Sent it off...

Well we have sent the letter to the kids along with a few pictures from our visit. Our agency is going to have a courier (family) carry the letter to Vladivostok and have the office there mail it to the orphanage to the kids. Hopefully they will have it in a week or so. We are working on some of the final paperwork we need to complete for court so that everything is ready when we arrive back in Vladivostok in July (we hope). One of the things we had to do was to sign our Court Petition which is the document requesting that Russia allows us to adopt the kids. This document came from the agency and included some details that we previously did not know about. Specifically The names and birthdates of the kids immediate family members as well as their fathers date of passing. We found out that their father passed away about 3 weeks before I. was born. This document also is the first one that hold the kids "new" names. We have decided to make some changes to their names. We have given them our middle names and have changed I's name to an American derivative. Although we think we will continue to call him by his Russian "nickname" until he gets used to his new name. K's first name we really liked and since it is already "Americanized" in its Russian form, she will keep it. Well thats it for now...

Communications

Well we are working on a letter to the kids. Gloria's cousin is a Linguist for the DOD and is fluent in Russian. We are going to have him verify our translation and send the letter off to the orphanage with some pictures of our 1st visit. Hopefully it will reach the kids. We also hope to put together a care package for the orphanage to send over...they really want cars for the boys and dolls and jumpropes for the girls and we are working on collecting what we can to send over via mail. According to our agency we continue to be on track for a Mid-late July court date. Keep your fingers crossed. Have a great week!

An Orphan's Life!

Borrowed from a friend:

An Orphan's Life

I will never know the warm embrace of a mother.
I will never know a place called home.
I will never be tucked in at night.
I will never know all is right with the world.
I will never play catch with my dad.
I will never feel the ocean breeze in my hair.
I will never see the sunrise from the window of a plane.
I will never own the clothes on my back.
I will never eat popcorn in a darkened theater.
I will never run barefoot in a spring rain.
I will never have someone to catch me when I fall.
I will never watch fireworks explode in the sky.
I will never eat until I’m full.
I will never sit in a candle filled church.
I will never see a look of pride on my Dad’s face.
I will never ride a shiny new bike.
I will never dance at my prom.
I will never graduate.
I will never have someone to call for advice.
I will never make it on my own.
I will never stop wondering how my life could have changed -if someone had taken me home- for always.

So many things we take for granted...............our two little ones will never have to think these thoughts again!

They will have a mother, father and an AWESOME big brother, three dogs, a home, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends and so much more!

They say that the kids are the lucky ones...............I don't agree...............WE ARE THE LUCKY ONES!

We miss you so very much!

Missing them...

Wow, I never thought it would be this hard...I see their faces constantly in my mind. I long to hold them, teach them, love them. I dream of them every night...waking to thoughts of them, where are they? how are they right now? Only having spent time with them for 4 days, how much I long for more. I only hope they remember the time we spent together...hope they know and understand that we are coming back for them, hope they have the same longing. I can hardly concentrate on work as my thoughts drift back to them...July, please come soon.

Pictures....

Well of course we took a ton of pictures/video. We of course cannot show the Kids faces until the adoption is final...however here are some pictures we can share......

1st day driving through Vladivostok.


Our Driver in Vladivostok...Sergey


Waiting for Flight to Vladivostok in Moscow


I.'s Room in Spassk. He is in bed no. 5 (Gloria's
Lucky number) just to the left of the window.


Mama and K. Making a necklace.


I. Playing with the new truck we gave him...he
loves anything with wheels...


Papa and K playing ball.


Papa loving on his new Boy!


Our translator in Moscow...German
(pernounced Garmon)


A Church in Moscow/pilots church at
airport.


The Square in Spassk and the Lenin
Statue.


Moscow Terminal


Gloria's new friend met in airport in Moscow.
Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen!

Whew! We made it...

Well we got home last night about 9:30 or so. Thanks Mom and Harry for picking us up at ORD. We want to thank everyone for following along on our journey so far. It looks like we will be returning to Russia in late July.

