Will some Pictures Tide You Over

Right now we are gathering the rest of our paperwork to send to Russia, we are doing this as fast as we can, but we also need to make sure to be accurate. We have to get it submitted, so we can get our court date.
The last few days have been very taxing, we have been dealing with some very difficult people. I am not at liberty to explain, but one day I will be;-)
People have been begging for more posts, I'm trying, but I'm tired,happy, but busy and tired, Leave me a comment by clicking on the little envelope!!
The second one is of her and her music teacher putting on a little concert for us. Anastasia played the triangle and sang!
Her music teacher spent some time with us, she was so sweet and loves the children very much. She was one of the people who told us how lucky Anastasia was to be getting such young parents. Funny.

Pictures

Here's a few pictures from Wednesday. On Wednesday morning we had to do our Medicals, so we had an afternoon visit instead. When we were leaving the rest of her group was outside, so we stayed while she bundled up, then walked her outside to her friends. We met a charming young boy, who proclaimed to be her husband! Very darling children. Anastasia proclaimed as she walked us outside, "This is MY Mommy and Poppy, NOT Karina's!!" She was so proud. It made me sad for the other children though.

We are Home!

Got in yesterday evening. All our flights were on time and smooth. Just feeling the jetlag today and emjoying being back with my boys!
We've got lots of paperwork to do this week, the sooner we it done and sent to Russia the sooner we will get our courtdate. If we can do it quickly they believe our court date would be mid-May.

Fast Forward

To today. I want to post about today right now so I don't forget anything, and when we get home I will rewind and post about Wednesday and Thursday.
Right now it is about 11:00 pm here, we leave our apartment at 3:30 am, our driver will pick us up and take us to the airport.
This morning of course was our last visit with Anastasia, it was surpisingly upbeat, she is just so happy that she will be part of our family.
When we got to the orphanage this morning her teacher said she would like for us to see how much Anastasia knows, so she took us to the "school room", and she sat with her and showed us how she works problems, does her alphabet, spells her name, etc... Her teacher is beyond sweet, she truly cares about the children, and it shows. She had our translator take a picture of the Gary, myself, Nahstya and her together and asked that we bring her back a copy when we come back.
We got to see Nahtsya's bed, and her group area, the one we saw before was not hers and we were not sure if we were going to be allowed to see hers. They have many toys and it is extremely nice and kept very clean. They have 3 little sinks and toilets in their bathroom, and to my surprise they have toothbrushes and cups.
Every time we would see anyone that worked at the orphanage she would beam from ear to ear and tell them very proudly that this is my Mommy and Poppy. We went back up to the music room and played hide and seek her favorite game, amongst others. She was aware that this was our last day to visit this time, and she said she would not cry because she knew we were going to come back just as Karina's parents had. (the little girl who was adopted from the same orphanage by the couple we know from Atlanta) It makes me feel good that she trusts us. Things are very easy with her, the affection is not dramatic like it was sometimes before, like she was trying to win us over. She no longer ever called me Mama, like she would have before on and off, I am now Mommy, and she calls Gary mostly Poppy. We did not expect her to speak much English while we were here since we could rely on the translator, but boy were we wrong!! Wednesday she just started to bust out with the English, even our Translator was amazed. She would just pop out these sentences, "Mommy sit down, Poppy go." She would also use "you", and "me" in the right context which children don't usually do for several months of being home. She would talk, and then hear the translator tell us what she said, then later use the words that she had the heard the translator use. Such as monster, noone told her, such and such word is monster, she just figured it out, and would say, "you monster, me go" (game).
There was also a lot of mixed Russian and English, like our favorite, "go ta da", basically go to there. Or, "Poppy, carry me, ta da!"
We went downstairs for her to eat her lunch, then we had about 30 minutes to spend with her. She called Poppy into the room while she was eating and asked him to "up 10 times", it's a tradition they have he throws her in the air. She was showing off her Poppy to the other children. Little stinker.
She then came out and sat on my lap and talked until we had to go.
She asked again for an explanation of about how long it would be till we came back, and that she would go home with us the 3rd time. She also wanted to make sure that if she was too scared to ride the bus that I would drive her to school. She asked again why we decided to keep her, and we told her again what we told her before. She said ,"Oh, so you wanted 3 children" I said, "yes, but not just any third child, we wanted you." She said, "because you love me?" "Yes, we love, and we always will," I told her.
She had many questions. And we tried to answer them the best we could.
One of the funniest things she told us was that when she was in America that she saw the Christmas paper in the garage, and that she thinks that Mommy and Poppy bought the presents, and not Santa. Ah, we tried our best to work our way out of that one, but she was not buying it! She said next year she would stay awake and see if there really was a Santa.
She told us that she lived with her mother until she died, then stayed with her Granpa and Grandma until they brought her here. She said her mother's name and that she remembers her.
Our goodbye was good, I started to choke up, and she looked up at me and said, "Mommy your face has turned all red" I told her because it made me cry to leave her. She said, "Because you love me very much?" "Yes," I told her. She told us how much she loved us and that she would be patient and brave until we came back, she did not cry. I am thankful for this. The lady in charge of paperwork and several others walked over to tell us goodbye and told me not to cry. I had our translator ask again about the Grandpa. She said that he has been to visit, but not only several times, well that certainly is different than never!! And that he is with another woman, not Anastasia's biological grandmother, she is an alcholic and not involved. So this whole time Anastasia has right, she considers that woman her grandmother, and obviousily they have visited her. The paperwork lady thought I was crying because I was afraid the grandfather would prevent the adoption, but she said not to worry that he has signed away his rights and wishes for Anastasia to be adopted. She sais she feels Anastasia is lucky to have us as parents, we are very young and have good life to offer her. I thanked her, and she also said that Anastasia is a very good girl.
I better go to bed now, and sleep for several hours before we leave for the airport. I cannot wait to kiss those boys of mine, this is the longest we have been away from them.

