Home Study Went Well

We just completed the home visit part of the home study and everything went very well. The social worker (Laura) was extremely nice and seemed to be satisfied that we are fit parents and that our home will do nicely for Yulia and Gena!

At the end, she said that "this report will be a pleasure to write!"

Thank you for all your prayers. Now we focus on the dossier. We should hear about approval of the home study in a few weeks.

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

We Have New Letters!

We just received two new letters from Yulia and Gena! Whew! What a relief! And all is well, there was just a problem with the mail being delivered in Russia.

So, go to our website (www.haworthfamily.net) and click on "Letters" and read the one marked "April 30."

God is SO good!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

Home Study Interview This Saturday

Yea!!!!

Our home study interview is scheduled for this Saturday, April 30th at 2:00 PM. PRAY! Pray that everything will go smoothly and we will impress the social worker! Seriously, pray that we communicate easily and that God's purpose and plans will be fulfilled in the interview.

This is a VERY important step in the adoption process. We have to satisfy the State of California AND the Russian government that we are fit parents and that we have a home in which Yulia and Gena will be safe and comfortable.

After this, assuming our home study is approved, we can file our dossier. That goes to Russia and ultimately leads to our bringing the kids home!

Did I say PRAY?!

Glen

Missing Our Kids

Being home has a different feeling now. We have a lot to do as we prepare for our adoption of Yulia and Gena, but our hearts are not here; they are in Russia! The last two weeks flew by. I can't believe that we are already back. It seems like only yesterday that we were in Penza, enjoying time with the kids. But time marches on. I can only hope that the next six months will fly by as quickly as these last two weeks have!

Upon reflection, our visit with Gena and Yulia served an important purpose. It was a "first visit" in which we met them, got to know them a little and they got to know us a little. We are in a better position to move forward with the adoption than we would have been without the encounter. In some respects, we cannot operate under any illusions now. We are real, and they are real. Not just some pictures or letters, but real people with real voices and real imperfections. We know that our lives together will not be a bed of roses! But we also know that God has called us to this, and we are destined to be a family.

Pray for our children, including Nathan. We have a lot of adjustments coming our way. These next six months will be difficult for all of us. But we know that with God's help, the time will pass and we will be prepared for what is ahead.

Thank you for everything! Check our website (www.haworthfamily.net) for some new pictures from our trip!

Blessings,

Glen

We're Home!

We have made it back to California, exhausted but blessed. So many things to share and show. But tonight, we're going to bed!

Watch this blog for more information. Thanks for all your prayers!

Glen and Cyndy

From Russia, with love... Glen and Cyndy 

On Our Way Home!

In just a few hours, we'll be boarding a plane in Moscow and heading home to the USA! We are ready to come home and anxious to get to work on the rest of our paper work to adopt Yulia and Gena.

We will be staying in Dallas-Fort Worth over-night on Wednesday and return to LA on Thursday afternoon. Assuming we will have MAJOR jet lag, we'll be out of commission on Friday and back amongst the living on Saturday (hope-hope).

We have had a wonderful time! The highlight was being with Gena and Yulia, of course, but we have also enjoyed spending time with our best friends, the Clarks, are their three new daughters. We have learned a lot about Russia and this adoption process, thanks to their adoption of Lyndsay, Haley and Amanda. When we come back to Russia, hopefully in October or sooner, we will be able to navigate the Russian system more easily and bring our kids home to America as soon as possible.

We have felt your prayers, and appreciate your continued prayers as we return to America and work to complete this process that God has called us to. We have a lot of work to do. Thank you, all of you, for standing with us. Our prayers are for God's blessings to touch you even more than they have us (if that is possible!). We have a lot of pictures, which we will put up on our website after we get home, and much to tell you. I (Glen) have a sermon to prepare for this Sunday, and I have a feeling Russia will enter into it! I have a feeling that Russia will be entering into a LOT of our life for quite some time!

We want to thank the people who have watched Nathan while we have been in Russia. Jack and Sonni Cranford have kept him at their house at night and many days as well. Janet and Miles Harlan have entertained him in the afternoons and evenings. Michelle Higgs has also kept him on some afternoons, and Aunt Beth and Uncle Frank had him the first weekend. Thank you all. We miss Nathan so much and have so much to share with him as well!

We love you!

Glen and Cyndy

Here we are at the monastery of St. Sergius Lavra near Moscow. A "working" monastery with 300 monks, beautiful cathedrals and lots of icons. Oh, and Glen got a new hat! 

Here's the whole gang (without Yulia and Gena, of course) over-looking Moscow. We're missing Nathan as well as Yulia and Gena! 

Moscow is Great

Well, we've been in Moscow for a couple of days now and are enjoying it a great deal. Although we miss Yulia and Gena a lot, we are having fun with the Clarks, seeing some of the major sights in the capitol of Russia.