On our way home

We are currently sitting in the lobby of the hotel in Moscow. We are waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport. We have an 11 1/2 hour flight to Atlanta and then a 2 1/2 hour layover there, then on to our final destination - Chicago O'Hare Airport. We are scheduled to arrive in Chicago at 8:16PM. We will miss being in Russia and seeing the kids but the sooner we can get home, the sooner we can come back and bring them home forever. We also have missed seeing Keegan. I am not sure he has missed us, it may have been a good vacation for him. When we get home, the hectic schedules starts all over again. Keegan has his track banquet on Wednesday and we are very happy to be going to it.

Good bye for now...

Well we luckily got our Saturday visits in...
















and what great times we had. Lots of hidden evaluations...Colors, we put MnM's and Jelly beans of 5 different colors on the table. Told the kids what color they could eat and watched for results. Well K knows all of her colors! She did awesome. I. on the other hand new about half...well hes only 4 and behind, as according to his caretakers, he tends to only participate when he really wants to in art class...Something to work on. Then we spilled out 10 farm animals (plastic of course) both kids new all 10, we were pleasently surprised. Did some coloring...above are the wonderful artworks of a 7 (on top) and 4 year old... We think they are really doing well at coloring for their age...we left the crayons and markers with the Detski Dom today so they could practice some more with their friends. After that we got out some old fashioned Paddle balls, a little to much coordination required but they both gave it the old college try. I. found it very funny that when ever someone hit 3 or 4 in a row and then missed he Giggled like crazy. I. then saw the bead box and wanted to make a necklace. He strung about 40 beads all by himself, K. decided on a new bead ring to go along with her necklace and two bracelets that she had made previously. We then got the video of our house out and showed it to I. he enjoyed a couple of handfuls of Trix while watching it. We were very supprised that he sat there and watched the entire thing. We then asked if he like it...Dah! K started watching too, when we got to Keegan showing them the bedroom she lit up and said...in Russian "The top bed is mine!". Yeah she gets it. Then it was lunch/nap time and we had to leave for 3 hours, got some lunch and watched some of the traditional Russian folk dancing in the square for a while (Victory Day Celebration). It was raining so we then sat in the car for an hour and a half and watched a movie on the portable DVD player. Got back to the Detski Dom just as nap was ending and K came in and started playing with the three stuffed dogs in the room...open door. We told her we had three dogs as home and wanted to know which of the three she had was the one she liked the best. She picked the biggest one! (door open wider) we told her that we liked big dogs and all three of ours at home were big. Would that bother her? "Nyet!" I. then came to the door and for the first time rushed in without one of the caregivers having to prompt him...I (me) got a big hug! Melt...tears....I held on for about 5 minutes. Realizing that he had probably never hugged a man like this before. We then played "Flying I." for a couple of minutes over my head and the smiles were huge...he's getting it. K then got out the Memory Game and started spreading card on the table with Gloria's help. Both kids started matching cards...K really kicking butt at it and I. kinda doing it his own way but finding matches...yeah! We then got out the measuring tape to do some measuring for clothes and rebuilt both of the lego toys from yesterday that managed to get disassembled overnight. Then K's caregiver walked in and invited us to join her Groupa for afternoon snack. What a neat thing to watch. Kids all lined up on chairs, then move chairs around a table. Caretaker passed out one cookie to each. K. then brought one to Gloria and I so we could have a snack too. After the cookie each child takes a cup of milk and drinks it then takes their chair back into line. Then they ask for permission to go wash their hands. They came back and sat down and the Caregiver allowed K. to hand out a tootsie pop to each child. (We had given the caretaker the candy for the Groupa and had given I.'s caregiver a bag of marshmellows for the younger Groupa.) K was in heaven, center of attention as each childs eys lit up for the candy, each one thanked her. Snack was over and it was time to say our goodbyes now till we will return (we hope in late July/early August) to pick up the kids. We expained again how we plan on being their Mama and Papa and have to go back to our home to prepare for them to come to live with us. No tears this time, lot of hugs and a few kisses too! It's gonna be all good! We head out for Moscow at 10:40 am here tomorrow and after a 20 hour layover and plane change in Atlanta will be home...




