We rose early this morning and flew west from Kemerovo with the rising sun at our backs and the Siberian snow clouds below us. It seems an apt expression of hopefulness and sadness. We are thrilled to be nearly complete with another major step in our adoption process. But we left with the words of our youngest ringing in our ears – “I don’t need a coat, I want to go with you now!” As they sent us off with hugs and kisses and statements that they were ready and anxious to have a mama and papa, all we could do is promise to come back for them as soon as we could. Their understanding is that we need to go away to buy the tickets and will return when we have them. We hope that the process leading to our court date goes quickly – but even if it lasts a week that would be too long.
We know that some of you have worried (or at least wondered) if we were really going to name our kids Peter, Paul and Mary – especially when we learned how much Mary loves to sign. While there is something endearing to that logic we have taken a different road. We are thrilled to share with our family and friends that we have petitioned the Russian Federation to rename the children Carson, Parker and Delaney (youngest to oldest) and keep their Russian first names as middle names. We asked Delaney, through the interpreter, if she wanted a new name from her new mama and papa she said yes, and when Nancy wrote it out on a chalk board for her she was both shy and excited. While she certainly doesn’t grasp all that was going on, her caregivers, and indeed all at the orphanage she was in, were very familiar with parents coming to visit and “looking for their forever children.”
In fact, on the second visit with the boys we walked in on a drama rehearsal where the 10 or so kids (including our littlest) marching around with snow shovels on their backs as recorded music played. They stopped and pretended to shovel snow and sign. It was a cute show and the tallest girl just beamed at us as she made eye contact. As the kids sang I told Nancy that adopting three was enough because I could see in her eyes that she wanted to adopt them all (I could hardly resist thinking the same)! It was only at the conclusion of the rehearsal that our interpreter shared with us the words they sang. The gist of the song was that they needed to shovel the snow so that their new parents could come to the orphanage to find them and take them home. It explained so much and broke our hearts that so many of these kids wanted desperately to be adopted into a real family.
Back here in Moscow, the sun shone as we walked about this afternoon. It was still cold but we explored for grocery stores and other support services for the several days we will spend with three kids in tow when we come back to pick them up. Tonight we are relaxing after what can only be described as our own version of a Christmas Miracle. The mental, emotional and physical exhaustion of the last six days has been enormous. We plan on hitting the hay early tonight and sleeping in tomorrow before we make the last day of flying home. We plan on a bit of city touring tomorrow but otherwise laying low and trying to rest up for a return to our ‘real’ world. Again, we thank each of you for your emails, comments and prayers. We have felt them and they have given us strength.
Our love to all of you.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
It’s been another great day in Siberia! Never mind the cold the warmth we’ve felt from Peter, Paul and Mary has made the trip worth every value tenfold. We spent just an hour with the boys this morning but made stronger connections as we played with balloons, tickled, measured feet, hands, shirts and pants so that when we come back in a couple of months we can have the right size for each one. We all shared Cheerios as we left them with little backpack bags for their toys. We gave them a fleece blanket and a photo album of their new mama and daddy as well as their new older sister and grandparents and cousins and their new home in Maryland. They ate it up and as we prepared to leave they grabbed their stuff and announced they were ready to go – they didn’t need more coats they just wanted to go with us. It was awful tearing ourselves away but after a few more tight hugs we managed to leave with promises to come back soon to take them to their new home.
Then it was off for a quick visit with Mary. She sacheted into the room and to the sofa with the biggest smile on her face and Sophia (her doll) in her arms. She got up and demonstrated her skill at printing the Russian alphabet on a chalk board which Nancy then followed by spelling out our fist names and then shared with Mary her new name. She giggled and declared she liked it! We moved on to Sophia and cut loose the ribbon holding her hair in one style and restyled it to suit her imagination. We gave her a coloring book and now have her first piece of art to hang on the fridge. We gave her a blanket as well and then showed her the picture album including her room, older sister (she said “she’s pretty”), grandparents and cousins. As we gathered things up to head out she wanted to use our camera to take first Kevin’s picture and then Nancy’s. So, she already has a taste for being creative and adventuresome. As we pulled on our shoes to leave she gave us hugs and a big kiss good bye.
