Kaz-Japan Cuties

2010-11-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

An unexpected, but wonderful surprise means that our family is growing...again! Please visit us at our new "home": http://cech6.blogspot.com

Japan Town in the City

2010-03-30T00:22:00.000-07:00

It wasn't quite Tokyo, but watching Nikko and Emi shop for Japanese goodies and eat tempura in J-Town was reminicent of our time in Roppongi less than 6 months ago. Of course, the best part was having Miya there to add to the ~~chaos~~ fun. :-)

It's funny and quite remarkable to see how much Nikko has matured in 6 months. In Japan, Gregor had to carry him (or he sat strapped in the stroller) much of the time because he loved to wander off. And he was quick! Now, he sticks with us, just like Emi and Miya do. The three of them will hold hands and going out, like we did this weekend, is far less stressful than it would seem. It was a lovely day trip and, as the kiddos slept in the backseat on our way home, Gregor and I talked about how lucky we are to have them.

Birthdays and 5 months home

2010-03-09T15:37:00.001-08:00

With Nikko's arival into our family, we now celebrate all 3 kids birthdays within a span of 18 days in Feb. and March. A friend pointed out to me that all of their birthdays are in chronological order from oldest to youngest- Emi's first, then Nikko's and last Miya's. It's been a great time to focus on how unique and special our kiddos are...and we're so grateful for each of them.

Nikko has continued to amaze us. He has picked up on English amazingly fast and recently started preschool with Miya. His teachers are impressed with his ability to interact, problem solve and comprehend, after only being home for 5 months. Best of all, it looks like he'll be able to start kindergarten on schedule (Spet. 2011). Amazing. He's so incredibly resilliant, strong, sweet and loving.

We're also so proud of the girls, who loved their brother from Day 1 and never looked back. That was, perhaps my biggest concern when we decided to adopt Nikko. Fortunately, my 3 and 5 year old daughters were far wiser than me. :-) They were meant to be siblings. They'll argue over a toy or what to watch on TV one minute and, then next minute, I'll hear squeals of laughter (times 3) as they put on an impromptu song and dance show. A few hours later, we're likely to find them all asleep in one of their beds.

I've learned to let them work out disagreements on their own and that they're usually pretty good at it. As time goes on, and their relationships grow, I also see how much they really love each other. No doubt, Emi and Miya have helped Nikko become who he is today. Miracles definitely come in all shapes and sizes...and we're so lucky to have these three.

As luck would have it, Nikko and Miya both recently had the opportunity to model for the same company that Emi models for.

Celebrating Hina Matsuri

Big 5 year old Emi-chan

4 year old Nikko-chan

3 year old Mimi-chan

2010-02-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

The girls spent January showing Nikko two of their favorite places to visit-

Disneyland

...And North Shore Lake Tahoe. We hope he likes sand as much as he loves snow! :-)

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-03T00:55:00.000-08:00

Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2010!

A few recent pics of the Cech 3 :-)

2009-12-08T23:15:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!!

Warmest wishes from our blog to yours! :-)

What it means to be a "Little Citizen of the World"

2009-11-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

*Update - Thank you to Tea Collection for the Honorable Mention :-)

One of my favorite brands for our kids is Tea collection Children's Clothes. I discovered their adorable, culturally inspired clothing when Emi came home in 2005 and now, I'm pretty sure that every kiddo we know (especially those adopted from Japan) wears this brand. :-) They are having a writing contest this month. The topic? What does it mean to be a “little citizen of the world?” As we prepare for Nikko’s big Welcome Home shindig this weekend, I figured that this was a great opportunity to write about how thankful we are that he and his sisters joined our family in such a unique and special way.

When I think of the term, “little citizen of the world”, I immediately think of my 3 little wonders. From a tiny Soviet-era orphanage in rural Kazakhstan, to a small southern village in Japan, and all the way to our humble home in California, Emi, Nikko and Miya have definitely transformed our otherwise ordinary life, into an extraordinary family.

Gregor and I trekked to Kazakhstan 4 ½ years ago with high hopes, anticipation, and very little experience with the world outside of the United States. Barely married for 2 years, we traveled there to find our daughter and came home with so much more. We gained an appreciation for a unique culture and realized for the first time how much bigger and marvelous the world really was. Kazakhstan is a part of Emi and a part of us. And it is place we might never have seen without her.

