Trip 2, Day 16

We haven't ventured out of the apartment with Andrei since we arrived. The whole leaving the orphanage ordeal was way more than I could handle. Our coordinator and translator just left after giving us all his paperwork. They asked where his snow boots were for the airport (we don't have any), is he going to wear the snow suit (yes), did you get tights (no) what are you going to put under this footie thing (anything you think he should have)...sigh. Why is this such an issue? The poor kid is going to be sweating out his bazookie as it is without the tights and snowboots. He doesn't walk; we're not going to be putting him down anywhere, and we're not going hiking up the mountain with him any time soon. I'm tired, I'm ready to go home, and the Russian culture and I are starting to have its clashes. I'm grateful that I was able to experience it and to get to know Andrei's original home. It is an entirely different way of life than I ever really expected; perhaps I will write about it another time, but right now I need to be home and see my girls.

I'm finishing laundry tonight--last call for clean undies for Moscow, Dear. We're starting to think Andrei may be a laid back sort of guy. He's definitely not wired for a 220v like Kennedi. God knew what I needed and could handle.

Trip 2, Day 15

No Sunday pictures. Internet was too slow to load them. I had such high hopes...Maybe when we get to Moscow. I'm so ready to leave here. Tomorrow Doug goes to get his passport, then we leave Tuesday night.

We've already seen such a change in Andrei. When we were at the orphanage and yesterday, all he'd crawl was 6 or 7 "steps" and then stop and sit. Today he's been all over this apartment--we've even had to "redirect" him a few times. He slept all night long. I think he got up around 7:00, but we didn't go get him, and we all fell back asleep until about 9:00. He took a 2 1/2 hour nap today, and another 1 hour nap this afternoon. Bedtime for him is 9:00PM--at least for now. We'll be changing that and few other "routines" he has going on. We've seen more smiles, and laughs today, and he's even clapping all by himself now. He's teething badly, and he's a heavy drooler. Drool and me don't share the same dance card. Right now his daddy is getting some big, deep belly laughs out of him. He has such a beautiful face when he's happy!

We HAD to give him a bath yesterday. It was a necessity for all of us if we were going to be in such close proximity to each other. Not sure what we were going to get, we put him in the bathroom sink. He had a jolly good time--no tears--and he managed to splash most of the water out, so Mom had quite a clean up job to do afterwards. We're moving to the tub tonight. I'm not sure when the last time he had a good bath, but the water was brown before we finished. There is still an (how do I say this nicely?) orphanage "funk" about his head, so he'll be getting another good scrubbin' tonight. We are thinking some of the challenge may be the fact that he is drinking alot more than he would have been at the orphanage, and those toxins in his little body are being released. Or, it could just be boy...

Trip 2, Day 14: Gotcha Day!

Announcing...

Andrei Leo-Jack

This morning began with a trip to two legal offices to pick up the certificate of adoption and his birth certificate, and then we were off to the orphanage. Our translator says, "Last time today!" It was an overwhelming thought; I was mixed full of apprehension and excitement. We're fixing to take this little boy from everything he has ever known; I feel so much like a first time parent--both the baby and the parent are on the same learning curve! The director asks for his clothes that we are dressing him in. I know we are already in trouble when she asks for the "long underwear". Nyet. Boys don't wear tights I want to scream, but I just hand her his socks instead. She shrugs and takes our "American wear" to his room. When we finally see him, he looks so handsome. We are brought the photo album we left with him and a new toy that they are sending with us. I knew that it was a gift for us, so I didn't ask about them returning the lion we left. We will get another one as I'm sure it became community property after we left on our first trip. Our translator takes our video camera and films us trying to get this baby in this sweating hot snowsuit. She asks if we have his snow boots with us. I say no. She shakes her head in disapproval at the shoes I put on him. She tells us we're going to have to get his feet covered, so we cram his feet up into the legs of his snowsuit. We put his hat on and then I figure they will want the snowsuit hood on top of that as well, (why not???) but they all shake their heads--not the right thing to do either. (sigh). We head out, and Doug about gets run over by one of the orphanage workers by the door. She starts yelling something in Russian and points to his legs. One of his feet got free and she saw skin! Oh, the travesty! By this time, Doug and I are sweating so much from the challenges we're having just getting him out the the building. I'm trying to stay between Doug and this worker so she can't see his foot keep coming out of his snowsuit. She follows us out the door trying to get a glimps of any skin. We take a quick photo, but it's really not a happy moment then. We're both gritting our teeth and ready to get in the "safety" of our apartment. Once in the car our translator says we will have to get some tights on him when we go to the airport because the little old ladies will not leave us alone if they see any skin exposed on a child.

Andrei does really well with the car ride. No throw up! That's always a positive in my book. He checked out our oven and the chrome table legs on our table. He had his first Gerber meal. We warmed everything up in hot water; he had cauliflower, some kind of pureed meat and carrots, and peaches (which he loved!). I'm sure he doesn't get many fruits there. In fact, they told us that when they do get fruit, they take dried fruit and put it in boiling water to reconsititute it. He drank out of his first sippy cup with a straw! Yeah! He is such a smart boy! I told him his tea drinking days were over. He got his first "bedtime" story read to him by his daddy, and then Doug sang the same song to him he sings to our girls. We put him in his crib, and just decided to see what happens. Within 60 seconds, he was standing up. Doug kept saying, "night night." He just looked at him. I then said to him, "Spa-coin-a noche" (good night in Russian) and he starts crying! The boy understands Russian! Doug lays him back down, he cries for about 15 seconds, and falls asleep sucking his thumb. (Good thing that thumb is coming to Texas with us!) He's napping now--right on the orphanage schedule.

