Headed home!

We are at our gate waiting to board. This airport is crazy busy! Ready to be home.

Mom and Dad, we will need to find a chick-fil-a once we leave the Nashville airport!!!

We leave our heavy hearts here in Russia

Today started with us making a quick stop to pick up several packs of diapers to give to the orphanage where Malia lives.  We also picked up a couple of cakes for the workers and the doctors to show our thanks.  We had another sweet time of play with Malia today.  She is too much and so much fun!  There were some surprising things that happened today with her.  We walked into the orphanage and immediately she was brought out into a small dressing area.  Wendy was given her clothes and she got to dress her in 3 layers of clothes for another 70 degree day.  We went out to the shelter where we were at yesterday that had a slide and a rocking horse that she loved.  While I was holding her she made a little grunt noise at me.  I made the noise back.  We did this many times.  We couldn’t understand each other’s language but it seemed like a basic form of communication for us none the less. Too cute! Malia started finding the little tree seeds that we call “helicopters” which led to our first experience of telling her no as she attempted to eat them.  That was a funny experience.  I found some more of these “helicopters” and showed her how throwing them up they would spin to the ground.   We took her “pit crew” snow suit off as it was just way too warm to keep her in it but we were fearful of irritating the orphanage workers.  I think we took it off and put it back on her three times.  We found a little tricycle that we pushed her around on and she had a big time with that.  All of the sudden one of the workers  came up to alert us it was time for her to go back inside as we were told it was time for her to go to lunch and time for us to leave.  It all came to an end so quickly. Oh, how heavy our hearts became.  We took her back inside and peeled off the layers of clothes as Wendy started to slowly unravel as well.  She did a good job of holding it in as to not scare or confuse Malia.  I grabbed a couple of pictures of her little locker where her clothes are kept. We each told her bye, gave her kisses, and told her that we love her and that we will see her again soon.   Wendy and I made it back outside before she totally fell apart.  We went back to the shelter where we had been playing with Malia and sat down on the bench inside of it and let it flow.  Anya came back from delivering some documents of ours somewhere else and was somewhat shocked to see Wendy upset.  She thought something bad had happened.   She was so kind and understanding and helped comfort Wendy.  We gathered our things and had trouble not looking over our shoulders as we walked toward the gate, hoping to catch one more sight of our little girl. 

We knew this day would come, that we would have to say goodbye and return to our home and her future home over 6500 miles away.  We have always said we would find solace and excitement during this time between now and bringing her home by getting her room ready as well as the rest of our home.  To add to that we have been so pleasantly surprised at how nice the orphanage is as well as its workers and how obviously well she is taken care of.  As heartbreaking as it is to leave her we keep telling ourselves this is simply a means to an end, of bringing this little orphaned girl known only by a file, into a very loving family and extended family and friends.  She has no idea how many people love her and who have been and are praying for her. I think she will see in short order.


~Scott

A New Name

 

We signed the paperwork today agreeing to adopt Malia.  After getting to play with her outside again today for over an hour, she went off to eat lunch, and we went inside to the office and completed forms in Russian and in English.  The last sentence on one of the forms said something like, “We promise to love her, care for her, and provide for her the best we can.”  Just writing that wells up tears in my eyes!  Of course we will!  I wrote out her full given name by her birth mother, then wrote out her full new name. . . . Malia Nagima Heavrin.  A new name for a new life.  (Hold on, I have to blow my nose)

Malia was super cute again today.  We met her outside being pushed in a stroller with another little girl.  The orphanage worker lifted her out and stood her on the sidewalk.  I kneeled down and reached for her hand.  She looked at me and pulled her hand away.  I tried again and same thing.  So I pulled out the stuffed dog Scout and that made it all better, ha!  Scott picked her up and we took her to one of the outside shelters that have toys.  There was a plastic slide and for several minutes, Scott would pick her up and put her on it and she would slide into my arms.  Then we switched.  She loved it! (We need one of those slides.) There was a rocking horse too.  I put her on it and showed her how to rock.  She knew what she was doing and baby girl is not scared!  She would rock so hard the horse would look like it would tip over backwards and she would scream with laughter. (We are going to need one of those as well!)

