November 8, 2008 Edik's One year Adoption Celebration

One year ago yesterday we were in Pskov Russia standing before the prettiest judge I have ever seen. The two attorneys were knock outs as well. The Russian women are beautiful and hard workers. I was amazed that Brian and Edik were the only men in the court room that day.

That day kind of came and went with numb feelings. It was such a whirl wind trip to get over there which was a two day journey and stand before the judge and then two days home so there is your week. The human body just can’t handle that kind of physical turmoil so the emotions shut off. But now looking back I wish I could have felt the elation that I feel today of having Edik as our amazing son.

Edik tells the story that he had to get up at 6 am (he knows this because it was dark outside, but he has no concept of time so it is just a logical thing to say, which is a huge step) they gave him a brown bag of food for the 4 hour trip from Veliki Luki to the Regional Capital Pskov. He had something like a Twinkie in his bag but it was not an American Twinkie. He really has not said much more about the trip than the food and getting up early, but he is more into asking the questions than sharing now.

I remember the day though, we woke up at 3 am like usual for our weeks in Russia, put in a Tyler Perry DVD and watched a movie, then I read the book the Shack and I am sure my amazing husband was reading the Bible. The book the Shack was a gift from God to read in Russia. We got dressed and Brian braved it out going to the hotel café’ and had something that I am sure I could not stomach, he may have brought me back a yogurt but I really had a hard time eating when I was in Russia.

The interpreter called and said she would be to the hotel around 9am and she was right on time, we really enjoyed her, but she tried to not be attached because it was business. She usually had a driver when ever we went anywhere but this time she drove, now we know why she usually had the driver. We parked in a place that you would not get away with parking in, in the states, but it seemed to work for them. We walked a block to the court house where we waited in the hall at a table until the judge was ready. The hall way was large and wide, and the doors were upholstered leather with large buttons. There were large plants in the windows and the windows were large looking out at the other grey concrete buildings.

The court room was what you would expect, ornate wood carved throne type chair for the judge and two on either side. Wood panels surrounded the room and we sat in what would be the jury box. We had prepared our speeches of why we desired to adopt Edik. It was about the Lord calling me to adopt a Russian boy 13 years prior and that we had grown boys and were not ready to quit being parents with the active life that brings. Their only questions were why not a girl, maybe we would like to reconsider (Edik was sitting there) I said I know boys better and she said maybe you will come back for a girl, I assured her no.

They announced their decision that we would be suitable parents and he was ours. If we would have only known that he was going to be ours and that from that moment on he was our responsibility we would have made different travel plans. But we did not know he would be ours then. They whisked us down the street to a place that took passport pictures. Then we gave the orphanage workers a big bag of candy for the other childeren and they took our son back with them to Veliki Luki. This time I feared for his life, I knew how they drove. But as always I know God is in control and He has a plan and I will be prepared what ever happens. It felt so strange and wrong for him to have to go back to the Orphanage, we were disheartened but un-informed.

So that was the court hearing process that got him here to us. What an amazing year, it feels more like three months but yet so much has happened. Edik has grown so much and evolved into the amazing kid that he is.

The party was fun with Grandma and Grandpa Fox-Goodman and Keyser there, big brother Peter and sister-in-law Amy, pseudo auntie Tracey. The Foxes came up from Coos Bay and Tracey down from Kent Washington and the senior Keyser’s all the way from Hayden Island Or.
Edik greeted everyone with a big hug. It had taken all week for me to help him understand why we were celebrating this very important day. I told him that being born was the most celebrated day of his life but the day he became our son is the second most important day of his life. I helped him understand that when he was adopted that means that he no longer had to live in the Internot (Russian Boarding School) where no one took care of him, no one held him, no one kissed and hugged him and no one cared about him and no one helped him to become the boy that God has called him to be.

He got it! Everyday he anticipated the party, I let him help plan it so he understood what was happening. He chose hamburger and french fries for the menu and a chocolate cake with white frosting. He wanted Dr. Pepper for dinks. This is all huge step for him considering he never asks for anything. I see progress.