Doug is out trying to find some food for us. He's going to Kentucky Fried Chicken and hopefully they will serve it in some kind of to go box like home so he can bring me something. (I know, I know, I can't believe we haven't venture there before now myself.) If not, he's off in search of some deli we've heard several adoptive parents talk about.

It is a surreal feeling; I told Andrei that God had such a special plan for him. God didn't bring his parents all the way to Russia for him just to sit in flower garden. He will be used mightily in the kingdom of God, and I am so thankful that I get to be along for the ride!

Trip 2, Day 13

Tomorrow is the big day! The visit at the orphanage was a good one this morning. No tears, and only one episode of the "crying face." We were in the same room today with another American couple from Michigan who was adopting twin girls. We met together at Moma Romas for a late lunch. We got in trouble with the waitress as we were too loud.

We got to see where our little guy sleeps. All the children in his play group (14 of them) all sleep in one room. The room is lined with cribs, and the middle of the room has the toddler beds. The wanted us to stay and watch him eat so we'd know how much he was used to eating. I thought that was strange until I saw the "banquet" set before him. He had a huge bowl of soup, followed by pureed chicken liver and a huge mound of mashed potatoes. It was a huge amount of food. He drunk it all down with tea from his China cup. I think we're going to have to go back to the grocery store and get more food.

We're being picked up around 9:00AM to do some more paperwork, and then off to the orphanage! Please pray for our little guy--he has no idea what's about to happen to him, and pray that Doug and I will have the wisdom we need to parent this little boy.

Trip 2, Day 12

Today was a surprise field trip to get our little boy's passport photo taken. We got to see first hand at how the Russians dress their little ones for the cold. First layer: tights and a onesie; second layer: button down long sleeve shirt and overalls; third layer: a sweatshirt; fourth layer: snow suit; fifth layer: a hat so thick and heavy it could keep a fully naked streaker warm in the Artic and snow boots that were about 10 sizes too big. Mind you, he doesn't walk, but he's prepared in case today is the day! So we picked up our 50 pound bundle of joy (NOT!), and our coordinator, translator, Doug, me, a very young caregiver from the orphanage and our little boy make a freakish break for the car parked only within a few steps of the orphange door. Ahhh...thanfully no frost bite set in. The photo place is archaic to say the least. They have their "victims" (excuse me, customers) posted all over the room. We decide they all look like Ma and Pa Kettle from 1890. Does anyone smile around here? When we got back to the orphanage, the rest of our visit was spent mainly with him crying. He was not a happy camper at all today. As a side note, after we had arrived this morning, we were taking off our coats in the director's office, and she was telling our translator that our little boy had been happy and laughing all morning. Lena translates for us, and then adds chuckling, "Of course, he hasn't seen you yet!"

At straight up 12:00, a caregiver comes and get him. We go downstairs to get our coats and then walk out. The other day the door to the room where our little boy spends the majority of his time was open as we left. Doug saw him in a giant playpen with 4 other babies. This must make up his "play group" we were told about. He was also down to the onesie and tights, which makes us think that the clothes he wears for us are for "the show" (aka: his Sunday best) and then they shuck them as soon as he gets back. We're supposed to be able to take pictures of where he sleeps and eats before we leave; maybe tomorrow or Saturday before we pick him up.

OK, you know things are mundane when I have to blog about the tv around here, so here goes. It's all in Russian, and it's pretty much filled with half naked women doing things with their bodies that they weren't designed to do, so we have it off most of the time. What's rather amusing is the two sports channels. They show a lot of US college basketball games. You can hear the American announcers in the back ground of the voice over in Russian. Lots of skiing and hockey played on tv too. They have a music video channel with interesting music. They have one song titled I Was Drunk and the entire video has this baby Hitler boy in it. He's a little blonde haired baby that they have put one of those "Hitler" moustaches on. I have a picture, but sadly, it's not Sunday. My favorite channel though is the exercise channel. I've mentioned before that we have seen very few overweight Russians here. Turns out, they hang out on the exercise channel. American TV only has skinny and very fit people doing their workouts because, as we all know, if you buy this workout dvd, you too can have a body that looks like this. In Russia they prefer the more realistic approach and aren't making promises to anybody about anything. It's very refreshing if you ask me; America could do with a serious dose of reality. It's the same set all day long for every workout. Every exercise show has 4 people in the same position on the same 4 purple exercise mats. In America the instructors wear dark clothes to hide the sweat, but not so here. I was watching this one show and the head dude was in a light red shirt and grey shorts and his clothes were wringing with sweat--around the neck, down his chest, all over his back, down the hiney crack--you get the picture. It was everywhere. I can imagine the director saying, "Work eeet--work eeet! Theee women looove to see sweeet!" I saw another "exercise" program (I say exercise rather loosely) that showcased belly dancers doing their thing with the finger cymbals. Over and over and over all they did was clang their fingers in some 6 beat rhythm. Sometimes on their feet, some times on their knees, and sometimes in criss cross applesauce, but that's all they did. What's sadder? The fact that I watched it for over 20 minutes or that I'm telling you about it?