On Saturday we went to the Tretyakov Gallery and to the Armory at the Kremlin (a museum). We saw some wonderful exhibits of paintings, icons, and treasures from Russian history. On Sunday we went to the monastery of St. Sergei after a long day of shopping at the Moscow flea market. Incredible holiness and beautiful iconography. Then today we went to the Cathedral of Christ our Savior, the mother church of the Russian Orthodox Church. Again, incredible beauty and rich spirituality.

Tomorrow, our last day (Tuesday) we will be going to Red Square to see all of the sights. Then, we are off VERY early (4:00 AM pick up) on Wednesday morning, flying first to Zurich, then to Dallas-Fort Worth for a 24 hour lay-over, then home on Thursday to Los Angeles.

We have had such a good time, and we can't wait to come back to bring Yulia and Gena home. Thank you for your prayers! We feel them. We look forward to sharing with you all of our pictures and adventures in this wonderful land!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

A good shot of the four of us at the orphanage when we first met. 

At the orphanage just before saying farewell. 

Yulia and Gena striking a pose at the base of the statue of Lenin in Penza. 

Gena with Glen having a laugh at the orphanage. 

Here's our underware drying on the line. That's a statue of Lenin in the background, in Penza! 

Gena in the bumper car at the Penza amusement park. 

Cyndy and Terisa on a roller-coaster-type thing at the Penza amusement park. That's Gena and Lyndsay (Clark) behind them. 

Here are all "our" kids! From left, Yulia, Amanda (Elena), Gena, Lyndsay (Oksana), and Haley (Marina). They are really good friends! 

Here is Gena holding the hand-carved wood box he made. 

Here is a detailed shot of Gena's hand-carved wood box! What an artist! 

Here is Yulia (second from left) with a friend (left), one of the Care Givers (counselors), Larisa, Yulia, and Haley (Marina) Clark. 

We Are in Moscow!

Cyndy, Olivia and I (Glen) are sitting in the lobby of the Marriott Grand Hotel in Moscow, our rooms are not ready (it is 10 AM) and Scott, Terisa, Haley, Amanda and Lyndsay are off doing adoption stuff at the hospital and embassy. They have wireless internet access here at the Marriott Grand, so life is good!

The over-night train ride from Penza was tolerable, thanks to a little pill called Ambien! We slept well, and are more refreshed this morning. It is raining in Moscow and we left Penza NOT in rain gear. So, we are a little damp right now.

This is an American Hotel, so it feels more like home here. Everyone speaks English, which helps these ugly Americans who don't know very much Russian!

Cyndy and I are missing Yulia and Gena a LOT. Olivia has a bit of a crush on Gena, so she has been asking about him. I'm sure the Clark girls are missing Yulia, especially Haley and Amanda. We haven't decided yet on if we are going to change Yulia's name, but Gena is happy with Samuel. Now we're just trying to decide on Sam, Samuel or Sammy! We have discovered that "Gena" is prounounced "Gyeh-nah." All the kids call him "GEE-ehn" since they shorten all of their names: Marina (Haley) is MAH-rin, Elena (Amanda) is LEE-nah, Yulia is "YOOL" and Oksana (Lyndsay) is OHK-sahn. It is very cute!

Our camera is packed away and I can't get to it to post some of our new pictures. But I'll try to find something to put up for now. We are excited to be in Moscow, missing our kids, missing Nathan and all of you. But we are only here for a few days, so we want to make the most of it. Thank you for all your prayers and support. When we get home we will (hopefully) have a date for the home study visit and be able to finish the paper work for our dossier. We want to have it ready to go to Russia by May. That means we will need a lot of money between then and now, since filing the dossier costs about $8000! But we know that God has put us on this path, so we are confident that the funds will be there when God's timing is right.

Well, that's all for now. We'll post more frequently now that we have broadband access. I had forgotten how S-L-O-W dial-up is!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

Last Entry From Penza

Well, this is Cyndy posting. I have been incognito since arriving in Russia - leaving the computer guy the task of communicating with the outside world. We just returned from Gorodishe leaving our children behind. We are very impressed with the loving care they are receiving at the orphanage, but it was difficult for them and us to say the least. There were tears as we left our hotel in Penza and saying goodbye to the Clark family and then a few more as we left the orphanage. Hopefully time will literally fly until we make this trek again to bring them home.

Please pray for Yulia and Gena as they wait. They are two really good kids who have alot of pain inside. Their coping mechanisms are very visible. They very obviously crave connection and yet are leary of it at the same time. Yet as we were saying goodbye to the Clark family, Gena literally threw himself into Aunt Terisa's arms and started to cry. Yulia cried and then immediately set to work steeling herself to not cry. She was in that mode as we left Gorodishe. We waited to cry until we had driven away. Crying is very uncomfortable for Russians.

