3rd trip preparations

So we leave in just a few more days for Russia. This will be our third (and last) trip to Nizhny Novgorod and we will be bringing our boys home this time. Hallelujah! Because it has taken so long to finally get to this point - it will be 15 months total from the time we started the home study to bringing the boys home - I have been repressing the feelings of excitement of having the boys home. No more. I am full of joy knowing that 3 weeks from now I will have 2 new sons in my family, under my roof, in my loving care. I have been nesting like crazy. Once I got clothes and shoes organized for Calvin & Silas, I have moved on to organizing other parts of the house, too. We are moving back to OH in August, and so I figure that anything I can do now to be better organized will prove helpful towards that move.

I must say that this adoption has been quite expensive. I know that many of you readers have adopted or are in the process of adoption. Talking about expenses in adoption seems to be not found on most blogs - or, at least, I have never read how much it costs on the many adoption blogs that I follow - but I don't have a problem with sharing total costs here. I think it's important to know how much the process costs to bring a child from Ukraine or Russia into your home. With our Keith & Iryna, we paid $33,000 to bring them home and we are still paying on that adoption. With Calvin and Silas, it will be about $55,000 to bring them home. We were anticipating it to be around $50,000, so needless to say, money is quite tight right now. I am trying to focus on the joy of this adoption, but lately the financial aspect is getting me down. I am praying for God to open the heavens and to bless us with financial miracles or opportunities to bring in more income, such as my Choffy business.

I do want to share a sweet story from my day yesterday. I went to the commissary to buy some groceries and when I went through the checkout, I was pleased to see Santina as my checker. I have spoken with her a few times before about our adoption and she was happy to hear that we leave next week for Russia. And then she said that if we could use some groceries after we come home that she would be happy to help us. I was blown away by her kindness. I have only spoken with her a few times. I became emotional and had to reign myself in so I wouldn't cry.

Another quick story, I was at Iryna's school talking with the nurse, Loretta. Loretta's boss was there going through inventory. Loretta mentioned that I was adopting two special needs children from Russia. Her boss became emotional and began to cry, saying how special of a person I was for doing this. I, of course, became emotional, too. People tell me that what we're doing is wonderful and that we are special people, but I don't regard myself as being any better than anyone else. God has called me to adopt special needs and I have answered his call, and we have been so blessed in doing so.

Raspberries and Tickles

When we went to the playroom today, the caregiver said that Silas had been asking for his Mama and Papa since 10am that morning. It was nice to know that he wanted to see us and spend time with us. Silas really unleashed his personality today – he was on the go and revealed a stubborn side to us. When the caregiver came in to take Silas to eat lunch, she asked him to put the toys away. He didn’t want to help so he threw himself down on the floor and put up a fight. Silas ate more raisinets today, but wouldn’t try a Russian fruit snack that Tyler bought for him. We watched some baby Einstein and he enjoyed it when I blew raspberries on his tummy. He also liked being tickled and we got some cute video of his belly laugh. 

After the orphanage, we went back to our apartment. Incidentally, the street we live on is called "Cold Street" - funny, huh? It is still around -7 degrees outside. I think that I am acclimating to it more now since we've been here over 2 weeks. I made more chicken strips and warmed up the macaroni and cheese and peas and we took a 40 minutes taxi ride down to Lower Nizhny Novgorod to visit with Misha and Natasha. Natasha just gave birth to their second son, Viktor. They have a one year old named Sasha. We talked and laughed and ate - she made blini and we ate it with sweetened condensed milk - so good!

Me, Viktor, and Natasha - isn't she beautiful? And Viktor is so cute - he looks more like a one month old rather than 2 weeks old.

