That Cute Little Guy !!!

Check out these shoes!! Can you believe it?? Yes, that is my boy in the pink socks!! On the day we met him, he was wearing these adorable hot pink sandals, with hot pink butterflies on them!! I wish I had gotten a better picture, but you can sort of see them here from the side. Isn’t he just adorable?? As Wayne and I reflected on our visit to the Baby Home. we were both just thrilled!! We both commented that Little A. had exceeded our expectations. We were thrilled with his outstanding motor skills and coordination (you should see that kid kick a ball….he is first-rate!!). He had exceptional comprehension and his attention span was quite long. He seemed to have a pleasant personality and he was very well liked by all of his caregivers. Angelina, the Director of the caregivers stated that as busy as he was ( when he was running and sliding, laughing and playing), that behavior was only a very small part of what he was capable of!!! She said he could be quite precocious and get into everything!! I was actually somewhat relieved to hear of this, as I had visions of an inactive child, that sat around and could not concentrate….or the opposite: one that could not sit still and focus, and ran from one thing to the next, totally out of control. I had brought with me several different assessment tests to perform on the child to assess developmental level, risk of autistic type behaviors, hyperactivity, etc. As it turned out, I didn’t need them, and I had the reassurance that he was a normal, healthy baby!! Our in country facilitator informed us that the older brother, age 8, would be arriving in town later that afternoon. He attends a boarding school in the interior of Siberia, still within the Magadanskaya Oblast (Region), but it is a five to six hour drive, depending on the roads, weather, AND vehicle (you can imagine what I mean). Now we anxiously await his arrival and hope the visit with him in the afternoon will go as well as the visit we had with his younger brother this morning.

Sightseeing in the City

Just after completing our visit with the little guy, our facilitator decided to take us into town to see some of the downtown area, and to look for a few souvenirs. We looked in a few shops and saw some interesting crafts. They have quite a few artifacts about some natives….like Inuit’s….I am not sure what they are called, but the ethnicity of the Alaskan Eskimo. It makes since that if there were this race in Alaska, that they would also live in Eastern Siberia, as many, many years ago, the lands were connected. Also, during the winter, the Bering Strait is frozen, and I have read some blogs of people who crossed the Bering Strait while it was frozen. I think that is awesome, but, I don’t know about you, but I think I am choosing a different goal in life!! Anyway, we saw several plaques and crafts about Russian-Eskimo type people……I shall have to do more research in this area as I know I am speaking quite ignorantly now!! There were also some beautifully crafted bowls, serving pieces, and tea sets. I saw several sets of Matroyskas, Russian nesting dolls, which I later purchased. I was actually looking for a pair of winter boots to wear while in Magadan. My Nike Shox about froze the bottoms of my feet right off!! I had heard that some boots made from felt, called “VA-linki” were very warm, yet inexpensive. So….off we trotted to the shoe store to look for these warm, felt boots. Well, those of you that know me…..the two words Susan and Shoe store in the same sentence spell trouble!! We arrived at the shoe store, and I was shown the Valinki. They were felt alright……and may I add, NOT very stylish!! Of course, they only cost about 12 rubles!! WOW!! That is less than 50 cents!! Sorry…..it was a great idea, but, I was not in the least attracted to those big, clunky, felt things. I looked around….and Man, oh, Man!! Such cute, CUTE boots did I see!! Now, the good thing in Russia is……the ONLY colors they have are…..brown or black!! ( I did see a Russian woman in Moscow wearing a white pair of boots, but everyone stared at her!!). So…..at least I did not need a pair in all kinds of colors!! HA!! Before Wayne could get me distracted and out of that store, I bought 4 pairs of boots!! They were very comfy and warm, too. I must say….much more comfortable that boots I have tried on in the U. S. I wonder why??? Maybe it has something to do with the temperature and WANTING to keep your boots on!! Sometimes there is method to our madness…….

The Meeting!!!