We were going to watch the Beaver game and hope they win, they did. We had presents, Beaver tee shirts, a crash car and a gift certificate to Applebee’s, for Daniels favorite hamburgers, which is Edik’s favorite as well. Grama Goodman gave him a locking diary. Everyone told him that he could keep his secret thoughts in the book and that he could lock it and hide the key so that no one, and they all turned and looked at me, could read the book, but my loyal baby came over and whispered the secret hiding place of the key to me J.

The cake was a child’s cake it looked like a child made it and it was decorated for a child and he loved it. It is the second cake he has ever had in his life that was just for him. It had chocolate strawberry filling upon his request. He wanted the piece that said Edik, well that piece was in the middle edge of the cake, so I cut out that piece and served it up much to the surprise of the watching, doubting crowd of drooling on lookers. But they all roared with almost pants wetting laughter when the first ball of ice cream I was scooping up jumped out of the carton and ran across the counter for the edge and jumped over but not before agile 69 year old Grama saved the ball from its attempted escape, only to be tossed over to Peter for its demise down the drain, there was talk of letting Bella have it but it was chocolate so the disposal ate it. That was a very funny event. But Edik trying to understand what Amy was talking about betting him something was funny as well, how do you explain betting when the person has no concept of money.

We had a call from absent Andy wishing Edik happy adoption day, he lit up like this completed the fantastic day. I have never seen a kid embrace a celebration as much as he did this day, he loves his family, all of them, he genuinely cherishes each and every relationship and that is an amazing feat for this little boy. God has done an amazing work in his heart and is healing the lost time without people who think he is utterly amazing.

We are amazingly blessed to have this child in our life and our home. He has changed all of us and brought more love into our family. We never dreamed that we would have had this kind of experience. I love Edik like he was born of me and Brian and I have no idea where those real feelings come from other than our faithful God and Savior.

Our young son exhausted and greatful for his special day!

In the parking lot of a New Age Coffee shop in the strangely oppressed town of Coos Bay the question is thrown out…. Are you going to Alaska for Cami’s wedding? I look at Steve and Tracey and say no, we can’t afford it. That was Labor Day.

I get a call and it is a 907 number this is my Alaska area code, so of course I answer it quickly wondering who it is. My dear friend Lori Jone’s, what could she possibly want, considering we never just chit chat on the phone. She is very forthright with what’s on her mind. Can you come? I need help with the wedding; I will buy your ticket. Three magical sentences’ that propelled me to get Brian on the internet. He found Edik and me seats for 2 days prior to the wedding. So with air miles we went to Alaska.

We had a great flight, Edik asked about the airplane wheels and how airplanes are made, and how this works and that works and are the tires full of air or solid rubber. It was fun to hear all his questions and to get to answer them. Some questions we asked directly of the pilot. The pilots invited him into the cockpit to have a conversation. It was a lot of fun for him. He watched movies and cartoons on his portable DVD player and read the emergency seat card in Russian and English, and trust me there were lots of questions about why the airplane was in the water and were we going to crash.

When we were standing on the curb in-front of the Bill Sheffield Rail Road Station. This is the station that takes the tourist from the airport to the port of Seward I am assuming. Because cruise ships certainly do not come in the muddy, silty port of Anchorage. This is also the building that we were going to have the wedding and reception in. It was so close. Lori had suggested I walk over to it but it was new to me so I declined, but once I got my bearings I could have done it. I could have even gone inside the terminal and gone through the tunnel. But we waited for LJ to pull up in the Tahoe!

We checked out the place and then met up with Lori Vergason for lunch and coffee. Edik and I along with Cami the beautiful bride to be and mom Lori Jones all had lunch at a fun little café’ great company but horrible coffee.

We ran around shopping, hunting and gathering for this wonderful event. We made it to all my favorite haunts, JoAnn Fabric where we ran into Suzanne Gionet, amazing. Michaels’, Wal-Mart where we scoped out fish for the center pieces. I even got to go to the Floral Wholesale and pick out flowers. Awesome!

