We had a great visit with Alex today. We got to the orphanage at 11:00 and stayed until 1:00. They had him dressed very cute and he seemed pretty relaxed and happy to have us there. After a couple of hours playing and one-on-one attention that he is probably not used to, he started to rub his eyes and we took that as a hint that it was nap time and we had to go. The caretaker took him upstairs and stood by the window with him for a few minutes. He was really jumpy, smiling and waving Pacah, the Russian word for Bye-Bye, several times. We loved seeing him happy and enjoying the time we spent together.
On the way into the orphanage this morning, there were some small kids enjoying some outside time with a few of the caretakers. A little three years old pointed at us and said out loud, ‘there come Alex’s parents again’. It was so cute but sad at the same time. We were later told he is an orphan with a major medical issue and would probably never be adopted. It is heartbreaking to think about him not having a family of his own and we will be praying that perhaps someone out there does find it in their hearts to bring this beautiful little one into their family.
Tomorrow we will miss going to the orphanage to see baby Alex. However, tomorrow is a very BIG DAY for us. Court is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM and we are supposed to arrive at the courthouse at 1:00. The town of Kumdikar, where the court is located, is four hours away which means this will be a whole-day event. We met with Roma this afternoon and prepared our court statements, reviewed all the documentation and read our entire home-study several times. I am very nervous about being in front of a Russian judge but I’ve heard that although they seemed pretty tough, they understand what we are trying to do and all we have done to get to this point. We also know they are doing their best to ensure the integrity of the process and their main focus is what’s in the best interest of the children. That is something we definitely admire and appreciate, and one of the reasons we decided to come to Russia to adopt our son.
Thank you for all the support, prayers and good wishes!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Wednesday's Visit
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Emotional visit yesterday
We played on the floor for a little while, fed him lunch which consisted of meat, mash potatoes and a big piece of bread all mashed in what looked to be some chicken broth. The food did not look very appealing this time and he only ate about half of it. What he does finish in a matter of seconds is a cup of apple-looking juice at room temperature that they give him every day. I think he is always really thirsty and can’t wait until he gets his share of it at lunch time. Yesterday and Monday I try to give him some fresh bottle water but he spits it right out. I am concerned he doesn’t get that much to drink and when he gets this cup of juice he drinks it all at once because he is so thirsty.
Watching him drink so desperately, watching his un-appealing food and watching his little and pale frame really hit us hard yesterday and I couldn’t help breaking down. Roma had stepped away for a minute at the same time the caretaker came around to check on us while Alex was still eating so I asked her myself, in English and pointing at the zippy-cup, to bring another cup for Alex. She did and again, he drank it in a matter of seconds. I kept asking about why he didn’t drink water or whether he drank milk, but really didn’t get an answer.
His main caretaker is very caring and baby Alex seems to be quite attached to her. But our dear God, she has to take care of another twelve to fifteen kids at the same time. I can only imagine how at times this would be very frustrating for her. Lord, please continue to bless her and give her the strength she needs. I wish so much I could just sit with her for a few minutes and ask about Alex’s routine, what he eats, how and where she bathes him and so much more, but a few minutes with us is a few minutes she would be taking away from another of the many precious, and some of them ill little boys and girls living at Baby House Number 6.
On the bright side, the inside paint job looks like it will be finished soon; the smell of paint was either almost gone or we just got used to it. They have smoothed-out the walls outside with cement and fixed all the cracks. It looks like the outside is also going to be painted. We saw them replacing the old wood windows with nice, double paneled aluminum ones. Pretty soon all the snow will be gone and with the large number of trees there are, I am sure it will be pretty green in another month or two.
Preparing for Court
Time for a nap but I will have lots of updates later on our visit with baby Alex, the Doctor and Roma regarding court on Thursday.
Our Living Quarters at the Amaks
My kitchen for the rest of the month!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Today in Perm
It’s Monday night not Sunday; I’m not sure why the blog is one day behind. We spent three wonderful hours with Baby Alex this morning. He is doing great and was all smiles shortly after he was dropped off by the caretakers. I wondered if he remembered us, or if he was too sleepy to worry about the two strangers in the room. I’d would like to think he knew exactly who we were and was probably thinking ‘where the heck were you two for the past ten weeks’!!!
