Home Sweet Home

We have really enjoyed being home over the last few days, and are finally beginning to adjust to the current time zone.  We've had great times with family and friends while here, and are so glad that we decided to spend our wait at home where we're most comfortable.  Many of you have been asking when we will actually see Sveta again, and when we will gain custody of her.  Let me attempt to explain what will happen once we return to Russia::

I (Jessi) will leave Greensburg on the 9th and will arrive in Moscow on the 10th.  If all goes well, I will travel straight to Vladimir and pick up the documents from the court that we need (not exactly sure what documents these are).  Then I will go with V to apply for Sveta's passport.  It takes about 2 weeks to come back to us.  There is a chance that when we apply for the passport we will also make a short visit to see Sveta.

If all doesn't go well, I'll travel to Vladimir, then I will wait until the docs are ready and then apply for the passport.

Then, I'll spend time with the team that is there and I'll read a LOT of books on my Kindle.

Barry will leave Gburg on the 19th and arrive in Moscow on the 20th.  I'll take a taxi to meet him and I'll be SO glad he's there after so long.  The next few days will be spent (hopefully) traveling to visit Sveta daily and then sight-seeing in a few places around the area.

Once we receive Sveta's passport, we will then gain custody of her.  We will travel to Moscow and apply for her Visa to return to the states.  She'll also have a medical exam there.  We've decided to have her stay in the orphanage rather than have her stay with us during that time because she's comfortable there.  We're trying to avoid having her make a transition multiple times, and we've decided that this is the best option for her.

We are hoping to fly home near the end of January, but it will all depend on paperwork and how quickly things are accomplished.

I'm sure many of you are wondering about some kind of "homecoming" party...and I can't blame you.  Barry and I have gone round and round about what we feel is best for Sveta...and I've not landed on a decision.  We are going to wait and see how Sveta is doing with us in Moscow before we make the call.  Many of you, I know, would like to come to the airport to see us arrive home...but most likely we will not be sharing our exact travel plans.  We are exhausted on a normal flight home from Russia, and we can't imagine after traveling with Sveta home that we'd want to have a huge party at the airport.  It would be overwhelming to say the least. 

We are working on a few options for how to share our homecoming with you.  We realize that so many have prayed, and financially supported us bringing Sveta home, and we want to share this event with you...but we also are called to protect Sveta and do what is best for her.  With that said, we hope and pray you will understand and respect our final decision when it is made.

On a completely different note...my passport with a new adoption visa will arrive Monday morning - so I'm good to go!!  YAY!!

Hope you all have a wonderful new years eve!!

Made it safely

I guess I forgot to let everyone know that we made it home safely.  :)  Jet lag is kicking us this time around, but we're getting over it slowly.  I'll post more later...have to run Barry to church!

Thanks for prayers for safety...flights were great!

2 of 3 will be home for Christmas

Barry and I are sitting in the airport in Moscow waiting to check in. We are very early.

We will be home by about 9 pm after celebrating 4 hours of Christmas day sleeping and about 26 traveling. In total Christmas will last 33 hours for us. Strange.

We did all of our Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve... Which s just another day in Russia. Their big holiday is the New Year and the Christmas is the 7th. Christmas isn't a big deal here for most. Santa is replaced by Father Frost and apparently kids go to neighboring homes to ask for candy.

We both have mixed emotions about leaving but really feel like our decision was best. I will be traveling back to Russia on Jan. 9th to file for Sveta's passport and Barry will meet me 10 days later. The change of plans came because of the holiday in Russia. Our 10 business day wait turned into more like 20 because of all the time off at the New Year. We also re-evaluated our plan because we couldn't get definite answers so we had to make a decision on what we knew as fact...not what we hoped. It took me time to come around...but I feel confident now.

It will be nice to be home:to see friends, sleep on our bed, and celebrate Christmas with family...only a little late. But, we can't help feel strange about leaving our daughter so far away. We have joy knowing that our tickets are already purchased for the next round. Please pray we can get a new visa for me quickly so we don't have to change my flight.