The colors where Red and Orange with ascents of brown and white. I found out as we were shopping that I would be making corsages. I thought Lori had understood that I did not want to make them but she was insistent and she had not ordered them from anywhere else.

We spent 6 hours setting up everything for the wedding. It was pretty with large red paper balls and white table clothes with red table squares and glass cylinders and gold fish. There were white lights everywhere and red and orange tulle. It was a magnificent transformation.

The bride and groom were to stand with the Chugach range in front of them. There were round tables with seats for all the guest, no single seating for all the guests.

I woke up early and went down to my design studio (Lori and Bruce’s garage). Before everyone else had got up I had finished three of the large arrangements. Dylan put on DVD’s for me as I worked. I made all the brides bouquets and the Brides that must have weighed 10 pounds. I pulled all the flowers for the boutonnières and the corsages’ that I really did not enjoy making. By 11 am I was working on the above mentioned torture items. With Cami and Naomi helping wrap stems we were done by 2 pm. We had to have the flowers to the Rail Road Station by 4:30 pm, we still had to get dressed and go to two stores for food that was needed for the reception.
It was a mad house getting everything set in place and pinning all the flowers on people. But it was so pretty. Dustin did all the food and he had a prime rib that was so good, I just wish that there was more room. We ate well.

I got to see a lot of my old friend and I had wished that I had Edik with me so they could all meet him. But I had met Uncle Mark in the parking lot at Sam’s club and gave Edik to him. Now there is a lot of trust and faith on all of our parts but it worked out great.

With the wedding behind us we set out to have some more fun. We met up with Uncle Mark, Aunt Cheri, Stuart and Kevin at Danes regional x-country running meet. He did amazing and it was a beautiful day, clear sky and crisp air. Felt good to be at a running meet at my old high school brought back lots of memories of those old days, stories that my nephews are not yet ready for.

We watched Kevin’s soccer match at Eagle River High School field. What an amazing back drop I can’t imagine a school having a prettier setting. After the match, the Goodman’s, Keyser two, Vergason’s and Crabtree’s set off on an adventure. We hiked the Eagle River Science trails; we saw salmon spawning, and a closed trail due to a bear dinging on something, big rocks with great views and a rushing raging river that was fun to throw stones in. A three hour hike that involved a lost standard poodle and lots of hikers and no lunch.

We were famished and went back to the Vergason's and had a big salad with some of the other left over food from the wedding. We all had to prepare for Ed and me to go home. We had our sad good bys. The Crabtree’s got on our flight home and Tracey and I talked for the three hour flight and Steve and Edik sat together, once again Edik was fascinated with the emergency flight card in the seat back in front of him.

VIVA LAS VEGAS SEPTEMBER 2008

Can you imagine coming from a place as gray as the Alaskan sky, a place where the walls were concrete and the air was thick with man made humidity and the smell of cat poo! Can you imagine having nothing and not even wanting anything because you couldn't have anything. Then you get taken away from this cold gray unfriendly scary place and you are suddenly dropped into an environment that is always changing and always magical and amazing and fun, and welcoming? This is what little Edik has experienced, imagine him in Las Vegas.

Remember going to Vegas your first time. What an amazing place, larger than life, brighter than anything you have ever seen, day or night, colorful and intriguing. The imagination used in this town exceeds any creativity of any film I have ever seen. I love this town, it is beautiful, and glittery and so unreal, it is fun to look at everything and to know there is so much happening in this town, things that are unspeakable, profitable, destructive, fun and I could go on and on.

Imagine Ediks awe of this new and wonderful world he entered. We stayed at the Caesars Hotel what an opulant tribute to Roman Architecture. I can say he was overwhelmed with everything, so overwhelmed that he kind of closed it all out and just tried to stay in his small imaginary world.

We had nothing but time, Tracey Crabtree was with us, we were "the lazy trio" sleeping till 10am, going to the pool until 2pm and then starting our exploration of the city. There was plenty of time for talking and sorting out life, and enjoying the good things. Edik loved splashing in the pool. He tried learning to swim with Tracey and he used his imagination talking and telling stories while splashing around. I think the pool was as big an area as Edik wanted to explore. He would have spent all day there if we would have let him.

