Day before court

To say that we are nervous is an understatement. We met with the court translator and she coached us and told us some things aobut Andrei's history.
We both have to give a speech about our personal history, job, education, marriage, and why we would make good parents.
Then we have to formally ask the court to grant us parental rights.

Tomorrow we will be up at 6, perfect our speeches, partially pack, get Andrei ready (an ordeal in itself); breakfast at 8, court at 10. Then a lunch break and we go back to hear the judge's decision.

Andrei will be with the other family while we're in court, thank goodness.
Then tomorrow night we'll be back on the train already.

So if you're up at 1AM CST, think of us and say a little prayer :)

Hello from Russia!

Things are amazing and beautiful and exhausting! We got here safe (25 hours of traveling - oy! ) We picked up Andrei yesterday from the orphanage and he is staying with us in our hotel. When he saw us he hugged us so tight and wouldn't let go! I cried. Then we got a tour of his orphanage and he said goodbye to all of his friends. I wanted to take them all home with me

Now the other family we went with is in court today and we're tomorow (probably while all of you are sleeping tonight).

We will have internet at our apartment and we'll be there on Saturday - then I'll update more.


:):):)

Trip to Russia 0 days

Well we're leaving in 5 hours. I still have to run to Kohls, clean the fridge, do a load of laundry, and pack the last few things. I went to church last night, but I wanted to stop by today too if I have time.

I am so not ready for this. I still feel like crap and was up half the night coughing. Maybe I should pop a Nyquil before we board the plane.

Now Brent informed me that I also need to run to Shopko.

So I better get going.

Good-bye DINK, Hello WOHM.

Next post will be from OHare, if we can find the free wifi :)

Changes already

We got our passports back with our Russian visas early this morning. But.... But, the date of entry was for Tuesday, the 27th, and our flight lands at 8 PM on Monday. So we're technically not allowed to leave the airport, and it's doubtful that they'd let us just sit there and wait for 4 hours. Plus our coordinator said we might have to pay someone extra for some reason.

Thankfully, there were two flights from Warsaw to Moscow - the second one arrives in Moscow at 12:01 on Tuesday morning. One minute after our visa is valid. So I called the airline and got our flight switched, but they told us they could only change it when we have our ticket number. But we don't have our ticket number until we pick up our tickets at the airport. So we have to go earlier than we intended to the airport, so we can have enough time to call ahead and see if we can change our tickets.

Sigh. Adventure indeed.

Trip to Russia -1 days

Yesterday we accomplished quite a bit. I went to Kohls and finally found an outfit to wear to court. Then I came home and Brent and I ran the rest of the errands. I think there's only one thing I forgot to pick up - I'll have to do that this afternoon.

We had a little trouble getting the cash from our bank. We didn't have enough notice to actually order it (they need a week) so we had to just take the best that they had. Actually we went to the closest branch and they didn't have anything, so we had to go to the head branch and they had enough. It wasn't that far out of the way, thankfully.

Then Brent and I went on a date last night and saw a movie. It was cute - Enchanted. It was nice to get out and not think about anything for a couple of hours.

Today will be cleaning and packing and double checking all of our documents. I'd like to get it all done today so tomorrow we can just go to church, eat lunch, and relax for an hour or so before we have to leave.

Our passports with the visa should be coming today. They better be anyway. The tracking number said they were in Milwaukee at 5:00 this morning, so I'm sure it will be fine.

My back is still pretty stiff, but at least I can walk around fairly well. I've been taking Advil and Brent generously gives me IcyHot massages whenever I ask. Both of us still have pretty bad colds though. I feel bad flying - we're going to be the ones that will make the whole plane sick. But Brent read somewhere that some judges are waiving the ten days wait if the parents are sick. We can only hope, I guess.

I suppose it's time for me to sign off and get back to work. So much to do, so much to do, so much to do, don't have the time to do it.

Trip to Russia -2 days

I don't even know where to start, or what is the most important thing to do. Brent is still in bed, so maybe he's got the right idea.

The house needs cleaning. There are piles of papers everywhere, some important, some not - some very important, so I have to sift through all of them.
I have a million errands to run on the busiest day of the year.

And, I'm sick. I caught Brent's cold and hurt my back somehow. There could not be worse timing for this.
Actually, it's keeping me from running around like a crazy person. I can only do so much and then I have to sit down and rest. I'm trying my hardest to get healthy again so otherwise I'd probably be sucking back gallons of Diet Coke and obsessing until 2 AM. So maybe this is a good thing. I just hope I feel better by Sunday morning.

