July 1, 2004

Caring for and serving families in Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama,  Mississippi,
Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana 

Saturday, Mr. Igor Chepuryshkin began gathering the 11 children who would participate in the Nashville Operation Hope for 2004.  It took him a day to round up the children from 5 different orphanages. 

Mr. Chepuryshkin has alot of experience with children, as he is the director of a boarding school (orphanage) in Russia.  He had to use every bit of his experience, as they then traveled from Smolensk to Moscow, boarded a plane headed to Dulles, then a long layover (6 hours) turned into about 8.  Finally, at 1:15 AM Tuesday, they arrived in Nashville.  They were pooped..but at 2:30 AM many of them were still giggling and excited to be in the US and not on an airplane, trying on swimsuits and playing with the CHI bears!!

I hope you can see by the pictures how great the kids are!!  We are again blessed to be able to host the children.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES

If you are interested in Operation Hope for next year, or even if we have a family this year that is not able to adopt, please contact Tanya@childrenshopeint.org.

Brenda, that was awfully sweet of you for showing up at the airport—totally unexpected.  Kris and I just want to thank you and everyone at CHI for all of your help.  Please let everyone know we are home and it was worth every minute of our time!  The babies are doing very well.  They are sleeping as we speak!

(Editor’s Note:  The Henderson family adopted 7 month old twins, Kelly and Kyle from Tomsk, Russia!  Congrats!!)

 


Thanks for everything that you all do! Keep up the great work!

Privet, from Florida!

We're home after our first trip.  What an exciting and emotional trip it was!  After arriving in Novosibirsk, we were whisked off to the hotel to get a good night's rest prior to meeting with Marina, our coordinator, the next day at noon.  When she arrived she announced that we had a son.  However, she wouldn't tell us how old or his name.  This would have to wait until we met with the Minister of Education . . . THE NEXT DAY!  We did manage to get her to tell us he was older than one, but not two. So . . . we waited.

We went shopping our first day in Novosibirsk.  Marina pointed out the baby store just across the way from the hotel.  That was our first stop.  We purchased a dog stack toy that would be appropriate for a one, but not yet two, year old.  We also purchased a couple of foam shape puzzles and a block toy for sorting shapes.

The next morning we were ready to meet our son but we first had to meet with the Minister of Education at 10 AM.  The moment the Minister of Education gave us a picture of our son we knew he was meant to be our son!  We were finally told he was 16 months old and his name was Denise Segeyevich Shalagin.  In the picture he was 6 months old . . . so tiny with dark brown hair and a receeding hair line. His eyebrows were furrowed, somewhat of a serious look.  We were told his eyes were brown as well as many other facts about him.  The Minister of Education finally finished and asked if we had questions.  My first question was, "Can we please go see him now?"  She smiled with a chuckle and told us it would be just a few more minutes.

Upon arriving at the orphanage we were introduced to the head doctor and director.  She was a very kind lady and seemed anxious for us to meet our son.  When they brought him into the room I wasn't sure it was him.  He had very light sandy brown hair and BLUE eyes.  However, when I looked at his face, I saw the furrowed, serious look I had seen in the picture and knew
for sure that this was, in fact, our boy!

Don's first duties were video taping and taking pictures.  He soon had a turn to hold his son and they seemed to bond immediately.  The times we had with Joseph just flew by.  It seemed it was time to go just a few minutes after our arrival, when it fact it was more like 1 1/2 hours later.

The CHI staff in Moscow was wonderful and Marina and Olessya in Novosibirsk were on top of every detail.  We never questioned what we were supposed to do because everyone was so thorough in explaining all the details.  I am so thankful for CHI after meeting other people in Moscow who were adopting, but not through CHI.  They were having to negotiate their own travel throughout the city and seemed a bit unsure about what would happen next.  Don and I
spent months researching and praying about which agency to choose and we feel blessed that God led us to you!

The picture I've attached is the second day we visited with Joseph.  Joseph was my dad's name and Segei is a portion of Joseph's middle name given at birth.  Segei is special to me because on my first trip to Russia last summer I met four little boys, all named Sergei, who were a joy to play with for one full afternoon.

Words cannot express how deeply we love this little boy.  We cannot wait to get him home! 
 

It's been a while since I have given you an update on Jonathon.  He is now 15 months old.  He is between 16 and 17 pounds.  He is 27-28  inches tall.  He's our small guy.  He has eight teeth completely in and two  of his top molars have broken through.  He is jabbering a lot more but still only says "bye," "mama," "daddy," and "ball."  Sometimes he says something like "hi."  He can stand up on his own from a sitting position. 

 
He is taking 4 or 5 steps by himself.  He climbs on our one step and is able to turn around and sit on it.  He can get on his riding toy by himself.  He can only move it backwards so far.  He can hold his sippy cup on his own.  He can climb stairs quite well.  He knows how to brush his hair and his teeth.  He barks at the dogs.  He picks me flowers (and doesn't eat them).  He loves to watch people mow the grass.  He loves sweet tea.  He feeds himself finger foods.  He loves the guitar.
Have I bragged enough yet?

Thanks, we think so too. We had a difficult time going to sleep last night, her little face is so difficult to forget.

Thanks to your office, prayers, and diligence our family will now be complete.

