The hair genes come from his father...

My hair genes could never have pulled off a do like this, no matter what the geneticists say. Not even with a case of hair spray.

Christian made a deal with the Maces to shave his head after Warp Tour. Warp Tour was Saturday. I wasn't so sure he would go through with it. Before lunch, my son left with longish hair. After lunch, he returned with this.

Before anyone thinks I'm about to cast my son in Suburbia II, the Second Punk Generation, the mohawk comes off after 24 hours. That was the deal made with his dad before his hair came off. In the meantime, I'm sure all the neighbors are thinking that Dean and I have truly failed as parents. Well, for 24 hours, let them talk. I honestly admire the kid a for being brave enough to give this a try. As long as the attitude doesn't reflect the hair, no harm done.

As you can see, JJ made the same deal with his parents that Christian did. At least they'll both have cooler heads this summer.

Thank heaven for small blessings...

I don’t want to bore everyone with a lot of details but it may take just a bit to summarize the last few days of our stay in Russia. We made it home thanks to a lot of small blessings. Monday the 16th we had to take care of paperwork and red tape in order to get Kristina’s passport. A bureaucrat on a power trip and the militia decided to make our lives very difficult. Thank you to our judge who pulled rank on the bureaucrat and our social workers, Olga and Olga, who fought like tigers for us. And thank you to Sergei our driver who not only made that trip but went back twice the next day to continue the fight and somehow, pulled a miracle and got everything done in time. As a result, we got Kristina’s passport at 6:20 on Tuesday the 17th (the passport office closed at 6:00—we just kept pleading with a clerk there to keep waiting for Sergei—lest you feel too sorry for her, I provided gifts).

Kristina said her goodbyes at the orphanage on the 16th. She was so excited to see everyone. It was like she had ants in her pants—she could not sit still. There are some pretty amazing people that work at that orphanage. If they aren’t blessed in this life then they sure have some blessings coming in the next. When we left, I got emotional but Kristina did fine. She was very quiet on the ride home but no tears.

Tuesday night, we left for Moscow on an overnight train. The train departed at 10:30 pm, we received the last of our translated documents at 10:20—another small miracle. The train was quite an adventure. As long as you didn’t use the toilet facilities, it was great. We arrived in Moscow at 5:56 am on Wednesday.

Wednesday wasn’t bad at all. We checked in at the apartment we were staying at in Moscow, had some breakfast and cleaned up a bit and then went to see an American certified doctor. We sat in the office with other adoptive parents and their kids and oh, English is a beautiful thing. We made it to the Embassy with only ten minutes to spare. Adoption documents are only accepted from 10:00 to 11:00 am—another small miracle that traffic didn’t make us late. Thursday, we were back at the embassy for the Visa interview. Once again, lots of adoptive parents—it is amazing how quickly you strike up a bond with those who have just suffered through the same process you have. What a relief to have that Visa in hand.

Wednesday afternoon, we visited Red Square and the outskirts of the Kremlin. Kristina wanted nothing to do with sight seeing by this point and her face shows it in the pictures. But hey, someday she’ll thank me for making her go there. (Some day my kids are going to thank me for a lot of things I made them do, aren’t they?) I liked Moscow. It was a big city but I didn’t feel so out of place there.

Thursday morning, we were up at 2:00 am and off for the airport at 2:30 am. I didn’t care—I so wanted to go home. It was a long trip home. Kristina was a trooper but she did get sick coming into Denver (it was a bumpy ride). Thank heaven for patient passport control people who had patience with a tired mom and a frazzled and sick child who needed to run to the bathroom more than once while we were waiting. Thank heaven for Dramamine. And thank heaven that we were able to get onto an earlier flight from Denver to Salt Lake City.

Kristina was like a zombie by the time we got home. After being sick, she slept while waiting for our flight in Denver and then slept the whole way to Salt Lake. I felt kind of bad that she missed seeing the mountains as we flew in—that’s always an amazing sight, but I was glad she wasn’t sick again. Dean, Sidney, Spencer, Christian and my parents were waiting for us. Oh happy days to see everyone!

We got home about 7:30 pm and Kristina was so tired. She unpacked a little but she was so quiet and really didn’t want to talk. Our interpreter, Katia, was here and being an adopted child from Russia, she advised us when Kristina didn’t want to talk to just let her get some rest and take her time. It was good advice. Saturday morning, Kristina woke up back to her happy self.

