Middle Names

While at the airport we took a peek at Anastasia's passport to see what her middle name is. I was like, what is that, it looks like a man's name with a ending added to it. Well, sure enough it was. After researching online, I figured out why her name looked like that, and what her father's name most likely was. I'm not going to type it on here for the whole world to see. But we don't know what to do about her name. It's a debate a lot of adoptive parents have, a lot leave it up to the children, and a lot just rename them without asking. We are going to keep her first name, no we are not going to ask her if she wants a new first name. Gosh, when I was 7 I named everything Susie, I don't think a child that age needs to be naming themselves. Just my opinion. Well, her middle name is out-there here in America, I can guarantee noone here could even round about pronounce it.
So, what to do? What if we give her a new name and her father was this super wonderful man. What if we keep it and her father was some sort of monster?

Here is the explanation I found online:

A Russian name generally has three parts: a given name, a patronymic,
> and a family name.
>
> The given name is like a first name in English. Most male names end in
> a consonant, and most female names end in the sound "a".
>
> The patronymic is the one that's unusual from an English perspective.
> It's name that is based on the person's father's name. It's generally
> formed by taking the father's name and adding -ovich for a man, or
> adding -ovna for a woman (these endings can change to -yevich and
> -yevna if the father's name ends in a "soft" consonant).
>
> The family name is like a surname in English. For a woman, the sound
> "a" is tacked on to the end of the surname, but it's considered to be
> the same surname. There are also some surnames that end in -sky (or
> -ski or -skiy, depending on the transliteration). This changes to
> -skaya for a woman.
>
> Some examples:
>
> Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
>
> His given name is Vladimir, his father's name is also Vladimir, and his
> family name is Putin. His daughter is Yekaterina Vladimirovna Putina.
>
> Anna Sergeyevna Kournikova
>
> Her given name is Anna, her father's name is Sergei, and her family
> name is Kournikova (or Kurnikova if you want a more accurate
> transliteration). Her father's last name would have been Kournikov.
>
> The most common way for two adults to refer to each other is by their
> first name and their patronymic. The patronymic would be dropped only
> in the case of a very close relationship. Using the last name would
> generally be seen as being extremely formal.







So, any input? If we give her a new middle name, I am leaning toward giving her mine, Anastasia Michelle, but that is really long. I don't know!!!
Oh, and if we keep her middle name, her initials would be A.S.S.

Yes Everyone Cried

As everyone knows we had to take Anastasia to the airport yesterday. Who was the first to cry? Cooper, yes you heard me right. As we were waiting in line to check her in, his little lip popped out, his face turned pink, and the tears started streaming "I don't want Anastasia to leave." Oh my goodness, of course that made me cry.
Once all the children were checked in, we got to hang around for a while and visit. We got to meet Liza, Anastasia's good friend who is being adopted by another Warner Robins family. I got a gate pass so that I could take her to the gate since she has to be wheeled. Once they called for all the kids to gather and start walking, yes, most everyone was crying. The thing that got me was seeing the kids crying. Anastasia had already cried several times, but now she was crying really hard, she gave hugs to the boys and Gary and we had to start walking. The orphanage director and I were trying to comfort her, and the orphanage director was looking at me, and said, "Anastasia can come back and visit you in the summer, yes?" I realized then that she must know that we are adopting Anastasia. We were not allowed to tell her, but I think the Hosting people did. So, of course I said "YES, we would love for her to come back this summer." That perked Anastasia up a little bit.
Nastya's Host Dad walked with Anastasia and I because we got seperated from the group due to the fact that we had to take the elevator. When we got to the gate, she cried so hard, I just held her and cried and reminded her that we would see her this summer. She told the translator that she wanted to stay forever with her Mama. She told me over and over, I love you mama, I love you. I love you too, is all I could say. She has no idea how much we love her, as our daughter, and how much work is going into bringing her here forever. It's so hard to not be able to take care of her when she hurts or explain to her that we do love her as a daughter. It's horrible to think that she doesn't know that she IS wanted.
Once I got back to the boys, Cooper yelled out to me "Guess what Mama, next time we see Anastasia we get to keep her!!!" I can't really explain the love these boys have for her, they were so kind and patient with her. What a blessed family I have!
Well, I've got to go clean my house so I can take pictures for our Dossier paperwork.

Departing

Hi all, we have been very busy preparing for Anastasia's departure tomorrow. She also had her dental work done yesterday. She did so awesome, they were impressed by her.
She has been crying telling us "no airport", and she says "ohhhh, my cody-bug" That is is one of my nickname's for Cody. I was crying with her, but at that point had to laugh. She loves her brothers, especially Cody. And I must say, they have been so sweet to her, beyond anything I ever expected. What wonderful boys I have!
We went to school with Cooper one day this week, which she loved. She has taken a liking to Cooper's teacher from the beginning. She also really likes Cooper's "girlfriend" Madison. It was a great day for her. During story time, she sat between the girls who were most dressed up that day, and all she did through the whole story was look at what they were wearing! I was trying not to laugh out loud.
Her English has exploded the past 2-3 days! Beyond what we ever expected. It's so sad she has to go back and lose all that she's learned, hopefully she'll retain some of it. Some of her favorites right now are "stop it", "come on", "hold on", "in a minute", "Ginger go potty", etc...
We had a Birthday Cake for her tonight, I tried to explain to her that her birthday is in 2 weeks and that she would be 7, not sure if she understood or not. But she was so excited that it was for her!
We haven't had much more of the behavior issues, she knows Mama don't play, and she corrects herself quickly.
She told the orphanage director that she wanted to buy a gift for her grandmother. We were told that her grandmother had passed and her grandfather was alive but too elderly to care for her. Maybe it's the other way around? We really hope that if she is alive, that we will be able to meet her, and get information and maybe photos for Anastasia to keep. I don't know what her parents were like, if they suitable or not, but no matter, I would still want her to have photos of them, it's part of who she is.
We are going to miss her so much. I hope the time goes quickly. This time with her has been such a gift. Having a child added to your family for a month then taken away is very hard. Children are so full of life, having one not there changes the whole household. Although I've tried to spread myself out well, I know the boys need some extra Mama time. It's kind of like having a new baby in the house, so she needed extra attention.
Please pray for our family tomorrow. Cody says he is going to try not to cry, but that he might! Cooper says he just wishes she could stay longer.

