Finally Home

We are FINALLY HOME!!!!!!!!! It feels so good to say that. It was quite an eventful travel. We were late leaving Moscow which put us an hour late getting into Atlanta. The flight itself was not to bad after dosing the kids with Benadryl they slept almost the whole flight. We had about 8 other adopting families on the plane so that was really nice. The bad news was that none of the families, including us, made our connecting flights because of immigration. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, I did not know it was possible for people to move that slow. Eric and I were the last family into immigration and we waited for 2 hours! We just barely missed our flight and we were all tired and crabby. The kids were very good during those two hours though, which was really nice. My Dad called and told us that Air Tran had a flight leaving at 9:55 so we could make that. Of course their is always a catch though. In order to get our luggage to St. Louis we either had to wait the next Delta flight (on the 25th) or have them send our bags to the main terminal in Atlanta and we would have to go over there and pick them up and bring them to Air Tran to check them. I was furious. We had our luggage right there with us and their was no reason just because of Delta we could not take the bags with us. All the other families were having problems with Delta too. They should be happy that they are about the only airline left because by the time we left the airport I was not a happy camper. Eric had to make the trec back to the St. Louis airport on Christmas day just to pick up our luggage which was just sitting out for anyone to take. The kids are really adjusting good. They love their new family, especially their new cousins. It will be really nice when they start speaking some English so we can communicate better. I love the holidays but it is alot to just be coming home in the mist of them. I don't know if Olivia is just overwhelmed sometimes but she just goes into shutdown mode if something does not go her way and it does not matter what I do to make things better, it is like she needs to get over it on her own. It makes me so sad to see this because I know if we would have gotten her earlier in her life she would be a really happy little girl. It is amazing just the gender difference in their attitudes. The boys are pretty happy all the time and only have issues if they get in trouble (which on some days is alot) but almost daily Olivia has a shutdown about something. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that all the other families made it home safe.

Tracey & Chuck you can email me at tarltonpitman@gmail.com. I would love to chat with you about your adoption in Vlad.

Las Night In Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is our last night in Moscow. Yahoo!!! We had a great day. We just hung out at the hotel until about 1:30 and then we were picked up to go to the American Embassy. For the most part that whole process was uneventful but we did get to meet a lot of other families who had adopted and will actually be on our same flight to Atlanta. We had a big surprise when we got back in the van. Our coordinator in Moscow, Natalia, said we were going on a tour of downtown Moscow and all the historic buildings. It was wonderful. We got to see so many sites and she told us what everything was. You would not believe all the beautiful Christmas lights. With the snow coming down it felt like a fairytale. The kids did wonderful. It was so cute because AJ started fussing in the back and Olga, our tour guide, was talking to him to settle him down and Max said he was upset because he wanted to be in American right now! You just wonder what is going through their little minds. Max was a chatterbox the whole trip and at one point he asked Olga if this is where everyone lived because their were so many people & cars everywhere. She had to explain to him that people live everywhere and their will be people in America too when he gets there. Max only got sick when we were about 10 minutes from the hotel so we call that a success considering the driver was horrible. I mean really HORRIBLE, either your face was on the front windshield or the back of your head was on the back windshield and it was everything Becky could do not to get sick. We met a couple from Boston, Jim and Andira, who just adopted a little girl. They are staying in the same hotel as us but are not leaving until Christmas Day. We had a really nice dinner (OK as nice as dinner can be with children!). We are being picked up tomorrow at about 9:00 to go to the airport. Hopefully all goes well and our flights are on time. We were told at the Embassy that it will take 45 minutes to get through immigration with the kids so please pray it does not take that long so we don’t miss our flight. We can’t wait to be home. Merry Christmas to All! Have a blessed and safe holiday.

