Day 6

Yesterday we met Caleb.  Sorry that I won't have a lot to say on the topic on here--I put most everything on Facebook.  Mainly because I don't think you're supposed to share photos until the child is officially your child and also because there's a lot of emotional processing to be done and I'm not feeling like posting it out in the bloggy world yet. 

For your viewing pleasure today.  We actually walked around a bit.  (Last night with the other Americans--represent!--we ventured to an Italian restaurant.)  So we were feeling braver to face the cold today.  And it didn't seem nearly so bad today either.  Don't get me wrong, I still need to wrap my scarf around my face, but it didn't seem too bad. 

Matt's Rus-sian smile.  An American smile would hurt his frozen face.

McDonDon's.

It said to add a "complement" over the coke so that's what we tried doing.  Pretty sure it would be like if someone wanted to add a marketing slogan to their meal rather than the actual item.  She looked at us kind of funny and asked if we wanted a meal.  ;)

I'm tired of blogger's formatting issues.  Why is it such a pain to add photos between text?  Why does it not register when  photo has been rotated and saved on your PC?  Not messing with it tonight.

Modeling the McD's.  They had fountain pop, but it was served without ice and the cups aren't exactly full.  Also, I'm not sure if we were supposed to drink it.  Anyone know if they filter their water first?

So after our meal we noticed this on the tray.  After we ordered, she pointed to a list of condiments.  I tried to explain that I wanted what was shown in the picture on my burger.  Matt said he wanted cheese only.  So... his quarter pounder came with everything usual on it, but he got this cup of Heinz cheese.  Oh... that's what she meant by the little sign.

Our sad, wasted cheese.

We went to the 5 story kids' store.  Checkout these carseats and boosters.  They were nice!  The boosters we saw were $300 USD.

The top floor was a giant play area.  Our kids would love it:  first you get to ride four escalators (to our kids, this is an amusement park ride), then you get to play more!

looking down the escalators

I thought all of these little desks and chairs were cute.

This bedroom set with fairy godmothers was also really cute.

Disney princess chairs!

European made trucks.  They were around $30 USD and plastic.  They wouldn't last long at our house.  :P

train on the first floor

another shot of the first floor--I was trying to capture how many rooms of things open up behind the main areas on each floor

pretty sure the only difference between these diapers was boys vs. girls

these fish look sort of like dried fish?

grocery shopping

Matt wanted to get pasta sauce.  I told him I heard that might be hard to do.  Like we'd maybe just find a jar and it would taste like plain tomatoes.  So there were these.  And I was all down for getting the one on the right with tomatoes, carrots, eggplant on the label.  (I'm sure it would have been an experience.)

Then I saw what I'm pretty sure will be legitimate spaghetti sauce so we switched for it.

Coke and Christmas coke  :)

Our cart--can't get too many things because we have to carry it all.  For the record, this was our first time buying any junk food.

The checkout--can you see past it is a luggage store?

Day 5: Early Morning

The night train was an experience.  Our compartment was two bed/bench seats with a tiny table between the two.  I think we sort of have a ton of luggage compared to most RR families, but we were able to stow it all under our beds and the stroller was above the door.  When Matt leaves me, I plan to have one backpack, one carryon, and the stroller.  Should be easy enough to maneuver until you throw the actual child into the mix and consider that we'll be on and off a train and going places without ramps.  :)

So the night train got HOT.  I did okay, but the first half of the night, I probably slept/woke up 20-some times.  Matt was dying.  He slept on the floor to try to bear it.  In the middle of the night, he opened our door for a bit to try to air out the heat and then covered up our heater--I thought the temperature was a little nice, but like I said, he was dying.

We arrived to our region at about 6:45 this morning.  Our attorney and a driver met us at the train.  She took our paperwork and she is filing things for us so that we'll probably leave for the orphanage in about an hour from now.  (Like 10:00 am.)

