Home Again, Home Again

We thoroughly enjoyed taking yesterday off from blogging and off from everything else too!

We arrived back in Columbus around 8:30pm on Saturday night... exhausted. Our trip from Moscow included a 12 hour flight to Atlanta where we had a 2 hour layover before our flight to Columbus. I spent half of the Moscow - Atlanta flight with my pants soaking wet after Peter accidentally dumped his Koka-Kola in my lap... oh well, I guess I'll have plenty of time to dry out now. In Atlanta, we needed every second of the layover. Once we made it through passport control (using the US citizens line), we had to claim our luggage and go through immigration and customs. The flight back from Moscow might as well be called the adoption shuttle because there are always so many newly adopted children on it. We spent time speaking with quite a few families while waiting to board. Mostly people are adopting young toddlers, but there were a few families with older children like ourselves. There were probably 25 adoptive families on that plane, maybe more. With so many children to process through immigration, it is not the fastest of processes. We BARELY made it through in time for our connecting flight. We had to take the tram in the Atlanta airport from terminal E to terminal B and then run for it. Of course you could guess that our gate was literally the last gate. Picture us trying to run through the airport with four kids... two of whom don't speak English. Lisa had Peter and I had Kim. I'm not entirely sure that Peter's feet actually hit the ground in terminal B. He mostly flew behind Lisa like a kite. The agent at the gate knew who we were as we sprinted up, out of breath, to ask if we made it. He asked how we had liked Russia and that they were holding the plane for us guessing that we were delayed in immigration. Once on the plane, the stewardesses brought out bottles of water for us as we were still breathing pretty hard at that point.

The kids were asleep almost before we were off the runway. It was less than 90 minutes and we were on the ground in Columbus. At the baggage claim, we were warmly greeted by our dear friends the Canary's who had made a banner (in Russian) welcoming Kim and Peter. They brought our van to the airport for us as well and, God bless them, they had stocked our kitchen so we wouldn't have to go out right away. We were also greeted by another family from our church who have adopted three children from Ethiopia and have a really great blog about their experience. It was really great to see everyone and have such a nice welcoming, but you can see in the photo that Kim and Peter were pretty tired, scared, and overwhelmed. They warmed up pretty quickly however and were smiling and laughing in no time.

When we got home, the kids were in awe. They have seen many photos of the house and they knew that they each had their own bedrooms. The immediately had to run to their room and examine everything about them. After that, they had to tour the rest of the house. It was a lifetime of Christmas mornings all happening at one time. It was a little bit tough to get them to go to bed after a quick dinner of Soup (Thanks Sheri). They were back up at 3:00am turning on lights and trying to get the other kids up to play. It will take a few days to get their internal clocks adjusted.

Sunday was quiet. Grandma and Grandpa came down from Akron and brought our dog, Bandit, back home. It was cute that Peter spent most of the day calling him "Banchick". Kim also rode her bike. She was so excited about having a bike that was her own. She rides better than I would have guessed. Today, Beth and Luke went back to school and Peter and Kim started homeschooling with Lisa to learn English. We also took them to the grocery store... a little overwhelming, but kind of fun for them too. I installed a Russian/English keyboard on our computer and set up the Russian language support in Windows so Kim can type into the online translator. It is a big help... but we are limited by her ability to spell in Russian... this is a real limitation for a 9 year old. Once the neighborhood kids came home from school, Kim had to go ride her bike with them. Welcome to our new normal.

On Our Way Home

By the time you read this post, we will already be on our way home. We are so looking forward to seeing everyone again... after a few hours of sleep anyway.

We'd like to take a minute to congratulate Lisa's brother Don who is graduating today with his Masters in Engineering from the University of Alabama. We really wish we could be there to celebrate with you today, but, well... you understand. We think you'll be very pleased with a little item we picked up in Moscow for you to celebrate this day :-)

See everybody soon..........

Packing up and getting ready...

Today was our last full day in Moscow. We had absolutely nothing on the schedule and that was nice. We slept in a little, had a leisurely breakfast (after Papa returned from the supermarket... we were out of milk for our cereal), and played in the apartment all morning. We've learned that we have to ration the computer because, heaven forbid, someone might have 2 minutes more computer time than someone else. This morining, it was almost exclusively Beth's as she worked on more homework. The other kids were jealous of her computer monopoly, but not too jealous.

For lunch, we walked to a pizza kafe that has 50% off pizzas between 10:00 and 3:00 on weekdays. We had two pizzas, 3 garlic breads, and 6 soft drinks. The bill came to about $40... and that was with the discount. Praise God for our kitchen... it has greatly lightened our food bill in Moscow. I can't imagine how much more we'd be spending if we didn't have it. We are probably saving half on food by eating in the apartment. If you are considering whether to get an apartment or a hotel, I think we are VERY pleased that we went with the apartment. It was a lot cheaper, has a lot more space, is close enough to the embassy, Old Arbat, and Red Square that we can walk, and has let us start acting like a family and less like tourists. I would recommend an apartment on the western part of the central city (in the Old Arbat, New Arbat, or Embassy area) for the ease of getting around. Red Square was a 20 minute walk, the embassy was a 5 minute walk, Old Arbat was an 8 minute walk. In other areas, you will have to take the Metro or have a driver to go to most of the places that you will want to go.

