Sunday Afternoon Bonding

16 days home and first nap time on the couch! 

Blessed Feast of the Holy Family!

Reunited!!

A guest post from a dear friend helping me to bring our newest children home!

Go read and enjoy the pictures of three siblings playing together in the same room for the first time ever...

With mama watching over...

Have a blessed weekend! I know I will!!

http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2013/12/fatherless-friday.html

Triple Thanks.

Blessed Thanksgiving to everyone back home in the USA!

Today I give thanks for 3 blessings...

First, for EVERYONE, the family, extended family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and "never-met-except-on-the-internet" friends who:

bid on items in our Auction,

purchased chances on our iPad/Kindle giveaway

came and partied with us in June 

bought a ticket for a basket

Donated items to our Auntion/raffle

donated money to our FSP

Brought over meals for our family

Donated towards Henry's funeral expenses

Sent me coffee in the mail

Prayed for me

Sent me hugs and love on FB or the blog

What a community of LOVE grew up around my sweet boy! 

Thanks is not enough to say for all the support over these last almost-three years starting from our commitment to adopt Henry (Spring 2011) until today, when he has been in heaven for one year and I wait in Eastern Europe to bring our newest children home. 

But gratitude is all I have and I give it with all my heart and will remember each and every one of you in prayer today.

Second, I am beyond thankful for my wonderful husband and every single member of our joy-filled family! I hope I can be the wife and mother they all deserve in the coming year and that we can love and laugh together for many years to come!

And Third, I am thankful for every minute God graced me to spend with Henry Augustin Dobrovits.

I would do it all again...the fundraising, the travel, the hospitalizations, the thousands in co-pays, the lack of sleep, the separations at CHOP...

The being with him while he went to be with Jesus.

I am thankful I got to be his mama.

PS Blogger on my iPad will not let me load a video here...please go see my boy on FB!

We passed Court!

We had to wait over an hour and a half past the stated time to begin the hearing...the judge was very fast and no-nonsense...she asked why we wanted to adopt (Paul told her the 30 second version of what should have been a 20 minute conversation!), she asked if we had enough money to raise 9 children (we affirmed yes), she asked if our six at home were biological or adopted (I said bio, that got me a few raised eyebrows), then she asked if we get a check from the US government for each child we have (emphatic NO!)....

We were so proud of our 11 year old...the judge asked her to stand up and give her name and age and asked if she wanted to be adopted by us and she said YES and then the judge asked if anyone pressured or coerced her to consent to the adoption and she looked at little taken aback and emphatically said NO!

Then the judge read Every. Single. Document. into the record. Then she asked the State Prosecutor if she had any concerns and she said no. Then asked all the workers (7!) present from both orphanages if they objected and they all said no 

So we were then declared parents of all three!

Victoria Catherine, age 11 (momma, papa, Vika selfie taken on court bench!)

Leo Maximus (age 3) and Yana Faustina (18 months) - my almost 9 yo at home did the creative editing on this pic -- and I could not agree more!

I am a Momma of 10.... Because Henry counts :-)

In fact, the reason these three previous children who are siblings (but had never even met before we came) have the love of a family and a future is directly attributable to our little Saint in heaven!

Paul is heading back to our children at home right now and I hope to bring our "third batch" (HT to Luke!) to the US in mid-December! 

I am in a place that one year ago would have been unthinkable....

But as a wise woman said below...

Thinking is overrated...loving is what endures.

__,_._,___

The Least of These

We all know that children with major special needs (like my Henry had) need OUT of orphanages...

but what about "cognitively typical/minor sn" kiddos?? 

Well today my heart was broken for THESE children...

We had to stay inside for our visit bc it was raining..my daughter and I were given one half of a playroom, the other 10 children in her groupa got the other half (pinned in by chairs)...

10 TWO YEAR OLDS in a 15x15 space, 2 nannies more interested in talking to each other, loud music, 2 play trucks, one musical toy and about 10 stuffed animals no 2 year old cares about...