And thus we begin the adventure. Saturday, we took Kristina shopping for shoes and some pajamas. I was able to introduce her to Target—yes, I LOVE Target. And Sunday, we introduced her to church. We had an interpreter which made it more bearable for her but we ended up skipping out a little early. Three hours is a bit long for that very first time, especially when everyone in the ward wants to meet you. But she is riding a bike around the cul de sac freely, playing with Sidney and Spencer, joking with Christian and basically acting like she is right at home. Other than a little hesitancy about some of our food (we tried Mexican food Saturday—it didn’t go over so well), she really doesn’t seem to be very culture shocked. So we’ll count our blessings and continue to hope for the best.

Thank you once again to everyone who has been on our side through all of this. We are so glad to have the Russia and adoption portion over with. And now we move on with life in the good old USA!

Here's a few photos of our last days in Russia.

Can you believe this child had her own cell phone? She couldn't wait to get it from the orphanage. One of the first things she asked Dean and I was if we had cell phones in America.




Some of the many people that took care of Kristina and/or helped with the adoption. Taken at the orphanage.



Kristina in our train compartment. We're on our way to Moscow!



A shot of the Kremlin. Not the best ever but I took it from a car window so that's my excuse.




I think every adoptive parent has a picture in front of St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow. Kristina isn't scowling too badly in this one.

We're Home!

I'll update everyone later because I am currently very tired but Kristina and I got home about 7:30 last night. She was exhausted (think zombie child) and I wasn't too far off either but after a good night's rest for both of us, we're doing well. I'll update more later when I feel a little more rested and a little more caught up with life (I tackled a mountain of mail and a ton of laundry today besides unpacking and I'm not up to anything more).

I'm just so glad to be back in the USA and back to Dean and the kids. And thank you to all for your prayers and support.

Pakah or See you later.

Happy 15th Birthday Christian!

Hope it's a great one! Love ya!

The Latest from Russia....

It’s definitely time for another update.

Kristina and I went to the ballet on Saturday evening. It was amazing. Sleeping Beauty. We started out in the nosebleed section because seats down lower were so expensive but after the second act ended, we got brave and slipped down into empty 4000 ruble seats. No one said a word and we had an amazing view for the third and fourth act. We were sitting behind a group of American tourists and hearing voices from home made me homesick. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the ballet was. This is the third ballet I have seen in Russia and each has been better than the last.

The next day we went on a true Russian adventure. We were invited to Natalia’s dacha, or country house, for the weekend. We rode the train to 69 kilometers (the dacha village has no name) and had an amazing two days in the country. It rained the second day and we had no power for a few hours because of the wind but I didn’t care. I was so glad to get out of the city. And Kristina had a great time. She helped Natalia with her flowers which left Kristina muddy up to her knees, hung out in the hammock and played outside. Exactly what she needed. Apartment living is just not for either of us.

Yesterday, we picked up the final court judgment. We’re much closer to finalizing this process and heading home. Sadly, I found out that we won’t be able to go to Volosovo this week and take care of the paperwork to get Kristina’s passport started as planned. That means we have to wait until Monday to do that and then we can’t apply for Kristina’s passport until Tuesday. I shouldn’t be surprised. This whole process has been one delay after another since we started. But previously, I was waiting in the comfort of my homeland. Now I’m waiting here. I’m trying to fight the homesickness. Some days are better than others. I hope I don’t run out of books.

Well, until later, here are a few more pictures. Oddly, I have not taken as many pictures as I thought I would. I wanted to take pictures of the train station, the metro, the 69 kilometer sign, but Russians frown on you taking pictures of things like that—a flashback to the Soviet days I guess. And, we are doing our best to try to blend in and a camera is like a neon sign flashing “Tourist”. But never fear, as a descendent of Twila Fehlman, I have plenty of pictures of this trip.

Take care all. We miss you and we love you. We’re doing well.





A view of the Russian forest at 69 Km north of St. Petersburg.



Kristina in the hammock.



Natalia's Dacha.



Kristina showing an American smile, not the somber Russian face usually shown in photos.

More detail for you....

Okay, we found a café with wireless internet so I can finally take the time to update this blog and post some pictures. So much has happened. Here’s a quick travel log.

We arrived safe and sound on Tuesday, May 27th. No problems at the airport and all luggage arrived with us intact. I have never been so relieved to see anyone as I was when we walked out through passport control and saw our interpreter, Natalia, waiting for us.