One piece of our dossier expired, so that should be coming back today. And then our visa paperwork should come tomorrow. That is probably the only thing that could delay us. If we don't have a passport, we can't go anywhere.

I'm almost done packing. Most of the things are in Andrei's room - they just have to be organized and put into suitcases.

Alright, I think I'm okay now. Time to get back at it.

Thankful day

I'm thankful for so many people this year - many of whom I have not met and some who I have.

I'm thankful for my son's birth-mother. She gave him life - she put him on this earth - and then she made undoubtedly difficult decision to allow others to give him a better life than she could give him. The first person to love and care for my son - for that I will never be able to express my gratitutde.

I'm thankful for everyone who has cared for my son in the past 7 years. From meeting him, it is obvious that he is healthy and joyful. He is loved and respected in his orphanage. From what I can see, he has not endured abuse, starvation or neglect. Of course he has issues, as we all do, but I can see that the care given him has been wonderful and helped him to grow into a normal and exuberant little boy.

I'm thankful for the Russian judge who has finally given us a date to bring our son home.

I'm thankful for everyone who has gone before me and the numerous websites and books that I have devoured to ease my mind through this journey.

I'm thankful for everyone who has donated to the Andrei Fund - some we don't know who they are - but know that every single gift we recieved was perfectly timed and well used.

I'm thankful for Dave and Mel who sent us a Christmas card last year with a newspaper clipping in it for the Lighthouse Project. Thank you for listening to your hearts to tell us about this program. You have changed our lives more than you can imagine!

I'm thankful for our families and friends who assure me that I won't turn into a freak hermit or a terrible parent. Sometimes I think they're more excited than we are.

I'm especially thankful for everyone who is standing around us with their prayers. I can see how God's hand has worked through this whole process and I know it is because of the support we have from other believers.

And last but not least, I'm thankful for Brent who has been my sanity the past year. We did this together, babe. We're going to be parents... I love you!

Here's our deal

We are leaving on Sunday, November 25, from Chicago - at 9 PM. We will arrive in Warsaw, Poland at 2 PM on Monday. Then we will leave Warsaw at 4 PM and arrive in Mocow at 8 PM.

We have a hotel booked in Moscow, and we'll stay there the night. We have our Dr. appointment on Tuesday, and then Tuesday night we will take the train to Chuvashia.

We're travelling with another couple that we have not met, and their court date is on Thursday. They're adopting a toddler, I think.

After we leave Chuvashia, we go back to Moscow for an undetermined amount of time (18 days?) and I booked an apartment near the American Embassy and the city's center.

Then we come home - fly through Warsaw again (six hour layover) and arrive back in Chicago at 8 PM on December 18.

Unless something changes.
Which it probably will.
But hopefully not too much.

Finding a ticket

So here's the deal with trying to buy tickets for an adoption. Skip to the end if you just want to hear the summary :)

Some airlines have adoption fares (Delta, Northwest, United, and British Airways were the ones I found). They offer about a 65% discount off the fare, and a 50% discount off the child's ticket.
If you go to Northwest's webiste right now, a round trip ticket from Chicago to Moscow is $700. This is a non-changable ticket. If you have to change your dates, it is a $200 fee. To get the adoption rate you need to get a changeable ticket which is significantly higher. The adoption ticket cost that NW quoted me was $2000 round trip per parent. So even if you have to change your non changeable ticket, it's cheaper than buying an adoption ticket right?
But - when you try to buy a one way ticket for your child to come home. The non adoption rate is $2500 and the adoption rate is $1000. So getting the whole adoption package would come to $5000 and the non-changeable internet package would be $3900. Then if you have to change your dates (more than likely) it would bump it up to $4500 total. Ouch.

So, I tried Aeroflot. They offered a $700 ticket round trip from NYC to Moscow and then a one way for Andrei for only $1200. We still had to buy tickets from Chicago to New York but it ended up being $3200. Much better. So I tried to book it online but they asked for Andrei's passport number, which we don't have. So I tried to call them and that was just a pain. The connection was bad and it was difficult to understand her English. So I gave up on that.

I tried a few other airlines, and could not get a good price on a one way ticket. Plus, it is impossible to book an unaccompanied minor online. And really, you can't tell the internet form that he's not unaccompanied, he's with us, but you can't book the ticket at the same time. Frusterating.