A little boy named "Charlie" on Reece's Rainbow (and available for adoption with his younger sister who has a heart condition) especially was hanging over the chairs staring at us, he even climbed over twice to try to join us and was sternly reprimanded...

Can you imagine the mind-numbing boredom for smart inquisitive little minds???? 

No duplos, no blocks, no matchbox cars to line up or drive over a road of blocks, no books to be read, no warm lap to snuggle on...

Maybe your family cannot do major medical needs, but please search your heart to see if you could be just the family for a toddler like Charlie (and his sister)....

http://reecesrainbow.org/64317/charlie-and-lola

Good Morning!!

From a very good friend...

Stay tuned...

There is more excitement coming!!!

http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2013/11/im-going-back.html?spref=fb&m=1

All Saints Day

Today we celebrate all who are in heaven...

Which means my own little Henry...

One year ago today Henry had life-saving surgery...

He was gone by the end of the month of November...

This month would have been unbearable...

Except now November will be more about redemption than desolation...

More about looking forward than regretfully looking backwards...

The tears will still fall and those of sadness will be mixed with those of joy...

Thank you my dear St. Henry...

For watching over our whole family...

For teaching us that love is not limited by time or distance or disability...

That there is always more room in our hearts and at our table.

Just a bit longer...

Thanks so much for waiting...

We will have such wonderful news to share very soon!!

Keep praying for us and our children both at home and overseas...

A Match.... A Date.... A Gift...

Good news comes in Three's!

FIRST - 

We met our matching grant! Your generous donations over last last 2 weeks turned our matching donors $2500 into double that... $5000! We still need about $3000 more to cover the massive travel costs to get all 3 children from their region to the Capitol (a 15 hour train ride or a 2 hour ride on a tiny plane, not sure which option scares me more!) then stay in Capitol for visa processing and medical/TB testing and then ultimately fly home. Our family sponsorship fund is still up and running to the right!

SECOND -

We have a date to go to the capital city of our children's country and ask for their referral!

Paul and I are both traveling initially and he will leave after our Court date and will hopefully be home by Thanksgiving, while I will stay for the mandatory 10 day wait for the decree to become final and should be able to bring the children home by Christmas!

THIRD -

We were blessed to receive new pictures of our 2 youngest children which we cannot share publicly just yet...

But here is a little something to say THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. <3

Today would have been...

Henry's 3rd Birthday.

Mommy loves you buddy.

Simplified Symphony!!!

So a few people mentioned they wanted to donate on our last BIG PUSH to fundraise....

but they found all the giveaways and options a big confusing...

you know what?

Me too. And I even had my coffee :-)

So I am going to make this simple....

GO HERE:

http://reecesrainbow.org/57151/sponsordobrovits-2

and donate $10 or more to our TAX DEDUCTIBLE adoption fund.....

and you will automatically be entered to WIN ALL THE PRIZES listed at www.covenantbuilders.blogspot.com (including a 2nd gen iPad and Otterbox donated in honor of my Henry! AND a $500 Visa Gift Card AND a Canon Power Shot Digital Camera AND and iPad Mini AND your choice of a Kindle Fire/Nintendo 3DS AND a whole bunch more gift cards, gorgeous art prints, etc.

If you can SHARE on your blog or FB just leave a comment below and I will make sure you get an entry (everyone who has shared up until now HAS been entered also)!!!!

Simple, right!

We have had $770 since the Symphony began on Friday and we need $1,730 more to meet our matching grant of $2500!!!

We hope to have a travel date to receive our childrens' referral very soon and bring them home before Christmas!!

We could not do this without all of you!!! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!

Please join us at the Symphony!!

First, please go to:

www.covenantbuilders.blogspot.com

The amazing Julia has put together an amazing fundraising giveaway for us...

And a few other families...

And a few precious boys...

And I am in tears that the grand prize,

an iPad, was donated in honor of Henry!!!

PLEASE this Friday ---

Pick a boy...

Pick a family...

Share Julia's post...

