Back Home in Alabama

Well, after two days and a little over 20 hours of air travel, we are back home with our children. It was very hard getting on the plane in Moscow knowing that I was leaving half my family behind. Oddly, it was harder then than it was when we left Vladivostok. I guess my thinking was even though they were 9 hours (by plane) away, I was still in the same country. However, I do know the orphanage workers care a lot for them and they are in good hands.

It was so good to come home and hold and hug our kids. I am so impressed by them and what they were able to manage this week. Jeremy and Christina held down the fort here at home and spent time with Grandaddy. Sarah spent time with friends and had a blast. I think spending time with the girls helped prepare her for two new sisters and a little brother.

We learned we could write the kids (in Russia) letters and such via the agency office in St. Louis. We plan to do that and let Big Sister read the letters to her brother and sister. For now, we plan to write the letters and get help from our friends in Birmingham (that operate a school for Russian speaking kids) interpret them.

Thanks so much for all of the prayers. On the trip, we could actually see and experience many prayers that were answered. Dawn and I can't thank you enough for the way you have lifted our entire family.

Folks, there are a lot of amazing older kids (4 and above) in Russia and Ukraine that need a momma and papa. People often come up, with the best intentions and emotions, and tell us what a wonderful thing we're doing. Let me assure everyone, this adoption is a blessing from God and a true honor. Those three children did more for me this past week than I could ever do in return. If God is tugging on your heart as He did ours, please listen to him.

Day 4 - Goodbye

Today is Thursday and was the last day to visit the orphanage. We fly out tomorrow to Moscow, and spend the night there before going on home (to Atlanta, then Birmingham and then about a 2-hour drive). We said goodbye to the children, and our interpreter explained that we were going away and coming back later on for them. Big Sister, she said understood. She (Big Sister) also talked about her biological mother and apparently remembers a lot and understands how they ended up in the orphanage to a large degree. The younger two still remember the name of a pet dog they had. They all have been learning the names of the children at home, and point to their pictures. The older girl told our interpreter that she is already learning English. We would have liked to get a bit more information and also spend more time with them. We are hoping it will not be as long as we are being warned that it could take before the next trip to bring them home. We are looking forward to being home, though. There is a lot to do to fill up the time before the next trip, so we will be busy. Also, it is a comfort to know that they are in a place where they are cared for so well, even though the resources are very slim there.

Day Three - Papers Signed

Sorry we are late posting for our third day, but we got back to the motel late and we were pretty wiped out. We got an early start to the orphanage and got there about 9:30 AM. Although we are only about 35 miles away, the travel time is over an hour due to the way the roads wrap around the area.

On our way to the orphanage, our agency representative, Lana, asked us if we were prepared to make a decision to adopt the children. If so, we needed to sign the official papers of intent at the orphanage and take them to town to have them notarized. I told her I was ready to do that the first day! Back home, people often ask about the cost of international adoption and I shy away from that because I do not want to discourage anyone who might be interested. I will tell you now that I would pay ten times the amount it is costing us to bring these children home with us. How can you put a price on the love of these children?

When we arrived at the orphanage we went to the social worker's office, a very nice lady who obviously cares a lot about the children. Soon, Big Sister ran in with gifts for Dawn and I. She ran to me and I picked her up in my arms and hugged her and she gave me a small plastic keychain piece that had the Russian flag on it and some words in Russian on the flip side. I kissed her on the cheek and let her down and she gave Dawn a small hair clip. This child has nothing to call her own, but she found two small gifts, somehow, to give us. She is such a sweet and loving child. Our agency representative explained to Big Sister that we were about to sign official government papers indicating our intent to adopt her and her siblings. I am not sure, but I think she asked her if that was okay because Big Sister grinned and said, “da”. The papers were read to us by our agency representative and Dawn I both signed.

We were then taken to the receiving area to meet Brother and Little Sister. Little Sister and Brother walked in holding hands and ran to us as soon as they saw us. I had kneeled down so I could hug them and I soon had all three wrapped around me. We gave them the small stuffed animals (two dogs and a frog) that Sarah had picked out for them. Our agency representative then told us it was important to tell them now that we had three children back home that would be their brother and sisters. We told her that the children had prepared brief video greetings saying hello and that we played them for the children yesterday. She seemed relieved, but turned to the children and explained that we had other children at home and that we would be a big family. I showed the children a picture of me, Dawn, Jeremy, Christina and Sarah and I named each one. After those formalities were out of the way, it was play time. Before traveling to Russia, Sarah and I went shopping and selected some stickers for Big Sister that had some pens with them that allowed you to color them. Big Sister shared with Brother and they colred some of the stickers and presented them to Dawn and I. We had also brought two puzzles – one for Brother and one for Little Sister. So I sat with the two of them and worked on puzzles. Soon Big Sister joined us.

After that, it was bubble time. They love bubbles.! They bubbles and more bubbles. While playing, we met one of Big Sister's friends who happened to walk by. I took their picture and had hoped tom leave a copy of that picture with them, but that is another story. Anyway, we played until about 12:30 and then it was time for them to go and eat. Big Sister attends school after lunch so it was important that she was not late.

