SumwaltFamily

2009-03-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

Andrew full speed ahead...
A squeal of delight.
Hello world. It's me, Andrew.

After a long day of playing!

We have been a very busy but happy family. Andrew is 21 months old now and he is the sweetest, most inquisitive boy. Today we had an Easter egg hunt at our church, and although Andrew was not too interested in finding eggs yet, we still had a blast. He loved going down the slide today. He is not one for swings, however. And now that he is walking, we spend 90% of our time chasing him. He will always look back at us, though, and will laugh as he recognizes we are following him.

Andrew is growing, too, although he isn't growing at rocket speed. He is still in his 18 month clothing. The upside is that he is getting a lot of use out of his clothes. It has been amazing to see how much he has caught up in the past eight months at home. He is probably 'age appropriate' for most skills now. Andrew loves to pick up books and read to himself. He will turn the page and go "ba...babooobee....daahh." Or something like that. His vocabulary is taking off, too. This week's word is 'bubble'.

We are planning Andrew's baptism and birthday celebration for May 31st. We figure we will do his birthday a bit early this year, so we can catch family and friends before the vacations begin.

Well, it is off to bed I go, but I just had to post some pictures before the day was out. Have a nice week, everyone!

Paka,

Christa

2009-01-27T18:01:00.001-08:00

It seems like I am in the habit of waiting over a month to post updates. I am determined to stay up and do this update tonight. We had such a wonderful holiday season with Andrew. It was so much fun taking him to our family Christmas parties. Andrew got to meet even more family members! Andrew didn't really get the concept of Christmas this year. He did enjoy the wrapping paper on the gifts, but that was about it. But we sure had so much fun with Andrew.

Andrew also had his 18 month checkup in December. Andrew is still in the 1st percentile in

weight but he is in the 21st percentile in height. He is at that finicky age where food may or may not interest him, depending on the mood. Sometimes Andrew is more interested in the texture and feel of the food. There are meals when he eats well, and meals when he doesn't eat much at all. Vernon and I always eat with Andrew (at least as much as we can), and that is supposed to encourage eating. And he loves his Pediasure milkshake, which we give daily to him, just to supplement what he is eating.

Andrew also began occupational therapy last month. His occupational therapist (OT) works on a wide variety of skills with Andrew, from sitting in a kneeling position to working with a spoon. There are other fun activities as well, such as swinging and climbing at his therapy. We are already seeing much improvement in Andrew's skill level. Andrew still faces a challenge with sensory overload at times. Meaning, when too many sights, sounds, and movements are thrown at him all at once, Andrew might act a little hesitant, which can manifest itself in clenched fists, a blank stare, or most commonly now with drooling. It is categorized as a mild issue, so we work on activities designed to help him begin to process all of the new sights and sounds he is experiencing a bit better.

Andrew is also walking now! It is the cute beginning stages of walking, where he will take 10 or 12 steps, looking like he will keel over at any minute. It is amazing to see how much strength he has developed. He is also saying words, which is quite surprising to us, as we really weren't expecting this so soon. He says "mama", "bye-bye", "uh-oh", and "car". A friend at church jokingly noted that those are the same words he will be saying as a teenager - mama, car, bye-bye, and uh-oh. I had to laugh.

We took a family trip to the beach recently, and had a few nice hours outdoors in January. Andrew really liked the sand and the toy dump truck in the sand. Here are my favorite pictures from the beach:

We also went to Washington D.C. to the inauguration! It was so much fun, although on the actual day of the inauguration, I made a last minute decision to watch it on t.v. I am not known for braving cold temps, and I didn't want to subject Andrew to a long day. We had a blast in D.C. the day before the inauguration, though. Andrew got to visit with his cousin Audrey and the grown ups went to the S.C. Inaugural ball, which was so much fun. Here is one picture of bath time and one picture in front of the White House the day before the election:

We also had a lot of fun visiting with friends in the D.C. area. It was a very special visit.

I could post so much more. I will finish with telling you how much Andrew's personality has developed. He loves to have fun, has a ready smile on his face, and is quite smart and curious. His only tough moments are when he is tired, and I must say that as a grown up, I am the same way. I will post one last picture of that beautiful laugh of his:

Paka,

Christa

2008-12-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

It has officially been over a month since I posted an update, so I will quickly try to catch everyone up! Life has become much more interesting since I returned to work. Andrew seems to be adapting to the change well. The question is "Are his parents?" :). For the most part, Andrew likes his child care - the only exception is when we leave - then he scrunches up his face and cries. One of his teachers, Ms. Kenya, caught us before we even left one morning and told us Andrew had already stopped crying before we even made it to our cars. So I am relieved that a) he misses us and b) that he isn't so upset that it impacts his day. I am very observant though, and watch him carefully for signs of any kind of regression or attachment issues. I have detected very little change. The biggest change is that when we are home, Andrew no longer likes it when I am out of sight. As Vernon puts it, Andrew loves his mommy. Which makes me smile. He is still his normal, happy, cute self, though.

Andrew begins his occupational therapy today. I actually have to leave in just a couple of minutes for our first session. Andrew still isn't walking, although he is getting closer every day. The therapists we are working with feel like Andrew has so much potential and they are encouraged that they can get him in the right direction. It does make me realize how important early intervention is, though. The key for us is finding the balance with respect to what we do and how much do we do it. We could probably do occupational, speech and physical therapy, but right now we are starting slowly with occupational, and will probably start some speech next year.

Andrew is still a littler fellow - he is hovering around the 20 pound range. We have his 18 month checkup Friday, though, and we will discuss his weight and a few other things. Overall he is doing so well. He loves to clap and wave bye-bye. Vernon will make an "Andrew Sandwich" by using 2 pillows with Andrew in the middle. Andrew loves this kind of play - especially in the mornings. Andrew discovered our kitchen cabinets not too long ago, and is a master at pulling out the contents of the cabinets. And yes, he has taken his first step or two, but that is about all he can manage at this point. Oh, and he loves to play the drums. Go figure :).

Well, I have to run to the OT therapist for now, but will update more Christmas week! We are so happy that Andrew turns 1 1/2 years old tomorrow (Thursday). We will be celebrating this milestone, of course.

Paka,

Christa, Vernon and Andrew

Chasing Andrew

2008-11-16T17:14:00.001-08:00

We have had a great couple of weeks! Andrew is doing so well, and I really don't know where to start. Well, I will start with this picture, which really is the story of my life. Chasing Andrew.

He is rather quick, but I like giving him free reign over the home right now, as all that activity helps him get stronger. We have had early intervention evaluate Andrew, and we have also had a private occupational therapist do an evaluation. There are just a few things they want to work on. One is his right sided strength. Andrew is really favors his left side, and we will work with him in strengthening his right side. We are still doing testing, and will find out more later. But the therapists are all encouraged that any issues should be resolved with some work. One thing that made me happy was during his early intervention assessment, he was 'age appropriate' for his social-emotional development, which is really huge considering he has only been home with us for under 4 months.

This past Veterans Day we had a play date with Niko, who was adopted from Russia just a few days before Andrew. As a matter of fact, we met Niko's parents John and Lea while out to eat in the Novy Arbat district of Moscow. Turns out that they live just a few minutes down the road from us in Charlotte. We had a great time during our play date. It was so nice talking to Lea and discussing all things adoption related. Adoption can be quite a bewildering but amazing experience, and it was nice to chat about our experiences. Here is a picture from our play date. Niko is on the far left, his sister Emma in the middle, and Andrew on the right.

This past weekend we went down to Rock Hill to visit with family. Of course a stop in Rock Hill means stopping at Lee's Chicken and PW's ice cream (we did both). We had a nice visit. Here is a picture of Andrew's cousin Claire giving Andrew his sippy cup.

My return to work is right around the corner. Much of this past month was spent looking at child care facilities and finding the right place for Andrew. I think we have found such a place just a mile from our home. We have been visiting Andrew's room this week, and plan to visit again next week. The two ladies that will be caring for Andrew seem super interested and caring, and I am hoping this will be a good transition. Andrew will actually be starting in the 6 to 12 month room. I think he would be a little stressed if he was in the 12-18 month old room, as he cannot walk yet and although he feeds himself some food, he really still needs to be fed by an adult. I was really pleased when we made the decision to put him in the 6-12 month room, because it put to rest my main concerns for him. So I will keep you posted on how the transition to work goes.

Other than that, we have just been hanging out at home, playing with anything that has wheels or anything that rolls. I promise I'll post more regularly. I will try to do once a week. Here are some final pictures!

Andrew trying to get at Vernon's hat:

Andrew standing up during an event in our church fellowship hall:

Paka,

Christa

2008-11-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

We have had a very busy week and a half. It started this past weekend when we visited Asheville, NC. It was Andrew's first road trip and he did pretty well. Of course the crib provided in the hotel wasn't quite like the one at home, and Andrew wasn't quite as comfortable, but all in all it was a good trip. The highlight was visiting our wonderful friends at our adoption agency. We love our agency so much, and we had a delightful afternoon hanging out in the office, catching up, and letting Andrew play. We also went to a farm - Hickory Nut Gap Farm - and tried going through a corn maze (failing miserably and quitting), and playing with the pumpkins (much more fun). Andrew was a bit tired, and a bit unsure of his surroundings, but ultimately warmed up to the big orange gourds and had some fun. Then we went to an apple orchard - Sky Top Orchard - on a rather chilly Sunday. By this time, Andrew was maxed out on adventure. Instead of playing with the hay, he would go straight to the stroller (not ours, of course) to play with the wheels. He did enjoy playing with the leaves on the trees, and we got some more cute pumpkin pictures. But we didn't prolong the trip. Some things are more for the parents at this age - like Halloween.

