Fun in Moscow Today

Hi Everyone,
We had a great day in Moscow today. We love the President Hotel, lots of great amenities and the room is good for kids. We have a suite, so there is lots of room. The breakfast buffet is wonderful and with the way these kids eat, it is perfect for them. Caroline is all about the fruit and pancakes and Chase, well Chase is just about anything that he can get in his mouth and eat! The kids are doing great and having so much fun, they are soooo much fun to watch, it is unbelievable that they didn't even know each other a week ago; they are pretty much inseparable now! After breakfast, we we're picked up by our coordinator and driver and driven to the clinic for their physical, Caroline didn't throw up in the car, yeah!! I met the famous Dr. Boris and he was great with the kids, both have gained weight and height and got a clean bill of health. He has some strange opinions on things though, he thinks Caroline needs hernia surgery for her "outie" belly button because it could interfere with her ability to have a normal pregnancy later on in life! Not something I have ever heard of, but whatever, they both passed, have all their parts and we can now move on to the final stage of this trip and get to go to the US embassy tomorrow and get their tickets "outta here"!

After the medical appointment, we went to Red Square for the traditional photos of the kids in front of St. Basil's. They were so good and looked so cute in their jeans and jean jackets, we got ton's of compliments on how adorable they are and it seemed like we attracted just about the entire United Nations to us with these kids. We had people from Tel Aviv who spoke Spanish (very strange) want to know all about them, Americans who thought they were twins (huh???) but the best was when this group of Chinese people asked to take pictures of themselves with the children and then demanded that Gail and I be in this picture as well! They loved the family concept, we're still cracking up at that one. Another adoptive family was with us when this happened and they took pictures of the Chinese guy taking pictures of us, can't wait to get them from him and share them with you all as this was toooo funny. After all the picture taking, we went to GUM department store and wandered around and window shopping stopping for some cokes. Caroline is such a little diva, she couldn't stop looking at all the platform and red glittery shoes, her head looked like it was on a swivel. Chase on the other hand is all about the food. He nearly steals other peoples food off their tables as we walk by! They had their first ice cream cones and all they could say was "mmmm, mmmm, mm, mm, mmmmmm" We had to teach Chase how to eat his as he just went for the cone and took a big bite out of the cone and needless to say, all the ice cream came out thru the bottom. We finally headed back to the hotel for naps as the kids we're really tired with the eight hour time change and I have learned that naps are the best thing that anyone ever invented for new moms! After the naps, we went and got carry out pizza for dinner and came back to the room to eat it. Another teaching lesson for these kiddo's on how to eat pizza - amazing that this is all so new for them; they even had to be taught how to ride an escalator as they have never seen one!

Tomorrow we are planning on hitting Arbat street for some shopping in the morning and then we are to be at the embassy at 2 in the afternoon and after that we are done!! All that is left is to pack and come home! Cannot wait! Gail and I are so sick of wearing the same outfits over and over again, we were thinking of switching clothes just to feel like we are wearing something new! Can't wait to see my washing machine again.

We are off to bed right now, will write more tomorrow with some more pictures.

Miss and love you all,
Jane

Mind is too mushy for a post, but here's some pictures

We Made it to Moscow!

Well, we made it to Moscow barely! It was just about the worst flight you could have imagined. A nine hour flight, a five year old having meltdowns about every 30 minutes, a three year old who is a wild child, lots of pee, poop and puke, but we made it. Dalavia airlines is pitiful! Very unhelpful with children and seem totally put out by even having to serve them, it was just an absolute disaster, but we certainly left them with the memory of us with all the mess we left behind. It just cracks me up when they ask you if you want chicken, fish or meat? Then when you tell them you want the chicken, they are out of it and then when you ask what kind of meat, the answer you get is "meat", whatever that is supposed to mean, my guess is mystery meat, so I passed on dinner, but of course my kids ate it like it was no tomorrow. Gail is having her own meltdown tonight, so I am enjoying a bit of quite with her napping on the couch and the kids asleep to world in the next room after getting them both baths and washing the filth off of them and showering all the kids pee, puke and poop off of me! Yuck!

