Trip #2

It is hard to believe we are about to leave again already. Of course I say this on the flip side. That was NOT my perspective a few weeks ago. The time seemed to drag on. But here we are, preparing to leave Wednesday morning. The main purpose of this trip is to have medical exams in Moscow (fun!) and head to the region where our little guy is for two days of court. We can't wait to see him again! Assuming all goes well, we should be able to return in about 2 weeks to finally "break him out of there" and begin this new chapter in our lives. It's been a long Preface and we are ready to get on with the rest of the book.

We celebrated Gracie's 6th birthday this past weekend which was lots of fun. She has a tooth barely hanging on and we are hoping that we can call the Tooth Fairy in before we leave. We will see. Tori is ready to celebrate her birthday before we leave as well, but unfortunately I am not quite as prepared as Tori would like me to be. Don't feel too bad for her...she gets to go to Florida with her best friend over Spring Break.

We hope to update you very soon. We truly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers throughout this process. Thank you!

Home Sweet Home

We made it home safe and sound on Sunday evening. It was bittersweet when our plane touched ground in Indy. While we were so thankful to be home, it was hard to grasp that our baby boy was an ocean away.

We flew over Greenland on our way home, and I was very fascinated by it (perhaps a little more than I should have been). Below, I have posted a picture. You know what they say...Greenland is ice and Iceland is green. Go figure!


Our court dates were scheduled for March 23rd and 24th. We were set to leave next Thursday, March 19th, to go back. Unfortunately, our dates have been pushed out a little further and we are now scheduled to leave April 1st with court scheduled for the 6th and 7th (knock on wood). (Little fact: the expression "knock on wood" is used quite often by the director of our adoption agency. She always (literally) knocks on wood after she says it, too. We love it!)

Although we wish we were returning back next week, it does give us a little more time to plan the girls' birthdays. Grace will celebrate her 6th birthday on March 27th and Tori will celebrate her 14th on April 4th. March and April are busy times in our household. Shane and I just celebrated our anniversary last week on March 10th, my birthday comes close to the end of April and now our little guy will round out the 6-1/2 weeks of 'Barney celebrations' with his birthday which falls on April 26th.

Today I dropped off the LAST of the paperwork (we can only hope) to the agency. Our agency has another family traveling to Russia this weekend and they will be carrying those documents with them to hand off to the coordinator when they arrive in Moscow. Hooray!

Last night in Moscow

We spent today touring inside the walls of the Kremlin. Having grown up during the Soviet era, it was really hard to believe that we were actually walking inside the mysterious Kremlin. Inside the Kremlin is the buildings that house both sides of government (Senate and the Arsenal), the Kremlin Palace, several chuches dating back to the 1300's, and a fantastic museum housing artifacts dating to the early 11th century. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the facilities, but I have posted some shots from the outside.

Here is the Kremlin Palace.

This is the entrance to the Kremlin. Thanks to some young ladies from Siberia in line ahead of us, we were able to maneuver through the ticket line with few problems. They were very kind and translated for us. One girl in particular was facinated with the U.S. and was very excited to be able to use her english skills. She had her picture taken with Teddi and me so that she could show her teacher back home. Her dream is to see the Grand Canyon and Niagara Falls.

Here is one of the many cathedrals inside the Kremlin. We went inside a few. They were all painted and guilded with gold on the inside. Truly amazing to think that they still stand and are perfectly preserved for nearly 700 years!

This evening we ventured to Arbat St., which is a pedestrian avenue in Moscow with shops and restaraunts near our hotel. It was cold, but very nice. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

Brrrrr....

We went out to do some adventuring around Moscow this morning and it was cold! Not the best weather to be walking around aimlessly in a city of 10 million people. We are back at the hotel now for a break.

Here is Teddi in GUM, an upscale mall in Red Square. This building was built in the late 1800's and has been used primarily as "trading rows" or shops. It was used briefly by the soviet union as office space and was used to display the body of the wife of Stalin after her suicide in 1932.

