Today is travel day! I am so nervous. All of this unknown. I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off yesterday. We told the the Monahan's that we would go to Hunter's birthday. It was a welcome stress reliever. Steve and I bowled a few rounds, had a few drinks and ate like pigs. Geez, how do you spell emotinal eating? Anyhow, back to the travel day...
I set 2 alarms and had the hotel giving us a wake up call. I know, I'm a nut but I wasn't going to miss this plane. While I was drying my hair, apparently Steve's cellphone went off. It was Delta calling to tell us that our flight had been canceled and that we were now going to be on a flight that left 30 minutes earlier. You thought there was stress before, LOOK OUT! We kicked it into high gear and headed out the door.
We checked our stuff in and headed toward the gate. We were doing great for time. Unfortunately, we packed our nice outfit for meeting with the Ministry of Education and had bathroom supplies with us. Well, the airport doesn't like this anymore. My carryon bag had a ton of "no no's." This gal was going to take it all. I knew the tight schedule that we were on and I was not going to be able to purchase any more anytime soon. I just lost it. I sat down in a chair and cried. Such a girl thing to do but my stress level just ran over. The gal went to get her supervisor. He came back and was telling me the "rules" which i could really care less about. I explained to him about what we were doing, showed him my passport and my visa to Russia. I even pulled out JESUS! Thank you very much Lou Velazquez! This man must have thought I was a nut. Nope, just desperate. The funny thing is, I had just shown steve the night before my makeup kit because it is so small. I said, some woman have a ton of makeup...LOOK, I just have this. I then followed it up by telling him not to screw with my hairproducts. Well, that's exactly what the airport wanted to do. Long story short, I somehow got the guy to let me go. Thank you very much. Of course as we are walking out of the security area, Steve looks at me in his best George Lopez accent and asks, "why you crying?" I just shook my head.
The flight to New York was pretty uneventful. It was United so it was cramped and small. It was a bumpy landing and I of course wanted to throw up. Made it out ok, but was feeling like crap. Wow. This long journey had only started and we already had a few hurdles to jump over.
We made our way through the airport and found our way to the international section. I was able to check my carryon bag with all my "bad" stuff here so I didn't have to go through the same ordeal again...however, Just so you know, the security people won't let you have water anymore either (the hair products though were safely checked though so all was well). I bought 2 waters at LAX and they took them away. Told me I had to buy it in the terminal. No wonder I like RVing better. Steve was able to score us the emergency exit seats for our 9 hour flight to Moscow. This was a relief. We got some lunch at a chili's in the airport and waited for our flight.
The flight over really wasn't bad. We sleep quite a bit knowing it would be 11am there when we landed. So far we were still in tack and not even halfway done with traveling to our desination.
Stay tuned for day 2!
Less Than a Week to Go!
Well, we've got less than a week to go. Let me tell you, this stress has got my emotional eating habits going full throttle. I'm like a damn hoover vacuum! Look out! Things at work are ramped up as well. Exhibit A, I am working like a chicken with my head cut off today, seeing as it's the first day of the 2nd semester, when my cellphone rings. I am usually checking it now just to see if it's the agency. Low and behold, it is. It's our dossier coordinator calling to let me know she had our police clearance letters (there's a story behind that too! I'll let Steve tell you how 100% sure he is!). In all the chaos, I forgot to have them authenticated at the county level (now there's another story about how I almost "corked" on a typical county worker). Keep in mind I raced home on Friday and raced them down to FedEd to have them there. She is in the process of sending them back to us so we can get them authenticated and then overnight them back to her. She will then get them apostilled and overnighted back to us because we leave this weekend! Yikes! Are you confused yet?! Good! That makes two of us!
So, back to the trip. We have purchased all of our winter "gear" and I believe are ready to go. We have started to use the girl's room as the "trip #1" staging area. The boy's room is being used as "trip #2" staging area. I really need to get in there and start packing our stuff together so I don't forget anything. I figure I'll be like my mother and stay up til all hours of the night trying to finish packing (love ya mom!) Looks like we are really going to need those winter clothes. I checked the weather last night and this week, the low in Orenburg is going to be -7. Yes folks, that is 7 degrees BELOW zero. I can't say that I have EVER been in weather like that. During the day it's in the "teens." I can honestly say that I don't know how to prepare for that. Don't get me wrong and think that I am complaining. I would walk through 20 below zero if it meant getting these 2 kids!
