November fifth 2007, sees us in Portland Oregon, busily getting ready to make our first of two trips to Russia. We will go to St. Petersburg, Pskov and Velikiye Luki back to Pskov and then fly out of St. Petersburg. There is some nervousness about making the flight. Not that it would be dangerous or any kind of peril but rather would we be restless and uncomfortable? The entire trip is to be dreaded just as a mater of inconvenience. But we know that the end will justify the means.
The night before leaving there was that thought; are we ready to give up the life that we have now? Are we really ready put the energy, sacrifice and time in for another child? Those thought came and then they were put to rest. Yes, we had been being groomed and prepared for this for the past twelve years. When you are called by God to do something there is no fear involved and you push aside the selfish thoughts of how this will stop you from being focused on yourself and you will have to become more other centered. So with a mind set on the things that are of eternal significance, such as pouring into another human beings life we finished our preparations for this trip.
We packed up the last of our electronic things and made sure we had our passports. We knew that we needed to run by the adoption agency one last time to pick up a piece of paper confirming for the third time that I do have a job. We went to my office to give a run down of the business that I was leaving behind. Jim and Mikki Snell are more than capable and the prefect people to care for my clients. So we went through the details.
Brian went to the U.S. Bank to get the $11,000.00 cash that we needed to take with us to finish paying the agency for the privilege of adopting. That amount was $7,000.00 we decided the night before that I would carry this money in my money belt because if we were to be mugged it would be less likely that I would be assaulted. Brian carried the lesser amount. Regulations state that each US citizen is allowed to carry no more than $10,000. a piece. I do not enjoy the risk that the agency puts us in having to carry this large amount of money. When Brian reached the bank they told him that they did not have that kind of cash available, instantly he knew our progress would be impeded now. The Newberg branch found that Sherwood and Tigard could combine and provide us with the amount that we needed.
Before we can race off to the bank we had to get the employment paper from the agency and have our last three years tax returns notarized. Not that we absolutely needed these papers but, if the judge did decide to wave the traditional 10 day waiting period we would be able to proceed to Moscow and finish the process of adoption. We were coming prepared for a miracle.
We knew we would be running late because of the stop at two banks to get the money we needed so we called Grama Keyser and asked her if she would pick us up Subway sandwiches so that we could eat before we got on the plane. She was going to take us to the airport so we would get them form her at that time.
Brian stopped at the Sherwood bank and I talked on the phone with Lori
Vergason and discussed what was happening in our lives. This conversation took us to the Sherwood branch and then up to the Tigard branch and clear into Portland where after getting off the 405 merging with I5 we realized we were in a dead still traffic jam. Grama had called twice during my conversations, so I excused myself from the conversation and called Grama for advice on what to do about the traffic; we took an off ramp and went to I84 out to the airport. We arrived first, but by this time it was only 45 minutes till departure. As we approached the ramp to go to departures we was a police officer we called Grama to warn her because we know about her lead foot and the fact that we were cutting things so close she would be using it.
We unloaded our 4 suit cases, computer bag, carry on and my purse and stood on the curb looking busy so that we did not get asked to move along, while we waited the few minutes for Grama and Grampa to get there. We said hi, hugged, passed off the sandwiches and said good-by. We raced into the airport to find a very long line at the Lufthansa check-in counter. As we pulled up to the rear of the line with our awkward pile of luggage the woman in front of us said she had been there for 45 minutes. Brian checked to see that we were indeed standing in the correct line, upon asking this question he discovered that the flight had been delayed and that we would not be leaving until 3:30 opposed to 1:45. The reason that we were told was, that there had been a medical emergency on the flight and they had to make a landing in Iceland. That type of situation always shoots a shot of adrenalin into my stomach making me think; what if that were me needing that kind of attention on an airplane. All those fears of being trapped inside an airplane with no way out flashed though my mind and I pushed them aside and reminded myself of the truth, nothing like that has ever happened and if it did God is big enough to handle it.
We had been drinking as much water as we could so that we would be well hydrated for our long journey. That is the 10 hour flight that was being reduced to 9 hours to make up for the delay. Plus the four hour lay over which had been reduced to three hours in Frankfurt and the three hour flight to St. Petersburg. This planned hydration was catching up to me, I raced to the restroom leaving Brian standing in a line that was going nowhere. Relieved I came back quickly seeing Brian motioning me to come to him, which I was doing as quickly as I could so I was confused by what he was doing, but he kept motioning for me to come. Before I could reach him he passed me in a huff and raced to the facilities. As I stood in the line I thought; if this line starts moving how will I check us in if he is not here, do I know where the tickets are? After I made the second turn in the line I decided I had better start looking for our tickets and be prepared. I found them and felt relief. I was about the 6th person in line when Brian strolled back with a much better countenance. We continued to drink our remaining water.
Upon reaching the ticket counter we asked for an upgrade to business class, there were none available. We had a previous discussion what would we be willing to pay for the upgrade. We had settled on $500.00 as our maximum amount to blow on our creature comforts. Much to our delight the agent asked us if we were interested in being bumped We are always interested in that especially when it would have paid for our second trip back to Russia. We knew that we had the driver meeting us in St. Petes so we were reluctant. She looked to see when the earliest booking she could get us would arrive, there was nothing that seemed to work. Sadly we finished with our tags on the luggage and weighing them we were relieved that they were not over weight with our hundreds of pairs of socks, all the gifts for the people helping us and the cheap Halloween candy I had bought. For our inconvenience of the delayed flight we were provided a $10 voucher each that we could spend anywhere between the ticket counter and the gate. We sat down and ate our 12 inch sub sandwiches. Mine had gotten soggy because I like vinegar, and the lettuce tasted like it had been soaked in chlorine. I have to admit I was disappointed that the last of the, “good food” I would get for a week was not to my taste. But we ate it any way.