Hello From Moscow

Well we are finally in Moscow. We don’t know what we would have done without Irina and her husbands help. They helped us get the luggage and the kids into the airport and get our tickets. We made it onto the plane and the kids did great for the takeoff and landing. The inbetween is another story. Of course none of them wanted to sleep (God forbid you miss anything). All was good until Eric was trying to get AJ to sleep and the man in sitting in front of me decided he was going to help. He would not leave the kids alone the rest of the trip and it really made me angry. He would just come over and pick AJ up and carry him around the plane. When the food came he actually came back to feed him!!! I could only hold my tongue for so long before she had to tell him to stop and that she would take care of her children. We got our luggage without a problem and the lady with CHI met us and helped us get to the van. It was only 4:30 in Moscow but it was past 10:00 PM in Vlad. The kids were beyond tired and we had about an hour drive into downtown Moscow to get to our hotel (Holiday Inn Moscow Lesnaya). Of course Max got carsick on the way (we are getting to be pros at this). By the time we got to the hotel all three kids were asleep. The lady from CHI came up to the room to do paperwork on all three kids to turn into the Embassy on Monday. It was the easiest night to get all three kids to sleep!!! While I was filling out the paperwork all three of them crawled into bed with their clothes still on and were asleep within 15 minutes. Monday was a free day for us so we decided to take our chances and go to the Kremlin and Red Square. It is about a 30 minute walk from the hotel which we knew would not be possible with the kids so we took the Metro (underground system) and it was wall to wall people. I thought Eric got detailed instructions on what to do but soon found out she was wrong when they got to the Metro station and Eric has no clue where to go or what to do (Eric said he just couldn’t understand the girl at the hotel desk). We found several people who were kind enough to help us find our way (thank God for maps!). I gave the card reader to Irina for another family to use if they need it otherwise I would have posted some of our pictures from today. We were quite the crew. Their was no mistaking that we were American. I had Olivia in the backpack carrier and Eric carried AJ and held Max’s hand. We made it to Red Square and it is just beautiful and quite large. The St. Basil Cathedral (the thing you see in all the pictures of Russia)is even more beautiful in person. We took the small tour of the inside and the murals are just awesome. It is amazing to think off all the history in that one area. It is a shame it was so cold out and we couldn’t spend to long there with the kids. They had a beautiful shopping center right there too with some very, very pricey shops and a big skating rink outside in the square. On the way back we met a really nice old man that helped us find our way back (sort of). It was funny because the only English he could say was “I love breakfast”. He had us stop one stop short of what we should have stopped so we had to walk the rest of the way to the hotel ( A VERY, VERY LONG WALK). This probably wouldn’t have been that bad except that of course AJ had to pee (what’s new!). Their was really no place to go until we got to the Marriot. Thank Goodness they were nice enough to let us come in and use the restroom. I think they saw the pain on AJ’s face. Eric is quite the saint because AJ screamed and kicked the whole way and we walked for blocks and Eric did not even flinch. When Eric took AJ into the bathroom he had to get his coat, gloves, jeans, long underwear, and pullup off (which he had already loaded full of pee, Eric said his pull up hit the ground with a thud!) before he could even put him on the potty. We are not sure where he drank so much but he could have filled a small pond! Eric wanted to go to McDonald’s but by the time we got back to the hotel, myself and the kids were cold and tired so Eric ventured out on his own to forage for food. Eric ended up having to walk all the way back to where we got off the Metro (we were only 5 minutes from McDonalds when we got off). The kids are very picky on what they will eat now and split the first cheeseburger fine but when I tried to give them each a part of the next cheeseburger they turned their noses up (like this was the first I was giving it to them!). McDonald’s has never tasted so good to Eric and I, even though it was cold. Tomorrow we will be going to the American Embassy at 1:30 to get the kids paperwork done at that should be it for us in Moscow. It is a really neat city and we are glad we had the opportunity to see the beautiful and historic places here. Just two more days and we are home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Night In Vlad

Well, this is our last night in Vlad. Horray!!! Eric and I are just sitting here discussing all the different events in our journey towards these children. It has been quite the journey! The peaks and valleys of waiting are so worth it as we count down the days to leave Russia and start our new life in America with our three beautiful children. We have been so blessed to have met so many wonderful families and have made lasting friendships throughout this process. God really does have a way of bringing people together. We would like to thank everyone who has been there to support us, to help us through all this and those who emailed us during our looooong stay in Russia. We could not have done this without our parents and our sisters and their families. We also would like to thank the Fritsches. They have been such wonderful friends and such a great asset when we had questions. We hope that we can do that for another family someday. We are so blessed to have these three children in our lives now. They are bringing so much joy and laughter even though we have the trying times inbetween. We will keep everyone posted on what is happening. Thanks again for everything.

Introducing the Newest Pitmans!

Introducing the new additions to the Pitman Family! Max is the oldest at 5, Olivia is 3 and AJ is 2. Yes we know they are beautiful children!!! Since the first day as a family we have really made some progress. Things started out a little rocky as all families say they do but we are starting to settle into a routine and the kids are learning their boundaries (even though this is hard on everyone!). Eric spent today running with Irina to do the birth certificate and passport stuff. It is hard on Becky when he is gone all day but there is a lot of support from other families right now at the Vlad Inn. We will have all their doctor visits tomorrow so hopefully all will go well even though they all have colds. We have 5 more days in Vlad then off to Moscow. We just dream of sleeping in our own beds!

Family Life

We are sitting up here in the White Rabbit with about 11 other kids. The sun is shining and it looks to be a great day. We have gotten the morning routine accomplished (out of bed, peesit, brush their teeth, wash their face, each breakfast, then bathroom again). We then headed up to the White Rabbit for some visiting and playing. We are really settling into a routine with them. We had to lay the law down last night though. In the evening when we go to the White Rabbit they get so crazy it is hard to bring them back down to calmness. All of them were in testing mode and aggravating each other. We tried to get our oldest to sit still and he just had a hard time with that. So sheriff Andy Taylor (Eric) had to come and enforce the law. He was put in jail like Otis, which he did not appreciate so he had to stay in jail a little longer than planned. He was so good by himself but when we added the other two they are all fighting for attention. We know you all know what we are talking about and are just laughing at us now. The volume level at family functions is going way up because these three are not quiet at all! They are all too eager to join in the fun. They seem to really accept us but there is always testing. We are so proud of our oldest, he is really learning his English words. He can count to 10 and knows several colors. He knows his nose, eyes, mouth and chin and socks and shoes.

