Russian Princess Diaries

sleep deprived but doing well

2009-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

We are back in Moscow and have been since Saturday evening. We have Ella!! She is napping right now after getting up at 3:30 in the morning. The time zones have really messed up our systems. It is useless to get into a routine because we will be in another time zone tomorrow night.

Ella's gotcha day was awesome. We went to the orphanage around noon and spent a little time in the groupa. We got a lot of pictures and video. Sorry, i will have to post pictures when we are home- I forgot the cable to download from my camera.
After the orphanage, we went straight to the airport and were off to Moscow. Ella was great on the plane. She slept about 1 hour of the 8 hour trip but she was content just to lay down on the seat. It was nice because our court was held on Wednesday so Thursday and Friday afternoon we were able to have her in our hotel room. I think this really helped her not be so nervous when it was time to actually take her out for good.

It is really amazing what a transformation in her personality we saw just getting her out of the orphanage. She is like a different child. She is happy and playful, affectionate and engaging. It brings back so many memories of when we adopted Connor - he was the same way.

We have an apartment in Moscow. It is small but modern and nice. We have been cooking in except for 2 meals at McDonalds. the largest McDonalds in the world is here. We are about a 15 minute walk from Red Square. We walked there on Monday and took a bunch of pictures. Yesterday we did an english speaking tour of the Kremlin. It was amazing - there are a lot of beautiful buildings and cathedrals. The cathedrals reminded me of Kiev's Lavra.

It is amazing how big this city is! I didn't imagine it to be as big. Everything is in good repair - the sidewalks, buildings etc.

I will say it has been strange that we have been searching for baby food jars/food all over and have been unsuccessful so far. Don't worry - Ella has been eating well. I think she is heavier now than when we left the orphanage - or it may just be my sleep deprived bodies perception!

We haven't had to do much here adoption related really. We filled out our documents for the US embassy. Ella had her physical (which is required for her US Visa) but the doctor came to our apartment. today we have of visa interview at the embassy. Then we wait in the car while our facilitator registers her at the foreign ministry. That is it and tomorrow we hop on a plane home. We are sooo ready to get home.

Ella just woke up from her nap so I am signing out for now. I'll post pictures soon.

Hi from Moscow

2009-09-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

We are here in Moscow at the airport wasting time before our next flight to Magadan. We have a 10 hour layover and have about 3 hours left. We will be heading to the gate soon.

We actually go some sleep on the plane and took some cat naps in the airport. We are more relaxed this trip because we know the lay of the land.

We get into Magaday at 12:35 Monday afternoon and will see Ella. We can't wait. I bet she has changed in the last 10 weeks.

I will post in a few days- probably from Moscow.

The Room is Ready!

2009-09-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

I am really happy with how it turned out. Here are the after pictures! If you want to see larger images just double click on them.

COURT DATE!

2009-09-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

We got our court date on Wednesday - September 30th!!!!!

It has been a busy week trying to get things ready at work for when I take leave and all the planning and paperwork associated with the trip.

We have our flights. We will leave Saturday September 26th in the morning and get to Magadan on Monday afternoon the 28th. We will be in Magadan until Saturday. Once court is done we have to process Ella's documents (passport, birth certificate etc.) so that takes a couple days.

We arrive in Moscow on Saturday. We will be doing business on Monday and Tuesday. Ella will have to have a physical before the US Embassy will issue her visa. We also have to register her at the Russian Consulate.

There will be some free time this trip unlike our first trip which was mainly travel. We are looking forward to seeing Moscow.

Ella's room is almost done. My mom and I are putting the finishing touches on this weekend. I'll post after pictures soon.

Updates from Russia

2009-08-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

We got Ella's new measurements and she has gained 3 pounds in one month! Here head grew 3cm and her height grew 5cm. This is all good news. I told our adoption agency that we need to get back over there before she is all grown up! the notes also said she stands on her own but does not take steps.

We also got word that the official release letter that takes Ella off the databanks in Russia was received. This means that we can file for court on Monday. Hopefully we will get a fast judge who will assign a date quickly.

Ella's room has really just been in the planning stages and I have been gathering things here and there. This is the weekend we paint and put it together. I want to make some curtains too. It is a tall order to get it all done this weekend but I would think it would be feasible in a couple. So, I am posting a before picture and when the room is done I will post an after.

My Amazing Birthday Boy!

