Epperly Adoption

We had a great visit today. We got to be alone with Jonas for the entire visit. We have established that this is what sad Jonas looks like

We have mastered the “high five” and “gimme some knuckles”

We now know that Jonas likes bubbles (who doesn’t)

Here is our self taken group photo (hard to hold the camera and shoot)

We are really looking forward to getting a FULL family photo as soon as possible. Need our girls in the picture to make a FAMILY photo.

Sorry for the delay in updates. We visited the orphanage yesterday and had a good visit with Jonas and his group. I am pretty sure these kids don’t see a lot of Men here. I started picking each of them up and spinning them, throwing them up and the air, etc. and you would have thought I just invented the light bulb. Every kid lining up for their turn on the Jason ride. I was quite popular. We did not get a lot of private time with Jonas, but it was a great visit anyway.

Today we are off to the market. We went Sunday afternoon and picked up a Jacket and some boots for Jonas. The boots fit, the jacket did not. We now know that Jonas is not a 36 jacket size (whatever that means). So we are off to try to exchange the jacket for a smaller size. We venturing off without a translator, so I hope I don’t end up accidentally buying another jacket :)

We had another good visit with Jonas today. It was a little rough in the beginning. The care givers told us he was waiting on us yesterday (we did not go to the orphanage yesterday) and he had been grumpy all morning today. He had created some artwork for us. It shows Mom & Dad with Jonas in the middle. We are all holding hands.

Jonas really likes the computer (wow, is that going to work out). We have been showing him a lot of family photos and playing some games too. I am not sure which he likes better, the pictures or all the buttons on the computer :)

Status update:

We are 3 days into our 10 day waiting period. We will be able to take custody of Jonas on Saturday, February 14th. We have to stay in Gorlovka until Monday in order to get Jonas’s birth certificate. We will then be able to ride the train to Kiev on Monday night and start with our final paperwork steps on Tuesday. Won’t be long until we are on our way back HOME!!!

Some other good news came to us yesterday. Our friend Ira was able to adopt the abandoned baby girl we talked about in a previous post. We were invited over yesterday for the celebration. It was quite the event. Here is me with “Erina” (her new name). Talk about a great home to be in.

We were able to take a trip to the big store (a Ukrainian version of Sam’s club) and we picked  up a few items for Jonas to wear. He wears a ~5T shirt and we are still sorting out pant and shoe sizes.

We finally had our day in court. Things went really smooth (considering) and we have our court decree (that is fancy for “You may adopt this child” approval from the court). We are now officially in the “10 day waiting period. We will be able to officially claim February 14th as Jonas’s “Gotcha Day”. How cool is that! After this date, and as soon as we have our paperwork done, we will leave for Kiev!

Just wanted to let you all know that the papers were signed and they are on the night train headed our way.  Tomorrow we will go to court at 11:00.  Not really sure what to expect in court, guess we’ll let you know tomorrow.

Didn’t really have a long visit today, our taxi was having some difficulty so we had to stop at a garage and get something fixed.  We probably saw Jonas for about 30 minutes or so.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, keep them coming.

We showed up today for our morning visit. Jonas was REALLY upset and we finally figured out why. We heard the other children getting ready to go outside to play (and so did Jonas). This means that we would have blocked his outside playtime (a rare event in the winter months) for a second time.  I (Sharon) played charades with the caregiver, we wanted to get his outside clothes so we could take him out with his class.  They got it pretty quick, I guess I am good at that game!  Playing outside was fun, the playground is really nice.  These kids are starving for attention, I think it is probably rare that they get chased or thrown up in the air.  They were all so cute, I think Jonas was a little jealous to be sharing.  Anytime Jason would pick someone else up to throw, he would run over and grab him, this is a good thing!  Tomorrow we will go to church again and we are looking forward to that.  We will not be visiting Jonas tomorrow, the afternoon visits are pretty hard, he is use to the routine and likes watching cartoons.

We have been able to talk with the girls and that makes being away a little easier.  They seem to be doing great.  I believe Aunt Kim was taking them to a movie this afternoon, or something fun.  It is so comforting to know that they are happy and are being taken care of.  We can’t wait until we are all together again.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue to pray for all of us.  God is good and he has been with us from the beginning, we have seen his handy work in so many ways.  We are so truly blessed!  Love and miss our family and friends.

Until next time,  here are some pictures.

We just heard from Vanya and we have good news. The secretary at the SDA said that the paperwork “should” be ready on Monday. This means the paperwork is complete and just needs to be signed by “the Boss” (whoever that is). The feeling now is that there is an 80% chance we WILL have our paperwork on Monday, which means we will be in court at 11AM on Tuesday.

Our prayer request is that when our facilitator gets to Kiev, the paperwork IS ready.

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