First Outing

Today we took Justin to get his passport pictures taken, and it was his first car ride. He was very quiet and only his eyes moved. We had a caregiver with us the whole time and she talked him though everything. Getting his picture taken there was scary, but he made it through without crying. When we were finished the caregiver gave him a cookie and that made him happy.

Geoff was amazed by the Russian camera. The first pictures were taken with a digital camera, but the second set were taken with an old wooden camera on cast iron tripod on casters.

Yesterday the couple from Pennsylvania told us their experience on the playground with their son and the other children. One girl was especially mean and had pushed and bitten their son to get "Momma & Papa's" attention. Her name was Marcia. Today we met Marcia. After the pictures we got to take Justin to the playground at the orphanage while other children were playing. Without being properly introduced, Geoff called Marcia by name. She kicked and bit other children to get attention. I so wanted to take her home so that she would feel loved and wanted. We got a glimpse of what bulling goes on. There was lots of pushing, kicking, hitting and biting. We will have to keep an eye on Justin when he plays with other kids back home. Both of us were usually swarmed by children, but Geoff always had a large group following him. Men that give them attention are probably rare, and they must know that we are momma and papa. How can you explain to a two-year old child that they were not chosen?

Today was the hardest day to leave Justin at the orphanage. He just stood there staring at us as we left. We can't wait to keep him for good.

On another note, we have learned that we are very thankful for our police force in the US. There was a fender bender outside our apartment around 8:45 this morning, and it was still in the street when we left at 9:40 with no police in sight. The police had just arrived when we got back at noon. Apparently, it is not uncommon to wait up to six hours for the police to arrive for an accident report. The report is necessary for an insurance claim.

Comrade

We met a couple from Pennsylvania at the orphanage today. They are waiting to pick up their 4-year old son on Saturday. Justin and their son enjoyed playing together, and they obviously knew each other. They are both dangerous with plastic golf clubs!

We found out that we get Justin on Wednesday. We would get him Tuesday, but Monday and Tuesday are Russian holidays. We are trying to get our flight out of Kras scheduled for next Friday morning. We plan to be home the week of Veteran's Day.

Veritas Fundraiser

This is a blatant solicitation to anyone in the Lawrence area who would like to attend a fund-raising dinner and auction for Veritas Christian School. The monies raised at this year’s event will be set aside exclusively for a Veritas Building Fund. For traditional reasons the event is called the Barn Party and is 21 November, at the Lawrence Holidome, and doors open at 6:45pm.

The tickets are $15 each. We went last year, and it was a nice dinner, and there are some good deals at the silent auction before dinner and the live auction afterward.

Karey and/or I will be attending, so please let us know by 10 Nov if you are interested.

Cheerios and Congrats

Todd and Lori had court today, and they are new parents!

Justin got to go outside with us today. The change of scenery was great despite the temperature. Although we did teeter totter and ride the merry-go-round, Cheerios were still the greatest attraction.

Geoff and Justin are in a small pavilion at the playground, and the playground picture is taken from the entrance of that pavilion.

Outdoor Flea Market

Many of the vendors sell the same stuff, and none of the merchandise has price tags. So far we bought Geoff a hat, Justin some stockings, and a shirt for me. We have walked away from several "10% off" deals.

Today we tried one of the food vendors. A couple of guys had things that looked like meat and stuff in a tortilla. We didn't know what they were called and ended up with a breaded and deep fried hotdog. It was nothing like a corndog, and would have been much better with some relish and ketchup--at least it was only 18 roubles (<$1).

The first picture has our apartment in the background, on the left. Notice how fat the pigeons are. We're convinced they work in gangs. Some distract he food vendors while others grab and scram.

Another day down

Today was fairly uneventful. Last night we ate with friends from Kansas who are also on their second trip. Todd and Lori are adopting from a city about two hours from here, and their court date is tomorrow. We'll let them acclimate to the time change before we challenge them to spades.

They arrived Saturday evening and had trouble sleeping. At 2am they found the KU-Texas Tech game live on one of the 13 channels we receive--too bad it wasn't a better game.

We visited Justin today and Geoff snapped this pic as he was coming out of the caterpillar tunnel.

