Not sure about Halloween

Momma was out shopping at 5:45 this morning - before Daniel and Maria woke up....they woke up about the time I got out of the driveway. I brought home a princess and power ranger costume and they do like them. Please notice the red shoes on Daniel!

Maria has expanded her skills to calling 911. Do they just ring 911 if you dial incoherrent numbers or did she actually have to dial 911?

We're learning.....and its fun!

A few quick tidbits

People told me ahead of this adventure that I'd never get to go to the bathroom in peace again.....y'all lied.....it is definitely worse than that! But, it is starting to be fun!

They're getting better adjusted every day and sleeping is really the worst part for now. They play great together. Bathe happily together or separate for an hour or more if I'd let them. By 5 AM we'd already eaten breakfast, played in a play school bus tent, bathed, and wanted to go out to play complete with jackets before daylight (that was wanted to - we didn't!).

Interesting tidbits:
They love coffee - Maria even drank hers black
They got their blood work drawn like champs....willingly got up there (could tell there was a sticker bribe) and only wimpered a bit.
Suckers are interchangeable between children....suck on yours for a while then let's switch.
And, Daniel likes to pick out her shoes. She's partial to pink and he has a glittery red pair he likes her to wear (they switched for a while yesterday, so I suspect that is part of his motivation!).

Off to mothering, but after wondering last week.....I think we'll all survive the experience.

They're not too small and a few tidbits since they're sleeping

Forgot to put an interesting tidbit in the blog yesterday. I have an unusual pair of children - they're both 50% on both height and weight on the growth scale for American children. They were obviously in a good orphanage, but since they're really still pretty much in a size smaller than their ages I figured they'd be on the lower end of things. Guess that means American children are getting bigger. Since they're eating pretty much adult sized portions now, I suspect that they might move up a bit on that scale!

The process - travel, chasing preschoolers, etc. has been a dietary experience for Babooshka and me - Babooshka has lost 5 pounds and Momma has knocked off 9 - she didn't need it, but I'll consider it a side benefit. Maybe it'll keep up a while!

Daniel and Maria have an unusual diet for American preschoolers (that's what they are now you know!). Here's what they've eaten today so far:

Breakfast
Oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt drink, whole grain toast, and hot tea

Snack
Pear and Banana

Lunch
Borsch, Whole Wheat Bread, Salad, Brown Rice, hot tea

Guess you know how Momma's dropping weight now, huh?

Bobooshka is off to take Aunt Elena to the airport and back to Fort Worth for her. It has been nice to have her here to help the children transition to their new home by hearing it in their own language. Bet a lot of new parents don't get that privilidge of getting a glimpse into the hearts of the children. Daniel and Maria asked if we were going back to the Detskey Dom when we got in the car to go to the pediatrician yesterday - no, they weren't wanting to go back there! I was sure glad to be able to have her tell them that they were NEVER going back there - well, maybe they'll want to go when they're older but hopefully much older.

Aunt Gay Lynn and Reagan save the Day!

Yesterday was a rough day. Maria and Daniel had their first pediatrician appointment and Maria was not feeling well - threw up a lot in the morning. She definitely was not her smiling playful self at all...a continuation of the night before I suspect. Aunt Gay Lynn came over and brought over her big, docile Chocolate Lab, Reagan. Sabaska (Dog) is both children's favorite thing to spot and talk about (had one that ran around the orphanage all of the time). Reagan's bigger than both children but it was not long at all before Daniel was leading her around by the leash.....or perhaps the other way around. Not long after that, Maria joined in the fun.

Last night they were asking when Reagan could come back. Fortunately Aunt Gay Lynn lives a few miles away and would love the opportunity to bring Reagan back to play many times. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

One more Russia pic I had to show

Aunt Kayla and her family came over tonight to a very tired and definitely scared Maria. Less than 24 hours in the US is a tough time. Kenna's been very anxious to play fix up hair with her cousin, Maria, and last night just wasn't a good time to start. So, this post is for Kenna! I want her to see the Maria that will be ready to play with her at Thanksgiving for sure. She was wearing the hat/outfit y'all got for her and looking cute as a button with her hat turned backwards!

Christmas in October

Even Saturday night they enjoyed all of the things y'all shared with them - clothes, shoes....more shoes. Maria has already said the shoes are her favorite things in America. Her particuliar favorite are these boots and he's fairly fond of his as well.

Duty calls.....its 2:30 AM and sleep is not what my son thinks you do at this hour! Thought that was supposed to be over sleepless nights when you adopt older children....more photos later.

Camera meet Computer - we have pictures!

It is great to be home. Somehow my card reader cord didn't survive in Russia - don't know where it managed to hide, but thanks to Aunt Gay Lynn and Aunt Kayla's visit to Best Buy we have pictures! It is 2 AM, and we're already awake with Momma praying they'll go back to sleep at least for a little while. So, starting with our fun haircut appointment, here are some pictures! Oh well - these look to be in reverse order, but here's the haircut the semi-patiently entertained big brother, and the newly minted haircut with Babooshka for the ride back up to the room. They did enjoy the stroller and it was a life saver for Momma and Grandma!

