Dasha's Story

So Dasha is a 21 month old little girl that has been on her own since the day she was born.  She was unfortunate enough to be born sick.  Dasha was born with a Wilm's Tumor in her right kidney.  Wilm's Tumors are very rare but if taken care of quickly and correctly the chances of any cancer returning are less than 10%.  Dasha's mother couldn't take care of her so she left her at the hospital. 

When Dasha was 1 month old she had surgery done to remove her right kidney and the tumor in the process.  The entire tumor, kidney and some surrounding tissue were removed to make sure all cancer cells were gone and then she remained in the hospital until October 2010.  In October she was moved to the orphanage in Kirov City.  During her time in the orphanage she was presented to 42 Russian families who all declined her due to her health and her heredity background.  See Dasha's mother was a Gypsy.  Hence Dasha's dark hair and skin.  I don't know the whole story behind the relationships between Eastern Europeans and Gypsies, but it seems that it is not a positive one. 

I don't know if Dasha was presented to any American families but I would be lying to say that I was very concerned when the word cancer was mentioned.  So we sent her information to Dr. Dana Johnson and Dr. Cynthia Howard at the University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic.  They asked for a few more test results concerning the other kidney, and gave us an enthusiastic YES!  Go get her.  There will be a few things that she will not be able to do due to her condition, no sledding, no contact sports, and no drinking.  All of those restrictions are just to protect the other kidney, if you only have one, you need to treat it nicely!  But other than that she should be able to lead a normal life.  We are actually traveling up to Minnesota on Jan. 10th to see Dr. Howard so that she get a very through exam related to her condition.  The only major negative is that Dasha was not given any vaccinations due to her surgery so we have A LOT of shots in our future.  That really stinks!  Dasha's name is the nickname of her given name, Darya, we kept Dasha as her legal name because it means Gift from God.
After my last post I am very proud to say that, that night during bath time Dasha had a blast!  I put her in with Camden and would splash him and then splash her and she saw that he wasn't dying and got into it.  Though the best thing was last night she SLEPT ALL NIGHT!  We did something a little different, don't know if that was it, but we will give it a few more nights to see.  Then I will tell what our change is.  So I will leave you with a picture of our pretty girl.

10 days home

Just a quick recap of what has been going on the past 10 days.  Life has been crazy the past week with family in town for Christmas and what-not.  Randy went back to work last week, he had plenty of time at the fire station to take off, but does not qualify for FMLA at the hospital, so he has to return to both. 

Sleep for Dasha is still an issue, but has been getting better.  Instead of getting up at 1 or 2, she is sleeping until about 4:30 in the morning now.  Then we go in, rub her back and tell her night, night. She cries for about a minute and then is quiet for around 30 minutes.  Don't really know if she is sleeping or not, but is quiet.  I don't know if she wakes up and realizes that she alone or what, but she doesn't like it.  This usually goes on until about 6 or 6:30.  This morning though I was so tired that I brought her in to bed with me at 6:30 and she went to sleep until 8.  Any suggestions on this would be great.  I don't know how much more I can handle 4:30 wake up calls. 

There have been some pretty big tantrums, the biggest being yesterday.  There are definitely territory issues between the kids, and she got mad at Camden for taking one of his new toys away from her, which led to a 30 minute fit.  She got so angry that she bit herself.  Then she was really mad.  Don't know if she will do that one again.  Does anyone know, she definitely knows what No means, and melts down every time I tell her no, were they constantly told no, or never told no?  I have a spot in the living room where she throws her fits, where I can see her where ever I am. 

Baths are still not a favorite thing, she cries the whole time, but doesn't fight it.  She clearly says mama, dada, and ball. 

I have to limit how much she drinks because she will drink the entire cup at one time and then 30 minutes later we have a major mess on our hands.  One positive though, we are down to one yucky diaper a day though!

She did very well with the concept of Christmas.  She got into the tearing of the paper, and playing with the new toys.  Overall she is doing well. 

She understands commands such as
come here
sit down
let's eat
do you want a snack
do you want a drink

sorry no pictures this post, can't find the camera post Christmas disaster.  Also sorry if the post makes no sense, I am so tired!

The long awaited Day 20 post

Sorry, jet lag has been my major nemesis this time around and I have been just miserable.  Dasha also has not taken kindly to the time change but it is getting better.  I go to bed when they do at night, and I nap when they nap.  I am finally catching up. 