We called the adoption agency as we ate and asked if it would be ok for us to change our arrival time, they said yes as long as it was with in 24 hour period. We approached the counter and they said that actually now that everyone was checked in they did not need anyone to give up their seat. I think we were the last people to check in for the flight. Out of curiosity we asked what it would have cost to upgrade to business, they snidely replied the cost of your ticket, ($1500.) we were blown away; they chimed in and said that upgrade to first class would be $10,000. more. We certainly don’t role that way.
We cleared security with one minor issue, shame on Brian but he set his computer bag on top of his computer in the same bin, he was chastised for this senseless act and then moved through the line. We went to look in the shops and see what we would spend our vouchers on. I knew exactly what one of my purchases would be. Every trip weather I am on a eating plan (diet) or not I purchase my favorite brownie with mint frosting from Capers Café just past the domestic flight security check. Since we were flying international we had to go to the other security check in and then make the walk over to the other concourse to Capers Café, the brownies did not have their normal mint frosting that is about and inch thick, they had orange frosting marbled with chocolate, this was due to the fall season. Oddly enough they had shrunk in size as well, always disappointing to me to reduce the size of a brownie, but I bought it anyway. Brian pawed through the cookie basket looking for the snicker doodles that he liked, there were none, there were no chocolate chip so he settled for the molasses cookie, they are the size of a salad plate and we knew these would be a welcome flavors once we were in Russia. We also went to another store purchased Cheese nips chex mix and a jar of Jelly made in Oregon, we knew we could give it as a gift once in Russia.
We carefully packed away our goodies thinking how little we got for $20. We walked to our gate we recognized that there were an awful lot of people who where waiting in this area, it was amazing to see all the people who were there exclusively to get on our flight the number was staggering, we were flying an airbus so it held a lot.
We sat near a young family with two little boys. They were on their way to Italy for a vacation. They were from Hood River area so we talked about his farm and doing the fruit loop tour that we had done earlier in the fall. They just wanted to get away after harvest. The boys were calm and almost groggy, I enquired about them and the dad said that they had used their voucher for a nice big meal at Wendy’s. We chatted about Russia and Italy. The wife asked why we were going to Russia, thanks to Jim Snell’s advice we decide to reply to that question with “we are going on business”. She pried a little more and I just smiled. We made this decision based on the amount of cash we were carrying on our person, if someone overheard us and knew that adoptive parents needed to carry that kind of money they may take advantage of the situation. I know it was a stretch but better to error on the side of safety rather than being reckless with our information. The boys were cute and I showed them the seating arrangement inside the airplane. Brian had printed it off for us so we could see where our seats were. We located theirs and they liked where they were sitting, except the dad remarked that it was just in front of the toilets and that his seat would not be able to recline, so there was some disappointment there but the mother thought that it would be convenient for the boys to use the facilities.
I made my traditional stop in the restroom prior to the last boarding call. As I attempted to wash my hands, I could hear Brian calling my name, I told him I was hurrying but I could not get the sensors to work so the water would come on so I could wash my hands. I finished and raced out to meet my frantic husband and to view the once overfull waiting area empty, we were the last to board. Once on the plane we said good-by and nice to have met you to the young family and then we found our seats.
We stuffed our things away and settled in. The captain spoke in German and explained what he was doing and going to do and apologized for the delay. Suddenly we noticed we were not “in the US anymore.” Everyone around us spoke in German, the young lady next to me was reading what I thought was a German magazine, it turns out she was Danish, it was a Danish magazine. The young lady spoke Danish, English, German and Spanish and was studying in Spain.
The adolescence seated in front of us were rowdy to say the least. They immediately put their seats back and their heads were practically in my lap. I had less than two feet of space. I felt cramped; strangely I did not feel annoyed even though they kept slamming their heads back into the seat and pushing which rocked my book I was reading (The Shack). This head banging behavior and the loud talking and others coming to visit continued the entire flight. At one point we were watching a movie and they rammed their heads into the seat and it slammed against my hand and pinned it between the back of the seat and DVD player, I let out a holler and Brian instructed them in English to be careful. It did nothing to dissuade their behavior. The young lady beside us was surprised at the youths behavior she said normally German children are well behaved and respectful. The other uncomfortable thing was that it was so hot at our seats.
We stood for a little while in the galley but then the uptight little steward acted all put out that we were standing and told us that if we were not waiting for someone that we should sit down. We obliged but later we went and stood in the toilet area and peeked at the young family we had met, they were asleep all but one. The older boy (6 yr old) was listing to his Ipod and got up to use the toilet as we were there we said hi. Then we were told by the stewardess that the fasten seat belt sign was on and that we should take our seats. We stepped into the toilets and stood longer then returned to our cramped hot seats. I know I am tall and that I have long legs but not as long as a man, but sitting in my seat my knees were uncomfortably pinned against the back of the seat in front of me, I imagine for a tall man these seats would be a royal pain.