Trip 2, Day 11

The "new" of Krasnoyarsk has faded. The days are getting really long. We've started to adjust to the time change, and we're able to sleep to around 7:00 in the mornings now. We'd probably sleep longer, but the workers start scraping and shoveling the ice then, and it is quite loud. They use shovels made entirely out of wood. I have a picture, but our 3G internet (I'm starting to think it may by a lower case g...) doesn't have enough get up and go to post pictures any time except Sunday mornings. There are no blizzards around here. It is too cold to snow very much. They get light dustings quite often, but that is about it. Our American friends said they will get a big snow at the beginning of winter and again near spring when the temps start to stay around only freezing. So, they workers actually sweep the snow off the sidewalks with these witch's brooms or scrap the packed snow which turns to ice with their shovels.

The excitement around here is enough to set my hair on fire. Our typical routine consists of getting up, fixing our instant coffee (thank the Lord I brought powdered creamer from home), and reading some. We shower and then wait for Lena to call about 9:45 to say that she is downstairs waiting for us. We head to the orphanage and usually get back around 12:30 or so. Lena drops us off somewhere, we eat lunch, and usually just go to the grocery store to grab water and stuff to munch on, and then head back "home." We use the afternoon to read, email, blog. We usually eat supper around 6:00 or so (instant soups, spaghetti, etc) and about 7:00 we begin watching a DVD we brought from home. We've watched everything we've brought, so we are now on reruns. We Skype our girls either in the morning or evening--whenever we have the best internet connection. We then are off to our bed in the town of Bedrock. Did I mention everything in our apartment is Flintstone quality? My rear is numb from sitting in our chairs; our bed/pillows are made from remenants of cement. Surely our Marriott hotel in Moscow will have big fluffy pillows and comfortable chairs. And that folks, is about as exciting as it gets around here. Doug thinks this reminds him of college. I think it could be worse. I am so grateful of our new American friends who got us out of this monotony for 3 days this past week. I will say though that as bored as we are and as much as I miss my girls, I am thankful that we have been here. Our little boy is getting used to us before he is turned loose with us, and I can't imagine trying to deal with the jet lag associated with a 13 hour time difference and handling him at the same time.

I was getting tired of waiting on Doug to get dressed this morning...he's worse than a girl sometimes, and he looked at me and said, "We're in Siberia. Does 10 minutes really matter?" Point taken my dear.

It is freezing cold here today. The cold from Moscow has finally arrived, but today called for shopping as we don't have many free days left. We went back to the children's clothing store and got our girls some beautiful knit hats. We then headed for the ice slides. I have a picture of Doug going down it, but it's not Sunday, so you can't see a picture of it yet...By now my fingers are so frozen they are throbbing in pain, so we go into our favorite bar/restaurant to eat lunch. Our next stop is the souvinier shop. We realize we got taken big time on our first trip when we bought some stuff at the airport--it was like paying $10 for a hotdog at a ball park.

Saturday is the big day! I can't tell if the judge counted the weekends in our 10 days or not. Do they count the day of court as Day 1 or not? Do they count "pick up" day as day 10? The Krasnoyarsk court system doesn't have a suggestion box, but if it did, I would suggest moving their adoption court cases to Thursday or Friday--that way the parents wouldn't get caught on the weekend. Even though we pick him up on Saturday, we are in limbo around here until Monday when we can apply for his passport.

Trip 2, Day 10

No tears today!!!! He had several episodes of making his crying face, but then he'd stop. It was really quite comical. More of his personality is coming out, and we've decided he is all boy. His favorite thing to do by far is clang the stacking cups together or beat them on other toys to make noise. He also pulled himself to standing, and we've watched him crawl on all fours, but he doesn't go very far when he does. It's almost like he has this invisible boundary he doesn't cross. We were asked not to visit tomorrow because it is a national holiday here--something similar to our veterans day maybe. It is freezing cold here today (-17) and it's expected to be even colder this week--should have got all our running around they day it was +32 degrees the other day!

Eating around here is interesting. I find it amusing that there is so much Italian food. Pizza is everywhere! I think our favorite place so far is this bar several blocks from here. They don't speak English there, but they have menu with pictures, so we do the pick and point thing. Doug ordered a close cousin to American fajitas the other day, and they were really, really good. I think I like that place so much because they play 60s, 70s, and early 80s American music on the video screen. I've seen Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, Jefferson Starship, the Supremes, Roy Orbinson.... Why they play it in English when no one there speaks it is beyond me, but I think I could stay there all afternoon and just sit. I can't believe how "relaxing" it is to listen to something I can understand.

We've found some interesting Lays potato chips around here. They have crab flavor, bacon flavor, and green onion flavor--we're talking serious green onion flavor. They have these instant soups we've been living on at night that taste like liquid Stove Top Stuffing. Delish!!! The glasses are small by American standards. It doesn't matter if it is a coffee cup or a water glass--and heaven forbid drink your bottled water out of the bottle--you pour it into a glass. They are all small sizes. There are no "to-go" cups to be had. No body walks around with any food or drink in their hands. The restaurant portions are smaller too. We've found it interesting that we have seen very few overweight Russians here. Hmmm....

The gum here is substandard Doug says. I wouldn't know; I don't chew it. He says it's tougher and doesn't last as long as what you'd buy in the states--even the American brands like Wrigley. They don't have a lot candy around here. We have yet to find an aisle filled with hard candy like in the US. What they do have, however, is chocolate. And it is good stuff!!