We'll add a few more in another post....maybe.

We're home!

It was quite the homecoming at the airport w/ LOUD patriotic music playing. Babooshka and I thought it was for the US' two newest citizens, Daniel and Maria. It was really for a WWII event and arriving passengers....hard of hearing passengers. At the airport, Daniel and Maria got to meet PawPaw, Aunt Gay Lynn, and Rick, Cherie, and Caroline (a soon to be Russian adoptive family recently returned from visiting their new son for the first time). Also at the airport was Aunt Elena who did something they'd not had since their Atlanta arrival - speak to them in Russian. They checked out all of the flight attendants and men on their way home to see if they'd speak Russian with no success.

When we arrived home, I'm not sure what the biggest hit was - probably with Maria the ceiling fan and these dangly hair things to make pony tails with - Aunt Elena helped her make ponies w/ dangles last night and she was proud! With Daniel, I'm not sure....he loved it all. Y'all definitely shared MANY interesting things to keep their attention for a LONG time, and they tried to check out a lot of it on night one.

Momma was exhausted! Babooshka and PawPaw went off for a night away - not sure who was more exhausted - Grandma, who labored hard helping bring them home, or PawPaw, from having lived for 9 days without Grandma!

As has happened throughout this journey home, God absolutely answered prayer and blessed us WAY more than we could even imagine on the 11 1/2 hour airplane ride from home. Momma and I had prayed that we would have someone that spoke Russian and English in the seat next to her since we knew they might could help answer some of the questions Momma's limited Russian couldn't. He went WAY beyond that - and provided a man who'd lived in the US for 30 years and was a citizen but was a Russian native still fluent - and who took pretty much the whole trip sharing himself with the children. He even gave up his seat entirely to get Daniel some very much needed sleep and soothed him to get him to the point he could. Then, after trying to get Maria to nap, he played with her and talked to her for hours. She loved her new playmate and rubbed his beard for well over an hour and kept waking him up to show him more things from the pictures of she and Daniel she had in her backpack. He made her pipecleaner bracelets and necklaces (he's a jeweler) that she adored. God absolutely answered prayer in His usual manner - way more than we could even imagine in our wildest dreams! We'll be keeping up with a certain Florida jeweler, and I suspect a little Russian girl might need a real necklace from him down the road some time....along with a picture and "thank you" showing the how they're doing now.

Oh....bedtime has been nearly non-existant for the children. After 2 hours of wild screaming and playing, bananas and grapes, prayer time, new people, new home and all of that they settled down reasonably quickly after both checking out Maria's toddler bed at the same time, sneaking in a few extra toys, and the normal sibling discussions (ok...in Russian) they went to sleep without further fanfare. Momma is thankful and it definitely is nice to be on the way home.

Its 3:30 AM and Momma's washing clothes, writing this blog, and enjoying "Momma" chants from Daniel in his sleep - happy chants as he rocks from side to side to go more soundly to sleep. If he's going to rock, I like the happy chants that let me know he's on his way to KNOWING he's loved and adored by his momma. Of course, I pretty much enjoyed seeing my more violent sleeper, Maria, sleeping completely quietly in her new bed.

Greetings from Moscow - one day ahead of our homecoming!

We leave for home tomorrow and we're all excited. The children are both napping which is a rare treat. They slept one night for about 15 hours - napped straight threw, but bedtime has been difficult for both of them. Last night it took us 6 hours of rocking, holding, back rubbing, etc. to get Daniel to sleep. I'm so grateful Momma is here and plans to stay for a month or so after we return. Hopefully that will be enough to make it manageable for one - please pray for us as we adjust - that this will get better!

We went to the U.S. Embassy yesterday and did the paperwork for the Russian Consulate today, so we're just about ready to go home.

We had a special treat today. Maria needed a haircut badly. It was on our list of things to do soon after getting home, but they have a beauty salon in the hotel so we decided to go for it. She has the cutest short cut and the young lady who did it was so sweet with she and Daniel. I took pictures of this, but unfortunately can't seem to find the cord to connect at the moment - these computer time moments ARE brief! She's adoreable - and had the cutest princess smile while she was on her perch getting it cut. We couldn't have done this in the States. And, big brother appeared very proud - and quite interested in getting his fingernails painted! The lady explained it was not for boys, but I've seen what happens to little boys when they have girlie girl sisters and cousins!

These children are eating GREAT - definitely in adult portion sizes, but they don't eat like typical American children - they love fruits and vegetables, salads, yogurt, applesauce, and raisins are a particular favorite. They ate beet salad for lunch with rasberry crepes and soup. Momma and I have both lost weight on the trip (perhaps limited food AND a very active sibling pair we've been chasing) , but they're eating like there's no tomorrow. Oh, and it is really fun to watch them drink a whole pot of hot tea like they're grownups - well, sort of! At first Daniel would put his food down while playing with something else and Maria would gobble it up...not now.....he's taking hers!

We get home tomorrow night at 7 and we're looking forward to it!!!