Day One as a Family

For all of our family and friends that want or need a good laugh. We wish (and we’re sure you do too) you all could have been flies on our shoulders today. It was quite the experience. We are going to tell you. The day began with us being so excited about seeing the two new additions to our family. We got up around 6:30, got dressed and headed down to eat breakfast. It was great timing because our new friends and Heather and Justin Overstreet were heading down to eat breakfast too so they joined us. We all ate a great breakfast and we both got picked up to go around 9:00 and headed our separate ways. Now the fun begins. We gave our oldest son some Dramamine for the hour and a half trip to the baby home. We had to pick up Irina at her home though which was about 20 minutes out of our way. Irina now has joined us and we are on our way. About half way there our son gets sick suddenly. We guess we did not give him the medicine soon enough. Eric is scrambling in the back to get a bag and throws it to Becky who is sitting next tohim but she is not quick enough and he ends up throwing up on his brand new coat! She does at least catch the next three hurls! Alec the driver pulled over so Irina could take his coat and clean it off outside. She kept saying “No worries, it happens all the time, he be OK, lay him down in seat!” Yeah right, no worries for her! Alec and Irina get back in the car and we are off again. We finally get to the baby home without anymore excitement and we are taken back to change the kids clothes. It was awesome because we got to go back to their room and take pictures and video. Our daughter came running to Eric and jumped in his arms! Our oldest son was really excited to see them both but their was so much going on in the room we don’t think the two little ones knew what was up except they were going with their new parents. All our youngest son kept saying was Mama & Papa. It was so great to hear. We took the kids to Tatiana’s office to sign some papers and then Becky had to take our oldest to see the doctor because he had a bad cough. While Becky was in with the doctor Eric was alone with the little ones. Our youngest kept saying “peesit, peesit”, which is potty. Eric hustled down the steps with both of them and of course the door was locked and Eric couldn’t get in. He was frantically waiting for the person in the bathroom to get done so he could get him in there. The door opened and Eric burst in. He had to yank our sons sweatpants and long underwear off, unsnap his shirt and pull down his pullup while telling our daughter to stay right there “we will be right out” (she doesn’t know English though!) At that point Becky comes down with our oldest because he has to go potty and is doing the potty dance. The door was locked and our daughter comes running out of the office next to the bathroom so Becky figures Eric is in the bathroom. She finally knocks and tells him to open up because our oldest had to go, not knowing that Eric has our youngest son standing on the toilet, his hands on the back of the toilet bowl, Eric holding our youngest sons stuff so pee doesn’t go everywhere and you know the youngest can’t stop midstream so our oldest has to wait! Eric finally unlocks the door, hands the youngest out and takes our oldest (thank God he can go on his own) but he could hardly get his pants down quick enough! Eric came out sweating as though he had run a ten mile marathon. He thought that would be the last time he sweated for the day but he was sooooo wrong! We finally all pile in the van and head back to the Vlad Inn. Thank goodness the two little ones don’t get carsick. Eric rode with the two little ones in the very back so that our oldest could lay down on the middle seat next to Becky. Our daughter was quiet as a mouse on the ride home, our youngest was excited and looking all over the place until he fell asleep and our oldest could not keep his eyes off both of them. We thought all was going well until we got into the room…..here we go!!! Our youngest says he has to peesit again so Eric does the same thing all over again! Here he is standing on the toilet, hands on the back and Eric holding his stuff. He is having some difficulty this time, maybe some stage fright (new place you know!). In walks our oldest son to put his fire out saying peesit. At that point, Eric takes our youngest, puts him on the counter in the bathroom with his pants down and everything hanging out. Our oldest is peeing at this point, not paying attention and hitting everything but the toilet! Eric is sweating again, hoping at this point that our youngest doesn’t let loose with our toothbrush and other toiletries right there. Everything turned out OK but the floor was a little wet (welcome to having boys!). We quickly learned that our sweet angel girl had the devil in her! Becky took the little ones down to get some water in the pitcher, they were both bouncing off the walls and our little girl was punching everything that moved or didn’t move. There is a blow up penguin and reindeer in the front lobby and she was treating them like punching bags! All the other families were looking at her like “glad that isn’t my child”! We quickly walked back to the room and she was running around like a screaming banshee. We were looking at each other like what did we get into and what happened to the sweet little girl we met a couple of months ago. Becky finally took her by herself out to the front lobby again. Heather and Justin were sitting out there and it was like Jeckyll and Hyde. She was as sweet as could be and wanted to crawl on Becky’s lap and cuddle! As soon as we got back to the room though the banshee was unleashed again and got the whole gang all going. We had three wild animals on the loose. Heather came down to visit, she knocked but we couldn’t hear over all the screaming so she quietly went back to the lobby. We think our oldest is rethinking the whole wanting to be with his brother and sister thing. He is very protective of his little brother which is so sweet. Someone has to protect him from his sister! We finally rounded the troops up and went back out to the lobby. They all enjoyed being around the other kids and played very well with all of them. Eric was on potty duty the whole time because every 10 minutes our youngest was saying peesit but would never go. It was very sweet, while we were sitting out their they all piled on Becky’s lap and drank their water and had a good time playing with each other and their toys. We were getting concerned about it but when Becky took them back to their room and put him on the toilet (this is the best part, Eric bought a seat to fit on top of our toilet but it was to big so we had to put it on backwards and the kids have to sit backwards facing the back of the toilet to go potty) he went just fine. Maybe this is how they did it at the baby home. Whatever works but he has to potty a lot and if one is not going the other one is. Becky decides to put them all in the bath because our oldest wants to take a bath. At first the little ones did not want to get in but once they saw our oldest In there they were good to go. All was well until the splashing and standing up and diving in started. Becky finally had to pull the plug and take them out. By the time Eric came back to the room Becky was sweating her butt off (who needs a treadmill!) and the kids were running around naked! It was like a party at the mini playboy mansion! We finally got their jammies on, their medicine given and some pictures taken. When it was time to go to bed they all calmed down very well. Eric got in bed with the girl, Becky got in bed with our oldest and we put our youngest on the crib mattress in the middle of the beds. When we turned off the lights our youngest was still talking to his bear. We think since he had to put himself to sleep everynight he just talked until he finally fell asleep. Becky finally took him into the other room and held him until he fell asleep (this was for him and for her). It is nice to have a little one. It took about 20 minutes and everyone was asleep so we took the computer, opened a bottle of wine and started writing this message so everyone could have a good laugh and hear how the first day went. We know you all thought we were crazy for adopting three children at once and we can’t say that didn’t cross our minds sometime this evening but when we see all three of them sleeping we know we did the right thing. It had been a GREAT day and tomorrow is another day as a family.

