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.