And enjoy the beautiful music of the celestial conductor as played by wonderful people LIKE YOU who are helping there be fewer orphans and more perfect melodies in this world!!

It's Henry Day!!

2 years ago today, the afternoon of September 9, we brought Henry home to our entire family.

So many joys...

So much sorrow...

So like all of life.

Today lets celebrate the joy.

And lets do it with french fries.

French fries were the first solid food Henry would eat and we think it is because he could feed himself (rather than having food shoved down his throat which would make him aspirate due to his cleft palate).

Today, I am getting my children fries. Big bunches of fries.

And we will eat them...

and maybe cry just a little bit...

but we will remember our little guy who had 14 months of fries and love.

Nine Months

Hey Momma's buddy...

Have fun sliding doors in heaven!

See you soon!

Love, Mommy

How much is a life worth?

2 Years Ago Today...

We met Henry.

And thus began his life as a son and brother and nephew and grandson...

The part of his life here on earth with us lasted 467 days.

His adoption expenses were $24,000...

We spent a minimum of $5000 in 2011 AND 2012 on medical deductibles/copayments/medications for him alone...

We spent at least another $2000 on special formula and non-covered therapies...

I will not even try to quantify the cost of my/my husbands lost work during his 8 hospitalizations...

So $36,000.

For 467 days.

Seem expensive??

This costs $36,000....

This was $36,000....$ 77.08 for each precious unrepeatable irreplacable day....

Happy "Meetcha" Anniversary my sweet darling baby boy.

SUBMITTED!!!

Which means that our dossier has been accepted by a certain Eastern European country AND that the sibling group IS still available for international adoption AND that we should be traveling in 10-12 weeks!!

Thank you Jesus!

This is not about Henry....

...but it could have been.

Henry's fate in the country he was born in was sealed.

To lie in a crib in an orphanage. All day. Every day.

To never go outside except in an ambulance for monthly trips to the hospital for aspiration pneumonia.

To die during one of these illnesses.

According to Henry's pulmonologist, he would not have survived the winter after we brought him home in the fall of 2011.

We paid a ransom to give Henry 14 months of love. Of a family.

And we received infinitely more than we gave.

There was another beautiful baby boy who was born in the same country.

And he was transferred out of the baby house to an institution.

Someone in Canada loved him.

His Reeces Rainbow name was Hanson and he died alone just days ago, not knowing he was loved from afar.

Today in Canada there will be a Requiem High Mass said for Hanson. With a full choir. With many in attendance. The little boy who lived and died alone will, for a few hours, be surrounded by love on this earth just as he is now awash with love in heaven.

My dear friend Julia asked on her blog  that we all remember Hanson today and let his special friend in Canada know that we are joining them in spirit by lighting candles for Hanson, the other boys from his institution who have been found by their families, and the ones who still wait ("The Lost Boys").

Someone much more talented than I made these candles to represent our thoughts and prayers.

I would ask you to pray especially for those "Lost Boys" (names under the pink candles) who are in the same place and still need brave families to step out and rescue and love them.

Because every boy deserves a family...

Even if it costs a ransom....

Even if it is just for 14 months....

Rest in the peace of Jesus with my sweet Henry sweet Hanson.

Our dossier is off!

To Eastern Europe!

And now we wait...

Summertime....

means doing dossier paperwork....

and some extra real estate law work...

and filing our I600A with US Customs and Immigration...

and being assigned to get our Biometric Fingerprints taken...

in Michigan City, Indiana (wha??????)....

which led to...

an impromptu beach afternoon...

where the littles played in the water...

and the bigs stayed close to the shade (well 2 of them did, Brent was sunscreening-up and then went and played in the water with the kiddies!)...

We are expecting our I171H (the document approving us to bring adopted children into the country) any day now...the other 34 documents of our dossier will be Apostilled (getting a State of Illinois stamp to authenticate them to a foreign government) and ready for pick up on Monday...

Then our big package will be kissed goodbye and sent off!

And then we wait...

while we finish out the summer...

Giveaway/Party Wrap Up and Where We Stand....

