Merry Christmas Maiah!!!!

December has been full of fun and learning all about the birth of baby Jesus. Whether at school or church, Maiah actively participated. She was a grandchild in the school play and she was the star in the church play......see the photo section if you want to see the most precious Christmas star....I am biased!! Well,our morning started a little before 8am with stomping feet coming down the hallway with much excitement and anticipation. Every present was the best one she got. She loved the smallest present as much as the biggest. Everything was special and just what she wanted. Tonight we sang Happy Birthday to baby Jesus and it all came full cirlce for Maiah......we get presents because it is Baby Jesus's birthday. We had to explain that He is the present. All in all, Maiah had a great 1st Christmas. She was beyond blessed by family and friends and blessed all who came into our home today. We love you Maiah and Merry Christmas!!!

July - Present & Happy Birthday Maiah

Well, it has been a while since our last post but all is well. We have been very busy, busy, busy!!! We are in the midst of doing Maiah's post placement visits and new home study visits as we are on the adoption train again. We believe God has another child for us in Mongolia. Derek is in the midst of transferring to his new duty station as well as taking a class and I am home schooling Nathan, Kaytlin and Maiah..........thank you for the grace!

We have had a busy summer.......started with a huge 4th of July celebration/pool party. We celebrated Maiah being a US citizen. She wore red, white and blue and a smile all day.......she was the star of the day. Check out the photos, so cute if I don't say so myself:) (We posted 2 new albums from the summer and birthday).

We visited Massachusetts in August, spent much of the week visiting with my friend Amy and her family. Maiah just loved playing with the girls all week. We also enjoyed Memere Mads beach house. We played in the sand and flew kites.....Nate, Kaytlin and Maiah all love the beach. Our little Mongolian princess just loves anything to do with water. You would not know that she spent the first 3 years of her life land locked in Mongolia.

On August 8th, Derek and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary with much to be thankful for. We have an amazing son who is 13 and still likes us so we are doing something right. Then we have our 2 beautiful princesses. We are beyond blessed.

Well, September brought preschool for Maiah. She has missed having all her little friends to play with so we decided to let her play 2 days a week and she just loves it. We knew she would as she loves attending her little class on Sunday mornings as well. She never wants to leave. Maiah received her first progress report for preschool and the overall theme was how well rounded she is and that you would never know she has only been here for 9 months........God is good:) This month we also had the countdown to Maiahs 4th birthday. I think she thought it was never coming.........everyday she would wake up and say "Is today Maiah's birthday?" Well, it finally came and we had a big bash......really for us it was her first birthday:)

Maiahs birthday party was quite the event. She woke up with a smile on her face that lasted the whole day, right down to tucking her in that night. She was thrilled to have it be her day, finally. She had 20 some of her little friends and families here to celebrate with her. Kaytlin and her friends did face painting for Maiah and her friends and then we some dear friends from church come as clowns to make animal balloons for all the kids. We could not have asked for better weather, it was beautiful and so was her little smile. We hope you enjoy the photos.

As for our family as a whole........we all have found our place in Maiahs heart and world. It is as though she has always been here with us. We can't imagine life without her. We look back to the start of our journey to Maiah and it is so amazing how God planned it all out......and now we have this little precious treasure that keeps growing and shining and amazing all who meet her.

All of us are excited about adding to our family, especially Maiah. She says she wants to go with Mommy on the big plane to Mongolia so we can get a brother or sister........she is still asking for a particular little boy but now with things moving again in Mongolia, we are praying that he would be adopted quickly. Even though our paperwork is almost ready to go, we still have a long wait ahead of us. Please continue to pray for us and for the finances for this next adoption........ we know that Gods provision is awesome but we also know how powerful prayer is. God Bless all who read this............ and may your heart be touched and your life be changed. You too can make a difference in the life of a child, just start by praying for them.

Time flies when you're having fun!!!

