Meet Nikolas
We had a great trip, but not without flight delays and other travel issues. Here's a summary:
December 22: We got to the airport in St. Louis at 9 a.m. for our 11:50 a.m. flight to New York's JFK Airport where we were to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight to Moscow, Russia. The flight from St. Louis to JFK was delayed and we missed our connecting flight in New York to Russia. We panicked because the next flight was on December 23 (arriving in Moscow on December 24). Our appointments at the Ministry of Education in Nizhny Novograd (an 8 hour train ride away) were on the 24th. We called our adoption agency and they said to keep traveling so we did.
December 23 and 24 (the days run together when there's a 9 hour time difference): After a night in New York, we got on the long plane ride to Moscow arriving at about 10 a.m. Our adoption agency was awesome. There was a driver greeting us with a sign that said "LOWRY" at the gate. He took us to our hotel (a Marriott in Moscow which was very very nice and very U.S.-like). We jumped in the shower and Anna (the wife of one of the coordinators in Moscow) met us for a tour of the city. We saw Red Square (see the picture below in front of St. Basil Cathedral) and other sites. We even stopped and had some coffee at Starbuck's. Vicki finally started to feel better from the bitter cold (see the picture below of Vicki in front of Starbucks). We returned to our hotel at about 6 p.m. and collapsed. We napped for a few hours and were picked up by another driver to take us to the train station for the trip to Nizhny.
December 24 and 25: The train ride was quite an experience. The "cabin" was 6 feet by 6 feet with two sets of bunk beds and a small table between them. There was no way to open the windows and it was really hot, so we stripped down and settled in, but couldn't figure out how to shut the light off, so tried to sleep with a large flourescent light overhead. About 2 a.m. (its now December 25), Vicki decided to use the elegant restroom at the end of the sleeper car. She described it as "nastier than any Johnny on the spot she had ever used." Eddie questioned this description until he used the facilities and decided Vicki had been generous in her assessment of the bathroom. Below is a picture of Eddie in the cabin and his reaction to the bathroom.
We arrived in Nizhny at about 7 a.m. and we were greeted by a very warm and smiling Denis(the husband of Julia, our facilitator in Nizhny). Nizhny was so much different than Moscow. The buildings looked like something out of a European travel magazine - very old, quaint and sitting on the banks of the Volga and Oka Rivers that join at the City. We traveled to our hotel in a Honda CRV (the vehicles in Russia were exactly like the U.S.). We were given about an hour to take a shower and get ready for the day's activities (and there would be a lot of them).
At about 8:45 a.m. we left the Hotel Oktyabrskaya with Julia for an appointment at the Ministry of Education. We picked up Dimitri (our interpretter) on the way and arrived at the Ministry of Education about 9:10 a.m. The person we met with at the MOE was very friendly and smiled a lot and told us (through the interpretter) that she hoped that we would "select" the child referred to us and Merry Christmas. This was a surprise since the Russian Christmas arrives on January 7, not December 25.
We left the MOE and went to a small restaurant and ate breakfast before our appointment at the "baby home" (the orphanage). We arrived at 11:15 a.m. for our 11:45 a.m. appointment, so we had to wait for some time. Below is a picture of the outside of the orphanage.
Finally, we were invited into the office of the orphanage Director. We were told ahead of time not to ask questions until the Director was finished with her review of the file. She would state a fact from the child's medical file in Russian and Dimitri (the interpretter) would repeat it to us in English. We were instructed to quickly write down the facts as they were conveyed to us. After she finished, we started asking questions. We asked about his diet, his schedule and other similar questions. She asked if we wanted to see the child and we immediately said yes please. They told us he had just woken up from a nap.
We were led to a much brighter and better kept room upstairs (as a friend described it...the parlor). It was obvioulsy a place intended to put the best foot forward for the orphanage. It has lots of windows, very clean with rugs on the floor and toys lined the walls. Soon, they brought in Nik. Dressed in what appeared to be cordoroy overalls and a light blue shirt that matched his crystal blue eyes, he was adorable. The overalls were too small as was the hat they had put on his head, but none of that mattered. He was beautiful. We were told that we would have about 40-45minutes and we were instructed not to take pictures or video until we decided to move forward with the next steps for adoption.
When we received our referral a few weeks earlier, we consulted with an international adoption pediatrician in St. Louis. She had given us some exercises to do when we saw Nik for the first time. Our logical side took over as we quickly had him clap, play with a toy, looked as his features and heard him speak. He surpassed all of the milestones that the peditrician advised us to assess. We signed the papers to proceed, continued to play with him and take pictures. Due to Russian law, we aren't able to publish the pictures of Nik. We will send them out when the adoption is final.