How things are going!

Not a whole lot to report right now. Everything with our oldest son is going great. He is really trying very hard to learn English. So far things are going very well. At times he will pick up the flash cards on his own and start to say the word in Russian and then in English. We walked to the market yesterday but it was so bitterly cold (-3 degrees F) that we could hardly stand it. With the 8 inches of snow the streets around the hotel are very icy and slick. Our son loved it though because he slid all the way to the market and back. Sorry to backtrack but during court he sat out with Irina, our coordinator. Irina asked him to give her a Christmas list to give to Santa and she would write it down. He asked for apple juice, chocolate, chocolate with a toy, crab legs and a computer. Irina ask why so much food not any toys. He replied, there is a new boy that was put in their group and he is an older bigger boy and he picks on everyone in his group. He told Irina that by eating good healthy food he could grow up and be very very strong so he could stop that boy from picking on his friends (Just a cute story). We are going to have to get a trampoline this spring for the kids. All he does is jump around. One of his favorite things to do is to jump from bed to bed in the room. He is definitely ready for his brother and sister to come so he has kids to play with. We have made several new friends ourselves here. There is a couple, Carl and Carol from Louisianna. They are adopting a 4 year old boy and will hopefully get him on Monday or Tuesday. We also finally got to meet the Heather and Justin Overstreet. They are also with CHI and are on their first trip to meet their son. Today we plan on trying to venture outside again depending on how cold it gets. Irina said that this is nothing compared to the temp in January and February. Even with all the ice and snow though the women still wear high heels! They say they can actually walk better on the ice in them. Not sure how they figure that!

We are official!

We are officially parents now!!! Court went well but we are so glad that it is finally over. We were in there for about an hour. The judge made Becky get up first and really grilled her about everything from their medicals to our life and how it will change. She also asked why we were adopting and why we chose Russia. The only question Eric really got asked was about Religion. The judge does not understand how religion works in the US and was a little concerned when Eric said he would encourage the children to accept the Lutheran religion. Things with the oldest boy are going really well. He repeats English words back to us really good but has yet to really say anything on his own yet. The communication is probably the most difficult part of this. He did say that he was very happy with us and did not want to go back to the orphanage. He slept great last night and really follows directions well. We are very excited because we will get to pick up the little ones on Tuesday. Hopefully they will keep each other busy. I think he is getting bored with us sometimes. He loves the leapfrog and the computer. He is not really interested in the TV or watching any of the movies we brought (this is good and bad). We were kind of hoping he would watch the movies and pick up some English. You won’t believe it but the one thing we did not check before we left was if our camera card fit into the new computer. Guess what….it doesn’t! So we will try to do some videos once we get the other two kids and send that. Love you and miss you all,
Becky, Eric & Max

Glad To Be Back In Vlad!!!!

After starting out at 7:30 AM Dec. 1 and flying 21 hours and total trip time of 40 hours we finally made it back to Vlad!!! The trip was very, very long but it will be so worth it. We each stretched out in a row on the way to Moscow so that was nice but we did not have individual movie screens on the seats in front of us so that made the trip longer. The worst part of the whole trip was the 7 hour layover in Moscow. You can only check in 2 hours before your flight so you have to wait in this big waiting area until then. It was miserable. The flight to Vlad was about the same as the flight to Moscow but we did not have room to stretch out. Irina and Lana both met us in Vlad with some very, very good news. We are going to see all the kids tomorrow and will get to pick up our oldest son and take him with us!!!! They said we will go next week and talk to Tatiana, who is the director of the baby home, and ask if we can have the little ones. We are so excited about all of this. The weather is a lot like home and will hopefully stay like that so at least we can get out a little bit and play. After we unpacked everything (we are in a huge suite with three beds, a crib, and a full kitchen) we both took showers (much, much needed) and we are going to walk over to the market to get some water and other goodies. We are then going to the restaurant here at the Vlad Inn to get something to eat and stop by the white rabbit to say HI to anyone that might be there. Tomorrow, Dec. 4th, Irina and Lana said it will be a very, very busy day. We were told we need to be up early and be ready to go. They have a BIG day planned with us because we will be going to many many places. Thank you so much to everyone who has sent emails and added wonderful comments to our blog. We keep reading everything over and over. It is so hard not to just pick up the phone and call people to share the good news but as you all know all we have is email.

