One Year!

Yesterday we celebrated the birthday of our country, but also the one year anniversary of when Nicholas came home. He doesn’t really have much understanding about it right now, but those who love him remember last year fondly.

Nicholas wants to share a message with you, “Happy 4th Up July!” A recent video was requested from some of my readers. I had no idea what to have him do, so my sister suggested that I record him spelling his name. So, here it is . . .


We started our day by going to church. We were greeted by balloons and a small gift from a couple at our church. They have loved Nicholas from the very beginning and were even at the airport to greet us. I know that he loves them too. Thank you, Bruce and Sheri!

Evan was asked weeks ago if he would share his testimony today. I think he did an excellent job. I was probably more nervous than him, for some reason. He’s given me permission to post what he said. You’ll find that the second half of his testimony if pretty much mine too. What we experienced with Nicholas’ adoption changed us both in so many ways. We would never want to wish away that trial because it taught us about true faith in God. Here is his testimony:

Growing up I had a normal childhood. We went to a church in the town where I grew up. It was ok, but something was missing. I had a great family that went to church every Sunday but most of the time I didn’t want to be there, so sometimes I would walk home in between services to play or watch T.V.

What I thought was missing was a girlfriend, so I went out with this girl for three years off and on and off and on. You get the point, it was middle school. That didn’t work either. We broke up and I was an angry boy who took it out on my parents by not listening, hurting my older and younger sisters and not caring about what they had to say.

One day when I was a freshman in high school, my friend Mike Kostur asked me if I wanted to go to Grace Church for Wednesday night Game Night that they did once a month. So I went, but I didn’t like because there were a bunch of crazy kids just running around. But, Mike asked me again the next month and I said yes again. This time I liked it and felt comfortable with everyone. So I started going to youth group on a regular basis. I went to a 50’s party where they played a video about where would you go if you died. It was moving to me. And I gave my heart to Jesus by praying to myself and repeating what the youth pastor was saying out loud. I admitted that I was a sinner and asked Christ to come in my heart and to forgive my sins.

I became a lot less angry. I knew what I did was good thing, because my heart started to change, but I didn’t know how to grow in my faith so the next three years of high school were rough. I was a lukewarm Christian. Then I got into the college group at church. I was changing more and more each week for the better and reading my Bible on a regular basis. My faith was getting stronger. That is where I met my lovely wife, Kristin.

We were married a couple of years later. We wanted to start a family and for some reason we couldn’t get pregnant. We were diagnosed with unexplained infertility. It was a hard diagnosis. After trying some minor treatments, God started to pull our hearts in a different direction. And, we soon found that God was telling us that he wanted us to adopt from Russia.

We started the adoption process in Aug of 07. We received our referral and met Nicholas in April of 08. In most cases you get a court date a couple of months later, but our court date did not come for five months! We returned to Russia at the end of September ready to bring our son home. But, that didn’t happen. We spent three weeks in Russia going to court several times. They had no issues with us, but found a problem with some of Nicholas’ paperwork on their end. They finally sent us home empty-handed. We were heartbroken. We were told to wait a month or two before we would return again.

During that time of waiting I had to trust God completely. It was hard to get answers from our agency and the people in Russia. We wondered if we would ever bring our son home. One month became two and then three. Finally, after 8 months we returned on our third trip to Russia. We did not have 100% certainty that we would bring our son home on this trip either. All we had was the faith that God was in control of this situation.

Those 8 months of waiting brought both my wife and me closer to God than either of us had ever been. After spending a month in Russia, Nicholas came home with us last year on July 4th. Many members of this church prayed for us and some were even at the airport waiting for us. God not only blessed us with Nicholas, but he blessed us with a deeper faith in him. We now know that any trials that come our way we can handle because God is in control. We know that God’s plans are better than our own. All you have to do is trust Him and obey Him. Thank you.

I tried to take a picture of Evan, but this was the best I could get.


After church, we tried to put Nicholas down for a nap. I made the mistake of telling him that we were going to a party later. So, he only got about 30 minutes of sleep. We went to a cookout with the Young Marrieds group at our old church. It was nice to talk with people that we had not seen in awhile. We also met many new people. I may have even found a playgroup that Nicholas and I can attend.

This goofy face was the best I could get.

We were also happy to hear that at least two couples were either in, or planning to start the adoption process. Our adoption actually helped one wife convince her husband to come on board. Pretty cool!

Nicholas also made many new friends. He quickly found an older girl that he liked. Any girls that are six years old and up are his favorite. He likes to hold their hands. People joke that he’s a ladies man, but I think he just likes the personal attention and the help they give him. I let this one particular girl know that she wasn’t obligated to play with him all evening. He really did follow her around like a lost puppy dog, but she was so sweet and kind to him.



At the end of the evening he did find a little boy his age. They had fun running around and playing together. His mom attends the playgroup and really wants us to come. She thinks that our sons could become fast friends.

I did receive some encouraging words from many of the moms. So many of them commented on how well he speaks. I can understand Nicholas 99% of the time, but I know he still mumbles and can be hard for others to understand. Hearing this from mothers of children the same age, really made me feel better about it.

After several attempts to leave, we finally headed home after 9:00. Nicholas still had energy, but I think mine was drained. We gave him a well-needed shower and put him to bed. I prayed that he would sleep in this morning, but he only slept until about 8:15. It was later than usual, but not what I had in mind.

We have another party today! We’re going back to my aunt and uncle’s house to swim. We bought Nicholas some goggles to encourage him to put his face in the water. We’ll see how that goes.

I just want to close by thanking everyone who has prayed for or cared about Nicholas and our lives. Sometimes it is hard to believe that people would want to read this blog. Our lives seem so ordinary. Hearing from people that this blog had encouraged them to adopt or encouraged them in motherhood or life in general is very humbling. My goal is to just be me and let God use me, if he wants. So, thank you for your kind words.