Eliana Faith Zeinab Kelley

Eliana Faith Zeinab Kelley

She is ours. It’s for real and official!  This day has been so full and so good and so many emotions!!

None of us slept well last night.  We were all up in the night and all woke up a little cranky and out of it.  Our fabulous hostess here at the guest house prepared breakfast for us.

Side note:  She is not officially opened for business yet, but we came so last minute that the hotels were booked in Akhaltsikhe.  So our hostess agreed to let us stay here!  She is wonderful!

After breakfast we decided to rest a bit before court.  At 2:30 we gathered downstairs and hopped in the car for the short ride to the courthouse.  I was so nervous, Kyle tells me I squeezed his hand much harder than I did when in labor with Matthew!! We arrived in the courthouse and had to wait a few minutes for our case to begin.  Then, into courtroom number three.  We had to leave Matthew in the waiting room where he was the only one who spoke English...with the exception of a police officer who knew a bit. 

Court was...nerve wracking and emotional.  It is difficult to sit still while a group of people discuss your future and that of the child you hope to call yours in a language you don’t understand!  Our interpreter filled us in on what was happening and we had to respond to a few questions.  Whew.

Then the judge took some time to review everything while we sat and talked quietly (all the while I’m watching the clock and thinking about how my first baby is sitting alone in the lobby in a foreign country and when is the last time he went potty and what if he needs to go?!?!).

Guys.  When the amazing moment happened we didn’t even know!!  And then our interpreter and liaison leaned over and told us, “It is done!  She is yours!”

.................

How do you process that?!?!  Just like that, Kelley-party of four!!

From there we grabbed a bite to eat. Ohhhhh the food here is soooooo gooooood!!!!! So good! Sooooooooooo goooooooooood!!!!  Then came the call that the adoption decree was ready (less than an hour)!  Our liaison picked it up and met us as the Justice building where we applied for the birth certificate.

Next we went to our daughter’s foster family’s home.  I cannot find words that describe how wonderful these people are, but I will try.  They have gone out of their way to welcome us into their home.  They did their best to make their little Zeinab feel comfortable with us and they were the first ones to call her Eliana tonight.  They showed us her favorite things to play and talked us through her routine.  I cannot say enough how thankful I am for these people!!  I will treasure these days with them for the rest of my life!

As we were leaving, Eliana seemed disappointed to see us go!  This was a big step!! Because we leave tomorrow for Tbilisi, we decided to give Eliana one more night with her foster family.  This way she won’t transition to the guest house and then transition again right away to the apartment in Tbilisi.

So.  Tomorrow is gotcha day!  Tomorrow we will pick up the birth certificate and our daughter and leave Akhaltsikhe.  Tomorrow we will physically become a family of four.  

God is so good.  He is so so so so good.  

More updates to come!!  We will still likely be here a couple of weeks while we wait for the passport and apply for a visa.  Thank you for your prayers!!! Please don’t stop!

The Longest Day Ever

Whew.  It feels like we have been living one loooooong day since Wednesday.  Here’s a recap:

Wednesday, 11am: Becca wakes up from a mid morning nap, feeling so sorry for herself because it’s October and noooo court date

Wednesday, 1pm: Becca participates in Target shopping therapy, purchasing Fall clothes for Matthew and Eliana

Wednesday, 6:30pm: Becca’s phone rings, she looks at the number, and walks immediately out of the conversation she is a part of.  Within 5 minutes you can see a happy dance and Becca dragging Kyle aside at which point he checks his calendar and has a startled expression.

Wednesday, 6:45pm: Becca can be seen nearly running with a crazy looking wide eyed smile, bursting into Matthew’s church class, speaking incoherently, taking Matthew and leaving.  Matthew can also be seen, borderline hyperventilating from excitement.

Wednesday, 7:30pm-12:00am:  Becca can be seen continuing to express herself in half formed sentences, unable to make decisions, and relying on friends and packing lists to get it done.  Tickets are purchased, Kyle preaches to the middle schoolers and comes home to calmly eat and watch hockey...

Thursday, 12:00am-6:00am:  Kyle sleeps a few hours, Matthew gets a full night, Becca gets about zero hours of sleep.

Thursday, 6am-4:30pm: completion of allllll the lists, sis in law cleaning, folding laundry, providing sanity for sleep deprived, crazy Becca.

Thursday, 4:30-10:30pm:  pick up van from the shop, supper, airport drop off, Becca almost lost Kyle’s iPad and laptop at security, boarding plane

Thursday 10:30pm-6:30am(eastern standard time) flight to Munich; Kyle and Becca got maybe 3 hours sleep, Matthew got five.

Friday 6:30am-4:20pm (est.) longest layover, brief 45 min naps for Kyle and Becca 

Friday 4:20-8:00pm (est.): flight to Tbilisi; Matthew got a few hours of sleep, Becca and Kyle—not so much.

Friday, 8:30pm-12:00am (est): drove to Akhaltsikhe, this is 4:30am-8:00am local time, Saturday 

Saturday, 12:00-4:00am (est)/ 8-12 local: check in to guest house, unpack, breakfast, showers

Saturday, 4:00-6:00am/12-2 local: we met our daughter.

