Wonderful News

We are heading back to the U.S.S R.

We got the phone call today. We received our court date from Russia. The great news is that we will be spending my son's 2 year birthday with him. Dee Dee and I will fly out at the end of January and we will spend about 26 days in Russia. We cannot wait. Just kidding, we would rather stay a couple of days, it is really cold. I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas. I know ours is wonderful and it is not even here. We have been so blessed this year. I don' think I could ever have a more thankful, wonderful, blessed and ( insert adj.) year.

I wish you all the best and thank you all for your prayers and thoughts over the last couple of months. I will be updating the blog a few times before we go, but look for lots of posts while we are there. I will try to add all of my e-mails to the blog as well for those of you who did not receive them on the last trip.

Lots of love

Brad and Dee Dee

Rested

We have now been back a full week. I am just now feeling rested. I had a Russian cold when we got back and after a weeks worth of sleep I am back going again. My parents took Dee Dee shoping yesterday for Alex. They bought a bunch of cute clothes, I am told. I don't think they want me to see them because they are scared that will send some back. No Barney on my kid.

We are still waiting to hear from the adoption agency. We hope to hear something in the next week or so. My money is on end of next week. I hope all is well and we will keep you updated. I have to go finish putting Alex's room together and clean the garage.

Brad

New Photos

We just updated the blog. We went back a few posts/pages and added photos. If you want to see a lot of the photos you will have to scroll back at least one page.

Thanks

Brad

Beard Gone

Brad likes to grow a beard every year and this year he said that he wanted it for the cold weather in Russia. It was weird b/c I only saw 2 other people in Russia with a beard and one of them was a guy from Minnesota. He and his wife were there adopting a 12 year old boy. They have another son that is in college, but their church sponsored children from Russia to come to the US to visit for a month and they fell in love with the boy that stayed with them.

Anyway, back to the beard...I have never been happier to see the clippers come out last night. I finally get to kiss Brad again. I would give him little pecks with the beard, but I would not get too close to that beard. Not a big fan of facial hair. I don't mind it on other people, as long as I don't have to kiss them.

I attached a picture of his nice clean face!!

Flight Home

We had a LONG flight home...about 11 hours to Atlanta and then we had about an hour wait for our flight to Birmingham. The 11 hour flight was not so good. This older man sitting behind us smelled worse than anyone else that we had smelled in Russia. Every few breaths that you took, you got mouthful of blah. There is a picture that I attached below of Brad's cure for the smell. We really don't understand how people can't smell this on themselves. I guess they like the smell of hot garbage??

In the hour wait in Atlanta, it took about 30 minutes to get back through customs. We bought some vodka in the duty free store in Moscow and then when we got to Atlanta, we had to check one of our bags b/c you can't carry liquids with you in the cabin. If we would have known that we would have to check our bag, we wouldn't have bought anything. We had about 30 minutes to go to the Crown room and check out the Bama game. We got to see the best part of the game...beginning of the 3rd quarter when we scored and tied the game. We got play by play info from a guy on the plane that had Internet service and by the time we took off, Florida was up on us. Once we landed, we found out that we only had 2 minutes left and we were probably not going to win. At least we had a great season and hopefully many more to come!

The other photos below are of the pretty clouds and when we flew over Sweden or Iceland or somewhere up there. When you fly to Russia, they go over the top instead of straight across the ocean.

Flight Home Photos

Home!!!

Well we are finally about to come home. You do not realize how good you have it until you are gone from home for a while. Not being able to talk to anyone except the few that know English make things really tough. Brad and I got along great with only a couple of disagreements. That is great considering you are together 24/7 for 9 days straight.

The region that Alex is in is very boring. You are a prisoner in the hotel b/c it is too cold to go outside and there isn't anything to do outside anyway. On top of that there is nothing to do in the hotel (no gym, only 2 tv channels in English, pay by the minute for Internet, etc.) Before traveling, we were thinking about staying the 10 day waiting period which would mean that you take 2 trips instead of three. Our second trip would be about 25 days instead of making about a week stay for the second trip and then another week stay for the third trip. We would have to stay in Alex's region for about 20 of the 25 days and about 15 of those days will be without Alex. That means that we will be very bored. We are going to have to figure out the price differences in staying or going home for that 10 day wait. Most people that we have met have been going home.