We watched the movies, Along Came A Spider and Manchurian Candidate. Both entertaining but we had seen them before. It was so warm that I took off my shoes and socks. We read our books, Brian finished his. We did not sleep, maybe it was just too uncomfortable and we were excited to be on our way. I kept my watch on Oregon time. We saw the sun rise and we started our decent. It did not feel like a terribly long flight, but it was good to be done.
For as much as we did not care for the SAS flight last year and that was due to the attitude of the steward staff, we would prefer that airplane over the Lufthansa jet. They at least had leg room and TV’s in back of the seat in front of us, with plenty to view. Unlike Lufthansa who only had three things to view in 9 hours. I guess you can’t have everything.
Once we landed in Frankfurt we walked forever to the B concourse. There were three levels just as we remembered. They were already decked out with blankets of white lights hanging on the frosted glass guard rails looking down into the next level, it was busy and festive. There were so many more people; we do not recall it being that busy last year. We had plenty of time to kill so we wandered through the electronics store and Duty Free shop. We decided that we should eat before we boarded the plane because we would not eat again until the next morning and it was 3pm we bought a frankfurter and bread (mit brot) and a hamburger with fries, the best of both countries I think. The frankfurter was very tasty and had a tough skin but it was good. At this point we are still wide awake and feeling good.
We went through the relaxed security of gate B58. There was a woman carrying an odd looking device, turns out it was an oxygen detection device in a big black bag. They had her remove it and they all were kind of curious about it and none of the security attendants really knew what to do with something like this. They had her take it apart and she showed them the components and explained what it did. I found it odd; I think human beings are great oxygen detection devices if we don’t have it we pass out, that works. She packed it back and moved into the boarding line to get on the flight.
While we were in line waiting there was a man who had come from Denver who had an adorable baby girl, curly blond hair a round chubby face that was full of smiles, he had her in a Kangaroo pouch and was talking and smiling a lot. He kept looking at me. In order to get on the airplane we had to all board a bus that drove out on the tarmac and winded its way between buildings and airplanes out to a distant place where there were smaller Lufthansa airplanes lined up. The bus load of people raced off the bus to charge up the forward and aft stairs to the plane. The man with the baby was waiting in the galley, we were once again the last people to get on the plane, so we had to watch all the other people stow their belongings. I knew what this meant, there would be no room for our things. I think that the Russian people go over to Germany and go shopping and then come home with all their purchases, because that is what it looked like. One man in particular had a difficult time, he could not fathom that there was not space left for his huge carry on, his long mafia type leather coat and his tall slender boxed purchase. The stewardess was rather short and unconcerned for his problem.
Once all the other people were seated we sat down, Brian had to stuff our rather large carry on under the seat in front of him. I had the computer and my purse at my feet. The plane started to taxi down the run way, there is nothing that holds back or slows the flight to Russia, not even the passengers. While almost in flight I glanced to my right I saw the man with the baby sitting one row in front of us. By this time we are feeling tired and drowsy, I start to read my book and fell asleep on Brian’s shoulder. I am startled awake by a baby crying out, I awoke saying “does the baby have a bottle?” the man who had kept looking at me turned and smiled and said she is alright. I went back to sleep. When I woke again, he was still glancing at me even though he was engaged in a Russian conversation with the man next to him across the row. The baby was so good and just sat in the seat next to him propped up by some sort of fabric belt. She fussed on the way down and the stewardess said to him that he should give her a bottle or her pacifier. He looked back at me, and smiled. I was curious why he was traveling alone with a small baby, maybe 6months old.
Prior to landing we filled out our migration forms so that we could present it with our passport to the passport control people before we get our luggage. This is where we get the neat stamp that says we have been to Russia. We moved through that line and raced into the toilets which were odd in that both men and women entered through the same door and then both their bathroom doors are open and you just part and go your own way. The toilets are small and resemble one on a boat; you go into a tiny room with a door and the toilet. Come out and wash your hands in the one sink for the bathroom. The toilet paper is rough like a paper sack.
While waiting for our luggage, I wandered over to see if I could see Lena or Andrea’ our interpreter or driver. I did not discover them but I did discover a cart for our luggage, which would make moving it around much easier. We waited probably 25 minute before the luggage come out. All the people crowded around the belt so that we could not see our things if we tried. We waited till it thinned out and then Brian approached each bag and stacked them all on the cart. We were the last people to get our luggage and the second to last to walk out of the baggage claim area. We searched for Lena or Andrea’ and did not see either, so we read all the signs of the other Russian picking up Americans. Brian went and exchanged some money into Rubbles. The exchange rate is $1 = 24 rubbles. It was much better last year; our dollar has devalued a lot. I stood guard over our luggage and searched every face repeatedly pleading to see if they were our ride. We were once again left standing alone the last ones to leave. The thing that strikes me about the St. Petersburg airport is that for such a huge town the airport is oddly small. The security is strange in that anyone who comes into the airport has to go through the detectors. This leaves a large number of people milling about peering in to see if who they are looking for has arrived.
Brian returned with the money and he looks over near the doors and the security belt and pass through and he says there is Andrea`. I call out and say hi to him and he was all flustered that he was not on time. He was happy to see us and remarked about how long it had been. We shook hands and talked about the fact we were surprised that he was here to get us, we thought that Nastiya would be here to meet us, because that was what were told would happen. But we were happy to see a familiar face and we knew what to do with Andrea` we brought our things through the doors and he pointed way across the parking lot, I saw a box truck in the direction he was pointing and I teased him that he would be transporting all our stuff and us in that, he laughed and pointed further to where the bright yellow van with the Fox emblem on the hood was parked. We stepped out to a bitter wind that was swirling and stabbing at us, it felt good, it felt Russian. We filled the back of the van with our things and kept the carry on up front. It is 7:30 at night but really it was 8:30 in the morning Oregon time. I was still doing good. But it was dark and the van ride was calm and warm so we slept.
