Jocie now!

Look at her now!! She is doing so great!! Our adjustment has gone incredibly well and she has really just meshed so well in our family!! She is pure joy and brings a smile to our faces. The kids all love having her as their sister. We are working with her on holding her own bottle and trying to start crawling. She does great with getting on her elbows and knees and rocks back and forth. She says "dada" and "baba" trying to get her to sign mama, more and please. We are truly blessed to have her in our family! We want to say a huge thanky ou to everyone who helped us get Jocie home and into a family! It's hard to imagine what life would be like without her in it and i don't want to imagine what her life would be like!! It's hard to go back to the times of her in the orphanage, hence the reason why it's taken so long to upload everything from our private facebook page to here. I don't want to think about how her life was, and what those kids that we left behind are doing, or not doing. So many times as we were in the orphanage i just wanted to run and not come back. The sounds of those kids crying and not having any physical touch is haunting at times. It's just easier to block it out of my mind and not have to go there. The reality is though, there are MANY children just in her old orphanage that needs families. They need what every child wants, love and affection. With out it they can't thrive and grow and develop. I've personally seen what a family can do to a childs life, and that is help her to grow in ways that she couldn't have otherwise done in the circumstances she was in. I again am so grateful for Jocie and being able to bring her into our family! She truly is a blessing!!!

March 27, 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCIE GIRL!!! We love having you home with us so we can celebrate you!!

March 21, 2013

We are home! It's wonderful having all the kids under one roof! It is so fun seeing the boys and Azlyn with her! They are so cute with her and keep saying how cute she is!

March 19, 2013

We have her visa! We are leaving early in the morning to come home! YAY!!!!!! We get in tomorrow, Wednesday, at 4:45 pm coming united airlines! We can't wait to be back! So ready to have life start with 4 littles! A big huge thank you to everyone for supporting us through this long journey! We appreciate it more then you will ever know!

March 18, 2013

We went on an over night train to Kiev last night. Got here at 6:30 am then had a lot of running around today. We went to the embassy filled out papers for Jocies visa. We then went to a medical clinic where the doctor listen to her heart, felt her tummy and flashed a light in her eyes and called her healthy! Now we are in our apartment and tomorrow we pick up her visa!

March 13, 2013

We got to bust Jocie out of her orphanage! It's wonderful having her with me at all times now!

March 13, 2013

Going to take our little one out of the orphanage for the last time!

March 12, 2013

Got to take our little girl to get her picture taken for her passport! Got all of our running around done today! Yay! Left the apartment at 9:30 got back at 5:00 long day but sooooo glad it's done! Tomorrow is gotcha day! We get to go get Jocie and bring her to our apartment with us. It looks like we are going to Kiev on Sunday and will be done with the embassy Tuesday. We get to probably come home Wednesday!!! This trip has really gone so smoothly and we can't wait to be together with our family!

Was it a good idea to bring Dad... ;)

So rethinking if I really should have brought my dad on this trip! On our really long 12 hour flight he gave us a really good scare! I was asleep when I hear my mom saying my dads name pretty loud followed by I need help! I jump up to see my dad not responding, wont wake up and dripping in sweat! We try shaking him calling his name nothing. What else can you do on a airplane then start yelling for help. I started yelling if there was a Doctor or a nurse, we need help. Finally it seemed after a while we got a pharmacist and a doctor. They came over and didn't really know what to do either! So the pharmacist says we should lay him down and raise his feet. At that time they also got some oxygen for him as well. This seems to work and he was able to finally come around. That definitely was something I don't ever want to relive. I am grateful that my parents are here with me, but really don't want anything to happen to them while on the trip!

March 9, 2013

We are on our way back, this time Austen stayed at home with the kids and I am going with my mom and dad! We should be getting into our region tomorrow night which will be around 2 pm Utah time! Can't wait to see and hold our little girl again! This trip is full of running around getting visa, passport, birth cert and medicals done! It should only take 1 1/2-2 weeks, at the end we will be bringing Jocie home with us! It's getting closer!

March 1, 2013

We are home and have been since Wednesday evening. We are enjoying being with our kids and being home. It's amazing to go to a place that makes you step out of your comfort zone to really appreciate all we have here. So grateful for running water we can drink that doesn't smell like something died in the drain. I love being able to sleep in our own bEd that is soooooo comfortable, doesn't feel like I'm sleeping on metal springs on top of concrete. I will be going back next weekend to finish the process and bring Jocie back home with us!

Feb, 26, 2013 It's official! We have 1 more daughter! Jocie Lyn Richards is apart of our family! Court went great, we were asked many questions on why we want to adopt if we can have our own. Also asked why special needs. Austen was asked questions like are you adopting for yourself or is it to get something from the government. He responded well, saying we don't get money from the government for adopting, and we are adopting because we want to. It was very nerve wracking before, we were told just a couple hours before that we may not be able to have court because the SDA had not approved. We were very worried thinking that we may have to change everything! Luckily our facilitating team really worked hard to get us our documents. It's true when they say that adoption in Ukraine is very unpredictable. Now we go to the train station to catch our flight in the early morning to get into Salt lake at 6:30! Can't wait to see the kids!

