Monday, February 28, 2011

One year ago today, again....

Chance's 4th Birthday


Yes, I'm a boy, but I love my Mama and will do whatever she asks.


Dixon's Second Chance


7/21/02 - 02/28/11


One year ago, we were in Ukraine in the adoption process - awaiting court on Friday.
We got a phone call from home. It was my sister and I knew something was wrong, but she said wanted to talk to Tim and said, it will be OK - let me talk to Tim.

Our sweet Boxer boy, Chance died on 2/28/10. So unexpected....so untimely. We lost a son that day and within the week, gained another son - Alex.

Chance, we love and miss you, sweet boy.

Alex - we are glad you are our son.

Love,

Mama & Daddy.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

It's Official

Alex needs surgery to remove tonsils, adenoids and needs tubes in his ears. They tested his hearing and he has approximately a 40% hearing loss due to the fluid in his ears. His tonsils are huge and are affecting his sleep. He snores and has sleep apnea. The ENT said that his humongous tonsils are part of the reason he eats so slowly. We told him that he never complains of a sore throat or ear ache and he said that is orphanage behavior. It doesn't do them any good to complain, so they learn not to and to tough it out. I knew this, but sometimes when you hear it from someone else, it seems sadder.

When I told someone at work about the hearing loss, she said, well, I bet you feel bad now because I am sure you have spanked him for something when he didn't hear what you told him to do. Uh, nope! She must be supermom. I am not supposed to make him eat anything he doesn't like either because she didn't make her kids do it.

We have not yet scheduled the surgery. He will need to be out of "school" for one week and then take it easy - no running for another week. While we were at the ENT, Tim's mom was having cervical spine surgery and I couldn't even fathom scheduling it until we knew she was OK. She did fine and may get to go home tomorrow.

After Alex's appointment, I went to his class to tell them about Ukraine. This was world travel week and they had snacks from around the world and parents came in and shared about different countries they were from or had visited. I am not sure if any other parents went, but there is a father from England, parents from Mexico and a family from Russia. When I told the kids some Russian words, the little girl from Russia showed no recognition. I am not sure how long she has been in USA, but she speaks three languages, so it was

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

One year ago today......


One year ago today, we met our son!

At that time, our pastor's wife mentioned that his jacket said "to the rescue!" We don't feel like we rescued him, but he surely rescued us from many years of being childless and wishing for a child.
We love you Alex!

Friday, February 18, 2011

VERA!

Sweet Vera has a family - a Christian family and they live close enough that we can visit from time to time.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for this sweet girl. We are so excited.

Love,
R & T & A

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Please pray.....

I have many prayer requests today.

  1. Please pray for little Anatoli, who was the first child we were referred to. There was no attachment, connection there and his needs were greater than we were led to believe. We do not know if he has found a family, but pray that where ever he is, he is receives the proper care and love that he needs. One year ago today, we returned from visiting his region.
  2. Please continue to pray for Vera, Niko and Sasha. They have not yet found families. To the best of our knowledge, Vera is still at the Baby House. Please pray for us as we ache for her situation. We hope they all get a home, but Vera is very special to us and if we could, we would make her a part of our family. Please pray that if Vera does have to be moved, she is moved to an internat (older children's orphanage) as opposed to a mental institution - where she surely does not belong.
  3. Please pray for my mother-in-law who is facing cervical surgery on February 24th. This is her second surgery on her neck in recent years. She will have to have a steel rod implanted and may have to spend time in the rehabilitation hospital where I work.
  4. Please pray for Alex's behavior. He is having trouble listening and following directions in school. He is also back talking us. We are working on a weekly reward system for him, but out of the last week, he has only gotten two stars. We are trying not to be too hard on him because we feel he isn't getting proper rest due to sleep apnea and that he is not feeling well from an ear infection. He has an appointment with the ENT on February 24th and we feel we are in for surgery to remove tonsils, adenoids and possibly for tubes in his ears.

I love my Lord and I believe that everything will be taken care of by His will and His way. I am just having a difficult time right now understanding why Vera's situation has turned out as it has. I have to think that God has bigger and better plans for this sweet girl.

Love,

R & T & A

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

This time last year

This time last year, we had just arrived in Kiev. My most memorable moments of this day were...how tired we were, how relieved we were to have made it after our weather delays, meeting Olga, Sashas driving, shopping for the first time in Ukraine, falling in the snow while trying to roll a suitcase, sticking out like a sore thumb, lugging suitcases up the stairs and seeing Independence Square for the first time.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Special Girl Needs a Home

www.iknowyouroutthereimjustwaiting.blogspot.com

Vera needs a family and fast. Please share this precious one with anyone who may be interested.

Love,
R & T & A

Monday, February 7, 2011

We are not....

We are not going private for now.

Stay tuned for more info on some children who need families and our reflections on what was going on in our lives one year ago as we made the journey to find our child.......

One Year Ago Today.....

One year ago today, we began the greatest journey of our lives. 

On February 7, 2010, we flew out of GSP headed to Kiev, Ukraine.  We only made it to DC that night due to Snowmageddon, but we were on our way to our child.  There were so many unknowns, but we knew God would show us the way and the signs as to what we were to do.

I am celebrating the next 42 days be reading our original blog posts. 

Today we are proud to say that we love our son and the Lord for all the lessons we learned on this journey.

Love to all,
R & T & A

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Helping other children find families

http://thereisjustonethingleftformeandthatsu.blogspot.com/

This is Danil and he too needs a family

Please share this on your blogs.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Blog is going private

Hi everyone.

I am making our blog private within the next week.  You may email me at dixonadoption@yahoo.com if you would like an invite.

Thanks!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Courageous - The Movie

banner

This is the new movie from Sherwood Church, the same church/producers of Fireproof, Facing the Giants and Fly Wheel.

There will be a Bible study guide to go with this movie and it was written by a home town guy, Travis Agnew. He is also an adoptive parent. He and his wife have a biological son and a son adopted from Ethiopia. He is on my Facebook if you would like to connect with him.

I can't wait for the movie and hope our church has the Bible study - although it is geared towards fathers, Travis said he tried to write it so that women, singles and empty-nesters can gain something from it.