So Day 20, we got up around 7 am and got the kids ready to go, our driver was picking us up at 9 to take us to DME.  We ran out of drinkable water so I sent Randy and Camden out to get some water and they got back around 8:20 and said are you ready? The driver is here.  So we left and got packed up in the car to go to the airport. 

We got there so early that United wasn't even checking in yet for our flight so we just hung out and walked around for a while until it was time to check in.  We got checked in and then we proceeded to passport control.  We were standing in the line that stated passengers with children and were waiting.  A woman came up to me and started talking to me in Russian, I tried explaining to her that I only spoke English.  So she demonstrated that I needed to cut to the front of the line since we have children.  So we did, and no complaints.  Interesting philosophy.  We did have to show our adoption paperwork, but Randy took Dasha through, so I didn't have to deal with it.  That made me very happy, less stress.  I took Camden through. 

We get to our gate sit down, feed Dasha lunch, and go buy ourselves one expensive pizza and spent the last of our Rubles.  Then the most annoying part happened.  I don't know why, but every time we leave Russia, they make you take all our bags and leave the gate area, and then go back through a check-point again with your passports, it's not like they haven't been checked 4 times already!

So we get on the flight, and the seats are 2-3-2, so I am in the middle with the kids, and Randy is sitting on one of the side aisle seats.  We got Economy Plus seats and they were wonderful!  5 more inches of leg room, is amazing.  Dasha slept a little more than we wanted, but she did very well.  We did see her temper a few times.  Mostly when the seat belt signs came on and I had to hold her and she couldn't move around.  The girl has a set of lungs on her. 

We got to Washington D.C. and went through customs, it was very quick and painless.  We handed over our sealed envelope from the US Embassy and he said, Congrats, you will get some papers in the mail in a few weeks.  So off we go to get our bags.  We rechecked our bags and then had to go through security AGAIN!  All 3 bags we sent through got searched and they made us open Dasha's baby food to make sure it wasn't hazardous.  They told me next time I needed to take the food out.  By this time we had 22 minutes until our next flight and I was not in the mood for a lecture from the TSA.  I stated that they needed to post on their signs that baby food needed to be taken out, as they are NOT a liquid.  So we booked it to our gate, and amazingly found out that our flight was delayed for an hour.  So we were able to get some dinner which was so nice. 

The final 2.5 hour flight Dasha slept the entire flight in Randy's arms and Camden slept the last hour, we landed in KC and my parents were there waiting for us to take us home.  Dasha did very well with the car seat, just a few whines and it was the first time that she sucked her thumb other than going to sleep, so she was definitely nervous.    We got home, got the kids ready for bed and crashed.  Then the jet lag hit.  I went to sleep at 10:30 and woke up at 1:15.  Was awake the rest of the night.  Kids were up at 4 and 5 respectively.  More to come as I get over the jet lag still....

Day 19

We are coming home tomorrow!  Wahoo!  The whole adventure is coming to an end.  Don't worry, the blog will continue! 

So today we had our embassay interview.  Dasha woke up around 7:15, good thing she was in the room with us, as the ONLY reason we knew she was up was that she was rolling around a lot.  She is so quiet, unless she is excited and then she squeals and sings and babbles.  We have gotten her to say mama and dada, now we just got to have her connect those words to us!

So we get up and get her fed, and we start getting ready for the day.  Randy went in at 8 and woke Camden up as our ride was coming at 9:15.  I was getting Dasha's snowsuit on when I smelled it.  Yep, you guess right.  Now I get to undress her and change the lovely diaper and then get her redressed again!  We still made it outside in time for our 9:15 pick-up time.  We then went and picked up the other family and off to the embassay we went.  There were 12 families there adopting kids.  We walked right to the front of the line at security, then when Randy had to go pay for her visa he cut in front of all the Russians waiting to pay for ther visas to the US.  We then waited for our interview.  We learned that Dasha will be a dual-citizen until at least the age of 18.  Then she can renounce her citizenship or remain a dual citizen the rest of her life.

We flew through our interview, got our sealed packet and we were ready to go.  I was bummed though because when we walked outside it was raining.  Today was our St. Basil picture day.  We got back to the apartment, fed the kids and our selves, and then put them down for naps.  I tell you what, when we got our daughter, we got a super sleeper.  She does not want to be rocked to sleep, she wants you to lay her down and she sticks her thumb in her mouth and she is out.  We do our snuggle/cuddle time when she wakes up, she does not wake up easily!  Oh, yes after lunch there was another lovely diaper!