The time had come to meet our youngest referral, little A. Wayne and I were sitting on the couch in the large, living area of his groupa. Besides a couch, there was a small table and some chairs (toddler size), an umbrella stroller with a doll (kookla) in it, a small plastic climbing gym with slide, and a couple of see-saw toys. We waited on the couch for A. to enter. The representative from the Guardianship department, Svetlana L. was sitting in a chair across from where we sat. She was observing us. Suddenly, I heard the caregivers speaking in Russian to little A. (I have learned some words and phrases, and it is easier to understand what is being said in Russian, than to speak it, at least for me…. as my mind does not seem to work that fast!!). The caregivers were saying to him, “Come in here, your Mama and Papa are here”. “Your Papa and Mama have come to see you.” “Come see your Mama and Papa!!”. We were so nervous waiting for him to come around the corner to where we were seated. As the voices got closer and closer, I was feeling more and more anxious, wondering what I would see with that first glimpse. Would he be normal? Would he look like his picture? (I hoped not…..he had some questionable characteristics in the picture, but then, it is hard to determine overall health status from a small picture). Would he be hyperactive and lack focus and concentration?? Just then, he walked around the corner and came to stand in front of us. He was still holding the care givers hand. She picked up his hand and started rubbing it on Wayne’s leg and said “A. etta tvoy Papa” (A. this is your Papa), and then the same with me, stroking my arm “ Etta tvai- YA Mama” (this is your Mama). The look on his face was one I will never forget. It was one of wonderment!! He looked almost as if to say “Papa?? Mama?? Where in the world have you been???” He looked adorable!! He was a little on the small side, but was well proportioned. He had such fair skin, and pink rosy cheeks, with blue eyes and medium blonde hair. I pulled him up in my lap and spoke with him. He looked intently into my eyes. I reached down into my bag and pulled out a couple of toys we had brought for him. One was a little blue elephant (sloan) with activity beads and such on it, and the other was a kitty puppet. As I started to squeak the sloan (elephant) his face puckered up as if he was going to cry!! I quickly put that to the side and tried the kitty puppet! It seems he was afraid of that, too! The children are very limited in what toys they are exposed to there in the orphanage. I think he just had never seen toys like that before. I reached into my bag again and pulled out several cardboard books, with pictures, colors, animals, etc. I also pulled out some of the snacks and juice (sok). He sat in my lap for over 30 minutes while we “read” stories. He loved looking at the books, and enjoyed pointing to all of the pictures. I then passed him over to Wayne’s lap. He took one look at Wayne and started to cry. His chief caretaker, Angelina, had entered the room by that point. She explained that the children in the Baby home never see any men, so most of them are afraid of men. We quickly distracted little A. with the books again, and immediately he was fine. I also pulled out a blanket we had brought for him to hold while we read. He allowed Wayne to hold him for the rest of the visit. I was shocked by his manner of concentration and focus on the books. He sat very still and paid very close attention. Angelina told me that he loved books and loved to be read to!! So much for the hyperactivity thing and not being able to sit still to concentrate!! Angelina then announced loudly to Svetlana of the Guardianship dept. that she had absolutely NO reservations about of as his parents, whatsoever. She said she could tell by all the thoughtful things we had brought him, along with our interaction with him that we would be very good parents for him. That made us feel really good that she said that in front of Svetlana. Angelina then called to little A. and had him get down from our laps. She said in Russian…”Let me show you what he can do”. She then proceeded to give him instructions of things to do, and he followed them all precisely!! She asked him to slide down the slide, run around the room, kick the ball, etc. She was calling to him, and he was laughing, and giggling and running away. He was really having fun!! She asked little A. to push the doll in the stroller, He went running around -the room with it and then slammed it into the wall! Then she said “ Di–tee kookla chai” (Give the doll some tea). He immediately ran over to the table, picked up a little cup and then ran back and then held the cup up to the kookla’s (doll’s) mouth, so she could drink!! I am thinking……WOW!! Angelina then asks him to be nice to the kookla, and he then starts stroking her hair and petting the doll!! Of course, Wayne is still a little bit in the dark, and not exactly understanding what is happening, as he does not understand Russian yet. I thought about what had just happened. I was SO impressed!! All of the concerns I had about his supposed “hyperactivity” and his “inability to concentrate and focus” had all disappeared, and now I was seeing him “in action” at full speed, and not only comprehending what was asked of him, but actually doing it!! I felt so relieved!! I had not even had the opportunity to visit with the doctors yet regarding his medical condition, but after seeing him and evaluating him in person, I knew he would be absolutely fine!! He is a perfectly normal little boy, who just had very unfortunate circumstances. He only has a few institutional delays…..and this we can handle!!