Harvest Sunday

Today we walked 3.4 miles to a Russian Baptist Church. We walked because we didn't realized Russia daylight savings time changed a week before it does in America. We were up an hour early, so why not walk instead of paying for a cab?

Geoff had searched the internet for American missionaries in Krasnoyarsk and came up the the Kevin & Jessica Jones. We managed to get in contact with them through Skype. Anyway, today we got to meet them, they are a really neat family with five kids.

Today they had a special harvest service with visiting churches and lunch afterward. We recognized the tunes, and a parishioner translated the scripture references for us. The meal was simple mashed potatoes with meat and gravy and a mixed vegetable dish. It was wonderful--the best meal we have had in Russia! However, one of the men gave Geoff a piece of cake with "forest berry" topping that was very bitter, and even he did not like it.

Kevin & Jessica's website is www.siberianjones.com, if you are interested in their ministry. We hope to eat with them sometime this week.

9 days to go

The count down starts today for getting Justin from the orphanage. We can't see him on the weekends, so we have to wait till Monday. Geoff and I walked to the outdoor market today and bought tights for him. We have to have tights to get him. On our walk we took some pictures of the apartment building we are staying in and the outdoor market, so enjoy this little bit of Russia.

And then there were four......

We are now proud parents of 4 children!! The judge was satisified with all the paperwork, and approved our request to adopt Justin. The 10-day wait was not waived, and the judge very sternly told us "no one guaranteed the court would have no delays". However, she actually smiled when Geoff stopped her as she was leaving and said, "Vasha Chest, balshoi spaseeba," which means "Your Honor, thank you very much."

We still cannot post pictures of Justin for privacy reasons, but here is a glimpse of our new son. He will fit in well with our kids, and they can't wait to meet him. We also think Justin will recognize them from the photo album we show him every day.

Thank you all for your prayers, and we look forward to all six of our feet touching American soil.

Court Tomorrow! Fried Potatoes Today

We finally have some good news--we have a court hearing on Friday at 11am. Our reps are really postive of the outcome. Now we are just praying for a miracle to have the 10 days waived.

Here is a typical day for us in Krasnoyarsk:
6-7am wake up and talk to the kids via skype (this is the highlight of my day)
9am-10am wait for a driver to show up and take us to visit Justin
Noon- eat lunch (today we bought potatoes and fried them)

In the afternoon Geoff studies while I watch a movie, read, or play computer solitaire. We often take a walk to the market or one of the nearby malls. Yesterday we bought Geoff a corduroy driver's cap. He now looks like an official Ruskie.

Often we eat dinner with our coordinator or other adoptive American families, but since our friends left yesterday we are anxiously waiting for Todd and Lori to arrive Saturday. I hope they like playing spades!

Wednesday

We really don't have much news to post today. We did go and see Justin , he is doing very well. It looks like the rash he had is gone, now he just has a cold.

Our rep. called us this evening to let us know that the judge does like our documents, but that she would not give us a court date until she has consulted with another judge. So we are optimistic that we will have a court hearing on Friday. We also asked if the 10 days could be waived, and the judge says she doesn't have a problem with it, but the prosecutor will. So keep us in your prayers.

It is very encouraging to see how many people read the blog. Thanks so much for checking in on us and praying.

Let it snow...

It continues to flurry. There is about half an inch on the ground and it is still gently falling.

All of the documents are complete, and our rep will meet with the judge tomorrow. Apparently, she is cordial outside the courtroom and is sympathetic to our wait. We will update you tomorrow as soon as we can.

None of this has escaped God's notice, but sometimes we wish we had 20-20 foresight.

Peanut Butter

No adoption news today, we are still waiting for a document to be submitted to the judge.

But we did find peanut butter today. For those of you who are traveling to Krasnoyarsk soon, you can find the peanut butter in the same building as "Peppers". The grocery store is located on the bottom level in the Komodor Mall.

Otherwise, the weather today is very cold with some snow flurries. We are heading out to say farewell to three American families leaving for Moscow. Till next time....

Snow flurries

The first picture is of our "vault" door, the next one is of the trash receptacle on each level in the apartment building. The last picture was taken outside our kitchen window, it is an overpriced flee market.

The weather here is very cold, in the low 20s I believe. We woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground this morning, and there were light flurries all morning.

