WOW how time....

So we have been moving so fast, Aleks doesn't slow down much, since the last time I was able to blog. Not to mention when we get Aleks down we are pretty wiped out and so blogging is the last thing on our minds. But we are getting into a groove and starting to hit our stride. So in the last week we have visited Red Square, the Ismaylovo Market, the US Embassy (YES we are official) and today we visited the Holy Trinity Monastery (Russia's largest monastery). We are doing well and I can't say enough about the hospitality of the Russian people and especially our host family... they have given all for us and we so appreciate them. Well we are in the final stretch... tomorrow is the final paperwork day and then Friday morning we get up at 2am and head to the airport to catch our flight to Amsterdam and then HOME! Stay tuned for more.

Day two at an end

So we are finnaly asleep after a very long day. It is 12:21am and Mr. Aleks is out for the count.

We got his Russian passport today and took his photo for his US passport. We are one step closer to bringing him home.

Tomorrow is an "rest" day so we will try to get Aleks on a better schedule and hopefully something that looks like a normal life.

Blogging more tomorrow.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Morning #2

So it is 7:00am on day 2 of the rest of our lives and I am once again the only one up. Little man went to sleep at about 9:30 last night and it was a really tough fight but the old sand man finally won out. Sorry we didn't skype with anyone last night but as you can imagine we had our hands full and the computer was in use as our source of soothing sounds and music.

It was a long day yesterday, we went to the doctor for Aleks' physical and he checks out ok. He had some blood taken so that wasn't very pleasant but he took it in stride with minimal screaming. After retuning we had lots of fun playing.

Well we are up now so it is time to start our day. We will update when we have time.



-- Posted from my iPhone

Together at last!

So this afternoon, October 6th, we became a family! It was a long day but now we are back in Moscow and we are all together! Connie and Aleks are asleep right now and I just love listening to the two of then and thought what a great time to update the blog.

The day started out with more paperwork and Aleks getting his passport picture taken. Then after lunch more paper shuffeling and running around until we finally made it back to the baby house to change Aleks into our clothes, load him in the vehicle and headed north.

The trip was long, 2.5 hours in traffic, but Aleks was great. We got to German's at about 9pm (that's right a 5+ hour drive) and had some dinner did some skyping and then tryed to go to bed. Aleks wasn't quiet ready but eventually gave in and is now in his bed not three feet from us! I cannot express out joy.

The road is still long but at least we travel together as a family now.

It is late or early so I am going to stop here. Love to all and thanks for all the support.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Flight was good

Thought I would do a quick blog to let everyone know that we are back in Russia.

We went to Amsterdam this time, it was a good flight but the flight from Amsterdam to Moscow was less than comfortable. Imagine me in the middle seat with Connie crushed against the window. But we are here and after a quick paperwork stop we will head to Kaluga. We will get in late so not sure if we will skype this evening or not. Talk to everyone later.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Official

Well we are back state side for the week before we head back over to PICK ALEKS UP and bring him home. Our second trip went very well and was relatively uneventful. As for our court hearing, it was really good! Kate, our interpreter, and German, our facilitator, did an exceptional job of preparing us for the hearing. Never having been in a court room in the states to compare it to, the Russian court room was pretty intimidating but at the same time it wasn't.

It was difficult leaving Aleks one more time but this time seemed a little easier because we knew we would be back in 10 days. Aleks is growing and seems to be picking up Russian words very quickly. When we would speak English he would be a little more apprehensive but then we would say a few words in Russian and he would warm up pretty quickly. We can't wait to have him with us all the time.

There is so much that I think we can't even start to describe - we have nothing here to compare it to, from the traffic, the driving, the grocery stores... they are all so different. With that said, my hat goes off to German, his family and Kate for the work they do to make this process so much easier.

We will leave for our last trip over to pick Aleks up on the 4th so between now and then we will be packing and putting the finishing touches on the house. Please keep the prayers up, He is listening.

