2/29/2008 - Friday

• 2/29/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 19Today is US Embassy Day.  I'm glad Marina brought us to the Embassy yesterday so we could see the inside and know where we needed to go and what to do.  For those of you who are on your way to Russia to adopt, here is a little FYI for you.  When you enter the embassy for your appointment, you must acquire two "tickets" after you go through the the security check point and before you go to Window 4.  The machine where you get the tickets from is in the same room as the metal detector.  It is a small machine that looks a little like a small lottery ticket machine.  If you miss that and don't get your tickets right away, they send you back.
  
  Dima picked us up around 10:00 AM.  We headed to the Museum of Military War History.  If you are a war history enthusiast, this would be right up your alley.  Peggy was a little crabby and didn't like it much, but she was a good sport anyway.  Dima, Michael and I loved it.  It was different seeing all of this war history and it not being American War History.  Some of the battles were the same - such as WWI and WWII, but they also had history on their other major wars with Germany, France and Afghanistan.  One interesting display was the remains of the American U2 spy plane and a model of the rocket that shot it down.
  
  Another interesting thing I noted while moving through the museum was all of the photos of Red Square.  When the Russians want to pump the people up and get them energized about something, they do it there.  If you look carefully in the background, you can notice that one of the church's that was there originally and is standing there today, is not in the photo.  You can thank Joseph Stalin for that.
  
  After we finished the inside displays, we went outside to see the bigger items.  Lots of rockets, tanks, trucks and my favorite - the HIND - one of the biggest, baddest and fastest helicopters ever made.  It was cool.  As a US Army Helicopter Mechanic, I had to study images of these but this was the first time I had ever seen one in person.
  
  One thing I'd like to mention - that I've mentioned in many forms before is the subject of Russian bathrooms.  Often times in a public restroom, you will have to grab the amount of toilet paper you think you're going to need from a common role near the entrance.  In some cases, they have already torn off pre-defined lengths of paper and hung them on a hook for you to grab.  Here is another FYI for you - take more than you need.  It is better to over estimate than under.
  
  As long as I'm talking about unusual Russian things, yesterday while we were out and about transporting our paperwork, I received a number of odd looks from people.  As it turns out, I was carrying a bag that had the emblem of the current reigning party in Russian government.  The bag is blue and has a picture of a bear with red, blue, and white stripes over head.  This symbol represents Vladimir Putin's party.  The elections are coming up and most people think it is a sham.  On the other hand, Peggy was carrying a bag with two naked black women with very very long red fingernails.  I think it was some kind of advertisement for a nail salon or something.  No one gave her a second look.   Hmmmmmm...?
  
  After leaving the War History Museum, we headed to McDonald's to meet with Marina for lunch.  We were stuck in traffic so we called Marina.  She went into McDonald's and ordered for us.  When we got there, we picked up our food and ate in the van.  Then we went to the Embassy.
  
  We were the fourth family to enter the Embassy today.  Even though we had to go back and get the tickets we missed, we still got there way ahead of dozens of other people.  It was nice to hear so much American English being spoken.  All of the stories were very similar to ours, "I had to wait 10 days... I'm glad the 10 days is over...".  
  
  The cost of of Michael's passport with Visa was $400.  The "interview" is not really an interview but just a review of all the paperwork involved such as the court decision, what we need to keep on us at all times, the mandatory Russian military service required of all Russian males when they turn 18 and how that affects Michael, what dual-citizenship means and how the US treats that,  the "secret" manila envelope that we will transport to immigration services when we reenter the US and finally and most importantly...  that Michael will become a US citizen as soon as the plane wheels touch the ground in Atlanta, GA.
  
  I had originally been told that neither Peggy nor I need to go to the consulate on Monday and that Marina would go.  The man we spoke with at the Embassy gave us the court decree from Cheboksary and told us that this is the proof that he is our son - legally.  If we are stopped and are without this paperwork... who knows.  It is important to keep this and our passports with us at all times.  We told that to Marina and she said we will go with her to the consulate on Monday.  I think it is very close to Arbot street and her and Peggy want to go shopping/site seeing again.... more hmmmmmm....????
  
  We left the Embassy and were about to head home when plans changed again.  Marina said there was a very nice Ballet Theater building where we could take some photos.  There is so much construction going on around here that the theater got sucked into it.  It too is under construction and covered with a large canvas that shows what it will look like when complete.
  
  Here is another FYI for those of you about to travel to Moscow - be flexible and ready for plans to change at any moment.  In some cases, the plan will have changed without you even knowing about it.  Here are some others:
  - bring along some shoes that are comfortable for walking long distances and a quick pace
  - definitely layer your clothing.  If I had to re-pack my suit case knowing what I know now, I would bring more short-sleeve, button up shirts and plain thin white under shirts.  Over here there doesn't appear to be a thermostat in any building or apartment.  The heat is either on or it is off.  Since it's winter now, the heat is on.  That means that they control the apartment temperature by opening a window.  If you're in a place where they don't (or can't) open a window, be prepared to cook and sweat like a pig.
  - You generally do not have to pay if you want to check your coat when entering a museum or some other building, but be prepared to pay 15 Rubles or more to use the toilet.  For that matter, most public places DO NOT have a toilet or restroom.
  
  That being said, we went to see the Ballet theater, it was closed and under construction and Michael had to pee so I paid 15 Rubles for him to go in a port-a-potty.  He thinks it was worth every kopeck.
  
  We drove back to Marina's flat and she asked Dima and I for some help.  Her father had purchased a new sink and cabinet for her son and was going to install it in her son's flat.  Her dad (aka Grandpa) is in his late 60's and has had a stroke.  Dima and I carried the vanity unit and some other stuff down stairs and into Dima's van.  We drove over to her son's flat where we were met with joy by the fiancee Natashia.  They do not have any kitchen cabinetry and do all of the dishes in the bath tub.  Dima had to leave so Marina and I carried the sink and base into the kitchen and then we had tea while Grandpa worked his magic.
  
  Watching him work and seeing how Marina behaves around him is inspiring.  I don't know how old Marina is but she wants to be a Grandma.  She is an adult mature woman and she loves her "papa".  At 67 years old, Grandpa is still very much the "go to" man when you need something done.  Here he was, a stroke victim and slightly paralyzed on one side, installing a kitchen sink for his future Grand-daughter-inlaw.  He had his tools with him and worked his magic.  Left, right, stand up, squat down, crawling into and out of the cabinet.  Then the test - water on... fill the sink... check the drain... no drips - success!  Natashia jumped up and down saying, "thank you, thank you, thank you".  Marina and I clapped.  Then Grandpa got his reward - hugs and kisses from Marina and Natashia.  I told him, "good job".  
  
  It is easy to see how much love bounces around in this family.  Marina, Grandpa, and Grandma give, and give, and give.  There is no shortage of reward for giving.  There is the love of family multiplied over and over again.  That is what I want.
  
  With Dima gone, we were forced to take a taxi home.  I asked if she was going to call one and she said, "No.  I show you how we do it in Russia".  We left the flat and walked to the street.  Marina walked arm-in-arm with her father, helping him to the street.  It was dark so we stood right on the edge of the street.  Marina was in the street flagging down cars, he father stood in the gutter and I stood on the curb.  It was a little cold, so Marina told me to put my hood up.  Being that it was dark, and that I was wearing a dark coat and standing on the curb (and perhaps looking very tall and large), I thought I might not look like a nice character to a car passing by.  I said to Marina, "If I put my hood up, I will look like a criminal".  She reached over and put her father's hood over his head.  He mumbled something to her and pulled it back down.  I asked, "what did he say?" She replied, "He says it makes him look like a criminal".  That's funny to me.
  
  Marina flagged down a car.  She opened the door and began chatting with the man inside.  Then she said, "get in".  This didn't look like a taxi to me and it turns out it wasn't.  It was an elderly man willing to help someone out.  Marina had negotiated a price when she first opened the door and he agreed to take us.  She said, "without you and Papa here, I would never get into a strange car".  She said most people in Russia are willing to help someone like this.  All they ask for is some gas money in return.  
  
  We drove home and Marina translated the conversation between the driver and her Papa.  The driver complained about how young people are disrespectful towards older people - especially on the subway.  It is a commonly accepted behavior for younger people to get up out of their seat and offer it to an older person when on the bus or train.  The driver says that you see this sort of thing less and less these days.
  
  We got home and Marina said, "tonight we celebrate!"  Today was a great and productive day.  Peggy and I legally acquired another child and Grandpa was a hero.  Grandma made ravioli and I prayed.  I thanked God for keeping us safe and for all the work that we all accomplished today.  I thanked Him for the new friends and family we've found in Russia.  We ate and made toasts to the children and to family using Luda's secret moonshine recipe.
  
  After 19 days in Russia, my camera's memory card is finally full and my cup runneth over.
  

2/28/2008 - Thursday

• 2/28/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 18Today was one of those days that started out looking bad but ended up very nice.  Last night I had a very hard time falling asleep.  I think I was awake until around 3:00 AM.  I developed a head cold from being out in the rain at Red Square yesterday and I couldn't stop my mind from reviewing the events of the day.  I didn't sleep well at all.
  
  Peggy on the other hand fell asleep right away but woke up during the night and could not fall back asleep.  By the time I awoke around 8:00, she had been awake for hours - reviewing the events of yesterday and missing home.
  
  Marina could see the distress on our faces and invited Peggy and I out to run errands with her.  Grandma would watch Michael while we were out.  Marina had to meet Lisa Smith - the leader of the Lighthouse Project to pick up documents and then with Katia to pick up and drop off translated documents.  Then we had to go to the US Embassy.
  
  This was my first time traveling around Moscow on foot.  Each time we went around town, we were in Dima's van.  This time we took the bus from Marina's flat and then got on the subway.  The subway is very extensive and amazing to look at.  It is well taken care of and meets the needs of millions of passengers daily.  This was the first time I had an opportunity to see some of the poor and needy in the city.  I didn't see many, but they were there.  Old men and women squatting down and leaning against a building.  They wore shaggy rags and held their hand out to collect a few kopecks or Rubles.
  
  On one occasion, there was a boy who was sitting near the top of the stairwell holding a sign.  It read something like the following:
  
  My mom is dead and my sister is sick.  Please help me.
  
  As I mentioned, the subway system is extensive.  I had learned that there are untold numbers of adults and especially children who call this place their home.  Each day, millions of people pass them by.
  
  Once upon a time, I worked for a man named Mr. Lopez.  He was born and raised in the Bronx.  I had told him that my mom worked for the police station and according to her statistics, the number one place to hide a dead body is in the Machickinee Flowage.  This is a very swampy place that is not too far from where I live.  I know that is a gruesome statistic, but there is a point in my telling this - I promise.  Hang in there.  
  
  So I told this to Mr. Lopez and he replied, "Do you know the best place to hide a body in the Bronx?  Right in the street where everyone can see it.  People will pass by for days and say to themselves, ' I don't want to have anything to do with that !' "  There you have it.  Horrific scenes of people in desperate need right there in front of millions of people who could help.  Most people just pass by.
  
  Getting back to my original story... We were to meet Lisa in the subway.  She is in Moscow now and I had been looking forward to meeting here.  She could not come for what ever reason and we met with Larissa instead.  
  
  In the subway, there are two bronze icons of a Russian Soldier with a guard dog.  It is rumored that if you touch the dog's nose, it brings you luck.  Consequently, the snout of this animal is highly polished from all the millions of people that pass by each day.
  
  We left there and went above ground to meet Katia to pick up and drop off some translated documents.  We met her in some kind of half office/half shopping center.  While we waited, to guys came up right next to us and began to play acoustic guitars.  It was very nice and soothing to listen to them play.
  
  Next stop was the US Embassy.  I was not allowed to take my camera in as it is a photo capturing electronic device.  What I can tell you is that there was a lot of Russian people applying for Visa's to get into the U.S.  In fact, I don't remember meeting another American while I was there.  We waited and waited for the people to call for Marina so she could do her business.  While we waited, we watched some bizarre old Russian comedy that was a little like the Three Stooges.  I think the Three Stooges are better.
  
  After the Embassy, we headed to a restaurant called Moo Moo's.  It is some kind of buffet where they have all different kinds of food.  After we ate, we headed to a famous market place called Arbot street.  No motor vehicles are allowed, foot traffic only.  It is filled with lots of small and sometimes expensive shops.  Of course - each of them have "the best price in the world".  While I doubt the "best price" remarks, it was a nice walk in one of the oldest parts of one of the oldest cities in the world.
  
  Marina, gave us the outline for our visit to the US Embassy tomorrow.  We must go in alone, have an interview, pick up Michael's passport and some immigration documents.  Either before or after this, we are going to try and visit the Military Museum that was closed the other day.
  
  Today was a good day and was just what the doctor ordered.  

2/27/2008 - Wednesday

• 2/27/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 17Today we had our hopes set high as we were going to be out and about with Dima.  We were tired of being cooped up and we wanted to get out and move around.  We packed a small bag of snacks for later and headed out.  It was not long before we were well on our way to Red Square.  Last night, I had spoken with Bill (the father of the other adoptive family) and he and his new son were going to meet us somewhere in Red Square.
  
  When we arrived, we walked straight for Lenin's tomb only to find that it was closed.  I guess they are "cleaning" him.  buried behind the tomb are the bodies of other famous people.  Lenin's wife and her sisters, Joseph Stalin (who was at one time along side Lenin inside the tomb), Leonid Brezhnev, Yuriy Andropov, Yuriy Gargarin,  Maxim Gorky (a writer), and American - John Reed.  Mr. Reed is the author of a book about the October Revolution.
  
  We passed the tomb and were walking towards the Historical Museum when we met Bill.  We decided to go into GUM because someone (Dima) forgot to go potty before they left home.  GUM is perhaps the first shopping market in Moscow.   It is not WalMart or even Super-WalMart but rather a collection of hundreds of small and very very expensive shops.  Clothing, furs, jewelry, perfume...  All the expensive stuff that we are continually bombarded with on TV but that most people I know avoid instinctively without a second thought.
  
  After we left GUM, we scooted around the backside of the Historical Museum and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.  That is very interesting to watch.  The Russian soldiers march funny.  I caught it all on video.  After the guards changed, another soldier came up to the chain fence and began to heckle one of the guards.  He went on for quite a while saying something to the guard that made him smile a little.  We asked Dima what the guard was saying.  Dima said, "I think he is crazy or not right in his head or something."  Indeed.  I would not expect this kind of behavior at the U.S. tomb.  That sort of behavior by one soldier to another guarding a tomb in front of hundreds of spectators would be grounds for an Article 15 from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  
  
  We walked back towards the museum and passed over a special spot right in front of the rear entrance to Red Square.  Around here they don't throw coins into a fountain and make a wish, they toss kopecks into this spot in the pavement and say a prayer.  One Ruble is a fraction of a cent.  100 kopecks make a Ruble.  10 kopecks are virtually worthless, but they are all over the pavement here.
  