2009-08-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

You should have heard Connor last night. Darren is putting him to bed and he calls me up there and Connor asks me “How does God hear me? How do I know he hears me when he doesn’t talk back to me and I can’t see him? I ask him to bring my baby sister home but I don’t know if he hears me because she isn’t home.” So I told him that God is everywhere and he hears us and he helps us all the time. I told him how God helped us find him because he knew we were meant to be a family. I said sometimes it takes time for God to make things happen.

So then he said his prayers and at the end he asked God again to bring his baby sister home and he almost started crying. I said “Oh Buddy – God heard you!” I told him that we need to get her room ready first before she gets here. Then he was excited to help paint the room.

Happy Birthday Connor!

Pictures From Trip One

2009-07-28T14:12:00.000-07:00

Oh and the name is going to be Ella!

We can't post identifying picture of Ella yet since the adoption is not final. I will say she is a little squirt. Six month clothes fit her perfectly right now. Hopefully she will be into 9 months soon after she is home.

Here she is hugging her dolly.

View of the Magadan and one of the two bays that surround it.

I will post more pictures of Magadan soon.

Back From Trip One Whirl Wind

2009-07-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

We just got back home last night at around 11pm. Glad to be home and done with the travel.

It was a successful trip and we have decided to move forward with the adoption. We saw her for about an hour on Thursday afternoon - the day we arrived - and twice on Friday and once on Saturday before we left. On the first day she knew we were strangers but warmed up to me pretty fast - letting me hold her and walk around with her. She was checking out Darren and wasn't too sure about him. The children in the orphanage aren't exposed to men since all their caretakers are women.

We saw her twice on Friday. She did let Darren hold her and was grabbing onto his nose. We were playing a game (saying beep when touching the nose). She was still not quite sure about us but was warming up slowly. Saturday she felt comfortable enough to crawl around the room and play with toys and interact with us. She was smiling and laughing. We brought her a soft doll and she just loves it. She would not let go of it.

Friday she let the caretaker know that she wanted to hold onto the doll so we let her keep it (as we intended to). Saturday, the caretaker pulled out the doll and she giggled and was happy. So hopefully they are letting her play with it. We also left a soft blanket and a disposable camera. Hopefully they will take some pictures while we are gone.

Now, we are ready to get her home. I wish we could have just brought her with us on this trip.

I will post a few picture tomorrow.

Getting Ready to Leave

2009-07-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

It has been a hectic preparing for the trip. We have been working on getting all of our paperwork done that is needed for court. We are hoping this may speed up the process a little.

Court is held on the second trip. The second trip is usually around 8 weeks after the first trip. Our particular region (Magadan) waives the 10 day wait period after court. So our second trip will be longer than our first but we won't be gone too long.

So, this weekend will be spent packing and shopping for the trip. We really don't need much but you want to be prepared and have all the OTC medicine available just in case (like pepto, imodium etc...).

Our referral had her 1st birthday on Thursday. It would have been nice to be there. We tried but flights were impossible to get. We were on waiting lists but we finally had to get the tickets.

The countdown has started - 4 days until we hop on an airplane!!

Yes - I am still here - Good News -finally.

2009-07-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

I have not posted in sooooo long. I felt like there was nothing positive to post about. I just didn't feel like posting more of the same.

Well...... We have our referral for a 12 month old girl and leave July 21st to meet her! We are really excited and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We will only be in (or above) Russia for 5 days. It will be a marathon of travel. Magadan is basically like another trans-atlantic flight from Moscow. We leave about 2:00pm on Tuesday and arrive in Moscow about noon on Wednesday. We then have about an 8 hour layover until we hop on the plane to Magadan at around 8:00pm. We arrive in Magadan Thursday around noon. We stay 2 nights in Magadan and leave Saturday at about 4:00 pm and get to Moscow 5:00 pm. We stay over-night in Moscow and leave Sunday to arrive back in St. Louis at 7:00pm. Whew! We are trying to get psyched (mentally prepared) for the long travel. I have a feeling adrenaline will keep us going at least until we meet our referral.

Connor will be staying with the Grandparents and is looking forward to it.

Long Time No Post

2009-03-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a while. I think mainly because there hasn't been any news related to our adoption. We are feeling optimistic that we will be getting a referral soon. We are still registered in Magadan. Our agency has told us that we should have a referral the end of April if all goes well.

