It's been a long while

It's been a long while since we've been on here to update. A lot has happened, unfortunately, Tom's father passed away unexpectedly. It's brought much sadness to our home. Tom is battling the issues he had with his father and now not having the opportunity to really clear them up. Worrying about his mother, his father was the typical generation gap, "The man does everything". It saddens me that he will never get to meet his grandson, Tom's first child. I'm glad he had the opportunity to see all the Beautiful pictures of him and get to 'know him" without really getting to meet him.
With all this going on, it has pushed some of our last few things back. We now have to wait another 3 weeks before we can get the home study officially completed. Tom needs to obtain one more court paper. They we can get it all sent to UCSIS. We got so close and now I feel we are so far away.
It makes me sooooo sad everyday that he can't be rocked to sleep at night, can slide down the slide we got for him, let the dogs lick him to death. I want him home SOOOOO much. I know God will only give us what we can handle, but right now, I feel like I'm about to exploded that it's too much. Please pray for us and that Bryce will come home to us SOON!
We are now conducting a fundraiser for all of those interested and love coffee.
Please visit our site at: http://www.JustLoveCoffee.com/TheBaumanns

Thank you everyone for your support and for listening to me ramble on! :)

More pics

The Wells family is also from RR and currently in Ukraine, ironically enough at the same orphange as Bryce. So Lydia has blessed us with new pictures of Bryce. As you can see he is happy, full of smiles and WALKING(he's the one on the right in all grey holding nurses hand)!!! Very exciting. Monday, I600a is off to immigration awaiting an appointment for fingerprinting. Wish us luck.

I just want to say that we have been blessed with such wonderful friends, all excited for Bryce to come into our lives and theirs!

latest update

We received a nice gift last night....New pictures of Bryce Vanya. He's definitely getting fed well, he's got "meat" to him. And a beautiful smile.

papers..papers..papers

We are getting a little closer to getting our son. We've just sent over some of the lengthy paperwork to our coordinator, lucky enough, not too much had to be corrected. Without Meredith and McKenna, I would be completely lost. It's great knowing they get everything perfect before sending it over to the Ukraine.
We also got some promising news that our facilitator is hoping to be at Bryce's orphanage soon and will have a new update with hopefully new pictures. We can't wait. Tom is so excited, he went and bought him, his first outfit from Dad. Tom is big into Guy Harvey, fishing apparel, and found one in little guy sizes along with an adorable pair of plaid shorts. Can't wait!!!!

Day of Freedom

We'd like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe holiday. Full of food,laughs and loves. As we celebrate our day of freedom, please keep your prayers for the freedom we are working so hard to give Bryce Vanya out of that orphanage. And please keep all those other little angels, in your prayers that they will also find a loving family to give them their freedom.
Happy 4th of July everyone!

Father's Day

It was a great day with both our dads to celebrate a day dedicated to them. I just can't wait for Tom to be able to celebrate in on the fun of being a dad. I've always said anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad. And I know Tom will be just that to Bryce and future kids into our home. We are so looking forward to the day of bringing Bryce home.
Happy Dad's Day to all our friends and family!

Home Study

So today was the start of the home study. We were a wreck! Of course, it went better than we ever thought. Debra was absolute sweet and relaxed all our fears. For those that don't know what a home study entails, it's like going on a job interview. Debra, our social worker, sent paperwork for us to complete before our arrival and she reviews all of that. We had to obtain local police background check, Florida dept of law enforcement check,child abuse check,medical clearance. So once all this is done and Debra makes her report and we submit to US Immigration and Customs, if they approve then we get an appointment for FBI fingerprinting. So Tom and I are not really adopting Bryce, we're becoming Ukrainian spies! LOL. It's a lot but going to be so worth it to have that little smiling guy in our arms. We'll keep you posted.

How the journey started....

Tom and I met almost 8 years ago and have always had an admiration for children. Tom has the luxury of having many nieces and nephews. I, on the hand, have the luxury right now of having wonderful friends with beautiful children. I also have the luxury of having a phenomenal job as a pediatric nurse. So my heart is blessed with kids every day. It was not until a dear,dear friend of mine was blessed with a beautiful baby boy, Max, with down syndrome. I have watched his mother and father blossom with Max, especially with them not knowing his diagnosis until he was born. Tom and I had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful families and children with DS on Max's first birthday, that we decided this was our calling to add one of God's beautiful creations into our heart and life. We began researching, A LOT, and came across Vanya. Vanya is a gorgeous 2 year old boy living in an orphanage in Ukraine. And so the AWESOME journey begins......