Clearly, it was hard for us to leave – even knowing we will be back in a few months to bring them home for good. It will be as hard on them as it will be on us. As good as their caregivers are – and they truly do their best with limited resources, it is not a substitute for being together as a family. When we showed Mary pictures of her brothers she beamed and laughed at some of our pictures. She clearly misses them! That kind of attachment is wonderful to see and holds promise for the melding of the three of them into our family of three. Time will tell but we are confident that God’s hand did bring us together and this family is meant to be.
The next steps were taken this afternoon when we signed a formal petition to the Russian Federation to adopt the three kids. The process moves on further in our absence and will hopefully progress to a court hearing before Mary’s 8th birthday on February 28 (also Kevin’s Father’s birthday) so we can be home to celebrate. That’s all for now. We are beat and 4:00 AM will come soon with a flight back to Moscow Friday morning followed by our departure Sunday morning for the US. Our love to all of you!
Then it was off for a quick visit with Mary. She sacheted into the room and to the sofa with the biggest smile on her face and Sophia (her doll) in her arms. She got up and demonstrated her skill at printing the Russian alphabet on a chalk board which Nancy then followed by spelling out our fist names and then shared with Mary her new name. She giggled and declared she liked it! We moved on to Sophia and cut loose the ribbon holding her hair in one style and restyled it to suit her imagination. We gave her a coloring book and now have her first piece of art to hang on the fridge. We gave her a blanket as well and then showed her the picture album including her room, older sister (she said “she’s pretty”), grandparents and cousins. As we gathered things up to head out she wanted to use our camera to take first Kevin’s picture and then Nancy’s. So, she already has a taste for being creative and adventuresome. As we pulled on our shoes to leave she gave us hugs and a big kiss good bye.
Clearly, it was hard for us to leave – even knowing we will be back in a few months to bring them home for good. It will be as hard on them as it will be on us. As good as their caregivers are – and they truly do their best with limited resources, it is not a substitute for being together as a family. When we showed Mary pictures of her brothers she beamed and laughed at some of our pictures. She clearly misses them! That kind of attachment is wonderful to see and holds promise for the melding of the three of them into our family of three. Time will tell but we are confident that God’s hand did bring us together and this family is meant to be.
The next steps were taken this afternoon when we signed a formal petition to the Russian Federation to adopt the three kids. The process moves on further in our absence and will hopefully progress to a court hearing before Mary’s 8th birthday on February 28 (also Kevin’s Father’s birthday) so we can be home to celebrate. That’s all for now. We are beat and 4:00 AM will come soon with a flight back to Moscow Friday morning followed by our departure Sunday morning for the US. Our love to all of you!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Where do you begin in sharing the best news ever! Today we met the three cutest kids this side of the Urals. After consulting with our international adoption (IA) pediatrician we are accepting the referral and proceeding with the adoption of Peter, Paul and Mary.
Our day started at 0-dark 30 packing and repacking toys to take with us. Not knowing their ages and situation made that more difficult. But as we drove the two hours to Peter and Paul’s orphanage we learned their ages and names. Once inside we met with their doctors and caregivers who shared their medical and social histories. Then came the fun part – playing with the boys. It was clear that they were brothers and Paul was doing his part as the older brother with his arm protectively around Peter when we first met. But a few tickles by Nancy and the fun broke loose. Though they were shy at first Nancy and I soon were on the floor rolling those self-powered cars back and forth to Peter – who just turned 4 and Paul who turned 6 this past fall. After watching them race around the play room we proceeded to blow bubbles at them and then laugh as Peter tried catching the ones that his older brother was making (though with a missing front baby tooth it was a bit of a challenge). As they left for naps they both waved and Paul asked if we could come back tomorrow and play while little Peter blew us a kiss good bye! We now didn’t want to leave at all.