We started off the month big!!!

Our iPad/Kindle giveaway was a HUGE success and brought in $2500!!

Here is Sabrina picking the winner of the iPad -

And here is Ella picking the winner of the Kindle -

The winners have been notified and have their prizes!!!

We also had a basket raffle that brought in over $600!!

And then our generous guests donated a bit more than $4000 to our adoption fund!!!

Our FSP on Reece's Rainbow right HERE is currently at $15,633!!!!

So what do we still need??

Here are the financial details for the adoption of our newest children....We completed our adoption of Henry for $24,000 in September 2011...

************************************
Illinois Homestudy - $3,300 (we get a discount of $300 off the original $3600 cost because we used the same Agency for Henry)

Fingerprinting, Marriage Licenses, Birth Certificates for Dossier - $ 400

Apostilles - $300 (need for all Dossier documents and issued by State of Illinois)

Postage to Send Dossier (2 batches) to Eastern Europe - $300

US Department of Homeland Security I-600A Processing and Fingerprinting - $ 1,060

Medical Exams needed for all 3 children to leave the Country - $ 800

US Visas for all children - $ 1500

Passport fees for all children (in country) - about $1500 (will not know for sure as differs by region)

Facilitation Fee for adoption of all 3 children (court, translation, representation) in Country - $15,500 TOTAL ($9000 first child, $2500 second child in same orphanage, $4000 child in same region but different orphanage)

Airfares - approximately $5200 (Paul and I to and from at $850 each way, 2 older children one way back to US, baby girl one way back  to US 10%)

Travel in Country - approximately $1000 (the 2 littles are together in the city we will stay in and we will need to hire a driver to get to orphanage where older girl to visit, plus location is 12+ train ride from where we will fly into and will need to get all children to the capital city on the train)

Lodging/Food in Country - Approximately $3500 (renting an apartment will be about $65 a day for the 3 weeks Paul and I will be there and I will stay through the 10 day wait until the court decree is final as flying back and forth would be twice the cost of staying and I will have extra bonding/visiting time with children)
********************************************

So there you have it!!

The total comes in at $34,360....

We have already paid out $5,060 of this total...

So $29,300 is our GOAL to be FULLY FUNDED!!!!

With the $15,633 already in our FSP....

We have $13,667 to go!!!!

Which scares me a little....

So when I feel like this....

I know I need to do this....

So I will be "unplugged" from the blog and FB for the next week...

We will be starting our Usborne Books fundraiser then (for a preview you can go HERE and Select "SHOP" and then "Dobrovits Adoption"). We are beyond grateful for all your love and support!!!

6 Months

From my dear friend J today, 6 months after Henry left us for heaven...

Grief is....Forcing nonsense into your brain.
Eventually it sticks in there...all crooked, like a square peg in a round hole. But you'll get it in there in time, and with God's grace.

Our iPad/Kindle Giveaway really could use a last BOOST of entries before our drawing on Sunday, June 2!

Please click HERE to get details and leave a comment after you donate and/or share.

Thank you for sharing in this walk with our whole family.

Picture Packed Friday Post!

Thank you all for accepting my challenge and reaching our goal for entries this week into our -

iPAD/KINDLE GIVEAWAY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!

If you don't know what this is click HERE and read all about it first....I'll wait....

But before you get to see the promised Henry pic, I thought I would give you a few bonus ones...

We (and by "we" I mean mostly my amazing husband and our two home-from-college sons!) worked feverishly the last week to "switch" and add to our "boys room" and "girls room" upstairs...

Here is the new and improved "girls room":

We already had the double bunk on the right and added this bunk, where we plan our new big girl will get to sleep on the bottom:

She will also get the drawers on the side of the stairs and under the bed...

