Thoughts on our Life Here

I was planning on posting yesterday, but the evening got away from me as we decided to sit down and watch a movie together. By the time we finished, I was too tired so today's post will be extra long: )

Other than missing our other kiddos at home (A LOT!), we're doing really well! I've so enjoyed this country and our apartment in our region is located close to a busy shopping area with lots of restaurants and coffee shops. I thought I'd lose weight here with the different food, but boy, was I wrong!! I think I've actually gained and hope I can fit into my clothes when I get home. We have a yummy pizza place within close walking distance of our apartment that we've eaten at a few times. We've also been to a nicer little restaurant here with english menus as well as a couple of yummy little french and italian coffee cafes. The coffee cafes have ah.ma.zing pastries and desserts along with many delicious coffees and teas. The chocolate is abundant and wonderful as well as the breads and cheeses! I'm going to miss being able to walk a short distance to the market and get our groceries for a couple of days. It's nice to have convenient access to fresh food and get to take a walk in beautiful weather.

Now, lest you think it's all been roses here, I will say there are definitely times when I fall apart and just cry as my husband holds me. I miss my kiddos at home more than words can say!! I just want to hold them and smell them and kiss them. I. CAN. NOT wait to be home with them and love on them!

Also, I really can't put into words how difficult it is to walk into the orphanage and see the cribs with babies just lying there. Most of the time it's eerily quiet and not because they're all sleeping. They are awake just lying there and most of them have nothing more than a blanket in the crib with them. No toys, no music, not much interaction other than being fed or changed, day after day.

Our Libby girl is the only one I saw that has toys in her crib and I'm pretty sure that came from someone who has visited her. She is in the infirmary where the sick babies are housed. Most of these babies don't get visitors or have someone to hold them and talk to them, love on them or sing to them. It breaks my heart each time I walk in her room to get her and walk past these babies who look up at me. I want so badly to pick them up, love on them, tell them they are precious, but I can't, it's not allowed. Their beautiful faces have been forever burned in my memory and I pray I never forget! I hope this will spur me to continually speak up for those who cannot and help raise awareness that they are here while we go on with our lives never giving a second thought to them or even knowing they exist. Please don't misunderstand me, Libby is at a really good orphanage and I am thankful for the staff. But there is no way possible for those children to be loved on and taken care of the way they would be in a family by a few of the staff, especially as the workers are ever changing.



Please, if you haven't already, go now to Reece's Rainbow and look at all the precious children waiting for families. How can you be a part of helping them? Maybe you can donate to one of their funds or can post on Facebook about them or set up a fundraiser to help a family in process who still lack the funds to bring their child home! There are many ways we can help and Reece's Rainbow isn't the only place that helps families and raises awareness. Above all, please pray for these precious souls, we can ALL do that! If you have any questions or want more information about the organization or specific country program, PLEASE contact me and I am happy to discuss it with you!! If I can't answer your questions, there are many people I know who can: )

We are hoping to either bring some items with us on our 2nd trip to donate to the orphanage like diapers, clothes, and toys or just take some extra money over with us and buy those items there to save on luggage fees. We need to see how many bags we're allowed first and then we'll decide from there. As you can see in the pictures we post each day, Libby and the other children wear the same clothes for days at a time and often they are very worn. We won't get to dress her in the clothes we brought until we take her out of the orphanage after our 10 day wait period is up closer to the end of the month. If any of you would like to donate, please let me know as we will only be home for about a week before we plan to return.

When I think about leaving our girl here, I immediately begin to tear up and my heart literally aches! I just want to bring her home NOW, but this isn't how the process works so we must wait. I feel like I am torn as I ache for my kids at home and ache over leaving Libby. It's definitely a tough thing to deal with, but know that Lord-willing, we will be reunited with her after a short time and will bring her home!! Please pray for us as we have to say good-bye for a time on Friday and for her that she will be comforted and well taken care of in our absence.

Libby in the sling for the first time! She loved it: )

Hi, Again!

Oh, it was so good to see our Elizabeth Joy again today!! We didn't get to visit her yesterday and we definitely missed her! We went to a church here in our town with two ladies we met through a missionary that used to live in this area. It was great to worship with fellow believers and enjoy Christian fellowship while we're away from our home church. So as you can imagine, we were excited to be with our Libby girl again today: )

It's late here so I will just leave you with some pictures and video of our girl today!

Our little man loving on his little sister!






And since I'm not writing a full post, I will leave you with 2 videos: )


and

Saturday Siesta and Smiles

Since it is Saturday, it was a quiet day at the orphanage for both of our visits. Our first visit with Libby Joy was a relaxed one with her falling asleep within minutes of us arriving. She slept for the rest of our visit. It was a sweet time with her to watch her sleep and just snuggle her close.


