Take note :)

The Lord so kindly brought us through our adoption journey...will you please follow us back at http://family-risse.blogspot.com that is where I will be posting from now on. I am still working on getting that blog back in order but hope to make my first post soon.

Would you like an update?

Sorry, I have been a bit aggravated as to why Blogger will not let me post pictures, they have changed everything up on me and I have no time to learn this new stuff :) Things are wonderful here. We are working very hard with Anna and Naomi in hopes to finish school in about 5 weeks. We will be having Naomi a little K graduation with a couple other small children, it will be simple and sweet. Speaking of Naomi she is doing great, she is so good with her new brother (all the kids are)! She loves to pick him up and carry him around and he just loves it and her. Anna has been sick the past couple days with headaches and fevers....if she is not better on Fri. I will be taking her to the Dr. She is very much looking forward to the summer where her dream of outside play all day long will come into effect! She loves the outside. We have many "goals" we want to accomplish with the kids this summer...we mainly just want to freeze time and put them in a glass bubble and enjoy them :) We hope to make it Yellowstone this summer sometime. Beth is doing well and will be turning 3 in a couple days!!! Wow, I cannot believe it, it goes by so quickly. She loves dressing up and especially loves shoes and purses. Luke, well let's just say he is on cloud nine with Dmitriy and will be starting homeschool K5 this fall....I was a bit sad to see that he made the cut off by only 7 days!!! Not that I do not want to do school with him, I was just hoping for him to have another full year. So this year there will be 3 kids at the Risse homeschool table :) I love having them home with me. As far as a Dmitriy update ( I will keep trying to figure out how to post pictures as time allows). He is doing good. He will go in the morning for another weight check. He goes every 2 weeks to our dr. here on base for weight checks and to discuss any concerns or plans we have for needing to travel to Denver. Speaking of Denver we hope to be there the middle of this month for a sedated MRI on his brain and a MRI on his eye as well as another eye exam. If all looks good...we are expecting that we will confirm his microcephaly diagnosis on the MRI...but if everything looks good as to nothing going on in his brain to effect his vision and if the MRI on his eye is good then we will be asking our Dr. to put in the referral for the Dr. in New York...if there is something with his brain that would effect his vision then there is no need in going through with the surgery. The surgery is $40,000 for one eye and we are hoping our insurance will cover....they say we could either get approved for all or for 50% ...well obviously we need to be fully covered. This is the only Dr. we are peaceful about allowing to do the surgery on his eye and if we cannot get this done by him then we will no be having the surgery done. From what I understand this Dr. is retired (he is much older) but still takes on cases like Dmitriy's. With his cleft palate, we were told to put that surgery in the back of our heads for a while...atleast 6 months. He needs to be in better condition and at a better weight. He is still taking pediasure as his main source of nutrition and gets baby foods as well. Even puree table foods he has a hard time eating...this is something occupational therapy will work with him on. We plan to start all his therapies once we have finished school with the girls. We wanted to give him time to adjust before we brought therapy in all week and right now I need to give the girls attention with their schooling. We are also waiting on his genetic testing results to come in...hopefully in about 2 more weeks we will hear something.......sometime out in the far future we will more than likely have a prosthetic eye placed in his socket to support the bone growth as he grows. I have had many people asking for updates so I am thankful I finally had a second (yes it is midnight) to write this update. Thank you for your prayers.

They passed

The Clanton family passed court today....they have 2 girls in their family now! So happy for you Clanton Family!

Pray for the Clanton Family

Here is the Clanton family. They were paper ready to adopt Dmitriy, God had other plans and now they are bringing home 2 girls! From left to right are their 2 biological sons, dad, mom and their 2 girls with visual impairment in D's facility. They also have a son they adopted from China with visual impairment who is back home in the states. Pray for them as they prepare for court this week. We have become good friends and they are a blessing!
*this is their picture being used with their permission, please do not remove from this blog at family's request.

All 5 of my gifts

God Bless this family...

I was contacted today...all the way from Australia, this family and their church have cried out for Dmitriy for several years. God answered their prayer...I am so thankful for their faithful prayers for our son... Thank you Lord for putting our son on the hearts of your people all over the world. Great is thy faithfulness!

I miss it...

what am I saying? I am SO thankful to be back home with my family but we sure grew to love those children at Torez and I miss the people we grew to love...we do NOT miss the cold shower when you had water to take a shower, the sleeping in coats, hats and gloves and the living on a diet coke, choc. diet :) BUT there was something about those people in that town, their unhappiness and their searching for something to fullfill them that I will never forget. We will never forget the many widows we saw crying and begging and the many orphans we saw wating on their turn to be chosen for a family. I am thankful the Lord says for whosoever will come, to come...He bids us to come into His family, we do not have to wait, he calls us now to come! Most of those orphans will never ever have an earthly father, I am thankful they have a heavenly father who hears their cries.

