We arrived safely in St. Petersburg yesterday around noon and checked into our hotel. The train ride was long but surprisingly it went by fast. It’s that last two hours that got me. We played cards, did homework, ate (thanks to Galina), slept, read, practiced Russian, and watched videos. We did whatever it took to help pass the time, but most of it went to sleeping. Galina decided to pack us food for the trip, and she bought us so much food I had to give some back to her. She is always surprised when you tell her you are full or too much food because she wants us to eat and eat. I told her she is a very good Italian mommy.
Speaking of this wonderful family, who have us living in their home and cooking and taking us places, they are amazing. Last Sunday was Russian Easter and we met so many of Galina’s family and friends and they were so warm and friendly, but some of them couldn’t believe that we were staying with Galina. They said Americans don’t stay with Russian people, but we were and they didn’t believe it!
Luke’s second grade classes at school gave him a big envelope filled with letters for Luke to open one each day. Each note is so precious with letters, games, prayers, and he can’t wait to open one each day. We, his parents, are so touched by these special messages, and he feels like his classmates are right here along this journey with us!
The judge would not even think about waiving the ten day waiting period unless Hannah had to have surgery in the U.S. So, she asked us why should she waive the ten days, and of course, we had every reason known to mankind why we should be able to leave, but she melted us back into our chairs and said “No petition,” which means “no way!”
As I said before and truly mean it, this is an adventure of a lifetime and one I will never forget. I will treasure my time here as much as possible, and I am so glad we took Luke with us. He is learning to speak Russian, seeing the culture, and meeting his sister, and I know this was the right decision, and besides I would have missed him way too much!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Story Time!
I have some stories that have come my way in Russia that I wish to share, and the first one is about Hannah. On our first visit to Russia, we gave her a stuffed dog from Build a Bear with a recording inside the bear from Scott, me, and Luke telling her “I love you, Tatiana.” The workers at the orphanage told us on this trip she listened to it all the time, but she kept asking the workers, “If they love me so much, why don’t they come and get me.” I was very sad to hear this, but in some small way I was happy the dog helped her remember us while we were apart from her.
Another story that a couple told us on this trip concerning their 21 month year old boy they just adopted was tough to hear but understandable. On their first night together, they gave him two pieces of toast to eat, and he immediately got up and was walking around the room looking everywhere. Suddenly, he found the hotel safe and put one piece of toast in the safe and went back to eat the other one. When he woke up the next morning, he went to the safe and got out the piece of toast he had hidden and ate it. The mother said she cried thinking about why he had to do this, but understood that this was common practice for a child in the orphanage. This is survival instinct in its purist form.
I had the honor of seeing many sweet faces of children at Hannah’s orphanage, but it was so hard to realize that they live there without a family. I think the workers try to do their best for the children, but money is not available and time for each child is not possible. My heart cries for them knowing some will never have the chance to leave. I know I will never forget this experience my whole life and treasure what God has given us. One that is leaving and will be loved and have a family.
Some of you may not know, but Hannah is not with us right now. We are in a ten day waiting period and we are not sure why, but everyone usually has to go through it. Hannah is five hours away in the orphanage from where we are staying and we will not see her until they bring her here and she will then be with us forever. This is known as "Gotcha Day", and for us May 6th should be the day! While we wait, we are allowed to leave if we want, so that is why we are going to St. Petersburg tomorrow. It is a wonderful opportunity to see it, and have something to pass the time. Many have told us that it is a beautiful city, and we are looking forward to it. I hope to be able to connect there too! We will be on a train for 24 hours to St. Petersburg without any connection, so we look forward to being reconnected there. Thank you for your prayers and notes, we are reading them and really love it.
Another story that a couple told us on this trip concerning their 21 month year old boy they just adopted was tough to hear but understandable. On their first night together, they gave him two pieces of toast to eat, and he immediately got up and was walking around the room looking everywhere. Suddenly, he found the hotel safe and put one piece of toast in the safe and went back to eat the other one. When he woke up the next morning, he went to the safe and got out the piece of toast he had hidden and ate it. The mother said she cried thinking about why he had to do this, but understood that this was common practice for a child in the orphanage. This is survival instinct in its purist form.
