Happy 4th Birthday Seth!

Happy Birthday Seth!

Grandma and Grandpa Owens in front of their tree......

Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Vaughan

Christmas morning at our house.....yes, we got a tree two days before Christmas! :)

My brother, Nathan, and his new baby son, Isaac. So cute!

We were able to celebrate Seth's 4th birthday in North Carolina with family. On the 20th, we arrived in NC and celebrated that night. The boys were happy to see us, but not as excited as we thought they would be. Ha, Ha! We think they had too much fun at Grandparents house!

Then we came back to Ocala on the 23rd and have been having "get togethers" here ever since we got home! Its been great. We spent Christmas Eve with the Vaughans and Christmas Day with the Cabans.  I forgot to get a pic of Grandma and Grandpa Caban with the boys....sorry!

We sure miss our sweet daughter. We don't know yet when we go back. We are hoping to find out once the holidays end.

Love,

greta

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Frustration and Tragedy

Ok, so last night we couldn't sleep a wink.....I think it was because we knew we had to wake up at 4:40am for our ride to the airport. We get up, get our things together adn get our ride to the airport. After being dropped off by our translator and driver, we stand in line for 30 minutes to find out that our flight has been cancelled and there is NO flight they can put us on!- until tomorrow (Wednesday)!!!!! First of all, I cried because now I would be missing Seth's birthday and we are just so homesick from the boys....and second of all, we are on our own because our translator and driver have left! We have given them our cell phones, etc... The airline siad they would put us up in a hotel. SO we go to find a taxi and they proceed to try to charge us "an arm and a leg".... we were furious and done! Shane let them know we were NOT paying more than 2,000 tenge (which is already too much), but they were trying to charge us 4,000 tenge for 3 miles! We get to the hotel and it is a complete dump! We then get stuck in the elevator. Now, in the USA it is scary to get stuck in an eleveator, but in KAZ its REALLY scary because you would die in it before anyone here knew how to get you out! Thankfully, we got out on our own.

I think the worst part of the last few days and what has made us want to leave the most is that someone we know was brutally murdered here in Kaz this past Sunday night. Jackie and Clint are the Americans we have been hanging out with....well their housekeeper's name is Tuani. Tuani and her girls were spending the night at Jackie's house this past Sunday night for them to go away for their Anniv. We were going to do it for them, but Jackie felt like Tuani could use the extra money. Tuani and the girls went home on Monday morning to find their husband/Father had been brutally mudereded in their home over night. If Tuani and the girls would have been there, then you know what would have happened. Tuani is a stong Beleiver and is one of the most sweetest women I have met. She has a beautiful heart and this is such a nightmare for them. Tuani is also one of the most poorest people I have personally met. They live in literally a SHACK....one room, one lightbulb, they literally sleep in their clothes and use their coats as blankets....they have no pajamas- that is a luxury. Jackie and CLint have given them blankets and had just purchased a wood stove so that it could keep their shack warm. Now, Tuani has NOTHING- the only blankets she had are covered in her husband's blood. Thankfully, Clint's company is putting Tuani and her girls up in a temporary hotel until everyone can figure out where they are going. Personally, we feel a huge burden for this family. Please pray for this family- I don't know what to tell you to pray, just pray!!! Please! Thank you.

We will see you soon,
greta and shane

Saturday

This is our living room of our apartment. The TV looks great, but its ONLY in Russian. :)
This is our kitchen.

And here is the Tea Set for Ms. Selah!

Well, we went to the Green Market today and it was COLD!!!! But, I was able to get two things for Selah that I have been wanting for her. One is pictured here....its a 6 pc tea set with the saucers. I wanted to buy it from her birth country. This will be the only blue thing she will have, but the blue was so pretty. :) I can already imagine having tea with my little princess when she is three. :) The other item is a Kazakh handmade purse. These are gifts she will get on her birthdays throughout the years. :) (Thank you Shanna Ginn!!!!!)

Ok, we didn't have our camera at the Green Market and we were kicking ourselves because we wanted to take a picture of the Meat Department. The Meat Dept is literally slabs of meat just laying/hanging around. It was the most disgusting thing. I got a sick feeling to my stomach! That is probably where the meat we eat is from! Yuck!

We got a taxi back ( we have become professionals at the taxi stuff) and started to walk towards a restaurant we had heard about.....long story short, we got lost and we were freezing! We called some friends and they helped us out! We ended up at a great little Italian place called Mamamia.....it was SO good!

We went to Home Church and we are now about to play a game and eat dessert- gotta run!