The Baby Home

We arrived at the Baby Home, called the Magadan Specialized Children’s Home about midmorning on Friday (after finally reaching Magadan on Thursday evening…..remember we left on our trip on Monday a.m.). You remember “This is the song that never ends”……well, this was the trip that seemed to never end!! Finally we arrived! As you can see, it looks pretty awful on the outside. We are taken through the door and entry room (all buildings in Siberia have a very small entry area, that protects the inside of the building from the harshness of the cold outside, I can’t remember what you call it, but it is like a small wind breaking room) into the main hallway of the orphanage. We walk down a hall and go into the Chief Doctor’s office, a large room with a desk, a long conference table, and a sectional couch. We wait for her to discuss the health condition of little A. After waiting a few minutes, we discover that she is out of the building for a while, and we will be taken directly to see the child. We go upstairs to his groupa (group), but he is not there. He is down the hall with the other children in “Music Class”!! Isn’t that adorable? They have different classes for the babies and toddlers, that include music and other activities, and they have a schedule they follow, which I’ll post at a later time. We walk up some stairs up to the second floor. The stairs are made of cement, and have moderate size chips out of them, but they have a fresh coat of bright enamel on them, orange in the middle with blue stripes on the sides. It is very bright and fashionable, despite all the cracks and wear and tear that is present. We enter the door to the groupa and the first room is a small one with wall to wall lockers. All the caregivers in this groupa are assigned a locker, and there they hang their coats and all of them change their shoes, and wear clean slippers only inside the home. We take off our coats and shoes, and enter into the “living room” area (as they called it). I immediately recognized the pattern on the couch, as the one in the picture of little A. Of course, in the picture he was only 14 mos old, and now he is 24 mos. I will digress here for a minute and say a few things about our referral process, which is different than some other areas. We are given a picture of the child, birth date, and list of medical diagnoses (with NO elaboration or explanation) and the color of the child’s hair and eyes, and a description of the child’s personality (Little A. was described as a “fidget child” meaning they felt he was overly hyperactive) before we travel. We either accept to meet the child/children, or decline and are given another referral (with gender, age, etc. listed above). The official letter is sent to our e-mail from the MOE (Ministry of Education) in Russia. All referrals come from them, and not the individual adoption agencies. So, since we already had the formal letter (sent in Russian and also a translated copy), we did not need to meet with them upon arrival. However, during the first meeting with the child, a representative from the Guardianship Department is required to be present. This person observes your interaction with the child, and then testifies in court as to what they saw and how they interpreted your interaction with the child. Svetlana L. from the Guardianship Dept. had already arrived and was waiting for us in the living room area. We took off our shoes and went in and were introduced to Svetlana. We sat down on the couch and awaited the arrival of little A. Tomorrow……the meeting!!!

How is it Magadan?