Tonight, we had dinner in the apartment (a rice dish that the kids were familiar with and very fond of). We then started the great packing adventure. Everyone had to pack their own trinkets and souveneirs and help gather everything else. The kids all know that tomorrow is the big day and it clearly shows in their anxiety level. They can't sit still and can't seem to get out of each others way. Nerves. We just put them to bed so Lisa and I can finish the SERIOUS packing. Peter, who normally is out immediately, had his slowest falling-asleep session to date (In fact I thought he was out and he is back awake). His eyes were the size of dinner plates tonight. I wonder how much sleep they will get. I'll put the over/under at 3 hours.

Tomorrow will be a long day. We don't yet have the time the driver will pick us up... but were getting used to not knowing until the last minute. We're guessing it will be between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning. Our flight leaves at 1:10 pm for Atlanta (on Delta). We get into Atlanta at 5:05 (almost 12 hours in the air). In Atlanta we have a two hour layover where we have to go through Immigration and Customs... it will be a little tight on time we think. We leave around 7:05 and get to Columbus around 8:35pm. All told, it will probably be 17 - 19 hours between leaving the apartment and arriving in Columbus. It will be 4:35am to us when we land at home, so the kids are going to be tired, scared, and cranky... hopefully less so if we can get them to sleep on the flight. Lisa was able to stop by a pharmacy and find some dramamine (actually, it's "Drahmeena" in Russian. I guess that it was quite an interesting game of charades with Lisa trying to order it at the counter in an all-russian pharmacy with no English on the labels or in the workers. I would have paid good money to see that.

It's time for us to close this chapter on our adoption and open the next one... the one we we all learn to be a family together.

Day 20 - The Final Checkmark and the Tseerk

There was not a lot on the schedule today, but the few items were good. We hung a few pictures that were colored by the kids on our refrigerator to make the place more like home. We walked back down to Old Arbat street and nearly finished our shopping for our sourvenir list. It was colder than the kids would have liked and sometimes we aren't exactly quick to make choices, so I can't imagine that the shopping was much fun for the kids. We did find a very nice matryoska doll maker/seller who looked like Santa Claus. He gave us the best prices we've seen all week.

In the afternoon, our Moscow representative called. She had gone by the Russian consolate for our papers and was ready to deliver them to us. There was no need for me to go today, she just had to pick up the papers... nothing that requires a parent. She will forward nearly all of the registration paperwork to the appropriate folks. As she put it, it would be silly for us to carry it home just to mail it back to Russia. The part that we do get to keep is the kids Russian passports... complete with stamps indicating that they are registered and free to leave the country. The final checkmark on our list is now complete. I wish we were flying home tomorrow... but that is not to be.

This evening we went to the Moscow Circus (Tseerk) with our part-time guide, Vladimir (the son of our driver). He took us there via the Metro. We had used a couple Metro stations to cross the streets (tunnels under the 8 - 12 lane wide streets), but this is the first time we went into the deep section to ride the subway train. The Metro is actually quite deep and the escalator taking you down seems to go on forever. At 5:20pm, it is also completely crowded with people... we had to keep tight grips on the kids to prevent us from getting jostled away from them in the crowd. The Metro is really lovely and it is about the only thing left in Moscow that is not covered in graffitti. It was a short ride to the Circus and we had to wait outside for 15 or 20 minutes until they opened the doors. Before we left for the circus, Kim had asked (via the computer) if Papa could buy them a toy and some popcorn at the circus. She chose a pair of "spy" sunglasses that let you look behind yourself, Beth chose a flying dove toy that you attatch to the ceiling and it flies in a circle. Luke made a similar choice... except his is a dragonfly. Peter chose a fake pack of gum that shocks you when you try to take out a piece... how fun :-/ It was broken before the night was done, not a good investment. The circus was VERY GOOD and I would recommend it highly. It cost us 600 rubles each ($21 each) and I think it was worth it. Each of the kids liked a different act the best. They also liked having their picture taken with a tiger cub in the lobby. We got back to the apartment around 9:45 pm and put the kids to bed. Peter goes out extremely quickly. He can lay down and be out cold in 2 minutes or less... amazing. Kim and Beth like to giggle and teach each other new English or Russian words for 15 - 30 minutes. Luke usually goes out quickly... but not as quickly as Peter. I'm going to finish up this post and go to bed myself. Only one more night after this one. We'll leave you with some photos of the Moscow nightime skyline from our apartment windows... the view is quite nice.

Visiting St. Basil's Cathedral and GUM

This morning I went to the Russian Consolate to register the children. Lisa stayed in the apartment with the kids where she washed dishes and hand-washed more clothes. Suggestion to future adoptive families... bring clothes that are easy to wring out, will dry quickly, and don't have to be dried flat. We, on the other hand, brought lots of sweaters which are not good for any of these goals... but they are warm. Today it was a little colder (0 degrees C), but there was a strong wind and if felt much colder.