Tyler couldn't get enough of holding Viktor. The group picture is Sasha, Misha, Tyler & Viktor. We played some baby einstein on our iPad for Sasha to watch. Their cat took a keen interest in it, as well. :)

After a few hours, we took a taxi drive to the church building in lower Nizhny Novgorod. I normally don't have much to say about a taxi ride - but this guy was so odd that I need to share. I don't know his name - his picture profile is above - but he was SO tickled by the fact that Tyler & I were from America. He kept laughing over and over and over - and smiling at us constantly. I felt like I was royalty by the way he was treating us. At one point he asked if we were here in Russia to use drugs. We assured him that we do not use any type of drugs. Although, by the way that he was driving and behaving, we wondered if he was using them.

We went to the church because there was a meeting tonight with Elder Bennett, a general authority from the 2nd quorum of the 70s of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For those of you not familiar with that title, Elder Bennett and three other men are responsible for the leadership of the church in Eastern Europe. About 60 people attended, many missionaries included. We got to see Elder Bitner who we met last year in Nizhny Novgorod. He is about to finish up his mission and go home next month. Elder Bennett spoke about Jesus Christ knowing us personally and how we don't come to church because we are perfect - we go to church to work on our imperfections. It was very uplifting and I felt the Holy Spirit very strongly. What a blessing to be here in Russia at this exact time. 

We spent one month in Russia last year and we've only been here for over 2 weeks now, and yet I feel so close to the members of the church here in Russia. It's such a small world when you're a mormon. I love that I can go to church here in Russia and they are singing the sames hymns and learning the same lessons as back in Florida. It is amazing. And the members have reached out to us and they accept us and genuinely love us. In fact, I got a text today from "Sister Ukraine" that said: I love you very much and I hope everything goes well on Thursday! And I've only known this sister for less than a week. The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a beautiful thing that binds us together.

We took a taxi drive home - not nearly as exciting as our prior one - and I made some potato medallions for a late supper. Sister Foutz made them for us last Sunday. You wash the potatoes, slice them thinly and cook in a little bit of oil. Then you layer them with Lambar cheese. Oh my goodness! So good!

Lambar cheese. It is SO incredibly good. Does anyone know if they sell it in the states? I almost hope that they don't because I just paid  $13 dollars for this big hunk of it!

Weekend stuff

Yesterday Tyler went to help Elder Foutz help a young man work on his apartment. I cannot pronounce the young man's name, let alone spell it. His English is pretty good and he greatly enjoys speaking with native English speakers.

Tyler and I walked down to a nearby grocery store. It's not as big as the SPAR stores, but it was decent. I found some lemon pirouettes for Tyler - yum! On the walk back, it felt like my cheeks had frostbite! And when I got home, sure enough, my cheeks were chapped and red. I see many people outside who aren't wearing gloves. My hands are cold even when I have my gloves on. I've never been in a place this cold before in my life - and even though I am cold, I still find it fun. Tyler is freezing everywhere we go and does not find it fun. When we're inside the apartment building, but not inside our apartment yet, I can see my frozen breath. It's currently -8F outside.

Last night I made blini (Russian crepe pancake) with strawberry jam inside and Grandpa Bob's famous hash browns. Tyler & I watched the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie - we've been having a Pirates movie marathon. We really like the apartment here. The only downside is that some people smoke in the apartment across the hall and the smell is really strong in here. Oh, and we found a jar high up in the kitchen that was full of, well, intimacy-related items. Ahem.

Today is Fast Sunday, so Tyler and I fasted that our court date will go well and that the 30 days will be waived. Church was wonderful. Fadel and Ming were there and in the second hour Tyler was able to teach Ming more about the gospel of Jesus Christ in Mandarin Chinese. He taught her about who God is and how to pray. She comes from a non-religious background in China. We had a really good visit and Ming said that she understands more about the church now and wants to meet again this week. Who would have thought that my Mandarin Chinese speaking husband would be speaking Mandarin in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia? Well, God knew it and he allows us to use our skills to bless the lives of others.

