3 Weeks Home!?!

I can't believe it, but we have been home for three weeks already. Time is just flying by for us. Youth group is starting, acorns are falling all over our yard. It's fall. How did that happen? It's like we were in another world for a month or something! All that to say, I apologize to those who have been checking the blog that I haven't updated you on life at home yet. To say the boys keep us busy is a huge understatement.

The boys are really adjusting well. They seem very comfortable and really seem to thrive when we keep to our routine. I have been back to work full time and the boys seem comfortable and they seem to understand that I always come back and this is just how it goes. They certainly love my attention when I come home. That is always fun. Sawyer is finding out that having somebody else around isn't so bad after all! Kelsey started school a week after we got back, so that has been new to us as well. Kelsey is loving school and it has been really good for her to be away and have her own thing going on and it has been good for the boys to have that time with Julie. Actually, Kelsey's teacher won the Golden Apple Award yesterday, which was really neat. They did a nice news story on her and Kelsey is shown in the class quite a bit. You can watch it if you cut and paste this link: http://www.keyc.tv/story/15465304/golden-apple-award-margene-solt

They boys love to go places. When they figure out we are going out, they run and put their shoes on. Both really like to ride in the van. Silas still loves cars, more so the big semi trucks and diggers. So they are content just riding. They enjoy going to the store, picking up Kelsey from school, or whatever excuse it takes to get out of the house. Kelsey and I were getting ready to leave for church on Sunday and Silas decided he was coming. We weren't going to bring them to church quite yet, but Silas insisted he come to "chuch". He didn't know what he was in for, but did a pretty good job sitting there quietly. We need more tricks to keep him busy next week, but outside of shouting in Russian once in a while, he did fine!

They had their medical check ups this week. Silas was 30 lbs and Sawyer 26. Silas was in the 7% in both height and weight. Sawyer was 12% height and 24% weight. Both were healthy! We figured that, but it was nice to hear a doctor say it. Silas eats extremely well. He loves a lot of things. If he doesn't like it, he is pretty good about eating a portion of it in order to jump on the trampoline after supper. If he likes it, he will eat adult size portions. Where does it go in that 30 pound body? They both have gained in coordination quite a bit. Sawyer runs a lot and is not nearly as wobbly. Silas is now riding a bike (with training wheels) pretty well. Just don't tell him it is Kelsey's pink bike. He is quite content with it for now! They both were very timid on the trampoline at first. Now Silas loves it and jumps all the time. Sawyer enjoys it but can hardly stand up when the others are jumping. It is great for his coordination and balance though. Kelsey doesn't understand how much bigger she is, so she is constantly sending them flying in the air. Sometimes they laugh...sometimes they cry.

They both are very happy boys but they are both pretty whiny. They both expect to have everything done for them and have an entitlement to everything. Both are learning that isn't going to fly. Kelsey tends to act up more often too. I would say the transition has been hardest for Kelsey. She loves her brothers though. I asked her what her favorite thing about having brothers was, and she said... "I really can't think of any."

Sleeping has been the biggest challenge. We have had a few decent nights of sleep since we were back, but sleep is pretty hard to come by. It has nothing to do with the time change any more. Sawyer has been getting up for hours at a time during the night. That wakes up Silas. For a while, Silas would wake up throughout the night and all we would have to do is pat his back and assure him we were there. That doesn't happen too much any more. We decided we needed a new strategy so we moved Kelsey and Silas together and Sawyer has a baby room. Figured it was good for Kelsey and Silas to bond and this way we are more equipt to handle Sawyers fits and unwanted sleep habits! There is a rocker in there and he is away from the others. So far it seems to be working well.

All and all, things seem to be going very well. We haven't had near the issues we figured we would have at this point. Silas still speaks a lot of Russian but we can tell he understands quite a bit of English already. He is starting to use English more on the first try, instead of first saying it in Russian. Sawyer said about 3 words in Russian. He is speaking about 10-15 words of English already which the doctor said is extremely good. We are enjoying the boys very much. It is definitely a lot of work, but worth it. Going to 3 kids was a big jump, so we knew there was going to be a lot of adjustments and a lot of sacrifice for a while. That is definitely the case.

Thanks again to all following and praying. We have been blown away by how many people were following along. It's really been shocking to learn how many people we don't even know have shown an interest in our lives and our experience. I hope the biggest thing that people take away from our story is how God has a plan and we just need to trust that plan. He has taken care of so many things during this journey to make this adoption possible. To God be the glory!

Travel Home Day and 1st Day Home

The flying home experience was brutal. Not the flying, we flew mostly with Korean Air and they are outstanding. The airport experience in Vladivostok was not good. We do not have fond memories of that airport. Milo wanted us to be there very early. We left almost 4 hours before takeoff time. I typically would tease him about being so anal about this (being at the airport extremely early). In fact, I teased him about it more than once. As it turns out, it was a good thing. We got there early but had to wait for customs to open. We sat there for an hour until it opened. Then it was a mad rush to get into this small door into the security section. It was like Black Friday in there! We had to get 6 people in (we were first in line by a half hour)and people were trying to cut in front of us. We were one of the first, but then one of the last to get through. We don't know what the holdup was but she worked on our tickets for almost an hour. Everybody else went through one line and got through in the amount of time it took to get us through. Unbelievable! All three kids are going nuts. Finally we get through customs and get to go to passport control. Something was an issue there too! It only took 20 to 30 minutes to get through, but it should only take 2 minutes max. They had to see all our paperwork for the boys to make sure it was all legit. Again, nobody speaks English in the airport so we are all guessing as to what is happening. All three kids are now on melt down and the trip hadn't started yet! Then after waiting about a half hour, we boarded. (Not after getting shuttled 30 feet to the airplane again)

Once on the plane, the kids all did incredible. Silas loved the airplanes and wanted to look out the window most of the time. Even on the 3rd flight, he was happy to be flying. Sawyer did pretty well except when Julie went to the bathroom. Kelsey entertained herself much of the time. It couldn't have gone much smoother for the actual flying. Sawyer slept off an on but not continuously. Silas slept about 4 hours on the 2nd flight and about an hour on the 3rd. However he didn't eat anything. We found out later he was running a temperature. So his attitude was great, especially if you consider that he had a fever. We were all exhausted when we got back. We gave all the kids baths and sent them to bed. The slept past noon. (Weren't in bed until almost 1am.)

When we got to the MN airport, we were greeted by Julie's brother Dave and his family (Necia, Darien and Keona). They had balloons and gifts for us. It was really cool to see them and for them to meet the boys...even if it was a short visit. Then we got home and found an extremely clean house, clean dogs, and welcome home gifts. Thanks everybody! You know who you are. That was really awesome. Our fridge and freezer was filled with food. You all blessed us so much. Thanks a ton.