I had the honor of seeing many sweet faces of children at Hannah’s orphanage, but it was so hard to realize that they live there without a family. I think the workers try to do their best for the children, but money is not available and time for each child is not possible. My heart cries for them knowing some will never have the chance to leave. I know I will never forget this experience my whole life and treasure what God has given us. One that is leaving and will be loved and have a family.
Some of you may not know, but Hannah is not with us right now. We are in a ten day waiting period and we are not sure why, but everyone usually has to go through it. Hannah is five hours away in the orphanage from where we are staying and we will not see her until they bring her here and she will then be with us forever. This is known as "Gotcha Day", and for us May 6th should be the day! While we wait, we are allowed to leave if we want, so that is why we are going to St. Petersburg tomorrow. It is a wonderful opportunity to see it, and have something to pass the time. Many have told us that it is a beautiful city, and we are looking forward to it. I hope to be able to connect there too! We will be on a train for 24 hours to St. Petersburg without any connection, so we look forward to being reconnected there. Thank you for your prayers and notes, we are reading them and really love it.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Oh Happy Day!!!!!!!
The judge ruled that the court is “satisfied” with our adoption, so in layman’s terms we now have a new member added to our family, Hannah Tatiana Sheldon! It was not an easy day, but the end result is what matters. We were in court for almost three hours, and Scott was asked most of the questions. She is a young new judge, who was very stern, and didn’t crack a smile the whole time. My mind went right back to my favorite childhood movie “Wizard of Oz”, where the four characters finally met with the wizard and he called each one of them up to talk. Scott was called first and I realized he was the tin man, sensible and brave yet a little frightened. He answered the many questions very well, and then I knew it would be my turn. As soon as I heard my name in Russian, my knees got shaky and knowing I didn’t have a tail to hold, I was ready to bolt, but I made it through the questioning without any major problems by mustering up any courage I could find. I also knew at that point many people were praying for us and that gave me the comfort I needed to continue. We are overjoyed that Hannah will soon be with us forever and the hardest part of this journey is over.
There is so much to say about our trip so far, but the best day was at the orphanage two days ago. As soon as we walked into Hannah’s room, she came running up to me and was yelling Mama, Mama! I picked her up and hugged her, and then she ran over to Scott and said Papa, Papa and he picked her up! Now it was time for Luke to meet her, and in his best Russian, Luke said, “Ya tvoi braht.” This means, “I am your brother”, and the expression on her face I really can’t put into words, but I would say she was elated. We spent the day at the orphanage and we were able to go all around the grounds and see many of the children. It was a warm sunny day, so we were able to take Luke and Hannah outside to play, and they were running around holding hands and were already communicating in their own way. There is so much that happened that day it is hard to put into perspective.
As many of you know, we asked for donations to help buy a refrigerator for Hannah’s orphanage, and not only did we have enough to buy that, but they were in desperate need of replacing some tiling, and we were able to buy that too! The director was overwhelmed with this generosity from so many people that are helping his orphanage stay open. There are 71 people who work at this orphanage, and if it is shut down they would lose their jobs. So as he said to us many times over, thank you, thank you, and thank you! We told him the donations were from our church, Luke’s school, and Scott’s work, but the true glory goes to God, who gives us the means to help those in need.
Oh, Happy Day!
There is so much to say about our trip so far, but the best day was at the orphanage two days ago. As soon as we walked into Hannah’s room, she came running up to me and was yelling Mama, Mama! I picked her up and hugged her, and then she ran over to Scott and said Papa, Papa and he picked her up! Now it was time for Luke to meet her, and in his best Russian, Luke said, “Ya tvoi braht.” This means, “I am your brother”, and the expression on her face I really can’t put into words, but I would say she was elated. We spent the day at the orphanage and we were able to go all around the grounds and see many of the children. It was a warm sunny day, so we were able to take Luke and Hannah outside to play, and they were running around holding hands and were already communicating in their own way. There is so much that happened that day it is hard to put into perspective.