If we could bring them home today, we would well be ready to leave living in a hotel room in Penza, but as it is it is bittersweet. But the evidence is all around us - suitcases everywhere! So back to the train station and on to Moscow. I am hoping to enjoy my time in Moscow as an aunt only, knowing we will be very preoccupied with Yulia and Gena the next time we are in Moscow.

So many stories and so little time, but we will have a little more time and internet access in Moscow. Talk to you later.

Blessings from Penza,
Cyndy

Heart to heart

Last night we ran into our first "hard" time with the kids. We (the adults) decided that we would all play a game (dominoes) and "invited" the kids to come join us. Yulia decided she did not want to play, and dug her heals in even after Cyndy and I made it clear that it was not optional. She eventually left the room. So we (Cyndy and I) went after her and took her back to our room for a 2-on-1 talk (through a Russian/English dictionary). It took some time, trying to understand each other and to share our hearts.

Yulia finds "family" difficult. And she does not like to play games. As the older sister (of Gena) she has had to be her own authority in some ways. Gena, for his part, entered into the game just fine. He loves to play and compete. But Yulia doesn't and she wasn't about to bow to our authority. Interesting dilemma. We are not "really" her parents yet, and yet we are. So after a long time, a lot of stammering, and quite a bit of hugging and affirmation, she agreed to come back to the family room and enter into the game. She is so precious. Our hearts are completely tender toward her.

Earlier in the day, we used our translator, Vadim, and had a talk with the kids. Yulia did all the talking. Gena difers to his big sister. He is a man of few words! We talked about America, about family and about school. We found out that Yulia does not like "Elizabeth" as a name, and prefers Jennifer or Jessica! Gena likes Samuel just fine. Now Cyndy and I have to decide if we bow to Yulia and change her name, or stick with what we had decided. She likes "Joy" just fine. Pray for us. We want to do the right thing.

Today (Wednesday) is the last full day with the kids before we have to take them back to the orphanage in Gorodishche and leave for Moscow. Pray for us and them. The parting will probably be quite hard. And pray for the rest of the orphans in the orphanage. We want to bring them ALL home!

Thanks for all your prayers and support. We can sense your prayers all the way in Russia! It is a strange and marvelous culture, but we are finding ourselves adjusting well.

More later.

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

More from Penza, Russia

Hey Everyone!

Things are still going really well. We are enjoying our kids-to-be (I say that only officially; they are already “our kids!”) and I believe they are enjoying us. The language barrier is tough, but we are doing ok. I have learned to count to 10 in Russian (don’t ask me to do it!), and we are teaching the kids some English. We bought them some “How to speak English” materials to leave with them here in Russia when we go home, so maybe by the time we come to get them they will be a bit more fluent in English (and we in Russian!).

Penza is an interesting city. It is rather large (500,000) but there is very little to do here. We went bowling last night at the local bowling alley (with only two lanes!). We walk around a lot, and play games (currently “Spoons” is the favorite). Gena and Lyndsay Clark are enjoying “Battlefield 1942” on my computer, and they all like to listen to music constantly! Apparently they watch a lot of TV at the orphanage, too.

Yulia is quiet. Very sweet, but quiet. She keeps looking at me and Cyndy when we are not looking, studying our faces. She is not nearly as affectionate as we assumed she would be, but that may come. She has been journaling while she is with us and I would LOVE to know what she is writing, but of course, that is not my privilege. But she is a beautiful girl, very well mannered and as sweet as can be.

Gena is all boy! But that is a good thing! He loves to compete. We’ve played pool, bowling, thumb wrestling, etc. He is quite the athlete and very strong for his size. You can see by the pictures that he is as tall as Yulia, but then she is rather short. He is loving playing games on the computer, too. We are a bit concerned about how he will fare in our family, since Nathan is not a competitive game-player and I’m 49!

We are going to spend some time alone with the kids today (Tuesday) along with the translator (Vadim is great!). We want to talk to them about things and allow them to ask us whatever they want. Pray for a good conversation. Pray for emotional and spiritual connection.

Ok. I’ve put up some more pictures (below). Wish we could share everything with you all, but there just isn’t time or space. I’m typing this in the room where Gena is waking up from a night’s sleep and so I want to get it done so I can spend some time with him! I’m sure you understand!

Blessings to all. Thanks for your continued prayers. We are truly blessed!

Glen

Our Yulia (right) and her best friends Larisa (left) and Yulia. 

Gena (right) and his best friend Sasha. 

Here we are in the orphanage with Yulia and Gena (and Olivia Clark). 