Our apartment here is, once again, huge!  We heard that the other family, on their first night here, (because they've been here a week longer than us and just had to travel back to the capitol and back during the last few days) got stuck in a teensy teensy tiny little apartment that perhaps would have fit in our kitchen at our last one, because theirs hadn't been ready yet.  But anyhow, ours here is huge!

It reminds me of my friend Clesta's apartment that she had in Omaha.  The plastery walls, wood floors, and a faint age smell that is very similar.  In our apartment, you walk in and see the kitchen to the left with a pretty large bathroom off of it, and a hallway to the right, with our bedroom halfway down and a large living room with two chairs and a sofa at the end of the hall.  Honestly, it's too big compared to what we were expecting. We might see if the other couple wants to work out a group living situation to cut costs.  Matt was wondering if they have two bedroom apartment options here.

Also, our orphanage is on the outskirts of the main city here and public transportation isn't really an option. Especially with the cold.  So a driver is a little pricey to take us out and wait and take us back each day, but our driver has agreed to take all four of us each time so that we can share the costs.

And a dear friend of mine asked how I am.  First, I am cold.  Fine indoors.  Absolutely believe I could freeze to death at any moment outside.  And the amount of walking we've actually done outside is so very minimal.  When we got off the train this morning, I think it was somewhere around 22 degrees below zero F.

And now to the heart... why I signed on to write this now before we leave... I don't know.  Scared, I suppose.  Or not scared.  I really don't know.  I truly feel that God wants us here and wants this little boy out of the orphanage and into our family.  I really believe that the whole reason we ended up here has to do not so much with us, but with how much God loves loves loves Caleb and that He is faithful and is answering the prayers of many many people who prayed for this little boy.

So I really don't have any doubts that we're supposed to be here.  But it is a little scary--this is so left field and I don't know how meeting him is going to go.  I don't know how the attachment is going to build or going to differ.  I suppose the most difficult part is the knowledge that we are actually becoming parents to this child. What a giant responsibility and a choice that will change our lives forever.

I'm trying to get ready so that I look somewhat decent for the photos of this day.  Trying to undo my hat hair and get some makeup on.  Somehow my deodorant didn't get packed so I've been using men's deodorant, which I hate.  I was trying to decide whether or not to put more on since we've gotten off the train, but opted for not, only in that I'd rather have Caleb link me with my smell than with manly deodorant.  Probably this is going to be similar to any of our other birth pictures.  With Titus, I curled my hair after my water broke.  I think I probably put on some makeup.  And then within the last hour before it was time to actually have him, I got crazy sweaty, pulled all of my head back off my face like a crazy person wrapped it up in a pony tail holder and then puked into a towel Matt was holding.  So it's probably fitting that we just got off a train a few hours ago.  ;)

Day 4

I realized that I forgot to say when we would be meeting Caleb!  I'm sorry.  So... tonight (in just a bit actually) we will be taking the overnight train to his region and we should be meeting him tomorrow.  They were out of second class tickets, so we, and the other Arizona couple, are each riding in a first class compartment.  

Today we chilled out at our apartment, because actually going anywhere would involve too much walking and it is very cold.  There was one statue/monument that I wanted to see here, but it would take a half mile walk, a 10 minute bus ride, and then a 3/4 mile walk.  Then we'd have to reverse it.  Have I mentioned that it is very cold?

modeling my gear

Our driver picked us up around 4:00 and we went to the offices to pick up our referral forms.  (We needed those before we could go to the orphanage.)  They weren't quite ready for us so we went to a nearby pizza place to wait.

At first I only saw salami on the menu, but then I saw pepperoni listed as well.  So I ordered tomatoes, olives, and pepperoni on me pizza.  Like it?  ;)

The other Arizona family came in and joined us so we got to meet them!  We've each been speaking on behalf of each other as we've been making travel arrangements and hoped it was okay.  Cheap is good with both of us.  ;)

Then our paperwork was in.

waiting in the hall to go in and sign for our papers

We went back to the offices and waited for our turn to go in.  And we were reunited with our dossier! Didn't realize I'd be seeing that old friend again.  Except now it additionally has papers translating it throughout.