We went to this place called Micks the other day. It's like a Furrs Cafeteria. No one speaks English, and I had no idea what I was picking out to eat. I think this was pretty authentic Russian type food here. I chose some kind of salisbury looking meat with sauce and I chose red sauce to go on top. I won't be going with the red sauce again--not a good move on my part. I was not crazy about it at all, but we both ate for a total of $10 US!

The Russians eat later than we do. Their typical lunch hour is from about 1:30-2:30PM. We were always eating around noon, and the restaurants were empty. I thought no body ate out. Then one day we got back from the orphanage late, and didn't get out to eat until nearly 2:00. It was packed. They expect you to take off your coat and hang it up on a coat rack. It is not kosher to keep it at your chair. I was in Moma Romas today, and our waitress explained to me in Russian that there was a coat rack to hang my coat. It was packed with coats, so I just kept it on my chair. She came by several times and pointed to the hangars. When one opened up, I put my coat there. I then turn around, and she's taken Doug's into her own hands and is putting it up. I never would have imagined that sitting with your coat at the table would require a Zantac! :)

By the way, Doug can't keep his hands off my Snoopy puzzle that he scoffed at before we left the states! LOL

Trip 2, Day 9

We visited the orphanage this morning. Things are getting better. He's feeling better, and he only cried a few times this time. He even laughed with Doug a few times! Yeah!

We attended church yesterday with our American friends. It was at a Russian Baptist Church--not to be confused with the Southern Baptists back home. It was all in Russian, but our friends translated it for us. They even had a few songs that we were familiar with! Since we were visitors, they gave us the New Testament Bible--it looks like a little Gideon Bible but in Russian! It will be an experience that we won't forget. They then took us to the market area. That was a sight to see. It was like a giant flea market except it was full of fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, fish, and fresh chickens and beef. They even have home canned vegetables for sale that the booth owners made themselves. No, they don't use Kerr or Mason jars. It was basically any ole empty jar with a lid. At the beef area, they actually cut the meat in front of you that morning. The giant axes were still out from the day's "kill." Customers go along, touch and finger the meat, and then put their gloves back on. The workers handle to raw meat with their bare hands, hand you your change with the same hands, and move on to the next customer. Needless to say, we didn't buy any of that--but we did opt for oranges and baked walnuts with the help of our "interpreters!" I have a picture of us at one of the meat counters, but I can't upload if today...maybe tomorrow.

I washed a load of clothes yesterday. I was out of undies--Doug said he wasn't and I didn't want to know why not....We think there are a lot of minerals in the water. A lot! There isn't a dryer here, so that doesn't help. But literally, my underwear can stand up on its own. Our clothes feel like they've been turned to sandpaper. Doug's shirt sleeves are so stiff the sleeves stick out. My white socks aren't so white any more. After just one washing, they are a dingy yellow white color. It's so bad that we have resigned ourselves to keeping our dirty stuff around just a bit longer because it's still soft! :) In fact, Doug is bit perturbed with me now because I washed some socks of his that were "just getting broken in."


How many wheels on the sidewalk does it take to park your car? One or two?

Trip 2, Day 8

When I'm sutdying my Bible this morning, I felt led to read Psalm 68. I'm diddty-boppin- along and come to verses 5-6:

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families."

I don't know how those who struggle with infertility feel--I can only imagine the pain, frustration, and void in their hearts. We, however, did not enter this adoption needing to fill a void in our lives (at least not me anyway.) We had two beautiful, healthy girls, and if that was all we'd ever have, we'd be satisfied and feel blessed--boy or not. But it was God who began knocking on the door of our hearts years ago--it was Him who put a desire to go "get" a little one without a father and give him a home--our home.

I realized that this adoption was so much bigger than simply a way for Doug and me to add to our family. I am truly humbled that God would use us to give one of His little ones a family. That he would turn my heart, which had never been moved towards adoption (oh, it was a great thing for others to do, but it wasn't for me) and fill me with a desire that was contrary to my flesh. To bring us to a foreign nation in search of a boy--thinking in the back of our minds we'd choose Russia because this boy--whomever he was--would look like us--and finding that our package was not wrapped as we had envisioned.

No one can tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor! For those of you who don't know, after Kennedi was born, Doug kept bugging me about when we were going to have another one. He told me he saw a picture of our family, and there was a little boy in it. I, who was in no way ever going to get pregnant again, said to him one day, "I hope that boy in your picture is Chinese because that's the only way it's going to happen." And as a testimony to the power of your words, our little boy has Asian features. I am in awe at how God has melted my feelings of apprenhension towards adoption years ago, and He has opened our hearts to a little boy who isn't going to look at all like my Polish side of the family! I look at my husband who has tears in his eyes when he talks about what beautiful skin our son has or how straight his knees are (he's thinking football I know!). God has given Doug a son, and He has given us the opportunity to experience just a small taste of what He must feel when He adopted us when it says, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ..." Eph 1: 4-5.

I don't have everything figured out; even since we've gotten here, I've wondered on several occasions if we have fallen off our rockers by doing all this, and the stress of the unknown of bringing this little "stranger" into our home scares the wildfire out of me some minutes of the day. I do know that God will use our story and our family to further His purpose, that our cup will runneth over with blessings because of our willingness to be obedient, and I know that I can do all things through Christ.