We went to the MGM Grand the first night because I love the Buffet. I was so looking forward to the Champagne sauce over the exquisite bread pudding. But they added nuts to the pudding so I could not have it, I was so disappointed. I decided to just eat more of all the other wonderful things like Prime Rib. We told Edik he could try anything he wanted. He was adventurous and took a lot of fish and shell fish. He loved all of it. We had him try the prime rib but alas he still does not like meat. He ate a lot and had lots of desserts.

We saw the lions in the glass cage and we could look up under them through the glass, that is what the above photo is of. We walked down to one of my favorite places the M&M factory for a quick tour and show of Lost in Las Vegas M&M. We went down to the game center to see if the virtual boxing game was still there. I wanted Edik to have a whack at beating up Tracey like Andy did when he was Ediks age. But it was not there, we bought a card so that Edik could have all the gaming time he wanted. So he played a lot of video game and loved it!

Edik love the Harley Davidson store and restaurant that we toured through, it was all so fascinating. We had never gone through it before. It was fun to see Billy Joel's bike that he had completely restored. Seeing Billy Joel in concert is one of my life time goals, his vintage bike was great.

We had a fantastic beverage as we walked back to the hotel and it made fighting the quick careless crowd much easier to handle. Exhausted we gave in to sleep. Edik had a nice little tent made out of a bed spread and the table in the room that he slept under. We knew better than to put him in a bed with another human. He sleeps like a windmill.

The Bellagio Hotel is one of my most favorite hotels. I like it so much I named my dog after it! It has beautiful blown glass sea anenomies and amazing floral displays. It has a magnificent chocolate fountain and just a great atmosphere. I like the fall installation that I always miss, but they build this amazing scene out of flowers, this year was a huge water wheel and a giant scarecrow and a floral tunnel that you would not believe.

Cheeseburger at the Oasis is the place to get incredible hamburgers. They did change the bun so it was not as terrific as it use to be. Located in Planet Hollywood along the Miracle Mile, which is the ultimate shopping experience. We had a fun time checking out all the fun thing stores.

Sigfried and Roy were the entertainment at the Mirage, which we had a clear view of from our room. You can no longer see the Lions in a glass cage for free now you get to donate to the empire at $30 for adults and $15 for my little buddy. I have to admit, seeing the lions was fun because there was no glass between us and they were roaming and seeking whom they would eat! The Dolphins were so fun to watch, there was a new baby, 7 weeks old. The male Dolphins wanted to get to the females but they were in different tanks. But the boys made it very obvious they wanted at the girls, if you know what I mean, if you don't give me a call.

The Venetian with the wax people and the Blue Man Group was so fun. We found our new favorite restaurant. It is a Mexican place along the canal, we could hear the opera singing Gondola operators. The food was great, considering we were not impressed with the MGM Buffet and Cheeseburger at the Oasis any more we needed something new.

We met a fascinating British couple who agreed to take our photo at our new favorite restaurant. They were fascinating in that we had an amazingly stimulating political discussion. UK has some serious issues and a lot of them stem from their socialization of their health care. They also had strong opinions on which candidate should be elected to be our president. They had traveled a lot and told us that we really need to go to Prague. We are game!



One of the fun things we saw was the engraved image of the goddess of JUNO. Juno is our granddog. This is our photo of the goddess. Edik what did you think of Las Vegas "it was fun" long pause, "I got to play games". So you can see the child's opinion of Las Vegas, I see it as priming the pump for a future gambler. Oh Lord may it never be!

Boise or Bust

Every great trip begins with Stumptown coffee from downtown Portland! There is something comforting and familiar with getting that smooth rich coffee, I think it must be an addiction because we manipulate and contrive and go out of our way to get this coffee. The froth is just perfect as is the body. Needless to say we left town with a satisfied smile on our face.and coffee on our breath.