Well let me just start with how very blessed we are to have Maiah in our family. She was born a Petrin, it just took us a while to realize that she was out there waiting for us. We have had so much fun and have really seen her true personality come out. We believe the flower is now in full bloom as you will see when you look at the photos. Now that the weather has warmed up, we have been doing some fun outdoor activities!! May started with some amazing friends of ours (Carol & Ben)coming for a 30 day visit from Mongolia. Maiah so enjoyed seeing her friend and we did lots of fun things with them. Maiah especially enjoyed riding all the rides with Ben at Busch Gardens. I don't think they missed one ride. It was a long day for the Mommies!! Maiah just loves the outdoors and the water. I have to pull her out of the pool everyday and she cried when we left the waterpark. I think she thought we would never go back. Little does she know that we have season passes:) She kept saying "I want more slides and more water!!" I think Mongolia needs a waterpark even if it would only be open for 6 weeks a year:) Maiah has a best little friend as you have probably seen in some photos over the past couple of months. Every morning she wakes up and asks for Vannah. Her little friends name is Savannah but Maiah has given her a nickname. They are so cute togehter, it warms my heart to see her in new little friendships as that was the most heartwrenching part of this. She still asks about her closest friends from the Childrens Place and is now asking for them to come to her house!! It's very sad but watching her grow and now with friends to call her own brings so many smiles and joy. Our family cannot explain what adopting Maiah has done for our family, it has changed all of us in so many ways. We have given her hope and she has brought us so much more........So much, that we are starting the process all over again. Roller Coaster ride here we come!! We believe God has another child for us in Mongolia. It's the best ride we have ever taken. We need prayer for the following: a new lady has taken over adoptions in Mongolia and is learning her job and moving very slow and it seems that adoptions are not really a priority. We are praying that her heart would change and that the children of Mongolia would be set free to families in country or internationally. We need things to open up and move so that these waiting kids can be set in families. Several of Maiahs friends are now 4& 5. Please pray that we can get our paperwork done and submitted quickly as Derek is up for orders and any moving could hinder another adoption. We also challenge you to pray and consider opening up your home to a child. It's not for everyone but it may be for you. We pray that by sharing this journey, it has helped bridge gaps between families and waiting children..........

March /April 2007

March Madness!!! Well March was the month for a few firsts, not Maiahs favorites at all!! We had our first visit to the Dentist which went really well, she had not one cavity. She liked the part where she got to pick toys out of the basket at the end:) Much thanks to the Children's Place for brushing her pretty white teeth!! We had to have blood drawn before her physical, she is tough as Derek had to hold her arms down and her little veins were not that great. We also had our first visit/physical at our new pediatricians office. Lets just say she needed 3 shots so it was not a great day. Don't you just hate that look of "Why are you letting them hurt me like this"? We did go out to lunch with Dr. Mike (her new pediatrician and our long time family friend) after her visit and she was offering him bites of her pizza so I think she got over it. We also had our first post placement visit which went very well. Maiah was her normal, silly self and our social worker was walking out the door with tears in her eyes. Yeah Maiah!! We also had our first haircut in America!! We had to cut off 2 inches all around in order to make it all healthy, no more pigtails for a couple of weeks but Ms Nancy gave her a little style. We also finally got to meet Aunty Jo and Joshua in March!! Yeah, Maiah is still asking "Where is Joshua?"

As for April, we decided to take our first road trip and go up to Massachusetts and introduce Maiah to all of Dereks family, my extended family and all of our friends. Yes , we were crazy, 12 hours in a truck with a 13, 10 and 3 year old and 1 DVD screen stopped working on the trip up:( Overall, the trip was great, very cold New England Easter. Maiah slept with Kaytlin and slept well. My girls like to get up in time for lunch......Maiah heard her Memere sing in church for the first time and she loved meeting her Grampy, Great Memere Lavoie, Aunty Mamie, Aunty Amy, Uncle Bobby,Olivia and Lauren and many other aunts and cousins. It was as though she has just always been part of the family.