We had a nice Halloween. Andrew was a frog and we went to one house - our neighbors Mark and Joanna who love Andrew. We got one Kit Kat bar and called it a night. Again, some things are more for the parents at this age.

Today we helped out at our local adoption expo. We got to meet a lot of families (some with our agency) and it was so nice introducing them to Andrew. We spoke with many families interested in adoption and it was nice to be able to help out. It is amazing what a year can do in knowledge and experience. We ended our day eating at Mert's, a soul food restaurant, but Andrew was clearly ready to go home by that time. Being on display, although fun for us and helpful to prospective adoptive parents, wasn't as rewarding for Andrew. Plus missing a nap isn't too cool, either.

Earlier this week Andrew had his 'little boy' surgery. It went as smoothly as could be expected, but Andrew is still in a bit of pain, and I tend to slack of the tylenol and motrin too much (I'm too reactive instead of proactive). I add this because it was helpful to read other adoptive parent blogs about the process, and it helped me out a lot in asking the right questions to make sure the process went as smoothly as could be expected.

And finally we had Andrew evaluated by the early intervention group. We wanted to wait until we were home for a few months before being tested. Andrew did well and actually impressed me with some of the things he could do. Of course, he is still a bit behind in some categories, but I got the impression the only thing he might qualify for is speech. We will find out more on Tuesday when we meet for their report and conclusions. I do hope their recommendations will err on the side of recommending therapy, as I want to give Andrew opportunities to help him progress and learn. I'll post more when we get the full report.

Andrew has done other new things this week. On Monday the 27th he began clapping his hands. On Tuesday he put the ring back on the stick. He is really starting to mimic things we do and say with more regularity. He will hold his bottle on his own for a small bit (this is one area we haven't really pushed, as we want to continue the attachment and bonding that goes along with bottle feeding). He will walk now with only one hand on the couch. He gaining weight and getting rather tall. I looked at a growth chart and it looks like he is close to the 30% range for height, which floors me.

We also hope to get our adoption announcements out this week, if we can ever get to the post office. The picture is from early September, so Andrew has changed a lot, but it is a good reflection of Andrew soon after we brought him home.

We will post more later. Thanks for checking in on us.

Paka,

Christa

Pumpkin Boy

2008-10-22T17:22:00.001-07:00

First, for the pictures. This is happy Andrew who is so inquisitive and wants to figure out everything:

This is athlete Andrew, whose favorite pastime is throwing a ball. He likes to put it in my hands!
This is me and Andrew:
Andrew standing up by the piano bench:
Hungry Andrew, eating what I believe is a strategically placed cheerio.
We are doing very well. Today we went in for a hearing test as a part of the early intervention program. They saw some fluid in his ear so off we had to go to the pediatrician - turns out it was clear fluid and not gooky fluid, so no ear infection. I did learn that Andrew is cutting his molars (did I say that right?). I saw one coming in and one about to come in. His gums are so puffy - he really has been agitated the past few days and now I see why. She advised us to give him a bit of tylenol so I did that tonight. I hope he will sleep well. I'm glad Andrew checked out well because we will be traveling to Asheville this weekend and I am hoping we have a nice first weekend getaway with Andrew. We hope to go to an apple orchard and maybe go on a hayride. We'll see how things go! I have to pack but have procrastinated by blogging, which I suppose is a good type of procrastination. Andrew kept me going today so I didn't have much time to pack like I thought I might. Anyway, I hope everyone is well! We will report in after our trip.

Paka!

Christa

Hurricane Andrew

2008-10-10T17:03:00.001-07:00

Pictures are at the end of the post!

Having been reminded by Vernon's Granddaddy that I have not posted an update since September 20, I am at the computer on a Friday night typing away. Actually, Vernon is out of town tonight and Andrew is happily asleep, so now is a good time to write.

Andrew has been home with us for just over 2 months! I was looking at some of his pictures when we first met him June 4th, and he has certainly grown - physically and in personality. When we left the baby home, one of his caregivers, I believe it was Oksana, told us Andrew loved to play with his food. When he came home with us he displayed some playfulness with his food, but was really intent on eating. Now he is becoming more playful. We have so many Saltine and Cheerio casualties - food that goes straight to the floor. I have learned to recycle some of the food. He is also getting good at swatting the spoon. Andrew's fun with food is a small part of a personality that is generally happy, inquisitive, and determined. His smile is adorable and his babbling so cute. He tends to reserve those moments for the home, though, but I'm sure as time goes by more and more of his personality will come out.

A couple of weeks ago I was very gently rear-ended as we were out running errands. The person who ran into me was profusely apologetic, and as the policeman was doing his thing with our insurance cards, the man who gently rear-ended me asked me about Andrew. I told him we recently adopted him from Russia. The man mentioned he and his wife were just starting the adoption process, and it turns out we have the same adoption agency. They are adopting through domestic adoption, and I assured him his family was in good hands. I just thought that was a huge coincidence of sorts. It was cute, because when I told him Andrew was doing very well, and was happy and easygoing, the man was all too ready to give me credit for that (which I declined to take credit for). I think the guy was just thinking that my response to being gently rear-ended was a little unusual. Once he mentioned they were adopting, I

forgot all about being gently rear-ended and just asked him tons of questions and gave him tons of support.

Andrew has also been introduced to college football over the past weeks. I have some Miami Hurricane clothing for him, so he can dress like his daddy. Unfortunately the Hurricane's have stunk the past couple of weeks, so Vernon has tried to explain to Andrew that the 'Canes are just having an 'off' year. Maybe it is time for some Gamecock clothing for Andrew.

Anyway, Andrew has a few appointments scheduled in the next few weeks, and we are starting to look into the wonderful world of child care. So far the place I always thought was ideal only has a 16 year wait list. So maybe Andrew will get in soon after he gets his drivers license. Okay, I exaggerated only slightly with the length of the wait list. We haven't toured any places yet but will begin that process next week. We are touring a couple of places that have availability and a couple of others with waiting lists. I don't have to go back to work just yet, so we will have time to find the right place where Andrew will continue to thrive.

Well, that's it for now. I am getting very sleepy. I will post more later. Thanks for continuing to follow our journey! And now for the pictures...

Andrew when we first met him:

Andrew in his froggy jammies:

Hurricane Andrew walking with the lawnmower:

Andrew, Vernon and Lester the Cat:

Andrew and me:

Cousins

2008-09-20T17:19:00.000-07:00

Also, please check my sister in law's blog - The CoxFamilyAdventure.blogspot.com for great video of Andrew and Audrey...

This has been an eventful week! We had a visit from Andrew's Aunt Kristen and Cousin Audrey. Audrey is 10 days younger than Andrew, so the house was quite lively. It was fun watching them play together. Audrey likes to share, and she introduced Andrew to one of her favorite snack foods - Veggie Booty. She would take a snack out of her cup and put it in Andrew's mouth. She would also push Andrew around in the walker/rider toy. Audrey watched Andrew and I play catch, and Audrey picked up the game before the week was out. They also climbed the stairs together. We had 'races' - sort of- up the stairs. We even went to Baby Boot Camp - which is an exercise class for moms. It was located in a park on a beautiful day, and it was nice to get out. It was nice observing Andrew through all of this - he always knew who his mom was. He is even in the habit of crawling to me and pulling himself up by my pants. Audrey and Andrew had a good visit. Andrew is actually a bit better of a sleeper than Audrey - admittedly Andrew is doing a lot better in that department lately. So, here are some pictures of our week:

Andrew checking Audrey out...

Here is Audrey in her "I eat Tiger (Clemson), and my Veggies" T-Shirt (I had to post this one)!

Audrey pushing Andrew...

Andrew and Audrey watching Baby Einstein (the only way we could get a good picture of them together).

Kristen with Audrey and Andrew (we switched places so I could get my picture with them, too, but this one turned out the best - it is quite hard to get babies in sync with a camera)...

Audrey and Andrew playing with Tupperware.

As you can tell, we had an eventful visit!

On another note, we had to take Sebastian the Cat to the vet this week, and it turns out he has some form of skin cancer. He had a bad looking spot above his eye removed, and we hope to learn more about this diagnosis next week. Our cats are a part of our family, and have helped us through some really tough times. We are praying that the removal of this lesion will resolve the problem (our vet seems to think so, but he is still researching things a bit). I remain quite hopeful that Sebastian has many lives left. He is such a smart kitty - the type that I am convinced understands everything we are saying and has a higher level of communication than most felines. Here is our precious kitty - we hope he'll be okay

Andrew is doing well, and we feel so blessed to have him in our lives. Thanks for checking in on us this week!

Andrew's Helmet

2008-09-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Andrew, both an aspiring athlete and musician...

Here is Andrew, ready for college football:

As I mentioned in our last post, Andrew got his helmet 2 weeks ago. He is adjusting to it well. We still have to tweak the shape of the helmet a little, as it falls down too close to his left eye. It's a bit difficult trying to make meaningful eye contact when the helmet is so close to the eye, so we will try to get the helmet corrected this week. Andrew will probably have to wear the helmet until sometime in December, which all things considered isn't too long, although I will be glad when it comes off - snuggling with him can be a bit difficult with a helmet. The goal is to correct his head shape a little. He has quite a flat head in the back. I didn't even realize it too much until I saw a picture of him recently. So we are hopeful that the helmet will make things a bit better, although I completely love him regardless of the outcome.

This week saw Andrew's first cold and first injury. He had the sniffles for the past few days and today he injured his upper gum while standing in his crib. It was a bit of a difficult day for us both, but it ended well with a fun bath time and a fun Baby Einstein 'calm down' time. I have to learn not to get too anxious about everything. Sometimes I still get 'worst case scenario' in my mind. I have to balance that out a bit. But we have only been home 6 weeks. Andrew certainly is gaining weight and getting bigger and stronger. He loves to climb the stairs with increasing regularity. He also is starting to enjoy my reading to him, although right now I am just trying to get him in the habit of sitting and letting him hear my voice. He isn't exactly picking out books for me to read to him quite yet :).

