We made it through court!  It was an interesting experience.  I have never been in a courtroom before, but it was not too far off from what I expected.  The judge introduced everyone; there was us and Lana (our interpreter) with the prosecutor, recorder, and a social worker for each of the boys.  The judge asked several questions-everything from why my visa said “Moscow” and not “Vladivostok” to questions about schooling for the boys and about our house.  She also asked several questions about why we chose Russia.  We were surprised that we didn’t get any questions about why we chose to adopt two unrelated boys at the same time.  The prosecutor asked a couple of questions about discipline and church.  We did learn not to chew gum in court; Lana gave us some gum right before we went in.  I got rid of mine, but Shannon was chewing it.  She stood up to state her name and the judge said, “Are you chewing gum?”  It was a bit humorous. 

But court went through without problems.  Lana said that it was one of the easier cases that she’s seen.  It took about 80 minutes; she thought that because there were two boys it would be closer to two hours, so that is very good!  Thank you everyone who was praying for us! 

So the boys are ours… after a ten day waiting period.  We have never really understood what the ten day period is about until the judge said that we had ten days to appeal the case.  Which we are not going to do.

We are heading home tomorrow- and it will be a very interesting day.  We will leave Vladivostok at 10am local time and then follow the sun.  We have about 19 hours in the air plus a 3 hour layover in Moscow, but it will not even be 6pm when we land!  So the day will go on for a very long time.  We hope we get to sleep on the airplane.  And as an aside, we thought we had the longest trip, but we met a family here at the Vlad Motor Inn who are from Southern California- and they had to go through Moscow, too!

We are going home so that we can spend time with the kids and then we leave again on September 5th (returning to Vlad on September 7th) to get the boys.  We will take care of paperwork for a couple days here in Vladivostok, and then we will spend a week in Moscow taking care of immigration paperwork.  So from the day we left until the day we get home with the boys we will have spent two nights in New York City, four nights on an airplane, five nights in Vladivostok, seven nights at home, and nine nights in Moscow. 

We have been waiting for this for so long… now we have just a little more waiting.  It really feels like we are coming to the end!

I haven’t posted since, well, I don’t even know what today is.  It’s been a few days.

We made our flight from Moscow to Vladivostok and I slept poorly, so when we got in on Wednesday until now Thursday evening I have been a bit out of it.  I will be going to bed shortly to try to get back up to speed.  Tomorrow is a very important day!  We are going to court.

We had an excellent visit with one of the boys (BN) on Wednesday.  It was far too short, but he has changed a lot in the almost six months since we saw him last.  He has grown a lot and he was also much more talkative and active.  The first trip he barely said anything; this time he jabbered the entire time.  He even recited a poem for us!  It is very sweet.

Today we met with the other of the boys (NN).  He is in Spassk-Dalny, which was about 8 hours round trip to visit with him.  We spend more time on the road than with him! He hasn’t changed a whole lot.  He hasn’t put on much weight (some, we think, just not a lot).  He was active and talked the entire time on our first trip so when he did it today it was really about the same.

Tomorrow we are going to court.  Lana, our interpreter, told us what to expect, and to how to talk to the judge.  It’s good she said the things, because I have not been in a courtroom before.  She told us the basics of what to expect, and that we should answer the questions honestly.  And that she would not interfere- she is only there to interpret!

So it should be an exciting day.  A very important day.  Once we are approved by court we have to wait ten days.  In order that our other children don’t go crazy we are going to spend those ten days at home.  So we leave Saturday, arrive Sunday, then leave again for Vladivostok on the next Sunday.  It is almost done!  We can’t wait to get them into our home!

We have made it to the half-way point of our trip; two out of the twelve airplane flights are behind us.  The flights went flawlessly-only a minor delay between St. Louis and New York due to storms, but beyond that it was great.  So we spent the night Saturday in New York and then spent the day (and night) Sunday in Moscow.

Alexander, our Moscow coordinator, took us on a tour of the downtown.  Our first stop was McDonald’s.  It was a bit nicer than the McDonald’s in our area (I don’t normally see the manager walking around in a suit in our McDonald’s), but the food was pretty much the same.  (By comparison, the food I ate at the Minsk McDonald’s when I visited there was the best I’ve ever eaten).

From McDonald’s, we went on a walking tour of Moscow.  We took a walk down Arbat street.  Arbat street is one of those beautiful European streets that they have blocked off to auto traffic, paved with nice brick, and put practical things among the historic treasures, like Starbucks and a Hard Rock Cafe.   The architecture of the street was more uniform than most in Moscow, and had little of the Soviet utilitarian influence (though it was still there).

We walked from there to the Kremlin.  As Alexander told us, many cities have a Kremlin; the word kremlin just means “fortress”.  But this is the Kremlin.  We chose not to go into the Kremlin itself, but walk around it because of it costing money.  (Alexander is very good about pointing these things out).  Everything around the Kremlin is pristine with immaculate landscaping, flower gardens, and buildings.  We walked around the outside walls and I got several good pictures of some of the twenty towers-each constructed in a different style.  There are also several churches around it as well.