Our God is an Awesome God

Just wanted to give everyone an awesome update on the little girl Liza we had sent an email out about. I got a call yesterday saying there was a couple, who had gotten the email and was very interested. That couple is right here in Warner Robins!!! For their privacy I'm not going to go into detail about who they are. But they went to meet her today and are moving forward!!!! All that we needed was email, prayer, and a lot of heart, and a little girl whose future was at huge risk has found a home!!! And a family with a lot of love to give has found a daughter! Once Anastasia and Liza are both home they are going to flip over the fact that they get to be in same town nd visit each other!!! Can you imagine! This is one of Anastasia's closest friends. God is so good and when you are open to what he could do through you, even if it's just sending an email, you never know what could become of it!!

Updated Cost

As we get ready to write our second check to the agency I decided to update our "cost analysis"

I know alot of people are curious about costs, especially those who run across this blog and are thinking about doing what we are doing. As our costs occur we will post them here, along with a summary of future costs.

Application fee for Homestudy 100.00
Local background checks (2, one for me and one for Gary) 40.00
Fingerprints
Mailing the fingerprints to the proper places 17.00
Money orders for fees to cover having the fingerprints processed 66.00
9/1/08 Payment to Homestudy Agency 700
9/2/08 "Down Payment" to Hosting Agency 750
Passports 232
Final Homestudy Payment 700
10/15-11/1 Rest of Hosting Fee through donations, thank you Aunt Kelly, Uncle Dave, Papaw and Memaw 1400
10/15 Adoption Agency Application Fee 500
10/15 INS I600A FEE 830
10/30 First Installment of Adoption Agency Fee 5,500
Apostilled Copies of our Marriage Certificate for Dossier 59

Mandatory donation to Hosting Agency 2,250
Apostille cost for first set of Dossier 80
Last Minute Visas 715
Airline 2000.00
Hotel 600.00
Adoption Agency 4500.00
Total so far: $21,049.00

Known Costs for the future:




Adoption Agency Fee 13500.00
Travel Plane Tickets 2nd Trip 2800.00
Plane Tickets 3rd Trip 1500.00
Anastasia's Ticket Home 1000.00
Translator 1st Trip 900.00
Translator 2nd Trip 900.00
Translator 3rd Trip 900.00
Driver 1st Trip 800.00
Driver 2nd Trip 1000.00
Driver 3rd Trip 800.00
Hotel 2st Trip 1500.00
Hotel 3rd Trip 3500.00

Food 1st Trip 500.00
Food 2nd Trip 700.00
Food 3rd Trip 700.00

"Donation" to Orphanage 1000.00
Medical Exams for Gary and I in Russia 1800.00
Her Visa and Passport 400.00
Yet To Be Paid 32,400.00

Estimated final cost: 53,500

We have had 2,590.00 in donations
And we raised 400.00 through a garage sale

Starting our Dossier Paperwork!!!

Our adoption agency finally acknowledged us!!! I know they get the job done, and we are so greatful for them, but they do not operate in a way that is works with my personality. Just another way God is stretching me I'm sure. But we get to start our Dossier paperwork, yeah!!! So we just got back from the Post Office mailing our request for our Apostilled Marriage Certificate. We think the Dossier will take 2-3 weeks to gather, then it will be sent to Russia. Once that arrives, is tranlated and submitted, people usually make their first trip in 1-2 months, so we will see.

Ms. Attitude

Yes, she is a girl, she is so much different from my boys. We had to read tons of adoption information while doing our homestudy, they should have information on "girl attitude". She likes to challenge me, of course she is testing her boundaries. I get "no mama no", in the cutest most defiant Russian accent. Oddly enough like every mother knows, the expression on her face when she says it angers me and is really cute at the same time. She also does a long "MOoooom", you know the kind a teenager does. She is quickly learning this does not fly in my house. She will say no to any request we make of her sometimes, like to brush her teeth, simply I'm sure to test us. Last night she kept up yelling that she wanted to watch TV when we got home, well, it was late everyone was going to bed, she kept on, and refused, so I told her it was straight to bed then, no stories no nothing. She refused, so Gary picked her up and placed her in her bed. She started crying, jumped out of the bed, ran into the bathroom, slammed the door and started getting ready for bed. She then came out and told me she was sorry.
We are going to miss her Russian so bad when she loses it. It is so adorable, and she has a "lazy russian", so it sounds french-like. We really hope to keep her Russian once she's home forever, but we hear they lose it so fast, hard to believe, we'll see.