  After this we went into the museum.  It is a massive three story + structure made of very red brick.  The history contained within it goes from the earliest known human history right up to the present state of the known world.  A museum would not be complete without the "clearly" defined stages of the evolution of man from ape...   The first floor brought us up to the 14th or 15th century of time.  There was a lot of slow walking and standing which was a good speed for Michael.  He picked up an information sheet at the entrance of each room and would look for the items described and called out to me, "Dad, dad.  Come here!  Lookit!"
  
  As I mentioned, the museum is very large.  By the time we got done with the 2nd floor, my lower back was beginning to ache.  At the rate things were going, it would be very late by the time we got done here.  Michael started saying, "Yuri tired.  Yuri hungry" over and over and over.  I thought, "We paid to go to to the other side of the world and we paid to get in here!  We're not leaving yet".  We continued to walk around passing the time and passing through time.  It is not often you get an opportunity to see this much history.
  
  We skipped the 3rd floor of the museum and went directly to the "Gold Exhibit".  We had to pay extra to see it so we didn't want to miss it.  In short, there was a ton of gold.  We also saw Stalin's pipe.  It was late by the time we finished seeing things.  We parted ways with Bill and his son.  They wanted to go get something to eat.  I had determined earlier that we were not going into any more restaurants with Michael.  He was tired and hungry, it was raining and we still had a lot of walking to do.  He was also pouting.  
  
  We had one final thing we wanted to see and that was the inside of St. Basil's.  Dima said that it was a lot like the other cathedrals we had seen in the Kremlin.  Peggy wanted to see the inside and so did I.  Dima agreed to take Michael back to the van and wait.  The steps inside St. Basil's are very steep and perhaps too difficult for Michael to climb.  Besides that, we had a bag of snacks in the Van that Michael could eat.  I guess you could say it was a "win win".
  
  St. Basil's is an amazing building.  Construction on it began around 1555 and it looks like a castle on the inside and out.  There didn't appear to be any form of heating system in the building.  Considering the location of Moscow, I would guess that 400 years ago, it would have been a very cold place during the winter.  Either way, it was a magnificent building.  If you ever get to Moscow....
  
  That was the last of our sites for the day.  We went back to Dima's van and drove home. When we got back to Marina's flat, Grandma had dinner waiting for us.  We had missed the mid-day meal so there was some hot soup waiting for us.  It tasted very good.  After that, Grandma brought out the main supper meal - beef patties with broccoli.  As soon as I saw it, I looked right at Michael and said, "Yummy!".  He immediately responded in a loud firm tone, "YURI NO!".  After the last broccoli incident, Michael had promised Peggy and I he would eat lots and lots of broccoli when we got home to America.  It looks like there was going to be a different plan.
  
  During times of conflict between us and Michael, I often think of what others who are observing us are thinking.  Perhaps they are thinking, "choose your battles".  Dima told us, "you are tying to build an entire house in a day" - regarding our desire to have Michael comply with our wish for him to eat what we give him.  I especially wondered what Grandma was thinking.  The other day, we had some kind of Italian Cucumber or radish or something.  It was very crunchy and juicy.  Not much flavor but I liked it.  Michael again exclaimed at that time, "Yuri NO".  It was then that Grandma put two slices on his plate.  I thought - "Good for you Grandma!  You go girl!"
  
  Anyway, I was not about to put up with any nonsense from Michael over broccoli this time.  Peggy and I switched places so I could sit next to him.  I put two pieces on his plate.  I don't need to go into any more details except to say that Michael was not very happy when he left the table.  We eat a ton of broccoli at home and someone is going to have to give in on this issue.  
  
  As I mentioned before, Michael is used to getting what he wants and getting out of what he doesn't want.  This morning, he and I were horsing around.  I was tickling and he was laughing.  That was when I looked into his mouth and saw some of his teeth.  He has had a lot of dental filling work and although I have never seen a tooth cavity up close before, there is definitely one growing on one of his front teeth.  I see this as symbolic.  
  
  What happens when you give a child all the candy they want and do not teach them how to care for their teeth but let them skip out on doing what needs to be done.  If I had allowed this with one of my other children, I would be guilty of negligence in the raising of a child.  This is what we are up against.  We must convince him that his best interests are on our mind.  That one day, he will go out into the world and must know how to care for himself and perhaps one day, care for a family.  I'm trying to keep my mind on the thought that God hand-picked us and our family just for him.
  
  Lord, help us to be the parents he needs.
  
  

2/26/2008 - Tuesday

• 2/26/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 16We are tired of being cooped up in the apartment.  
  
  This evening Dima called and asked if we were interested in going somewhere tomorrow.  I said, "yes, please,  anywhere".  Tomorrow we'll try Red Square again and then go to the Military Museum that was closed from the other day.  
  
  Being cooped up does funny things to you.  While you have so much time on your hands, your mind begins to  wander.  We compare and contrast Michael with our other children.  His behavior with theirs.  It is not necessarily a good place to be.  It is not an apples to apples comparison and we need to always keep  that in our mind.
  
  One of the things we are mulling a lot is the amount of English he speaks.  He knows a few key words here  and there but there is very little progress.  Here in the apartment, there is not much reason for him to pick up English.  He is surrounded by Russian.  We are trying to work on some key words.  Much of his  learning right now is around saying letters and numbers in English.  We also introduced some body part names  like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees and Toes).  Also eyes, nose, ears and mouth.  We are trying not to be too hard on him or ourselves or expect too much.  
  
  There are definitely some behavioral concerns we have but I am not convinced they are as much orphan related as they are personality related.  He is used to getting what he wants by playing cute and being persistent about it.  You may call that an orphan learned survival skill, but I've seen American raised children who  exhibit the same behavior.  We are trying to be patient, but some behaviors will not be tolerated.  One such behavior is indicating that you need to use the toilet and then instead - going into the kitchen and asking grandma for the chocolate wafer that we told you "no" about during lunch because you had soda with your meal.  Sorry about that... just  venting a little.  Serenity now, serenity now...
  
  This will be somewhat of a struggle when we get home.  I think mostly because of the language barrier.  Once we get a handle on that, I am expecting the situation to change a great deal.  While he will be another one of our children, he will not be able to "hit the ground running".  It will take some time for all of us to become fully incorporated.  
  
  Anyway, as I said, tomorrow we will attempt more sight seeing.  I think we'll avoid McDonald's, and pizza with broccoli.  Maybe we'll pack a bag lunch.
  

2/25/2008 - Monday

• 2/25/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 15Today is another gray and quiet day in Moscow.  Last night Peggy closed the curtains in the room so that the sun would not wake us up too early.  As it turns out, that was totally unnecessary.  I'm not sure what time it actually became light enough to see by but the sky did not get much brighter than that all day.  Unlike Cheboksary where they have more snow than what they know what to do with, Moscow seems to be experiencing some of the warming trends often associated with pollution.  Temperatures are higher (on average) than they have been in the past.
  
  One thing I've noticed is the amount of dirt everywhere.  If I were an entrepreneur, I would set up a car wash.  The only clean cars are new cars that have just left the showroom floor.  Other cars are absolutely covered in road grime.  Some of it comes off during the drizzly weather and the nightly snow fall but it quickly comes back.
  
  Also last night, we made a name change breakthrough.  We had walked a lot during our visit to the Kremlin and Yuri was quite tired.  He was complaining about the soreness in his feet and legs and we began talking about fixing this problem when we return to America.  In the house, we have not spoken his last name much but just concentrated on using his given first name - Yuri.  Every now and then we would drop his whole new name in conversation.  Then we would incorporate it into a silly song and sing about it.  
  
  We spoke to Marina about going to America and getting a new and fresh start.  Then we asked the big question, "what do you want to be called?  Michael or Yuri?"  He thought about it for a moment and then declared, "Michael".  I think it will be more tough for me than for him.  I know him as "Yuri" and not "Michael".  Of course when I become angry with him, I will get the opportunity to use both names :-)
  
  Marina is heading back to Cheboksary today.  She will be gone until Thursday.  We will stay in her flat under the care of her parents.  They are both very interesting people.  Her father is a retired military engineer.  I don't know if her mother worked outside the home, but she definitely plays the role of grandma (babushka) very well.  The other night after the fiasco at the pizza restaurant, Dima told me that if we wanted pizza, Marina would order in.  I asked Marina about this and she confirmed that "yes - we can do that".  We haven't ordered pizza, but each night babushka makes us a frozen pizza.  That is sweet.  She looks right at me and talks in her Ukrainian/Russian and has a 1-way conversation with me.  I have no idea what she is saying.  She keeps talking and I keep listening.
  
  I have been doing a great deal of reading in my Moscow travel book that my dad purchased for us before we left.  They have a long and fascinating history.  If you're a history nut, this is right up your alley.  Dima the driver is a history nut.  A great deal of what he speaks about is the many French invasions and how Moscow withstood them - even at great cost.  I think that while Marina is away, we will go out with Dima (perhaps on Wednesday) to Red Square.  We have not been able to get in there yet but hopefully we will.
  
  As I mentioned above, Marina will return on Thursday.  We will begin processing our US Embassy paperwork then and wrap it up on Friday.  Then we will do all of our Russian Consulate stuff on Monday and leave Moscow on Tuesday.  We're trying to make some additional flight arrangements so that we can get home on Wednesday rather than Thursday.  We'll have to see about that.
  
  For the better part of today, we watched too much television.  When we were at the open air market, we purchased some "black videos".  That is what Marina called them anyway.  The long name for them is "Illegally copied and Russian Translated videos".  They were 100 Rubles each (or about $4.00).  They had Star Wars and some other kids movies.  Since I am a Star Wars nut, I had to get them.  Michael didn't seem too interested when we got them.  Then I popped in Episode 1 and he was hooked.  It is a good thing for me that I have seen them 1000 times before.  The movies only have one male translator and he has no inflection in his voice.  It is the same Russian mono-tone voice for every character, male, female, or creature.  Michael liked it.
  
  When we go into the kitchen for each meal, the television is usually on.  It is always something different.  Sometimes it is the news, sometimes soccer (aka football), sometimes a Russian soap opera - you never know.  At Luda's place, they liked to watch this Russian Entertainment channel.  It seems to be a lot like the old StarSearch show.  On one occasion, they had these two men on who were playing accordions with flames painted on the sides.  The instrument didn't have a keyboard but rather buttons on both sides.  I guess that makes it a Bayan.  
  
  Either way, each man was dressed a little like Elvis with tight spandex pants and a big open v-neck shirt.  It was quite interesting to watch.  I told Peggy about it.  Anyway... they were on again yesterday!  I shouted, "come here come here!  It's the flaming accordion guys again!"  Marina says the accordion (or Bayan) is making a big comeback in Russia.  When they were done playing, the people in the crowd cheered very loudly for them.  Aside from the silly way I have described them, those men could definitely play - that is for sure!
  
  Anyway... getting back to the television in the kitchen - Michael loves to watch the television, especially the news.  This has made me think more about how I will keep up with what is going on over here in Russia once we return to the states.  I'll have to think about that one some more.  
  

2/24/2008 - Sunday

• 2/24/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 14Today is the Lord's day again.  We are going to visit the Kremlin this afternoon and then - who knows.  We will have to see what is open.  There is also a major boxing match today.   Klitchko from the Ukraine vs Ibragifov from Russia.  Marina likes Klitchko because she is also Ukrainian.  Her father doesn't like him because he now fights for Germany.  At least Ibragifov fights for his own country.  Patriotism seems to be an especially important aspect to life here.  Turning your back on your country is never a good thing.
  
  While the boxing match is on, Peggy, Marina, and I watch the Russian version of Julia Child.  The camera man is zoomed in on every action.  This causes the camera to move back and forth, up and down, zoom in, zoom out.  It is difficult to watch with the camera moving around so much.  The chef is some kind of famous actress who is the 6th wife of some famous guy who is 25 years older than she is.  Marina has stove envy.  The stove on the show costs around $6,000.  Marina knows this because she went shopping for one.
  
  Dima was a little late getting here so we had lunch before we left.  Turkey soup with mashed potatoes and a few slices of pork roast.  Dima and I eat some of the purple horse radish on our roast.  Peggy says to Dima, "what is wrong with your face?  Why do you eat that stuff?  It looks like it hurts!".  Dima keeps breathing in deeply through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.  Once you have the horse radish in your mouth, if you exhale through your nose, you experience a fiery - torch like head melting sensation.  Dima says, "Its a happy kind of pain".  I would agree.  After the fire in your face goes out, you can breath a lot better.
  
  We get down to Dima's van and it won't start.  He lifts his seat and fiddles with the battery again.  This seems to be happening more frequently.  He says, "this van has been good to me.  You don't turn your back on your friends.  I will keep this van until the end."  I hope the end comes later rather than sooner.
  
  We drove to the Kremlin and got our tickets.  The ticket prices are written in both English and Russian.  On the English price sheet, it is 350 Rubles for an adult and something less for a child.  In the Russian prices, it is written that there is a family rate of 350 Rubles and 300 for an individual.  I'm glad we had Dima with us.  This is not the first time he has saved us money.  
  
  We walked through the Kremlin and each one of the cathedrals.  They would not allow any photos to be taken on the inside of any of them and again - I'm not sure a photo could do them justice.  One thing comes to mind when you are in there - holiness.  The churches of this period took Christianity at a level of seriousness that is not seen much in America.  It is said by Russians, "we build our churches for God, not man".  They are impressive.  
  
  No wall in any of the buildings is bare.  There is a painting of some scene of the bible everywhere.  During our walk-through, a group of singers came into the sanctuary of one of the buildings.  They began to sing and it was so clear and beautiful, I thought the sound was coming from a CD - because I didn't see them come in and could not see them from where I was standing.  Again, very impressive.  On many occasions, I have observed people approach the cathedrals praying to themselves, making a cross over their heart, taking a step, and doing it all over again as they approached the entrance.  Again - not something you see very much in America.  The whole thing was quite stirring and made me think of the level of casualness I take with my faith.  Perhaps it is my culture, my generation or just me.
  
  Later in the afternoon, we head out for the Military Historical Museum.  Unfortunately, we were a little late getting there so I got a few photos outside.  One of the images is a monument to the sailors who drown in the Russian Sub - Kursk.  I think there were 70+ men on board when the sub sank.  It was a terrible tragedy.  As we continue back home to plan the events for another day, we take a mental note to the amount of monuments there are in Moscow.  Of course this is a capitol city, but there are many symbols around here dedicated to the achievements of the Russian people.  All of it - very very impressive.

2/23/2008 - Saturday

• 2/23/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 13Today is "Men's Day" in Russia.  They do not celebrate Father's Day or Mother's Day but rather Men's and Women's Day.   Women's day will be celebrated on March 8th.  I don't know how Woman's Day got started but apparently Men's day goes back to 1920 or so during World War 1.  Russian men took up arms and defended the motherland by defeating the attacking German army.  Tonight there will be celebrations in Red Square followed by fireworks.
  
  Marina told a story about one specific historic battle where the German army, dressed in full armor (along with their horses in armor) attacked on a frozen lake.  The ice on the lake cracked and they all sank and died.  I guess the Russians still take pride in out-smarting the Germans.
  
