Finally online!

Some technical difficulties (me not knowing how to set up a dial-up!) but Andrew solved it this afternoon so now I’ll catch you up on our trip so far.
First, we are going to court Monday morning as planned. We do know our medical documents will not be accepted. One signature different than originally submitted (I knew it but hoped it would pass) and also too “messy” with stamps or something. So Alex today was making our appointments for meds here in IRK, like we had done before in ’07, and once those are done he’ll resubmit for another court date. This is NOTHING we weren’t prepared for so don’t fret over this.
Our visits with Nathan Genya have been very good. We went up to Cheremkhovo almost directly from the airport Friday morning IRK time. We had been flying for 24-hours at that point but were surprisingly not too tired. Andrew met us at the airport and has been with us both trips so far. When we got to the BH the Director visited with us in her office and a member from the Guardianship committee was there also. It was a VERY good visit. The director is in favor of International Adoption because “every child deserves a family” and will testify as to that in court. The Guardianship Committee will also testify in our favor. The director asked yesterday and another person (speech therapist? Psychologist? Social Worker? She’s one of those) asked today also for pictures and updates at times. They all are hoping the adoption is approved as Genya knows us as his parents and they feel it would harm him if it wasn’t as he’ll have a hard time bonding to anyone else. Apparently there was one Russian woman who came to visit him to possibly adopt but it wasn’t a good meeting as he somehow informed her (maybe said it, I don’t know) that he already has parents. But I digress – After our short discussion in the director’s office Genya was brought into the room. He looks very much the same as before but taller and missing two front bottom teeth! He’s sure skinny tho! He came right up to both of us and hugged and said hello Papa, hello Mama (in russian tho)and was happy to sit on my lap. Then he told us “my papa’s name is Brian and my Mama’s name is Debra” – and he had our Christmas Pix from last year in his pocket. They all said he looks at the pictures in the books we left and informs everyone he has parents. That is good but sure makes us pray more this all goes through!
So we’ve gone into a playroom both days so far – he loves the Fisher Price toy that he can turn on and off and it talks – he doesn’t follow the directions well tho LOL :) Loves the balloons the best. Also enjoyed the Dr Seuss book today. He repeats EVERYTHING you say – including if you say “say ready” he says “say ready”! He has a problem with the J sound so today JJ was “zay-zay”! And if he sees pictures of Brian and I with JJ he says, “papa, mama, genya!” He didn’t have any problems not recognizing me with my “new look” (so far Alex is the only one to say he didn't recognize me!) We were observed both visits by people who will testify for us in court and they’re all working hard to get this adoption approved. We can’t ask for more than that.
Tomorrow we will leave at 7am for the BH – and it’s only 2-hours tp Cheremkhovo, not the 4 I thought! Brian says it’s like driving to Appleton, but doing the whole trip on Oaklawn Road! Today we left at 7am, visited until about 12:30, got something to eat at a Russian bar/café (good food, not a lot of $$; 260r which is about $9.00), {we hadn’t eaten since on the plane yesterday morning so were getting hungry!} - Once in IRK we stopped at the grocery store which is like a mini Super Wal-Mart. Picked up some food for meals and snacking. Now I’ve cooked dinner of stuffed cabbage rolls (were pre-made, just have to heat), mashed potatoes (instant) and frozen corn… Some yogurt & little cookies for dessert too!
Watching some Happy Days dvds right now and probably will all evening. Haven’t ventured from the apartment at ALL yet! Long days away! Brian catching up on his lack of sleep over the past week by napping a lot – Last night we both slept very well so hope that trend continues – but if not we have DVDs!
The trip over was very uneventful – well at least after we made it to Ohare! We left Husty early to try and avoid traffic problems due to I-94 closing and the cold weather. We still got caught in a huge traffic jam but were able to catch the earlier bus because it was late! So arrived plenty early at the airport – did our check in and went through security. The laptop caused no problems but the DVD case did (the bag was handsearched). We left Chicago late due to deicing but made up time in the air. It was a very empty flight so we were able to spread out some. We dozed a little. Once in Brussels we again had to go through security and again the DVDs caused a hand search! That flight was fuller but we still were able to have a seat between us. Arrived in Moscow and were met by the guy who would help us get on the next flight – the same one who had met us in ’07 – and he still doesn’t speak much english! Our bags were overweight, which we knew, so Brian paid the overage charges while I waited. I had the bulk of the rubles so Brian put it on the credit card, which he said they preferred. Security at DME was uneventful – pulled out the DVDs to be scanned separately like the laptop tho. You walk through a big chamber when being checked and hold your hands up – then it does a 360o scan of you. We had lots of time to wait for our S7 flight so just found a seat and read. When Brian got up to walk around once a young lady, Victoria, came over to talk to me. She was just getting back home from 3-months in Australia visiting friends and just visited for awhile. Nice young lady. I asked her what she did for a job before she went on vacation and she had a manager position in a shooting store (?) – that lead to wages talk and she said she made $250 – I asked “a week”? She said “no, a month” – yikes! Finally, after about a 1-hour delay we finally boarded the jet and that was a full flight! We slept more on this flight but nothing real sound. The trip over was harder than I remembered it being but we’re settling in fine. The apartment is as we remember from 2004 but instead of a double bed in the 2nd bedroom there’s a twin bed. Otherwise not much has changed!
So now we’re ready to get comments from you! That’s what we read first when we dial up!
Stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment – it will be much shorter tho! LOL
PS – Mom, couldn’t install IM, was going to be almost 2-hours to download!

Our itinerary

Departing O'Hare Wed 1/14 American Airlines - flight#88 4:35pm -- Arrives Brussels, Belgium 7:30am 1/15. We get fed Dinner and Continental Bkfst!

Depart Brussels 1/15 on Brussels Airlines - flight #2835 10:25am, Arrives Moscow DME 3:55pm

Now I see why Katerina said we didn't have much time to enjoy Belgium - :)

Once @ DME we will be working with Philip or one of his people who will have gotten our Siberian Air tickets. We can't get them ahead of time but apparently they do this with people going to St. Petersburg also so it's not out of the norm... I think that flight leaves early evening to arrive in IRK early morning 1/16.