Trip 2, Day 7

Here's how the orphanage visit went today:
Happy Birthday to you (waaaaah)
Happy Birthday to you (waaaaah)
Happy Birthday dear ????? (louder waaaaah)
Happy Birthday to you (waaaaah)

(sigh)...Still crying, but I think we're down to about 70% of our visit now. We even managed to get a belly laugh out of him before we left. But as soon as he stopped laughing, he started crying again. It's like he's having a good time and then realizes he's not supposed to be. We saw him crawl on all fours just a bit today.

We had an incredible blessing today. We have been in contact with some Americans living over here, and they picked us up today and we had lunch at their home this afternoon. It was so nice to get away from our apartment and have a conversation in English. Unfortunately they are Green Bay Packer fans and not Cowboy fans, but I won't hold it too much against them as the food we ate was the best we've had in 7 days!! Doug is already trying to brainwash their children to thinking University of Oklahoma is the best. Thank you guys for a wonderful afternoon!! :)

Trip 2, Day 6

We got to visit our little boy today! He's is still on antibiotics, and he still feels yucky, but at least we got to see him. 90% of our time today was spent with him crying (again). He loved everybody in the room except us! As soon as our coordinator or translator would speak Russian, he'd whirl around and look for them. Before we left, however, we played "airplane" with him, and we Americans finally got him to laugh. He has such a beautiful face when he laughs. He is very sullen looking when he isn't smiling. I'm starting to be amused by it. The director assured us again today that he is usually a very happy and smiling baby! Our coordinator is calling the head orphanage lady in charge this afternoon to see if we can visit tomorrow since it is his birthday. We don't have anything planned, but we will make up for it some time after we get home! :)

The weather is extremely warm today-- a big 37 degrees so far this afternoon. You'd never know it from looking at everyone though. Everybody still has his coat buttoned or zipped all the way up (unlike me), everybody still has on a hat (unlike me), and everybody is still wearing gloves (unlike me). Doug is really into the Russian culture as he looks just like them bundled up except today he put the "ears" of his Elmer Fudd hat up instead of letting them drop down like a Beagle puppy. On a personal note, I hate his hat...We step into our apartment and start sweating. Actually, we walk around here half dressed because it's so hot in here. We bought some chocolate. It melts in our apartment. There is this black sooty stuff everywhere you walk. It gets on the bottom of your shoes and makes such a mess all over the floors. They constantly have people with their mops cleaning it up. Doug thinks it's from the coal chimney scrubbers they have around here. No EPA around here that's for sure! At any rate, today with temps above freezing, it is quite nasty walking around. I can't imagine what it is like in the spring when serious thawing occurs.

We bought the girls some super cute shirts today--lots of bling--Kennedi's kind of style. I hope they fit. Their sizes are nothing like in the US. All the sales ladies ask us how high they are and then show us the growth chart. I still can't figure it out and I've been to three stores now. I think we'll go back later next week and get them some knit hats that were absolutely cute--don't wanna do too much shopping in one day...

Every time we talk to the girls, Annsley asks why I'm not speaking Russian. I mean, I'm in Russia after all! I have some great pictures to share, but Blogger, our internet, and me are still going round and round. Maybe later!

Trip 2, Day 5

Our translator called last night; our little boy is still sick and we don't get to see him again...maybe Friday. (sigh) It's hard to understand that he is not officially ours until the 10 day wait is over, so nobody cares that we want to see him...It's a balmy 19 degrees this afternoon, and it has snowed all morning long. It's really an amazing thing walking around here. Just about daily there is at least a dusting of snow during the night. You walk on top of several inches of ice, but it's really not that slippery because there is always snow powder on top of it.



We walked several blocks down from our apartment and found what would be considered "main street" area. The city plays music over loud speakers in this part of town. We heard the theme from Dr. Zhivago (how appropriate)! They have some serious decorative lighting going on over the streets there. I don't know if it's lit up all year round at night or it's just left over from the holiday (they still have their huge city Christmas tree up). We only get out once a day, and trying to spread to fun out over 10 days, we've been limiting our "sightseeing" to just a little each day. Sometimes, it's just to a restuarant for lunch and the grocery store for our daily supply of bottled water. (Yesterday we did a very unRussian thing and bought 2 big jugs of water...oh--living on the edge!:) I've finally been able to figure out how "still" is spelled in Russian; they seem to really like sparkling water over here. There is a lot of it; I have, by mistaken, chosen that bottle, and when I was brushing my teeth I looked like a rabid dog before I was finished.



I've been amazed at the ratio of Mercedes, Lexus, Land Rovers over here. Either free enterprise is doing rather well over here (and I think it is) or the prices aren't eaten up in tarriffs, but really, you see them everywhere--along with the 1960s Beetle Bug vans, old army Mash looking trucks and Ford looking Pintos of course. The cars park however. I don't think they have painted lanes for cars to park; some are parked parallel; others are parked at a 90 degree angle right next to them. Some park on the sidewalk. (More than you would think--it's not an isolated incident!) I'll leave you with a photo from today: (well, maybe not...Blogger and our internet aren't cooperating right now.)