Today we gave her the baby book a co-worker gave me that says on the front “Who loves baby?”  Inside are six pictures of Scott and I.  She was very interested in it.  She flipped the pages back and forth and took it over to the other side of the shelter.  Scott and I were sitting on the bench and watched her inspect the book.  She said a word.  We both looked at each other and waited.  She said the word again. I have no idea what she said and neither did Anya, but we heard her voice for the first time. 

It has been wonderful getting to play with Malia.  Each day we have seen something new in her. I started to think today about having to leave her tomorrow.  I asked Anya if Malia would remember us in 2 months when we come back for our court date.  Anya looked at me with a clear expression of “I’m sorry.”  She shook her head no and explained that the very young children never do.  She said the workers at the orphanage come and go so the children are used to that.  She will not remember us. That was hard to hear. 

Tomorrow is our last day to see her on this trip.  I want her to look me in the eyes and feel that I love her.  When I hold her face close to look at her, she looks away immediately.  I tried gently holding her face and singing the ABC’s to her today. She held my gaze just a little bit longer when I started singing.

Goodnight from the other side of the world.  ~wendy

My Daughter

Today I got to hold my daughter...

All we had scheduled for today was to go visit Malia at her orphanage.  We are seriously struggling with the time difference and were dragging this morning.  Our driver and interpreter picked us up this morning, actually a bit early, and took Wendy and I on a short tour of a beautiful part of Moscow.  We were able to see the university built during the Stalin era which was a magnificent structure.  We could then look over the central part of Moscow at the vast expanse of buildings, the Kremlin in the distance, Stalinist era Gotham style buildings and new modern buildings alike.  It was very cool.  But we were very ready to see our girl and I was craving a good squeeze on her.

We arrived and were waiting in a hallway for them to bring Malia to us.  We knew we were going to have more time today with her but weren’t sure just how much.  Wendy went with Anya to find the restroom so I just stood there and waited.  I was looking out the window at one of the workers pushing a couple of babies in a stroller with one little one hanging on to the side.  I happened to turn to my left and there was a worker walking my little girl to me.  I honestly didn’t know what do for two reasons. One, there she was all to myself, and two, she was bundled up much more than I had expected for a 70 degree spring time day.  She had a little toboggan on her head and a fuzzy yellow snow suit.  She looked like a little eskimo with her big chubby cheeks being squeezed out by her toboggan. None the less she hesitantly walked to me and let me pick her up and love on here for a bit.  Wendy and Anya finally came back and we took her outside to one of the small pavilions that have toys for the children to play with.  We had her and the pavilion all to ourselves.  She went to a little see-saw first and I started lifting her up on it and we immediately got smiles and giggles out of her that I will never forget.  We played with other toys and pushed a baby stroller with a teddy bear in it around the grounds of the orphanage.  She is responding very well to us.   She doesn’t understand what we are saying but that will come in short time.  She is very quick and perceptive and my favorite part is she appears to be very even keeled like me.  You all will melt at the pictures we got of her and her with us today.  We got to play with her for nearly an hour and a half.  To say it was magical and surreal is a massive understatement.  We can’t wait for tomorrow.  The bad part is we can’t sleep much either.  I’ve got a little girl. God is so good.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

We met our little GIRL today!!!  She is perfect.  Her name will be Malia.