So back to our apartment to pack for the night train.  With a stop at a little pastry place that our driver recommended.  We ended up walking maybe half a block to get there and I actually wish I had a complete face mask to wear instead of just my hat.  When we left our apartment it was -9 degrees F and I don't know what it was since it was after dark by then.

So tomorrow after we get off the night train, we should be going to his orphange!  Sounds like it's quite the ordeal with orphanage staff, a doctor, our social worker, etc.  And we plan to travel with the other family so it will probably be one after the other.  Love you all!

Day 3

Yesterday I ended my post with my coma-sleep at the airport.  We had already eaten quite a bit the night before and had breakfast on the plane--and things be expensive when you're using Euros, dog--so we decided to skip lunch and hold out for a nice meal at dinner.  Can't wait to see that bill on our credit card.  ;)

I ordered a penne with Gorgonzola cheese, but asked for light Gorgonzola.  It came with a little wedge of cheese on top that I began to cut.  For my first bite, I was bracing myself for that strong blue cheese flavor and instead, it was so delicious.  That wasn't your American Gorgonzola/blue cheese crumbles blech.  It was smooth and cut through with some sort of alcohol that added such a nice flavor.  In short:  wow.  Who knew Gorgonzola could be so stinking good?

So we made it on to our last flight.  The airline guy at the gate said that this is always a bit of a crazy flight as passenger after passenger came nonchalantly strolling through to get onto their flight right up until just about when the gate was supposed to be closed.  We were the very last so that he could unlock a special elevator for us to take our stroller down.  Going through all of these airports with a stroller and no baby had me often cooing to our little "baby backpack".  Which ultimately would just kind of make me miss our littles back home and/or wish Caleb was there in it.

From my seat on the plane, I got to see the machine that sprays ice off of the plane.  I had the laptop so that I could write that blog post from yesterday, but during the time that you're not allowed to use electronic devices, I fell asleep.

I woke to "Miss..." ... "Miss..." ... "Miss..."  I seriously don't know how many times they said my name.  I was against the window with an elderly couple beside me.  They weren't exactly smiley toward me when I had shown up at the very end to take my seat.  ("Smiley" doesn't really seem to be a cultural norm.)  So it was nice of them to take the time to wake me up.  (I really hope my mouth wasn't all hanging open.)

I was so disoriented.  I don't know how many times they said my name before it began to overlap with whatever I was dreaming about and suddenly I realized that reality was a different thing and it was trying to get my attention.  And I opened my eyes to see this elderly couple staring at me and my brain was trying to piece it all together.  After I opened my eyes they said something to me that I couldn't understand and I think I maybe even held up my hand, blinking my eyes over and over, saying something like, "Thank you.  I'm trying to understand things.  Just a moment."  And finally I got my bearings and I noticed the cart in the aisle just past them and they were letting me know that it was dinner time and I thanked them.

We landed.  We went out through customs with no issues.  Our driver was waiting for us and we exchanged some currency before he took us to shop at a 24 hour market.  I thought we were getting in to late to do any grocery shopping, but out we went.  Got to our apartment and it's really nice and pretty huge.  I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't quite it.  I think our apartment building is actually relatively new.


DAY 3

Got up this morning for our appointment.  Though we have only been planning to adopt Caleb, I wanted us to at least inquire about other children available at the orphanage.  Just to remain open since we've come this far already.  So first were shown a file for a little girl, a few months older than Titus, the only other little girl available meeting our home study.  She was very cute, but we thought that most likely, we would not move forward to adopt her.  It was hard for us to decide whether or not to accept her referral and at least meet her at the orphanage.  We actually decided that we'd go ahead and just meet her to cover our bases when we switched our decision and decided to decline.