As for growth, she has grown 2.5 inches, gained 6.5 lbs, and is now wearing a 7.5 shoe. She is very verbal and her English is amazing. She will tell you that she is Maiah Petrin, she is 3 but going to be 4. She will also say go Red Sox and Boo Yankees!! Dad thought we should teach her the important things first:) She now sings Jesus loves me very well, Happy Birthday and Rock a by Baby along with Twinkle Twinkle. She loves when the wind blows because Daddy makes it like a hurricane. She is not using much Mongolian these days, only the few words that we learned and continue to use with her. That part is little sad for me, I wish we had learned more but it is not an easy language to learn. We are attaching more photos so you can see her precious smiles and laughs.

We love you all and Happy Spring!!
Petrins

February 2007

Well, we have been home for a month now and Maiah Nandin is doing very well and so are the rest of us!! Mommy is a little tired but so very amazed. Maiah Nandin just loves all of us now and fits right in with our busy Petrin social life:) Her English is amazing as she is putting 3 and 4 word phrases together. As for her understanding, she does not miss a thing. Maiah Nandin is very smart, singing songs and duplicating things after teaching them to her once or twice. She loves to sing Jesus Loves Me and plays tea party and cooks for us all the time. She is very active, keeps us all hopping from morning until night. She is very flexible and loves to jump, flip and do somersaults. I think we have a gymnast on our hands!! She also loves looking at pictures of her friends from the Childrens Place, we go through them everyday and she names them all. We feel so blessed to be in contact with a couple a families from France, these are the families of her 2 best friends. One of them, Ariuna, has already gone home to her family. She actually left the week after Maiah. Then there is Uurya, who will hopefully go home to her family soon. We are praying they will travel to pick her up next month. Nathan loves his little sister and has begun to realize that teenage girls like boys with cute little sisters, now he has 2!! As for Kaytlin, she has found balance since Maiah decided to attach to Mommy's hip. They have a very sweet relationship Maiah has started to call Derek Daddy instead of Owa. I think he was a little sad at first but now its very sweet. As for Mommy, she is attached to my hip, even in the shower!! We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of Gods plan for this little girls life. She has added so much joy to our family in just a month. Nate said to me just yesterday, "Mom, can you even believe that she is here in her bed and in our house?" I told him that I still stand amazed at how awesome our God is. Until March.................

Jetlag and Smiles...

I just wanted to follow up Stacy's post and say there are new pictures now available. All is well here and Maiah is beginning to settle into her house and her new name. She has not however settled into a routine, all in due time. She really is doing well with us, family and some other visitors. I would not ask about her opinion of the cats though! Stacy took her for her first trip to Walmart yesterday. She stayed in her car seat and really had a good time. We also celebrated Maiah Christmas yesterday with Stacy's parents and you can see some of those pics from the link. Again your support was beyond anything we could have expected. We started this blog to help keep our family informed and of course some friends. Little did I expect nearly 200 comments from all over the world. We hope you can still enjoy some Maiah installments from time to time. Derek

Home Sweet Home!!