Anya (I was misspelling her name before) picked us up at 9:20am at our hotel.  We drove to the Dept of Education and waited for our appointment.  The Department was a very warm welcoming building inside.  There were several people waiting around, all speaking other languages.  We met Leila, our agency’s representative there.  She was very nice and spoke English very well.  We were called back into a room in the back with Leila.  There were 2 women in the room who worked for the Dept.  One woman shuffled some papers in front of her and I caught a glimpse of a black and white picture of a baby girl with dark Asian eyes and dark hair. But it was only a glimpse because she moved it under some other papers.  One of the women asked Leila a question in Russian and Leila translated.  Scott and I had to answer a few questions . . . where we worked and what we did, did we know other families who had adopted (um that’s a definite yes!), and did we have any formal training classes on adoption.  It was a short but nerve wracking few minutes because all I wanted to do was look at that picture.  After questions were over that page came back out and Leila began to tell us about a little girl, now 23 months old.  A little girl!!!!!!!!  We were asked if we wanted to visit her.  YES!!  We signed a form and off we went straight to her orphanage.  We pulled up to a building with 2 large giraffe’s painted on the front.  There was an outside play area with about 20 kids playing outside.  I looked everywhere, but didn’t see our little girl.  We were greeted by a police officer who checked our passports and let us in the locked gate.  Actually, right before that, a little boy, maybe 3 years old saw us coming and ran up and pushed the button to unlock the gate. I wanted to bring him home too.  He looked just like Scott.  As we walked through the play area, a little girl, about 3 or 4 with long blond hair, turned around and saw me.  She immediately smiled a big smile and waved up at me.  She had downs syndrome and I wanted to bring her home too.  An older woman was pushing a very antique looking stroller with 2 little babies snuggled up in blankets lying inside.  I wanted to bring both of them home as well! 

We went inside and sat down in the small office.  One of the nurses pulled our little girl’s file and told us her medical and social history that they had on file.  Leila translated for us and I wrote down notes as fast as I could.  She is overall a healthy girl!  Thank you Lord!  We talked 20 or 30 minutes and all of a sudden, an orphanage worker showed up at the door holding the hand of the most precious dark haired dark eyed chubby cheeked little princess.  (Scott is completely smitten with her. He is already planning her appointment at the bibbity bobbity boutique at Disney World J ).  Scott and I were sitting on the couch and I got down on the floor and held out my hands as they led her to me.  She was cautious looking at both of us.  I let her come to me and I sat her down in my lap.  She touched my necklace and I talked to her for a bit.  I began to cry looking at the top of her head and her little nose.  I made myself stop, I didn’t want to scare her.  We gave her the Scout puppy dog that Landon gave us.  She loved it!  I showed her how to push his paws to make him talk and light up.  She did it!  I was so thankful for that little brief moment where she seemed to understand what I said.  Scott snapped pictures and sat down in front of us.  Scott touched her knee and she looked down at her knee like “what are you doing?”  J

We only had about 30 minutes with her before they took her to eat lunch. It wasn’t long enough!  We needed more time.  But we will be back tomorrow for 2 hours we hope. She toddled out the door holding the hand of the nurse.  We are in love!  I wish we could share her picture with you, but we are not allowed until the adoption is final, which will not be for another 2 months.  Seems like an eternity, but she will be home with us before we know it!  Thank you Lord for this precious gift!  (This picture is us waiting out front for Anya before our family turns into party of 3!)

St. Basil's Cathedral on Red Square

Breakfast

Breakfast buffet was included!!!  Do you know how happy that made me!?!

More on our arrival

We walked off the plane and immediately used the restrooms.  I thought it was strange that there wasn’t many people who did the same thing.  It was strangely quiet and no one around.  Then as we walked to baggage, we realized everyone else knew to immediately go to the passport checkpoint so we joined the masses and waited awhile to have our passports checked and then wait for baggage.  Then we went through customs and exited to a large lobby area that was jammed with people.  I was so tired and warm and it was overwhelming.  But Scott was ahead of me and he spotted a  woman in the crowd holding a sign that said Heavrin.  You had to bend down and talk really close to hear her because of all the people.  So she asked us our names and asked if Vivian had said she would meet us to make sure we were the right couple. We said yes and it was such a relief to be found by her.  She is a very nice woman and very helpful.   We found the exit and pushed our way to get out of the airport.  It was madness!

Anna called our driver Vitali, and he pulled up shortly.  We drove 30 or 40 minutes it seemed to get to the hotel.  All I wanted to do was fall asleep in the car, I was so exhausted.  Anna pointed out things on our drive.  We saw the outside of the Kremlin and Red Square, the statue of Lenin. 

