Clint

Our precious son and dear brother Clint was born 8 years ago today. We keep him close in our hearts and stand amazed at his impact. We have witnessed God's love and power of restoration for our family - let us rejoice and always remember.

Anastasia on her Baptism Day in Austria

Nick

School Pictures Update

Nick in 5th grade



Nat in 1st grade

Maverick Stone

The Stones are in Kazakhstan this week and have sprung Maverick! God bless them.

Happy Halloween!

Nina loved her first Halloween. Nick went out with Zach and Max and brought home 16 lbs of candy, or 25% his body weight. Natalie and Chloe covered the neighborhood as well while Nina hung out a home checking giving out candy.

Today, November 1, marks 6 months at home for Nina. She has been such a joy, and turned a major corner this week as she is now walking everywhere. She is really happy with her new found ability and freedom, and a lot less clingy which makes Monte really happy too!

Halloween Muffins!

Chloe and Natalie at Eckert's

Kentucky Lake Fishing

Our end-of-summer weekend at Kentucky Lake. Nina hangs out with Monte.



While Nick catches the big one! 5 lbs, 24 inch catfish.



Nat catches a little one.



Then a big one of her own!

Nina on the move

Nina's tooth count is up to 12 (4 front top, 4 front bottom, 4 molars). And she is starting to walk! Here is her greatest effort to date.

5th grade school picture gone wrong

Sudden Impact 2010

We had a special weekend in Champaign as our boys WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP with a fierce and inspiring effort playing against "select" teams from around the state. We prayed that they would play as a team and to the best of their abilities. The boys did just that, with 3 wins, 1 tie, and 0 losses. We were afraid we would hit a buzz saw in the championship, but we were the ones dishing it out and won 5-1 with everyone contributing. We are so proud of each of these guys.

Nina working on walking with Nick

A beautiful little girl is picking up her pace with some assistance from big brother.

Bored boys on Saturday afternoon

Here is some footage of Nick and his two friends, Zach and Max, finding something to do.

Amazing Maverick update!

Here is an update from Greg and Becki Stone in their quest to bring their boy home. See attached youtube link. No sound but this is worth watching. Spoiler below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gXOuUCXQpY

Spoiler alert *** against all odds it seems, the Stones won their appeal in court today! Maverick is still in Karakastek but officially a son of Stone. We are amazed and so happy. Now they wait for the passport/visa docs to be prepared and bring him home in a month or two. God is good and the Stone's love and perseverance has been rewarded. These precious children, Nina Deanna, Anastasia Sholpan, and now Maverick have found their way home. What a great day! Couldn't be happier.

Some fun this summer

Nina & Cousin Tara

Anastasia Sholpan

Sunday was a great day. Nick's baseball team won the championship game in Affton. Monte made a great dinner for our friends who were visiting from Ohio, Rob, Anna, Carver, Darby, and Sophie. We had a wonderful time. And we received a beautiful picture of a little girl very near to our heart. Sholpan, now Anastasia, is doing wonderfuly, visiting Italy and France this summer, before settling in her home in Austria. Here she is. We love her and are so happy for her, Christine, and Co.

Best Father's Day

Happy 6th Birthday - don't fly away

Natalie at Nationals

Natalie finishes 2nd at tumbling nationals. Awesome job!

Feet clap

couple pics, one rockin video

Nina sleeps on boat. Nick hangs out in tree. Nina rocks out in the car to country music.

US Citizen Certificate Arrives!

New video - Aunt Aimee gets her going

Nina continues to do wonderfully. She eats a lot. She sleeps through the night and has a couple naps each day. She swam in the pool yesterday. She crawls around and pulls on the blinds and curtains. She could not be any better. She is so happy and so are we. We went to the Greek festival this weekend and she fit right in with her dark hair and dark eyes. People were looking at us trying to figure out if I had stolen her, or maybe if I was her grandpa or something. Here is a new video where Nick and Aunt Aimee really get her going.

Sholpan home! Pray for Maverick

Sholpan has made it to her new home in Austria! We are so happy for her, Christine, and Gerhard.

Please continue to pray for Maverick whose parents are struggling with a negative ruling from our same judge who is now saying "no more foreign adoptions" and the other children and parents in process.

Nina and Nat swinging

2 weeks ago - farewell at Almaty airport

We brought little Nina home two weeks ago today. She is thriving. She crawls all around and pulls up and stands. She sleeps 12 hours through the night. And of course, she eats! And gets very excited when sees a bottle or food. She is a happy and healthy little girl, and we are very happy too.

Here are a few pictures of us saying goodbye to our interpreter Anna and her son Gleb at Almaty airport. Anna was the first person we saw when we first arrived in Almaty in November, and was there when we were leaving. We appreciate all of her work for us but hope to see her and her son again in Canada if all goes well with her application this year.

Kazakhstan adoptions suspended

We learned from Marina today that Kazakhstan is suspending all new applications for inter-country adoption as they move to comply with the Hague convention. Please pray that Sholpan and Maverick are not affected and they come home soon, and also for all the other children.

Stacy, who sent us the 5-month old picture of Nina, and our friends at Two Hearts for Hope just completed their mission trip to Almaty. Below are their comments about the Karakastek baby house. You can read more on their blog at http://twoheartsforhope.blogspot.com/

Karakastek

Thursday May 6th -

Today we were out of the house by 7 am to get on the road to Karakastek. It was about an hour and a half ride through the country. The baby house is literally in the middle of nowhere and in pretty bad shape. We brought 12 bags of donations, in them were shoes, cloth diapers, clothes, medical supplies, mattress pads and crib sheets. The director and doctor were very excited and appreciative of the items.

We visited with the babies first and got to hold them for a long time. Then we played with the toddlers. Boy was that hard. We walked into the room and every one of them ran up to us screaming "mama, mama." It was the saddest thing. The little girls loved our necklaces and the little boys wanted to sit on our laps and snuggle. We did some crafts with them and handed out the bananas we purchased. We go back on Saturday and will have a small party and play outside.

In September there were about 85 orphans at this baby home, today there were probably 60. 3 years ago there were about 120-150. It was very encouraging to see the numbers dwindling but still so hard to be there among the poor conditions and lack of care these babies receive. The smell is overwhelming and a little hard to deal with at first. The caretakers don't really change the babies diapers all that often and keep them in cribs for a very long time each day. Both are frustrating to see and hard to ignore.

After the orphanage we went to lunch and sightseeing. Tomorrow we visit the special needs orphange to bring the wheel chairs and have the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Children's Complex. Our team in Kaz was able to get a food company to donate ice cream for all the children and there are rumors of media coverage.

Please pray for our team. There are a few members that have become sick over the last few days and run down. We are needing energy and sleep.

Maverick court date - May 13

The Stones of Ohio finally received their court date - May 13! Maverick is one step closer to going home.

Ok. This girl is absolutely wonderful. She slept 17 hours the first night, and 12 hours each night since then. She loves to eat, and loves her mommy very much. Nina lights up when Monte enters the room. Nina is now standing with a little help. She crawls around and is very alert and engaged. Nick and Natalie are so sweet and happy she is here. We were expecting a rough transition, but so far, it has been great. She is coming alive before our eyes. Here is a funny video of her making some noise.

Bath

She's freaked out by the bathtub, but loves the sink!

Finally at home with Nick and Nat

Aunt Aimee, Grandpa Paul, and Jomama say hello