Well it is 5:30am on Thursday morning and we are up and getting ready to depart to Kaluga. Yesterday was pretty laid back day. We needed to pick up our medical paperwork at the American Medical Center as well as our registration paperwork so we left a little before 11:00am and got down town to the medical center some time around 1:00pm - ah Moscow triafic! We then went to the registration office which is a stones throw from Old Arabat street which is a very nice version of Vinice Beach without the beach. It is the "arts" district with many musuems, street artists, sculptures and statues. It has many "tourist trap" stores and one trapped me, I found a nesting doll for Baylor and had to purchase it - now we have a matching Baylor/TTU set.

Well it is my turn to get ready. We are suppose to see Aleks today and get ready for court so we will blog again tonight.

Love all, keep the prayers coming!

Day two at the American Medical Center

What an adventure! It was one of the most sureal experiences of our lives. We visited with an oncologist, neurologist, internist, radiologist (looking for TB), psychiatrist, psychologist (looking for "addictions"), infectious disease specialist and finally a we had our dermatologist yesterday so we rounded out the circus with a total of 8 doctors.

If you want details... well you aren't going to get them. Not for the reason you think but really there was nothing to tell. I would say that we passed but we will get the official word tomorrow.

We will update tomorrow evening.

Today was our first day of the two-day medicals. We did a Chest X-Ray, gave blood and urine specimen and lastly had our hands and feet checked out by a dermatologist. We met about 5 other couples from across the USA that were doing the same thing as us. Needless to say, we were all wondering what this had to do with adoption, but one more hoop has been jumped through and tomorrow we will complete our last hoop for medicals. We will go back to the same American Medical Center that we were at today, but tomorrow will be meeting with 8 different specialists and we aren't really sure what they will be all about, but we are ready.

We have gotten some good sleep today and have enjoyed a nap too! We will get to see some more of Moscow tomorrow since we don't have our appt. until late in the afternoon. We hope everyone is doing well back home and will report again tomorrow.

One day closer to Aleks!

Back in the ... well you know

We the flight from Atlanta to Moscow was good, Connie got some sleep and I am sleep deprived already.

The flight was not full so we actually got to have an empty seat between us. We arrived without incident, except our luggage was soaked all the way through - evidently our luggage got to sit out in the rain in Atlanta from 9am to 4pm - GREAT job Delta. We went right through customs and passport check and are now at German & Marianna's house.

My body feels like it will never sleep again but we are going to try to get a nap. I will blog some more when I can function again. Love you all.

Taking off again!

So we are in Atlanta getting ready to board. Keep the prayers up we will need them.


-- Posted from my iPhone

Waiting

Paperwork is almost done and the real waiting begins. We are going to try to fill our time with distractions but the reality is that when I have any "down" time I rhink about things like... "What is Aleks doing? Is he having a good day? Does he remember us? Who us he seeing today?..."

It is maddening sometimes. We watch his videos and tell his story over and over but my arms ache for him. I never thought of myself as the type that would feel this way but I guess we all grow at different rates. The dear Lord above has given us Aleks, I believe, to help me grow in my faith as well as in my personal deveolpment. In many respects I need Aleks more than he needs me.

He makes me see life through a different lens. Opportunities seem more evident now. Watching others, listening to others, thinking about others, helping others, teaching others... everything is about others! Not about me! It took a little boy from Russia to teach me what the greatest leaders of our time have known and lived... "there are more important things in life than youself."

So I guess the best thing I can do during this time is to prepare myself internally for the joys and glorious adventures to come.

--
Aleks,

Thank you for coming into our lives, I promise to do my best to be the best dad possible. I promise to teach you to "fish" not just give you the "fish". I promise to have fun and explore this wonderful world together. I promise to be an example of what God can do in a man's life. And most of all I promise to love you with all my heart and soul - "Nothing you do, say or become can ever make me love you less!"

Love,
Dad

-- Post From My iPhone

Decision (the second try)

So the blog is back up and at least one of the blogs I had written was saved, here you go and once again we appreciated all the support and love you all have provided.