I was just reading back through this blog and laughing at some of the things I said. I will give it to Steve though and give credit where credit is due. He did say that we would have these kids by spring. He is right. If all goes according to plan, we should be home in March sometime, probably toward the end. Way to go Babe! I was also talking about the cold weather! It's really hard right now to find warm weather clothes. They are all on clearance.
Well, we are in the final stages of leaving on this trip. The plane reservations have been made, the hotels booked, and I even had a conversation with one of the other couples that is going with us. Now all I have to do is find the energy to pack my suitcase! We will be taking the laptop with us and attempting to update this blog as much as possible.
Hope everyone is doing super. I'm off to get some "chores" done.
So, back to the trip. We have purchased all of our winter "gear" and I believe are ready to go. We have started to use the girl's room as the "trip #1" staging area. The boy's room is being used as "trip #2" staging area. I really need to get in there and start packing our stuff together so I don't forget anything. I figure I'll be like my mother and stay up til all hours of the night trying to finish packing (love ya mom!) Looks like we are really going to need those winter clothes. I checked the weather last night and this week, the low in Orenburg is going to be -7. Yes folks, that is 7 degrees BELOW zero. I can't say that I have EVER been in weather like that. During the day it's in the "teens." I can honestly say that I don't know how to prepare for that. Don't get me wrong and think that I am complaining. I would walk through 20 below zero if it meant getting these 2 kids!
I was just reading back through this blog and laughing at some of the things I said. I will give it to Steve though and give credit where credit is due. He did say that we would have these kids by spring. He is right. If all goes according to plan, we should be home in March sometime, probably toward the end. Way to go Babe! I was also talking about the cold weather! It's really hard right now to find warm weather clothes. They are all on clearance.
Well, we are in the final stages of leaving on this trip. The plane reservations have been made, the hotels booked, and I even had a conversation with one of the other couples that is going with us. Now all I have to do is find the energy to pack my suitcase! We will be taking the laptop with us and attempting to update this blog as much as possible.
Hope everyone is doing super. I'm off to get some "chores" done.
Itinerary for Our Trip
Ok, so I didn't think to post our itinerary to let you all know what a whirlwind trip this will be. I am thinking I will be tired for weeks afterwards. Guess it will prepare me for when we come home with 2 babies! Then there will really be no sleep. So here it the trip itinerary:
Sat. Feb. 3rd = stay @ hotel near LAX (los angeles)
Sun. Feb. 4th = 7:30 am flight to JFK (pray for NO snow, transfer to different flight to Moscow)
Mon. Feb. 5th = 11am, arrive into Moscow Russia, change airports to take a flight to Orenburg.
Tues. Feb.6th = Orenburg (guessing MoE this day and possibly visiting girl)
Wed. Feb. 7th = Orenburg (guessing we'll travel to Orsk this day. 3 hr trip 1 way. Have been told it's a VERY long day)
Thurs.Feb.8th = Fly back to Moscow
Fri. Feb.9-11 = Moscow on our own (SCARY! any suggestions besides the obvious on what to visit?)
Sun. Feb.11th = JFK and overnight in New York. I've never been. I would love to see Time Square!
Mon. Feb.12th = travel home to California. It's a no school day for me. Thank you President Lincoln! You know us in the public school system, we take as many holidays as possible.
So that's what we know right now. We have decided to not hire a doctor out of Moscow to accompany us to the Orenburg region. We are going to take video and pictures and send them back to a doctor here who specializes in this area. This is so hard. I question myself all the time wondering whether or not we are making the right decisions. I was just mentioning that this adoption process was very similar to IVF in the fact that one day you are on cloud 9 and excited and the very next day for no apparent reason, you are in the dumbs thinking it's going to be a bust. Don't ask me why but it just happens! Go figure. Whoever knew becoming a mom would be do difficult emotionally and physically.
Hope everyone is doing well. We here in SoCal are soooo done with this wind! I swear I feel like we live in a wind tunnel. My heat has never been on this long either. Good grief! Guess it's better this way. That way maybe Russia in the dead of winter won't be such a shock! Yah, right! It's 30 degrees there all week and probably snowing.
Sat. Feb. 3rd = stay @ hotel near LAX (los angeles)
Sun. Feb. 4th = 7:30 am flight to JFK (pray for NO snow, transfer to different flight to Moscow)
Mon. Feb. 5th = 11am, arrive into Moscow Russia, change airports to take a flight to Orenburg.
Tues. Feb.6th = Orenburg (guessing MoE this day and possibly visiting girl)
Wed. Feb. 7th = Orenburg (guessing we'll travel to Orsk this day. 3 hr trip 1 way. Have been told it's a VERY long day)
Thurs.Feb.8th = Fly back to Moscow
Fri. Feb.9-11 = Moscow on our own (SCARY! any suggestions besides the obvious on what to visit?)