We will post pics of our trip and update more when we can type on an actual computer. I am using my iPod. Too little.

One last extremely important thing: thank you for yor prayers for court. We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support. Thank you for praying before you went to bed. Thank you for praying at home during court. Thank you for opening the church to have people come pray and for going to pray. Thank you for loving us and loving Sveta. This journey is not over...and even when Sveta gets home it isn't. We will continue to need your prayers. Thank you...and Merry Christmas!

She said "Da"!

We arrived at the court 15 minutes early. The judge arrived 20 minutes late.

The judge entered and everyone stood. We were then seated. I (Barry) was to stand and represent Jessi and I. I made a few opening statements, then the judge asked several questions. Then jJessi was asked to stand and answered a few questions.

The court hearing took about an hour and a half. In the end the judge said 'da'. So we now have a daughter!

Jessi is online now working on tickets to fly home. We'd planned to stay here until we could bring her home but with the holiday (new year and Christmas ... which is Jan 7th) the wait is considerably longer. We're looking to travel home on Christmas day. Jessi would then return to Russia around January 9th to start paperwork. I will then join her around the 19th to bring our daughter home.

It's strange to know that we have a daughter in Russia and will now leave her for a few weeks.

Update to now...

THIS IS LONG…it’s a recap of the last few days.

Monday, December 19, 2011

Barry wrote about his morning that day, but I slept until he woke me around 7. I asked to sleep even more.  Which I did, until about 7:30.  I’m glad I slept, because I think this was one of the longest days of my life.  Here’s what I wrote as the recap:

We got up and had a breakfast of donuts, bread with jam and a banana.  I had tea, and Barry had coffee.  We enjoyed the morning and were picked up at 10am.  We went to the head doctor of the region who asked questions about our education and the number of times we’ve been married.  From there we saw the dermatologist who looked over our skin as we spun.  Akward. We also had our blood drawn…and I felt better about it when I saw the woman put the needle in a sharps container of sorts.  Wish I could have taken a pic of that room. From there we saw the neurologist who asked me if I had anything wrong with my head or if I had epilepsy.  She asked Barry about his spine and if he’d be been in the army.  When he said “no”, she asked “why not?”  He told her he never decided to go into the army.  I quickly whispered to him “it’s not required” and he repeated it loudly so it was interpreted.  She seemed to be ok with that answer and signed and stamped our form.  After leaving there, we visitied at least 3 other doctors who didn’t speak to us at all.  We were dropped off at the big mall downtown to eat.  We ate a McDonald’s (ordered from the picture menu) and used the wi-fi.  Barry also ordered 2 chocolate muffins for dessert in Russian!! J

Sidenote:: I truly couldn’t do this without him.  He’s so adventurous and I’m skeptical.  I guess that’s why it works.  I’ll talk more about that later. 

We left McDonald’s around 2:30pm and headed to the baby home to see Sveta.  We arrived and tried to see the director, but she was busy.  We heard Sveta coming down the stairs to play with us a little before 4.  She was talking up a storm but we could only understand “Mama and Papa.”  She walked in the room and went right past us to our bag of toys.  We aren’t sure if she remembers us, or if she just recognizes us from the pictures we left.  We played with the toys, and with some flashcard apps on the ipods.  It was evident that she’s not held often at all, and that she is expected to do most things on her own.  She’s unsure of both of us, but especially Barry.  (insight to come)  She said she was ready to go back to her group at about 6.  The caregivers have her kiss us on the cheek each time she leaves…I can’t wait until she does it without being forced!!

We drove back to Vladimir, stopped at our flat for a form, drove back across the city to pick up our registration documents, took a bus to Globus for dinner and ate around 9pm.  We grabbed a few items we needed, and headed home.

Tuesday, December 21, 2011

We didn’t get up until 8:40 and we were being picked up at 10.  Barry wasn’t feeling very good last night, or this morning at all.  He thinks it is lack of sleep, travel, etc.