-- Written in the car on the way back from Kaluga - 06/26/2009 --

Well with happy hearts we would like to let the world know that we have a son! With sad hearts we had to leave him here for a little longer.

But I am getting a little ahead of myself; let me tell the entire story.

So the drive from Moscow was supposed to be a "short 2 hour" car ride. Well let's just say that we weren't that lucky. Five hours of traffic (about 3 hours of the 5) and speed racer like driving will ware on your nerves. I am very impressed with German's driving but I must be very confident that the dear Lord is riding with is on this trip. If He wasn't we would probably be dead. Doing 90+ mph on a wet highway that has hills and curves that reminded me of highway 12 in Idaho - scariest stretch of road I know - is probably the closest I have been to God in a long time. My pucker string has still not relaxed! But the bottom line is we made it to Kaluga.

Once in Kaluga we met our official interpreter, Kate and she us GREAT! She is a young English professor at the local university. She was born in Kaluga and went to school at the university where she now teaches but has studied in the US (Washington state and Colorado). She joined us for our meeting with the regional inspector for the ministry of education, who is responsible for representing the child's interest during the adoption process. She was a very nice lady that was very anxious for us to meet Aleks. She told us some information about Aleks and then gave us the official referral document that gave us permission to visit Aleks and have access to all of his records.

So then it was off to the orphanage. We arrived and had to wait for a few minutes in a large play room and then they brought Aleks in from his map and he was a little shy and confused at first but warmed up to us after a while. During the play time Connie got to speak with the social worker about his mother and the conditions that resulted in him being available fir adoption - not much is known but you can imagine that is known isn't good.

We played with him for about an hour, he can walk on his own and plays with toys and eventually engaged us in his play. After the hour was up it was time for his nap and we went in to speak with the doctor about his medical records. They have taken excellent care of Aleks and were very open with his current and past medical issues. We asked all the questions Dr. Heidi had given us and got good information from the doctor as well as observing Aleks during our play time.

Then it was off to our hotel and dinner at the local German restaurant the Oberswine which was good. Before dinner we were able to get online at our hotel and send Dr. Heidi out photos, medical reports and even some video. We then waited for her response and it was quick - she called us to discuss her overall impressions and her concerns. As you can imagine there are some major concerns about FAS given his mother's history but his physical development and facial features indicated low risk so it was a wash - negative information about mother cancels out the positive physical indicators so we were back at square one.

We were up almost all night looking at pictures and talking about everything you could imagine - very emotional to say the least. In many respects this is the very first truly faith based decision that Connie and I have ever made as a couple and I for one can say that it was easy and tough all at the same time.

When German arrived at our door to take us to breakfast we let him know that we had decided to proceed with the adoption - he was very happy for us and because he wanted to get the ball rolling our plans for the morning changed a little. We were suppose to visit Aleks at 9 to observe him with his caregivers but instead we went to the notary office get our paperwork in order and then we went to the orphanage to visit Aleks for 30 minutes and then back to the notary office to sign the official documents and officially apply to adopt Aleks. Then we had a few errands to run a quick bite to eat and then back to visit Aleks one last time before heading to Moscow. We were blessed to arrive just as he was waking up from his nap and was getting ready to eat lunch. When they asked if we wanted to feed him we jumped at the offer.

So Connie got down and they brought in a lunch big enough for me and set it down in front of her and then left the room. He is a great eater and you will have to see the pictures to believe how much he ate. We have plenty of pictures, I guess I went a little "proud papa" with the two cameras and took over 259 pictures and almost 15min of video during lunch. It was a really special time for us.

We then changed him into our "Baylor outfit" to see what size we were going to need to start getting once we get home - 18+ mo for those of you looking at home for something to get him (he will probably be in 2Ts before we see him again..

Then came the hardest thing we have ever had to endure in our lives - we had to leave without him. As you can imagine it was emotional to say the least but we were able to keep it together long enough to get in the car and focus on the drive back to Moscow.

