Life is Good…and God is Incredible!

The last few weeks have been emotional overload. Overload to the point it has been difficult to sort through my thoughts without just on purpose taking time to get away…which I have not done. Each member of our family and so many friends have worked hard to prepare for today. Last night at 11:30pm, Terminal T at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, Aleks arrived! Wow, the gamut of emotions, questions and excitement as we waited for Aleks to appear walking down that hall from the terminal. The day is here…he is here! The day we have long awaited for. As we hugged and greeted Aleks it was almost surreal yet such peace…he’s really here. Just a few hours earlier we were able to welcome Matt & Christy Brogden home with their new daughter, Charis, from China. What an incredible joy, yet only to continue with the welcoming of Aleks.

As we made out way out of the airport, Aleks was ready to go! He walks as fast as I do which made it difficult for Cindy and Nana to keep up.The car ride home was a bit more quiet since everyone was exhausted but it was also a time of checking each other out and trying to figure out what the other was thinking. Awkward but funny within a moment. Once we got home we showed Aleks around the house and his room to familiarize him with everything. We went through our normal routine of praying together as a family before the girls headed off to bed. Cindy, Aleks and I spent another hour sitting in his room chatting and beginning to communicate. He wanted to check everything out and play with as much as he could. When it was time for laying down in bed, Chip our Dachshund became Aleks best friend. This gave Chip the access to sleep with Aleks and the two quickly fell asleep together.

Today was incredible. We played together. Went to Chick-fil-a together (his favorite place to eat), went shopping together (for clothes and shoes that fit), rode bikes, played soccer, played basketball, had a huge water fight, met new friends and family. Today was great as we just laughed, talked, sang and played together. Yes, Aleks has an abundance of energy! But it needs to also be noted that Aleks has very good English skills. He understands most everything…and can say nearly as much (if he chooses to). As we tucked each of the kids in tonight it was evident that each was happy and truly excited about our new family structure. Aleks was the last one we tucked into bed and once again we spent more time just talking about the day. We were both honest that we were a little scared of the unknown since we didn’t really know each other until last night. What would the other think…would he/they like me? This all got washed away when I told Aleks that I love him…a huge smile broke across his face and he answered…”yes”.

Good-night…

17 Days and Counting…

It’s only 17 days until Aleks arrives in America. The past week has been filled with exciting news and information. Our summer plans and adoption plans are beginning to solidify. Here is the latest:

• We have our official invitation to travel to Latvia to meet Aleks and present our petition of adoption to the court. (More details to follow)
• Aleks will arrive on the 24th of this month with the New Horizons for Children hosting program. They will be here in America for nearly six weeks and staying with us, leaving August 4th.
• We will be leaving for Latvia with Aleks on the 4th…arriving in Latvia on the 5th. (Pray for our travel arraignments – we are trying to book flights to leave with the NHFC kids)
• We have our first court appearance on Thursday August 6th! We will be staying with Aleks in Liepaja, during which time we will be visited several times by a Latvian social worker to monitor our bonding process. (Should be fun since we have already had a six week head start)
• We will have a second court appearance on Thursday August 20th…then we go to the US Embassy for an appointment to get Aleks visa.
• On Friday August 21st we will return to the US Embassy to pick up Aleks’ visa paperwork….and then we are free to return to America with Aleks!

So for now I am just getting the list of ALL that Cindy wants me to finish before Aleks arrives in just a few short days. Yes, we have a lot to accomplish, but we also have a LOT of fun ahead of us.

For those who have contributed to our adoption fund and helped to stock Aleks’ closet and dresser….THANK YOU! We appreciate each and every one of you.

Another Step Closer

Today I received the following:

Please find in the enclosure the allowance to get personally acquainted with a child for TUTTLE family.

In accordance with the article 47 of the regulations No.111 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 11^th of March, 2003 “The Procedure of Adoption” the Ministry for Children, Family and Integration Affairs issues a warrant to the adopters – citizens of the United States of America Kevin Scott TUTTLE, and Cindy Denise TUTTLE,  by presenting their documents of personal identification, to get personally acquainted with adoptable child ALEKSEJS JURČENKO.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! God is amazing!

