OUR WEEK IN SIBERIA

Sunday 2/24/08 at 2:30 am, I pick up Deanie in the wee hours of the morning to catch a flight out of Miami International Airport. Our flight is scheduled to leave at 9:20 am. We have rented a car so that the vans we use daily are at the disposal of the caretakers at our homes with our children. We have gotten a deal on the car from a friend of my daughter. The drive over is uneventful other than the fact I hadn’t been to sleep since Friday night and the morning fog is somewhat tense for driving Alligator alley. We arrive in ample time to curb check prior to returning the rental car. As I drive up to the airport it is visibly busy at about 5 am. They have an emergency right at our curb check (Delta) with the fire truck and ambulance removing a person from the building. It takes time to check in one at a time trying to leave the car at the no parking area and with an extra piece of luggage which must be paid extra for $100.00. The folks checking us in seem like this is not “normal.” We have packed to the max for donations to the orphanage.

We return the rental to Enterprise where we learn the so called special “family rate” is really no special deal at all. Our estimated cost of $31.00 is now $89.00. We board the shuttle and off we go… The backpacks we are carrying as our one carry on (purse like) luggage has managed to be the heaviest piece we are traveling with. It amazes me how I let such an important part of the travel planning slip from common sense and have no wheels for pulling. In minutes my back is popping vertebras and my shoulder and neck are burning from the stress. Starbucks seems to always take the edge off so we both get a nice cup of java.

We fly into Atlanta to connect to Moscow, Sunday now approaching noon and no sleep…no sleep for 36 hours at this point. We are unbalanced walking tired with such heavy bags and some might say, getty. We decide to hit the bar to get into the relaxed mode for a ten hour flight of sleep. We are in Georgia, a state where drinking on Sunday will only happen after noon (12:30 to be exact) and they make no exceptions. A phone call back to the house, the kids have gone to Pizza Hut for a farewell/goodriddens mom lunch. We begin drinking with more java and a snack of chips and spicy salsa cheese sauce at Chili’s in the airport. It is now 12:30 and the place is hoping…it is margarita(s) for me and some Grey Goose and tonic for Deanie… the afternoon slips by and it is time to board for Moscow. If we thought it a challenge to walk and carry our bags before we are pushing our Physical skill now. We are past the point of being tired with a 2nd possibly 3rd or 4th wind of excitement keeping us from laying down to sleep. The plane is not completely full, although full enough for us to be inquisitive to why so many people would be leaving Atlanta on a Sunday afternoon to go to Russia.. It appeared in time many were Russians returning home possibly, then it is clear, business is a prime reason. We meet a teacher who has a passion for the Russian population trying to get the young educated properly. She has a missing student she hopes to locate to get back on track. She explains more of their culture and hopes to find her student. Many seem interested in our journey of adopting not only a child from another country but the child who has Down syndrome; although at the same time the looks on their faces seem a bit puzzling as they can not understand “WHY.”

Once we land in Moscow the little sleep we were able to get and some airplane food has us in a mode of minute by minute processing… The facilitator meets us as we make it through customs and suggests we sleep in a hotel for the 7 hour wait between flights. Her job is to ride with us across Moscow, a little over an hour to the other airport that will take us to Novokuznetsk. At the end of this next flight it puts us about an hour and a half from the orphanage by car. The time zones are working against us so we are loosing a full day as it is now Monday with Tuesday approaching and sleep has not been a regular part of our journey thus far. Once we arrive to the hotel next to the airport across town we learn we have forgotten to inform our banks that we are in Russia… neither of our debits/credits will allow us to access funds for the hotel. We have the facilitator change out US dollars for Rubles and cash gets us the “room.” $125.00 for the stay in a hotel anything but comfortable.. two cots with pay to use TV but somehow within minutes I am out like a light… 1:30pm Who knows what day it is but the alarm is set so we are ready to be picked up at 8:00 pm for the next leg of our travel to the orphanage. It seems remote from what I am used to although Deanie keeps warning me it will get worse before it gets better. The air is brisk although no real need for a coat to me up until this point. I am warned the Siberian air will change my thoughts and a coat will be necessary. The air is dry, my lips are tight and my skin has become chalky, lotion is going to be first on the shopping list.