For our second visit, she was in a playful mood and we decided to try some tummy time with her. We laid her blanket out on the rug and put her on her tummy. She did really well! She held her head up and used her arms to keep herself steady. It did make her tired as she would stay up for a little bit then lay her head down and rest for a while. She worked hard though and showed great determination: )


We then laid her on her back and she rolled to her side a few times. She's close to rolling over, but hasn't quite figured out how to get completely over. She has, however, found her feet! She sure did enjoy playing with them!


In the meantime, I was loving on my girl and enjoying her playing: )


Here is a video during our playtime with her today: )


Tomorrow we will not be able to see her since they are not fully staffed with it being Sunday so we are thankful for the precious time with her today and look forward to seeing our baby girl again on Monday!! It was very difficult to leave her today and it grows increasingly so as each day passes.

We are visiting a church here in our region that my mom-in-law found through a missionary that used to live here. We met with 2 of the ladies today that go to the church and they speak english. They are very kind and we are looking forward to worshiping on the Lord's Day tomorrow with these fellow believers.

Dasvidaniya (goodbye)! : )

Our Expressive Girl

Each day we visit our Libby girl, she seems to show us a bit more of her personality. In just the few days we've known her, she is becoming quite expressive: ) Her MANY facial expressions keep us laughing and entertained! She will fit right in at home as we have another very expressive daughter who shall remain nameless.

Sorry it's blurry, but I just had to post it to show her A.DOR.ABLE smile!

"Talking" to Mommy and Daddy

Lord-willing, ONE WEEK from today we will be named the blessed parents of Elizabeth Joy RECTOR!! Please continue to pray for us to find favor with our judge and that the process will be completed without any hiccups! We are hopeful that we will, indeed, have court next Friday and be granted our petition.



I will leave you with a video of our baby girl. I told Richard today that I don't think I could love her more if I tried: ) We are beyond happy to add this precious girl to our family!


Thank you to everyone who has been encouraging us through email and Facebook, we are so thankful to know so many are praying for us and love our family!!

Brother Meets Baby Sister

It was quite a busy and important day as our youngest son, who is with us in country, met his baby sister for the first time! He was fascinated by her and promptly began trying to pet her face and kiss her: ) She was a bit shocked by it, but recovered well and even smiled at him! We carefully showed him how to be gentle with her and she seemed to enjoy her time with him.



We've so enjoyed our Elizabeth Joy and look forward to bringing her home for the rest of our family and friends to meet her! Here are a few shots we got today with our sweet baby girl!






Both visits ended with our Libby girl sweetly sleeping in our arms. Round 1 was daddy's turn and I took round 2: )



Our baby girl has started cooing and making oh-so-precious sounds! We were able to get it on video today and we just had to show everyone: )

Tickles and Giggles: )

We had another great day visiting our sweet Libby girl! She seems to be starting to recognize us when we come to get her out of her crib! She is sweet, sweet, sweet and we are LOVING getting to know her more each day: )


Richard and I visited this morning. Two of the nannies were in the room when we arrived and quickly asked him to play piano. Of course, Libby loved it and was quite still as she listened to her daddy serenade her! She was so pleased that she gave her daddy kisses!!


When I talk to her, she looks up and studies me. She has such gorgeous eyes and I love when she stares at me.


Though she was quite tired, she gave it her all to stay awake, but she lost. I held her as she peacefully slept for a while.

This is our first photo with the three of us together!

This afternoon my mom-in-law went with me and we found her tickle spot! She giggled for us and I HAD to get video for daddy and everyone else to see her too-cute-for-words laugh!


ADOPTION UPDATE: We've been told that we should have court on Friday, April 13th and can leave to wait out the mandatory 10 day wait period at home. Today we booked our tickets home so hopefully all will go according to plan and we'll be home next weekend to see our other kiddos for about a week before we leave again to bring our Libby joy home!! Please pray for a smooth court process and for our kids back home who have been without us for a week and a half already. We MISS them so much and are looking forward to being reunited with them.

Also, please pray for us as it is getting more difficult each day to walk out of the orphanage without our baby girl and leave her there. Pray for grace and peace as we wait!

Princess Elizabeth

We were able to have two visits with Elizabeth today! My mom-in-law came with me this morning so she could meet her new granddaughter for the first time: )


We had a good visit with her and took lots more pictures!




I love this girl more each time I see her and am enjoying getting to know her personality.




My sweet girl was pooped from our time together and she ended up falling asleep on me. *Contented Sigh*



Richard and I went to see her on the second visit and was glad to see she was full of smiles!




We broke out the toys we brought and she enjoyed playing while we took video and more pictures. A nanny came in while we were in the playroom and called Elizabeth a princess. I smiled and we agreed. Princess Elizabeth...it has a nice ring to it! (I tried loading the video we took, but it's not wanting to load. If I figure it out, I'll post it.)


It was Richard's turn to get his baby girl to sleep as she laid her head on him and fell fast asleep: )