Decade in review

Borrowing the idea from Jenni! Great way to look back on our journey!

1999
-We’re gonna party like its 1999!
-Enjoying our married life in our little house in Harleysville with our yellow lab Corie Jayne.
Kevin and Jimmy built our patio.
-trip to visit our Ohio friends and take in a game at Jacobs field.
-Still working on the pregnancy thing, lots of doctors, lots of tests, no luck.
-Kevin started work at his current company.
2000
-Y2K-wondering what the fuss was all about
-Still working hard at getting pregnant and in mid January we are surprised with a positive—finally, see a heartbeat a couple times, all is good.
-enjoyed trip to Key West together for my nursing conference
- Devastated in April when we lose our little angel, later to find out it was a baby girl.
-Kevin built a fish pond in our yard and refinished the basement.
-Excited at arrival of our nephew Jake in May-lots of fun to have a baby around!
-First of many surgeries began in the summer to rid myself of this endometriosis.
-Enjoyed a great vacation in Myrtle Beach with the Harkins gang.
-Engagements: Joe and Niki, Mike and C
2001
-Still working on trying to build a family,
-Kitchen re-done, finished up basement.
-Had another surgery in March.
-Adopted Kaiser Magoo at 13 weeks, our goofy boxer/great dane mix.
-left the hospital and started work at GSK.
-Had a great trip to Dominican Republic with Mike, C, Jeff and Amy and celebrated my big 30.
-9/11 happened, nothing would ever be the same
-Mike and C got married at the shore, lots of fun!
-US went to war in Afghanistan
-My brother and Niki got married on a beautiful December day, 65 degrees, pretty strange for around here!
-still working at the family thing, lots of shots, lots of tests, lots of negatives and chemicals.
2002
-Moved onto IVF, signed consents, started the groundwork, but first another surgery.
-First IVF, failed.
-Replaced the roof on our house, had a patio door installed and our dining room painted and a new fence put in.
-Great vacation in Key West with Mike, C, and Steve, despite the hurricane rains! It eventually cleared up for or Duval crawl!
-Started back to school, MBA.
-FET done in Sept but no such luck.
-Gave Kevin trip to Outer Banks with the guys for their 35th bdays.
-Received promotion at work.
-Another FET done and another failure. Another surgery too.
-Celebrated our 5th anniversary in expensive cheesiness at Cesaers Pocono Palance, heart shaped hot tub and all!
2003
-February brought a blizzard, 20 inches of snow.
-Another sweet nephew born, Joe Jr.
-Another FET done and another negative.
- Iraq war started.
-Another surgery. Made plans to start another fresh IVF, heart not into it. Began looking at adoption options. Was getting excited about that. Tired and exhausted of being poked, proded, injected only to be devastated each month.
-2nd fresh IVF, only wound up with 5 embryos, transferred them all in one last hurrah. It failed.
-Sent in adoption application the next day. Decided on Republic of Georgia. Got dossier together and as it was ready to go in, Georgia closed.
-Rolled into agency’s Russian program. Got together dossier.
-Went to Disney World with Jim, LaLa and the kids. Had a blast.
-Dossier went to Russia.
-Car died. Had to buy another one.
-Started work at Johnson and Johnson.
-Started house hunting.
-Friends home from Russia with Blake, from Kirov. The first Kirov cutie I would know, but not the last!
-Excitedly waiting for quick referral as we would told it would be.
2004
-Still waiting, now getting different stories from agency, but keeping the faith.
-Said good bye to Aunt Mil
-Said goodbye toNan. Sad they would never meet our little one, but knew they would be watching over us.
-More run around and changing stories from agency. Frustration started. Finding out things from state about our agency, upset,its now March and we are unsure what to do. Little did we know, somewhere in Kirov Russia a little boy in born.
-complete fiasco regarding a possible placement here with our agency, heartbreak. I lose it, spend weekend in bed,sick, hurt and angry, wondering if I will ever be a mom.
- Tif pulls me out of funk and tells me to just give her agency director a call. I did, first thing Brent ever said to me was that he would restore my faith in adoption. Yea right.
-re-do dossier, get everything I need together in 2 weeks and submit it to Adoption Options. back to the waiting game.
-We found a house, finally, one we both agreed on. Same street as our friend.
-Tif and her mom visit Philly, while on tour bus I get call our old house has sold for over asking price!