Well, we are so happy to be back in our home and beds and eating food that we are familiar with......God is awesome!! Our trip home was uneventful, Maiah was great on the plane, although she kept wanting to stand in her seat and look,talk and smile at the family behind us. She kept speaking Mongolian to them, little did she know they were Chinese and did not understand one word she said. She relates to all Asian faces!! I must have said "please sit down" 200 times during the 14 hours. Our homecoming was so awesome, we were so blessed by our family and friends as we were greeted with balloons, posters, hugs and kisses at the airport. Maiah was very still and quiet, let me just say that does not last long. She made an instant friend with Kaytlins little friend Jordan and actually cried for her when we put her in our truck. She was not having the car seat thing at all, we figured we would tackle that another day. God took us this far, we figured He would get us all home safe, car seat or not. At home, she explored a little and before long, her true self began to come out, smiling and playing with my family. We are still all messed up time wise, I actually took a nap this afternoon and Kaytlin slept for four hours, got up and was in bed at 7. The day was great though, with Nathan on a retreat and Kaytlin sleeping, Maiah loved on Mommy and Daddy and we had much quality time together. I got a few photos of Daddy snuggling with his sweet girl for the first time. This was a very sweet moment for him physically and me emotionally. She has experienced lots of mamas in her short life but she has never experienced the love and tender touch of a daddy. This was just a great moment. She is doing very well, loves her room, is scared of our cats, and is not sure about going outside of her comfort zone. She did walk outside and take a look at the swingset and walked over to say hello to our neighbor, Mrs. Morgan. However, she was ready to come inside. So many changes in such a short period of time, we will just continue to be patient. She is very smart, already loves to talk on the phone as many of you know, counts to 10 in English and sings songs and repeats everything we say in English. All we can say is what a journey our God took us on. To think that we were introduced to a photo of a beautiful little girl that lived on the other side of the world in March of 2005 and here we are in January of 2007 and she is running around our home (her new home) playing,giggling and calling us Mommy and Owa(Daddy in Mongolian). God is so much bigger than I ever knew, he never ceases to amaze us. We look forward to what He has for us next. Much thanks to all of our family, friends and friends of friends for your love, prayers and support. All of your encouraging words helped to get us through the tough moments of this journey and those words will be a keepsake for our precious treasure. MeiMing, you are awesome, thank you for being there to listen,share, and pray with us throughout our journey. Thank you for the beautiful Welcome home banner and all your prayers, love and support. Almarie, we are so glad you invited us and are so blessed to be part of the Meiming Family.

Love,
Petrin 5

Norfolk Here we Come!!

We are in Atlanta!! Our flight went well and Maiah did well. The flight back is nearly three hours shorter so that is a God sent. Maiah however, the girl who does not use public restrooms, held it for 10 hours. The only way we could get her to pee was to bribe her with gum. We have started our 3 hour lay over and are ready to come home. Our customs experience was a blessing. We waited around 20 minutes and watched them looking over every item in every bag. We were the only Americans waiting, but we are trying to sneak the Mongol into the country, so we had to wait in the immigration area. God is always good and flashing some Military ID never hurt anyone. So they sent us right through! Well we are looking forward to coming home. For those who are coming to the airport, WE STINK, so hugs are at your own risk. We love all of you and appreciate all the support. For those Petrin Blog junkies we will update on a regular basis from this point on, including pictures.(If any of this makes no sense I have been up for 21 hours) Derek

We are leaving on a jet plane.........

Yeah, we are heading home. We are tired of living out of a suitcase and in a hotel room. Everyone is a bit irritable right now especially Maiah. She has cried alot today, not sure if she really understands what leaving on the plane means but she has been really emotional today. Will all be up bright and early to be at the airport by 7am, the airport is an hour away. Say a prayer for my sleeping beauties, both girls are not morning people:) I am not sure I'll sleep as I am excited to be heading home finally. We are a little frustrated as Maiah's name is wrong. All the I's dotted and T's crossed to find out Maiah is Maian!! I am not kidding. We will have to deal with it when we get home. We can't even believe it was not fixed. Mongolia had made the mistake and did not have time to fix it before we left. They told us it was no problem just to the let the Embassy know that it was misspelled. Well they told us that they had to go by what Mongolia put on her passport. I guess the paperwork is not over!! Maiah or Maian, she is our little girl and we love her and will deal with the name thing when we get home. Our next communication will be from Atlanta to let you know that we are on time. Well, for those interested, here is our flight information:

Korean Air 35 to Atlanta arriving at 935A on 12JAN2006 (We leave Korea at 1005am on the 12th)
Korean Air 453/Delta 1254 from Atlanta to Norfolk arriving at 448pm
Yeah, We are home!!!!