After 4 hours we arrived at our familiar hotel, Hotel Rizhskaya (hotelr@svs.ru). It is a large hotel, one that Lena obviously has a relationship with because she knows all the people who work there and can conversationally talk with them as they pass by. The hotel has a restaurant and bar that plays karaoke. There are 8 floors and on three of the floors at the end of the hall are small kitchens with cooks who will make you breakfast for a very small fee. You could have pancakes with hamburger in them, they taste kind of sour, you can get yogurt, cheese, a fried egg that swims in a pool of oil, fish, some fruit and juices and Dixie cup size cups of Nescafe coffee. We brought a thing to heat water and had instant oatmeal.
The rooms are cozy with big windows and elegant window coverings in warm gold tones made from crêpe ’type fabric with shears under them which were embossed with a pattern on them. They elegant valances look odd with the wood floors. The wood floors are different than we would have they are assembled in a fashion that there are one foot pieces stacked like a ladder, but with no space between them, then there are three foot pieces that form a boarder they run the opposite direction then the ladder pattern again and the three food boarder pieces this pattern runs across the floor. It feels like they are heated because certain places they are warm to the bare foot. They have large oriental rugs in each room. There are four rooms. The first is an entry area, with a wardrobe, mirror and a small low two shelf table, with shoe shine stuff on the bottom.
When you go left from this room you step into the fully tiled bathroom, the toilet once again looks like a toilet you would see on a boat, to flush it you pull up a plunger that is in the toilet tank and a large swoosh of yellowish water rushes in and out, leaving just a little in the bottom, so that it looks like someone has already peed. The shower is a step and a half up into a box, there is a curtain this year, the water lever is like ours and is easy to use but when you are in the shower it hits you mid calf. When you are in the shower you have a birds eye view of the bathroom. The sink is a pedestal sink, with a small glass shelf above it and a large mirror that is cut in a shape nothing that has a name just a shape. On the glass shelf is a small basket with shower caps, soaps, and gels and lemon wipes like you would get if you were having BBQ. There are two glasses that are made of some of the thinnest glass I have seen and the edge is rough and I think you could cut your lips if you were not careful, we brought a tin cup.
The bedroom has a full size bed with a duvet. There is a flat sheet that is carefully tucked over the mattress but not quite reaching the top edge, this reveals the dingy well used and lumpy mattress. The pillows are in a sham and are a tropical pattern that matches the sheet and duvet cover. There is no top sheet just the duvet, I hear this is the European way. There is a very ornate polyester bedspread that we take off and fold up and put under the two shelf cart in the corner, it holds the telephone and our food. There are two wall sconces on the sides of the bed just out of reach so that you have to use the end of your book to turn it off when you are ready to go to sleep, rather than get out of bed. There are three huge windows that look down to the alley below where we saw a very drunk man staggering down and then he fell, a mild form of entertainment in our late afternoon surveillance of our surroundings. The radiators are regulated by the hotel so sometimes it is too hot, we open the windows to cool it off.
The living room is set up with a corner curio cabinet stocked with coffee cups shot glasses, brandy snifters, a water pitcher, a elevated cake plate and four plates. I am not sure if we are to use these items or if they are just for display. But we washed a cup anticipating using it and then we squirted our silver water on it to kill any bacteria that may linger from the water. We do not use the water because of its color and odor. Even when I have washed my hands with hot water I still squirt my hands with silver water as to keep them sanitary before I put in my contacts. We use our bottled water to brush our teeth as well.
Back to the living room; there is an overstuffed velour love seat the kind we had in the eighty’s, with a matching chair, both of them could use new seat cushions, you feel a little dirty after you have sat on them. I covered them with the blanket I stole from the airplane. There is a tv in the corner we have not watched it there is nothing on that we understand and the picture is much like one you would get with rabbit ears in the US. We use the tv to hold our ipod and its accompanying speaker. There are the large windows and the radiator and the same wood floor pattern, the floor is not heated in the living room just the entry and the bedroom. The walls have a crinkled pattern of wall paper the heavy kind that you paint over, I know its wall paper because it is coming up in the cornered and at the floor line.
Doors, there are several in this small area. The door we enter from has a key that has a fob on it that is shaped like a solid bell and on the bottom is the room number, 511 they are in raised numbers, just like on the exterior door. Then there is a solid door that goes to the bath room and a door with watermarked glass in the top and solid at the bottom this door also has a lock in it, it leads to the living room. From the bedroom to the living room is an accordion door that is sturdy, to the bath room there is another solid door that gets hung up on the rug in front of the bed, I think the floor is crooked in the bathroom and thus makes the door not level. When you leave your room you lock it up and then hand your key to the hall attendant who sits at a desk in a great lobby that is on each floor, there are plants and homey decorations there as well. The attendant will give you back the key upon your return, and when she was not there we reached in the drawer and got our key. But she has only not been there once. She cleans the rooms and is the watcher of the keys!