Andre brought us home after church - he is so kind to drive us to and from places - and I made this recipe. I skyped with Anna for a little while. She is so cute. She informed me that Iryna swallowed a quarter and had to go to the ER. They x-rayed her and said it was in her stomach. Poor Iryna. I feel bad for Danielle - who is taking care of the kids - she's had some drama since we've been gone! Andre picked us up to go eat dinner with the Foutz's. They are so kind to have us over for dinner. It feels just like home for us - as they are about the age of our parents. We had salmon (well, Tyler had salmon and I had chicken), sliced potatoes, steamed vegetables, rolls, fruit salad, and the apple bread pudding with whipped cream that I brought. Then we sat around and talked. It's very relaxing and nice and the Foutz's say that they enjoy having company over, too. So it's a win-win situation for everyone.

Tomorrow we are hopefully going to visit Silas - if he isn't more sick than before - and we are having the young missionaries (elders and sisters) over for dinner. It should be a lot of fun. It's so nice to have things to do and people to be with here in Russia. We are so blessed. Thank you all for your prayers - I know that many of pray for us and our safety. We appreciate your love and support in our adoption.

The walking street (where the grocery store and souvenirs are sold) and two views of the street outside our apartment complex.

The top is a building near us and the bottom is our apartment building - ours is on the second floor to the left.

Lemon pirouettes and Grandpa Bob's hash browns with blini (Russian crepe) with strawberry jam in the middle. Yummy!

A nice busy day (for a change)

We met with Silas today. He was very uncertain of us in the beginning, but became more comfortable as the hour went on. He liked rolling a big ball back and forth and especially enjoyed it when I would roll the big ball to him and it would bounce off his stomach. He liked the Baby Einstein DVD and would tolerate us holding him for short amounts of time. I am hopeful for things to improve with each visit.

After our visit, Sveta dropped us off at Elder and Sister Foutz's apartment. Fadel (a guy from Africa who speaks French/Russian/English - in that order) and his girlfriend, Ming (a girl from China who speaks Mandarin/Russian and zero English) came over for lunch, too. Fadel joined the church last October and is eager to share the gospel with Ming. When he heard that Tyler speaks Mandarin (he served a mission in Taiwan) he wanted for us to all get together. The Foutz's made a homemade chicken and vegetable soup, homemade bread, and homemade snickerdoodles. Afterwards we just chatted for a while and got to know Fadel and Ming. It was wonderful and we had a good time. Ming said she is coming to church on Sunday with Fadel and was thrilled that we could get together again then. :) 

After they left, we spent time with the Foutz's and were able to skype with Anna on the iPad. Andre drove us home and I baked a cheese souffle. It was a bit tricky to do as the oven has no gauge other than a knob that you can turn for a temperature - I just guessed where it should be and then adjusted it. There is another knob that you turn to turn on the oven light, and then three other settings - maybe broil is one of them? Not sure because it doesn't specify anywhere! Augh! I picked one that I hoped was right and noticed that when the oven is on that the light is also on - which is unlike our oven back in the US. Thankfully - the cheese souffle turned out wonderfully! It was nice to have something warm and comforting when it is -20 outside. We ate that plus some Choffy for dinner - Yum!

This afternoon I was outside our apartment building and an older Russian woman approached me and starting speaking in Russian. I replied (in Russian) that I do not speak Russian. She said "All right," (in English) and then "I love you!" (also in English). It was pretty funny and she was happy to learn that she said them both "ochen khorosho!" (very well)

Elder and Sister Foutz, Fadel, Ming, and me. The cheese souffle. Tyler skyping with Anna on the iPad.