We were equipt with our new Honda Pilot with its on-board GPS, that is actually big enough for us to see. We plugged in Paul and Maria Sestero's address and told Tilly to route us there.

Fully anticipating a long and boring drive Edik and I had our DVD players. I have my McGyver series and my cross dressing favorite with Patrick Swazy and Wesley Snipes To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar this is a classic funny movie, with a fun message about being yourself. Oddly enough they are men dressed up like women so I am not really sure how that equates but they help the other people in the movie be who they really are. Anyhow that is a whole nother discussion!

I thought it would be fun to take photos at each of our stops. We were alloted a bathroom stop each 2.5 hours. Edik has an imature or shy bladder we dont know which but he needed to excersize his right to go more frequently. We had lunch at Subway in Pendlton, there was road work going on and traffic was a bear, but the sandwich was good. I was so board all I could think about was chocolate.

We stopped just a little out of our way at my friends car wash in Union Oregon. He had just started his laundry mat and dog wash coupled with the car was and a coin-op video rental, "Red Box". This detour really bummed Andy out because it made us getting into Boise later than he had anticipated. I think that it still worked out pretty good. Our dear hostess had just returned from 7 days in Coquille, Or. spending time with her young grandson. She was exhausted and I am sure the few minutes she had to reacclimate to her own home was appreciated.

The Sestero's greeted us with open arms and welcomed us into thier lovely home. We were given the down stairs suite to ourselves. Andy took the family room and Edik had his own private Golf themed room and our room was beautifully decorated by our hostess. The beauty was one thing but we later found that the strange abillity to sleep late into the day was a part of these rooms as well. We certainly got some good sleep there.

The meals the Maria prepared for us were out of this world. Full course meals each meal. Breakfasts were amazingly delicious, fresh fruit, quiche', eggs, thick french bread that was a pineapple upside down cakes, sausage, home made cinnamon rolls and did I mention fruit. We even got to enjoy the Stumptown coffee each morning. Life was good!

We all enjoyed each others company and had lots to talk about. Paul, Brian, Andy, Sophie and Edik went golfing at the course that Sophie works at. It was very hot that day, but a dry heat. Maria and I went shopping at all my favorite places and a few of hers. She is an incredible shopper much like Lori V. so we were well matched. I saw her shop and just got to get familier with Maria and Boise. We had so much in comon that if I lived there we would keep very busy.

Maria does flowers, works at a school making the hot lunches for the children, she was in process of painting all the cabnits in the kitchen at the school, she caters and does an amazing job, she decorates businesses and peoples homes for holidays, she decorates for wedding and events, she loves to scrapbook and she is always being thoughtful of other people and extending some sort of kindness to them. She really is a remarkable person. I had house envey and yard envey, I am inspired to do more and improve what I have. I think the most inspiring thing is that she makes it look so easy and effortless. It was fun to be with such a ball of energy! Oh we also had the same taste in tee shirts 50% off the clearence at Fred Meyers purchased about the same day :)

There was a big cook out and many family members and some friends came over to eat and meet us. We had a blast, everyone was so fun and easy to talk to. I sat with Maria's sister a lot of the evening hearing stories and telling stories. Once again the food was outrageous. I think the picture will represent what it was like.

Earlier in the day, Paul had taken more time off of work to take us rafting down the Boise River. Hundreds of people do it everyday. I have always wanted to do a lazy raft ride down a river, it looks fun and relaxing. Well, our raft was not quite as big as it needed to be for all of us, Paul, Brian, Andy, Sophie, me and Edik. I will never forget having my back down river, and hearing the roar of the river and questioning why is there a sound the water is flat and smooth. As I turned I saw the break in the horizon of the water. I started out afraid, now I was scared. Paul had said there are just three small drops. I figured they would just be slants not really drops. But as we approached the roar, I saw the drop. A long drop (3 feet) and then a big trough and a wall of white water, frothing and hungry to eat our boat and all of us. Now I am terrified! I tell the people in the boat I don't want to die but we go over the edge and we all survive but soaking wet. It was so fun! We wandered down the river and made it through all the drops and oddly enough, we ended up being forced by the currents to all the rapids as well. It did not come to my attention untill late in the trip that Paul was purposfully paddling to them. It just added another element to the trip. It was a lot of fun. Andy got to go in an innertube and free float, he had to go down two of the drops and the rapids, I was worried for him but he did great. It was very fun.