A closer picture of Teddi at St. Basil's cathedral.

Back to Moscow

Today we woke up and spent the morning stolling around the town in our region, buying souvenirs, and taking some pictures. While leaving a cafe we think that a gypsy woman put some sort of curse on Teddi. Don't know what she was saying, but she was looking into her eyes and rubbing her sleeve. Only time will tell. Here is Teddi with the lady in the souvenir shop. She was very nice and spoke pretty good english. The other is a picture of me with our hotel in the background.

We left for Moscow at 11:00 a.m. local time. After 3 hrs, we arrived safely at our hotel, key word being safely. We cannot believe the traffic here. They take 3 lane roads and fit 5 cars wide. Unbelieveable.

Once back at the hotel, Teddi immediately got on the phone with Wells Fargo in an attempt to get the last remaining piece of documentation that we are waiting on for our court appearance. This has been a real hassle. We have pretty much gotten no response at all from Wells Fargo...that was until Teddi worked her magic. After at least an hour, it looks like we finally found someone in that company who cares enough to help!!!! Amen. Must have been the voodoo magic from the gypsy.

The predominant religion in Russia is Russian Orthodox and there are churches all over the place. Here is one that was directly across the river from our hotel in the region.

There are several American couples who are adopting staying in this hotel so we were finally able speak in english with someone. Yeah!!! We made friends with a couple from Pittsburgh who is here adopting their second child from Russia and had dinner at....wait for it....TGI Friday's! It may have been the best cheeseburger that I have ever had. One can only take so much potatoes and borscht. Some young Russians were at the table next to us and were very friendly. We shared some good laughs with them. Unlike many Russians, they were very supportive of our adoption. Unfortunately, some Russians are strongly opposed to American families coming over here to adopt "their" children. Mostly the older generations, I believe.

Well, its off to bed for now. Tomorrow we will spend sightseeing in Moscow. Stay tuned.

Final Day at Orphanage

Today was hard. We had to say goodbye to our son. We met the judge today and answered some basic questions. It looks like we will be able to return for court on March 23rd, which is great. This is an unordinarily quick turnaround for a court date. We are still waiting on one piece of paperwork required for court so pray that we get this document in time!

Here is a picture of the orphanage. We have been told that there are approximately 100 children, ages 2 months through 3 yrs. You would never know it though. We have been there several times and it is very quiet. We rarely hear or see other children. We have been able to peek in his room where there appears to be around 15-20 other little ones. They are broken out into rooms based upon age. Each room seems to have roughly 3-4 women caretakers. They do a great job and seem to care deeply for these children. They are doing the best with what resources they have, which doesn't appear to be many.

We had two visits at the orphanage today and they were great (except for the fact that we both nearly vomitted upon entering the building due to the smell. Don't quite know how to describe the smell, but it takes some getting used to). He was in a great mood as usual. He smiles at nearly everything and everyone. We must have disrupted his napping schedule because he was very sleepy.

Got in our first car accident of the trip as well. Although, as you will see from pictures of the traffic, it is amazing that we didn't hit another car or pedestrian; instead it was a hand rail.

Tonight is our last night in the region and we will return to Moscow tomorrow morning. We will do some sightseeing and then return home on Sunday. We'll post more pictures tomorrow in Moscow when we have better internet service. Can't wait to see you all.

Shane and Teddi

Day #2 with Little Guy

Our visit with little guy was different today. Instead of seeing him twice, we were able to visit from 12:00 to 5:00. He is very interested in what is going on around him. As soon as we got him to sleep he was awakened by some of the caretakers walking through the room. He does not like to miss anything. He is a happy little thing. We also met with the social worker while we were there. It was harder leaving him today. Tomorrow we will meet with the judge.

The other family we mentioned in our previous post left from the region with their girls today. So exciting! They are headed back to Moscow to process more paperwork.

Now we are off to dinner...possibly back to the mystery cafe. They do have good pastries! Yum!