So here we sit on the outer loop of Moscow in TRAFFIC again. We will be getting up early in the morning to head to the airport for what I expect will be the longest and saddest flight of our lives. We have been told to anticipate our next trip in late August or early September and we will be over here for an extended stay - 4 days before court date then 10 days in Moscow waiting to pick him up and then 5 more days in Moscow with him and finally back home.

Well that is all for now, thanks to everyone for the prayers and support during this time it has been appreciated and felt! But we are going to need more for the wait and for the next trip. Get ready out little one is coming home soon.

CKL


-- Post From My iPhone

Quick update

Having some Internet issues in Kaluga, we will make a more detailed post when we are back in Moscow. Road trip was longer than anticipated but we made it safe and sound. Meeting with Aleks was good, lots of pictures, video and visit with doctor went well. We visit Aleks again in the morning and have to make a decision at that point. Very stressful, many considerations and emotions! Can't explain all we are feeling and I doubt anyone at home would understand if I could. Will update tomorrow with decision and more detail. Please pray for us!

-- Post From My iPhone

Beautiful morning

So it is over cast and 56 degrees this morning. We got up at 4:44am and started our day with the best cup of tea I have ever had! We are off to Kaluga and Aleks. Love to all and we will blog later.


-- Post From My iPhone

Привет from Moscow

Not sure if the last post made it so I am going to try again now that we are at German's house and we have wifi.

So the plane ride was rather uneventful, long and our butts hurt but we had the exit row so that made things more comfortable. There was quit the eclectic group of traveler on the plane, Russian nationals going home, hopeful adoptive parents, students traveling over seas for the summer, adoptive grandparents going over to help their daughter and son-in-law bring back twin girls and many more we didn't talk to. We were also blessed with a peak into what is to come on our trip back - the gutteral screams of the unconsolable child. This little girl sounded like a ferral child raised by apes. It was pretty impressive, all I can say is thank the dear Lord above for headphones and our laptop!

After landing in Moscow we could not deplane until the Russian health ministry boarded and took every passengers temperature and got medical information concerning swine flu risk, that was interesting. And no, there were no probes, our temperature was taken by an infrared device that I had never seen - pretty cool technology.

After getting off the plane those if us on our first trip followed the croud, like lemmings I might add, to the very long passport control line. Nothing too scarey but very serious. Then baggage claim and you will never believe it but you have to wait an eternity here as well, seems like one of those universal constants - I will have to ponder the physics if that process when I solve the rest of the world's problems.

Then CUSTOMS! It is totally not what you think. No armed gaurds no stern folks digging through bags, no strip searches. We walked through the doors and were directed through a corridor and emerged on the other side to find German waiti g for us with a sign. Very unentful! I like uneventful!

So German is our driver, host and interpreter - he is our life line here in Russia and he is good at what he does. He took us to meet Tatiana, the head if Gladney operations here in Russia. Tatiana lives on the top floor of a building with NO elevator. And it was not a two story building! No one had prepared us for the adoptive parent cardiac stress test that us what I am now calling the "Tatiana protocol". She must be in excellent shape to do that climb every day. We completed our paperwork there and we were off again.

Driving in Moscow is the second part if the adoptive parent stress test. It is not for the faint of heart. Greman was kind enough to take us by Red Square, Kremlin and numerous other famous sights - we have pictures.

We made it back to German & Mariana's home, the top floor of a building WITH an elevator, albeit the smallest elevator I have ever seen.

Mariana is an exellent cook and had fixed us a meal so we would have something in us and then it was NAP time. We woke up after three hours and had dinner and we have packed for Kaluga.

In the morning we will head out for the drive to Kaluga. When we get there we will meet with the head doctor to review medical reports and ask questions and the we meet Aleks!

So it is time to catch some z's so we will blog tomorrow.

До свидания


-- Post From My iPhone

We are here

Well we made it just fine. It is truely a different world and at the same time it is the same - traffic and construction. Greman seems to be very nice and has put me at ease with being here. We have met Tatiana and everything is on track. We found out that German was the one that took the pictures of Aleks and he say that Aleks is a great boy. We will stay with German and his wife tonight and then tomorrow morning we will get up early and make the drive to Kaluga but will not meet Aleks until after his nap and lunch. Got to run. Keep praying.