The first day home was good. Two boys pretty overwhelmed and still tired. They were in a daze like the rest of us. Our bodies don't know what time it is (thus my posting at midnight). They haven't quite been themselves yet. They are doing well but they are very insecure about everything. Happy but insecure is how we would describe them. Silas is terrified of the dogs and loves the cat. Sawyer loves them all and constantly chases them. He is very gentle though. Karen (Julie's mom) is going to be a big help this week. We are trying to spend lots of time with them and there still needs to be meals made and messes cleaned up. The two boys seem pretty well adjusted but are very sad when one of us leaves to go do something. Sawyer mostly just for his mom, but neither seem to like when I'm gone either. It will be interesting to see how transitioning back to work a little at a time will go. Silas copied a ton of English today. He seems to be soaking it in. He is saying words we didn't even know he knew. Course, he doesn't say the words we know he knows. You know? Sawyer is speaking much more now too. They both ate well today and slept the best yet last night. (Course they were way low on sleep!) Sawyer also dove out of his crib somehow. That crazy houdini! He got a little bump on his head, but nothing even mildly serious. The day went very well.

It was a good day, but now it's time to try to get my body back on Minnesota time. We will try to get them to bed before 10:30 tomorrow night!

Thanks to everybody who was praying us through this process. We did it! Gods blessing of two little boys is now complete. We can hardly believe it's over, but we made it!

Please continue to pray for the boys transition as well as Kelsey's transition and our own! There are a lot of challenging times ahead. We are confident that God will see us through those times. He always does. Don't believe me? Go back and read the blog again...starting from the first visit! Our specific prayers for a sibling group ages 3 and 1 were answered. That is how powerful prayer is. Many people have been praying us through this whole process. We appreciate that so much. God's people praying is a powerful thing! This story is a testimony of what God did in our lives. Hopefully you believe in the power of prayer in your life. Do you have a big request of God? Do you believe that God answers prayer? Then ask and believe. We did. And we were shocked at what God did in our lives. But we shouldn't be. God is in the business of doing the unlikely and the impossible.

Thanks everyone for following along. I'll update the blog not nearly as often, but I will let you know how things are going for a while for those that are interested.

Again, we have been humbled, encouraged, blessed and touched by your interest and support.

Nate

Final Day

Here we are. It is our final day here in Russia. Although things have not been bad at all, we are very ready to come home. Right now, nobody has home field advantage. The boys are away from what we know and we are away from our own food, our own beds, etc. They boys will still be starting over when we get home, but at least we will be home. We will have home field advantage finally. We can make food (and buy food that we can read), and do different things with them. We have been doing the same things over and over and I think we are all ready for something new. Nothing has really happened to report in the last couple days. Same schedule, different day. All the days kind of run together.

Silas has been afraid of lots of different things. Dogs, water, big trucks, street cleaners, vacuums, and far away trains. Not sure how he will react to our dogs at home. We think he will love them after he gets used to them. He does love to watch dogs and cats, just from a distance. He also has been extremely whiny. Because he is so small, we think he has been babied his whole life. He expects everybody to bend over backwards for him. That will have to change. Sawyer also has been babied a lot. He wants to be held all the time. When he is crying to be held, Silas is whining about something, and Kelsey is antagonizing...it gets to be extremely frustrating. This happens a lot actually. Still, the boys are doing great. They are really a ton of fun. We are enjoying them so much. Kelsey has done well too, but is finding it really hard to interact with them without one of the boys screaming at her (many times her fault and many times not). This will be a long learning process!

We leave here tomorrow at 3pm (the 24th), this is 11pm on the 23rd for you mid westerners and 10pm for our Colorado family. We should arrive home in Mankato about 11:30pm on the 24th. Weird, I know. But we gain time going back! We have the best possible sinerio for flights and connections if it all works out. Even with great flights and connections, it will take us about 20 hours. So keep us in your prayers during that window. Adults will be tired and cranky and we dont even want to think about what it could be like for the kids. God will get us through. We can't wait to be home. Miss all of you.

This will most likely be my last post from Russia. Thank you so much to everybody who followed along with us on the blog. And most of all, thanks for praying. We are so blessed by our incredible family and friends. Thank you all.

Sincerely,

Nate
(on behalf of Nate, Julie, Kelsey, Silas, Sawyer, and Milo)

Beach Day

There is a beach just a couple blocks from us. Julie and I walked it a few times back in April, but this was the first time on this trip. Everything is Russian so it is really hard to know what things cost and what certain things are. It costs 40 rubles per person to get in. Sounds like a lot but it's really not. The boys loved the water. This isn't the nicest beach here. There is an absolutely gorgeous beach here, but we would need to take a taxi. But this one was pretty nice. The three kids played on the shore and walked into the water. Silas has hated getting his pants dirty or wet up until this point, so we expected a meltdown when he fell in. We assured him it was okay and he was fine. He really loved it. Silas also hates getting water in his eyes and is afraid of sprinklers so we figured Sawyer would be the more adventurous one in the water. Not so. Silas jumped and splashed and had a great time. Kelsey mostly looked for shells. Sawyer wasn't really afraid but not nearly as interested as the other two. Down by the beach was a big bouncy house, so we sent Silas and Kelsey in that. He started off a little scared but ended up having a great time. We came back and got pizza and put them to bed....after their bath of course. Can't skip their coopotsa!

Couple quick funny stories I haven't shared:

1) When we flew into Vladivostok, we got off the plane and were put into a shuttle. That shuttle literally drove 15 feet to the door and let us out. It was crazy. Like something you would see in a stupid movie like Pink Panther or something. All the Americans looked at each other and laughed. It was so unnecessarily silly.

2) Apparently Sawyer is a little Houdini. The first night we had Sawyer sleep in the bed with Julie. I was in the other bed with Silas. Silas tossed and turned all night keeping me up. You have to know that I am a very light sleeper and Julie is an overprotective parent for her 2 year old at this point. Somehow, in the middle of the night, crying is coming from my bed. I pick up Silas to comfort him. Only, it's not Silas. Sawyer somehow got on my bed and was sleeping on the other side of Silas. I am a very light sleeper like I mentioned and was hardly sleeping that night. Sawyer cannot get himself on the bed without help. AND Julie is checking on his every move. How did it happen? We may never know!

That's all for tonight. I added a few more pics so make sure you take a look! Oh, and Julie did much better today. Still a tad sick but we think she is pretty much better. Thanks everybody!