Time has really been moving slow. I have been researching Magadan. It has a very interesting history. Below is a link.
http://www.myrussland.ru/regions.php?ocd=view&id=48

I also found out that there is a priest from St. Louis at their Catholic Church. Small world! There is a lot of interesting information about the people of Magadan on the site also.

http://www.magadancatholic.org/Main%20pages/English.html

One more tidbit- In June Magadan experiences white nights - the sun doesn't set. It is really on top of the world!

The Only Thing Certain is Uncertainty

2009-02-20T10:43:00.000-08:00

I think this title probably sums up a lot of adoptive parents' journey. Magadan is a small region and very few children become available for adoption. Right not we are very uncertain on what timing we are talking about for a referral.

The path to adopt in Moscow may open up again soon for our agency. This would be great news. We are requesting prayers that this happens and a referral comes our way soon.

I guess for now we are keeping our options open and staying positive. Our daughter is out there somewhere. We just need to get to her and bring her home.

In the meantime we are staying busy with house projects. We are finishing up a bathroom in our basement and I plan on stripping wallpaper in another. Connor is also keeping us busy as always. He is playing indoor soccer which is a lot of fun for him. Before long it will be spring!

New Region

2009-02-03T07:42:00.000-08:00

It looks like we are going to try a new region. The region is Magadan and it is in Far East Siberia. Let's make this more of an adventure shall we? We will fly across the Pacific Ocean - maybe up to Alaska and over. I'm not sure. Magadan is a port city along the Sea of Okhotsk.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/magadan_siberia.htm

No International Travel any time soon

2009-01-27T07:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been a while since I have blogged. I was hoping I would have some good news to post but there really isn't any GOOD news regarding the adoption.

We waited through the holidays and were told that our dossier was going to be submitted (again) on January 20th - last Tuesday. Well, instead we got some bad news from our agency. They told us that the Moscow City Department of Adoption (DOE) received a letter from the office of the prime minister asking them to drastically limit Amercan Adoption agencies working in their region. So essentially, our agency has been banned/kicked out of Moscow City.

This is all due to a tragic ending of a recently adopted boy's life. The little boy had been home for around 3 months when the father forgot to drop him off at day care and left him for 9 hours in his SUV in the sweltering heat. He recently went to trial and the Judge aquitted him. Russia saw this as a slap in the face and felt the father should have been punished. There were a lot of opinions expressed on the subject in the chat rooms. Some of those opinions were frowned upon by the Russian authorities.

http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/news/2008/dec/17/father-acquitted-manslaughter-sons-death-car/?local

The past week has been trying. We are trying to decide our next steps. Waiting it out is very hard. We also can clearly know now that our first referral is gone. We hope that she is adopted by a loving family. I took her picture off of our refrigerator this week as it is a constant reminder of our situation.

Please pray that adoptions in Russia continue- for the children and their forever families.

Spring Fever?

2008-12-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

All this waiting makes me feel like it's late January/ February and I'm ready for winter to be over already. On one hand it is hard to believe Christmas is one week away - on the other hand time seems to be dragging waiting for news on our referral and travel dates.

There really isn't much news. We know that our dossier will be resubmitted on Monday December 22nd. We don't know what they will do after that. We could (probaby not) get a referral then or end up waiting several more weeks. Russia closes down for the holidays December 31st through January 11th. They should be open the 30th which means we have 2 more chances to hear some positive news before the end of the year.

I am almost ready for Christmas. I have some last minute shopping to do either today or over the weekend. Then of course a bunch of wrapping. I really don't enjoy wrapping gifts. I'm not sure why but I have never liked it. Connor has to see Santa yet. We are running a little late on that one but he will get his "order" in before Christmas.

"Is it Christmas yet?"

2008-12-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

This is the question I seem to be getting every morning from Connor. He is just a little bit excited this year ;)

Here is a picture of Connor holding up a soft baby doll that we are taking to Russia for his little sister. This photo will also go into a photo album with pictures of us, our home, her room and the rest of our family. We will leave the album and the doll with her while we wait for our court date.

Hope?

2008-12-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I feel more optimistic than I have in a while about things proceeding. Our agency feels that our dossier should be resubmitted the week of December 16th. We should receive a new referral or get our original referral the week of Christmas along with a travel date. Anything could happen but at least there is some positive news. It would be a great Christmas present that's for sure!

Moscow in January... BRRRRRRR! Hope so!

I'm Thankful

2008-11-26T07:03:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for so much in my life. Everyone has their trials and hardships but I know that ones character is shaped by these and God leads us through.