At the Russian consolate, our translator helped me prepare the papers and drop them off along with the kids Russian passports with US Visas. We will have them back tomorrow afternoon. At that point, we will officially be able to leave Russia... but our agency had us schedule an extra day in Moscow. We won't be leaving until Saturday.

We walked back over to Red Square this afternoon and arrived just in time for the hourly changing of the guard at their eternal flame monument. We went to red square to accomplish three goals. 1) Lunch at McDonalds. 2) Visit ΓΥΜ (Goom) and 3) tour the inside of St. Basil's Cathedral. McDonalds was a very good facsimilie of its American counterpart... the only real difference was that 4 happy meals and 2 Big Mac combo meals cost us over $30. Finding seats is also a challenge. When was the last time you shared a booth at McDonald's with 4 other parties throughout the course of your lunch? The kids were excited about McDonalds, but it was a bit of a struggle with them there as it has been at all restaurants. They just don't understand how it all works and they were very frustrated trying to make a choice of which meal they wanted. This whole "choices" thing is tough for them and making good choices is even harder. Goom takes up one entire side of red square (it's actually a rectangle and Goom is on one of the long sides). It is basically a mall. At one point I think it was one of the largest in the world... now it is basically a larger then most mall full of high-end designer label shops. It was beautifully decorated as the photos attest. The kids did not know what Goom was and didn't want to go there, but they had a nice time walking around inside. Kim went nuts with the camera in there.

St. Basils Cathedral is really impressive on the outside and we were eager to see the inside. Beth often comments that it looks like a toy on the outside. Inside, you can tour the first and second floors. Each of the onion domes houses a separate "church" dedicated to a different region of Russia. They have some impressive artwork there. Tickets were 100 rubles ($4) for adults and 50 rubles ($2) for kids. For a small fee (about $5) you can use your video camera. We videoed everything and I'm looking forward to watching it again AT HOME. Kim took lots more photos in St. Basil's.

Embassy Day

Today we spent a quiet morning in the apartment for the most part. Breakfast was yogurt, fruit, and cereal. The kids had a lot of fun helping to make it.
Luke and I went to exchange a few more dollars into rubles and picked up a couple of Dr. Oetker's frozen pizza's for lunch. They were easy and cheap (by Moscow standards at least) and they weren't too messy. We didn't want food all over our clothes for the embassy visit.

We walked to the embassy since it is just around the corner. Since we could walk there, we did not have anyone from our agency with us. It was not a problem, the instructions that came with the appointment were easy and clear. Because we have U.S. Passports, we could go to the head of the line, in front of those with Russian passports who were waiting for visas. Inside, we went through security. They allow absolutely NO ELECTRONIC DEVICES at all. We THOUGHT we left all of our electronics in the apartment, but we forgot about the flashlight in Lisa's purse. We had to leave it with the security checkpoint (they are used to this, you can retrieve them when you leave).

Inside, we had to get a ticket, go the second floor to pay for the visas ($400 each child), drop off our ticket and receipt at the window and wait to be called. While we waited, one of the consuls came out and explained the USCIS process that we would go through once we get back to an American airport. We met a couple from Dublin Ohio waiting with us... small world (for those outside of Columbus, Dublin is one of the other Columbus Suburbs). When it was our turn, we all went up the window where the counsul had us sign a few forms, made sure all of our information was correct, and stressed again that NO ONE SHOULD OPEN THE SEALED PACKET before we give it to the USCIS officer in Atlanta. He also explained that once that officer stamps Kim and Peter's passport, they will officially become United States citizens. They will automatically have dual citizenship. They could not cancel their Russian citizenship even if they wanted to until they are 18 years old. After the interview, we had to wait to receive our final immigration packet. They say you will have to wait about a half-hour, but it was more like 10 minutes. Then we were done. One more GREAT BIG checkmark off of our list... the kids have visas. The last big checkmark starts tomorrow when I go to the Russian consolate to register the kids (our agency makes us do it here in Moscow before we leave... others let you do it once you get home).

In the afternoon (looks like evening because it gets dark so early here... we're pretty far north) we walked down to Old Arbat street. It is now a pedestrian street and is the tourist shopping area of Moscow. We bought several Matryoshka dolls and a few other souveneirs. We did some haggling and got reasonable prices. We will probably go back on Thursday or Friday to buy a very nice matryoshka and some other items for Kim and Peter for when they are older.

Turning 40... in Russia!

Today is my 40th birthday. Never in my life would I have guessed that I would turn 40 in Moscow. Strange how things happen in ways that you would never have imagined. Lisa asked me what I wanted for my birthday on Sunday night. After a long day of travel on Sunday and a few meltdowns related to communication frustration, fatigue, and being scared of a new place, I jokingly commented that for my birthday, I wanted a peaceful day. I got it! We really had a wonderful day today. It has become clear that when the kids are stressed, frightened, tired, or frustrated about inability to communicate, they will respond by having a battle of wills. When they've been rested, understand what we need to do, and are in an environment that they have at least a passing familiarity with, they do pretty well.