Long Day

Today was a very long day. A very nice day outside but the tornado was inside. Julie needed the boys to sleep last night...and they did. Only, she was up all night again but because she was not feeling well. She took it easy all day. She struggled through it. Sawyer was extremely cranky and Silas was needy and emotional. We tried to keep the kids out of Julie's hair as much as possible. Sawyer took an early nap and they all went to bed early. Kelsey did pretty well today though. The day seemed to go on and on. We made it through though. We are all anxious to head for home.

Pray for Julie as she doesn't want to be sick like last time. And check out the new pictures added! I tried to add video on facebook but the connection was too slow. So the pics will have to be enough for now.

New pics

Nothing really exciting to report today. I know many of you are waiting on pictures, so here you go. Don't miss the family picture all the way at the bottom of the blog page. This is as many as I could get on today. Enjoy!

The pictures don't do them justice of how cute they are!

Nothing more for us to do!

Today we took the boys downtown for the last of our "stuff" to take care of. We got their passports, got their medicals, and got the boys okayed at the consulate. Now our coordinator heads to Moscow for the Visas and finalizing stuff. Nothing more for us to do now. Just sit at the hotel and enjoy the boys...which we have been! We also went to a really cool souvenir shop. It was kinda weird. There were a ton of Chinese tourists in there that went crazy over our "Russian kids". It was like the paparazzi...seriously! They were taking pictures like crazy. They were trying to pick them up, get them to laugh. It was insane. Good thing we had our transporter (taxi driver) to play body guard. Sergei was awesome. He looks like he is in the Russ mafia too. It was crazy. How ever bad you are picturing it in your head...it was much worse.

Silas is a ton of fun. Always laughing, giggling and teasing. He is super small but is extremely active. Doesn't want to be babied at all. He loves playing chase and being tickled. Both boys are extremely ticklish and want to be tickled constantly. Silas has a non-stop motor. Hate to be a stay at home mom with that guy! Sorry Julie, it doesn't get any easier now that Kelsey is heading to school! He loves doing bubbles, loves cars diggers, loves to run, loves to laugh, eats a ton! He won't stay small if he continues to eat at this rate! He hated bath time on day one, but now he is so excited when we say "coo-pot-sa". He is naked in 20 seconds. He just hates getting water in his eyes. Talks quite a bit of Russian but not even the Russian waitresses know what he is saying all the time. He is always smiling. He is an absolute charmer. Everybody loves him.

Sawyer also is fun. Loves to laugh and tease us. Very attached to Julie. He really enjoys me, but after any signifigant span of time (3 minutes) he needs to find momma. He ate a ton the first day but has been much more picky since. Likes to hold bread like a security blanket. He is a giggle box. Always laughing and initiating eye contact. Doesn't say much. Is extremely needy as far as Julie goes. He always wants her attention, so if anybody else is getting it, he cries for it. So there are 3 kids constantly trying to get her attention. Again, that stay at home mom business is going to be great! Julie really will love it. They are all in a very needy period so Julie is exhausted. He has loved bath time. Hated getting in the first time, but since then loves it. Cries when he has to get out. Laughs when he gets water in his face. Chokes on it, gets it up his nose, then laughs. Kelsey found her swimming partner!

It has been great spending time with them. Rough night sleeping last night. Seems to happen often. We are low on sleep but loving it. I hope to get pictures up tomorrow. Thanks for checking up on us everyone!

No longer out-numbered!

I've been outnumbered by the women in my life for the last 5 years, now the tides have turned! Three boys now! Our house is not going to be a quiet one. For those of you looking for a nice quiet vacation, our house is not going to be it! We not only have a very loud and intense 5 year old girl, we now have two loud and intense boys. Good thing I insulated my basement ceiling extra good! Thanks Randy D for talking me into that! Our house is sure going to be fun.

We absolutely love our boys. They are so precious. We couldn't be happier right now. Still stunned by how God worked it out. Anybody would be so lucky to have them, and they end up in our family. God is so incredibly awesome.

Walking down the hall of the hotel to blog every night I pass many doors with crying babies on the other side. It is the most beautiful sound. Not the crying in itself, but what it represents. Many parents going through the same thing we are. Many different excellent parents that are changing these orphans lives forever. We have met so many great people. Some adopting their first and others multiples or they are adopting again. One lady today I met is adopting her 8th - a down syndrome 5 year old. Just awesome. It is so cool to hear those cries. Those cries represent lives changed forever.

Today I was downtown doing all sorts of things in the rain. Paperwork. The most important thing was signing the court declaration. They boys are ours! Tomorrow we need to get their medicals done, pick up passports, and go to the consulate. Thank God we don't need to go to Moscow and that is being taken care of for us! All this will be done when Sawyer is supposed to be sleeping...it may be brutal. That can be the prayer request for tomorrow!

Oh Jealousy

The wait is officially over tomorrow. I need to go downtown and take care of paperwork/visa's and I'm not sure what else early in the morning. Then it will be great to officially have the boys with us.

Kelsey would give you mixed reviews about her brothers at this point. I was pushing Silas on the swing the other day and Kelsey wanted me to push her. She started whining that I liked pushing Silas more than her. I said, "Kelsey, don't be jealous. We need to give him lots of special attention." Kelsey then asked me what jealous meant. I told her it meant she wants what somebody else has. For instance, she wants the attention that Silas has. Kelsey then says, "Yes. That's what I am. I am jealous!"

There has been a whole lot of jealousy on her end. She has been doing pretty well for the most part. We knew going from an only child to sharing her attention with two others would be tough, but it has been harder on her than I anticipated. She loves her brothers but not sharing the attention at all.

Almost up!

The waiting period is almost up. Milo and I went in to downtown for a few more souvenirs today. Train was packed. I got to sit crammed in to a seat with a shirtless guy. What happened to the no shirt, no shoes, no service rule? Come on buddy! The no drinking rule on the train apparently is just a suggestion as well. Just ask the guy across the isle drinking the Jack Daniels. It was a quick trip. We got back and ordered pizza from room service.

Tuesday I go downtown with our coordinator to sign some last documents. I don't even know what I'm signing any more. He is probably signing me up for Jelly of the Month club and having me buy magazines for his daughters' FFA fundraiser or something! Actually, we really trust him but the paperwork was old about 6 months ago. Then Wednesday we have to take the boys to get their last medical checkups so they can be released out of the country. Then we meet with the consulate here (yes they will be here, wahoo!)and then our coordinator will be able to fly to Moscow for us to get the boys Visas and everything else that needs to be done there. After he returns, we get to come home!

Milo has been a huge help. i think he is getting a little tired of the food. He and Julie get the chicken strip basket about every day. I didn't like it the first time, but they seem satisfied! The fries here are great. They rival McDonalds for sure.

Thanks to everybody who is checking our blog. We can't wait to share more with you in a few days...and more importantly introduce you to them when we get back. They are great. We are truly blessed. God's hand is evident in this whole journey.