This week we will have a visit from my sister in law Kristen and my niece Audrey. We are certainly looking forward to this visit. We also have to take Sebastian the Cat to the vet, as I think he will need minor surgery. So, we should have a busy week!

What a week!

2008-09-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Many more pictures below!!!!

This has been quite a week! On Wednesday Andrew got his helmet for his head. Because his head is flat in the back, he will be wearing a helmet for the next 3 to 4 months. This should help reshape his head a bit. I was really dreading Wednesday because I wasn't certain how Andrew would react to his helmet. I guess his response was fairly typical - we kept distracting him with toys until he became a bit more comfortable with the helmet. But Wednesday night was a disaster. Andrew woke up 4 times in a 2 hour period - all before 9:30 at night. I took the helmet off and decided to try again Thursday. But Andrew wasn't finished with me yet. It took 4 hours for us (me) to get him back asleep. The boy was wired! Then he started playing games with me. My wrists were so sore (they still are) that I finally just put him in his crib, and he would spring back up, giggling. It was like our first night home on steroids. The upside was that he slept until 8:30 the next morning, but I was so out of sorts my sleep wasn't quite as good. Fortunately, the next night he did much better, and I think he has accepted his helmet and can sleep comfortably with it on. Although every night I go to bed nervous that I will hear that little cry. I have to relax a little more.

Andrew is doing really well otherwise. It is amazing. I know this is hard to imagine, because we often think babies come by these habits naturally, but Andrew will now crawl to us when he is upset. He pulls himself up by my pants and wants to be held. He also does not like his pack n play. He will cry until I pick him up, and he is magically happy again. For adopted babies, it can take time to develop these types of behaviors, because they have never had consistent care where these types of attachments could be made. Of course, I now have to figure out boundaries, meaning I have to get my shower in somehow, so he has to stay in his pack n play for a very short while (and it right outside the bathroom door, so I can see him and talk to him).

Saturday we had Andrew's first swim lesson. He had a blast! I was running a minute late, so I just plopped him in the pool with me without any transition time. After a bit, he was splashing away. We sang songs, chased rubber duckies, attempted bubbles (he was still in the splashing stage so we will try bubbles next week), and practiced getting out of the pool. The 1/2 hour flew by. It was fun to see him enjoy himself so much. And we met Claudia, a 19 month old who was recently adopted from Guatemala. It was nice to have another adoptive family in the group. And it is so wild to see him so comfortable in water. I think back to our first night in Moscow with him and when I tried to put him in water, he became as stiff as a board, hands clenched, and eyes as big as saucers. He has come quite a long way since then. Anyway, here are some pictures:

Andrew chasing the ducky (sort of):

Andrew practicing getting out of the pool:

Here we are posing after the lesson:

And then Saturday afternoon, Andrew met his Sumwalt cousins. They have been so patiently waiting to meet him, and Saturday was quite special. He still has many more Sumwalts to meet, but today was a good start. It was so neat to see his cousins dote on him. I am so happy that Andrew will get to experience the love his extended family has to offer. The newest cousin is set to arrive in October, so he will have cousins of all ages to play with. Now we need to get his cousin Audrey Cox down for a visit. They are only 10 days apart, so they are super close in age. Anyway, here are some pictures from our visit Saturday:

Caroline and Andrew by the window:

Here is Andrew with Caroline and Claire (if only Andrew had looked at the camera...):

So, that is it for the week. We have to go back to the helmet therapist Monday so he can get his helmet adjusted a bit. Right now it sort of crops his eyes too much. Other than that, we hope to hang out at home. Andrew is learning to climb stairs, so we might be in for another busy week! I hope everyone has a great week!

Christa

One month home

2008-09-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

It is hard to imagine that one month ago we boarded a 12 hour flight from Moscow to Atlanta with Andrew. It is amazing what one month at home will do. When we first met Andrew on June 4, he couldn't sit up without assistance, and at almost 1 year of age one physician put his verbal skills at 4-5 months. Now, it is all we can do to keep up with him around the house. He isn't walking yet, but he is quite the crawler, especially when he sees a cat he can grab. And he is walking a lot more with assistance. And as for his verbal skills, he is verbalizing the sounds mama and dada, although we aren't quite thinking he knows what he is saying yet.

When we arrived in Atlanta a month ago, we had two memorable encounters. One was with an American/Russian flight attendant. As we neared Atlanta, she came up to us, kneeled down and stroked Andrew's hair while asking us questions about him. At some point in our conversation I mentioned we looked forward to sharing Andrew's Russian heritage with him. The flight attendant had a sad look on her face and related how difficult things can be in Russia and how he will have lots of opportunity with us. Later on, at the airport customs area, another American/Russian lady who lived in Denver and was returning from a trip to Russia approached us and Andrew. She asked us lots of questions as well. She gazed into Andrew's eyes and kept saying 'God bless you' to us.

I won't forget those encounters. Russia has a special place in our hearts. I don't mean to imply anything through these stories except that we encountered some very special people along the way, and were amazed at the support we had, even from strangers. Although I know Andrew will have many opportunities with us as parents and in this country, I think Vernon and I are the truly blessed ones. Although this month has been difficult on some level (introducing a 14 month old to a new life isn't simple), it really has been so easy on other levels. Maybe that is our unique perspective given everything we have been through, but Andrew is adjusting well. Going into adoption, we were prepared and educated to deal with almost any kind of situation. And I don't want to say after 1 month that we are coasting, because that is not the case. Andrew just seems to be doing well for right now. We continue to take it one day at a time.

And as for today, I took Andrew with me on a 5k road race. This was after I taught my 5:45 am weight training class at the Y, so I am a bit tired now as I type this update. Andrew enjoyed the run, and I did, too. I didn't overdo it, as I haven't run much lately. When I run I try to target someone else running who I think I can beat (just a touch the competitor). And believe me, I don't target those tall, lanky, power gel guzzling sort who look like they could be on the cover of Runner's World. I identified another lady in a baby jogger just like mine (except hers was ugly orange - sorry, no offense to anyone - I'm just a Gamecock fan). I catch up with her by mile 1, but by mile 2 she passed me. As she passed me, I overheard someone running next to her talking to orange baby jogger lady about their last 1/2 marathon. I decided maybe I wouldn't beat orange baby jogger lady after all. I haven't done a 1/2 marathon in over 4 years. I then target an elderly male runner (don't laugh, there are some great older runners). I wind up passing elderly male jogger and right close to the finish line, wound up beating orange baby jogger lady, too. Although my time was nothing to brag about. I just enjoy running and finishing, with little competitions along the way to make things interesting.

I guess I'll leave it at that for now. I have a Costco update that I will share later. Thank you all for your support - especially this month as we have Andrew home. We feel the attachment parenting style that we have been educated about as adoptive parents is really paying off. This month has been nothing short of amazing. We look forward to many more months and years ahead.

Cheerio Boy...And Pictures!

2008-08-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Okay, I finally had a chance to take some pictures of Andrew. He is doing quite well. He is learning to hi-five me, which is fun. He is also eating spaghetti and some sort of Gerber chicken stew. He will get the most peculiar look when first tasting the food, but then eats it quite well. He still likes to play with the food, and his bottle for that matter. I have learned that mealtimes can take up to 40 minutes with him.

So, here are some pictures:

Here is happy Andrew:

The Cheerio is on the way in (notice the drool on the chin)...

The Cheerio is almost in...

Here is his "I must break you" glare (Rocky IV, anyone?). (I am just kidding, here - Russia is our second home and we love our Russian friends, but this look in the picture was too much!)

Here is the yawn:

Here is Andrew, practicing his oratory and walking skills:

Here is Andrew looking cute...

Here is Andrew...You are getting sleepy...very sleepy:

Here is Andrew, gazing out of the window:

We are rolling right along. Andrew certainly keeps us on our toes. He is quite active, but in a very good 14 month old way. And he lets me take him in the baby jogger, which is good, too. But don't take the car keys away from him. His mouth will turn into an oval and the wailing begins. It is amazing how once the keys are back in his possession all is well. He is clearly learning the pros of a family.

Have a nice day, everyone!

Christa

3 Weeks and counting...

2008-08-23T03:51:00.001-07:00

It just dawned on me that we have been home 3 weeks. Andrew continues to act like this home is all he knows. He is happy when he isn't tired, and wants to explore everything. He is eating Cheerios like an expert now, well almost.

Earlier this week we were surprised by my Group Exercise friends at the Y with a baby shower. We had a regularly scheduled meeting, and when I arrived, it turned into a surprise shower (and a meeting). We are so very blessed. I love teaching at the Y and my friends have been so wonderful to me through the years. Thank you all for a wonderful shower! I hope to post a picture later - I have to get it from my friend Michelle first.

Thursday Andrew got fitted for a helmet. When Andrew was born, he spent the first 8 months in a hospital because all of the baby homes were full. At 8 months he moved to a baby home. His baby home was wonderful, but I can imagine the hospital wasn't as nice as the baby home. He probably spent too much time laying in a crib, and his head is flat in back as a result. Really, to me, it isn't a huge deal, but our pediatrician and the occupational therapist (OT) feel like there is still time to try to reshape the head just a bit. So, Andrew will wear a helmet for about 2-4 months. I understand that after a very short while babies who wear helmets get really used to the helmet, and they even get to the point where they prefer the helmet on. Our OT works with many adopted children, so she understood the unique concerns I had with the helmet issue and addressed them all. The medical aspect is that this can help prevent jaw and TMJ issues down the road. Having jaw and TMJ issues myself, I suppose the helmet is worth trying. I am thinking of how we can decorate the helmet once he starts wearing it. We will make it something special.