Once in Moscow’s smaller airport departing for Novokuznetsk the customs security and process seem loose and money talks, another $100 which will not be taken in US dollars so we transfer a good sum of US dollars to Russian funds in a bank upstairs at the airport. Our facilitator, Oksana, is very nurturing as young as she is she takes her position seriously making the path for us to get through easy and uneventful. As we wave good bye we begin the security clearance to board S7 Siberian Airlines. The body odor is overwhelming as we move through the lines. Personal space is not as we know it in the states, I am not sure they understand it here. We begin to take notice of the differences between countries…

The landscape is drab, no full bright sun although if it were they do not have the architecture in their typical buildings nor the landscape we see in America to enjoy. They do have in the midst of what appears to be nothing, huge shiny steeples and roof tops in the shapes of crowns, more like a casino, with shiny gold and bright scalloped trim very beautiful among drab… even in the empty country side these would show up for no apparent reason. On so many homes we noticed bright blue and white decorative shutters which hung on homes which didn’t appear to be lived in or cared for. Hundreds throughout the land all over these shutters all the same shade of blue with white cut outs of varied shapes. Most of the people live in HUGE drab apartment type building with four rooms which they consider a large flat. Many generations of family members live together……. Most work and live in the apartments during the week during the cold season, in the summer they will go out to their cottage on weekends and all of the cold months they stay in the apartment all the time.. Six months of the year is considered summer and the people have small summer cottages which we might call, A frame shacks, in clusters outside the city where they grow their own food which they prepare and store for the winter months.

The facilitator has her son with us as it is a holiday here honoring their military. He has no English communication base although the universal language of GAMEBOY, which he is playing, with the game Iceage in for the moment brings a sense of conversation. We do not see children in the community, never saw one person ever with any type of disability and no provisions for handicap are visible. Actually all doorways have raised lips which are easy to trip over and many places have a step up or down when entering the store. The people are somber with little to no expression as they move about their day. A sense of grumpy, got up on the wrong side of the bed, attitude. We take it all in stride and smile, say hello to many and try desperately to not allow any of it to seep into our bubbly mood. While walking street side I bumped into a young man and said “excuse me” and after he took about 10 steps with his buddies they all turned around to look at me.. I smiled. It seemed we were looked at suspiciously, never friendly like.

The wait is passed by people watching, the dress is amazing for women who have very little here they do have some beautiful boots and fur coats. Many of the women wear high heal boots which go up to their knees and many over. Mink and chinchilla seem the favored fur and they have lots of it. I have taken notice that they are not the hygiene population as body odor and no teeth care are evident. They do wear some bright sparkly eye shadow only on the small part of their eyelid to the crease but it is BRIGHT! We board a shuttle to catch the flight to Novokuznetsk which is further into Siberia (3 ½ hours) and then to the orphanage. We are herded onto a small older plane where the people seem in such a hurry as if they didn’t have an assigned seat. Deanie and I seem to be the only ones who speak only English. The flight attendant knows little although pictures and pointing give us a form of communication. We are served food on this flight although when reading menus it seems when they call a plate of beef, it could and was cow tongue. I kept to the cheese and crackers, and thought a salad of lettuce and tomatoes was safe although one bite made me wonder so we have not been on an international cuisine trip that is for sure. Once landing begins the flight attendant announces, we can totally understand; ”the weather here is now 26 BELOW ZERO.” I begin to put on my sweatshirt and ski jacket which is not enough.. I pull out the ski cap and scarf, the gloves of which now are covering frozen fingers and my nose, oh my, it is cold. Where is our driver, where is our facilitator?? We are in a small airport where Deanie had to pay to use the toilet and no inside facilities for us to wait. We are told a shed will open when our luggage is ready to be gotten.. I am now cold and alone, as Deanie is in the toilet and men are approaching me saying the word taxi. I have by now learned one word NYET means no. Finally I see a women coming from the parking lot with a sign that says BLOCK, I wave and she comes with a smile saying you landed early. It is just now ten after six… I believe it must be morning so I ask what day it is. She informs me it is Tuesday morning and we will now go to the hotel and check in until 9:00 am when we will travel an hour to the orphanage by car. She also makes comment that we are brave traveling from tropical climate to Siberia in the winter although this is a heat wave so we are very fortunate. No need to print what went through my mind. Once at the hotel we seek something to eat and drink, we find the café on the fifth floor a bit bland with nothing in English, so we go to the top floor (8th) to the lovely restaurant we saw on the brochure. We found a non-English speaking women behind a corner bar to wait on us. Menus are also in English although the choice is nothing we wished to have. Sitting on a table are items offered in the menu on plates covered with plastic wrap as samples to order from I guess. They look disgusting as the cheese is sweating and food is turning colors from sitting in the open warm air. We decide this is a picture moment to compare real from brochure.. I make the mistake of putting some condiment on the table up to my nose to smell so that maybe I could get an idea of the content. It was the color of infant poop while on breast milk and the smell was equal to the look. Deanie seemed stunned I went the extra mile to try and figure out what the item was. The time passed rather quickly and it was now time to meet Alyona, our translator downstairs. She is a friendly girl in her 20’s. She is very caring and enjoys hearing about out families and why we would adopt not only from Russia but children who have syndromes. She goes on to say a family had just come over and adopted a young girl with the same syndrome (Down syndrome) and they brought their daughter (bio) with them who also has Down syndrome. She said it was the first time she had ever seen a child with this syndrome and she was an angel. She went on to describe a wonderfully spirited child. Of course Deanie and I perked up and began asking many questions as she was also very eager to use her English speaking skills and share information with us. We learned they have no drinking age restrictions although their DUI and seatbelt laws which are new are enforced and that their police are bribe able although it is A LOT of money. The average age in Russia to marry now is about 25, they only have one child and many earn $500.00 a month as their salary unless they are considered the very wealthy. Russians do not adopt because if you are to have only one child you want it to be your own. The families who do adopt can not have a child of their own and they would only adopt a normal child. They can not afford housing so many live with extended family. They feel grateful as she can remember communism when she was a young child and their life now is not comparable as they are living free. I was curious as all the cost of living seemed more there than the United States, A child’s jacket $100.00 how would they buy a jacket, the mink coats you see everywhere how do they get them? Many cars on the streets BMW and Pirogue, which she told us are bought 2nd hand from wealthy folks who bought them new. They can get health care although quality health care to cure something costs them. Going out to eat seemed much like USA, in the cost to us. Our yogurt was a dollar for one small container and soda just over a dollar and coffee they called cappuccino, four dollars and they do not refill for free. They did out do us in the states with the bottled water in the hotel rooms as it is free. Well free as in charging for that bottle of water but look through the photos for our 5 star ratings on places to stay for the bargain price of $125.00 a night.