We are trying to keep ourselves busy these next two days while we are here- it helps the feelings of homesickness! We thought and talked about Selah ALL day today. We miss her SO much already!

Love,

greta

Last day with Selah

Well, we just got back from ourLAST visit with Selah.....it was hard to say good-bye. However, we love the staff at this BH. They take good and loving care of the children and that has been a blessing to watch. We know she is in good hands until we come again. God has given us a comforting peace. We are just going to miss her SO much. She is such a little character. :) We brought flowers in to the Director as a "thank you for caring for these children so well" gift. The real gifts for everyone come on the next trip, but I had to give her something for all the work she does.
We left the plastic Photo Album with Selah to keep in her crib. You know the one that says "Who Loves Baby?" and you insert the pics in it? She has been looking through it since we got here. The cute part is that her favorite two pictures are the ones of Seth and Gage. She slaps the page and smiles and then brings it up to her face like she is kissing it. SO sweet! That is big for her since she is quite serious and shy.
The earliest flight out we could get is this Tuesday, so we are going to have to keep busy until then. We still want to visit the Green Market and we are going to try to do that tomorrow (Saturday).
I have had some kind of small stomach bug OR I ate something bad. I don't know. Immodium seems to help it, so I will keep that up. :)
Tonight, we are going to friends house to watch a movie together (in ENGLISH!)....that is really exciting since ALL of our TV channels are in Russian! LOL
We talked to the boys last night again and it is such joy to our ears to hear their voices! I think they are giving Grandma and Grandpa Owens more gray hairs though!!!! Seth keeps telling us everytime we talk to him that he has a surprise for us....he can sure keep a secret, because I tried getting out of him what it was and he said, "Mommy, its a suprrise I can't tell you silly goose!" Too funny! When Grandpa Keith asked Gage if he wanted to talk to Mommy, Gage said.."I want talk to Daddy"....I was like oh thanks! :) LOL
We know Selah is going to LOVE her brothers and her brothers are going to LOVE her! We just can't wait for the day to bring her HOME....

Thank you ALL for your constant support throughout this adventure. You will truly never know how it has encouraged us to know so many of you love us so much! We only hope to be that to you all.
Spasiba! (Russian for thank you).

Love,
greta and shane

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday (Monday) we couldn't go to the BH until 2-4pm. It was a great visit with Ms. Selah! She is opening up more and more!!! She walked with us holding her fingers. We brought the ipod in with these small speakers and we learned that she will fit into our love of music just fine! She was biting a toy and swaying to the music! She even stuck her little tongue out at us, at one point. She is truly a doll. We are sooo in love!

Today (Tuesday) we went to the BH at the normal time of 10-12. We had another GREAT visit. She opened up even more!!! Again, she wanted to walk holding our fingers and she also walked from me to Shane, back and forth, but with holding our fingers. She gets a little smile, like "I am so cool and big"... kind of smile. Of course, I would rather her NOT walk... stay a baby as long as possible!!!!! LOL LOL

We currently have no electric in our apartment...lovely. It happens pretty often around here. We are at friends house right now using the internet. We are going out to eat tonight to a local place with some friends and another adopting family. We went to a restaurant last night that my stomach is still recovering from! :)

Love and Miss you ALL SOOO MUCH!

Love,

greta

Saturday

See the ice skating rink??? The people look like ants. And we actually zoomed in on this pic.

This is the view.....we are pictured here with the other adopting family, J & A.

Merry Christmas!!!

This is the base of the ski resort and where we ate lunch.

Isn't this pretty?

Saturday, Jackie and Clint took us and another American family(J & A) that is here adopting up to the top of the Mountains..... it was beautiful! We went up, took pics, and ate at the base of the ski resort. It was an outdoor restaurant (yes, it was cold) and we had some traditional Kazakh food. I hope you enjoy the pictures......it feels like Christmas here with all the snow and WHITE!!!!! The Americans that live here all have their homes decorated for Christmas and it has made us miss home and the boys even more. 

The other adopting family, J & A, are with a different agency than ours. But, they are here adopting a 2.5 yr old boy. He is SOOO cute! We are already trying to pre-arrange our kids marriage....LOL They are from San Diego, CA. They are a real sweet couple. This will be their first child.

Today (Sunday) while waiting to be picked up for Home Church, Shane and I were "planning" what we are going to do when we get back to Ocala. We think we will drive back to Ocala on Fri, Dec 21, and pick up our Christmas Tree on the way into Ocala. Then on Saturday, the 22nd make it a WHOLE DAY OF FAMILY....we will decorate the tree, make christmas cookies and just love on our boys!!!! We miss them sooo much. I try not to think about it too much or I will cry. Then I have to try not to think about leaving Selah or I will really cry. :) We are planning on being at church on Sunday, Dec 23rd. I want to hug sooo many of you.  We also miss our NC family and our Ocala family very much! You all have helped us with sooo many things that have made this easier for us- thank you!