Now please pray with us as we need to raise 10k for this next phase in our journey. For those who have prayed and given already…THANK YOU! For those who would like to help be a part of this journey, please contact either Cindy or myself directly.

Pieces of the Journey…Part 1

On February 23rd, 2009, I posted what was the start of our journey toward adoption…at least I posted and shared publicly for the first time. “This is Hope…continued” was the first blog post introducing Aleks. A few days later on February 27th, 2009 I posted “Updates”, which made it more clear…we are walking a journey toward adopting Aleks.

Okay…I have been asked over and over to share more of the story of how Alex has come into our life. Here is part 1…

After Cindy had Rachel 11 1/2 years ago we talked about adoption on an off a number of times. Over the last few years that desire to adopt has grown…but we never really thought the other one was serious. During 2008, that desire for a son grew to the point I could not deny it any longer. At the beginning of October, when I was getting ready to leave for a Men’s Retreat, I could no longer hold it in. That night before I left, I dumped all that had been building within me on Cindy. (Yes, I laugh about this too…now that I think back on it.) I left for Frontier Ranch, to spend four days with my best friend, my brother-in-law and a bunch of other men who were seeking after God’s heart. While in the mountains I was unplugging from everyday life and seeking God’s will, and part of that was asking about this strong desire for a son. Where was it coming from and what was I to do with it? I returned from that retreat with no more answers than when I left. Yes, I was a bit frustrated and confused.

During this time we had been praying for a young boy Erick, in Guatemala. At 13, he doesn’t know how long he has yet to live. He has been battling sclerosis of the liver for a number of years. He had been examined a number of times by doctors who simply said that Erick needs a liver transplant….but he is not eligible for a transplant. How can you tell a young boy and his parents you can be healed…but your not eligible? In essence…sorry, your going to die because your poor! That’s just unacceptable and tore my heart out. We began to pray more diligently but also we began to work to find a solution. The doctors said Erick’s only hope was to be adopted and taken to a country where he could get the medical treatment he needed. Was this true? Could adoption save Erick? We began to ask more questions and pursue answers. Through this process, God was opening our hearts to adopting. We accepted the fact that if we adopted Erick we would spend the next number of years caring for Erick and working toward providing him a better life. We then found that Erick’s parents said they would give him up for adoption if we would be the family to adopt him…and Erick agreed to this as well. WOW! Empowered with this responsibility and focus, we moved forward with trying to use all of the contacts we knew to get Erick to the states. Our core goal was and is….Erick’s complete healing. If this required or allowed us the privilege of adopting him…great! As we moved forward it seemed we hit wall after wall. The US government is steadfast that all adoptions from Guatemala are closed due to the Hague treaty. It was also made very clear to us that adoption IS NOT for those children who have families…it is for those who don’t have families. What were we to do? We have a young boy who needs us and a family who was counting on us. I can’t imagine the pain Erick’s parents must have felt as they discussed and made the decision to give him up for adoption…to give him up so that he can live. It almost sounds like a story from Bible…

(stay tuned for more…)

Pieces of the Journey…Part 2

On February 23rd, 2009, I posted what was the start of our journey toward adoption…at least I posted and shared publicly for the first time. “This is Hope…continued” was the first blog post introducing Aleks. A few days later on February 27th, 2009 I posted “Updates”, which made it more clear…we are walking a journey toward adopting Aleks.

Okay…I have been asked over and over to share more of the story of how Alex has come into our life. Here is part 2…

As things continued with Erick, doors continued to open, but I now realize that they were opening…to help open our hearts. But our direction started to change as the walls began to grow in November and December of 2008. This left us frustrated and asking why. It seemed like the more our hearts longed to help Erick the more challenges came along the way. Did you catch that? We longed to “Help” Erick…? It was clear that Erick had a mom and dad…with plenty of siblings as well. By mid December of 2008 Cindy turned to me and said, we are supposed to be and advocate for Erick…not adopt him. Wow…that was true, but through everything God had shown us His heart for us to adopt…and had led us to a place of openness to do that.