We are now approaching Propopovetsk where the baby house otherwise called the orphanage in my journaling is located. Deanie is full of emotion and tears fill her eyes in wonder if little Max is in good shape from being so ill. If his little 10 lb body will be mended for travel then quickly mended once in the US. She is anxious to become the family she has waited so long for. Will he bond like the others beings he is nearing years old. But thank God he has gotten well enough because at the age of four many children leave this baby house and go to the large orphanages never to be adopted. Many questions…but we are here so they will all get answered finally. We unpack all the bags of donations and enter the brick building. It appears very clean and quiet on the inside. We learn 400 children are within the walls of the complex, possibly 24 who have Down syndrome. The outside play area covered in snow gives sign of children although the complex is behind an industrial warehouse division hidden from society. Smiles, oh so many many smiles on the adult faces inside. This gives warmth to our hearts as the people seemingly like where they are. We can smell food either has been cooked and served or being prepared. We are kept to the director’s office for the initial greeting. The Director remembers Deanie and states Max has all his papers signed off on. She holds her heart and informs Deanie he is a sweet child with a good spirit. She is amazed at the amount of donations we have for the orphanage and that people care from so far away about the children. She comments on how beautiful the clothing is, the love that was put into knitting blankets and so many hats and mittens. Tears fill the Director, Ludmilla’s eyes and she hugs us and asks us to tell everyone who donated. thank you. We get this information through the translator. The translator states these are sincere words as it is not customary for the locals to give to the orphanage other than the 10 cents a day the Ministry of Education pays for the care of each child. Many smiles are given from all sides and good words all around.. then she asks, do you want me to get Max…Yes, yes yes Deanis says… she wants to hold him and nurture this sweet baby and thennnnnnnnnnn and thennnnnnnnnnnnnn

Max comes bouncing in like tigger. a typical little four year old boy with energy and charm. He is interested in the laptop playing a DVD Deanie brought of the children at home who once lived in this orphanage just a short time ago. Max is a busy boy checking out everything. The director suggested we go to the playroom where it is full of bright colors and things for children to do. Max is most interested in the stereo and how to get it to play music. He loves music, listening playing and dancing to music. He is babbling what we have no idea if they are intelligible words or just babble. Oh my he is totally potty trained, eating for himself and believe this.. He has proper use of a handkerchief which he holds in his pocket and uses appropriately. I see some strong independent skills in Max which is causing interaction not to occur so I tackle him for some tickle time and he laughs. We roll on the floor and he laughs, I am too loud so it scares him for a moment and Deanie gets a big therapy ball to distract him. He is loosing up so we begin to take photos. He moves so quickly it is difficult to get good face shots. He is on a mission to get the stereo to play music although this apparently is for when music therapists come in or someone outside because they could not get us anything to put into the machine to play music. I tried to sing but those who know me understand why that didn’t go over as music. We get two hours with max in which time I take note there is no line across his palm, not a gap between his toes…hhhmmmmm I look at Deanie as she clearly knows what I am doing. To make this not so evident I do it while getting clothing and shoe sizes so we can prepare for the travel home with Max. Remember we have brought 12 to 18 month outfits. Deanie is in total disbelieve at the growth Max has achieved in the past year. Max blows kisses, repeats simple words, baby. mama, no no no no no in repetition. Many we most likely didn’t catch because in Russian.