Dmitriy's first church service

 My, I love my family

 Risse and Jones kids

 There is no way I am going to do what you want me to do for this picture, says Dmitriy :)

 My Bethany before she started crying

My 5 gifts

Home Sweet Home

I left for Ukraine over 2 months ago..and I have only be home for a total of 5 days during that time. Today I am so THANKFUL to be home sweet home!!! We will be going back to Denver in 4-6 weeks for some follow up appointments. In the next few months as he gains strength we will see about his cleft palate surgery and getting his prosthetic eye.....and ofcourse making contact with Dr. Aquavella in New York about his other eye...for now we just have tons of small appointments here in the Rapid area and I am LOVING my life to the fullest, I could not be happier!

Big Day

D is in recovery. All went well, we got good reports from all the Dr.s with the exception of the Opthomologist...as Mike would say, this would not be what we wanted to hear but it is good because this is God's plan and his plan is always good wether it is in our plan or not. She is going to share her report with her fellow Opthomologists but she is 99.9% sure he does not see light from dark and th...at no surgery will enable him any vision. We knew that and were prepared for that but at the same time were hopeful and will continue to be hopeful that our little guy will see the faces oneday of his momma, daddy and siblings. If the other Opthomologist say they can do nothing for him here in Denver then we will be contacting a Dr. in New York who has been highly recommended to us. We want to give our litte guy every chance of sight, at the same time we know God's plan may not be our plans...either way, do you know how much we LOVE this boy and our 4 other blessings back at the hotel who have had the sweetest attitudes through all this.

Day 9

Today I am so thankful for my husband. The past couple days I have been at the hotel with a stomach bug...Mike has been at the hospital with Dmitriy until this morning. I am so thankful to be feeling better and I think I feel more rested now than I have felt since I left for the Ukraine 2 months ago!

Today Dmitriy will be sedated for the ENT, Opthomologist and GI Dr's to evaluate him and do some possible procedures. If all goes well, he may be able to be discharged tonight. YAY!

I am especially excited to see what the Opthomologist says about his eyes. This will give us an idea on if the Dr. in New York can help Dmitriy or not....it could even be something that could be easliy fixed here in Denver, though the Opthomologist here was not very optimistic. Praying for happy news.

Day 6

 Hospital from our hotel

My sleeping boy in his little red wagon.

Good news

Yesterday an Echo was done on his heart and an U/S on his abdominal organs...all looked good. They have been trying to rule out a syndrome that does not have a good prognosis. We are thankful to hear that both his heart and other organs looked good....that really lowers his "chances" of having that syndrome. The geneteses did come in yesterday and while he is put to sleep next week for the other procedures they are going to draw alot of blood for genetic testing. He is drinking better so we have heard no more talk of the feeding tube. They are planning on taking him off IV fluids today. His bone scan for rickets was negative. The cleft palate cannot be repaired until he is stronger. The eye dr. is sure (so are we) that he cannot even see light from dark, this is not encouraging as next to his life I desire to have him see whatever the cost. The main concern continues to be getting him to gain weight and keep it...  Things are looking up. I have been SO impressed with his Dr's and care he is getting here. We would love to leave here Wed. or Thurs. of next week. Thank you for your prayers.

Reunion

Denver Childrens

 Day 3 of IV fluids

He really really disliked this crib (great invention through) so now he just sleeps on the bed with Mike at night. Mike is here for the nights and I am here for the days....we are taking turns. We can take Dmitriy down to the first floor to see our other kids but they cannot come up to his floor because of flu season. We are staying at a hotel right across from the hospital and that has been very convenient. We arrived here Tues. and are loving the great care our little boy is getting here. Cannot wait to get him stable enough to go home. Our other kids are doing well. They are loving swimming at the hotel and the hospital is wonderful in that they have daily activities for the siblings. There are many things we are learning about his body as he undergoes various test....the main concern with him is still nutrition and monitoring him as we add calories daily to make sure his body can tolerate those calories. He may be having surgery on Monday...the are going to do several things while he is sedated. The eye dr and ear dr. want to get in there to explore what is really going on with his eyes and ears. While he is under they also plan to do an echo cardiogram on his heart. He has had a couple drops with his heart rate. We did learn he has an inflammed and twisted esophagues...wating on the GI Dr. to tell us more about that one. There is also talk of placing a tube from his nose to his stomach to suppliment feedings...hopefully he will start drinking better and we can bypass that surgery. Day by Day one day at a time on this road to recovery. Thank you for your prayers.

