The
Airport Sheraton in Frankfurt
Ready for Court
Our baby boy
Leaving for Moscow
Alexander and Daddy at St. Basil's
In the Moscow airport, waiting to go home
On the plane
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Journal
of Trip 2
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June
28th, 2005
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We
have spent the last three weeks cleaning packing and staging the house
and have packed for our trip. The place looks great and our realtor is
ready to get the place on the market. We take a cab to Orinda BART with
three big pieces of luggage and two backpacks. I believe the days of
packing light are behind us. At the airport we are delighted to hear we
have been upgraded to Business Class. AAAHHHHH..................
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June
29th
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We
arrive in Frankfurt and spend the night at the airport Sheraton. It is
litterally IN the airport. Comfy (way too expensive), yet the breakfast
(included) in amazing! After we eat we board our plane for
Kaliningrad. |
June
30th
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We
arrive in Kaliningrad where Tanya our translator is waiting. We
find out the Alexander has been in the hospital for two weeks. They
moved him there to help with his bronchitis and the orphanage director
decided that it would be better for him to stay there (more healthy)
since we were coming to get him. It is also right in Kaliningrad (10
minutes from our apartment), instead of Gusev (1.5 hours from our
apartment). |
July
1st
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We
get to visit Alexander after being away for a month. He looks GREAT.
And better yet, he sounds great - the rattle in his chest is gone. I
don't know if he remembered us or not but he seemed happy that we were
there. The hospital room is bleak. His crib is metal gray with the
paint peeling and the bathroom is dismal; a little difficult to believe
the running water works. But, the staff is wonderful and Alexander is
everyones favorite. We got to feed him and, uh oh, yes.....change
his diapers. We survived. :-)
He is very responsive and Mike is thoroughly proud when his son make a
raspberry sound. In response to mom, Alex's first animal noise is
"Rodan". (Kinda sorry I tought him that one now.)
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July
2nd
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Our
second visit. This time we brought some clothes for him to change into
and we got to take him outdoors. This didn't consist of much. The
grounds of the hospital are not very nice....weeds, and no place to
sit. So we sat in the car. (Come to find out, this is so we can
honestly tell the judge that we played with him inside and outside. )
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July
3rd
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Our
third and last visit as 'prospective parents'. We just hang out in the
hospital room. Alexander is very curious and is in to everything. He
is, of course, much more interested in the cameras than any toy we
brought for him.
After our visit we take Tanya out to lunch - anywhere so we can get
VEGETABLES!!! We ate at a very nice restaurant where Tanya briefed us
on what court would be like. What the questions would be and how best
to express ourselves. We spend the evening practicing our answers.
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July 4th
Court Day
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We
get up, get showered and put on our "court outfits".... A dress for me
and a suit and tie for Mike. Our court hearing is at noon. We go
through security at the courthouse and then wait in the hall for us to
be called. I am feeling so emotional and I am sure that I am
going to cry the whole time. They call us in and we get started
at about 12:05. It's a nice clean, officious looking courtroom. Our
social worker gives her spiel, then the orphanage representative. Then
the judge asks us a lot of questions...first Mike then me, then Mike
and me again. Tanya has to translate for us. We a little nervous, but
there was nothing unexpected. Then, the judge leaves the room to review
the information. While we wait the court reporter, legal council and
social worker look at the pictures we brought of our home. Everyone
LOVED the picture of the kitty.
Then the judge walked back in and stated that she believe "it is in the
best interest of the child to be adopted by Michael and Jayne
Donnelly........" The tears are definitely flowing at this point and
Mike and I grab hands despite the fact that Tanya is standing between
us.
And it is done! He
is ours.
In the car Tanya suggests that we go home for lunch first before going
to the hospital - UM, no. We have waited too long, we want to go get
him now. We have to stop and get a cake for the hospital workers
first, and then FINALLY to pick up our son. Everything is in such a
whirl. He needs his lunch first, so we feed him, the change him into
the clothes we brought for him, take pictures of the caretakers, give a
special thanks to his "mommy nurse" who was crying as we left, and then
out the doors.
Back at the apartment we have lunch and they bring a crib into our
room. We spend the rest of the day in awe of our little boy. So far he
is ok, but later, as it became clear that "things" had changed, we
noticed his stress. He cried for the first time in front of us. These
would not be the last tears........believe me!