Today we went and saw Justin again. He comes to us very easily now, the caregiver lets go of his hand as they walk down the hall and he comes right into our arms. We brought the colored pencils and a coloring book with us today. He spent most of the time taking the pencils out of the box and putting them back in. We also made the mistake of letting him search through Geoff's backpack. He found all sorts of things 2 year old are not supposed to have--coins, flash drives, pens, etc. On our next trip we will bring the backpack we bought for him, which we know it is baby proof.

Last night we had Kirsten and Rob over to visit. (Today is their gotcha day!) We went to a pizza place called Peppers, played cards and ate cake at our apartment. They were a blast, and time flew as the girls stomped the guys in spades.

I have attached a picture of the door to our apartment. It is a double door, with a nice wooden door inside a vault door. We feel like we are in Fort Knox.

We have not heard anymore news about a court date. As of Saturday night, there was just one more document needed.

The three families we at with last week are leaving this Wednesday (including Kirsten and Rob). However, there is another Kansas family arriving on their second trip this weekend. We are looking forward to spending some time with Todd & Lori. They are bringing peanut butter!

Things I have observed

OK, I will will warn you right off that I am very bored right now. Geoff is trying to write his proposal while I stay quiet and think.
Earlier today, Geoff and I took a 20 minute walk to Planyeta Mall. Our mission was to find: tortilla chips, peanut butter, crayons, and a coloring book (the last 2 items were for our visits with Justin). We seached the mall and grocery store for these items and only managed to find the coloring books. They had a big selection of colored pencils, chalk, markers, and paint. So we went with the colored pencils. We have been told that peanut butter is very hard to find here. It is more of an American food, and I just had to start craving it while here! It is really funny to shop for shoes and purses. The color selection is practically limited to black and they like really large purses.
I have found that I am more of a picky eater than I thought. I have become more like my son than I want to admit, pizza has become my favorite meal so far.
Looks like we get to go out this evening after all. Just got a call from our interperter to go downtown and see some sights. I will sign off for now.

So you had a bad day...

We are sorry we have not been able to post or return all the kind emails we have gotten since court. We have not had internet since Thursday night (no one paid the bill).

We had court yesterday, and the judge was still not satisfied with the government's effort to track down Justin's mom. She is not convinced (legally) that she abandoned Justin. It is a long complicated story involving three hospitals, a mysterious apartment number, and an appearing passport.

In any case, the government has to get responses from three hosptitals and investigate the apartment building Justin's mother listed as her address. We hope this will be completed early next week with our next court hearing on Friday, at the latest. Assuming the judge is satisfied and rules in our favor, our ten day wait will start after that hearing.

Meanwhile, Geoff continues to try to learn Russian and work on his research, and Karey has already read all of her books and is now working on the movies we brought.

Thanks for your prayers.

Court Concerns

We just learned of a new concern our about court hearing tomorrow. We can't go into details, but please pray that God grants us favor with the judge. These issues are nothing our agency or representatives here in Kras could have foreseen, and they have really put in the extra effort to meet the judge's requests.

We did get to see Justin again today. The past two days he has been a different boy. Apparently his caregivers had raised his anticipation for our first visit, and he was over-stimulated even before he got to us.

He sat with us looking at our family photo album, played golf, and ate fish crackers. He did find out that Momma isn't a push-over. He took some of her papers and she would not give him any fish crackers until he returned the papers (after he took a bite out of them).

Thursday Morning

Geoff and I finally managed to sleep from 9:30pm - 5am. We had help staying up later last night. We met with three other American families for dinner at an Italian place called Mamma Roma's. It was so nice to be able to hear others' adoption journeys. Unfortunately for us, they will be leaving next week for Moscow, and they are more than ready to go!

Our visit with Justin went very well. He was in a much calmer mood. On Monday he was over stimulated, and it is hard to entertain a two-year old for two hours in one room. Yesterday we were with him for an hour and a half and we went through the picture book of our family. He sat still for about thirty minutes looking through the picture book and playing with a plastic bug. Karey would wind up the bug and it would spin and make noise. He also loves to climb and play golf. There are plastic golf clubs in the room, and they seem to be his favorite toys. Although, he tends to get carried away and starts using the clubs like a baseball bat. We tried clothes on him yesterday. He wears about a size 4t in shirts and 2t in pants. He did not like to try on clothes at all.