Embassy Approval!!

Good Morning to all!! Praise God we are done at the US embassy and believe it or not they are going to let us, the crazy Petrin clan, bring Maiah home!! Yeah, we feel like we can relax now, no more red tape or paperwork until after we are home. Had a great day, I think Maiah is realizing who Mommy and Daddy are and that it is not Nathan and Kaytlin as they like to have fun but are tired of all the "work" that goes into a 3 year old and 3 she is!! She also likes to change her clothes 3-4 times a day and Kaytlin is not having it!! I think Derek and I forgot how much energy they have at 3 and how they don't like to sit still for very long. She is liking Maiah Nandin and repeats it regularly now along with several other English words and phrases thanks to some books Donelle gave us. Well, tonight we had a great visit with Father Jim Gilligan (Jeffs Uncle who has been a priest here in Korea for about 50 years). They brought us to their house and fed us and loved on us for the evening. We had great food and great conversation. Nate and Kaytlin had quite the history lesson and were full of questions about priesthood and rules?? Well, only 2 more days until we are home, can't wait. We love experiencing other cultures but I think we have had our fill for this trip, plus I miss my mattress, another thing we take for granted! See you all soon, posted some pics from the day. Sorry most of them are of me but I am a little excited about the attention I am getting:) Kaytlin was excited about being the photographer for a change too. Love you all, Stacy

P/S Lori G, I am trying to find the wildest pair of 6's I can find:)

MOMMY & DADDY GET KISSES!!

Well our day started out to be very disappointing at the Embassy, we waited for several hours and then they told us to come back tomorrow. Yes, this is the US Embassy here in Korea. The good news is they said all of our paperwork looked great, we just have to go back tomorrow for the family interview. So another early day tomorrow but hopefully we will leave there with good news. As for Maiah, she had a great day. She was very well behaved at the Embassy considering we waited for over 3 hours. She decided she wanted to use a public restroom and she actually wanted Mommy to take her....woohoo!! Yes, this is a huge deal. Back at the hotel, she was loving her Mommy and Daddy. She volunteered a few kisses today which just melted Derek and I both. She has been asking me for things all day and has been consistently asking me to help with potty time, eating, and getting her dressed. If you give her a choice, Kayltin wins the vote by far:) Thats what big sisters are for. You can tell she is settling in and feeling more comfortable with us and the streets of the big world. Crowds are not really bothering her anymore. Looks like Friday will be the day we come home as we won't get our paperwork back until Thursday morning now. On another note, can you all please be praying for my Dad this week. He had several procedures done yesterday and will meet with the Urology Oncologist on Thursday. I really wanted to be home for this appt but God has me here and I know God will take care of him. Please keep him in your prayers as we are believing for Gods provision and healing. Well off to the city streets of Seoul for some shopping. Its like shopping the streets of NYC, making deals and talking down the high prices. Any Korean requests?? Chopsticks are really cheap:) We love you and will update you post Embassy visit......Good Night from us, Good Morning to you!! Stacy

Lotte World and More!!

Hi everyone!! We had a great day today, it was filled with many first events for Maiah Nandin and us. We started the day by introducing her to Dunkin Donuts Munchkins:) They got the thumbs up!! Then off to riding escalators to get to the subway here in Korea. We are not sure which she enjoyed riding more. We included several photos of her first events today, check them out. We also taught her how to dip her french fry in ketchup, it was so cute and she loves it. She actually dips the same fry 10 times. You got to love a double dipper X 5!! We took the subway half way across town to Lotte World, its the Korean version of Disney World. Maiah was able to ride a few rides for the first time, she loved the bumper cars best!! We also had to deal with what happens when Nate and Kate go on a "big" ride and Maiah has to wait!! This was not fun for me the first time but by the third time she was sitting patiently waiting for them. Oh, did I mention that she had a lollipop in one hand and a ice cream cone in the other......hahha. I am not kidding. We also found out that she will not use a public restroom, (Mom, she is your grand daughter). We were stressed out all day running her in and out of the bathroom because we just knew that she was going to have an accident but the little bugger waited until we got back to the hotel after 5pm, we left at 1100 in the morning. This was a lesson learned for us. Well, we are off to bed, tomorrow is Embassy Day. We pray all goes smoothly and we get the necessary stuff completed so we can be on our way home. We hope you enjoy the photos of the Firsts!! Love you all, Stacy

Back to SouthKorea!!