The elevators are just outside the great lobby, there are three of them or you can take the marble stairs that have a long rise to them, they are easy to walk because of the level nature of them. The elevators, they are small, four people would be crowded. With our luggage and ourselves it was crowded. The work and we have not heard any commotion about them being stuck so that is all I care about. There is a large mirror in the back of them, I am not sure what the purpose is for that but it is a good time to check my teeth for food being lodged in the braces.
In the lobby of the hotel, it has always been Russians, they look at us and know we are different. The furnishings are homey and there are plenty of places to sit and wait. However, this trip we have not had to wait. The lobby also has a little store that you can buy any kind of alcohol cold or of the shelf. They have water at a good price and we buy the big bottles, we bought some ice tea and you could get ice cream bars if you were interested. The last day we were there we wanted to buy a couple more big bottles but they told us we had bought them out. There is a restaurant/bar were you can have a nice dinner if you like the food. The hotel is clean and we really do not mind being there, it feels like a safe haven.
We got in around 12:30 and took our load to our room with Andrea’s help. Lena had left word with Andrea’ that she would be by at 8 am to pick us up to go to Velikiye Luki were Edzyk is. This is another 4 hour ride. We unpacked and sorted out all the socks. We had to take them out of the roll-up-to-remove-the-air-bags that we had used to condense them to fit them in to the four suit cases. We had to roll them all so that they would not separate and loose their mates. We first sorted them by girls and boys, then decided that was silly and just poured them all into one big suit case. I sorted through the gifts that I had brought.
It was fun to buy the gifts for this trip. The Russian culture is different from ours in that a small gift is given in appreciation for something done, in business. We do not know who we will end up giving a gift to, I thought I had over bought but it turns out there was just enough. This is how it went down; Andrea’ the driver, we knew him so we had a good idea of what to get him, we gave him a ball cap that had Oregon on it, some hazelnuts because the are from our area, we gave him some jelly in small bottles and a small piece of Oregon chocolate the wrapper had a photo of some pretty place in Oregon and a shot glass for his Vodka. Girls get chocolate and guys get vodka this is the recommendation of our friend that does business here in Russia. I think I may have insulted Andrea last time we bought him chocolate, so we made up for it this time. We gave his gift to Lena because we thought we would see him again but we did not. The Orphanage director ( the boarding school director) I gave her a nice watch that I got at the Rack, a pretty nail file, a beautiful fuchsia colored knit scarf, knee high stockings, chocolates and a book with photos of Portland in it. The woman who works for the ministry of education and oversees education in the orphanage, I gave her a Oregon photo book, a canvas bag with pictures of all the Portland bridges on it, (they carry lots of things in bags because they walk a lot) a long necklace of hematite beads from Cookie Lee, the Jelly we bought in the airport, and some chocolate too. We did not know about this lady before coming so I was glad that I had purchased extra gifts. For Lena since we knew her, I chose a beautiful soft knit scarf that was all pink and delicate, it reminded me of her, she is pretty with blonde hair and light features. I chose a nice lime green wallet and stockings, we opened them together before she left us, she liked them and gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
We were ready on time, Lena did give us a call and we came straight down to the lobby, we got in her little Peugeot, we stuffed the big suitcase in the back and the carry on with Edzyk’s cloths for court and the video camera. We took off watching the sun rise, a bright orange ball emerging through the thin clouds. The country side so reminded me of the area near Kenai in Alaska. But it was farm land so it was also like being in Palmer minus the mountains. I looked out across the fields and saw big round bales of hay some of them were covered in the white plastic wrap, I have seen this before in Oregon. But oddly enough in this country side with its light dusting of snow it looked like they were harvesting giant snow balls. Stephan was driving , we knew with him driving we would get there a lot faster than with Andrea’ because we were in a car rather than a van. We made no stops we just raced to the Orphanage directors office. The country side alternated between Kenai and Bend Oregon but yet minus the mountains, just the same trees. The houses along the road were brightly painted, we saw pink, lime green, purple and yellow. I liked them they were ornate, lots of detail to the siding. They had a row of diamond shaped wood cut outs making a boarder near the peak, they kind of used that line to distinguish the peaks on the ends of the houses. There were scroll cut outs above the windows and lots of trim around the windows often times painted in different colors. They were pretty, these home are either farmers homes, country or summer homes for the families that live in the city.
At the directors office we got out of the car to wait for her, because we wanted to stretch our legs but the wind was biting and not friendly so we sat inside the car and waited. When she came out we greeted with hand shake and a hug, we had met her last year and actually used her interesting little toilet, that was in a closet and your knees touched the wall and she had to grab the toilet paper from her desk. But I digress. We all crammed into the little car and went to the orphanage, we grabbed the huge suitcase full of socks and our carry on and the gift for the care giver. That was a book with pictures of Oregon for her to share with the students, stockings, a wallet and chocolate. This women was affectionate to Edzyk and he seemed to be willing to sit on her lap he liked her. Once we marched into the orphanage, we were sent into a room that looked like it was their art and culture area. There were religious pictures, pictures from some stage performance, there were paintings and drawings from the orphans and some beautiful beaded bugs mounted on small paper plates with scenes drawn to complement to type of bug they were.
