Finding Malibu

Fun with Frosting:

2012-01-19T18:26:00.001-06:00

Starbucks: it’s not just for coffee!

2012-01-08T23:17:00.001-06:00

2 Years Ago—Bringing Home Miss K, Part 5: Moscow Christmas Day and the Day After

2012-01-06T14:40:00.001-06:00

In looking back on this part of the trip to pick up Miss K, I have to admit that the last couple of days were a blur. In part, I’m sure this was because I had developed some wonky stomach virus that decided to rear its ugly head about mid-morning Christmas Day. I think that this, coupled with almost no sleep the previous few days and the relief of finally having Miss K with us led to some major brain shut-down. Let’s just say that Christmas Day and the day after were pretty calm compared with the previous week. Again, huge thanks to Susan, who stepped up and took over at this point—if I have any regrets about this trip at all, they are that she didn’t get to see much of Moscow beyond the Arbat because I just felt too lousy to take her anyplace.

Christmas Day we woke up to the arrival of Santa, who had brought Miss K a rattlely toy, a ba-ba-ball, and a Little Einstein music book:

We then decided that Miss K needed a bath

and then Mommy decided it was time to reorganize all of the “stuff”—we had the bags we had brought, plus the bag of stuff for Miss K that we’d brought on trip 2 and left with Vladimir until trip 3. We’d “repacked” in Kaluga late at night and trying not to wake up Miss K, and my “repacking” was basically throwing as much as possible as quickly as possible into the various suitcases and bags. So—to get organized, I dumped the contents of the suitcases all over the floor of the bedroom. When Miss K decided she needed to help, we found out that the suitcase made an excellent play pen. Nothing says “Merry Christmas” like eating Gerber “puffs” while sitting in a big ol’ suitcase:

We played for awhile, then:

After our exciting morning, we felt that we all needed another nap:

After our nap, we decided that we needed to get outside for a little while—it was a beautiful day, and we were tired of the “no milk and butter” macaroni and cheese and the granola bars we’d brought with us. So we bundled up and headed out. Karina was fascinated by the full-length mirror on the wall next to the door out into the hallway:

We headed out onto the Arbat, in the direction of McDonalds (which we hoped would be easy with K and easy for us as well):

On the way, we passed by Mu-Mu and the Mu-Mu cow:

With McDonald’s conquered, we then headed over to the fancy-shmansy grocery store on the next corner. This place was a two-story grocery store. We wondered how we were supposed to take the grocery cart downstairs, and, after watching, we found out that there was a special ramp that went downstairs and the grocery cart wheels locked into the ramp. Exciting for us. The deli counter was also pretty awesome—they had all kinds of hams, etc., and there was one variety of ham that still had the entire leg of the animal attached and on display.

On the way back home from the grocery store, we stopped in one of the shops on the Arbat so Susan could do a little shopping. One of the pretty sales girls asked if she could hold Miss K—and we decided that we needed her picture:

I have a vague memory that sometime on this day we also got hooked up with Tanya, who brought us the paperwork from the Russian Consulate (the last papers that we needed to leave the country). I also remember that Susan spent a LOT of time on the phone with our travel agent at home, and managed to get our departure tickets changed so that we could leave on the 27th instead of waiting until the 30th. Both of these were good news.

We spent the 26th just hanging around the apartment, relaxing and getting ready to leave on the 27th. Susan, my brave sister, did venture out by herself for a while, and ordered a “chi” at Starbucks and explored the Arbat a bit further.

Fun with a Pizza Box

2012-01-05T16:14:00.001-06:00

No children, kitties, or lamb chops were harmed in the making of these pictures

2 Years Ago—Bringing Home Miss K, Part 4: Moscow Christmas Eve

2012-01-05T07:12:00.001-06:00

I ended Part 3 of the remembrance of our trip a couple of weeks ago with the story of putting Miss K to sleep on the night of December 23, 2009. For her, I feel like I need to continue the rest of the story, for it is as remarkable as well.

We were supposed to be up and ready to go the next morning (December 24, 2009) at 4:00 am. Ivan and Vasili wanted to make sure that we were at the CSS office when it opened in the morning, and they were concerned that if we left any later we’d be caught in Moscow traffic. So—we were “up and ready to go” by 4:00.

One of the first signs our kiddo is remarkable—she was awake and watching out the window of the van for almost the entire 2 1/2 hour trip from Kaluga to Moscow. She was fascinated/mesmerized by the scenery going by—and she was pretty much focused and content for the first two hours of the trip.

It was only as we got closer to Moscow that she got restless and we to needed to start entertaining her:

When we reached Moscow and made our way to the CSS office, it turned out we were about an hour early. So. We sat in the van and waited. Luckily, Miss K was still pretty cool with being entertained and she loved the Gerber teething cookies (which, because she only had a few teeth, she could make last for a LONG time). We played with her, the guys played with her

and eventually it was time to go inside the office.