We then left and drove another 30 minutes to Mary’s boarding school. We first met with her caregivers and got her medical and social history. As that was winding down, in walks the cutest little girl with this white lacy ribbon in her hair. She walked over to the sofa we were sitting on and she shyly was introduced. Small talk and inside intel told us that the doll we had brought from home would be just the ticket to break the ice. When Nancy pulled it out of the day pack her eyes lit up and she beamed a wide smile. She held the doll and stoked her hair. Though she admitted she liked reading more than most things she clearly loves that doll and soon decided to call her Sophia. We had learned that her favorite color was pink and again Nancy’s instinct hit the nail on the head because we were able to pull a pink purse with a cat on the side out of the day pack which she thought that was wonderful. We then introduced the bubbles and what a hoot that was. Before we were done Nancy and I were on the floor blowing bubbles with her and making quite the mess of things! She played with those bubbles quite a while in between showing us the school’s Barbie and Ken dolls and a clock to demonstrate that she could count and match the time on the wall clock to her clock. Next we relived our oun childhood as Mary proceeded to name and eat all the animals in the animal cracker box. Towards the end she willingly shared the last two with Kevin. It was great to see her close the box and proudly put it in her new pink purse. As we wound things down she gave us each a hug and as we walked down the hall she reached out and took both our hands. As we left she gave me a hug and Nancy got both a hug and a kiss. It was a great way to end a stellar day in Siberia.
But, the fun was not completely over. We still had to travel 2.5 hours back in driving snow and bitter temperatures. Midway back our driver veered off the road into a dimly lit road side truck stop of sorts (it reminded me of the Ice Road truckers show on TV). We pulled up in front of one of those charcoal cooking stands that they tell you not to eat at (but our driver knew the place well) . Well, we did eat and it was very good and gave us another slice of local life here in Siberia. Upon arrival at our hotel we typed up all the notes we had been taking all day and emailed them to our IA doctor back in New York. That consultation, which ended just an hour ago, revealed that the kid’s issues are typical of international adoptions and at present don’t amount to anything that we can’t work to resolve and remedy.
Tomorrow we will return to visit more with the kids and to finish the referral acceptance paperwork. We will then leave Kemerovo on Friday morning to return to the US on Sunday. Your prayers have been with us and felt each moment of each day and we thank all of you for your love and support.
Stay tuned as we learn more about the children and our next steps…
Our day started at 0-dark 30 packing and repacking toys to take with us. Not knowing their ages and situation made that more difficult. But as we drove the two hours to Peter and Paul’s orphanage we learned their ages and names. Once inside we met with their doctors and caregivers who shared their medical and social histories. Then came the fun part – playing with the boys. It was clear that they were brothers and Paul was doing his part as the older brother with his arm protectively around Peter when we first met. But a few tickles by Nancy and the fun broke loose. Though they were shy at first Nancy and I soon were on the floor rolling those self-powered cars back and forth to Peter – who just turned 4 and Paul who turned 6 this past fall. After watching them race around the play room we proceeded to blow bubbles at them and then laugh as Peter tried catching the ones that his older brother was making (though with a missing front baby tooth it was a bit of a challenge). As they left for naps they both waved and Paul asked if we could come back tomorrow and play while little Peter blew us a kiss good bye! We now didn’t want to leave at all.
We then left and drove another 30 minutes to Mary’s boarding school. We first met with her caregivers and got her medical and social history. As that was winding down, in walks the cutest little girl with this white lacy ribbon in her hair. She walked over to the sofa we were sitting on and she shyly was introduced. Small talk and inside intel told us that the doll we had brought from home would be just the ticket to break the ice. When Nancy pulled it out of the day pack her eyes lit up and she beamed a wide smile. She held the doll and stoked her hair. Though she admitted she liked reading more than most things she clearly loves that doll and soon decided to call her Sophia. We had learned that her favorite color was pink and again Nancy’s instinct hit the nail on the head because we were able to pull a pink purse with a cat on the side out of the day pack which she thought that was wonderful. We then introduced the bubbles and what a hoot that was. Before we were done Nancy and I were on the floor blowing bubbles with her and making quite the mess of things! She played with those bubbles quite a while in between showing us the school’s Barbie and Ken dolls and a clock to demonstrate that she could count and match the time on the wall clock to her clock. Next we relived our oun childhood as Mary proceeded to name and eat all the animals in the animal cracker box. Towards the end she willingly shared the last two with Kevin. It was great to see her close the box and proudly put it in her new pink purse. As we wound things down she gave us each a hug and as we walked down the hall she reached out and took both our hands. As we left she gave me a hug and Nancy got both a hug and a kiss. It was a great way to end a stellar day in Siberia.