Compliments of the Chef

Tuesday we took a nap, then woke up and took a walk to find a place to eat. We came upon a fancy restaurant that had their menu posted in English also, a very small unique place, so we decided it would be our one splurge. I will post a picture of the place. Gary ordered duck, and I ordered chestnut soup and a pasta that had cheese, sundried tomatoes and this round ball type things that were mooshy and tasted like wine. It was all very good, Gary's came with a sauce and also a roasted chestnut and some sort of of applesauce type thing that had lavendar in it I think. But the really funny part is after we ordered the waitress walks up with the fanciest clam appetizer I've ever seen, I was a HUGE clam on a bed of sea salt, with the clam still in the shell, but with some sort of special sauce. She puts it in from of Gary and says "Compliments" I could tell she was very proud to present it to him. He smiled and thanked her in Russian, but I could tell he was terrified, he hates to eat anything like that. So the waitress walks across the room, which is not far at all, to watch, which is not unusual. In Russia they sort of watch you to see if you ask for anything, but they don't approach your table so much. I tasted the sauce and told him it was yummy, and that he had to eat it. I mean it would be bad manners not to. So he's trying to get up the nerve to eat it, and she starts walking across the room to the table near us, and I whisper, in my best ventriliquest way-"She is walking this way, just eat it." So he took the fancy little fork then lifted up the clam, which was HUGE, and sucks it down, oh the look on his face, I told him that watching him eat that clam was worth the money we spent on the meals.