Tonight we went to GAME NIGHT at the church building. Tyler & I played ping pong, foozball, and a game called Evolution that I never seemed to get the hang of...something where you pat your legs twice and then clap twice and then make a sign of a cat/worm/animal, etc, of someone else and then you  move around the room if you mess up - which I did every time it was my turn. I got to see Daria - whom I met during our trip here last year, and make new friends at GAME NIGHT. Everyone here in the church is so welcoming - I love it. In fact, we are going to Natasha's house for dinner on Sunday. She just had her second baby boy 2 weeks ago and we are going to bring dinner to her house and spend time with her little family. I am looking forward to it. Tyler is amused by how all the power outlets show the wattage on them - when they are all the same wattage here in Russia. 

From Vyksa back to Nizhny Novgorod

Wednesday, February 1^st, 2012

Sveta was with us today and we talked with Calvin about what is going to happen now. We told him that we are going to leave, but that we will come back. And when we do come back, he will get to wear his new shirt, pants, shoes, and coat. And when we come back, we will take him home with us. He will get to ride an airplane. We asked him if he wanted to go with us and he said yes. We asked him if he understood what we were saying and he said yes. I was worried that he would be emotional and cry, but he was more thoughtful as he processed the news. We played with the tube and had a snack. We went over family pictures and then the caregiver brought out a small photo album with pictures of Calvin in it. We had fun looking through them with Calvin and he identified the other children in the pictures. When we first showed up to see Calvin, they were having a dance party with his groupa. We took off our shoes and joined in the fun! Calvin seemed very happy to have us there and showed us off to his friends.

We are now back in Nizhny Novgorod. It's good to be back. The apartment was okay in Vyksa, but the one here in NN is better and the water doesn't smell bad and is clear in color. It was sad to leave Calvin, but of both he and Silas I assume that Calvin can understand better that we are coming back for him. (I hope). Our laptop went through some major problems yesterday and we ended up having to restore it back to factory settings - hence my not posting anything yesterday on here. We think that the fan in the laptop is broken, so we currently have a fan blowing on the back of the computer to prevent it from overheating and just turning off because of it. This is all fine and good and I am grateful to have a working computer again (so grateful!) but it is -11 degrees outside and having a fan blowing in my face is enough to have me underneath two blankets with my hat on and still shivering. Brrr! But - like I said - it is worth it to be able to post pictures and updates from this trip. 

We had planned to see Silas today, but Sveta said that several of the children in Silas' groupa (his room at the orphanage) are sick and Silas is "teetering" between health and sickness, so they asked us not to come today. I hope we can see him tomorrow. 

Dance party!

Playing with balls.

Looking at pictures of Calvin.

Family picture!

The very old fashioned key to our current apartment. And that is a bag of cucumber dill potato chips. Tyler said they were "okay".

Living room/bedroom.

Shower/washing machine (no dryers here in Russia)/toilet with a knob on the back that you pull up to flush the toilet.

Kitchen - it has an oven! No disposal and no microwave. You learn to make things work.

I have found it funny that there was a cactus in our apartment in Vyksa and in this apartment in NN there is an aloe vera plant. ??? Tyler is holding the longest shoe horn that I have ever seen. They are quite common here in Russia. We think that this one is meant for boots and that that is why it's so long.

Day 2 and 3 with Silas

For some reason, my laptop wasn't working with the WIFI here in the hotel yesterday, but it's back on today. Hooray! Here is my report for yesterday:

January 20^th, 2012

Today we met with Silas around 10am. He was in a much better mood today. We went into a different room and he seemed more comfortable playing there. He was more comfortable with us today. He liked playing with the balls. He enjoyed watching the DVD as well. We brought a banana, but he wouldn’t eat any of it. We found out that he had already had a banana for breakfast, so maybe that is why. I held him for a little bit today and he was making more sounds, mostly babbling.

And this is today's report:

January 21, 2012

We met with Silas from 10:30am – 11:30am. He was more comfortable with us today. He started really showing his personality to us – always on the go! He loves playing with balls. He also likes the DVDs. I held him and sang him a few songs. He resisted at first, but began to enjoy it a bit more during the last couple of songs. It sounds like he is saying the word “Ball” when we play with balls. Such a smart little boy! He smiled a lot more today. 

