Orphanage Visit #1

Here are my personal notes about our first visit yesterday. I apologize if it skips around a bit. I just copied and pasted from my Word Doc.

12/15/2010: We pulled into the driveway of Baby House #1. It was a very old building. Within a few minutes our boy was brought out to us. The caretaker immediately handed him to me and we all walked up the concrete stairs painted green. I was taken aback at how quickly they handed him to me. It was kinda like, “Here he is. Gotta go!” We were led into a small room with a rug and a few toys and chairs. Winnie the Pooh and Tigger etc. were painted on the concrete walls. One wall had bumble bees painted all over it. You could tell the orphanage attempted to make the rooms as bright and as kid friendly as possible. Our little boy never cried—even when Doug held him. He loved the toys that made noise—a boy! We brought out a sensory ball and he loved it. He kept gnawing on it. I think he may be teething as there was a lot of drool as well. He already has 2 bottom teeth! He’s a healthy little guy. He already weighs 19 pounds, so it’s evident that he’s been putting to good use all the calories the orphanage has been feeding him! He looks for sounds, he can sit up with assistance although it is not going to be very much longer when he can balance totally on his own. When something of interest catches his attention we watched him maneuver on his stomach to get it. He was trying to “skooch” forward to retrieve some items. After about 45 minutes, the orphanage doctor came in and went through his medicals. We really didn’t learn more than what we already knew and certainly there were no surprises, so I am thankful. As healthy as he is I wonder if the fact that he has Asian features is the reason a Russian family hasn’t adopted him. Doug held him in his arms and he fell asleep while I was getting the information from the doctor. Doug got to take him back to where they feed them. He said they had little high chair looking contraptions lined up with the babies sitting in them. They were eating some kind of mashed up beans he thought. The care taker was going down the line feeding each of them a spoonful at a time and moving on to the next baby. I want to hear him laugh. He is so solemn.

Sitting here typing this I’m thinking about yesterday’s visit. I know I was tired beyond tired beyond tired; it was a very surreal experience at the orphanage. I had butterflies in my stomach the entire time. I was nearly nauseated when we left the orphanage. I’m not sure why. Maybe it was thinking about doing the whole diaper thing again—maybe it was thinking if we don’t adopt him will he spend the rest of his days in these Russian institutions—maybe it was “What have we gotten ourselves into?” After 15 hours of sleep, I feel better; we are to visit him again this afternoon at 2:00pm.

The culture is so different here. Here are some of our observations:
(1) It is a free for all walking through the doors. The men do not hold open the door for women. They will literally run you over. Doug has held the door open for some women and we hear "Americanets" from some Russian men watching. Doug is currently watching people outside our hotel window. He's watching a women scrap the snow off the car while the man sits inside the car smoking his cigarette!
(2) Everybody wears black or gray. I look like a lollipop in my purple wool coat.
(3) The women dress very nicely. Alot wear short skirts--even in these freezing temps.
(4) Fur is everywhere--if they are not wearing a full length fur coat then the collar or hood is fur. This is almost without exception. The majority of women have fur hats as well.
(5) Russians do not talk in the airport. It was amazingly quiet in the Moscow airport.
(6) Liquor ads are everywhere!!
(7) Doug is in shock at the women walking around in their stilleto heels.

(My apologies about any misspellings. The spell checker has highlighted every word. I think it's trying to do it in Russian...)

We have several hours before our next visit, so I think we're going to go exploring. Should be interesting to say the least!

Snapshot of Day 1

We've arrived! Our plane landed at the Krasnoyarsk Airport at about 5:45AM Wednesday morning. The airport does not have terminals that the planes pull up to and you walk down a sky walk inside. No, we got the experience of walking down a flight of stairs like some kind of president into some of the coldest air I've ever felt and then taking a ride inside a frozen shuttle bus to the baggage claim. We got to our hotel and had enough time to shower and eat breakfast before we were to be picked up to go to MOE. Breakfast at the Hotel Krasnoyarsk was not only delicious but very filling. Can't wait to venture there again!

