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