For the court, I have to write up a small summary of each of our visits with the boys. Sveta thinks we have a good chance of the 30 days being waived - your continued prayers are appreciated! I got a few successful kisses in to Silas today - normally he is so on the go that I can't catch him fast enough! His smile is so adorable. It is much harder to snuggle him this time around - he was much more snuggly back in April/May. :(

We are still in the Ibis Hotel. It makes eating a bit tricky, as I cannot cook, but we are getting by. We have snacks and will buy milk, bread, cheese, and yogurt to snack on. I had some banana pear yogurt that was fabulous. The yogurt and milk here are so creamy and delicious. When I make protein shakes with the milk it tastes more like a milkshake. So good. Sometimes we'll grab some pizza from the grocery store - it's not as bad as it sounds. ;) We keep our food in the window between the glass and the curtains. It's quite cold here - about 10 degrees - and so everything stays nice and cold there. In fact, I ate a small piece of dark chocolate, but it was as hard as a rock! Last night we ate dinner in the hotel restaurant. It was super pricey and tasted...okay. I had grilled veal and jasmine rice with butter, followed by a Russian style cheesecake - which of course I had to try. It was good, but tasted to me more like a custard pie. It was nice to have a hot meal, but it was over priced. In a table nearby, we heard two men with very thick (what sounded like Russian) accents speaking in English. I am guessing that one of them is not Russian, as then they would have been speaking Russian, but it was strange/comical hearing them speak in English. 

We plan to go to Vyksa next week to see Calvin. I can only imagine that he has thought we have forgotten about him. His health is good, from what we know. We're trying to figure out where we will stay in Vyksa. There is a very expensive hotel made by Putin that runs about $250 a night. Yeah. We looked into get an apartment, but the realtor told Sveta that if she rented out to Americans that a big mob would form and storm through our door, steal all our stuff, and insist that they "get the Americans OUT!" And so we are hoping to find a less expensive, but safe hotel to stay in.

Today we bought an electric pitcher so we can heat up water to eat our instant oatmeal and to drink my delectable Choffy (Oh, how I've missed it!). Each day is quite low-key. We go see Silas for an hour and then go back to the hotel. Tyler is reading The Hunger Games - he is on the second book now. I have been watching Frasier and playing Dice with Buddies, Words with Friends, and Hanging with Friends. Plus we have watched a movie and we read our scriptures together. It is quite cold, so I basically want to snuggle up under lots of blankets for most of the time. I think I am finally on the right time zone - I somehow went from FL time to halfway between Russia and FL time - wanting to go to bed around 3pm here in Russia, which is 6am in FL. Tyler finds this hilarious. But - I think I'm over it. (I hope)

Last night I went with Sister Foutz - a senior missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - to meet with some other ladies from church for an activity. We painted envelopes and paper for invitations for an upcoming church activity. Tyler went with Elder Foutz to the church for a game night with the young adults and missionaries. A member of the branch presidency asked Tyler and I if we would each bear our testimony for about 5 minutes tomorrow during church. Plus - we got a ride set up for us. This was a worry for me, as we aren't too far away from the church, however it is VERY icy and snowy and super slick outside. I have already come close to slipping twice and I don't want to fall and hurt myself. So a ride is very much appreciated!

The Foutz's invited us over for dinner tomorrow - which will be so nice. They are from UT and have been so helpful to us already. Plus it's nice to be able to speak English with someone!

And now for your viewing pleasure, more pictures of our 5th child, Silas:

Back in Nizhny Novgorod/visit with Silas

Tuesday morning we woke up early and headed to the airport. The kids and Danielle came along, too. Danielle is caring for Anna, Keith, & Iryna while we are gone. (Thanks, Danielle!) I hugged all three of my kids, but lost it when Anna began crying. She certainly has inherited my propensity for crying, poor baby.