I's left hand in Papa's Which bed is K's?

Visit day 3

Well another gloriously exhausting day! We got to Spassk just in time for the kids two Groupa's to put on an encore presentation of their Victory Day song and dance program. K was decked out in a beautiful lime green dress with white stockings and I. was wearing a very fancy white shirt and dress shorts with white stocking on too. The music teacher did a repeat performence just for us and I taped the whole thing...it will be priceless to a little girl and boy someday. It was so cool seeing both Groupa's performing both singing and dancing. K is a great little dancer. I. was right in there with his groupa singing away...they are too little to dance. After the performance the kids changed clothes and Gloria and K jumped into making bead jewelery. She loved it! She was great at it too, stringing two bracelets and a necklace in no time flat! I. and I (got that?) started right in on painting a little wooden train project kit that we brought. After a few minutes of instruction he grabbed the brush and started painting away! He sat in the chair for about an hour painting the 10 or so parts that were in the kit. K jumped in to help after she finished stringing her beads. Before we new it it was time for the kids lunch and nap. We went to lunch and visited the 6 room Museum in Spassk. Each room had its own theme and you had to pay to see each room...you could see all if you wanted but had to pay the individual price for each...and an extra charge to take any pictures. We then went back to the Social Workers office to show them Keegans video...he made a "G" version of MTV cribs for the kids to show them our home and introduce him to them...(K loved it!) and we showed her the photo album that we gave each of the kids copies of. The Social Workers in Spassk are wonderful to work with and truly are looking out for the best interest of the kids here. The afternoon visit started with I. and I, putting together the train project we had painted in the morning. He is fascinated with Wheels, trucks, cars anything with wheels and he loved getting to put the wheels on the train, he kept asking "my train right?" in Russian. While the two of us did that Gloira and K were fixing one of her bracelets that broke during nap time...Then we each did a Lego project that we had brought, I worked with K and Gloria with I...more wheels on I's truck and he loved it. K and I put together a lego airplane...about half way through she said "My plane right"...ah ha open door, let me take advantage...I immediately asked her if she would like to fly in an airplane someday...Dah! was the answer. I told her that Gloria and I wanted her to be our daughter and would take her on a plane ride to our home someday. A HUGE SMILE!!!!! She gets it! I. on the other hand..I think is a little to young to quite understand. Well then we got news that our request for visitation for Saturday was denied (More details upon completion of adoption) and we needed to wrap up our visit. We talked to the kids about being our daughter and son, K was all smiles, Dah! was her response along with big hugs for Gloria. I. was not quite sure what was going on...a few tears later (by us) and we gave the kids the pillows with our pictures on them and took them to their rooms to put them on their beds (K throwing her old one on the floor) and said our final goodbyes (so we thought). We started to leave and got a...wait a minute you can visit tomorrow and please take the kids for a walk for a while...We took them out back to the Detski Dom playgroud and played with Silly string for a while till all of the other kids wanted to join in...Then we opted to save the Silly String for tomorrow and just held the kids. I. was in my arms and all smiles while his groupa mates saw him with his new Dada and Mama he was so proud and a little selfish about sharing our attention. We walked around and held them and hugged until it was time for them to go back inside. Put them down and gave kisses and sent them inside with their Groupa's knowing they will see us tomorrow...

