OUR JOURNEY, PART II

We will spending our second Christmas with the boys. Time has really gone fast and we are as busy as ever.

At around 4:00pm exactly one year ago today, we first received Roman & Sergei's referral. Our lives have never been the same since! We wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their prayers and support along the way that helped realize our dreams come true! They are two of the happiest and charming boys. We cannot ever imagine our lives without them.

Here are a few photos of the boys from a trip down memory lane.

Wow, August is just around the corner. The summers around these parts always seem to go way to quickly. We've been pretty busy and still have many more things to do. Here are a few pics from our summer so far.

We got the pontoon docked at the cottage for the summer. Sergei took over the controls at the helm while Roman kept a lookout for any stumps.

I read the directions and could have sworn it said it would take two days to put their new play set together. Two weeks later, it was finally complete!

Roman & Sergei playing with their new sprinkler. They're pretty much magnets to anything wet, be it a lake, pool or mud puddle!

I was washing the camper getting ready for our first camping trip when I came around the corner and found the boys all wet and both squeezed into the wash bucket!

Our first time camping! The boys kick back next to the fire.

What's camping without some smores?

The boys, along with some help from mom, made to coolest shirt for me for Father's Day. On the front it said "World's Greatest Dad" and on the back the boys used a special paint to imprint their handprints on it. Of course Roman's prints were in red and Sergei's blue. For those who don't know, red is always for Roman and blue is always for Sergei. It's easier for us to keep track of them that way and to know whose tooth brush and toy belongs to who. Anyway, we had a great time!

The photo is of the two boys cleaning up after getting fingerpaint all over when making the shirts.

No matter their moods, Roman and Sergei always get excited and put on their happy faces whenever we go for a ride in the car.

Today was cause for double celebration. First, we finalized our adoption in court. The State of Wisconsin requires adoptive parents to finalize their adoptions in State Court sometime after being home for at least six months. During those first six months, we were considered foster parents while our homestudy agency was considered the boys' guardian. We've been home six months and one week and are very pleased to make it over this last hurdle. Other than an annual post-placement report over the next three years, no more paperwork for us!




Our second cause for celebration was that it was Sergei and Roman's 2nd birthday today! The staff at the courthouse was kind enough to adjust their schedule in order to accommodate us on their birthdays! After court we went to dinner and returned home with some family members to celebrate the re-adoption and have a small birthday party. Their real birthday party isn't until Saturday but it was nice to have a little pre-celebration. The boys, who are normally very outgoing, decided to get real embarrassed and shy when everyone sang Happy Birthday to them. It was really cute.

Daddy got to spend some time with the boys today so we decided to go to Council Grounds. Council Grounds is a State Park less than a few miles from our house. In the summertime, we spend time there boating, fishing, tubing and picnicking. Today we played on the swing set and took a stroll by the beach.

"Wild Life" certainly describes our lives now having gone from no kids to two almost two-year-old twin boys!

The boys got a treat yesterday when they got to witness "wildlife" of another sort. This time a baby black bear was perusing our front yard for the better part of a half-hour. The boys really got a kick out of it although we think they still think it was a puppy.

That's what our little boys are made of! I actually thought it was a good idea to take the boys out into the garage with me while I vacuumed the car. I didn't know they'd be so fascinated with the exhaust port on the Shop-Vac though!


In the good news department, we submitted our photos for our first Post Placement Report that the Russian Federation requires after being home for six months. They also require a report at 12, 24 and finally 36 months. Our part is easy, we just submit updated photos. Our local social worker, who did our homestudy, is the one who actually writes all the reports.

We have our State's finalization court date coming up on May 7th! In the eyes of Wisconsin law, we're just foster parents right now but after May 7th, it's the real deal! May 7th also happens to be Roman and Sergei's 2nd birthday. What a way to celebrate!

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words!

It's only been four days since the season's last snow storm but it's finally beginning to look a bit more like Spring outside.

Today is Tax Day so Sergei and Roman are quite pleased that we got our paperwork sent in on time.

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers but what if the April showers are actually snow storms? Not just any snow storms mind you, but three straight days of 40-50 mph wind gusts, power outages, two inches of rain and now over a foot of snow in some parts of our great state! That's life in Wisconsin.

It wouldn't be so bad but after a few days of 60 degree weather you sort of get your mind set on Spring type events such as putting away the Christmas decorations that, up until a week ago, were still frozen in the ground, maybe doing a little spring cleaning, watching the grass get greener with each passing day, getting the boats ready for Summer and all that other good stuff that one normally does around mid-April.

Instead of going to a zoo, watching an early season baseball game, or just going to play on the swings at the neighborhood park, the highlight for the boys this month was eating corn on the cob for the first time! Things can only get better.

We celebrated Easter a few days early this year because of our conflicting work schedules and other family commitments this weekend. That didn't stop Sergei and Roman from searching for their Easter baskets though. They also got to try their hand at coloring some eggs. As it turns out, that didn't work out so well. They discovered they could skip all the extra work and just squeeze the eggs until they cracked and eat them soon afterwards!

It really wasn't that long ago when the boys were content dancing in their pajamas. Not no more. Now Sergei and Roman insist on sporting their finest flannel plaid attire when exhibiting their latest dance maneuvers.

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I was actually was able to find Children's Home #12 in St. Petersburg, Russia using Google Maps. That's the orphanage where the boys lived for 15 months before we met them.

The blue balloon is on the building. It's an "H" shaped building marked "9" because it's located at "9 Prospekt Yelizarova". If you zoom in, you can even see the roof of the guard shack along the southeast side of the property where you enter.

I was OK with shoveling after the first 100 snowfalls we had this winter but at some point you need to draw the line and enlist some help. It took a lot of hard work and training but Roman and Sergei are now able to help Daddy shovel the long driveway!

Sergei is known for his smooth dance moves but his latest dance floor performance includes the infamous "Slap Yourself on the Butt" as he dances along to Theodore Bikel's Songs of a Russian Gypsy while watching our first trip to Russia video. Roman doesn't stay on the sidelines for very long after the music kicks into high gear.

During a recent visit at Grandma and Grandpa Wunsch's house, Roman and Sergei went on their nightly, after-dinner, happy screaming kick. I started videotaping Roman, but then the telephone rang and, we'll you can see what he does by watching the video.