Then Caleb's file was brought out.  We were able to switch out a photo of him that we hadn't seen with a copy of one that we already have.  A thick red folder was pulled out (full of our paperwork!) and it looked like she double-checked that his special needs were written on our home study.  We signed a book and we should get our paperwork tomorrow so that we can get on the overnight train to head to his region. Coincidentally, there is another Arizona family here right now that we'll travel with on the train tomorrow as we all head to the same orphanage--isn't that crazy?

Overall, our appointment was very anti-climactic.  We should actually receive information about him once we speak with his orphanage director.  And I must say, I felt especially glad about our decision to only see Caleb once his file came out.  It feels intimidating enough to look at these photos of this boy in his crib and to not know what to expect and to know that we'll be meeting him in a few days and I'm glad that we can just focus on him and on that in this time.

We then sat in on a bit of a facilitator-meeting, with four of the members of their team present, as we discussed our travel arrangements to our region.  Everyone was very nice.  Then back to our apartment for lunch.  And now Matt has been taking a nap.  I couldn't let myself, knowing that another coma would be coming and it'd be so hard to get back up.  So I'm waiting it out until I can go to bed for the night.  

Days -1, 1, and 2

 DAY -1

My dad drove us to the airport.  It was 4:30 am and we were out of it, getting the kids and all of our stuff into the car.  I won’t say just how little sleep Matt and I had.

I’ve never packed so “light” for a trip, but all that really means is that I’ve never packed so few clothes for a trip.  Ever.  The sad thing about how light we’ve packed is that I feel like we still have a lot of stuff.  There were many things to bring on our trip so an extra duffel bag got pulled out in the end and I hope all of our things (including a full-sized stroller) fit in the taxi at our final destination.  Umbrella strollers are just short enough to strain my back and Caleb is just big enough that one would have been a stretch, so we whipped out our very first stroller from our short-lived just-Titus days.  If we have to leave it on a curb somewhere, so be it.

So… leaving Arizona I was in two shirts, the top being a sweater, and a winter coat.  Because wearing two shirts now gets me one more shirt to wear later.  It’s technically the end of “Day 2” as I sit here typing this (on our last flight, to be uploaded later) and this has been my outfit for a full 3 days.  The same clothes for 3 days is also a new one for me, but I’m hoping those around me aren’t smelling anything.

Flying into Colorado with all of our stuff for our trip and all of the kids’ stuff for their stay in Nebraska meant this was the first time that pulling rolling luggage wasn’t just a special privilege for them (we needed those little hands working).  ;)



My cousin and her husband were able to meet us at the airport when we got in for a quick (1 hour-ish) visit.  I would have loved so much more time with her, but it was very nice.  They also helped us get our stuff out to the shuttle for our car rental.

On the shuttle, Titus pointed at the snow in the ditches and asked, “Daddy, what’s that white stuff?”  Matt sort of laughed and told him it was snow.  Titus smiled, but looked like he might have been the tiniest embarrassed that he hadn’t realized it for himself, then replied, “Oh, I thought it was sugar.”

So I took the kids over to a pile of snow in the Alamo parking lot and encouraged them to touch it.  I tossed a snowball at Titus to show him and you can imagine that they each threw quite a few.  At one point, I explained to Ella that sometimes the snow hardens into clumps and then it doesn’t break apart like a snowball is supposed to and can hurt.  So she threw the clump at me and said, “Iceball!”





I had double checked days in advance that we could get our lunch from Taco John’s as we drove to Nebraska.  

We had so few hours to spare in Nebraska that we arranged to meet family and friends at one of the most accommodating spaces in town:  the Pizza Hut party room.  On our way there, we were able to stop for about an hour for Matt to visit his grandpa.

Our Pizza Hut get-together was a huge success with so many great family and friends to see.  I think there were about twenty of us in the end.  I know that not everyone that wanted to make it was there and that’s okay—it was a lovely night.



I even got to stop and visit a friend that I hadn’t talked to in person since my wedding!