Today we started with the medical exams for Kim and Peter. For those planning an adoption in Russia, THESE HAD TO BE PAID IN RUBLES and not dollars... exactly the opposite of what our agency told us. We were told to bring $100 for the exam for each child and that we should not exchange these into Rubles. At the hospital, our translator explained that the exam would be 2800 rubles for each child (this price is $100 and was expected... but paying in rubles was not). I had plenty of rubles... in the apartment. I had a few thousand rubles on me and I had my two new, crisp, $100 bills that I had already sealed in an envelope and labled "kids medical exams" before we left for Russia. I didn't have enough rubles on me and we found this out well after we had left the apartment. Fortunately, our translator was able to loan me a few thousand rubles to cover the difference. We exchanged my Ben Franklins on the way back so I could pay her back. I hate it when we plan and think we are prepared and then we look foolish because we were given bad information. Oh, I almost forgot... the cost of the exams also changed. Kim and Peter both also required a chest X-ray, so it cost us 6800 rubles instead of 5800.

The physician (Dr. Boris) was REALLY good with the kids. He was fluently bi-lingual and made the kids feel at ease. He explained that he would not poke them with any needles and he just needed to look for their tickle spots. Both passed their exams and X-rays, although Dr. Boris commented after looking at Peter's teeth that we will be buying our dentist a new BMW. Kim's only problem that he pointed out was that her Papa would have trouble keeping the boys away in a few years and he suggested that I go ahead and buy a shotgun now.

After the medicals, we stopped by the U.S. embassy for our translator to drop off the paperwork in preparation for our interview appointment tomorrow. The embassy is literally just around the corner from our apartment (5 - 8 minute walk). We can see it from our apartment window. While we were at the hospital, the driver also called his son (a university student who just returned from a trip to California) to get him to be our guide for a tour of the Kremlin later today. It was a pretty cheap guide... all we had to do was buy his ticket. Tickets for the 7 of us (2 adults, 1 college student with a discount, and 4 kids) cost just under 2000 rubles (just under $70). We bought tickets for the Kremlin grounds and for the Armory Museum in the Kremlin. We did not get the diamond house tickets. All that I can say about the Kremlin and it's cathedrals and museums is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! We toured cathedrals where the Csars are entoumbed (saw one who died in 1341), the cathedrals were built before Columbus sailed for America. The armory museum is so named because it used to be the armory of the Kremlin. It is now a museum with artifacts from Imperial Russia (pre-revoulution) and it is AMAZING. I wish I could have taken photos, but I've already figured out what happens when you take photos in areas where they are not allowed in Russia. There were Coronation gowns from the 14th century, Crowns studded with thousands of diamonds, none smaller than 3 carats, chainmail armor, solid gold dishes, a diamond and ruby studded bowl for washing your dirty hands... The extravagant wealth of the csars is not something that we american's really understand. They flaunted it in front of peasants who were barely surviving. It's not that hard to understand the sentiments that lead to the overthrow of the csars. I'm trying to get Beth to write a post about the museum... she loved it. Lisa, Beth and I could have spent days going through it. Luke, Peter, and Kim liked parts of it, but it quickly became too much for them and they became bored.

Lisa made a nice dinner of roasted chicken (pre-roasted at the store, she just heated it up), baked potatoes, peas, bread, and a birthday cake from the store (bought without me being there). The roasted chicken was much like you would buy at home... except that it cost 3 - 4 times as much as at home. It was really nice to celebrate together as a family and do with smiles and cooperation. Kim even worked hard to keep me from seeing the "secret" cake in the fridge before dinner.

Travel Day to Moscow

It's Sunday and we are in Moscow and (obviously) have internet again. It's nice to have the 100 Mbps connection that is included with the apartment... and even nicer that it appears to be stable. Posting from our own computer and not copying everything onto a memory stick makes this a lot easier.

We woke this morning at 4:45am, were picked-up from the hotel at 6:15, and we boarded the sahmalYOHT (airplane) for MAHskahvah (Moscow)at 7:40. This is the only flight to Moscow from Stavropol. There is a later flight from Mineral Water (about 2 hours away). Peter was extremely excited at lift-off. In the boarding area while we were waiting, he drew pictures of his flight... except that he seemed to have the impression that we were going to Moscow in a rocket and not a plane. As the plane started moving, he kept gesturing to his sister that we were about to lift-off like a rocketship would. I showed a more gradual take-off with my hands and he said he didn't want that, he wanted a blast-off. Sorry buddy... nothing I can do about that one.

The two hour flight was a little bumpy in our Russian made (around 1980?) aircraft. Neither Kim nor Peter had ever flown before. They both became airsick and we're glad we had grabbed air-sickness bags for everyone. Beth didn't look so good on the flight, but she made it through. Peter did not and Kim REALLY did not. We will be administering Dramamine or its Russian equivalent before our next flights.

