Wednesday

We are done!
Today we had an appointment at the US Embassy at 10am. It took us an hour, but I think that is longer than normal because they were understaffed because of the holidays. We waited until they called our name. We went up to a window and they gave us a brief interview. Simple - is this your child? Do you promise to have a doctor appointment in the first 30 days? Here is your paperwork, these are instructions of things to do when we get home, this envelope needs to go to immigration when you get to the US. We were handed a packet which contained birth certificate and other documents. In 30 minutes we were given his passport and I am not sure what else because I haven't looked at it yet. :) That is it! We are done. We were back here by 11:15. Jacob is quite patient when we have to wait for things. He is getting good at walking. He was a bit unbalanced when we picked him up, but seems to be doing better everyday. He loves to walk down a long hallway that we have here and then turn around and run to us.
We have started packing... Our transportation will be here at 7:15am to pick us up for our flight in the morning.
Sorry for the lack of pictures. All of my pictures are still on the camera. I don't have a way to download them onto our computer right now. I will have to upload them when I get home.
We are going to eat this afternoon with Jon and Janice and Lindsey and Jason.
Last night our driver took us to Red Square to get a few pictures with the kiddos. We thought that it would be nice for them to see some day. It was cool. They have an ice skating rink set up right in the middle of the square. We had Boris again yesterday. We all packed into his car and drove down there. He is a great driver/host. He walked with us to the square, showed us around, gave us history and even took pictures. (I guess one of his side jobs is wedding photography and his other is computer programming.) He seems quite talented.
Pray for our flight tomorrow. It will be long!

Tuesday

We are ready to come home.
Jacob had his first bath last night. (We sponge bathed him prior to this. I don't think that they are ever in a tub in the orphanage so we tried to ease him into this.) He screamed at first and then we had a hard time getting him out. :) He screamed again tonight when we got in, but warmed up to it much faster.
Today Jeff and Jason went to pick up the visas and then went to the US Embassy to apply for his visa. Tomorrow we pick up all of the paperwork at 10am and then we are done! I am still amazed at how quickly the guys took care of all of the paperwork. They were back this morning by 11am and were done for the day!
After naptime we took the kids to Red Square to get some pictures with them. It was fun to walk around. Our driver was very polite and he took pictures and walked us around.
Today was a slow day and we had a chance to spend some time with Jacob and bond a bit. We are definitely starting to see his personality. He is very smart. He seems to be picking things up very fast. He already knows some signs and is mocking some sounds and motions. I am not sure that he knows what the signs are, but when we say the words, he will do the signs.
We are not looking forward to the long trip home, but we are ready to end this long journey and get on with life and be home.




Jacob eating... He loves to eat!


















Bath time!









The 3 of us in front of St. Basil's.






































Here we are in Red Square. The big building all lit up is a mall - I think it is GUUM or GUMM. Just to the left of it all lit up is a big skating rink (ice skating). The big building to the left of that is a history museum.