A Beautiful Quote

I had to share this with all the mothers in the world but especially adopting mothers. I heard the most beautiful quote on the radio the other day. The women speaking about her own adoption said to "Let God write your motherhood story." It brought tears to my eyes. I think God definetly has a hand in the adoption process and you have to have a lot of faith just to make it through the paperwork but when you meet your child or children you just know that God brought you together.

I have to say thank you to all my AVMATS family. They threw me a shower/going away party today. I really had a hard time leaving and am going to miss my coworkers very much. You really don't realize how emotional the journey is sometimes but everything is making me cry right now. I am not sad, in fact I am so very happy, just very very emotional! Is that normal??

Court Date

We finally received our court date of December 5th!!!! We are really looking forward to seeing the kids and bringing them home to start our new life together. Here are some pictures of the finished rooms. As you can see we had some really great helpers to get everything done. We are very very lucky to have the best nieces and nephew in the world.

With the Judge!

Yeah!!!! Our paperwork is finally with the judge. Hopefully we will hear something next week on a court date. They are trying really hard to get us in and out before December when everything shuts down because of the holidays. I will post new pictures of the finished bedrooms (they turned out so cute!). I have started packing for the kids but it is so hard to know how much to pack because we won't know how long we will actually have them while we are in Russia. Thank goodness for laundry machines. I have a feeling I will be using them alot over there. We went to dinner with our friends Joel & Clarion and their two boys Slav and Sergei who are also from Vlad. They are so adorable and were so well behaved. We brought our picture album from our first trip and it was so neat to see the boys looking at it and speaking Russian with each other. I would have loved to know what they were saying. Congratulations also to Cindy who just got home with her beautiful daughter Vika. I just love reading other people's blogs to see how their kids are doing. Please pray that we get news soon and thanks to everyone for their love and support.

Finally Some News

We finally received some news. Irina finally emailed us back last Thursday and said that they had been waiting on some paperwork from Moscow on our oldest son. They finally received it and she will be bringing it to his social worker to prepare for court so Irina can get everything to the judge. Pray that the social worker works fast and they will call us to go back to Russia the end of this month or beginning of November. I thought I would share some pictures of the kids rooms so far. Eric and our nieces get all of the credit for doing such a great job paiting all the characters. We had alot of help getting everything done and I don't know what we would do without my Dad and our brother-in-law Joe doing our basement and helping with projects around the house. I was reading Meghan and Bill's blog this weekend and learned that I had been tagged and had to write 6 facts about myself so here it goes.

1. I was born in Michigan on an airforce base but grew up in Cottleville, MO.

2. I would have a house full of dogs if I could but two will just have to do right now!

3. I am not creative at all and this is just killing me coming up with even two interesting facts about myself.

4. Disney World is my ultimate vacation getaway.

5. Eric and I met at the nursing home I worked at (and no he was not doing a pickup!).

6. I am one of the luckiest women in the world. I have a wonderful husband, the best family (mine and Eric's) in the world and three of the greatest kids coming.

Now I've got to tag 6 people, so here are the rules!

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on the blog.

3. Write six random facts about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know they have been tagged.

6. Let the taggers know when your entry is up.

Here are the six people that I tag:

1. Sue

2. Clarion

3. Cindy

4. Myra

5. Kathy

6. Tony

One month down

And hopefully only one more month to go! We have been so busy getting the paperwork done and getting the rooms ready. Thank God for Marilyn at CHI. She has been so wonderful in helping us get the remaining paperwork done and off to Russia by the 15th of September. Please pray that all this rush will get us back to Russia by October sometime. We both miss the kids tremedously and it is so hard not to be able to ask everyday how they are doing. We are trying to get cards together to send to them with pictures. Our friends Joel & Clarion are on their way home soon with their two boys from Vlad. It was so emotional to see the picture of them as a family and to know that in just a couple of months it will be us taking a picture of our family.

Day 5

Day 5. Our last day with the kids. We consider ourselves very blessed to have the opportunity to bring these children into our family and give them a loving home. They are wonderful kids and it was really hard to leave today. We went to the notary office this morning and signed the official paperwork to adopt them. We then went back to the hotel to drop Lana off and headed to the toy store. We bought a ton of toys for the oldest boy’s orphanage. The kids there are really good kids so hopefully this brightened their really rainy day today. We must be getting the rain that is hitting you guys at home too. It was kind of a bummer that it rained because we couldn’t go outside to play with him. Svetlana, the director of the orphanage, insisted we eat lunch which was soup (of course), some kind of rice with some meat, pickles with onions and tea. Again, Eric loved it all. He is going to hate going back home to Becky’s cooking (or lack of!!). They put us in a room upstairs with him. He colored a little then we got out our computer to show him some pictures of the other kids, our house and the family. He was talking about the pictures but of course we couldn’t understand him. He did know his brother & sister right away though. He was very interested in playing with the computer and loved to see the typing on Word. Overall the visit was very good and hopefully in the time between trips he will become more acceptable of the idea of going home with us. We then headed to the baby home. The kids were very excited to see us. The director there told us that in the morning the little girl asked if her parents were coming today and if we were still going to adopt her. It is amazing at such a young age how much she understands already. The lady from the social service office came to the baby home and met with us to ask some questions. Of course the biggest was why we would want three children! She is going to stand up for us in court for the two little ones saying it is OK for us to adopt them. The girl was very quite today. We are not sure if she was tired, not feeling well or just had a sense of what was going on. She clung to Becky most of the visit (which of course I loved!) and when it was time for them to go back to their group she would not let Becky go. Hopefully they will explain to her that we will be coming back soon. We ate at the hotel tonight and their was a 60th birthday party going on in the restaurant. They had entertainers (singers & belly dancers). Very interesting!