  Dima picked us up around 10:30 this morning.  It is rainy and overcast.  Much of the snow is melted and all of the cars are very very dirty.  As we drove through town, I took notice of how many apartment buildings there are in Moscow and how many different styles of buildings.  Many of them are quite old and in a state of dis-repair.  On the other hand, many of them look like palaces.  In addition to the apartments, there are many churches under construction.
  
  Our first stop today will be at the open-air flea market.  Dima said today (Saturday) is the best day to go shopping.  As we entered the gates to the market, there is an open area that is used for New Years and Winter festivals  The court yard has some very impressive and ancient looking buildings.
  
  I expected there to be a lot of people but due to the weather, the crowds were not an issue.  Marina had given Yuri 100 Rubles (which is about $4.00).  It is not much but it was enough to cause a burning sensation in his pocket.  He just had to spend it.  As we walked from shop to shop, he was always drawn to items of a military nature.  Unfortunately, everything was much more than 100 Rubles.  That didn't stop him from trying to negotiate.
  
  After the market, we went to McDonald's.  This was the busiest McDonald's (and perhaps the largest) that I've ever seen.  All we got was some burgers, fries and 2 cups of soda.  Cost - 424 Rubles.  That is a tough thing to get used to.  My first thought was, "WHAT!?  $424.00?".  In reality that works out to be something like $17.30 - which is still high, but the large numbers in Rubles throws me every time.  Yuri was still hungry after his meal and wanted more.  He eats like a horse.  I gave him some of my fries and the last part of my coke.
  
  After this, we headed to Red Square.  The square was closed due to preparations for the fireworks this evening.  We got a good view of St. Basil's though.  We decided to head home but on the way, we passed the Church of Christ.  This is something you may want to do some historical research on.  I will try to summarize for you.  It was a very beautiful ornate church until Soviet times.  Then they destroyed the church and built a swimming pool in its place.  Only recently did the city of Moscow decided to get rid of the pool and rebuild the church as it was originally.  It is a magnificent structure.  They don't allow any photo's or video to be taken of the inside and I didn't purchase and post cards.  I'm not sure a picture can fully capture what it looks like on the inside.
  
  As I looked around and considered the story of the church, its destruction and rebuilding, I thought of the issues the City of Green Bay had when the city council voted to put up a manger scene at the county court house.  What a big uproar that caused.  Over here, they are so hungry for what was taken from them that they spent hundreds of millions of dollars to restore it.  What an incredible difference in culture!
  
  As we walked around, it became clear that Yuri should not have drank the last part of my coke.  He had to use the toilet pretty bad, but there are no public toilets.  Stores typically don't have them.  McDonald's did but that is an American place.  The church didn't have one either.  We walked around until we found a restroom for him to us.  It cost 20 Rubles to use the toilet.  Fortunately, Yuri didn't have to pay because he is a child.  If I had to go, I would have had to pay.  What an incredible difference in culture!
  
  When we got home, Marina had made a nice dinner of duck stuffed with plums, apricots and apples.  I had a slice of bread with some Russian horse-radish.  It is mixed with beets and if it touches the roof of your mouth it will melt your head.

2/22/2008 - Friday

• 2/22/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 12Today is a down day.  We had a big day yesterday and we are planning on going to Red Square and the Kremlin on Saturday, but for today nothing is planned.  It is gray - overcast and a little drizzly outside.  I slept in a little thinking it was much earlier that it really was.  Today for breakfast, Marina's mother made pancakes.  Marina got a hold of some real maple syrup from New York.  It was good and reminded me of the 12 pints of pure home-made syrup that I traded a years worth of fresh chicken eggs for.  
  
  During breakfast, we had a fairly long discussion with Marina about some of the frustrations we all have with the process of international adoption, communication issues and how things could be better.  It was a tough and thought provoking conversation but worth it.  What the Russian Orphan Lighthouse group is doing is a good thing and I would hate to see it dissolve because of internal or growth related problems that could not be overcome.  In reality, there are only a handful of people in the group and they are doing a wonderful service.  Each one of them is a key piece of the puzzle and a critical component necessary for their success and the future of many orphans.
  
  As a side note to breakfast, Yuri remembered some of the struggles from yesterday's restaurant incident and he quickly grabbed two slices of cheese and ate them right along with his meat.  We took this as a positive sign.
  
  Today is also laundry day.  Peggy did a load last night and we hung it on the balcony to dry.  It made me feel like we were living in deep inner city Bronx with my underwear hanging where all of Moscow could see them.  People around here have washing machines but no dryers.  They have cloths lines hung in the bathroom or on their balconies.  
  
  After breakfast, we did some school at the kitchen table.  First alphabet flash cards, then handwriting, then some addition facts.  Yuri quickly tires from doing hand writing exercises.  He loses his concentration and wants to go and do something else.  We encouraged him to pound his way through writing letters A to N.  Each day we add one or two more letters.  Some letters are easier than others.  The letter "P" for example is a tough one.  In Russia, that letter makes a rolling "R" sound.   Ruble is spelled with a capital "P".
  
  After we completed some school, Yuri wanted to play some games on the X-Box.  I know nothing about this and neither does Yuri.  On top of that, all of the on-screen instructions are in Russian so I can't help him.  He played Ninja-Turtles.  What a bizarre game.  Teenage kids from a karate school fall into the sewer into some kind or radio-active sludge and their DNA becomes mixed with turtles.  They fight bad guys in New York city and they all speak Russian.  This is a crazy crazy world we live in.
  
  Marina told us today that she will be heading back to the region of Yuri's orphanage next week and will return on Thursday.  Apparently there was a mix up in our paperwork and she will return a little later than expected.  We will start our US Embassy work on Thursday and finish on Friday.  She said we can get all of our Russian Consulate work done in one day (Monday March 3).  Then we can fly out of Moscow on Tuesday the 4th.  That day cannot come soon enough.  We are both missing home, our family and our children.
  
  Marina had errands to run this afternoon.  For the most part, we just hung out.  Yuri played with his erector set and watched some Cartoon Network in Russian, Peggy read and did some knitting and I journaled and then downloaded new drivers for my wireless network card.  They did the trick.  Now my laptop doesn't crash anymore - thanks for asking.
  
  Every once in a while I would make my way into the kitchen where Marina's mom was cooking dinner.  I recognized the earthy smell of a root/tuber like dish in the making.  I suspected it was borscht and came back to break the news to Peggy.  Borscht is a beet soup.  Before we left, I purchased a can of beets in a feeble attempt to acclimate my tongue and stomach to them.  It is not something I normally eat.  It's not that I don't like them, they are just not in my common foods list.  Peggy, on the other hand - does not like them.  I was ready, she was not.  When dinner time came, Peggy was relived that we were having ravioli instead.
  
  Even though we are missing our family back home, it was nice to sit and talk with Marina and her family at the table.  It is an intimate place where we can all relax, laugh, cry, and discuss important things (and sometimes not) that need to be discussed.
  
  Marina's father had purchased some Russian beer for us to drink with our meal.  He had already poured a glass for both Peggy and I.  I asked Marina to tell her father not to pour any more for Peggy because she doesn't drink beer.  "That's ok", her father said.  "You can drink hers then".  Russian drinking is an interesting thing.  They like to make toasts and guilt you into having another glass.  They will say, "Here is to family", followed by "Here is to the children".  When you say, "no thanks, I've had enough", they respond with, "what is the matter, don't you like children?".  
  
  In the end, I was glad the glasses were small and we were all sharing one bottle of beer.  In regards to the beer itself, it is 4.5% alcohol which I think is slightly higher in alcohol content than typical American beer.  It is a little on the flat side.  Other than that it is pretty much the same.
  
  The entire time of dinner and the post-dinner beer, the television was on.  What better thing to do after you've had a few glasses of beer than to talk about the news?  In this case, there was a story of the body of a young girl that was found.  I don't know if they found the killer though.  Marina's dad then told a story of a man some years ago who killed 58 children.  In Russia they do not have capitol punishment and there is concern about what to do with people who do such horrible crimes on such a large scale.
  
  Next news topic - riots in Kosovo.  I didn't catch all of it, but apparently Kosovo wants to become a free and independent state but it shares some land with Serbia that is occupied by Muslims.  Both the Muslims and Christians want to cleanse their land of the other side and this has led to some rioting.  The police are unable to control the crowds and they have been given the authority to "shoot to kill".
  
  Next news topic - the next Russian President.  Marina says that everyone knows who it will be even though the "elections" are to be held on March 3.  The guy's name is Dimitry Medvedev.  He is currently the Prime Minister and Vladimir Putin is the President.  I guess everyone is expecting that they will just trade places.  No word on if this is "good" or "bad".  The word on the street is that Medvedev is a little softer on things than Putin is.  I guess we'll have to wait and see.
  
  Marina say, "Russians are too political".  They analyze everything.  Every move that every country makes and what is going on all over the world.  This is a far cry from the news media of Northeast Wisconsin.  All I remember from home is that local television news consists only of a few things - the Packers, the price of gas, the weather, and man on the street interviews about stupid things that don't matter.

2/21/2008 - Thursday

• 2/21/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 11Today we planned to go to Yuri's medical exam.  It was scheduled for 12:15 this afternoon.  Marina's mother made us a nice breakfast of cheese cakes, sausages that looked like a fat hot-dog, and some cheese.  After breakfast, Marina's brother came over and helped get a children's movie set up on Marina's X-Box game system.  No one here knows how to actually run the system.  It belongs to Marina's son who is not around.  So Yuri watched this movie that was on the caliber of some Hanna-Barbara cartoon.  It was a well made movie but perhaps a little bloody for a children's cartoon.  I have no idea what it was about other than it was some Russian hero battling the forces of evil in the dark ages.
  
  While Yuri watched his movie, I had a chance to speak briefly with Marina's brother.  He needed to borrow our electric plug converter.  He must have seen me writing my journal on my laptop because he came up to me and asked, "Do you know much about computers?".  Everyone who has ever worked in computer technology knows what follows next.  "Can you help me with my computer?".  I said "ok".  He wants to transfer some email files from one computer to another.  This is not something I do regularly so I told him that and said, "If you are patient, we will get through this."  He will stop by tonight and we'll work on it together.
  
  Dima picked us up for the Doctor appointment at 10:30 AM.  We got into his war-wagon and headed out.  Dima, Yuri and I in the front seats and Peggy got the middle bench to herself.  I had told Yuri that I would make up a special name for him like I did for all my other kids.  As Dima, Yuri and I were were sitting all packed together, it came to me.  Yuri has a little butt, however he seems to take up a lot of space.  Therefore, I have decided to call him - Little Big-Butt.
  
  Before I continue, I have to hammer a point I've brought up before before - Moscow traffic is INSANE.  Again today, Dima brought us through some traffic situations that would have given me cardiac arrest if I were behind the wheel.  I have video clips of some of them.  In one situation, there were four lanes of traffic - two going each direction.  When we approached the intersection, we were in the right lane.  In such scenarios in America, the left lane can turn left or go straight and the right lane can turn right or go straight.  There we were, with people in the left lane making right turns in front of us and cutting us off.  It happened time and time again.  Dima was a cool cat through all of it.  He drove and talked, talked and drove.  At times I wanted him to shut up and pay closer attention to what was going on.  He knew exactly what he was doing and navigated us through situations that would make most people cringe.  He earns every penny (or Ruble) for what he does.  If I had a choice of driving or walking - I would walk.  No matter what the distance.
  
  We went to the bank and I exchanged $200 for 4890 Rubles.  The clinic where Yuri's doctor appointment only takes Rubles.   Shortly after we arrived, the other adopting family arrived.  They had taken the public metro to get there.  This is their fourth visit to Moscow and they are a little more adventurous than we are.  We went inside and discovered there were two other families ahead of us.  One was an American family from South Dakota and the other was an American family from Maryland.  Both families had three children to get checked out.  We waited for nearly two hours to see the doctor.
  
  While we were waiting in the doctor's office, I saw Yuri do something to another of the orphan children that goes back in my family to at least my grandfather.  Yuri gave the other boy, "the Cobra".  The Cobra is the hand gesture that you make right before you tickle someone.  Generally, you form your hand into the same shape as you would if you were going to make rabbit ears behind someone's head while they were getting their picture taken.  In the case of the "Cobra", your index and middle fingers are not rabbit ears but the hood of the snake.  Then you slowly waive your hand back and forth chanting the magic words, "Cobra" and "I'm going to get you".  After that, you pounce on your victim and tickle them.
  
  After the other families went in, it was our turn.  The doctor spoke English and I got to ask him some specific questions about Yuri.  He said that Yuri has an umbilical hernia and flat feet.  He also said that our dentist is going to be rich.  While I didn't like the last comment, the second one was encouraging.  
  
  The doctor asked me if I had seen how the women around here where such high heal shoes.  He said that they must keep their knees bent a little and it affects their posture a great deal.  It is the same with Yuri and his flat feet.  The doctor asked if I had observed how Yuri walks, leaning forward a little, head hung, shoulders up.  These are all reactions to a lack of spring action in the arches of Yuri's feet.  He said there were some exercises Yuri could do and that we can get some special arch supports that he will wear for the rest of his life.  We are hoping that this is all it is.  Either way, he will see the doctor when we return.
  
  By the time we left the doctor's office it was well past lunch time.  I had heard about pizza in Russia and I was curious and very hungry.  I suggested it to the group and they were all ready.  Dima asked if we wanted McDonald's instead but the Conner's had eaten their fill of that and were ready to try something different.
  
  We went to some pizza restaurant and Dima decided to wait outside.  That seemed a little odd but Dima said that there were no legal parking spots outside so he would just wait until we finished.  We went in and it smelled very good.  We took a seat in the back and browsed through the English version of the menu.  While the pictures of the pizza looked very tasty, it was definately not like the Americanized pizza that I have grown up eating.  They are all measured in centimeters of diameter and grams of total weight.  Our pizza's were 30 cm and 500 grams.  It was a thin crust with a minimal amount of sauce.  One was a meat lovers.  It had 5 or 6 larger pieces of steak, some cherry tomatoes and a few pieces of broccoli.  The other pizza had some vapor thin green pepper slices and mushrooms.  Normally we drink root beer when we go out for pizza.  They had no soda at all.  Yuri got a glass of apple juice and Peggy and I had water.
  
  Everyone seemed excited about eating Pizza.  Yuri had a slice with broccoli on it and he didn't want to eat it but we made him.  It was small and we made a judgment call that it would not kill him to try it.  I was a little angry about the fuss he made and I made a second judgment call.  I put another small piece of broccoli on his plate.  This led to some very unpleasant moments at the restaurant.
  
  While I understand that Yuri has had a tough life so far, one of the things I do know is that structure and order in life - especially family life - is essential.  In this case, we are covering the early ground work of good habits and discipline.  At our home, we have taught our children that trying new foods is not only a part of life, it is a good thing.  There are millions of different foods in the world.  Some you will like and some you won't.  You will never know unless you try them - so get used to trying them.  
  
