Weekend News

Gabriel has had a good weekend. He has become very comfortable here and enjoys having our attention. He is eating so much better, going to bed so well, and tonight finished bath time without fussing. (He loves bathing.)

Saturday, he met our friends, the Roberts family, who moved here from Idaho after mom and dad. Gabriel enjoyed his time with them. Late this afternoon, Sunday, one of daddy's co-workers and his family stopped by to meet him. (They have a little girl that they adopted from China almost two years ago.) Gabriel loved playing with Julia and was very upset when they left. He is such a social butterfly.

Mommy and Daddy start back to work tomorrow, so please pray for us all as reality begins.

Gabriel's First Week

Gabriel started school on Tuesday. He is there from 9:30 - 2:30 and went back again today. He will only go on Tuesday and Thursday. This picture shows him with his teacher and one of his classmates.

On Monday, we got Gabriel put on the insurance plan with the AF and had our friends over for supper and play time. The other picture is Gabriel with his friend Quinn. Tuesday was school and the pet shop to try to get him more comfortable with our dog Ammo, as well as a gift card shower from mommy's co-workers and a few presents just for him. Wednesday, we went back to base to finish up paperwork. Gabriel got his first pair of Crocks and in the afternoon we went over to play with Quinn and get used to Aunt Meredith's house. We did not go to church because the grumpy bear came out after coming home from playtime. Last night was his first night not to cry himself to sleep, so that was VERY EXCITING for mom and dad.

Thursday brought his first visit to the doctor here and yucky blucky blood work that was very tramatic for us all. Once we escaped all that, Gabriel got to go to school again. Tomorrow we have plans to go visit Nana Sara from church, since she will be keeping him on M/W/F.

Several of you have asked for clothing sizes so here is where Gabriel is for now. Pants - 18 months, some 24 months or 2T; Shirts - 2T or 3T; Shoes - size 7.

We thank you all for your continued prayers and ask that God will continue to bless you as well.

Love the Schwarte trio,

Rick, Angela, and Gabriel

Home

Hello everyone! We made it home Saturday afternoon.Gabriel has been enjoying getting familiar with his new home. Eating has been interesting, but we are making progress slowly. Our cat was very sick before we left and had to be put to sleep while we were gone, so Gabriel did not get to meet Niles. However, he has "met" Ammo and is terrified of him, so we are trying to ease him into that relationship.

Gabriel is picking up some English words already. On Wednesday, the 19th we had him saying please. He will count 1, 2 with us. He started saying thank you over the weekend and will say nose and eyes with us. So he is making progress for only being with us for one week now. He seems to now that his name is Gabriel and will answer to it and he seems to understand us when we talk to him about things. ie - "pick up", "put it in the __", etc. Mommy and Daddy are adjusting okay too.

He sleeps really well once he goes to sleep. He doesn't like to go to bed and has some doozy temper tantrums (like his dad used to). He is very sociallable, (like his mom). He met his church family yesterday and enjoyed that and was very good in church (for now). He was introduced to everyone during the service and one of our elders prayed for all of us.

We know that God has blessed us through this journey and we are so thankful to all of you, our family and friends for your support, love, and prayers. Gabriel is ready to meet you all and charm you as he does us.

Love the Schwarte trio,

Rick, Angela, and Gabriel

Back From the USSR

I know the USSR is no longer, but considering I just had to use the Beattles tune as a title, even though I prefer the Billy Joel version.

Anyway, we made it back to the States on the 21st of March as scheduled, it was after we hit Chicago that the schedule went haywire. It took nearly an hour to get our bags from the plane, then it took another hour to clear customs and immigration. Since Chicago got hit with bad weather, we couldn't make it out on the 21st. We are staying in the USO for the night so that Gabriel can get a good nights sleep cause he really needs it. We have a flight at 8am on the 22nd that should arrive at DFW around 11AM. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, and we can't wait for you to meet the little rascal. Love ya'll and we'll post pics/video later.

Rick and Angela

Update and pics

Sorry we didn't post the pics yesterday, but we didn't have our 1 ton camera with us. Here are a couple of pics of us playing with him. We will get family pics taken when we get home I'm sure. Hope ya'll enjoy.

More news on the little one.

Well yesterday afternoon we got to go see Gabriel at the orphanage in Kuznietz (don't ask about spelling or proper pronunciation please). We spent about 2 hours with him playing. We did take some pics and video of him that we will get posted later. His little smile and laugh are infectious. For those parents in the crowd that we have laughed at the antics of your little one's, WE ARE SO SORRY!!!!! PLEASE DON'T LAUGH TOO HARD AT US????? With the language barrier, there will be some difficult times ahead, but God will guide us as he has through this whole process. We found out today that we will get to take custody of him Monday, and we will get his passport Tuesday before we head back to Moscow. In Moscow, we have to have Gabriel seen by a doctor, then to the embassy to get that process started. Yeah we get to deal with more government beaurocracy.

WE'RE PARENTS

We had our court date this morning, and it all went very well. It was a formal/professional setting, but the judge was not mean at all. She asked both Angela and I some questions, what our living conditions are, how will we provide medical care, yada yada yada. The "prosecutor" also asked some questions along the same lines. The overall process took an hour and a half, but the judge returned and said that the adoption is approved, AND that the 10 day waiting period is waived. That means that it is completely and officially done. WE HAVE A LITTLE BOY. After we got the court documents, we went and had a new birth certificate with his American name on it and his new parents names too. We are still in Mother Russia now, but we will be back the evening of the 21st so we will post pics here then. Thank you for all your thoughts and prayer, and ya'll have a new little nephew/grandson/playmate for your children/comedic relief when Angela and I deal with what some of you other parents have dealt with. (Plus, when you laugh at us, we will know some of you are getting even!!!)

We will try to post again before returning home and we apologize for it taking so long, but we hadn't forgotten our HOMELAND and we can't wait for Gabriel to meet his new family and homeland.

With all our love and because of the Lord's love,
Rick and Angela "Daddy and Mommy"

To Russia With Love

We leave in the morning. It is hard to believe that it is finally time. This post will be short. We just ask for your continued prayers and we will do our best to visit the internet cafe, so that we can keep in touch.

With all our love,

Rick and Angela