Aunt Elena is coming Saturday night as well and will be helping with ground rules of the house, translating for their first pediatrician appointment on Monday, and perhaps even making their first visit to their future preschool. It was such a blessing to have her travelling with me on the first trip with her native Russian, and I know Daniel and Maria will be very happy to see her again.....so will Momma and Babushka!

Wednesday Update

We are in Moscow now after a very difficult train ride of 8 hours. The children hardly slept and were very excitedly playing in the little sleeper compartment for most of the night. Then, as Kayla mentioned, we got a very unhappy cell phone call home about the unexpected death of my cousin and my mother's niece, Emmie. It appears we will not be able to get home earlier, but we have done everything we need to here until tomorrow's visit to the US Embassy.

Today, the doctor was waiting to examine the children when we arrived at the hotel at 7 AM! And, then Momma had to entertain them in this fancy hotel lobby for about another hour and a half by herself while I completed the embassy paperwork. We heard joyful laughter throughout the morning. We had naps (well, everyone except Daniel) since sleep was not a part of our train journey for the most part. Then, we went to KFC - please don't think that it is the same menu as in the States in case you visit. We thought that we would get biscuits and mashed potatoes and gravy, but all they had were the standard chicken (no English menu's and no way to point!) and the children didn't like it much at all. We came back and checked out the pool. Fortunately, I'd bought some blow up rings for the pool because the minimum depth was 6' or so - Momma and Bobushka had to work a lot! Maria never left the ladder, but she absolutely loved it. Daniel was all over and appears nearly ready to swim on his own with a few lessons! He's quite strong and loves it.

We figured they would enjoy the pool after our last evening at Kursk. We had a Jacuzzi tub and I went and turned on the water in it (never made it to the jet level). Maria heard it and came running in the bathroom stripping as she came. It took him at least 2 seconds to take his clothes off to join her when Maria called him. I promise you have never seen two children have so much fun in a bathtub. Of course, it took two adults to supervise and we were praying we didn't need an ER visit on the way to the train station.

The children are sleeping peacefully now - and have been for a few hours. We may even try for all night if they keep at it like this. They need the sleep with all of the adjustments they've had.

We get to come home on Saturday night and we are looking forward to "real life" with them - the kind with rules, consequences, fun, love, and all of that stuff.

Markay and family could use some prayers right now

They are on a train on the way to Moscow. Needless to say the children have left everything that they know and love to go with these people that don't speak their language. So far it has been a looooong train ride. Please be praying that they will find someone at the hotel that can translate for them and help them comfort the children and calm their fears.

We would also like you to pray that Markay is able to get everything done earlier than originally planned. We had a very unexpected and tragic death in the family today and we really need for Momma to be able to get home quicker than planned.

Thanks,
Kayla

Found the Camera!!!

I'm so excited. Started packing suitcases this morning to head back to Moscow and found the camera. It had fallen behind the suitcase stand!! So glad to have pictures and can get more today from the party for the caregivers and for Daniel and Maria's group.

Should be an interesting and fun day/night (on the train).

Tuesday Activities

Today was mostly a paperwork and rest day. We got a false alarm thinking we may could leave Kursk today, but there were no train rides. I'm glad because it would have been an improper goodbye to the orphanage that so blessed Daniel and Maria (Yuri and Masha as they've been called there). We got to take money out of their accounts (state gives such children money for them to receive when they leave, but traditionally adoptive parents donate it to the orphanage) to donate to the orphanage. We met them leaving work and they were boisterously happy that we shared such a large sum - advantage of adopting older children for them.

We have passports and their name spellings there do not resemble their American spellings in the least, but they assure us it will not be a problem......

Tomorrow is the big day where we take them from the orphanage for good. We'll let them take their naps, then about 4 we'll go for a party with their group where we bring plenty of goodies for their friends and caretakers, then we'll leave. At 10 PM we catch the train for the ride to Moscow overnight. Please pray that they sleep. They're so keyed up and excited about leaving that we're not sure how to act. We learned "Stop" and "Go" in English today with a game of chase - or freeze tag really. We're glad they know that now so they know the word, Stop! Moscow has so many people and we are afraid Daniel is too friendly and likes to wander off to meet the pretty girls.

I'd forgotten a funny story from yesterday with Maria. Babushka was in the bathroom and Maria came in for a visit. They have a fascination with water. Maria turned on the bedet and sprayed water everywhere. She turned it off and went on her way and Babushka saw her eyes glow with that "Eureka" look. She turned and opened her hair brush compact and commenced to scrubbing the bedet with it!!! Wonder where that hair brush is now? We can't turn off our guard for a second with their new explorations!

We love our hotel room - really an apartment. Its more expensive slightly, has limited hot water, and the elevator doesn't work. So, maybe it is surprising that we like it so much. We were laughing about that this afternoon and Grandma was disturbed that they'd not come to clean the room today. She said, I put out the sign. Well, I asked if she'd put out the right sign - they're in Russian you know! She went and looked and she'd put out the "Do Not Disturb" sign, so no wonder - we had a good laugh - and it has pictures that pretty much describe things. Momma said that "sign reading" should've been in preschool. Oh well, they cleaned it today!

