A video about our family

Pierce Family Adoption Registry

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The girls meeting Silas

Tyler is somewhere over the ocean with Keith right now. We miss them already, but are trying to fill our heads with the idea of “fun girl time” and enjoy the last week here in Russia. J

Sveta picked all 4 of us up and we went to see Silas today. Wow. Silas is ready for a big family. He had a BLAST playing with us. Anna really enjoyed playing with him and devoted much of the time to making him laugh and smile. Iryna was more interested in playing will all the cool toys that she’s never seen before. And so all three of my kids were happy and occupied and that made MAMA happy.

I talked with Sveta again about the 7 day requirement to see both of the boys. I guess that the orphanage doesn’t count how many visits that I make to see the boys, so I could potentially go to court and say that I saw them the required 14 times, but I won’t do that because it’s not honest. By the time we go home next week, I will have visited both Calvin and Silas 6 times each. Tyler saw them 3 times each. So we’re already in the hole on our 7 visits. Sveta said that the judge actually made this law to see each child 7x per visit. It seems to me that this law will restrict how many children can be adopted, as I’ve already stated before – who can afford to take so much time off to do the required 7 visits?! My plan is to just do the best that we can do and pray that God will make up the difference. He knows that we need these boys and that they need us and He will make it happen.

Some items I wish that I had here:

Facial lotion. The airport police people confiscated my cetaphil facial cream because we accidentally packed it in the carryon instead of the checked luggage. We bought some funky blue “spa” lotion here, but it doesn’t do a good job and it actually makes my face break out. You can imagine how fun that is.

A decent potato peeler. We bought one here but it’s a piece of junk and only works 10% of the time.
An oven. I am limited in what I can make with just two burners. Tyler was actually tired of so many homemade white sauces…I am eager to return home to my 2 ovens and crock-pot. J

A larger supply of DR Pepper. I can buy one small can of it for $4 – it’s practically liquid gold at that price! We’re trying to not spend a lot of money this trip so we can have it for the second trip, but I am missing my DP. *sniff sniff*

Microwavable popcorn. I don’t eat it often at home, but it’s a great salty snack and it’s nice to have something salty along with all of the sweet treats that we have here.

Some things I’m glad I packed:

Instant oatmeal packets. Maple and brown sugar oatmeal for breakfast – fast and easy and super satisfying! I bought 6 boxes of the packets and we have 2 left. It was a great idea that I had prior to coming and I plan to bring more on the second trip.

Ziploc bags. We were told to bring tons of Ziploc bags to Ukraine for our adoption of Keith & Iryna. So, I brought a ton with me and I brought a ton of them home. We didn’t need them. Here in Russia, however, we use them as snack bags and in place of Tupperware in the fridge. Nice and convenient and they don’t sell them here, from what I understand.

The first four seasons of HOUSE, compliments of my best friend, Sarah (Thanks, girl!). We watch it almost every evening. Sarah introduced it to me during my surprise visit to see her and now I’m hooked on it. It’s great to have something entertaining to watch at the end of the day.

The wii. Seriously. Anna plays it. I play it. It’s a lot of fun and who doesn’t like Mario party? So fun.

Games! Quirkle and Yahtzee are played almost daily. I love games and they help pass the long hours.

Picture time:





8 comments:

nicole said...

Oh wow- he is so dang cute!!! What an amazing experience. Your faith is inspiring Jill. Love ya!

Diana said...

My guess is this law has something to do with the mom who shipped her kid back on the airplane and the hot sauce mom. They want to make sure that you know your kid well enough (ha ha...how little they understand!)after those 7 visits to know what you're really getting into and that you won't take them home and abuse them.

Can't believe you didn't use ziplocks in Ukraine. We used ALL of them we took and we took a lot!

Good luck with the rest of your trip!

Carina said...

It makes me happy to see how much fun Iryna and Anna seem to have had meeting their new little brother! :) Again, so sorry about the hoops you have to jump through, but like you said, just trust in the Lord and He will provide for and guide you!

Queen Mother said...

I love him. He is SO CUTE!

Sarah C said...

I love the pictures of Anna playing with Silas. You can tell she already loves him. She is a wonderful big sister. The picture of Anna and Iryna sitting on the floor with Silas is so cute. Anna's hand looks sweet touching his little leg.
I am praying for things to work out with the 7 visit law. You are a good mom. You are doing the very best that you can. I am sure the judge will see that.
I am glad you are enjoying House. Thanks again for visiting me. That was one of the best weeks I have ever had! You are the BEST! I miss you.
I am happy to hear that things are going well this trip. Your boys are so cute. I can't wait to meet them.
Thank you for posting pictures. Your whole family is so cute!
Love ya!

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

Silas has to be the cutest little thing, EVER!! I love that name, too! What a beautiful family you have!!

Unknown said...

The potato peeler made me crack up a bit. I am Irish and never owned a potato peeler, but i could peel potatoes with a knife when I was 4. It really isn't that hard, and you might want to throw away the bad peeler and try it till you can get a better one next time around!

Silas is the cutest thing ever!

Mamapierce said...

Hevel - we ALWAYS used a potato peeler to peel potatoes at home. I've just decided to not peel the potatoes here. More fiber, right? :D