With the adoption of Miya two years later, I was able to see the country of my own ancestors for the first time. We remember fondly how incredible it was to discover Japan with our beautiful 6 week old bundle in tow. And, just when we thought our family was complete…

We learned about a little boy, living in Japan, and our hearts told us that he was meant to be a Cech. We had already been so blessed twice by the gift of adoption and felt so grateful to be blessed with one more miracle. How lucky we are to know and love this precious little guy. Every day brings new wonders and the things we sometimes take for granted leave him wide-eyed. Nikko Junya has a way of swiftly warming his way into anyone's heart, just as he did ours. The future has wonderful things in store for him and we can't wait to share in all of his experiences.

The journey to our family has been wonderful- so unpredictable and random, yet so meant to be. Three unique journeys have given us a global view we never could have discovered otherwise. Far better than the journey though, is the reward- our 3 remarkable, amazing children. Because of them, our world is forever changed and
our lives are complete. The biggest lesson my three “little citizens” have taught me? More than anything, a family is built by love.

One of my favorites- Nikko and Emi in Asakusa (Nikko sporting the Asakusa Dragon Tee, of course!)

Miya's favorite vest and shirt- a hand-me-down from her big sis that still looks brand new

Happy little man

Adopting from Japan

2008-05-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

Many people have written to us regarding our adoption from Japan. While both of our girls (and their adoptions) are equally wonderful, beautiful blessings, we realize that there is a lot more information readily available to prospective parents about Kazakhstan adoptions than Japanese adoptions. We still maintain a private blog with an archive of our day to day experiences in Japan. However, I thought that it might be helpful to post some basic information regarding our agency and their Japan program here.

We were the first family to adopt from Japan through our agency, Across The World Adoptions, who also facilitated Emi’s adoption from Kazakhstan in 2005. For the record, ATWA has an AWESOME program and experienced team in Kazakhtan as well. In the past year since our Japanese adoption, many more children (mostly infants) have come home to the U.S. through this program. Although we were the first family to go through the program, everything went amazingly smoothly and efficiently. I have heard the same from the families who followed us.

There are a handful of other agencies that offer adoption programs in Japan and I always tell parents to research all of their options to find the program that best fits their family, no matter what country they are thinking of adopting from. ATWA’s is a birth mother program, meaning that the birth mother chooses a family based on their profile, pictures, etc. We loved the idea of Miya’s birth mother playing such a huge role in her placement. Because of this, we were not allowed to choose the gender of our child (this was fine with us, as we did not have a preference). While we already had a child at the time of Miya’s adoption, ATWA is currently taking applications from parents under 43 years of age who have been married for at least 3 years and have no children.

We were notified the day after Miya’s birth and traveled to Tokyo when she was 5 ½ weeks old. We spent 2 weeks in Japan, filing our I-600 at the embassy and obtaining her visa into the United States. ATWA’s amazing facilitator also accompanies families to their child’s appointments in Tokyo. We stayed at a hotel, but I believe that there is now a more affordable and convenient apartment option. Six months after returning home, we finalized Miya’s adoption in Sacramento and now, since time has a tendency to fly by when you have kiddos, we can’t believe that she has already been home for a year+. She is cute, smart, funny…but, more importantly, happy, healthy and well bonded to us.

We feel incredibly fortunate to have two uniquely remarkable daughters and welcome the opportunity to share our adoption experiences and advice. Again, for anyone wanting to read/see more about our adoption(s), please do not hesitate to send us a short e-mail at gecech@yahoo.com for our blog address and password.

Meeting Miya for the first time

Tokyo lit up at night

First bottle from Daddy

How time flies...

Pretty in blue

Sweet Miya-chan- 17 months old

Typical sisters who fight over the same toys, tattle on each other, and are inseparable best friends.

Our family

2007-10-29T00:20:00.000-07:00

We are the Cech Ohana from Sacramento, CA. Gregor and I (Eryn) have two beautiful daughters who have come into our lives through the miracle of adoption.

Emerson Grace (Emi) is our spunky, sassy girly-girl who came home from Kazakhstan in 2005. She is a bright, inquisitive, super-sweet 3 year old and a wonderful big sis. A year after adopting Emi, we were fortunate enough to be asked to travel to Japan to adopt another infant who needed a family. We returned home with Miya Claire when she was 6 weeks old. She is now a healthy, active 1 year old- a walking, talking bundle of smiles. Our girls are so different, yet so absolutely wonderful in their own ways and our family could not have been formed more perfectly.

We have a private blog and if anyone is interested in keeping up with us, please just shoot us a quick e-mail for the login information.

Emi waiting for us in Kazakhstan

Meeting Daddy for the first time

Emi at 3 years old

Miya Claire at 15 months old

The sisters in Disneyworld

Miya and Daddy in the Chicago snow

4th of July 08