We are blessed and are enjoy loving on these children. There are plenty that need homes and it is a loving orphanage that has plenty of children waiting for homes where they will be loved and cared for! Yesterday I shed a tear watching Daniel try to take a nap. I'd read about the rocking, but it didn't prepare me for what I saw. I wanted to grab him up and give him 5 years worth of rocking! I'm so thankful that the Lord blessed me with these two children who need a momma and lots of love! Can't wait to see how loved they'll feel in 1 month, 6 months, etc.

Markay, Daniel, Maria and Aunt Elena

Markay will have to fix it, but here are more

Daniel, Aunt Elena, and Maria

OK, these pictures are from the first trip.

Aunt Kayla, Post some Pictures!

Aunt Kayla, now that it is official and since I can't, please add some pictures and show off these beautiful children! We'll be adding more when we can take some!

Two days worth of visits

First of off, Friday was the day that the adoption was official. Since it is official, I'll go ahead and start calling the children by their new names, Daniel Yuri (5) and Maria Grace (4).

The weekend didn't require any paperwork visits and it was all fun Saturday and Sunday! Saturday we got to take them to this play area with bumper cars, a merry go round, train, and one of those maze/ball things. They love it all. Daniel was so funny getting the worker to come help us get started with whatever needed someone to push the button to let us start (not a high use venue!) . My knee moves a little more than it did yesterday from my driver, Daniel, slamming into a column. Grandma and Maria did great on the bumper cars, too. I'm not sure which they like best - maybe we should try it again to find out!

After that, we went to the room for a while - that was an eye opening experience for Momma - realized I'm not nearly childproofed enough at home. Daniel and Maria LOVED playing with the water - a little too much I'm sure, but hopefully that means they'll be ready to really enjoy the pool next summer.

After that we headed to the circus. It was really a fun one - small with only children and parents. It was funny that they had all American music for the acts. The children love it. At intermission Daniel was sharing his chips with every stranger. Somehow only the children were interested in eating the chip he offered! Daniel HAS to be the most giving boy ever....and I have a few more tales on that front from Sunday!!

Momma and I left the orphanage exhausted, but only slept a few hours last night - ended up playing "Hand and Foot" mostof the night - or maybe it was only a dream because I sort of remember that Momma whipped me every game (must've been only a nightmare).

On Sunday, we went out to the tank park nearby from the largest tank battle in world history even to this day from World War II. That was very interesting. We discovered that Daniel is going to be up where the action is - he went right where the tour guide was - even when the class was standing a good ways back. We got to go into a general's quarters - underground. There was a high school group that was at the park and I was the first American they'd ever met. They wanted to visit about things, what I liked to do, if these were my children, etc. They wanted my address and all said they wanted to come live in the US - want to practice English with me. I'll be happy to oblige. They asked if I had pictures of America, so I showed them pictures of Callan and Kenna at the Hannah Montana concert last year. They all knew who Hannah Montana was and I let them borrow my IPOD to enjoy some photos. They gave it back and we said goodbyes. Then, they came running wanting to take a picture of all of us. I'm thinking we might have a match for penpals between this 14 year old very hip Russian girl and Callan (7) - who loves girls that age! She wants to practice her English and I definitely expect to get a letter!

Later, I had my first carsick experience. God was good. It wasn't so bad -only grape juice, and I didn't gag at all and we were almost home. Those are all good things.

Ok - the second share story....we were at a Picadilly style cafeteria where you get to pick out your food. They have fresh fruit and I'd gotten the children nectarines for dessert. Daniel was eating away on his and then came up and wanted me to cut his partly eaten nectarine in half. I'm thinking it was to get the seed out and it was not cooperating - it was a juicy one. Alas, I did get the nectarine in half (again, partly eaten on both halves!). Daniel then quickly went across the room to share his nectarine with two pretty young ladies (about 18) at a nearby table. We all rolled - including the girls - and somehow they weren't interested in eating the nectarine. They couldn't take their eyes off their new admirer the rest of the time that we were there.

After lunch we went to our room for naps. Daniel wasn't successful in going to sleep, but we ended up having a GREAT time playing and learning some English words. Our translator was there to try to help us get both to sleep. Maria had a great nap (as did Babushka). I wasn't left wanting though - we had a terrific time with the translator and Daniel and I learning English words, coloring, and even getting to practice our total physical response in ESL learning the colors and picking them out. Daniel did great! Can't wait until we can all communicate better. I'm thinking I'll see less of the more fearful side of Maria. Neigher of the children is shy at all, but Maria does get fairly obviously scared around unusual situations. She's a prancer and has repeated that she is beautiful when we put on an outfit she's pleased with. She has a cute personality and we're seeing her bubbly side more and more each day.

We have no internet access at our hotel, so it may be another couple of days before I get to post again - have to walk a long way and we're whipped from playing hard!