  Another thing we teach them is that you eat what is served whether you like it or not.  It is impolite to go to a guests house and tell them you don't like or care for the meal that they have taken the time to prepare.  It is not like your host has evil intentions when they serve you food.  I guess the bottom line is that picky eating is generally not tolerated at our home.  As I mentioned earlier, we are in the early stages of setting the foundation of what family life will be like.
  
  We had been mulling over going to Red Square today but due to the scene at the restaurant, being a little upset with Yuri and the time of day, we decided to go on Saturday.  Dima drove us back to Marina's house where her mother had already prepared dinner.  I wasn't totally full from the vapor pizza but I knew I would be hungry in a short while.  We told Yuri that there would be no treats or sweet things for him at dinner.  As it turns out, ice cream and these very rich and sweet chocolate wafers were served.  Yuri didn't like being left out of that part of the meal.  In the end, this kind of disappointment is a small price to pay for getting a family and reaping the benefits from it.

2/20/2008 - Wednesday

• 2/20/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 10We pulled into Moscow around 7:00 AM and Dima the driver was waiting at the train station for us.  We walked to Dima's van which was parked outside the train station and across the street.  He drives a Hundai 5 speed mini-van.  It looks like it has seen better days.  We got in, he turned the key and "click click click" - it wouldn't start.  Not a problem.  Dima just simply and quickly lifted his drivers seat, disconnected and reconnected the battery terminals and "varroom!" we were off and running.  I had heard about this sort of thing before and I was expecting it - so I wasn't worried.  The most alarming parts of the trip were yet to come.
  
  Dima drove us to Marina's flat.  On the way there, Dima and I talked about the size of Moscow.  He said that while the maps often portray Moscow as having 8 million people, it actually has a little over 15 million.  Also, I was dead wrong about Moscow not having the concept of the belt way. They have 4 of them!  It was around 7:30 and there were cars going in every direction.  I asked Dima, if this was the morning rush hour.  He said, "No, that starts around 8:00 AM".
  
  Like other Moscow drivers, Dima also possesses some impressive operating skills.  I observed him in a situation where we were stopped at a red light and there were 2 left turn lanes .  We were in the left (or inner) lane.  In America, this kind of situation typically means that the inside lane MUST turn left and the outside lane has the option to turn left or go straight.  In our case, the outside lane turned left and we went straight.  I'm not sure how we made it through but we did.  I looked back at Peggy and her eyes were the size of beach balls.
  
  We arrived at Marina's apartment complex.  It is very big.  The complex forms a large square consisting of 5 buildings - 2 smaller 5 floor buildings and 3 larger 15 floor buildings.  We enter the complex by passing in between the two smaller buildings and drive into a large court yard.  The three larger buildings form a kid of horse-shoe shape in the back.  It is quite attractive.  
  
  Marina's apartment is on the 10th floor and you get an awesome view of the entire complex from her kitchen.  Her mother and father have been staying there taking care of her cats while she is away doing Lighthouse business.  As soon as we arrived she said, "You are home now.  Today you get some rest."  Her apartment is beautifully decorated and very comfortable.  She is a very good hostess and works very hard.  She has piles and piles of orphan paperwork to go through as she prepares for the next orphan trip.  when she is not doing paperwork, she is on the phone making arrangements or follow up calls.  Her heart for children is obvious.
  
  She showed us the room we will be sleeping in along with Yuri.  We have a nice queen sized bed and Yuri will get a twin mattress on the floor.  Marina's mother made us a nice breakfast that consisted of scrambled eggs, cheese, sausage slices, small e'clairs and some coffee.  In case I had not mentioned it previously, all the meals we've eaten so far seem to always be served with a plate of cheese and meat or some kind of fruit/vegetable combination.  It is a refreshing change from American meals and I think we will adopt some of the eating habits when we get home.

2/19/2008 - Tuesday

• 2/19/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 9Today is the last day we will spend at Peter and Luda's.  There is nothing to do but pack our things, eat and wait.  The train pulls out of Cheboksary around 6:20 PM.  We will catch a taxi to get there.
  
  We had an interesting lunch today.  Luda made cottage cheese and raisin stuffed pancakes.  Luda's pancakes are much flatter than the typical American pancake.  After they are fried, she puts a glob of her cottage cheese/raisin stuffing in the center and wraps them up into a ball.  Then they get baked.  She serves them with either sour cream, or some kind of fruit preservative such as blackberry or strawberry.  They are very good but again, I'm not too sure they are good for you.  I ate three of them.
  
  During each meal, Luda serves a plate of cut vegetables, cheese, and meat.  Sometimes she will just slice a tomato and a cucumber.  Yuri loves them.  They are very refreshing to eat along with your meal.  Other times, Luda will serve cheese with ham.  It is not a real ham slice but rather processed ham.  Yuri refers, to all such meats as kielbasa.  We usually only use that term with polska kielbasa - the spiced, ring shaped sausage.  Yuri likes the kielbasa but not the cheese.  He says he has a cheese allergy but we know better.  He just doesn't like to eat it.  We are working with him on some of his eating habits.  If he is going to live in Wisconsin, he will have to learn to embrace cheese.  It is a way of life.
  
  Luda has been a big help in translating thoughts and ideas between us and Yuri.  Being a school teacher for 25 years, she has seen and dealt with children a lot and Yuri doesn't get to far in trying to play one adult against another.  After we leave Luda's, it will be important for both us and Yuri that Peggy and I present a unified style of parenting.  Yuri will get the same answer about issues that come up regardless of who he goes to.
  
  Peggy did more school with Yuri today.  Sveta says we must be very strict with him because he is lazy with his school work.  He has a lot ahead of him.  Not just learning school but taking what he has already learned in Russian and using it in English.  One example is numbers.  Over the last few days we have played hundreds of games of fish and Crazy 8.  It is good for number matching and identification.  Yuri knows his numbers fairly well - in Russian.  The English pronunciation is different for about half of the numbers.  
  
  When he sees the number 7 card, he always says, "six-seven".  I think he does this in the same way that some kids think that "LMNOP" is one letter because you sing that part so quickly in the alphabet song.  He has some trouble with 9 and 10 also.  I don't envy the learning curve ahead of him, but he has shown that, just like any kid - he can do well when he wants to.
  
  Yuri received some music cd's from the orphanage.  They seem to listen to some kind of pop-disco-funk - like you might hear at a teen dance hall in a big city.  I haven't heard the songs but when I read some of the titles and saw some of the covers I was a little stunned any of the children had them.  We took them away and got rid of them.
  
  Luda called for the taxi around 5:25 PM.  The first taxi she called wanted 100 Rubles for the ride (which is relatively short) and then 30 additional Rubles for each bag - we have 5.  It would be cheaper to call 2 taxi's, so we did.  Luda asked them to send a Volga-Bona mobile because they are larger.  We split into 2 groups.  Luda, Yuri and I went in one car and Peggy and Luda's sister went in the other.  
  
  When we got to the train station, we had to walk nearly the entire length of the train to get to our car.  It was near to the front.  When be boarded, it was filled with smoke from cigarettes - YUCK!.  The first train ride smelled like it had been a smoking car once upon a time, but this one was a smoking car now.  We kept our compartment door closed to keep the smoke out and it became like a sauna.  It was either that or gag.  Even with the door closed, we could still smell it due to the vent in the bottom of the door.  I put a big wool blanket over the top of my suitcase and pressed it up against the vent.  It helped a little.
  
  Each train car has a speaker that plays some kind of Russian POP music.  Some of it was neat, some not.  We wanted to turn it off but there didn't seem to be a way to do it.  While we looked around for the volume knob, a song came on that sounded like they were singing our name, "something something something... Zapata - Zapata something something something Zapata - Zapata".  I recorded it because I didn't thing anyone would believe it otherwise.
  
  On this train ride, no meals were served and we had to pay 30 Rubles for coffee and tea.  Yuri also wanted a magazine but we said "no".  Luda had packed some extra stuffed pancakes for us to eat along the way.  As we pulled out of the station, Yuri waived at the window, "Goodbye Cheboksary!".  When ever Yuri would see something out the window, he would holler out, "Papa look at me, look at me".  We tried telling him to drop the "at me" part.  He was so excited he could hardly sit still.  
  
  One thing I noticed about our view is that in Russia, they seem to use color very differently than we do.  The buildings here are often multi colored - like green with orange, or light brown with dark brown or some times with white or tan triangle sections.  On the other hand, the people out side dress in dark drab colors.  Coats are typically one of the following colors: black, brown, or dark gray.  Every once in a while, you will see a bright color but they are the exceptions.
  
  As we continued out of town, we saw other trains.  The buildings got smaller and farther between.  That didn't matter though.  Everything Yuri saw out the window was followed by, "Look at me!".  It was not long before it was too dark to see any of the small Anatevka like towns.  Around 8:00 PM, we opened up the pancakes and had an evening snack - then we laid down for the night.
  
  Some time around 10 PM, we were all still awake looking out the window.  That is when we broke out the cheese and crackers.  Yuri liked that.  There we were - on a train going across deep snowy Russia - in our pajamas - having a picnic - at night.  After this we really settled in for the night.  I have not been dreaming much since we got here but tonight I did.  Mostly of things from home and work, problems that need to be addressed and missing my family.  I would wake up every hour or so, roll over and fall back asleep.  Then the dream would change to some other issue weighing heavily on my mind.  It was a long night.

2/18/2008 - Monday

• 2/18/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 8Today was another quiet day.  Peter is back at work today and Luda's sister is visiting from out of town.  She wants to come here because this is where the biggest mall is located so she is just going to make a day of it and hang out here.  We tried to get back to the orphanage this morning so we could speak some more with the Orphanage Director about Yuri, his schooling, his medicine and what ever other information we can glean from her.  There is also another boy - Alex C. that we're trying to see on behalf of another couple.  
  
  Luda called the orphanage around 10:00 AM but the director was not around and she should call again after 1PM.  While we are waiting, Peggy and I do a quick cash check.  As I had mentioned earlier, we converted $300 into 7350 Rubles.  I went on line today to see what the conversion rate is and it is slightly better today.  While I understand the math of it, the quantities throw me.  For example, 1 Ruble is like 4 or 4 and a half cents.  Prices of things around here have astronomically high numbers to them but when you do the conversion, it doesn't cost that much.  Later today, Luda will take me shopping for a map of the city.  The cost of that is 27 Rubles which is like $1.10.  That's pretty good for a map.
  
  After we ate lunch, Luda called the orphanage again and the director was there.  We will take a cab.  The ride there is 90 Rubles which is like three and a half dollars - or more precisely - $3.67.  When we get there, the other boy we wanted to see was not there but at school again.  The director sent a messenger to fetch him from the school.  While we were waiting, She made us tea and coffee and brought out some crackers and candy and 2 bottles of juice for Yuri.
  
  The director believes some of Yuri's condition is in his head.  She said that when it was nice outside, she could see Yuri from her window.  He would look around and when he thought no one was looking, he would run.  Of course, he doesn't run like a nine year old, but he can move quickly if he wants to.  She also said that his knee and ankle were on his mind a lot.  
  
  On the way here, Yuri said a few things to the driver of the Taxi.  Yuri told him how many times he ran away from the orphanage.  In truth, Yuri has never run away from the orphanage.  Yuri likes to tell stories - not all of them true and often times the false ones are very false.  Both Luda and the director advised us to not let Yuri speak with anyone on the train.  We will not know what he is saying nor whom he is speaking with.
  
  After a short while, a red-haired boy named Loshia comes in.  He has a letter that he has written to a certain girl and has asked if we would deliver it - which we will be glad to do.  I also have a short video clip message from Losha for her too.  Loshia and another boy Sasha are going to be adopted to a family sometime in the next month or so.  I believe that both boys will be staying at Luda's house so it was good that they had a chance to meet her.
  
  The runner came back from the school and the other boy we wanted to meet - Sasha C. - is out skiing.  This will be the last time we visit the orphanage.  Tomorrow, we will get on the train and head back to Moscow so I will not have email access again for a while.  Hopefully a short while.
  
  Almost every night, Peggy has been giving Yuri a bath.  I think taking baths is somewhat of a new thing.  Most of the children take showers.  The director said that Yuri doesn't like to shower.  I'm not sure if it is showering or just a standard boy-like resistance to being clean.  Yuri resists the bath, brushing his teeth and some other things.  All of the resistance makes me wonder how much pressure the orphanage puts (or has been able to put) on the children to do a good job at things.  Yuri does a very good job on somethings and not so good on other things.  
  
  Sometimes he will say "ok ok" to our requests to show us he will do as we ask but then doesn't follow through.  We are following this with some pressure to comply with our requests - the first time, not the tenth time.  A lot depends on the specific request and Yuri's feelings towards it.  Picking up toys or putting away dinner dishes - not a problem.  Getting into the bathtub and doing a good job brushing your teeth - that is a problem.  
  
  I think we will have our work cut out for us when we return home.  These are all personal observations we have made about Yuri and were confirmed by the director at the orphanage.  Yuri needs exactly what we are able to provide for him.  The  director has prayed that God will help us in raising Yuri.  The Lord has brought us to the other side of the world and He will provide the strength and wisdom necessary to raise this boy.
  

2/17/2008 - Sunday

• 2/17/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 7Today is Sunday - the Lord's day.  This morning, Peggy and Luda when grocery shopping in a small shop that is located below the apartments.  Many of the buildings around here are like that - stores on the bottom, apartments on the top.  The store that they went into was about the same size as the largest convenience store attached to a gas station that you might see anywhere in the States.  For the most part, it seems to have most everything you need but perhaps not at the price you want.  Luda shops there quite a bit.  Cheese, eggs, butter, noodles, an occasional beer for Peter...
  
  While they were away, Yuri and I did some school work.  We brought along some flash cards that have the alphabet on them.  We are working on letters A-F.  Every time we get to the letter "B" he says "V".  It makes me think of the Volga-Bona mobile.  There are other letters that will be very different for him.  "H" is pronounced as "N".  For example, on Sveta's computer - she runs Windows XP.  When you are prompted with a Yes-No question, NO is written as "Het", but pronounced "Neyet" or "no".  This makes me think of a cartoon musical we have at home.  It is Peter and the Wolf.  In the opening credits, the title shows as "Peter and the Bonk".  Apparently "Bonk" is "Wolf" in Russian.
  
  After going through the flash cards a few times, we do some counting.  Yuri is good in math but he has to overcome some of the new names for numbers.  For example, 5 is pronounced "fife" rather than with a "v" as "five".  This is minor.   Some of the other numbers have entirely different names.
  
  After doing numbers for a while, we do some handwriting.  I put down his name - his new American name.  There is some significance to Russian names.  People around here take their father's first name as their middle name.  If you are a boy, you add "ovitch" to it.  If you are a girl you add either "ovena" or "evena".  I think it is some kind of masculine/feminine kind of thing.  
  
  When we introduced the new name to Yuri, he didn't like it.  We are dealing with a boy whose life story is a tale of losses.  This is yet another loss - his personal identity.  Our reasoning for changing his name to what we did was this: we had heard that often times, children want to feel like they are getting a fresh start when they come to America.  One of the ways to do that is to give them an American name.  
  