Day two was our visit to the orphanage. After a bumpy two hour ride with no seatbelts (we just had to say our prayers and then not think about oncoming traffic), we arrived at the orphanage. Kristina was watching out the window for us as were several orphanage workers. It was so good to see her. She told us that she had never doubted that we would come, even though it had been a whole year. That’s faith.

Day three, first no hot water and then no water at the apartment. Fortunately, both issues were resolved by the end of the day. Dean and I had to appear at the Ministry of Education in the morning and then we went to the Hermitage for the day. It is an amazing place and so big! A couple of blisters later, we were at the apartment.

Day four, Friday, May 30th, was our court date. I don’t usually get nervous but I was nervous for this. Fortunately for us, our judge was very gracious and friendly and everything seemed to go smoothly. The court’s biggest concern was how we were going to support such a large family (four children). The average here is one, maybe two, kids. Apparently, we resolved the judge’s concerns because she gave us a favorable verdict. And the first hurdle of this trip was crossed.

Kristina was allowed to come and stay with us after court. We thought she would have to go back to the orphanage when Dean left on Tuesday, June 3rd, but she was allowed to stay. She seems to be doing very well. We do a lot of pointing and guessing and I have added a few words to my very limited Russian vocabulary but we’re getting better at communicating. Kristina seems to loosen up every day. Last night, she was down right silly. She was dancing to Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana music (thank you to Sidney who unbeknownst to me downloaded one of her CD’s to my computer). I bought her a book to teach English from a Russian perspective yesterday. It gives has words, phrases and pictures and shows how to say them phonetically in Russian and gives the Russian equivalent. She’s doing very well with that. And she loves Looney Tunes. I brought some DVD’s from home and she watches them every morning while we wait for the interpreters to arrive.

We have done a lot of sight seeing. Honestly, I would prefer to just hang out at the apartment somedays but I know Kristina gets bored. We have books and some Russian movies we’ve watched but otherwise, not a heck of a lot to do at the apartment. So we sight see. Yesterday, Kristina was sick of museums and palaces so we just took a cruise on the canals and the River Neva. It was honestly, one of the best days yet. I think, if it was up to Kristina, we’d ride the metro all over the city (she loves it), take a daily river cruise, watch Looney Tunes and read. She likes to eat at cafes as well but is always checking the bill to make sure we didn’t spend too much. If a café or restaurant is too expensive, she doesn’t want to go back to that one. Maybe she can teach some lessons to my kids. She will eat anything. We have breakfast and supper at the apartment and so far, she has eaten anything that has been put before her.

Well, there’s the update in a nutshell. Dean is home safe and sound. Kristina and I probably have another two to three weeks. We finalize everything at the court on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 10th and 11th, and then we have to get Kristina’s visa. Because the 12th is a holiday (why don’t Americans have more holidays?), nothing can happen with the visa until the 16th but I hope that goes quickly and we can be off to Moscow on the 17th or 18th. I’m ready to come home. I’m ready to see my kids and husband, I want to drink water from the tap and I want chips and salsa.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support thus far. It is so appreciated. Things have gone very well and I know it is because you are all praying for us!

Below are a few pictures to update you. The first was taken after court on the 30th. Olga, the director of the orphanage, is with us.

The second is from the top of St. Isaac's. The third is of Dean in his fine new Russian hat before he left for the United States. The fourth is of Kristina and I at Pavlovsk Palace. I was trying to look Russian since we had bought a Russian ticket (no smiling in pictures).

All is going well...

This is going to be quick because I am standing in a cafe a couple of blocks from the apartment. But I wanted to update everyone quickly.

We arrived safe and sound in Russia. All went very well at the court and Kristina is with us now. Everything will be finalized next week and then I'll find out when I am off to Moscow. Dean returned to the United States yesterday so Kristina and I are on our own for a couple of weeks.

Everything is good. We have done a lot of sight seeing with interpretors in tow so we can communicate then. But even when we are on our own, we've done okay. I pull out the Russian dictionary every once in a while and sometimes we both just shrug our shoulders and laugh. We've watched a lot of Looney Tunes together--Bugs Bunny seems not to need interpretation. I've also watched some Russian movies with her, we've read some books, we've hung out. All is well. But I am looking forward to coming home. I really do like it here but I want to be able to drink water from the tap, use the internet and understand everyone around me. And I am missing Dean and the kids and all of you terribly.

Well, our food just arrived so I will be off. I hope to post pictures another day. I've taken a ton of them!

Love you all!