Day Five-St. Petersburg

This morning we got up early. JJ wanted to call his dad and the time difference makes calling difficult at times. We learned from our friends, Danny & Gaynell, that you can buy Skype credit and make phone calls as long as you have Internet access. It has been so nice to hear their voices and sometimes even see their faces. We left for the airport at 8:00am. Our driver speaks very little English but he made sure we got right up to the correct check-in desk. In fact he pretty much made us cut everyone in line. It seemed rude, but it seemed more rude to ignore his insistent prompting. It was a nice flight. This was an airline based in St. Petersburg. They gave us pieces of candy, newspapers, drinks, and, well I would call it a candy bar but since it was breakfast maybe it was a breakfast-bar. We met Natasha at the airport. She lives here and works for our adoption agency. We drove and drove to get to our apartment. This is one huge city and very pretty, even from a first impression. Our apartment is nice. JJ said, and it's true, that it is nicer than our first home together. =) It will be good to fix some food for ourselves instead of eating out for each meal. The only problem with the apartment is the stairwell. Whew! The smell almost knocks you over. Natasha even commented on it so I'm assuming it is not normal. We will be here almost 2 weeks. I think I forgot to say that we cannot go to Kotlas to visit our little guy. No one our agency works with is available to travel to Kotlas and translate for us during our stay. We were very disappointed, but so many things in the process are out of our control. Our plans had to change, so we will stay in St. Petersburg longer. We walked around some after we arrived. There is so much to see. We found something similar to a cultural fair. There were lots of booths with food and people showing traditional Russia activities. There was even a big stage with entertainers. We stopped and watched some dancers before walking on down the street. We spent most of the evening resting in the apartment. It feels strange to be slowing down after going and going. I hope we can enjoy these next few days as they will be our last days for a long time as just a couple, which is both wonderful and overwhelming. I really want to soak up as much of our son's country as possible.

Day Four-And the verdict is...

Yes!!! The judge granted our petition to adopt our son!! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!! Today has been an emotional day. I got very little sleep last night. The jet lag caught up with me. I was awake at 2:30am and I couldn't go back to sleep after that. I sat in the bathroom so I wouldn't wake JJ up reading the Bible and praying. Then I played some scrabble on the Ipod. Then I gave up and decided to get ready for the day. JJ woke up soon after. We ended up watching a movie just to take up some time before breakfast. The hotel in Archangelsk has a nice breakfast buffet and it is included in the price of your room. Today I tried a boiled egg. I've decided I needed to study some Russian rules of etiquette before traveling. If I was at home I would have tapped the egg on the table, but somehow that didn't seem polite in a restaurant in another country. I managed to break it open with my spoon and it was very good. JJ tried an omelet which was also tasty. Our friends joined us for breakfast. We had a nice talk about St. Petersburg. They have been there before so they gave us lots of advice. She let me borrow her curling iron. I had a problem using my straightening iron. We have a convertor, but I guess my straightening iron would be not be converted. After it had been plugged in a little while the room began to smell. The poor convertor may never be the same. So, I didn't have nice looking hair for court, but I guess it didn't matter. We finished our speech preparation. We asked the bellhop to take our picture together. Then we waited. Our driver came soon and off to the court building we went. It was actually a short drive. We had been told to greet the court security guards and then wait in the downstairs lobby. Our friends had their court hearing first. It was so hard waiting. I sang quietly in the car to calm myself and remind myself who was in control, but I didn't sing in the court building. It seemed like forever, but soon our translator and our friends came downstairs. The judge had said yes to them! They will be bringing home a little boy and a little girl. They reassured us that everything would be alright. We were led upstairs to a very small court room. We had seen pictures, but I was surprised at how small the room truly was. Soon the judge arrived. We had some legal formalities and then JJ gave his speech. He did such a good job. Then it was my turn to talk. The other representatives of the different government agencies spoke on our behalf. It was nice to have everyone on our side. After the judge had heard everyone he left for a few minutes to deliberate. He came back and read the legal proclamation. It was long and I kept waiting for him to say that our petition had been accepted. Finally, as he was almost to the end of the court's decision he said that we were going to be his parents. I started to cry. I couldn't help myself. The judge left and then we all left. Our translator took our picture outside the court building. We came back to the hotel and had a celebration lunch with our friends and fellow new parents. They had to leave early in the afternoon for their flight. We have rested some now and I rearranged all our luggage. We are leaving some things here while we go to St. Petersburg. We will return to this hotel when it is time to pick up our son. I cannot comprehend the magnitude of this day. I am so grateful and full of emotion. I hope I can do as Mary did and ponder these things in my heart for the rest of life.