On a better note, this has been a wonderful trip b/c we got to meet Alex and I look forward to coming back so that we can bring him home. I sure hope he likes the beach b/c I want to go there for the next 20 vacations...just to thaw out from Russia.

See you soon!
DD

Russia Review

Today was a nice day. We got up and went to the Doctor today. It was not bad at all except that you have to see 8 different doctors. They are all specialists in different areas. They did tell me my blood pressure was high. I thought to myself, I don't like to fly and I flew 3 times in 4 days, your drivers scare me to death, I have not slept well in 5 days and I am adopting a son in a foreign country, I cannot imagine why it is high. We came back to the hotel and I am having a nice Newcastle and watching the US football game(soccer). We have to be down in the lobby at 9 in the morning to catch the plane at 2:00. We will arrive back in Birmingham at 6:45 so all you bama fans and coachless auburn fans pull us through.

Russian Review

This has been the best trip I have every been on in my life. What an adventure from start to finish. I am looking so forward to the next trip. There were some bumps in the road but seeing my son for the first time takes the cake. Being able to touch him, hold him and play with him was gratifying. I know now what it must have been like to for my father to watch me play for the first time trying to figure things out, it was an emotionial high. I cannot think of a more life changing, beautiful experience. Seeing Dee Dee playing with him and the look of love and excitement in her eyes comes in a close second.

Overall this has been a great journey. The Russian people as a whole are great. They are still stuggling to find their own identity in a former war torn country. I sat and reflected as I looked out my window at this booming city of 15 million in Moscow and I wonder how long it will take for them to catch up. With their biggest export being oil, I cannot imagine it will take to long. And the youth being able learn about the world like they never have before, I see a bright future for this cold war country. Their leadership seems to be working to keep things going forward instead of backwards.

I now can only think about the next time I will be here. We are hoping for the end of January or sooner. There is now a new herizon in my life now, and I cannot wait to see the sunrise with my son home with me and Dee Dee. I want to thank everyone for your prayers, thoughts, and e-mails. We could not have done it without you. And to our family, you guys have been great through this process and we cannot wait to bring your grandson and nephew home.

We love you all so much and cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

Love
Brad

At our hotel in Alex's region

Our hotel in Moscow

"Hot Chocolate"

Per Brad's message in a post below...The hot chocolate is literally melted chocolate.

Red Square

On the way to Red Square

On the move

We woke up this morning at 4 am, which is normal for us and went down to the lobby and signed a little more paperwork. Crazy man showed up a few minutes later and then we were off the airport. The drive today was rather peaceful, there were no other cars on the road and it was snowing. The city scape was so beautiful today.

We made it through the airport check-in with no problems and had about a 2 hr wait to board the plan. The flight on the way back was so much better. We had chicken and pasta for breakfast and then we were able to take our normal naps. There were no loud children and no stinky people near us. We arrived in Moscow about 8:15 this morning. We walked out of the terminal and looked for our ride and no one was there. We sat and waited for about an hour at which point I start thinking, we have no phone that works and I don't speak Russian or read it so I won't be able to figure out how to use a payphone either. About that time our translator walks in and tells us that traffic is really bad and she is so sorry. Well, she was right. It took us almost 2hrs to get to the hotel which was about an extra hr.

We got to the room and decided that we need to go have an adventure. I talked Dee Dee into going to Arbat Street and up to Red Square . Well we grabbed the camera and were off. We asked the lady downstairs about how far it was away and she said about an hour walk. Well, Dee Dee and I are both in decent shape and figured that we could make it faster than that, we had a map and we were not going to stop and shop in the stores. Well, about an hour and fifteen minutes later we arrive at Red Square . We tried to get in and we found out that you need tickets. So we proceeded to the ticket booth to find out that they don't sell tickets on Thursday. They sell them every other day just not today.

