Getting to Know Each Other Part 2 Church tour

These are pictures taken on the bus tour I took with the children to see some Armenian Churches and ruins.  It was a very hot day in the middle of summer but the kids and I did quite well.  Aleks fell asleep by the end of the tour.  This is the website of the tour service, we did the Sunday 4 hour tour: http://www.hyurservice.com/eng/trips_reg_eng.php

We were able to witness some of the services at the Churches.

Saint Hiripsime Church:

 

Saint Gayane Church

Zvartnots Temple Ruins

The Mother Cathedral, surrounding buildings and gardens

 

July and August 2015 - Getting to Know Each Other Part 1

In the time between court for Aleks and the judge declaring him our son I visited him about twice a day with Milena (Jason went home the day after court for Aleks.)  While I enjoyed getting to spend time with Aleks and the other children in the Orphanage, I felt that it was too hard on Milena and looked forward to having them both with me and not having to make visits to the orphanage.  Milena desperately wanted to be close to me and wanted my full attention.  Of course my attention was divided between her and Aleks as well as the other children at the orphanage.  I loved getting to spend time with the other children, getting to know them and see their potential.  Since being home I've been able to advocate a little bit for some of the children I met.  I've also been able to pass information along through our agency to the families hoping to meet some of the children I met.  Anyway, it broke my heart to see Milena feeling down when she did not have my attention 100% of the time but I also knew that it would be something she would need to get used to as she would soon be coming home to two siblings who both required more care than she did.  Below are a few pics from the first days in Armenia (trip 2.)

The day after Milena became our daughter.

 

The day after Milena became our daughter #2.

Jason's first time meeting Aleks

Visiting Aleks in the orphanage

After Aleks became our son, I was able to bring him back to the apartment with Milena and I.  He came to me on a Friday which gave us the weekend to spend together bonding and getting used to each other before we had to continue with paper chasing the following week.  It was a balancing act to spend adequate time with both Milena and Aleks.  At times I felt like I was not doing either of them justice.  I had some difficulty getting Aleks to eat and drink over the first few days and Milena was somewhat jealous of the time I spent with Aleks.  I wanted so badly for everything to go smoothly but it was certainly a stressful time.  Milena did not know as much English as I had thought she did and she preferred Armenian speakers over me at times.  My in country representatives and adoption agency were so sweet and willing to offer help during some of the difficult times but I felt that it would be best for Milena and Aleks in the long run to stay with me and to know who their caretaker was.  I still think that was a good decision even if it made some things harder for me while in Armenia.

Some days in country were spent in the apartment figuring each other out.  Other days we had paperwork to take care of.  We spent much time walking around Yerevan exploring or going out to eat at different restaurants.  Some days our in country representative would take us to places like Vernissage (the huge outdoor vendor market), the Yerevan zoo, the children's railroad and she even set us up to take a tour of some of the old Churches/ruins in Armenia.  Pictures of some adventures below:





One of our favorite breakfast places Baguette and Co.



Yerevan zoo

Hippo at the zoo.  Milena loved the hippo!

Yerevan Zoo

Picture by the horses at the zoo.

Not so sure about those camels!

Family pic on the Children's Railroad

Another favorite place to eat: Artbridge



Aleks' first spaghetti, at Artbridge

Another breakfast at Baguette and Co.  They got to know us there and would bring Aleks these cute mini-muffins (he wouldn't eat them but it was a sweet gesture!)

The Dancing Fountains at Republic Square

Republic Square during the day

I will do another post later on our trip to visit some Armenian Churches and ruins!

Trip One Pictures Cont... March 19th and 20th

These pictures were taken on March 19th.  It is amazing to see how far the children have come in the last 7 months. 

She's got my phone... Typical pre-teen!

Sibling love <3 td="">

My goofy girl!

Mr Handsome

The following were taken in March 20th, the last day I was able to spend with Milena on my first trip to Armenia.

I went to Milena's orphanage with her.  She made me some tea and lunch :)

More to come later...

More pictures from Trip 1

Below are pictures and video from my second day in Armenia visiting Aleks and Milena.  This was March 17th, 2015



Yep, she is silly!



But mom can be too!



Such a handsome smile!!

Sibling love:


She loves to dance:


March 18th, 2015 My 3rd day with the children:

So ticklish!

Playing with mom...

A Long Time Coming

 Wow, July 23rd was my last blog post!

I had every intention of blogging about our time in country but things became busy before I knew it.  I will try to bring you all up to date on our adoption journey in a few posts.  As you may imagine, our lives have been beyond busy for the last several months.  I'll begin where I left off... in Armenia.

Jason and I traveled to Armenia (I can say that now) to meet our soon-to-be new children in late July.  From my previous post, you learned that on Tuesday, July 21st Milena became our daughter.  I'll back track from there just a bit.  We got to Armenia in the wee hours of Monday morning, July 20th.  Jason and I got a few hours of sleep before meeting with our adoption team and heading over to the orphanage that our son Aleks (Chance) was in.  You see, as previously mentioned, Milena and Aleks were in two separate regions of Armenia and were about 2 hours apart so we were not able to see her before court on Tuesday.  We spent Monday with Aleks before going to court on Tuesday for Milena.  That was the first time Jason got to meet Aleks and see orphanage life up close and personal. 

On Tuesday we had and passed court for Milena and picked her up after some paper chasing.  She was so sweet and greeted us with big hugs.  We enjoyed some time at her orphanage before heading back to the capitol which is where Aleks was and where we were staying.  Milena did very well with the adjustment.

On Wednesday morning we were able to all go to Aleks' orphanage, Milena included and spend some time there before we had court for his adoption.  Milena spent the first 10-11 years of her life in Aleks' orphanage before aging out and moving to the other one.  Therefore she was well known and welcomed with open arms by the staff.  While Jason and I went to court, the orphanage was kind enough to allow Milena to stay there.

For some reason I was more nervous for Aleks' court than for Milena's.  It was not a long hearing nor was it particularly stressful.  The only downside to our court experience for Aleks was that the Judge did not sign the adoption decree that day (they have up to 5 days to sign.)  Aleks did not legally become our son until Friday, July 24th.  That meant that he had to stay in the orphanage until Friday.

Jason had to leave early Thursday morning to get back home.  I stayed for the duration of the adoption process. Starting July 24th, it was Aleks, Milena and myself in our little apartment; learning to live together, bond together and just getting to know each other. 

I will write more about our stay in Armenia later.  For now I am going to post some pictures and video from my first trip to Armenia in March when I first met Aleks and Milena!

This is the first day I met Milena, after being shy for  a while, she opened up after Aleks went down for a nap.

Below Aleks got a hold of my phone and was having fun:

Below Milena was showing her silliness:

Below: Milena showing off her English skills (some caregivers speak English so the children are exposed to it although they are fluent in Armenian)


Aleks has an adorable laugh:





The above pictures and videos were taken on March 16th, the first day I met Aleks and Milena. 
I will post more later and will try to continue updating the blog as I am able.