The driving is absolutely crazy around here. I'd heard stories, but you have to experience it for yourself to truly appreciate it. Thankfully our orphanage is not outside the city so car time is minimal. I'll blog more about that and our experience in the Moscow airport later. Stick around for that--it'll be worth it! LOL

Our appointment with the Ministry of Education went well. We were asked a few questions and granted to permission to visit our little guy. We then headed to the legal department to obtain information on his mother and father. Doug loves our coordinator. She told us not to take our coats off because we don't have time to waste. She's a "let's gitter done!" kinda of lady. I'm frantically taking notes and then we're off to the orphanage as quickly as possible so we can have as much time as possible before he has to take a nap.

We drive to our baby's orphanage. It's clean but very old. As soon as we put on our little blue booties over our shoes (Doug's tore and had to ask for another one. The comment our coordinator said was, "Made in China!") a care taker brought him to me. We walked up a flight of stairs to a play room and had about 40 minutes to play with him. I'll blog more about that visit as well. I'm just trying to get an update before my Advil PM kicks in. It's 1:00AM here as I'm typing. The doctor came in and went over his medicals.

After our visit, our translator and coordinator dropped us off at Moma Roma's for lunch. We were given directions on how to get to our hotel from there and we were on our own. We got lost. Well sort of, we just didn't walk far enough. It was freezing, absolutely freezing, but everyone walks around here. High spikey heeled boots--it's amazing!! I was the only one without head gear. (I hate "hat head".) However, after my experience walking 4 blocks, I will not make that mistake twice and I will have something on my ears. I emailed Dr. Davies some questions and more photos and we're waiting to hear back from him. I tried to stay awake yesterday afternoon until dark, but I only made it until 3:00. Doug made it only to 2:00. We crashed and burned in our clothes on top of the bed. We're now awake, but I have big plans to go back to bed in a few minutes.

Thank you for all your prayers.

Hello From JFK!

It has been a whirlwind the last few days. I didn't get everything on my list completed like I wanted, and truly I felt like a chicken with my head cut off. Quite frankly, it was a relief to be in the car leaving. Annsley cried when we left and Kennedi, I think, was rather oblivious to what was fixing to happen. She's really the one we're concerned about as she gets to be a momma's girl when she gets tired, but we've asked God to fill our girls with peace, and we know they'll both be OK. It's the grandmas we're really concerned about!

We got to our Dallas hotel last night at midnight, got up at 4:00, and still missed the 5:00 shuttle. The hotel guy was really nice and called for another shuttle to come pick us up. DFW was a madhouse to say the least. I guess there were tons of flights rerouted or cancelled because of the snow storm. We got to Newark at 11:00AM, caught a shuttle to JFK,grabbed some Asian food from a counter with two women who didn't speak any English, and waited for the Aeroflot counter to open.The terminal Aeroflot is located in is the same as China Air, Japan Airline, Turkish Air, and "if you can pronounce it you can go there" Air. Doug and I are like the Clampets going to Europe--we are truly out of our Texas element. I feel like whipping out the BINGO game and playing "what language is this?" We'd clean house!

We don't take off until 7:00PM, so we wait some more. We arrive at Moscow tomorrow at 12:15PM and then have a nice little 9 hour layover in SVO airport. I haven't told Doug yet that we'll be on our own at the Moscow airport--why send the little boy into a fretting frenzy early? Out caseworker as well as several adoptive parents told me it was no big deal to navigate the Moscow Airport, so we--rather I--opted out of our agency sending someone to help us transfer. Our flight arrives and the leaves for Kras in the same terminal, so I think in 9 hours time I can find the connecting gate. I've got Krasnoyarsk spelled in Cyrillic just in case I can't find someone who knows English to take pity on us--it can't be that bad--right? Right? We leave Moscow at 9:15 Tuesday night and arrive in Krasnoyarsk at 6:00AM. I'm tired, ready to sleep, and feel like I'm getting jipped with my sleep with regard to the Krasnoyarsk flight with the 6 hour time difference. We're supposed to be picked up at Krasnoyarsk and then we'll head to MOE and then on to meet our little boy! The next time you hear from us we'll literally be half way around the world.