We got in the car with V and our driver at 10.  We went to get a paper notarized (we waited in the car).  Then we went to the infectionist.  Barry and I followed V in the building, put our little blue booties on our feet (we’ll take a pic if possible), and waited in the hallway for maybe 5 minutes.  V came back out and said that we were done.  She asked where we’d like to go.  We just said back to our flat.  So, we came home and napped.  We had lunch at Globus again (it’s a huge store and has a great cafeteria with wi-fi).  At 2:30 we left and waited in the car outside the head doctor’s office for him to seal the entire medical document.  It took a while.  We went to see Sveta after that.

She liked the beads and bubbles we bought for her…but she was still very skittish.  She had TONS of energy though and bounced up and down the hall a lot.

We went to Globus for dinner once again, but then we bought groceries.  Barry thought the experience was FUN…I on the other hand was overwhelmed.  I felt like I couldn’t make a decision and that I didn’t have any idea what I was doing.  I’ve never felt so lost in a grocery store.  I think I was also getting very tired, so trying to find food to eat that was safe and was the best buy was not what I wanted to do at the moment.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Today…finally in real time!!  We left to see Sveta at 8:20. I fell asleep in the car because last night was rough.  I had a very difficult time falling asleep and staying asleep. 

We played with Sveta for a little over an hour.  She was mellow today.  She didn’t really want to interact with Barry or I.  She did however come to LOVE our water bottles.  She decided that Barry’s huge nalgene was hers and her little sippy cup was his.  Quite funny.  She wanted so much to pour the water between the three, but settled for placing them in a nice row.  The bubbles were less interesting today…but the brush and ink pens were the favorite.  She seemed to like the Rapunzel Barbie, but wasn’t sure what to do with it.  We are seeing that she doesn’t really know how to play…especially with adults.

When it was time for Sveta to eat lunch, we were able to sit down with the director and ask more questions about Sveta and her life there.  We asked about her birthparents, her attitude, her friends, etc.  Here are a few interesting things we found out:

1.     Her best friend was adopted just a short time ago to a family in the States.  We hope that we will be able to reunite the two girls often.  You can tell that she misses her friend, but that she knows that her friend “has gone home.”  After her friend was adopted, our Sveta kept asking where we were.  We know she “gets” it a little…at least she has a positive view of adoption…even if she has no idea what it really is.

2.     She’s never interacted with males.  There is a driver (and maybe 1-2 other men) at the orphanage, but they never go upstairs near the children.  She’s probably seen them, but that’s IT!  So, the fact that she’s a bit uneasy about Barry is to be expected.  She’ll come around in no time, we hope.  He loves her so much, and I can’t wait to see her crawl up in his lap.  Pray that she opens up to him more and more.

3.     She knows her colors, some shapes, animals and their sounds, and is the “star” of her class.

On a completely different note, we are hoping to hear more about the passports tomorrow.  Please be praying we don’t have to leave Russia.  I’d much rather just get used to one culture, than move between others.  J

We get to have dinner with a few friends tonight and are looking forward to that.  We’ve been so busy that we haven’t seen them all yet!!  We also hope to have internet in our flat within the next week or so…that way we can email and skype, etc.

Day 1 in Russia

Awake at 2:49am.  Laid in bed for a long while, then went back to sleep.  Then up again at 4:42am.  Couldn’t shake it this time. I’m up.

In a skillet I am boiling some water Jessi filtered last night.  The water will become  coffee in a few minutes.  I found a few ‘doughnuts’ at the market last night. There’s a picture of a raspberry on the front of the container.  We’ll see how they turn out.

We arrived in Moscow a little over an hour early yesterday.  We had no issues getting from our terminal to Vita, who was there waiting for us.  She greeted us with hugs, then called for the driver she’d hired. 