Waiting Period

We are still in our 10 day wait period so we can't report much at this time. They can still reverse the decision in this period. So we will share much more after the wait period is up. Many pics to be added at that time. For much more detail on what's going on, you can call either of our parents. For church people, I'm going to let Julia know so you can call her at church. I'll probably let Milbretts know as well so they can be another contact in the know. However, I have not talked with either of them yet.

One interesting note from today (although not nearly as interesting as the boys), I had Borscht today. Did i spell that right? Beet soup. For my immediate family who know me well, that is impressive. There was one thing I absolutely hated that my mom made me eat when i was a kid...beets. I have had it once since I graduated high school...and that was when we were eating with the homeless in Denver on our youth trip to Colorado a couple summers ago. I told the youth to eat anything they gave us so we didn't come across as rude. Well, they served beets. And I ate them. I had to! I didn't hate it, but didn't enjoy it really either. So today the special of the day was beet soup. Milo and i agreed to try it at some point, so today was the day. We both liked it. Really! I'm not just saying that. I really liked it. Maybe thats not so exciting for you, but it was a huge breakthrough for me. Some people go through years of therapy for a breakthrough like this! I would even order it again.

Thanks for your patience. Much info about the boys and pictures will come after the wait period is over. Please call one of the above mentioned if you want to know more. Thanks.

Nate

Kelsey meets brother #2

Kelsey met her littlest brother today. She was so proud. She wants to love on him so much...I think she is a little too intense for him. He is so precious. The orphanage workers just adore him. We finally got some smiles out of him. He loves to eat just about anything we give him. I don't think he is going to be picky. He has chunky legs, but I know of a trampoline in Minnesota that is going to tone those suckers up in a hurry! Kelsey is loving the fact that she is "big sister." Already a little jealous at times though. But she has been an only child for 5 years. What did we expect!

We are humbled by all the people thinking about us and praying back home. When I read the Puerto Rico team had a worship time and prayed for us during court, it brought tears to my eyes. My thoughts and prayers have definitely been with my youth group even though we are so far away. We are so proud of them.

Weekend Downtown Trips

Yesterday we took the train to downtown Vladivostok with several other adopting families. We took pictures, looked in some shops, ate at a really nice (but cheaper than our hotel where we usually eat)restaurant. Good thing they had a picture menu! It was maybe the best chicken and vegetables any of us have ever eaten. We haven't been eating much fruits and veggies, so that probably was part of it, but it was sooo good. We spent some time looking into the harbor, got some icecream and headed back. It was a really fun day. We were very tired when we got back, but it was great. It got us away from the hotel which is nice and we got to spend time with all the other families who we get along with really well. There is a real camaraderie with all the adoptive families. We understand what each other are going through. It is really great.

Today we went downtown again. It is cheap to ride the train, so why not? This time just the 4 of us went. First, we got a Cinnabon. Yeah, they had one here, so we had to try it! Then we went souvenir shopping for a while. We headed back to the same restaurant for the exact same meal we had yesterday. Then we hung out at the harbor again until the train came to take us back. It was another nice day. We showered and relaxed a little bit then joined the other families for supper in the hotel restaurant.

Two very nice days together. It was probably the last opportunity we will have to go downtown and souvenir shop, so we are glad we did it. Long day for Kelsey. She is still doing very well. Life will be very different from here on!

Court Day

We made it through court! Again we fought traffic to get there, but we made it on time. The social workers involved in the case however were not on time. We had to wait for them to start. When we got there the interpreter did some last minute prepping for court. It seemed really long but court only lasted about 2 hours. The judge and the prosecutor asked lots of questions. I would say a good number of questions had to do with Kelsey’s adoption and whether we had the finances to care for a family of 5. They also wanted to know what we knew about Russian history and what we would do to help keep the boys aware of their Russian heritage. Overall, court really went smooth. Our interpreter said it went about as well as it can. It was hot in the court room and pretty stressful, but we made it through. At the end, the prosecutor recommended us and the judge decided it was in the best interest of the children to be placed with us. We shook hands with our coordinator and headed back to the hotel. We are excited to be able to check off the “court box” of our checklist.

We are so tense from traffic and court. We could really use a message therapist! Thank you so much for praying everyone! We are now in the 10 day wait period and we won't be able to share much during this time. We will share what we can. Just know we are limited. Thanks for understanding.

Traffic Day!

Today was a very long day. Julie and I left after lunch to go to see Anton. The typical hour and a half drive was almost 4 hours! It rained hard that morning so the roads were even worse than normal. Our translator/transporter told us this was the worst she had ever seen it. There were times we weren’t even moving. She did some illegal off-roading (it would be illegal in the US anyway) through construction zones and it still took that long. It was just plain awful. By the time we got there, our visitation time was supposed to be done. We talked with the social worker while Anton gripped on to orphanage doctor. He did not want anything to do with us. Then they left us alone for about 15 minutes to interact with him. Julie held him while he was always on the verge of crying. If I held him, things would have gotten ugly. She fed him pieces of bread to keep him from crying. He almost always had a quivering lip. If this was any indication of what the beginning is going to be like with him, we have our work cut out for us! Anton was a little bigger than we remembered. He is a pretty sturdy little guy. On the way home it took us 2 and a half hours. It was less stop and go traffic but more bouncing. If I hadn’t taken Dramamine, I would have been in big trouble. Julie and I both felt like we could have used a chiropractor after that ride!

We found out our court time was moved to 10:30am tomorrow. People here are making it sound like court is going to be brutal. They really grill the fathers pretty hard. And court MUST go 2 hours apparently. They are going to try to find something to pick on and then really go at it. Ultimately it isn’t a huge deal, it will all be fine, but they want us to squirm a little bit. So for my praying alliance out there, at 7:30pm Minnesota time on August 4th (it will be the 5th here) we will be in court answering some tough questions. So please remember us in your prayers. Tomorrow is a huge day for us. Thanks everybody!

Kelsey meets brother #1

We got to see Sasha (Silas) today! Milo and Kelsey were able to come too. He was moved from his original orphanage to a summer orphanage. It was only 10 minutes away! He is so small. I guess I was expecting him to grow some in between our two trips, but he seemed to stay the same. He was adorable and remembered us right away. We didn’t have our own room to interact this time. All the kids were outside playing. We took Sasha over to an outside table and we were able to get out some toys to play with. As soon as the toys came out, the other kids of the orphanage flooded our space. I think Sasha liked the attention at first because we were there to see him but after some time he became overwhelmed. This was the first time Kelsey was able to meet her brother. Kelsey did amazing with him. She played with him and was very gentle. After he was overwhelmed, she took his hand and walked him around the playground. Other kids loved her too. She blew up balloons and gave them out. Then she tried playing with them with the balloons. She did a great job interacting with them. She said the few Russian words she knew and just smiled and was friendly. She was so good. Milo was a bit overwhelmed I think. He was doing great with the kids too. The kids wanted his attention and he gave it to them. Several times I caught him with tears in his eyes. The reality of these kids with no homes really sunk in I think. He loved on the kids as long as he could.

