Check, Check, Done!

Pack baby clothes and necessities - check

Laundry - check

Grocery shopping for the boys here - check

Resolve last minute work issues - check

Pick up money from bank - check

Unexpectedly obtain infant carseat because Lucas is less than 20lbs - check

Lucas' room set up and ready to go - check!

This has been a hard week - I've been very impatient to go and take Lucas into my arms but also torn with wanting to spend as much time with Alexander as possible. These will have been the last few days he's had our undivided attention.

Just about 24 hrs from now I'll be off with Kali. Sunday we arrive and hopefully on Monday we'll be able to pick him up from the baby home. I'll post pictures as soon as I can!!

Paka,

Laura

THREE years and a beautiful surprise

We arrived safely back home on Tuesday night after a looong day of travel. We went from Moscow to Boston through Frankfurt, Germany which is usually fine but the 4 hour layover there caused to spend about 20 hours traveling. But luckily since we arrived home around 9p we were able to go to sleep and wake up the next day without too much jet lag. Now we just need to get everything done before Kali and I leave a week from tomorrow to bring the Little Mouse home! Woohoo!

So other than the ADOPTION, we are enjoying the arrival of summer to Boston and our last days as a family of 3. It's been about 90 degrees yesterday and today and Alexander and I have been hard at work in the garden planting more veggie seeds and plants and weeding, weeding, weeding. We also played some baseball and frisbee and had lunch with Paul today at his workplace. This Sunday we are heading into Boston on the commuter train to celebrate Alexander's family day...technically this falls on May 31st, however I'll be arriving in Moscow that day and will be really sad to miss it. May 31st marks 3 YEARS that our shining star has been a part of our family and I'm amazed at what a beautiful, smart, funny and compassionate child he is. So we are celebrating a week early by heading into the Children's Museum and lunch in town.

Where does the beautiful surprise come in? Well a few of you may know that about 9 years ago I purchased a very small wisteria plant that I have been nursing along and that is growing along our front porch. The plant has grown bigger and bigger every year and about 3 years ago the trunk busted apart the supports I had used to help train it to grow up the porch. The leaves provide a beautiful shade for our porch in the summer however it has never flowered...until now! We came out onto our porch on Wednesday morning after our trip home from becoming Lucas' parents, to find two beautiful white wisteria blossoms. This is another example of what an amazing year this is turning out to be...

Laura

11:05 am Moscow Time

Is when we were declared by a Judge in a Moscow City court room to be the parents of our newest son Lucas!

Court went very quickly and easily - about 30 minutes including the 10 minutes the Judge left the room to deliberate. We were asked very basic questions, names, dob's, address, did we have any children, what our home was like, who would care for Lucas, did we know and understand his medical conditions, etc. The Judge did ask us who would like to speak first and I (Laura) went (yes, control freak I know). Paul then went up after me and was asked just a few of the questions that were specific to him and not our family. Paul and I held hands as the Judge came back in and read her decision...I got teary eyed and felt unbelievable joy listening to her words. We are now the very proud parents of two beautiful Russian boys!

We were there with the other family from our agency (who went first and also now have a new son!) - it was nice to have them there with us as we had someone to talk to waiting for our hearings. Afterwards we got to have our photo taken in front of the courthouse and Paul had to sign some paperwork as he is not returning for the pick-up trip. And then the best part...we left straight from the courthouse to go see Lucas! We drove there with the orphanage's social worker and the regional goverment representative who both spoke on our behalf at the hearing.


We then took Lucas immediately for his first car ride since he arrived at the Baby Home to get his passport photos taken. He was great in the car for the 2 minute drive, although he looked a bit frightened. We got back, he cried for his lunch, they fed him and then we got to take him outside for a walk. The back of the Baby Home is beautiful...lots of green grass, walk paths, blooming flowers and play equipment.



At one point he just started to cry and it broke my heart...it was the first time we really saw him cry. I think he just realized he was away from his caretakers with 2 strangers. We took him inside to the area we were in last time and he immediately perked up. We played with him for about an hour inside and got several laughs and giggles out of him. Unfortunately since we leave tomorrow we won't get to see him again until Kali and I come to bring him home in a couple weeks. I miss him already but know that we will be back in just 2 short weeks to bring him home.

We're back in the hotel now, Paul's napping (of course :)) and afterwards I think we'll take another stroll around and just soak in this amazing day!

We still can't post pictures until the adoption is considered final (after the 10-day wait) but it won't be much longer now :)

Dasvidanya,
Laura

Greetings from Moscow!

We safely arrived in Moscow a few hours ago - yay! Wow the city has changed in the 6 weeks since we've been here last! Before everything was gray and dirty but now Spring has arrived and everything looks fresh and different. Weather is a little warmer too which is nice..no big coat this trip.

We had fairly uneventful travels. Our flight from Boston to DC was quick and then we had about a 3+ hour layover before we boarded our direct flight Moscow. That was a long flight - 9.5 hours - but luckily we were both able to sleep for several hours. I think it was only dark for about 3 hours though LOL. We also somehow were in economy plus which had a little more leg room than usual which was great for stretching out. When we arrived in Moscow they asked everyone to remain in their seats once the plane reached the gate because health inspectors needed to board the plan and check everyone for swine flu! Two women then came on the plane and pointed these black boxes at everyone's head which took some type of infra-red temperature measurement. It didn't take long at all but it was kind of funny to be lasered for swine flu...and the women were about the happiest health inspectors I'd ever met.