Inside the office, I was swept off into the conference room to fill out the paperwork for the Embassy. Some of this I had already done, but apparently it wasn’t done the way they thought it should be, and so we started all over again. We met our new Moscow translator, Tanya, who is a sweet lady, but who, alas, in trying to explain the forms to me (which I could read) made it take more time than it would have if I had just read them. Eventually she figured this out, and stepped out of the room to do other things—we later found out that they had “fast-tracked” our process so that we could have everything done that day, which is why she was trying to get me to hurry—and this was on a day when the American Embassy was going to close early because it was Christmas Eve.

In the meantime, Auntie Susan took Miss K off to entertain her:

With Irina:

Once the paperwork was done, we climbed into Andrei’s van (which had the unusual combined aroma of cat and air freshener) and headed off for Miss K’s doctor’s checkup. This has to be done before the American Embassy will approve the child leaving Russia and entering the US.

In Dr. Boris’ office:

Miss K was not at all happy about the doctor visit—and there were several tears. Dr. Boris said that she was a bit of a “drama queen” but that she was healthy and approved her for the Embassy. This was great news—there was another couple there in the doctor’s office from our agency who had run into problems with their son’s blood test records, and they were waiting (perhaps until the next day) for that to be approved. (We found out later that all did work out well, but it was another flaming hoop they had to jump through to get their child home).

With this all done, and K now happy, we headed back outside

and then headed off to the American Embassy.

This whole part of the trip was just a bit surreal. And it was not at all what I expected it would be. Tanya and I left Miss K in the van with Susan and headed inside. You have to go through security (much like in the airport—everything is x-rayed) and the we wandered up several flights of stairs to an out of the way office where I handed in all my documents to a lady behind a small window. We then had to get in a line to pay for Karina’s processing at a different window, and then we headed into a waiting room to wait until all was processed. Tanya told me that she couldn’t wait there—and so she left for awhile (which was strange, because it seemed like all of the other American couples who were waiting not only had their child with them, but their translator as well). She then came back and told me that I needed to go get Karina (and Susan). Ok—so I headed outside and had a minor panic moment when I realized that all I knew about the van we were in was that it was black and that it was a bit smelly on the inside—and that there were SEVERAL black vans waiting around the embassy. Eventually, I did find them, and we made the trek back into the embassy with K through security.

Once back inside, we waited. We watched the other families who were also waiting to adopt children from Russia. (It was at this point that Susan leaned over and whispered “we got the best one!”) I had managed to find a phone and call my friend Dave K, who met us in the waiting room and talked for awhile until he had to head back to work—this was just pretty amazing; Dave K, who sat behind me in Russian comp my senior year of college was one of the big movers and shakers at the American Embassy in Moscow (although he had no say over the adoption stuff). Eventually, we were called up to the window at the front of the room where they went over all of our paperwork again and presented us with Miss K’s visa for entry into the US (what we were there for)!

With the Embassy visit now done (it was after noon at this point) we headed back outside and back to the CSS office. We had to go over the paperwork yet again, and they answered any questions that we had and gave us instructions for leaving the country. (Essentially—don’t let anyone take your documents unless you know exactly where they’re going with them, and don’t lose them.) They then told us that all we still needed to do was for Tanya to get our approval from the Russian Consulate to leave—the rest of what we had needed to do had been accomplished. Really? Yes. We had gotten everything (except the Russian Consulate approval) done in ONE DAY.

There was one last stop we had to make before we could head to the apartment—we needed to have one additional picture of Miss K for her Russian Consulate approval (we were a picture short). So, we were back into Andrei’s van and off to a photographer. Poor K was tired and hot at this point, and didn’t want to have her picture taken, the photographer (who was probably 20 years old and gothy) swore loudly and in English when the first picture didn’t work, and I got yelled at by Tanya when I didn’t want to put Miss K’s hat back on for the 200 foot trip from the photography studio to the van. (In my defense, it was warm enough at this point that the snow and ice was melting and falling off the buildings in huge chunks—K was sweating bullets and was just unhappy/tired and so were we. Susan turned to me and whispered, “just put the d*&^m hat on her,” so I did. However, we then heard at least twice during the rest of the trip how essential it was that “Russian baby must wear hat.”)

We were finally on our way to the apartment. This should have been a short trip from where we were (less than a mile from the photography studio). However, we were now in full-blown Moscow traffic. It took FOREVER (well, what seemed like forever). One of my favorite pictures of the trip comes from this time:

Finally, we reached our apartment building, just off of the Arbat:

We hauled all our luggage inside, up the flight and a half of stairs, and Susan and K crashed while Tanya took me out and showed me how to reach a grocery store. She then headed off (after another story about why babies needed to wear hats and again reminding us that she would get our Russian Consulate approval tomorrow) and I headed back inside the apartment to crash as well.

I’m not sure how long we slept, but we eventually rallied and decided that we needed to clean up and do something about eating that night. We decided that neither of us was up to going out, and so we fixed the box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese that I had stashed in the suitcase (this was without milk or butter—I have to admit that it wasn’t terrible, but it is a taste experience I don’t want to repeat soon). We pulled out our Christmas jammies and decided that we were going to relax and enjoy Christmas Eve in Moscow:

a teething cookie and carrot baby food for Santa and a fireplace on the laptop:

Christmas 2011—more pictures:

2011-12-26T21:49:00.001-06:00

2 Years Ago—Bringing Home Miss K, Part 3: Gotcha! Day

2011-12-21T07:29:00.001-06:00

The story continues:

Susan and I finally reached Kaluga and checked into the hotel at about 5:00 on the morning of December 23. We unpacked just a bit, and then crashed for a couple of hours. Ivan had told us to be ready to go about 8:30, since Nadia and Margarita (our translator and the regional coordinator) wanted to get things started as soon as possible that morning.