More again on Tuesday

Boy am I wishing I had blogged more of this as it happened. Anastasia's music teacher spent some time with us Tuesday, she played the piano and had Anastasia play the triangle and sing, it was very cute! I could tell that she truly loves the children and that she is very dear to Anastasia. We also got to meet her teacher, she does not go to school but they do make an effort to teach the children who are able the basics. She showed me some of her copy books, she had taught her to write out Mama for me, how sweet is that. She said she is a good learner, and that she is always well behaved and kind to others. She said she does not conflict with the other children or caregivers. For our visits we are put in this large music room where the have music class, and puppet shows, etc...
It is connected to a therapy room that we can also use if there is noone else in there. We spend time playing hide and seek, tag, and other games she makes up!! She has a huge imagination, and the things she say are so funny.
The one thing the music teacher did tell Oksana was that when she first came to the orphanage and was asked to sing songs she knew that they were all adult songs-not children's songs.
She eats lunch at 12 then she comes back to the room to play till 1. We laughed because the translator could hear the caregivers telling her to chew her food, because she just wanted to hurry back to us. When we leave each day she asks many times if we will be back tomorrow and when.
After the orphanage we went back to the apartment and checked in, and took a nap.
We woke late, around 8 pm maybe, and decided to walk and look for something for dinner.
Oh< I almost forgot about lunch. My blood suger dropped on the way back to the hotel and it was taking everything I had not to vomit in the car, so asked if we could please stop to eat. They took us to a place called Schtolle's they serve pies. Basically pie is not just dessert here. And this place is supposed to be one of the best here. They have the pies set out on the counter and you tell them what kind you want and they cut it for you. I got a chicken and a apple, Gary also got a chicken and a lemon. It was very inexpensive, all 4 of us ordered 2 plus a drink and it was around 23.00 for everyone. Nothing here has as much sugar as things in America. But they were very yummy. I took a bite of Gary's and could barely get myself to swallow it, it was very bitter, like they had used the a lot of the peel, but he was a trooper he ate it.

More Tuesday

At the orphanage on Tuesday we sat in the director's office waiting for Nahstya. She had many questions for us-just out of curiousity she said, she is not a judge and just wanted us to be sincere. She said it is very hard for Russians to understand why people who can have their own children would want to adopt,especially if they already have children. She also was curious as to why we choose Nastya, especailly due to her disability, even though she also said that her disability is minor and that she thinks she will do wonderfully with a family. I will post more about this after our adoption process is finished
She also wanted to know how the economy effects us Americans, if there is really a difference. I gave her a run down on mortgages and what foreclosure was. She was surprised mostly to hear that the magority of our money at the beginning of the loan goes toward interest. She said that Russians thinks they have it worse, but that she thinks it is better because at least 50% of their payment goes toward the payment of the loan. That does sound more fair doesn't it?
I can't recall all of what we talked about but it was very interesting. She asked if we wanted to see what one of the groups looked like and we said of course!!! Basically the children are split into 4 groups. And each has their own play area, with tables to eat their meals at, a bathroom, and bedroom. I cannot tell you how surprised I was by how nice it was. I was told that her orphanage was much nicer than others, but it is nicer than most American preschools! And very clean. We had to wear covers on our shoes, we had to wear these also when we went to the clinic.
The walls are all painted there are many toys, and child sizes furniture. They each have a small closet type space where they keep their coat, boots, hat, mittens, etc... for going outside. We also gave them the bag of donations, they were especially thankful for the small underwear-thanks Lynn!! And after seeing the children I would say that they could use very small-like 2T size boys underwear the most. Most of the employees we came in contact with were very nice, they would smile and greet us, we were especially fond of the paperwork lady and the music lady.

Tuesday

After showering and getting ready for the day we walked to the bakery that we had eaten at the morning before but they were not open yet, what bakery is not open at 8:30? We didn't have a lot of time so just decided to walk and see what we could find. We found a coffee shop that seems to be a chain here. It is very yummy, and worked out better, because they were able to do my cappucino to go. We got a pastry that has berries and one that had ham and potatoes, both very good. There was a young man working there that spoke a little English and you could tell that he was very proud to be the one to step forward when we asked if anyone spoke English.
From there Oksana and Sergey picked us up and we drove to the orphanage, we have been very fortunate with the traffic, it can take up to 3 hours to get to the orphanage from the city center, but it has not taken us more than 1 hour and 15 minnutes, good not only because we are not stuck in traffic, but we would be paying our driver for that time also.
Also I have to give our driver Sergey props, he has got some Mad Driving Skills!!!
The driving here is crazy. I asked if there were rules and Oksana said yes, but that people just don't follow them. What looks like 2 lanes is often made into 3 or 4, with cars trying to get around each other. And Sergey is very good at getting around other cars, cutting them off in as safe a way as possible. We have seen what I call a "crunch" at least once a day, it is basically a minor accident caused by two cars cruching into each other because they just haven't given in, and noone gets the right of way! The cars drive very close to the pedestrians as well when they are crossing. There are very nice crosswalks and light to let you know when to cross. But for the most part Russians do not look at each other-you know like the other people they are walking near or the cars. So when they cross they just walk and the cars will drive very near to them, but not hitting them-not sure if this happens very often. So that is why I say you can tell I am an American because I actually look-and hurry when I see a car coming too close-although I am getting better at it.