Hello from Korea again. All we know is that being back here is one country closer to us being home!! We did a whole lot of last minute shopping yesterday before we left Mongolia for Korea. Lets just say, we had a great day yesterday. Maiah Nandin put on a show in the airport. She was running around crazy, laughing and giggling and causing us crazy Americans to get some smiles and some strange looks. We really can't win, they look at us if she is crying and screaming and they look at us when she is smiling and having a great time. We figured, its better to have her acting crazy, at least we won a few Mongolian smiles. Lets just say, she left her mark on the Mongolian Airport staff!! We will post some photos from the plane ride, most of them with headphones on her head. She listened to music almost the whole time, she was so excited to have music coming out of the headphones. She reminds all of us daily of the things we take for granted like Egg Mcmuffins, headphones on the plane, TV and movies, music.......It is all so very new and exciting to her, sometimes scary but she is getting very bold. When we arrived to our new hotel, she was scared and she actually let me comfort her for about 45 minutes......however Derek took a step back seconds after I set her down to get her clothes and stepped on her foot.....needless to say it was my fault for setting her down and so today we start all over. It is all about trust and love and allowing God to overcome all!!!! She has settled in to this new hotel very well. Once I unpack all the toys and dolls and blankets, she begins to realize that its ok and that we are not going to leave her. We have a couple of free days here in Korea. Our appt with the Embassy is not until Tuesday morning. We will try to go to the aquarium tomorrow and also do dinner with Jeffs uncle who is a priest here in Seoul. We are glad to be in transit because we are one step closer to home. Lori, please tell your Mom that Munkee was adopted six months ago to France and is speaking fluent French now and doing great. The power of prayer is an awesome thing. Will post photos shortly. Much love form the Petrin 5!!! Stacy

Good and Bad Moments

Good Morning in the good old USA. Good moments and bad moments, the term emotional roller coaster has never meant so much. it really is moments and not the whole day. We received Maiah's Mongolian passport today, another step in a long string of administrative exercises, but very important. I will give you two quick examples of good and bad moments. For breakfast this morning we were having trouble coaxing her to come. So Nathan and I went to breakfast. As soon as we sat down, three young ladies come down the stairs. She can not stand not being included, yet she refused to sit and ate her entire meal standing up. I question every day if she truly is not my daughter being that stubborn.
Tonight for dinner she would only eat for our driver, who is a great guy named Hoik. Problem being she would rather be with anyone who speaks Mongolian. So needless to say tonight was another night of dragging her through the lobby screaming; while all the Mongols in the lobby think we are stealing and beating one of their own. The great news there is never a dull moment. Please keep Nathan and Kaytlin in your prayers. They are still bearing the load of taking care of her as she has not taken to Stacy and I at all, I mean at all. We fly tomorrow back to Seoul, South Korea at 5:30PM. We are looking forward to a change of scenery and some different food. Well I have posted a few more pictures from the link in the right hand margin. We love you guys and will blog at you soon. Derek

Maiah Nandin is officially ours!!!!!