Monday

Jacob has been with us now about 24 hours. He is doing well, but we are getting a glimpse of his little temper. :)
After Jacob's major meltdown at bedtime last night, he sleep from 8 - 8. Not bad for being in a strange place. He cried briefly at 11pm and 7am. He was a cutie when he woke up this morning. He is definitely not a morning person. He just laid in bed for a while with his eyes half open before he finally decided that he was ready to get up.
He was very happy when he woke up. He pointed at Jeff and said dada and then shook his head up and down. Cute... He has been doing that to me today too. Saying mama and then tapping me on the shoulder and shaking his head 'yes'.
He loves oatmeal. Just plain oatmeal with a dab of milk. He had 3 bowls! Well, 3 baby size bowls... I think he would've kept eating except that we had to go. I am realizing that I should've brought more clothes because I seem to be getting dirty everytime he eats. He came at me and gave me a hug before I could get the oatmeal cleaned off of him.
We left today at 9am. We had to get passports and Jacob's medical exam. We had two cars today - one for us and one for the Carney's - Lindsey and Jason. One of the drivers was late because he was stuck in traffic so the men went with the first driver and Lindsey and I went with the second driver. The men did the visas and the ladies went to the medical exam. When the 2nd driver showed up, Lindsey and I hopped in. Well, for some reason there was something wrong with his car. He said it wouldn't shift into gear. So he called the first driver. The first driver came back to get us and left the men at the passport place. Thankfully the medical exam was close. We didn't have far to drive. The driver stayed with us and helped us through the exams. He spoke very good English. He is the same guy we had on our last trip when we went to court.
The exams were easy. Just a typical exam like a well visit in the US. As soon as we walked into the office and started to undress Jacob he started to scream and fight me. He then cried through the whole exam. The doctor told me that I needed to be more firm with him otherwise he would do this until he is 25. :) He said that he was much more quiet in the orphanage, but it is obvious that he has been spoiled. That was the second time I had seen him do that. I think he may have been a bit of a favorite in the orphanage. The doctor called him a drama star and said something to him in Russian and then turned his back on him and faced me. He gave Jacob a tissue and put it on his face and told me that he was faking because there were no tears. :) I think he weighs 26 pounds and is about 32 inches tall. I may have the weight wrong. I wasn't really paying attention to him at first. When the exam was over Jacob clung to me the rest of the time and was very compliant when it came to getting dressed and leaving. :)
We met the men back at the Embassy. Olga gave them a ride. They took our driver and went to register Jeff and my passports and then went out to the airport to get Hudson's paper ticket. For some reason, even though both Hudson and Jacob are riding on our laps, they need to have a paper ticket. Since the boys are only on our tickets one way it seems to be causing a bit of confusion. Jeff spent most of Friday morning on the phone before we left home trying to work out the details of the ticket.
The men have been busy today and our poor driver is really going to work hard today. The driver is great. He seems to know exactly where we need to go and what is going on. It is obvious that he has done this many times before. It makes it much easier. We usually just walk in behind him and he takes care of everything. He even has our paperwork. I think Olga must have given it to him this morning. When he dropped off them men and came to get us, he must have gotten the money for the exams from the men and totally took care of that as well. It is a good thing. i didn't even think of that part.
So far Jacob is very affectionate, is a great eater, and a great sleeper.
I will write more later and also try to get some pictures.

Gotcha Day!

So yes of course we woke up at midnight! How that is possible when we are so tired is beyond me... We finally went back to bed around 4, but I remember the clock at 5:30.........
The driver picked us up at 10am to head to the orphanage. Olga was waiting for us when we got there. I was so relieved to have Olga with us to translate for us. When we arrived they told us that Jacob was outside playing. Olga helped us to distribute gifts to the orphanage children and to the workers. Then they brought Jacob out. The woman gave him to me and then ran away because he was crying. We dressed him in our clothes that we brought for him (they brought him out in a turtle neck and tights) and put on all of his outdoor gear and we left. That was it! We didn't see anyone except the caregiver and the assistant director. I guess I was thinking that the good-bye would be a bit bigger. I was feeling so bad for him when we left. Taking him away from everything that he knows just breaks my heart. Our driver actually had a carseat for him which we had to work really hard to buckle him into. With all of his outdoor gear we had a hard time getting him buckled in.
When we got back, we brought him in and he immediately spotted toys and just started to play. As the day went on he warmed up to us more and more. Lunch was fun. I forgot how messy young children are. Lindsey bought a bunch of hamburger, potatoes and carrots. She made mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and meatloaf and shared it all with us. She was able to feed Hudson several days in the orphanage before they brought him home and got a good idea of when he was eating there. She cooked up all of that food before she picked him up on Saturday. it is so convenient for us- all we need to do is heat it up at meals. (Lindsey picked up Hudson on Saturday.)