This time the caretaker was not holding him when she came into the play room…he was walking with her help and it was so adorable. He even took a couple of steps by himself! I don’t think he has grown much in the last ten weeks, but he is definitely more aware of his surroundings, wants to grab all the toys around and really enjoyed playing catch with his daddy. We were also able to feed him his lunch which actually looked pretty good. They brought a tray to us with quite a bit of food and juice and he ate most of it. I brought some juice, cheerios and crackers and was told later that was a No-No…, so I won’t be doing that tomorrow, even though he loved them. Last time we were here we asked and they said it was okay; we were not sure why the rules changed but…Oh Well!!!
The caretakers at the orphanage were wonderful to him and to us. One of them kept talking to us in Russian and for some reason she thought we understood everything she was saying, or thought we should. They came to the room to check on Alex about every thirty minutes, and later told Roma that they were really happy to see him with his new family. I can’t ask for enough blessings for these wonderful women at the baby house. They seemed so dedicated, cuddled with him, kissed him and hugged him every time they came around, and you can tell he has a strong attachment to them as well.
The place was also getting some nice upgrades, new paint as well as some work to the floors. We figured this was the reason why we didn’t see any little kids around…the smell of paint and thinner was pretty strong just about everywhere. It was sure great to see the pride they take on the place and the effort they are putting into it to make it a better for all the little ones.
After a great three-hour visit we headed back to the hotel, rested for a while then went on to complete the required medical paperwork. We came back to the room and watch Gone Baby Gone, and at least for me, it was a mistake to do, especially since we are here to take our baby home. Chris crashed right after the movie and I am having a hard time going to sleep so I thought I would write for a while. I am still experiencing some jet-lag and my three hour nap this afternoon didn’t help me any.
Tomorrow we will visit Alex again from 10:30 to 1:30, then meet with the coordinator in the afternoon to start preparing for court on Thursday. We are hoping to go out to dinner in the evening and have some real food instead of the granola and raisins we have lived on since we arrived here. We do get a breakfast buffet in the morning which Chris loves, but I just can’t have meat balls, cabbage and curds that early in the morning. I am sticking to their great coffee and bread, then granola for lunch and dinner. ..Yuk!!!!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Last Monday
Silvia from the agency called shortly after I arrived to work last Monday morning. I knew as soon as she said her name and giggled, that she was calling with good news and that was the case! We had to be in Russia the following Monday (today)!!! I managed to contained myself but it wasn’t easy. I can’t even put into words the happiness and excitement I felt, and all I wanted to do was get off the phone and call Chris. Silvia gave me some of the details, including the court date of April 7th. For us this meant sending our Russian visa applications to New York that same day and getting the one-day expedited service. Fortunately, I had those all ready as well as the pictures that go with the applications because we knew we would probably get a short notice before travelling. Another call came on Tuesday letting us know that the court date was actually set for Thursday April 10th.
Chris was delighted with the news and started working with the travel plans right away. He did an amazing job getting our reservations made and approved by the agency by Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday and Wednesday we both had to work so we packed and prepared for the trip in the evening. We did get a call from the agency again Wednesday about another document Russia had asked for at the last minute. This was a bit nerve-racking. The agency had to sign-it, express it to our home-study agency in Tucson, and I had to pick it up there, and then take it downtown to have it apostillled. A thousand thoughts went through my mind of course, but it all worked out perfect and I had the document, with the golden seal from the state late that afternoon.
We left for Russia on Friday at 7:00. We had several connections to make and a long wait in Chicago, but overall the whole trip was very smooth. All our flights were on time and we (and our luggage) made it to Perm at 3:00 AM Sunday morning. It was nice not to have to go through Moscow and spend the night at their domestic airport as we had to do ten weeks ago. Instead we flew directly from Chicago to Frankfurt, the Frankfurt to Perm.
Just before we arrived to Perm another flight had arrived from Middle Asia so our pilot was instructed to stay on the runway until they were done with those passengers. We thought it was going to be just a few minutes but we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes. Later we learned that every single person on that flight was questioned and their entire luggage checked. I was the first person in line when it was our flight’s turn at Customs.
After an extended starred from the Customs Officer he stamped my passport and gave me the green light. However, another Customs agent took my passport and questioned the reasons for our visit. I had been warned about this and I was told to say that I was a tourist, which I did, but he didn’t buy it. He asked me if I had some proof or documentation about my trip and I told him I had an entire book in my suitcase and I think that threw him off. I was referring to the adoption book which has copies of every document I have supplied in the last 6 months. He asked me what I meant by ‘a book’ so I just told him that I was here with my husband to finalize the adoption of a child. I thought he would question the fact that I had originally told him I was a tourist but he didn’t. I also pointed at Chris hoping that when he came through he wouldn’t be questioned and that worked. A few miles from the airport we got stopped at a police checkpoint but this time they just talked to our Coordinator and after he showed all his paperwork we were let go. We arrived at the hotel around 5:00, slept for about ten hours, went out to dinner and then back to sleep until now. Roma will pick us up at 9:00 and we get to see baby Alex again in four hours and we can’t wait!!!