Feb. 20, 2013 Since we have been in the city where Jocie is we have been waiting for our court date. We were told yesterday that it is on Tuesday! Yay, after court Austen and I will be flying out to be with our kids back home! There is a mandatory 10 day wait but for us it will be about 13 since it ends on a Friday and they don't open back up until Tuesday. It will be nice to be able to be home with the kids for a week and a half. After the wait is up I(aubray) will be coming back to Ukraine with my parents. While we are here we will be getting her birth certificate, visa, passport and medically done. We should only be gone about a week and a half then we can bring her home!

Feb. 15, 2013 As we sat waiting to see Jocie my eyes and heart was opened to how truly we were in a room surrounded by angels. I believe that these children in her groupa ,all with special needs ,are heavens greatest blessing to us here on earth. They teach us the most on how to live our life. Not through words but through action. They love no matter what, they are accepting of those with differences. I believe if we yearn to be more Christ like we need to look at them as our example! This experience will forever change me for the better. I know that it may look like we are saving a child but really she is changing and helping us. I am so grateful that we have his opportunity to bring this special gift into our life's!

Feb 14,2013 I was able to feed her today! It was an interesting combination of like veg. Broth, rice cereal and formula. Not sure exactly what was in the bottle, but loved being able to feed her!

Feb. 13, 2013 We arrived in region this morning at 6:45am. Our facilitator and her husband picked us up and took us to our apartment. Luckily the person that I set up the apartment was there and took us to the grocery store. He showed us what was good and explained it all to us. We were then taken to run paper work around. After the paper work we were able to go to the orphanage. The orphanage was a very nice one. It has great medical care and care in general. Luckily our Jocie is very healthy and really hasn't needed any extra medical attention. When we saw her a lot of emotion ran through me and was overcome with joy. I couldn't believe that she was right here and I could hold her and touch her and kiss her. She is such a sweet little girl, very cuddly. She took to us and responded really well. We found out that her birth mother rejected her from birth. Never once visited. It makes me so sad that because of Down syndrome she missed out on this precious little girl, but I'm thankful at the same time because now she will be apart of our family. I have a feeling that she will be bringing a lot of joy into our home.

Feb 12, 2013 We had a great time today sight seeing. We also received our referral to go meet our little girl tomorrow. We go on an all night train to our region here in Ukraine. We get in tomorrow morning at 6:45. Can't wait to see her! This is a picture we got of her at our DAP appointment of when Jocie was younger! Ok, we are in Kiev Ukraine right now. We had our DAP appointment and was able to find out alittle more about our little one. Her real name is Sophia and was born to a single mother. Her birthdate is march 27th she will be 1. We have had a fun time meeting the other families. Always great to hear their stories. I will try to figure out how to upload a picture of our little one when she was a baby!

Our Story

I know many haven't heard why we are doing this or what encouraged us. So I will share our story with you. In September we got a flier on our door from a neighbors brother and sister-in law who were doing a fundraising garage sale. I got the flier and immediately put it away. About a week later, maybe 5 days ,my kids found it and wanted to show me a really cute little girl on the paper. I looked at it and saw a little girl with down syndrome on it. She was beautiful! Also on it was a website, Www.reecesrainbow.org, I was extremely intrigued that this family was adopting a sweet Down syndrome baby and wanted to find out more. So alittle background on me(aubray), My senior year of high school I became buddies with a girl with Down syndrome. We quickly formed a friendship and I looked at her as my best friend. She would call at all hours of the day and night. I learned from her about true friendship. I learned not to see those who may look different as that but to see them for who they truly are. Amazing gifts from god! I also grew up in a family were two of my siblings were adopted. Adoption was normal in my life, I new that it was giving a better life to those. I also new that I always wanted to adopt, I also would tell my mom while growing up that I would want a child with down syndrome. So with all of that being said I went to the website on the flier and instantly new why I was here. I felt that Heavenly Father put all these things in my life ultimately to make this decision to adopt. I looked at these amazing spirits but saw how many we're discarded, unwanted. Culturally they look at these children with differences and see that they can do nothing with there life. They aren't allowed in school, or to have a job. A lot of parents are told by doctors that it would be a better life for that child to go into an orphanage. We on the contrary have seen first hand how these children don't thrive in the orphanage, they aren't loved. Only in a family where the parents hold them, sing to them kiss them, that is how they can grow to be what god made them to be. It has been so hard for me to hear these children ages 1-4 cry for the entire time we are there only to have the door shut so it isn't as loud. To see little ones who are rail thin only skin and bones. To not be held, to be in there beds all day and night. If they are lucky they will go from bed to swing or bouncy chair. This is why we are here. We feel that god has put this into our lives to make us better, have amore fulfilling life. I know this little girl will bless our lives beyond measure. We will learn lessons in life we wouldn't have otherwise learned. We will feel pure love, and learn of Christ like attributes through her. Reece's Rainbow Adoption Ministry|Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry|Reece's Rainbow Adoption Ministry reecesrainbow.org