Our agency representative met with some of the caregivers to get us some additional information on the children – likes and dislikes. After saying our goodbyes, we went to town to sign more papers and to have them notarized. We then went out to eat Chinese food and see the town.

Well, that's about it. Today is our last day with the children and that is going to be tough. Please keep us in your prayers.

- Tony & Dawn

Day 2 With the Kids

Hi (Preevyet)!

We visited the children in the orphanage for the second time this morning. We had to make a stop first, but still spent about 2 ½ hours there with the children. They went out to eat lunch, but came back afterward and must have eaten very quickly in order to get back to see us before moving on to other activities of the day. We had a terrific time. Our interpreter was unable to stay with us, so we were limited again in our conversation with the children, but we muddled through and played with a ball, bubbles, drawing with chalk and crayons, and played with modeling clay. We also took more pictures which we are unable to post since we have not officially completed the adoption. Tomorrow we visit them again in the morning, as Big Sister goes to school sometime after lunch. She was asked by the orphanage director whether she would like to have Tony and I as her “Mama” and “Papa” (in her office in private) - she said yes. Later, the director told Lana, our interpreter, who told us about this conversation. Of course we were happy to hear that! It was so sweet to have hugs from them, and we all had a good time together. They are very well cared for apparently, and all the children we saw seemed happy and in good health. It is clear that they do the best with what they have at the orphanage. I am very impressed with the good character of the orphanage folks as well as the CHI folks here.

It has been good meeting the other adoptive families here and talking with them. The Vlad Inn where we are staying is very accommodating as well.

We miss Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah at home in Alabama. We have heard from them that they are doing well and are glad about that. Sarah would like to ice skate here in one of the outside frozen skating areas. Jeremy would get a kick out of all the interesting antenna configurations we see on the way to the orphanage. Christina would of course understand and communicate in Russian much better than Tony and I. It is cool to note so many things that are the same over here. We drove past the Coca-cola plant.

Diet Coke is “Coke Light”. Also, the bottled water is either plain or carbonated, and you want to be specific about which kind you want. We had to order “without gas” to get the uncarbonated water (“vada”). We have noticed that the people drive very fast here. We tried to ascertain if there was a speed limit. If there is, we don't think it is really enforced, or heeded. Amazingly, there are very few wrecks, however. People just dodge whomever or whatever, and keep on going. City driving is pretty crazy, but amazingly, it seems to work just fine, as there seems to be very few rules other that don't hit anyone or be hit.

We are already thinking about how difficult it will be to say goodbye to these children knowing that it will be a while before we can come back for them. We hope to be able to explain a bit more to them and assure them that we are coming back. We will be happy to be home, however, and see Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah.

Thanks for all of the prayers and please continue to pray for our family.

Good night from Russia!

Dawn

Ministry of Education and Our First Visit

Today we got a late start of things because there was some paperwork that had to be notarized before we could go to visit the Ministry of Education. The Ministry is in charge of all the orphans and we had to get a referral of children to visit and then permission to visit their orphanage. They ladies were all very nice but serious about their job. They asked us a few basic questions before giving us the opportunity to visit the orphanage.

Due to Russian rules and regulations, the children's privacy is considered very important – as it should be. For that reason, I can not refer to them by name. I know that may sound silly to some, but it is their rule and we are visitors in THEIR country. For that reason, I will refer to them as Baby Sister, Brother and, Big Sister.

We arrived at the orphanage about 3PM in the afternoon an were escorted inside the building to the director's office. She seemed to be a very kind lady and very concerned about the welfare of all the children. After about 15 minutes of formalities and some questions, Baby Sister was escorted in the office. She was dressed in a pretty Christmas season dress and stockings and had the biggest grin on her face you have ever seen. She plopped down on a seat between Dawn and I and we handed her a gift bag with a doll and some candy. She grabbed the doll and even though I would have sworn there was no way that child could grin more – she did. She hugged the doll and immediately named it Masha and told us it was four years old! Dawn asked the director permission to give her candy and then handed a piece to Baby Sister. She opened it and put the whole caramel in her mouth. We chatted briefly and suddenly the door opened and Brother walked into the room. He too was grinning and sat down next to his sister. Dawn handed him his gift bag which contained a teddy bear puppet. He held onto the bear and then we offered him a piece of candy also. While he was opening his candy, I opened up a bottle of bubbles. They went nuts! Squealing and jumping trying to catch/pop the bubbles. After about ten minutes of bubbles, I pulled out a foam ball and we started tossing it back and forth. They loved the ball and I learned Brother has one heck of an arm on him! We played for about thirty minutes with the ball and we were afraid we were getting a little too loud with the kids squealing and all. Midst all of this, the orphanage director had more questions for us which we answered to the best of our ability. Then after what seemed ages, Big Sister was escorted in the room. She smiled but was very reserved. Dawn handed her the gift bag we had prepared for her. Brother and Little Sister were very eager to help her open up her Barbie. This Barbie was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt and wore a cowboy hat. Withing minutes, Big Sister had named her Barbie “Isla”. We handed Big Sister a piece of the candy we had. She was not aware her siblings had already had some of the candy. Before she took a bite, she gave each of them a bite of her candy. That did it for me, I was ready to pack them up and head home. We played some more with all three and took some pictures and were told it was time to go. It was about 5:30 and we did not want to interrupt their schedule.