One other bad thing was that I managed to lose my camera yesterday - it is no more, so I won't have pictures from this trip - at least until I replace it. Can't seem to find a disposable camera here in this city of 1,000,000 which surprises me. I'm not sure I want to buy a Russian digital one, but I might. I'd taken such great pictures the first trip, and more the second, so I'm glad to have those for their memories from the orphanage. Hopefully I can take some more with whatever camera I can find before we leave on Tuesday.

Until next time......

New Hotel

Way cool development on the hotel! We're staying at a different one down the street that is about 50% more expensive but 20 times as nice. The elevator doesn't work, so thankfully I have two good knees now and can take the stairs. We have two bathrooms, a dining room, kitchette with microwave and fridge, a bathroom with a jacuzzi and a living room area - and plenty of bed space. To think we were disappointed that we didn't get to stay at the old familiar - whoever said change wasn't good?

We don't have internet in the room, but there are internet cafes available around. So, you might not get quite as many reports. We shall see.

Oh - forgot to mention that we may get to take D and M to the circus tomorrow and one of the famous parks here in Kursk. I'm scooping Momma since she stayed to nap while I had to go do paperwork. Our translator is getting all of the documents scanned here in the internet cafe and I'm doing the update thing on the blog and email. Until next time....running to get Momma and head to the orphanage.

Visiting D and M again and plan your adoption paperwork for Friday!

We got to visit D and M at the orphanage today. Unfortunately it was for a short time because of all of the paperwork required for us to do to get us headed for home. We met with the Chief Doctor again and she told us that the children were expecting us to come for them now and are looking forward to it. It was raining so we played inside of their music room - not the ideal place to play for two active children, but it was fun. They continue to be more interested in the food and juice I bring than coloring - and they'd much rather play active games. The plane should be fun!

Today is the day the adoption is official - and the day we had to go to their official building to sign the adoption decree and their new birth certificates. It was fun because they have their weddings there, too - civil weddings with lots of white dresses, friends all dressed up, and even a choir in Russian costumes singing for one.

In Moscow, but changes ahead

We slept hardly at all on the plane once again.  Sure wish I knew how these people manage to sleep almost the whole time!  We did play Hand and Foot - somewhat of a challenge to play a 7 deck of cards game with just two pull down trays, but we did fine with it.  Guess Momma was tired because even though I won she didn't make me play all night.

When we arrived in Moscow we found out that our hotel in the children's region is different than we've stayed in before - twice the cost and we have no idea what is around.  So, I'm not sure if I'll have internet there or not.  Who knows - it could be better and I even get to use my laptop in the room.  We shall see, but we'll do fine whatever.

This morning was definitely one of those contemplating what all I signed up for as  part of this package of motherhood.  There's another family picking up their new daughter with us (we met them last time as they were here for court as well).  They brought their 4 year old son who was adopted from Russia 3 years ago with them.  He was severely car sick about 10 minutes in - and the whole way from the airport to our hotel/wait for the train area.  As I watched Mom and Dad in that family switch places so Daddy could take care of the sick child is that hmmmmmmm.....that "let the Daddy do it thing" that Kayla has employed so well is not going to be an option for me....and, the likelihood is high that I could get broken in two at once.  Y'all know I'm tough enough for that, but it just wasn't one of those things I'd really thought about specifically before that magic moment in the car.  Please pray that its the end of the car sickness for that poor little guy and the other children don't experience it!!  

This is a great adventure that we continually think on how God has directed this, so we won't be sweating the small stuff.  I'd worked with another agency before some unfortunate circumstances caused me to change.  They were planning on registering me in the region where the children are.  When I changed, I went with the largest that works in everyone - never having told them what they were thinking earlier about regions.  D and M were GOING to be at my house no matter what - nothing about them was what I'd put on paper but I can't even imagine a better fit if I had picked it out.  I didn't even realize that there was such a thing as CLOSE siblings in orphanages.  They are definitely that and that will be such a blessing to them as we get started with their new home.  God is good all the time, and I'm so thankful He's brought me on this new journey in life!!  

So, we'll write again when we can, but it may have to be from my sisters, Kayla and Gay Lynn, in case of not have internet for a week or so.

On the Road Again

Momma and I caught the plane to Atlanta and we're writing from the airport en route to Moscow in an hour and a half. Momma's an old hat at travel now - even brought a backpack to have her hands free. We had a nice lunch and are just waiting around now.

We arrive in Moscow at 10:30 in the morning, have a day to chill out and shop, then catch a 10 PM overnight train to the children's region. This will definitely be a new experience, but we will definitely be looking forward to having our own cabin with a horizontal surface to lie on and a bathroom down the hall to the van ride that was so eloquently recorded in Momma's prayer journal last trip. We're definitely thankful that we don't get to check that out this time. Besides, I'm guessing D and M haven't ever ridden a train so they'll probably think its pretty cool! We're really looking forward to the new experiences with them - right away!

We'll be updating in a couple of days after 6000 miles by air and maybe 350 by train!

This is so exciting - so thankful to see what the Lord has in store for us the next 10 days before we arrive back at home sweet home!