Progress?

I thought I was kicking my "to do" list in the rear this morning, and then I turned the page in my little notebook. It was a fleeting victory. All I can say absolutely without a doubt there is no way I could get everything ready for this trip if I had not gone ahead and finished or bought things earlier this summer and fall. The adapters, the universal power strip, the pictures taken early for the visas, the photo album I made to leave with the orphanage, and the list goes on. I am so thankful I did as much as I could early. Also, a note to PAPs out there...I just thought we were dropping money early on in our adoption journey. It is flying out the window now. It about takes my breath away--not because we weren't expecting it, but because of the huge chunks and how fast it's going. Just be prepared for that!

I am tired--very tired. I don't know if making the decision to travel in less than 8 days adds a new dynamic that given 14 days to travel doesn't have, but nevertheless I'm tired. My eyes have been burning for 6 days straight by 8:00 at night. Tonight I'm going to try out my new purchase from other day--Advil PM.

Everything is done except booking a room at DFW airport Sunday night. I spent today getting all my paperwork, notes, maps printed off the computer. I made a currency exchange rate chart so I'd know if I were being charged $400 for an apple at the local grocery store. I have an international calling card now just in case SKYPE is a bust.

Our visas arrived this morning! Not what I was expecting--my convict picture is not a part of my visa stamp--thank the Lord! Oh the horror of having to whip that out every time at customs. I'm now wondering if it's on a pin up wall at the Russian Consulate under the "Watch List." And no, I'm still not showing it to anyone. I have been extremely impressed with Travel Visa Pro. I have nothing to compare them to and maybe other companies give their customers a free ticket to Brazil for using them, but TVP sent our passports back in these really nice plastic passport covers. I also have a coupon for $10 off next time I use them AND I have a coupon for some lucky recipient for $15 off each visa for referring you to them. If you're interested in it, let me know. First come, first serve. I'll put it in the mail to you tomorrow if you leave your address. After tomorrow, I'm not promising anything.

On the agenda tomorrow: pick up chocolates, buy a warm winter hat, pick up some snacks to take on our trip, and grocery shop for the grandmas who are keeping our girls. I still have not thought about packing and cleaning my house. Maybe tomorrow night? Nothing like living on the edge.

Frozen Tundra

OK, so at the time of this writing, it is -18 at 10:00am in Krasnoyarsk with a wind chill of -43. That will make your nostril hairs freeze I just know it. I remember one winter in college when it was -80 in Alaska, and I don't remember how cold it was in Oklahoma, but it was hovering somewhere -20. I had to walk particularly far one day to my car and I remember my nose hairs freezing and my lungs hurting from breathing that cold air. As I am writing I am seriously concerned about my toes not having to be amputated from the cold. I'm thinking hand warmers. Would those be considered contraband? I was originally thinking I would be packing all my cute stuff. Now I'm moving on to survival.

Well, it's official I suppose. We get to enter Russia. Travel Visa Pro sent me an email this afternoon with the FedEx tracking number. I've been imagining the clerk at the Russian Consulate staring at my convict picture and perhaps praying for me. Did he have such concern about someone of my caliber entering his country he took my picture of the sad American to the lounge and get a vote on whether to approve this application? Was he wrought with indecision? Did he take pity on my husband? Did he think, "What's a good lookin' fella like that doing with this San Quentin graduate?" I suppose we'll never know...

Today I bought a travel alarm clock, have a working wrist watch for the first time in 3 years, and bought some Frebreeze. Tomorrow I will go after the travel toilet paper, snacks, and battery powered electric socks--do they even still make such a thing? Apparently I'm going to need our local boot shop to fashion me a holster to house the giant 9 vote battery needed to supply enough energy to keep my feet from falling off.