We have this magnificent, beautiful child that came to us through adoption. It was a 7 year journey through infertility and the hurdles and uncertainty of international adoption but the blessings of Connor can't be expressed in words. He healed us from our heartache - God healed us.

I'm thankful for Connor's hugs and those out of the blue "I love you's".
I'm thankful for his smiles, laughter and silliness.
I'm thankful for those oh so kissable cheeks.
I'm thankful for his singing.
I'm thankful for his mischeivious-ness and grumpiness too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Broken Record spinning round and round

2008-11-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

OK, so you probably guessed from the title that we have no news on a new appointment date. It was the same reaction from the DOE in Russia - "come back next Tuesday". No info period. I wonder how long they can/will keep this up? I can think of a million catch phrases: Stuck in the middle; Falling into the abyss; Our hands are tied; Going around in circles; Now all the sudden I have that Howard Jones song in my head "no one is to blame". I really like that song but I don't want it to pertain to my life :) lol

We really hope to travel before Christmas to meet our daughter. For that to happen, we really need some positive news next week. We were joking that they will probably give us an appointment the week of Christmas just to spite us. It definitely wouldn't be ideal but we would work around it. We would have to call the north pole and ask Santa to come early to our house. :)

DAY 50 - we still haven't met her....

2008-11-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

I wish I wouldn't have just counted the days but it has been 50 days since we received our referral. Another week has past with no good news. We are beginning to have our doubts that we will ever meet this referral. At this point we aren't even certain that we still have a referral.

This Tuesday our rep in Moscow provided, in writing, information on how our agency prepares adoptive families for Russian adoption. This was done per their request. They took the information and would not discuss anything else. They stated that next week they will talk about referrals and dossiers.

So, next Tuesday we are hoping to get some positive news. It is a helpless feeling not having any control over what happens. At this point we can only take things one day at a time.

Another Week

2008-11-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

There isn't any news on the adoption this week. We hope we hear something positive on Tuesday. It is a helpless feeling when you have no control over what happens. So, we pray and we keep hoping.

One good thing that came out of our cancelled trip is that we were here for Halloween. Connor had a ball this year. He was Dash from the incredibles. We had almost 200 trick or treaters. It was a record. We love to count the kids each year.

So, as we wait, I am trying to keep occupied. This weekend I am going to move some stuff out of A's room. No, we don't have a name picked out for her yet. A is the beginning initial of her Russian first name. The closet in her room is a decent size walk-in. I have been using it to store all of the holiday decorations along with other stuff. For now, I will clear out a section. I wonder how long it will be before she claims the whole closet? Tween or before??

Two other things I want to do-- Learn the cyrillic alphabet and get a Russian phrase CD. I was thinking if she is almost 3 she should have more language development than Connor (Connor was 26 months when he came home). Kids pick up language so quickly. The sad thing is that they lose their first language more quickly than they learn their new language. So, a few phrases in Russian will be good to use especially in transition.

Well, I hope the next post will bring some good news....

No Good News. Just More Waiting...

2008-10-31T12:32:00.000-07:00

Well,
The MOE has not changed their mind on waiting to issue our appointment until the other family was taken care of. Unfortunately, the other family declined to visit the referral they were issued on Tuesday. Next Tuesday is a holiday in Russia so the next opportunity to have an appointment scheduled would be on the 11th of November. It is looking like our 30 day visas will expire before we get the chance to travel.

More news from the agency. It looks like Russia will be doing away with blind referrals soon. That means that more medical information will be available upfront before visiting your referral.

Travel Dates Unknown

2008-10-22T07:58:00.001-07:00

We hit a roadblock yesterday when we heard back from our agency that our apointment scheduled for October 28th had been cancelled. So I had to get all our reservations cancelled for now. We were all set to leave on Saturday. We are obviously upset over this development.

Why did this happen... Well, from what we understand another one of our agencies families declined a referral two weeks ago and did not get another one. The MOE (Russian Dept. of Adoption) expected to see this family yesterday for another referral. The family was already back in the US. The MOE was not happy that this family declined the first referral because they believed it was a good referral. In fact, the same referral was taken immediately by a Spanish family. I don't have any more details but it is like the MOE is mad at or punishing our agency and all of their families. We just hope that sitting on it a week will calm everyone's demeanor and we will get another travel date on Tuesday (they only issue appointments on Tuesdays).