Denver Childrens

We will be leaving early in the morning (Tues.) to drive downt to Denver Children's Hospital where Dmitriy will be admitted (We were told to prepare for 2-3 weeks ). I will post pictures and tell of our sweet reunion as soon as things settle.

Leaving for AMERICA!

in a matter of hours we will be boarding a plane for the great country of AMERICA! It will be a while before I post again, I do not get internet at the airports and as soon as we return home that next morning D sees the Dr.  Things will be very busy and my time will be spent loving on my 5 babies! Thank you for your prayers..please pray for our flight home. D has a very very hard time daily from about 4pm-7pm...please pray he will do good on the plane. Pray for his appt. on Monday...thank you thank you thank you.....the little boy I am looking at is evidence of the work of God and His people praying.

An interesting thing...

The other day we went to the Department of Adoption to get some photo's they had of Dmitriy in his file. One of the photo's is him about 6-9 months old...and guess what? You can see his eye....this blue eye is just shinning. So, he was not born with this cataract it is something that formed very quickly over time.

We got the OK

We got D's Visa today and the OK to take him to American soil for good! We are 100% done with the adoption process now we have to wait on our return flight to America...Praise God one year later we are done !

U.S. Embassy

It felt so good today when we pulled up the the U.S. Embassy here in the Ukraine...an American flag...YAY, I knew I would love it there. The people were very kind yet very very serious and dignified. All of my paperwork looked good. We left there and went to have Dmitriy's medical done by a Ukrainian doctor...it was very much an in and out appointment. All they pretty much did was weigh him (he is a weighing in bearly 20lbs with all his clothes and shoes on..) They gave us a white folder sealed with some important medical papers. We go back to the Embassy in the morning for an exit interview and then we are DONE! We wanted to fly out on Sat. but everything was booked. We have plans to leave here on Sunday and get home on Sunday as well (bc of the time difference).

I was informed yesterday evening that our plans to take Dmitiry to Denver Children's hospital will not work out. Our pediatrician on base has been in very close contact with Denver Children's International Adoption Clinic as well as the supervisior in charge of inpatient services at the Hospital. It seems the hospital is 100% full to capacity as there is some major outbreak going on....the expressed their "tremendous concern" for Dmitiry if we do bring him there at this time during this outbreak.

My hands feel tied. I feel I cannot take him to Denver and yet I worry if I take him home first. Please pray he will remain stable and on Monday morning  we will see our pediatrician in SD...please pray he will be very caucious when caring for Dmitriy...please pray for wisdom for our Dr. We are willing to go to Minnesota Children's hospital if that is an option...I am waiting to hear back from our Dr.

I am definately seeing the signs he bears from being institutionalized. We have a long road ahead of us full of both happy and hard times. Please pray for our family as we make this major ajustment...not only having a new child in the house but having a child who has his medical needs and also a child who has been in an institution..I would encourage anyone family/friends who will be around Dima to read up some on children who have been in institutions. We are hopeful in the Lord and hopeful in that we have seen other children like Dima make such wonderful progress.

Just a quick update

All is well. We left on an overnight train last night and arrived this morning to the capitol city of Kiev. Dmitriy did very well on the train and even I actually passed out and fell asleep! We just found out from our facilitator that Dmitriy's passport DID come in today! This means tomorrow we have an appointment at the U.S. Embassy here and Friday we have 2 appointments. We were desiring to fly out Sat. but everything was booked...so, Lord willing we will fly out early early Sunday morning (Ukraine time)...My friend/helper will be with me the whole time all the way to Denver and then she flies on to her city. arrive into Denver Sunday afternoon (yes, we leave on Sunday and get there on Sunday ...all has to do with the time change :) So...our pediatrician on base has been in much contact with Denver Children's hospital and the arrangements are being made...hopefully we can bypass the ER part. Dmitriy needs to be checked out before we go home to SD....things could be ok with him and they send us home...or we could end up spending days or even weeks in Denver...depending on how things go.

I am so greatful today for the prayers of people, my pediatrician back home and for his nurse, for Denver Children's hospital, for Dmitriy's passport coming in, for the nice man (our taxi driver) who helped us alot today with carrying luggage and for our new landlady who was so kind to us today. I am also very thankful for my friend who is here helping, for my husband holding down the fort back home while holding down work and taking care of arranging much of Dmitiry's medical care back home, for Dortha and Pat for watching our kids and for my kids....momma is SO proud of all 4 of you and cannot wait to wrap my arms around you and be home for good!!

