Play Foam

Okay, "so what is Play Foam?" you ask. It was surprisingly the hit of the orphanage and we'll have to bring some back again. Our little girl loved it and kept making little balls ans snowmen. It's like playdough (but easier to squish), comes in different colors, is sticky (but doesn't leave a residue on anything) and is non-toxic (in case a child eats it). Here is a picture of the snowmen.

Moscow

We are now in Moscow--doing a lot of sleeping so far. We had no idea that the Moscow airport was so far from the city center of Moscow. The traffic was bad so it took us 2 hours to get from the airport to our hotel.

Once checked in, we found the nearest american restaurant (because Nate was dying for a hamburger) and took a 15 minute walk to TGI Fridays. It sure hit the spot for both of us! It felt good to sit in a restaurant that was "like home." Outside of the language and the smoking vs non-smoking section of the restaurant, we could've been in America.

Speaking of smoking, we had completely forgotten how sheltered we are at home in terms of the no smoking laws we have. Quite a jolt back into what the rest of the world is like. It seems that more people smoke here than those that do not. We keep wondering what the lung cancer rate is here. Do the people not know what they are doing to their body? Have they not been educated? Does their goverment get a profit from cigarettes so they have not informed their people of what a terrible risk they are taking? We're baffled. It has certainly been an adjustment for my nose, lungs etc. I do fine in our hotel room, but as soon as I walk of our room, my nose runs and my chest hurts. What a woosie I am!

Back to our adventures...on our way back to the hotel, we stopped in at a bookstore. We found a Star Wars book in Russian and think our boys will really like that. We also picked up two books that we think our daughter will like. One of them we have at home in English so that will be neat to compare them.

Tomorrow we plan to do some sightseeing. We'll see if we can even find the one Moscow Starbucks on our adventures...

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Leaving Murmansk

We took this picture early this morning as we boarded our flight back to Moscow. Hopefully you can see the plane in the background and the snow covered ground. There was even snow on our plane as we took off. I guess de-icing is pointless here so they've learned how to fly regardless of the weather conditions. It was quite interesting to land on and take off of snow. We kept thinking, "Surely they know what they are doing since they do this all of the time, right?"

By the way, here's an international traveler tip #1: When you are traveling in a land of another language, take notice of the faces around you when you check in for your flight. It was very helpful to know when to get on our planes since we typically couldn't understand what in the world they were saying when they were calling out flights. It became even more helpful when we got back into Moscow and we were trying to find our luggage. They couldn't seem to make up their mind as to which spot to put the luggage for our flight so we just kept following this one lady around until we saw her finally get her luggage. We knew ours would be close--and it was!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Out on a Walk

Nate took this as we walked back from Mama Mia's. Snow everywhere! It's quite beautiful--if only it weren't so cold!

Along the Road

This one was taken as we drove along the road to and from the hotel and orphanage. We are in the Arctic Circle, that's for sure!

Views of Murmansk

This is a view of Murmansk from our hotel window--the one that we could fully open--on the 6th floor. We kept wondering if people jumped from hotel windows often here because they couldn't take the cold any longer.

Notice that there are trees here even though it is above the tree line. Not many, but there are some. We were teasing our Coordinator and Translator that we were going to bring them some seedlings from trees in our valley at home to see what they can start here.

Frozen Pizza

Have you ever wondered how much you would give for a piece of pizza? Well, we figured out our price today. After much boiled fish, chicken and potatoes we were growing tired of the same buffet of limited choices in the hotel so we decided to venture out today in search of "Mama Mia's" which was recommended to us by our Coordinator. He says that he sends all of the American couples there to eat. Well, all I have to say is, "Thank goodness for Mama Mia's" because I couldn't take another boiled food item. Two times today, lunch and dinner, Nate and I walked about a mile in the freezing weather to partake of pizza! At lunch time it was 7 degrees and at dinner it was zero degrees. For us Californians, I'd say this was quite a sacrifice simply for the sake of pizza. It certainly wasn't Me-n-Eds, but it was the best thing we'd had all week!

As for our time with our daughter today, it was sweet. She was visibly more tired than yesterday so she was more subdued. I think we wore her out yesterday! While we played with her this morning, she crawled more than walked and by the time we took her back to her group at lunch time, it was obvious that she would sleep at naptime--that is if she didn't fall asleep while she ate lunch! We will definately need to bring an umbrella stroller with us when we pick her up so that she can rest often. Also during that time with her, we were able to get some video footage. Yeah!