After naps we still went to St. Basil's anyway, even in the rain.  We got our shot, we are diehards!   I finally broke down and bought a beautiful Fabagre egg that has the Kremlin on the outside and when you open it, St. Basil's is on the inside.  The lady proudly told me that it was made in St. Petersburg, and then pointed to the cheaper ones and said with disgust, "China."  I just had to laugh.

Got home for dinner, pizza, and then yet again another yucky diaper.  Ugh, 3 in one day is a little more than I can handle.  I guess the new food is affecting her a little.  Hopefully she adjusts soon!

Then on to the adventure of bath #2.  I brought her in and turned on the water.  Instant water works.  She wasn't even in the tub yet.  She cried and cried, and even shrieked once, but Randy came in and held her hand and she instantly stopped crying.  So nice, I got her all scrubbed up, and got her out and instant smile again!  Crazy little girl.

Right now both kids are sound asleep and we are packing, so for a few days we leave you with a picture of our whole family in front of St. Basil's!

Day 18

So I will kinda recap our last 24 hours together since we picked up Dasha from the orphanage.  It feels so nice to say her name!

So we headed to the orphanage at 2 p.m.  We were taken to a new room and told to get Dasha dressed.  Out she comes in her underwear, undershirt and socks.  She looks like they just woke her up and brought her to us.  Dasha takes quite a while to warm up after she wakes up, so the whole getting ready was pretty somber for her, she didn't quite know what to do.  We were then told to get her snow suit on, and we were like wait!  Our gifts.  So we rushed, rushed to the doctors office, gave her her gift, and the orphanage their gift, tons of diaper and wipes, I gave Lena her gift, and Olga's since Olga wasn't there that day.  Then the care takers, and off back to the room to get her snow suit on.  I rebelled a little and never bought her snow boots, so we snuck her out with no one looking to the van, got a quick picture, and off we went to the hotel to get our luggage.  We had about 30 minutes where Dasha finally started perking up and playing.  Then to the train we went.  We took the 5 pm train out because we needed to be in Moscow at 6 am for the children's medical appts.

So Randy and I didn't get any sleep at all, we made Dasha a bed on the floor, Camden and Randy slept on the lower bunks, and I slept up top.  Dasha was all over the place rolling while she was sleeping.  Randy and I were constantly pulling her out from under the seats etc.  Plus there were some very loud "spirited" guys next door to us.  So we got up at 5 to feed the kids, and we got off the train.  One thing we did learn is that Dasha sucks her thumb, but only when she goes to sleep. 

We had to do some paperwork and then off to the medical center.  We saw the lovely Dr. Boris.  He gave the same lines: "Do you have any weapons, No? Better get one to fend off the boys."
"She must of been a favorite, she is chunky."
"Don't spoil her."

She weighed 22 lbs, and 31 inches long.  She is a big girl!

We had to go get her picture taken for her US Visa, she did much better this time, and we went to the Embassy so that Tonya, our translator, could drop off our paperwork.  Dasha fell asleep in the van during this time and probably slept about 30 minutes in my arms, when we got dropped off at the apartment she was drenched from head to toe, because she was in her full arctic gear!  Dasha already needed a bath, because of the orphanage "funk" but now she really needed the bath.  The bath went as expected.  I put a little water in the bottom of the tub, put both her and Camden in, the minute her toes hit the water she started crying.  Now she never freaked, but let it be known she was not happy with me.  It was a very quick bath, and as soon as I pulled her out, she gave me the biggest grin!

She definitely smelled much better after this!  Then it was lunch time and nap time.  She can put away food, it is amazing, and how fast.  She doesn't chew, she just swallows.  I am so glad I brought the baby food, we have to work on chewing though!  Then both kids went down for naps at 1 and we had to wake them up at 4:30!  They were so tired.  Then dinner again for Dasha, and then we hit the town and went to Chili's.  We had to take two trains to get there and Dasha did amazing!  Not a peep and even swinging her legs in the stroller and singing.  We had a wonderful dinner and got back late not realizing it, it was 9.  Got the kids changes and into bed, and now it is our turn.  We both have been awake for about 36 hours so we are exhausted.  Thanks for all the wonderful comments on the previous post, we leave Saturday and tomorrow is our embassy visit.  We are really on the home stretch now.

Day 17 Family Day

My blogger friend Trisha renamed this Family Day which I love, so sit back, relax and enjoy!

