It has been awhile, Wow! How time flies

It has been two weeks since our visit with the Neuro surgeon who is following Oksanas condition. Every three months we go have some xrays taken and meet with several Doctors. Each time we hear" we will continue to monitor her and see you back in three months". This time it was different. The head of the team decided that we need to start the operations. We knew even before she came home this day would come, however the reality of hearing it is time was overwhelming. I have decided that I will keep regular posts so whoever wants to follow and pray can. The operations are complicated and very risky. There is a very real possibility that she may have paralysis. They told me the first surgery will be done in two parts, the first lasting 10 to 12 hours and the second being done within a week following the first one. It will take 6 months to get all the doctors and tests completed to have her ready as well as having a feeding tube put in next month to allow her to gain the weight she will need. She has been here for a year and two months and has only gained 11 ounces. She is so smart and is very aware of all that is going on around her, nothing gets past her. Her foot and leg has been going numb almost every day for about 6 months now. The doctor said this is one reason we need to get going before something more severe happens. We are trusting in God as we have throughout this entire venture. As her mom I would lay my life down to ensure her to get through this safely however I know that it is God who has a plan for her and whatever it is He has instore for her, I cannot change, He loves her more than I ever could. It was God that protected her at birth and God who kept her safe when her birth parents left her to die and it was God who gave her to me. His will for her life will be done, please pray for her, our family and for wisdom and gifted hands as they do these operations, she has to be okay, she wants to be a balerina, she has to be able to dance.

2 months this Sunday!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. We have been very busy settling in and trying to adjust to all that is happening around us. Oksana has settled in so nicely. Our other children say that it feels as if she has always been here, how amazing it truly is. We had many doctor visits and appointments at the hospitals and next week we meet with the surgical team at Shrinners Hospital to determine what operations will be coming up in the fall for her. Each day she says more and more in English and teaches us more and more in Russian. It is funny to spend a day in our home. Friends of the children come over and greeet her with a Russian Hello and will leave knowing a few more words in Russian. She is not at all shy and very confident. She thinks she is the boss most of the time and is training us well. I can not believe that in two days it will have already been two months since we took physical custody of her, time flies. Look for new photos in a couple of days.

HERE ARE THE PHOTOS

Sorry for the delay I will update all later.

SO GOOD?/NO! GREAT TO BE HOME!!!!!

Yesterday was a very long day.... It started with a phone call that the translator who was going to bring me to the airport and see us through customs, broke her arm and it was swelling so she had to go to the doctors. She arranged for someone else to take us but this person practically left us at check in. Me, Oksana two large luggage bags and two carry on's. Once my luggage went through x-ray I had to get on a line to register and process the bags. Well the man told me to enter in one line so I did. Well this very large older gentleman started going off in either German or maybe Russian, anyway since I am not good in either I played dumb like most of the Russians I have encountered this week did and continued to walk. He got louder and I said I speak english.. His response a negative one was ignored by me, then his wife pushes her luggage cart right into me and Oksana. Oksana was definitely hurt a little, well you know the saying about a lioness protecting her cub well out of no where A reation simular to that saying surfaced and I physically grabbed her shirt and yelled, thats my baby you just ran into, maybe stronger words, I just reacted. To date that was the rudest act I was involved in. Then I see security and I feared getting in trouble for touching someone after all I was in Russia, well she saw it and came to my defense, then I got to customs and encountered another individual who was as anti-american as I have seen, she starts questioning me in Russian and I respond very little and English. Her face was an expression of Discust and now she is questioning Oksanas paperwork. Imagine my stress and I have not even made it to the plane as yet. She wanted me to give her the originals (they are only to be opened by US immigration) So I said NO! She called to someone else who was actually human and within 40 minutes I was on my way to the plane.. Then boarding the woman tried to rip by boarding pass out of my hand and have me sit in a different seat. Well the problem was earlier this week they cancelled Oksanas flight and I had to pay again for new tickets. I made sure we had window seats Better to keep a small one occupied, and now she was telling me I can't have the seats even though My boarding pass says I have them, My advise Never FLy Aeroflot. I think they hate Americans.Long story short all the fuss even though I was in the right meant nothing and we did not get to sit in the seats designated to be ours. Was the plane full? No.. Was my original seat available ? Yes, anyway at least I was on the plane. I did however let Oksana play with the call button for the first 2 hours, hey what was I to do? She had no window to look out of, not my problem, Spiteful? Yes.. I am only human.Once in flight I realized how sad it was to have run into so many unhappy people so full of misery in less then 2 hours in one day.All in all Oksana did so well having to sit on a plane for ten hours. Unfortunitely she would not fall asleep and then passed out 42 minutes before the plane landed. That meant waking up this little one who I then had to carry along with my carry on and her play bag. She refused to fully wake up and I had to manage getting out the documents for cutoms while carrying her. I figured with all I had accomplished this week I guess I could do this as well." All things through Christ" rang so true this week. What a feeling walking to get through customs on American soil, and being able to walk right up to a customs agent and after 5 minutes hearing "welcome back and congradulations" words to bring tears to my eyes. I somehow managed to get her to walk and was able to get our luggage and get through to the exit where Darius and Three of our four children were waiting for us. Balloons, Flowers and a teddy bear and how blessed I felt at that moment, I somehow felt like I was returning from war.. I was finally home....