Here are some pics from our day today....this last one is outside the door that leads to the State Department of Adoption here in Ukraine...it is where 6  weeks ago I got the referal to visit Dmitiry. I went back today because they gave to me 2 pictures of Dmitriy that were in his file. One is a baby picture in which you can see his eye color...it is blue! This cataract must have formed over a period of time....you can also see his cleft lip (before he had it repaired in 2007).

Dmitriy's condition

I am so thankful I have a friend here to bounce thoughts and adive off of. When I saw Dmitiry unclothed for the first time I just cried. Everytime I change his diaper or bathe him, his condition is very real and alarming to both my friend and I. We had planned on taking Dmitriy home to SD and then making a trip down to Denver Children's within the first week of being home as long as he remained stable. I think our plans are possibly changing. Mike and I need wisdom on handling this situation. You may think...well, just feed him...it is not that easy. Because he is so malnourished we have to be careful in how much we feed him, how often we feed him and what we feed him...we do not want him to develop refeeding syndrome which can be fatal. I have taken pictures of Dmitiry unclothed to send to our Dr's back home so that we can hear their Medical advice and so if need be they can make the arrangement for us to fly right to Denver Children's. Dmitriy is less interested in eating this morning but he drank very well. We noticed his little belly was more concave and his ribs were much more exposed than even a couple days ago, he is just so tiny and we do not know what we are dealing with medically speaking. Please pray God would grant us peace and wisdom in making the right decision for Dmitriy and for our family. Please pray he remains stable while we are here, so that he can get much better care at home in the states.

Gotcha Day!!

I do not even know where to begin this post, there is so much joy in my heart I just might explode!

His crib 

 name tag on crib

 nanny dressing him into his new clothes

 pants that are way to big :)!

 getting ready to send him off

My boy...he was worth is all and more!!!!

The taxi picked us up at 7:30 this morning and we began the hour and a half drive to the institution...bags in hand and papers in had to exchange for my son. We arrived at the institution at 9am and gave them the papers. They were very happy for us and quickly called his nannies into the office to take us to him. The took the clothes from me that I had brought to have him wear. At some orphanages the momma dresses the child and at others the nannies dress them. His 2 nannies dressed him and I liked that. This was the first time I had a view of my 6 year old son's fragile body....as soon as I saw how tiny he was the tears started flowing...I can say it was very emotional to see his condition. I had brought a traditional Ukranian shirt for him to wear. This is usually work on very special occasions so I thought it was only fit for him to wear his shirt today...he will also wear it on our plane ride home

 Us with the nannies

 us with the office staff who I really grew to love, they were always so kind to me.

After we got him dressed we talked with several of the other nannies who we loved and said our goodbyes. It was so odd to me that I could actually carry him around without an escort...he is REALLY my son! We then went to the front office where we shed more tears and said our goodbyes there...it really was a sweet time for me.

I am an orphan no more, Praise God ! 

 My very kind friend who has left alot to be here with me. Dima in the car.

He did outstanding in the car for the rest of the day.

After we left there we had a couple errands to do. We had to go have his picture made to take to the U.S. Embassy for his Visa and other paperwork. We then went to the passport office to file for his passport and have his picture taken again.

 I no longer have to hold it in for fear that things might fall through..I can shower him with kisses because I am his momma!

 getting ready for nap...I have had a long day, much more stimulation than I am use to.

Our sleeping arrangements which work great!

 Playing after my first bath... with momma's friend...which I did great!

 Now I am sound asleep.

I am so peaceful.

Director who became our friend. I must say he seems more peaceful now than he ever has. It truely is to me like giving birth all over again...I never imagined I could compare an adoption to childbirth but to me it truely is. God blessed us with a great day. He is loving and full of snuggles and so peaceful. This just feels so right, I feel he has been mine for the past 6 years of his life. I know I was meant to be his momma.

"Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone, but child of my heart, I call you my own. Don't forget for even a minute, you grew not under my heart, but in it!!! "

Thank you God, Thank you God, Thank you God!

The saddest of the day was leaving behind all the children who will more than likely never have a family. Might God direct your heart towards adoption? It is not an easy road...it has been one of the very hardest this past year...but in the end I am so truely blessed by the life of this orphan who is now my son.

Please continue to pray for us here. We are waiting on his passport to be ready (hopefully by next Wed.) ...we plan on being at the U.S. Embassy the end of next week for appointments for his Visa....and Lord willing would love to fly home that weekend. Pray also as I need to really keep a close eye on him...pray I will make a wise decision with his medical care as we return to the states.