Day 16

So this morning we woke up on the train, it was probably the worst that I have ever slept on the train, maybe it was because I wasn't extremely exhausted.  We went to the hotel and we were given 25 minutes to be showered and downstairs ready to go.  I was like wow, not a lot of time at all!  So we get in the van with two other families that were on their first trip, funny thing one is from Kansas, about 30 miles from where we live.  So we head out to what we thought was the orphanage, but we stop after a few minutes, and they say paperwork families out, that was us.  So we get out and go do some paperwork.  Then we go to another building, more paperwork.  Then we drive forever and the other paperwork family gets out but not us.  By this time it is lunch time.  So we drive to the orphanage and get the two families that were on their first trip, and we go to lunch. 

After lunch we were summoned again, paperwork families, let's go.  We proceed to go to the van and off we go.  We then learn that Peanut has a savings account.  We then dropped off the other family at the hotel, no orphanage visit today, and we continue on and and we make 5 more stops, non of which we get out.  We finally go to a bank where Randy gets out and goes in and closes out Peanut's account and we realize that we have a great start to her college account.  We never dreamt that there would be the amount that she had.  Peanut is very blessed!  After that we had been in the van for about 7 hours including our time at lunch, and Camden hadn't lost it yet, and we were taken back to the hotel for the night.  No orphanage for us either.  Oh well, we get Peanut tomorrow forever.  It's all good!

Day 15

Well today was pretty uneventful.  We just hung around the apartment until it was time to leave for the train station.  We caught the train and took it all night to Kirov.

day 14

Sorry all, after I went to bed last night I realized that I forgot to update last night.  So here it is.  We didn't do a whole lot yesterday, we took the metro up a stop because Randy read that there were some good eating places there, since we were tired of what was around us.  So we took the train up, and since I have no directional skills I just follow Randy.  We start walking and walking and walking.  Nothing, I didn't bring the stroller this time and Camden is getting tired, finally Randy says, there's a TGIFridays!  Oh look, a McDonalds.  I look, and sadly realize that these are the TGIFridays and McDonalds right by our apartment.  We went the wrong way and were back in our neighborhood.  So sadly we went to McDonalds.  If I have to eat at McDonald's anytime soon after we get back it will be too soon.  We have not been more adventurous with our food because Camden is in that stage where he doesn't like anything, so we have stuck with the known likes. 

Last night though was fun, after dinner, we got bundled up to go see Red Square at night.  Definitely worth it.  It is very pretty at night and though very cold, it is worth it.  I highly recommend doing it.

Day 13

So today we went to quite a few places.  First, Randy got inspired by one of our FB friends to go find the old KGB headquarters building.  It is a pretty impressive building, though not sure what it is used for in today's society. 

Next, we took the Metro to the train station, where there is a store where we were able to purchase our coordinator's presents.  We are having our friend from the states bring us some chocolates, they were on sale in the U.S. for $2.79, if we bought them here we would spend over $10 a piece for the same chocolates.  We then purchased then a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of vodka.  They are father and son, so they can trade if need be!  Randy and I have bought more alcohol in the past 2 weeks than we have in our entire lives!  Since we don't drink, we hope we are buying something they like!  We looked at the store here by us, but they were about double the price of the store we went to. 

Finally we went back to the flea market.  Izmailovsky Park and Market was much busier today than last Sunday, plus it was colder and it snowed on us all morning.  Randy finally broke down and bought his Father Christmas figurine, he found a beautiful one, and I got a replica of St. Basil's that plays music, and also two sets of Nesting dolls that have the family theme.  There is a Father, Mother, and 3 daughters.  There are not any that have sons in them.  Weird.  We then headed back towards where we are staying at and went and ate lunch.  I think the temperature dropped a few degrees when we were eating because it was so cold when we left. 

The protests are still going on over here, I guess there was a gathering of over 30,000 across the river from the Kremlin, they were suppose to meet in Red Square, but there were too many people so they moved them across the river to accommodate them.  It has been interesting to see the Russian point of view on the whole process and how Putin is annoyed at H.Clinton for asking for an inquiry of their elections.  Needless to say the local governments are not saying nice things about her. 

The Russian people, they have been very nice to us.  I have had people offer to help carry the stroller down the many endless stairs in the Metro, and though they will cut in line with the best of them, flashbacks to my education days, when there were fights for the best spot in line, but once they get on the escalators in the Metro, they stand in a single file line.  The women here are very beautiful, and very agile!  They wear 5-6 inch stilettos in the snow and ice.  Wear mini-skirts in freezing cold weather, with only tights to cover their legs.  Crazy!  They make amazing pastries and breads.  Plus they are giving us a beautiful little girl to take home with us! 

Now to leave you with some more pictures of our adventures here in Moscow.

