Back in Russia
ARRIVAL IN MOSCOW - FEBRUARY 10
We arrived in Moscow on February 10, 2008. We had to take an earlier flight than expected because there was no direct flight from Atlanta to Moscow on Sunday night, so we left St. Louis at about 11:20 a.m. on February 9. Upon arriving, we collapsed.
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 11
On Monday, February 11, 2008, we saw some more sights in Moscow. Below is a picture On the way to the Kremlin Museum we passed the Russian Conservatory with a statue of Tchaikovsky in front.
At the Kremlin Museum and saw thrones, carriages from the Czar period, ball gowns belonging to Czarinas (including Kathryn the Great - she was a very large woman), and many gifts to the Russian state from diplomats (lots of gold stuff). The most amazing thing was a collection of jewels from the Czars and Czarinas. We saw a diamond that was over 110 karots. Vicki liked only seeing the large diamonds and jewels. Eddie, of course, was interested in the history of it all.
On the way back from the Kremlin Museum we stopped by Red Square again. This time Vicki made a new friend. Note that she isn't too fond of him. It cost us 200 rubles to have her picture taken with him. See below.
Eddie saw something we didn't think he could pack in the suitcase nor that we would see in Russia - a Lamborghini.
FEBRUARY 12 - ON TO NIZHNY
On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, we boarded the train for Nizhny Novgorod. Below is a picture of the train station.
FEBRUARY 13 - ARRIVAL IN NIZHNY
We arrived in Nizhny on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. While we were getting off the train, Eddie fell trying to get the luggage off and then Vicki really fell flat coming down the steps of the train. Our contact in Russia looked at both of us and I'm sure wondered how we could care for Nik, when we couldn't walk.
We saw Nik again on Wednesday. He had been sick and had fallen down and skinned his head. They tried to cut his hair, but he looked pitiful. The place where he had bumped his head was treated with iodine and had turned his hair pink. He sort of had a 1980's mullet except for the chunk of hair cut out to treat the scrape on the back of his head. He wasn't too sure about us, but warmed up to Vicki before we left after the short visit. Below is a picture of the fashion-forward outfit they had put on him. It was a sort of bath robe with a knitted set of overalls. Vicki was about to have a fit.
FEBRUARY 14 - COURT
Court was at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 14. We got to the court house (a picture is below) at about 9:30 a.m.
Dmitry, our interpretter, went through all of the testimony we prepared. At about 9:45 p.m. a very nice couple from Chicago, Illinois came over to introduce themselves to us. They were adopting two children. A 4 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. The judge had postponed her ruling because the husband had a heart condition and wanted him to see a Russian doctor. Of course, this totally freaked us out! These people were told that they may not be able to adopt their children after traveling half way around the world TWICE. Well, we calmed ourselves down and in the end the judge allowed them to take their children. We also learned that our hearing had been postponed by half an hour to allow the judge another hearing with the Chicago couple.
During the hearing, we were in the court room with 2 social workers (one from the orphanage and one from the Ministry of Education), Julia (our coordinator), Dmitry (our interpreter), the court reporter, the prosecutor (sort of a guardian ad litem for Nik) and of course, the Judge. We had been forwarned that the Judge was very stern and not proned to smile or give you any warm fuzzies. The warnings were correct. The hearing began with the Judge yelling at Dmitry and Julia in Russian and closing her file several times. We thought that she was going to tell us that we couldn't adopt our child and postpone like she did with the Chicago couple, but we had no idea why since her sharp tones and high volume were in Russian. She finally calmed down and proceeded. We would later learn that in the rush to get us a court date, Dmitry had failed to interpret something on our immigration paperwork (just an oversite) and she was giving Dmitry and Julia a tongue lashing over it. The hearing continued with a few formalities and then Eddie and Vicki giving their testimony for about and hour and a half. We would speak, then Dmitry would interpret, then we would speak some more, Dmitry would intepret and so on. The Judge actually smiled a few times during the hearing as she looked at pictures that we brought of our first visit with Nik in December. After the trial, she turned very warm and smiled and wanted a picture of us in front of the Russian flag. Below is the picture.
Below is a picture of Dmitry and the social workers and Julia and the social workers on the day of court.
The written ruling wouldn't be issued until Friday morning and we couldn't take Nik from the orphanage until we had the written ruling, so we had an afternoon to site see in Nizhny. Below are a few of the pictures we took.
The Volga River and the walkway right outside our hotel (the Hotel Oktyabrskaya).
Two feet of snow!
An ice sculpture near the Kremlin (yes they have one of those in Nizhny too - translated it means wall). Note that it stays cold long enough to have an ice sculpture outside.
The "Pedestrian Street" (the shopping area about a 15 minute walk from our hotel):
The Kremlin along the river in Nizhny (built in the 1200's to protect the then existing city):
FEBRUARY 15 - WE GET NIK!