So—around 8:30, Nadia came to the room and had me sign the first of many sets of papers:

After this, we were off with Nadia, Margarita, and Vladimir our driver on the first of a bunch of stops that morning. We first went to one office in Kaluga to pick up Karina’s new birth certificate. This involved filling out more paperwork and signing more documents.

Then, we had to have this new paperwork stamped (stamps in Russia are something that are just hard to explain—every official/doctor/secretary/etc. has their own official stamp that has to be on every official document) with the Kaluga city stamp. For this we drove to another office building where Margarita asked us to wait in the car while she took the document inside to have it stamped. We waited maybe 30 minutes—and then she was back. Nadia commented that this was quick—and Margarita told her (and then us) that she had pretended to work in the office in order to sneak in and get the paperwork stamped more quickly than normal.

After that, we were off to the passport office. Here we found out that Ivan (who had waited at the airport for us the day before and had been our translator on the drive to Kaluga) had been in line for us since early that morning so that we wouldn’t lose time there.

We were able to get right in and go to yet another office where we signed more paperwork. Then we waited. Susan and I sat on what I would have called old wooden movie theater seats after we submitted all of our documents to the official for passport processing. In the meantime, Nadia told us that she was going to wait by the front door of the building so that she could talk with someone. Susan and I people-watched, and realized how much we stuck out in an office where the women were in high heels, dressy boots and very fancy outfits—we were in jeans, snow boots, and ski coats!

After something like 45 minutes, Nadia appeared with a younger woman (who pretty obviously looked official). She then introduced her to us, talked a bit longer, and then told us that we were now ready to leave. She told us later that this woman was the assistant to the official who was normally in charge of issuing the passports. The official was “gone” for the day, and so his assistant was in charge of the office. The assistant had also been one of Nadia’s students in a college course, and they were friends. Nadia had been waiting to talk with her as soon as she reached the office because she wanted to tell her about us, about how we had been delayed, and to ask if K’s passport could be processed and issued that day. The woman had told her yes, this was not a problem. Nadia turned, smiled at me, and said, “this NEVER happens—we always have to wait at least one day for the passports. This is providential.”

I’m not sure that we understood at this point what she was saying—there was more to do. We headed out to exchange some money and to buy some baby food at the baby store:

Things are a bit of a blur at this point in my memory—I think that at some point Nadia asked us if we wanted to go back to the hotel and get some rest and something to eat while we waited for the passport to be finished, or if we wanted to go on to the Baby Home and pick up Miss K. Neither of us was hungry, and we were too excited to rest, and of course we said “let’s go get her!”

We had to make one more stop before the baby home. It is traditional to take two cakes to the baby home as part of the pick up process—one for the caretakers and one for the social workers. After driving to a couple of stores, we found a store that Nadia and Vladimir both agreed would have cakes—and Nadia, Susan and I headed in on our quest for cake:

Susan wanted to know why there wasn’t an “aunt cake”. Nadia thought this was hysterically funny (well, or she was as pumped with adrenaline and lack of sleep as we were).

Our next stop was the baby home. We put on the lovely blue booties:

and headed up the stairs to where Miss K was now living:

and Susan finally got to meet Miss K and I got to hold her again!

While the caretakers changed K into the clothes we had brought for her, we headed down the hallway to deliver one of the cakes and to sign more paperwork (and to meet for the last time with the baby home director)

with all the paperwork signed, we headed back to the Groupa room to pick up our newly-dressed Miss K. At this point, the only instruction/information that they gave us was her schedule (nap time, bedtime, eating time, etc.) and then handed her over to us. They seemed to think that we knew what we were doing—oh my!

As we were leaving, it was clear that our Miss K was going to be missed—so many of her caretakers waved goodbye, or went out of their way to speak to her and hug her. This part was just so touching—seeing these women who had cared for her crying or waving to her or wishing her good fortune (and us, too):

Miss K was buckled into the car seat and we made a celebratory lap around the baby house:

At this point, we had to go back to the passport office to pick up K’s finished passport. She and Susan bonded in the car while Nadia, Margarita and I went inside to get this last piece of paper for the Kaluga leg of the trip.

Margarita then left us with her good wishes:

and we headed back to the hotel. Here Vladimir our driver left us with his good wishes and we were on our own with Nadia and Miss K

Nadia and I headed across the street to buy some diapers and some bottled water, while Auntie Susan took on K watching duties. I came back to this scene—K’s first cookie! :

We quickly skyped Steve, and then Nadia took us downstairs to the hotel cafeteria so we would eat something. She sat and talked with us for a long time (I don’t think she wanted to leave, really) and then we headed back upstairs to repack and get ready to leave in the morning. Nadia, like the rest of the Kaluga staff, were definitely part of the angel band that had surrounded us on this trip. It was finally starting to sink in—we were DONE in Kaluga in just one day (usually this is a three day process) and we were headed out to Moscow at 4:00 the next morning!