As I was commenting previously in wonderment, while in St. Louis at the Secretary of States Office, I met a young woman from Magadan, and explained we were adopting from that area!! She asked me how I ever got assigned to the area of Magadan. That is another miraculous story! When Wayne and I were first investigating adoption agencies and deciding on which one would be right for us, I read a story of a family that adopted from Magadan, Russia. When I read that, it was like something “stirred” inside of me. We knew we wanted to adopt from Russia, and I had heard only wonderful things about AIA, Alaska International Adoptions. So, I called the director of the agency, Olga, and told her we would like to use their agency, and that I wanted to be assigned to Magadan. She was very happy to have us join as clients, but was not very positive about going to Magadan. She stated that area was very limited and probably would not work for us. Olga said she would send us to a large area called Khabarovsk (ha-BAR-osk) yet still in Siberia with much more availability. I had already met several families who were in the process of adopting there, and although the children are beautiful, it is a more hostile area toward Americans that are adopting, and the waiting times were so much longer there. I explained to Olga that I was in a “two-year down time”, meaning, I am finishing up an educational program that requires some additional “on the job training” that will start in a couple of years. So this gave us a perfect time to bring another child into our family. Olga stated she understood, and therefore would send us to a new area just opening in our agency, the Moscow City area. I said that would be great and we went on to complete our paperwork. We contracted with the only Social Worker qualified to do a home study for international adoption. Our social worker had a reputation for completing a home study quickly…..usually within a month or less. We were thrilled about that, and were ready to get going. All the intrusive questions were answered and we had our portion turned in to her by mid June and the home visits were completed by July 8th. We anticipated a completion of the home study by the end of July, first week of August by the latest. Then the nightmare began!! The long and the short of it was the social worker went through a divorce, and her typist went through an illness……and the home study was finally completed October 28th!! Our social worker was a “freelance person” and was not associated with an agency, and that is where we started to fall in the cracks. We were having trouble getting an agency license, although she was affiliated with a business type agency and had a business license; the business she was employed with did not do home studies. At any rate, the Russian government had certain documentation standards, and essentially, we were up the creek without a paddle. Olga called us, and said she has been frantically thinking about what to do about our paperwork deficits. She stated she had no other choice other than to send us to a less strict region, and she was changing our area to Magadan. MAGADAN!! Well, that was where I felt we should be all along!! I was so happy!! Our paperwork was sent there, and translated into Russian and submitted to the Ministry of Education in Russia, and I believe they received it around the first week of December. Our boys became eligible to be placed on the data bank for adoption on December 7th, and we received a referral for them on December 8th!! We made plans to travel to meet the boys on January 8th………they were wonderful and exceeded our expectations!! And…….the rest is history!!! Or, at least, we hope the rest will be history!! So, you see, our frustrations in our delays were all a part of the plan because our boys were not eligible for adoption yet (children placed in an orphanage cannot be adopted for the first nine months they are there, to allow time for other family members to come forward and adopt them). We had to be held up for a while, until the timing is right. As I continually say, “We are providing the fuel, but God is driving”. THAT is how it came to be Mag-a-DAN!!

Wonders Never Cease!!

I had such an interesting experience!! I mentioned the other day about being optimistic versus unrealistic in getting all my documentation completed and apostilled on Friday. I had originally planned to take the 3 hour drive to St. Louis on Friday afternoon after I had gotten our forms for our medical exams notarized by a physician friend of mine on Friday morning. He was going to accompany me to a bank for the notarizing because there was not a notary in his office. His office is also over an hour away from my home, too. Well, yesterday I had a meeting at the hospital, and I unexpectedly ran into this physician…..AND I had my medical paperwork with me!! We went to the hospital administration office and got everything notarized!! WeeHee!! That saved me a trip!! So yesterday, I was actually able to take off much earlier for the Secretary of State’s Office in St. Louis for the apostilling. When I arrived there, a young woman came in behind me and was speaking with an accent. Having just returned from Russia, I knew she HAD to be Russian. So…..I introduced myself and told her we were adopting from Russia, in Magadan. Her eyes opened so widely, and she repeated “Mag –a- DAN?” (Russian pronunciation)…….”I was born and raised there” she said! WOW!! She told me she left there 12 years ago and lives here now with her parents and her sister, although she and her sister are now married. I said “Yes, I was just in Magadan last week, would you like to see pictures??”!! We visited for quite a while, and then exchanged phone numbers. She was so shocked to find someone adopting from that area, as she has never even met another Russian from that area before!! I plan on introducing the boys to some of the Russian children she knows, and it will be so very nice for them to meet someone who has a connection the area of their birthplace!! Wonders Never Cease!!

Finally....... Pictures!!

I was finally successful in posting pictures!! Apparently, one must click on the I AGREE to the terms of service box, and then one must ACTUALLY VIEW the terms of service!! HA!! Who knew??

NOW Check out Wayne passing the time away during our 15 hour Moscow layover !!

The top picture was taken the morning we were going to meet little A. That is his little "sloan" (elephant) I am holding. We are loaded up with toys, books, balls, and snacks consisting of goldfish crackers, teddy grahams, Gerber baby biter biscuits, and juice!! Oh, and of course we have lots of baby wipes!! The last time I used those baby biscuits, as I recall, they were VERY messy, but very yummy!! We are nervous, as the boy we are most concerned about is the younger one. The parental rights were terminated for these boys, so I have health concerns about drugs and alcohol. We are excited and afraid, both at the same time, but here we go!!

Tomorrow .................. The Baby Home...........stay tuned for the adventure!!