  Yuri's middle name is Mikhail.  Mikhail is Michael in American English.  That is a name that will not seem as unusual as "Yuri".  However - we know him as "Yuri", so that became his middle name.  We asked him what he wanted to be called and he was adamant about "Yuri".  That is fine with us.  Him dealing with the new last name was a different matter.  He kept yelling out "NOOOOO SOPATA!!!".  Luda tried to explain that his original last name is our last name but in English.  While this is not true, I think she means well by doing it.  For now, he is just "Yuri".  We'll deal with the rest later.
  
  After handwriting, I broke out the workbooks.  They have number dot-to-dots and come pages for coloring.  Yuri wanted me to draw some pictures.  I drew an airplane and a tank.  He definitely liked that and thinks I am some kind of art-god.  We colored them afterward.
  
  On the laptop, I have installed a game called "The Zoom-benies".  It is a pattern matching game.  If the laptop batteries did not run out, he would stay zoned in for hours.  We let him play 1 hour on the computer, 1 hour of TV and the rest of the time is coloring, drawing, playing "go-fish" and the "memory game" with a deck of cards, and talking with Luda.  Yuri doesn't know it but aside from the TV, there is a lot of learning going on.
  
  We also tried to do some exercises.  Last night during Yuri's bath, we took a close look at his legs.  He has not grown since we saw him last spring but rather lost some weight.  His knees appear to be swollen knobs and his calves look like they are atrophied.  Yuri showed us the exercises he did at the orphanage.  Those are useless.  He lays on his back and twists his body into a small knot.  It is more like stretching.  
  
  We tried to get him to bend his knees and squat a little while I held his hands.  He thought it was some other kind of game and he picked up his feet and tried to swing between my legs.  Like most American men, I have a long and painful story about my lower back.  Swinging Yuri like this is not going to happen so I quickly put him down.  At this point, we really do not know the extent of the condition of his knees, ankles and feet.  We need to get him home.
  
  In the evening, we decided to go for a walk outside.  It would be nice to get some fresh air and perhaps Yuri could get a little exercise that way.  Down the elevator and out the back door we went.  We made it as far as going around the side and to the front when the blowing wind hit us.  I'm not sure of the exact temperature.  I think Luda said it was -22 C.  I don't know off hand what the conversion is but I think that is pretty cold.
  
  When we came in, I had a nice hot cup of instant NesCafe Gold.  It is widely regarded around here as the finest instant coffee money can buy.  Luda let me have her copy of the local news paper.  It comes out weekly every Wednesday, so it reflects the news for the week and up to the day we picked up Yuri.  I am afraid that by the time he is old enough where it is of interest to him, he will no longer be able to read it.

2/16/2008 - Saturday

• 2/16/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 6Today is the first day we can truly rest.  Yesterday's excitement and stress was about all I could handle.  We made arrangements with Luda and Sveta to go and see the town and perhaps pick up some souvenirs.  We are avoiding paying the cost of a driver by using the public transit system here - electric trolleys.  A cab or driver costs $100 per day or slightly less if you only use him for 6 hours.  The trolley on the other hand costs seven Rubles.  Ahhhh Rubles... that is another story.  Where do we exchange our money, how much should we exchange, what will it cost, who will pay for the trolley ride to the place where we exchange...  All of these types of things are rushing through my mind.
  
  Little did I know, Sveta made a quick call to "a man" who exchanges money as a side job.  they say that his exchange rate is better than the bank.  I wouldn't know because that is not something I looked into with any amount of detail before we left.  We walked from the flat towards the bus station and met "a certain man" right on the corner at the bus stop surrounded by hundreds of people.  "How much would you like to exchange?", Sveta asked us.  "We're thinking $300", we replied.  Sveta did some quick math on her phone calculator and determined that we should get back 7,350 Rubles.  Wow!  I don't know anything about Rubles but that sure seems like a lot.
  
  The trolley ride was 7 Rubles per person.  Luda paid for our ride on the way to the store - which in Russian is called "Magazine".  Sveta explained that this particular store was the largest in the entire Chuvashia region.  It was very tall and appeared to have about 10 floors.  In side it was extremely clean and bright.  The stores were all very modern looking and looked up-scale (as opposed to the warehouse look of Wal-Mart).  Sveta asked how long we intended to be shopping.  If it was going to be a while, then we should check our coats in, otherwise we can wear or carry them.  We decided to keep our coats with us as I needed my coat pockets to carry some other things in.
  
  We left the store and parted ways with Sveta.  She had other things to do today.  So Peggy, Luda and I got back on the trolley and headed for another shop.  Peggy and I took notice of the furs some of the other women were wearing.  Many of them had a very nice fur hood lining while others were total fur.  Luda explained that they were extremely expensive.  This may be so, but they are apparently somewhat common.  Wearing a fur like this in America would definitely draw the attention of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) or some other animal rights organization.  They sure were nice coats though.
  
  As we moved through town, I tried to take notice of the people, their dress, the expressions on their faces and their general behavior.  I had imagined Russian people as somewhat gruff and expressionless.  While this may be true of some, I don't think it is the rule.  Generally speaking, people would look at me as I was snapping pictures here and there.  When they saw me raise the camera, the got out of my way - almost instinctively.  It was as if they were thinking, "I have my business to attend to, you have yours, let's not get in each other's way".  
  The women we saw on the way were sociable enough with the people they were with.  The men did not talk.  On man in particular stood across from me on the trolley.  He kept looking at me as if he knew I stood out in the crowd but had zero expression on his face about it.  I tried to figure out what it was about me that was so different.
  - Perhaps he heard me speak English
  - Maybe it was my coat.  
  
  Many of the Russian men wore a dark wool coat.  Some of them, including the guy on the trolley had a synthetic ski jacket on.  I didn't have a ski jacket but it was synthetic and dark colored.  Then it hit me - I was not wearing a hat and I had a beard.  Every man I saw was clean shaven and had a hat or cap.  That was the next thing I took notice of.  Yes - the Russian men here still wear these giant fur hats.  One man had a traditional big fur hat that was black with long light-brown fur that was combed and going straight up.  He looked a little like the "Heat-Miser" character from the clay-mation Christmas show.  I think I'd like to have one.
  
  I tried to update all the journal notes I had today but Sveta's internet ran out.  At home we pay one flat fee for unlimited access for a month.  Over here they pay by the kilobyte.  She likes to watch Russian translated American television shows.  That eats up a lot of kilobytes.  I think we will give her a little extra for using her computer and internet service.

2/15/2008 - Friday

• 2/15/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 5Last night was a very long night for us.  When you are under stress, your body behaves differently.  It is different for everyone.  Sometimes you can't eat or can't stop eating.  Can't sleep or can't stay awake.  Can't go to the bathroom or can't stay out of the bathroom.  I had every one of these symptoms.  If you know me, you can probably guess which ones.
  
  We stayed awake until about 11:00 PM preparing our statements for court.  We had them pre-written from when we were at home but based on the visit from the court translator, we revised some things.  Peggy was hand-writing everything and I used the laptop.  Word processing on the computer is very easy.  Inserting ideas, moving thoughts around, deleting... The computer is great for that.  Peggy didn't like doing that because she and I put thoughts and ideas into our "own words".  I like to work from an outline and Peggy from a complete thought.  Needless to say, I typed up my outline and Peggy became very stressed thinking about rewriting all of her thoughts by hand and having to present them in court.
  
  We finally got to bed and tossed and turned.  I would just about fall asleep when a thought or idea of something I knew I had to say would pop into my head.  Then I would be wide awake.  One such example is the phrase, "No Patronymic".  During my explanation of why I want to adopt and what my intentions were, I had to explain that I would be changing Yuri's name and what I was going to change it to followed by "No Patronymic"
  
  We both tossed and turned all night.  When I was awake I would roll over and look at Peggy only to see her already looking at me.  "What time is it?", she would ask.  "12:30", I would answer.
  Then an eternity would pass.
  "What time is it?", she would ask.  "12:42", I would answer.
  
  I know I did get some sleep because she would periodically ram her elbow into my back and wake me up.  "Your snoring is going to wake everyone up!"
  
  I had my alarm set for 6:00 and we had to be outside, on the curb waiting by 8:30.  For most of the morning, I went from periods of calmness to times where I thought I was going to vomit.  I had to wear a sport jacket, dress pants, neck tie... the whole works.  Peggy had to wear a dress and shoes with heals.  We were both out of our clothing comfort zones.  For those of you who don't know, I'm hot.  Not the same kind of "hot" that my wife might say :-) but I get very warm quite easily.  I knew this was going to be a problem dressed in a heavy sport coat and was not looking forward to perspiring heavily while giving my testimony
  
  The court translator picked us up in a taxi and we went to court.  The court house is a great big building.  Since Cheboksary is a capitol city, this court house is on the Republic or Federal level.  Lots of things happen here.  We passed through the metal detectors and went up to the 4th or 5th floor and into the court room.
  
  In the court hearing were
  - Peggy and myself
  - Translator (Elaina)
  - Judge (a woman)
  - Orphanage Director (woman - Ludmala)
  - Orphanage Inspector "social worker" (woman - Valentina)
  - Prosecutor (woman)
  - Court Reporter (man)
  
  The hearing consisted of many different parts.  In short, there was:
  - an explanation of our rights by the judge
  - an explanation of our personal story and intentions by both Peggy and I
  - Questions from the judge, prosecutor, director
  - Summary
  - Verdict
  
  During the hearing, I was not nervous.  The translator was very nice to us the night before and prepared us well.  She has been through many such hearings and knows the procedure well.  She would tell us when to stand, sit, speak...
  
  The clincher of the hearing was when the prosecutor gave her summary.  It was her recommendation that the adoption be allowed and that our stated reasons for waiving the ten days were reasonable.  They were
  1. Yuri needs medical attention NOW
  2. Our other children are at home being cared for by others until we return
  3. The additional 10 days will cost thousands more and could put a strain on our budget
  
  This looked very good for us.  We broke for lunch and returned for the verdict at 1:15.  The judge read her summary of the hearing and gave her verdict.  Yes on the adoption, No on waiving the 10 days.  She believed that waiving the 10 days was not reasonable.  That was a big bummer.
  
  After the hearing, the judge quickly exited the court room.  I tried to read something out of this.  I suspected that she knew that we were not happy about the 10 days not being waived.  Perhaps she was under pressure from her superiors above to stop waiving this for adoptive families.  Staying an extra period of time is a serious concern for us as Yuri has to take a ton of medication and I do not know how much he has or how long it will last.  We may have to visit the drug store before we leave.  Hopefully they are not prescriptions or too costly.
  
  We went outside to leave and I noticed something that I had seen once before on a trip to Washington DC.  Right across the street from the court house (the Regional Republic Court House) were a hundred or so houses from the Old Village.  Very small and nicely decorated on the front and very shack-like else where.  Modern times with power on one side of the street - a trip back in time on the other side.
  
  We are very thankful for the help and guidance we have received so far.  Especially from Elaina the translator.  She is a very calm and cool cat.  She speaks like she has a little bit of a British accent.  At least when she is speaking to Peggy or I.  It is another story when she is speaking to the taxi driver.  Then she sounds a little like one of my old Army Drill Sergeants.  For that matter, that is how Marina is also.  Very sweet and kind, soft and gentle when speaking to us, but on the phone she "barks barks barks".  When women around here mean business - you know it.
  
  When we got back we got back to the flat, Luda told us we would have a little party to celebrate the adoption.  Luda has her own special party drink that she brews herself.  In America, we call it "moon-shine", "corn-squeezin's", or "white-lightening".  Hard alcohol is not something that I drink.  Peggy doesn't consume alcohol at all.  Before dinner (on an empty stomach), I made a toast.  As best I can recall, this was it:
  
  Today we thank the Lord for his goodness.  This has been not just a personal journey for ourselves but one for many other people were were involved along the way.  With God's help, we have climbed a mountain and He has provided for every step along the way.  So here is to the goodness of the Lord.
  
  Then we drank.  WOW - Was That  H O T !  I don't ever recall drinking rubbing alcohol before but I'll tell you what it does to you.  Immediately there is a chemical reaction in your head and every pore in your skin begins to sweat.  I swear the room temperature went up about 15 degrees.  We ate our meal and periodically Peggy would look over at me with slightly rolling eyes.  After dinner we sat there and talked for a while.  I was glad to not move while I waited for the toast to wear off.

2/14/2008 - Thursday

• 2/14/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 4Today we headed back to the orphanage with Marina to get a more detailed visit.  Marina once again said we only had a limited amount of time.  We went into the blue building and grabbed some of the gifts we had left from yesterday.  Yuri quickly brought us to all the key locations.  The first stop would be the second floor of the blue building  There were some older boys up there and Yuri gave them one of the boxes of gifts.  We went downstairs and headed back toward the director's office.  Yuri's right knee and left heel hurt so bad, he must go down the stairs backward to avoid bending his joints.  Downstairs on the wall were hung many pictures of the children at various events.  Yuri was in some of them.  They also had some large murals on the wall.  One of them was of a large cartoon man character with wings and a jar of something.  If I didn't know I was in a children's orphanage, it might be scary
  
  The second stop was Yuri's building which was across the court yard from the blue building.  Outside, some of Yuri's friends were playing.  They had little skis that they strapped onto their boots.  They scooted up and down the sidewalk under the supervision of Yuri's former tutor.  Yuri opened a box of candy canes that we had brought.  He immediately took a handful for himself and shoved them into his pocket.  Then he gave each of his friends one.  The tutor had a look on her face that said, "Yup - that's Yuri".  Peggy said firmly, "YURI !".  Yuri gave the rest of the box to his tutor and we went inside.
  
  Yuri showed us his locker where he kept his coat and boots.  Then we into the sleeping area.  This is a large room with 10 beds.  There are 4 larger beds and 6 smaller ones.  All of the beds are much smaller than a standard twin.  If I were to lay on them, my head would be near the headboard and my butt would be nearly touching the footboard with my thighs and legs hanging over the end.  Each bed has a fairly large pillow on it.  One thing to note about the pillow cases is that they do not open on the narrow end, but on the wide end.
  
  The next stop was in the "Day Room".  It has desks, shelves, a TV, some games, and a kitten.  Yuri showed us the desk he sits at and some of his school books.  The grades they receive in school are not in the form of A, B, C, D, and F but rather 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.  Yuri had a wide range of numbers in his school books.  Like any other normal American boy, he can do good work - when he wants to.  Yuri asked his tutor if he could bring his books and book bag with him and she said "yes".  Then his best friend, Ruslan gave Yuri his math book.  Apparently Ruslan thinks this will be a good excuse as to why his math book is missing when he goes to school this afternoon, "Yuri took it".  What is a best friend for?
  
  Marina came to us and said, "it's time to go" and we quickly left the building.  The other adopting family was having their court hearing and they were about to break for lunch.  Even though thet are a day ahead of us in the process, they will be delayed one day because Monday is a national holiday here.  Some kind of military/veteran day or something.
  