We were picked up from Vnukovo airport a little bit after 10:00 and learned that we would not be able to check-in at our apartment until 2:00. The driver had another obligation, so we were dropped off at a cafe in front of our apartment building to wait... for over 3 hours... with 4 kids... 4kids who got up 2 hours too early, had a bumpy and nauseating flight and had not been able to expend any energy anywhere.... any guesses on how that turned out? I think they were glad when we left. We probably won't eat there again... not that we would be welcome at this point anyway... but the food was good. One of our Moscow representatives came there and went through a lot of paperwork with us... forms for the embassy, the children's medical exams, etc. It took me a good hour or more to do all the forms. During this time we also had lunch. Restaurants in Moscow are MUCH more expensive than those in Stavropol... around 70% more expensive in this case. We won't be eating out much here, even though this Uzbek restaurant was pretty good... again, the fresh bread was wonderful.

We finally checked into the apartment at 2:00 and the apartment representative went through everything with us, in English, answered our questions and did a nice job. It was a relief that this was done well. The materials in the apartment (for phone, internet, etc) are all in english and there is a 24 hour number you can call for questions or if there is a problem. We had to call because a lightbulb burned out... and because the door on our washing machine is missing. Yep... we (I mean Lisa) are still hand-washing clothes... now for six! I wring them and hang them on the drying rack... it's pretty big. The apartment includes free phonecalls to the U.S. if we can ever get them to work. No success so far... the apartment management is checking into it. The apartment is nice enough and has plenty of space. It has two bedrooms, one with a queen bed, one with a sofa bed and computer table. The living room has two sofa beds. This place could sleep 8 easily if needed... so we have plenty of sleeping space. The girls have the master bedroom, the boys the living room, and Lisa and I have the computer room (so I can blog when the kids go to bed). The apartment has a small but functional kitchen. No more having to eat out for every meal with kids who are either tired of eating out or don't have the social experiences to know how to behave at a restaurant. You can find apartments in moscow through Peace Travel Services at http://www.go-russia.com/. It took us three tries of booking apartments before we got one that was not rented, so try to get your apartment as soon as your dates are confirmed.

We walked to red square this afternoon and stopped by the supermarket on the way back. After dinner, the kids watched "Ice Age"... in Russian, with English sub-titles. It worked well for everyone. It was a very long and stressful day and it showed on the kids as the day wore on. We put them to bed early. Tomorrow, Kim and Peter have their medical exams. Tuesday we have our interview at the U.S. Embassy. Wednesday is at the Russian Consolate. Thursday we pick-up our paperwork from the Russian Consolate. Friday we could have flown home... but our agency said Saturday, so we are staying an extra day for no good reason. We have lots of comments about the info we have received from our agency, but we'll wait until we get home to organize those for the blog. We fly to Atlanta on Saturday around lunch time and we get home Saturday night around the kids' bedtime. We are going to be SOOOOOOOOOOO tired, but we are very excited (and very ready) to get home.

Good Night Stavropol

We had hoped for a good LONG night’s sleep last night. The kids had other thoughts. With four kids sleeping in the same room of our two-room hotel “suite” (with 3 in a queen bed, one on a roll-away), as soon as one stirs, they all stir… Then they all go into the next room and jump into bed with Mama and Papa. It was actually kind of nice… except it was before 7:00 in the morning on a day when we had absolutely no time-commitments other than the breakfast bar (closes at 10:30 am). So much for sleeping in. On the positive side, we had a pretty good morning that turned into a pretty good day.

Today was Saturday, so there was a little more activity around the hotel and the shopping areas around it. After breakfast (the kids were VERY impressed at all the choices and the fact that they could have seconds if they wanted), we spent much of the morning in the hotel. The girls went over to the shopping area with Lisa to buy a few Stavropol magnets that Lisa will turn into a Christmas Tree Ornament (we get one for every milestone event in our lives… it’s fun to take them out every year and remember). The boys stayed in with me. They played computer games TOGETHER and it was great to see… sometimes it was English language games and sometimes Russian language games… like one of our favorites, "Pajamchick Sam" (we have some other Pajama Sam games at home). It’s actually really pretty neat to see games you know in a new language. We had lunch at the baked potato kafe (still one of our favorites… the staff all know us by now and they no longer cringe when we walk in the door). We really wanted to have Kim and Peter split a baked potato because we knew neither would finish one… but how do you have the new kids share and the old kids each get their own at such an early point in our family’s history? So we had two half-eaten potatoes when we were done. We had some mild hurdles today, but overall not too bad. I’d guess that there were maybe one third as many “nee hachoos” as yesterday and they were not as forceful. None were more than we were expecting nor ready for. We are already getting used to each other.