Tonight we have been invited to Jeanette and Jim's house for dinner. They are an American family that lives here also. We went to their house Friday night for a Christmas Party. We met soooo many Americans there. It was SO neat!

We have so much to praise our Lord for! Our health while here, our boys have been fine without us, we met our perfect daughter, our flight over here was great, we have had Americans loving on us ever since we arrived, we have experienced an even greater intimacy with our Lord.......All of the prayers that you have been so faithful in praying have been answered! I hope every one of you see that this is ALL HIM, not us! To God be the Glory!!!! This whole process has been ALL HIM. This is why we have named her Selah, because Selah means "pause and reflect". We have reflected on God's awesome Faithfulness, Power, Protection and LOVE from the beginning of this adoption process to the end, and we aren't at the end yet but we have total faith that it will be completed exactly how HE wants it to!!!!

Love,

greta

Milestones conquered already!

First of all, thank you to everyone who posts comments on this blog AND/or emails us!!!! It is the 2nd highlight (first is seeing Selah) of our day to get on the computer and read all your stuff! Thank you SO much!!!!! :)

After our last post, we went to a Kids Christmas Party for the American families....it was fun...they played a game that told the Christmas Story. I met a couple of other families too. Tonight we are going to an Adult Christmas Party!!!!! :) I will take a pic and post it tomorrow. We can post pics of us (i think). :) O well.

Today was our last visit with Selah until Monday...... We had another great time. The highlight of today's visit was that she opened up even more with Shane AND she crawled and walked with us holding her fingers. I guess she can do alot more than we thought- bummer! :) ha, ha. I was laying down on the floor and she crawled over to Shane and wanted him to hold her!!! That was huge! I was so happy she did this, because Shane needed it! We fed her the usual HUGE meal. Then she fell asleep on me! It was precious. She is a sound, peaceful sleeper. I hope that continues! :) LOL

Gotta run.......

Love you all!!!!!

our petite sweetie

I don't think you all understand how bummed I am about not being able to show pics. I got some really COOL pics today of her in this Baby Gap jogging suit!!!! But, you can bet that when we get back I am soooooo getting lots of copies made and we are putting pictures of Selah up all around the house! :) LOL  

She is a petite thing. The jogging suit is Gap size 6-12 month and its still big on her. She turned 1 on Nov 24. I will say that she is still a "baby" because she is small-framed, but also about 2 months behind developmentally. ALL babies are behind when in an orphanage so that is normal. But I will admit that I am actually excited that she is behind- because that just means we get to experience her "firsts" with her!!! Hee, Hee!!! :) She can stand (sometimes) but we think she has some atrophy, so she doesn't like to do it. We know that as soon as she is home, she will blossom quickly! You can see it in her eyes. She is a smart thing.

However, she is very healthy and eats like a 5 year old! She can sure EAT! Wow!!!! We get sick when we see how much she eats. :) Our favorite part of our time with her is feeding her because she just lights up!

I sure miss the boys.  I have learned SOOO much while being here, but one is how much I take little things for granted- my boys, my home, clean water to drink and brush teeth with, electricity, FAST internet, Starbucks!, soft beds, driving myself somewhere, the list goes on...... The poverty we see while driving to the orphanage everyday is heart breaking, truly heart breaking. :(  I will NEVER forget this time spent in Kaz,.....never.

We are so humbled by the fact that so many of you have taken an interest in our adoption process through your prayers.....we thank you SO much! She is one blessed little child. 

Till next time.....

the good and the bad

Hello all!

The bummer news of the day is that we have to be more careful with our blog. We will not be able to post pics of her. :( I am so sad about this. But, we have been advised that it is dangerous to do this right now and we will not take any risk of loosing our Selah! I know you all will understand, but its harder on me because I want to SHOW HER OFF! :)  

The good news of the day is our visit with her! She started off very sad. We didn't know why. I started to get sad too because I was thinking maybe she doesn't like us any more. lol  However, an entirely different child came out when I fed her today. She started to make noises, smile, and the BEST part was she started to play with my hair and explore my face. You don't understand- normally, if you try to touch her hand she will pull it away. She finally is opening up. Every day is truly a new day marked with progress!!!!! :)

Beth and David- Congrats on BABY CARTER!!!! He is gorgeous. Thanks for the pics!