Day 4

Day 4. What an awesome day. Alec picked us up at 9 am, we went to pick up Lana then we went to the toy store. It is not like the Toys R Us back home. They had a few toys but very generic and not a whole lot of selection. We got a little Lego robot guy, a soccer ball, a bigger lego thing that can be made into a bobcat tractor and a bunch of other things, a ball for the little ones and some hot wheel cars to. Then we picked up a snack at the grocery store. Now for the hour and half drive to see the oldest boy. We get there and he is playing in the sand box with 3 other boys. He sees us and walks over. We say hello and handed him a brand new soccer ball so we went to an open area and played a little soccer. We had a great time. He loved to kick the ball around and we think he is going to be our sports kid. He is very coordinated and has a pretty good kick. It was then time to eat lunch with him. We were served Russian borsch, which is a soup made out of beets, noodles with patty of meat (which was really good), a bowl of mixed vegetables and warm tea. After lunch we went back out to play soccer and some of the other boys joined us. The oldest boy did not want them to play with us, he wanted us all to himself which was very cute. After a while Lana told us to come over in the shade and put together the Legos (please don’t ever buy him Legos!). He was interested at first but it did not take him long to loose interest so Eric and I tried to entertain him and put together this thing. Needless to say it did not get done and tonight we disassembled it and are giving it to the orphanage tomorrow. Max was really warming up to us but it was time to go. We gave him his black lab stuffed animal, which he loved and named Jack. He told Lana he wanted us to be his parents but he is not ready to leave the orphanage. We think he just wants us to come live there with him! He gave us both a kiss when we left and said he would see us tomorrow. We wish we had more time to spend with him. He is a very good boy and if we could understand him we think he would be very funny. He is kind of a clown. Our drive to see the little ones was pretty uneventful, except for the guy standing on the side of the road openly peeing facing traffic! Lana told us after we got to the baby home that the little girl asked one of the caretakers if her parents were going to be there today to see her. Hopefully she will understand that we are coming back for them. Lana seemed to think that the girl is very smart also (so it isn’t just us bragging!). Again, she went right to Eric! We brought a big trash bag this time with all of the stuff we had for them and she really wanted to go through it to see what was in it. The little boy on the other hand was delighted just to play with the ball, he is a very happy boy and smiles a lot. The girl stopped when she saw the photo album we put together. Eric went through the pictures with her and from that moment on she did not let go of it. We went outside and she would not put it down. Any of the caretakers that went by she would flag them down and show her Papa & Mama! We had dinner here with a nice couple from Branson that are on their first trip to adopt a son. They are leaving tomorrow so we are on our own Friday, Saturday then home on Sunday. Hopefully you aren’t getting too bored with all of our details.

Day 2 & 3

Day two was a very, very long uneventful day. We drove 2 1/2 hours to see the oldest boy and when we got there we found out that he was at camp! The orphanage feels like it is out in the middle of nowhere. We talked to the secretary and the doctor and got some info on him so it was not a complete waste. We then went to the division of social services and met the lady that is going to stand up for us in court and say it is OK for us to adopt the oldest boy. We headed back to Usserisk to the baby home but were early so we stopped for pizza at a pizza place that was just like anything you would see in America, if you did not look at the menu there you would have thought you were in America! We had a great visit with the little ones. We think they are getting very comfortable with us. The girl just LOVES our cameras. She is very smart, it does not take her long to figure out how to work things.