It started to rain so we went inside the door and got out his animals sounds book that he loves. Julie went through it with him multiple times. We also got out the goldfish for him to snack on. He really likes them. After a while he started feeding me one every once in a while. I would make a surprised face when he would stick it in my mouth and then he would laugh. Then he started to pretend he was going to give me one, then eat it himself. I would give him a big reaction and he would laugh.

Then all of a sudden it was time to go. They said it was lunch time. Sasha gave us hugs then disappeared into the orphanage. The orphanage director was less than friendly. From his reactions, we are figuring that we will have to wait the 10 day waiting period to have him join us. The plus side to that is that he is only 10 minutes away so it won’t take much to visit him every day.

The rest of the day was cloudy and off and on rain. We walked to a nearby grocery store but it was mostly alcohol. We will have to try to find a better one to actually get food to make lunches. We are looking forward to seeing Anton tomorrow. Although it is an hour and a half drive each way. Milo and Kelsey cannot come tomorrow so they will spend the afternoon together back at the hotel.

Doctors Day

Well, our good nilght of sleep lasted until about 3:30am when all 4 of us were up. We all took Melatonin and fell back to sleep. Actually, I am not sure if I ever did, but we got up at 8:30. We stayed pretty low key all morning and made lunch. Then Julie and I headed to get paperwork notarized and then to the doctors. On the way to the doctors I got pretty car sick. I can go 18 hours of flying and be fine, and then this! Right before my doctors visit?
I was able to get some fresh air for about 20 minutes and I chewed some mint gum and it seemed to help. I was rejuvenated just on time.

Basically, the doctors visits were pretty simple. The phsycologist asked if we were in therapy and if we fought a lot. She signed off. We then had to take our shirts off and have several doctors poke us and ask a few silly questions. I had to breath heavy, touch my nose with my eyes closed, and do one squat. Then it was over. Pretty simple. Julie did not enjoy being topless and having people poke and stare. Can't imagine why!

Milo stayed at the hotel with Kelsey. Kelsey made some Russian friends and played at the playground. They also watched some Little house on the Prairie.

Tonight we ate with a bunch of other adopting families. Some had already had their kids placed with them and others are in about the same place we are. It was a great time of getting to know each other and sharing our our stories of our experiences here in Russia. Kelsey made another friend. He is a 5 year old boy that was adopted from Russia a few years ago. They are adopting again. They should get their next one later this week. Kelsey and this little boy are a great match. They are both really animated and have a lot to say. It was really fun to watch them interact all through dinner and playing afterwards.

Tomorrow we will go visit Silas. Milo and Kelsey get to come to see him. We will see Sawyer on Thursday, but Milo and Kelsey cannot come that day. It is a much longer drive and Kelsey wouldn't enjoy it much anyway.

Then Friday is court day! Our coordinator told us today that our efforts to get a consulate at the US Embassy here in Vladivostok paid off. He said it was because of our letters and efforts that they are providing the service for us. That was cool to hear. We know God had the most to do with it. It is still such great news.

It was a pretty good first day. We haven't seen the sun yet. It has been cloudy the whole time. Hopefully that will change tomorrow!

We made it!

For those of you wondering...yes, a 14 hour flight is as bad as it sounds! Our flight from Atlanta to Korea was brutally long. Flying Korean Air was great though. The flight attendants were really great and friendly, the ride was very smooth, and there is a tv on the back of every seat! You actually get to pick the movies that YOU want to watch! It was awesome. Anybody flying to this side of the world should check out Korean Air.

Kelsey has been an amazing traveler on very little sleep. Not sure how she is doing it, but she has been great. We are all low on sleep and looking forward to a good night sleep tonight. We found out that we have our physicals with the 8 different doctor specialists tomorrow. We also have to get new papers notorized. We will see the boys either Wednesday or Thursday or maybe both. Then Friday we have court. Wont know until then if we get the boys right away or not. I would say there is a good chance we will go home with Sawyer (Anton) that day but not Silas (Alexander.) That might not be all bad.

The hotel is filled with adoptive families this time. Every evening the get together for supper. There were about 6 couples eating together tonight. It is cool to have so many people going through the same thing. It's like a little support group. Everybody is encouraging each other and excited to hear each others stories.

It feels so good to be here. We are really going to try to enjoy ourselves and not be stressed. We know God is in control and that He's got us covered.

Here we go!

Well, I guess there is nothing left to do but go! We are at our hotel in Minneapolis about to go to sleep to catch a few hours of sleep. Shuttle picks us up at 3:55am! Yikes. Then our adventure begins. We have talked about it so much over the past months, I can't believe the time has come. Kelsey is enjoying the trip so far. We checked into the Quality Inn and when Kelsey went into the room she said, "This is great! Our room has a tv and a lamp and everything!" Apparently she doesn't get out much.

So it's an early start tomorrow. We leave on the 30th and get there on August 1st...how depressing. As of now, it looks like they are going to put somebody at the Embassy for us. It's not a sure thing yet, but it looks good! Thanks for praying.

Pray for safe (and quick) travels tomorrow. Anxious to get there and see the boys again! Talk to you again from the other side of the world!

Nate

Ready or not, here we come (or go I guess). In three very quick days we will be leaving for Russia on our 2nd trip. It has been a slow 4 months waiting for our 2nd trip and it has also gone very quickly. For me (Nate) personally, it has been a series of mixed emotions. I am really, really excited to be going to get our two boys, but also quite heart broken that I will be missing the Mission Trip to Puerto Rico with my youth group students. We completely trust in God's plan, and apparently that plan to Puerto Rico just didn't have me in it. I am extremely pumped for the students and I know they will do an incredible job. I also have complete confidence in my awesome leaders, so really it's just my own disappointment of having to miss out on this incredible experience with them.

Focusing on the positive, and it is completely awesome, we are about to leave to get our two boys! Boy is life going to change (no pun intended - but I'll leave it)! Last trip we went through Moscow and it took 24 hours of flying time. This time we are flying through Korea so it cuts off a large chunk of time. We leave early Saturday morning. Kelsey (5) will be joining us on this trip as well as Julie's dad, Milo.

Immediate prayer requests are:

1) Pray for our court date on August 5th (late night on August 4th for you here in America). Pray that the 10 day waiting period will be waived and that we can have the boys with us at that time.