But, the fun was not completely over. We still had to travel 2.5 hours back in driving snow and bitter temperatures. Midway back our driver veered off the road into a dimly lit road side truck stop of sorts (it reminded me of the Ice Road truckers show on TV). We pulled up in front of one of those charcoal cooking stands that they tell you not to eat at (but our driver knew the place well) . Well, we did eat and it was very good and gave us another slice of local life here in Siberia. Upon arrival at our hotel we typed up all the notes we had been taking all day and emailed them to our IA doctor back in New York. That consultation, which ended just an hour ago, revealed that the kid’s issues are typical of international adoptions and at present don’t amount to anything that we can’t work to resolve and remedy.
Tomorrow we will return to visit more with the kids and to finish the referral acceptance paperwork. We will then leave Kemerovo on Friday morning to return to the US on Sunday. Your prayers have been with us and felt each moment of each day and we thank all of you for your love and support.
Stay tuned as we learn more about the children and our next steps…
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Arrival In Siberia
12/18/2007 Kemerovo: We arrived at our destination city at half past 7 this morning – exactly 12 time zones from all of you who are reading this. As we landed, some of the Russian passengers applauded. To us it was a perfectly normal flight. Aside from our bleary eyes it boggles our minds that we are so far from home. Yet, many things seem the same. Ads still contain English both in the airport and on the route to our hotel but as we have gotten around today it is clear we are farther from the mainstream. More people look at us as strangers and very few have a working knowledge of English – though perhaps still better than my ten-word Russian vocabulary. Nancy continues to grow hers and it serves us pretty well.
Our flight from Moscow had two other families’ adopting from this region. They are both here for their second trip and were picking up their kids today for court tomorrow. One of the families had their luggage lost in route to Moscow and is in their third day of the same clothes…
Even though we arrived so early we were told that we would not leave for the orphanage until 2-3 this afternoon. As we checked into our hotel room the thought of Siberia was changed to the thought of the Sahara as our room – and for that matter every room we’ve been to here in Kemerovo - has been blisteringly hot; at least 80 degrees and probably higher. So, we are sitting and waiting for the call. The window is cranked open a hair and the refreshingly frigid Siberian air is pouring in.
One funny thing did happen yesterday as we checked into our flight from Moscow. The agent asked me if I had any lice – or so I thought. I really couldn’t tell what he said. We had been so preoccupied with the issue of the weight of our bags that I turned to Nancy in a panic and said “What did he say?” She also heard lice and the guy asked if we spoke English. We said yes and he said something about lice again. It was on his third or fourth try that we figured out he was asking if we had any luggage to check. His colleague started to laugh at him when we said we spoke English but still couldn’t understand him. Fortunately, he didn’t hold us up, lose our luggage or give us lice.
So, that is our day so far. It is now a little after 4 PM and we are still waiting. More when it happens!
It just happened with a knock on the door. We just received some major change in plans or at least in our perception of what to expect. There has been an issue with the birth mother of the 3 children we thought we were coming to meet and we have received a referral for a different sibling group of 3 – the girl being the oldest again. We believe things happen for a reason and we are being provided the right forever family for us. Now, you know what we know.
Oh, and another funny story… The woman who has been our interpreter here in Kemerovo is also the translator of our documents. So, when she was done giving us the news above she said “How are those alpacas?” And “who is taking care of them while you are here?” So, even here in Siberia we are known as alpaca breeders!
