GOING HOME!

I have many blanks to fill in, I know; but I've been without internet service for several days.  It's already 9 p.m.  I've been packing for our trip HOME TOMORROW!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!  We finally got his passport on Thursday, an HOUR AND A HALF before our train was to depart.  We were able to get his immigrant visa in just one trip to the embassy yesterday!  Hooray for the Americans for having A procedure streamlined.  Flight leaves here at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow and arrives at JFK at 5:00 p.m.  I could not care less whether we get snowed in there!  I will be in the good ole U.S. of A!  We're supposed to touch down in New Orleans at 11:11 p.m.  After claiming our bags and driving home, I should be able to sleep in my own bed, starting around 1:00 a.m.  Ahhhhhhhh...
Oh, man -- Kolya just came to me and showed me that he's broken out in an itchy rash.  GREAT.  Gave him a Benadryl -- hope it works.  Gotta run.  If I have time to play some catch-up later, I will.  For now, let's just be grateful that God continues to work things out for good.

OFFICIAL GOTCHA DAY

FINALLY, I was able to pick Kolya up from the orphanage and bring him with me!  He is just the sweetest thing!  (At least, for now... :o))

But first, there was -- yesterday.  One of the longest days EVER.  We thought we would be able to get Kolya yesterday, since it was the 11th day after the court hearing, and we would have the final adoption decree.  The translator and I left the apartment at 8:00 a.m. to go pick it up.  No problems there at all.  We had 15 certified copies of the decree in hand by 9:30, or so.  The orphanage director would not let him go without the new birth certificate.  No problem, we thought.  We'll just go get it and bring it to her and then get him. 
Kolya's hometown is an hour's drive from the orphanage (and the orphanage is 25-30 minutes from the city where I'm staying).  The facilitator and I left the orphanage at 11:00 to go there.  We found the correct office building, and spoke to the woman in charge.  After about 30-40 minutes there, she told us that their particular office has a requirement that every single page of my passport be translated, including every visa stamp in it!  Apparently, this is absolutely unheard of.  She also didn't like the way the court decree was written to include David's name in it as the father, as the judge himself stated to put in the decree.  (I think I've explained previously that David can't adopt here, and will have to do so at home.)  We had to go back to the region so that the facilitator could do the translation and get it notarized.  She also pulled a few strings...  I hung out at the orphanage with another family and Kolya until she was finished with the translation.  By the time we returned to the office to get the birth certificate, it was 4:25 p.m.  Of course, they close at 5, so a few more strings had to be pulled (perhaps you can guess which ones???), and three of the ladies there stayed to finish up my case.  We left there after 5:30 p.m., but had the birth certificate in hand.  Of course, the orphanage offices were closed...
We made it back to the city at 7:00, and were STARVING!
We joined the translator and the other family and we all walked to a nice Georgian restaurant for dinner.  We had a very nice time, and stayed there until around 10:00.  Dinner was really good, and so was the company.  A very enjoyable evening.  Best of all, I had my birth certificate.

We left the apartment today at 9:00 a.m.  We were supposed to leave at 8:30.  Don't know what held up the translator; packing, I suspect.  She had been staying with the other family, but they decided to leave the region tonight to go back to the capital.  Anyway, we hung out at the orphanage while the translator went to pick up extra copies of the new and improved version of the court decree.  When she arrived with those, I was called into the office to sign Kolya out of the orphanage officially.  [MORE LATER.  IT'S BEDTIME, AND MY BOY WANTS TO CUDDLE!!! AWWWWW!!! ]

Have I mentioned that I HAVE A NEW GRANDSON??  Here he is:

NANA TIME!

WOOHOO!  I'M GOING TO BE A NANA TODAY!!!  Julie has gone to the hospital... 
Her water broke around 11:30 p.m. central.  She's been having contractions for at least a couple of days, so she's really ready for this. 

She's going to be such a good little mommy!  I hope her son is JUST LIKE HER (grin).  I think it will be Tuesday when I get Kolya. 

