Russia Day 2

December 25th, 2012.  Christmas Morning came early in our hotel room.  It started around 230 am.  We had jet lag and had managed a 5 hour nap the day before which didn't help our cause, but after traveling for about 30 hours straight we couldn't help it.  We watched Silence of the Lambs on our computer, read  the Christmas story in Luke 2 and then settled back into a nap for another hour before we got up and headed down to the restaurant to have a traditional Russian Breakfast.  It was interesting, looking back now, I should have taken a picture of our plates!  It was an interesting assortment of vegetables, breads, porridge, and cold meats.  I enjoyed a glass of beet juice, it was the only option for juice and I had no idea what it really was, but it tasted and looked like what beet juice would be.  There was also no coffee, and those of you that spend any morning times with J or I you know that we drink at least a whole pot every morning.  Thankfully I was prepared and had brought Starbucks Via Brews with us and we headed back to our room and boiled some water in a electric hot pot.  Our day was starting with a 10 am visit to the orphanage.
As we arrived at the orphanage, the same pungent smell of the stew was present again and this time it was not so appetizing..not sure what changed or if it donned on me that the children were probably eating similar foods everyday.  But the caregivers had decorated a big Christmas tree in the play room over night and greeted us with a Merry Christmas!  It was a pleasant surprise and gave me reassurance they were  in favor of the children finding forever families with Americans.  The Russian Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on Jan 7th, according to the Orthodox calender so they didn't really need to put the tree up when we were there...maybe it was just incidental, but it felt more like a welcoming so I will always view it that way.

Alexey came around the corner within a minute of our arrival, he was dressed in a lime green short set with Spiderman on it.  This was a change from the day before which also warmed my heart knowing he was getting clean clothes daily.  He cried again today, but again it was brief and I whisked him over to the Christmas Tree to look at all the colorful ornaments.  He was a little more open to us this visit.  He was looking us in the eyes on occasion and he was climbing into our laps and just clinging to us.  The day before he would cling and then start rocking, it was his coping mechanism and the rocking was a lot less this second day.  We played with a train that we brought for him.  It was a Thomas Train that was made of 4 LEGO pieces, he loved pulling it apart and putting it back together.  We also introduced him to a Slinky, this dollart tree special took the cake.  He loved that little slinky.  Jeremy would hold one end, and he would hold the other and they would stretch it and walk around the room and occasionally let go of it and smile as it bounced to the other person.  Such a simple toy, but yet it brought so much curiosity.  We offered him a  cracker from a snack pack we brought with us.  He took a big bite and then made a face like he didn't know what to think.  He then looked at the cracker and licked it! Stuck his tongue out and handed it back to me.  He was not enjoying that snack.  Katya told me as I threw it away that he hasn't had much salt so he probably wasn't sure what to think.   We had to part for lunch and Alexey was ready to go without hesitation, either he was hunger or had already had enough of us.  He did give us a both a quick hug, after the caregiver told him to give Mamma and Papa a hug.  Then he was out the door.

We hopped in the car not knowing what else was in store for us for the day, and headed to lunch with Katya at a traditional Russian Restaurant.  It was interesting, an assortment of food buffet style or more like cafeteria style but at least we got to view the food we were attempting to try.  We also ordered a traditional Russian beer.  We shoveled our food down and then in  hurry, Katya swept us out the door so we could hit a local handcraft souvenir shop that apparently closed for lunch shortly.  We bought a Christmas Nesting doll and book about the seasons in Chita, Russia that was narrated in both Russian and English.  We then got dropped off at the hotel for about an hour, and then we were heading back to see Alexey for an afternoon visit.

Again, Alexey cried and really clung to his caregiver but settled after a few minutes.  They told us they had woke him up from his nap so that is partially why he was not happy.  He was in different short set from the morning, which I marveled at again, wondering if this was reality of if it was because he had visitors.  When he decided to wake up and play, we had a great visit.  Alexey and J learned to jump in the air and fly around the room like an airplane, which brought big smiles to his face and opened up this sweet boy's personality.  He was still cuddly, but had a little fight in him.  He was playing peek a boo with me with a train book that we brought, he would hold it over his face and giggle because he could see through some parts of the book.  We also looked at the pictures in the book and he would slam the paperboard pages shut and smile in pride that he had slammed it shut.  This visit brought about real hope that him and Little C would get along perfectly once we all got to join each other as a family.
I left feeling so encouraged that he was the right fit for our family and I would be a busy mommy of two boys.  I wish I could post a picture of our little guy for you to see, but it is against the law and can put our Adoption in jeopardy, if we get to bring him home...We are still holding out a bit of hope.

He is beautiful.  He has olive skin, and big brown eyes, and light brown hair that is fine and silky.  He has a little button nose and beautiful little lips.  His body is small but proportional, he is literately about the size of a normal 1 year old, except skinnier!  But don't worry I will fatten him up a bit, and he will fit in perfectly with the Hatfields!