As many of you know, we asked for donations to help buy a refrigerator for Hannah’s orphanage, and not only did we have enough to buy that, but they were in desperate need of replacing some tiling, and we were able to buy that too! The director was overwhelmed with this generosity from so many people that are helping his orphanage stay open. There are 71 people who work at this orphanage, and if it is shut down they would lose their jobs. So as he said to us many times over, thank you, thank you, and thank you! We told him the donations were from our church, Luke’s school, and Scott’s work, but the true glory goes to God, who gives us the means to help those in need.
Oh, Happy Day!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
In Moscow!!!
We are in Moscow and had a good flight. It was a great flight for Luke because we were in a plane where each seat had it's own personal video, so he could watch a movie, play games, or watch cartoons, so time flew by. He finally got tired and fell asleep for two hours before landing. It then became more and more difficult to keep him awake before getting to the hotel. When we got to the hotel, I met a couple who just finshed their adoption and they were headed home in two days. Our room wasn't ready so they told us we could go to the ninth floor and sleep on the chairs while the room was getting cleaned. At this point, I think we were looking pretty bad, so they knew we needed sleep, but we couldn't sleep too long because we wouldn't sleep through the night, so we set the alarm for two hours and woke up four hours later. We went out to eat last night to a cute little restaurant about three blocks from here and had meat with mushed potatoes (not mashed). We went to a grocery store and got some items for breakfast, and had that after sleeping for 12 long hours, oh what joy! Sleep feels so good when you are so deprived.
We are getting closer and closer to seeing Hannah again, and for Luke to meet her for the first time. I hope and pray that will go very well! We talked on Skype last night with Ben England and he sounded like he was in the next room. That was fun to see it work. We are planning to talk with Luke's classroom today through Skype. Scott set them up with a camera so we can see them and they can see us! This will be so fun for Luke during our trip.
Tonight (your daytime) we will be boarding the trian to Voronezh. We will be in a sleeping cabin for the long 11 hour ride. We hope to find some connection in Voronezh but we may not, so if you don't see any posts for a while that's what happened.
We are getting closer and closer to seeing Hannah again, and for Luke to meet her for the first time. I hope and pray that will go very well! We talked on Skype last night with Ben England and he sounded like he was in the next room. That was fun to see it work. We are planning to talk with Luke's classroom today through Skype. Scott set them up with a camera so we can see them and they can see us! This will be so fun for Luke during our trip.
Tonight (your daytime) we will be boarding the trian to Voronezh. We will be in a sleeping cabin for the long 11 hour ride. We hope to find some connection in Voronezh but we may not, so if you don't see any posts for a while that's what happened.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Our Thanks!
As the day is moving closer, we are all getting a little jumpy around here. Even Luke is having stomach issues and we know it’s all the excitement. Our visas arrived yesterday, and we had our travel meeting on the phone with Kristen too. She went over everything we needed and talked about our court time and the questions the judge will ask us. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be nice each time you went on a vacation someone would call and make sure you had everything you needed. It was better then a check list because she would talk back! Do you have the sunscreen? Check! Did you put it in your check luggage or carry-on? Carry-on. Wrong answer; please put that in your check luggage! See how well that would work! I think I just came up with something!
I had a friend come over two days ago and gave me a ton of clothes that her girls can’t wear any longer. She has a heart for adoption and wanted Hannah to have the clothes. I was overwhelmed with her generosity, not to mention her taste in children’s clothing was impeccable. After she left, I sat there putting the clothes away and these words kept coming in my head that are written in my instructions for our trip. Make sure you bring clothing because nothing she has is hers. They will literally take the clothing she has on-off, and I will put her new clothing on. Wow, and here I sit in her new bedroom with clothes hanging in her closet and in her drawers. I cried to think about her and the many other children around the world that have nothing. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. This song now has a special meaning for me knowing our treasures are not of this world, whether it’s material things or more, but it’s having our treasures stored up in heaven.