After a few minutes the same driver we’d had in April pulled up.  He was driving a newer car.  A Kia this time.  The back of his little Kia barely held our two suitcases and a carry on.  So, we sat in the back seat with a carry on, our personal bags (mine a computer bag and Jessi’s a large Thirty-One bag),  and an umbrella stroller.  It was a full back seat, but comfortable enough for our three hour drive to Vladimir. 

While in the car Jessi and I soon dozed off.  Neither of us had slept much on the plane.  I think we felt a little more at ease in the car knowing we were in Vita’s capable hands at this point. 

We woke just before arriving in Vladimir.  Jessi sent a text message to Frenchy with news that we were close, then began to post a blog so our readers might know we’d arrived safely.  I began to study the path we came in on.  I was looking for any detail that might help me navigate the city in the month we’d be here. 

We drove through a valley on the south east side of town.  I looked hard to our left – toward the southwest.  I could only see the smokestacks in the distance which had become a familiar landmark during our April visit.  Just on this side of those stacks was the road which heads south out of the city – toward Sveta.

We drove straight to our flat and by the time the luggage was unloaded Frenchy came around the corner.  After a few hugs and a phone number from Vita we were on our way up to our January home.  It’s a one bedroom flat, on the 6^th floor of a building on the north side of the city.  I’d estimate that the flat just over 600 square feet. 

Frenchy showed us around the flat, then cleaned our refrigerator – it’d been left unplugged with the doors closed.  Jessi and I unpacked some, but were eager to get dinner.  Jessi’s last meal was dinner on the plane … about 12 hours earlier.  She’d not eaten the breakfast offered on the plane as she wasn’t feeling well. 

Globus (a walmart-like store with a great cafeteria) is about a 5 minute bus ride or 20 minute walk away to the north.  Frenchy’s apartment, though we’ve not been there, is about a 20 minute walk in the other direction. 

Soon we left our flat.  Frenchy helped us get copies of our passports which we’d deliver to Svetlana (the owner of the flat) so she can register us.  After leaving the copy store we walked on up the road to Globus where we exchanged money, ate dinner, and said goodbye to Frenchy.  Jessi and I picked up some bananas, ‘doughnuts’, jam, bread, and yogurt before heading out to bus 24 and traveling to the stop very near our flat. 

After arranging a few things in the room we laid down on our twin mattress at 8:00pm. 

I’m now starting my second cup of coffee as Jessi sleeps.  My mind is filled with so many thoughts.  As I glance over my final list of things I had to do before leaving I begin to wonder how things are back home.  But the tiny clothes I arranged yesterday in our suitcase keep demanding my attention.  I packed the clothes back in a suitcase as we won’t need them for about two weeks. 

Just two weeks and we may (Lord willing) have a little girl who’s nearly four in this flat with us.  Any soon-to-be-parent (by whatever means – adoption, birth, or stork) knows what’s going through my mind.  And I have a hard time catching just one of those many thoughts long enough to work through it. 

Through all of the events of the past week and a half (since we received our court date) there continues to be three thoughts that overwhelm me most.  First, is the overwhelming support of church, family, and friends.  I could never put into words the love I’ve seen in so many who have prayed, given, asked, made things, and offered their hands. 

Second, my wife.  I’d never dreamed three years ago that I’d be so happily married and pursuing being a father on such a path.  I have less fear being a father because of Sveta’s mother, Jessi.  She is going to be in her element with a child.  And I look forward to watching her in this role that she’s longed for for so long.  I cannot wait to pursue her as my wife and encourage her as parent together in this next season of  our life. 

Finally, our God has overwhelmed me because I know that He has moved in the hearts of those in our church, family, and ring of friends.  I know He has brought Jessi and I together.  And I know He placed this Russian little girl on my lap a year and six days ago.  While we’ve cleverly named a blog about our little girl’s path home, I’m learning that there’s more than just her on this journey. 

We made it!

Our flights were just fine...and customs took no time at all...neither did passport control.  Barry and I have not been able to sleep much...so pray we can tonight.

We just pulled into Vladimir and are headed to our home away from home for a while.  More later when We settle.