. Everyone Ooh-ed and aaww-ed over the three in their new threads! I stood back and let them glow in the spotlight, it was their day. We went upstairs for some more pictures before taking off.

When we left, there were no tears, no sad goodbyes, no fan-fare! The kids couldn't wait to leave! Their attitude may be because we will come back for a formal going away party right before we leave. Also, Kolya wants to perform again with his dance troop. They have a competition Wednesday and Thursday in Kiev. We will drop him off at 8:30 on those mornings so that he can catch the Dietski Dom bus with the other boys, thus saving us the trouble of getting him to Kiev. We will pick him up afterwards, back at the Dom. We have elected to keep all three out of school. Nadia has only three days of school left due to the paperchase, Kolya will have only two days in school at most due to the dance thing and the paperchase, and Julia just needs the love, food, and attention she has missed. She lost weight when they isolated her and she couldn't come home.

Last night all went well until bedtime. It was funny as each kid had an idea as to their new bedtimes. We thought it best to send the little ones to bed around eight and let Nadia stay up with us intil 9pm. Man! You would have thought the world was coming to an end. We put the other two in bed and they blabbed, yelled, bellowed, boo-hoo-ed. you name it! We caught the gist of it...they were upset that they had to go to bed while Nadia stayed up. Every 10 minutes, Heidi or I would have to go into the room to quiet them down. When we would, they wouldn't speak to us and the would hide their faces under their pillows. Good thing too, they couldn't see me choking back laughter. It was so funny! I couldn't help but snicker at their futile attempts to change our minds! I'm lol right now remembering the situation! In this case, thank God for the language barrier. I'm sure they weren't happy that we told them in Spanish to go to sleep and quit whining! There were some choice, strong words coming from the room when we would leave. After 30 minutes or so of this, they tired of it and went to sleep. This morning all was forgiven and nothing was said about the night before. Heidi invited Julia to snuggle with her on her side of the bed. Julia put one arm around Heidi and reached for my hand with the other.

Taa-daa, instant family, just add LOVE!


I've added a new photo album in our picture link for this occasion entitled, "Going Home". This time I added captions to help with the story. See ya next time!


~ Felix ~

12 comments:

Debora Hoffmann said...

Congratulations! Godspeed on your final paperwork--can't wait till you're HOME forever! And then I can ask you some dossier questions...haa-haa! Just kidding. I am just so thrilled for you all to be a family and to be able to spend Christmas together at HOME. :-)

ArtworkByRuth said...

Hmmm? "Instant family" has been anything but! Adoption actually takes longer than a pregnancy...
LOL! CONGRATULATIONS! GOD BLESS YOUR JOURNEY HOME!

Anonymous said...

Awesome guys! Heidi -- motherhood becomes you. You look positively radiant! Can't wait to see the "come home date" listed.

Cathy S. (AZ)

Amy said...

Congratulations!
So glad that everything is going well!!! You have been very blessed!

Mayme said...

Happy Family Day!! It is such a great day for you all. When are you heading back to the States? Travel safe!!

Rachel & Michael said...

Congrats!!!!! I'm so happy for you!!

Anonymous said...

To the "ROGE' FAMILY"
The tears run down my face as I have read your wonderful update. I could not be happier for all of you! What a blessing for all concerned. I can hardly wait to meet them. Please bring them by the office. Come home to the "USA" safely.
Dental Horizons- Linda

Kathy and Matt said...

Loved reading your post and seeing the family photo. Thanks for sharing your journey. It's been such a joy to follow.

Can't wait to read the post that says "we're on our way home!"

Praying that things will continue to go well and efficiently for you.

Viktor and Inna said...

Hello, It was nice to meet you guys at church! if you have some time, we can get together, please email me at maranatha220033@yahoo.com or call the phone I gave you...
Blessings and Congrats on becoming a family!

Matt and Aimee said...

& there you have it! What a relief. Way to stand strong against the whining-that, along with lots of other fun and games has just started. Anya goes back and forth hating either Aimee or I, mostly me! She has NEVER had a man in her life and cannot figure out why I am around. I helped her figure it out a little last night by banishing the stupid I-POD forever! Do not let them get one, it has been thee single biggest mistake we made. Your three will find their own vehicles of relational destruction, I'm sure.
Are you finding it strange to actually have them in the same place, overnight? Wait until you wake up with them-it's great. Congratualtions. See you soon. Matt

Matt and Aimee said...

I am loving your pictures!! Thanks so much for sharing them. Congratulations on your offical role as Mom & Dad!!! Now the real fun begins, yes, Thank God for the language barrier, I know there are so many times when Anya has told us things in Russian that we never want or need to understand.
Any word on when you may get passports and head home?
Aimee

Twyla, John, Duncan, Mari, and Misha said...

Heidi and Felix

Congratulations! The family picture is wonderful - you all look radiant! They are so cute in their dress clothes. Their special day sounds like it was just that!

We are so happy they are "home" where they belong with you both.

The bedtime routine had me laughing. I went through the same thing with Misha the other night - getting him down an hour earlier than the big kids. He could not comprehend the age difference and struggled for 45 minutes before finally dropping off in exhaustion! A far as I am concerned 8:45 was better than 9:00and it gave Mari an hour to watch some of HS Musical 2 by herself! A goal we will continue to work on!

Once you get home, the kids will fall into the routine and not give you as much grief hopefully. Mari still tries the "I'm hungry", "I'm thirsty", and the "can I sleep with you in the big bed?" - we are hoping once we continue to stand firm she will get the message!

How much longer? Have you left Boyarka for Kyiv yet? Are you going to stay in Boyarka and finish things up or move into the big city? Tell Kolya good luck on his competition!

Hugs,
The Barretts

About Us

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Longmont, Colorado, United States
Heidi loves to play sand volleyball, sail and garden. Felix loves to fly at the local aeroclub, sail and fish.