So, as we wait--our referral sits in an orphanage deprived of love. Who really suffers? I know a lot of adoptive families feel the same way. It seems to always take more time than we think it should.

Someone had asked the age of our referral. She is 2 1/2.

2008-10-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready to Travel....
It is amazing how much one can get done when there is an approaching deadline. I had posted a list a post or two back and I am happy to report that I have cleaned out some closets and sorted through a lot of things. I am having garage sale next weekend. It is pretty late in the season but I don't want to have all the stuff around the house all winter (especially since our family is going to grow before then).

I have to say, packing for a week travel to Russia is much different than packing for a month or longer travel to Ukraine. I think we can make due without things for a week.

For those of you who don't know, with Russia you go over and meet/accept your referral formally. Then you come back home, prepare more paperwork and wait to hear when your court date is scheduled. Then, you travel back to Russia (in our case Moscow City) and hold court. There is a 10 day mandatory wait after court (just like Ukraine). After that you get passports and visas for the child and come home.

Another interesting fact is that Connor is from Kharkiv Ukraine which is 25 miles from Russia's border. I haven't been able to find out exact mileage to Moscow but it looks to be about 500 miles on the map.

MAJOR UPDATE!

2008-09-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

We can't believe it but we already have a referral!! We got the call on Wednesday September 24th. We were in total disbelief and have been walking around with our heads in the clouds. We have come down to reality but it is hard to focus on much of anything else.

We will be going to Moscow City the last week of October to meet a little girl who we hope will be our child.

We feel blessed because we just got our documents complete on September 14th. Wow! 10 days!!

Even if we would have stuck with Ukraine our timing wouldn't have been much better than this.
We started the process the last week of June 2007. So, it will be about 1.5 years. We officially switched to Russia in May 2008.

So now there is a lot to do to plan and orchestrate our trip. I'm currently working on a to do list and hope to have several items checked off by next week.

Moving forward

2008-08-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Our home study approval came in last week. We had to get separate approval from the state before it was sent for our I171H. So, we made a mad dash and got all our documents apostilled and sent to our agency. It was a relief to get this all complete, finally.

Now we are waiting to see which region is moving along the best before we register our dossier.

I was a little impatient to get it registered but I understand why we should wait. Most of the regions shut down for vacations in July/August.

It has also been nerve racking with the conflict with Russia and Georgia and how adoptions might be affected. Hopefully things settle down and nothing changes.

Life goes on. Connor had his 5th birthday. I can't believe how big he is getting. I had my gallbladder out and have been recovering for 2 weeks. I'm feeling pretty good. Better here than in a hospital in Russia!

What to do while waiting..

2008-08-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

For the most part, I think most adoptions take longer than expected and with our switching countries ours will be longer than we thought. We are at 1 year, 1 month right now. Some days/weeks the waiting is not as difficult. Other times, you wonder if anything is going to proceed in a smooth, timely manner. So, rather than stress out and let every detail of the process drive me crazy, I am trying to focus on some projects. I have made a list of several things I want to get done. Some of them aren't too exciting or fun but will give a sense of accomplishment once they are complete. I also told myself to finish one project before moving on to the next. Here are a few things from my list.

Clean out and purge all closets starting with our bedroom. This is one I have really put off but I know will make me feel lighter once complete.
Sort though outgrown toys and make a pile to donate or sell at a garage sale.
Start on decorating the new baby girl room. This will be a fun one to do. I'm not going to get in a hurry with this but just do it a little at a time. Once we meet our daughter to be and are between trips, all the details will be finished.
Have a garage sale in the spring.
Last but not least I need to finish Connor's life book. This will be fun too. It has been hard to find a starting point. I may purchase a book to guide me. I love being creative but sometimes I need some inspiration/ideas.

So, there it is. For all to see. No excuses now....

Introduction

2008-07-25T13:33:00.000-07:00

This post is the continuing journey of our 2nd adoption. We adopted our son from Ukraine in 2005 and he has been the light of our lives. Our hope is to add to our family. We had previously been working towards adopting in Ukraine again but it has become more and more difficult to adopt a young, healthy child.

We have been working on getting our homestudy updated and it has taken longer than anticipated. Hopefully, we will have our state approval soon so we can get our apostilles and get our dossier registered in region in Russia.

We started the process the end of June 2007. It is hard to tell how fast everything will move once our documents are in Russia. I will post our progress right here.