We miss you all.

We are coming home earlier than thought. We will be in the US around the 15-16th. We will be home for Seth's b-day AND Christmas! Its bittersweet though!

Love you!

trust

We had a GREAT day with Selah! She progressed already today in her path of trusting us. Normally, she only wants me to hold her and she wants to stay close to my chest with her face buried in my neck. Well, after about 40 minutes she loosened up a little. I played this game where I kissed this little doll that we brought from home, then the doll kissed her cheek, and then Mama kissed Selah's cheek. We did this game for like 10 minutes straight. She seemed to love it, because it was during that game that she started to really stare at me. Once that level of trust was completed, she was able to loosen her grip on me and sit in front of me. Daddy is in love even more today and he just loves her little hands! He held her for awhile and danced with her. She doesn't like his facial hair though! :) (But Mommy does, so too bad)! LOL :)

We think that she is putting on this "serious" front with us because she is getting to know us. But, we think that she is really more spunky, because when the caretakers came in to bring her lunch she slapped her chest and motioned for the food! It was the most spunk we have seen yet. It made Shane and I laugh!!! The caretaker showed me how to feed her the "orphanage" way and then I took over. Basically the "orphanage" way is to shovel down the food as fast as possible!!! :) When I took over, Selah gave the caretaker this look like "oh no, don't let HER do it, she feeds me tooooo slow!".....Even the caretaker laughed at Selah's expression!

PS Well?..... Are my Mommy friends proud of the bow in her hair?????

Thank you ALL for your SWEET comments! They will be going in her baby book! :)

Selah!!!!!!!!!

We were picked up this morning and driven out to the other orphanage.  We have been praying that God would give us a peace and we would just know that she is ours. ( And we know that ALL of you at home have been praying without ceasing!) 

On Friday, we were presented a child in the first orphanage and we just knew that she was not our child. It was VERY hard to have to tell them this. I cried so much and felt literally sick to my stomach. But, Shane and I BOTH knew she was not ours. There were no other children in the oprhanage for us, so that is why they had to move us to another orphanage. 

We were driving to her orphanage today with the thought that if our daughter is not there, then we were coming back to the US with no one. My nerves and butterflies in my stomach were enough to kill me this morning! :)

We were directed back to the playroom and told to wait there. Our coordinator came in and told me that she is 12 months old and just had her first birthday and that she looks just like me(greta). When she said this, it made me sad because I was hoping for a 6-9 month old and for her to be non-caucasian (in other words, I didn't want her to look like me!).....All of a sudden, in walks the Orphanage Doctor with a child bundled in a big blanket. They came over to me, showed me her face really quick and gave her to me. I took ONE look at her and I KNEW SHE WAS MY SELAH- instantly!!!!!!!  God gave me EXACTLY what I prayed for! She looks NOTHING like me- (I found out later they say that to everyone, because they think that is what we want to hear! LOL)  And the fact that she is already one has not even phased me, and I thought it would bother me. When its YOUR child, you don't care about any of those things!  She is THE MOST beautiful little girl I have ever seen!!!!!! Here is the BEST part: The Orphanage Doctor told the translator to tell me that when she went into the room to get her, she lifted her from the crib and as she was walking out, Selah waved bye-bye to the other children. She said that she has NEVER done that before. The Orphanage Doctor said that "this must be meant to be"...... Of course we know WHY!!!!  

Selah would NOT let me go.....She only wanted ME to hold her. She held onto me like a monkey.....we have it ALL on video. It brought me to tears, tears, tears. She is MY DAUGHTER and I can't even describe in words what kind of moment it was!!!!! The caregivers let me feed her lunch- we will post on that tomorrow because it is absolutely hilarious on what they feed them! She would just stare at Shane, but when he would try to hold her she wouldn't let him. She will warm up to him. They don't ever see men, so she has to get used to that first. Shane is in love! He couldn't stop saying how beautiful she was. I sat and showed her two things we brought from home ("pink" and this other small thing) and I almost had her laughing, but she was trying really hard not to....LOL Then she would just bury her head into my chest and want me to hold her. It was amazing!!!!! After we fed her the lunch, Shane said he was not leaving without holding her, even if she cried. So I gave her to him and she did great. Then the caregivers came in and had to take her for her nap. Selah actually cried when they took her away from us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Our visit was very short today, but that is just because we got there later than normal. Our schedule will be seeing her from 10am-12noon. The caregivers said that they will let us feed her breakfast everyday!!!!! I am so excited!  