Some Assembly Required

We have a double umbrella stroller. Had to put pieces parts together and it works! We will see if they will ride in it, but this is probably a get them home and find someone that it will bless afterwards - don't think it will be something they can use long - or would want to. I'm concerned about Moscow and the 16,000,000 legal residents and 16,000,000 non-legal ones and realize - that's a lot of people. I'd rather have them in a stroller than holding mine and Babooshka's hand and deciding that something looks more interesting than what we planned.

We'll definitely have some firsts for D and M this trip - look forward to getting to share them in pictures soon! I'm planning to wait until the children are with me before posting pictures. We've come too far to have any glitch over mom's ignorance on the rules now!

The Benefits of Membership

Called Delta this afternoon and asked if they couldn't work on putting us all together now. We got that accomplished in a priority seating area (up front) and Momma and I have the exit row (ah, leg room!) on the way over. I had to speak to one extra supervisor who was only too happy to help me. Sure do appreciate having this situation addressed and ready to roll for Wednesday.

I'm anxious to chill and nest this weekend - heading out of town for the entire work week was needed but sure is tough on the old body back to back to back with a really long trip to Russia twice. Except for hanging some curtains, the childrens rooms are in great shape...the same can't be said for Momma's.....a few days to prepare will be nice. On the Tennessee flight I read a book about organization - somehow I expect I'll have to do better with that area of my homemaking with two preschoolers! But, I'm really looking forward to Wednesday!!!

Please pray on this one!

Have been on the phone getting my reservations changed to the new date. They only have 4 single seats. Surely Delta will have a heart and force a change - no way a 4 and 5 year old can sit by themselves on an 11 1/2 flight, but I don't really want to wait and have to ask then. I'll be keeping my eye out for the opportunity to at least group us in pairs! The change wasn't too bad, so we'll be set to go next Wednesday!

And, to think I thought the blog would be boring this week.

I caught a 6 AM flight to Tennessee this morning and decided to check email in the Atlanta airport. I'd gotten an email from Russia saying that my actual court decree date is October 17th, so I now can't pick up the children until that date. That means that we will have to leave on Wednesday instead of Sunday.

I'd picked up an organizational book to read on the trip this morning, and guess the Lord thought I needed an extra day or two to implement the ideas. Yes, it is disappointing to be picking up D and M 3 days later, but in making lemonade I know it will be a good thing if I use the extra time wisely to get my house ready for the coming arrival of youth and much exhuberance.

Busy Week!

Woke up yesterday at 3:30 and got up. Today it was 1:30....at least I had to get up at 4 anyway to head up to Tennessee for work for the rest of the week. Perhaps when you're home only 1 week before switching time zones 9 hours again that you shouldn't worry so much about the day and night times....well, that is my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Before I left for Russia I couldn't find any winter things for D and M - hat, coat, gloves, etc..... nice to be going to Tennessee where they do actually have a winter. Was blessed with a ton of 3's for M since she decided to stay small, so won't be frantically tracking down clothes for them.

It is so hard to believe that this time next week I'll probably be not sleeping when I'm supposed to be (just like now) but this time in anticipation of picking D and M up in 5 hours for the last time from the orphanage. That will be a great time and one that I'm really looking forward to!

There are definitely fewer things going to Russia this trip - we brought way too much luggage - I'd rather hold little hands more comfortably. I'm hearing from other parents that are about D and M's age (4 and 5) that they still put them in strollers for particuliarly challenging or long trips. These are definitely not stroller children, but I'm hoping it helps them feel more secure that Momma will take care of them in unknown situations - particuliarly in Moscow where there are tons of people rushing around everywhere. Any thoughts from you experienced moms?

We're home until next Sunday

Rough trip from D&M's region home and back. Yesterday made for a 24 hour day of travel by the time all was finished. We were semi-zombyesk by the time we got home. I was up at 3 AM washing clothes and cooking to put some things in the freezer for our return - beans in the crock pot and brown rice (ok....its what I had). Thinking the crock pot will become my friend here very soon.

I leave at 6 AM for Tennessee tomorrow until Friday before being home for 1 day and heading back to pick up the most precious packages ever in Russia next week!

Did I mention on the blog that D had surgery in August? Noticed a scar that I hadn't back in July and asked. I'd known he needed it when we returned home, but it never occurred to me that they would do it - and that I wouldn't even get to know about it! I'm so thankful that we have all been praying and that God knew and took care of things. It will be interesting when we get to the pediatrician here to see if both issues were taken care of at the same time. Sure hope so!!

I'm so grateful to the Lord for such a great first leg of this trip and know that He will see us home to get started with our lives together as a family.

Children's first outing

We got to take D and M to get their pictures made for their passports this morning - in the machina (the van). It brought great smiles. Saying what Miss M looked like for her passport photo would be only describable as saying that she rivaled her referral picture - the one where I fell in love, but only a mother could love! That was the best we could do after 30 tries. She was terrified! D did his in one shot and he was as cute as he is in every picture - he knows how to turn on the charm. This was a cellular telephone place and Mr. D LOVES to shop and wanted to know what it all was - a little tough considering my limited Russian vocabulary.

