What A Year

I have a lot to post about tonight but I don't know how much energy I will have to post it.

A year ago this week, we met Coy for the very first time. It blows me away that it has been a year already. It seems like he just got here but it also seems like a lifetime ago that we were in Ukraine. Time is funny like that I guess. More on that in a minute.

I had a really neat experience earlier this week. I traveled to Madison Wisconsin for work and while I was on my trip, God worked it out for me to meet a couple of folks that are in the middle of their own international adoption. I remember being where Mark and Shannon from Texas are in the process. They are busy filling out paperwork to hopefully adopt a little girl from Ethiopia. But I know that the paperwork seems almost endless and that the waiting period and the expenses are daunting and I think that they were looking for a little assurance that they are following God's will. I was traveling on the same day on which we left to go to Ukraine last year and I was reading Hungarian Rhapsody for like the third time and looking for some encouragement that we did the right thing by bring Coy to our home. Their plans did not originally include the Milwaukee airport and neither did mine but I firmly believe that God's plan was for all of us to be there the other night. I got to share a little with them about Coy's adoption and they got to share a little with me about their adoption. Their reason's for adopting seemed to be very similar to ours. They, unlike us, already five children. The oldest is in college, the youngest, three years old. However, God is tugging at their heart and it is something that they can't deny, even if they can't rationalize it to the world in which we live. It was great to meet them and I wish them well. God didn't create American children, or European children, or African children, we give them that label. He just creates His children and they are all His children, regardless of where they are born. If you get a chance, please pray for Mark and Shannon and for their upcoming adoption.

As I was flying back to Louisville from my trip, it brought back a flood of memories from our trip. I remember walking back up through the terminal with Coy in tow knowing that Caleb and Katie and other loved ones were waiting for us at the end of the gates. I remember the utter exhaustion from having been gone and going through the emotional roller coaster that was bringing Coy home. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The stats go something like this: Coy has grown almost 6 inches since we brought him home. He was not small for his age like you might expect orphans could be because of the lack of nutrition and physical development. He is still a good eater. He has gained about five pounds or so but he is still as solid as a rock. His English continues to improve. Stacey said that a clerk at Kohls was able to understand something that Coy said the other day. That is a HUGE step forward. Most strangers have no clue what he is trying to say.

Baseball and soccer are both in full swing now. That keeps us busy. And since I have been traveling a lot recently with my job, it doesn't leave a lot of time for posting or taking new pictures. I hope you will be patient with me while the posts seem to slow down.

We have completed Coy's annual report for the embassy but we have not sent it off yet. I am wanting to include some photos with it but I just haven't sent any to the photo store yet. We will need to complete it and mail it in during the next month.

This video is from one of our visits to Coy's orphanage. I have posted it before. I went back and read and watched some of the posts and video's from we when adopted Coy. It helped me to remember so many of the details of the trip, even if they weren't in the post. In my mind, I could go back there and remember some of the sights and smells and sensations, even if I couldn't describe them in the posts.
This second video is from one of our first visits with Coy. At this point, we have already decided to adopt him (we did that as soon as we saw him). But it is the first time that we have visited him since we made that decision. Here is a photo of that same scene. Sveta is with us because we have absolutely no idea how to communicate with him. That banana really helped though. I don't think a stranger would get very far with him with a banana today though. Anything that looks like candy could be a different story though.