Once we complete our time with Max we return to the director’s office and offer all the bags to her as a donation. It clearly means we need to go shopping so Max has clothes to wear home as he is a size 2T and growing out of them, a size 7 ½ shoe…which should be wide, so we leave to find the exchange for more US dollars changed into Russian money and a shopping center. Our Russian experiences are growing leaps and bounds as to the ways of the Russian life as we drive up to a dark car on the side of the bank for the exchange; we are assured by our translator this will be a much better exchange and less complicated. The shopping center is like a formal flea market in the states. Not much to choose from and very costly…and again I ask myself how do the local people manage on $500.00 a month salaries. We are spending that in a day. We return to the room which is no where I want to shower. Deanie has last minute paper planning as tomorrow we visit Max and then off to Kemerovo so we are ready for court on Thursday. Once we go to court we go back for Max and prepare to clear the embassy and return to the states. Deanie makes a comment we hope to clear early and return Thursday, a day early. We are back in the room mentally processing the changes in Max. This small frail child just a year ago more like an infant, to the active boy who is more like my Jordan than anyone. Actually during the play date Deanie slipped and called him Jordan. The Block household is forever changed. Deanie and I talked about schools for Max, classrooms, planning the prep work for the house needing locks, the yard needing fenced, the pool security, friends, etc… this changes everything and from what we can access it isn’t bad. No need for a triple stroller, no additional diapers, the time to heal a broken heart (surgery) isn’t necessary to plan for and so many other time consumptions for a sickly infant are now focused on an active boy. A boy who will challenge Lexi and keep Jesse moving which is all good. Today we can vision tomorrow is another wonderful day. I slept 2:30 in the afternoon while Deanie did her paperwork so I awoke at 9:30 pm on Tuesday (I think) and have been bloging off line since.. now almost midnight. They claim they have the internet café down on the first floor so I can post this although in my past experiences in a foreign country being out alone and female wasn’t so good so I will remain here until tomorrow when Deanie and I together can check out getting on line to post. Deanie is sound asleep now.

If anything, my desire to help the children here who have Down syndrome is stronger. I see that when an orphanage is provided for the children thrive and the outcome is or can be grand. Max is their product of quality care and inclusion. We need to locate the one we will be assigned to and have it run like this where the care takers inside smile and love life. Our children will teach them all about love.




Wed. 2/27/2008

We wake and begin to locate coffee and pack the room to see Max and travel to Kemerovo, three and half hours from the orphanage by car after our visit. We are without a translator to seek breakfast. We decide after trying to locate a real café that the hotel coffee and yogurt will be safe for us again today. We eat in the lobby of the fifth floor so that we can be ready for the hour ride to see Max. It is Deanie’s desire to talk personally to the director so she phones yesterday’s translator, Alyona, to see if she would go with us to the orphanage. It was a decision against the agency’s direction although we felt it necessary as we are not doing well with communication and we had some questions to get answered. The driver, Alex and Alyona show up just after 9:00 am which gave us a few minutes to chat with a man at the same hotel there with his wife for the first visit to adoption of a newborn baby boy out of orphanage #95. They live in Rhode Island, adopted a baby girl four years ago from the same orphanage. As we begin the journey we inform Alyona that we hadn’t eaten, in fact we fell asleep after they dropped us off and slept through the night. She began to share with us about how she really admires what we are doing. She felt comfortable with us to share some personal stories which make it more convincing what we area doing is the right path for us. Alyona begins to share her understanding about inclusion; we had talked about the day before. She states that Max seems like a normal little boy and that in looking through the photo albums we brought from home, much of what she saw the children doing is typical child activity. She asked if the children get mad and destroy things. I let her know how happy they go through life. How sometimes I wish I could live in their world for a day. Our conversations grow deeper in passion for the care of children. We were able to set up time to talk business and explain about our upcoming business venture and share would like to come to the US and be apart of it. We will keep in contact with her as we gain access through grants to promote adoption of children with Down syndrome from Russian orphanages. Alyona shares some of her past experiences in translating for single women looking to marry outside Russia and how she felt that was not a good thing. She described some situations to us and we informed her that older American men like younger American women and vice versa but it is usually for the wrong reasons. We moved on to tell Alyona our mission as an agency helping children with Down syndrome and she was moved and enjoys being a part of Max getting into a family who will love and care for him.