So what I did, and my advice is this - Find the cheapest one way ticket for your child that you can, and then just fly with that airline. I searched on Kayak.com and found a one way ticket from Moscow to Chicago with LOT Airlines for only $900. The round trip tickets for us were $1100. So total only a little over $3000. Also the layover was only 6 hours in Warsaw, not overnight. So I'm on the phone right now with LOT airlines (and have been for about 45 minutes) booking our flights. Then I will be done I hope.

Gaaaah

I have been on the telephone and internet with airlines, hotels, apartments, credit card companies, and our adoption coordinator for five hours.

"All of our agents are assisting other customers. We will answer your call in the order that it was received."

Argh!

Finding Flights

Getting a last minute plane ticket for the week after thanksgiving is not something I recommend.

We were planning on flying Delta, because is was the cheapest, and one of the only airlines that didn't have an overnight stay somewhere in Europe. I have been checking their website every other day making sure the price did not change, see if there were any new deals, etc.

Today it is the first thing I look at. The price at Delta has tripled. Now it's $2500 each if we leave on Monday or Tuesday. Crap.

So I went to all of the other airlines I knew flew out of Chicago - United, same thing. British Airways - better, but still high. Then Nothwest Airlines. They're having a sale, and we can get tickets for approx. $700 each. I have no idea what Andrei's ticket will cost - I have to call because he's a minor. They quoted me a price of $1000 but that may change.
But, Northwest (partnered with KLM) does not fly direct from the US to Moscow - we'll have to layover in Amsterdam. The problem with that is Andrei is not really a citizen of any country until we land in the US. So he's not allowed in any other country - thus we won't be albe to leave the airport with him. We can get a 24 transit visa and I've heard that it is not difficult in Amsterdam - you can do it right at passport control and it is free. But you never know what kind of glitches you might come across.

So here are our options. Let me know which one you think is best.

1. Fly through Amsterdam, don't bother with the transit visa, and suffer through a 12 hour layover at the airport. Be cranky and overtired the entire trip, but be in Chicago the next day.

2. Fly through Amsterdam, get the transit visa, find a hotel and taxi (do you know Dutch? I do not) and then make it back to the airport by 6 the next morning. - Risk getting lost and having to pay a ton for food and a hotel when you don't understand the language.

3. Fly through Amsterdam and immediately get on another plane to Memphis/Detroit/Minniapolis and have another dangerously short layover there. Risk having your luggage lost and missing your connection because of the possible delay at Immigration when we land in the US.

4. Go a completly different route and fly Aeroflot (Russian airline) direct from NYC but then have to book a completely different airline from Chicago to New York -again, risking lost luggage, missed connections, etc. The price is comparable though. They do not have an adoption rate though, and I don't know how much Andrei's ticket will cost.

Any ideas?

A court date for real!!!!!!

Okay so I was just driving up to the salon for a haircut - thinking about if we could afford to spend Christmas in Moscow if our court got pushed back that far. And the phone rang. I answered thinking it was just going to be another no news call. But she said there was a mix-up last week and we actually did get the Nov. 30th date

I was just walking into my appointment so I told her I'd call her back afterward. I called Brent - didn't pick up. I called again. And again. Then I texted. Then I called again. Then he finally called back :)
And the second person to find out was my stylist :)

So the deal now is that we have to get a Russian visa. The company that our agency usually goes through is closed the rest of the week, so they said the earliest we could get one was next Wednesday We'd have to be in Russia by then. So we found a new travel agency and got all the stuff together and shipped out overnight. We should get it back by Saturday.

We will probably leave on Monday or Tuesday.


I have a stomach ache

Vitamin A Smoothie

If you want it to sound healthy, you can call it that. If you want it to sound delicious, you can call it the Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. Yummy!

Here's the recipe
2 cups pumpkin puree (I used butternut squash actually and it tasted the same)
1 (12 oz) can of evaporated milk
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp Pumpkin Pie spice

Blend it all and top with whipped topping.


I thought it would be thicker than it was - more like a milk shake. But it was really thin and so tasty with a bendy straw. I've seen other recipes with apple juice sweetener and bananas as thickener, and I think I may try those in the future. But I really wanted to use one of the half dozen winter squash we have on our kitchen counter, and this was one of my favorite ways so far!

Winter squash is high in Vitamin A and is really good for eyesight, fighting viral infection, and healthy mucosal tissues (to prevent infections from getting in)

Um, this is the best picture I could get....