We are trying to watch a few minutes of the Wiggles right now (it is still early in the morning). The other day, Vernon came downstairs as we were watching the Wiggles, and Vernon just couldn't get into the whole Wiggles concept. I told him kids love the show, so he better get used to it. I can't wait until Andrew begs daddy to watch the Wiggles, and Vernon of course watches every moment with Andrew. We really don't watch a lot of t.v. Only 30 -45 minutes a day. But Andrew was up at 6 a.m., and so we were having some quiet time early in the morning.

It is now 8 in the evening and I am finishing up this post. Although Andrew was tired today, it was a good day. This evening, during our 'calming down' time before bed, instead of watching Baby Einstein, Andrew would take his finger and pull at my lip. I would make funny noises when he did that, and he laughed so much. It was fun to see him respond like that.

We have Andrew signed up for swim lessons this September. These are the mommy/daddy and baby swim lessons of course. We are excited and look forward to seeing Andrew in the water. I do think he will be a little fish before too long. And of course the swim lessons can be a good bonding routine as well.

I am still thinking of running a 5k this Labor Day weekend. It is a whole different story jogging alone and jogging with a baby jogger. I am certainly not going to break any records.

I hope to post some pictures soon. Vernon and I have been rather pitiful in the picture department. Andrew just doesn't want to pose, go figure. I guess at 14 months old, he has other things on his mind than making memories for his parents.

Have a great week everyone!

Baby talk

2008-08-19T16:19:00.001-07:00

We had a very good but exhausting day. The day started normal enough, but then we headed to the eye doctor. Andrew is just a tiny bit cross-eyed and our pediatrician wanted us to get him evaluated. The good news is that the doctor thought his visual responsiveness was great, and thought the cross-eye issue might resolve itself. So, we will go back in 6 months to see how Andrew is doing.

Then, we went to the pediatrician for vaccinations. Today Andrew got the MMR and Chicken Pox vaccination. He did quite well, and cried afterwards of course, but only for a minute or two. He is also gaining weight so the Pediasure that Andrew gulps down like chocolate milk must be working. Our nurse who adopted from Guatemala made the observation that it looked like Andrew was bonding well with me. I was grateful that she shared her observation with me.

After this adventurous day I thought Andrew would be ready for his nap, but he wasn't interested in the least. As I'm getting to know Andrew better, I knew sleep wasn't going to be in the equation at all (meaning, he was doing backbends in my arms, grabbing the lamp near us, and making all sorts of funny noises and laughing at himself), so we went back out and I got a haircut. I figured Andrew already had a very "off" kind of day, and I am much relieved to finally have those dead ends chopped off. We will resume meaningful attachment time tomorrow. It is nice because Andrew likes to crawl all over me, and in the evening when we have "Baby Einstein" time, he curls up in my lap to watch. He still loves his bottle and we still have at least 3 bottle times a day as well. The rest of the time I just follow him around as he crawls and stands up.

This evening I tried to keep Andrew up as late as possible, but by 6:45 I gave up and he went to bed. So, I am bracing for a possible real early wake up call. Last night he was asleep from 7:30 to almost 6 a.m., so he is doing very, very well in that area.

Okay, enough baby talk. I am going to get ready for bed myself as I have no idea how these vaccinations will impact Andrew tonight.

Good night!

Christa

Settling in...

2008-08-16T12:18:00.001-07:00

Here we are trying to get Andrew to laugh (by tickling him, of course)...

Here is the more formal picture of us...

Here is Andrew, ready to grab the camera...

Andrew is doing so much better with his sleeping! I don't want to jinx it, and I know once I post this we will have one of those nights, but he did very well last night. The biggest issues are his early morning wake ups (anywhere from 3 to 5 am). Usually I can be up for an hour to an hour and a half when that happens. But last night he didn't get up until 5, and I kept waiting for the "cry", but it never came. I just heard him playing and babbling, with an occasional whimper, and then the thumb sucking and back to sleep. I had the bottle and diaper all ready to go in, but he went back to sleep. So, we are making some progress, which is nice. I must say though that I have found the silver lining in our nighttime 'bonding'. Although sleep is good, too. I am a light sleeper and it can be hard getting back to sleep.

Andrew continues to make new discoveries. He has learned how to shut doors, to take 2 stacking cups and clap them together, and when I pat his belly or mouth, he makes little 'Indian' noises (sorry to be politically incorrect there, I just didn't know how else to communicate the sound he makes). He can even feed himself Cheerios now, although Vernon says sometimes he cheats. He doesn't always feed himself with the 'proper' technique. He is also taking steps with assistance, and he loves to try to stand with no hands. Oh, and he loves to pull Gracie the Cat's tail. The cats are quickly learning that elevation is their friend. For a while, at least.

We are also making progress in the attachment area. He loves bottle feeding time, and it is such a nice way to bond. Andrew and Vernon love bath time as well, although Vernon refers to it as 'splash' time. He absolutely loves my Ergo baby carrier, and starts to laugh when he sees me put it on (again another good way to attach). We appreciate everyone's understanding with respect to our need to be the ones who do the caregiving and most of the daily interaction with him. I wish we could 'share' him more, but that time will come. We had our first post placement visit this week, and our social worker thought he was doing very well, and was pleased to see that he wasn't interested in her in the least (which sounds odd, but that means we are doing a good job with Andrew).

It's funny, because I rarely leave the house with Andrew except for appointments, but Vernon and I had to make a Target run today. As I passed by the ladies clothing, I started talking to the clothes, saying hello and that it is good to see them again. Vernon thought I was a bit nuts. Oh well. That's what happens when one stays at home so much.

By staying at home, I have realized much about our neighborhood. I have realized that our cul-de-sac road must be the route for the drivers ed students, as I see the student driver car drive by several times a day. I have also confirmed that our cats really do nothing all day. And I have realized Sesame Street has changed. Andrew really doesn't watch it yet, but I have turned it on a couple of times only to realize that Elmo gets e-mail, and that Cookie Monster is "in the house". I'm going to have to find some old school Sesame Street, full of bell-bottoms and wavy hair. Or maybe I won't.

Our days are fairly routine. We are now on a good nap schedule, and we are sticking to it. I hope to get the baby jogger out next week and see if Andrew will let me go for a run with him. He loves the outdoors, so I hope he will let me train for a 5k coming up Labor Day. We'll see.

I hope everyone is well. I will post more early next week!

Christa

Look, no hands...almost

2008-08-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know we are trucking along. Andrew is just moving so much more every day. He really wants to stand alone, and will probably get there before too long. He is still trying to learn the art of feeding himself Cheerios, and again, I think he will get there soon. He enjoys going outdoors and getting sunshine, and we are trying to do that a couple of times a day. He is really learning so much about his voice. When we first met him, his verbal skill were estimated at about a 4-5 month old, and I think this is his biggest advance so far. He just babbles and loves to experiment with different vocal ranges. He laughs at himself a lot, and at his goofy parents that love to tickle and amuse him. He actually seems to be so happy. We are still working on the sleep issues, but they seem to be improving in small steps. At least last night when he woke up, he didn't want to play for an hour plus. He went back to sleep rather easily. Who knows what tonight will bring. I am prepared for sleep to be a bit of a journey, but remain hopeful that as he continues to acclimate, he will sleep a little more soundly. I will post again soon. Have a nice day!

Christa

From Sebastian the Cat

2008-08-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

P.S. Picture of Andrew below...

This is me, Sebastian. I haven't posted yet, so I feel it is time. It has been one week since the little human has arrived home. He is a curious fellow, showing a proclivity to move about on all fours. His verbal skills are somewhat lacking, as he is restricted to the word "bah" quite a bit. And when my less refined younger sister Gracie sat next to him, this young human tried to use her as a prop to stand up with. Sigh. I suppose I must train him. He must learn the purpose of the human. Which is, of course, to feed us, provide us a rather large bed with a suitable duvet cover, and of course pet us when we request such interaction. Doing this will interrupt my already rather full schedule, consisting of waking up, eating, going outside, rolling around in the dirt (a habit reserved for lesser cats, but a weakness I must admit), eating some more, calling on the neighbors, eating some of the neighbor's food, oh, and sleeping every 2 to 3 hours. Training isn't always easy, but it reaps dividends, as evidenced by the 2 adult humans that do a suitable job catering to my needs. I must depart to devise my action plan for training the little human. Farewell.

Fondly,

Sebastian the Cat

Okay it is me again (Christa). We are doing well. Andrew seems to be getting so much stronger every day. His balance is improving as well, and I believe it won't be too much longer before he is walking. Sleep continues to be the major issue. We are learning a lot about Andrew and ourselves as we continue to try to get Andrew enough rest. He loves waking up at 3 or 4, and he is ready to rumble - for an hour and a half. I feel like his internal clock is still not set on East coast time. He really resists going back to sleep, so I am trying a lot of soothing techniques and am trying not to stimulate him too much when he does get up. I hope that he does begin sleeping better. I can tell he gets tired a bit easier during the day, and I feel once we get the sleep thing worked out, he will be much more energetic. Thanks for your prayers in the sleep department.

Andrew continues to amaze me with his curiosity, his playfulness, and his adaptiveness. Bath time is now a favorite, and it is amazing how much splashing a 13 month old can do. I will post more later, just thought I'd do a quick update as Andrew is taking a needed nap and I am not taking one with him, which I should be doing...

Christa

Getting to know each other...