One of the key words in the information the adoption agency gave us was “flexibility.” Little did we know how far that would extend. So, we are off to take a walk in the cold air as the cloudy sky grows dark. We’ve been told of a few restaurants that have English menus – or we go to a point and eat place like we did for lunch. Either way we are cooling our heels (literally)here in Kemerovo and marveling at the way in which God works.
Love to you all, Kevin & Nancy
Our flight from Moscow had two other families’ adopting from this region. They are both here for their second trip and were picking up their kids today for court tomorrow. One of the families had their luggage lost in route to Moscow and is in their third day of the same clothes…
Even though we arrived so early we were told that we would not leave for the orphanage until 2-3 this afternoon. As we checked into our hotel room the thought of Siberia was changed to the thought of the Sahara as our room – and for that matter every room we’ve been to here in Kemerovo - has been blisteringly hot; at least 80 degrees and probably higher. So, we are sitting and waiting for the call. The window is cranked open a hair and the refreshingly frigid Siberian air is pouring in.
One funny thing did happen yesterday as we checked into our flight from Moscow. The agent asked me if I had any lice – or so I thought. I really couldn’t tell what he said. We had been so preoccupied with the issue of the weight of our bags that I turned to Nancy in a panic and said “What did he say?” She also heard lice and the guy asked if we spoke English. We said yes and he said something about lice again. It was on his third or fourth try that we figured out he was asking if we had any luggage to check. His colleague started to laugh at him when we said we spoke English but still couldn’t understand him. Fortunately, he didn’t hold us up, lose our luggage or give us lice.
So, that is our day so far. It is now a little after 4 PM and we are still waiting. More when it happens!
It just happened with a knock on the door. We just received some major change in plans or at least in our perception of what to expect. There has been an issue with the birth mother of the 3 children we thought we were coming to meet and we have received a referral for a different sibling group of 3 – the girl being the oldest again. We believe things happen for a reason and we are being provided the right forever family for us. Now, you know what we know.
Oh, and another funny story… The woman who has been our interpreter here in Kemerovo is also the translator of our documents. So, when she was done giving us the news above she said “How are those alpacas?” And “who is taking care of them while you are here?” So, even here in Siberia we are known as alpaca breeders!
One of the key words in the information the adoption agency gave us was “flexibility.” Little did we know how far that would extend. So, we are off to take a walk in the cold air as the cloudy sky grows dark. We’ve been told of a few restaurants that have English menus – or we go to a point and eat place like we did for lunch. Either way we are cooling our heels (literally)here in Kemerovo and marveling at the way in which God works.
Love to you all, Kevin & Nancy
Monday, December 17, 2007
12/18/2007 Holiday Inn Lesanya,
We ventured out and found our way to Red Square, Kremlin and experienced a bit of the cold here in Moscow. Light snow fell as we walked across Red Square. We delighted a small group of Asian tourists when, after asking them to take our picture, we donned our Santa hats. That paled in comparison to the pleasure that some technician is likely having today. Nancy used a special ATM to exchange dollars into rubles. In order to do this she had to access her money strap which is a neck hanging type (Note to self – always turn my back to those monitors on ATMs when I access my money belt…).
We noted the typical nesting dolls and other Russian gifts we will get for the children to give them in future years but have to wait until we return at the end of the week because of the strict weight limits to/from Kemerovo. Knowing both of us, you can imagine we are already well over the weight limit. The array of shops is impressive and similar to other major European and American cities. The streets are clean and there was little snow on the ground. We did note that everyone drives at breakneck speed even at close quarters in the city. It makes I-270 and the beltway seem tame by comparison!
Our day has been one of getting ourselves back in order after a long trip across 8 time zones. Tonight we will fly four plus hours (we think) and four more times zones (we think). We are relatively well rested after a nice meal here at the hotel. Nancy is doing very well as the family interpreter and has struck up a few brief exchanges with the patient Muscovites (sp).
Prices here are comparable to New York. Our water tab was more than our usual wine tab at a restaurant at home but the food was good. We’re now chllin’ waiting for our ride to the airport. We are anxious to meet the kids and learn much more about them tomorrow. We have our prepared lists for each one so we hope their caregivers are patient with us.