This place is SOOOO great! The other families are so impressed with the orphanage and they said that the caretakers are really loving towards the children. They also feed them very well and have them on schedules. Everyone was so friendly to us today and you can tell they truly love the children. When the orphanage Doctor gave Selah to me, she was telling Selah "mama, mama".......

"Church"

Church in Kaz...... We have to post on this- because its too cool not to.

Our friends, Clint and Jackie, have quickly become very good friends. We just love them. (they are just below us on the floor). The other family is American too and they are incredible also.Between the two families, there are a total of 9 children- love it!

We had "church" with them last night and I can't even begin to describe in words the worship experience we experienced! We sang to the Lord, hands raised, voices high.... to GREAT worship music. They used the powerpoint and projected it onto the bare wall in their living room. We sang as many songs as we wanted. It was an emotional time to be together as believers in a country literally on the the other side of the world, praising and adoring the same Lord- together. AWESOME!!!!! The message was AWESOME- Shane and I learned ALOT. The topic was "Who we are in Christ". Their children know scripture and love scripture.  The message involved both the adults and the children.

In regards to our daughter, She must be something really special, because Satan has been trying his hardest to not have her in our family. But, he will not win. God is in total control. But it has sure been a struggle in the meantime. However, tomorrow we are going to another orphanage in this region and we are hopeful that she will be there......

Until tomorrow, we love you and still covet your prayers. We are more than blessed and we don't feel that we even deserve this incredible adventure we are on right now.  Thank you Father!

Love,

greta

Craft Fair in Kaz!

Sunday Craft Show in Almaty
Shopping, shopping, shopping! Here we were buying Kazakh Christmas stockings for our family- total of FIVE!!!! :)
Here I am very intent on the purchase of authentic, handmade Kaz baby shoes- they are adorable! I bought two pair.
This is Jackie, our friend. She told us about this Craft show and we saved a ton of money on souvenirs today. She acted as our translator as well. :)  Kaz money is called Tenge and 1000 tenge equals like 9.00 dollars. So its funny when something totals 2,000 tenge- it sounds sooo expensive! :)

Thank you all for your comments on the blog. It is such a sweet thing to read. We love you! We miss you!

Love,

greta

PS Our email is working fine too. We would love hear from you!

It is Snowing!

This picture is the view from our apartment window this morning- and YES that is SNOW! So pretty!

Well, today is the first day that we have had access to our computer. And I feel that I have alot to say, but I need to keep it short.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to meet our child yet. :( We are having difficulties with some things and we are hoping to have some answers cleared up on Monday. Please keep up the praying, my prayer warriors! They have been working!  Trust me, as soon as we meet our child, I will be getting access to a computer- no matter what- to post pics for you all! I am as anxious as you all, trust me! :)

I have to tell you all the BEST thing that has happened to us so far- it is called Jackie and Clint- American Family that lives here in Kaz. A friend that adopted here last year put us in contact with them and I can't even begin to describe what an amazing blessing it has been. I keep joking with Jackie saying that she is not real, a figment of our imagination, an angel from God, etc... Because she just swooped in and has taken us under her wing. The first day we got here, she made a home cooked meal and brought it to us in our apartment, with staple groceries in hand, and has driven us to get our money exchanged, grocery store, etc... And right now, we are at their house for "church" with other American families. We are having dinner together, praising God, and will play games later. We are continually thanking our Lord for answering all of our prayers. Jackie and Clint have been nothing but a GOD THING!!! Our flight was so smooth- another GOD THING!!!! We are praising Him for His goodness, His protection, and His faithfulness!

On another note, we are learning yet again to praise Him even when its tough. Right now, its tough, but we will praise Him. I was reading a couple of days ago in the book of Job the first few chapters. Job is the King of "tough times". Yet, he continued to praise God even though he lost his children, his wife and his job!! Satan thought that he would do what he could to get Job to curse the Lord. God told Satan that he could do anything but harm him personally. Satan did and Job remained faithful to God. Friday night after a long and exhausting day emotionally, Shane and I surrendered this to God and chose to remain faithful no matter what. We have chosen to praise Him, no matter what! We praise Him because there is SOOO much to be thankful for.

Please know that we miss you all and we covet your prayers. We are soooo thankful for the prayers that have already gone out. They have truly been OBVIOUSLY answered!!!!!

Love,

greta

Our Flight and Amsterdam!

We had a very LONG flight, but we did well. We had an entire DAY (7am-6pm) layover in Amsterdam, so we left the airport and explored Amsterdam! It was fun. We felt very adventurous!!! :) We felt that God really blessed us with the flights- smooth and FREE movies!!!!!  :) And a chance to explore a place we have never been.