Let’s just camp out here in these two hours.  Our driver was having a hard time figuring out which house we were to go to.  But then, there they were, standing in the street and waving to us.  Eliana in her foster momma’s arms, hair in a ponytail up top.  She was shy at first, but Matthew quickly broke through her reserve.  For me...I expected to feel like it wasn’t real or maybe nervous or crazy excited.  Instead it just felt...normal.  Like, of course I’m here in the home of strangers, sitting on their floor playing with a little girl who will be our daughter.  Where else would I be today?  It just felt perfectly right.  Kyle’s biggest feelings were centered on how close Eliana is with her foster family and how heartbreaking the upcoming separation will be for every one.  Matthew thinks Eliana is the cutest and says he felt like “is this really happening?”

Guys, she is precious.  Funny, opinionated, smart, focused.  Sarah—she loves the backpack.  She spent soooo much time putting books in and taking them out.  I got to participate in her nap time routine with foster mom, which was so so so good.  Eliana and Matthew spent several minutes playing a hugging game where he would open his arms and she would launch herself in for a hug and then they would collapse in giggles.  She was most shy of Kyle for a little while, but by the end of our two hours she let each of us hold her briefly.

We had brief naps in the afternoon, woke up for snacks/supper, and are now preparing to sleep through the night while you guys go about your day.  Tomorrow (Sunday) we will go at the same time (12-2 local) to spend more time with Eliana.  Court is Tuesday at 3:30.  After that we will continue to visit while we wait for paperwork before taking custody and returning to Tbilisi.

Please keep the prayers coming!  There have been several other things going on behind the scenes in our personal lives back home that weigh on our hearts.  We are hoping to have WiFi connected soon so we can communicate with family more easily. In the meantime, we are thankful for technology and data to help us give brief updates!!

TIME TO GOOOOOO

Y'ALL.

We got the court date!!  I walked out in the middle of a conversation at church this evening when my phone started to ring.

The adoption agency!

And then the bombshell--OCTOBER 9th!

In case you aren't sure--today is October 3rd.  No...well, it's after midnight now so I guess it's the 4th.  That's NOT a lot of time!

Raise your hand if you saw my running around alllll crazy like at church tonight?  I had to grab Matthew from his class (yes--he is OVER THE MOON with excitement)!!

So.  We are headed out tomorrow (Thursday) evening!  We should be meeting our child THIS WEEKEND!

I can't even.

My best friend and sister-friend (AKA sis-in-law) came over and helped us pack.  They were very bossy, which was helpful because MY BRAIN DOESN'T WORK NOW!  I was at least thankful for my super packing lists! 

Rex is gone to be with family and we have like 4 different families babysitting our house. 

You GUYS.  Our little girl!  We're going to go MEET HER!

And bring her HOME! 

Will you pray that we sleep?  Cause right now I'm afraid I won't sleep until after court on TUESDAY!

Short Update

Just wanted to give everyone a quick update!

At this point we are just waiting for our court date.  Last week we heard that we passed our Interpol check (SHOCKER!!!).  This week we got confirmation that the ministry in Georgia has signed off on our case and it is now being transferred to the court system.  We also learned that rather than our court case taking place in Tbilisi, we will travel to the regional court where Eliana’s foster family lives.  I’m excited about this because it means we will be staying closer to her foster family. Instead of traveling over 100 miles every time we go see her before taking custody, we’ll be close by!

The always question--WHEN?  We wish we knew. The call could come in the next couple of weeks...or it could be a month or longer.  In the meantime...the lists are basically done! Which is both wonderful and also making me crazy. The nursery is done with the exception of minor details.  It’s really weird to have girl stuff in the house after 7 years of only boy stuff! The extra bedroom has become the packing staging area where everything is being set aside to make packing quick and easy when the time comes.  I’ve met with Matthew’s teacher to discuss his upcoming absence. Generous friends have given lots of girl clothes to fill the closet and dresser with 18-24 month clothing. We are sending a photo book and little stuffed elephant around the world for the foster family to use to prepare Eliana for our arrival. The more things we cross off the list, the more anxious I am to GOOO.

Patience. Will that lesson ever be learned???

The in-country liaison that works with our adoption agency will be delivering our documents to the regional court and the photo book and little stuffed animal to the foster family in the next week or so. We'll get the call sometime after that!

Stay tuned! It shouldn't be long!

Lists

At one point I had a list of the lists I needed to make.

I might be a little crazy.

Now I have the lists.  

There is the “stuff to do before the home inspection” list.  

The “stuff to do when we get the call” list.  

The “things Rex will need while we are gone” list (Hint: He is the dog).

The “things to figure out” list.

The “things we need to buy now that there will be a girl child in the house” list.

The “things I want to tell the world on the blog” list.

AND of course the PACKING LIST.

My head is in the clouds.  I had to take a couple of days off from all the lists because I started to have a meltdown because of all the lists and who knows when the lists have to be done???  You get the picture? It wasn’t pretty. I prefer to have my act together, so when I fall apart it is epic. Poor Kyle…

ANYWAY the lists are ever growing but I’m feeling better about it today.