Pictures from Monday

Tourists for the afternoon

After that we went to Pizza Hut to eat, we still didn't know our way around very well so we knew at least we would know what to order, and we were starving. The lunch combo came with a pizza, soup and salad bar. The pizza was pretty much same as here, the soup was a fish based creamy soup-customery for here, and very yummy to me.
The salad bar was different it had cabbage, shredded carrot salad, peas, and several other things, and 2 dressings to choose from, one was similar to Thousand Island, the other just looked like mayo..
After this we walked to the Church on Spilled Blood, it's about $10.00 per person to get in. It is breath taking on the inside and outside. There is a little market type flea market on the street near there, where you can barter with vendors selling nesting dolls, jewelry boxes, dolls, amdber jewelry, etc... There was a funny old man that was a lot of fun to barter with, the others were rude and short with us, but I spent a lot of time with this man going back and forth in a fun way. He would tell me "look at this price, it is very economic"
We went to bed early and slept really well.

try again...and again

Ok, this is my third time trying to post more about Monday, it just won't go through when I go to post it. So, here I go again.
After the orphanage we went to the apartment where we had reservations but noone was there. There was someone there and she invited us in, we told her who we were and she was very apologetic. She said if we would wait she would call the owner to come talk to us, she could be there in about 10 minutes. So we sat and she made coffee while we waited. It was the owner's daughter who came, she is college aged and speaks very good English, she was so sweet and apologetic. She offered us a discount if we would stay with them for the remainder of the trip. She showed us the rooms, and there was free breakfast and in room internet so we agreed. Our translator thought we were crazy and wanted to know what percentage discount she was offering us..LOL

Gas or no gas???

Ok ,that's what they ask me whenever I order water, carbonated or non? Funny to me.
We arrived on time, our flights were great. We flew Lufthansa and they were beyond friendly, and had wonderful service. Our layover was in Frankfurt, which was pretty cool. Upon arriving in St. Pete, our translator met us there, and we drove to the hotel/apartment to check in. Well, there was noone there, and this was after carrying our luggage up 4 flights of stairs. I knew it was a hole in the wall place on the outside, but the pictures showed that the rooms were nice online, and it had great reviews. Well none of that mattered because noone answered the door. So we went down the street to the Petro Palace to see if they had any rooms, this is where we originally wanted to stay, but it was all booked up. Well with our translator's help they said they would give us 2 rooms, so we took them. So far I am loving jet lag, I normally take hours to get to sleep, well recently anyways. But I was asleep by 10 and didn't wake till almost 8, we slept great. The hotel breakfast is very pricey so we walked to a little cafe down the street that people had recommended. Very local place, noone spole English. We ordered what looked like a cinammon roll and a pastry with pear. Well, we still do not know what the cinnamon roll looking thing was, but we can confirm, that it was not what we thought it was.
Our translator met us in the lobby and we went to the committee. This is where they give us the basic info. on Nahstya and give us permission to visit her. We were only to answer yes or no, which we did and we got permission, easy. We then drove to the orphanage which was great because there was little traffic which is unusual. Also it is unseasonably warm today, and not windy. The orphanage is North of "the city" in a very pretty rural place. Upon going in we went into the director's office and greeted everyone, everyone was very nice, and we saw Ekatrina the assistant director we had spent time with this summer. Then we were taken to the music room where they would bring Nahstya in to interact with us in front of the orphanage social worker. The social worker asked us several question that she felt that they would ask us in court, such as why we wanted to adopt when we already had children. How we would handle her disability. How our children felt about the adoption. But more than anything they all seemed more curious about us Americans, what does our beach look like, do we have farms with cows and horses? Upon us telling them that where we live is very warm and almost never snows our coordinator joked that she always wished she would be adopted, so she could go to a place like that!
They were surprised by how excited Nahstya was to see us and how comfortable she was with us. We had a great visit, we were contained to that one room. But Nahsta made up games for us to play, and her and Papa rough housed a bit. She also just wanted to cuddle a bit.
They spoke to us about her medical and family history in front of her, which made me uncomfortable, I didn't feel as if this should be discussed in front of her, but Gary took her to the other side of the room to play.
Basically they said she was born at 28 weeks which is what would have caused her CP. They said her record indicated that her mother never took her to the doctor, but that the doctor came to her house several times, and offer the opportunity for her to be treated for her disability but that her mother always refused. This could be true or untrue. Sadly there is no father known. I am so sorry to hear this for Anastasia that is a huge part of her that will always be missing. She has been in the orphanae almost 2 years, basically upon her mother's death in 2007. Her grandfather brought her to the orphanage and gave his permission for anyone to adopt her and he has never been to see her. So the visits she tells us about are all fantasy. This also is sad, but common in chidlren like this. We visited for several hours and will go back tomorrow, from about 10-1.
I will write more tomorrow about our day today after the orphanage, I am sleepy, which is a good thing.