  We headed back to Peter and Luda's flat.  On the way home, I noticed another thing - this time it was the amount and frequency of gas stations.  The ones in Moscow were like a pit stop on a race track.  The were parallel to the road so that you could quickly pull off to the right, get your gas and then immediately merge with traffic again.  The other thing about them is that there doesn't seem to be that many of them around.  In all the driving we did in Moscow, I saw 1.  On the way home from the orphanage, I saw 1.  This is very strange considering the number of vehicles on the road.  Then again, both cities - Moscow and Cheboksary - have extensive public transit systems.
  
  When we arrived back at the flat, Yuri and the other family's children were watching Star Wars Episode 3 on a small DVD player.  It was in English, but Yuri didn't mind.  In fact, he took the player from them and set it on his lap.  For lunch today, Luda made some kind of beef and pork cutlet.  It was served with mashed potatoes with an onion/carrot gravy.  It looked a little strange but tasted great.  Every meal is served with this drink called "kompot".  That is com-pote - with a long "o".  Generally speaking, it is made from some kind of berry (strawberry, currant, cranberry, blueberry) and some sugar that gets boiled in water until all of the juice is extracted.  It is good but some times a little sweet.  Not nearly as sweet as the frozen juice concentrate you would buy at the store.  When you combine this with some of the rich food, you have a potentially deadly combination of heart-attack waiting.
  
  Another interesting thing is that they informed me that if I wanted to pray before a meal, then they would wait for me to do so before they ate.  It is not normal for them to pray before their meals but they go along with the American visitors who wish to do so.  So at each meal, I lead the family in prayer.
  
  All this week is the world bi-athalon championships.  This is a big deal around here and Luda likes to spend part of each afternoon watching.  Today there was an athlete from the area competing.  Luda gets quite worked up watching.  She jumps up and down and cheers just like some people do during a football or basket ball game in America.  It is as interesting to watch her as it is to watch the TV.
  
  Luda showed us some pictures of other families that she has hosted.  She told us some of their stories and they are quite heart wrenching.  They all start out tragic and usually end up good - although sometimes not.  I asked her for her address so that we could write her and she produced an envelope from another family who had photocopied Luda's hand written address onto the envelope.  I guess they wanted to make sure that they didn't mis-translate the address.  She has beautiful handwriting but I can't understand a word of it.  I asked Luda's daughter - Sveta (pronounced Sv-ee-eah-ta) to translate the address for me.  In America, we would normally write it as follows:
  
  Name
  Street
  City, State   Zip
  Country
  
  Over here, the order is completely reversed.
  
  Later in the evening, I wanted to get on the internet so I could send a message home.  The computer here is in Sveta's room and she is the only one who knows how to get on the internet.  Unfortunately she was not around.  I had been journaling quite a bit and I wanted to send out what I had so far so I went into our bedroom and powered up the laptop.  I had read that much of the daily spam email that is received in America - particularly the ones about some guy from Nigeria who wants to send you some cash if you will just help him out - come from right here in Cheboksary.  
  
  I plugged my wireless network card into my laptop thinking, "who knows - perhaps there is a free network available".  Sure enough there was.  "Do you want to connect?", my laptop asked.  "Yes", I responded.  That is when the dreaded Blue Screen of Death happened.  I have no clue what happened, but now my wireless card is completely neutralized.  Every time I stick it in, the laptop crashes within seconds.
  
  As we were getting ready for bed, Peggy was looking out the window at the street below and the other buildings.  There was a light snow fall and it was nice.  She jumped back from the window and screeched, "Oh My!".  I said, "what is it?".  "There is a naked man in the window across the street".  Of course my first and natural response was, "What?  Where?".  "Right there..." she said.  I said, "I see a man but he is wearing shorts".  "He wasn't a minute ago", she replied.  Welcome to the other side of the world.
  
  After we went to bed, I made another interesting discovery.  Before the trip, we were worried about our sleeping patterns getting messed up due to jet lag.  While that is a definite concern, it is not the only one.  There are two others in particular I'm speaking of.  One is eating patterns.  The other is the opposite of that - bathroom usage.  Let's just say I'm a morning person and leave it at that.  We are nine hours ahead so over here I am no longer a morning person, but a night person.  So there I was laying in bed, not feeling so well wondering what was wrong.  Needless to say, I quickly figured it out and used the bathroom.  Then I laid awake all night - extremely hungry.
  
  Here is a little FYI for you, those little orange fishy crackers are great night time snacks.  If you ever have to go to Russia, bring some along and save yourself some trouble.

2/13/2008 - Wednesday

• 2/13/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 3We pulled into the Cheboksary train station around 8:30 AM Wednesday morning.  Marina (head of Lighthouse adoptions on the Russian side) and two drivers (Sergi and ?) were waiting for us and boarded the train when it stopped and came to our sleeper compartment.  The other family had gotten off the train at 5:00 AM at an earlier stop and we had their luggage.  Sergi and the other driver quickly unloaded our luggage and brought it to their waiting cars.  
  
  Marina explained that we would be heading to the flat of "Peter and Luda".  They are a local couple who frequently host adopting families.  We would have time to eat and clean up before we headed over to the orphanage to get Yuri.  This is a slightly different plan than what Katya had explained to us last night, but that was fine.  I had heard good things about Peter and Luda and I knew we would be well taken care of.
  
  According to Luda, the city of Cheboksary has around 600,000 people.  It is the capitol of the Chuvashia region.  It is a beautiful location that is covered in snow - deep snow.  The temperature is warmer here than at home and there is an ever present light snow fall.  That would explain the large snow banks.  
  
  Sergi the driver brought us through town to the flat.  Sergi also drives a Volga-Bona mobile.  I think it must have all-wheel drive.  The roads here have a significant amount of snow on them and I am certain I would have trouble driving in it with my front-wheel drive Saturn.  The city also has many hills.  I can hear the sound of tires spinning on the roads as drivers attempt to climb up hill.
  
  Peter and Luda live in a large apartment building in town.  Their flat is quite large and has four bedrooms, a dining-living room, a small kitchen, a toilet room and a bathing room.  We ate some breakfast that Luda had prepared and I showered up.  Luda's bathing room is an interesting place.  It is quite small.  The sink is located next to the head of the tub.  Both the sink and tub share a common faucet with a very long neck.  It swings back and forth between the two.  Just like in Tatyana's flat, the shower is a hand-held model with a long hose that attaches to the the faucet.  When you want to shower, you pull or turn the faucet knob and then hang the shower handle on the wall.
  
  There is no need to bother setting the water temperature while taking a shower because it has a mind of it's own.  When I got into the shower, one of the first things I thought about was if I was going to use up all the hot water.  I don't think that is a problem here because I think the entire building has some kind of massive boiler system and there is a virtual endless supply of scalding water.  Either way, I set the water temperature to comfortably warm - not hot.  Within a minute or so, the water temperature went from warm to ice to warm to scalding and back again.  Of course my immediate reaction was to arch my back and cry out in pain - with my mouth closed of course.  I quickly reached for the hot and cold water knobs to try to adjust them.  This is another interesting thing - they are very sensitive.  Turning either of the two handles more than 1 degree in either direction will completely alter the temperature of the water.  Extreme caution is required.
  
  Also in the bathing room is a small front loading washing machine.  After the cloths are washed, there is a very ingenious cloths line that hangs from the ceiling.  The cloths themselves are hung on fiberglass rods.  The rods are raised and lowered by a series of pulleys on the wall.  It is pretty cool.
  
  After my shower, Peggy and I went into our room and began to organize our suitcases.  We would be bringing one suit case with orphanage gifts with us when we go to get Yuri.  It was not long and Marina arrived and said that it was time to go.  This would be the moment we had been waiting for - for nearly a year.  We piled into Sergi's Volga-Bona mobile and off we went.  As I had mentioned before, there is a fairly significant amount of snow on the roads.  The closer we got to the orphanage, the deeper it seemed to be.  
  
  There is a part of town near the center that is called something like, "the old settlement".  It also looks a lot like Anatevka.  Small cabin like shacks - some of which are very ornate and decrorative on the front and very rough on the other 3 sides.  We drove through and on to the orphanage.  When we arrived, I noticed that it was not a single building but rather a series of buildings - perhaps a dozen or more.  We pulled into what seemed like an alley way and drove ahead.  The snow that Sergi was plowing through was nearly 8 to 10 inches deep and the alley itself was only slightly wider than the car itself.  The snow banks on each side were also very high.  It is like they just don't know what to do about all the snow so they keep piling it up as best they can - which by the way - is by using a hand shovel.
  
  We pulled up in front of a building that is baby-blue-ish in color.  It shares a common court yard with another building.  Marina quickly pointed out that Yuri was across the court yard from our car.  From what she had shared earlier, Yuri was only notified that we were coming for him and in the region - just this morning.  She said, "You can see how much pain he is in by how he walks".  Yuri did not move quickly but slid and shuffeled his feet slowly.  I'm sure some of it was from pain, while perhaps he was also doing it as a safety precaution due to all of the snow and ice under his feet.
  
  Peggy moved towards him as quickly as she could and when she met him, she gave him the hug of a life time.  After hogging Yuri for a while, Peggy let me hug him too :-)
  
  We went into the blue building and spoke with some of the orphanage officials there.  We dropped off the gifts and got a very short look around.  Then we had to go.  We all piled into the car and headed back to Peter and Luda's.  Unlike the other adopting family who has their court date tomorrow (Thursday), we would have an extra day of downtime and bonding before our court appearance.
  
  When we got back to Peter and Luda's, we got Yuri all settled in.  Today was Peter and Luda's 33 wedding anniversary and they were going to have a cake to celebrate it.  Also, their older son would come over with his wife and 2 year old daughter.  While we waited the afternoon away, I noticed that Yuri was singing quietly to himself.  I don't remember him singing when he stayed with us but I do remember some other other children singing what sounded like a national or patriotic song.  I asked Luda what he was singing.  She said, "He says, 'Today my parents have come for me and I'm so happy'".
  
  When dinner time came, we ate another fine meal prepared by Luda.  As I mentioned before, she has a very small kitchen but she makes wonderful and amazingly delicious things there.  After dinner, Luda brought out a cake.  It looked as if it was made of pieces that were meant to pull apart.  Each piece was a slightly different color - some white cake - some brown cake.  All of them were stuffed with a light cream filling.  It had white and chocolate cream frosting with sprinkles on it.  This is the type of cake that makes you say, "WOW is that ever good!".  But then you realize how rich it was and you avoid a second piece.
  
  After the cake, Peter brought out a large bottle of champagne.  Peter popped the cork on the bottle.  POP!  The little girl at the table was scared to death at the sound and started screaming.  A tall stream of foam shot out from the bottle and Peter pointed it at his daughter-in-law and it went all over her hair and pants.  I watched her face to see her reaction.  She was very calm and polite considering what just happened.  Peter poured the remainder of the bottle's contents into our glasses and made a lengthy toast to his wife.  Luda translated:  "He loves me... we've had 33 years of marriage... we have 3 wonderful children...  we live very well... I hope we live as well in the life to come".   33 years is a long time, especially here.
  
  Marina stopped by later and informed us that two other women would be coming over this evening to prepare us for court.  One of them is a lady named Valentina.  She is the regional Orphanage Inspector.  She has a big heart for children and they are always on her mind.  The other women - Elaina - is the court translator.  She has been present in many many other adoption court hearings and would help us know what to expect.  This turned into a long evening.  We were still so wiped out from the plane and train that it was hard to think straight and concentrate on what they were saying.  Marina kept telling me, "blah blah blah don't fall asleep! blah blah blah".  That is about all I can remember.  I'm glad Peggy was taking notes.  
  

2/12/2008 - Tuesday

• 2/12/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 2We landed at Shermetyevo airport a few minutes before 11:00 (Local Moscow Time).  Earlier in the year, our church had a missionary from Russia come and he explained what the layout of the airport was like.  We were thankful for that, as it was laid out just like he said.  We exited the plane along with a few other American women who had made this trip many times before.  They helped us get into the correct line.  Unlike some other foreign cities where signs are often in the local language and English, all the signs here are in Russian only.  If you did not have help, you would get lost.
  
  We stood in line with our passports and a special Visa form that we filled out on the plane.  I wasn't paying attention to the person in front of me and when they were done passing through the Visa station, I was supposed to step forward.  Before I knew it, I was being scolded in Russian by the Visa agent.  It was a female and she was dressed in some kind of Uniform.  I don't know if she was part of the military or some other government organization or just airport security.  All of the uniforms look the same to me.  She was a very nice looking woman who had the ability to make you feel like you had done something terrible by the way she looked at you.  I said nothing and handed her my passport and form.
  
  She looked at my photo and back at me then back to my passport.  I think she grunted something at me a few times and I just smiled back.  She typed a few things into her computer and then grunted at me again.  Then she tossed me my passport.  I think that means she was done.  I grabbed by passport and left the window.  Yikes!
  
  Now keep in mind that I have no idea what anyone is saying to me, I can't read any of the signs and I'm in a line with lots of other people hoping that it is the correct line.  I'm carrying a lot of cash strapped to my body hoping no one will notice and hoping that my luggage didn't get lost.  Because if it did, I wouldn't know how to ask about it or how to understand the answer should I receive one.
  
  We both got through the line and went directly to the baggage claim.  This is perhaps the best part of the Shermetyevo airport.  You cannot miss it as you must walk around it to exit the terminal.  Within 5 minutes, all of our luggage appeared.  We loaded it onto a cart and headed for the metal detector.  Peggy was ahead of me pulling the two carry on bags.  They waived her through and she did not have to be inspected.  Being the kind of guy that I am, I followed her.  MISTAKE.
  
  They waived me back over to the metal detector where I had to unload all of the luggage and run it through the detector.  It was no big deal, but in America we would call that kind of behavior "profiling", "discrimination" or "random security".  We passed through the detector and made our way for the doors.  There were many taxi drivers waiting to take you anywhere.  Along with them was our driver "Victor".  He was holding a sign with our last name.  That was a relief.
  
  Victor drives a Volga sedan.  That's Volga with a "B".  The correct Russian spelling for Volga is "B O N A".  Looks like Bona, sounds like Volga.  Lots of signs around here are like that.  Additionally, some of their letters look like numbers and others look like no other character I've seen before.  What ever...
  
  So we climbed into the Volga Bona mobile and began to drive.  Victor speaks about 10% English which means you must listen very hard and carefully guess about the parts you don't understand.  Victor said  "One.  Clinic" where the word "clinic" sounds like "kleeeeen-ik".  I think that means we are first going to the clinic for our medical exams.  Got it.
  
  First question to Victor, "Two?".  It seemed a logical question based on the level of language we are engaged in.  Nope - wrong again.  Victor responded with "Huh?"  Oh boy... where do we go from here.  This went on and on for a long time while we drove to the clinic.
  
  The clinic was about 35 kilometers from the airport.  After the clinic visit, we were to go to Tatyana's flat.  Tatyana is a woman who has agreed to host us until next week Thursday.  We knew that we were supposed to be on the train tonight and we did not expect to be going to her flat at all.  Perhaps we would have time to shower before we left on the train.
  
