Wednesday, January 21, 2009

One thing about buying a first laptop computer two days before flying halfway around the world – you don't know how to do many things on it. This computer has "vista" which I've never used so am learning as we go with it. But one really neat feature of the word program we loaded is that it has a "publish" feature and you can write your blog and upload to blogger (or some others too) directly from word. So that allows me to type my chapters without taking the time off the dial-up connection AND I can start in the morning and finish in the evening!

This computer also has a built in webcam and skype but we have NO IDEA how to use that! Might have to ask Mike & Judy – and then find someone in Hustisford who has a web cam (Dave P, I'm thinking you might?) and maybe we can conference in with JJ someday! We do have plenty of time on our hands so have to just check out what else this machine can do!

Tuesday evening we decided not to venture far into the cold but did try the pizza place directly across the street. They did have an English menu but the servers didn't speak English. They did like we do –just kept repeating what they wanted to say but louder each time! LOL But we got our points across and had a delicious pizza. Most everyone who came in gets just an individual slice but we had ordered a whole pizza – it was like our regular 12" size. It was very good – not a tomato sauce on it but a oil/garlic type one, then we had "meat" (sausage, very good), tomato slices and cheese. We'll go back! Then we had our first Russian Ice Cream for dessert. It was like frozen cream – oh man, it coated the tongue! We probably should have split one (due to fat calories) but no, we each had our own. Chocolate shavings on the top – it was a delicious treat! Paid our bill (about $20 with the sodas and tip) and walked back across the street. We then watched several more episodes of "Without a Trace" – I was falling asleep way too early watching it but then JJ called. "Mom, I miss you!" – boy if that doesn't break your heart! "Do you know when you are coming home yet?" "Will it be right away after the 30^th?" (he's listening!) "Will I still be able to go to Sarah's house tho?" (lol, that made it real and much easier to deal with!) I asked him if he liked his present – the DVD "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (great movie!) - but he said he wasn't going to watch it until he can watch it with ME. I said "no" we can watch it again when I'm home but watch it with Grandma and Grandpa – that's why I got it for you! He can be stubborn tho when he gets something in his head so I'll have to wait to hear if he watches it or not. We had such a nice conversation – he sounded so much more grown up than a week ago!

When I get tired things become a "blurr" so I had to ask Brian what else happened last night! He said I fell asleep during the last episode he watched so I need to watch it again, too complicated to explain what happened. I actually slept quite well last night and woke up a little before 6am today! Jumped online to check comments and emails – our WI Bethany office has everything under control and the needed documents should be on their way to Russia in just a day or so. I can't Thank God enough for the wonderful ladies we work with – both in WI and MI – when you are so far from home it is priceless to know you have people covering you So many people have helped so much in this adoption! As some of my friends are blogging – when our kids get older and say "you don't love me", we have LOTS of ways to tell them how much we have loved them, including as Judy says "we got swabbed for you!" LOL

So now we are just waiting to be picked up to head to the TB specialist this morning. I am not sure if I posted this earlier or not but the reason we're having to do these again (and the H's for the 2^nd time in a week) is that the Judge says she got a new directive/law (like last week Friday?!?) that all international families must complete the medicals like Russian families do. So if we do exactly as that it "should" suffice… And JJ's medical form is just fine – children only need the one page documentation, just the adoptive parents need the 8-specialist one.

JJ, dad says that you need to get that Mario book so the next time you call you can explain better to him where the secret door is – he's having problems finding it! The DS is a good companion for Brian but JJ sure can kick his butt in most of the games!

We're back now from the TB hospital and got our stamps-our lungs look good. Tomorrow we get the infectionist results and then Alex will take the medicals to the judge to see if they are acceptable. If not, we have time to correct yet.

Alex did get a call that wasn't as good – apparently the prosecutor wasn't happy with Brian's presentation in court so we're going to have to work hard to change her mind at the next hearing. We're going to go in with pictures to prove Brian wants to be a dad to Genya and Brian is going to be working really hard in the next week to have his testimony ready. I really don't know why he was chosen to go first in the presentation – he shouldn't have according to our "court outline" and historical precedence but Alex probably should have prepared us a little more also. We specifically ask for prayers for Brian – to help him realize he didn't "fail" this first time and that he does a pleasing presentation to the court next Friday. We have the time now to prepare for this and I think he and I will both be better prepared. I know God didn't get us this far to have something like this stop us – we will be "on" next week! Also learned our necessary documents will be on their way to Russia by Wednesday afternoon your time… God is good and the State of Wisconsin SO helpful!!

This afternoon Skip H. came to visit while his parents ran around IRK a little more. He is an active 6-year old boy and we had to stay inside because it is SO COLD (-23c) today but we all had fun. He pretended he was a dog most of the time LOL. After he left we ate some dinner and now will be watching some more DVDs. I'm not exactly sure what's happening all tomorrow but pray for the H family as they're back in court at 10am. I think we're going to get the results of our last medical test tomorrow but not sure what else is happening. Sometimes we just go when called rather than trying to preplan anything.