I'm a Celebrity!!

My very sweet and thoughtful online friend, Bethany, has "featured" us in her online blog. She has adopted a beyond cute little girl from Russia who happens to have Down's Syndrome, as does their biological daughter. I am warning you if you check out their blog, you will get addicted, they are just so stinkin cute!! She's got her family blog, her adoption blog, and a photography blog. I have read close to her entire adoption blog, and I read her other blogs everyday, no joke! She's also got a really good list of blogs on her blog roll. Be careful you may get addicted to reading other people's blogs. Just a warning, you know like the warning on cigarettes, you cannot blame me if you get addicted, OK?
Anyways, I found her blog through someone else's blog, no ideas whose. Yesterday she mentioned and linked to several families that she knows of who are adopting. How thoughtful of her is that? I mean she hardly knows me, she didn't have to take he time or thought to do that for me. I was very touched by her thoughtfulness.
Here it is if you wanna check it out http://thebalsisfamily.blogspot.com/

Updated Cost

As we get ready to write our second check to the agency I decided to update our "cost analysis"

I know alot of people are curious about costs, especially those who run across this blog and are thinking about doing what we are doing. As our costs occur we will post them here, along with a summary of future costs.

Application fee for Homestudy 100.00
Local background checks (2, one for me and one for Gary) 40.00
Fingerprints
Mailing the fingerprints to the proper places 17.00
Money orders for fees to cover having the fingerprints processed 66.00
9/1/08 Payment to Homestudy Agency 700
9/2/08 "Down Payment" to Hosting Agency 750
Passports 232
Final Homestudy Payment 700
10/15-11/1 Rest of Hosting Fee through donations, thank you Aunt Kelly, Uncle Dave, Papaw and Memaw 1400
10/15 Adoption Agency Application Fee 500
10/15 INS I600A FEE 830
10/30 First Installment of Adoption Agency Fee 5,500
Apostilled Copies of our Marriage Certificate for Dossier 59

Mandatory donation to Hosting Agency 2,250
Apostille cost for first set of Dossier 80
Last Minute Visas 715
Airline 2000.00
Hotel 600.00
Adoption Agency 4500.00
Adoption Coordinator in Russia 4500.00
Translator 1st Trip 750.00
Driver 1st Trip 830.00
Medicals in Russia 1200.00
Food First Trip 500.00

Total Paid for so far: $28819.00



2nd Trip
Adoption Agency 5000.00
Facilitator 4000.00
Airline Tickets 1300.00 (for 2, got a great deal!)
Plane Tickets for 3 to Moscow 350.00
Change in Tickets Home 1200.00
Anastasia's Ticket 950.00
First Hotel 350.00
Second Hotel 750.00
Hotel in Moscow 950.00
Translator St. P 900.00
Driver St. P 850.00
Visas 900.00
Driver Moscow 500.00
Food and Tips etc...1000.00
Anastasia's Passport 200.00
Anastasia's Visa 400.00
Anastasia's Medical 100.00

Total 51,719

Several other things

During our conversation she also told us that she told her Grandma and Grandpa that she is being adopted. It will be interested once we get there to find out if they are both really alive. I would love to meet them, find out more about their family, etc...
We think Anastasia was sitting by herself while she was talking to us, there was no background noises and she seemed to be opening up to us.
She told us that sometimes when she goes to sleep she thinks she might die, because she has seen movies where people die. Then she said that when her Mom died that she cried so hard and was so sad that she had no strength. Break my heart. This leads us to believe that she really has not been in the orphanage terribly long, maybe 2-3 years. So of course she is going to have issues with death. I prayed to God that night, I'm not sure if he takes messages for others, but I just prayed that Anastasia's first mother would know that we love her, are devoted to her, and will do our very best in raising her.