The Former KGB Building 

 We thought this was funny, it was right by the KGB building, and if you look at the letters of the Restaurant...

 Inside another Metro Station

 The inside of the expensive grocery store right by us!  Beautiful

 Camden took this shot, had to include it!  My St. Basil's Music box

  The train station

day 12

Wow, we are getting closer!  We leave for Kirov in 3 days, and come home in 8 days.  So close.  We are almost done.  Thanks for all the suggestions for gifts, we got it figured out! 
So today we ventured back to Red Square in hopes that the security and protesters were gone and we could shop the vendors there.  Success!  The security was gone and we got to shop the vendors there.  We scored some great deals!  For future PAP's coming to Moscow, don't waste your time shopping on Arbat Street.  Definitely go, but don't shop!  Everything is so much cheaper on Red Square and at Izmailovsky Park and Market.  Now some of the stores told us that they would give you a discount, but their discount was like 50 Rubles.  We talked one guy down today almost 200 rubles, and his starting prices were less than in the stores there.  Now I loved walking down Arbat Street, but not for the deals. 

I also highly recommend taking the Metro.  So many websites state that it is scary, but it is just like riding the subway in San Francisco, New York, and Chicago.  The only challenge is the language, but we found a metro map and it is super easy.  Plus they are the most beautiful subway stations I have ever seen.  Marble, statues, chandeliers.  Just awesome!

After about 2 hours at Red Square we were frozen, and headed back to go eat lunch. We ate lunch and went to the apartment where Camden crashed. He has been so good the past 2 weeks it is amazing! He has always been a good little man, but all the changes, and just everything we have thrown at him have just been taken in stride.

Below are just some fun pictures that we have taken!

Need a parking spot, just park on the sidewalk!

The Ritz-Carleton, very impressive!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Our Apartment Building!

Metro Stop, Just Beautiful!

day 11 and Please Help

Today was a much better day!  Though bitterly cold.  Though I hear that it is much colder back home in KC than it is here in Moscow.  We went to the Moscow Zoo today.  It is smack dab right in the middle of the city.  Just one metro stop away from us.  Since it was so cold a lot of animals were in their "homes" but we still got to see a lot of wildlife and Camden loved it.  The only negative I would have of it, is the buildings that we could go in and see the warmer climate animals, such as giraffes, elephants, monkeys, etc, the building smelled HORRIBLE!  Makes me realize how good the ventilation at our own zoo is, to avoid that horrible smell. 

Afterwards we went to lunch at Burger King right across the street, Camden was starving.  We got someone who spoke English so I braved ordering a chicken sandwich with no mayo.  I hate all things condiments, and when I got my sandwich, it was pretty funny.  They had taken a sandwich that had already been made, and just wiped the mayo off of it!  LOL, too funny, I ate it anyway! 

For dinner we splurged and went to TGIFridays, and Randy was pretty bummed that his Jack Daniels Chicken was the equivalent of $20 here.  So he and Camden split chicken fingers, and I got the blackened chicken pasta.  The chicken was excellent, the pasta, not so much.  It was very bland and had no flavor at all.  Afterwards we skyped with my mom, and got Camden off to bed.

Now for the help part, we are at a stand still on what to get our two male coordinators for gifts.  We have a friend who is coming back on Monday to finish her adoption with is, and is willing to pick up something for us, but we are at a loss!  Help, what did you get your male coordinators?  Or male anybody, translator, driver.  Just something for a man.    Have a great day!

Denise

Day 10-or Blah day

That about sums it up.  Did not want to do anything at all today.  We have seen all the major sights in Moscow, and we are out of ideas of what to do.  We just hung at the apartment all day and only ventured out to go get lunch.  We did find a great little bakery shop under the streets that sells wonderful apple turnovers and cinnamon rolls for less than a dollar a piece.  When you are in Moscow, to get from one side of the street to the other, you actually walk under the street.  These passage ways are lined with the tiniest shops ever.  They sell everything from hose to clothing, hats, nesting dolls, everything.  The bakery is our saving grace!  It is about 4 blocks from our apartment.  Tomorrow we are going to try Red Square again since it seems the protests have moved up towards where we are located at now.  I wish they would just end though.  It is getting annoying.  The police presence is massive, I have never seen so many police ever.  We have 5 more days until we head back to Kirov.  So ready to go and get back home.  I miss my car, stores with stuff I can read!  I am so glad we got to experience the culture here though!  It is priceless.