Day 3 down. Nothing seems to amaze us anymore. We left the hotel at 8:00 am again with just our driver Alec, who cannot speak any English, to pick up Lana. We didn't go but a mile and he got stopped by the police. They do things alittle different here, they stand on the side of the road and flag you down if they want you to stop. Alec had to show his papers and then they made him get out and gave him a breathelizer. We just laughed, of course this would happen when we were alone without anyone that could speak English! We picked up Lana and headed to the baby home. On the way there we saw a women on the side of the road changing her pants (she was standing there in her UNDERWEAR!!!!!). No problem though (ha, ha), it didn't even phase Lana or Alec. We tried to go by the toy store but it was still closed. It is crazy here though because when you walk in the building you expect to walk right in the store like in America but when we walked in the building with the toy store you first walk through like a grocery store and the toy store is down the stairs! Crazy! We finally got to the baby home and when they brought in the kids they were still kind of shy but the girl went right to Eric and gave him a hug and sat on his lap (she definitely has the daddy's girl thing down already). It was a very good visit and we were glad to see how they were at a different time of the day. They loved playing with the cars and coloring. The little boy sat on Becky's lap for a while and cuddled. Poor thing is so congested though, he must be miserable but acts just fine. We traced their feet and hands and will measure them tomorrow. Before we left for the long ride to see the oldest boy we both used the restroom and sure enough it did not have a toilet seat. When we got in the car Becky asked Lana about it and she said that they did not put seats on the public toilets because that is gross and you aren't supposed to sit on public toilet seats anyway. Makes sense right! She said they do have toilet seats in their home though. For living in such a poor area they seem to do things to stay clean. We see all these people crouching on the side of the road like baseball catchers behind home plate and when we asked about this again she acted like we were crazy and said "what else would you do, you can't sit on the ground because it is dirty". Again, makes sense right! We had a good ride to the oldest boy's orphanage. We thought it was such a sad place when we saw it yesterday but the people their could not have been more wonderful. As we walked up the drive all eyes were on us. The girls upstairs were all looking out the window saying Hello to us and speaking to Lana asking questions about who we were. The boys that were playing outside started showing off to get our attention. They have only had one other adoption out of this orphanage. The oldest boy was outside riding a skateboard with a lady holding onto him. He saw us and smiled but was of course very shy. We gave him the cars we brought and that made him light up. I don't think he will let those things go now. He held onto them and played with them the whole time we were there. The director insisted we eat lunch with the boy (a real Russian meal). It was interesting. They serve a huge meal. We had vegetable & meat soup, bread (homemade), a warm tea (they like everything warm here) with dried fruit and sugar in it (it was really good), a squid salad that looked something like a potato salad here and cabbage and meat. Eric ate just about everything! The boy was a great eater and had very good table manners. He ate everything with this huge spoon very well. He played with the cars while we finished eating. We then got in the car with the director and the boy and took a tour of the village (it is a little village so it did not take long) then we went to a little place for ice cream. Alec the driver hit a manhole that was open and we thought he popped the tire but he didn't! The director went in to see if we could get ice cream while we waited in the car and the boy kind of freaked a little (he had tears in his eyes). He liked the ice cream but when he started to drink his apple juice box he said he did not feel good (we think he just ate his ice cream to fast). We then toured the city a little more and he really wanted to go back to the orphanage. He was not ready to go with us he said. He played with his cars some more when we got back and hammed it up for the camera. He said we could come back to see him tomorrow. We think that he will have a hard time leaving the orphanage because so far this is the best home he has known and they are like a family to him there. He seems like a very healthy, strong and very sweet boy. The other children and caretakers seem to like him too. We will head to the toystore tomorrow morning then to go see the oldest boy first and the little ones after 3.

Day One at the Baby House

Good evening (at least from here),
What a day! We started out leaving about 9:00 am to go to the Ministry of Education office. We were told that she is really busy and probably would not ask us any questions but they were wrong. She grilled us on what we did and did we ask to adopt three and several other questions. It is very unnerving when someone else is telling you what that person is saying and then telling them your answers. She gave us permission to see the children though and all was good.
I was going to use the restroom before we left the building but when I walked in and saw that their were no toilet seats or toilet paper I decided I could hold it! Irina then took us on a tour of the waterfront (the Sea of Japan) and through a little museum. We then went back to the hotel and changed clothes and ate lunch. We headed to the baby house to see the youngest child. The scenery on the drive is much like what you would see in Augusta, very hilly. Luckily the roads are not like that and we made it there without getting sick. When we got to the baby house I didn't know what to expect, it is kind of in the middle of town (the town is pretty run down).
We went up a couple of flights of stairs into the directors office and were told that SURPRISE - the little girl is still there! I kinda freaked for a moment because we only brought stuff to do with the boy. They were just getting up from their naps and had to eat a snack and put on new clothes first. We heard the little boy from down the hall crying, supposedly someone that normally wears normal clothes was in a white coat and he thought they were a doctor and he was going to get a shot. When they came in Irina took the boy on here lap and the little girl went right to Eric because he had animal crackers and markers & paper. I spent about 15 minutes with the caretaker writing down all the info I could on the kids. They said that the girl was a leader and loved to play with dolls and play doctor. She said the boy likes cars and horses. Everyone then left us alone and we sat on the floor to color with the kids. Neither of them would really even look at us. The boy was a little more social then the girl. They said we could bring the kids outside to the little playground and since they turned the A/C off in the room once we got in there I told Eric that we should take them outside. That was the best move ever. I wish I had thought to bring the cable to our video camera. Once we put them on the slide they just lit up. They are very, very cute and very smart. After a little bit the girl was more interested in the video camera and regular camera. I showed her how to work the regular camera and she was just snapping away. We then went through my purse and of course she was questioning everything but I couldn't understand a word of it. We then went back inside and colored
more. By then they were already comfortable with us. It was so cute because when we were leaving the girl didn't want us to go and asked if we would be back tomorrow. So far that made the whole trip worth while!

We're Here

Hello from Russia,
We made it in OK. We got the tour of the Korean airport because we got lost. Vladivostok Air was wonderful (of course it was great because we were in first class!). We definetely stood out as Americans at the airport (I think we were the only ones). We got a little nervous at the Vlad airport because Irina was not at the airport right away to meet us. We had this taxi driver that could not speak English but he would not leave us alone. He followed us all over the place (even outside). He kept asking us to go with him, he even tried to find someone who spoke English to ask us where we were going, so we were so glad to see Irina. The drive to the hotel was an eye opener. It is a very, very poor region. Eric said he saw alot of military stuff along the way (jets & tanks). We are on our own until Monday but Irina does not want us to leave the hotel grounds. On Monday we are going in the morning to the Ministry of Education then we will go back to the hotel. She will then come pick us up after lunch and we will go see the youngest boy. They have already moved the girl in with the oldest boy and we will not be able to see them until Tuesday. It is so crazy to be somewhere where very few people speak English. At least in Korea you could find quite a few people to speak English. We hope everything is going good at home and please email us updates. Becky & Eric

We're Going To Russia!!!