2nd day visits

Well just got back from a tiring but wonderfully long day. Visited the kids 2 times today. We got to take them to the park in downtown Spassk. We had a great time on the slide, swing and merry go round. We brought a foam rocket with us that was a hit with I. K loved playing with the bubbles we brought until she decided to wash her hands in the soap. After the park we took the kids to lunch. Let me tell you I. can put it away! A whole container of Banana Yogurt, two big pieces of Pizza and a giant scoop of ice cream. K on the other had ate her yogurt then picked at her salad and pizza. Of course she managed to eat most of her Ice Cream and shared a bag of skittles with all of us. She is a great sharer! After lunch we walked to central square in Spassk and took a picture with the statue of Lenin there. Something I would have never dreamed of in my cold war army days. While there Gloria got scolded by an old Russian Army Veteran (who appeared to have already finished his vodka for the day) for sitting on the cold cement. Apparently the Russians have linked this to infertility....oops a little late old army man. We then rode back to the Detski Dom for nap time. The kids went in for their nap and we met with the assistant director to discuss our house and family and shared pictures. then we met with the care givers (4). They answered all of our questions and talked on and on about the kids and how they love them. The care the kids receive at this home is excellent! The doctor knows everyone of them by name (102 kids currently, ages 3 to 17) The caregivers are wonderful and really take great care of the kids. After our meeting we walked back towards the square looking for souveniors...no such luck, we did however stop at the farmers market (Russian Kane County mom) and picked up some fresh fruit for our breakfast as the Vlad Inn restaurant is not open when we rollout at 6:15 am for our 3 hour ride to Spassk. We headed back to the Detski Dom for our afternoon visit. What a great time we had in the huge play room, beach balls were flying everywhere! We gave I. a new truck with matchboxes in it and K got a new Bear with a blue vest on it.




















They were in heaven...we played the memory game with K and she was amazing. Found every match and wanted to keep on playing. She also did some more coloring which both kids are great at and love to do. We stayed until about 5:00pm and then headed back to the Hotel. Got back here about 8:15 and are waiting in our room for a Pizza from the hotel. The picture of the Church is from our trip from the airport to the Hotel. I think it is in Artem.

Our First Visit! - May 6th 2009

Wow what a day! There is only one thing that could have made this day any better.................Keegan being with us to meet the kids. What an awesome experience! After a three hour ride, picking up the social worker, we finally made it to the children's home (Picture Above). At first the kids were very shy, but it didn't take long for them to warm up. K warmed up a little quicker than I did but eventually we were all playing and laughing and having a really good time. The kids really like the toys and snacks we brought with us, but their favorites were the super balls, the beach balls and a spinning light up egg shaped toy. All the staff at the children's home were great and really excited about our visit. The director welcomed us with open arms. The doctor answered all of our questions and volunteered information we did not think to ask about. All good news! We were invited to lunch at the local school "cafeteria". We had a traditional Russian Lunch. (Salad, Fish Soup, and a Hamburger over rice with tomato sauce) Tomorrow we get to have two visits. They may even let us take the kids to a park and for ice cream. Overall we are really pleased and excited about the rest of our visits. More to come as it happens!

We Made it....

Well we are sitting here at the VMI, wearily trying to decide what to post...Long exhausting trip. Got here fine, got to MOE and all paperwork is done leave to see the kids at 6:30 am (3 hour drive each way for the next 4 days) There is no hotel in the town we are going to that will register international travellers. Random weary memories from trip...Arrived at Moscow...waited for 45 minutes on plane till the Ministry of health officials arrived to take the temperature (via some kinda ear laser gadget) of EVERY single person on the plane, one at a time including the crew. Delta and Aeroflot are both great airlines to fly through Moscow, however will not do that again due to the lonnnnnnnnggggggggggg time it takes to get here. (My Butt is still numb). Hotels in Moscow have Tiny rooms and weird plumbing. SKYPED my Mom and Step dad a few minutes ago...this is awesome, like they were in the room with us talking! Gloria is already out cold...gonna join her. Oh, Amy, T's picture montage is on the wall in the MOE office! More to follow! Is traffic crazy here or am I just that tired!

We are on our way..................Finally!!

We will be leaving our house in about a half hour. First O'hare..........Next stop New York...........then Moscow..........then finally our destination - Vladivostok Russia. We won't be there until Tuesday morning (USA - Monday). Remember the whole 16 hours ahead thing.

We will keep you as updated as we can!

Mom - we will be fine - stop worrying!

Keep us in your prayers! We will blog soon!