-- Post From My iPhone

Adventures in the airport

Wow! So we got to the airport this morning at 7am anticipating the worst and we were treated to a display of every conceivable bad behavior known to man kind. Crying, yelling, stomping feet, name calling, cutting in line, sulking, hand gestures, blamming, shoving... and that was the adults! Trust me the list could go on and on!

It is truely amazig how there are still people out there that still think they can arrive at the airport with less than an hour before their flight departs and think that they are going to be able to make it.

But the Lord continues to bless this trip and we were able to ge through the line without a "situation". I feel for those that work at the ticket desk! Those folks deserve extra pay to deal with the short tempers and abusive language that we saw. But I will say that they don't put up with it for very long before they call in for "reinforcements". And when that happens hold on cause someone is going to be "escorted" to some place I assume is other than their flight.

Well we continue on our journey and can't wait to see Russia and more importantly Aleks.

More to come...


-- Post From My iPhone

WORD!

Connie was kind enough to put the story down and send it to my parents so they could include it in our "adoption book" my mother is creating.

This is the story of how we heard about our son, waiting for us in Russia……..

It is 3:58pm on Thursday, June 4, 2009

Kevin was at work and I was at home washing clothes and getting ready for a busy weekend. Robin Longoria, our contact at the Gladney Adoption Agency, called the house and asked me what I was doing and she just laughed. I said, “Oh my gosh Robin, are you calling for THE CALL?”. She laughed and said, “ YES, Connie, take a minute to catch your breath”. Then she asked if Kevin was at home because she needed to talk to both of us.

I told her no, he was not home but I would call him on his cell, since he has it with him all the time. Kevin and I had worked out a signal so Kevin would know what to do when I called with the signal. I put the house phone down and got my cell phone and ran through the plan with the cell…………no return call from Kevin. I ended up sending the signal MANY times with NO RESPONSE.

I finally got on my computer and just started emailing Kevin so that he would get frustrated with his phone going off and my email would be all he saw on his computer. I just kept typing in the subject line ADOPTION CALL ME. I still have Robin on the house phone and FINALLY after literally 5 minutes of doing this, Kevin calls, but not on my cell phone but the HOUSE phone! I see that he is calling so I pick up my cell phone and call him. I tell him that I have Robin on hold on the house phone and that she needs his phone number of where he is at this very moment so that she can conference him in on the phone call with me. Kevin asks, why and then it hits him and he says, with a shaky voice, “Is this THE CALL?” I laughed and said “YES it is, are you ready?” He responds, with a shaky “Okay”.

He can’t remember his phone number at the office and so I ask him if he is in his office or some where else since I had called him on his cell phone I wasn’t sure. He finally says, yes that he is and continues to struggle to remember his office number. He finally gets it out and I tell him to not leave the spot he is at right now because Robin will call him in a few minutes. I tell Robin the phone number and she calls and tells us about our son, whose name, given by his birth mother is Aleksandr L.

Kevin had stepped away from his desk, without his cell phone, and gone down the hall to speak with the Dean of the Business School, Terry Maness. The bad thing is that he didn’t come back to his desk because of everything I was doing, but because his phone was ringing at his desk and he was coming to answer it. Thank God that he sent an angel to get Kevin back to his desk.

We have been told at this point that we will be making our first trip to Russia June 23-27, 2009 to meet our son, Aleksandr. We will probably wait 2-3 months before we go back for our second trip and actually get to bring him home.

Tools

A few months ago Connie and I had the opportunity to spend some quality windshield time together on our way to Lubbock for a great Texas Tech football game. During this time we discussed many things about our lives and what we wanted to pass on to our son. We talked about our own raisings and what lessons we had learned. We thought about how each of our parents had given (if that is the right word) us our "life skills" the "tools" that we use each day to make it through our lives.