I perused Aeroflots's website last night. To avoid a pricey penalty, your one piece of luggage cannot exceed 50lbs on the flight from the US to Moscow. However, on the domestic flight you are limited to 44lbs. So, unless I plan to ditch some items in Moscow, I've got to pack for the 44 lbs. I refuse to pay a penalty--especially on this first trip.

Our agency has recommended we have 1-2 gifts on our first trip to give to those we won't see again ie: MOE person. I went to Schakolad Chocolate Factory--I can't believe we have a place like this in my little West Texas city--and they are making up a box of chocolates for me to take. On the bars they are writing "thank you" in Russian for me. I don't think I have to worry about them melting on this trip...

I reserved our hotel room at the Hotel Krasnoyarsk yesterday. I'm not sure what kind of room I really got--they had everything from twin beds to singles to superior singles to studio a, studio b and studio c. I got the cheapest room for two people with one bed. I kept waiting for the confirmation email. Finally found it in my spam folder today. It was sent there because it was in Russian. I am so fixing to be over my head!

My house is a wreck, I haven't packed one single item--I don't even have a "spot" where I'm gathering items. Help!

Coming Up For Air

Where do I start? Flights are booked as of this morning--we leave Sunday night--yes, in 5 days. We were basically given 4 different travel dates we could pick from; the latter two options would include travel on Christmas Day and the flights were outrageous and conflicts out the wazoo were in the mix as well. So, we pushed and pushed to make the earlier travel dates a reality. The flights were not very cheap; I had every Tom, Dick, and Harry travel agency on the internet looking for flights or calling me. I finally on a whim went directly to Aeroflot's website, and was able to book our flights out of Dallas for $600 cheaper than what anyone or anything could quote me! Yeah! Needing to get to Dallas (6 hours away) we booked separate fares on American. To leave from our little international airport was adding $1000 per ticket to nearly every quote we could get. That is insane! When I got the confirmation email from Aeroflot this morning, I had to go celebrate and ate mexican food at Abuelos with my little nephew who was in town. I think it was the first time I had eaten more than 5 bites of food since we accepted our referral. I have been such a basket case since we accepted our referral I haven't been able to enjoy the thought of getting the opportunity to go meet this little guy. Maybe I can now that we have the flights booked. We still need to book hotel, but if I can't find a great price on my own, our agency will get it booked for us.

Also, this afternoon I went to our bank to order some Rubles to have on hand to make quick little purchases in the airport. In front of the foreign currency teller's window is a beautiful Christmas display. It's not good. I have Kennedi with me, and her downfall is shiny, gold, and sparkly things. This life size tin reindeer is gold, shiny, and has Christmas lights outlining it's entire body. It is pulling an equally life size Santa sleigh. Standing next to the deer is a 12 foot giant Santa. It's more than Kennedi can handle. Both girls are checking out this Santa. Not good. The deer is being precariously balanced on these narrow metal stands. I get both girls to stand next to me. I turn my back for a second--it's always a second isn't it??- and out of the corner of my eye I see Kennedi head back for Sasquatch Santa. Her foot hangs on the reindeer's front hoof and down Prancer is coming. I catch the thing before it crashes to the floor. I put him back upright, but now his tail is lying on his back and his antlers are hanging around the jowels of his cheeks. (Thankfully those body parts weren't broken, but the Christmas elves will have to put him back correctly.) And yeah, they're gonna remember me because nobody in this town orders Rubles, and I have to go pick them up later this week.

