Avery & Elysa

Chasing Chickens...



















Playing in the Sand...

Going for a cart ride...

Playing Hide & Seek...

Longing to Leave...

Olympic Day

Olympic Day was a special day at the orphanage where they selected one playgroup of children & split them into two teams. The two teams competed against eachother in multiple events. Many of the other playgroups got dressed up for the occasion & came out to cheer the on the athletes.

It was a fun time for all the kids & when it was over, each child received candy & a juice box.

Some of the Precious Faces of the Svaliava Orphanage

Court Day

Today was our official court hearing and things went very well...the court has approved our request to adopt Avery!

The whole experience was very different from what we expected it would be. Our appointment was scheduled for 9:00 am but since things are very relaxed in Svaliava, it turned out to be about 9:30 am until all the required officials arrived. Max, (our translator) actually had to leave the courthouse and walk a short distance across town to remind one of the local offcials about the hearing...apparently he forgot. :)

We never stepped foot in an actual courtroom, everything took place around a small table in the judge's office. The judge confirmed our names/address/date & place of birth/employment, etc., asked us why we wanted to adopt and granted the approval. Max, was right there translating the judges questions & our responses. The whole hearing was fairly informal & took only about 5 minutes. Max said it was the quickest hearing he's ever experienced!

Tomorrow will be the first day of of our mandatory 10 day waiting period. The purpose of the waiting period is for appeals. If anyone is not in agreement with our adoption of Avery they have 10 days to file an appeal of the court's decision. After the 10 days is over, as long as no one has appealed, we will be able to begin the process for revising his birth record to list us as his parents, as well as work at getting a passport & visa issued for him.

Elysa Turns 7!!

Elysa had the rare opportunity to celebrate her 7th birthday in Ukraine. She celebrated with some of the kids from Avery's playgroup by taking in cookies & a small ball for each of them.

They enjoyed the cookies & had fun throwing the balls & watching Elysa fetch them.

Later, they thanked her by soaking her with the hose as they played in their little baby pool. She had a great time!! :0)

Visits with Avery...

Our visits with Avery are going better everyday. Our first couple visits were a little crazy, he was very hyper & over-excited, running from one thing to the next like a wild man. I think he’s just not used to getting one on one attention and didn’t know how to handle it. However, at our last few visits he has been somewhat more calm & relaxed. I think he is becoming more comfortable in our presence.

Separations, when visits are over are the hardest part. No matter how hard we try to smooth things over, he can sense when our visit is coming to an end & starts to get very upset. He does anything he can to keep us from taking him back to his playgroup.

The kids are separated into groups of approx. 10-15 according to age & it is that group of children that they spend all their time with. They sleep, eat, & play together and aside from the outside play time that they get all the rest of their activities take place within a 1 to 2 room area set aside for their particular age group.

Avery is fascinated by the world around him & very curious about the world outside the orphanage gates. He gets so excited about cars & will immediately stop whatever he is doing to watch the occasional car pass by.

Svaliava

We apologize for the delay in updating our blog, internet access in Svaliava is very limited.

The Carpathian mountain region is truly a beautiful area. The people of the town of Svaliava refer to their town as a big village & it really is like taking a step back in time. No credit cards are accepted here. Most of the roads here are rocky dirt roads with the exception of the main road through the middle of town which is a form of cobblestone.

To get around some people drive, but we see a large number of people walking & riding bikes. You will even find horse drawn wagons transporting people & supplies through town.

We are currently staying at the residence of a local family, arranged by the orphanage director. They have a couple extra bedrooms that they periodically rent out to adoptive families & have generously opened up their home to us during our stay here.

Their home is a 30 minute walk from the orphanage which makes it easy for us to walk to all our visits. Except when is rains, then we have to get a ride. The thunderstorms here are quick & fierce (lots of lighting & loud thunder that rumbles through the mountains).

Our Translater “Max”, headed back to Kiev a few days ago to file our official petition to adopt Avery. Assuming that everything gets processed smoothly & we get all the official approvals that we need, we tentatively have a court date set for July 23rd. Max will return on the 22nd to be here in time for our court date.

The Lord Has Blessed Us With A Son!

We are very excited to introduce to you the newest member of the Stout family, Avery Emerson Stout.

He's a healthy, happy, entergetic 3 1/2 year old who is full of life!!

We are so thrilled to have finally found this little bundle of joy that we've been waiting for!

The actual adoption process will take approx. 1 month to complete & we look forward to returning home as a family of 4.

Avery lives in an orphanage called a baby house where there are many young children. We are permitted to visit with him 2 times a day: from 9:45 -11:30 in the morning & then again from 4:00 - 5:30 in the afternoon.

Every time we walk in he comes running from wherever he is with a big smile & his arms open wide yelling "Mama, Mama".

He seemed to take to us right away & is very possesive of us to the other children. In his little Ukrainian voice he makes it clear to the other children that we are his family. He tells them "My Mama, My Papa, My Sistrichca (Sister)"

We are so thankful that our prayers have been answered. God is so good!

A Second Appointment At Last!!

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 136:1

After what seemed like an endless state of waiting, today turned out to be a bit of a whirlwind.

The Lord has answered our prayers & granted us a second appointment with the State Department for Adoption. Our Facilitator got a call this afternoon from the SDA & they informed him that if we could come right away they could accomodate us for an appointment -- within a half hour we were sitting in the office.

It turns out that we will be headed to a city called Svaliava in the region of Uzhhorod. This trip has been an amazing journey that has taken us from one end of Ukraine to the other :) Uzhhorod is located in the Carpathian Mountains, at the fartharest point on the western end of Ukraine, near the Slovakia border.

We are very excited to be leaving the city & heading for the hills -- with the hope of finding the child that the Lord has been preparing for our family!