After the ride we see the orphanage in the distance and Alex pulls over and stops. He has delivered us to a grocery store to get items to eat during the next leg of our travels. We find fresh fruit which is bagged and priced at the produce department by item, waters, soda and chips are found then to cheese and crackers and some sweet coconut melt away’s. I find the candy isle next to the register much like home for skittles in Russian.. a perfect gift for the boys. Next to the candy in the same rack are magnets and photos of naked women full shots…odd in my opinion.

We get back into the car offering juice to Alyona and Alex for all their assistance. We turn the corner to enter the orphanage where an ambulance is parked and two women exit carrying a very small infant wrapped in a blanket. When we go inside the orphanage they are surprised to see yet another bag of donations. We inform them it is all the items we expected to use to get Max home. All the clothing, bottles, vitamins, formula and baby toys would be of no use so we needed to leave them where they can be put to use.

Heliena, the social worker is inside with a pile of paperwork for them to go over. She and Deanie share hugs and she is full of smiles telling Deanie she saw the video and photos of the boys although asks who is the little girl with long hair in their family photos….NIKY! They share stories about the kids and then Max comes through the door. He is reserved and plays with the shinny door handle showing us all he can open and close shut doors and moves on to display his talent of undoing and doing dead bolt locks… I laugh and catch Deanie’s eyes.. He is a very smart little boy. Alyona looks at me and says, I see how Max is so smart because he has been with his typical peers this past year learning what all little boys his age learn. She said she understands what we say about why it is important for the children with Down syndrome to be among typical children. Alyona is a teacher part time at the university and her mother has been teaching Economics for many years at the university so we feel honored that we were able to get a person to think about our children in such a positive way. She would love for us to get with her if we ever come back to Russia. The visit was just underway when a phone call came that we needed to get to Kemerovo to deliver court papers to be translated by Svetlana from the agency Adoption Ark. We take about 20 minutes to play with Max showing him his new toys. He seems interested in the telephone that makes music and lights up. Then into seeing what was in the bag and lining up all the items. I take Max to the play room so Deanie can have a conversation in the office and we would then be underway. Hugs all around again and Max is escorted back to his dorm room. He is so cute to blow kisses good bye and gives Deanie a big lip kiss and calls her mama.

Once in the car Alyona is taken to the nearest bus stop so she can go home. Mass transit is well run here and at no cost to the rider. She is able to get wherever she chooses by their city bus. She didn’t want to take the long drive to the next stop only to ride back although she was willing to go to the baby house so that we were able to get all the questions we had answered prior to the court hearing. She holds our hands and again thanks us for being so caring to the children. She reaffirms the genuine gratitude the director and social worker spoke during the meeting. We shared our good byes and off we went. Alex speaks no English so the ride is girl chat with many ideas for the future shared. At one point earlier in the day we made comment that Alex must have seen a lot as a taxi driver over the years and he should write a book about American women in Russia. He laughed as Alyona told him what we said and responded with he will when he retires. Alex is an easy going clean cut 36 year old Russian man with a 17 year old daughter. The only time he seemed to be upset wasn’t when we left him to go shopping or changed plans midstream, he was visibly upset when the police pulled him over for no reason and made him show all his credentials as a taxi driver and auto owner. He said it shouldn’t happen unless you are doing something wrong. It was passed they can not pull you over for no reason as they just did. It was less than thee minutes and we were back on the road so it was just a short passing moment. Amazing enough the officer looked into the back seat and said “Hello Ladies.”