After this, we had to take them back to the orphanage and left for Moscow with the other family that is adopting. We made it safely and it wasn't near as interesting a ride as the earlier one. Momma didn't get out her prayer journal at all on this trip! She documented it on the way down - in case the Lord had not noticed the 24 near misses. No, it didn't make the blog earlier since Daddy is on the US side and I want Momma to come back with me tomorrow. We'll take the train when we come back on Sunday, but here's what she blogged:

"Lord, you are all kowing and I pray you will slow Alexander to safetly on these 2 lanes - we have passed on the center lane amid oncoming traffic. We have passed big trucks on a hill (what if someone else was on the hill passing the other way?) At one point he pulled over, stopped on the side & wiped his face! We have been inches away from the rea of jagged truck hauls & cars & swung past Once we started to pass a truck & the car in front passed the truck so we passed both of them (on the opposite shoulder). I know we have driven 80 mph & more. And his is personable! Once we were inches behind a big truck that was passing as Alexander had done he blew. There was no way of knowing what we were meeting. He even passed that truck as it moved over. Thank you for sparing us! The front of may a car was in peril as we swung into the left pane after passing on the right. Sometimes we thought the one we were passing was a truck only to find it a piggy-back truck! Many times it was wet from rain or rainy! We made it Lord, and Alexander is nice."

The ride this afternoon wasn't quite so harrowing, but the husband of the other family rode in the front seat and said he felt like he was riding in a video game!

We're off for home for a little less than a week before returning to pick up my little precious ones. We get home Sunday night and return next Sunday morning. The fun is about over here. Its 7 PM in Moscow and we head to the airport early in the morning. We'll have a little time to let Momma and the children see Moscow on the return trip home. Moscow is huge, so we'll be careful where we venture.

Forgot the grapes!

Momma let me know I'd forgotten her favorite moment of the day today. After lunch we get to dress the children very warmly - required to have hats and coats (ski wear type) and I'd have shorts on in similar weather, but that's another story. Anyway....we were dressing them and M spotted some grapes in a side pouch of my backpack carefully shut with a pull tie. She managed to get them out as we were putting her shirt over her head - very skilled. We couldn't keep the grapes away from either child to let us get outside until I put the backpack on out of either of their reach. They can't get enough fruit - or anything else for that matter. Yes, they do have a little catching up in size, but I'll be glad when they know that I WILL provide their next meal! Until then, I'm thinking we'll be keeping stuff up high. Any suggestions from you veteran moms on that front?

We'll definitely be sticking with the healthy stuff since they love it so much. Momma had brought some trail mix and they definitely picked out all of the dried fruit and left the good stuff - the cashews and almonds. This could very well be a match made in heaven on that front!

First day of parenting and fun new stuff!

The egg saga continued this afternoon. After court we went to the orphanage to visit without a translator at all - just got dropped off and there we were! The funniest thing - and I'm sure it is the first of many firsts. We took some of those "10 minute" eggs to D and M. They'd obviously never had boiled eggs, and I wish I'd had a picture of those big blue eyes of M's when she saw that it didn't run when she cracked it! She loved it (ok, like virtually all food put in front of her). I'm going to have to buy groceries every day - otherwise I'm somewhat thinking they'll eat it all in one day!!

Well, tomorrow is a new day - we take them to get their passport photos and then head to Moscow. Callan and Kenna, I think Miss M is going to be wearing your matching outfit complete with hat for her passport photo - she needs to look cute for it as it'll be with her a while!

Call me Momma!!!!!!

It is official. Court went great this morning, and I am the children's mother.....hmmmmm....not sure if I can use their real names or if I have to wait until the 10 day wait is over. I'll ask and post it later if so.

Basically, everything went very smoothly. Everyone was in favor of things going through. The chief doctor was very excited about the D and M being adopted - even said the children have asked if I was on every plane that they saw! I'd not known that before. She said they've done so much better - and are more confident since they have a family now.

The two government officials I met last time and this were also in favor of the adoption. Even the prosecutor asked only a couple of questions about what I thought about the parents who murdered their Russian children after they brought them home. I said that we should put those parents under the jail. It is horrible!

I shared a book of pictures of the children and I along with their rooms and our home. The judge noticed that D had on glasses in the photos and asked the doctor why she had not mentioned his eye problem. I told her those were Momma's glasses - I brought them sunglasses to play in this time. She was very observant.

We go in the morning to take them to get their passport photos and then head back for Moscow after. October 3rd will always be a special day! October will always be a special month!!!!!

God is good! This is all a great gift from Him! I can't wait for the journey to begin for real when I finally pick them up!

More fun

We got to go spend several hours with the children again this afternoon. It was more fun - stayed a few hours and the hits of the afternoon were the Ipod pictures of them and bubbles. It is amazing how much M likes to do those. I believe she has a one bottle long (with no spills) attention span on that! That's a lot for a 4 year old plus 1 week old child!! This afternoon all of the children in their group kept calling me Momma and wanting to be picked up. Miss M got very jealous when I did it, but it was hard not to. Of course, she'll get plenty of me here shortly! Anybody want to get a little Russian boy or girl?