We came with a teddy bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop complete with a recording of our voices (Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Trey) that would play when you squeezed his paw. This was a great suggestion from our adoption agency. He was facinated each time the bear "talked." He took to Vicki right away, but seemed a little aprehensive about the strange dark haired man that would be his Dad. We were told that Nikoli had not been around men and this was a normal reaction, but Eddie would have none of it and he played, tickled and joked with him and by the end of the short visit, Nik had warmed up to Daddy as well.
While in the room, we were asked his new name. We said "Nikolas," but they also needed his middle name for the application to the court. We had talked about a middle name, but hadn't really decided. We had a short discussion and decided on Broderik (which means brother).
The visit ended too quickly and we were told Nik had to eat lunch. We left the orphanage excited, but wishing we could take him with us now. The whirlwind was far from over.
Next, we traveled to a notary public and signed the application to the court and a power of attorney so that Julia could act on our behalf in Russia. We then ate in another quiet cafe serving Russian food and then went back to our hotel. Our heads were spinning and we had only a few hours before we had to travel back to Moscow by train.
At 10 p.m. that night we were greeted by a smiling Denis again and taken to the train station. We boarded the train exhausted from little sleep and tried to sleep on the train ride back to Moscow. This time feeling like seasoned train riders, we were surprised to find a much newer train, cleaner facilities and a slightly larger cabin.
December 26: We arrived in Moscow at 6:15 a.m. and were greeted by our driver at the train station. We went straight to the Moscow airport, ate breakfast at a TGI Fridays and boarded our plane to Atlanta at about 1:30 p.m. We arrived in Atlanta at about 7 p.m. (eastern time) and back in St. Louis at about 8:30 p.m.
Its all sort of a blur, but we hope to go back to get Nik before the end of February. Keep us in your prayers. The paperwork in the United States is overwhelming and we need it done quickly. The U.S. Immigration Service does nothing quickly. We will leave you with this final picture (everyone wears fur in Russia)!
December 22: We got to the airport in St. Louis at 9 a.m. for our 11:50 a.m. flight to New York's JFK Airport where we were to catch a 4:30 p.m. flight to Moscow, Russia. The flight from St. Louis to JFK was delayed and we missed our connecting flight in New York to Russia. We panicked because the next flight was on December 23 (arriving in Moscow on December 24). Our appointments at the Ministry of Education in Nizhny Novograd (an 8 hour train ride away) were on the 24th. We called our adoption agency and they said to keep traveling so we did.
December 23 and 24 (the days run together when there's a 9 hour time difference): After a night in New York, we got on the long plane ride to Moscow arriving at about 10 a.m. Our adoption agency was awesome. There was a driver greeting us with a sign that said "LOWRY" at the gate. He took us to our hotel (a Marriott in Moscow which was very very nice and very U.S.-like). We jumped in the shower and Anna (the wife of one of the coordinators in Moscow) met us for a tour of the city. We saw Red Square (see the picture below in front of St. Basil Cathedral) and other sites. We even stopped and had some coffee at Starbuck's. Vicki finally started to feel better from the bitter cold (see the picture below of Vicki in front of Starbucks). We returned to our hotel at about 6 p.m. and collapsed. We napped for a few hours and were picked up by another driver to take us to the train station for the trip to Nizhny.
December 24 and 25: The train ride was quite an experience. The "cabin" was 6 feet by 6 feet with two sets of bunk beds and a small table between them. There was no way to open the windows and it was really hot, so we stripped down and settled in, but couldn't figure out how to shut the light off, so tried to sleep with a large flourescent light overhead. About 2 a.m. (its now December 25), Vicki decided to use the elegant restroom at the end of the sleeper car. She described it as "nastier than any Johnny on the spot she had ever used." Eddie questioned this description until he used the facilities and decided Vicki had been generous in her assessment of the bathroom. Below is a picture of Eddie in the cabin and his reaction to the bathroom.
We arrived in Nizhny at about 7 a.m. and we were greeted by a very warm and smiling Denis(the husband of Julia, our facilitator in Nizhny). Nizhny was so much different than Moscow. The buildings looked like something out of a European travel magazine - very old, quaint and sitting on the banks of the Volga and Oka Rivers that join at the City. We traveled to our hotel in a Honda CRV (the vehicles in Russia were exactly like the U.S.). We were given about an hour to take a shower and get ready for the day's activities (and there would be a lot of them).
At about 8:45 a.m. we left the Hotel Oktyabrskaya with Julia for an appointment at the Ministry of Education. We picked up Dimitri (our interpretter) on the way and arrived at the Ministry of Education about 9:10 a.m. The person we met with at the MOE was very friendly and smiled a lot and told us (through the interpretter) that she hoped that we would "select" the child referred to us and Merry Christmas. This was a surprise since the Russian Christmas arrives on January 7, not December 25.