We also spent some time in her room with her group. We were able to take pictures of her bed, her bathroom, her play area, etc. During this time, we left a disposable camera with her caregivers to take pictures of her life while we are gone. They seem very conscientious of making sure she will get back everything we have brought for her. As we stood in her room, we were able to ask her caregivers about her routines, her favorite friends and things to do. The basic overall theme no matter what we asked about her was that she is very easy-going and such a good girl. We will see what happens when we get home! Her caregivers shared with us that she has been telling everyone about the picture of her bed in her new home. Each time she shows it, she makes sure to point out her sister's bed and then her own bed. She is very excited about that part!

A funny little note about our daughter is that she loves to say "thank you" in Russian to everything. It became a game as we played with Play Foam. What makes it even funnier to us is that for some reason that was the specific word that I kept forgetting how to say. Thanks to our daughter, it is now firmly planted in my head!

Speaking of Play Foam...we brought a $10 package of Play Foam with us and it was the hit of the orphanage. We've been asked by many different people in the orphanage if we can bring some back. So we will be in search of bulk pricing for Play Foam when we get home. They cannot wait for us to come back with it! It was actually a last minute buy and never in a million years did we think it would be such a winner! Our daughter loved to have us make all different sizes of balls with it. She just thought that it was hysterical to make them, pretend they were eyes, try to throw them and make baskets into the ziplock bag with them and especially to be able to give and take them while saying, "Spla-SEE-ba" over and over. What a crack up!

We ended our time with her with hugs and wishing we could come back sooner, but we leave knowing that she is well taken care of and that God will bring us back in just the perfect timing. Tomorrow we get up quite early to return to Moscow, but once there I think we might just take a big fat nap! We'll fill you in on our Moscow adventures tomorrow. Off to get some sleep!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

No lines in Russia

So what is Russia like? Our time here has been only a few days, but already we have started to get a taste of their culture. These are just a few randoms thoughts that we noticed along our journies within Russia...just some things we thought were interesting...or funny.

The airports...we've been in three so far just in Russia...are an interesting blend of 1960 and 2008. The buildings themselves are the same ones built many, many years ago. Solid concrete, very plain and boring on both the inside and outside, cheap almost. They are somewhat run down, but not dangerously so...just old. But then all of a sudden you notice the 50" high definition plasma screens that are used everywhere! For advertising and flight notifications, TV shows, etc. And of course...they've copied our church (The Bridge)...most of the screens are turned vertically. Thank you very much!

Some of the phones at the airport desks were the old-style rotary analog phones. But then we noticed that every single person we saw had a cell phone in their pocket...and quite advanced phones...they seem to like the Apple iPhone a lot.

A coordinator from our agency met us in Moscow and then led us to another domestic airport so that we could fly to Murmansk. There doesn't seem to be much concept of "order" within the context of forming lines. It's not as bad as what I hear of China...but they seem to operate under the system of "I got to the check stand before you, so I am next." Checking in and turning in baggage was interesting. Our coordinator here was not flying with us, so she talked us through the process very carefully as she would not be allowed to go with us through the gates. Their level of efficiency is quite interesting. Compared to American airports, their process seems on the onset to be very combersome and not very thorough...but we started and finished within only a few minutes even with the language barrier. There was just lots of "da, da" and smiling. Smiling seems to get you lots...which is funny because the Russians seem to never smile.

Then, while waiting to leave Moscow and fly to Murmansk, a group of large older men wearing pilot uniforms were being very boistrous and loud...drinking shots of vodka. They were obviously waiting for the same flight as ours...of course making us slightly nervous. But as it turned out...they were not the pilots for our flight...just passengers. Whew!

They've proven me wrong that they ARE INDEED able to get 125 people into a standing only transport bus that is only rated at holding 30 people. What was more, is that the bus only traveled about 100 feet from the plane to the concourse...really...100 feet. We had to wait for everyone to de-board the plane (keeping the doors open while it was snowing) and then stuff into the bus...for a 100' travel distance. Very smart.

Our coordinator and translator in Murmansk are really cool. They both have worked for our adoption agency for many years. Our coordinator drives a Saab, it's very new and he keeps it very nice. What was really interesting is that all the labeling on the interior is english...not Russian anywhere. He is a good driver, but I'm pretty sure he is the only one. There is snow everywhere...it doesn't look like they clear it off the roads...just compact it down with more driving. You can feel the car slide on many of the hills, but it never phases anyone. They drive in the snow like we drive in the fog...way too fast!