2008-08-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to let everyone know we are doing well. Andrew is adjusting well, but he is having trouble sleeping at night. It is quite hard for a baby to get on schedule, especially with an 8 hour time difference, and we are having some challenges, but I count my blessings as this is quite minor all things considered. Although living without sleep is...well, an adjustment, too. Please keep us in your prayers and Andrew in your prayers that he finds peace and rest, so that he can grow and continue to learn new things everyday. Thank you!

I did want to let everyone know what our lives are like right now. We are trying to keep Andrew rather insulated at this point. We have been educated by our social worker, agency director, and other adoptive parents that staying put is the best thing for Andrew right now. He needs to learn his home and immediate surroundings, which in and of itself is a lot to take in for a 13 month old who has never been outside a hospital and baby home.

Another thing we have been educated about is attachment. Andrew has never had a parent care for him, only a variety of caregivers. At 13 months old, he is having to learn what most babies at birth get to learn - that he has a daddy and a mommy that can meet his needs. It can take months to get this established, although Andrew seems to be doing well with attachment. What this means, though, is that his daddy and mommy will have to do all the things to care for him for a while - changing diapers, feeding, soothing, and most playtime. Without proper attachment, children can have a lot of difficulty later in their lives, and we want to make sure Andrew had a good foundation. Babies who come from orphanages often resort to soothing themselves, as they rarely can get that comfort from another. We have noticed of couple of these behaviors in Andrew, and the more he gets to know his daddy and mommy are there for him, the easier it will be for him to refrain from self-soothing. Believe me, we wish we could delegate a little more - especially with sleepless nights - but it is in Andrew's best interest for things to be this way right now. The good news is, Andrew seems to be adapting well, and the more intensely we stick to this routine, the sooner we can go to a more 'normal' routine, if there is such a thing :). Now that doesn't mean we can't have visitors - we just have to keep it at a slower pace than normal.

We have been so blessed with so many friends and family who are so caring. Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do. I promise to post more pictures soon. Andrew's all to brief napping schedule prevents me from doing too much at this point! Have a nice day, everyone!

Christa

A day of firsts...

2008-08-04T16:20:00.001-07:00

Today Andrew had his first Cheerio. He liked them. We will try more tomorrow. He also had his first real bath, where he sat in his baby bathtub and splashed and played in the water. It was really fun to see him play. Of course, his parents were exhausted after returning from his doctors appointment. Andrew cried more than we had ever seen him cry before. But he was tired and it is never fun getting blood drawn. Overall, we had a good doctors appointment. There are a few follow ups, but nothing serious in nature.

I just thought I'd do a quick post, as we hit the Cheerio and bathtub milestone today. I hope to post more pictures of our Russia trip later this week.

Christa

2008-08-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are home and trying to get settled into a new routine. Andrew is having a rough time getting on a sleeping schedule. Last night was his best night yet, but he still gets up for an hour to an hour and a half every night and manages to wake up rather early. I hope in a couple of weeks we are able to get more of a routine going, but we'll see.

Andrew continues to make good strides in development. He seems to be getting a lot stronger, as he pulls himself up much more quickly and assertively.

Andrew has his first doctors appointment today. This will be his first outing since returning home. As a newly adopted child, we have been educated to keep Andrew's world real small right now, and let him slowly get used to us and his new home. It can be quite a bit for an adopted child to absorb all of this new information. Of course, I am hoping that I can also learn to keep my world smaller :). We are adjusting well, all things considered. It is quite a change - I forgot how much of a change this can all be. Thanks for all of your prayers, and I promise to post pictures once I manage to take some :).

Christa

Farewell Russia

2008-07-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

We are all packed and ready to go (almost). I will miss Russia, but we are ready to go home. Please keep us in your prayers as we travel. I hope Andrew does well on the plane :).

2008-07-30T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Below is my post from yesterday. Today Andrew has been very fussy and tired. We totally took him out of his element today with all of our running around we did. Plus he might be teething a bit. I am hoping that he will return to his special self tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers for Andrew. We did get everything done at the embassy so tomorrow we just have 2 quick trips around town and we will be done. I am going to get some rest now, as I don't know how long Andrew will sleep. Again, thank you so much for your prayers for all of us!

Christa

Now, the post from yesterday :):

First for the pictures....

Andrew with Vernon:

Our internet is down so here is our post from Tuesday evening...

Today (actually Tuesday) has been another good day. We had some good news to start out with. A translator who contracts with our agency was able to file our passport application yesterday, so we were able to pick up Andrew’s passport today. We do not have to make another trip to the police station for the passport – yeah! Evidently this police station doesn’t handle typical police work, it just handles passport issues. Russian citizens have to have an internal passport to be officially documented in their country, so the passport business is quite big here.

Andrew woke up bright and early at 5:00, and didn’t go back to sleep. Nor could he get comfortable to sleep during our drive, so he was very discontent by the time we made it back to our apartment. But as soon as we got back home, he wanted to play. We finally got him to nap, but not before Vernon. We all rested, actually.

This evening we did dinner with new friends Ron and Dinia, and another adopting couple, Bill and Megan. We went to what was by far the best restaurant we have been to since arriving in Moscow. I was a bit nervous about how Andrew would handle being at a restaurant. He can get a bit skittish in new surroundings. It was another baseless concern, though, as Andrew evidently can also be quite the entertainer. We could barely coax a sound out of our little guy when we first met him. At dinner he babbled on and on. He even showed our friends his precious smile.

We only have 2 days left in Moscow before we return home. I have actually grown fond of this very interesting country. It is an amazing culture and people. Very resilient, just like our little Andrew.

P.S. Here is my post from Wednesday afternoon: Andrew has been fussy all day. He just isn't into his morning nap. We have to be at the U.S. Embassy at 2, so he won't be able to get one until after that trip. I hope their isn't a large number of families waiting for their exit interview... I'll post later, internet connection permitting.

Day 2 post Andrew

2008-07-28T02:41:00.000-07:00

First for the pictures (I haven't done a lot of pictures lately because we are too busy soaking Andrew in):

Andrew with his serious face (he smiles a ton, we are just too busy to take pictures during those moments):

Andrew about to go out for a quick stroll (I think the SC hat is a bit small) Oh, and I like the Ergo carrier, despite the holistic instructional dvd that was a little bit cheezy:

Andrew reaching for the wrapping paper:

Andrew playing with the wrapping paper (and babbling):

We have had a good couple of days all in all. As you can tell, he is getting around well. Andrew seems happy. And he seems to be doing new things before we know it. He is crawling all over the place - Vernon calls it the Andrew 500. He is also pulling himself up to a standing position completely by himself, and even tentatively moves with the assistance of the coffee table.

Today we had his doctors appointment, if you can call it that. The doctor weighed him, took his length measurements, poked him in a few areas, checked his ears and breathing, and then we were done. All for the price of 2800 rubles. The dollar is so amazingly weak here in Europe. I even read an article online how all the Europeans are traveling to the U.S. to make all of their purchases, because their currency goes so much further in the U.S. Oh well. Whatever it takes to get Andrew home. The doctor said he was just a bit small but healthy. Of course, I don't know how much one can gather from such a brief exam...

Tomorrow we go to the passport office to try once again to get Andrew's passport. I wish we could have done this on Friday because it will be a long day for Andrew. He doesn't like different surroundings, and being in a car is quite different for him. I guess this will get him ready for our marathon flight home. We will be on a plane for 12 hours from Moscow to Atlanta, a 3 hour layover for Atlanta (to make sure we get everything done for customs), and then the quick hop to Charlotte.

We are pretty much done for the day. Andrew is sleeping and Vernon is studying Russian. Andrew woke up at 5:00 this morning, and although I got up first with Andrew, Vernon pitched in and let me sleep from 7 to 8. And Vernon got Andrew back to sleep as well.

Tomorrow we will do dinner with our friends Carol and Lance, and Ron and Dinia. Carol and Lance have adopted with through our agency, and Ron and Dinia are from Alabama but presently work here, but not for long. Ron works for BP and if you google BP and Russia, you can learn some interesting business/political news. I'm glad we will get to see them for a little while tomorrow evening.

Well, that's it for now. The weather dropped 20 degrees overnight. Vernon's long sleeved clothing is coming in quite handy now. Oh, and we got back the disposable camera we left at the baby home back in June. The good news is it looks like they took pictures. As adoptive parents, we don't get to see the living quarters for these babies, so I am hoping the pictures give us a glimpse into his life at the baby home. I will wait until we return to the States to get them developed, though. Talk to you later!

Christa and Vernon

Introducing Andrew

2008-07-26T23:24:00.001-07:00

Introducing Andrew:

(the bruise was when he fell while at the baby home - oops).

Here we are leaving the baby home:

Here we are with Andrew about a week ago:

Here we are with Andrew sometime last week.

Well, we are settled into our apartment with Andrew. The baby home visit was a little different, because it was a Saturday and there weren't as many workers at the home. We had a little event changing Andrew's clothes into his going home clothes. Fortunately, everything fit. One of his caregivers, Oksana, stopped by to tell Andrew goodbye. We received his daily schedule of feedings and activities. And then we left.

Andrew slept on the way to our apartment, which was good because there was a bit of traffic and traffic exhaust - I wasn't sure how he would do. Andrew was a little stressed in his new environment at first. He kept looking around, wondering where he was at. I don't blame him, it was quite different. He ate well but we are going to have to work on the bottle. They are used to being bottle fed rather quickly, and he isn't used to our bottles - we will enlarge one of the nipples and hope that helps until we make it back home.

It takes Andrew a while to go to sleep. We are finally getting more familiar with his sleep time personality. Actually, daddy (Vernon) took the first nap yesterday :).

Bath time is definitely scary for him. I will probably just sponge bathe him until we get back home.

