Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Support Mariner's Church

Marisa and Devin's support letter for this year:

Hello Everyone:

Well, I bet you thought you were getting Zac’s usual Russia support letter didn’t you?! Not so, this year Zac is handing off the baton to Devin. Devin has been waiting to go for a few years now, and he is finally old enough, and I feel I can finally return as well (you may remember that Rachael was diagnosed with her leukemia the day after we returned from Russia in 2005). So…Devin and I will be heading off to Russia to play with the kids at the orphanage from Dec. 27th – Jan. 9th.

As you probably remember, we go as a team from Mariner’s Church to the same orphanage in Zarechnyy, Russia every year. We stay at the orphanage and run a winter camp for the kids there who have nothing to do during their two weeks off school. While this will be only my second trip, it is our church’s 7th year going there. It is amazing to hear how the relationships between our team members (most go more than once) and the kids and staff at the orphanage have grown and developed over the years.

On my first trip there, one of the little girls captured my heart (they all did but this one especially). When the organization we run our trips through began a year round sponsorship program at our orphanage our family started sponsoring this girl. Recently I received a letter from her. It was one of those ‘letters to your sponsor’, where they ask the child questions. One of the questions they asked was “What is the best thing that happened to you during the year?” Her response: “When the Americans come at winter camp!” (she doesn’t know that her sponsors are a part of that group). So if that is the best thing that happens to her all year, I want it to keep happening!!

You all know from Zac’s previous letters – the situations and the wretched and abusive backgrounds and families these kids come from. While all of that is truly heart-wrenching, the thing that tugs at my heart the most is the reality, that when we leave, they don’t. This is their life, with no mother or father to comfort them when they need it. No really safe place to be, no privacy, and no place to escape to. Don’t get me wrong, they are well cared for there, the staff is great, but that is what they are, staff, not family. As a parent, I can’t help but look at the children and be stunned by that reality – this is home for them - everyday, all day, holidays, summer, it just doesn’t change. I get to leave and come home to my nice house, my nice family, my nice life – and there they stay. As you can imagine, leaving there is hard.

Why do we do this year after year? We are building lives and hope – letting these kids know that someone out there cares about them enough to get to know them, and loves them enough to keep going back to see them whether they have a family or home or not! For whatever reason and for many reasons, these kids have spoken to our hearts. They are throw away children in their own country, so we have adopted them and we let them know that they – like all of us – have worth and value.

And, we let them know that they aren’t going to be abandoned just because they leave the orphanage either. There is the ministry center (where everything is free to the young person) that has been set up to help the kids when they age out of the orphanage (at 16 or 17). They can go to this center for meals and dental services, as well as to learn computer skills, job skills, and life skills. The center also provides help for those students from the orphanage who want to continue on to college, as well as a place for the kids to gather and stay connected to each other. This goes a long way towards helping keep them from living on the streets of Russia.

However, most important for me is the relationships we build with the kids there: the love that we give to them, and receive from them—they touch our hearts and lives as much, if not more, than we touch theirs, and this year Devin gets to experience all of that too!

I know that things are difficult for everyone everywhere these days. Please don’t feel obligated if this is not your year to give to this endeavor. I also know that some of you feel that you are partners in this with us. That you have taken these kids on as your own as well, and that you welcome this opportunity to help get us there each year and bring some brightness into the kid’s lives.

We ask first for all of your prayers and good thoughts, and appreciate every one of them. The second thing we ask for are monetary gifts to help get us there and put on this camp. The cost of the trip includes our travel expenses, as well as covering the gifts we bring the kids and staff and the cost of all we do while at the orphanage. Everything you send goes to the trip and the kids.

We are coming up on this fast, so if you would like to contribute to our trip, please send your check made out to Mariner’s Church (it will be tax deductible only if it is made out to Mariner’s Church) to:

Mariner’s Church
ATTN: Len Banks
225 S. Cabrillo Hwy.
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Please note that it is for Russia for Marisa & Devin Atsatt

Please include your name and address – you will be sent a receipt for tax purposes, and an update / thank you at the end of the trip with pictures
See links to last years pictures below

Thank you in advance for your prayers, thoughts, and dollars!

Marisa and Devin


Thursday, January 8, 2009

Blog Out

I've been thinking it's time to complete the "adoption blog" as we have reached a point of "normalcy" in our little family.  Somewhere down the line a "family" blog may be something fun to do and share but, it does not feel that an adoption blog is really appropriate anymore.  

After pondering this for a while, I decided to sign-in tonight to sign-off and noticed that it was exactly 3 months ago today that I picked the twins up from the orphanage.  I then noticed that I had started the blog exactly 3 months before picking the girls up  -  my first post was exactly 6 months ago today on 7/8/08!   So, it seems a very appropriate time to close this chapter in our lives and enjoy the crazy, happy chapter we have now entered. 