For more information on the McHenry’s adoption, go to www.brianmchenry.com/meisi

• Please attach ONE photo for the calendar
• No larger than a 4 x 6
• Sibling group pictures will be accepted
• No pictures with more than one family included (example: travel groups)
• If more than one picture is received we will not publish a picture in the calendar
• No professional photos can be used
• Photos by email will not be accepted
• Label back of picture with child’s name, DOB, country
• If received by JULY 31^st they will be published
• Send to the attention of Nicky Losse

We are sorry to make so many restrictions but the calendar has become overly time consuming without following these guidelines.

Please print

Child’s Name       _________________________________________
                          First                            Last

Date of Birth        _________________________________________

Country               _________________________________________

Parent’s Name    _________________________________________

Address              _________________________________________

Phone #              _________________________________________

Email                  _________________________________________

This has been a really busy month for Humanitarian Aid projects!! Thanks to all who participated and made this such a high priority to touch the lives of the children left behind! 

Bering Strait concert

We had a wonderful Concert at Rocketown (the Michael W. Smith Venue in downtown Nashville) with the grammy nominated Universal South Russian artists, Bering Strait.  (If you don't know about this group, you may want to go on line at http://www.beringstraitonline.com/ and read about them... they are just terrific!!)

We are happy to say we raised close to $5000.  Our sponsors were Alexey’s Market, MidTown Printing and Universal South.  Our thanks go to Bering Strait for their generous donation of their talents and their time, our sponsors and the volunteers.

Garage Sale

Thanks to Joan Lanier and all of the volunteers who gave items and donated their time to help!  We raised over $1200 for surgeries for children in China!

In conjunction with the Orphan Train, CHI will be publishing a compilation of adoption stories. Our desire is that this book will make a powerful impact on people who have not experienced adoption by enabling them to see what a difference it makes in people’s lives. We plan to include stories written from all angles of both domestic and international adoption - from birthmothers to adoptive parents to adoptees.

CHI would like to hear from you! In 3 pages or less, please describe how adoption has affected you personally. Send your story in a Word document to sue@childrenshopeint.org . Digital photographs are also encouraged. All stories sent must be released for publishing. Unfortunately, due to the amount of stories that we receive, we may not be able to publish all of them. But our goal is to include as many as possible.  If you know of anyone who has been touched by adoption and would like to share their story, please feel free to give them our address or email. Submissions must be received by July 23, 2004.

Father Your Son

For men who want to father their sons in the most nurturing and caring way. In Father Your Son, clinical psychologist Stephan B. Poulter draws from more than 20 years specializing in father-son relationship counseling to offer a program that helps fathers confront—and conquer—their fears of repeating the past.

For more information on this book, visit http://adoptionshop.com/cgi-bin/products/ADP43004.html.

Find 1,000+ other adoption products at Shop.Adoption.com.

To share your favorite adoption book with others, join the Adoption Book Club on AdoptionLists.com at http://adoptionlists.com/index.php?action=lists&listname=adoptionbookclub.

Please join us for free information meetings:

For more information, please go to http://www.childrenshope.com/southeast/index.htm

July 6, 2004, Brentwood, TN

Children’s Hope Office, 7003 Chadwick Drive, Suite 350

6:30-8:30 pm

July 9, Stone Mountain, GA (Atlanta)

Smoke Rise Baptist Church, 5901 Hugh Howell Road, Room S223

6:30 -8:30 PM

July 12, Melbourne, FL

Eau Gallie Public Library, 2521 Pineapple Avenue

6:30 -8:30 PM

July 13, Ocala, FL

Medical Office BLDG at West Marion Community Hospital

4600 Southwest 46^th Court

6:30-8:30 PM

July 16, Valdosta, GA

Park Avenue United Methodist Church, 100 East Park Avenue

6:30-8:30 PM

August 1, Birmingham, AL

Vestavia Hills Public Library, 1112 Montgomery Highway, Vestavia Hills, AL

2-4 PM

August 2, Huntsville, AL

First Baptist Church, 600 Governor’s Drive, Room 242

6:30-8:30 PM

July 3                  Dossier Class                                                8:30-10 am                   Woodmont Hills, R201

                           Travel Class                                                   10-12Noon                   Woodmont Hills, R201

July 5                 Office Closed for 4^th

July 7                 Office closed in Afternoon for Staff Retreat

July 16               Parent Education Meeting-Sleep                     6:30-8:30 PM               Woodmont Hills,  R201

July 19               Home Study Group                                          6:30-8:30 PM               Children’s Hope

July 24               International CHI Picnic                                                                        St Louis, MO                                                        

Happy 4^th!  It is always a pleasure to celebrate the joys and freedoms that we have as Americans!!  Hope you are able to be with your family, friends, and loved ones!  And of course for those of your dreaming of your child, there is no better day than today to begin with your adoption plans!

We don't want to burden you with a lot of information, but we do want to help you if you are looking for a way to adopt. If not, please let us know and we will regretfully remove your name from our newsletter.   E-mail me at my address below with any question you have.  I would love to hear from you. 

Brenda

Southeastern U.S.
 Brenda Barker, Director
 7003 Chadwick Dr. Suite 350
 Brentwood, TN  37027
 615-309-8109   Fax: 615-309-8483

 Brenda@ChildrensHope.com
 Also serving the following states: TN, KY, GA, AL, AR, MS, FL, TX and LA