I’d really like to take a minute and both praise and thank Beth and Luke for their incredible patience with this. They’ve endured seeing two complete strangers horn-in on their special relationships with their parents. That has to be hard, but they’ve been a patient as possible and more than could be reasonably expected of any child. We have two very special kids in these two. I only hope that their new brother and sister can become something like them in this way. Beth and Luke “took a dive” in most of the 57 games of tic-tac-toe while we waited for lunch to be ready. It was cute when Beth didn’t know what to do when she was trying to let Peter win and it was her move. She had only 3 places to put her “X” left on the board and all three would win the game. Today, Peter learned to write his name. The kids all had to write their names on each game that they won. Kim could already do it before we arrived this time… she’s been practicing. Last night, Lisa and I discreetly went through the things they brought from the orphanage with them so see if there were any potential problem items and to learn more about the kids lives. Kim has a little notebook / journal in which she’s been drawing heart pictures and writing “Love Mama y Papa” for months. She also had a lot of our letters. She also had an old photo from 1988 that showed what appeared to be a group of schoolgirls about her age. This afternoon she took it out and pointed to the one that looked just like her and told me this was her old Mama. We gained a little bit of information about their birthmother from the court papers that we will be able to share with Kim and Peter when they are old enough to seek their history.

Tonight we packed up two weeks worth of stuff and got ready to travel tomorrow. All four kids are excited about it. We will leave the hotel around 6:15am and our flight to Moscow is at 8:00 am. The kids are all in bed and quiet now… it takes a little while to get them calmed down, but nothing unreasonable. We’ll have to get them (and us) up and moving tomorrow, so it’s time to say goodnight. It’s more than just Good Night to Stavropol, it’s goodbye. Goodbye to this city that we’ve come to know and no longer feel as awkward in. Goodbye to this hotel where we are going stir crazy. Goodbye to Alex and Vlad and the ladies at the front desk who’ve been very helpful. Goodbye to seeking alternatives to “fresh burger”. Goodbye to old lives apart and old hurts. Hello Moscow, here come the Merricks.

Family of Six - Day 1

You know the drill…. No internet, no email… and blogger has been unavailable to us for 3 days now. We wonder if the site is being blocked in this region for some reason because we couldn’t view the pages. I tried using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and I could log-in to blogger, but when I tried to upload anything, I just got a blank page and was not able to see anymore blogger pages after that. We will have to wait until Moscow to post the last few days.

Today the waiting ended. It’s something we’ve been working toward for what seems forever. It was actually pretty brief and anti-climatic at the orphanage. We were picked up a little before 9:00 am and taken to the orphanage for the last time. We took clothes for the kids to change into that matched what had laid out for Beth and Luke to wear. We also took a couple bags of gifts for the orphanage and some flowers for the Director. She wasn’t there, so the kids left them on her desk. We were sent with Kim and Peter to their respective group areas to help them change. Lisa went with Kim and I with Peter. It was the first time any of us had seen Peter’s group area. Apparently Russian men must not know anything about how to help a boy change clothes. When Peter and I entered the group area, a group of 3 caregivers took his bag, pulled out his new clothes… piece by piece, inspecting each one. They must have passed muster because they all smiled and nodded. Then they helped strip him and change him. I tried to help, but mostly was bumped out of the way … the ladies know what they are doing and I might mess it up. I did get to help put his belt on him… barely. Lisa did well on guessing his sizes. The length of his pants was perfect. The waist was about 4 sizes too big, but the length was perfect. They’ll fit better after a few good meals. We then returned to the entrance foyer where there were hugs all around. Both of our kids had a small grocery bag that contained all of their possessions and a few gifts from friends. Peter had a new shirt in there… and some OLD slippers. Not really crazy about the smell from the old slippers, but I can’t get rid of them… Lisa says so and she’s the boss on such things. We took a couple of photos and then we left. One interesting note was the number of caregivers who came out to say goodbye, but not a single child. In fact, we saw fewer children today than on any previous visits. Not much fanfare to the goodbye ceremony… in fact, there was no ceremony, just a few personal goodbyes. The whole thing took about 15 minutes. We’re so glad we sent the cakes and worker gifts with the kids last night so that they could celebrate with their friends. There was no time or opportunity for such things this morning.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped and met with our regional coordinator at an official building of some sort. We went inside and were issued the kids’ new birth certificates and their certificates of adoption. We had to sign several documents that we still have no idea what they actually say. We’re getting used to that by now. Our regional coordinator took all the paperwork and Lisa’s passport and left to get the kids’ passports made. We got them all back with two shiny red Russian passports around 4:00 this afternoon.

The day was a little trying on all of us. Kim and Peter had different responses to today than we had expected. We thought Peter would struggle and Kim would be very happy. It was the other way around. Peter kept smiling and talked like a magpie all morning… more than he ever had before. Kim took it very hard. She was very quiet and serious at the orphanage and then had an emotional breakdown back at the hotel. It turned out that she had a friend that she was not able to say goodbye to. She kept looking at her journal at a letter from her friend and her friend’s picture and crying. One of the ladies from the front desk of the hotel was kind enough to come translate for us a little so we could understand the problem. After a phone call to the friend to say goodbye, all was better… note quite great yet, but much better. The rest of the day was spent taking some photos and playing a little in the room. The kids are now QUITE SICK AND TIRED of photos. We probably won’t take many tomorrow. We did go skating at the Galleria for a final time.