We have heard news from the orphanage concerning the refrigerator. Not only did we raise enough money for the refrigerator, but they have a great need for floor tiles and we are going to help with that too. Their government said they will shut it down if conditions are not improved with this orphanage. It is a very impoverished area and many people work there as part of their livelihood, so it would make matters worse. Thanks to many of you for donating and having such giving hearts, I pray this will help them out! We will have more on this while we are in Russia.
I had a friend come over two days ago and gave me a ton of clothes that her girls can’t wear any longer. She has a heart for adoption and wanted Hannah to have the clothes. I was overwhelmed with her generosity, not to mention her taste in children’s clothing was impeccable. After she left, I sat there putting the clothes away and these words kept coming in my head that are written in my instructions for our trip. Make sure you bring clothing because nothing she has is hers. They will literally take the clothing she has on-off, and I will put her new clothing on. Wow, and here I sit in her new bedroom with clothes hanging in her closet and in her drawers. I cried to think about her and the many other children around the world that have nothing. Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. This song now has a special meaning for me knowing our treasures are not of this world, whether it’s material things or more, but it’s having our treasures stored up in heaven.
We have heard news from the orphanage concerning the refrigerator. Not only did we raise enough money for the refrigerator, but they have a great need for floor tiles and we are going to help with that too. Their government said they will shut it down if conditions are not improved with this orphanage. It is a very impoverished area and many people work there as part of their livelihood, so it would make matters worse. Thanks to many of you for donating and having such giving hearts, I pray this will help them out! We will have more on this while we are in Russia.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
World of packing lightly!
We are spending this week packing lightly. We will be gone for a long time and packing lightly doesn't equal a long trip, so I am in this huge dilemma over what to take and what not to take. The weather in Russia is just like East Coast spring weather with warm and cold days, so do I bring sweaters or lighter clothing? I'm not too worried about Luke's clothes because he will wear the same thing everyday if he could, and he may have to!
We have a list of questions the judge may ask us during our court date, and I'm telling you it's a lot of questions. I am a little apprehensive about our court date and feeling intimidated which I've heard you will, but I'm praying for strength to get through it and wisdom to answer correctly. I think we will be the first adoption case in front of this new judge, so I'm trying not to be fearful.
Luke is having food issues. He believes that there will not be anything to eat in Russia that he will like, but I have reassured him that they loves potatoes there and if all else fails, you can eat potatoes the whole time. He was happy with that! We are staying with Galina, and she is a very good cook too!
We don't have our visas yet, but hopefully those will be in the mail soon. I dislike last minute anything, so I'm trying to get done what I can and not worry about the visas.
As I was packing for Hannah, I realized I have lots of warm clothes for her and not any spring/summer clothes, so I went to Target yesterday and picked up some summer clothes. This is where the gift cards we received for our shower came in very handy. I used all of them and remembered to get Hannah a brush and comb set! Thank you again everyone for your gift cards, for they helped me out so much yesterday!
On Sunday someone said to me, oh my, you are leaving in one week! Now, I knew I was leaving in one week, but for some strange reason, when I heard that from someone else it made my stomach jump and it’s been jumping since then! Ready, set, gone! That’s what I need.
Thanks for stopping by our blog page. We hope to put in pictures and video while we are in Russia. Once the judge gives her verdict we will be able to share pictures of Hannah on our blog! Yeah!!!!!
We have a list of questions the judge may ask us during our court date, and I'm telling you it's a lot of questions. I am a little apprehensive about our court date and feeling intimidated which I've heard you will, but I'm praying for strength to get through it and wisdom to answer correctly. I think we will be the first adoption case in front of this new judge, so I'm trying not to be fearful.
Luke is having food issues. He believes that there will not be anything to eat in Russia that he will like, but I have reassured him that they loves potatoes there and if all else fails, you can eat potatoes the whole time. He was happy with that! We are staying with Galina, and she is a very good cook too!
We don't have our visas yet, but hopefully those will be in the mail soon. I dislike last minute anything, so I'm trying to get done what I can and not worry about the visas.
As I was packing for Hannah, I realized I have lots of warm clothes for her and not any spring/summer clothes, so I went to Target yesterday and picked up some summer clothes. This is where the gift cards we received for our shower came in very handy. I used all of them and remembered to get Hannah a brush and comb set! Thank you again everyone for your gift cards, for they helped me out so much yesterday!