Denise

Day 9

Ahhh, what a relaxing day it was here.  Last night Randy and I were just plain exhausted!  He went and laid down with Camden at 8 and I knew I would never see him again. ;-)  I was doing laundry, the little Euro-combo takes like 2.5 hours to go through an entire cycle.  Well 8:30 hit and I just couldn't keep my eyes open any more.  So off to bed I go.  Camden slept until 7:30 this morning, and it was heavenly.  I really felt rested this morning!  So  we ate some breakfast, and then just hung around the apartment until lunch time.  We have been eating breakfast and dinner at the apartment, and lunch out.  Today we went to KFC.  Yummy!  We then hopped the subway and went to a local mall since we have a few more gifts for translators and coordinators still.  We found 1 gift, but I am stumped at what to get our 2 male coordinators.  Any suggestions, the fall back is alcohol, but I would like something to be personal.  What did you do? 

The mall also had a grocery store in it, so we grabbed some water, pop, and some TP.  Very important stuff that TP!!!  Then the subway back home where Camden took a nap, and then we did our favorite.  Breakfast for dinner!  Love doing breakfast for dinner.  We were lacking a few things, no potatoes, and no salt and pepper.  Have not seen either of them at all.  Maybe that is why I haven't seen hardly any heavy Russians, no salt!  Actually it is probably all the walking and all the stairs in the subway system.  I feel like I have lost weight with all the walking we have done! 

Day 8

So today we were out for a long time.  We decided we were going to go find Arbat Street.  So we hopped on the Metro and went to the correct stop.  Once we got off I even saw a sign that said Arbat Street straight ahead 100M.  Guess what, we missed it.  We just kept walking, and walking, and walking.  Finally we turned around, and went back towards the metro.  We saw a map, but it was backwards, so I finally went into a hotel and asked, the people laughed and said right around the corner.  We were literally standing right by Arbat Street and had walked right by it.  I was looking for a street with vendors, etc.  It is actually a street with mainly stores.  We went looking and found some beautiful Father Christmas wooden dolls, but we didn't purchase any.  Everything there was quite a bit more than the flea market that we went to yesterday.  So I think next weekend we will go back there and buy the rest of our presents that we need.  Funny thing though, is that Camden got two things for free.  They just love him here and he got two more presents in two of the stores we went in.  We are going to be set for gifts, just need to take him a few more places! :-)

Afterwards we went to Red Square.  There are some elections going on right now and there is a major police presence through out Red Square.  We couldn't even get to some of the vendors because they had them barricaded off because of heavy protesting going on.  Hopefully it ends soon, so we can go look at the vendors there also.  But we went through Gum mall, which is decorated beautifully for Christmas, saw the Kremlin, and of course St. Basil's Cathedral.  It is very majestic. 

 Inside Gum Mall

 The Beautiful St. Basil's Cathedral

Us outside St. Basil's 

Day 7

Well today was a little more active than yesterday!  This morning we got up and skyped with Randy's sister and mom, ate some breakfast, and waited for the sun to come up.  It rises at about 9:30 and sets at 5ish.  We decided that we were going to try the subway system!  We wanted to go to Izmailovsky Park and Market.  It is a flea market of types, where you can buy all things souvenirs. 

So we set off and the first hurdle is buying tickets.  We tried to purchase 3 2 ride passes.  Handed the lady the exact change, and she gave us 3 cards, but when we went to scan them to get through the gates, only 1 card worked.  Grrrr...  Luckily the lady down there let us through anyway.  Then we knew that we needed to take 3 different trains to get there.  Now everything is in Russian Acrylic, and we got confused at first and went the wrong direction, but it actually worked out, we just hopped another train and we still made it.  The only negative was how HOT the trains were.  I knew we were going to be out all morning so we bundled up, but on the trains we were sweating horribly. 

We made it to the market though and were walking around and I found a perfect little Russian dress for Peanut with matching hat that I had to have for her!  It is their traditional garb that they wear for ceremonies etc.  Next we were grabbed by a hat vendor, that have the traditional fur hats.  We asked for one for Camden.  The guy brought out one that fit well, and then said that he wanted 2,000 Rubles for it.  We were like No, No, No.  Then he was like name your price.  So we asked how many for 3 hats, gifts, etc.  We came down to 2,500 for 3, and I said no, 2,000, and we got them!   3 hats for the original price of 1!

Finally we found some beautiful nesting dolls, one for us, and 2 for gifts.  They lady also gave Camden a Santa figurine as a present.  So nice.  The crazy thing is, though, I have expected to get yelled at since I do not have him in a snow suit, and I haven't gotten one word yet.  Awesome!