He napped fine. We had a good idea of when his naptime is from our visits to the orphanage. He whimpered for a few seconds when we laid him down to sleep, but was sleeping instantly.
After his nap he was quite fun. He got more energetic and happy as the day went on. We went up to Jon and Janice's for dinner - we took our dinner up there. Wow did Jacob eat. We gave him his usual with some applesauce and a pancake from breakfast. I think that he was starving. Jeff and the guys went to the store earlier and bought rotisserie chicken. Jeff and I ate that and Jacob kept putting his spoon in my plate for some. He ate everything on his plate plus lots of chicken. He is going to have to teach his big brother how to eat. :) I didn't think that he would ever get down from the table. He just ate and ate and ate. He was this first one to the table and the last to leave.
We gave Jacob a sponge bath when we got close to bedtime. He seemed to sense that bedtime was near and got pretty upset. This is the first tantrum that we saw him throw. We tried to read to him but he was pretty upset. I put him in his bed and rubbed his back. He cried for about 10 minutes and then went to sleep.
It seems like we had a pretty good day. Things went more smoothly than I had anticipated. Now I am ready to bring him home and move on with life...
Tomorrow we go to register for a passport and get Jacob's medical exam. We will be hanging with the Carney's all day. I think Olga will be accompanying us.







We are getting him changed from his orphanage clothes to the clothes that we brought from home and coat, boots, hat, mittens and yes snowpants!






Here we are standing with Olga (our coordinator) just outside of the orphanage...














We are outside of the orphanage.














Good bye child home 13!














Here we are just outside of the gates of the orphanage. Just beyond the gate is the orphanage and you can see the kids outside playing. One of those kids is Liza, the Bruner's daughter. They leave to pick her up this weekend!









Here we are just inside of the Embassy gates. We are waiting in the entry way for Jon. Since we are visitors we needed him to escort us in and out.











Here we are standing with Janice, Jon's wife. We are just inside the gate of the embassy, but no longer in the entry way.

Trip 3 - We made it!

So we are here! The last and final trip in our journey!
We left on Friday afternoon and made it here on Saturday late afternoon. I know that we have been so blessed throughout this whole process, but I will be glad when all of this is over. I am looking forward to a boring life for awhile. :)
We were tired when we got here, but ended up walking to do a bit of siteseeing, get some groceries and eat. It was a COLD walk, but it was nice to get out and move a bit after sitting for so long. We had some hot chocolate to warm up after our walk and caught up with the Carney's and Jon & Janice for a little while over hot chocolate and then headed back so we could go to bed. We made it until at least 9!
We pick up Jacob in the morning!

God is good

So... if at any point I had previously questioned God's involvement in our adoption process, the doubt is completely gone.
We received word from Lindsey on Thursday(She is still in Moscow, she will not go home until she takes her son home.) that the papers would be ready for us to pick up our kiddos on Saturday the 27th. (this is our gotcha day) Olga helped her schedule all of their appointments before the 1st of Jan (this is when everything shuts down for the holidays) and told her to get a flight to go home on January 1st! How amazing! They compressed what typically takes 10-12 days into 3-4!
We woke up at 2am to call Olga in Moscow on Friday morning. Jeff asked Olga if we could fly back and do the same thing and she said yes! First thing in the morning we called the Bethany office and then sent an email to confirm this with them. They were very nice and quickly confirmed that it would work out for us. By 10:30 we had confirmation that this would work and by 12-1pm we had flights.
This is such a blessing for us. We fly out the 26th and come back the 1st with Jacob! How amazing! This could have only worked out with God's help (and of course Lindsey's).

What next?