We ventured out and found our way to Red Square, Kremlin and experienced a bit of the cold here in Moscow. Light snow fell as we walked across Red Square. We delighted a small group of Asian tourists when, after asking them to take our picture, we donned our Santa hats. That paled in comparison to the pleasure that some technician is likely having today. Nancy used a special ATM to exchange dollars into rubles. In order to do this she had to access her money strap which is a neck hanging type (Note to self – always turn my back to those monitors on ATMs when I access my money belt…).
We noted the typical nesting dolls and other Russian gifts we will get for the children to give them in future years but have to wait until we return at the end of the week because of the strict weight limits to/from Kemerovo. Knowing both of us, you can imagine we are already well over the weight limit. The array of shops is impressive and similar to other major European and American cities. The streets are clean and there was little snow on the ground. We did note that everyone drives at breakneck speed even at close quarters in the city. It makes I-270 and the beltway seem tame by comparison!
Our day has been one of getting ourselves back in order after a long trip across 8 time zones. Tonight we will fly four plus hours (we think) and four more times zones (we think). We are relatively well rested after a nice meal here at the hotel. Nancy is doing very well as the family interpreter and has struck up a few brief exchanges with the patient Muscovites (sp).
Prices here are comparable to New York. Our water tab was more than our usual wine tab at a restaurant at home but the food was good. We’re now chllin’ waiting for our ride to the airport. We are anxious to meet the kids and learn much more about them tomorrow. We have our prepared lists for each one so we hope their caregivers are patient with us.
12/15/07 Red Carpet Lounge at Dulles airport: Half an hour till boarding and we are sitting in the lap of luxury. Our first flight is on frequent flyer miles and only business class was available. The irony is not lost on us. In fact, as we are sitting here imagining all the ways our lives will change they pale in magnitude of the changes the kids will face. For the purposes of this blog we’ll call them Peter, Paul and Mary from youngest to oldest. It’s hard to keep a train of thought for very long as my mind is racing to all the experiences we’re about to have. We said quite a few prayers over the last twelve months and quite a few more the last ten days or so. I told Nancy on the way to the airport that when I asked her to go on adventure travel this wasn’t exactly what I was thinking of. On the other hand when I said “I do” I certainly imagined that Nancy I would add to our family of three. Of course, I could not have dreamed that we would double! God works in mysterious ways and as we said recently in our email to family and friends he must know that we are ready.
Nothing of major note on our last days preparing for this trip. Although we did do a fire drill this morning when Nancy noted that the baggage weight limit was 44 lbs for flights within Russia – including carry on. We had planned on 50 lbs and not including carry on. So, we completely unpacked and repacked and gave up about 25 lbs of stuff. I cut back on socks and underwear. We also gave up on taking some things for the kids and hope that we can fill in on things when we get to our region.
So, it’s time to fold things up and head to the gate. We know that all of you are with us in prayer and spirit. It’s the only way we could imagine the life-changing events before us. So, we are powering down for now.
12/16/07 Business Lounge Warsaw: We’ve made it to Warsaw in what has thus far been an uneventful trip – except in the good way. We were able to use our Miles on United to get to Moscow and back – but we had to fly business class. Darn the bad luck. I’m not sure how we can fly economy again! Yes we can, with 3 kids in tow. We keep thinking how wonderful it would be to fly home this way with P,P&M. We were wined and dined and stretched out like we never have on a flight before. We actually got some sleep! It didn’t help a lot as we landed in Amsterdam at 2:45 AM Maryland time so we are well on our way to a severe case of jet lag. 6 time zones down – only 6 more to go! Yikes.
It is snowing outside and completely overcast. As we landed we did get to see some of the local architecture. Some rather uninteresting block buildings but some very interesting-looking single family homes also. Worthy of some future trip I suppose.
Nancy is working now to get the photo album set up for the kids. We’re anxious to see how the kids react to all of this. Well, all for now – it’s time to copy to a thumb drive and get in line for a computer.
