Carley Elisabeth Atchley.

    Well this blog is really the Atchley Chronicles, not just the adopt Masha from Ukraine blog, so  I wanted to spend sometime talking about one of the most special little girls in my life, Carley Elisabeth.   Carley started off as a little surprise as we were right in the middle of grad school and were planning on holding off on having kids until we were done.  Even though we were definitely not financially ready for her we could not have been more ready as a couple to have a little girl.  The news immediately brought Liz and I closer together as we started to plan our life with the new addition to our house.  The first year of Carley's life was spent mostly in hotel room as I moved from hospital to hospital from Kansas, to Texas, and back to Kansas again.   We use to lay in our hotel bed as still as possible until she woke up on my days off.  I remember her peeking over the rail of her pack and play asking for mama.  Being that we had 17 cents in our checking account for the last 4 months of school she received uninterrupted attention from us as we could not afford to do anything else. She was all the entertainment we ever needed.   I am not sure who was blessed more by this her or us, but I am leaning more towards us.   I loved laying on the floor with her those four months and getting her to giggle endlessly.  She was exactly what we needed at the time after a very tough three years of school and my mom passing away.

      Today Carley is 7.5 years old, and yes the 0.5 is important to her.  Carley is everything and more I could ever ask for.   I sit nightly after putting her to bed looking at her in awe and thinking how could I have someone so amazing in my house.   Carley is a state champion gymnast, a swimmer, runner,  straight A student,  tennis player, and now a soccer player(The last one is not my favorite).  Beyond all that my Carley has a heart of gold.  I love seeing her empathy for her Papa and Gigi, her love for her little sister Keira, and her concern for everyone in the family's well being.   I could not be more proud everyday to say she is my daughter.  I am sure I could ramble on about my oldest for hours and just sound like a bragging parent, but I will save that and let Carley's own heart speak for itself.

Я тебя люблю Carley,
Daddy   

Conversations with Masha

     So the ball is starting to roll as we get everything we can prepared to go get Masha.  The date that will happen is still unknown to us, but we are pressing forward to accomplish as much as we can.  It has actually been quite the exciting week around here when it comes to news about Masha.   I wish I was involved with some of the excitement, but unfortunately I have to work and sleep sometimes. We have a confirmed picture that our flowers, postage, and letter were delivered.   Liz finally got to speak with Masha on the phone at 2:30 in the morning.  I have to give it to Liz's persistence as we have had 3 failed calls already(I gave up this last time and went to sleep), but she keeps on trying.   The excitement in Liz's voice when Masha picked up the phone was easily felt throughout the house at 2:30am as she woke everyone up screaming into the phone.  She then came to bed beaming after she got off with tears in her eyes and a huge smile. I think she slept better than she has since Masha left.   We have also had 3 more contacts with her on the phone in the last week.  Carley and Keira got talk to Masha as soon as they woke up.  Our translator that met us at the airport Elena got to speak to her and clarify some of the things we needed to say to her.  I am not sure Masha heard much of this conversation as she just kept asking if she is at least going to get to come back for Christmas.   I want to say a special thanks to Elena as she has donated a considerable amount of time and effort assisting/translating with Masha to help us out.  Marina, our Russian tennis coach, also got to have a 20 minute conversation with her.  Marina confirmed that she did in fact want to become part of our family, she also told Masha this would not be an over night process as it may take a year, that Christmas was not a for sure thing as we do not know if she will be available to be hosted again, and that a cell phone is going to be delivered to her from us so she can text or call anytime in the day or night.  Marina also expressed our feelings for Masha, and that we are doing everything we can to see her again as soon as humanly possible.   Masha freely told Marina that her family is very supportive of her becoming part of our family, and asked Marina if we received a letter she wrote us yet.  We have not, but Marina told her it can take as long as 3 weeks to get to us at times.  We are all checking the mail 10 times per day for this letter.

 I hope we get some with her smile in the future

  

     A quick update on what we have done and have upcoming.  The only big thing that is officially done and paid for is the homestudy, which is only the start of the paper work from what it looks like.  Tomorrow Liz is going to send out I600A paperwork and payment(i.e. FBI Finger Printing).  After that it looks like it will be time to pull out the check book and be taken to the bank by this process.   Masha is worth more than any amount of money, but I can not go without saying the fees for this stuff are absolutely ridiculous and borderline robbery. This will be the only time I mention money in any of my blogs, but I had to say it once so I would feel better.  Not to end on a negative note, we are making this whole thing an adventure in the Atchley household.  We know that there will be highs and lows as we get through this entire process, but the end result will be a match made in Heaven.

Christopher



   In the mean time.................

Preparing for First Day Of School!

The Question is, "Are You a Glass is Half Full or Half Empty Person?"

     We got news today. It is not necessarily the worst, but it is not exactly what we wanted to hear either.  The rules in Ukraine are not my favorite, but a kid can fall into 3 categories.  1. They can be registered and available for adoption. 2.  They can be registered, but not be outside the 12 month window for people from other countries to come in to adopt.  3.  The worst, not registered at all.  Masha is in the middle group. She is registered, but we are not sure for how long.  It could have been 11 months ago to just last week.   This means we have no idea when we could actually bring Masha home.   We may have a better idea when she was registered next week, but no promises are being made.  I guess we are getting a true taste very early in the process at how painful this is about to be.   Even though we did receive good news today, I am still left feeling somewhat empty.   Hopefully next week with a little bit of luck we can nail down more of a date so that we can better prepare ourselves mentally.   This process is definitely not easy on the heart, stomach, or mind.  Maybe someday we will look back at all the heartache caused by this and be able to say it was all worth it.

 

This is The Week

     This is the week we are suppose to find out if Masha can become part of our family.   Tensions and emotions are high in the house as we wait to find out. Liz and I have both been in a haze this week waiting for the news, and  completely unmotivated to do anything.  We are suppose to find out today or tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath. I do have a feeling that this week we will know something positive or negative. For those that read this and pray, any prayer would be greatly appreciated.   I do not believe that God has a plan to make this process hard or to keep Masha in undesirable conditions, that is man's area of expertise. I can not believe in a God like that, but I do believe that He has the power to move mountains and obstacles out of our way.  Maybe if enough people say prayers out there today for all the people waiting to hear if they can bring these special kids back, God will move mountains for us all today.

Christopher

Short, but Very Very Sweet Today.

    As of my last blog two days ago Masha had no idea of our intentions to bring her back permanently,  even though I skated around the topic pretty close without breaking the rules. I could not definitively say anything about adoption.   I could see there was uncertainty in her eyes even though I attempted to make it clear that hosting was not the last time I would see her.  Well she no longer has to be uncertain.   When she got off the plane in Ukraine the facilitator got a moment alone with Masha, told her our intentions were to make her a permanent part of the Atchley Family, and asked her if that is what she wanted.  The report we received was she got extremely excited, and she even stated that her family in Ukraine would be very excited for her to have the opportunity for a different life.  A little leap of faith by this brave little girl to come to America for a summer may just change her stars forever.

Getting Closer to this One Day at a Time!

      Now with that said we still have a long way to go. We are still waiting to find out if she is legally available (Should Know August 8-9 Please be Praying).  This was just a large relief because some families were allowed to talk about adoption with their kids. Two of these kids were in the same orphanage, so I am sure she got to hear about it all the way home. Liz and I knew about this before they left, and it definitely made it more difficult letting her go.  We were given multiple excuses why, but lets just say I am not a fan of excuses(Insert Multiple Quotes From John Wayne Here).