Russia Day 1

We boarded a plane last Saturday, Dec 22nd and flew for approximately 20 hours to get to our beloved little town of Chita, Russia.  It was not as beautiful as I had pictured...maybe because when our plane touched down at 8:20 am on Dec 24th it was still pitch black outside and the wind was blowing at least 30 mile per hour with a dry, dusty snow blowing across the Siberian Tundra and on top of that it was a blister -28 degrees.  The airports in Russian don't have too many terminals so they unload on the tarmac, just like you would in a tropical location....except you can replace the palm trees and sun with the Ice packed ground and blowing snow and crowded shuttle bus full of cold Russians and the Two Americans that were on cloud nine, because we were moments away from meeting our new son Alexey!
We litterly got off the plane at 8:20 our regional coordinator Katya met us at the baggage claim in an airport that would not even be operational in the United States..it was a dive, there was one little rusty baggage claim center in the middle of a room with a tile floor covered in dirt and dust, at first I though they were renovating, but as I was leaving it hit me that we were in a very desolate place with little money and they didn't care what some American thought!  Then by 9:20 we were checked into our hotel room that was a major upgrade from the airport.  We showered and were out the door by 10 am and on our way to the orphanage to meet Alexey.   It was a short drive and I was expecting us to discuss  how the meeting would go, but instead we small talked.  The car pulled up and we hopped out and headed down a narrow, dark hallway, with a very distinct smell of some sort of Stew Cooking coated our nose.  My thoughts instantly went to my future son, and my heart smiled knowing he was getting a decent meal.  We stopped at the top of two flights of stairs and someone greeted Katya, she then introduced us to her explaining to us she was the head caregiver of the orphanage.  We then walked down another hall and waited outside a room that had several children at the door.  The other caregivers gathered them up and they filed out of the room...I didn't know if I should be looking at these children since it is against Russian law to see other children in the orphanage besides the one you were referred to.  I couldn't help but look, first of all I didn't know if Alexey was in that room or not and if he was I wanted to pick him out based on the photos I had seen of him.  He wasn't there, and the other children all looked around the age of 4 or 5.  One little boy liked us, he stared us down and even turned around in the hallway and gave us a big old smile..it was precious.
We were then escorted into the room and asked to take our shoes off so we could play on the carpet.  The carpet was two Huge rugs that had probably been there since the 90's, they were in good shape and we respected that and quietly took our shoes off and got a few toys out of our bag. We plopped ourselves on the floor, not knowing what else to do, then from around  a corner a young lady was holding a very smile child's hand.  He instantly clung to her and she picked him up and entered the room.  It was him....he was crying and then in the commotion, Katya said "Tabatha come get him"  so I jumped up and went to grab him and of course he buried his head further in the caregivers chest and they literately pried him off and plopped him in my arms crying....this was part of the test, I guess to see if I could mother him!  Little did these people know that my child at home has spent hours screaming at me as a young child so crying doesn't bother me in the most!
He calmed within a minute and the head caregiver brought over his favorite truck and he grabbed that toy and was not letting go.  He was in clean clothes, had clean skin and hair, he appeared to be well taken care of.  He was beautiful.  He has the biggest brown eyes that I have ever seen.  He was very Russian appearing, I was very unaware of what the Russian culture actually looked like...I guess I thought most were blond hair and blue eyes..that is really a small portion of the people we met.  Most had European skin tones, or olive coloring with brown hair and almond shaped brown eyes.  This was our little Alexey!
He climbed into Jeremy's lap and clung to his neck, even though he had never even been around a male.  Poor baby was shaking and scared but all the same was willing to be loved by anyone.  He didn't look into our eyes too much that first visit but he hung onto us and played with some of the toys we brought.  We took some pictures of him, but mostly just held him and talked to him in a language he didn't understand, so when we promised we would make him part of our family soon...he had no idea what we were saying,  As of today I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. His visit was overwhelming even though it was only about an hour and half long, but he was spent.  He climbed up into my lap and buried his head in my chest and drift off to sleep.  I am sure it was a response to being so overwhelmed and scared but it was precious all the same.  We let him rest for about 10mins and I just got to cuddle and get familiar with the details of my new son.

Not so blue Christmas

Dec 2nd was a day from my childhood I have always remembered.  It was the day I lost my first grandparent.  I was young, in the second grade to be exact but for some reason I have never forgot that day.  I don't remember the dates that my other two grandparents left this place we call earth.  I was much closer to the other two and simply don't have those dates down, huh?  I find this really strange...but it has become apparent that this day -Dec 2nd will always be a memory for me!
This is now the day...  I got the call! 
The call we had anticipated for months, we were introduced to our new son waiting for us in Russia!   Our lives have been busy, but it just got busier.  We are patiently waiting our travel dates which is looking like it might be over Christmas!  Once we get those dates we will travel to Chita to meet with Russian officials and get all the information available about him and then head to his orphanage to meet our little prince! 
He is only 6 months younge than Little C so we are going to have busy house - Two toddler boys plotting life together!  It will be perfect!

More to come as we get more information!