Our last conversation with Anastasia

I wanted to post more about the conversation we had with Anastasia, yesterday morning at 2 am. The translator called to let us know that he had gotten through and that the caretaker was going to get Anastasia to come to the phone and to call back in 10 minutes. We are so blessed for her to be at an orphanage where they allow her to take our calls. And we talked for an hour!!! It was just a wonderful conversation, she had so many questions. She definitly knows that we are adopting her, not sure how, but she does.
Here are some of the highlights:
-When we come could we please come on a Monday evening because this is when her schedule is free!
-I told her she looked pretty in the pictures our friends took while we were there, and her response is that there is nothing pretty about her, to which I responded that she is very pretty, she then asked if that is the reason we want to adopt her. Which made me realize that it must seem mysterious to her why we want to adopt her. I just told her that we love her, that she is wonderul,funny,sweet, smart, etc... and that we want her to be our child forever just like Cody and Cooper are.
It's so hard to explain to her, that we just feel as if we are her parents, and that we have an unconditional love for her, she doesn't understand.
-She asked why all the kids who come to visit the USA don't get adopted. I told her some people cannot adopt.
-She wanted to know if her room was the same. And if she could have more pictures on the wall so she wouldn't be bored when she looked at them. Pink butterflies, preferrably!
-Can she have a TV in her room so she won't be scared at night. (hmm..typical child)
To which I explained that children in our house don't get TVs in their rooms.
-She wanted to know where she would go to school, I told her Cody's school, she wanted to know why not Cooper's school, and I told her that Cooper's school is for little children, and that even Cooper would be going to Cody's school next year
-She wanted to know what if she was too scared to ride the bus? I told her I would drive her to school. And pick me up? Yes, I told her I could also pick you up.
-"Why don't I share a room with Cody and Cooper" ME-"Because boys and girls don't usually share rooms" Her-"They do in the orphanage" Me-"Well not usually in homes"
Her-"Well why can't we get another girl, and I could share with Cody, and the other girl can share with Cooper" Me-"No, Maam, good try" Notice it would be her sharing with Cody, she adores Cody!!!

Which by the way Cody woke up in the middle of our conversation, and talked to her, she was so happy, and so was he. The only other person Cody has ever talked to on the phone are his grandparents, and even that is usually only a word or two, he avoids it all cost.

I just wanted to type that all out before I forgot details.

Russia Here We Come

I don't have a lot of time, but we got the call this morning!!!
We leave this Saturday for a week! Crazy I know. There is a million things to do, and not much time. Regardless, we are so happy! We spoke to Anastasia last night (before we knew our dates), and she told us to come on a Monday becuase that is when her schedule is free, Funny Girl! Little did we know, that it would be this coming Monday! Talk about ask and you shall receive!!

Pictures

I think I'm paper pregnant

I've come to the conclusion that our paper work must have been accepted, which makes me paper pregnant in the world of adoption!!
My friend who was over picking up her little girl took Anastasia a package for us. She took pictures of Anastasia getting the package, and not only that but she emailed them to me, which was truly sweet of her considering they are still in Russia. Their adoption is finalized, yea!!!
The caregiver told my friend that Anastasia was being very shy and stand offish because she didn't know her, but she was not normally like this, which we know!!!
You can tell by the pictures how well taken care of she is, we are so blessed that she is in such a loving orphanage! She looks clean, happy, and chubby!!! I truly pray I will be to lift her when we get her home, I better keep working out!!
She's got on a leapord print skirt, she loves leapord print.
My friend explained to her that she was a friend of her Mama's and that the package was from us, (they had an translator there).