We flew from Orlando to NY and had a 4 hour layover before catching our 11 hour flight to Moscow. The only thing we forgot at home were our many plug adapters. We bought a couple of them at JFK airport. The 11 hour flight was okay. It's hard sitting for that long. I drank water and milk, but soon found out that I was extremely dehydrated. If I would have known, I would have made a bigger effort to drink more. As it was, sleep was a bigger priority at the time.

We arrived to Moscow and I felt horrible. I was nauseated and had a headache - I was very dehydrated. Note to self - make sure I never become dehydrated again. I felt SO awful and when you feel that badly, you begin to doubt everything. Why was I in Russia? How can I handle this? When will this headache/nausea end? Augh!!!!! You get the picture, I'm sure. And so, in this state, we met up with Sveta and went to have our medicals evaluated. Imagine trying to assure a panel of doctors that you are in excellent health while you are holding up a barf bag to your mouth...thankfully, we did pass.

There was another couple there to be evaluated and 3 single women. The couple was from Germany and we enjoyed getting to know them a little bit while we waited in the lobby. The medical evaluation is meant to evaluate our health. We had to have various blood tests for HIV, Hep, syphilis, etc, plus bring x-rays of our lungs and TB - which we did previously to coming to Russia. And the x-rays had to be the actual films - which weren't the most fun thing to carry through two airports without bending them...anyhow, the doctors asked each of our about our health, surgeries, etc, all in front of the other adoptive parents. Then we went to one side of the room with a thin room divider and we took off our shirts and a female doctor listened to our breathing. Privacy wasn't exactly high on the list. Ha ha.

Then we went to the US Embassy for Tyler to check in with them since he is in the military. By this point, I knew that I was dehydrated and so I was drinking as much as possibly could. This means that I had to use the restroom and OFTEN which isn't easy to do in Russia like in the US. When we reached the US Embassy, I had to go to the restroom. Badly. I walked with Tyler to a gate - we weren't sure which one to go in - and the man didn't speak any English. Tyler showed him the form which was followed by a conversation where he spoke Russian and we spoke English = not very successful. By this time, I am doing the pee-pee dance because I had to use the restroom. I even said "туалет" several times (which means toilet) and he wouldn't let me inside. Then he gets on the phone with someone and after what felt like forever, he came out and directed us down to the corner. By this point, I literally thought I was going to pee my pants - not something I wanted to have happen. We walked to the corner and they directed us on down the next street. Now I am crying as I anticipate losing bladder control any second. We get to the right gate, go in, and I ask for the toilet. I am told to wait until someone comes to get us. A very nice man shows up and takes me to the restroom. He agreed how difficult it is to find a toilet in Russia. Bottom line: I made it to the restroom, but I seriously doubted that I would. I hope that one day this experience will be funny, but it isn't just yet.

Tyler met with the nice man for a few minutes. There was a store in the Embassy which sold American food. We bought some STILL water (we are finally learning how to tell the difference between the carbonated and still) and headed back out to Sveta and our taxi. It was 5pm at this point and we started our drive to Nizhny Novgorod. We arrived to our Ibis Hotel around 1am. I slept off and on during the drive. The adjustment to the time change seems more difficult this go-around to Russia. Plus, in addition to the dehydration, I have had diarrhea since touching down in Russia. I am 99.9% sure it is from the airplane meal. I find it funny that I would have diarrhea BEFORE even eating any Russian food. Thank goodness we packed our Immodium. That is certainly helping.

The Ibis Hotel is very nice. It is $110 per night, which includes WIFI. We came in and crashed. I woke up around 9am and then did a few things and slept again until 2:30pm. At 3:30pm, Sveta picked us up and we went to see Silas. He is so precious! He is taller now, but still quite thin. His face has grown into that little boy look instead of a toddler's. He certainly did NOT remember us from last April and was quite afraid of us, too. He would start breathing fast and kept running towards the door. I pulled out our iPad and played some Baby Einstein Dvds on it. He really liked that. I held him a little bit, but he wasn't really sure who we were and kept his distance for the majority of the time. He liked riding on the rocking horse and would look at us every so often. We got a couple of smiles out of him and tried feeding him some raisinets, but he refused them. I know it will take time for him to warm up to us - it's all part of the process.