We tried to get Miss K ready for bed (note: she did not like it when we tried to give her a bath in the hotel room sink—I can’t say I blame her. Two women she had never really been around before had broken her out of the baby home and were now trying to bathe her in a little sink—who were these crazy women?).

Finally, she crashed on the big bed, and we finished packing (we had unpacked the night before, thinking we were going to be in Kaluga for at least 2 days). I think we finally fell asleep around 10:30/11:00 pm—and we needed to be ready to leave at 4 am the next morning! The whirlwind was definitely not over yet. However, we now had Miss K, and so all was very right with the world this night.

(It should be very clear, but I want to say it clearly just in case—I would NOT have made it through all this without my sister. Not only did she document all of this with her camera, but she was the calming presence in the midst of the entire trip, and the one who took care of Miss K so that I could fill out paperwork, sign documents, and do all of that stuff. She carried innumerable suitcases, changed diapers, played, laughed, entertained (the Russians, too—they loved her!), and kept me sane. I can never thank her enough for this. I hope she knows how very much I love her. )

2 Years Ago—Bringing Home Miss K, Part 2

2011-12-19T22:12:00.001-06:00

Thank all of you for bearing with me on this—at the time, I didn’t really write any of this down, and part of me wants to make sure that I do it now before I forget most of the details of this pretty amazing voyage. I don’t want to leave you all hanging in the middle of the best part of the story—so I’ll continue :

Monday morning (December 21) my phone woke us up super early with the message that our rescheduled flight to Philadelphia had also been cancelled. Oh my. We got dressed, packed up our stuff quickly and headed back to the airport. There was already a line at the US Air desk, but we finally got to the counter and met there a somewhat disgruntled but positively stubborn lady named Fran working the desk. She worked for at least an hour to get us on a flight out of St. Louis that would (via Pittsburgh) just barely get us to Philadelphia to make the connection to Frankfurt. She (and Kimberly, who came to eventually relieve her) told us “when you get to Philadelphia—run to your connection.” Fran and Kimberly were our second and third angels of the trip at this point. By this time, we were somewhat famous with the US Air people. When we met Kimberly, she said, “oh, you’re the people going to Moscow for the baby!” So: all of our luggage

was loaded onto the conveyor belt—and after a stop at the McDonald’s in the concourse for one last sweet tea for Sus, we were on the plane for Pittsburgh. Finally, after two days, we were actually in the air and headed east.

The rest of the story should have been simple. Alas, it was not. In Pittsburgh we had some time before the connection to Philadelphia, but we also had to gather our checked luggage and re-check it (apparently they can only through-check bags twice). Next problem: all of the bags showed up but one. Of course, this was the bag with all of my clothing in it (except for the change of underwear in my carryon). Seriously. Sus took the situation in hand and went to find the guy who was in charge of luggage for the terminal. He was able to confirm that the bag was, in fact, in the airport—they just didn’t know where. So: Sus went up to the check-in and checked in everything else while I waited for the bag. And waited. Finally, the nice baggage guy (angel #4) said “maybe it’s just at the top of the conveyor belt—sometimes they get stuck there.” Low and behold—my clothes!

Found bag was rushed up to the desk where Susan was waiting—with angel #5—the nice man who was also waiting for me to check the bag:

I wish that I remembered his name—I think it was Kevin. I do remember that he was extremely helpful and kind (and a calming presence) and that he told us about how his church had been helping to raise money for Heifer International. Susan and I decided that he looked very much like Captain Kangaroo.

On to Philadelphia. We did, indeed, reach the airport there with not much time to spare before the flight to Frankfurt. We RAN—in our Russia winter coats and snow boots down the terminal to the Lufthansa check in desk and MADE IT! I won’t bore you with the details of how crazy we looked or how much we were sweating by this point—the amazing thing was that we had made it.

The celebration was a bit deflated a few minutes later when we found out that this flight was also delayed. This meant that the next connection was also going to be tight. At this point, I took the tickets and went to the Lufthansa desk where I made sure that we would have a flight from Frankfurt to Moscow if something happened. The sweet lady at the desk there (angel #6) confirmed us. I asked if I could give her a hug, and she laughed and said “sure.” I would have taken her picture, but Sus had the camera.

It was at this point that we learned about something that saved us from deterioration—and that was the business lounge for Lufthansa. Because we had business class tickets (thanks to Cheryl, angel #1) we were able to recharge our phones and the laptop, make calls home and to our agency contacts (who had already rescheduled our Moscow airport pickup once at this point), and to sit a bit on soft couches and nibble lounge snacks.

An hour or so later, we finally boarded the plane for Frankfurt. Surprise #2—business class seats on Lufthansa flights are AMAZING. I had only longingly gazed at business class seats on previous flights to Russia, hoping one day that I would perhaps save enough frequent flyer points to earn one. Here was one that was a gift—and you have no idea how thankful we were at this point because we were pooped. My only regret is that we were so tired that I’m not sure we really thoroughly enjoyed the seats—but we did make very good use of them!