Got the kids into bed at their Grammy’s (eventually), got a little visiting with Matt’s mom, got a little more prep-work done, got into bed, and about 5 hours later it was up and at ‘em again.


DAY 1 - IN THE ARMS OF A TURKISH NEBRASKAN

So we took our rental car on its continued one way journey, stopping to visit my uncle and grandpa on the way, and made it to our next airport.

Our flight out of Lincoln was delayed a little due to the aircraft ahead of us dealing with maintenance issues and then our plane with everyone’s luggage was too heavy.  So they took volunteers to get off of the plane, get their tickets refunded, get flown to another airport, and then on to Chicago.  They asked for three volunteers, but I think they only got two and it worked out.

So we went straight to our gate in Chicago and boarded for our International flight.  Ultimately, there was a maintenance issue that they couldn’t get fixed quickly so we had to deplane.  Our flight ended up leaving two and a half hours late, but in the meantime, we were able to grab food at Rick Bayliss’s restaurant there in the airport (for any Top Chef/Top Chef Masters fans).

We were on the left side of the plane for our International flight, Matt, me, and then our row-mate.  And, of course, we got sat with a Turkish Nebraskan from Columbus on her way to visit her daughter in Turkey and see her first grandbaby.

Her English wasn’t completely fluent, but good enough that we were able to talk quite a bit.  When were first stuck on the plane as they were checking out the maintenance issues, she got out a bag of Chex mix and I commented that was smart.  So she offered me some.  So I declined.  So she insisted and I said no it was okay, and she insisted, and I didn’t want to be rude, so I had a little.

She really didn’t like turbulence (I don’t either) so when we encountered quite a bit at take-off, we held hands.  She seemed very tense and scared.

Matt and I needed to sleep on this flight—he did a pretty good job.  I slept for about 2-3 hours, repositioning my pillow against his shoulder every so often.  Then at one point when I sort of woke up and looked around for a bit before repositioning, Shonda (our row-mate) took my pillow out of my lap, placed it on top of her pillow in her lap, and gestured an invite for me to lie down.

And I was like, “No, thank you, etc.” and she was like, “Please, please” and “Yes, please please, like my daughter” and after a few rounds, I didn’t want to offend, so I put my head in her lap!  Matt woke up when I pulled my feet up onto his lap, looked over and see me in her lap while she stroked my hair.  Then went back to sleep.

Friends!  I would probably want to decline if one of you asked me to my head in your lap!  It’s just not something I typically feel comfortable with.  So about 10 minutes in, I think I would have perhaps fallen asleep soon, but the pilot announced we needed seatbelts on so I sat up to do that.  And then I was pretty awake so I wasn’t really able to sleep anymore the rest of our flight.


DAY 2

When we landed, I was still feeling pretty awake.  In fact, I thought with our long (though now shorter) layover, I’d have a lot of time to write for you all.  We sat by our terminal for later which was completely empty so I thought it’d be a good time to lay down for a bit first.  And I laid down across three seats and slipped into a coma.  A five hour coma.  I woke up after three hours, cold and disoriented, used the restroom, and came back thinking I’d stay awake.  But one side really hurt from all of that laying and airport laying.  So I laid down on the opposite side and was out again.



AND… it’s late.  Appointment tomorrow.  Love you all!  Will share more soon!

A Big Thank You!

I just received a list of those that have given to us through Reece's Rainbow. Thank you!

I know they're just words on your screen, but thank you.

Many of our gifts came from those that we do not know.  Very humbling.  And once again, thank you.

And thank you everyone for your many prayers.

Please keep them coming.  And not just for us, and for Stellan, but also for our three that will remain here and those that will be helping meet their needs while we're gone.

Regardless of the uncertainties ahead, I still feel completely at peace when I think of Stellan.  I am eager to meet him, though scared and intimidated as well.  Right now, though, I'm mostly focused on getting everything together for our trip.  So many things to plan!

Once again, thank you all for your support.