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.