What next? Typically we would go back 10 days after our court date and pick up Jacob. Our last trip should be 10-14 days. We need to get his passport, visa, a doctor visit and register him with the Russian Consulate. I have no idea what order those things happen in either.
Because of the holidays, we are not able to do this so easily. The US Embassy is closed the 25th,25th, 31st-11th. I believe that we need to get his visa in the US Embassy - but don't quote me on this... Russia celebrates their Christmas on January 7th. Everything in Russia shuts down the 25th, 31st-11th. If we came back to get him on the 26th, we would not get it all done before the holiday and would need to stay quite awhile longer.
We think that we will come back on the 10th. It is a hard decision to not be able to have Jacob for the holidays. We were really hoping that that would have worked out. Well actually, it is not our decision, they tell us when to come back and we have been told by some that it will be the 10th.

Court Day - Dec 16

Jacob Konabek was announced as our child today!

We met the drivers this morning at 9:15 and went to the court building. We had a nice driver that spoke English well. It was nice to be able to communicate about what was going on. It always feels as if we never know what to expect next. Anna and the Carney's were at the court building when we got there. (We had different drivers... and the Carney's picked up Anna on the way and still beat us). We walked up to where our court hearing was to take place and Anna prepped us. She said that she wasn't worried about our hearing. There were three couples total waiting to go in. We were 2nd and the Carney's were 3rd.
The hearing was shorter and easier than we expected. Jeff went first and answered the majority of the questions. At first the judge seemed really stern but halfway through the questions our pictures were submitted to her. She started smiling and laughing from that point on. Then she passed our pictures over to the prosecutor who then smiled and chuckled as well. Jeff talked for about 10 minutes maybe. When it was my turn she pretty much asked me my name, where I was born and one other question and then I was excused. A woman standing in for the resident physician went next. They briefly spoke and laughed more. A regional woman that represented our orphanage gave them a paper said about one sentence and stood down. The prosecutor said something then the judge left the room to make her decision. About 2 minutes later she came back and read a bunch of stuff and then said that he is ours!
We came back to change.. We had a bit of time before we could go to the orphanage. Jeff crashed on the couch. The last few days have been very emotional and tiring. Our driver picked us up and we arrived at the orphanage at about 4. Jacob was just waking up from his nap. They dressed him in all of his cold weather gear and we took him to get his passport and visa photos done. He wasn't so sure about all of it. He of course started crying when he saw us and then as soon as we got outside he was quiet. The photo place was a few feet down the road (we drove). We took most of his winter gear off and did his picture (he still wasn't sure what was going on so he had his frowny face on). The driver was very nice and helped us distract him so that he didn't cry while we were trying to do the pictures. We took some toys with us, but everything was so new to him that it was tough. We put his winter gear back on (snowpants, boots, coat, hat, hood, and scarf) and went back to the orphanage.
We were able to play with him until about 5:30-6 and then our driver wanted to leave to take us back. Jacob bonded with Jeff today. He is such a smart little boy. First he started muttering different sounds and kept saying ball. We really didn't say it too much prior to this so we thought that he was saying something different in Russian. Later we realized that yes, he was saying 'ball', 'dada', and 'papa'. He was cuddling with Jeff when we left. Very sweet....
When we dropped him off back to his group the driver was with us. He and the worker were talking. She told him that Jacob was very smart and that they all liked him. That was cool to hear. Normally we cannot communicate with these people at all... They just talk to us and we give them blank stares back. :)
We all went out to eat at the Starlight Diner - a 50s american diner - we are so daring... :) At least it wasn't McDonald's this time.
We hung out with Jon and Janice and the Carney's and then headed back to pack.
Our flight leaves at 5:50am on the 17th. We have transportation scheduled to pick us up at 2:30am! I guess that we aren't going to bed... no sleep seems to be the theme for this trip. Power naps and coffee....
It is 12:30, we have 2 hours before we head home. This trip passed in a flash!
Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!