On Friday morning, we went to the grocery store and bought cakes for the orphanage staff and arrived at the orphanage about Noon. We received medical reports on Nik as well as his schedule and diet. We learned that his diet was well rounded much like his belly.
People at the orphanage and the courts called us the "beautiful couple." We were told we didn't look American, but European. Flattering, but not sure what that means.
We gave clothes to a care giver and they dressed Nik and brought him to us. He cried and cried when they handed him to Vicki. The caregiver handed him to Vicki and kissed all over him. The social worker that was in court told her to come along, they had things to do. You could tell that it isn't easy for the caregivers to let the children go.
Nik soon calmed down and we had to stop and get a snow suit. We borrowed one from his cousin Jack that was way too big and were using a coat from Trey that was too small - not a good combination. After this traumatic experience, he fell asleep in the car. Below are two pictures:
When we got back to the hotel, we realized that they had cut his mullet and given him a bath. A wonderful surprise. Below is a picture right after we returned:
That night, we gave him a bath, which involved a lot of screaming. We now see why they only give them a bath twice a week in the orphanage. Remember the well rounded diet, here's the result - the well rounded belly (and check out those thighs):
FEBRUARY 16 - FIRST FULL DAY TOGETHER
Nik was a good sleeper. He went to bed around 8 p.m. and woke up (or at least we heard him) at about 8 a.m.
Nik has now warmed up to us (plus some). He's really funny and the Nik we remembered from our first trip. Here's a picture to prove his excitement when playing with Mom and Dad. We call this one AHHHHHHHH:
We decided to take a walk today. Yeah, a walk.....in winter.....in Russia. Smart move on Dad's part. Anyway, Nik didn't seem to mind too much, he fell asleep in the stroller. Here he is in his new snow suit:
We soon learned that Nik likes cookies (just like his big brother). We bought some Russian baby cookies that taste like grahm crackers. We have titled this picture "Nik Loves Cookies." He has six teeth, just look at those pearly whites.
Nik has really taken to Daddy. Here they are playing.
More to come...we return to Moscow on Monday night for embassy visits.
We arrived in Moscow on February 10, 2008. We had to take an earlier flight than expected because there was no direct flight from Atlanta to Moscow on Sunday night, so we left St. Louis at about 11:20 a.m. on February 9. Upon arriving, we collapsed.
MONDAY - FEBRUARY 11
On Monday, February 11, 2008, we saw some more sights in Moscow. Below is a picture On the way to the Kremlin Museum we passed the Russian Conservatory with a statue of Tchaikovsky in front.
At the Kremlin Museum and saw thrones, carriages from the Czar period, ball gowns belonging to Czarinas (including Kathryn the Great - she was a very large woman), and many gifts to the Russian state from diplomats (lots of gold stuff). The most amazing thing was a collection of jewels from the Czars and Czarinas. We saw a diamond that was over 110 karots. Vicki liked only seeing the large diamonds and jewels. Eddie, of course, was interested in the history of it all.
On the way back from the Kremlin Museum we stopped by Red Square again. This time Vicki made a new friend. Note that she isn't too fond of him. It cost us 200 rubles to have her picture taken with him. See below.
Eddie saw something we didn't think he could pack in the suitcase nor that we would see in Russia - a Lamborghini.
FEBRUARY 12 - ON TO NIZHNY
On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, we boarded the train for Nizhny Novgorod. Below is a picture of the train station.
FEBRUARY 13 - ARRIVAL IN NIZHNY
We arrived in Nizhny on Wednesday, February 13, 2008. While we were getting off the train, Eddie fell trying to get the luggage off and then Vicki really fell flat coming down the steps of the train. Our contact in Russia looked at both of us and I'm sure wondered how we could care for Nik, when we couldn't walk.
We saw Nik again on Wednesday. He had been sick and had fallen down and skinned his head. They tried to cut his hair, but he looked pitiful. The place where he had bumped his head was treated with iodine and had turned his hair pink. He sort of had a 1980's mullet except for the chunk of hair cut out to treat the scrape on the back of his head. He wasn't too sure about us, but warmed up to Vicki before we left after the short visit. Below is a picture of the fashion-forward outfit they had put on him. It was a sort of bath robe with a knitted set of overalls. Vicki was about to have a fit.
FEBRUARY 14 - COURT
Court was at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 14. We got to the court house (a picture is below) at about 9:30 a.m.