Fortunately, we went around back and see St. Basils Cathedral, Lennon’s Tomb, some wishing well and a clock tower. We did spend about 25 rubles trying to ring the wishing hole. We took a lot of photos and we wanted to take a break from our long walk. We went in to a little shop set up next to an ice skating rink in the middle of the square. They had hot chocolate, score, we were so excited. Then we got it. It was literally hot chocolate. It was if someone put a Hershey bar in the microwave and melted it and then poured in a small dash of water just to make it a little more liquid. It was good but you could not drink much.

We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. We took a short cut and it only took us an hour. Dee Dee figured it was a total of about 8 miles. I was sweaty enough I believe her. We are now settling down for the evening. It is 5 here and we went to the grocery and got dinner and now going to soak our soar feet and go to bed.

Tomorrow we are getting our physicals and I am sure those will provide some good stories. Oh, we did find a McDonalds 2 blocks from the hotel for lunch. They do speak English, Cheeseburger and fries mean the same thing over here, I was so excited.

Brad

2nd visit

Hi All,

We had a wonderful visit w/ little Alexander yesterday. I think it is about 3:30am here. My sleep schedule is all messed up. When we get in from visiting Alex around 6:30pm, I crash b/c it is exhausting chasing after him for a few hours and then get in the car w/ someone that drives 100mph on snow and ice. If we hit another car, we are dead for sure, so I just sit in the back seat and pray and try not to look at what car we are about to hit. Seriously, I can't get mad at Brad anymore for his driving and tailgating. He looks like a grandma compared to this guy. This trip not only is to get our son, but it is making me realize that driving on 280 is cake walk. Traffic here and in Moscow is sooo much worse and the people are not patient. They will run over you if you don't get out of the way.

On to the meeting with Alex...He LOVES his Papa. You can ask him where his Papa is and he will point to Brad and smile. He seems to like me too, but you can definitely tell that he favors his Papa. As you read Brad's e-mail below, you will see that Alex's b'day is January 26th and that means he is Aquarian, just like his Mama. He shows signs of being an Aquarian. When I was little, I was VERY independent and I didn't want anyone picking me up or touching me. I also didn't want to share my toys. (I still don't like sharing much, but I am better. :)) He hates being picked up and if you try to see what size his tag says on the back of his shirt, he gets mad at you. He LOVES to play (throw the ball, get you to chase him, blocks). He uses the universal language of grunting and pointing to what he wants. I haven't heard him say anything in Russian, but he understands what they are saying when they talk to him in Russian. They told him to wave goodbye to us when he left and he waved. He didn't cry as much this time b/c his main caregiver was there to take him away and he really likes her. The first day he cried and would not let go of Brad. They had to peal his little hands from the back of Brad's shirt.

The people in Russia are quite skinny compared to the US. For some reason, you are never really hungry over here. I am forcing myself to eat b/c I know I need to, not b/c I feel hungry. Also, I feel like I am drinking a lot of water, but when I use the bathroom, nothing much comes out. I have no clue where all the water is going. There is not a gym in this hotel and I am about to die to go for a little jog. You definitely can't go outside. It is about -15 degrees F and when you go outside the air is so crisp that my lungs feel like a smokers lungs. Brad and I both started coughing when we walked to the grocery store yesterday. It is a really strange feeling. I guess b/c there is zero humidity. By the way, your hair does GREAT over here. You can go days and not wash it and it looks just as good as the first day. My hair gets oily and gross if I go a day w/o washing it in the US, but it is so dry that there is not oil and it looks great.

DD

Tuesday 2nd day of visit

Today has been restful so far. We woke up at about 3 in the morning and hung out until 6. We then went to breakfast. We then came back up stairs and took a little nap before I sent my last e-mail you received.

The good news is that I met a couple from New York. They are here adopting from another institution and he happened to have an extra power converter. Which is wonderful because it allowed us to watch a movie in our down time today. The television is getting old. We only get 2 channels that speak English,not counting MTV which some of the songs are in English. So now I don't have to watch Bloomberg, on how the market sucks, or DTV, the German channel, on how everything is not their fault.