We reach the next hotel which is actually a very nice bed and breakfast style setting. The room gave relief as we need a shower. They have reserved us this room since morning so our breakfast is ready….it is about 3:00pm. We explain to Anna, the regional director for the agency, that we prefer to go out to find some soup and coffee. She goes over tomorrows schedule, asks questions to be sure Deanie desires to continue to adopt Max and all her questions are answered.. She wants to clearly be sure Deanie is aware Max has Down syndrome. Anna is able to help us with the international phone Deanie is carrying. Up until now we were only getting calls incoming and we had no way to call out. Anna showed us to dial 8101 then the area code and telephone number in the USA. We were anxious to call home although being 12 hours ahead it is now 3 am in the states. We give our passports to be registered that we have moved hotels and Anna leaves to get things ready for court tomorrow. She informs us we will not be going to get Max tomorrow as there is too much to do paperwork wise to get his passport to leave the country. She states breakfast will be at 8 am and she will be here at 9:30 am for us to be ready. Deanie tries the phone by calling the place she gets her hair cut knowing she will not be waking anyone. IT WORKS! We get our bags settled and prepare to go for a walk to exercise our aching knees. The car we were riding in was small so we were unable to stretch and since we had no communication ability with the driver and he was on a mission to get us there as soon as possible as he was instructed we just dealt with the cramps. Now we get some free time and fresh air. As we try to exit the building through a door which has lock controls a women runs after us and says this way.. we follow her to the dining area where she has a table set for us to eat. In she comes with two perfectly arranged plates.. OUR BREAKFAST! Two fried eggs, canned peas/corn and pork n beans.. with tomatoes, cucumbers, salami and some other misery meat thin sliced on the plate, a yogurt, bread and candy bar with jam/butter and cheese.. She asks us in Russian what to drink. We say coffee, yea so off she goes to prepare coffee. Deanie and I are laughing hysterically as if the only way out to play is to eat.. and memories of our catholic school childhood came rushing back as we searched for a way to dispose of food somehwere. Deanie remembers her new back pack has some smaller bags inside for carrying items so she removed one and we began to fill it with our eggs, meat and other items to make it look as if we had eaten their carefully prepared food. We spread the remaining food around the plate. We sit and drink the coffee then find a register book and write a sentence in it with our names and purpose for being here, thanking them. In time we leave to walk and find some shopping. Our first directive is to dispose of the food in the book bag before it soaks other items. We locate a garbage can a block away as we go to the shopping stores. We are able to locate a toy camera for Max and a leather bag for Deanie. It seems everything is going well other than the noticeable weather change as it is getting windy which makes it colder. Deanie slips on a patch of ice neither of us saw coming and breaks open the skin of her palm, otherwise ok. We continue on to find a coffee shop that will tomorrow be a place for us to get on line and post. Inside it appears to hold the key to some great coffee although the trick is how do we get what we want across. No one speaks English except possibly one customer keeping her eye on us. We begin to explain coffee, a caramel macchiato is what I desire. Deanie laughs and encourages me to ask for it and I begin. It seems pointless as the girl has no idea what I am saying even with facial and hand ques it wasn’t happening. Together we do enough pointing and hand signing it seems we have ordered “something.” She smiles and holds up to fingers and walks away. Here she comes with two tall glass glasses with what I see as cold coffee, Deanie assures me it is going to be hot, but there are straws in them?? They are hot and they are tasty. We look over and the women (customer) is laughing as if she understood our ordering complications and had total amusement watching from across the room. In the walk back to the hotel we reach a grocery store where I believe I can find some caramel squares to help in ordering my coffee tomorrow. It brings me to see many items I think perfect for gifts returning home. Everything we use daily is here but in Russian. Kory and Ryan some skittles, Mandie some hot sauce, a bottle of caramel sauce, Heinekens and other items. It will be fun to bring items back all in Russian. I know the items I will seek in Moscow as gifts for the kids. Back at the room it is early morning in the states and we begin phoning. Deanie calls her house and talks with Abbey her niece and has a moment with Niky on the phone. Deanie is in need of phoning the bank to clear security locks on funds. Abbey states she will call us back after she is done changing the baby’s. The bank is curious of the weather and clears security holds and explains why they do that. Everything seems fine as they know now we are here until the 7th. Next, we make the call to my house, the phone recorder comes on to say the lines are busy, try again. We try several times to many different numbers and no more phone calls are aloud out… just my luck. We never get a call back from Abbey so we are not sure how the international calls are completed. We will try again tomorrow for now we are so tired we need sleep.





Thursday, Feb 28th , 2008 COURT DAY!!

I am up early to get a shower and prepare for the day. It is colder here than any day prior and no sun at all, snow is beginning to fall and to look out it is like a Christmas Card photo shot, the hustle and bustle of people walking to their destination. It amazes us that no one looks to the right or left just focused on their stride and facing forward. When we open a window to feel the brisk air and put our hand in the fresh fallen snow no one looks… they just walk. We dread that it is reaching 8 am and we will be called for breakfast, shall we say we do not feel well? Do we dare take another baggy and try to stuff our food into it again??? So we have a plan, we take a large zip lock but our focus is holding out for it to be too late to eat. Not a chance this efficient Bed and Breakfast owner taps on the door five after eight with a smile and somewhat stern yet happy “GET”…and points to the dining room. LOL We take our sweet time just hoping our escort to court comes early… not a chance so we grab our purse with baggy and head to eat. Much to our surprise it is a wonderfully backed blintz with apple butter and sour cream. She does her best to ask us if we would like coffee and goes off to prepare it. We are enjoying a great breakfast although unable to eat the extra bread and butter and some sort of cookie along with more yogurt. We finish and head back to our room to finish the final touches of make up and hair to make the trip to court. We are hoping to get time with the Judge for photos and share stories on how well the children in the states once adopted. We also want to be sure that the government here knows what a good job this baby house is doing and with the supports that all of the baby houses would do the same.