Our driver took the whole group in the van for a ride around the orphanage. They loved it. Of course, D got to "drive" every time. It will be hard for him to wait until he's 16 I can tell. He definitely has a thing for "machinas" (cars) already - guess that will make him like any red blooded male! I'm thinking he's going to be wanting to "drive" a tractor and a truck with his Paw Paw come 3 weeks from now!!

I've not been able to post any pictures this trip - no flash drive connection. I'm not sure I can post pictures of them until I have custody of the children, so it will still be a week and a half or so. I've got some really cool kids with their supercool sunglasses that I can't wait to share. Mom's the photographer this trip, so I won't be in many of them from this trip.

Court is in 13 hours, so I'll likely be able to give a happy report about the time y'all wake up in the morning! God is good, so there's no reason to fear now. Next time I write, I'll be a Momma!

Pinnochio - Russian Style

Momma and I spent most of our time this morning at the orphanage going on a treasure hunt of sorts with D and M's Group. Their caretakers dressed up in costumes like a pinnochio story characters - not ours. One did have a long cardboard nose, but a character with a hugely long beard I didn't recognize. Fortunately I remembered before the end to get out the camera and take some pictures of this for the children. At lunch I found the book and bought one for them - very different from our story. It was really neat the way they did a treasure hunt going as a group and reading clues until they ended up in their head doctor's office where they searched and found a large box of candy for them all to share. Great fun - and I knew this was a good orphanage.

Miss M is quite the bubble blower. D and the driver, Momma, and Grandma were kicking a soccer ball everywhere all around her and we had a steady stream of many and large bubbles. What a change that was from July when she couldn't even get anything to come out. What fun it will be to see more ways that she is learning and growing as she gets home. She definitely does her own thing!

We just had practice for court, and will get to go see D and M again this afternoon in a short while. Court for me is at 10 AM, so please remember me and the children in your prayers tonight.

Yesterday Afternoon

Momma and I had a great visit yesterday afternoon with the children. We had about 3 hours solid to play outside in their large outdoor play area. First we had a revelation about clothes - they're definitely a 3 and 4 instead of 4 and 5 so they'll get to grow into their clothes. M's shoes were way too big, but D's tennis shoes fit great! After we got them warmly dressed in clothes that fit, we were off to have some fun outside in one of their outdoor play rooms, and then all over the place outside.

You could hear M screaming Babooshka, Babooshka all over the place. How is it that it is love at first sight like that? We definitely have a Grandma's girl on our hands. It was so neat to see how much M has come out - we picked up right where we left off. She was coming to me to take her to the potty, prancing around just like was at the end of our last visit. And, she was hardly without a smile ever - a quite mischievous smile many times. The sunglasses I brought were a hit with both children, but M wanted no part of trying D's superman glasses - she liked the girlie ones.

D was quite fun - having a great time driving the car (in the drivers lap) multiple times around the orphanage. He really enjoyed that as well as prancing around with various push toys. He was disappointed that the bicycles were out of commission.

Both of the children absolutely loved looking at my pictures from the first trip - happily showing off the pictures of themselves and posing for new pictures - and coming to see the digital screen after to see what they looked like.

After our visit last night we went to the grocery store and I definitely provided entertainment for Momma. We decided to eat dinner from the store, so I bought breads (they have a lot of fresh baked kinds) and cheese and butter. Momma had wanted to bring boiled eggs for our trip, so I thought I was finding just what she wanted when I found boiled eggs - 10 minute eggs in the store. They sold them in plastic bags like we would buy produce. When we got back to the room and set out our spread, I discovered that the boiled eggs were actually zero minute eggs - au natural......the 10 minutes was 10 eggs. Oh well, our translator will enjoy them I'm sure. We went to bed exhausted, but had a great day.

Tomorrow is court and they said to expect it to be difficult. Please pray that I share from my heart exactly my love for D and M.

They're still cute and adorable

D and M were just as cute as ever this morning. We had to go for a very thorough interview first about my ability to be their mom and my financial state. There are very good reasons to follow Dave Ramsey guidelines if you want to adopt international. They seemed to be very concerned about the mortgage situation, and I was glad to say I only had 7 years left on paying off my home!

The children were playing outside with their group when I arrived and you could tell they were expecting me. D was quite excited about the prospect of his babushka being there - he even went to his friend and hugged her and danced around proud to have a Grandma. The workers at the orphanage were very surprised I had such a young looking mother.

The orphanage doctors are afraid that I will have a hard time keeping D in shoes - his feet grow way fast. Hopefully the cool light up size 13's that the Brown's (Robert and Melissa) gave him will fit fine - I know he'll be stomping to show them off (they light up). We will see this afternoon, but I know they will - can't have grown that much since July! They loved bubbles and the balls, balloons, and stickers that they did last time. M seemed very excited to have her Momma there! D sort of acted shy, but it was a great meet up again after the long wait.

Left them with some new sunglasses and I do expect that we'll be seeing lots of them - they loved them. Hopefully I'll have more to share later.

It is way different coming here without Aunt Elena! It is much harder with the language barrier, but things are going well.