Hello everyone, let me start by saying thank you for praying. When Derek and I both woke up this morning, neither of us had peace about having the ceremony/party at the Children's Place. We called one of the ladies in charge and told her how we felt and why. We explained that we thought emotionally she was not ready to go back and then leave again. We knew we would be the bad guys carrying her away screaming again and we have come leaps and bounds from that on Tuesday. The response initially was not what we had hoped. Thinking they know better than us, we reluctantly agreed to have it there. Well, shortly after we hung up we got a call back and the party was now going to be at our hotel room at 1100. God really spoke to the hearts of a few of the women in charge and come to find out it was not unusual for it not to be back at the Childrens Place. Another family had had it at their hotel lobby, so this made us feel better. Well at our hotel room it was, thank God we have a large suite. All 21 caretakers, along with 7 or 8 children(Maiahs closest friends),the director, Margie, Rita,and Carol and even a few volunteers came loaded up with treats, candy and an incredible cake. They gave Maiah a bag full of beautiful presents including a traditional Mongolian del (outfit/dress)not sure if I spelled it right. Maiah stayed very close to Nathan the whole time until the snacks broke out at which time she went around the room and shared her drink with all of her little friends. They said this is part of her way of saying goodbye. You could tell she was torn, sad but happy. I cried the second her friends walked in the door and the drink sharing did me in. If I was feeling the way I was, I can only imagine what was going on in her mind. I gave out gifts and we said some thank yous to all the woman who have loved and cared for her. Then, our social worker showed up at the door and said that she had just got a call from the government and we had to be downtown at 1200 to sign our official adoption contract. So, in the middle of the party, off Derek and I went to make it all official!! Maiah Nandin Erdene is now a Petrin!!! We have paperwork to prove it. After 22 months of waiting, God had mercy today. The process took 4 minutes, a smile and a handshake with the government officials. Thank you God!!! Back at the hotel, Carol, Nathan and Kaytlin had to deal with the final goodbyes and it was not easy for Maiah but she just loves her brother and sister and so I really believe that God allowed them this opportunity to be there for her. She is really bonding with both of them now. Nathan and Kaytlin have been so amazing and patient with us and her. I think Nathan now knows why God wanted him on this trip. We have watched them physically and emotionally exhausted press through to breakthrough with Maiah. We knew they would have a tremendous impact on her and we have been so blessed by both of them, they are both amazing kids. For Derek and I, it is going to take some time for her to grieve all the Mama's she has lost at the Children's Place and time we have plenty of .........again thank you so much for praying. We can't wait to be home as a family and introduce our precious treasure to you all......this blog in itself is going to speak volumes to Maiah when she is old enough to understand. It will blow her mind how many people loved her before they ever even knew her. Much love, Stacy

One Long Day

As most of you rise to read this post, I am fading quickly. Today was the settling point for the jet lag, emotions and conditions. The kids have been great and their ability to aid in Maiah's transition is priceless. We went out for a little while this morning and had some lunch, but Maiah is traumatized every time we leave. We had dinner with our Friend Carol and her son Ben, who reside here. Maiah loosens up and plays pretty quick but clearly is frustrated by the language barrier. When there is an option to be with someone who speaks Mongolian, we begin the vicious cycle of separation all over again. If any of you are keeping track it was twice today.
Please be praying for us tonight. We are supposed to have an adoption party for Maiah tomorrow morning. The problem is, it is scheduled to be at the Orphanage and we are really torn how to handle this. I know that it is the right thing to do for those who have cared for her, but she is our daughter now and we have to deal with the consequences. To bring her back to the only thing she has known when my main focus and objective is to create distance from that environment is a struggle. I am going to keep tonight brief, I know it is clear, I am spent. To be drained in this manner is why God gave us 22 months to prepare; this is battle both in the spiritual and the physical.
Your comments literally keep us going!! Every 12 hours I get to refill my tank from the awesome love God provides from all of you. Stacy and I truly need you to know that all of you are here with us on this journey!!. The debt we owe you can only be repaid in the same prayers, thoughts and comments you have provided. I leave you with this. Proverbs 3:24 " You will lay down and not be afraid, you will lay down and your sleep shall be sweet." On this we will rest and rise with the wisdom to handle tomorrow.