ONE MORE DAY!!!

It is about 10:30pm Friday, I am all packed for our big day tomorrow.We did the visa papers today and it was by far the easiest part of the trip. No problems no questions just here is your daughters visa and congradulations. Our flight is 3:30 tomorrow afternoon so please pray us back to the states safely and look for pictures of our sweet baby on Sunday. They will be posted. Today was the first day she actually ate a good meal and she seems to be settling in well. I think her fear of me leaving her again is no longer even a thought in her mind. She constantly is saying mama which is one of the best sounds I have heard all week. Thank you for fo;;owing us on this journey and for your encouraging words and your prayers, you will never know how much they mean.

A DAY WITH OKSANA

It is now the end of our day. It was a day of pure fun. No papers, planes or legal work. I was able to sit back and get to know my daughter. She is so incedible. I am unable to put photos on the site so I will do it when we get home. We leave in two days and it can't come to soon. Oksana is very good with me and has not cried once except when it was nap time.The director at the orphanage said she is a little clown and today I got to experience that. She is refusing to speak english but is very patient with me and teaches me Russian one syllable at a time, correcting me when I am wrong and clapping and praising me when I am right. She cracks me up. It is hard to believe that we are at the end of the adoption journey. What started out as something I was so afraid of doing, literally running from the thought of it to being here today with her. I could not imagine my life without this blessing. I am so thankful to God for keeping the pressure on and for me to have no other option then to trust Him. My life will be forever changed and my faith forever greater. Personally my childhood was difficult livingwith a deformity, and never did I think anything good could come of such horrible memories, today I firmly believe God was preparing me for such a day as this. I feel that all I had gone through was to prepare me for today and I am forever grateful for this blessing, Oksana Grace Oshidar ( our angel)

WHAT A GIFT I RECEIVED TODAY

It is 10:00 pm and I am falling over with fatigue but had to post this. Today Oksana is exactly 4 years and 5 months old and I have been with her since 4pm. She is truly an angel, She screamed for her caregivers and I felt like I was breaking her heart, the first 30 minutes of the ride was so difficult to bare, then she settled in and actually smiled at me a few times. within the first hour she snuggled her tiny body against me and remained there the rest of the ride to the hotel. Right now she is sitting here with me coloring. I still feel like I am dreaming, words cannot describe the feelings that I am experiencing. We will be flying out to Moscow in the morning and will be there for 4 days. One new problem somehow Aeroflot cancelled our return tickets, and Darius has been fighting with them all day so just pray we get a flight to get home. I cannot put photos on from this computer so maybe from Moscow, she is so cute.......