About halfway through the drive, Anna turned around and stared at our faces.  She said to me, you look European, but Scott, he looks American.  We laughed. She got that right, Scott does look very American.  I was glad she thought I looked European, that maybe I wouldn’t stick out.

Anna got us checked in to the hotel.  She grabbed both our arms while she said goodbye.  It was a calming gesture.  I felt secure with her.  I was glad to feel that way, that she would take care of us. 

We went right to sleep, slept 5 or 6 hours. Its 11:00 pm now and we are heading to bed in a little bit.  We will venture out tomorrow.  The weather is warmer than predicted.  Upper 60’s every day this week.  We will visit the Kremlin and Red Square tomorrow.  Just passing time until Tuesday when we will have an appointment with the Ministry of Education to receive our “assignment.”  Then to the orphanage to meet our little one.  We are beyond excited, thrilled to be so close.  As we drove, I looked at every building wondering if we were driving by the orphanage where our child lives. 

Goodnight.  We will post more tomorrow.  Thanks for your prayers for us.    ~wendy

Здравствуйте!

We have arrived in Moscow and made it to our hotel.  Anna, our translator, met us at the airport and she is so nice and helpful.  We are both exhausted.  Friday night we had tornado sirens until 11:00 and then we were up at 3am.  When we arrived at the Nashville airport, we watched the news reporting the damage at the St Louis airport and I was so thankful we were not flying out of St Louis.  So first on the to do list is a long nap.  I am way too sleepy to write anymore.  Happy Easter Sunday from Moscow!

we are off!!!

We are a couple of hours from departing DC for Moscow.  Good times!! Celebrate tomorrow for He is RISEN!!!

Final Prep

We're down to 3 days! We're looking forward to sharing our experiences with all of you.

Packing lists and Visas

So Wendy and I finally had to sit down and spend some time making out a list of all the items we have to take. I'm usually able to maintain a mental list of items I need to take on a trip wherever we go but this is a paperwork intensive operation that we can't just jaunt back home to pick up something we forget. Copy's of this, printouts of that, sign this, notarize that.  It adds to the general anxiety of travelling somewhere that English isn't widely spoken.  It's all good though, all well worth it.

On a very exciting note, we received our passports back from the Russian Embassy with our Visas attached.  Very cool, Making it all very real.  Our names are translated into Russian on the visas. Scott in Russian is Ckott.  That made me smile.

Logistics

T-Minus 16 days.  Flight booked, hotel booked.  We are going!  Waiting on Visas, FBI background check.  Coordinating with Drs. to meet us at the orphanage.  SO MUCH TO DO!

-Scott

This is really happening!

These last 4 days have been crazy!!  I can't believe this is really happening. In 3 weeks, Scott and I will sit in a room at the orphanage and wait for the little person to be brought in who will join our family.  I have thought about that moment for the last 2 years.  We will be parents.

We made our decision to adopt a child years ago and began the process sometime in early 2009 as we researched agencies, countries, the adoption process, etc.  We filled out the first of several forms in late 2009.  Early 2010, we filled out the first form for our agency and chose the country of Russia. The first half of 2010 was spent completing the paperwork and homestudy process.  It was a lot of work, but so worth it!  Many pages of detailed questions, background checks, fingerprints in Nashville, a home visit by a social worker, even a signed letter from Tucky & Liza's vet saying they were well taken care of kitty's! :-)

Our dossier went to Russia in July 2010 and now, here we are 3 weeks out from flying over for our first visit.  I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  To meet this child that we have thought about, and hoped for, and prayed for, will be an amazing experience.  We will be in Russia for one week the first trip.  Two months later we go back for 2 days for our court hearing and a quick visit with our child.  Then 3 to 4 weeks later, we go back again for about a week and will be able to bring our child home!

I still can't believe we are really going, that we really got the call, that we are going to meet our child. We will keep everyone updated while we are in Russia on this blog.  So check back again.