We left the MOE and went to a small restaurant and ate breakfast before our appointment at the "baby home" (the orphanage). We arrived at 11:15 a.m. for our 11:45 a.m. appointment, so we had to wait for some time. Below is a picture of the outside of the orphanage.
Finally, we were invited into the office of the orphanage Director. We were told ahead of time not to ask questions until the Director was finished with her review of the file. She would state a fact from the child's medical file in Russian and Dimitri (the interpretter) would repeat it to us in English. We were instructed to quickly write down the facts as they were conveyed to us. After she finished, we started asking questions. We asked about his diet, his schedule and other similar questions. She asked if we wanted to see the child and we immediately said yes please. They told us he had just woken up from a nap.
We were led to a much brighter and better kept room upstairs (as a friend described it...the parlor). It was obvioulsy a place intended to put the best foot forward for the orphanage. It has lots of windows, very clean with rugs on the floor and toys lined the walls. Soon, they brought in Nik. Dressed in what appeared to be cordoroy overalls and a light blue shirt that matched his crystal blue eyes, he was adorable. The overalls were too small as was the hat they had put on his head, but none of that mattered. He was beautiful. We were told that we would have about 40-45minutes and we were instructed not to take pictures or video until we decided to move forward with the next steps for adoption.
When we received our referral a few weeks earlier, we consulted with an international adoption pediatrician in St. Louis. She had given us some exercises to do when we saw Nik for the first time. Our logical side took over as we quickly had him clap, play with a toy, looked as his features and heard him speak. He surpassed all of the milestones that the peditrician advised us to assess. We signed the papers to proceed, continued to play with him and take pictures. Due to Russian law, we aren't able to publish the pictures of Nik. We will send them out when the adoption is final.
We came with a teddy bear from Build-A-Bear Workshop complete with a recording of our voices (Mommy, Daddy and Big Brother Trey) that would play when you squeezed his paw. This was a great suggestion from our adoption agency. He was facinated each time the bear "talked." He took to Vicki right away, but seemed a little aprehensive about the strange dark haired man that would be his Dad. We were told that Nikoli had not been around men and this was a normal reaction, but Eddie would have none of it and he played, tickled and joked with him and by the end of the short visit, Nik had warmed up to Daddy as well.
While in the room, we were asked his new name. We said "Nikolas," but they also needed his middle name for the application to the court. We had talked about a middle name, but hadn't really decided. We had a short discussion and decided on Broderik (which means brother).
The visit ended too quickly and we were told Nik had to eat lunch. We left the orphanage excited, but wishing we could take him with us now. The whirlwind was far from over.
Next, we traveled to a notary public and signed the application to the court and a power of attorney so that Julia could act on our behalf in Russia. We then ate in another quiet cafe serving Russian food and then went back to our hotel. Our heads were spinning and we had only a few hours before we had to travel back to Moscow by train.
At 10 p.m. that night we were greeted by a smiling Denis again and taken to the train station. We boarded the train exhausted from little sleep and tried to sleep on the train ride back to Moscow. This time feeling like seasoned train riders, we were surprised to find a much newer train, cleaner facilities and a slightly larger cabin.
December 26: We arrived in Moscow at 6:15 a.m. and were greeted by our driver at the train station. We went straight to the Moscow airport, ate breakfast at a TGI Fridays and boarded our plane to Atlanta at about 1:30 p.m. We arrived in Atlanta at about 7 p.m. (eastern time) and back in St. Louis at about 8:30 p.m.
Its all sort of a blur, but we hope to go back to get Nik before the end of February. Keep us in your prayers. The paperwork in the United States is overwhelming and we need it done quickly. The U.S. Immigration Service does nothing quickly. We will leave you with this final picture (everyone wears fur in Russia)!
posted by Eddie and Vicki Lowry at 4:28 PM
2 Comments:
I can't get the tears to stop!! He is so beautiful and I love him already. I can't wait to meet him! Has Grandma and Grandpa seen the pictures? I know Grandma will fall in love as quickly as I. I would love to see more pictures and hear more detail. Matt and I will be praying for the time to pass quickly and for all to go smoothly with the process. I know you have a mother's heart for this baby already, Vicki, so I'm sure the parting was agonizing to say the least. Eddie, you look as if you have fallen into the father role just as easily! I love you guys. Keep the updates coming! Love, Kyla
I remember how hard it is to leave your kids in a foreign country once you have met them. I have been following your adoption through updates from Dawn Morrison and Susan Smith and just heard about your blog. It is comforting to know that God is sovereign and already knows the day He has chosen to bring Nik to your home, and I will be praying He will sustain all of you...and Nik...until that day arrives.
Every Blessing,
Natalie Runyon
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