Dmitry, our interpretter, went through all of the testimony we prepared. At about 9:45 p.m. a very nice couple from Chicago, Illinois came over to introduce themselves to us. They were adopting two children. A 4 year old girl and a 2 year old boy. The judge had postponed her ruling because the husband had a heart condition and wanted him to see a Russian doctor. Of course, this totally freaked us out! These people were told that they may not be able to adopt their children after traveling half way around the world TWICE. Well, we calmed ourselves down and in the end the judge allowed them to take their children. We also learned that our hearing had been postponed by half an hour to allow the judge another hearing with the Chicago couple.
During the hearing, we were in the court room with 2 social workers (one from the orphanage and one from the Ministry of Education), Julia (our coordinator), Dmitry (our interpreter), the court reporter, the prosecutor (sort of a guardian ad litem for Nik) and of course, the Judge. We had been forwarned that the Judge was very stern and not proned to smile or give you any warm fuzzies. The warnings were correct. The hearing began with the Judge yelling at Dmitry and Julia in Russian and closing her file several times. We thought that she was going to tell us that we couldn't adopt our child and postpone like she did with the Chicago couple, but we had no idea why since her sharp tones and high volume were in Russian. She finally calmed down and proceeded. We would later learn that in the rush to get us a court date, Dmitry had failed to interpret something on our immigration paperwork (just an oversite) and she was giving Dmitry and Julia a tongue lashing over it. The hearing continued with a few formalities and then Eddie and Vicki giving their testimony for about and hour and a half. We would speak, then Dmitry would interpret, then we would speak some more, Dmitry would intepret and so on. The Judge actually smiled a few times during the hearing as she looked at pictures that we brought of our first visit with Nik in December. After the trial, she turned very warm and smiled and wanted a picture of us in front of the Russian flag. Below is the picture.
Below is a picture of Dmitry and the social workers and Julia and the social workers on the day of court.
The written ruling wouldn't be issued until Friday morning and we couldn't take Nik from the orphanage until we had the written ruling, so we had an afternoon to site see in Nizhny. Below are a few of the pictures we took.
The Volga River and the walkway right outside our hotel (the Hotel Oktyabrskaya).
Two feet of snow!
An ice sculpture near the Kremlin (yes they have one of those in Nizhny too - translated it means wall). Note that it stays cold long enough to have an ice sculpture outside.
The "Pedestrian Street" (the shopping area about a 15 minute walk from our hotel):
The Kremlin along the river in Nizhny (built in the 1200's to protect the then existing city):
FEBRUARY 15 - WE GET NIK!
On Friday morning, we went to the grocery store and bought cakes for the orphanage staff and arrived at the orphanage about Noon. We received medical reports on Nik as well as his schedule and diet. We learned that his diet was well rounded much like his belly.
People at the orphanage and the courts called us the "beautiful couple." We were told we didn't look American, but European. Flattering, but not sure what that means.
We gave clothes to a care giver and they dressed Nik and brought him to us. He cried and cried when they handed him to Vicki. The caregiver handed him to Vicki and kissed all over him. The social worker that was in court told her to come along, they had things to do. You could tell that it isn't easy for the caregivers to let the children go.
Nik soon calmed down and we had to stop and get a snow suit. We borrowed one from his cousin Jack that was way too big and were using a coat from Trey that was too small - not a good combination. After this traumatic experience, he fell asleep in the car. Below are two pictures:
When we got back to the hotel, we realized that they had cut his mullet and given him a bath. A wonderful surprise. Below is a picture right after we returned:
That night, we gave him a bath, which involved a lot of screaming. We now see why they only give them a bath twice a week in the orphanage. Remember the well rounded diet, here's the result - the well rounded belly (and check out those thighs):
FEBRUARY 16 - FIRST FULL DAY TOGETHER
Nik was a good sleeper. He went to bed around 8 p.m. and woke up (or at least we heard him) at about 8 a.m.
Nik has now warmed up to us (plus some). He's really funny and the Nik we remembered from our first trip. Here's a picture to prove his excitement when playing with Mom and Dad. We call this one AHHHHHHHH:
We decided to take a walk today. Yeah, a walk.....in winter.....in Russia. Smart move on Dad's part. Anyway, Nik didn't seem to mind too much, he fell asleep in the stroller. Here he is in his new snow suit:
We soon learned that Nik likes cookies (just like his big brother). We bought some Russian baby cookies that taste like grahm crackers. We have titled this picture "Nik Loves Cookies." He has six teeth, just look at those pearly whites.
Nik has really taken to Daddy. Here they are playing.
More to come...we return to Moscow on Monday night for embassy visits.
posted by Eddie and Vicki Lowry at 6:23 AM
1 Comments:
Hi guys! So excited that you've updated your blog! We've been checking it like crazy! We're so happy for you and will continue to pray for safe travel and nothing unexpected during the proceedings this week. Can't wait for you to get home! The pics are wonderful! The fun is just beginning! Stay warm and enjoy your final few days in Russia!
Love to all of you from all of us! The Korasick's
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