Later we took a little walk. That night he didn't go to sleep until
after 11:00pm.
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July
5th
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We
wake up and just stare at him....he is really here. "Let's bring him to
our bed."
We spend the day getting to know each other better; we take a long walk
around the river and by the amber museum. A little more
paperwork, a new passport, etc.
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| July
6th |
Today
we leave
Kaliningrad for Moscow. We're packed and all our papers are in
order. Mike has all three passports - two American and one Russian.
(We'll get an American passport for Alex after we get home.) He
won't be
officially American until we touch down on American soil. The flight to
Moscow was pretty easy, the boy seems to like turbulance. Bumpy, bumpy,
bumpy. Landings are even better.
Lena, our Moscow coordinator met us at the airport and we headed for
our hotel. We settle in, the staff brings up a crib, we get
Alexander to sleep and have room service for dinner.
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| July
7th |
We
have an early
appointment with Dr. Boris get the official (medical) stamp of
approval. This goes well, and as we are getting him dressed, Mike is
officially christened! "What's all this water doing on the floor, and
the table, and............oh"
Later that day Alexander gets a very high fever that scares us and Lena
makes arrangements for us to go back to the doctor before going to the
American Embassy. Turns out he is teething, no other problems, we get
some medications for him and then go to do our last official task
before going home. At the American Embassy we go through security and
even though we were told it would be a loooooooong wait in an
uncomfortable room, we were in and out in a matter of 10 minutes. Whoo
Hoo!!! Alex has his American visa and now, technically, we are able to
leave the country.
Mike is sick too,he has a sore throat and
feels miserable. I venture out to the streets of Moscow in search of a
pharmacy, where I proceed to act out having a sore throat and a cough
to the sales clerk. She helps me figure out which cold medicine to get.
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| July
8th |
Today
is our day for site seeing. We go to Red Square with Lena, our
coordinator and another couple who are on their way to adopt two girls
later in the week.
It is a beautiful day - we visit St. Basil's Cathedral, which is really
seven churches in one. It has windy passage ways and interesting works
of art. We walk by Lenin's tomb and the Natural History Museum,
then past the tomb of the unknown soldier, through the gardens and then
to the Kremlin. We watch the changing of the guard at the unkown
soldier's tomb and have a tiny rest in the gardens. We almost went
through the Kremlin, but they wanted $70 just for the interpretor along
with the cost to get in (also pretty steep). We opted to not do it.
We visited one more church, Christ the Saviour. No pictures inside -
too bad it was amazing!
Later, a quiet evening, room service again, and to sleep.
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July
9th
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Today
would be the longest day of our lives.......
Moscow to Frankfurt - We wait forever in line to check-in and they
won't even tell us which line to stand in. It confuses everyone. Then
Moscow didn't check our bags all the way through so we have 1.5 hour
layover in Frankfurt to collect them and check them. Long story short,
it didn't happen and we missed our flight. Three hours in the red
carpet lounge for cocktails and FINALLY a nap after several renditions
of Winnie the Pooh, the theme from the Brady Bunch, Giligan's Island,
the Partridge Family, Green Acres, and every Beatles song we could
remember. Hey Jude works pretty good.
Instead of SFO, we fly to Washington, D.C. and at least we were in
business class. However, Alexander the wonder child didn't seem to care
about the upgrade. THREE SOLID HOURS of screaming. Too much sensory
input. I finally just held up in the bathroom and let him scream 'til
he finally fell asleep. He stayed that way through the rest of the
flight (3 hours), then through disembarking, customs and imigration. He
became an American while he slept.
The last leg from Washington, DC to SFO went pretty well, though we
were ready to be done with flying. We checked our watch every 5-10
minutes..........another long flight, but Alexander slept for most of
it....thankfully.
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July
10th
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1:15am,
we finally
arrive in San Francisco. My mom and brother are waiting for us.
Alexander is awake and charming. We collect our bags and head for
home. We move the crib in to our bedroom and by a little after
3:00am all of the Donnellys are asleep.
All awake at about 7:30 am...........and the adventure continues.
:-)
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Napping in
the red carpet lounge
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America's
newest citizen
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