Christmas is right around the corner. This is probably one of my favorite times of year yet I am so engrossed in whipping this house into shape to welcome these children home that I have done nothing to get into the spirit of the holidays! My home is remodeling central, I have hardwoods about to be installed in the bedrooms, children's furniture is scattered all over the house. I am waiting for my housekeeper to remove the current furniture so we can move the kids furniture into their rooms; it looks like a tornado has hit it! It is driving me a bit crazy as I can't stand all this disorganization. I will be spending the holiday in Chicago with my sister and her family, so at least I can be away from it for awhile and don't have to look at it everyday. I am wishing for a Christmas miracle that while I am away, all of Santa's elves will sneak in and put the house together!
I have not heard any word on when my court date may be, I am still hoping for mid January as they indicated while we were in the region meeting the children. I still have so much to do, learn some Russian, train the dogs, just about everything I should have been doing over the past 2 years!
I wish all of you a happy holiday season and a healthy and happy new year!
Jane
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Home Sweet Home
Monday, November 27
Made it to the airport and said our goodbyes to Arlena and Viktor, we could not have asked for a more gracious hostess and conscientious driver, they were great! The flight back was uneventful, just some loud and rowdy 15 -16 year old hockey players from Detroit, they settled down though pretty quickly. Slept a lot and visited with another pre-adoptive mother from Wisconsin, she just met her 18 month old little girl, just precious! Made it to Atlanta, Gail and I said our goodbyes and we both found our respective gates to home.
This truly was an adventure of my heart. So many stories to tell these kids, I can't wait to be their mom. The people we met along the way have been fantastic, I could not have wished for anything better. It looks like I will be going back in mid January for my court date and to finally bring my family home, I'm open for a travelling partner, any takers???
Love and thanks to you all,
Jane
Made it to the airport and said our goodbyes to Arlena and Viktor, we could not have asked for a more gracious hostess and conscientious driver, they were great! The flight back was uneventful, just some loud and rowdy 15 -16 year old hockey players from Detroit, they settled down though pretty quickly. Slept a lot and visited with another pre-adoptive mother from Wisconsin, she just met her 18 month old little girl, just precious! Made it to Atlanta, Gail and I said our goodbyes and we both found our respective gates to home.
This truly was an adventure of my heart. So many stories to tell these kids, I can't wait to be their mom. The people we met along the way have been fantastic, I could not have wished for anything better. It looks like I will be going back in mid January for my court date and to finally bring my family home, I'm open for a travelling partner, any takers???
Love and thanks to you all,
Jane
Back in Moscow
We survived the flight! We were met at the airport in Moscow by Arlena and Viktor and driven to the President Hotel. This was a different hotel than when we were here a few days ago, it is in another part of the city. The President Hotel was wonderful! After the awful experience we had at the Hotel Vostok, this was pure luxury! Two double beds, a great view, large space and best of all: A clean bathroom with lots of towels and bathrobes and slippers! We thought we went to heaven!
Here is the view outside our window:
This is a statue of Peter the Great in the Moscow river; apparently the story is: the statue was supposed to be of Christopher Columbus and a gift for America, but is was so big that they couldn't figure a way to get to the United States that they decided to turn it into Peter the Great and keep it in the Moscow river. Okay, my little history lesson for the day.
After we got settled in the room, we took a walk around the neighborhood of the hotel. It had great shops and cafes and a Mexican restaurant called Pancho Villa that we stopped and got some nachos. Not the greatest nachos, but not too bad!! The corona tasted great!! Did some final souvenir shopping and made it back to the hotel. We ordered room service, repacked all of our treasures and went to bed for our final night in Russia.
The trip back to Moscow
Jet lag is a killer! Sorry it's taken awhile to get to the end of the trip.
Tamarra and our driver met us in the lobby early Sunday morning to drive us to the Khabarvosk airport. Gail and I were pretty tired so we didn't talk much and just enjoyed the peaceful 2 1/2 hour drive. The road was pretty much covered with snow except for one lane which was used by cars going in both directions, thank goodness there was not much traffic. The Russian version of speed bumps is to travel along a paved road and then it will turn to gravel/dirt for about a 1/4 mile, this was the case in about 4 or 5 spots along our route. The countryside is dotted with villages every few miles which consist of a few shacks that constitute someones home, very dreary.
We finally arrived in Khabarovsk about 2 hours before our flight was due to leave. Tamarra helped us with all of our luggage which was considerably lighter since leaving all the toys and clothes for the kids at the orphanage and the gifts for the caregivers, although we still ended up being over the limit and had to pay a small amount. We got our boarding tickets and then Tamarra suggested that if we needed to use the restroom, now was the time to do so and she pointed to it down this flight of stairs. She also whispered to me to "take my sense of humor". Gail and I followed this group of women to the restroom and stood in line (just like America), when it was my turn, I opened the stall door and found a small step up and a hole in the ground!!! I about died! There were two places to put your feet and you were expected to stand up and take care of business! No time for a bashful bladder - when in Russia, do as the Russians do!! Gail was up next and as soon as she saw it she said "no way"!! I told her the alternative was using the disgusting airplane bathroom, she chose the stall. Back upstairs to say our goodbyes to Tamarra and then on to the gate to wait to board the plane. Everything they are announcing is in Russian, Gail and I just pray we get on the right plane headed for Moscow and not China. We board the bus to take us to the tarmac to board the plane, everyone just pushes and shoves their way on, no semblance of order, it is insane. We are finally seated in our seats and pleasantly surprised to find we are on a much newer jet and there is no ugly smells. Now only 9 more hours till we are back to Moscow.
Tamarra and our driver met us in the lobby early Sunday morning to drive us to the Khabarvosk airport. Gail and I were pretty tired so we didn't talk much and just enjoyed the peaceful 2 1/2 hour drive. The road was pretty much covered with snow except for one lane which was used by cars going in both directions, thank goodness there was not much traffic. The Russian version of speed bumps is to travel along a paved road and then it will turn to gravel/dirt for about a 1/4 mile, this was the case in about 4 or 5 spots along our route. The countryside is dotted with villages every few miles which consist of a few shacks that constitute someones home, very dreary.
We finally arrived in Khabarovsk about 2 hours before our flight was due to leave. Tamarra helped us with all of our luggage which was considerably lighter since leaving all the toys and clothes for the kids at the orphanage and the gifts for the caregivers, although we still ended up being over the limit and had to pay a small amount. We got our boarding tickets and then Tamarra suggested that if we needed to use the restroom, now was the time to do so and she pointed to it down this flight of stairs. She also whispered to me to "take my sense of humor". Gail and I followed this group of women to the restroom and stood in line (just like America), when it was my turn, I opened the stall door and found a small step up and a hole in the ground!!! I about died! There were two places to put your feet and you were expected to stand up and take care of business! No time for a bashful bladder - when in Russia, do as the Russians do!! Gail was up next and as soon as she saw it she said "no way"!! I told her the alternative was using the disgusting airplane bathroom, she chose the stall. Back upstairs to say our goodbyes to Tamarra and then on to the gate to wait to board the plane. Everything they are announcing is in Russian, Gail and I just pray we get on the right plane headed for Moscow and not China. We board the bus to take us to the tarmac to board the plane, everyone just pushes and shoves their way on, no semblance of order, it is insane. We are finally seated in our seats and pleasantly surprised to find we are on a much newer jet and there is no ugly smells. Now only 9 more hours till we are back to Moscow.
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