We then got off the plane and proceeded to passport control which in the past has taken a while to get through the lines. We thought we might be in for a treat since when we arrived there was hardly any lines at all and thought sweet we'll be out of here in no time. We were about 4th in one of the lines when we heard this massive sound behind us and turned to see several hundred youngish men descend on the area. Apparently they just got off a flight from I'm not sure where...I think another Russian speaking country based on the speech...but wherever they were from they don't have the same understanding of waiting in a 'line'. They ALL proceeded to move in mass to the front of the lines and soon there were no longer any lines. Paul and I had to literally shove our way to the front, as everyone else was doing, to get through. And they nudged at us and saying move ahead...but there was nowhere to move ahead! About 30 minutes later we were through and could finally go find our driver. Luckily we only had carry-ons for this trip (thanks Kali - little suitcase worked great!) so didn't have to wait for a bag (though it probably would have been through considering the time we were waiting to get through passport control).

We were very happy to see Max, our driver from our 1st trip, waiting for us. He took us to our hotel where we then had a lite lunch with another family who is here for court. We're all looking forward to court tomorrow and then going to see our kiddos! I can't wait and wonder how much Lucas has changed in 6 weeks...probably not too much but maybe he's walking on his own???

After a small nap (well Paul napped...I had coffee at lunch so no nappee for me :)), Paul and I headed to Red Square which is about a 10-15 minute walk from here. Amazing amazing amazing. We had come with Alexander on his trip 2 but were never able to get close to St. Basil's due to some renovations but this time were able to get close enough to touch it. When we leaving these 2 very sweet older women asked (in Russian) if I could take their photo in front of the ever-present lilac bushes that are in bloom...I said yes of course and it brought back memories of my grandmother who absolutely loved lilacs (as do I). Although even in good health she would have never lived to see this day, it would have been so incredible to have been able to bring her a lilac flower back from Russia. But she was with me in spirit today.

Well we're off to get some dinner and then to bed. We are getting picked up at 8:30 am tomorrow and we've been told court is around 9:30am. Hopefully some great news in the next post! For now, some photos of the past day (or two).

Paka!

Laura and Paul

Ready, set, go!

Ahhhh my passport arrived this morning! Yay! Sorry for the delay in getting the word out that all is well but it's been a busy day. Grocery shopping for Kali and Alexander, last minute laundry and to-do's, spending some quality time with Alexander (riding his bike into downtown, picnicing in the park and a library trip before strolling back home), and then finishing packing. We're off in the morning and hopefully our next post will be from Moscow :)

Laura

I hate stress...

OK less than 48 hours to go and still no passport and visa. They tell me it will be here tomorrow but I still haven't seen that magical email from Fedex saying the package has been picked up and on it's way. I did just call the visa folks and they said it takes a while for it to get in the system but it should have been picked up by now... I don't think I'll get a lot of packing done tonight checking my email every 2 minutes! Oy

Also, I went to pick our order of new bills at the bank today and they had messed up! They had said the order was ready when I called but no one could find it and then thay had to scramble to find bills that were relatively new (no tears, marks, creases, etc). And only one teller window was open, they were having problems with the computers, etc. Finally an hour later and I had the $$$. Oy

Then I had a crazy day at work trying to tie up loose ends as I'll miss my monthly board meeting next week, responding to an urgent request for information for hospital accreditation, and a couple meetings. Oy

I think I'm actually looking forward to court at this point :) I'll be happy when all this running around is OVER and Lucas is home for good.

OK, off to check email again.

5 days and counting

Until we leave for our court trip!! I really can't believe it's almost here. Luckily this trip is pretty short so there's not THAT much to do (e.g., don't have to bring baby clothes, set up playdates on this end for Alexander, etc) but I am starting to get a bit nervous about court. Our court experience for Alexander was extremely stressful and I was the one doing most of the talking. Apparently in Moscow City, the papa gets asked most of the questions and let's just say that I'm the one in our marriage assigned with the details :). So Paul's been doing some studying and occassionally jokes that he will just "wing it". This tends to make me break out into a cold sweat but I should be comforted since Paul seems to have an uncanny ability to be successful when he wings it. He is taking this seriously but still....issue is no control for me LOL.

Also, the one other small thing I am nervous about is that we received our passports back with our visas on Thursday (yay) but there was an error with mine (ugh). They only gave me a single-entry visa when I had requested double-entry (since I'll be going back for pick-up with Kali). We quickly determined it was their error and they had me send back my passport asap and the plan is for them to expedite the correction on Tuesday (Monday is a Russian holiday) and get it back to me for Wednesday. A couple days room in there for any issues as we leave on Saturday but I hate having my passport traveling in envelopes back and forth across the country! Ok...time for some chocolate to calm down...

One last note - if you can send more good thoughts and wishes, please send them towards our friends K and M who, after 3 years of waiting, received their daughter's referral from China in March and have been awaiting their travel invitation for a couple months now. Things are being held up most recently by concerns over Swine flu :(

Ready and not so ready

The last couple weeks have gone by in a total blur as will the next few...someone asked me the other day about our calendar and I really couldn't remember what day it was. Paul also asked me yesterday "so, do we have any plans next weekend, I might want to do X"...uh, we'll be on our way to court?!?

What is making us so busy? The usual life things of course, caring for Alexander, work, laundry, grocery shopping, starting our veggie garden, refinancing our mortgage, etc and oh yeah, buying gifts for about 12 people in Russia, making airline and hotel/apartment arrangements for 2 separate trips, gathering clothes for Lucas (smallest size we have from Alexander is 24 mo), gathering clothes for the orphanage donation, setting up the crib and Lucas room, gathering more paperwork (needed for Embassy), dusting off the baby gates, requesting more pristine bills from the bank, etc.

At the end of the day we are really ready to go right now (well, maybe as soon as we get our passports back with our visas LOL) but there is a lot of stuff that I want to do before our pick-up trip. I stare at Lucas' little face all day and can't wait for him to be home....