Between Christmas and new years of 2008 I heard God calling me into an area that once again, I had never been. (No…it wasn’t an audible voice or text message…but it was clear in my heart) Fasting? You never hear about Fasting in the modern day church, how was I supposed to know what that was all about? I spent a few days studying all I could find then set out on that journey with God. It was hard, and extremely rewarding. During that time I took four things to God and watched as God moved in three of those. The fourth was simply asking God what he wanted us to do about this incredibly strong desire for a son…conceive, adopt or just forget about it? During this time of focus I became extremely frustrated at what I interpreted as silence from God. It came to a point that Wednesday January 21st, I just unloaded my thoughts and feelings on God. At the end of that I conceded that His silence must be just telling me that we needed to focus on the two incredible girls we have…and just be content. That night I shared my heart with Cindy, and we were content.

The next morning, Thursday January 22nd, 2009, I got up and was heading to Orlando to visit a customer. As I was getting my things together to leave, I realized that I had left my computer open and on all night. As I sat down to log off and shut my computer down…there was one friend of mine on Facebook…Chris Crutchley. As I sat down, Chris updated his status…”Anyone interested in adoption?”. Wow! I called Cindy downstairs and showed her…I had to see if God was using Chris to speak to us. As I answered Chris we began to chat and he shared with me about Aleks. We knew that Chris and Jamie had hosted Aleks over the holidays…but we had never met him. Chatting just didn’t work so I called Chris as I drove to Florida. As we shared our story and hearts with each other…we realized that God had brought our paths together for just this…Aleksejs Jurcenko. I called Cindy and shared the story of what was happening. We took the weekend to pray and ask God if this was what He had been preparing us for. Our Father said Yes and gave us peace. It was with great excitement that we stepped out in faith on Monday January 26th to start gathering the paperwork we would need to host and adopt Aleks.

Greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done here.

God’s Chisel

Another Step Closer…

Here it is! The document we have been waiting for (the best one yet…but better ones yet to come!)

Yesterday we received our Approval Notice from the US Citizenship & Immigration Service. Quite simply this means that the US government says we are “Suitable” to adopt a child…and this is what the Latvian government wants to see. Our dossier is already over there…but you know that. The translation should be complete and is simply waiting on this approval document. Within two hours from receiving this in the mail, we had it notarized, apostilled and in an overnight envelope. It was then placed in the hands of our good friend Matt…the best “Brown” driver in America.

Tomorrow our papers will be on a plane to Latvia where they will be delivered to the Latvian adoption attorney on Monday. In a few weeks we should receive an e-mail from the Latvian government  stating that we have been approved to adopt Aleks if we wish to. We will send an approval back immediately and then wait for a follow up communication inviting us to come to Latvia to meet Aleks in person. At that time we will travel to Latvia and present our petition for adoption to the Latvian court and spend the next two weeks getting to know Aleks.

Exciting…YES! A little scary…yes, some of that too. It is all moving so much quicker that we could have ever dreamed of…but yet, God knew this all along, and had it planned. (Yes, we actually do believe that) We still have some obstacles ahead of us, but nothing compared to how far we have come in the last three months! We still need to prepare Aleks room with furniture, clothes and boy stuff. Yes, we also need to paint that room because neither he, nor I would feel comfortable with the pink walls that are in his room. We also have a large financial piece of the adoption ahead. We still have about 2/3 yet to raise.

Here are some specific prayer requests we ask you to pray with us about:
~ That God would continue to prepare our hearts for Aleks.
~ That God would prepare Aleks' heart for the changes ahead. That he would learn to trust us and accept that our love is unconditional.
~ For the rest of the finances needed for the adoption.
~ For the finances to finish getting the things we need to prepare our home for Aleks.

Once again words cannot express our appreciation for your continued support and prayers. For those of you who have given financially, again, Thank You!
If you would like to know more about our journey or to help us financially, please visit our blogs.

Thank you from our entire family!
Kevin, Cindy, Kristen, Rachel...and Aleks!