It's a new week

Let the phone stalking begin.

RUSH into English

I was reading a blog about language development for older adopted children, when I came across a link to RUSH into English. This CD was put together by an adoptive mom and it explains to the child - in Russian - that this CD is to help them learn English. It has sections on colors, food, family, school and phrases like "I don't feel well" "Where is my mom?" "I only speak a little English". It also came with a book to follow along and flash cards to cut out and use. I'm really looking forward to see how Andrei responds to it.

We also got the Parent's CD which has a lot of the same words and also phrases for the parents like "I'm your mom" "You are safe - don't be afraid" "Come with me now". It's really cool. I have a Russian learning book, but it mostly has travelling phrases, not mom and dad phrases. The same website also now has Mandarin and Spanish CDs

The CD is in my car player and also on my iPod and hopefully I'll be able to memorize as much as I can in the next few weeks.

Moving on

Ok. After eating Brent's Christmas stocking candy (sorry, babe, I knew I shouldn't have tried to buy so early), indulging myself in some retail therapy, a little bit of crying and encouragement from a friend - I feel better.

I can wait another week. It won't kill me, even though it feels like it will.

So here's my long to do list that will keep me busy so I don't just sit around staring at the phone all day
- go to police department and update our police clearance letter
- find books to read on the plane
- finish making my travel journal
- collect addresses for those of you lucky enough to get a Russian postcard from us
- print out paperwork for US Embassy and start to fill out
- print out sheet saying where to send our luggage if it gets lost
- refill Brent's inhaler prescription
- write out instructions for our house-sitter
- find the extra key that I made for our house-sitter that is now buried under a mountain of paper
- buy a thumb drive and put all of our paperwork on it
- download some good podcasts onto Brent's laptop
- make photo book for Andrei
- find out how to add Andrei to our health insurance
- buy extra cat supplies
- set up website where we can put up our travel pictures
- clean the entire house
- move stuff from the pile on Andrei's bed into actual suitcases
- write out Russian word cards that I might need
- go to the library and read about 6-yo development
- quit my job and move to Shumerlya so I can be near my boy

to buy
- sweater for court
- money pouches
- luggage tags
- Kleen Kanteen water bottle
- whatever Christmas presents I can
- a haircut maybe?
- Peppermint Mocha
- a new brain

We didn't get the 30th

Our coordinator said the judge was busy that day. So maybe the first week of December.

I can't wait any longer.

The elusive date

I got a short email from our coordinator that said we are 'next in line' and 'it is possible for November 30'

So it's not a sure thing still. But it's a date. And it's only 3 weeks away.

Holy crap.

Super Awesome Spa Deal!

Go to Walgreenssparewards.com to check it out.

Buy 2 Wyeth Products (Advil, Centrum, Dimatapp etc) and get a $50 spa rewards certificate - buy 4 and get $100. There are a lot of spas listed in every state.

Apparently you have to buy all of the products at the same time, and they all have to be full sized. I'm going tomorrow to Walgreens anyway, so I'll check it out.

And, officially - $100 spa certificates are always on my Christmas list. :)


Heard about this on Wise Bread.com

News, sort of, and a DVD

I called our coordinator the minute I walked out of work today to see if there was any new news about that Novembe date. She finally called me back this afternoon to tell me she didn't know anything. So no news.

She said the Russian coordinator was going to the region this week and hopefully she'd get to talk to the judge and get us in. But it might also be pushed to early December. I'm okay with that. I guess I have to be. She said she still thinks we'll get in this year though. I already invited guests to Andrei's birthday party so he better be there too!

The only thing I'm worried about is a mid to late December court date because we'd have to come home and leave Andrei there. All the government things are closed for the holidays - and Russia's Christmas holidays stretch to January 7th. Then we would have to go back to Russia after all that to get him and bring him home. As much as I'd love to, we wouldn't be able to afford to stay there the whole holiday time. But we'll worry about later, if we have to.

So our coordinator told us to start packing and be ready, because we'll only have a short notice before we have to go - maybe 10-14 days.


Plus!!! We got a happy letter today! We got a DVD from the agency with a little 2 minute clip of Andrei and his friends playing outside - recorded last month. He looks the same - he's still wearing the Superman hat we sent him back with. :) We also got a message through a friend through the coordinator through his orphanage director that he's doing well and waiting for us. :melt: I miss him. I'm really really anxious.

Excuse me now while I go watch that video for the 5th time.