We have a name! After days of agonizing, we finally found just the right “fit” for our little angel. Haley Anastasia Lambeth. We love her birth name, Anastasia and definitely wanted to keep this part of her name. She is our little princess for sure! For all who might not know, Anastasia was a famous Russian Princess. In honor of her birth, her father pardoned and reinstated students who had been imprisoned for participating in riots. One meaning of her name is “breaker of chains”. Her name also means “of the resurrection”. It is rumored that Princess Anastasia was the only member of her family to escape and survive massacre. We love the symbolism in this name and definitely wanted to keep it for her! By the way, it’s also a great Disney movie. Meg Ryan and John Cusack are the voices of the lead animated characters.
In addition to this beautiful Ukrainian name, we wanted to give her a name we chose for her. Her nickname in Ukraine (and the only name she knows) is "Nast-chya". It's spelled HACTIR, the R is backwards and pronounced “ya”. Everyday we look for her locker with the word beginning with “HA” on it. We like the name Haley and thought it would be good to start her new name with the same first two letters she is used to looking for on her locker. Also, one of our favorite singers is Hayley Westerna (the only CDs we brought here were 2 of hers). Our little one loves to be sung to and to listen to the songs on daddy’s cell phone, so we thought it would be fitting to give her the same name as this beautiful songstress.
So there you have it…Haley Anastasia Lambeth. Our little Ukranian princess!!
We had a minor set back this morning when we went to court to petition for our hearing date. The name on our marriage license is Lauri, but every other document (passport, dossier, etc.) says “Laura”. Fortunately, the cover document (license affidavit) we had notarized says Laura. It should have matched exactly, but somehow this was missed. Since the cover affidavit matches, Sergei was able to convince the judge to use this document for the court hearing. We will have to go to the US Embassy in Kiev to get a notarized document stating that Lauri and Laura are the same person. They scrutinize every minor detail!!
The best news is that we finally got confirmation of our court date for tomorrow, Wednesday, June 20th at 9:00 am! Then Haley Anastasia will be ours for keeps. The mandatory 10-day waiting period will be up July 1 and then we can take her from the orphanage! We will need a couple of days to get her local passport and new birth certificate made in Zaporizia, so we are thinking we will travel back to Kiev no later than July 4th…Independence Day (how fitting!). In Kiev, we will get her final medical exam at the US Embassy and her US passport so she can enter the US as a citizen!
We have a long wait ahead of us, but we will be over the biggest hurdle of the process (we hope!) tomorrow. We have been stocking up for the items we will need to take care of Haley Anastasia during the long journey home. She will experience a car ride, 10-hour train-ride and 12 hour plane ride within 2 days. So far, we’ve been working on easing her into the idea of riding in the car. We’ve tried to make a game of it, but she still gets very nervous when we sit with her in it. So we’ll continue to practice that part of it. It doesn’t look like they will let us take her from the orphanage until after the 10 days is up, so we are trapped there without a swing for another 2 weeks. The first thing we’ve vowed to do once we get her out of the orphanage is get her a popsicle and put her on a swing! I can’t wait to see her face light up!! I’m sure she will chomp the popsicle in 3 bites (she doesn’t know how to suck, so she bites lollipops like the owl in the old tootsie pop commercials…one, two, three…gone!)
We have been shopping for some outfits for her and have found a couple of cute dresses…they are not made well, so we don’t want to get too many. They feel like they are made from disposable, flammable material. Fortunately, I got a big bag of girlie things from my new friend, Theresa who I met in Kiev at the beginning of our trip. She is adopting a boy in Simerpool so she didn’t need them. The bag included soft pajamas for the train ride. Yippee!! Thank you Theresa! So many cute things!
We are going to visit Sergei’s family this weekend in Venitzi (he has a wife and 13-month old child). Then we will travel on to Chernofsky to see where the YoungLife expeditions group will be staying this summer and meet the trip host, Alona, and the other YL staff and leaders there. We will take the overnight train, so we can rest between stops and make the most efficient use of our time. We are trying to do a whirwind tour so we don't miss more than two days with our daughter.