We are leaving for Russia Saturday, July 26th to finally meet our children! We will be there until August 2nd. I can't believe this is actually happening now. I have to keep pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming. If it is possible I will try to post about everything while we are over there. Thank you so much to both of our families for all the love, support and help you have given to us. Thank God that Eric has such a wonderful staff at the funeral home too. They keep everything going when he is gone without missing a beat.

3 - Our Favorite Number!!

My wise friend Pam forwarded me this and I just thought it was so fitting:

God has blessed us with this magical number -
All good things come in 3
The Genie granted our 3 wonderful wishes, and
there are 3 Little Pigs, and
3 Blind Mice, and
3 Men in a Tub
(we can’t wait to share the nursery rhymes!)

and don’t forget
the 3 Wise Men.
And the most wonderful 3 of all
The Holy Trinity!

We are so blessed and have so much love to give our children …

5 years old – The excitement of the first day of school, PTA, parent-teacher conferences, scouts, sports, music, carpools, playmates – the list is endless of the joys to come our way

3 years old – Preschool, sand, fingerpainting, playdoh, new friends, field trips … the joy of becoming a “big kid”! and

2 years old – Diapers? Wide-eyed wonderment. Always the baby of the family! So much to learn and do to keep up with big sister, big brother! And don’t forget the fun of annoying the dogs!

Laundry, laundry, and more laundry – driving our children to school and activities, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, haircuts, ear infections, colds, tummy upsets, sleepless nights, language barriers … work never sounded so FUN!!

God has always had a plan for us, and I know God has a plan for 3 wonderful children – . He is an Awesome God!!

We are still waiting on the medical records, what paperwork we need to do and travel dates. I guess this is what they are talking about when they say you need Patience, Patience and more Patience when you go through the adoption process.

The Call!!!!!

Holy Cow, we are going to Russia! I think we are both freaking out. Marti, the social worker, called me Wednesday to say she was going on vacation for a week and wanted to make sure we were OK before she left. She then asked if we were interested in going to the Vladivostok region. I have posted some info on it below. It is between China and Japan on the total opposite end of Russia than Tver. Now for the big news, are you sitting down? Their are three siblings waiting to meet us there. THREE!!! Two boys and one girl (Yeah!). The oldest is a boy who is 5, the middle is the girl who is 3 and the youngest is a boy who is two. We will probably be traveling for the first trip in June. The biggest downside right now is that in this region the time between the trips is usually 4 or 5 months. I still can't believe that the adventure is beginning already. Even though we have been waiting for awhile now I wasn't prepared for the call yet (nor was I prepared for it to be THREE!!!). I will try to keep the blog up to date as more info becomes available. Please keep us in your prayers that God leads us to make the right decision for us and for the children.

More Paperwork

Does it ever end! We just sent over more paperwork last week. It is the same info we put on about 50 other forms. This paperwork included a permission slip about our decision to adopt the children they pick for us. I really do think we are getting closer but God definitely has a plan. My sister (and very best friend) got diagnosed with breast cancer the day after her 38th birthday. Wow, what a blow! I have never been so scared in my life and didn't think it was possible to hurt so much. I can't imagine life without her. In keeping with God's crazy plan I just know that he is holding off so I can help Sue as much as possible until she is 100% healthy again. I have been corresponding with another family that just made their first trip to Tver to meet their daughter. They were really lucky because the orphange was only 15 minutes from the hotel so they got to visit often but she said the region was very poor and she left wanted to save all the children.

Always Something

Our new paperwork should be sent to Russia on Friday. Like the title of the post says though it is always something. I waited until Monday night to print out new pictures (we had to send 2 pictures of us, a picture of the front and back of the house and pictures of all the rooms in the house) and found out that I deleted all the pictures that I took with our little camera. I had most of the pictures on my laptop but they were not the good pictures that we submitted with our dossier. The only picture that I did not have was the one of the back of the house. Thank God Sue and Scott live so close. Scott went over before work on Tuesday and took a picture for me so I could get it printed out at work and get all the paperwork to the agency at lunch. Thanks again Scott and Danielle for all your help!

The Fun Begins

I just talked to Marti, our socialworker. She said that we are one of only two families waiting in Tver for siblings!!!! I think my stomach did a flip when she told me that. She is supposed to be emailing me some region specific paperwork that Eric and I have to do and get notarized. The faster we get our paperwork done and turned in the faster it gets to Russia. It is kind of a competition because we can move up the faster we get our paperwork in. You know how Eric loves competition! I started to think about everything I will have to get started on (learning some Russian, thinking about how I want the rooms, etc...). Can you tell I am starting to freak out a little!

Region

Well, we received a call yesterday from our social worker saying that they would like to send our dossier to Tver. It is 2 1/2 hours north of Moscow. After a little checking and much discussion we are going for it. We are both a little nervous the closer it gets but excited at the same time.