  As we entered deepest Moscow there were some things that stood out in my mind.  The most striking thing is that Moscow is in a state of heavy construction.  There are cranes, bull dozers and heavy equipment every where.  The earth is dug up, with big holes, large piles of dirt and construction tape blocking off large areas.  An interesting side note is that a large percentage of what you see under construction is abandoned.  For example, we passed by what was supposed to be a large long bridge.  All of the concrete pylons were made but there were no cranes around them.  Victor says they quit working on this around 10 years ago.
  
  Another subtle aspect to all of this construction is that you don't see many construction workers around, just the equipment.  I don't understand how a city can sustain this much growth.  It must be a large financial drain and they work on things as they can and when they can.
  
  One final thing I have to say about our trip to the clinic is that traffic in Moscow is Crazy.  I mean Crazy with a very capital "C".  Victor says that there is somewhere between 12 and 15 million people.  Prior to this, the next largest city I've ever been in is Chicago.  In Chicago, drivers are aggressive  They go fast, change lanes and merge with traffic with intention.  Here, they do unspeakable things.  For example, at one intersection we were in 6 lanes of traffic - one way.  Traffic had stopped due to a stop light up ahead and it was bumper to bumper for about 10 or 12 rows of cars.  Using some quick math, that is like 60 to 72 cars stopped.  We were in the part of the stopped traffic that was blocking an intersection.  This is not a problem for the other cars attempting to cross the intersection.  They just go anyway - weaving their way through the 60 or 72 cars!  Here is the kicker - the stopped cars... they allow it!  Cars are going every direction at all times.  I could not figure out the traffic rules by watching what was going on.  Peggy said, "I can't look out the front window".  It was Crazy.  If I wasn't so tired, I would have been scared to death.
  
  We arrived at the clinic and went in.  It is an unremarkable building - no different from the buildings that surround it.  We walked in and there were people smoking in the foyer - something that would definitely not fly in America.  Victor brought us to the coat check.  The clinic distributes cloth slip on booties to put on over your shoes so that you don't track any dirt from outside through the clinic.  The clerk told Victor where we were to go and he attempted to relay this message to us, "two floor, 5 cabinet".  A young man standing near told us that he means "second floor, room 5".
  
  We walked up stairs and sat in a long hall that was filled with many older people.  They all looked confused as if they had not received any guidance about where they were to go or what they were supposed to do.  Periodically they would get up, walk around and attempt to open various doors as if they were looking for someone who might answer some of their questions.  Most doors were locked and the ones they were able to open contained no people.  They went back to their seats and looked frustrated.
  
  We waited about 20 or 30 minutes and the other driver came.  His name is Dima.  Dima was toting around another adopting family who had arrived the day before and spent the night at a flat.  Dima had made arrangements for us to have an appointment with the health inspector at 1:00 PM.  When the time came, we were escorted into one of the offices to wait.  As I looked around, I noticed that the building and all of the offices looked very old and dated.  All of the hallways and rooms have their electrical wiring ON the walls, not IN the walls.  It is as if they thought about electricity after they built.  I should note that the plumbing is the same way - an afterthought.
  
  The inspector offered us coffee and some cookies and crackers.  The coffee of choice here is instant NesCafe - again, an afterthought.  In America, most offices have a coffee maker.  Here many people drink tea and some coffee.  As long as your keeping water hot for tea, adding instant coffee is not a problem.
  
  I had one of the cookies.  It was as hard as a cinder block and I thought for a moment I might break a tooth.  "CRACK!"  Was that the cookie or my jaw bone?
  
  We waited with the other family until the doctor's got their act together.  In a nutshell, the physical exam is sham, scam.  Whatever you want to call it.  The first exam was the health exam.  We went into a room with 1 male doctor and 4 female doctors.  They asked us questions like, "do you  have any cancer or diseases?"  Then we had to take our shirts off.  
  
  One very angry woman came up to me and had me hold out my hands.  She verified that I was able to bend my wrists and elbows.  Then she began to hit my hands with a small rubber mallet.  She told me to turn around and hit me in my lower back with the heel of her palm.  "Did that hurt?", she asked.  She asked me to turn around again and had me close my eyes and touch the tip of my nose with my finger tips.  Then she said in an angry voice, "stick out tongue" followed by "show teeth".  The next woman doctor came up to me and took my blood pressure and then listened to my chest.  That was it, I was alive and healthy enough.
  
  The next doctor we visited was the Oncologist.  He asked me if I had any cancer or disease.  I said "no".  He asked Peggy when was the last time she went to the gynecologist and then told her she needs to take better care of herself and that he liked the sound of our last name.  That was it.  No cancer.
  
  We went back to the inspector's office while the other family was "examined".  The medical commissioner told us we were "hero's" for doing this.  I didn't feel much like a hero.
  
  When the other family got back, they were told they had to go to the "Substance Abuse Specialist".  No sooner had they walked out the door than they walked back in.  The husband said, all he asked us was, "What are your thoughts on drugs and alcohol?".  We said "no" and that was it.
  
  The exam schedule was supposed to also include a psychological evaluation to determine if we were sane but we didn't see anyone for this.  The exams that I just described above:
  1. health exam
  2. cancer exam
  
  cost a total of $1,490.00.  That's One Thousand, Four Hundred, Ninety Dollars.  I didn't even get to answer the question about my feelings towards drugs and alcohol!  We have a phrase for that here in America - RIP OFF!
  
  Before we left the clinic, I had to make a quick stop in the rest room.  I had mentioned earlier that I thought plumbing was an after thought - here's why:
  
  First of all, toilets and sinks are not located in the same room.  The toilet is in a room about 2 or 3 times the size of the toilet itself.  There is enough space to go in, close the door and sit.  The toilet had no seat to sit on - just the bowl.  Someone had been in there previously and the paper was still in the bowl.  I tried to do what I came in there to but it was difficult being so tired and trying to levitate above the bowl and not touch the porcelain.  
  
  The toilet paper there is about 3 inches wide and coarse.  When I flushed, the paper did not go down.  After you exit there, you wonder how many other people also exited there and touched the door knob before washing their hands.  In America, the toilet and the sink with soap are generally located in the same room.  When I was all done, I began to tell the father of the other family about this and the paper not going down.  He said that many of the plumbing situations here were not designed to take the paper because it doesn't break down very well.  He said the appropriate thing to do was to put the waste paper in the trash.  YUCK!
  
  We left the clinic and Victor brought us through the Crazy Moscow traffic again to Tatyana's flat.  On the way there I noticed another aspect about Moscow and traffic.  People park their cars where ever there is space.  For example: there is space on the sidewalk.  Consequently, the sidewalks are filled with cars parked facing all directions.  However the driver was able to get the car in there, that is how they parked.  Some cars were parked parallel along the side of the road, some parked at an angle, some had the passenger tires up on the sidewalk and the driver side tires on the street.  Some cars had their front tires on the sidewalk and the back end of the car in the road.  When I say this, I mean all these cars are together parked this way randomly.  There were some cars that were parked out in the 2nd lane blocking other Crazy parked cars in so that there was no way out.  At least no way out to the untrained eye...
  
  In all of this, I must say that Vincent was a very good driver.  He didn't hit anyone and no one hit him.  Vincent was a very cool and calm driver in what I would call extreme chaos.  We did not witness one single accident and he brought us safely to the flat.
  
  == 4:00 PM ==
  
  When we arrived, Tatyana greeted us with a warm welcome.  She had been cooking and the flat smelled very nice.  She said, "Perhaps you want shower up and eat something?"  Ahhhhh!  What a welcome relief.  I asked her about using the toilet and where to put the toilet paper.  She assured me that it would be ok to put it in the toilet.  Some how that seemed like good news.
  
  For dinner, she had made some kind of turkey noodle soup with a salad, pork chops with veggies and rice...pickles on the side.    She is a very good cook and the meal was delicious.  After dinner we waited for Katya - the Lighthouse Russian Business Manager.  While we waited, I fell into a deep sleep very quickly.  Unfortunately it only lasted about 15 minutes.
  
  Katya collected additional adoption fees from us and explained what would happen over the next few days.  We were to get on the train tonight and head out for Cheboksary around 8:45.  We will  stay in a hotel in town, take care of our court proceedings on Friday and then head back to Moscow that Friday night.  We would get back to Moscow Saturday morning and then come back to Tatyana's and stay until Thursday.  Then we explained that we had rented a flat and would stay there the rest of the time if necessary - depending on if the judge waives the 10 day stay or not.  We got some additional rest after Katya left and waited for Victor to pick us up again.
  
  Victor arrived around 7:30 and drove us through the Crazy Moscow Traffic again.  I made another observation.  There is no single straight path between any two points in Moscow.  Victor would drive for a mile or so in one direction and then make a right or left turn.  He would go another mile or so and then make a 180 degree turn onto another road.  To the casual observer, this might appear that you are now going back in the same direction you just came from but on a different road.  This type of behavior happened over and over again.
  
  In Green Bay and most major American cities, we have this concept of "The Belt Way".  In Green Bay for example, if you needed to go somewhere across town, you might head towards the outskirts of town and get on the belt way.  Then you would travel very quickly at highway speed to the other side of town and get off at the nearest exit.  Then it would be a very quick zip, zoom bang and you'd be where you want to be.  I don't think this concept exists in Moscow.  It is just a crazy organization of snowy roads filled with hundreds of thousands of crazy drivers and mis-parked cars.
  
  Victor brought us safely to the train station where Dima was waiting with the other family and a train attendant with a large cart for all of our luggage.  We quickly headed to our train and got on.  Peggy and I had a sleeper to ourselves and the other couple with their two children shared the sleeper right next door.  The sleeper looked clean but smelled like it had previously transported heavy smokers for the last 50 years and they only recently declared it a non-smoking area.  They provided bottled seltzer water and 4 meal packs.  Each meal pack had a small bun and some shrink-wrapped sausage slices.  It also contained some cookies, cheese, granola bar and a yogurt cup.  It was nice and filling.  They also gave us a kit to freshen up in the morning.  It had a comb, tooth brush with tooth paste, tooth floss, baby wipe cloth, shoe shine cloth.  Here is a little FYI.  When you brush your teeth, do not rinse your mouth with seltzer water.  You get a reaction that is very similar to dropping a Mentos into a two liter bottle of diet Coke.  It is not safe.  Don't do it.
  
  On another bathroom/toilet related note, the toilet room on the train is closed and locked while the train is stopped.  It is unlocked 30 minutes after it begins to roll and locked again 30 minutes before it stops.  I don't think this is for short intermittent stops, just big ones.  After we had pulled out of the Moscow station, Peggy went to go and use the toilet.  The toilet security guard informed her not to put any paper down the toilet.  The used paper should go into a waste basket.  So... just to keep a tally - that's 2 toilets where paper was not allowed and 1 where it was allowed.
  
  During the night, we pass through dozens of small villages.  Each of them reminded me of Anatevka from Fiddler on the Roof.  They were small and filled with very small old looking shacks that had about a foot of snow on the roof.  There was a few street lights on, some at the train station and some further back.  None of the houses had any lights on.  Periodically, I would see a person here or there standing near the tracks.  Not necessarily rail workers, but other people.  What were they doing at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning standing at the edge of a small town that looks like it was pulled right out of time from 100 years ago?  Perhaps they were boarding the train to go to Cheboksary.  Who knows.
  

2/11/2008 - Monday

• 2/11/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 1We got up early on Monday morning and headed to the airport for our 10:00 flight to Atlanta, GA.  The plan was relatively small and had two columns of seats - two on each side.  I sat by the window and Peggy got the aisle.  I was a little concerned about the flight.  Not so much about flying but about rough air and getting nauseous  Additionally, I knew that the pressure change from going up to 31,000 feet and coming down again would be hard on my ears.  The flight itself was very smooth and I didn't get sick.  I was chewing a stick of gum fairly aggressively and was swallowing a lot to help my ears pop.  
  
  We landed in Atlanta and I was thankful that I didn't get sick- but I couldn't hear anything out of my left ear.  The temperature difference was significant.  When we left home, the thermometer said it was -12 degrees F.  Atlanta was in the mid 60's when we landed.
  
  == 1:30 PM ==
  
  Atlanta is a huge airport.  It is an international hub and has flights going in all directions all of the time.  We found out which gate we had entered at - Gate C and discovered that we needed to go to Gate E.  It sound simple enough until you look at the map and realize the scope and size of the airport.  You must take an underground train to get to Gate E.  
  
  So we went down to the ground floor on the largest escelator in the world and waited for the train.  While we were standing there, another young man came up to us and asked, "Do you know where I pick up my baggage?".
  
  Huh!?  I was thinking two things:
  1. Why are you asking me?  Do I look like I might know the answer to such a question?
  2. I'm glad I am not in search of my luggage.  I would not know where to begin looking as the Atlanta airport is 100 times the size of the Green Bay airport.
  
  We boarded the train.  There were no seats, just poles to hang on to while you go for the ride of your life.  The train starts and stops very quickly.  When we got to Gate E, we looked for rest rooms and a place to get a bite to eat.  There were soldiers all over the place in the airport.  Some coming from a tour of duty and others heading out.  In addition to the men and women in uniform, there were people from all over the world there.  Every color, tribe, tongue and nation was represented.  Peggy commented, "I think this is how it will be in heaven".
  
  We went to the Arby's in the food court and got some sandwiches and sat down next to a player grand piano.  It was very nice and soothing to listen to while we ate and watched the people.  After we ate, we headed for our gate to sit and to wait.   Hmmmm...  that sounds a little like Dr. Suess!
  
  We adjusted our watches to Eastern time.  I had just gotten a new band and battery for my digital watch.  Setting it was not a problem.  Peggy on the other hand, was unable to set her watch.  She pulled out the knob on the watch to move the hands and began to turn.  The hands moved a little but no farther.  So she pulled on the knob a little more and "POP" - it came off!  Now she has a nice watch with a silver rod sticking out of the side.  I was not going to bring my watch, but now I'm glad I did.
  
  == 4:00 PM ==
  
  We boarded our plane and found our seats.  The flight to Moscow from Atlanta was on a Boeing 767.  It has three columns of seats - two seats per row on each on the outer columns and three seats per row in the middle column.  We were in the middle, which means the overhead compartments in the middle were for our seats - or so we thought.  The center overhead compartments are not large enough for our carry-on suit cases so we had to walk up and down the aisles looking for open space.  What a pain in the butt.  You can hardly move as it is, and when you find space you must ask the person sitting right below if it is their stuff right above their head and do they mind if you move it to make room.  This normally would not be an issue except for the fact that more than half of the plane is filled with people who only speak Russian!
  
  After we got our baggage stowed, we sat down and prepared for the long flight.  The stewardess came around and made sure everyone was settled in.  The told us the current time in Moscow and I reset my watch time again for that.  While I was operating the watch buttons, one of the spring loaded pins that hold the watch to the band popped off and my watch fell off the band.  I began to wonder what else was going to happen on this trip.  I was able to get the pin back in.  Shortly before we took off, my ear popped and some of my hearing was restored.
  
  == 4:20 PM ==
  
  We took off.  The 767 has a lot more power than the plane we took earlier.  It rises to flight altitude much quicker.  My ears quickly became plugged and I was half deaf again.
  