We headed back to the apartment, stopping for some lunch.  Put Camden down for a nap, and started searching the Internet for a grocery store.  We found one two subways stops away.  So after Camden got up we were off again.  We did much better this time!  We found it, and even though their prices are still high, they were so much better than the store by us.  We were able to get hamburger, bacon, spaghetti sauce, and some snacks.  Again though the heat in the store was almost unbearable!  They need coat racks as you enter stores that you can take your coat off, so you don't melt.  We have been running the air conditioner in our apartment at night so we can sleep comfortably! 

Tomorrow we are off to Red Square, and maybe Arabat Street.  Still have some more gift to buy.  We also got to attend church tonight.  Our church does an Internet feed live, so we tuned in tonight.  It was very nice to be able to do that.  Until tomorrow!

Day 6

We arrived back in Moscow about 10 am, and Ilya our coordinator in Moscow drove us back to our apartment, where we went in and started some laundry.  Our apartment has one of those European washer/dryer combos, now I am extremely grateful that we get to wash them in a machine, rather by hand, but this thing does not dry the clothes at all!  It gets them really warm, and then turns off.  I have even tried just drying them, nada.  So I have to hang all our clothes all over the apartment to get them dry.  Which I will take that any day over hand washing the clothes in a bathtub. 

We then ventured out for some lunch and we are right by the biggest McDonald's in the world.  It is massive.  We walked in and they have 17 registers, 1500 employees, can seat 700 people, and serves over 40,000 people a day.  After we got a picture menu, we ordered, and then proceeded to try and find a table.  It was so packed in there it took us about 10 minutes to find a table.  After eating, we went back to the apartment and just relaxed for a while. 

When dinner time came we went over to the grocery store and were overwhelmed by the prices.  $10 for 1 kilogram of hamburger meat.  $10 for spaghetti sauce, etc.  It is so expensive.  We left with cereal, bananas, milk and water!  Camden ate cereal for dinner, and Randy and I didn't eat, we really weren't hungry.  We are going to try and find a market outside of downtown to see if the prices are any cheaper.

Mostly we did absolutely nothing today and it was wonderful!

Dah Day, day 5

Court day!!!

We had court at 10 am this morning.  We met up with another family on their trip 1 from the U.S., they dropped us off at the court house and then they continued to the orphanage. 

The single lady that we were with went first.  She got her dah, and then it was our turn.  Camden waited outside with Stephanie, watching a movie, and we went in for our session.  We had to stand and state our names, where we live, and then we got started.  Randy spoke for the most part of our court session.

He was asked questions such as, can we afford another child, why not another biological child, and how are we going to overcome the language barrier.  He did an amazing job.  Then it was my turn.  He asked if I am okay with being a stay-at-home mother, and I said yes.  He asked if I have a driver's license, which was yes, and if I have transportation to go shopping, etc, or if in an emergency can I take the baby to the hospital, I said yes.  Then the really surprising question came.  He asked, you give $X amount of dollars to your church every month.  Why? 

I explained that our faith believes that we give back 10% of everything we make to the church, for ministry opportunities.  He then stated, that it was a lot of money, why do we do it?  So I went a little deeper, stating that our church sponsors orphans around the world and if we didn't give to the church, then they would not be able to impact the orphans lives like they do.  He seemed satisfied by that.  They also asked that if we ever were able to have another child would we want Peanut anymore.  I was like, she is our child, I would never not love her!

The Ministry of Education official gave her recommendation, and the prosecutor gave her recommendation, and then the judge left.  About 2 minutes later he came back and read his decision.  It was a DAH!!!!  He said congratulations, and we then went out to the waiting room.  We were packing up Camden's thing, when the judge came back with a beautiful Model car in his hands.  He then handed it to Camden, and told Lena, that he was such a good boy during court that he deserved a present.  We thanked him and then he left.  Lena was amazed, she said that he had NEVER done that before.

We left, and went back to the hotel, and changed, met the other families, and went to lunch.  After lunch back to the orphanage, for about 2 hours, and then back to the train.  Camden gave Peanut a hug and kiss bye, as did we, and we will see her again in 10 days.  Back to Moscow, for some adventures, and fun.

Right after our Dah! Outside the Courthouse!

Camden with his new car!

