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.