My 8yo got this new/old dresser (many thanks to my dear friend K!) which Paul refinished and painted and the girls enhanced with the room's flower motif:

And then we added a new tall but thin bookcase and  re-configured the one closet to fit our 4 year old's dresser and leave hanging room for lovely dresses for 4 lovely girls:

Our girls are BEYOND EXCITED to share their room with their new sister (and with baby sister once she gets old enough to move out of mommy and daddy's room).... and if anyone out there thinks they NEED a separate bedroom for each child in their house, I cannot more emphatically state that your children will be making memories and experiencing JOY beyond compare by sharing a room (and bedtime stories and clothes and hair accessories and secret whispers after prayers) growing up!!!

So now to the main event...a private never seen outside my home Henry picture....

When you go to Henry's country to adopt, you sit in the government office and they take out files, the file of the child you hope to adopt documents his/her medical condition, availability for international adoption, and has actual physical picture(s) of them....we were able to "trade" the picture you see on the header of this blog (one of 3 pictures we had of Henry, all taken at the same time) for 2 pictures in his government file that we had never seen before....

My sweet baby boy....probably about 3 months old...look at his chunky cheeks...The malnourishment and constant aspiration pneumonia had not set in yet...look at the small pic...he looks scared...

I cry every time I see these pictures...if only I could have gotten him home then...if only I could have stopped the severe lung scarring that happened that first year of his life that contributed so much to his death...if only I could have had a few more months with him before I had to say good-bye....

All I can do is work as hard as I can to get our newest children home...as fast as I can...for THEIR sake AND because Henry would want us to....

Please feel free to share this post to share our Giveaway even more! It closes on June 2 and you will have a GREAT chance to win an iPad OR Kindle Fire...

Here is the LINK again.

And here is our final picture for the weekend....God Bless all our men and women who have served, most especially those (and their families) who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

ANNOUNCING the DOBROVITS ADOPTION iPAD/KINDLE GIVEAWAY EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

Our Online Facebook Auction that finished last Sunday was an amazing success!

Here is the whole family celebrating!!

(Actually it was Sabrina's 14th Birthday and we had dinner at Red Robin to celebrate THAT!)

The winning bids for 100+ items totaled $3268....most donations are in our FSP right now but some checks are being mailed so we should be at about $9000 when we get everything in...

What a blessing! So many thanks to Megan Stout who was the driving force behind the Auction and to EVERYONE who shared and bid and WON!!!!

Our next fundraiser is going to be fun and exciting and also has wonderful people making it happen!!!

Children's Therapy Services in Frankfort, Illinois (and its amazing founder Linda), where Henry went for OT (Bernie) and PT (Norah), has donated an iPad...

and the lovely Lauren DeStafano, orphan warrior extraordinaire, has donated a Kindle Fire...

and YOU CAN WIN!!

Here is how it works:

Donate $10 to our FSP and leave a comment below that you gave (no need to advertise amount, I will get this info from Reece's Rainbow) and you get 1 entry to the iPad Drawing...

Donate $25 to our FSP and leave a comment below (same as above, just say you gave and I will keep amount private) and you get 3 entries to the iPad Drawing
AND
1 entry to the Kindle drawing...

Want to be really awesome and donate $50?? You get 6 entries to iPad drawing
PLUS
3 entries to the Kindle drawing...

Just SHARE this Giveaway Extravaganza on YOUR blog or Facebook Status and leave a comment below that your shared (or PM me on FB) and you will get 1 entry to the Kindle drawing...

The iPad drawing will be OVER when we reach 500 entries (the Kindle drawing may have more or less)...Our IRL friends will be donating as well so I will keep you posted every few days on how many more slots are open...

This Extravaganza ENDS on June 2, 2013, at 6pm Central Time when we will draw the winner LIVE in our backyard at our 2nd Annual Dobrovits Summer Celebration for our Ella's First Communion, our Sabrina's 8th Grade Graduation AND the adoption of our newest blessings!

So click here to give:  http://reecesrainbow.org/57151/sponsordobrovits-2

Then COMMENT below (that you gave and if/where you shared)

Then check for updates on our progress...we are moving fast and this coming week I will share where we are in the international adoption process and exactly what our need for funds is and why....

and then, finally...

Have a blessed Mother's Day!