2) Pray that the US Embassy will provide a consulate in Vladivostok so Julie and I won't have to take the two boys to Moscow and back (10 hours each way). That would be very difficult on the boys, not to mention us. At this point we have to take them to Moscow, but once I unleash the prayer warriors, I strongly believe this will change. Pray for understanding and sympathy for those in the government arguing our case and for those who would make the decision to help us.

Thanks everybody!

Nate

Trip #1 (April 2011) Journal Version

Trip #1 to Vladivostok

Day 1 - Monday

After our marathon flights, we arrived in Vladivostok extremely exhausted. Our coordinator picked us up at the baggage claim. In our ride to the Vlad Motor Inn, he informed us that the income issue was still not resolved so we could NOT see the boys that day. He told us to just take the day to relax and recover. He assured us that the issue would be resolved with the DOE in the morning. We were okay with this because we were so tired. We checked into the Vlad Motor in, which was very Americanized. We laid down for an hour nap and woke up 4 hours later. After a shower and a much longer nap than planned, we walked down to the beach and walked for a while. The ice was just about all gone off the beach. We ate supper in the Hotel restaurant and went back to our room. We watched TV for a while and then feel asleep very early. We both had a hard time sleeping past 2:30am. We stayed in bed until 6 just on principle, and then got ready for the next day.

Day 2 - Tuesday

Our coordinator picked us up at 7:45 am to start our long day. We went downtown Vladivostok to see the department of Education. It took about an hour through rush hour traffic and bad roads to get downtown. Driving was crazy! We didn’t witness an accident the whole time we were there, but we witnessed a near-accident about every 12 seconds! We had to wait for the DOE but they finally arrived to work about 20 minutes late. They looked at the US poverty figures and wanted to make sure the boys would be covered by our insurance. After that, they didn’t seem to care. They had more interest in Kelsey’s adoption. They thought birthparents in America could take the child back at any time. They were very interested in the details. We explained our laws were much better than a state like California, and they said 75% of the adoptions they see are from California parents. So that made sense to them. Julie had a bad cough, so after the DOE we stopped at a drug store where we got over the counter (everything was over the counter) cough medicine and plastic shoe covers-which we had to wear every time we went into an orphanage. After that, we went to pick up our translator, Islana. She spoke very good English and right away commented on how young we were. Then we drove about 45 minutes to Alexander’s orphanage. This orphanage was for kids 3 and older. The orphanage did not seem to be in a great part of town, but the playground outside was pretty nice. Lots of apartments around and some industrial buildings. As I walked in, I thought about how much pressure there was in this meeting. This will be the first time we interact with this boy that will be our son. I was a little intimidated...then I though about Alexander’s first time meeting us. He must feel the same way, but much worse. We walked in to a very small, very shy little boy. He was adorable. Just a sweet little thing. He was very tentative and shaking a little. He really got comfortable after Julie broke out the Top toys. He would laugh and chase them.  He loved them. It helped connect with him right away. He would try himself and then give the top to us for help. The workers kept calling him Sasha. We found out that Sasha is a common nickname for Alexander. We stayed about an hour and they took him to nap time. He smiled and giggled at the toys but didn’t give us a lot of eye contact the first day. We stopped for lunch at a café in Ussurisk, where Anton’s orphanage was. Our coordinator had got us a Russian softdrink to try while we waited, I thought it tasted like beer and tea. Julie said it tasted like figs. Either way, neither one of us loved it. I had a second glass to be polite. Julie had an omelet. I had a dumpling and meat soup. Both were pretty good. It took about an hour and a half to get to Ussurisk. Roads were really bad. Completely torn up most places. We found out the government was giving Vladivostok a bunch of money to put into their roads so they would be nice for a big conference that would be held there in September of 2012. So they tore up everything at once! Nobody believes it will be ready on time. This orphanage seemed to be in a pretty nice area. This orphanage is where Alexander was until he turned 3. When we got to the orphanage, we found out Anton was at a cardiologist appointment.  We had to wait a while. We found out it was a checkup and nothing was wrong. When they brought him in I didn’t recognize him but Julie did. He was younder than I expected and dressed in girls clothes. It was the same outfit he would be in everyday. I figured it out when they put in him in my arms. He had the same look the whole time – a pouty lip on the verge of crying. He never really cried though. He liked the ball we brought and he liked the tops too. He just like to grab them when they were spinning. We never did see him smile that day. His doctor was there and said we were very lucky to get 2 such healthy and young boys. She asked us questions about our family. When she found out I was a pastor she said, “Oh, you’ve been praying! I see! Not lucky. And your teenagers pray too?” She didn’t think it was luck anymore. We never did! They seemed to be good to the boys at both orphanages. Anton did cry a little when we gave him back. He really enjoyed all the attention. We headed back to the hotel, and it took about 2 hours. We got back and we were both very tired. We feel asleep at about 7:30. We woke up again at 2:30am and couldn’t sleep anymore. We got up and waited to get our computer from the lock box so we could finally check in with Kelsey. Our plug in didn’t work so we could only skype for about 10 minutes. It was nice to see Kelsey, Marie, and mom. It seemed it had been a really long time since we saw them. Some very long days in between for us!

Day 3 – Wednesday

Day three feels like day five. Days seem so long and nights seem short. We still can seem to sleep past 3:30am. Islana picked us up at 9:30am. We first went to see Sasha, like we did every day. We kind of dreaded all the driving because of yesterday. When we got there, he was shy again. Not nearly as nervous though. He loved those tops again. He played with them for quite a while. He also really enjoyed the plastic animals and the animal sounds book. We also were able to interact with him when we blew up a balloon and hit it back and forth keeping it in the air. He obviously had done this before and really enjoyed that game. He was quite a sweetheart. Other bigger kids came in and played a little bit. They gave us a “thumbs up.” Not sure if it was because we were Americans or because Sasha was a good boy. I think it was as if to say Sasha was a good pick. It was a good visit. We had extra time between visits again so after we drove to Anton’s city, we got lunch at a pizza place. It was a very cute little place with neon green walls and black and white checkered floor. We got pizza and soup. You always get soup for lunch no matter what. After lunch we went to a market to get a few things. We were still early so we waited about 45 minutes for Anton to wake up from his nap. He was very sleepy and shy when they brought him in to the room. He was wearing the same outfit. We played lots of toys with him. I was pretty convinced we would not see him smile all week. He always had the same stoic face. He seemed like a satisfied little boy, but still unsure and hesitant. He seemed to be on the verge of crying for the first half of the visit. A social worker came in and saw that Anton was so quiet so she tried to perk him up a bit. We learned they call him Antonishe or Nishe as nicknames. The social worker told us to throw him up in the air. This seemed a little nuts to be. It seemed like a recipe for lots of tears. Well, she was right. Anton giggled when Julie tossed him in the air. She did that 3 or 4 times with good reactions. Then he seemed to have enough and wanted down. But hey, he smiled! He giggled! This was a relief to me. I didn’t think we would see a smile all week. He spent the last half hour walking around the room and wanting to explore. We didn’t think he had been in that room very often so it was interesting. His group always seemed to stay in the same room (in what they call the rabbit room). We took him back and he cried hard again. We gave him the barnyard animal game because he really seemed to like that. It seemed to calm him down a bit so we left it there for him. He also was a very sweet little boy. Harder to connect with him at this point because of his age. I don’t think that will last once he is with us for a longer period of time. I loved seeing him smile. I look forward to the day when those smiles are flowing regularly. After the visit we he got back in the car for our hour and a half trip back to the Vlad Motor Inn.