It is obvious that the first few weeks are going to be difficult as we try to communicate with them and as they learn a lot of the social behaviors that we take for granted in family interactions, respecting parents, and out in public. Lets just say that dinner at a nice restaurant to celebrate was quite an adventure for two kids who have no idea how to conduct themselves at a restaurant. The kids have no concept of waiting… the food is ready at the orphanage before the kids come in. Not so at a restaurant… that had never dawned on us before. Peter stood up and yelled at our astonished waiter… I think he said something along the lines of “Hey, where’s my food?” I understood the waiter telling him that it would be around 15 minutes. Peter rolled his eyes and slunk back into his chair and pouted a little. He also liked to drink his tea from his spoon as if it were soup… with a loud slurp. So much to learn and so many opportunities to take advantage of. Today is the first day of a long and exciting journey.

The last day of waiting

Today was day 9 of the wait…. I don’t know why I bother to keep posting that the internet in the room is still down and that we don’t have email. We’re sure you’ve all guessed that anyway by now… “Mehybee Toomahrrrrow”. Yesterday we even lost the ability to get onto Blogger, so we will be forced to post this from Moscow in a few days. I will back-date it so that we can keep this as a journal and have the dates correct. Because I'll post this after we have the kids, it will be legal to show you their photos.

We had another half-day with the kids. We started by spending a little quiet time playing in the room. After that, I explained to the children in my broken Russian that we wanted to buy them each a kniga (book) in Russian. Our favorite bookstand is located down the hill close to the open air market. Come to think of it, what does it say about how much time we’ve had on our hands when we have a favorite book stand in Stavropol Russia? Anyway, the kids understood (Ya paneemayoo), so off we went. We expected that they would like a nice book… at least we wanted nice books for them. Instead, they wanted the cheapest books at the stand. They are very cheap little (maybe 3” X 4”) books made from thin pressed cardboard. I pointed out the nicer, hardbound, gold-leafed children’s books. “Nee hachoo… Ya hachoo eta” (I don’t want that one, I want this one). We bought them each two of the cheap little books (10 rubles each… about 36 cents) not understanding why they wanted these … then they showed us why. These were small enough to be hidden in a pocket… if no one else knows you have it, you might be able to keep it. We convinced them to leave the books at the hotel. They don’t know it, but we also bought two nicer books of fairy tales for them the other day… in Russian of course.

While at the book seller, Kim asked about the “tort” (cake) we had discussed for her “groupa” (orphanage group) yesterday. She remembered. We guess that she probably went back and told the group about having a cake for them… nothing like bragging a little when you are about to get what so many of these kids want so badly. After yesterday’s experience at the open air market, we had intended to buy the cakes AFTER the kids went back to the orphanage today and we would bring them to the orphanage for Gotcha Day. I asked Kim if she and Peter wanted to go to the market and choose the cakes. “Da”! Peter also said an enthusiastic “Da”. So, despite our apprehensions, we went back to the open air market. Peter was a little stressed, but not nearly so much as yesterday. When we got to the cake seller, his reservations went out the window. He wanted the Flamingo cake (with the flamingo made of fruit on top)… so did his sister… after he wanted it. We get a very clear impression that normally her wishes would have taken precedent and he would have surrendered it to her without much of a fight. Papa said the Flamingo cake is for Peter’s group. She gave a little argument… but not much. Papa showed her that there was only one flamingo cake and she had to pick something else. She liked the heart shaped layer cake, so we bought it.
We also had Beth and Luke pick out a cake for our family to celebrate with tomorrow once we get back from the orphanage. My Russian must be getting better… I overheard a group of Babushka’s behind commenting to each other that three cakes for the children was bad… it sounded like they were a little disgusted that we were spoiling the kids. I didn’t explain that it was 3 cakes for A LOT more than 4 kids.

The cakes were clearly a HUGE prize. Peter INSISTED on carrying his. Papa wasn’t too thrilled with his level of caution in carrying a fancy cake… he was beating it to death against his leg as it swung in its bag on the ¾ mile walk… so Peter and Papa shared the job of carrying it. Basically, I carried it and he held my hand that was holding the cake. Compromise worked. Mom carried Kim’s (and ours) without incident. We also bought some flowers… some white roses and white mums. Very tasteful.

When it was time to take the kids back, we had a number of things for them to take to share… the cakes, flowers, a bag of marshmallows each, and some token gifts for each of the caregivers in their group. When we got to the van, the driver (no translator today) called the translator on his cell phone to have him explain that the driver could take the children, but not us. He had to go the hospital (to visit someone we think) and would not be able to come back to the hotel. Our plans for the kids celebrating with their friends were in jeopardy. The driver wanted us to just bring the stuff tomorrow. We debated and decided to send most of the stuff with the kids anyway. Good thing too… our translator called later to lay out the schedule for tomorrow. We will have less than an hour from when leave the hotel until the van has to be back here. No time to party there. We will take our regular orphanage gifts and the stuff we need for the kids (clothes, shoes, coats), give the gifts, change the kids (their orphanage clothes stay with the orphanage) and we will leave. Not much fanfare…

After the kids went back, we asked Beth and Luke what they wanted to do for our last afternoon as a family of four. We were to go ice-skating at the Galleria with them. I was able to avoid being on skates the last time… not this time. Luke didn’t wipe out as badly. Beth is the best skater in the family (Thanks Laura!). Mom only wiped out once. I didn’t wipe out at all… even though Luke nearly took me down in the final few seconds. I never knew I could do a pirouette on ice skates and live to tell the story. We went back to the shish-kabob kafe for a nice dinner. If you ever go there, go to the case and pick what you want instead of ordering from the menu. Your choices are better and you can more easily figure out what the “translated” menu is trying to say.

