Details from our 1st Day With Our Boy!!!

This post is a little delayed because I am sitting here in our room w/o internet access, typing in Word so I can post later. We are only able to get on line in the lobby. There are a few businesses having expos and meetings here, so it is at full capacity. But, I still wanted to journal about our day, so I don’t forget all the details when they are taken over by tomorrow’s joys and excitement.


Before I begin, I have to start by correcting myself- the photo below (well, the yellow building w/in the brick wall) is the Kremlin. I meant to choose to insert this photo in yesterday’s update…I’m blaming it on lack of sleep and thus poor vision/attention when looking at the 1x1 insert image photo. Sorry about that!

The day started out good…well, let me back up- the night before this morning was not so good- we did not have a good night sleep. Both of us were awake for almost 2 hours from like midnight here ‘til 2…I think it’s the time difference catching up with us. But, the actual morning was good- we met Olga and our driver outside our hotel. She took us to the MOE where we met with 3 ladies, one of them being the president of the department. It was a very intimidating meeting, and we were feeling nervous, but we got a happy approval to go meet our boy.

The drive to the orphanage was about 40 minutes with traffic, and I believe the MOE was about halfway from our hotel to the orphanage. When we pulled up, it looked just like all the photos I had seen on line of the outside of orphanages- gated in with security on outside- tall white building, with play area in back. Once inside, we went up three flights of steps to where we waited to meet LG. We were so excited when we heard some babbling that we just knew was him coming up the steps. We peered around the corner of the steps and saw him walking up towards us. A caretaker was holding his hand, but he was walking up like a big boy! He was looking up at us, like “who are you?” We were just smiling like crazy and waving at him, saying hi! I’m sure he was like, “what are you saying?” but, no matter how many times we practiced “Pree-vyet,” “Hello” was all we could get out! 

We pretty much began to play immediately, showing him one of the toys we brought- a Mah-SHEE-nuh (car). We were in a bit of a crowded, small area- a hallway with a couch in it, and 3 doors leading to rooms that you could hear children through. There was also another couple that arrived to meet their child, so hectic and distracting would be a good description. We were only able to play with him for about 20 minutes because by the time we got there, and we met him, it was almost his lunch/nap time. After we said “pah-kah” (good-bye), we went down to meet with the head doctor along with our translator.

We felt everything here was open and positive. We don’t want to post specifics here regarding anything due to privacy concerns, but we honestly feel he is mainly healthy, and the information they have matches our observations.

After this meeting, we were dropped off at a nearby mall for about 3 hours- had we known, we would have brought the computer to try to connect to wi-fi or to at least do something other than pace the mall and sit in the food court area. We were bored to say the least. We are hoping that we don’t have to repeat this step tomorrow, although it is the plan. We will be able to meet with him from 10-11:15, and then back we head (unless we find somewhere else to go….back to the hotel is too far of a drive) to the mall until we go see him again from 4-5:30 (although today we didn’t leave until 6). Yes, that makes 5 hours in a mall- AH! Let’s pray we find a nearby, better alternative.

When we got back to the orphanage, we were then taken up to the 3rd floor again. We again, heard our boy coming up the steps so we came around the corner. This time, he had a HUGE smile on his face when he looked up at us- he recognized us! It was a great feeling. We spent the next hour and a half playing in a hallway, and trying to keep him from going to the steps. He exhausted us! (I am saying this in a positive way!) He is so, so active- he loved to chase us back and forth in the hall, and for us to swing him around like an airplane, and do all the fun things we remember having done to us when we were young. It made us happy to be able to give him so much one-on-one time. We could tell he wasn’t used to being held. The first few times we sat him in our laps, he didn’t last more than a second- he pushed away, and back down. But, towards the end, he let us hold him longer, and seemed to even be used to it. There were a good number of times we got a good laugh out of him, a good, hard laugh! We are in love, and can’t wait to have more than a hallway to play with him in! We are going to try to ask to take him outside to the play area in the back for a little while, but without our translator, it will be tough.

Our drive home was long and “stop-and-go.” It took us 2 full hours to get back to our hotel. By this time, we were tired and so so hungry (and I might add, I was very carsick…ugh). Since we have to get up and pretty much repeat all but the MOE tomorrow, we are going to try to get to bed now.

Until next time, “Das-VEE-dan-ya” or more informally, “Pah-kah!” (in case you didn’t notice, two hours with a 21 month old who definitely understands Russian is forcing us to quickly learn some key words and phrases!

PS- For anyone else in the adoption world, we highly recommend the book, “Simple Language Russian for Adoptive Families” It comes with a CD you can load onto your i-pod, and easy-to-read pronunciations. The book is broken into appropriate sections. We got it on Amazon.com for $30…well spent! 