Before leaving, the orphanage director called the children over to her desk and asked them if it would be okay if we came back tomorrow to visit them. The children grinned and replied, “da”. They gave us a hug and we said “dasvedanya”.

I could write a book about the feelings and emotions we both felt, but I must stop here – I forget how many are reading this update. I liken today to the day I had when each of our children were born – irreplaceable.

Anyway, we are doing great. The agency staff here are so wonderful and have gone out of their way to make sure we were prepared and had all our questions answered.

We're Here!!

We are so happy to be on the ground and not in an airport! We are at the Vlad Inn in Vladivostok, Russia. It is a beautiful day. We just had a walk to the little grocery/market store and took in some fresh air with another couple who flew in from Moscow on the same flight as us, and will be going with us tomorrow (Monday) to the Ministry of Education to request permission to visit the children in the orphanages. After that we plan to visit them for the first time. We are all tired out from the 30+ hours of traveling, but very excited and relieved to be here. I feel like Satan does not want us to adopt these children, but the Lord has triumphed every step of the way (of course!) and smoothed out every rough spot. Our plane from Atlanta had mechanical problems having to do with the air pressure, but they landed in New York and determined that we should take another plane, which we did. That potential danger averted, we landed late in Moscow and after making contact with the agency and waiting a couple of hours, finally determined that we must get a taxi to the next airport (still in Moscow) to be able to make our flight to Vladivostok in time. We made it and here we are!

We are missing the children at home tremendously. Hopefully, they miss us a little bit, too, just not too much!

Off to Russia

Okay, let me catch everyone up on what has been going on with the adoption process...
We originally received our CIS approval on October 20. However, there was a problem. The documentation (I-797) only indicated we were adopting two children when in fact, we are adopting three children. We contacted them and were told we only needed to send a letter requesting the change. I overnighted a letter on October 23. Well, after many e-mails in follow-up and one more letter, we received our corrected 797 today!

CIS notified us by e-mail, on November 20th, that the corrected 797 was processed. We notified the agency that afternoon and Wednesday morning they called and asked if we could leave for Russia on November 30. I was not expecting to travel for another 2-3 weeks! I contacted a travel agent and ordered the airline tickets which have us leaving out of Birmingham on 11/30. We are flying east and entering Russia via Moscow as opposed to flying west and entering in our region (shorter flight). We will be in the air approximately 20 hours. With my claustrophobia, that is 17.5 hours longer than I am comfortable with.

Home Study Approved by DHR

Yesterday morning I received a call from our social worker telling us our home study had been approved by the Alabama Department of Human Resources. This process can often take as long as six weeks but ours was processed in just one week. This was an answer to many prayers! The home study has now been passed on to CIS for their approval. The social worker said the current time line for CIS is 45 days.

Dawn spoke with our agency this morning regarding some paperwork questions and one form we forgot to send. If all goes well, our paperwork will be sent to Russia next Friday. She said we should expect to travel no later than mid October. I have had the last week in September as my target for several months now. A couple of weeks may not sound like a big deal, but the Russians have an extended holiday season in January and the government shuts down. For that reason, I had hoped to have court in late December in order to avoid the government shut down. It's all in God's time . . .

Home Study Completed and Mailed

This afternoon, I received a call from our social worker - she had finished our home study! I picked up our copy for the dossier and she sent a copy to the Alabama Dept of Human Resources for approval. There is the possibility that DHR could kick the home study because our new bedroom is not finished. It will be ready by the end of August, but they may not like the idea that it wasn't completed at the time the home study was submitted. According to the social worker, the worst case scenario would be they would place a hold on their approval until she confirmed the new room was completed.

DHR could take one to six weeks to review our case. We are praying they give us approval within a three week period. After we receive DHR approval, the home study is submitted to the CIS (Immigration Services) for approval. CIS approval is taking about 6-7 weeks.

ABI Clearance

Dawn and I received our official letters from the ABI and we have been cleared! Next we have to get our written home study (proof read by agency for proper content for Russia) and official letter of recommendation from social worker. All of that is then submitted to the Alabama Department of Human Resources for approval (2-6 weeks).

Home Study & Dossier

Right now, we are waiting on our ABI clearance for our home study. We have completed all visits for the home study and have submitted everything asked of us. I e-mailed the social worker on Monday and asked for an update. She said she expects the ABI clearance soon (they have had our fingerprints for two months). Once she has received the clearance letters, our home study is complete.

The home study and CIS approval (US Government) are the only two items missing from our dossier. CIS is waiting on our letter of recommendation (from the social worker) that is attached to the home study. That said, we are still hoping to travel in September.