Here is the picture the bellhop took of us in the hallway of our hotel before we headed to court room. Doesn't JJ look handsome? Maybe I'm prejudice, but I think he looks super cute. He never wears a tie, so you know today was an important occasion.

We were so happy after the judge's decision. What a wonderful moment!

Day Three

I am going to try posting everyday. I hope to use these entries as a record of our time so we can share it with our son later. If I get too detailed, just skim it over. =) We got plenty of sleep last night. We went to bed around 7:00pm and didn't get up until 8:00am. We were so tired so we slept well. The evenings/nights are not very dark this time of year so we will see how sleeping goes the rest of the trip. We had the breakfast buffet at our hotel and we met another American couple adopting. They have their court date tomorrow as well. They are adopting a little boy and a little girl. They had just arrived from Kotlas on a train, so they needed to rest. We spent some time exploring Archangelsk. The nice lady at the front desk gave us a map, but it wasn't very helpful because we didn't see any street signs. We managed to find a store with groceries on the lower level and a "Sears" looking area on the upper level. Oh, I almost forgot. JJ forgot to pack any type of jacket! It is nothing like it was in January, but is still cold here and slow was falling off and on all day. We had to visit the clothing stores we found back then and get him something so people wouldn't think he was the crazy American who never gets cold. We found an Ecko hoodie with rhinos and bling on the zipper. It was 50% off. He looks a little silly, but I guess it works. Okay, back to the large store. We walked through almost the whole store. I was amazed at the quantities and varieties of items. They had 3D TV's, vacuums, and so many blenders. Downstairs they had all kinds of food. We picked up some snack items and sandwich making materials. We even found some Lays chips. We came back to the hotel for lunch. We finally tried Borsch and it wasn't bad. It was nothing like my memories of beets from grade school. We rested in the room and then headed to the ministry of education. The other couple was just leaving their meeting, but the head gentlemen had not arrived. They had to wait to complete everything. He came a few minutes into our meeting. In the meantime our translator began going over all the documents that were prepared for court. Our hearing will be tomorrow at 11:30am. We went over when to stand, what the court room looks like, who will be present at the hearing, etc. We each have chance to speak, but JJ will do most of the talking. He is somewhat nervous. I have tried to reassure him that he talks for a living and he will do great. We got to see our little guys early picture in his file. He is so stinkin' cute! I was very happy to hear that we get to take copies of those documents home. When all our questions were answered we came back to the hotel and then went out to eat with our new friends at a nearby restaurant. It was so nice to talk to someone who A, spoke English, and B, knew what we were going through. Well, it is time to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow. We are ready to hear "Dah".

Second Trip Day 1. Or is it Day 2?

We are in Moscow. We left Oklahoma City this morning at 5:30am Central time. We had a layover in Detroit and another in New York before making the long flight to Moscow. It is now 1:00pm-ish in Moscow, but it is Wednesday here. Well, I suppose it is Wednesday at home too. Ugh! I am tired. So I guess this counts as two days of our trip technically. We have one more flight today that leaves at 3:00pm, but I know when we finally get to our hotel I will only want to sleep. Today we have had smooth travels. I felt much more relaxed knowing we had our passports and some money in hand. My checked bag made it under the weight limit by 1 pound. Whew! We have our little guy's ticket for the return trip home. We have all our in-country flights settled. We slept very little, but we each napped at different points during the day. I actually feel better than I did at this point of trip #1, but I am super tired. The plan for tomorrow is to get prepared for our court hearing. Dimtri met us at the airport and helped us get all our in-country travel finalized. He was not sure what time our court hearing will take place on Friday. I guess we will find out tomorrow. Oh, my sister asked me so I guess I'll pass on the info to everyone. We are waiting on some finances from our bank. They hadn't approved our line of credit when we left the country. Until that happens we are short some money. I guess I am past the point of asking, so if you want to help fill in this gap my mom is handling all our finances while we are gone. She can take care of any donations/gifts. We did get word that we were approved for a grant/fundraiser, but it is too late to help us now. We will get it all organized after we come home. We hope everyone is well. Lots of love from Russia.