Let’s just say that in business class we got to order our dinner off a menu (a FANCY menu), they gave us champagne, and we had little gift bags with sleep masks, toothbrushes, slippers, and golf tees (ok, that one was odd). The best part—the seats reclined about 500 different ways so that we could lay down and sleep.

It was a good thing that we slept almost all the way to Frankfurt, because it turned out we would need it. When we reached the Frankfurt airport, we found out that the snowstorm that had shut down the American east coast had also slammed Germany the day before. Something like 5000 people had been forced to camp out in the airport—and we were headed into this. Our flight to Moscow was cancelled. It took nearly 2 hours to go through security just to get to the gate we were supposed to leave from. So, we got into yet another line to see if we could get on a different flight. The lines were so long that the airline had put out sandwiches and water for the people waiting:

Again, we were blessed by the fact that we had business class tickets—we were able to get into the business class line. We did have to wait in line for a long time, but eventually we made it to the desk where this nice lady worked hard and got us on to a flight leaving that evening for Moscow (it turned out it was the only flight that would leave for Moscow that evening). She was angel #7 of the trip.

With our new tickets, we headed off to the business class lounge. While it wasn’t quite as comfy and was more crowded than in Philadelphia, there was food, a place to plug in the electronics, and some nice people that we visited with. We made yet another call back to the agency to let them know we were arriving later but still Moscow-bound.

We found out later that the two guys from Kaluga who were meeting us, Ivan and Vasili, had just decided to camp out at the airport and wait for us (they were angels #8 and 9). However, the highlight of the Frankfurt lounge has to be the self-sanitizing toilet (if you have questions how this worked, I’ll explain privately)

After a couple of delays we were finally on the LAST plane of our trip. Again, we had an amazing meal on the plane (they actually served goose because it was a holiday meal):

We arrived in Moscow sometime around 1:00 in the morning on December 23. All was good—a bit crazy, as customs can be in the Moscow airports, but we made it through ok. We should have been home free at this point—but when we went to get the luggage, one of the bags wasn’t there. This was the same bag that we lost in Pittsburgh! After a trip to the lost baggage part of the luggage claim (where there was obviously no computerized system to help find the bag), I just started walking around the baggage claim area and looking—and lo and behold, after several trips around, there it was! (I no longer take this bag anywhere now—it has a reputation for hiding.)

We loaded up and headed out—it was after 2:00 in the morning of December 23 at this point.

Ivan who was waiting for us and the infamous “hiding” bag:

We reached Kaluga about 5:00 in the morning, checked in to the hotel and crashed for about 2 hours, since we had to meet Nadia as soon as possible to get things done later that morning—but I’ll save that adventure for the next post

Things we learned from the adventure?

1)Kindness does get you a lot further down the road than being a jerk.

2) Every possible snafu that could have possibly gone wrong did. And every time I doubted that we would make it. BUT every time the craziness worked out—and many times it worked out for the BETTER. Susan wrote down (and I quote from her) : “Stop Doubting: the Angels are amongst us.”

2 Years Ago—Bringing Home Miss K, Part 1

2011-12-19T06:31:00.001-06:00

2 years ago today it was a Saturday, and we (Sister Susan and brother-in-law Brad, Steve and I) were headed toward the airport in St. Louis in what we later learned was one of the worst snowstorms to hit the East Coast in 2009—and maybe even one of the worst in the previous few years. Susan and I were supposed to fly out early that afternoon on the first leg of our journey to pick up Miss K and bring her home. It was not great weather even where we were in Missouri—on the interstate on the way to the airport, we passed a pickup that had gone off the access road and ended up on its side on the highway (the guys got out and offered to help turn it back over):

On the way to the airport, we stopped to make some phone calls before heading on—here we are at the Hardee’s in Lebanon which is apparently the place to be in Lebanon, MO, on a Saturday morning. I’m on the phone with Eldo, the amazing travel agent from Golden Rule, who gave us the best advice of the trip: go on to the airport and throw yourself on the mercy of the airline:

Of course, when we reached the airport for our flight that was supposed to leave for Philadelphia (to make our connect there, then on to Frankfurt and then Moscow) the flight was cancelled. There was no way that we were going to get out of the airport that day, or even the next day. There was a pretty remote chance that we would get out 2 days later. While normally just waiting a few days wouldn’t be a huge problem, we were up against a deadline. We were supposed to take custody of Miss K on Monday the 21st, so that we could finish up all of her Kaluga paperwork and head to Moscow, so that we could be done with all of the Moscow procedures and on the plane back home by New Year’s Eve. Oh, and did I mention that our visas were only good until January 1? On top of this, there was Christmas (for the American Embassy) and a weekend in the midst of all this that were working against us getting home by New Year’s Eve. If we weren’t going to be able to leave for Moscow until after Monday, it would have meant waiting until after New Year’s (a BIG holiday that lasts several days) to make our trip to get Miss K.