Our interpreter just called to tell us we will be picked up in 40 minutes to see Justin again. More to come later...

Wednesday

We have had a lot of people ask us about our 10 day wait. After court on Friday, if the judge gives us the "yes, we can adopt", the 10 day wait will start on Saturday. Right now we have flights to leave here on the 30th of October. The 10 dsay will end on that Tuesday, that is when we can apply for a passport. It usually takes 3-4 days to process. Our reps are going to see if we can get it by Thursday (our flight leaves in the evening).

Thanks so much for your prayers. We got to see God work in many ways yesterday. This was the first time a social worker never showed up for a court hearing. The head of the social services could never get a hold of her. Our rep begged and pleaded for another social worker to fill in. When they found one, their was documents to be notarized giving this social worker permission to be there. So we were thankful that our court was delayed till 2 yesterday.

Today we plan to go to the orphanage and visit our boy, then try and visit with other American adopting families. We are going to try and visit him every other day. It costs us about $40 a day to see him.

We are slowing getting use to the time change. We managed to stay up till 6:30pm and sleep till 3am. We will try and stay up later tonight.

Keep those prayers coming!!

Delayed

We arrived at the courthouse around 11 am to be early for our 11:30 hearing. The social worker was not there, and our representative had not been able to contact her in the last two days. Without a rep from social services our hearing would have to be postponed. The two hearings before ours went much longer than planned. At 1:30 we received a call saying a replacement social worker was on her way and that our hearing would start at 2. Our prayers had been answered.

Our hearing was tense. Geoff introduced himself in Russian, and we answered questions from the judge and prosecutor for around an hour. During the questioning the judge showed no emotion and was curt, at times. After our questioning we thought we were in the clear. However, there were problems with paperwork outside of our (or our representative's) control that resulted in the conclusion of the hearing being postponed until Friday.

Subsequently, we found out the the two families before us also had their hearings postponed. We had heard that this judge was the strictest. I don't know if she was having a bad day, but ours certainly could have been better.

We don't yet know if this delay will affect our return date, so please keep us in your prayers.

The Apartment

The two primary advantages of the apartment over a hotel is we have a kitchen, and it is $50-$100/day cheaper. Our apartment is on the 9th floor of one of four apartment building surrounding a quad with a small playground. There is also a paved drive around the edge of the quad where cars are parked using a shoe horn. One of the buildings has a grocery store on the ground floor.

Geoff would like to go for a run, but we haven't asked if it is safe. Just in case, he packed a jump rope. The fact that we have a double door to the hall that can be triple bolted is not encouraging.

A major disadvantage to the apartment are that we don't know if there are any Americans near us.

FYI, the sunrise is beautiful this morning.

In Krasnoyarsk

We left Moscow @ 8:30am and arrived in Kras at 5:15pm (4 hour flight & 4 hour time change). Dascha met us at the airport and then took us to the grocery store. We are staying in an apartment,and it is much nicer than I had expected. The building itself is old, as are most apartment buildings in Russia, but the inside of our apartment is modern. I love the closets the most. If we ever build, I would want these.

I forgot to mention that while we were at the hospital getting our medicals done, we were waiting with a couple and a single man who were adopting (from a different agency). The single man is a TV producer in Hollywood. His most recent show is "Kath and Kim". He is adopting an 11 year old boy--small world after all.

We did very well with our luggage. Your carry-on is not included in your weight. On our way over here from the US we were 2lbs over in one and 6 in the other suitcase. Leaving Moscow for Kras, we took out our heavy stuff (books) and put them in our carry-ons. So to the clarify the weight, it is 44lbs (20 kg) per person for check luggage only.

Today we are suppose to meet with our interperter and then head to the orphanage to see Justin. After that is lunch and then a meeting with the Minister of Education. Tomorrow is court!

Thanks so much for your prayers.

Medicals are finished!

