We have a court date!

It has taken me awhile to get back to normal - well my normal. I was so exhausted and a little worn out after our first trip. Some of the documents needed for court made me anxious this past week. Another set of fingerprints. Come on you have two sets already. The 3rd letter about the 1st letter to describe who the 2nd person is, notarized and apostiled. Why would you need that. I guess if I walk in their shoes for awhile I can see the logic??

Yesterday while I was watching a video Rich made for us of "J" Bunny for the fourth time. I got a call from the agency. We now have a confirmed court date for June! I was so relieved. And just 5 minutes ago some paperwork from the state was delivered via fed-ex. This package had me worried if it would get here in time and it did so quickly. So now I am checking into flights and fantasizing that we will get the ten days waived. This made Rich laugh and tell me "stop thinking about that, you are doing the 10 days." Sounds like jail-time to me. I still don't get why they do this, am I blocking the reasoning? Does anyone know why?

The Church pictured is in Gusev. It really shows a lot about this little village. The old cobblestone road and the cross at the top of the steeple are my favorite points. We hope to have all the finish documents in Russia by May 8th, 2009. If we miss the deadline we will not be able to go to the Star Trek movie opening night, hehe! I really wanna see this one, so I need to get the last two documents finished. We can do it!

A few thoughts about my father

Today is my Dad's birthday. He's not with us anymore, he passed away almost 20 years ago. I'm not really sure why I'm thinking about it or why I'm even posting it in a blog. I guess it's because I've been thinking a lot about fatherhood lately. When my dad died I was only 22. The early 20's are a pivotal time in anyone's life - making that transition from school or military or whatever, into the big bad world of responsibility and adulthood. There are many times I wonder what I would be like if he were still around during my 20's and 30's. It's hard to comprehend.

My dad knew his first grandson, my nephew Michael but he won't get to meet my son, which is sad. So I have to believe that my father is somewhere looking over our shoulders and he knows what's going on. And that's the only consolation I have for my wife who is having a hard time with the waiting period. I believe, that not only my father and grandparents but Jolynn's grandparents are all up there (maybe they know each other, maybe not. I don't know how that works) looking over us and making sure that we will bring our son home safely.

My dad would have been 74 today. And I miss him.

Pictures of our trip (edited pics no longer avail - site OOB)

We are settling into our routines again. Rich is up and going quite well. I have had a harder time adjusting and have started to wonder what am I going to do when "J" Bunny comes home. Gonna have to toughen up or something. Jet-lag is rough!! I thought I would have only two more documents to work on for court but I now have six. No problem. I will get them done as soon as possible. We are Praying he will be home for the 4th of July!!!!

Here are pictures of Pushkin, a 1/2 hour drive from St. Petersburg.

Here are pictures of our region Kaliningrad.

Here are pictures of St. Petersburg.

Just click on the picture and it will take you to the slide. There is so much more but I feel the above is a lot to look at. Especially when all you really want to do is see the baby. Soon we will have more. I hope everyone has a Fantastic Weekend!
Congratulations to Jay and Nicole F. who had a gorgeous baby boy last night. He is just perfect!!!!

Happy Easter and we are home!

We are so Joyful this Easter! Our journey to Russia was filled with so many Blessings!

I have a link to bubbleshare (web photo sharing site) to share, we are keeping it somewhat private. I did send it to e-mail addresses that I have. It has some pictures of the baby home and surrounding area. Also a few sneak peek photos of Bunny. If you would like to see it please send your e-mail address, comment or a note on how to connect with you.

Thank you so much for all the Prayers, well wishes, e-mails of support and comments on this blog. You are all so Fantastic!!! Your help and encouragement is so appreciated. God Bless You!

Back in St. Pete and more sight-seeing

We have been to the country-side of St. Petersburg to the Palace of Catherine the Great. It was in a charming small town called Pushkin. My back was hurting some today from flights, sleeping on unusual beds and bumpy roads (could also be stress) but we went anyway. Not sure we will be here again with the opportunity to be tourists and I knew we would enjoy it. We walked a little on the grounds and got some fresh air. "A" our guide is an encyclopedia of all things Russian especially this area. The Palace was beautiful, colorful and filled with school children on field trips.

I kept looking and smiling at the kids thinking Bunny may look similar to that one when he becomes their age. We are talking about him a lot. And we have not stopped thinking about him. His first name we picked for him starts with a "J." I keep looking at his pictures asking what do your think "J" is doing right now? I just took a nap and dreamed about him. This wait is going to be very hard and I have asked Rich to keep me from torture e-mailing the agency with questions.