We are hopeful about bringing him home as soon as we can. I'm not sure when it started, but he has been turning blue (in his lips) when excited and has also experienced some seizures. The orphanage director is going to write a letter to the judge asking for the 30 days to be waived, as he needs surgery for his Tetralogy of Fallot immediately. It makes me sad that he is suffering these things.

I know that you are looking for pictures, now. Some of you may have already scrolled through this post wanting to see Silas. Unfortunately, my card reader isn't working right now. Nice timing, eh? It worked before we came to Russia. Ugh. I will try to find a portable card reader soon so we can post pictures.

This evening we went to a grocery store to buy a few items. We do not have a fridge, but have been keeping items by the window to keep cold. Did I mention that it is snowing here and there is snow piled up everywhere outside? I love it! Tomorrow we are going to see Silas in the morning. I cannot wait to see him. I am so excited to be a Mama again! Tonight we are going to chat online with our kids back in FL. It will be so good to see them and Danielle tells me that they are excited to talk with us. Isn't technology amazing? All for now! Paka!

Change of plan

Yesterday as Tyler and I were going about on adoption errands, we received a phone call from Victoria stating that on Thursday (just the day before) the US made a law requiring another form to be in the dossier. So when Sveta showed up at court yesterday, the judge asked for this form (only one day after this was passed, people). Of course Sveta didn't have the form. We don't know what the form is, actually, but we were told to get the form, fill it out, notarize/apostille it and if Sveta receives it by next Friday then we could be guaranteed the court date of January 23rd. That's right - JANUARY.

The issue is that we can't get it there by Friday, as it takes almost a week for FedEx to get it to Russia from here and we don't even have the form yet, not to mention notarizing it and apostilling it (that takes a day in and of itself). So, most likely we won't be able to count on the January 23rd court date and we have to change our flights ($250 per flight change) before Tuesday (our original date to fly to Russia) but we don't know when to schedule them in January - if it will be January at all. And we don't want to have to pay $250 per ticket AGAIN. Frustrating. Plus this may affect our visas, as they are single entry and expire on March 10th - more on why that may be a problem further in this post.

I do not doubt our decision to buy the visas and plane tickets. We were asked to do so by God and we did it. I do not know the reason, but I can think of many examples in the scriptures of people asked by God to do things that didn't make sense to them. We do not always understand things, but I want to be faithful in all things. A favorite quote that I came up with is this: "A test of faith requires a test." And this is a test, but my faith is strong. We will make it through this.

Today I was shown this link which talks about the 10 day waiting period becoming a 30 day waiting period. If we go mid February and have to wait for 30 days, we will be in country longer than March 10th, hence messing up our visas and requiring new ones (more $). So we would most likely go to the court date, fly home and then fly back - but our visas are single entry, so we would have to get another one. Ugh.

Since we were planning to leave on Tuesday, we had called Santa Claus and asked him to come last night. We decided to keep our appointment with him so last night was technically Christmas Eve for our little family and this morning we opened presents and have had such a great day. I think we needed a little Christmas to raise our spirits. So, Merry Christmas from Tyler, Jill, Anna, Keith, & Iryna!

A week or so

Okay, so I talked with a nurse on base and there is a doctor there who is registered in the state of FL. Tyler & I both have appointments with her early next week. Today we will call and get the state registration verification process going, which usually takes about a week to finish, and then we'll meet with the doctor next week and I am hoping that we will notarize/apostille next week! I pray that this will happen! And I am hoping that our judge in Nizhny Novgorod will have our paperwork by Oct 1st!