Trip 2, Day 4

So I got in bad trouble today by the grocery store manager. The grocery stores here are tiny to say the least. There are no big boxes, bags, bottles of anything to be had. No 12 MegaRolls of toilet paper--only a 4 pack (and the toilet paper over here leaves something to be desired. I bought Kleenex brand (no, I'm not at wiz at reading the cryillic alphabet--it said Kleenex on the wrap)It's 3 ply but it feels like it's been sprayed with starch. Not cushy on the tushy let's just say...) No gallon of milk, no 104 pack of diapers, etc. Everything is small size. I didn't really understand why until we got this apartment. We're on the 4th floor--no elevator--and after the first trip to the grocery store which is about 2 blocks away, I fully understood why small is in. #1: You try lugging your 96 load jug of Tide along with your 2 gallons of milk and family pack of hamburger up four flights of stairs...#2: Once you get your items into your apartment, you have no room to store it--literally. Our kitchen has 3 cabinets. Take away one for the dishes, that leaves 2. Take away another for your skillet and pots and pans. That leaves one for your goodies. I'm guessing everyone goes to the store every day or every other day around here. There would be no way you could do once a week shopping. So, back to the grocery store manager...I decided this morning that I just had to get some pictures of the grocery store. Not so much because of the items they had, but rather because of the size of the items they did have. Not a good idea. The manager was mad! I didn't understand a word he said except for "nyet" (NO) and his pantomine of using a camera, but I got the message loud and clear. I almost thought he was going to haul me off to the "policia." So, I have only one grocery store picture to share and then I had my own little Vanna hold up our box of laundry detergent.
This is the selection of veggies available. The fruit section is just as "big". This is as far as I made it before my camera about got confiscated.


This is laundry detergent. It's about the size of a small box of automatic dish detergent back home. And no, it is not concentrated. One cup will still do a load.
(Yes, Doug is wearing a t-shirt. It's -3 outside, but it's 85 in our apartment!) Our coordinator didn't call this morning, so our little boy is still sick. Hoping we get to visit him tomorrow!

Trip 2, Day 3: COURT!

The judge said YES! Now we have the 10 day waiting period and can pick him up Saturday the 26th!

It turned cold again during the night--something like -20 when we left our apartment this morning. I didn't realize how nice those +10 temps had been! We arrive at the courthouse at around 9:15AM. Doug is armed with his index cards of notes since he'll be having to answer the majority of the questions. The court house is not like that in the US where you have people walking in and going wherever they need to. Here you check in with the "guard" and then sit in the waiting area for whomever it is you are waiting on. The court secretary comes to get us about 9:45, we all run through a turn stile and metal detector, and then head up a flight of stairs, down a long hall, and down a flight of stairs, and into the court room. Doug, I, and our translator sit at a table facing the judge's bench. At another table is a representative from MOE and the psychologist from the orphanage. The prosecutor comes in dressed head to toe in a light blue military looking suit and sits near the judge's bench. The court secretary sits to the side of the judge's bench. And so we wait for the judge to appear. Then I notice the bars at the side of the court room. This is where the criminals go during their court appearances. They are literally in a cell inside the court room. It is very intimidating to say the least.

The judge comes in and we all stand. Doug and I each have to state our names, occupations, birth dates, and address. Then we submit our photo album and medicals and state that we elect our translator to translate for us. Then the "interview" begins. The questions are mainly for Doug. He does a great job, and I am thankful they want him to do most of the talking! The judge and prosecutor go through their questions which takes about an hour. Then I get my turn; I only get about 5 questions and then our part is over. The lady from MOE goes through the parental background of our little boy and how he came to be in the orphanage. Then the psychologist from the orphanage describes our meeting with him yesterday and gives her recommendation for him to be adopted. We then all leave the room except for the judge and wait in the hall for about 5 minutes. We're called back in, and the judge announces that she believes it would be in the best interest of our little boy for him to go home with us!

The orphange doesn't want us to visit him today since he is sick. Our coordinator will call us in the morning if we can go see him tomorrow. I'm just in awe thinking about how this judge's decision has changed the course of this little boy's life.

Outside the Krasnoyarsk Court House after our court appointment!


On a side note, I think we're getting the hang on the Russian way of sitting around at the restaurant table for quite a while after you finish eating. We've decided that we really don't have anything else to do in this frozen tundra!

Trip 2, Day 2

Our coordinator and translator picked us up at 7:45 this morning. Our day started with our 8 doctor medical. Our experience was quite different than others that I've read who have had theirs done in Moscow or St. Petersburg. From what I've read, you go to one medical building and see all the doctors there. Such a place doesn't exist in Krasnoyarsk. Ours started with the drug and alcohol rehab doctor across town. So, armed with SeaBands and ginger candy, I kept my eyes closed all in attempt to keep from getting car sick this time. We finally reach this place, go in, and our coordinator takes our passports--why I don't know but we don't ask questions. We are escorted into this small room with a guy in a white lab coat sitting behind a desk. He does not smile. We are asked only a few questions. "What your occupation? How long has it been since you last drank alcohol? Do you need a drink of alcohol in the morning if you've had a drink at night? What is your favorite type of alcohol? Have you ever used drugs?" He signs some papers and we leave. Now we're off to the psychiatrist. I keep my eyes closed during the car ride. Doug tells me it's a good thing. All I know is I'm still not carsick and if I don't have to watch us play tag with other cars, that's OK by me. The psychiatrist's office is a hopping place. I can only wonder why in my brain, but believe me the hall was packed. There is no such things as waiting rooms like in the US. Lining the hall, there are benches beside each door, and you sit there until it's time to go into your room. We finally get to go in our door, and there is a lady sitting behind a desk in a white lab coat. She is much more friendlier than the first one. She asks us what our occupations are and wants us to tell a little about ourselves. We do and she signs some papers. Next on the list is the oncologist and so forth. And so it is with our 8 doctor medical.