Last night we stopped at two McDonald's for a late snack. Both where just closing as we arrived one had a walk-up window with a line of half a dozen folks. We tried to wait but got too cold. We did get our McKie D fix for our lunch. It was pretty good and interesting how crowded it was in there. We'll p0st more later with pictures the internet is slow.

A big day

As you can guess by the title, today was a big day. First we went to the hospital where bunny was born and met the medical director. Then we signed the preliminary papers to start the legal process of adoption here in Russia. We also choose a name for him. Then it was back on the road to the babyhouse one last time. While we were there one of the social workers for the Kgrad region came in to say hello and ask us a few questions. Then it was time to say goodbye to the little guy. That was very hard and the next few weeks will take forever. And now I'm going to use a phrase that I can't stand: At the end of the day - it was a great day. Right now Jolynn and I are both physically and emotionally drained. We're going to head down to the pizza place for more pizza and Lithuanian beer.

Day 2 at the babyhouse **audio**

We had another day at the babyhouse today. We didn't have to meet our driver until 1pm so we took the opportunity to try and get some sleep. Didn't work - for me anyway. After a healthy plate of french fries for breakfast we got on the road. Just like yesterday, we stopped for gas (the trip uses a tank of gas round trip) and I added a bag of M&M's to the breakfast menu. The famous John Belushi skit came to mind. You know the one - he's an Olympic track athlete then it shows him smoking and eating a little bowl of chocolate donuts. "Little chocolate donuts are on my training table." Today my breakfast of champions was fries and M&M's. I have to do something about that. And by the way, why do M&M's taste different over here??

So once again we drove through the Russian countryside. It reminds of the album cover from Led Zepplin IV. There's many old villagers out walking and doing their thing. Kind of like the guy on the album cover. Leaving Kaliningrad the road is like any other highway in the U.S. But as you travel further away from the city you see more barns and livestock and people like the Zepplin guy. Sometimes the road turns into a narrow cobblestone road which makes for a bumpy ride. I really wonder what this land was like when the Germans and Russians fought here during the war. This country has an incredibly rich history and its really cool to be here learning some of it.

So we made it to the babyhouse and we were told to wait in the playroom. When they brought in Bunny, he looked a little sleepy. At first I just held him for a few minutes. Once he was more aware of what's going on, we brought the toys out. We had the same ones from yesterday: the butterfly that lights up, his stacking cups and a new one - the beach ball!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, he dug the Beach ball. Most of the remaining time we had with him was playing beach ball. I can't post pictures or video yet but I can post an audio clip. This is me and Jolynn playing beach ball with the baby. I can't wait to have guys see the real one.



Tomorrow we have another big day. We're meeting the Doctor that examines the baby's. And then we're going to speak to another social worker. Should be fun.

Peace Everyone!
Rich

He's a cutie **long**

Woke up after sleeping in for a couple of hours yesterday morning. This is it, I kept thinking to myself, now we get to see him in person. We had to be in our hotel lobby by 10:30 to meet with three different people. "A" the driver "V" the translator and "T" the coordinator. We ate granola bars and dry cereal from home and went to the hotel cafe only for a coffee. The coffee made me want to walk to the Baby Home. Very strong.

They where a little late and that just made me more nervous. Once we got going we could see why the traffic sucks here. "T" explained a few things and after about 30 minutes we stopped at a four story building and went in to meet a Gentleman who heads the MOE. He was nice and gave us our first surprise. Bunny is younger then we thought. They give you a brief description and some of the background story but not too much. He asked us a few questions which we answered "yes, no or we understand." Rich and I together maybe said eight words. It was an important visit but very short. He did give us permission to enter the Baby Home and visit the baby, Yeah!

"T" left us with our driver and translator for the drive two hours East of Kaliningrad to a smaller town. Ok, I have been reading a lot of blogs about the driving but nothing can prepare you for that. The roads are so bumpy and riddled with pot holes. Everything was jiggling uncontrollably and Rich and I where holding on to each other. Neither one of us are back-seat travelers. I narrowly avoided car sickness.