So: We pleaded with the airline. We were blessed to have a very sweet lady named Cheryl at the US Air desk in St. Louis who stayed on the phone for over an hour with the airline until she had us on a flight early Monday morning to Philadelphia, and then flights to Frankfurt and Moscow. And when we had to come back to the airport an hour later because when we called Lufthansa they would not confirm our Moscow flight, she stayed on the phone for at least another hour and not only confirmed us from Philadelphia on, she got Business Class seats for us from Philadelphia to Moscow. She was our first hero of the trip.

So—we headed out with new, thick sets of tickets. Two years ago today, by the end of a very long day, my sister Susan and I were crashed at the airport Marriott, waiting until Monday to hopefully head out on a delayed, but much-wanted journey to bring home Miss K.

Getting ready for Christmas:

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Today was the arrival of our elf from Santa:

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Thanksgiving:

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Pictures from a Sunday morning:

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More pictures from the KC trip:

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Our trip to KC, part one pictures:

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Just having fun outside tonight playing in the leaves:

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Picture of the Week:

2011-11-10T22:00:00.001-06:00

When we left Russia with Miss K, it was with the words “Russian baby must wear hat” ringing in our ears. Tanya, our translator in Moscow on our last trip, practically wrestled me to the ground because I refused to put K’s hat on for the 50 foot walk to the van on a day when the poor child was tired, cranky, and sweating bullets in a snowsuit. It was warm enough that day that snow was melting and falling off the buildings. However, because it was easier, I just put the hat on Miss K.

It is somehow poetic that the child refused to wear a hat for almost the first year she was home. We had such cute hats, but no go—she wanted nothing to do with them. I think perhaps she was exercising her right to let the wind blow through her hair. When it got cold last winter she finally relented—and put on a hat.

Today you can imagine the surprise when she wanted to wear the “fuzzy hat”---and “dloves.” It wasn’t really that cold today, but, oh well

As Halloween festivities were winding down, K’s observations:

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A Ladybug is always busy:

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Our back-up Halloween costume was the ladybug outfit that we bought this summer at Carter’s. We decided to wear it yesterday for our visit to Mimi and Papa Tom:

Apparently, sometimes Ladybugs do have time to sit down and relax with Papa Tom :

A Super Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:26:00.001-05:00

Just Having Fun….

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I’m three!!!

2011-10-25T22:26:00.001-05:00

Field Trip!

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This morning, Miss K and I joined her Preschool class as they journeyed to the Fire Station to meet some of the Firefighters and see the Firetrucks! Just a couple of pictures from our morning:

First day of “school”

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Miss K went for her first morning of “preschool” today. Just wanted to share a couple of pictures of our little scholar:

In the car on the way home after the first day:

Pictures from the Weekend, Part 4: Picking up walnuts with Papa Tom:

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Pictures from the Weekend, Part 3: Sunday at Mimi and Papa Tom’s House:

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Pictures from the weekend, Part 2: Apple Festival 2011

2011-10-03T21:08:00.001-05:00

Pictures from this past weekend, Part 1:

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Friday afternoon and evening at Mimi and Papa Tom’s house:

It’s now just a short step to handsprings:

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Saturday at Mimi and Papa Tom’s house—

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Celebrating our two-year “First Date” anniversary:

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Two years ago today…

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Two years ago today we drove up to this gate:

A close-up of the sign:

We eventually drove through the gate and were greeted by this sweet statue:

Then through these doors:

And we saw this face for the very first time:

Napkin video from Bandanas’ Friday night:

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Fun this weekend:

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Last night we decided to go out to dinner at the Bar-B-Q place, Bandanas, where our “daughter-in-love” Bri just started working. Pictures from our dinner at Bandanas:

This morning it was rainy and chilly here—so Miss K and I stayed inside and played with Play-doh and painted her toes pink:

Recent Pictures: from Fashionista to Having Fun

2011-09-16T06:21:00.001-05:00

Summer fun in the lake

2011-09-16T06:03:00.001-05:00

Perhaps because it is such a gloomy morning here today, I thought I would finish posting the vacation pictures. Miss K now loves to be in the water—a great accomplishment after just a couple of weeks!

What we did this summer

2011-08-31T00:07:00.001-05:00

Now that school has started for me, I look back and realize that I haven’t posted that much for the past summer. Because I just spent the afternoon reading essays, I thought that instead of writing that I’d share a few pictures that perhaps sum up what we’ve been doing.

One of the big excursions was to the zoo in Kansas City. Miss K and I rode a camel:

She also got to be “up close and personal” with the lions:

and communed with the elephants:

She also got to feed some deer and pet some sheep:

We also got to spend a little over a week at the lake. We had fun just hanging out and relaxing:

We also ate—and had fun fixing dinner together:

We also had a great time playing in the lake—but I’ll save that for a separate post!

Happy Back to School, everybody!

Butterflies are Free…

2011-07-31T21:55:00.001-05:00

Two years ago this week…

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Two years ago this week, we came home from Church Camp to learn that our dossier which had been sitting in Tula had been pulled. Our agency’s rep had gone to visit the officials in Tula, had learned that “nothing was going to happen for at least a year” and had pulled our dossier from the region along with that of another family. I remember well the phone call with Carol at CSS—this was another “change” after being assigned to the Izhevsk region by our previous agency; at this point, I felt a bit like we were hopscotching our way across Russia.