We waited and then in walked Edzyk, he was so much taller and no longer looked like a little boy, he had grown and matured. He was very reserved he allowed us to hug him and to put our arms around him and he sat with us. First thing we did was to pull out the clothes that we brought for him to wear to court. We were unaware that we were to bring him clothes for court, we had just brought everything we had for him incase we got to bring him home this trip. The orphanage had dressed him very nice, he looked very clean and he was wearing a new pair of jeans, a shirt and a wool sweater with appliquéd patches on it. He looked so different than last time, his clothes were clean and new, I am not sure what was different at the orphanage, did they have him look unkept last time to tug on our heart strings, I do not know. But it was good to see him looking clean, handsome and healthy. He would end up wearing the cloths they had on him to court. His new shoes did fit him and I think his sweat pants and a couple medium size shirts. We re-took his measurements so that we can bring him back jeans and tee shirts like he likes.
We asked him if he had any friends that he would miss when he left the orphanage with us, he said he had two Dmitri and Nick. He disappeared and came back with his giggly friends. They all posed for a few pictures. We tried to get the video camera to work but it took that moment to seize up and stop functioning. That was irritating. We took a lot of photos of him and Lena took some with him and us. We asked him if he still wanted to come with us, he was not eager, but who can blame him he probable does not know what that means. The ladies all talked at him and he said da da meaning yes yes. I told them that if he did not want to come that he had that choice they assured me that he did want to come, that he had given up on us because it had been so long. The orphanage people had too. They did not understand why it had taken so long.
That broke my heart for him to spend any time thinking that he maybe was not wanted by us. The Lena explained to him that the paperwork was hung up. I still would like to understand that my self but these are the mysteries that I may never understand. I know it is all a part of Gods bigger plan for our lives why this delay. The only thing I can see from our side is that Andy needed to complete his process of being the last kid and him breaking away and going to college and just the wonderful summer we had together just us. If Edzyk had been home at that time would have been divided for Andy so maybe the delay was for Andy and us.
With us all in the room the ladies told about his life. He was actually born in Nevel. His mom is/was from Belarus, I will reserve his story for when he is ok with other people knowing it. Needless to say he has not had the privilege of a family and all that that means.
We went down to the office after giving Edzyk a small black poodle as his gift, and asking him to give his caregiver her gift and giving him the clothes that fit him. I gave the things that were too small for him to the orphanage director. Then we all gathered around the suit case and emptied the socks into a black garbage bag, like the leaf kind we use. The socks filled it up. I was so pleased to give such a useful gift. We had such an abundance from a few small groups at our church and from some of our friends. The director smiled and said these are very necessary I think she said it in English or was Lena interpreting. Edzyk would see us the next day.
We went to lunch at a café, they had all the food they had to serve in a display case and you chose what you wanted. I saw the potatoes that Rita our neighbor in Alaska use to make for us, I had those with a cutlet as Lena put it, it was a round patty of pork with a red sauce that was tangy, it did not have mayo in it I have no idea what it was but I did not like it, there were tomatoes slices on the top with melted cheese over that. Brian had the same cutlet and rice that had a Mediterranean spice in it one that I do not know the name of but it reminded me of anise. It was good but I could not have eaten many bites of it or it would have been too much for my stomach. We had sprite and Fanta.
On the way home we slept because the boredom of the ride overtook us. Rather than tune out by watching a movie or listing to ipods we slept, we were tired as well. We woke up the two times that Stephan was sighted with a ticket. That is an interesting process. There are police men just randomly parked along the road out in the middle of no where. They have radar guns and they hold up a baton and wave you down and you must pull over. You pay the officer at the time of the infraction or you can pay through your bank but you do not have your day in court. The weather was taking a turn it was now snowing and -3 degree celcius the wind was blowing, the roads were getting icy, this did not slow Stephan’s zeal for getting home.
Lena briefed us on what was going to happen in court the next day. We were to tell our story about how we had come to the decision to adopt. I knew it; we were not worried or concerned about our testimony. The appointment was for 11 am in the morning and the director and educational overseer would bring Edzyk in the morning.
When we got home we watched a movie, Tyler Perry’s Class Reunion, it was very funny, we read and drank tea that we had made with our electric coil for heating water. It was relaxing and there was no fear or thought of the next day. Since our body clocks are so messed up we forced our selves to stay up, we ended up going to sleep at 10pm so I naturally woke up at 5 am, great.
I tried to go back to sleep but did not succeed Brian was snoring so I took that advantage to elbow him and he woke up, we talked about what would happen at court. I asked if he had been thinking about what to say, he said, yes he was sorting it out in his head. I told him I would type the story out on the computer to organize the events. He read it and took notes and was prepared. He kept trying to get me to take some of the talking time but I don’t talk so good in public, and if I can not wing it I really get messed up, so I delegated him to do all the talking and I would listen and fill in the rest.
I plugged in the DVD player and did the aerobic CD I brought just so that I could move. We organized the stuff in our room and put everything away, organized our gifts, and poured all the Halloween candy I had bought on clearance into one bag because there were some that I wanted, I did not want to open all the bags and give them used candy so we just poured it all into one of the roll-the-bag-to-get-the-air-out bags. We strapped on our money belts and put on our passport necklace, grabbed the computer and at a quarter till 11 like we were instructed we went to the lobby where we caught Lena picking up the phone to call us to come down. We laughed .