-June, finally got the call for a 3 month old baby boy in Kirov named Aleksandr. Kevin was at Phillies game with Jimmy, PopPop and Rols. Frantically got ahold of him. That night we saw our son for the first time, in a blurry out of focus picture, but to us, he was perfect.
- Alek’s future girlfriend, Keeley is born. It was wonderful to know we were going to be sharing this parenting adventure with close friends.
- moved into our new home and 2 weeks after that we were traveling half way across the world to meet our beautiful Aleksandr who was now 5 months old
-head home knowing we would be back in 2 weeks for court.
- August 16, 2004, Its official, Aleksandr Smith Harkins is our son, we are a family forever! JoJo and her friend flew into Moscow and were waiting for us to return. We had a wonderful stay in Moscow getting to know our little man and soon we were all on the plane to London where Granny and PopPop were waiting to meet their newest grandson. We overnighted there and headed back to Philly the next day. Waiting at the airport was the rest of the family. It was a homecoming I will never forget. Grammom and Poppy, Pop and Noni, LaLa, Krissy, Kait, T and Jakey and Joe and Niki all waiting for us and for Alek. We were finally mommy and daddy and we were home. Love introducing Alek to all the rest of family and friends, especially his great grandmom’s (Me-Me and Nana).
- rest of 2004 was filled with many firsts. Alek was christened, Godparents Jimmy and LaLa.Welcome home to Kelsey from Tver, Russia (Blake’s lil sister). Loved all our first holidays, Halloween (Little Skunk), Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Crawling, creeping, getting into everything.
-Another surgery for me
-started back to work in November, LaLa took care of Alek for us!
-Christmas was extra special, we were a family, finally and forever. Started our tradition of Grammom, Poppy, and Me-Me coming to our house xmas morning for presents and breakfasts.
2005
-Alek has surgery, tubes and a circumcision thrown in.
-Took his first steps on 2/6/06 while Tifany and Kelsey were visiting from CA.
-First birthday party (construction theme) was a blast.
-Lots more firsts: Easter, beach, Memorial Day party and parade at JoJo’s. Zoo, parks, aquariums, beaches , all were extra special because of Alek. went with Pop and Noni, Joe, Niki and Joseph to New Hampshire for Labor weekend.
-Alek started at Little Lambs
-Hosted what would be the first of our Thanksgiving dinners.
-Changed jobs to contract position at Merck.
-October 2005, little did we know a gorgeous red head was born in Murmansk, Russia.
-Alek and I went to visit Tif in San Diego, attended AO picnic and meet the staff in person and thank them!
2006
-Alek, Pop, Noni and myself went to DC for Father Frost party at Russian Embassy.
-Celebrated Granny and PopPop’s 50th wedding anniversary with a surprise party at William Penn Inn on 1/20/06, it was an amazing party!
-Cousin Aldo Jr born.
-February made decision to head back to Russia for a little sister for Alek. Re-signed with AO and started on the paperwork.
-God daughter Ryan born!
-Newest niece, Reilly born—surrounded now by beautiful little girls!
-Received promotion at work.
-Switched our request for girl to either gender
-Another surgery for me.
-August-sitting at work, got the call from Brent, little 10 month old boy, medical a little scarey, but ran home to meet with Kevin, look at the pics and talk to doc. Gorgeous little red head, always wanted a red head!!
-Alek and I flew to NH with Pop and Noni for Labor Day weekend.
-Trip one to Murmansk, Russia was in October, we met Maks on his 1st birthday, October 12th! Traveled with an amazing couple (Chris and Kelli) there to meet their little man, Jacob. So great to share the experience with them. Maks hospitalized in Murmansk on our last day, couldn’t see him, very stressful and sad. Thankful to Chris and Kelli for their support when we got that news. Returned home to wait for news and court date. Got word Maks was fine, resp infection cleared.
-Got court date, Thanksgiving in Russia! Sad to hear due to paperwork delays Chris and Kelli would be delayed, so much wanted to share the end of this journey with them! SO hard to leave Alek especially for Thanksgiving. Got to Murmansk with snow and only daylight from 10-3. Met new couple there, Stephanie and Warrren, adopted two more cuties to add to their large family—fun to share the experience with them!
-11/20/06 its official, Maks-Joseph Kirill Harkins is our son! Harkins Family of Four! Thanksgiving in Moscow! Home to waiting family at airport on 11/25, held both my boys in my arms together for the first time! They were truly brother from that moment on!