Once in the small town where the BH was we stopped for some tea, crackers and diapers to take with us. Then we went in and climbed up stairs to the director's office. It was about 2:00ish and no one wanted tea so we sat down on a couch across from the director's desk and the meeting started. Lot's of talking and changing of eye direction, our heads where moving. First Director would speak, its translated by "V", written down ( filled in a list from the agency) by me and follow-up questions. We kept looking at each other to make sure we got it. Then this starts all over again. Not on every subject but on at least five or six Rich and I had follow-up questions. So we are writing, studying and talking and then the voices in the room changed. All of the sudden I was holding Bunny. He was so cute and had just woken up from a nap. You know how you get those blanket/sheet wrinkles on your face when you sleep real hard, he had one. At first he wanted to cry, his lips where pouting. Then everyone in the room distracted him, there was about eight people, Wow. He focused a little on the chandelier and men which he sees a lot of ladies and very few men. His face of course had the "what's going on here" surprised look. Rich got him to giggle, he played with some toys we brought and spit up some. About an hour into our meeting we took turns using the restroom and when Rich came back I had Bunny asleep. Now that is the picture I want to post but we can't. His privacy has to be respected. We have some cute video and pictures we will share later. He did smile at both Rich and I, it was so Great! It ended way too soon but at least the car ride was easier because our minds where on what had just happened. "A" had to pull over, sort of, a cop held out a little plaque and directed him to the side of the road. The plaque looks like what the judges use on "Dancing with the Stars" to show scores. There was no ticket just an on the spot fine, Ouch! Quite a day! We'll post more later.

I did share a picture from our tour in St. Petersburg. Can you guess what this is?

We are doing good!

This awesome lady whose name starts with an "A" picked us up at the airport yesterday (or day before yesterday, time confusion) and dropped us off at the hotel. We where really tried. We took a shower then went to the Lobby bar, ordered a hamburger, fries and water to split. It does not taste like home. There is a lot more spices in the meats. After that we watched some TV then went to bed. I have to confess the Ambien I brought worked like a charm for me. Rich claims I snored but I would never snore in Russia. I don't want to jinx myself but I am feeling OK and not too tried. Breakfast was included in our stay and was really good.



Today "A" took us for a driving tour of St. Petersburg which we both really enjoyed. We stopped at the St. Nicholas Cathedral, it was beautiful. At the cathedral I said a Prayer for our meeting with Bunny. Two Russian people came up to us and told us to take our hands out of our pockets. Uhm, it was sort of an "or else" kind of thing. Also no talking where they normally say their Prayers. "Cool, no problem" not sure how that translated? Very beautiful Cathedral, we thanked "A" for taken us there. Such a Great City so filled with history and romanticism. Dad, we took a picture of the home/palace where Rasputin was killed just for you. I think we drove around three Islands and marveled at the architecture. So many people out for a Sunday, lot's of people watching. We took video and pictures that we'll have to share later. "A" took us to a souvenir shop and of course I found things to buy. The beautiful Mastryoska dolls!



It's evening as I write. We are here in K-grad and the flight was not too bad. I was a little worried. The security ladies had sort of a fit with me. I forgot I had pop and water in my over-sized purse. They wanted me to check it. With a little broken English and a pat down we figured out what needed to be removed, discarded and went on our way. My heart was racing! We then took a bus to the plane. Very crowded. The seats in economy where soooo much bigger than what we have for our domestic flights. Another "A" picked us up, took us to our hotel and told us we will be at MOE tomorrow and then Baby house. My stomach is doing half flips. To see him, Wow! Yeah! Please, say a Prayer for us all tomorrow.



Something funny: We had to put our hotel key card in a slot outside of the bathroom in our hotel room. This made the lights go on in the majority of the room and bath. Rooms are newly renovated and very nice. I was very confused by this and asked Rich to go the front desk with some questions. One was what does it cost for the lights? Wow, did they crack up! They thought that was quite the funny. So did "A", it may be a green thing so you don't waste energy not sure. There was no charge.

We made it!

We finally made to it St. Petersburg. We're both really tired so we're going to get some food and rest tonight. Tomorrow we're going to take a quick tour of the city then fly to Kaliningrad.

We'll try and post something tomorrow from Kgrad.

Peace!

Am I driving my Consultant nuts?

The fed ex man delivered the visas yesterday. Yippee! They transpose the month and day in European style. So May 4th, 2009 is 04/05/09. Everyone probably already knows this, I did too but completely forgot. So when I checked the visas I thought the dates where wrong. Usually I would have been able to figure this out on my own but my mind is so preoccupied. I had to make calls, duh! Oh and the e-mails. Then I got worried about a "what if" scenario and had to run it by the agency, NERVES. More questions and phone calls today. I feel for our Consultant at the agency who is new to Russian adoption. Just about a month ago she took over our file. She has helped many other PAP's through their journeys to other Countries. Rich said it best yesterday when he said "You are so past the canned answers" and "Settle down a bit." Too funny!!!! She is handling my calls and questions quite well. I like her and hope I am not making her too crazy.

So I have been doing laundry, baking Easter cookies and tidying up the house. Started packing as a practice because I am such an over-packer. Have made copies of the important documents. Lot's of notes of what we will need to do. Research TSA and airline rules. I think we are close to being ready to go.

Here is a question for you families that are home now. How many of you actually used the copy of the dossier while in Russia on trip #1. Why do I have this feeling that I am going to be lugging this around and will never look at it once.