And finally, the tale of the quest for visas. We accepted our referral on a Thursday morning. Our caseworker thought we could travel the 13th if we wanted to go quickly. So, the hunt to get visas here was priority #1 that day. I filled out the apps online; I had to go dig out our old resumes to finish it! We had to put our current employer info, but also the last two places or employment, phone numbers, supervisor names, etc. There were places for listing your higher education--again address, phone numbers, majors. It took me forever to fill it out. The amount you pay for your visa is determined how fast they are processed. In order to get it the next weekend, we could choose the 3-5 day option or overnight. Doug was ready to live on the edge, so we opted for the cheaper 3-5 day option, but the only way that would work was if I got it to FedEx that afternoon. I printed out the apps, grabbed the passports, and my fresh out of jail visa photos; I printed a shipping label from my FedEx account (which I would highly recommend for anyone in the adoption process--they give you a 10-15% discount or something like that) and sped to the FedEx Office. I got there 15 minutes before the truck was coming to pick up. I would like to point out that thanks to my keen insight, we had our visa pictures waiting on us to use. If we had to take the time to get them made, we would have been forced to go with the $500 per expedited visa option. According to our visa company, (we used Travel Visa Pro), they are supposed to be here Thursday morning. I will say though it takes a bit of faith and throwing caution to the wind to put your highly sought after on the black market American passport in the mail to a guy in Houston who speaks with a strong foreign accent.

Lastly, to prepare us for the Siberian winter we are about to experience, our central heat isn't working. The repair guy isn't coming until tomorrow, and we've been without heat for 2 days now. It's been down in the 20s at night this week, so our house is frigid. We kept the fireplace going all night long; Doug would set the alarm every so often and go put more logs on. I felt like I've been stuck in a Little House on the Prairie time warp with a gazillion blankets on our bed. How did those people live out here in their little grass sod houses????

To commemorate our Siberian Olympics at our house, I leave you with a picture of the Ice Palace from Dr. Zhivago:

Yowza!

Some amazing things have happened in the last week:

(1) I shaved my legs for the first time in 3 weeks (don't ask!)

(2) I think my 4 year old knows more Russian than her father. She walks around the house with his MP3 player practicing. You can hear her say out loud, "I" "Yah", "Good night" "Spa-Coin-a Noche" It's so cute. She repeats the English word and then the Russian. I've reminded Doug, since acquiring skills in the Russian language has been steadily dropping on list of priorities, that he needs at least to be able to say, "I don't understand Russian" and perhaps more importantly if he should ever be separated from me "Where's my hotel/airport?" I laugh at my self pride in knowing my 50 or so words/phrases--like I'm gonna tell the translator her services won't be needed--It reminds me of when I was in college with Spanish as my minor. I thought I was hot stuff in the Latino world and decided I'd sit down to watch a Spanish soap opera to hone in my skills. I'm the one who got schooled! Let's see...got a bit off topic there...

(3) We have an early Christmas present! Yes, this is the big enchilada!! We have accepted a referral of a beautiful 9 month old baby boy today!!! Our case worker surprised us with a call a week ago last Wednesday morning at about 8:55 AM to tell us she was emailing us some pictures. She was surprised too as she wasn't expecting to hear from Russia until at least December. She didn't have any medicals to send us but thought she'd get something perhaps on Thanksgiving Day. Let me just tell you, it's pretty darn hard to keep your mouth closed when all your family you see over the Thanksgiving holidays asks if you've heard anything about the adoption. We knew nothing about this little boy and just wanted to keep it to ourselves until we knew for sure. (Sorry Gram, Momma Carol, Papa, Uncle Doug, etc--yes, we lied.) I was a lot more cautious this time around and purposely did not pull up his pictures up on the computer all day every day to look at this little cutie until we got the green light from an IA doctor. There is nothing like getting a piece of your heart jerked out. I will say that this time around though when Doug and I first looked at his pictures, we quietly knew he was the one for us. So we waited--Thanksgiving, no medical; Friday, no medical; maybe Monday? No medical as the inspector is still on vacay; should be here Tuesday our case worker said.

Bright and early the medicals arrived (11/30) Tuesday morning (nothing like 7 days of suspense to keep the heart muscle in shape), Dr. Davies had a cancellation in his schedule, and we were able to conference with him at noon the same day! He was very optimistic compared to our earlier November referral. We sought out two IA doctor's opinions the first time, but both Doug and I feel that isn't necessary this time. He's a healthy little guy! We've been given the option of two travel dates, and we're frantically trying to get the first set of dates working for us. So, we will be leaving soon to meet the little boy whom God has chosen to make us a family of 5! Thank You Lord for Your wonderful blessings! "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23.