Our hotel is really nice. The bathroom is a little small, but the shower head is to die for! I have traveled to a hundred cities in the US and stayed in many many hotels...the shower head in our room is the finest I have ever experienced. I'm looking to see if I can find a crescent wrench before we leave. There is a nice restaraunt on the second floor (we're on the sixth) and all of the hotel and restaurant employees speak pretty good english. The meals are good...but we're still not really sure what we ate for lunch today. They offer lots of fish because Murmanks' primary industry (besides the huge Russian submarine base) is fishing.

As we drive through the city, you get a pretty good feeling that there isn't much construction (except in the shipyards) anywhere. Every single building (lots of high-rises) looks very dated and mostly have the same exterior style. Its actually very reminiscent of Mexico...except bigger buildings. The exteriors are all very brightly colored, very plain, antiquated and the windows covered with steel bars that have been stylized so they don't look so bad. And for some weird reason, Brandy and I both want to respond to people in Spanish. Perhaps it's because we know they speak a different languange and the only other language we have some remote chance of communicating in is Spanish. So someone will hand us something and for some bizarre reason I want to say, "gracias." "Da nada." Not sure where that is coming from.

I also haven't figured out why the hinges on all their doors are not simetrical. There is one at the top and one at the bottom. But the third hinge is about a third of the way down from the top...its not in the middle. And all the doors are like this. Why?

I have lots more things to post (ask me sometime about the bank we went into!), but in our hotel we have to pay to use the internet by the hour...and its almost 1am Russian time. We'll post again tomorrow.

Blessings to all our family and friends,

Nate

Joyful Day

We started our day by heading to the Ministry of Education and having our daughter officially assigned to us. For right now, we have been given permission to visit her, but this period of time is for us to meet her and then decide if we officially want to adopt her. This period of time is useful just in case we got here and discovered that she was not the child we thought her to be. What I mean by that is that possibly she would be out of control, extremely delayed, maybe showed signs of fetal alchohol syndrome--basically anything we didn't think we could handle.

However, for us, we had the joy of her being more than we expected in a positive way. Since she had been anticipating her "guests" she was very excited. Her caregivers and her smarts prepared her very well. She was so happy!! It was like as if she had been watching her friends go through this process and had been waiting for this day all of her life and it was finally here! It was also obvious to us that she has been well taken care of and is a favorite among the staff.

I won't go into the details of our two visits with her today, but here are some of the highlights. There was nothing like that moment when we sat in the playroom waiting for her and we heard her sweet, happy voice down the hallway. I'm pretty sure that if she could've run down the hallway she would have.

Another unforgettable moment was during our second visit when she very comfortably referred to Nate as "Papa" (Daddy in Russian). She definately enjoyed her time with both of us, but for me it was also a favorite memory when I was sitting with the translator who was reading to me about what her caregivers had journaled about her feats each month of her life. I was busy scribbling away while Nate and our daughter played together. There were many laughs and smiles going on in the background and I loved it! It's amazing how smiling and laughing can surpass language barriers!

We also were very pleased to have her come walking in the door. She is walking very well and gets around independently. It's not perfect, there is definately muscle weakness, but her ability to get around is far better than we had anticipated. We expected that we would have to carry her a lot, but our visit today proved our initial thoughts to be wrong. She is very determined and has such a spunky personality that it is to her benefit. When she sets her mind to something--she accomplishes it. She doesn't let her muscle weakness get in her way. We can only imagine what good nutrition, lots of exercise, more sun and medical care will do for her.

We were surprised to learn how well they have documented her life. We were able to learn more information about her family (or lack of it), her health, her milestones and her daily life. As they shared all of this information about her, I felt like I could not write fast enough. What a blessing to be able to have all of this info about her. I am positive that we have more information about her milestones than we have about our 3rd and 4th children! Again, her caregivers have done an incredible job and we are very grateful. Someday I believe she will be too.

When we took our daughter back to her group, she was very proud to show off her family book. Apparently during lunch, she told her whole group about our time together and and told them that she likes us. One of the caregivers said that when she came into her shift, our daughter was gushing with excitement and could not wait to tell her about her Mama and Papa who came to visit her today. The one heartbreaking thing though is that she keeps telling everyone that we will be coming back tomorrow to take her home to the US. If only we could! It makes our prayers to be able to return within the next 2-3 weeks and for the 10 day waiting period to be waived, all the more urgent. Our little girl is anticipating us taking her home on a daily basis!

Tomorrow we will return to the Ministry of Education to acknowledge our intent to adopt her and we will become officially matched until we return for court. On trip 2, we will go to court to have her legally become ours and to be able to bring her home.

Until you hear from us again, please continue to pray for us...we can feel them!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

We Have Arrived!