We try to call home again and nothing will go through except for Abbey, so we have Abbey calling Mandie to give her the number for them to call us. It seems if a person calls us it then opens the line for us to call them.. not anything we thought we needed to plan for. I am now five days with no contact with my children and that is a bit unsettling.



Feb 28th 2008 7:30 PM the adoption is finalized max is now a Block.

We leave for court with another Mother from Phoenix, AZ adopting a baby girl from the same orphanage, she is 18 months old. This Mother, Jean, has her sister with her for support. We get into the van to ride to court which is just minutes away. Once there we check our coats and sit to wait. Only a few moments pass and we go to the basement where court is held, a cell is in the same room as the Judge’s bench. Being the first adoption Jean is extremely nervous. She is called first, the amount of time seemed excessive although they step out for the decision and seconds later it is final, she is the proud Mother of Alexis. Now Deanie enters to final Max as a Block, she is in the court room a very long time but eventually steps out smiling and then a second later returns to hear the Judge say she had approved Max to be adopted and travel to the USA.

The 10 day wait was waived so that Max can be at the Doctors on Monday. once we clear the Embassy we can go back into the states. It is believed to still be March 7th. We have yet to hear the name of the city the orphanage is in that is in need of support. We hope to get that information before we leave.

The next couple hours are driving to the vital records to have the adoption certificate made along with a birth certificate, then to the police station to register the kids for passports to travel. In this step Jean sees that her baby girls head has been shaved and she has no hair. She is mortified at first and visibly shaken. It is explained that possibly the orphanage had hair lice and a precaution was to shave the children’s heads to stop the transmission and all things considered it will grow back. We are able to stop by a shop where they sell items that are made here in Russia as tokens to bring back to the siblings.
We get back to the B&B where we get into comfy clothes and head for real food. The restaurant which was suggested had English as the second language written on the menu. It still makes for some difficulty when you need to order something not on the menu such as a 7 and 7 but with some help in sign and again pointing Deanie is able to get our drinks. Dinner was great; I had a dish of eggplant and peppers layered with sour cream and cream cheese and spices. It was very tasty, and a cup of cream of mushroom soup not so tasty. Once done with dinner we split up from Jean and her sister and Deanie and I went shopping and ended in the coffee house. It was early today that I had Anna write down the words to order a caramel macchiato and when our waiter came to the table and I showed him the card with the Russian words Caramel macchiato he gave me a huge smile, turning a little red even. Deanie ordered her usual and off he went. A few minutes later he came to the table hand gesturing to see the card with the writing again. Deanie was able to give him the ingredient to make my drink so off he went with confidence to the counter. He retuned with my drink first, I was a bit confused as it is in layers and the first taste didn’t seem to have any caramel in it. When stirred it was perfect. Deanies came with the froth in a perfect design so we were able to sit and relax.

Our noticeable people watching accounts for this day.. Children are out today, many all day long which is different as we have not seen children. We see many families walking together pushing carriages and parents with a little older children who haven’t been visible prior to today. We feel there must be something going on in this part of town such as church night??? A play for children at the near by theater, who knows but it is picture perfect with new falling snow. An older couple must be in their late sixties are walking in their fur edged coats, dark with boots, gloves, scarves and hats making what everyone sees on a postcard seem surreal. The day moves into night where younger couples are walking by our window hand in hand, arm in arm chatting and seemingly having a great time. We are happy to see this personality in the city as this has not been what we have experienced up to this point. We are settling in for an early morning to be at breakfast by 7 am so we can be on the road to get Max by 8 am. We have a three hour ride to the orphanage, about an hour at the orphanage and then the return which will be three hours. We need to be back here by 4 pm so that Deanie can get the papers which were signed today at vital records and the passports to travel to Moscow on Saturday morning. Jean will be traveling on the same flight to Moscow although they are staying at an apartment arranged for them. We will all see each other again boarding Delta to New York on Friday morning. Jean tells us a Russian circus will take place on Wed. night in Moscow and that the Harley shop is also near the shopping district. We exchange some ideas to pick up to take back and make plans to shop on the weekend as the weekdays are full of paper processing to get the children’s visas to enter the USA.



Friday. Feb 29th, 2008

Breakfast at 7 am which was the wonderful baggie stuffing plate of eggs, mystery meat and canned veggies. We will be picked up at 8 am for the long ride out to pick up Max. We were presented the bill for the stay here which is 14000 plus in Rubles so over $700.00 for the three day stay which Deanie had no choice in obtaining. It was necessary to stop to exchange more US into Rublles so we could get the orphanage necessary supplies… it became impossible to do before leaving town so we will move on. We go to Anna’s apartment to obtain necessary documents. Anna’s place is in a run down apartment complex which seemed worse than or worst ghetto and it was so unsettling when a man came out of a metal box next to our car which it seemed he slept in over the cold night. I can not be sure but it was the most unusual thing I had seen yet. The box looked like one of our drop storage containers at a construction site. This is the way folks who have full time employment live and raise their child as Anna is always dressed nice and has a four year old child. A phone call home finds the kids are doing well back at home.