My agency finally called at 2 in the morning on Monday and they tried to tell me that they had not received any of my messages and blah, blah, blah. Well I was not in the mood to argue at 2 in the morning, I just told them to get us out of here asap. We are leaving for home on Saturday! Yeah!

Well you asked for it, so here are pictures of the children:

Caroline:


Her Hollywood shot:



Chase:


Chase's favorite activity: Eating!

Here's Gail's Version:

Hello Again To Everyone:

Still here in Biro. Going on 14 days and it is not a resort community.

This is hard!!! but we will endure. Leaving here Wed. Morning and not
soon
enough. The only good thing about this are two little kids, Caroline
and
Chase. So far, they seem to be adjusting as well as expected. Last
nite
was the first time for both of them to be with us overnite in a 150 sq.
ft.
hotel room. Do any of you remember what it's like to have a 3 and 5
year
old around. All I can say is that it's better to be the Aunt now.
Here's a
Russian factoid: pickle juice is good for the brain. After drinking
vodka
with Lula and Nina, they wanted us to drink pickle juice-we obliged.
Some
things that I will never want to see or hear again: cutlets,hand
washing 13
days of laundry, a country that continually smells of BO, hotpots in
hotel
rooms, dirty kids that I want to hose down, towels that are thin as
silk,
borscht and continuous Russian TV. Give me a Chicago pizza and a
bottle of
Michelob and I will be a very happy camper.

Well enough for now. Again thank you for all the responses. All of
you are
my link to civility. Jayne and I are getting by on our sense of humor.

Love,

Gail

I want to come home!!

Okay, we are still here in Biro and I am sick of it!!!! I want my house, my pool, my dogs, my own food, my bed, my bathroom, my space!!!!!!! Everything!!! We now have Chase and Caroline with us which is great, although Chase is a handful! He and his sister are getting along fabulously, which makes me so happy. Caroline is a dream to take care of and Chase is having lots of typical orphange behaviour: hitting, pinching, hording food, very, very short attention span. We have our work cut out for us when we get home, ahhhhh home! We are due to leave Biro in two days! we are counting the hours! We get to Moscow on the 29th. I am having great difficulty getting my agency to call me and get us out of Moscow on the 1st instead of the 4th, so needless to say, I am extremely angry at my agency. All other families here on the same schedule are leaving on the 1st and we should as well.

I am so sorry for the delay in pictures! my camera disk or the cd I downloaded them to will not work on this public computer. As soon as I get to Moscow I will load you all down with so many pictures you will be sick of them!!! I think I have taken about 400!! Right now you have to trust me they are about the cutest and sweetest kids in the world in my eyes!!!

Please pray that my agency calls me soon as Gail and I want out!!! If anyone can please call Adoption Source in Boca Raton for us and light a fire under them to contact me I would be forever grateful!!

We got to go and feed these kids lunch ( I have never seen any child eat as much as these do!!!!) Dasyadanya!!

Love to all,

Jane

We are still here!

Hi Everyone,

Just a short note to let you all know we are doing great. Caroline is staying in the hotel with us and having a ball. She is really starting to open up and trust us, it is truely amazing the transformation from this incredibly shy little girl to one that is laughing, joking and playing. Chase is still at the orphanage and we are visiting daily and taking him out for short trips to get him used to the car and the outside world, he's a bit of a handful. Can't get the picture CD to work quite yet, so sorry for the delay in pictures. We're off to see Chase and pick him up and take him and Caroline for lunch and then naps and then who knows what else. Well I have a little 5 year old on my lap right now and she wants to say hi: jhrtfcktfclthjujh5rkmrh4rhhjrjr (that's Caroline saying hi!!)

Love to all,

Jane

I'm a Mama!!!

Today, August 21,2007 the honorable judge in Birobidzhan, Russia told me I am the official Mama to, drum roll please:

Caroline Ruth and Chase William!!!

Court went just fine with only one little hitch, when I petitioned to waive the 10 days, one of the reasons was that there was a respitory virus going around the orphanages and I did not want the children to catch it, well the prosecutor insisted that he see a log of the recent viruses and after much debate with the judge, he agreed and the logs had to be found and brought to court and reviewed and then it was decided the decision would be made the next day! Ugh! So I had to show up at 9:00 am this morning and that is when he rendered his wonderfully positive decision and waived the 10 days! Gail and I will still be here in Birobidzhan until the 29th when we fly to Moscow as it takes some time for the regional paperwork, but we will pick up the children everyday and have them with us for the daytime and then drop them back at the orphanage in the evening. Our hotel room is just not accomidating for two small children.