On Sunday someone said to me, oh my, you are leaving in one week! Now, I knew I was leaving in one week, but for some strange reason, when I heard that from someone else it made my stomach jump and it’s been jumping since then! Ready, set, gone! That’s what I need.
Thanks for stopping by our blog page. We hope to put in pictures and video while we are in Russia. Once the judge gives her verdict we will be able to share pictures of Hannah on our blog! Yeah!!!!!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sweet Spot
Do you know what is so pleasant about spring? Well, I can think of many things, but what I love is watching nature come back to life again. Luke has a beautiful cherry tree blooming outside his bedroom window, and every morning I express to him how pretty that tree is when I open his window. It’s in full bloom with many delicate white flowers that gives you the impression of snow on all the branches. Well, this morning I was talking about this gorgeous tree and Luke looked over and said, “Mommy, I’m not really into looking at beautiful trees, but I do like to climb in them. Oh boy, boys will be boys! That’s how God made them.
We have our itinerary for Russia, and we needed to make some sanity changes to make life a little easier for us. Our flight to Moscow from Atlanta is around 10 hours long and we arrive in the morning eight time zones away from here. Well, on our first trip to Russia, we had around eight hours before we had to be on a train for Voronezh that night, so they take you to a hotel to rest and clean up. I remember sitting on the bed and waking up four hours later, but at least my shoes were off, or maybe Scott took them off, I don’t remember. So, we have decided it would be good to stay the night in Moscow the first night, and then catch our 11 hour train ride down to Voronezh. The first day in Voronezh, they are taking us to the orphanage to visit with Hannah and for Luke to meet his sister. This will be a big day for him! The next two days are set aside for our court dates. This is when the judge will ask us numerous questions and make her decision about our adoption. We have a ten day waiting period that is required, so to fill in that time we are going to visit St. Petersburg. Here’s the hard part, we are taking a train for 24 hours to get there, yes, Russia is a very, very big country. We are planning to video the countryside, so one day we can show it to Hannah and let her see more of the country she was born in. Then we will return to Voronezh and they will bring Hannah to us, and she will be our daughter and Luke’s little sister, in adoption terms, “a forever family!” After that we will get on a train (again), and head to Moscow to finish the adoption at the embassy and consulate offices. We plan to take Luke and Hannah to Red Square and many of the fascinating sites in Moscow. Luke has a field trip at his school while we will be in Russia, and he is sad about missing it, but we told him he is going on the ultimate field trip, but for some reason he is still a little sad about missing it. Someday he will see that differently.
I have one more Luke story. He has been very protective about children (not so much adults) going in Hannah’s room since we had it decorated. We have children over our home all the time, and as soon as he knows someone is coming over he will go and shut her bedroom door. So, as a curious mom, I asked Luke why he didn’t want anyone in her room, and his sweet reply was “Mommy, she hasn’t even seen her room yet and I want her to see it first.” That makes up for the tree answer. What a sweet spot!
We have our itinerary for Russia, and we needed to make some sanity changes to make life a little easier for us. Our flight to Moscow from Atlanta is around 10 hours long and we arrive in the morning eight time zones away from here. Well, on our first trip to Russia, we had around eight hours before we had to be on a train for Voronezh that night, so they take you to a hotel to rest and clean up. I remember sitting on the bed and waking up four hours later, but at least my shoes were off, or maybe Scott took them off, I don’t remember. So, we have decided it would be good to stay the night in Moscow the first night, and then catch our 11 hour train ride down to Voronezh. The first day in Voronezh, they are taking us to the orphanage to visit with Hannah and for Luke to meet his sister. This will be a big day for him! The next two days are set aside for our court dates. This is when the judge will ask us numerous questions and make her decision about our adoption. We have a ten day waiting period that is required, so to fill in that time we are going to visit St. Petersburg. Here’s the hard part, we are taking a train for 24 hours to get there, yes, Russia is a very, very big country. We are planning to video the countryside, so one day we can show it to Hannah and let her see more of the country she was born in. Then we will return to Voronezh and they will bring Hannah to us, and she will be our daughter and Luke’s little sister, in adoption terms, “a forever family!” After that we will get on a train (again), and head to Moscow to finish the adoption at the embassy and consulate offices. We plan to take Luke and Hannah to Red Square and many of the fascinating sites in Moscow. Luke has a field trip at his school while we will be in Russia, and he is sad about missing it, but we told him he is going on the ultimate field trip, but for some reason he is still a little sad about missing it. Someday he will see that differently.