We jumped in Lena’s little car and zipped a few blocks over to the court house. The city was trimming the trees so the road we needed to turn down was closed, this frustrated Lena and in Russian she was talking to the situation. We raced around the block and she parked in a rather strange position and let us out she then decided against her parking and moved the car as we stood on the corner snapping photos of the surroundings. We were thinking how odd to have judicial buildings nestled in with all the apartments. We raced in through security and up three flights of stairs made of concrete and down a large hall with giant doors that had black leather or leather type fabric upholstered to their faces, with large brass upholstery tacks. Then there was an open atrium with three large plants in pot and two long tables where we sat and waited for Edzyk and the other ladies to arrive. Lena called them to warn them of the road closure. We were invited into the court room and sat waiting. Lena seated us in the front row and we waited. We had light banter about children being born late. Her son was a week late and I told about Peter and Andy and joked that Edzyk would be born 5 minutes late.
They finally arrived and he had on a new winter coat with a new hat, snow pants and his shoes from us. We hugged him he was stiff and unsure but we were sure enough for him. Lena had said before they got there that a different judge was going to oversee these proceedings and that the decision had already been made and drafted. We were going to proceed with propriety. We also realized that we had been told that there was only one judge and that they only had court on Fridays. Now we know there were two judges that worked interchangeably and we had court at 11 am on a Thursday.
The courtroom was mostly full of ladies the Judge, the attorney and the prosecutor. Lena the two ladies from the orphanage and me Brian and Edzyk were the only men. I thought it was odd that it was all women, but maybe there is more compassion in family court with women presiding. We each introduced our selves. Our names, dates of birth, and occupations. The whole time Lena is like the holy spirit speaking in our ear telling us what is being said. She did a great job. They explained their roles and they said that we had the right to appeal the court decision and that they would hear our petition. The Judge asked if we had a petition, I was confused and Lena could see this, she said we did not have a petition so I said no. Then they invited Brian to stand up and tell the story. The prosecutor questioned him some, things like will the boy have children his age to play with, what were our plans for school, would Edzyk have his own bed room, will he have medical care available, what did our other children think about the adoption. Then the judge asked if I had anything to add.
I talked about how we have mental health people set up. We have Rhonda Andrews to help with attachment issues. Cheryl Walker will help with questions and education of a Russian boy because she is an adoptive parent of a Russian boy. They jokingly asked if I was thinking of adopting more children, maybe a girl. I said no this was enough and that I would stick with boys because I understand them. They laughed and said I had a lot of experience with my other boys and I said yes a lot. Then they told us they would make a decision. The Judge rose up so we all stood and she left the room. We had conversation about the family from Texas who adopted from the same camp that Edzyk had been to. We wrote down her name; Linda Ogheden. They gave me the orphanage address so that Edzyk can write his friends like his friend who was adopted by Linda did. We will have Edzyk stay in touch with Demitri and Nick. Then the judge came back in and we all stood and she read the decree that gave us the privilege of adopting Edzyk, he is now our son.
Odd little thing, had we known that he was truly ours now at this moment we probably would have stayed here in Russia the 10 days because he could have been with us. Now he has to go back to the orphanage again and stay there for longer. But Lena assured us it is ok he does not know that he could have been with us. So we will go home and buy him proper size cloths and come back with ways to communicate with him and games to play. It will take time for him to feel comfortable but when I see him smile I know there is life and confidence in his withdrawn countenance.
We had to get his passport photo taken, that seems like one of the things we are waiting for during these 10 days. Lena has all of his documents translated and ready for us to take. The ladies from the orphanage met us outside the photo place we gave them their gifts and said thank you, shook hands, hugged Edzyk good-by and they told him to give us a kiss. That must have been uncomfortable for him but each time they have told him to do that he smiles when he is done. He gave us a big smile and waved by-by like a little boy. He was cute, then they jumped in the van and raced back to Velikiye Luki. We ran across the street and tore up the side street to the car and raced back to the hotel. Lena came up to our room where we settled the bills for the hotel and the driver and passport photo and our hotel and driver for St. Petersburg.
I loaded Lena up with gifts and we arranged for the driver to come and pick us up at 8am so that we can get to St. Petersburg. We enjoy it there, there are people who speak English a little more and we will just be closer to the airport and to leaving so that we can come back again. We told Lena that we would like to stay in Pskov as long as we can next trip, to avoid staying in Moscow too long because of the expense of the hotels there. She said she could arrange that for us. We also discussed the fact that we would have to ride the train and that would be $10,000 rubbles for a full car for the three of us. So the plans are in motion.
We went for a walk down the street in front of the hotel, because we had taken a 3 hour nap, it did not feel comfortable because everyone looked at us and we knew we had our money belts on and we had no way of calling out for help so we walked through the huge park in front of the hotel and came back inside reading and writing. We never ate today except for rye crackers and miniature milky way bars. The dumb heating coil broke!
Knowing that sleeping was so difficult we just went to bed at 10pm and woke up 4 am. Crazy, I could not go back to sleep. We packed up and organized things and leisurely got ready for our 4 hour trip to St. Petersburg. As we took off we were with Stephan and we were not familiar with him, he took off on a different route than we had been before. I was nervous and just watching to see if anything looked familiar. After a while I asked Brian does anything look familiar to you he said no. I was a little nervous but finally we turned onto the road we always took. Then we just started bombing along. The scenery is vary comparable to going the opposite direction towards Velikiye Luki.