We then head to the orphanage. Our little boy is sick. He has gotten taller we think and has started to thin out a bit. Our hour is spent mainly with him crying whenever Doug tries to play with him or pick him up. We have some delightful footage of big ole crocodile tears streaming down his face while Doug is carrying him. All he wants is for me to hold him. It is a totally different scenario than when we were here the first time. He doesn't want to play; he wants to be held. He eventually falls asleep on my shoulder. We go to the director's office and ask any more questions and get his schedule for the day. It is amazing. I'll share it some time later. By the way, he has had his hair cut. I'm not impressed at at; Doug thinks it looks awesome, but come on, how can you give an 11 month old a buzz??????

Our coordinator and translator drop us off at Moma Roma's for lunch; we get the pictures we the took at orphanage today developed to hand to the judge tomorrow, and later this afternoon they stopped by the apartment to go over what to expect at court. We are being picked up tomorrow at 9:00 AM. Our translator reminded us that we are the only country who is still using AM and PM--and feet and gallons. We have our judge's first court appointment in the morning at 9:30 (8:30 PM CST Monday). Please be in prayer with us that we will be found favorable in her eyes.

We're Here!

We made it to our apartment about 8:00AM Sunday (Krasnoyarsk time). We were serenaded in the car to that techno disco beat stuff they play around here, and we were exposed once again to the "speed-pull out in front of oncoming traffic-and duck back into your lane" driving technique that seems to be perfected and expected around here. It's actually warmer here than it was when we we're here in December--a lot warmer. That's good since we're fixing to make our way to the grocery store to by some supplies--I feel like I'm camping.

Our flight from Houston to Frankfurt were on Lufthansa. Very nice--I'd fly them again in a heartbeat. Hot wet towels before a meal, real silverware, real butter, and they actually turn out the lights and it's dark on the plane--and while the Russians seem to like their vodka, it appears that Germans like their wine. Wine was offered before the meal, during the meal, and after the meal. Red or white? The flight attendants just walked up and down the aisle with the bottles refilling as needed. After the meal, an attendant walks down the aisle selling cigarettes--but you can't have that after dinner smoke on the airplane, so I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that one it...

I think we spent $48 on 2 coffees and 2 muffins at Frankfurt Airport (I haven't done the exchange rate on Euros yet, but that is what Doug tells me we spent. How he knows I don't know...) Anyway, I promptly spilled my cup of mocha all over an unsuspecting French Canadian and her suitcase and so I hardly got to enjoy my overpriced purchase. Our gate was moved to what I'll refer to as the dungeon part of Frankfurt Airport--it was on the ground floor, no windows except for the giant revolving door which led you to none other than the busses. Yes, Frankfurt particpates in the same terminal to bus program just like Russian airports do. What is with all these European airports and not having enough catwalks for everyone to enjoy?

We flew into DMO airport this time. I don't know if it was because of the recent bombing attack or not, but security was so much tighter and guards with guns and big sticks were walking every where. Smoking is not permitted in the airport except in the "smoking" rooms. The smokers are supposed to go into a designated room with doors and to their thing there. These rooms have glass windows, and the smoke is so thick I have no idea how anybody can walk out of there myself. You literally look into that room and just see pillows of dark gray clouds. There are a few rebels however who choose to smoke outside the room; security is never called. I'm pretty sure they were "smokin' in the boys' room" too because when I walked past the bathroom door there was just this thick haze pouring out of the door. Noone seems to care that the rules are being broken.

Our airline that flew us to Krasnoyarsk was head to toe Sonic green. Not just any green. We're talking lime--glow in the dark lime with either a hot pink or bright red spot on the tail. The fleet parked out in the middle of the runway (which we were bussed to, of course!) looked like it was radioactive. I'll leave you with a
picture because I wouldn't have believed it myself.

These lucky people got to enjoy the catwalk to their plane ride:


We, however, got to brave the elements in order to board our own neon plane. I have pictures, but Blogger isn't loading them right now.

We're being picked up at 7:45 in the morning as we have a busy day--visit to the orphanage, 8 doctor medical, prepping for court! (Again, I apologize for spell check--it's not working in English...)

Twas the Night Before Departure

New tickets are booked for tomorrow--we're just waiting to get the email confirmation. We are assessed a penalty for changing, but at least we don't have to pay for brand new flights. What an expensive piece of paper! (aka The FedEx Fiasco). We left the house yesterday in such a hurry since we had to swing by the FedEx office on the other end of town the morning after our 40 mph blizzard that I forgot to pack several things. We have actually repacked tonight and have gotten rid of an entire suitcase. Can you say amen on that one! Thank you whomever invented compression bags! Little boy has way more stuff than either of us, but that is OK. I'd rather have too much of his stuff since we're heading into unknown territory with him. My girls are with their Mimi tonight. I already miss them terribly. The house is so quiet. But I am thankful that I got to go with them to their Valentine Party this afternoon and spend another day with them.

It's rather strange. Doug and I feel such a peace about leaving tomorrow compared to how we were feeling Tuesday and Wednesday. We were both topped out on the wigged out scale. It's so weird thinking that the next time I walk through our door, we'll have a new little boy with us, and the life we have come to know will be no longer. It's bittersweet and yet so exciting to think what God has in store for us, our family, and our new little boy.