I have one more Luke story. He has been very protective about children (not so much adults) going in Hannah’s room since we had it decorated. We have children over our home all the time, and as soon as he knows someone is coming over he will go and shut her bedroom door. So, as a curious mom, I asked Luke why he didn’t want anyone in her room, and his sweet reply was “Mommy, she hasn’t even seen her room yet and I want her to see it first.” That makes up for the tree answer. What a sweet spot!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We Have a Court Date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Drum rollllllll..............
It's true we finally have a court date on April 24th! We will leave on the 20th of April and come home on the 16th of May. It's a long stay for many reasons. We will have a ten day waiting period (required) in Russia after our court date, and then we run into a bunch of Russian holidays that will cause us to be there even longer. At the end of our trip, we will be in Moscow the last eight days to get paperwork done, get her U.S. passport at the embassy, and go to the Russian consulate for more paperwork. I think once this is over, we need to plant a tree because all this paperwork has caused the demise of many trees.
I hope to be in touch while in Russia by Internet and keep up with this blog when possible. If anyone has Skype, we will be able to talk from Russia and it's free!
We are praising God for this precious child and even in my weakness, God's unending faithfulness to our family was already there.
It's true we finally have a court date on April 24th! We will leave on the 20th of April and come home on the 16th of May. It's a long stay for many reasons. We will have a ten day waiting period (required) in Russia after our court date, and then we run into a bunch of Russian holidays that will cause us to be there even longer. At the end of our trip, we will be in Moscow the last eight days to get paperwork done, get her U.S. passport at the embassy, and go to the Russian consulate for more paperwork. I think once this is over, we need to plant a tree because all this paperwork has caused the demise of many trees.
I hope to be in touch while in Russia by Internet and keep up with this blog when possible. If anyone has Skype, we will be able to talk from Russia and it's free!
We are praising God for this precious child and even in my weakness, God's unending faithfulness to our family was already there.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
What a week, what a day, what a hour, what a minute!
We have had a pretty stressful week with our adoption. As you read in previous posts, we were supposed to be leaving this Monday for Russia, but in a wink of an eye that all fell apart. The judge in charge of our case delayed it for now. She (the judge) had us redo another document and I was running around trying to get that done and we had to do another set of fingerprints. I am weary of it all and only wish that Hannah was home with us and this was over. It has been a long process, and I never would have guessed it would still be going on this long. Our biggest prayer at this point is for the judge in charge of our case. We pray that her heart will be softened to knowing Jesus as her Savior, and she will open up the flood gates for all of us waiting to bring our children home.
WE have been on a very long roller coaster ride and some days it's smooth and other days we drop at high speed. We never know day by day if we are leaving for Russia or having to redo another document or not hearing anything at all (silence the hardest one). One thing I do know, we must never forget that God is in control of our adoption and He will see it through no matter how long we are on this ride, but I do wish to get off soon.
I wish to thank so many of you for your prayers and concerns. You have truely lifted us up when we are having a rough time at it. What a blessing and comfort that has been for us!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
WE have been on a very long roller coaster ride and some days it's smooth and other days we drop at high speed. We never know day by day if we are leaving for Russia or having to redo another document or not hearing anything at all (silence the hardest one). One thing I do know, we must never forget that God is in control of our adoption and He will see it through no matter how long we are on this ride, but I do wish to get off soon.
I wish to thank so many of you for your prayers and concerns. You have truely lifted us up when we are having a rough time at it. What a blessing and comfort that has been for us!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6
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