Meeting Our Kids

Yesterday, Saturday (April 9) we met Yulia and Gena for the first time. The meeting was kind of awkward, but wonderful at the same time! Gena was waiting at the top of the orphanage drive way as we drove in. Getting out of the van, Yulia came out of the building and came up to me (Glen) and we hugged. She didn't say anything; I just said "Yulia, Yulia!" When Gena came up, I hugged him. He turned to the side and gave me a "side hug"! Again, saying nothing. We went inside and got a tour of the orphanage, they fed us lunch and we saw Yulia's and Gena's rooms.

We found out that Gena is not only an artist with the pen and brush, but also with the wood carving tools! He has made several items for the orphanage that are just beautiful. We will post some pictures when we get a chance. The whole time we were at the orphanage we were all nervous and anxious. Trying to communicate is difficult. We have to use our translator (Vadim) many times to understand each other. We kept looking at each other, trying to memorize the faces of those we have come to love already! It was surreal! We met many of their friends and wanted to take them all home!

Since the orphanage, Gena and Yulia have been with us in Penza at the hotel (along with Scott and Terisa Clark and their newly expanded family: Amanda, Haley and Lyndsay and, of course, Olivia). We've been playing games, listening to music, walking around, snacking and just trying to be with each other sharing words in English and Russian to try to communicate. Already we are seeing personalities emerge. Getting to know each other requires spending time together and when language comes more difficultly, it is a tricky business!

We appreciate your continued prayers. Please help us hear the Lord clearly in all things. We want to spend out time with the kids in the most beneficial way; we won't be back to get them for at least six months, so we want these few days to be beneficial.

I'll post some more pictures on this blog as I am able. Here in Penza we are on a dial-up connection so uploading pictures takes a long time. Once we are in Moscow we can do it over broadband (but our kids will not be with us). Pray for our parting on Thursday, as I am anticipating it will be VERY difficult to drive away from the orphanage without Yulia and Gena. Pray for them and for us!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

Here's a good shot of Yulia with Cyndy! 

Here we are at the orphanage! That's Yulia's friend (also Yulia) in the pink to Cyndy's right. Otherwise, you can see us with Yulia and Gena! 

More to Come!

I'll post more pictures and narrative as soon as I can. Thanks for all your prayers and support! We're having a great time!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

We're Here!

We are in Russia! Everything went fine and smoothly, even though we have a flight change on the way. We arrived on time and it is great!

We have Yulia and Gena with us at the Penza hotel!!! I can't describe how it feels. And I will post some pictures, but right now we are on dial-up and at the high rate, so I'm going to just leave it at this and post more later.

Just wanted you all to know we made it and we have the kids (for at a few days, anyway) and God is blessing us abundantly!

Thanks for all your prayers! They really worked getting through customs, etc. etc.!

More later!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

We're in Dallas!

We've landed at Dallas-Fort Worth airport and are awaiting our flight to Frankfurt, Germany! They put us on an earlier flight from LAX because there was not enough time to connect with our original flight! Good thing we got to the airport in LA with plenty of time!

Anyway, we are both VERY excited. We can't wait to meet Yulia and Gena and to hook up with Scott, Terisa, Olivia, Amanda, Haley and Lyndsay Clark in Penza! This is just too incredible to be true!

Your prayers prepared the way this morning for us to get on the earlier flight and make our connection to Frankfurt. Praise God!

Be well, and we'll try to post to the blog when we get to Penza. But our FIRST priority will be to take a shower and GO GET OUR KIDS! So if there isn't a post for a few days, don't worry.

We love you all and appreciate your prayers and support.

Blessings!

Glen and Cyndy

WE ARE OFF!

We're leaving for Russia! Our flight is at 9:00 this morning (Thursday, April 7th) and we'll be traveling for about 30 hours before we get to Penza. So pray for a smooth flight and train trip. We are very anxious to see our kids and to be with them and the NEW ENLARGED Clark family!

We'll post on this blog as often as we can, so watch here for updates on our trip! Thanks for your prayers and your support.

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

Getting Packed

We are getting ready to go! Packing bags, checking lists, finishing documents... Its a lot of work, but we can't wait to see Yulia and Gena! We sent a last letter to both of them today. See it on our website (www.haworthfamily.net).

While we are in Russia, we'll be posting updates on this blog, so be sure to check here daily. We may not post daily, but we will try. It all depends on the availability of broadband access.

Scott and Terisa Clark are with their three girls right now in Penza. We'll be joining them on Saturday. Our flight leaves LAX on Thursday morning.

Pray that we remember what we need to remember. And pray that we will be able to get it all in the luggage! Thanks to all for your prayers and support.

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy

New Letter

We just received a new letter from Yulia and Gena. It is posted on our website (www.haworthfamily.net). Also sent a new letter to them yesterday (March 31st).

We talked with Terisa Clark this morning. They got to Russia in good shape, if not a little worn-out! Watch their blog for more information (linked from their website: www.sclarkfamily.net). We'll be joining them in a week!

Blessings,

Glen and Cyndy