Once in St. Petersburg, we experienced the horrendous traffic. We thought that it was bad last time because it was rush hour but it appears rush hour is 24 hours a day. The Bellvadier Nevskiy was a welcome sight, the ornate clean room. We were hungry so we set out to find something to eat, we found a great restaurant that had authentic home cooked Russian food. I had borsh, pelimie (they are ground pork with onion and dill wrapped in a thing like a wonton but thicker, then boiled in maybe vinegar type water), drinikie, (they are grated potatos, onion, maybe just a little flour and then fried on a griddle with just a little oil) those were all so tasty. We had not eaten since we saw Edzyk on Wednesday, but I think the food would have tasted great anyhow.
Back at the hotel we logged onto the internet to connect to our world. We got an email from Andy saying that he and his friends were praying for us, Peter wrote and told us about a second job offer he had gotten. Wow talk about being proud of our two boys, we cant help it. We knew that our boys watch TVon the computer, so we tried to log on and watch TV but since we were in Russia we were not allowed. We went to YouTube and someone had down loaded a episode of House, it was jittery and stopped every now and then but we made it through.
Saturday morning waking up at 4 am again wondering what to do with our selves. We continued to read our books. But we were so excited about breakfast, so at 6 we started dressing just so we would be ready to go in the dinning room at 7 am. We were the first ones there. Then a German group of men and then a brace yourselves 4 people who spoke English.
I walked over pretending to get coffee just so I could overhear them, yes, they were speaking English. I said hey it’s good to see some other Americans. They said well we are not Americans. I thought for a minute and had to figure out if they are not Americans what are they, then the clown in the group said they were Canadians. I first thought how egosentric of me to think just because you speak English does not make you and American. I had to go over and apologize to them for the insult, we all got a good laugh and engaged in a very useful conversation. They had just come from Moscow. They turned us on to an apartment to rent there that is inexpensive. It was a great conversation we shut done the dinning hall.
We waited for Natasha to come and get the money for the agency, she was late and cutting into my shopping time. But when she got there she sat down and I asked her if she wanted the money she smiled, said yes, we gave it to her, she said good-by and left. No receipt no nothing, that’s the way you roll in Russia, blind faith and absolute trust in people you do not know. Goes against everything we believe. One thing I have to say about Natasha is she was one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, absolute natural beauty.
I finished my book (The Shack) what an amazing book. This is a life changing and inspiring book. The story is incredible, it details the character of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit but told in story style. It is a remarkable detailing of what our relationship with God is like, just a constant communication like we would have with our best family. I recommend a quiet weekend reading this book. A lot of you know I don’t read so much but wow, this was good.
With our only obligation for the day completed we went to walk the streets of St. Petersburg. It was cold and windy, pulling the scarf over my head and wrapping it around my neck we set off. Brian vowed to bring a hat next trip. The shopping is amazing. Every clothing store is like the quality of Nordstrom. Everything is expensive. I saw an incredibly well tailored shirt that I really wanted, it was $250.00 so Brian said. But he may have been just making up numbers so I would not buy. I tried on boots, their boots are amazing, but I could not find anything that I would afford that fit. They were not helpful even though they had to get the boots for you. They act disgusted with the fact we do not speak Russian. I wish I could accommodate them. We had a candy bar for lunch. We found in our travels a water heating coil that has the correct cord and plug so we bought it for $3. We paid $8 for the one from the states that left us starving on Thursday.
By 6pm we were tired and hungry and my feet hurt, we tried to go back to our favorite restaurant but they were full so they turned us away. We walked the street looking for something else, but ended up at the same English place we started at last year. It was just as bad this time, everything had mushrooms, yuck.
The evening entertainment was a precious little girl maybe two years old running around and playing and being totally unsupervised. She pulled a huge chair out in the aisle and the servers just walked around it, it was funny how no one disciplined her or adjusted the furniture.
Back at the room we just packed it in we were so tiered. We slept well woke up at 2 am. At 3 am the driver called and said he was ready. We told him that we arranged for him to be there at 4 am. We told him we would be down by then. I had just started the long process of getting ready but I raced through it. We came down at a quarter till 4 and the driver was not happy. He told us that he had to get another guest. We said fine. Well it turned out to be 5 women with their luggage. He told us we would have to wait for another car, we said no and stayed put. He was annoyed but it was not our problem. Another driver came and she drove us. We got a call from Anastasia to see if everything was ok, she said she told him 4 am but he had proved to us with his calendar that we had told him 3 am. He was wrong! We all made it to the airport at the same time.
We decided that we would tip the driver of our van very well and thank her profusely. We wanted to be seen as the good Americans, the driver could learn a lot about customer service but we did not need to be the ones to teach him. Our witness of being Americans is the most important thing.
After standing in line and waiting at passport control and going through the second security we crammed into a small waiting area, it was too small to hold the entire amount of people that were getting on the plane, it was standing room only.
The flight was just to Frankfurt where we had to jockey around all the thousands of people. But we knew we would get on the big airplane to come back to Oregon so it was bearable. We were very excited to come home. The flight was 12 hours, this time we slept maybe 4 hours and spent probably 2.5 hours being fed, some time reading and watching the inflight movie or just staring ahead in boredom. What a relieve to land! Once we went into customs the proof we were home was we saw smiles and heard joking and happy people. The process was long getting out of customs but we were feeling very comfortable and happy.
This was a great trip and we are glad it is over, we have a long list to complete before we leave again Sunday at 1pm. We are so looking forward to spending time with Edzyk learning to communicate with him and hopefully start showing him how much we love him and how valuable he is to us. December 1st can not come too soon! That’s when we will be home.
Thank you for reading!