Kim's photo essay

Day 8 of the wait… just one more day of waiting and then we can take custody of the kids on Friday. Still no Internet for regular use and no email. We’re sure glad that we only bought the 150MB wireless access package and not the 500 MB. We’ve used about 40 MB before it went down… nearly a week ago.

Today was much like the last two. We were able to get the kids around 9:30 in the morning, bring them back to the hotel, and then they had to return to the orphanage at 1:00. Today’s lunch was at our favorite ice cream cafe. Its name is Kafe Karamel, but we just refer to it as Kafe Mahrozhena (mahrozhena is ice cream). We had pizza and some ice cream. We’re learning to communicate better. We all understood when Kim kept asking if it was “fkoosna, da eelee nyet” (delicious, yes or no). Before lunch we walked the kids down to the open-air market and we were able to buy the girls some sweaters. We had told Beth and Luke that they could pick a souvenir from Russia and she wanted a sweater. We overestimated Kim’s size in the clothes we brought so she’ll be a little bit lighter on outfits than we had planned. We bought her sweater to supplement the wardrobe. Neither of the Russian kids was very comfortable at the market and both wanted to leave as soon as possible. We wondered if maybe we unearthed an old ghost in their memories. We did not stay very long.

Kim absolutely LOVES to take photographs. She takes out the camera and starts shooting whenever she can get her hands on it. Most of her pictures are pretty good, but there is also the occasional picture of nothing but blue sky… no clouds, no nothing but sky. We’re glad it’s digital and not film… the developing would be a fortune. She’s probably taken a hundred photos so far (note: Grandpa W will have someone who will keep up with him with the camera on trips and such). Here are a few of Kim’s photos of Stavropol. Her perspective is unique. There are lots more including several self-portraits that we can’t show until we have them… two more days.

This evening we went back to the Galleria for dinner. We tried yet another place in the food court. This one served Russian food. Although my Russian is getting a lot better, I’m still not to the point where I consider myself to be speaking Russian. Fortunately for the poor folks behind the counter, there was a worker at the next counter who spoke English. They fetched him quickly, but we probably didn’t need him. We’re doing pretty well at ordering anymore. I just start with “Ya ploha gavaryoo pa Rooski” (I don’t speak much Russian)… they sigh, nod, and away we go. We can say “Ya hachoo eta” (I want this) and point… they say “skolka” (how many), I say the correct number of servings and say “skolka stoyit” (how much does it cost), they answer, I know my numbers so I actually understand them, I pay… ta da… we eat. Not as hard as we thought it might be. There is also a steady stream of foreigners here adopting, so they are getting used to our broken Russian.

After dinner, we stopped by the video and software store in the Galleria again. We bought Kim and Peter each two more games (for Christmas and Birthdays… don’t tell them! Wait… unless you speak Russian, you can’t tell them!). The real purpose of the games is to help them keep as much of their Russian as possible. It’s not our only strategy for this, but it should help. We also bought three movies. We have become savvy enough to look for movies that are listed as “ALL” regions so they will play on the DVD back home (and on our computer). We also know how to look for whether the soundtrack is in Russian only, or also in English. We found several good choices, all for 150 rubles each ($5.45). We got out of there with 3 movies and 4 computer games for 910 rubles ($33.09). Tonight we had our friends from Louisiana back over to watch one of the movies. It was “The Water Horse” and we enjoyed it a lot… it’s either pretty good or we just liked having something in English to watch… I can’t really tell anymore. We also bought “Kung-Fu Panda” and an animated “Star Wars”. We can watch in English here to kill time, and the kids can watch in Russian at home to remind them of here. A win-win proposition. At that price, we may go buy a few more.

Tomorrow will be more of the same… we get the kids from 9:30 – 1:00. In the afternoon we’ll go to the market to buy cakes and flowers for the orphanage. Flowers are culturally a very big thing here, so they should make a nice addition to our very practical (and not adequately extravagant by Russian expectations for “rich” American adopters) gifts for the orphanage. On Friday, we’ll get the translated court papers releasing the children into our custody. We’ll have a little bit of paperwork to do related to signing them and then getting the passports underway. After that, we’ll go get them and bring them home. Good night… and Happy Birthday Brendia… we’d call but… well… you understand.
Note: All photos in this post were taken by photographer Kimberly Yana Merrick.