Back in the USSR - Bendito sea Dios
Thank you God!!!After 30 hours of traveling, we are safe in Perm! All the flights were on time and we made it to Russia without any issues. we even got to turn our seats into beds on our flight from Chicago to Germany and that made a huge difference. We are still exhausted and feeling the jet-lag so we are heading to bed now. I will post the events of the trip and our Monday visit to see Alex tomorrow night.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Cribs, clothes, strollers, you name it!!!!
These are the latest pictures. Also, now that things seem to be happening fast, we will keep the blog updated and will for sure post every night when we are in Russia since that was the best way to keep everyone in the loop while we were away.
Long time no post...
It has been three weeks or so since we posted. No specific reason other than frustration over how complex this process can be. Shortly after I posted that Part II of my dossier was in Moscow we got a call asking for more paperwork which included some medical forms that we had to get done in the US after all.
Of course doctors here can't see you on the spot so there was a frustrating two week delay. I did go to a couple of great doctors who were very willing to help us. Once that paperwork along with a few other forms was ready we were headed downtown again to get them apostilled. The downtown experience was pretty smooth for a change. The hormone level was evidently under control and the lady who has helped and gave us grief in the past was actually pretty nice and wanted to know all about the adoption. We rushed back to the office to make copies then flew to the UPS store so we could ship everything on Wednesday. This allowed us to get our stuff to the agency last Thursday which is when they usually send a shipment to Russia. I was thrilled because missing that shipment would have entailed having to wait until today to get our boatload of paperwork sent to the Moscow Coordinator.
It has been quite hard and stressful not having a date yet but things are now looking better. We got news today that our paperwork arrived in Moscow late yesterday and was been translated between today and tomorrow. We are assuming everything will be sent to Roma by the end of this week so he should have everything by this coming friday or next Monday. He will then take it to a judge who will decide if everything looks good, or if we need to proof anything else. We are still pretty confident now that we would get a court date around mid-April. In fact, the agency must also think we are getting very close to travelling; late today we received an email with all the requirements for our second trip. Finally!!!
In anticipation for our second trip we have been putting all the stuff we need to take in one place and tonight I plan to start packing. This weekend I will be shopping for gifts to take to Russia and Chris will be checking on tickets. Sounds like Chris is going to be able to get us to Perm directly from Frankfurt which will avoid the awful wait we had to endure at the domestic airport in Moscow a couple of months ago. We are so very happy knowing it could be just a few weeks before we get to see our little man again and better yet, only a few weeks again before he is finally home with us.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Had to post this one...
Dudley sitting on the new car seat. He stayed in it for about twenty minutes! Passing time...
Wishful Thinking...
I posted on February 23rd that I was hoping my paperwork would be translated the following week and be on its way to Roma so he could work on setting a court date for us. Well, that was wishful thinking and us being naive about this whole process. We did get word from our agency that Moscow did get our dossier on Monday - I prayed for the family going to Moscow and for our paperwork they were carrying with them and He listened again :)
Two or three days after the paperwork got there we got word that they needed three more documents. We were able to get them ready and sent via two-day mail. The agency told us they only mail paperwork to Russia on Tuesdays and Thursdays so there was no need for us to spend another $50 to have a document sit at someones desk until tomorrow. I'm sure Chris will be checking online as soon as he gets to work just to make sure it got delivered today.
We are trying to stay positive and upbeat so here is our wishful thinking now: the agency will get and send our new three new documents to Moscow on Tuesday. They should get them by Friday but Monday they are having another holiday...this time is Woman's Day, except the women only get one day...but the men got three last week. What's up with that? We assume Tuesday or Wednesday of next week is when someone will review and translate them and hopefully have them finalized by that Friday (March 14th) So, if they get them mailed to Roma around that time we could still fly out to Perm this month.
Now, realistic thinking: Docs translated by March 14th then mailed to Roma via the old Wells Fargo carriage and are received in Perm the week of the 17th. We would need the week of the 24th to get the Russian visas....Hmmm, realistically we could be leaving at the end of the month or the first week in April. Family and friends, please pray with us on this one...We haven't stopped asking Him for guidance but more important, we have asked for patience to get us through this exasperating process and intervention to help us bring our baby home real soon.
