Patiently Waiting

Okay! We're home and getting back to a normal routine. The waiting is only slightly irritating right now, but can imagine the "slightly" quickly becoming something more as time goes by. There's not much to report, as our lives are typically uneventful. Caleb is excited about his new sister. He has pictures of her in his new picture frame and in his wallet so he can show his friends. Now the dilema is what to do in preparation for her arrival home. We know that nothing in this life is a guarantee, except the fact that we will all die someday. We pray for the call announcing our court date. Until then, we have a few papers to get ready, a trip to prepare for, and a son to keep us occupied. And there's always . . . the BLOG, or "sickness" as Jonah refers to it!

Home Again!

Moscow airport has a “special” line for wandering Americans (and Russians who will be doing the same in New York). Only 4.5 hours to New York, 3 hour layover, & 2 hrs to San Louey! After living on snickers, chips, and water for a week, guacamole, Qdoba, fruits & veggies, FRESH bread, cold mile & cereal make our mouths water.

Jonah took Dramamine and is conked out. He might even be drooling . . . I hope he wakes up eventually. He was aware of the possibility of being left wherever he fell. I have played one-too-many games of “jawbreaker” on the pocket pc and am going cross-eyed. I keep looking at the pictures of Lilia on the camera, completely amazed by this whole ordeal. When we married 9 years ago, neither of us would have ever believed we’d be doing this!

As this may be the last blog for a while, we want you all to know how much we looked forward to checking your comments on the blog every morning. Thanks for your prayers and support. The fun has just begun! We’ll update you all when we travel again.

Last Day

The last day in Astrakhan and our pants are finally appropriate for the weather. We finally were able to get to explore Astrakhan a little before leaving. It’s amazing how busy we were . . . waiting for info, rides, visits, etc.

We had our last visits with Lilia yesterday. She was lively and smiley. She grew tired toward the end of the afternoon visit, and the caregiver carried her off to a room at the end of the hall. We were able to leave the blanket and photo album with the caregiver. The rep told us to expect to return sometime at the end of August to appear in court. Now it’s back to Moscow. We leave for home Sat around 12:00! Caleb, we’re coming home. Enjoy your last day of royal treatment! We’re ready to see Caleb, eat our regular food, and speak in complete sentences again. We can’t wait to show you all pictures of Lilia! Now we pray for smooth sailing for court.

Yes! We leave Lil-ee-ah and return in 2-3 months (hopefully) to pick her up . . after our court appearance, after a 10-day wait, after 7 days for passport process, after American Embassy in Moscow, after 18 hours of travel. Then home finally. And all this is subject to Russian government and any existing family members of Lilia. Thanks for the comments. We had some good laughs!

Got Smiles?

We had a more relaxed visit with Lilia this afternoon. Yes, we said Lilia! That's her Russian name . . . and possibly American as well. She warmed up to us and smiled a lot. She is easily distracted by things "over there". We spent much of the visit snapping our fingers and trying to keep her attention on US! We are demanding parents, aren't we? It is not easy to jump into her life. Everyone is a little uncomfortable, but each visit should get better. We're waiting to hear from the doctor and will make our decision tomorrow morning. It's only just begun! The Copes.

Meeting Little Solnishka

We actually met her today! We learned medical information, habits, and personality. She was unsure about us, but didn't cry. Since she's never been around men, Jonah gets an extra serious face. This afternoon we will receive a translation of medical records, and send medical information to our doctor and wait to hear back. We feel extremely confident that she is healthy, though. We get to visit again at 4:00 here. Linda and Marie, call us after 12:00 your time, and we should be in our room.

Another Day in Astrakhan

The Day,

This day was a normal day, that is until we were told "we leave at 5:30 for the Ministry of Education."! We said, "OK!"

What were not told was that at 5:30 we would be questioned about anything and everything about ourselves and, most importantly, we were going to see a picture of our daughter. The Taxi came, we got in. We parked, walked to the seond floor and sat in over- stuffed green couches in an unairconditioned room. The questioning was brief, but still caused at least 25 gallons of sweat to pour from our bodies. Then, for a long time a woman, who held our future child in her database, looked at pictures. She printed a sheet off and handed it to us. Our translator went through the specifics.
"Would you like to see a picture?"
And then, turning the screen, we saw a cute baby girl . . . brown eyes, brown hair, we ooooed and coooooed.

Joy, nervousness, mystery, more joy, and hunger (just for me, Andi has chocolate) We don't feel comfortable sharing specifics until we meet with the orphanage doctor and social worker tomorrow at 10:00am! Then we will meet her! Pray for us! More tomorrow!!!!

Encouraged

It's great reading your comments and feeling somewhat home. Thanks. This morning's breakfast (zaftrak) was cornfkakes and warm milk, ham, cheese and stale bread, hot dogs, warm apple juice. We were full for the first time. Sleep was great last night, and we woke refreshed. It's 12:00pm and still no word about the MOE (Ministry of Education). It has been great to talk with other families. We all get updates of each others' status from time to time. Such a blessing to have them around. It's hot!

Stevyn, you were all right. The russians like borstch (sp?), a beet soup. The manager of the hotel mentioned that meat (pork, beef, lamb) and starch (rice, potatoes) are common.

Den- Cue Ball!

We are in the lobby listening to a western song as background, can't remember the title, but seems weird in this setting. Off to enjoy the air conditioning of our room.