Day 4 – Thursday (Signing Day)

Today began pretty much the same. We were picked up at 9:15 and went straight to see Sasha. We couldn’t use our normal room, so we used on of the main rooms while everyone else played outside. Julie packed a few extra toys. He liked the helicopter we brought that was similar to the tops. He enjoyed quite a few of the animal crackers we brought. We also were observed by the main director/social worker who does not work at the orphanage. Ift was just a formality. We noticed all the workers seemed friendly and good to the kids. When we packed up to go, Sasha was very sad. He gave us hugs and just sat looking sad. I couldn’t wait to finalize and not have to say good-bye again. He obviously was starting to feel connected with us. He for sure was enjoying all the one on one attention from us. Next we had to go downtown to sign our Letter of Intent to adopt. It needed to be notarized so we needed to go downtown. There was a lot of traffic so it took a while. We got downtown during the noon hour so the notaries were going to be on their lunch break. Lana, our translator, took us to a tourist stop. We were able to look over the ports at a very beautiful scenic point. There was a souvenir shop there where we got some gifts to store away for the boys, a Russian doll for Kelsey, and a Russian hat. We took quite a few pictures and then went for lunch. For lunch, we ate at a tiny café that specialized in pastries. We each ordered an omelet. She said I should order a pastry so I agreed. I was thinking cream cheese, strawberry...she ordered cabbage and mushroom pastry. Not what I had in mind, but it was actually really good. It tasted like an eggroll but with a delicious pastry covering instead of a deep-fried hard shell. I was glad she had me get something different. I also ordered an “American coffee” which was basically a cappuccino without a flavor. After lunch we went to the notary to sign. We went in and paid what we were told it cost. The notary lady then told us we needed to pay more. It was more rubles than we had so we needed to go get more cash. We weren’t sure if it was because there were two boys or if the rate had changed. We went and found a money exchange window and headed back. Lana had been talking on the phone with our coordinator and we knew something was wrong. Our coordinator showed up at the notary when we got back there. After an intense argument we figured out that the notary was trying to suck money out of the Americans. They went in and there was a heated exchange but we got our money back. Our coordinator was very set on taking care of us and not letting us get taken advantage of. It was a bit awkward but we appreciated his loyalty to us. The notary said if we could afford to fly to Russia, we could afford to pad her pockets. This was the only time we felt like somebody tried to take advantage of us. By the time it was all worked out it was 3:30 and we were 2 hours from Anton’s. We would only get a half hour with him, so 4 hours of driving for 30 minutes with him seemed like too much. We decided to call it a day and we would just see Anton tomorrow. We went back, changed, took a short rest and walked down to the beach. The ice had all melted and it was obvious that it was going to be very beautiful when we came back in the summer. We somehow figured out how to buy a Fanta for Julie and a candybar for each of us. There was Coke, Sprite and Orange Fanta in Russia. That is all! After our big purchase, we headed back to the hotel. We ate leftovers and went to bed...well, Julie did. My body was starting to adjust so I had a few hours to kill. I went to the game room and did some Bible reading and writing in this journal. I was thrilled at this pint to have signed that day. These boys were so precious. I felt very lucky...very blessed actually. On the Letter of Intent docs, it said that no family was willing to adopt them and Russian families had had the opportunity. They were now being adopted by Americans. Two extremely blessed Americans. As they were translating this to us, I thought about how God has been in control all along. Why were we able to get these two boys? Why in the world would Russians not adopt them? Because God had these boys for us all along. The last couple years of trying to adopt and roadblock after roadblock all was in God’s plan. We are extremely blessed. I am so excited about my two little boys. God has blessed us with three absolutely beautiful children. Thank you Jesus. I am so humbled by these blessings. Glory to God. Thank you.

Day 5 – Friday

Lana picked us up at 9:30 once again. We went to see Sasha first again. He came in shy...again. But not nearly as shy as the other days. He started to laugh and smile a lot more. It was so cute how he would laugh to himself and talk to himself. It was always very quiet. He talked a decent amount but it all was a faint whisper. We pretty much had the same toys (the ones that Julie packed) so he was losing interest in some. He still liked the tops for a little bit. We recorded a book with our voices reading the story to him (that my sister-in-law Necia had got us) so we went through that with him. He really liked that. He went through the book over and over for about 15 minutes. We left a blanket, a stuffed animal puppy, a book with pictures of our family, and the recorded book with him. We also had a disposable camera to leave for the workers to take some pictures of him. Sasha was obsessed with this camera. He took it out of the box and got it out of the foil packaging. We tried to get him interested in the blanket and puppy but he was determined to get the camera to work. He actually figured out how to wind it, turn the flash on, and take a picture. We wouldn’t believe it! Apparently we have a little engineer on our hands! When it was time to go, Sasha was very sad. I picked him up and he clung to me. The workers told him that we would be back when it was summer. The workers were very nice. They told us Sahsa would not forget, that he would remember us when we came back. They told us they would show him our pictures everyday. I was doing pretty good emotionally until the worker said something about how he would be a good son. It really touched me. This was my son. He wouldn’t feel like it completely until everything was done and we were through court...but I was touched. He would be my son. Wow. We left and ate lunch in Usserex again. We ate at the pizza place again. This time we did not get pizza. We got these pancake-crepe type things with chicken and mushrooms. They were very good. Oh, and of course soup. We all got a chicken/spinish type soup that had little hard boiled pheasant eggs. It was very tasty. When we got to Anton’s orphanage he was sleeping. We waited and when they brought him in, he was very drowsy again. He just sat with Julie most of the time. The only time we saw any emoution out of him was when we looked out the window and saw a cat. He seemed to love cats. I had very little interaction with him that day. He seemed to never really get over his drowsiness that day. I kept feeding him cheese cracker goldfish...like I had done the other days. He loved them. He ate a package of them every time we were there. The main director/social worker from this orphanage still hadn’t met us so Lana went to pick her up and bring her to meet us and observe us. She will have to give a recommendation in court. She asked us some questions to prepare us for the judge but didn’t really watch us too close. She would just go by the main workers observations I guess. We were a litte sad to leave him but we were anxious at this point just to put the first trip behind us and get back for our 2^nd trip ASAP so we could bring them home. The week was pretty exhausting. We looked forward to the time when we could really enjoy the boys without people watching us all the time. Both boys were extremely beautiful. What a great family we are going to have! God really has blessed us with this opportunity.