6:33 pm we are back at the hotel with Max…. he is being what the Director called as “naughty” as he sees what his limits outside the big house are… now let me catch you up.

We got into the van to go out to the orphanage with the other Mother and her sister. They were loaded with gifts and the materials needed to dress Alexis warm for traveling. The ride out seemed long and often too warm. Our translator had limited English and the driver less than limited driving talent. Many times today it felt like our lives were about to end in a dark cold ditch full of snow. Visibility was low do to the snow falling and the car had no wiper fluid except to pull over turn the heat on defrost and the driver to throw snow onto the windshield. We are told he will buy fluid once we get to the orphanage, it seemed like the bumpiest roads ever. Conversations went from anxiety ridden to a calm joking of the parenting role the new mommies are about to take on. One moment is was a “gotcha day” mood to oh my goodness your life as you’d known it is over forever.. Once at the orphanage the director gave hugs all around and then sat the Mothers down to give them a complete schedule of the children’s routine and give them the medical records that were written on scraps of paper and seemed very sketchy to believe authentic. So here is what was told ….They wake at 7 am, are up to wash their faces, brush their teeth, do their hair and dress for breakfast. Breakfast is porridge and milk, then they have time for lesson, 10 am for their snack of fruit, after this they go for a walk every day and return for dinner which is soup and fruit, they nap from 1 pm until 3 pm then they have speech and language, therapy, swim, music, massage or other things, off to bath and Supper is about 8 pm which is a mix of meat, vegetables and noodles rice or potatoes much like a casserole. Then they are asleep by 9pm….much of this seemed to be stretched. The care takers brought in the children to leave. They brought Alexis first and then Max came in. his care taker cried so we asked her if she would like a photo of her and Max so that Max would have a familiar face to look at. Her Tatiana, a strong middle aged women with bleached platinum hair and glasses half tented. We were limited on time so once we got a cup of tea, while Deanie discussed an operation for a little boy in the orphanage who is 100% Slovak and considered un-adoptable because he needs a minor operation placing a shunt in the back of his head. Deanie plans to facilitate this operation by providing the funds for the transportation and person to care for the little boy. He came in to visit us and was BEAUTIFUL and spoke clear complete sentences in perfect Russian. We were dressing the two kids and getting back in the van for the ride back. Max seemed ready yet unsure. Alexis was very quiet and lethargic. The ride back was one of Max entertaining us with his toys, kisses and ability to unscrew a bottle of water. He fell asleep after a short time as did Alexis. They slept for near an hour as we sat quietly processing the emotions of leaving a building full of angels needing families to love them and the differences in life from what we know to the place we are at. It makes you grateful for all we have. Inside the orphanage I feel a pull and sense I had been there before and not this trip. I am not sure what the deep feeling is but many mental rushes come to me and I am not sure how. Once we were nearing the edge of ton to our hotel we made the plan I would watch Max at the hotel and Deanie would go get the passports and paper process completed. She was ok with me giving Max a bath as his hair smells not so good.

At the hotel Max was not real comfortable with me taking his clothes off and then putting him on the potty he totally freaked out screaming and arching his body to keep from sitting on the toilet. I put him into the shower with the nozzle on the floor as the water would be a gentle stream and not so intimidating. He fought it at first although liked the soap and shampoo washing over him and after the initial discomfort he gave in and started to giggle.. we played as I washed and he started to find it fun. I then tried to brush his teeth and the gums bled badly. I tried to get one good scrub, then a few floss in the front teeth. It took looking out the window and laying him down to trick him into the flossing. It was short but a start. He liked the lotion rub, his lower legs a bit scaled which Deanie can have looked at when home. I got him dressed and we played with his toys, sang and danced to a children’s television program and then Deanie returned with dinner.

The night was Max attention seeking and we responded, he picks up on everything so quickly. He took bites of roasted chicken, and used a folk to eat a nice salad, he ate fresh pear and had a cookie with some juice. While watching out the window an American couple pulled up, they are from Ft. Pierce, Florida adopting two boys ages 3 and 4 from two different orphanages. They fly out to Moscow in the morning and then on to Florida tomorrow. They return in a few weeks to bring the children home. We will all be together on Siberian air in the morning.
Elections for a new leader are here in Russia is on Sunday and that is when we plan to be in red square so it might be a photo opportunity for us.