I prefer to use the word "tool" because if you think about what a tool is, a tool can be defined in so many ways, it is basically (my definition) something that allows you to complete or achieve a specific task or goal. Whether it is to fix something or create something you must have "tools". I am not going to get into the anthropological aspects of tools, but basically (besides some specific rudimentary primate examples) the extent to which we can identify, create and utilize tools is what differentiates us from all the other creatures on this planet.

But tools are not just external objects that make tasks easier. Tools are much more than that. They are also the "skills" we posses. Our ability to communicate and comprehend, our ability to problem solve or break down the most basic elements of the universe, our ability to gather information and make sound decisions… the list goes on and on, all of these are tools.

So where do we get our tools. The bottom line, the dear Lord above, or as I like to refer to him the "Master Toolsmith". First, He gives us a truly unique body with some set physiological characteristics (our genetic ability). But then he gives us the ability to go beyond our physical or genetic limits (or at least our own perceived limits - another topic entitled "Perception is reality?"). He gives us the most powerful "tool" of all - a BRAIN. He also gives us something else - parents. And here is where the Master Toolsmith turns the work over to someone else.

Ok, so now back to our discussion on our way from Waco to Lubbock for the Tech game. Connie and I discussed the concept of a "tool box" and how we all had a set of "tools" that we use to get through life and how we are now charged with filling our son's "tool box" with the most basic but most important "tools" that he will need to make it through life. This was HUGE! I had never really looked at it that way. It makes it simple and complex all at the same time.

I thought to myself - "wow, how cool is that - I can actually get him a tool box and then fill it with tools. Every time we teach him something we can relate it back to a tool and then put that tool in his box…" But then I realized a very important question needed to be answered… "What tools do we put in his box?"

I have numerous friends that have proceeded down the parent road many years ago and I have watched them make decisions and raise their children. I am not questioning any of their parenting skills but sitting here today I wonder if any of them sat down and thought about that question. What skills do I really want to pass along to my child? I think many of them end up just "surviving" and the tools that they pass along are just those that they are using to "survive" and while some maybe good, "survival tools" are often less effective and can sometimes be harmful.

So back to that important question: "What are the tools to put into our son's tool box?" Well this morning during my morning daily devotional the Lord opened my eyes. Where better to get the list of tools than the Master Toolsmith's instruction manual. When I opened my bible this morning I turned to Proverbs 3. In the words of my favorite passage of the bible I found the first tool to add - His teachings. Proverbs 3 talks about wisdom - how to gain it and the benefits of getting it. Many would argue that wisdom is something you are born with or it is something that only comes with age. While there might be some truth in both but I choose to believe that wisdom comes from our ability to observe our environment, make conclusions about relationships (not necessarily between humans but how all things created by God "relate" to one another and the rest of the environment) and apply them to our lives (more accurately to our behavior or the way we live our lives).

So it is our job as our son's parents to maximize his opportunities to "observe" God's creation - this spectacular world.

Little one,

I cannot wait to experience this world with you. I want to walk through life with you to help you and guide you but also allow you to "experience" the world on your own. I will always be here for you - so when you are "experiencing" the world you will know you have some place safe to go if you need it. Well I need to go but I love you and can't wait to hold you in my arms.

Love,
Dad

Back on the wagon

Ok, so this blogging thing is more difficult than I first assumed it would be. Where to start, so much as happened since June. A quick recap - July we went to Alaska on business and pleasure and while there I got a call from Baylor University. Long story short - I am once again a Baylor Bear. That really through things for a loop. Connie was the typical rock and absolutely on top of everything that needed to be done. The move from Lubbock to Waco was chaotic to say the least. I lived in an RV for 3 months while we sold the house and Connie spent her time packing the entire house by herself. I would go up and help move things to different locations. The Lord knew what we needed and sent a buyer for the house and within a few days of getting a contract we had the deal closed and then we got a house down here in Waco within a few days of that.

Connie spent most of her days getting the house here up to snuff and then getting all the paperwork updated, both huge tasks.

So that is the short version and now that I am settled in the job and we are in the house and everything is going a bit smoother i will try to get back into the groove of blogging. So more later.