He is definitely smiling a lot more, though. It was beautiful this Sunday morning when he woke up and I looked down at him and he smiled. He is content playing in our laps. As one friend said, this week in Russia is just surviving until we can get home and really establish a routine and start working with him.

Andrew is crawling around a lot right now. Vernon is watching him, making sure he doesn't get into anything :). Andrew can also almost pull himself into a standing position unassisted. Believe me, this is leaps and bounds beyond what he could do when we first met him June 4th.

Today is our only day to really have with Andrew uninterrupted. We have a busy week next week, starting with his doctors appointment on Monday. We are going out to eat with friends Tuesday night, which will be one of our few 'fun' excursions out.

Although we have had a good day, please continue to keep Andrew and all of us in your prayers.

Thank you!

Christa

On our way to get Andrew for keeps...

2008-07-26T00:21:00.000-07:00

In about 30 minutes, we will leave to pick up Andrew. This really hasn't sunk in with either of us. I don't suspect it will, even when we have him in our apartment. Our apartment manager set up Andrew's crib, and I have tons of clothes and food for him.

Yesterday we drove to the courthouse and picked up our court order allowing us to adopt Andrew. This took a while, as they hand sew the documents together. Then we went to the registration office about a half hour away. Here we obtained Andrew's birth certificate that identifies us as his parents, and an adoption certificate. We had to wait a while here as well, but quickly noticed that this office also conducts weddings. So, while Vernon and I sat in a waiting area, we saw three brides get married. It was similar to a wedding by a magistrate judge, but they turn it into more of an event. They play the procession music and love songs. Think synthesized recordings of retro '80s style music. They even had a wedding gown boutique at this office for the weddings. And the same photographer photographed each bride and groom, and quickly took pictures for the lovely couples. It was good entertainment for us as we waited for our documents, as Vernon and I were getting starting to get a little silly with all the waiting we had to do.

Finally we went to the passport office to get Andrew's passport. Unfortunately, the directors here were on vacation, and their staff took off early. So we couldn't get Andrew's passport started. We were disappointed because it was quite a drive to this office and that means we will have to come back next week with Andrew. We will have to tote the poor fellow around quite a bit next week. We will have a doctor appointment next week to get clearance to leave Russia with him, an embassy appointment and 2 trips to the passport office.

Well, we are off to get Andrew. Keep us in your prayers and pray that Andrew acclimates to his new environment and adapts without any issues. Thank you!

Christa and Vernon

Andrew and Pictures of St. Pete

2008-07-24T07:45:00.001-07:00

The past couple of days have been real nice. We have visited Andrew for the past 2 days. Both days we were able to take him outside. Yesterday we had a lot of fun. Andrew was busy with the toys, crawling and standing, and playing with a ball. He seemed to have a lot of fun. He is almost certainly a southpaw. I tried to give him some banana and he got a very odd look on his face. I'm pretty sure he has never had banana before from that expression. Andrew ultimately fell asleep before we had to leave.

Today our visit was a bit different. Evidently, Andrew had received a vaccination yesterday. Plus, his caregiver told us he did not sleep well. Andrew was quite tired and wasn't as interested in playing. He preferred to just snuggle instead. He fell asleep after about 20 minutes of our visit, and then woke up and began playing again. His caregiver was telling us to make sure we gave him music lessons when we got home. She seemed to be quite fond of Andrew.

Okay, now I will share some pictures of our visit to St. Petersburg:

Here is one of the few pictures of both me and Vernon together. I was a bit skittish in asking strangers to take pictures, but here we reciprocated with another group. We are in front of the Peterhoff Palace:

Here is a picture of me in front of the River Neva in St. Petersburg. The Hermitage museum is the blue building to the left of the picture.

This is Vernon in front of one of the many beautiful fountains at Peterhoff. We took a boat to get to Peterhoff and it was a bit rainy, but the fountains in the gardens were simply beautiful.

And here I am after a long day at the Hermitage museum, ready for my favorite snack:

And finally, although we didn't get anything here, I thought it was a good commercial picture to put in. Can you read the Russian?

I will post more pictures later, but this was a few of the highlights in St. Petersburg. Tomorrow we will be very busy. We will start just before 9:00 and we will go to the courthouse to get the court order for the adoption. We then have to go to several other places. As it can take about 2 hours to get from one end of Moscow to the other, we are planning for a long day. On Saturday we will get Andrew. We will bring cakes to the baby home as it is customary to bring cakes to maternity homes and baby homes after a birth or adoption. We will post more later!

Our post from July 15...

2008-07-23T08:24:00.000-07:00

Post from July 15 - This is what I typed but could not post from last Wednesday, July 15. I know it is late and really out of order, but I thought since I wrote it I would post it...

Well, we are in St. Petersburg! I am typing this post at 1am I guess Thursday morning. But Wednesday was a wonderful day. We got to visit with Andrew, and we had a wonderful visit. We were once again able to go outdoors with Andrew. I took him to a covered area, because it was quite warm. Andrew was in typical baby home clothing. A pink onesie, shorts, and a lavender cap. Very interesting combination of clothing. Anyhow, Andrew really enjoyed our playtime. I brought one toy that he had played with back during trip 1, and he really took to the same toy. Then, I found a bouncy ball about 12 inches in diameter, and Vernon and Andrew tried rolling the ball to each other (I was helping Andrew out a good bit). Andrew is not very verbal yet but during this time he was very verbal and excited. Then, we began playing with this dump truck. Andrew was straddling my left leg, his back leaning against me, and as he held onto the truck, he stood up with me only slightly holding him for balance. We were quite amazed, because even 6 weeks ago when we were on our first trip, this was nothing he could have even attempted. It was quite encouraging to get a glimpse of what a little parental love and attention can accomplish. Every few minutes, Andrew would stop playing and look up at us, almost as if to check and see if we were still there. We had a splendid visit with Andrew, and after that was over we left for St. Petersburg. The train ride was phenomenal, with Vernon and I sitting across from each other by the window. Some of the landscape was beautiful, but when you passed a town or village, I was struck by the imposing apartment skyscraper buildings – very generic looking and worn down. Not very attractive at all. And the housing that we saw was very old looking as well. I felt like the smaller areas of Russia were probably more economically depressed than the urban areas.

Anyway we made it to St. Pete around midnight. We had to take a taxi to our hotel because we couldn’t find our ride, but our hotel is smack in the middle of the historic district and we even found a 24 hour pizza place right next door. Because all I had to eat all day was a pop tart, a power bar and a candy bar, the pizza was a delicious late night snack.

We will go exploring Thursday and report back more later. Thanks for your continued prayers for Andrew.

Last Day in St. Petersburg!

2008-07-21T09:10:00.000-07:00

Vernon and I have had a wonderful time in St. Petersburg! Yesterday we traveled to see Peterhoff, which is a beautiful home with amazing gardens. It rained on us all day, so that was the only drawback.
Today we went to see the Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is where the Romanov family is buried. It is fascinating to see how much of Russia's heritage and history has been recovered in the past 15 years or so. We will visit a few more places tomorrow (Tuesday) as our train does not leave until 6:30 in the evening. I will give a lot more detail along with pictures later (I promise)!

Have a nice day, everyone!

Christa

Day 2 in St. Petersburg...

2008-07-18T06:25:00.000-07:00

Well, we are exploring the Hermitage today. I decided to do the audio tour as well, but didn't realize that Vernon would hit the button for each and every exhibit and painting and listen to every detail. So, I am on the internet at the cafeteria at the Hermitage, my brain completely maxed out on information.
Our hotel has breakfast, so we aren't having to snack on pop tarts and cereal bars, that will by the way be banned from our house when we return. The sight might just turn my stomach.
St. Petersburg is very nice. We have 3 and 1/2 more days to visit, so we should know the town quite well.
We even found a 24 hour bookstore near our hotel. As you may know Vernon reads books only in Spanish and managed to find 2 more books out of his Spanish author's series to read at this bookstore. I bought some children's books (for very young children, in Russian, of course) to give to the baby home when we return.
So, that is it for right now. I am hoping there is enough time left for this to post. Will update in detail later (with pictures)!

Christa and Vernon

St. Petersburg

2008-07-16T23:37:00.001-07:00

We are in St. Petersburg. My internet access will be real limited so I won't be posting much while I'm here. We had a wonderful visit with Andrew yesterday. I will post more when I can. I will do updates every day and then upload them when I have better internet access. Thanks!

Tourists for a Day

2008-07-15T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we spent most of the day traveling around Moscow. Our morning started at the notary office. I love that their government offices don't open until 10. Absolutely love it. I also love that Europeans take such long holidays. Our translator's daughter lives in Germany and she gets 5 weeks off a year. Here I am with our translator Irena:

Anyhow, I digress. The notary assistant who helped us had just returned from a vacation in the Crimea, which is by the Black Sea. It took about an hour to get our documents notarized, but then we were on our way. To get clothes.When we were here in June, we were lucky if the temperature got into the 70s. In the evening it was definitely in the 50s. So, Vernon packed only long sleeved clothing. It is well into the 80s right now and Vernon was melting. I knew he was warm when I suggested we ask Irina our translator to stop at a store to get some short sleeved clothes, and he readily agreed. It takes extreme moments like this to get the guy out shopping. So, Irina found a mall near the Kremlin. She didn't know if she could find a 'normal' store with moderately priced clothing, but she did wonderfully! She found a store called Zara that had guys shirts on sale. We found Vernon about 4 shirts. As you may know, European styles are a bit different that American styles. I kept teasing Vernon that he would get a tight, sleeveless, V-neck shirt with a lot of writing on it. We managed to find some normal styles, though. Except the sizing is way different. He likes loose clothes and he had to go to an XL to find one that looked like a men's size medium in the states. Here is a picture of the mall we went to:

So, now we were set to do some sightseeing. We first drove around to see some sights. We drove by Christ the Saviour Cathedral. This cathedral was built as a monument to Russia's

victory over Napoleon, but was ordered razed by Stalin. That never happened, but for a while it became a big indoor/outdoor pool. Don't ask me how. Anyway it survived and was never demolished and here it is today:

We also went to the Kremlin and saw the Cathedral of the Assumption. It is located in an area called Cathedral Square, so there were many church buildings so it was hard to distinguish the cathedrals. Of course, we also saw St. Basil's Cathedral, here below:

We also saw some pretty gardens:

And some old cannons:

Then, in the evening, we met up with new friends. Four of the families were adopting (2 already have their children, the other two of us are still waiting to pick up our children). Another couple at dinner was an American family living in Russia who loves to provide support to adopting families. We had a great dinner.