12/16/2007 Moscow: We made it! Now we are safely in our hotel and without any real hitches. It wasn’t even that cold here tonight when we got off the plane – about 30 F. Our flight was late leaving Warsaw so we arrived at 9:00 and waited patiently to go through passport control and customs. No problems as there are plenty of English speakers here – and plenty of ads in English. The hotel is nice but no wireless in our room which is why this blog continues to be delayed. With any luck we can connect in the business center in the morning and get this posted. The way the itinerary appears to work out we will have the day tomorrow to rest and acclimate on our own here in Moscow. Then Monday evening we will take a late night flight to Kemerovo leaving at 10:30 PM and arriving sometime in the morning. I think there is a four hour time difference to add to the 8 we have gone though so far. In the dark Moscow seems like any other big city. A few well lit signs and stores and a lot of construction seemingly everywhere. One major project at the airport was actively pouring concrete as we walked out of the terminal.
So, we are tired and hungry (of a sort) but are ready to turn in and start our adjustment to the new time zone. We are nervous and excited and can’t wait to meet the kids!
We forgot to mention last night that we fly back to Moscow on Friday morning so we will only have Tues-Thursday to meet and interact with the kids. Stay tuned!
Nothing of major note on our last days preparing for this trip. Although we did do a fire drill this morning when Nancy noted that the baggage weight limit was 44 lbs for flights within Russia – including carry on. We had planned on 50 lbs and not including carry on. So, we completely unpacked and repacked and gave up about 25 lbs of stuff. I cut back on socks and underwear. We also gave up on taking some things for the kids and hope that we can fill in on things when we get to our region.
So, it’s time to fold things up and head to the gate. We know that all of you are with us in prayer and spirit. It’s the only way we could imagine the life-changing events before us. So, we are powering down for now.
12/16/07 Business Lounge Warsaw: We’ve made it to Warsaw in what has thus far been an uneventful trip – except in the good way. We were able to use our Miles on United to get to Moscow and back – but we had to fly business class. Darn the bad luck. I’m not sure how we can fly economy again! Yes we can, with 3 kids in tow. We keep thinking how wonderful it would be to fly home this way with P,P&M. We were wined and dined and stretched out like we never have on a flight before. We actually got some sleep! It didn’t help a lot as we landed in Amsterdam at 2:45 AM Maryland time so we are well on our way to a severe case of jet lag. 6 time zones down – only 6 more to go! Yikes.
It is snowing outside and completely overcast. As we landed we did get to see some of the local architecture. Some rather uninteresting block buildings but some very interesting-looking single family homes also. Worthy of some future trip I suppose.
Nancy is working now to get the photo album set up for the kids. We’re anxious to see how the kids react to all of this. Well, all for now – it’s time to copy to a thumb drive and get in line for a computer.
12/16/2007 Moscow: We made it! Now we are safely in our hotel and without any real hitches. It wasn’t even that cold here tonight when we got off the plane – about 30 F. Our flight was late leaving Warsaw so we arrived at 9:00 and waited patiently to go through passport control and customs. No problems as there are plenty of English speakers here – and plenty of ads in English. The hotel is nice but no wireless in our room which is why this blog continues to be delayed. With any luck we can connect in the business center in the morning and get this posted. The way the itinerary appears to work out we will have the day tomorrow to rest and acclimate on our own here in Moscow. Then Monday evening we will take a late night flight to Kemerovo leaving at 10:30 PM and arriving sometime in the morning. I think there is a four hour time difference to add to the 8 we have gone though so far. In the dark Moscow seems like any other big city. A few well lit signs and stores and a lot of construction seemingly everywhere. One major project at the airport was actively pouring concrete as we walked out of the terminal.
So, we are tired and hungry (of a sort) but are ready to turn in and start our adjustment to the new time zone. We are nervous and excited and can’t wait to meet the kids!
We forgot to mention last night that we fly back to Moscow on Friday morning so we will only have Tues-Thursday to meet and interact with the kids. Stay tuned!
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