  We had heard some mixed information about the meals on the flight.  I was not sure what would be provided and what we might have to pay for.  As it turns out, they sell alcoholic drinks and other duty-free stuff on the plane during the flight.  Snacks, soda, and water are free.  For today's flight, we were offered a choice of chicken and rice or cheese ravioli.  I took the chicken and Peggy had the ravioli.  Each meal was served with a piece of bread, a small salad, cheese and crackers and a chocolate brownie.  It was very nice and quite filling.
  
  I had thought earlier that it would be best for me to try and sleep as much as possible during the flight.  We approximated that it would be around 2:00 AM central time (11:00 AM local) when we landed.  This would make for a very long day.  Then after we arrived, we would stay awake as long as possible so we could get to sleep later that night.  This is one of those things that seems to work out on paper but in reality it doesn't happen as you expect.
  
  Two rows behind us were three very loud men.  The laughed and talked for 10 hours - the length of the flight.  As bad as it was, I felt sorry for the single man in the row behind us who got the worst of it.  We watched two movies: The Bee Movie and Ratatoli.  I had never seen either of them before.  The Bee Movie was funny but I could not pay attention to the other.  I couldn't sleep either.  The flight was very smooth but way too long.  By the half way point, I felt like I had lost a year of my life and my butt was killing me.
  
  I tried to rest as much as possible but there was no room to stretch out.  Peggy kept encouraging me to get up and move around.  Many other people walked around for much of the flight.  It was an exhausting night.  They gave us a small breakfast of juice and a bagel along with a small packet with some toiletries to freshen up in the morning.  It was incredibly draining.  I don't think I can stress that enough.  When we arrived in Moscow airspace, the plane seemed to drop altitude almost as fast as it had gained it before.  My ears, head and throat hurt so bad, I thought my head would explode.  By the time we landed, I was nearly completely deaf because my ears would not pop.

2/9/2008 - Saturday

• 2/9/2008 9:18:24 PMRoller coasters and RussiaI remember the first time I ever went to Six Flags Great America in Gurney Illinois.  I had seen commercials of the roller coasters there and they looked very exciting.
  
  As we approached the park on the highway, one of the first things we noticed was the roller coaster tracks and how high they were.  Periodically we could see a coaster flash past with people raising their hands in the air.  When we entered the park, we could immediately hear the screams of the people on the rides.  My family and I walked around for a while before we settled on the first coaster ride.
  
  The ride is called the Demon now but when I was there, it was called the "Turn of the Century".  I can still remember the sounds of the coaster on the tracks and people screaming.  We got in line.  I was very nervous and not sure if I really wanted to go on the ride.  My dad convinced me that it was going to be fun.  Before too long, there was a line of people behind us and we were on our way to the front.
  
  Zigging and zagging, we moved along.  Foot by foot, inch by inch.  At times, I forgot that I was in a line waiting to get on the scariest ride of my life.  As we moved closer, we came to a sign with a picture of the Tasmanian Devil that indicated how tall you must be to ride.  I met the minimum requirement.  "Well", I thought.  "There's not much I can do to get out of this now."
  
  We continued to move forward towards the loading dock.  We climbed stairs, turned corners and climbed more stairs.  The ride began to sound different, louder.  You could hear noises that you couldn't hear before: clicking, clacking, and clunking metallic sounds.  Finally you moved into position where you could see the roller coaster car with riders getting off and new people getting on.  The exiting riders "seemed" to be ok.  For a moment, I thought I could smell the scent of puke wafting in the air.  Perhaps it was just my imagination.
  
  The ride attendants would escort the new rider to the appropriate car, push them into the proper position and lower the harness.  Of course this meant that the line moved forward again and we now got a much better view of the ride.  Then the people directly in front of us got on the ride and there was nothing between me and track.
  
  The next coaster car came rolling in and the people got off.  The ride attendant looked at me and said, "come on".  By this time, I was a little numb.  They could have guided me almost anywhere.  There was no where else to go except on the ride.  I walked to the car they directed me to, sat me down and they dropped the harness over me.  The harness was a huge piece of padded iron bar that came down over each of my shoulders and crossed over my abdomen.  There is no way I could fall out of the car much less move.  I heard the "click" of the metal and I knew I was in... permanently.
  
  The car lurched, and began to roll forward.  "Ka-Chunk!".  We slowly rolled towards the first hill and I could hear the track chain engage with the coaster.  The chain pulled us up, up, up.  Before long, the car was well on it's way climbing the first hill.  It was so steep that I was nearly flat on my back.  The higher we climbed, the more of the park I could see.  That's when I felt the first sensation of vomit threatening.  My stomach began to talk to me with gurgle sounds. "Helloooo", it was saying.  "I'm not sure what's going on but I'm not to happy about it..."
  
  We got to the top of the hill and the coaster began to make a wide sweeping turn to the left.  As the first cars began to disappear in front of me, I could feel their weight pulling me as my car began to accelerate.  Oh boy.  I held on to the harness as tight as I could and closed one eye.
  
  In a nutshell, that is how I feel right now.

2/7/2008 - Thursday

• 2/7/2008 2:51:21 PMRussian Visa In HandThanks to ultra fast service by the Russian Consulate in Seattle and Federal Express, our Russian Visa's along with our passports were stamped and returned this afternoon.  Woo Hoo!!  That was the last of the "big stresses".
  
  For those of you who are reading this and about to follow in our footsteps - keep this in mind when you send anything via FedEx:
  If you fill out a FedEx mailing label by hand, you will not be sent tracking information.  If you fill the label out on-line and print it, you will.
  
  If you send a package that includes a FedEx return label inside:
  - If you filled out the return label on-line and printed it, you will be emailed a tracking number.
  - If you wrote out the return label by hand, you will not get a tracking number, so make sure you copy the number from the slip before you put it in.
  
  Just a little FYI for you :-)

2/6/2008 - Wednesday

• 2/6/2008 10:41:12 PMApartment Arangements ConfirmedMy beloved bride has successfully secured an apartment for us in Moscow.  After combing the internet and gleaning a ton of valuable information from two super valuable resources (thank you so much Christy and Tracy), we found a place we like (and that was available) from Peace Travel Services.
  
  The apartment has a full kitchen with refrigerator, stove, oven, and microwave as well as a cloths washing machine.  It has a single bedroom but the couch in the main room can fold out into a bed.  We'll send photos of it when we get there.
  
  I was very nervous about staying in an apartment at first.  After speaking with Christy and Tracy last night, it seems like it may be one of the highlights of the entire trip.  I'm looking forward to it.
  
  The other day we had 2 very important documents to send out via FedEx.  One of them was a re-do of our police clearance letters.  We received them back from Madison today.  The other document was our request for a Visa from the Russian Consulate.  There was a delay in getting our invitation letter and consequently we were not able to send our Visa request until Tuesday.  We confirmed via tracking number that it was received in Seattle this morning.  Hopefully it is already on it's way back or will be very shortly.
  
  Besides waiting on the Visa, all that is left to do is pack suitcases and prepare the house (stock the cupboards and refrigerator, get all the laundry washed, bring all the trash to the dump...)
  
  Actually, there is one more very important thing to do... pray.
  
  Lord, prepare our hearts for this trip - for what we are about to see, hear and experience.  Please prepare Yuri's heart.  Let our reunion be filled with tears of joy.  Help us to reflect your love in everything we do and say.
  
  We ask for this in the Name that is above all names.

2/5/2008 - Tuesday

• 2/5/2008 3:55:44 PMAirport AdventureThis is a story that looked like it was going to be awful when it began, but by the time it ended it was relatively pleasant.
  
  We arrived at Austin Strauble International Airport in Green Bay and walked up to the Delta counter.  All the other open counters had long lines and Delta had no customers.  That's good.  We had some potentially long business to conduct.  We approached the counter lady and began to explain what we needed.
  
  "You mean you didn't purchase your tickets yet?", she asked.
  
  "Yes", we said.  "That's why we're here.  To purchase them now."
  
  "I'm going to have to be on the phone for hours straightening this out", she complained.
  
  Little did she know that we went through five different customer service agents last night and got five different answers.  Honestly, I really didn't care if she had to be on the phone for hours.
  
  We explained further that we had received a confirmation number from one of the agents last night and that all of the hassle we went through should be in their system.  This information did not seem to phase her and she began to give me the impression that we had just ruined her day.
  
  She called someone from Delta and began to explain that we had not purchased our tickets on line and needed to do it now and there was an adoption involved and blah blah blah blah.  She mentioned repeatedly, "I don't know why you didn't just purchase them on line...  There is going to be an additional fee for each ticket for purchasing them at the counter..."
  
  Whatever.
  
  As she spoke to the person on the phone, we listened carefully.
  "... and there is no record of the price...  extra fees... I've never done one of these before... I-171h..."
  
  I looked at Peggy.
  
  She looked back at me.
  
  Oh boy.
  
  Then we received her preliminary explanation of what was going on
  
  "No one ever reads the notes field on these things...  There is no record of a quoted price...  Hold on..."
  
  A little panic began to set in.  All I wanted to know was if we were going to get the quoted price or not and she either couldn't or wouldn't give me a definitive answer on that.
  
  Then she came back, "... as soon as I said the word adoption, she knew exactly what to do".
  
  Apparently the person on the other end of the phone is very familiar with adoption flights and knowing this put our counter agent at ease.  Her whole attitude changed and she actually became friendly.  It was not long afterward when we had secured our tickets.
  
  Here is the final total:
  (my ticket)      2016.20 + 20.00
  (Peggy's ticket) 2016.20 + 20.00
  (Yuri's ticket)  1102.85 + 20.00
  ---------------------------------
  Grand Total     $5195.25
  
  While it seems to be an amazingly high price (and it is), we are just glad to have the tickets and this step complete.
  
  Next item on the agenda: locating a flat in Moscow.
  
  Stay tuned.
• 2/5/2008 10:35:10 AMVisa Invitation Letters ReceivedThe Visa invitation letters were in the email box when I got up this morning.  They were processed some time during the night and sent out around 11:30 PM.  
  
  Around 8PM last night, we sent a message to their technical support staff asking were the invitations were.  According to their web site, you can pay $15 extra to get same day service and should receive your letters within "a few hours".
  
  This morning, in addition to the letters we also received a response from their support team:
  
  
  
  Dear Mr. Sopata,
  
  Your invitations are processed and sent to you. Please
  allow for the time difference (we are a Moscow-based company).
  
  Thank you for using Visa Help Center!
  
  Best regards,
  Customer service team
  
  
  
  I guess "same day" means within 12 hours-ish.
  
  Also, it looks like we will definitely be staying in an apartment at least part of the time.  That is a frustrating story to tell so I'll avoid it for now.
  
  Today we are off to Green Bay to pick up our plane tickets.  Hopefully there will be no more unpleasant surprises.
  
  Serenity now... serenity now...

2/4/2008 - Monday

• 2/4/2008 11:18:35 PMTwo Minute ScrambleGood News... We got "the call".  As has happened for us every step of the way, the good news was immediately followed by bad news.
  
  In today's episode of "What is it this time?", we find ourselves with no place to stay in Moscow after we return from the orphanage.  We had visited this issue once before and we thought we had it settled.  I guess not.  We are waiting on more information from Val as to where we'll stay.  If nothing turns up, I guess we'll be looking for a flat or something.
  
  But wait... that's not all!  
  
  Some of our documents that we had notarized and apostilled are now expired.  We get to do them again and pay an additional $10 fee for each signature.  Not only that but we have to send them away to Madison.  That means additional FedEx costs and travel time.  The documents have to get there, be signed and be returned quickly.
  
  There's more...
  
  We are trying to find flights to Moscow.  Let me tell you - that is quite an adventure.  We looked at all the big on-line sites like Travelocity and Orbitz and they all list fairly reasonable rates.  You can get a round trip ticket for under $1000.  "Good news!", you say?  When you call them and tell the agent what you need and mention the Adoption Discount, they double the price!  What a fantastic deal!  
  
  Here is an example:
  - On line price: $968
  - Phone price:  $1065
  - Changing the return date:  $1065 + $200 change fee + price difference
     (price difference is subject to change with out notice)
  
  - With the Adoption "Discount":
     - which allows for a full refund
     - you can change the return date with "no penalty"
  - $2016
  
  One way ticket for child back from Russia
  - $2600
  - $1008 (with "Adoption Discount")
  
  Bottom line, it looks like the plane tickets are going to cost around $5,000.  OUCH!  That is a far cry from the on line price.  We spoke with 5 different people from Delta and got 5 different quotes.
  
  FIVE DIFFERENT QUOTES!
  
  I wish I could stop there but no...
  
  So Peggy applies for our Russian Visa Invitation letters.  She wants fast service so she pays $15 extra to get them back the same business day.  Around 12:30 PM central time, she submits the request and charges $90 ($45 for each of us).  We quickly get an email back saying they have received our request and we'll get the invitation letter shortly.  When we get that, we need to put it in a FedEx envelope along with our passports and a check for $600 and send the whole thing to Seattle, WA and pray that they will do their job quickly and return the envelope to us before we have to leave.
  
  It is now 10:00 PM and we do not have the letter.  The FedEx guy has come and gone.  The clock is ticking.  I hope it comes before the FedEx pickup tomorrow or we will not get it back in time to leave.
  
  Of course the entire process has always been in God's hands.  I must say however, the stress of the whole thing is incredible.

2/1/2008 - Friday

• 2/1/2008 8:11:48 PM3rd Week of Unbearable WaitingI wish there was more news to report.  Earlier in the week, I called both Val and Lisa to get an update on our trip.  As it turns out, there is not too much to report.  At this point, for us any news is good news - so here is our "any news"...
  
  It seems our case has been assigned to a judge, but as of yet no court date has been set.  From what we understand, it is the rule, law or general operating procedure that once the court receives our paperwork we will be assigned a court date for some time in the future within the next 30 days.  Our paperwork was received on January 9th, 2008.  My quick math tells me that we should know something soon.  Of course "soon" is a relative term.
  
  In the mean time, there are signatures to gather.  Yuri has relatives and they must be located and "sign off" on the adoption.  We asked Val, "what if they can't locate them?".  Val replied with assurance, "they'll find them".  I've heard some stories of other people's experiences during the days leading up to  court.  It seems that when it comes down to crunch time, the Lighthouse people are like a well oiled machine.  Click-Zoom-Bang!
  
  We are ready to go.  Now.
  
  Carrying this much anxiety for so long is becoming very draining.  You can only stay at a high level of emotional readiness for so long.  Then exhaustion sets in.  This is another reason I am thankful for the weekend.  While it is sad when the end of Friday comes and there has been no call, it also means I can find some mental rest knowing that "the call" will not likely come until (at the earliest) Monday.  
  
  In the meantime, we wait and pray.  There is so much to pray about.  I find that it is much easier to pray when there is nothing else to do and it is way too cold to go out side.  Take a look at the picture below.  I took this picture from my front porch on Wednesday.  Yes, that's right... -12 F.  What the picture doesn't tell you is that the wind chill was -30 F.  Burrrrr.  Perhaps this is God's way of preparing us for Moscow.