Getting into the Hospital parking lot is very easy for Americans. All the driver has to say to the gate guard is that he has Americans with doctors appointments. Getting into the hospital you are suppose to sign in and state why you are there. Not so for Americans. We just go up to the window and say we are Americans and go right on in. It is due to the money we pay for the appointments. We pay $750 each (36000 rubles). We completed our adoption this month, so our medicals were last month. There is really nothing to the appointment. We both went in at the same time. They told us to take off our shoes, socks and shirts (bra stays on!). At this time there were 5 doctors in the room. Our interpreter was behind a screen. We were asked if we have had any surgeries, injuries and such, then one doctor checked our reflexes and eye coordination. Another one listened to our lungs and took our blood pressure. The others just sat and observed. Next came the psychologist(she also represented the oncologist), she asked what education we have completed, what we do for a living, when did we first drank alcohol, and how often do we drink. We then stepped outside the office and waited about an hour for the other adoptive parents to complete their physicals and for our documents to be signed, and then we paid. Remarkably, we saw the dermatologist after we had our documents were signed. He just asked us if we had anything removed from our skin. Then we left and headed for the hotel. Before leaving the states we had already had our X-rays and blood work done. So we just presented them to the doctors. Honestly, I am not even sure they looked at the X-rays. I think just knowing we had them was good enough. Anyway, we are stuck with them now. Geoff said we should frame them at home. The whole visit lasted about 10 minutes, but we waited about an hour for the finalized documents.

We are now on our own. Geoff has a headache (due to lack of sleep) right now, so he is trying to sleep. We plan on going out to eat later.

Moscow

We made it to Moscow, arriving at our hotel 3pm Friday (6am at home). We have slept a couple of times for a total of about 6 hours. This morning we got to tell our kids goodnight 4am using Skype. In Moscow we are 9 hours ahead of home.

Our flights went well. Just had 2 delayed flights out of 3, but we were still able to make all our flights on time.

Today (Friday) we have a medical appointment at noon. We were told that it could take 3-4 hours (with all the waiting). After that, we are on our own till Sunday when we leave for Kras.

So far, it looks like we have only forgotten a converter for our hotpot (thank goodness the hotel here had a hotpot in the room).

Thanks for all your prayers.

We leave tomorrow

I finally have time to write an update. Everything seems to happen at once. My mom (Pat) arrived safely on Sunday morning, and she has been taking care of the kids while I run around getting ready to go. Here is a list of what I have been able to get done:

Visas came in yesterday!
Photo album for the judge
Got the van fixed (engine light came on Saturday)
We received our absentee ballots (voted, notarized, and sent)
Paperwork is together and ready to travel (including 3 years of tax returns)
Plane tickets for travel within Russia purchased
Bought a hot pot
Purchased a back pack and some toys for Justin (for the plane ride home)
Got cash
Made a schedule for the kids at home
Received a winter coat for Justin (Thank you Nikki R.)
Received a snowsuit and lots of winter clothes for Justin (Thank you Tiffany E.)

I am sure I left something out, but that gives you an idea. I still need to notarize a medical POA for my kids and the ballots, and finish packing the suitcases. A friend of mine reminded me that our luggage weight for the flight inside of Russia is only 44lbs per person and that includes your carry on. We will take our bags by Geoff's office and weigh them to see how we are doing today.

Our flight leaves at 10:55am tomorrow. We fly to Chicago, layover in Germany, and finally stop in Moscow. We did get refundable tickets, since there was not much difference considering that we may have to make changes to our return tickets.

Not sure if I will post again before we leave, but I plan to post in Moscow.

COURT DATE!!!!!

We have officially gotten our court date and travel dates today. Our court date is Oct. 14.
Here is a run down of itinerary:
Leave US on Oct 8
Arrive in Moscow on the 9th
Do Medicals on the 10th
Leave for Kraz on the 11th
Court on the 14th
Leave for Moscow on the 30
Leave for the USA on November 4th

So far we have applied for our visas
gotten flights to Russia
got flights for my mom(Pat) to here

Things to do:
Photo album
Hotel reservations
Blood work
Cash
Pack
Power of Attorney for my kids here

Please keep us in your prayers. I am so excited to be able to give you all good news!
Now a few personal notes:
Stephanie and Lori- we will be waiting for you all in Russia!
Kris and Joe-hope to see you in Kraz, I lost access to your blog.