Pre-departure ICAB Visit - Six Months Together

On Monday this week we flew to Manila for the required pre-departure visit to the Intercountry Adoption Board of the Philippines. It was so exciting to be there - to see this mysterious place we had often wondered about during the 21 month wait between our approval and match with Ella.

This is a visit that parents usually make with their child just days after they meet. How fun for us to get to show off how far we've come in our nearly six months together. The staff loved Ella (like, of course!). She pretty much made herself right at home by taking off her shoes and walking around to explore, laughing and playing - a sure sign of a secure child!

We met the women who oversee the matching process and played a pretty big role in matching Ella to our family. Here is a photo with one of those women and our social worker (in blue). We received Ella's passport with American visa, as well as all the documents needed to exit the country and enter the US. As they handed us the final affidavit of consent to adoption, the ICAB officer said, "Since it is clear that Ella has adjusted beautifully to your family, we are granting you this document." I was beaming. We know that's true but for ICAB to acknowledge that verbally, well, that was awesome. What a great day!

According to them, the social worker from Ella's children's home was not able to travel to Manila to choose a family so they asked the ICAB staff to choose for them. This woman handpicked us out of the bunch. I had to ask, "Why did you choose us?"

)

She said that it had a lot to do with the fact that we were living in the Philippines. There was some concern about Ella's adjustment since she had had such a difficult time since her arrival at the children's home (having lost her foster family, what more could they expect?). They felt that her getting to stay in-country would be better for her. They also said that since we filled out the medical conditions checklist saying we were willing to take a child with language delay (among other things), and since that was one of their concerns regarding Ella, then they knew we were the ones. Apparently we were the second choice of two families but when presented to the board they bumped us to #1. 

Well, we know who really did the choosing but it was really interesting to hear from ICAB how they put us together. Now that we have her, we know it was meant to be all along!  Oh man, I love this little girl so much.

After the ICAB visit, we went to Starbucks to celebrate with Ella's favorite chocolate cake. Ella was in fine form tearing around the place like usual. I happened to catch a few shots of her happy cuteness.

And since I don't have time to make a separate post, I'll just add a few photos from the past month.

How cute are these girls?

Ella is now two and a half! Lately, she has started to sing her own songs really loud. The other day I had some worship music on in the car and I heard Ella's sweet voice belting out behind me. When I sneaked a peak at her in the rear view mirror she had her eyes close with her hands palms together up near her mouth just singing away. I was so touched!

She has also began to initiate praying for others. She often will say "pray" and then put her hand on a friend at church or someone who's visiting or to Daddy before he goes to work. When we prayed for a friend at church who was in a lot of pain, she felt better after!

She is playing so well with other kids these days. I was at a church gathering the other day and Ella just took off into the play room with several other kids. Oh and she got her first kiss from a boy! A playmate of hers, who is just a few months younger came up to Ella and kissed her on the lips. So cute! Ella pushed him away and said, "No!" That a girl. These two really like each other though. We started getting together about once a week so they can play. And the photos of Ella on the bike with side-car is another play date we've been having weekly. She is really comfortable with these kids now too and seems to really enjoy when we get together. (And I am loving the Mommy time I get to have with my friends!)

I could go on but there is much to do before we fly out in just TWO DAYS!!! We leave on Sunday night. Our girl will leave on a Philippines passport and return on an American one. This is so exciting! (Did I mention we have a court date on April 20th? We are so close!)

Moving Right Along

Here I am again, trying to resist feeling like a loser because I haven't blogged in so long. Just when I think I'm back it, well, you know... two or three or in this case, four weeks go by! The same goes for exercise and many other things. I'm not sure I'll get used to this part of motherhood. There just always seems to be more important things to do. Granted, we have been very busy with finalizing the adoption with a few extra unplanned trips to Manila thrown in and all that needs to be done before going away for two months. So to update you, this is the latest:

We completed Ella's visa medical in Manila end of last month. Because of her BCG injection at birth, the TB skin test came out reactive so she had to undergo a chest x-ray. Not fun for a two year old. I had to help force her legs into a contraption that holds her upright with a clear plastic brace that folds around her chest pushing her arms against her ears. She screamed and cried and hit me in the face as I tried to hold and support her arms up while telling her it's gonna be okay and singing You Are My Sunshine. It was awful. Thankfully, the x-ray result was negative and resulted in a medical report that cleared her for travel to the U.S. What a relief. We have been told that she will get a visa. It should be issued sometime this week.

We had our third and last post-placement home visit last week. It went really well. Visits from our social worker usually do. That's because our daughter is a STAR. Our social worker often says, "She's such a happy girl!" It's true. She is happy. And that makes us feel really good. In addition to remarking about how much progress Ella has made since the first post-placement visit, our social worker also said several times, "Boy, she really knows what she wants!" and "Oooh, I can see that she is very strong-willed."

Speaking of strong-willed, the middle name we gave Michella just so happens to mean home-ruler. Hilarious and so appropriate, we are realizing! We learned this only after we chose the name, inspired by a particular historical figure. We didn't realize it's meaning until after we submitted Ella's new name to our lawyer in Alabama who needed it to fill out the court petition. I'd be happy to share her new full name with you personally if you ever want to ask. Just don't want to mention it here. But it's true, we have a little home-ruler in our house. Oh my. Just look at her!

Our social worker loves us and just adores Ella. Her last report was so positive and I thought adequately described Ella's adjustment to our family. I feel like our relationship and appreciation of our social worker is similar to a couple's connection to their midwife. She has become a friend. How could she not when she has been instrumental in the most significant event of our adult lives so far? Once her report from this last post-placement visit is written and submitted, we can expect the final documents  needed to finalize Ella's adoption in the U.S.