-Maks hospitalized soon after arriving home with bilateral pneumonia, RSV and asthma exacerbation.
-Recovered in time for a wonderful 1st Christmas together!
2007
-We took Alek to Father Frost party at Russian Embassy in DC,
-back work PT in February, then transitioned back to FT.
-Maks’ 1st Easter! Alek turned 3 with Buzz Lightyear party.
-Kevin turned 40, party at our house for him and Rachel.
-Maks christened, Godparents JoJo and Big Mike!
-Lots more firsts: 1st Mothers day with both boys! 1st Memorial Day party and parade at JoJo’s for Maks. -Aunt Natalie passes away after a long and inspiring battle with ovarian cancer.
-Aunt Winnie visits from Florida and meets kids for first time, fun to have all the “girls” together, Winnie, Meem, Mom and myself.
-Tif and Kelsey visit from CA.
-Alek has last PPR!
-Vacation in Nags Head with Mike, C, the girls and the C family (6 kids, 7 adults, one house).
- Jeff and Amy get married (finally), beautiful beach wedding!
-Labor Day weekend at Pop and Noni beach house.
- Celebrate Maks’ 2nd birthday and 1st year home with big party.
-Maks’ 1st Halloween (Alek was policeman, Maks the Hamburgler).
-Bathroom refinished, its gorgeous!
-Enjoyed extra special Thanksgiving here with our families, one year anniversary of Maks’ adoption day. -Did a one night cruise out of NYV with Tim and Rach with John Legend in concert-what a blast!
-Another fun Christmas!!
-Kevin and I celebrate 10 yr anniversary 12/27!
2008
-Kevin and I took trip to Marathon Key for anniversary trip, kids stayed with Grammom and Poppy. Record cold temps in Florida-go figure! Fun trip anyway!!!
- Maks started speech therapy.
-Al B. died suddenly in March, our hearts break for Beth and Mike. He was wonderful and fun and an amazing dad. He will never be forgotten.
-Mike and C announce baby #3 on the way!
-Had hysterectomy in May. Finally no more surgeries!
-Jim and Laurie celebrate 20yrs!!!
-kids involved in lots of activities during the year: swimming, soccer, biddy sports camp, gym classes, karate, piano.
-spent vacation at Pop and Noni’s beach house in Delaware
-Maks spent his 3rd bday in ER with croup and asthma flare.
-Makenzie born, another new girlfriend for Alek and Maks!
-Went to Riviera Maya, Mexico with Rach for girls long weekend. Hard to leave kids, but wonderfully relaxing!
2009
-Took Alek to first Flyers game, got to meet a player, got a puck and a broken stick
-Our CorieJayne died at almost 12 years of age, she was a great dog, the best! We miss her so much.
-Took family trip to Florida, did Magic Kingdom for one day then drove to Indian Rocks Beach for rest of week, took in Phillies Spring training game.
-Kaiser died soon after being diagnosed with an unknown cancer. He was a great and goofy dog, a big lap dog, hard to believe both our fur babies are gone.
-Maks has dental surgery.
-Jeff and Amy welcome home Little Man from Kirov, another Kirov cutie home to his forever family!
-Alek playing T-ball, gets to parade around Citizens Bank Park before the Phillies game (his 1st one), I get to tag along!
-Took Maks to his first Phillies game, we all went for Father’s Day
-Long weekend to South Beach with Tim and Rach, in July—very hot!
-Nags Head, this time with 4 families (8 adults, 12 kids, one house!)
-Labor Day in Bowers with Pop and Noni.
-Alek started kindergarten!!
-Alek and Maks both playing soccer
-PopPop H passed away peacefully on October 7th and was remembered in a beautiful service on October 12th. He is deeply missed.
-I participated in Breast Cancer 3Day with my team The RackPack, though due to cold rain, it was a 1 day, but our teamed walked on our own all 3 days, for 40 miles and raised over 25k.
-Alek had 3rd set of tubes placed and his adenoids out
-Enjoyed our Thanksgiving and Christmas though it was hard and not the same without PopPop
-Trip to Bimini with Tim, Rach and their kids 12/26-1/2, great escape and a good way to end the decade and begin a new one.

An amazing decade it has been for our family, ups and downs, but many blessings! Can’t wait to see what the next decade in our journey holds!

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. Albert Einstein