Sun. Feb.11th = JFK and overnight in New York. I've never been. I would love to see Time Square!
Mon. Feb.12th = travel home to California. It's a no school day for me. Thank you President Lincoln! You know us in the public school system, we take as many holidays as possible.
So that's what we know right now. We have decided to not hire a doctor out of Moscow to accompany us to the Orenburg region. We are going to take video and pictures and send them back to a doctor here who specializes in this area. This is so hard. I question myself all the time wondering whether or not we are making the right decisions. I was just mentioning that this adoption process was very similar to IVF in the fact that one day you are on cloud 9 and excited and the very next day for no apparent reason, you are in the dumbs thinking it's going to be a bust. Don't ask me why but it just happens! Go figure. Whoever knew becoming a mom would be do difficult emotionally and physically.
Hope everyone is doing well. We here in SoCal are soooo done with this wind! I swear I feel like we live in a wind tunnel. My heat has never been on this long either. Good grief! Guess it's better this way. That way maybe Russia in the dead of winter won't be such a shock! Yah, right! It's 30 degrees there all week and probably snowing.
We've Got Travel Dates!
Wow! What a whirlwind of activity. As many of you already know, we got the call on Thursday, January 11th that they had a boy and a girl for us in the Orenburg region of Russia. This past Wednesday, the 17th of January, we got the call telling us when we needed to be in Moscow by. So, we are leaving on February 4th and will be home on the 12th. About a week turn around time. We added 2 days on to the end since it was the weekend and it's a 3 day weekend for me in order to see Moscow. Figured it'd be easier just the 2 of us rather than with 2 kids. We'll also take them to some places to have our pictures taken with them so they can have pictures of us with them in their country. So, we have been busy, busy, busy. We went out last night and bought cold weather clothes. Most of it was on clearance so we sort of had to scrounge. I am going to spend this weekend starting to put stuff together for the trip. I am just praying that the kids are healthy and that nothing happens before we get over there. There is always the possibility of losing the referral. Keep your fingers crossed for us. We are taking the laptop and will try to communicate with everyone while we are there via the internet. This blog is how you'll konw what's going on. People have asked me to post pictures here of us with the children in Russia. Sorry! Can't post them on the internet until they are legally ours. You'll just have to wait. I"ll post pictures of other things and places though. Well, it's Friday night and it's been a long week. I am going to go unwind. This is a really busy time at work right now so putting this adoption in right now wasn't the best timing but I'll take it.
BIG NEWS! We Got a Referral!
I hope everyone had a really great holiday season. Christmas was great and Steve and I had a relaxing day! New Year's was OK until some theif decided he needed my car stereo system more than me! Do you think I can write that off as a donation to the needy? Probably not. Oh well. I'll work on NOT being bitter!
Well, the big news is that this past Thursday, the agency called with a referral for a boy and girl. They were born 3 days apart and they were born this past May. That means they will be 8 months old at the end of January. For those of you wondering, yes it will be like having TWINS! Just to let everyone know, we are in the fact finding stage right now. We need to find out if these children are healthy and have not severe medical problems. This does NOT mean that we are traveling to Russia. Like I stated, we are in the fact finding stage. Once we feel like we have enough info, we will have travel dates given to us and we will travel to Orenburg Russia which is south of Moscow. We are feeling every emotion right now from being in a state of panic to happiness. I just wanted to share where we were right now. Hopefully this will be a good thing. However, if medicals come back and an International Adoption doctor tells us things don't look good, we will go back to the drawing board!
Wish us luck as we begin this new stage and keep your fingers crossed that these 2 children could turn out to be the future Brooke & Kyle Bierbaum!!
Well, the big news is that this past Thursday, the agency called with a referral for a boy and girl. They were born 3 days apart and they were born this past May. That means they will be 8 months old at the end of January. For those of you wondering, yes it will be like having TWINS! Just to let everyone know, we are in the fact finding stage right now. We need to find out if these children are healthy and have not severe medical problems. This does NOT mean that we are traveling to Russia. Like I stated, we are in the fact finding stage. Once we feel like we have enough info, we will have travel dates given to us and we will travel to Orenburg Russia which is south of Moscow. We are feeling every emotion right now from being in a state of panic to happiness. I just wanted to share where we were right now. Hopefully this will be a good thing. However, if medicals come back and an International Adoption doctor tells us things don't look good, we will go back to the drawing board!