We have arrived in Murmansk, Russia--finally! I've lost count of the hours spent sitting, the hours of waiting, the hours spent breathing recycled air. We are here safely and with all of our luggage in tact. It looks like a Winter Wonderland (at least from what we could see in the dark). It feels so good to breathe fresh air. It may be freezing cold air, but at least it's fresh!

We heard lots of nightmare Russia stories as we got ready for this venture, but experienced none of them. It strikes me as similar to when a woman is 9 months pregnant and everyone feels the need to share their nightmare labor stories with the expectant mom. I suppose this journey is just like labor and we're right in the middle of it--and the end result is a new child in our family.

For now we will wash off the grimeyness of our travels and try to catch a few winks before we go visit our daughter. We were told by our coordinator that we will get to see her 2 times each day (for 2 days) for about 2 hours each time. Woo hoo!

Many of you have asked if she knows we are coming...well, we asked that question tonight. Apparently she has known that parents will be coming to adopt her since we were sent her picture. Tomorrow she will know that some guests are coming to play with her, but our coordinator said she is not dumb. She knows the routine from watching others and knows that we are ones she has been asking for every day. Apparently she asks our coordinator and her caregivers often about when her parents are going to come and take her to live in the US.

Please pray for us tomorrow because I know that the Lord hears you. Pray that we would have a blast with her and we would "connect" with her even though we do not speak the same language. Pray that we would pick up some Russian while we are here. Pray that everything would go well as we visit with government officials and fill out paperwork that begins the Russian side of bringing our daughter home.

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

The Signs of a Good Pilot

Okay, well we officially saved $173 per hour for 15 hours. That was our cost savings when we booked our flights and had two very long layovers. Our visas have been checked and our plane ready in Atlanta, so we're off to sit in a cramped plane for the next 10 hours and 40 minutes...not including the boarding time and waiting on the tarmac time and then navigating Moscow's tarmac time and then the de-boarding time.

Oh look, I can watch out the window of the airport and the pilot keeps wandering around the plane. He keeps coming back to the same spot and pointing at the wing...how comforting. I'm sure its just a scratch in the paint job. Glad to see he's noted it on his clipboard. (Don't tell Bran, she might get nervous...she hasn't noticed this guy at all...it'll be our little secret.)

Anyway, Bran and I need to get up from our seats...so we can go stand in line...only to sit down again on the plane. I hope I have a power slot next to our seats....we only got through 14 LOST episodes.

LOST in Salt Lake and Atlanta

Thanks to our friends Sam and Sheryl, we are addicted to the TV show LOST. While working on all the adoption paperwork over the last year, we were never able to keep up with the show on a weekly basis. So we borrowed the entire season 3 and have become highly addicted again. Fortunately for us (is this a blessings or a curse?), we have long layovers in Salt Lake City and Atlanta so we can sit and watch continuously for hundreds of hours at a time! So I guess you can say...we're LOST.

Anonymous

In the midst of everything we've had to do this week, we did not get a chance to do this right away, but we must take the time to stop and thank "Someone You Know" who left $446 on our front porch the other day. Thank you for the kind note and for believing in us. We are deeply grateful for your generosity.

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Still waiting...

Well, it's another day later and I am still waiting on those Visas. FedEx had a "mechanical problem" and was unable to deliver our package yesterday. They have promised that it will be here by 10:30 am this morning. Pray that it arrives on time!!

Continue to pray for the health of our family. "A" is still sick, but slowly getting better. Pray that the other kids do not get sick and that Nathan and I do NOT get sick either! That would not be fun to travel across the world to meet our daughter and be too sick to do it.

Just for your knowledge--Russia is 11 hours ahead of us. Keep that in mind as you pray for us.

We are going to attempt to blog each day so you can be updated on what is going on with us in Russia, but it will be greatly determined by access to internet. We cannot post a picture of our daughter until she is legally ours, which is on trip 2.

We will leave here on Sunday afternoon and will not arrive in Moscow until midnight on Monday (your time). It will actually be the morning of Tuesday over there! Upon our arrival there we will board another plane to travel to our daughter's region. All this to say that once we leave here, it will be a few days before we can post, but keep checkin' in!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Hangin' On for the Ride

Well, it seems that the last few days before you leave the country it can get pretty hairy. Between the packing, sorting, purchasing/borrowing everything you need, writing up paperwork and doing more laundry than usual it can be made even more insane by sickness and requests for last minute documents. I'm trying to just hang on for the ride. I'm trying to keep my good attitude in the midst of it all, but it sure is tough.