Astrakhan the day that wasn't

Today is Monday and we awoke thinking we would go to meet the Ministery of Education, but it was postponed until tomorow. In stead we went to a bank, to exchange money. Here is the transcript:
Teller: blah blah blah blah
Us: We need exchange oh moneyski?
Teller: blah blah blah (shaking head)
Us: We exchange el de pesos, spaseba um rubals
Bank goes from noisy and to silent
Teller: (shakes head and points away)
Lady behind us: Blah Blah (pokes us with cane)

So then we went to the super market in search of a bottle of water.

Here is the transcript:
Girl stocking shelves: blah blah
Me: water no (make sound of carbination)
Girl: da (points to bottle)

We then head bakc to hotel.
We are trying not to be discouraged but covet your prayers

Astrakhan

Trying to sleep, but a tad nervous. We arrived in our region tonight, Sunday, June 16. Astrakhan is very different from Moscow. It is a smaller, rural city. We were met by our agency's representative and translator. When we checked into the hotel, several other couples from US were visiting in the lobby. One of the adoptive parents helped us figure out our pocket pc issues. He's now known as our IT guy! We are very nervous about tomorrow as we will be attending our first meeting at the Ministery of Education. You all can pray for us . . . God is always good, but many stories from these parents remind us that we don't always "feel" the good when things don't go as smoothly as hoped. We want peace even if the bumps pop up. Easier said than done. Off to bed. It's midnight here, 2:00pm there. Meemom, give hugs to Cabob from us.

Moscow, June 17

We are writing from CHI Moscow headquarters. Our Holiday Inn Hotel was extremely nice, and very american. Last night (Sat) we slept for 10 hours, and today feel some what normal. The flight from Atlanta to Moscow was MISERABLE. Ten hours of small seats, constant shifting, and trying to wake up appendages that have fallen asleep. Last night we went for a walk and to find something to eat. We found a chicken restaurant (KFC) and they didn't speak english! We had to point and grunt and watch them roll their eyes, and listen to the people behind use mumble something like, "Stupidski Americanski" what ever that means.

This morning we woke, went to breakfast, and saw a buffet that had some items that were left from an episode of Fear Factor, not really. We went for another walk and then checked out of our hotel. We are now being briefed on Astrakhan and then will fly there at 4:30pm. We hear the planes our old military planes converted for public use, sounds fun. We met a couple that is picking up their son from Astrakhan. They flew out yesterday and we hope to see them at the hotel so we can talk to people again. Our CHI driver speaks english well, and had us laughing about his love for Elvis. Driving here is horrible. There must be a prize for how many times you honk in one trip, and for hitting other cars and scaring perdestrians. Love you all. We've really enjoyed reading your comments. Thanks for keeping us up to date! Write you soon...

Thursday 6/14

Tonight we are in St.Louis at a Ramada Inn, where someone has replaced the can of air freshener with "casket must". We are doing fine. Our son pressed "pause" on his Playstation game long enough to tell us goodbye. Fin, our dog, jumped on us, and made us yell at him one more time...love that dog. Tomorrow we arise at 3:30 am to catch a shuttle, to catch a plane, to go to Atlanta, to sit for 7 hours, to fly to Moscow, to rub our fingers up and down over our lips while crossing our eyes.

A Father's Point of View

My wife can tell you when we started receiving the many packets in the mail that we requested from numerous adoption agencies. I cannot. My wife can tell you when we decided on Russia, why we picked our agency, or when we went to the first informational meeting, or who was speaking. I cannot. My wife can tell you when we finished our personal biography, or had our first visit with our social worker, or what the social worker was wearing or saying, but I cannot. The only reason the adoption moves in the direction toward completion is because of the hard work, focus, and drive of my wife.

I can tell you that just as God has adopted us into his eternal family, we decided that it is only natural to be able to adopt a child into our earthly family. At least that’s what one of the adoption videos that we received in the mail said, and we both cried at how true this is. And so I told my wife, “Let’s adopt from Russia!!”, and I headed for a bowl of ice cream while my wife filled out the application and finished our dossier. I can tell you that I love my daughter now, even though I’ve never met her, I have no idea what she looks like, what makes her laugh, her favorite color, toy, the list goes on. I can tell you that I can’t wait to meet her.

For the last year and a half I have come home to sign and date papers . . . it’s what I do. I don’t know what these papers are, or who they’re for, but I sign them. Then we go to a bank and I, my wife, and someone called a “notary” sign and date papers together. It’s like a club. Then, we take these papers to an office in Springfield, and a lady takes the papers, puts a seal on them, and then, we hand her a check. Makes sense to me. I have been to the doctor twice to have him stick things in my ears and mouth, and frown at my blood pressure. And then one day, I received a phone call on my cell phone. It was Friday.
“Jonah, this is your social worker Diane.”
“Who?”
“From your agency.”
“What?”
Hours later…“We have a child in Astrakhan.” she said.
I remember a feeling of unbridled joy. Now I know where my daughter is!

"Solnishka"

Here begins the journey to meet our “Little Solnishka”. We are blindly traveling to meet a “girl up to age 2”, as we have been told. Our minds are flooded with questions, possibilities, and fears. We are excited to share our experiences with you all, eager to meet our daughter, and yet anxious about the travel. Please pray that God would fill us with wisdom as we travel and give us confidence in His sovereignty over this entire process.

We have half-heartedly been trying to learn some inkling of Russian before we travel; therefore, we wanted to incorporate a little Russian in our blog title. As with any language, there are certain words that are fun to say. Since my favorite Russian word is “naz-da-rov-ya”, which means “health”, we went with Jonah’s favorite . . . solnishka. What is a “solnishka” anyway? The Russian word for “sunshine” is pronounced “sol-nish-ka” . . . solnishka! So, our daughter is our “Little Solnishka”!