Wish us luck as we begin this new stage and keep your fingers crossed that these 2 children could turn out to be the future Brooke & Kyle Bierbaum!!
New Addition to the Family!
I'd like to announce that we have a new addition to our family. I have been whining about this for months. I finally broke my husband down! I did everything but throw myself on the floor and scream and kick. That was coming next! So, without further delay...meet our new kitty...?????(he doesn't have a name yet!)
So, no news on children, but here is my new "baby" for right now.
So, no news on children, but here is my new "baby" for right now.
Update...there is no update!
OK, so I thought I would post to say that we got an update from the agency telling us that there is no update. For me, I guess it's nice to just hear something instead of wondering. Although, it's a little frustrating because there is no good reason that the re-accreditation is not being signed. Here is what was written and I'll let everyone else decide and/or make an opinion:
"As the holidays approach I understand that your concerns mount about when will you adoption occur. Adoptions are still occurring in Russia. We will have 6 families complete their adoptions this month, 11 waiting with children chosen to complete their adoptions, 4 families waiting to travel for the first time to meet their children and 3 families reviewing children.
While this is positive the referrals are not coming as quickly as any of us would like. We are still restricted due to the re-accreditation issue. With re-accreditation all adoption agencies are waiting for the ministry to issue re-accreditation certificates. We see no definitive obstacles preventing this so we think it is only a matter of their bureaucracy initiating this process. I do not have a prediction as to when this will happen accept to say that we are expecting this at anytime. How this affects you is in several ways. Usually we operate in over 30 regions but without this accreditation we need to process your adoption as an independent adoption and only a few of our usual regions have an independent legal process to move forward with adoptions. I believe that our current number of regions operating with an independent process is 11. You can see how that restricts referrals just by the number of regions. Being forced to operate currently under an independent process also affects how referrals are given and how we can present referrals to you, thus over half of the independent process regions require blind trips. This delay in adoptions is creating problems within Russia with a backlog of children in the regions filling the orphanages, shelters, and hospitals to overflowing. I heard that several recent child deaths in Russia have been attributed to this overcrowding. While there is internal awareness of the urgent need to open the adoptions up this delay highlights a reality of all adoptions in that they are political processed that can be insensitive to the needs of the children and more responsive to political whims or delays."
The kicker in there for me was that children are dying because of this. I know that Steve and I are not the only people sitting here waiting to be parents! There are children there that need parents and paperwork is NOT being signed because WHY? That's what's a lot frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a bit more irritated due to the holidays. Well that and I went to a party last night, oh forget the comment I was going to make. I wont' have a pity party here.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have finally gotten in the spirit this year and I think our house looks great! We'll be having a house full on Christmas Eve. That should be fun!
"As the holidays approach I understand that your concerns mount about when will you adoption occur. Adoptions are still occurring in Russia. We will have 6 families complete their adoptions this month, 11 waiting with children chosen to complete their adoptions, 4 families waiting to travel for the first time to meet their children and 3 families reviewing children.
While this is positive the referrals are not coming as quickly as any of us would like. We are still restricted due to the re-accreditation issue. With re-accreditation all adoption agencies are waiting for the ministry to issue re-accreditation certificates. We see no definitive obstacles preventing this so we think it is only a matter of their bureaucracy initiating this process. I do not have a prediction as to when this will happen accept to say that we are expecting this at anytime. How this affects you is in several ways. Usually we operate in over 30 regions but without this accreditation we need to process your adoption as an independent adoption and only a few of our usual regions have an independent legal process to move forward with adoptions. I believe that our current number of regions operating with an independent process is 11. You can see how that restricts referrals just by the number of regions. Being forced to operate currently under an independent process also affects how referrals are given and how we can present referrals to you, thus over half of the independent process regions require blind trips. This delay in adoptions is creating problems within Russia with a backlog of children in the regions filling the orphanages, shelters, and hospitals to overflowing. I heard that several recent child deaths in Russia have been attributed to this overcrowding. While there is internal awareness of the urgent need to open the adoptions up this delay highlights a reality of all adoptions in that they are political processed that can be insensitive to the needs of the children and more responsive to political whims or delays."
The kicker in there for me was that children are dying because of this. I know that Steve and I are not the only people sitting here waiting to be parents! There are children there that need parents and paperwork is NOT being signed because WHY? That's what's a lot frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a bit more irritated due to the holidays. Well that and I went to a party last night, oh forget the comment I was going to make. I wont' have a pity party here.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season. I have finally gotten in the spirit this year and I think our house looks great! We'll be having a house full on Christmas Eve. That should be fun!
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