We had so much fun with the Sestero family, they truly are fun, real people. We hope to go back for another visit.

Disneyland July 2008

Here we are in the parking garage at Disneyland. A stranger passing by saw us trying to get a complete family photo, so this is what we look like. The trip started all with Amy needing to return to the mother ship so she could make it through another year. She is re-charged and encourage by the magic of Disney. Peter and Amy were planning a trip and asked us if we would like to go, of course we said yes. Andy did not want to come at all, he "hates" Disneyland. But he decided to come along so that he could see the expression and excitment on Ediks face when he saw the wonder of Disneyland.

So Edik was fearless, unlike Andy and I we were fearful! The first place Peter and Amy and of course Brian headed was the roaller coaster "Screamin" Edik was holding Brians hand so naturaly he went with him to the line for the ride. Andy and I had more common sense than that and we went to a smaller less scarry ride. Edik loved the ride and was not afraid at all. The number of rides we rode that first day was staggering.

We had gotten up at 3 am and did not go to bed until the next morning at 1 am. I was on vacations so I could just keep going and going. Brian felt like he was coming down with something because he was dizzy and nauseous. Turns out after a good night of sleep and not being on twisting, turning, dropping, soaring rides he felt better, but to avoid this feeling again he took some motion sickness medicine that made him not able to recall the second day of our trip. He was not too much fun, we came home from Knottsberry Farm at 5pm and in our room at 6:30pm and he was out untill 6:30 the next morning. Better living? through modern chemistry.

Knott's was so disappointing after being in the well run and efficient Disneyland. Peter and Amy kept us going and able to ride an amazing amount of rides because of the FastPass system they developed. So the first day we did: Mulhonland Avenue 2x,Screamin 3x,Tower of Terror1x, Muppet Movie 1x, Monsters inc. 1x, Soaring 2x, Splash 2x, Pooh 2x, Star Tour 1x, Malibumer (just Peter, Brian, Edik)1x, Grizzly Rappids 1x,Space Mt. 3x, Matahorn 1x, Indiana Jones 1x (thank goodness because it was shut down the rest of the time), Pirates of the Caribbean 1x. That is a lot of rides for having gotten up at 3 am!

Tuesday was the day of the Earthquake 5.8. Everything shut down. We were using one of our Fast Passes to get on to Screamin. Oh! Andy and I were initiated into riding Screamin Sunday night and we were hooked. As we were standing there I heard a rumbling and I thought to my self is that the ride,I don't remember it from the last 5 times we had rode it. I looked at the young lady taking our fast past and said that is not the ride is it? She said no, I think that is an earthquake, we came to the same conclusion at the same time. Naturally the rides were all shut down and they had to inspect each and every joint and system. The park shut down for 5,5 hours. We waited it out by the Grizzly Rapid ride for a long time because there were benches and shade. People just walked around and looked at things and others just sat. We met a fun guy from New Jersey that we kubitzed back and forth with. Amy made the call that we would go back to the hotel and swim or take a nap. We all ended up taking naps. When we came back to the park we had to eat dinner and we had some fast passes to use but really not to many rides were available. We watched the parade and it was amazing.

The sad last day, we did Tunetown for Edik and all the fairytale land, because we had not had time to even look at it. They were not thrilling but they were cute and fun. The trip home was uneventful fortunatly. We had a great time, Andy was converted to be a Roller Coaster junkie like his dad, brother and sister-in-law. Edik was in awe of all the rides and the sights and the thrills of the roller coasters! Peter and Amy were re-charged and ready for another year.

I think we will have to go back, I loved having breakfast with the Characters, Pooh made me feel thin!