At this moment, our documents are being reviewed in Russia. Every document that is re-done here and now is hopefully saving us a headache of having them re-done while we are in Russia. Imagine us trying to do it remotely. Yesterday we learned that one of our documents was missing a particularly important phrase so we had to have that re-done today. This morning our agency told us that Russia now says they don't like one of our documents the way it is done and I have to re-do that one too. Boy, this is fun to be dealing with this when we leave in 2 days.

I am waiting to hear back from that particular professional that needs to re-do this document. Please pray that he would be willing to do it and in the very small timeline we have to do it so we can hand-carry these documents with us.

Please also pray that we would not have to deal with anymore re-done documents before we leave.

We are also anxiously awaiting the FedEx man to deliver our Visas and today. I'm testing the theory that "the watched pot never boils." Hurry package man, hurry package man!!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Sickness

Well, the one thing I forgot to ask you to pray for was the health of our family...silly me! We now have 2 kids down with a fever and I suppose 2 more will go down by the end of the week. Seems there is a stuffy nose and cough to go along with it.

My friend who is watching the kids while we're in Russia has assured me that she will still watch the kids even if they are sick, but it sure would make it easier to leave them when they are healthy.

Please pray for good health in our family so that the kids are not sick and we are not sick as we travel!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Flurry of Activity

It's a flurry of activity around here as we get all 6 of us ready to go to Russia (the kids are staying with a friend here in town).

Please pray that we remember everything we need to bring & for safe travels.

Pray for our time with our daughter. We will get to visit her twice while on this trip, but will not return home with her. That glorious day will be 2-6 weeks after we return from this trip.

Pray for our interaction with Russian officials. We are basically auditioning for the "part" as our daughter's parents.

Pray in advance for our time in court on the 2nd trip--that the 10-day waiting period will be waived.

Pray for all of the people who touch our documents, that they would see what they need to see and be blind to what they do not need to see.

Pray for our funding.

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Speechless

I knew our turn-around for travel dates would be quick, but not this quick! It was about 3:30/4:00 on Friday afternoon that our agency received our dossier and re-sent it out the door. It was about 12:00 noon today that we received our tenative travel dates. Yikes! Talk about having me speechless! We had to choose to either travel 2 weeks from today or we would have to wait until the end of March. Wow! Talk about taking a leap of faith, huh? We chose the tenative dates of 2 weeks away. So here we go planning to visit our daughter by the end of the month. Woo hoo!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

On Their Way

Well, all our documents arrived at our agency today. Apparently, their umbrella agency had been asking for our dossier every day this week! They are just as anxious as we are! Everything looked fine except one thing, but it was an easy fix. Now our documents are on their way to the umbrella agency for a look-over and translation. They will then be on their way to Russia!!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

A Good Day

Well, we had a wonderful day yesterday. Nate and I drove up to the Secretary of State & paid a fortune for our 86 documents to be apostilled. We had a wonderful lady to work with. We teased her about how we thought there should be a bulk rate discount since we were having so many documents done. We really did not have to stand in a line, but since she needed a lot more time to do so many documents she took our phone number and called us when she was done.

2 1/2 hours later (we're pretty sure she took her hour lunch in there) we got "the call" and were able to pick up our "gold!" It's quite a hefty stack of papers. The small FedEx box was not big enough so we had to move up the medium sized one to get them shippped off!

While we waited, Nate and I were able to walk around the city and spend a whole lot of time together doing a whole lot of nothing. It was nice to do both!

We now have our boat-load of documents ready to go out today and we pray that God would cover them as they touch hand after hand through the next part of the journey.

One last praise, on Tuesday, we received our invitation from BCIS to get our fingerprinting done. We have two weeks to do it. That means that we should have the document back before our first trip that allows our daughter to enter the country. Woo hoo!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

Wednesday It Is

We have been promised that our homestudy will be ready for us to pick up upon opening on Wednesday morning. We will be there and then off to the Secretary of State. Please continue to pray that this timeline will work out the way it is going!

Please also continue in prayer for our fingerprint appointment with BCIS. We are praying specifically that even though they are behind, that we would get an appointment before we leave on our first trip.

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

The Million Dollar Question

We have been asked a million times the million dollar question. When do you travel? The answer at this point is basically, "We don't know." However, we have been given the estimation that once we turn in our dossier (which we anticipate to be this week), we will travel in 2-6 weeks. We're praying for the shorter side of things! We want so badly to get over to Russia for our first trip so that we can meet our daughter and start the paperwork to show our intent to adopt her. We also have heard from a few different sources that the particular region our daughter is in, has a very fast turn around for the second trip. Let's hope that is true information!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."