The Kamikaze driver picked u up at 2 today to take us to see Alex. I have learned that his Mantra is "there is no car that I won't pass, when I want", the guy is insane. Anyway, we were able to spend another 2 hours with Alex today. It was wonderful. He was very playful from the beginning, almost like he knew us. He is very smart. He loves to play with those blocks that match with the holes in an object to make them fit. It took a few minutes but he soon got the hang of it and did not want any help. He is also very funny, he does not like to share very much. He will share but on his terms. He is used to other kids trying to steal his toys so he is guarded.

We were also able to check his size and his shirt is a 12 month. So he is a little small but he moves around quite quickly. Also, he had a little poot while we were all playing, it was nice for once that it was not me. In the future I will now have someone to blame it on other than the dog. After play time we went and sat down with the house mother and agreed and signed that we wanted to adopt him.

We are now back in the room resting. We are both still out of wack a little with our sleep. Dee Dee is sleeping right now. Tomorrow we are going to file a petition with the court for adoption. It should not take to long and then I am going to have a beer and vodka. The sad news is that we will not get to see Alex again until after the adoption is final. It could be as long as the end of January, first of February. We did learn that his birthday is January 26th, so we hope we can get him home by his birthday.

I will be checking my e-mail again before we go to bed so I will talk to some of you later.

Brad
6:00 Birmingham Time
7:00 Russian Time

First trip Monday-Tuesday

The room has no t-stat so I had to get up in the middle of the night and open a window, then it got cold. It was and interesting night of up and down trying to keep from sweating or freezing. The down blanket was made of some kind of super geese because even with the window open I was still warm.

We had to wait in the lobby of our hotel for 2 hours before leaving Moscow. We did go back to the mall and grocery store. The mall was huge, but every store in it was like a DKNY or Kennith Cole. Everyone here wears black with a little gray. Most of the women have bangs and evidently the mullet never went out of style here and looks like the rat tail just left or is coming back. It is very interesting the cultural differences and similarities. I will say it is not every day you see emo teenagers grabbing a smoke next to a band of gypsy's.

Ok, the trip to our territory was different. We got to the airport and the translator asked if we had locks for our bags, which of course we did not. So we preceded to a guy who wraps your bag with shink wrap for eight bucks. Comforting feeling that was. We then caught a bus out to the plane. We finally get seated and Dee Dee has a man beside her that smells like he just ran a marathon and I have a kid behind me playing slam dunk contest with the tray table. The flight only got worse.

It was a 5 hour flight from 9 at night that landed at 6 in the morning. The kid I mentioned screamed and cryed the entire way. I would have rather been kicked in the crotch by David Beckem than endure that again. Dee Dee and I are convinced that it was a test from God. He sat the spon child of of the Devil behind us.

We Made It

We got to the hotel alive and well. No thanks to our driver Evil Kanevil. This man drove 110 Km the whole way to the hotel. I don't know how fast it was but on the ice and snow covered road at 5 in the morning as he passed people on parts of the street that I am not sure was a road, made me nervous.

The best part!!!

We got up from a nap at 2 in the afternoon and went to the institution where Alex is being taken care of. We walked in the room and you could tell he was a little nervous. But after about 5 min the nurse but him in Dee Dee's lap and left the room. He warmed up and began to play with us. She came in later and ask him who is pappa was and he pointed to me. If I was not so tired I would have began crying. We then played with him for 2 hours. When they came to take him to dinner he did not want to leave, he was having to much fun. They told him to say good bye to his mama and Pappa and he began to cry again. Dee Dee gave him a kiss on the cheek and I went in for a hug. He grabbed on to my shirt with his hands and would not let go. I was so sad to see him go, they said that this is not normal since the children are not normally around men. We then met with the house mother/doctor for about an hour. She gave us as much history as she could and we are very satisfied.

We are going back to the institution in about 4 hrs today and get to play a little more. I will let you all know how it is going. Thank you all again for your prayers and thoughts. I am trying to check my e-mail but the electronic converter my mother sent will not work on computers so mine is dead at the moment and I can only use the business center. I will be checking again tonight.

It is -23C or -14F today so we really need your prayers that Dee Dee does not turn into a Ice cube.

Love

Brad