Friday, June 10, 2005

Sippy cup...DA!

This morning, we decided to be persistent with Dub on the sippy cup issue, and it paid off. It was like he's been doing this all his life. It just clicked. Dub sucked all the apple juice from his sippy cup! Wish we would have been a little more persistent 3 weeks ago. (Note to self...) Boy was it hot. Then Angel went to bazaar with Vera to shop for clothes and toys for the monkeys.

Afternoon visit was great. Dub sucked down a sippy cup of AJ in about 3 minutes. Day 10 of 15 in the books. Only 4 more days of visitation left till we break them out!



After this photo, our camera battery went dead. However, Vera found a bunch of old pictures of Dub & Lena on her computer and gave them to us. Some are from early 2004, and some from early this year. There is one from the New Year's Pageant at Umit that shows Dub & Lena holding hands, all dressed up in their costumes. Who would have known they'd be brother and sister in just a few months? God knew. What an awesome plan He has.


Here's Dub & Lena holding hands at the "Father Freeze" party in December. We have a video of this night that we watched before we ever left Atlanta. When she was watching it, Angel remarked how cute the little girl in the white dress was. Little did we know, she would be our daughter!


This one makes Lena look like just a little baby!


This is the original photo that gave Dub the monicker "St. Petersburg Criminal", after the local Soap Opera show here in Kazkahstan.


Here is a group photo of Lena's group from earlier this year. The lady in the middle is the orphanage director, aka "Dragon Lady". She is very strict and stern, but always has the best interests of the children in mind.


Here's one of the early shots that really proves Dub is a ham. He was about to slide down, when they told him he was being photographed, so he stopped and gave a big grin.


Here's Lena about to take her turn on the slide in the playroom.


The Sandlins, Morins, and Vera & Mit at our celebratory dinner after our court dates.


Vera and Mit last autumn on a lake in Uzbekistan.


Thank you all for your continued encouraging emails and comments to this blog. The days are counting down, and we are very excited (and not just a little scared!) to finally have our kids with us all the time. Please pray for safe and simple travel to Almaty and then home!

Blessings,
Kevin, Angel, Lena & Dub

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Angel and Kevin,
Just wanted you to know I have been keeping up with all the excitement. I am so happy for you both and for those precious children. I am praying for a good trip home for y'all. And SOON!!!!
God bless you all.
Hugs, Peggy Bandy(Brent's mom)

Anonymous said...

It is nice having three girls with me. I wish you were here with us. We are anxious to see little Lena and Dub. Madeline and I going shopping tomorrow to find a baby for the two girls. I love you. Mother.

Anonymous said...

I wrote a post two days ago, but it never posted. Must have been pilot error. I thought that I was hooked on Smallville, but the Sandlin adventure has taken priority. Each day I check to see if you have posted and have learned that I must ususally wait until about 11 AM to get the latest. I pull the blog pictures into an album in iPhoto. When I play the slideshow, I can only think of what a blessing children are and how good God has been to all of us. His blessings overwhelm me. Anyway, getting excited for you that the final day is drawing nearer. This will be a great adventure for the little ones. I hope that they take all the new experiences in stride and the trip home is a fun one. Get lots of rest, cause your life as you have known it will never be the same. Love you all!

Anonymous said...

Dear Angel and Kevin,
Once again I have an aid with the blog. I am so glad the sippy cup worked out. After Dub is comfortable with the sippy cup, you can move to a straw cup, which will further help strengthen the mouth muscles. Danelle says to teach him to say "pruuune Juuice". Lisie has a new siamese kitten and we are trying to convince her to name it "garshok", but we are not sure of the literal translation. Madeline is so excited to go shopping for matching dolls tomorrow. If you happen to actually get home on Friday, are you going to feel up to coming to the July 4th party? If not we will drop off a slab of ribs and some sparklers!. The twins and I are praying for you every night and can't wait to see you safely home. Love Leah.

Anonymous said...

This is how you spell Nay Nay and Ghee.

Anonymous said...

Trying to figure out why sippy cups are such a priority???? They have had lots of experience with cups... Just a Grandma asking questions! Grandma M