Panic, Pray, Praise, Repeat

Have I mentioned that I am ready for this process to be completed? No? Well I am very ready. This last round of getting visas was very trying emotionally. First the passports sat in the post office after the first failed delivery. Then the consulate had to approve our emergency status so they could be expedited. Then they accidentally got sent back to us two-day mail, putting them at our house tomorrow. After a long time on the phone with FedEx, and several extra dollars, we got them sent to the airport and we picked them up a couple of hours ago. JJ said he was never so happy to see his own goofy picture in his passport. We got our money situation straightened out, we thought, but when we arrived at the bank today the check hadn't cleared. We had to have my parents bail us out again. And we had our neighbors get into our house and search our file cabinet for our ATM pin number. Whew! We are almost there. We now have passports in hand, almost enough money, and a few hours to sleep before our 5:30am flight. I want to give God all the glory for how things are right now. We could not really do anything. Oh, we tried. We tried super hard, but God put the right people in our lives at the perfect time to bring us to this point and I believe God brings things to completion. Thank you all for your prayers and support! We could still use some money, but we will be all right. We are going to get our son. I will do my best to keep our blog updated. You can also check JJ's facebook. He is good about keeping his status updated. Thanks again! May God bless you and keep you.

All the time God is good...

We received news this morning from the agency that is handling our visas that the paperwork will be complete and back in their office by Friday. Praise the Lord! We are back on schedule. ...and God is good all the time. He is faithful even when we are faithless.

Nothing We Can Do, But Pray

Today has been a difficult day. Let me give some background. We got our court date and travel information last Tuesday. I put our visa application in the mail on Wednesday. It was going to the Russian consulate office in Houston via a processing agency in Houston. We live in a tiny town. We do not have FedEx offices or UPS offices. We have a post office. In general that is not a problem. In fact I have known our postal workers all my life and I trust them completely. They said the express mail could not be guaranteed overnight to Houston, but it could arrive on Friday. That was plenty of time. Friday I checked the tracking number and it showed an attempted delivery on Thursday. "Great!" right? It was ahead of schedule. Then no more action happened on the tracking number again. Yesterday I started by calling the visa processing place in Houston. No package. Then I tried the postal service 800 number. Maybe it was being delivered, but I could schedule a redelivery for today, Tuesday. Then I tracked down the actual post office in Houston where the package was sent. Call back tomorrow and we will find out for you. This morning at 9:30 the package had still not arrived and nothing was updated on the tracking number. I called the post office again. The package was not in the office. It might be on the carrier's truck. They would call me back. By this point I was panicking. I had a field trip and needed to leave in about 10 minutes. I gave JJ all the phone numbers, but before I left the post office called back. Our package was in the truck and was on it's way to be delivered. That crisis was enough, but it wasn't over. The nice lady, and she genuinely seems to be nice, at the visa process center informed me that the consulate was not processing visas in the previously offered 3-day "hurry up this is an emergency" mode unless it was truly an emergency. She didn't think we could get our visas back on time. With all this happening I left with 18 preschoolers to sing at a nursing home and eat at McDonald's. JJ carried the burden for most of the day. I came home to find no change. He could not get in touch with the right person at the consulate. The only positive thing that occurred was our agency sending a fax to the consulate to verify our "emergency" status. I was able to speak with someone at the consulate who told me if we had said fax sent that yes we could get our paperwork sped up and completed by Friday. Oh, why not Monday? Because Monday is a Russian national holiday so nothing will happen that day. It has to be done by Friday! We are flying out Tuesday morning at 5:30am from a town that is a four hour drive from our home. So, we have nothing to do but pray. Which is actually the most powerful thing we can do. Please join us! I will try to update tomorrow when we know more.