In addition to this beautiful Ukrainian name, we wanted to give her a name we chose for her. Her nickname in Ukraine (and the only name she knows) is "Nast-chya". It's spelled HACTIR, the R is backwards and pronounced “ya”. Everyday we look for her locker with the word beginning with “HA” on it. We like the name Haley and thought it would be good to start her new name with the same first two letters she is used to looking for on her locker. Also, one of our favorite singers is Hayley Westerna (the only CDs we brought here were 2 of hers). Our little one loves to be sung to and to listen to the songs on daddy’s cell phone, so we thought it would be fitting to give her the same name as this beautiful songstress.
So there you have it…Haley Anastasia Lambeth. Our little Ukranian princess!!
We had a minor set back this morning when we went to court to petition for our hearing date. The name on our marriage license is Lauri, but every other document (passport, dossier, etc.) says “Laura”. Fortunately, the cover document (license affidavit) we had notarized says Laura. It should have matched exactly, but somehow this was missed. Since the cover affidavit matches, Sergei was able to convince the judge to use this document for the court hearing. We will have to go to the US Embassy in Kiev to get a notarized document stating that Lauri and Laura are the same person. They scrutinize every minor detail!!
The best news is that we finally got confirmation of our court date for tomorrow, Wednesday, June 20th at 9:00 am! Then Haley Anastasia will be ours for keeps. The mandatory 10-day waiting period will be up July 1 and then we can take her from the orphanage! We will need a couple of days to get her local passport and new birth certificate made in Zaporizia, so we are thinking we will travel back to Kiev no later than July 4th…Independence Day (how fitting!). In Kiev, we will get her final medical exam at the US Embassy and her US passport so she can enter the US as a citizen!
We have a long wait ahead of us, but we will be over the biggest hurdle of the process (we hope!) tomorrow. We have been stocking up for the items we will need to take care of Haley Anastasia during the long journey home. She will experience a car ride, 10-hour train-ride and 12 hour plane ride within 2 days. So far, we’ve been working on easing her into the idea of riding in the car. We’ve tried to make a game of it, but she still gets very nervous when we sit with her in it. So we’ll continue to practice that part of it. It doesn’t look like they will let us take her from the orphanage until after the 10 days is up, so we are trapped there without a swing for another 2 weeks. The first thing we’ve vowed to do once we get her out of the orphanage is get her a popsicle and put her on a swing! I can’t wait to see her face light up!! I’m sure she will chomp the popsicle in 3 bites (she doesn’t know how to suck, so she bites lollipops like the owl in the old tootsie pop commercials…one, two, three…gone!)
We have been shopping for some outfits for her and have found a couple of cute dresses…they are not made well, so we don’t want to get too many. They feel like they are made from disposable, flammable material. Fortunately, I got a big bag of girlie things from my new friend, Theresa who I met in Kiev at the beginning of our trip. She is adopting a boy in Simerpool so she didn’t need them. The bag included soft pajamas for the train ride. Yippee!! Thank you Theresa! So many cute things!
We are going to visit Sergei’s family this weekend in Venitzi (he has a wife and 13-month old child). Then we will travel on to Chernofsky to see where the YoungLife expeditions group will be staying this summer and meet the trip host, Alona, and the other YL staff and leaders there. We will take the overnight train, so we can rest between stops and make the most efficient use of our time. We are trying to do a whirwind tour so we don't miss more than two days with our daughter.
19 more hours and our little pumpkin is ours!! Yippeee….
Blessings, Lauri and Hunter
2 comments:
Awesome! Wonderful!
“I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth.
Nothing is impossible for me.”
(Jeremiah 32:27)
Hi there, Lauri and Hunter. I'm Ann, Lynda's friend from WJ. The name you've chosen for your little girl is beautiful and wonderful! I told your Mom that I hoped you would keep "Anastasia" as some part of her name.
Your blog is bringing joy to so many more people than you realize--I'm one of them! Good thoughts and prayers are with all of you.
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