It was at this point that Carol told us that we had two options: (1) we could place our dossier in Moscow and wait to see what happened or (2) there was a little girl in Kaluga that she “wasn’t ready to give up on yet.” There was something in her voice and in our hearts that told us “ok, let’s seriously consider Kaluga”, and so, after a quick prayer, we told her we were interested in the little girl in Kaluga. Within a couple of days, we received pictures of her, and our dossier was registered in Kaluga. By July 28 (amazing to me now that this was just two years ago!) we had travel dates to meet with this little face that we only knew from some rather dark and grainy pictures from our agency:

I look at these now, and see my sweet daughter in this face—two years ago, I’m not really sure what I saw. Potential, perhaps. A child who looked a little bit scared and whose feet didn’t come near to touching the floor in the walker she was sitting in. I remember looking at them and trying to feel a connection—but it was difficult to do so.

I will tell you that after we made the decision to go see her and had committed to buying the tickets and getting the visas that there were times that we came close to questioning our decision. When the report from our IA doctor in St. Louis came back with some HUGE red flags, we weren’t sure what we were getting into. However, there was nothing that she told us that was a “definite”, and there was nothing that told us that we shouldn’t still go. We decided with a huge leap of faith, that we would still make the journey.

I guess that I should qualify that previous statement—it was a leap of faith, but it was one that was encouraged by so many of you and your support and prayers, and by things that happened that I can only call “God messages". During the period between when we decided to go and when we actually got on the plane, TWICE, I got very clear signals from God that this little girl was supposed to be ours. Both of them came from two books that I was reading at the time. In both books there was a Russia character in a predominantly American cast of characters. In BOTH books, the Russian character’s name was—you guessed it—Karina. Now, Karina isn’t a “typical” Russian name—and the fact that both of these “Russian” characters had this name was a huge neon sign for me that we were supposed to go and meet this child.

Well, you all know most of the rest of the story. I can’t imagine now what our lives would be like without this dear little girl in them. Even though life isn’t always perfect (I didn’t join in the “Not the Cleavers” postings not because I didn’t have something to share, but because I didn’t have time to write it down!), it is full of wonder and blessings. A good reason to celebrate this week of July.

Who knew you could have this much fun with a laundry basket??

2011-07-19T09:02:00.001-05:00

Happy Fourth of July!

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From our house to your house—Happy Independence Day!

Just one picture—but a good one:

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Karina having lunch with Papa Tom on Tuesday:

Being OUTside

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Pictures from our trip to visit Auntie Susan, Uncle Brad, and “Chaw-bee” the dog

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Karina and “Chawbee”---Chabba is now her bestest friend (she woke up asking “where Chawbee?”) Chabba slept at the foot of her bed. Yeah, it’s a girl/dog thing

Peek-a-boo, Chawbee!

“Chawbee” and her much loved frisbee---we had fun throwing it and watching her catch it

K also had a blast playing in her new sprinkler with Sus and Brad. At one point the next morning she was playing in it with no clothes on!

Auntie Susan gave her a bath and then painted her toes and fingers. She had “spark-ee” toes and fingers!

Driving the train at Incredible Pizza---this kid loves trains!

An “avoiding doing other things by posting more pictures” blog post

2011-06-04T17:06:00.001-05:00

Haircut last week---K was mostly interested in the lady who was having her hair shampooed (aka “wet”):

Just hanging out on Friday morning---jammies and new pink converse tennies:

Today is the beginning of the “get out the summer clothes and put away the winter clothes” project. Thankfully, Miss K’s stuff is DONE now. Mommy’s stuff is another story. In the process of putting away winter stuff, we found the costume that I bought last year after Halloween (1/2 price!) thinking it might fit her this year. Miss K decided it needed trying on today.

It has a CAPE!

and boots!

Ready to go fight evil doers and other bad guys!

More pictures from our house:

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Favorite pictures from this week:

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We met Steve’s parents (Grandpa David and Grandma Joyce) for lunch this week---

Also, Miss K had fun playing with my shoes a couple of nights ago:

Finally, this is a picture that she took---pretty cool!

The new word for the month is “mine”. Today at Walgreens, everything was “MINE”. Loudly. I think that developmentally we’re pretty much on track!

What’s interesting is that she still refuses to say her name. She can say all of the syllables, and has even said “Rina” a couple of times, but when you ask her to say “Karina” she just says “no”. That’s the new big milestone to work for!

Mother’s Day Weekend:

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Miss K and I went to visit my mom and dad this weekend (Mimi and Papa Tom). Auntie Susan was also there, and Miss K was in her element! On Saturday I was able to enjoy a really fun camera workshop, where I learned what almost all of the buttons on my new camera are for, so I am looking forward to having some time to practice.