The kids are fabulous, they have grown so much since we saw them in November and they both remembered me! Caroline (Katia) has really opened up and is smiling and laughing and is just a joy to be around. Pasha (Chase) is so much fun, bright, smart and full of energy. They are perfect kids in my eyes! I will try and post photos tomorrow as we are at the post office in Biro and cannot use my photo card here. There is no access at the hotel, so we are at the mercy of when the post office is open.

The Hotel Vostok has been renovated!! You have no idea how wonderful this is!!! The bathroom is brand new, clean and the beds are new. It has been painted and is actually pleasant to stay here! We were really happy to find this. There are several families here with us who also are here for court so we have all been entertaining ourselves quite well. We've found some new restaurants and some of the food is surprisingly good! Although we are still grateful for the provisions we have brought.

I will try and update our days and post pictures as much as we can, but our time is relegated by the translators, drivers and coordinators and of course the children's schedules.

There have been numerous funny incidents along they way and we'll update everyone on those as we get more time. But for now I wanted the world to know that after 6 plus years of trying to bring children into my home, I am finally the mom I have always dreamed of.

Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts.

Love to you all,
Jane

Hello from Moscow!

Gail and I made it to Moscow in one piece barely! On our trip from DFW to Atlanta, we were about to land and all of the sudden we are headed up again. Apparently, there was a plane that had crossed the runway we were to land on and was not moving, so the pilot had to abort the landing and take off again! A little scary, but it's what I would call a "do over". We ended up landing without incident and were soon on our way to our flight to Moscow. Our flight leaving Atlanta for Moscow ended up being two hours delayed and then when we finally took off, several hours into the flight, they asked if there was any medical personel on board. Well I didn't jump right up but waited until a flight attendent walked past and asked if they needed a nurse, he indicated they had found a doctor and my services were not needed, yeah for me! Well we came to find out that a passenger on board was very ill with end stage cancer and was coming home to Russia to die and it appeared that she might not make it to Russia to complete that stage; they moved her to the back of the plane and I have no idea what happened to her after we finally arrived. Another incident on board the plane was when another passenger apparently just could not get comfortable in her seat and decided she was going to take a nap on the floor in the aisle of the plane right next to my seat! She layed there for a good 10 -15 minutes before a flight attendent finally made her get up and that was only after threatening her with the pilot making an emergency landing if she did not cooperate!

Well so far it's been a pretty eventful 24 hours, I can only imagine what the next few weeks have in store.

Gail and I are off to window shop and try and stay awake for a few more hours. We are off to Birobidzhan tomorrow, will post from there when we get a moment.

Love to all,
Jane

One more Day!

Well, I can't believe the time is finally here to leave for Russia to pick up my children! It has been a whirlwind week with all the last minute things to do and packing, but I am ready!! Of course it wouldn't be Russia without some last minute hitches. The coordinator in Russia called last week to tell my agency that I needed an updated homestudy! Mine expires on August 23rd, my courtdate is August 20th and apparently they felt that was cutting it too close. So, after frantic calls to my social worker, she said "relax, don't worry, this is soooo Russia". She got it done in 2 days and even sent it to Austin for me to be apostilled! Did I say I have the best social worker in the world??? Love you Tammy!

I am picking my sister Gail up at the airport late this afternoon and we will probably go out for Mexican as I need to get my fix before heading to Russia, after that we need to watch "Big Love" and then one more night in my home without kids! Wow, I can't believe this is finally happening after almost 3 years!

I have two more things to do: Get the car washed so it is nice and clean for when we come home and get a manicure and pedicure. So I am off. My next post will probably be from Moscow.

Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments and private e-mails. I am so feeling the love!!!

Love you all,

Jane

One more week

We will be on a plane to Moscow one week from today. I have been super busy tying up loose ends and will post more tomorrow.

Jane