We are so thankful for everyone who has been praying for us; it's so unbelievably comforting to know that. We are blessed beyond measure with awesome friends, family, blog friends and strangers who care about us!

The FedEx Saga

We're still here...in Texas...at our home...Continental Flight CO32 left without us this afternoon.

We've been waiting on that home study "addendum" our judge requested to get back to our house. The weather has been absolutely crazy in Texas. It all started Monday, January 31 when our home study agency FedEx'd it to us. It didn't arrive until Thursday! Dallas was shut down with their ice storm. I race to FedEx Thursday afternoon and overnight it to Austin to our courier to get apostilled. It doesn't get to the courier until late Monday afternoon--too late to get it to the Secretary of State's office. Austin was having their ice storm. Our courier dropped it off at FedEx on Tuesday morning, and all things well it should have been here Wednesday morning, just in time for us to head to the airport. Enter our blizzard. I could tell by the tracking that it wasn't going to be at our house by 10:30am, so I called to get it held at the FedEx office to pick up. We were thinking the worse case scenario would be we would have to go ahead to the airport and get checked in, and a brave friend of our would go to FedEx, pick it up, and hand deliver it to us at the airport before we boarded. The FedEx truck actually made it to town this morning, but there were snow drifts in the parking lot, and the truck could not be unloaded. It was sitting in the street until the snow could be moved. We asked if they could just get on the truck and get our little envelope. No. Can you at least try to get the truck into the parking lot? No.

Could we at least bring a scanned/faxed copy of it to court? Our agency's Russian office basically said don't come to Russia without the orginal apostilled document. So, we head off this morning at 10:30 to the FedEx office hoping that by the time we got there they'd have the snow removed and we could get our document and still get to the airport on time. No. The snow removal crew was called at 4:00am, but they still hadn't shown up. We saw the truck in the street. So close. We begged. We considered hiring someone to come move the snow for them. At 11:30 we knew we weren't going to make our flight; there was actually a later Contintental flight we could take, but it would only give us 30 minutes to make our connection and we have to change terminals in Houston, so the chances of us missing our flight to Germany was pretty great and we'd still be stuck in the same position we were except without a bed to sleep in tonight. We change our flights tentatively to Friday to arrive in Kras on Sunday now. We go and eat, and stop by FedEx before heading home. Hallelujah! They are moving the snow. It will be approximately 2 hours before they will have our package scanned and ready to be picked up. We head home. I take a nap. I am emotionally drained. Our agency is letting our coordinator in Kras know our new schedule and to see if we can get all our appointments completed on Monday now--the day before court. We should hear something back tonight or in the morning. Fed Ex just called and our package is ready for pick up. We'll head over through the frozen tundra to pick it up before heading to church for tonight.

Part of me is frustrated and the other part of me is thinking, "I have two more days with my girls." I've been doing a lot of crying this week thinking about leaving them. I knew it was going to be difficult; I just didn't really know.

With our new schedule, we are going back through our bags and taking only the bare minimum. We were already planning to wear our clothes 2-3 times before washing--except the underwear--I have to have clean underwear--Doug, well he could go days I'm sure on one pair--but after hauling all the stuff to the car this morning, we're pairing down even more. Our court clothes is what's taking up so much room!!! That and Doug's shoes and baby clothes and baby bottles and baby blanket, and girls' dresses for the orphanage.... (A big huge thank you to all of you who donated!! We are taking nearly 30 dresses to bless the orphanage with!!)

A Little Potpourri

Last call for baby girl dresses! Doug and I thank all of you who have wanted to bless our little boy's orphanage! Now I have to find out a way to get them packed! :)

The thought of leaving in 7 days is starting to wig me out to say the least. How's my list going? Great! It keeps getting longer every day--not shorter. It's having a grand time--me, not so much. Being gone for 3 weeks is considerably different than being gone a week--and I just thought that was bad. I didn't know how good I had it. I decided last night that I am now going to concentrate on one area at a time. So, the next few days will only be consumed with stuff to be in Russia. I will then move on to getting the girls' stuff ready while we're gone, then the baby stuff into Kennedi's room, and finally getting my house clean. I know what you're thinking, but I have to do the whole house cleaning thing. It's inbred in me--blame my mother.


Today is the first day without -25 wind chill. The -3 temps we had this morning actually felt a bit balmy if I don't say so. It's amazing how your perception will change. Doug asked me the other morning if I wanted to volunteer to help his teachers out with morning duty so I could try out my new coat. Uhmmmm..."Thank you Doug for asking me to be a vital part of your science experiment, but NO!" The weather is playing havoc with my online orders, Visas, and that little home study "update" that hasn't arrived yet. The home study update was sent out Monday Fed Ex from Dallas and never made it any further until last night. It should be here today and maybe the Visas will be here today or tomorrow at the latest. Amazon sent me an email letting me know that two of my orders are delayed because of the storm. Those were filled with baby stuff--frustrating to say the least.


Our little boy already has two pieces of clothing that our girls didn't have at 12 months old. I bought a snow suit off Ebay for $4.99--I think it's been worn once--it looks brand new. And he has a pair of shoes. My girls were literally barefoot until about 15 or so months. Even to church--barefoot little princesses they were. I figure the Russians might frown on the the whole "just socks" issue, so I found the cutest little shoes for him to sport while in country.



Aren't they adorable?!!