PRAISE THE LORD

After running errands all week to get paperwork in order..tomorrow (Friday morning my time, Thursday night your time)...I will go to sign my son out of the institution for life, PRAISE GOD! I have been flooded with emotions all day. This little boy who I have loved and been so burdened for for so long will soon be walking out those gates. I will go in the morning bringing papers for the institution and bearing new clothes for my son. We will strip him down of his old life and dress him up for his new life. Reminds me so much of my spiritual adoption....Christ takes our old sin stained garments and dresses us up in His righteousness. We leave our old lives behind, never to return again and have new life in Christ....thus will Dmitriy Ezekiel Risse have tomorrow...a new life....and the tears will not stop flowing, PRAISE THE LORD I have waited so long for this day to come.

We are here

My friend and I left early yesterday morning and today (tuesday night) we are in Ukraine. So thankful for the Lord protecting us during all the many hours flying. Tomorrow morning starts the paperchase run...birth certificate, passport and so much more to be done. We are thinking we may be snatching Dmitriy out of there on Thursday for good...if we get everything done tomorrow that needs to be done.

Please continue to pray for my friend and I here in Ukraine, for our children in the care of some wonderful women, pray for those women helping with our kids and pray for Mike. We so badly want to be here together but we know the kids need one of us home right now.

Home Sweet Home

We are thankful to be home! I will leave on Monday morning to return to the Ukraine but for now, I am LOVING being here! Please continue to pray for us.

Praise the Lord

After being in the Ukraine exactly 4 weeks, we are about to get on a plane to start the journey home. I am so excited to see and wrap my arms around my 4 babies back home. Thank you aunt Sarah and uncle Jody for everything, such as playing momma and daddy to our kids while we were gone. Thank you to all our family who helped Sarah and Jody out with the children and for my family back home in GA who called to keep my children's hearts peaceful while we were away. Thank you, Thank you...we can never repay what we owe to you.

Mike and I will leave today, stay the night in Germany and then get into Texas late Sunday. We will then drive home to SD on Tues. and get there on Wed. I will then fly out on Sat. with a friend to return to the Ukraine. Mike will stay home to work and we have some wonderful women lined up to watch our children during the day. I will be in the Ukraine about 2 weeks to finish up paperwork and to snatch Dmitriy up for life, Prasie God!!  The only thing that does not sound good is the fact he is my son yet Ukranian law requires a 10 day waiting period after court before I can take him out of his institution....thus why we will not have him with us this time. It will be so good to get back home together as a family!

WE ARE PARENTS AGAIN!

 Mike and I in the courtroom.

Mike and I with our judge, back in her office after court.

Court started at 9am this morning. In the courtroom were us, our translator, the judge, 2 jurors, a lady from the institution, the social worker, a prosecutor and the clerk. We were asked many many questions by the judge and prosecutor, thankfully they focused the questions on Mike. The judge and prosecutor then asked the town social worker and the lady representing the institution many questions...mainly questions about our interaction with Dmitriy. The social worker, the lady from the institution and the prosecutor all gave their approval for this adoption to be in the best interest of the child. The judge then left the court room to decide her verdict. About 15 minutes later she came in, court started back up. At 11:30 we all stood for the announcement and I cried as she read (keep in mind our translator is translating all this ) that she approved our petition to be named the parents of Dmitriy and approved our petition to have his named changed to Dmitriy Ezekiel Risse. Praise God!

After court there were many hugs and tears. We then went to the institution to see Dmitriy for only about 2 minutes as he was napping.

So, family and friends we are introducing today our son, Dmitriy Ezekiel Risse! We are thankful that God has chosen him for us and us for him. What an honor to have him as our son, we could not be happier! For those of you who have walked this journey with us and covered our journey and this day in your prayers, thank you!

It is time

Tomorrow morning (Friday our time, Thursday night your time) we will stand before a judge and petition to become the legal parents of this precious little boy God placed on our hearts a year ago. God has brought us through so much to get to this point. It has not been an easy road but our adoptions were not easy, they cost Christ's life. God has remained faithful. Court may last anywhere from 2-5 hours. Pray that as we are questioned our love for and commitment to him would be evident to everyone in the court room. Pray God will help us during the questioning.  Pray she will grant us our petition and that in less than 24 hours we will gain a son. It will be Friday morning your time before I will be able to post the outcome, please please pray.

 Eating with our missionary friends who have been such a blessing and encouragement to us. Yes, eating the best Japanese food.

Mike learning to tie a tie the day before court :) I thought the military taught that :)