We just learned we will have to go to Manila one more time. We are required to visit the Inter-country Adoption Board. We also need to personally pick up Ella's passport and visa and the final Consent to Adopt expected to be issued by the adoption board. Once we have these docs in hand, our adoption process as far as the Philippines is concerned is complete. How fantastic is that?!

We're headed to the U.S. in less than TWO WEEKS! We'll be finalizing the adoption in Alabama where my parents live and have a big house for us to base ourselves for the two months we're Stateside. We will also be spending some time in North Carolina and Washington, D.C.

There is much to do while in town - a home study (two home visits) from a local social worker, get fingerprinted (for the 18th time), get a few different background checks, hope our home study with the local agency gets ready in time for us to appear in court (we just got our court date today!), get Ella an amended birth certificate, a social security number and an American passport. In between all that, we will be spending lots of quality time with both sets of grandparents and some of Ella's aunts, uncles and cousins. It is looking likely that we will have both Andrey's and my parents in Alabama at the time of the court date. How special that day will be!

Anyone have any tips on traveling several really long flights with a toddler?

Ella and Daddy Video

This girl pretty much cracks us up most of the time. She's so much fun!

The Latest

Ella just keeps getting cuter and cuter these days. She is progressing so well. We are seeing new things every day. There seems to have been a real jump in Michella's relationship with her Daddy. He has recently almost taken over the book-reading portion of our night-time routine and is the one to go get her and bring her to our room when she wakes up in the morning. She is letting him do this without protesting, as long as she gets to come see mommy right way, which I love because then we get to cuddle for a bit while we're waking up. This is HUGE!

Her angry "No!" is lessening and her strong rejection of Andrey at strange times is also lessening. After understandably resisting for sometime, it seems she is beginning to let herself relax and trust him. A big part of this is due to Andrey's kind, fun and devoted attention to her as often and as much as possible. When he is home in the evenings after work, they are playing. On the weekends, they get hours and hours of play time together. My absolute favorite thing these days is hearing the sound of her belly laughter when they play together. And seeing her courageously trust this goofy, tenderhearted father of hers, brings tears of joy to my eyes. She is so brave and courageous. We just keep falling deeper and deeper in love with our girl. I'm so, so happy that Andrey is finally getting to love her in a hands-on way and no longer from afar.


In other news, we were in Manila last week for Michella's visa medical and interview. Sadly, we weren't able to complete her medical due to the fact that she received a vaccination the week prior, which apparently interferes with the TB skin test result. It's too bad we didn't know that ahead of time. Thankfully, they allowed us to go ahead with the visa interview portion at the US Embassy. We were told Ella has a visa as soon as the medical is complete. Yay! We'll be back in Manila later this month to complete the medical. We are certain all will be well and so we just booked flights to the US from March 28 to May 28. How exciting to get to finalize this process soon and make it official.... not that we need a piece of paper to tell us she's our daughter but it is a wonderful feeling to know she will soon be a legitimate Sawchenko!

Here are all our good photos from the past few weeks...


Ella and her #3 favorite (Daddy was recently upgraded to #2). Based on how long Gerald lets Ella lay on him and how gentle he is with her, it is clear that Gerald loves her, too.

Mimi is here!! My mom is visiting for 3+ weeks. It's so great to have her around watching her enjoy her newest granddaughter. We are having a great time. Ella has four grandparents who love her so much. We are thankful for this. My Dad wasn't able to join for this trip but that's okay, we'll be in Alabama next month.

Cheers, Mimi!

Just chillin'

Look! A rainbow!

Mimi came bearing more gifts. Look at my cool, new phone! 

What does Ella like more than building blocks? Knocking them down and saying, "Wooaah!!!!" 

Daddy taught her that.

Taking kitties for a walk

Morning cuddle with mommy and beloved kitties

This girl loves accessories

"Helping" mommy bake bread

Fun play hats from Mimi

Tea party!

Valentine's dinner. Huge thanks to my Mom for cooking us a delicious beef stew with potatoes, lemon Parmesan French green beans, and homemade bread. Add a bottle of wine, chocolate cake with whipped cream and local strawberries and you have a feast. Since it's too soon to go out without Ella, Mom made us this special meal and then gave us the evening to ourselves. What a treat!

Four Months with Ella

It is always interesting to think back to what Michella was like when we met her four months ago and compare her to our daughter today. She is not the same girl. I can't believe it's only been four months. It feels like we've been together much longer.

Here are a couple of videos to highlight the difference. The first is from our first few days together. The second is from last week.

Michella brings us so much joy. Here are a few things that she loves....

Going for a ride in her car seat, especially with snack in hand

Playing with her favorite toys, Fia and Gerald. Sometimes they don't respond to her tactics to get them to interact the way she would like. Here she is trying to get Gerald to play with her toy shapes.

Jumping in the front seat for a few minutes of play each and every time we need to go somewhere.

Playing hide and seek

Wearing pretty dresses

Her daddy

Her mommy... and balloons

Things she can jump and bounce in. She shocked me the day recently she went into a moon bounce without me and with lots of other big kids in there!

Skyping with Grandma and Grandpa in Canada. She also loves to skype with her cousin Annika.

Sleeping in her crib. Her favorite sleeping buddies are Andrey's old childhood blanket and puppy.

Holding (mastering) Gerald

Posing for a picture (when she's in the right mood)

Wearing socks

 Talking on the phone and watering the plants, while wearing socks

Trying to get Gerald to talk on the phone

Taking care of her "baby" or one of her many puppy dogs. She will feed them, wrap them in a blanket, put them to bed, change their diaper, wipe their bum, and cuddle them while speaking very sweetly to them. Very cute.

Peaking out of a window saying "Hi!" before climbing through the window and then demolishing the cardboard house mommy just made by knocking it down and marching all over it.

The swing and the slide

Having undivided attention from her parents