This morning I woke up and she was right there at the front of my mind as if she had come into my room and tapped me on the arm.  Eliana. Sweet girl, we are coming!

It’s hard not to dream of when we first see her, of when she becomes ours.  But in truth, we can’t predict or choose how those moments will go. Think of any typical 18 month old.  This one spent more than a year of her life in an orphanage. Then, for 4 months, she has had a wonderful family experience in a foster home.  Now this random family speaking a gibberish she’s never heard will show up to play with her...twice. Then she will go to a big city and go stay with them in an apartment.  And they will speak to her but she won’t understand the words. Not because she is young...anyone who has interacted with a 1-2 year old child knows they understand much more than they can speak.  She can’t understand the strange people because they keep speaking the gibberish.

These people don’t know what she likes to play.  Or eat. Or her favorite way to snuggle or sleep.  Her clothes are different. Everything smells different.  She’s never seen these things before. They keep taking her to places she’s never been.  Then...just as she is getting used to the new things...They go to a busy place with so many more people than she has ever seen and then into a small room full of seats and then something strange happens as the room moves and they are in the sky--but she doesn’t know how to understand this and the words the people speak to her don’t make sense.

And they are stuck in the room so long.

And then they are in another car and then a house and the people keep saying “home” but she doesn’t know that word yet.

Guys, I’m not painting this picture to ask for your sympathy or reassurance.  I am saying this because I like to be real here and the truth is---adoption is not easy.  It is not pretty. And for a toddler it is confusing and sometimes scary. When a baby is adopted she is a tiny little thing who may not know her loss until much later.  When an older child is adopted, she can understand what is happening because someone has explained it. Eliana might transition beautifully and attach to us quickly and that would be a blessing.  But even if she transitions well and attaches quickly--adoption begins with loss. We are so excited and cannot wait and believe this is the path God has for us. But little Eliana doesn’t even know we are coming.

Sometime soon I’m going to write up a post explaining what we anticipate the first days, weeks, and months home as a family of four to look like.  Understanding what adoption will be like in these first days and weeks from Eliana’s perspective will hopefully make sense of some of the decisions we will make to help her transition peacefully into our family.

Please continue to pray for each of us!  Our case is now with the US Embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia as they write the Article 5 letter, indicating that we are approved to pursue adopting this little girl.  When they finish, we wait for the Interpol check and a signature. After these items are completed our case will go to a judge for review and a court date will be assigned.  We are ssoooooo close!

Immigration Approval--CHECK!

You GUYS.

We received the immigration approval today!!!  This is happening super fast.  Whoo!! 

So now our case is headed to the National Visa Center--I think to alert them that she will need a travel visa to the US soon.  Our agency will be filling out an application for us.  Then these two things will go to Georgia where they will run an Interpol check--seriously, if you don't trust us with your kids by now, surely this will clear our names 😜...and then our case goes on to the court system!

We still have no idea when we will travel...but it seems to be coming up faster than we expected.  I've been working my way through the house room by room organizing, rearranging, and prepping for a home study inspection (three weeks from today).  Once everything is in order, I'll start on Eliana's room--EEEK!!!   I'm going to have a conversation with Matthew's principal tomorrow about what it will look like for him to miss a few weeks of school...cause we hope to bring him with us!

I just can't believe how things are moving along!

There are just no words to describe God's goodness.  Soon we will meet.  How many times have I reminded myself that all her days were written before one began...that God knows the day we will meet.  And that day is coming! 

I don't feel like I can even form coherent thoughts right now.  Too much happy.

Pray for our little one!  She is so precious, you guys.  The exciting days ahead for us will be difficult for her for a bit, so please cover her little heart in prayer!  Continue praying for her foster family as they care for her.  And pray for us!!! 

I'm gonna try to sleep now!  Wish me luck... 😉

Speechless

You GUYS!!!

I can't even wrap my head around this.  I posted the last update less than 24 hours ago and already the goal for the matching grant has been met!  I am in shock and tears over here, trying to comprehend your generosity!  

I can't even find words.

Thank you!!

I've already heard from several people who want to contribute but have not had an opportunity.

If you would still like to give toward travel expenses for bringing Eliana home and helping with the expenses that will come along with her surgeries, we have a PayPal link on the righthand side of the blog (when viewed from a computer).  Or you can click here to access our donation link.  Donations made to the PayPal account will not be part of the matching grant and will not be tax deductible.  If you would prefer to send us a personal check, send me a message through Facebook and I will give you our address.

This photo is a screen shot from my favorite video of Eliana Faith.  She smiles and chatters and blows kisses as she plays with some little stuffed animals.

Eliana has a cleft palate which will require surgery pretty soon after we get home, and likely in coming years as she grows (I'm guessing some of you will ask--the cleft is only the palate, not the lip--that's why it can't be seen in the pictures).  After we get home we will visit an international adoption clinic where the doctors are familiar with needs of children who have been adopted from another country.  There she will be evaluated to find out if she has any other needs that will require medical or therapeutic intervention.  

Truly, I am stunned by your generosity.  We are so so blessed to have such a community of people both near and far supporting us and loving a sweet girl on the other side of the world.