First Trip to Russia

For those of you who did not recieve our emails from our first trip, here is an account of our first meetings with the boys.

Hi From Russia!

We are in Moscow and had a 4 hour tour of Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and surrounding areas. It was a great day. Weather today is about 30 degrees. I still couldn't get Andy into his thermal underwear, but he did finally put on gloves!

I am feeling much better. I ate my first meal last night (saturday) and still kept it down. It is about 6:00 pm here and I just had my first Russian beer and it tasted great. What we think is happening is some sort of vertigo experience. Rooms continue to spin, I feel like I am walking on a treadmill when I am standing still, and people walking quickly by makes me feel queezy. I am dreading the flight home, but at least they have baggies!

So, a more detailed description of our time in Kras with our boys. Kras is absolutely gorgeous. The two days we were there were the only two sunny days they have had all winter. The day we left it was snowing. Good day to leave. The weather was about 10-15 degrees each day. Our flight to Kras was not as bad as everyone had said. I sat next to a very nice man who realized pretty quickly we were not Russian. I was having difficulty figuring out the buckle, so he reached over and buckled me in for me. He then showed me how to turn on the light and call the flight attended if I needed her. He also flagged down the flight attendant and got me a pillow and a blanket. Very sweet. About 3:30 am I awoke to notice that the emergency exit doors were covered in ice. I looked around at all the exit doors and each one was covered, frozen with ice. Yes, ice inside the plane! You don't see that everyday. As we decended it melted, but of course dripped all over the guy sitting next to it. Burr!

Prayers were answered as we did not have to wait on the tarmack for the bus. We were delivered right to the terminal. I had to walk down the steps of the plane, and walk straight to our guides who led us to the car. I was outside for all of 2 minutes. We were taken to the hotel for a 4 hour nap, then off to the Ministry of Education. At the Ministry of Education, Andy did great! They wanted to know our hobbies, what we each did as a profession, and why we wanted to adopt and why from Russia. When Andy told them I was adopted they had a bunch of questions for me. As I shared my adoption story they told me that I was so beautiful because I was a result of a passionate love affair. I liked their take on adultery, as far as my conception is concerned, and I appreciated the compliment. We learned that Santa Barbara is known all over Russia because of the Soap Opera Santa Barbara that plays on the air. This was also a hit and they were glad to know the boys would be living is such a great place.

Next we were taken to see the boys. Lack of sleep and motinon sickness kicked in and threw up 4 times but we don't need to go into detail. After that, the boys were brought to us. Stasi had been saying for some time that mommy and daddy were coming. When he walked in, he saw Andy first, smiled and went straight into his lap. Sasha came in next and they brought him straight to me. We had two hours with the boys and it was great fun to play with them. I was working a puzzle with Stasi that we had brought. When We returned the next day we brought the puzzle out again, he reached for the circle and said "circle" and held it up. He is a quick learner!
Our last visit was the most precious. Stasi definately knew that we were mommy and daddy. When we showed up for our last visit, he was waiting for us outside the play room with his caregiver. When he saw us he said, "dadda!" and jumped out of his caregivers lap and ran over to Andy. He took Andy's hand and started to lead us down the hall. Sasha poked his head out, then turned around and went back in his room. He is more attached to his caregiver. Stasi then called out, "Sasha! Sasha!" Stasi went in the room, retrieved Sasha and the two came out hand-in-hand. Stasi took my hand, and Andy took Sasha's and we all went into the play room for our last visit together.

It was at this visit that we went over the picture books with the boys. When Andy was done showing the book to Stasi, he ran over to me calling out "mamma, mamma" and showed me each picture, touching the pictures saying mamma or dadda. He also petted the pictures of the cats. He didn't let the book out of his arm for the remaining time. When his caregiver came to get him, he kissed me and said, "bye mamma!" and blew Andy a kiss. It was such a sweet moment.

I hope that gives you all a better picture of our time in Russia. We have one more day here and I am personally looking forward to sleep! Again, thanks for your prayers. Much love, Jill and Andy