WE HAVE HER

Words can't begin to explain this day. We started with visiting Maiah this morning and it went real well. We played tea party and had such breakthrough. After some coaxing and joking from me (Derek), she began to laugh and play games like honking my nose. She then quickly took to the children. Loving on Nathan, sitting on him and then kissing him; then began the emotional outbursts. She began kissing all of us on the cheek and Stacy could not have beamed anymore. I have only seen that look on her face twice before, both being the birth of our children.
We all ate lunch together, than things became a little tricky. They explained to her in Mongolian that she was going to come to the Hotel with us, only to visit. She immediately shut down and became emotionally distraught and began to ignore us. She was drained and put herself down for a nap. When she awoke I sat at her side, she saw me and ran straight for a corner of the room and did not move for anyone. A decision was made to just get her ready to leave all She began to scream more and more with every piece of clothing that was put on her body. With Nathan and Kaytlin on the brink of tears from the screaming and Stacy beside herself, I was left to grab and go. I took her in my arms and just went out the door to the courtyard. She continued to scream, kick me and scratch and grab my face. We all quickly got in the car and drove to the hotel. The screaming continued the entire way, I mean the entire way. To make matters worse she continuously screamed MAMA, a term used for all the Mongolian caregivers. Stacy did not even blink, she continuously ensured her that she, MAMA, was here. We arrived at the hotel, Maiah still screaming, and went to the room. Exhausted from her outburst, she had cried herself into submission, then came the God given breakthrough. We went shopping, she stayed in all of our arms quiet and peaceful. Then we returned to the room, and it happened. We changed her clothes, put slippers on her and gave her a magic potion, COCA-COLA!! All of this was news to me as I had run out to get pizza and I come home to the kids on the couch watching TV. As I write this now, she is in the bath with her sister and is now with us for good. We all agreed this was the right time and she would stay with us and not return to the orphanage, Praise God!! I have added many of these photos to the picture link of the blog. All of your comments, prayers, and loss of sleep Aimee, Amy and Memere Mad are so appreciated. Until next time We love you guys! The Petrin 5!!

We met Princess Maiah!!

Sorry for the delay but it was a holiday so the business center was closed at our new hotel in Mongolia. First off, everything travel wise has gone so smooth and been just perfect. We met our daughter for the first time last night and she has alot of personality. The Mongolian caretaker said she talked about her parents, her Mommy and Daddy and her brother and sister all day before we got there but once we became real it was a lot for her to handle. She was feeling very overwhelmed and was crying and shaking a little bit. I can only imagine all the thoughts in her mind. All of the other kids were all over us, sitting in our laps and loving on us and she just kept watching. All of the kids know that we were coming for Her. As they saw us walking up the stairs, a few of them saw us and started yelling for Nandin to come see as they have all looked at her family book over and over again. Its pretty amazing how much they really understand. All the kids are beautiful. Maiah is much bigger than we thought, she even has a cute little belly on her, very healthy looking!!! I don't think the 3's I brought are going to fit,am glad I packed a couple of 4's. She has a beautiful smile although we did not see much of it last night. We will leave the hotel shortly to go spend the day with her and we may even take her out to lunch. She has the quite a mind of her own. She chose her own outfit to wear and would not put on the pretty dress they put out for her to meet us. She takes after her sister......They say she loves clothes so we are bringing a few of her new outfits for her to choose from so we can take her out. We were only able to visit for about an hour last night, not much time to really get connected. We got one photo of her half sitting on my lap!! We are trying to post it. After we had all gone downstairs,Derek went back up to peek and she was crying because we left. This was a great sign. They said she is kind of playing a little game and that's OK. He was able to get a small hug out of her and he kissed her cheek and she said goodbye. Its a start. Now that the she knows we are real, hopefully today will be a better day for her and us. Nate and Kate think the world of her already, they stayed up talking about her for a while last night. Thank you for praying....Love you all, Stacy