Tomorrow our train doesn't leave for St. Petersburg until 6 in the evening, so we will get a chance to see Andrew tomorrow. We are looking forward to our visit with him.

I am not sure about internet access in our hotel in St. Pete, so my posts may or may not be more sporadic. I will try to find a coffee shop to update if all else fails.

I am going to bed once the slowest washing machine in the world stops washing our clothes, so I can hang them up to dry. Load number 2 will have to get washed overnight.

Have a nice day!

Christa

Smooth sailing for court!

2008-07-14T03:57:00.000-07:00

We are officially Andrew Paul's parents! We had a very uneventful court experience today, and the court granted our petition to adopt Andrew. I had prepared myself for all sorts of scenarios and questions. Neither the judge or the prosecutor had any questions for us. I did have a speech prepared that encompassed all of the questions we might get asked. Another adoptive family who had been to court recently provided us with all the information we needed to say. It was funny, because another family with our agency went before the judge right after we did, and we basically both used the same speech. We both benefitted from this same information. It is interesting because here in Russia, the 'healthy babies' are not supposed to be adopted by foreigners. So part of the court experience is to for the social worker to lay out the health concerns so that the judge could be satisfied that no one in Russia would adopt the baby. Isn't that just so different? Anyway, the judge ultimately said it was in the best interest of the Andrew for us to adopt him. So, that is over and we now just have the 10 day wait. Thank you all for your prayers. They really meant so much today. I didn't get much sleep in anticipation of court, so I might try to get some rest now.

Tomorrow we go to the notary to sign some power of attorney, and we might get another visit with Andrew in. Wednesday we will leave for St. Petersburg. Our wonderful agency here in Russia made a couple of quick calls and we now have train tickets and a hotel for St. Pete. I am such a travel planner (I know that's a bit out of character - for me to plan anything), but I am so glad I didn't spend a lot of time trying to plan our trip to St. Pete. So, if you stay tuned you will get to hear of our adventures traveling and sight seeing. I am really looking forward to it.

Back home in Mocow...

2008-07-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

At least it feels like we are back home. We are staying for the first few days in the same apartment we were in last month, and we confidently walked out and down Arbat Street. It was much different than the first time when it all felt so new. We got groceries and made some pasta for dinner.

Well, we have court tomorrow morning at 10:30 in the a.m. Which is about 2:30 a.m. for everyone in America. So, hopefully by the time most people wake up we will be done with court. I understand court takes about 40 minutes to an hour. There is a prosecutor involved (I think it is quite different than a prosecutor in the U.S.), a social worker from the baby home, the judge, and us. I have a "speech" prepared that I think and hope will answer the usual questions asked by the judge. Please keep us in your prayers today as we prepare for quite a big day tomorrow.

Oh, and we saw Andrew today! I am calling him Pavel (Paul) right now because that is his Russian name I will use in court tomorrow. He now has 2 more teeth (top row). He has grown and is getting stronger. We certainly have some feeding to catch him up on, though. We were complete strangers to him again but by the end of our visit, he was really warming up to us and even making a few sounds. I will be glad to have the 10 days over with. We have a different translator this time and she asked the staff at the baby home if we could take him outside. It was so nice to be outdoors with him. I am fairly certain this was one of the first times he was outdoors just for fun.

I will post more tomorrow. Thank you all again for your prayers!!!

Christa and Vernon

2008-07-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are at the airport. I feel oddly relaxed. I'm only checking to make sure I have my passport every 15 minutes instead of every 5. We had a late night, of course. I thrive on the last minute details. I was even at the CVS at 1:30 in the morning printing off more pictures for court. We will be going to court on Monday, so please keep us in your prayers as we get ready for this big day. We go in front of the Russian judge and we hope that she will grant the adoption without any issue. Sometimes there can be little bumps. A family that preceded us just a couple of weeks ago had a judge who was insistent that yet another document be provided that would satisfy her inquiry as to whether they owned a house. Fortunately, our agency told us to get that documentation last week. Russian adoptions can be interesting, though, as there could be yet something new next week that they want. So, we'll go with the flow but hope and pray this week is a smooth process.

We will visit with Andrew on Sunday. His baby home is near the airport, so as it will work we will land and go straight to visit him. I hope he is doing well. It will be interesting to see how and if he has changed. He had 2 bottom teeth last time. We will see if he has any new teeth tomorrow! Most of our luggage contains items for Andrew. Clothes, diapers, bottles, pacifiers (not sure if he'll use it), food, formula, a few toys, and towels. He probably won't know what to do with all the attention we bestow on him.

We won't get to officially pick Andrew up until July 25th, so we will keep you posted on our travels to St. Petersburg in the meantime. I am sure they will be quite adventurous. Thank you all for your prayers over the next few days and beyond!

Christa and Vernon

Going back to Russia!

2008-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

We have dates to return to Russia! We will leave Charlotte July 12 and arrive in Moscow July 13. Then on July 14 we go to court. This will be quite a big day as we go before the judge to officially adopt Andrew. We are already starting to get ready for this experience. After court is finished, we will have a 10 day wait before we can physically have Andrew with us. This wait is over on July 25, and on this day, we will go to his baby home and bring him home with us. Home for the time being will be an apartment near a historic area of Moscow called Old Arbat. We will have to process through the American embassy and do a little more paperwork before we can leave Russia. We anticipate being home in early August with Andrew. I can't wait to show everyone his big blue eyes and cute smile. We continue to pray that Andrew receives lots of love and attention from his caregivers, and we are eagerly looking forward to having him home with us.

While we are in Russia and wait for our 10 day wait to expire, we are going to travel to St. Petersburg and visit this beautiful city for a few days. We hear this city is the cultural and artistic center of Russia, and we hope to absorb some of Russia's beauty during this trip.

And meanwhile, this week we will be busy packing, preparing for court, and doing everything else we have to do to get ready for our 20 day trip. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as this promises to be quite a crazy but wonderful week!

I have attached a picture of a Matryoshka doll, also known as a Babooshka doll, which is a stacking doll with one doll inside the other. It is a Miami Hurricane Matryoshka doll, which we found in Moscow on our first trip. When Vernon saw this, it was a must have gift for him. He enjoyed seeing his school on display in Russia. Russians clearly anticipate gullible American tourists like us. Have a nice day everyone!