My 3 girls are all doing wonderfully.  The twins vocabulary is exploding with Courtney following about 1 week behind Camryn in the words they're learning/using.  In a month, they'll be caught up I'm sure and, we haven't even begun the speech therapy yet.  They're doing well in their two day per week pre-school and will soon be going more often.  Katy loves having sisters and they love her.  They play together and struggle against each other just like any other siblings.  We're all very normal now which is really a great thing to say and feel and the girls are developing right on target.  We've all been incredibly lucky and a day does not pass that it is not appreciated in this household.    

I really enjoyed keeping this blog and corresponding with many of the people who have been reading it.  I'm going to keep it live in case any of the adoption information is helpful to new families going through this process in Ekaterinburg and will make a posting when and if I start a new "family" blog.  In the meantime, I will keep monitoring those still waiting for their 2nd trips (Laura & Melissa) and those who have been home and are still posting.   I really enjoy keeping up with those home and can't wait to hear good news from those waiting to bring their babies home.  

So, thank you for joining me on this part of our journey and for all the wonderful input and support that I received during the past 6 months!  

Lori, Katy, Camryn & Courtney  

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Winding down at home

I have always been a nighttime homebody but never a daytime one.  I like to be out and busy during the day and tucked in cozy, safe and warm at home after dark!  With my 3 little girls it is pretty difficult doing simple things like grocery shopping, going to the park, or, going anywhere for that matter so we stay home a lot!  During the school weeks, our days are broken up and pretty busy - getting busier every week but, during these holiday breaks, we're home much more than we are not.  

Being home this much has really been good for everyone.  It's hard to overstimulate kids when they are at home with just their little family (and a few visitors), and, since they're only 2 and 4 years old, there's not much for them to do but play together and with me.  Many hours of playing dress-up, playing in the backyard, watching movies (Mamma Mia again and again and again), making cupcakes (Katy got a cupcake maker for Christmas) and just doing homey things.  We have ventured out some ( as shown in my last entry) and did get out in the rain a bit today which was nice but, pretty much we've been in the house with a fire going all cozy and warm enjoying the Christmas break.    I think it has really helped Katy to be able to spend so much time with me and with her sisters without leaving for school everyday.  She plays with them much better, is listening to me and has been very positive and pleasant to be around.  Not that she wasn't before but things have a much more smooth and natural flow about them now.  I think she is very used to having sisters and she really likes having them too!  

I learned last week that the California "Early Start" will work with the girls until they're 3 years old in trying to help catch them up with their development.  They're not that far behind and I'm a little surprised at the amount of time they plan to spend with them, but I think it will be a great opportunity to get them with the "experts".  Each one will get 20 hours per month of in-home combined speech and occupational therapy for a total of 40 hours.     That will be pretty extensive as it will probably be somewhere around 2 hours twice a week so we'll have to squeeze that in somewhere!  Between that and attending pre-school twice a week, I think they'll be caught up very quickly.  Already they're starting to talk ALOT!  And, I can actually understand a good deal of it.  They may not even require the full 3 1/2 months of therapy.  We'll see.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days . . . 

We had a visit from "cowboy" Jim today and Katy was very excited to get to spend some time as Jim's little "cowgirl".  She loves sitting up on Dancer and has no fear (but, I do!).  




It was an extremely unusual morning as the twins were up long before Katy who didn't wake up until 8 AM!  She normally wakes up at 5:30 and the twins about an hour later but today I had to ask them to play in their room for a while so as not to wake their sister up.  I went in to check on them and this is how I found them - just sitting patiently together waiting for me.  


Everybody had to have a turn being a puppy and having a sister walk them around.   They made the green ribbon into a leash (completely on their own) and I'm not sure where the pink ears came from!   It is amazing how much the imagination is exercised when they are left "on their own".  





More Mamma Mia . . . Katy picked out the clothes for her sisters for our little New Year's Eve outing and she dressed everyone as a Mamma Mia character.  She really only listens and watches the songs (the story is way above her head and boring to her - thankfully!) so I was a little confused by the characters.  She is Sophie and is carrying Sophie's diary.  She was reading it to her sisters telling them "they danced on the beach, they kissed on the beach and dot dot dot - yikes!).  Her sisters were then picking up the diary and saying "dot dot dot"!  She dressed them up as the "bad boys" of which there are none in the movie.  I had her point them out to me in the movie and it turns out that they were two of the potential fathers.   Like some of the other music she has discovered, it's not exactly appropriate for a 4 year old but I'm finding it difficult to keep up with her "thirst" for song & dance with Disney or age appropriate material.  I am searching though!   

I'm sure tomorrow will hold many more memorable and entertaining moments!