Here’s Miss K with Auntie Susan, checking out Papa Tom’s new mower:

One of the pictures from my experimentations—with the camera on the “manual” setting:

Back on the mower---this time with Papa Tom:

and then with Hippa:

Out at the farm---checking out the bulls in the “bull pen”:

Checking out the frog on the top of the fence:

Helping Mimi with the “Fairy House” in Mimi’s garden:

Pictures at Robin’s and Andy’s Wedding

2011-05-03T12:11:00.001-05:00

An old friend of ours got married this past weekend in Lawrence KS at the old train depot. It was a great time (very laid back and eclectic) and a good time to take some pictures. Miss K LOVES trains (we’re about 3 blocks from the train tracks here) and so seeing them really up close was exciting for her. There was also a Jayhawk statue that she was a bit “too” affectionate with for Mommy’s taste but Mommy is trying to be understanding. Trying.

No pictures with the Jayhawk. Rats. Didn’t have the camera out at that point.

A couple of pictures from Easter:

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Miss Karina 2.5

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Yes, it’s hard to believe, but Miss K is 2 1/2 today! Whew! Time really flies!

Here are some pictures of Miss Big 2 1/2-year old:

Favorite Pictures from the week:

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Fun with blocks and Daddy video:

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Thanks, Uncle Brad, for the blocks!!!

Photo Shoot, part the third:

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Starring Miss K and her best friend, Slicky Bunny:

K’s Photo Shoot, Part 2

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Some more of Christina’s great photography—and our cute kiddo:

Spending time at Auntie Susan and Uncle Brad’s house

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Thanks, Auntie Susan and Uncle Brad for great times at your house! We love you and miss you! MWAH!

Baby Chocolate…

2011-03-21T15:36:00.001-05:00

When we first met Miss K back in Sept 2009, I kept telling people at home who had a Russian connection “she looks like the baby on the chocolate bar.” She did, too!

A few weeks ago, a dear friend of ours who is a professional photographer took Miss K’s first “real” pictures (yes, I know, after WAY too long!) A few of the pictures she took at the end were of Miss K in a similar scarf. They may look like this was an easy process, but this was a kiddo who was about done with having her picture taken and was not at all about having a scarf on her head. Christina was a trooper, though, and so good with her. Here are some of the proofs with the scarf:

yep, that’s my arm you can see in the background! Ooops!

So now…..drum roll….with thanks to my dear wife-in-law, Laurel, here are the two pictures side by side:

I know that there are some differences—especially with her bangs now as long as they are, but I thought the comparison was too good not to show it.

Will try to post the rest of the photo session soon---and to actually post something that isn’t just pictures. Love to all of you!

Baking Cookies with Mimi

2011-03-20T22:33:00.001-05:00

St Patrick’s Day blessings today:

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The Lorica of St. Patrick

I rise today

with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity,

with a belief in the threeness,

with a faith in the oneness

of the creator of creation.

I rise today

with the power of Christ’s birth and baptism,

with the power of his crucifixion and burial,

with the power of his resurrection and ascension,

with the power of his return for the final judgment.

I rise today

with the power of the love of the cherubim,

in obedience of angels,

in service of archangels,

in hope of the resurrection and reward,

in the prayers of the patriarchs,

in the preaching of the apostles,

in the faith of the confessors,

in the innocence of the holy virgins,

in the deeds of righteous men.

I rise today

with the strength of the sky,

with the light of the sun,

with the splendor of the moon,

with the brilliance of fire,

with the blaze of lightning,

with the swiftness of wind,

with the depth of ocean,

with the firmness of earth,

with the strength of rock.

I rise today

with the power of God to guide me,

with the strength of God to raise me,

with the wisdom of God to lead me,

with the vision of God to see for me,

with the ears of God to hear for me,

with the words of God to speak for me,

with the hand of God to protect me,

with the path of God before me,

with the shield of God to guard me,

with the friendship of God to keep me safe from

the contriving of demons,

the temptations of sin,

the inclination of my nature,

and everyone who wishes me harm,

far and near,

alone and in the crowd.

I summon today all those powers to protect me

against every cruel force which may attack my body and soul,

against the incantations of false prophets,

against the evil laws of unbelievers,

against the false laws of the heretics,

against the subtle temptations of idolatry,

against the magic of women, blacksmiths and Druids,

against every knowledge which corrupts body and soul.

Christ protect me today

from poison and burning,

from drowning and wounding,

so that I might gain an abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ below me, Christ above me,

Christ to the right of me, Christ to the left of me,

Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I stand,

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye which sees me,

Christ in every ear which hears me.

I rise today

with a mighty power, calling on the Trinity,

with a belief in the threeness,

with a faith in the oneness

of the creator of creation.

In the mirror video:

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Favorite Pictures of the Week:

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fashionista :-)

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Outfit today---from the bottom up:

Pink ballerina shoes (from favorite Auntie Susan)

Gap jeans (also from favorite Auntie Susan)

New Minnie Mouse nightie that mommy bought at the Disney Store yesterday (which is too big, but she loves anyway)

Red sunglasses from the sale table at Gymboree (LOVE the sale table at Gymboree)

Inside: one cute kiddo with definite fashionista tendencies.

(At one point she also had on her fuscia hooded jacket, which made her look a bit more like someone coming through Ellis Island at the turn of the century—only from a very brightly colored country.)

Happy Friday, everybody!

Makin Snowballs with Daddy (Pictures and a Video)

2011-02-26T00:20:00.001-06:00