Christa and Vernon

Synopsis of our first trip

2008-06-23T18:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to fill everyone in on our journey in a little more detail. This might be a longer post, so I'll see how long I can type. Our encounter with our baby we will adopt began on Tuesday evening, when the Ministry of Education presented us with the referral. It had been a stressful week up to that point. After presenting us with information about the referral (which isn't a whole lot), we are asked if we want to visit the baby. We said yes and on Wednesday we traveled to meet him. This baby was in a baby home that was unfamiliar to our agency. Basically, the Ministry of Education sort of 'assigns' baby homes to our agency, and they assign other baby homes to other agencies. This was not a baby home 'assigned' to our agency, so our driver and translator told us it may take a little longer to find it. Well, they ultimately found the Krasnopolyansky baby home. It took me a while before I could pronounce that word. When we entered the home, we put on the blue plastic booties and met with the director. The baby home director is usually a person with a lot of medical training. She was a very business like lady, and she struck me as someone who took her job seriously and was good with time management (i.e. not me ;) ). At that time we learned more about the baby referred to us. His Russian name is Pavel, which is Paul translated. She gave us more information about his history as well. Then they brought him to us. Like I mentioned earlier, he is a cute boy with blue eyes and blonde hair. He was a very serious baby. It was obvious to me that we were just strangers to him. Vernon and I played with him and I am so glad we brought certain toys with us. My 10 trips to Target in the 5 days preceding our trip paid off. We brought stacking cups with a ball, 2 teething rings, a mirror toy with a lot of bells and whistles on it (not literally), and a couple of touch and feel books. He instantly took to the teething rings, and enjoyed holding the stacking cups as well. During this first visit we took many photos and video, because we were going to have the information we could gather evaluated to make sure there weren't any issues we needed to be aware of. Little Pasha certainly has some catch up to do developmentally, which isn't unusual for babies in baby homes. He is still working on sitting up on his own, and he will stand with support but his legs need some strengthening. This is fairly typical, though. We also hired a doctor in Russia to come evaluate Pasha. This is helpful if only because he reviews all the medical information and tells us what is in his history. The Russian doctor and our doctors we consulted in the US were able to put our mind at ease about a few things. And as our visit progressed, we were quite enamored with Pasha. By the end of our visit we had found this little guy's tickle spot and he would laugh when we tickled him. He certainly has a smile that will melt a heart.
On Thursday we had our "8 doctor physical." We were driven to a hospital to have our own health examined. I guess they figure we are probing their babies, now they can probe us. We entered a rather old hospital building that, well, let me just say the building probably wouldn't have passed hospital inspection standards in the U.S. And one thing I observed is that even the professionals in the hospital don't have computers to work on. They wrote everything out by hand on a plain piece of paper. The first doctor we saw was the “skin doctor” - I guess he is a dermatologist? Anyway, we sat down in front of his desk and he pulled out 2 sheets of paper. He asks us if we have any diseases of the skin. That was pretty much it if your answer was no. He wrote down about 3 sentences on each paper, and put a special stamp on it, and sent us off to the next doctors. At the next office we encountered a group of doctors, I guess there were 6 of them, but I wasn't counting. They asked us if we had any diseases, or if we have had any concussions. I wish I could remember the other questions - they were fabulous. Anyway, then came the physical exam. Having 6 doctors quickly examine me and Vernon was interesting. The blood pressure lady did me first and the reflex doctor did Vernon first. Then there was the doctor who had us shut our eyes and do the "finger to nose test", which is basically shutting your eyes and pointing your index finger to your nose, and then doing that with the other hand. I was nervous I would forget which finger was my index finger. Then there was the doctor who put the stethescope to me. I began to instinctively take deep breaths when the scope was placed on my chest. She looked at me and said in broken English, "don't breathe". So I stopped. Then when she got to my back she announced, "now breathe." So I did. After about 5 to 8 minutes, the exam was over. We had one last visit, and that was to the psychologist. The psychologist's office was next door to the room where they make prosthetic limbs. So as we were waiting for this doctor we heard something that sounded like a saw rather frequently. The sound of prosthetics being made along with the smell of smoke (Russian hospitals don't have quite the ban on smoking that U.S. hospitals do) made us realize that if we need medical intervention, we were going straight to the airport or embassy :). We finally made it in to talk to this doctor. These visits were the longest, relatively speaking, and were done individually. This doctor was very nice and just asked us about our extended family, are we friendly with our family, and how often we see or speak to our family. She also asked us about hobbies, what we did for stress, and if we went to church. She asked what church I went to and I paused, knowing denominations may not be familiar to her, so I settled on the word Protestant. Evidently when Vernon was asked the question, he said Presbyterian and the doctor had a puzzled look on her face. Then Vernon thought a little more and said Christian. The doctor then asked if he went to the same church I went to, and he said yes. The doctor seemed satisfied. This doctor also asked us a few more questions - a few on the serious side, to make sure there weren't any red flags. Then it was over. We paid our 36,000 rubles to the assistant (about $1,550 dollars) and received the form that had 8 doctor signatures and 8 stamps. Evidently this is super important for court because our translator counted the signatures and the stamps 2 times.
Then we proceeded to the baby home to have another visit with Pasha. Our time with him was not as long as the previous day, because we got there so much later. We did have a good visit, though. One thing we try to look for is subtle changes from one day to the next. We noticed Pasha was more verbal. We also practiced his walking motion with his legs. Then we just spent time holding him. That is pretty much Thursdays update had I posted :).
Then we get to Friday. Friday was going to be a busy day, we knew that in advance. We had to get Pasha's passport photo made. We used a picture I had taken and went to a digital camera store that was more like small room with a photo printing machine. Vernon and I laughed because the “store” had passport photos on display, and evidently if you want to get a passport photo made, you can select a suit that your face will be matched with. Men and women both can select from 4 different suits. Anyway, once we got Pasha’s passport photo developed (and I must add he looked very Russian in his developed passport picture), we went to visit with Pasha one last time. We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time, because we had to get documents notarized later in the day. These documents will be filed with the court and the documents officially petition the courts to adopt Pasha. When we got to the baby home, we were able to use a different room, and in this room we were able to actually put Pasha on the floor, which they didn’t allow us to do in the other room. This was nice because we had more freedom to let Pasha play. Pasha had a bit of a cold, and was a bit sniffly, but we still had a good visit. With only an hour to an hour and a half to visit, it is kind of hard to really try to ‘bond’ with Pasha, and we knew it would be about 6 weeks or so before we could see him again, so we just held him and played with him.
We had to say goodbye to Pasha before we knew it, and we gave him his “build a bear” cat (orange tabby, of course), and left the teething rings and a few other toys for him. When we left, we fought the Moscow traffic to get back to our agency office and pick up the official documents that we had to get notarized. Then, we drove for a while to get to the notary’s office. We waited a while and then signed our documents, paid them, and left. That was really the end of our official trip. Vernon and I went souvenir shopping on Friday evening, and had a good dinner at an Italian restaurant.
We left Saturday to return home. It was a good flight, and there were several parents with their newly adopted children on the flight to America. It was special seeing these families return home. These sweet children will become U.S. citizens once the flight touched ground in Atlanta.
As for what to expect from here, we are waiting for our court date. We are hoping we will get a call soon that will inform us our court date is in mid July. We will be gone for about 3 weeks on that trip. After court, we will have a 10 day waiting period before we can take custody of Andrew. Yes, his name will be Andrew Paul Sumwalt. Then, we have to to the embassy and finish paperwork to bring Andrew home. So, we hope to be home with Andrew in early to mid August. Andrew’s first birthday was June 18, so I hope we can get him home soon for a belated celebration.
I will post more about our experience later. I just returned from registering Andrew (Babies R Us and Target), and I laughed because I felt like I was registering for the whole store. If it looked cute, I zapped it.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. We continue to pray that Andrew is well loved and cared for by his providers in his baby home, and that he continues his progress in sitting, crawling, standing and babbling!

Love,

Christa and Vernon

2008-06-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. This post will be short and sweet. I hope to post tomorrow that we have filed the paperwork to adopt the baby referred to us today. He is a precious 11 month old with a birthday in a couple of weeks. He has dark blue eyes that are quite big and round, and he soaks in everything he sees. He also has dark blonde hair. He is very cute by all accounts. Vernon and I are excited to have met him today. We will visit him tomorrow and see what tomorrow brings. I will post a picture of his little hand tomorrow (typical shot since as pre adoptive parents we don't want to plaster the baby's face everywhere. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and prayers as we try to make all the right decisions.

Christa

Starbucks in Russia

2008-06-03T10:59:00.001-07:00

I am a bit delinquent in posting so I thought I would do a quick update. We don't have much to report right now in the adoption front, but there has been a lot going on. I hope to be able to give more of an update tomorrow night.

I can fill you in on what it is like to be in Russia. The longest days of the year are in June and in Russia that means really long days. It is the season of 'white nights'. Right now it is 10:00 and it is still daylight. Really weird. According to our translator, the Russians take advantage of this time and stay up late. Not me. My sleeping schedule is already too messed up.

We are having our passports registered with the Russian police today. Even Russian citizens have to be registered in the city where they are staying. Russians have an internal Passport that they have to have on them at all times. They have to register their passport with the police and when they travel within the country, they must register in the cities where they are traveling. So, we are being registered so if a police person stops us, we can be legal.

We are staying in a nice area of Moscow that is quite 'touristy'. It is good to walk out of our apartment and be in an area where we can walk around. Although if you eat at an American chain restaurant, it will be much more expensive. For instance, at dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe last night, my 20 ounce diet coke was the equivalent of $8.00. I will never complain about the price of sodas back home again. Neither Vernon nor I are coffee drinkers, but we have frequented the Starbucks here for breakfast. We get our hot chocolates and scones for breakfast, although we acknowledge that what we are spending is pretty ridiculous. Tonight we ate at a restaurant named My-My, which translated sounds like Moo-Moo. It is Russian so therefore more affordable, although I couldn't tell you what I ate.

I do hope to post more about the real reason for our trip soon. Thanks for all of your support and prayers!

Christa

2008-06-01T04:12:00.000-07:00

2008-06-01T03:42:00.000-07:00

We have made it to Russia! It was a small adventure getting here, starting in Charlotte. Our flight from Charlotte to Atlanta was delayed and almost cancelled due to a maintenance issue. We had already boarded when we were told of the problem. Of course, if we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta to Moscow, there wasn't exactly another flight to Moscow that would take off later in the day. I explained our situation to the flight attendant who secretly took us off the plane so we could get to the ticket counter in case the flight was cancelled. The ticket agent was looking at putting us on an alternate flight that would take us from Charlotte to Cincinnati to JFK in NYC to Paris to Moscow. It would also get us there much later (if you couldn't tell by all the connecting flights). Fortunately, we were notified that our plane was fixed and we could continue on with our original flight plans. We were quite grateful to the attendant who snuck us off the plane - she smiled and said that in return we could name our child Delta. I smiled and didn't know what to say in response. I think I just laughed a bit nervously and said maybe the name will have a "d" in it.

When we arrived in Atlanta we met another family with our agency that was also traveling to Moscow. They are adopting their third child. We then boarded our 10 hour flight to Moscow. We had some interesting movie choices. The flight was uneventful. We landed and went through customs which was equally uneventful. Then our driver and translator, K and A, picked us up and took us to get some money exchanged and to the grocery store. Of course, we stocked up on our coca cola light (i.e. diet coke). It is about 3:00 in the afternoon now and we might try to venture out for a bit. Vernon is taking a quick nap and I might follow his lead.

Tomorrow we leave at 10:00 for the CSS offices where we meet with S. Then we go to the Ministry of Education where we will receive information on the baby that has been referred to us. Then we travel to the orphanage and visit for a while. I have been told that Monday is a long day and we will probably eat lunch in the car.

So, that is it for now. I will catch you all up to date later!

Christa and Vernon

P.S. I really cannot recommend the movie "Walk Hard, the Dewey Cox Story". It was one of the movies on our flight. I had bigger hopes for that movie...

P.P.S. The picture is of our cat Sebastian who has a 6th sense and knows when we are about to travel. He wants to make sure we have enough fur on our suitcase. We don't have to tie a ribbon around our luggage. We just look for the one with fur on it.