Day 1 - Monday

Ok... so after almost no sleeping on the plane, I was so ready to head to bed and would you believe it - I woke up and was wide awake at 12:30! No way.... How is that possible? Oh and of course - I was starving! (it was dinnertime at home).
Today we need to go to register our visas and we go to the orphanage two times to see Jacob. We spoke with Olga last night and she told us that she didn't have a car for us until 1pm on Monday. We decided to use the metro and go back and forth to the orphanage ourselves.
Jon and Janice helped us out in the morning. They took the day off to help out. They went with us on the metro to get our visas registered. From there we went on to our orphanage. We didn't have trouble on the metro at all, but it took us a couple of minutes to figure out where we had to go to get to the orphanage once we got off of the metro. Riding the metro was so easy and so cheap and MUCH faster. I think it took us 20-25 minutes round trip to from the door of the orphanage to the door of where we are staying.
We didn't get to the orphanage until about 12:30 when we went the first time today. It happened to be Jacob's lunchtime and then soon after naptime. They did bring him to us and we were able to play with him briefly. Wow - has he grown! He also has a haircut and is walking. He seems to have lost the little baby look and has grown a bit in the last two months. I will post pictures later. I haven't pulled them off of my camera yet.
We went back to the orphanage at about 4:30 and played with him for a bit more - until about 6:30-7, that is his dinnertime. He cried a lot both times that they brought him to us. I guess I was hoping that he would have remembered us a little bit and maybe that we would get smiles or a wave or something. It didn't take too long for him to warm up to us again. It was fun to see how much he had changed in the last month. He loved to play peekabo still and was very interested in the camera and pushing the buttons. I had a small photo album for him to look at and a book of russian phrases. He played with those two books for almost a half hour. He sat on my lap and stacked them, open them, and then moved them and stacked them again. Cool to watch. He seems so smart. I am ready to just take him home now.
Pat and Terry made us a wonderful meal when we returned. What a nice family and they have such wonderful stories. They have truly been blessed by God.
We spoke with Olga again to confirm the time that we would be picked up for court. We studied our court questions/material and ironed and then went to bed... Sleep finally came easy.

Trip 2

We are here! We have had such an exciting and long day... When we arrived at the Atlanta airport we had a message from the Bruners (Kyle and Jene from our first trip) on our phone that they have a court date. Praise the Lord! We are so excited for them. When we arrived to Moscow we met Lindsey and Jason. I have been emailing Lindsey since we received our referrals. How cool to finally meet. We also got to meet Jon and Janice and Terry and Pat. Jon and Janice were at the airport with a van to take us all back to where we are staying and were so kind to help us find a host family and to take care of all the arrangements required for us to stay with them here. Terry and Pat are the family that we are staying with. We are so blessed.
We left Saturday afternoon and arrived to Moscow at around noon on Sunday. We flew through Atlanta this time - 2 hours from Grand Rapids to Atlanta and 12 hours from Atlanta to Moscow. Long flight but everything went smoothly.... Jeff is napping now, but I think I am going to try to tough it out and wait until tonight to sleep. We are all going to have dinner in a little while together.
In the morning (Monday) we go to the orphanage 2 times to visit Jacob. I can't wait to see him again, but I am nervous. Nervous that he won't remember us and nervous/sad that we will have to leave him again.
Noah is staying with Grandma and Grandpa and was so excited to pack his suitcase and go. That really helped me to deal with the trip. I feel like my heart is being torn every time I get on the plane. I hate leaving both boys and I can't wait to have us all home together as a family.

We have a court date!

So after what seems like an eternity (only actually about 8 weeks), we were assigned a court date of Dec 16. We get to go see him again! We will leave on Dec 13 and return on Dec 17. I have no idea yet when our 3rd trip will be yet. With the Christmas holidays things will likely be delayed a bit. Typically we have a 10 day waiting period after court before we can have him. We will fly home and then go back again after 10 days. The third trip will be 10-12 days, I think.

We will be traveling with Lindsey and Jason on this trip. Lindsey has been my email friend since we both received our referrals. I am excited to finally get to meet her. Lindsey helped get us set up with a host family in an apartment in the US Embassy. How awesome this is! We have been so blessed through this whole process.