Day 4

We got into Kirov, and was picked up by Lena, and we went to the hotel for a quick shower, breakfast and clean clothes.  We then were off to see little miss.  Camden was so excited!  We were taken to a different room this time and we waited.  There were some toys in this room and Camden got busy playing.  About 10 minutes later little miss was brought in.  Sadly she didn't remember us at all.  So it took her most of the morning to warm up to us.  Camden played well with her though, and he shared with her, and really loved playing with her.  When it was lunch time we took her to her room, and then we were off to lunch. 

After lunch we went back  and it was a much better time this time.  She was very active, playful and really smiley.  When she laughs, he kinda does an internal giggle, not a real belly laugh or anything, but she really was expressing herself.  After about an hour and a half, Lena came in and told us to take her back to her room, so she could get dressed so we could go get her passport photo.  She also stated that we were taking 3 additional children.  So between the 3 that we were there seeing we had 3 more.  So let me tell you it was a spectacle. All of us had a child, plus Camden.  They had these babies so bundled it wasn't even funny, I have a picture of Peanut, but can't post it yet, but will.  The funny part was though when Lena came up with the Irish couple's baby, they traveled with us on Trip 1, and plopped her in his arms.  Randy has a firm policy of not holding other people's babies.  The look on his face was priceless. 

So off the the photo place.  All the babies were miserable, and drenched in sweat!  Peanut had on an undershirt, her outfit, then a sweatshirt, then her snowsuit, hat, mittens, and a scarf.  So when we took everything off, she was just wet.  All the other babies went in and got their pictures, and then it was Peanut's turn.  I took her in and put her on the stool, and she freaked out!  She started crying so hard, this was the first time we had ever seen her cry, so it was good.  I picked her up and comforted her, and tried again, the guy took her picture, but it is not pretty, she is screaming her head off!  It will be a good keepsake for when her first boyfriend comes over!

We then had to take all the babies back to the orphanage, drop them off and then back to the hotel.  Dinnerish, mostly snacks, as we were all exhausted, and sleep!

Day 3 Continued

So we were picked up at 11:45 to go to the Medical Center for our 8 doctor medical exam.  When we got there we were led to a waiting room with the other single lady that was adopting who traveled with us last time.  We were called in 1 at a time.  The first doctor was the TB doctor.  I don't know if I have mentioned this before, Randy always tests postitive with the skin TB test, so he goes in every year and take a chest x-ray instead.  The doctor was not happy that he did not have the actual skin test done and he tried explaining what american doctors do in this situation.  She then suggested that he take an anti-histamine for 7 days before he takes the skin test so he can get a negative.  Again he tried explaining how it is done in America.  She then asked why he didn't take the blood test for TB.  Then he was really confused, since there is no blood test for TB, since it is a lung disease.  She then stated that TB could be in the bones, the blood, liver, etc.  Now Randy is really confused, as he is a nurse, he was was like WHAT!?!  TB is a lung disease only!  This was the TB expert!  Anyway, she signed the form, and we then waited for the next doctor. 

Next was the infectious dieseases doctor, she looked at her lab results and was happy. Done.  Next was the addiction doctor, she looked at our urine analysis, and signed away.  Next was the family doctor, she asked if we had ever had any broken bones, I stated that I had broken my elbow.  She asked me what the name if the bone was!  Randy had to tell her what the bone was called.  LOL, we then had to take off our shirts, let her listen to us breathe, and then lay on a bed, and let her feel our stomach.  Also, as a side note, there is NO privacy in these appts.  There was a Russian family adopting in the room with us, and the curtain that provided "privacy" only went to mid-chest! 

We went back to the waiting room, and was waiting for the other doctors, and Tonya, our translator, came in and told us the other doctors were too busy to come and they just signed our forms.  We had to pay our 25,000 Rubles, about $806.00 per person, and we left with our reports.  Took about 2 hours.

We left and went to go catch our train, on the way to the cafe, where we wait Camden fell asleep in the van, now this is highly unusual for this child, he NEVER sleeps in the car, he was just so exhausted that he passed out.  We got to the cafe and had about 2 hours before the train, we went in and put Camden down and he passed out on the couch.  We let him sleep about another hour while we chatted with a German couple that was going out to Kirov with us to meet their son.  About half an hour before we left I tried to wake Camden up, and it was nearly impossibe!  He was so out of it.  I finally got him up and we got on the train to Kirov.  Camden loved the train for the hour he was awake. :-)

We all slept pretty well, and we got in to Kirov about 8 am the next morning.

On a side note, I realized when we were in Moscow, that I forgot to buy a present for one of the VIP women, so Randy went on the hunt for a bottle of expensive wine for her.  Day 4 and 5 coming soon!