There and Back

I haven't posted in several days because once Thursday hit our worlds were in a tailspin. On Thursday the 10th we left our hotel at 9am for the one hour drive to the orphanage. Once we arrived there we met with the orphanage director. She was a wonderful woman and very open with us about the information which was in the child's files. She went through the social and medical histories and the translator interpreted for us. Once she had read the information in the file, we were then able to ask her questions. She told us that our oldest son has been making wonderful gains in his motor skills in the last few months and our youngest son was the "star of the orphanage". As we were finishing up, I could hear the sound of children outside the director's office. She called for the door to be opened, and in came the boys. Those first few moments were surreal, as we had been waiting SO LONG for this moment. I was not sure what to do at first as I wanted to pick them up and hug them but essentially I was a stranger to them. We pulled out some Goldfish which they thoroughly enjoyed and then I gave them some blocks. They spoke to us in Russian and began to imitate my models of words in English along with some sign language. Our youngest little guy thought we were quite funny and giggled quite a bit. His laughter was infectious. Our older son is more reserved but more likely to give out hugs (as he did when we arrived the second day).
I wish we could share pictures and videos from our trip, but we cannot post any until the adoption is finalized. The boys were amazing and I really enjoyed our trip (with the exception of the flights). Chad didn't enjoy things as much as I did (the different food, language barrier) except for our time at the orphanage. We were sad to leave the boys on the second day but happy to head home. We missed the girls, sleeping in our own beds, and our dogs.
This week we are working on finishing the paperwork required for our court date. We will submit it next week to our agency where it will be translated and then be sent to Siberia via FedEx. Our judge will review our documents and then we will be invited for court. We hope this process will be quick, but most families have to wait two to three months for a court date.
Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. We are so close to bringing our boys home!

Ready to meet the boys

Yesterday we arrived in Kemerovo city in the Kemerovo region. It was nice to know we would not have to get on another plane for a few days. During our travel we lost a day with the time changes, and this has caused us to feel really worn out. On the flights it was difficult to sleep as well as we were pretty cramped. I felt really bad for Chad as his legs were cramped into a small space. I was able to sleep a little more than him.
After leaving the airport in Kemerovo we wanted nothing more than a hot shower and a bed to fall into and sleep. Our coordinator Anna informed us she was taking us to a cafe and then to the Department of Education building where we would officially receive our referrals. Anna reviewed the basic information for us about the boys as we would possibly be asked a few questions by the administrator at the DOE. I was surprised to see that the boys are the same height and differed by one kilogram in weight. I guess that will make buying clothes easy as they will be the same size! We did see that the boys had a physical last month and that there was some different information about the older boy which we are hoping to get answers about today. The visit to the DOE went pretty smoothly; we could tell our coordinator had made excellent connections with different people which allowed us smooth sailing.
We then headed out of Kemerovo to Novokuznetsk and another three hour ride. The roads are quite bumpy and I got a little car sick; luckily no vomiting occurred. We arrived to our hotel at 2:00 in the afternoon yesterday (Wednesday). After exchaning some of our cash for rubles, we paid our hotel bill. Our room reminds me of a dorm due to its size and two twin beds against the wall. I guess our trip isn't going to be a second honeymoon after all. That's okay; we were so excited sleep is the only thing we had in mind.
The couple we are traveling with is from Virginia and are very nice. We have quite a bit in common and the wife is quite a talker. I know, I have no room to talk in that area. I think we will get along quite well. I need to go for now, but will end with a thank you for all of the positive thinking and prayers. Please continue to think of us as we have a big day today meeting the boys and learning as much as we can about them to help us make our decision about what our next stop should be. I hope to share more information with you all this evening.

WE MADE IT TO MOSCOW

We are sitting in the Moscow airport awaiting our next flight to Kemerovo. Our journey had been going quite well until I mentioned in New York how I was crossing my fingers...... then of course I jinxed us. Our flight to Moscow was initially 45 minutes late departing due to an "electrical problem". Then, after we had been flying for about an hour we had to turn around and head back to New York as the "electrical problem" was still an issue. We then were fortunate enough that Delta brought in another plane which left about six hours after it was initially scheduled to depart. Our bodies are kind of screwed up right now as we flew overnight from the US, but arrived here in Moscow at about 4:00pm. We did not get to sleep much as it was just too uncomfortable. I felt awful for Chad as I was cramped, so I can't imagine how he felt. On our flight from Minneapolis to New York we met a marshal from Homeland Security. He was really nice and asked us all about our adoption process.
Once landing here in Moscow, we were delighted (yes, I used the word "delighted") to see how clean and modern the airport here in Shremetoyo (sp?) is. The terminal is new so everything is clean (including the bathrooms) and many signs are in both Russian and English. We changed our clothes and brushed our teeth and got a snack after our driver/translator assisted us in checking in our luggage for our flight and getting some money exchanged. I can't speak for Chad, but I was sweating BIG TIME when we went through passport control. Chad went first, and he kept looking back at me to help him answer the questions. Unfortunately, I only know Russian phrases you would use with young children. I don't think the young passport control guy would appreciate if I asked "peeska?" "poopka'? (pee? poop?) I guess I could have said meenya zavut Cheryl Gipson (my name is Cheryl Gipson). They have Pepsi and Diet Pepsi here in the vending machines which isn't bad tasting but we have not hit the jackpot yet with any Dew or Dt. Dew... we could only hope. I guess this may be a good week to learn how to wean myself off of my addiction to the sugar buzz that is rotting my teeth. I will keep the updates coming for all of you Stateside.

Have visas will travel

FINALLY... we are going to Siberia. I have to tell the story of how we found out about our trip. On Martin Luther King, Jr. day (January 17th) I met my friend Angi and her daughter for brunch at Spudos in Galesburg. I asked her about questions she felt were important to ask our orphanage director about the boys. As we wound up our brunch, she stated she felt I would hear something about our travel dates on the 18th. Lo and behold, on Tuesday January 18th I received "the call" from Anna at Adoption Ark. We had been invited to travel from the Department of Education in Russia to travel on February 7th! I was sitting in my office at WIU and quickly told my co-workers about our exciting news. After talking to Chad, my mind raced to all of the preparations that needed to be made within the next few days. I read through the information Anna from the agency had emailed that detailed our trip. I found a travel agency recommended by the agency and the other adoptive parents from my message boards. I spoke with Victor about our airfare and was relieved when he assured me everything would be fine. After a few kinks, we acquired our airfare for the "cheap" price of $1600 per person round trip to Kemerovo, Russia. We also had to acquire visas in order to travel to Russia as Americans are required to complete. Those cost us a little over $800. I try not to think about the costs involved as the end result is very well worth it.
I had an interesting experience this week that I would like to share. I was speaking to someone I had not met before. She was in her early 20s and had heard about our adoption. She then told me about her adoption story. She had been adopted by her single mom from another country. She told me what things her mother had done that helped her embrace her native culture and feel "comfortable in her own skin" as she looked very different than her family. It was an amazing experience to hear first hand what things had made an impact in her life as an international adoptee. As she told me her story, I noted the pride in her voice. It is people like this young lady that will help me answer when people ask me "why Russia"?
We will leave for Kemerovo Monday, February 7th out of Peoria and return Sunday, February 13th. I will post updates on the blog here for everyone to hear about our process. I will post pictures of Chad and I on our journey as well! Bon voyage! Or, in Russian da sveeyi danya (goodbye)!