We walked around it, and then walked into Red Square.  It was Sunday afternoon, and people were everywhere.  They were also setting up for an event (we aren’t sure, we think it may have to do with Ivan the Terrible’s 500th birthday which is this week).  Growing up, the one image I got of Russia (over and over and over again) was that of a military parade with tanks and missiles going past an on-looking head of state (a pleased looking on-looking head of state) through Red Square.  So it was a bit odd to see them constructing a temporary ice rink in the middle of it.

We did take a tour of St. Basil’s Cathedral, which is probably the most iconic figure of Russia.  According to Alexander, the Russians attempted to tear it down several times (reasons ranging from opposition to the church to it just “being in the way.”)  Fortunately it was never torn down.  The architecture is beautiful, though moving around it is a bit confusing.  It consists of nine “churches”, which to explain it in a way that my friends would understand, nine alters.  Each alter, as in the Russian Orthodox tradition is behind a screen, normally with artwork depicting various scenes.  There is a door to the alter, with Christ at the left and the icon or saint that the church is dedicated to on the right.  So the icon is on the right.  Christ is on the left.  I feel sorry for them- they don’t understand that Christ is the door.  There is no screen for those in Him.  I was separated from the alter, but with Christ, I have full access.  We visited on Sunday, and so they were having service.  There are no pews in the building, just a space where people could gather (15-20 in most of them, one “church” was larger and could probably fit 40-50 people, if they were crowded in.  (I put “church” in quotes because I am referring to the structure around the alter, not the the body of believers that would describe an ekklesia).  What may be the best part of the experience was the singing.  There were two groups singing, one was a priest who would sing a short bit and then he was followed by a choir.  The second was a small men’s ensemble.  Both were perfectly in tune and harmony, and sounded like a professional recording, and echoed throughout the building.  It was (sorry Gary) the most beautiful music I have ever heard in a church.

After we saw the cathedral, Alexander was very eager to take us on the subway, not to really go anywhere but so that we could go on the subway.  The subway itself was our destination.  The reason is because of the art and architecture.  Each station is dedicated to a different theme.  One was dedicated to the Russian people and had large bronze statues depicting Russian life- a soldier, peasant, engineer, laborer, etc.  Another station had mosaics of scenes depicting the wonderful relationship between Russia and Ukraine.  The trains run every one to two minutes.  We went to a couple of stations and then came back to our hotel-we were too tired to go on!  We were still on New York time, so by then it was about six am there- we had stayed up all night!

We are staying at the Belgrad.    The price is good for the location.  There are “renovated rooms” and “non-renovated rooms.”  We are staying in a “non-renovated room.”  (At least I hope its a non-renovated room!)  The most interesting thing about it is the bed- there isn’t a sheet per say, but there is… I’m not sure how to describe it.  It is a personal sheet, and is basically a bag.  So I slept in a sheet bag last night.  As for the location, I love it.  It is within walking distance to the Kremlin, across the street from the subway, and a few blocks away from the US Embassy (where we will be visiting on our second trip).  As I type this I can look out from the desk sitting at a bay window on the 10th floor, with a view of two of Stalin’s seven sisters, the Russian White House, the Moscow River, and an eclectic mix of buildings ranging from an 18th century onion domed cathedral to 19th century European structures to hideous Soviet-style block buildings, to modern skyscrapers.  Moscow is a city that is very interesting to look at.

That was all yesterday (I think).  (At any given moment my main thought is, “What is today?”)  Today we went to do our medicals.  And we passed!  Hurray!  They asked us the ages of our biological children, asked if we anticipate any changes, if we drank or smoked or did did drugs, and if there was any psychological problems in my family.  Mostly they just read the things.  I’m really surprised nobody mentioned my amazing blood work.  I’m anemic, so it is pretty off-but they did not.  We signed several things, got several more things stamped, so it should be official.  We are really ready to go see  the boys- one Wednesday and one Thursday.

Today Alexander took us to see a couple more sights after the  medicals were done.  He took us up to “the hill”  which is a hill overlooking the Moscow River and Moscow.  Wonderful views!  He also took us to see a convent where the czars would send their wives before they divorced them so that they could get remarried. (I’ve heard the Russian Orthodox church allows 3 remarriages, but I don’t know if that only pertains to czars or if that is true at all!)  We also got to go to a rebuilt Church; the original was demolished in the 30’s to make way for a large government building that never got built, and eventually put in a swimming pool,  until finally in 1992 it was rebuilt.

We are getting ready to do our medicals (as I am typing this-they are probably be done by the time I am posting it).  Today Alexander plans to take us to “The Hill”.  I don’t know what is there, but he is very excited to tell us about it.  Tuesday we catch our flight to Vladivostok, which arrives Wednesday.  We will get of the plane, check into our hotel, and go see the younger of the boys.  (In two weeks I’ll call them by name instead of “one of the boys.”  We  are getting closer.  Court on Friday!

We are on our way to Russia! We have a court date schedule for August 27. We will have medical exams in Moscow on Monday, then leave Tuesday for Vladivostok.
So far our trip has been blissfully uneventful. Our light left on time (with a small delay because of routing around thunderstorms). The only hitch so far was our cab driver getting lost on the way to the hotel. But we got a good night’s sleep here in New York, and will shortly leave for JFK. Then next stop Moscow!
I don’t know if we’ll have internet access in Moscow, so I may be off the radar until we get to Vlad.
Please pray for safe trips, no troubles with customs, documents, or sickness; pray also for medical and meeting with the boys next week.