Adoption Update

Today was monumental – Sergey returned to Russia 4 ½ weeks ago and today was the first time we were able to speak with him. We had a 30 minute conversation without a translator and it appears as if Sergey has retained much of the English he learned while living with us this summer. This was a big blessing and as Ashley says "The Best Day Ever"!!! We would like to thank our friends Stephanie and Randall for giving us their daughter Tanya's cell phone number which facilitated the call.

Now for and update on the adoption. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Eastern European adoptions here are the basics:

1. Home Study
2. Dossier #1
3. First Visit
4. Dossier #2
5. Second Visit and Court
6. Third Visit and Return Home as a Family

Today we completed our home study and submitted it to USCIS for immigration clearance. This takes approximately 45 days which means we have 45 days to complete our first dossier. Please keep us in your prayers that we will have a smooth process. Thank you for all of your support!!!

EJ and Ashley

The end of the beginning!

On Sunday, August 1st we had to send Sergey back to Russia. Our house and family is definitely missing a key piece. We only wish we didn't have to send him back. This was the single most rewarding program we have ever participated in. As we have told anyone who will listen, Sergey has taught us much more than we could ever teach him. He is an amazing, talented, and intelligent boy with all of the potential in the world to be very successfull at whatever he chooses to do. And, for those of you who are wondering, the answer is yes, we are proceeding with the adoption. Please remember us in your prayers as the process will be difficult but we know it will be worth it. Stay tuned...

My Family Love Me Ferrari and Lamborghini Big!!!

We took Sergey to the Ferrari dealership to take pictures. As we made our way into the showroom we told Sergey he couldn't touch any of the cars. After walking around with him for about 15 minutes a salesman came over to see if we had any questions (I guess we look like some strong potential customers...). Sergey said no. We then explained the situation and said, "we do have one question... Can he sit in one?" He agreed and asked Sergey to pick one... Well, he picked the orange Lamborghini with the butterfly doors... It was pretty cool!




For the second time on the trip he was petrified to get in luxery car (the first being the ride in the Maserati). He was literally shaking. He gathered himself and sat down. This might have been the highlight of the trip for him. When we walked out of the dealership he told us that his family loves his Ferrari and Lamborghini big. That made us smile!

What is steak?

We needed to make dinner one night and noticed that we had some steaks in the freezer. We pulled them out and come to find out that he had never tried steak... Or at least a good steak off the grill...

Needless to say, he loved it so much he went back for seconds!!!

Me Spiderman!!!

As coordinated as Sergey is, EJ was curious to see how well he would do on a climbing wall.

Since this was his first time climbing he thought the equipment was a little strange...

No matter how strange the equipment, Sergey found some time to pose for the camera

He got a quick tutorial from the attendant

After his tutorial, he was off...

He climbed the wall so fast a group of older girls noticed and were cheering him on. When they learned it was his first time they about fell over... It was as if he'd been doing it for years. When he came down he said "me Spiderman!!" Seriously, the way he climbed, maybe he is....

We let him climb the easy, medium, hard, and expert trails... Easy and medium were no challenge but he was a little too short to get to the top of the hard and expert trails... He still did better than all of the others making the same attempt... This kid never ceases to amaze us...

Good morning, it's time to get up!!

EJ and Ashley have very different styles to waking Sergy up....



Ashley likes to crawl into bed with him and scratch his back and let him wake up gradually....

EJ, on the other hand, fills up a spray fan with ice water and sprays Sergey until he gets up...

Surprisingly enough, Sergey seems to prefer Ashley's way better.... Hmmm, Who would have thought?

Clearing out the Blackberry

As we mentioned in past posts, Sergey really loves baseball. We took him to the batting cages and true to form he was very good.... I mean seriously, he hit in the Fast cage.

Sergey LOVES go karts!!!!!!!!! He would have driven them all day ever day if he had the chance.

EJ's two favorite people in the world!!!

More go karts. He loves them so much they he is now a card carrying member of the Andretti speed way.

Sergey takes his pool games very seriously. It was a lot of fun since it was something we could do as a family. We also took the opportunity to learn the numbers and colors in each other's languages (you had to say the number and color before each shot). Sergey learned much faster than Ashley and EJ.