Day 6 – Saturday (the Worst. Day. Ever.)

We had a long, bumpy trip to the airport. Traffic was pretty bad. We got to the airport plenty early, but that turned out to be a good thing. We went to check in and Julie’s went fine. I gave her my passport and instantly we knew that something was definitely wrong. We couldn’t understand anybody. It was clear something was wrong with my ticket. We gathered from their hand jesters that my flight had just left. We couldn’t clarify with them what was going on and they couldn’t clarify with us. It was a very unsettling and uncomfortable situation for us as well as the workers. Finally a worker that spoke just a tiny bit of English was able to tell us for sure that I had been put on a different flight and that airplane already left. The lady pointed to what appeared to be the next window. So we waited in line at the next window to get the same reaction. She didn’t know what to tell us so just shooed us away. I was trying to figure out a way to contact our travel agent but we couldn’t find any way to do that. We did not have her number anywhere. I tried to think of a way to get a hold of our translator, coordinator...anything. We didn’t have any of those numbers. We eventually were taken to the booking window. We didn’t know what they were trying to tell us, so out of desperation I found the English speaking worker again (she spoke very little English but seemed to get us by last time) and dragged her over to booking. They said we had no choice but to buy another ticket in order to be able to transfer on time in Moscow. We didn’t know what else to do so we decided to go for it. The lady who spoke a little English left. We gave booking our credit card. We knew they took credit card but something again was wrong. We had no idea what. In Russian they were explaining it, but we had no idea what was going on. Basically, what we got out of it was the credit card machine was broken. An airline with a broken credit card machine? How could this be?  Again, we are speechless and clueless as of what to do. We showed her that we did not have 8000 rubles. Again, we had no idea what to do so I went and found the English speaking worker again. She kept saying, “It’s okay. Terminal. Terminal.”  We were in the terminal! What did she mean? She was very busy, but finally she dragged us over to the cash machine and said, “Terminal!” Apparently she thought a credit card machine was called a terminal. We finally figured out how to use a Russian credit card machine and headed back to the booking agent to buy our ticket. Good thing we got to the airport very early, because we used up most of that time figuring this all out. We finally did get my ticket figured out, our seats together and on the same plane. This was a very awful and desperate situation to be in. It definitely gave us an understanding of international visitors coming to the United States. We truly felt for them. We were very thankful God got us through this uncomfortable and desperate situation.

The 10 hour flight to Moscow went fine. I gave the Russian movie a shot. It was supposed to be a classic Russian comedy. I couldn’t get into it. I tried sleeping....no luck. I gave the movie another shot. I really wanted to like it. Nope. I listened to my Zune and for as long as the battery lasted and just tried to kill time the last few hours. When we got to Moscow, there was supposed to be an airport shuttle waiting for us. It was 5pm in Moscow but nearing 1am in Vladivostok. We were tired and ready to sleep. We waited and waited but everybody cleared out but no sign of our shuttle. We were in talks with Julie’s dad over texting and Julies dad was e-mailing our hotel. They said the guy was there in a yellow jacket. Everybody in Russia wears black. There was NOBODY wearing even a hint of yellow. We decided we should probably be outside so he could see us. We had avoided it because it was frigid cold plus it was raining/snowing. It was miserable outside. This is how people picture Russia! So we took all our baggage outside. We were not to really get back in without completely going through security so this was committing to outside. We waited outside for nearly an hour! Finally, it got figured out. The guy was waiting in the international section of the airport. This was a domestic flight! Julie found him there. Sure enough, he was wearing a bright yellow jacket with a sign with our name on it. We got in his car (not shuttle) and we headed to the hotel. He took us into a bizarre neighborhood. Where was this hotel? We drove up to a big house. Sure enough, this was it. It had a bed and breakfast feel. However, there were about 20 really nice rooms that were actually hotel rooms. Our shuttle guy helped take our bags to our room and we immediately crashed. We woke up in the middle of the night (after sleeping 6-7 hours). It was hours to breakfast and we were hungry! We showered, watched American sitcoms on TV (only it was voice-overed in Russian) for a couple hours and then went to breakfast. We hadn’t eaten for quite a while and Julie was looking weak. We went down to the restaurant and as we were getting into the table, Julie banged her knee. She got a little nauseous like she does sometimes after hitting her knee. Next thing I know, she said, “Nate....” and passed out. I jumped up and grabbed her arm on her way down and broke her fall quite a bit but she banged her head at some point, probably on the chair at the next table. She was out cold for about 10 seconds. I finally got her to wake up and she was surrounded by Russian speaking people looking at the pale, passed out American. I just hugged her and told her it was okay. One worker kept saying, “Doctor?” We decided to get her some juice. We also order some eggs for her to get her some protein. I ate their specialty pancakes which were quite different from our pancakes, but I enjoyed them. After Julie was about ¾ done with her juice, the waitress came and took it. We figured she was going to refill it but she never came back! It was kind of weird. We still don’t know why she thought she should take it. After breakfast, we went back to our room and Julie laid down. I was texting my mom (via my sister) back and forth about how to help Julie and apparently I really panicked my mom. She hardly slept that night she was so worried about Julie. However, Julie appeared to be getting much better. By mom’s request, I went back to the restaurant and got another juice. They couldn’t understand me so I ended up going back in the kitchen and just grabbing it. The workers in the restaurant spoke NO English. I know the Russian word for juice now, so Ill be prepared next time! I put some sugar cubes and brought it back for Julie. Julie was feeling much better by the time we got to the Moscow airport. We waited in line for about an hour but it was okay, there was English speaking Americans on each side of us in the line! We were very happy to be around people who understood us! 

The rest of the trip went pretty smooth. The next two flights were pretty good, although I never was able to sleep. I was just happy I never got sick! We finally returned home after midnight on Sunday night. It was sooo good to be home. It felt like we had been traveling for days...I guess we had. This was actually about 2 and a half days, but to us it all ran together as one horrible terrible extremely long bad day. It was late, but felt early to us for some reason. Even though we should have been exhausted, we stayed up a few hours talking with mom and showing off pictures of the boys. Kelsey even got up and looked at pictures for a while. She was as happy to see us as we were to see her. It was a great way to end our worst. day. ever.