There are a lot of stray dogs around here.  One's out there barking right now that sounds just like Sassy (who barks pretty much just to hear herself bark).
Found out that ibuprofen IS indeed available here -- saw a commercial on t.v. for something like "Nuroprofen."
I'll add to the post later, when my grandson arrives!  :o)

It's 8:38 a.m. Central.  No baby, yet.  No contractions all night, so they induced her at 5:30.  Contractions since around 6:00...
It's 2:27 p.m, and Lane still has not decided to join the rest of the world.  He likes his nice cozy mommy-tummy! 
It's 10:27 here, and I'm getting sleeeeeepy.  It's snowing right now, but it's supposed to be in the low 40s during the day for the next week - wow!  If Lane doesn't hurry up, it won't still be today (here) when he's born.  I will be thoroughly confused.
I took a very little nap, but it wasn't undisturbed.
IT'S A BOY!!!  DAVID LANE SCHMUCKER HAS ARRIVED!!! 7 pounds, 2 ounces, 20 inches long, beautiful and healthy! Right around 6:15 p.m. CST.  Thank you, God!
Now, since it's almost 3 a.m. here, I'm going to try and get some sleep - lol!

David's Train Tips

David typed up a list of tips for the train ride to/from the capital:

"I could not find my original hand written list that I protected for days , so I'm making another one. Things you may need on the train.
#1 Soup mix, many flavors, comes with a spoon and croutons. [in a cup, purchased from the grocery store]You can get boiling hot water to make your soup from the conductor, he will also make tea and coffee.
#2 Bring french bread to eat with your soup and to eat for breakfast. A light breakfast will be fine. We had bananas and breakfast bars. Breakfast can be light on the trip home because you get in around 8 am [on the trip from region to capital, going the other way, you arrive around 10 a.m.] and can go to Macdonald's [only in the capital]  for some real food. [LOL]
#3 House shoes because they are easy on and off in the dark and you will need them to go to the toilet.
#4 Ipod or laptop with movies, fully charged!  Books won't be of much use if the cabin lights don't work.
#5 Flash light.
 #6 Sleep mask and ear plugs.
#7 Motion sickness meds. just in case.
#8 Buy all 4 beds so you won't have to share with a snoring stranger! Oh also buy your tickets a few days before your travel date because the trains do fill up.If they tell you the train is booked, try first class or offer to pay extra if a second class cabin " happens to open up"
#9 Bring small bottles of hand sanitizer from home
#10 If you brought a product like Ambien, take it around 9pm don't wait until you have frustrated yourself trying to fall asleep naturally. The conductor will wake you up 1 hour before your arrival.
#11 Bring a liter of water plus a 12 oz bottle per person that way you won't need to buy it on the train.
#12 I visited the food car and had fun with the workers there. The food there looked good to me but our interpreter said that she would not eat it! I'm not going back again but if I did I would eat it!
#13 Travel light! There are Places to put your bags but once put away it is a hassle to get to them,
# 14 Think ahead very deliberately and pack your back pack with everything that you will need until you get to your region or back to the capital on the way home.
#15 The cabin will have clean sheets,pillow case and a wool blanket. Our cabin was always too warm. I even piled all of our coats on top of the heater to block some of the heat and it worked"

Randi has definitely decided on UTMB at Galveston for PT school.  She's really excited about the next phase of her life!  I am so proud of her -- she has worked very hard for this.

Far as I know today, Lane still has not decided to make his appearance.  Julie has started dilating, though, so it won't be long, now!

I have enjoyed my weekend.  Last night after I returned from visiting Kolya at the orphanage, the preacher (Igor) and his wife (Zoya) took me out to dinner at a nice cafe.  We ate too much, including blini (crepes) for dessert.  They call blini "pancakes," and we ate those in honor of national pancake week - ha!  After church today, we had a fellowship meal (tea, cherry scones, chocolates, currants and bananas, and ham sandwiches) in celebration of Igor and Zoya's grandson who turned 1 month old this weekend. Just now, David Skyped me in to join in with church services at home -- that was way cool.  I was able to say hello to all my peeps - I miss them.  The temp rose above freezing today, and should stay close to freezing all this week, with a snow/rain mix.  A note of trivia:  did you know that cherry "pits" are called "stones" by the British?  The ladies at church were warning me that the cherries in the scones would have "stones" in them.  I just gave them a dumb look, until they explained that they were talking about the hard thing inside the cherries - ha! ...Well, I didn't know that.

It's $25 a day to ride over to the orphanage from here.  Rent at this small apartment is $27.50 per day.  I don't know how much food is costing me, but not a whole lot.  I guess the expenses right now are running about $60 per day.  At the larger apartment, and with feeding everybody, it was probably about $75 per day on average.

I'm feeling so lazy and tired today.  I guess the weeks on end of not going to Stone Creek to work out are catching up with me, now!  And, there's always the dreary weather...

Today at 2:45 p.m. our time (6:45 a.m. Central), the judge granted my adoption of Kolya!  There is a 10-day appeal period; then on the 11th or 12th day, I can go get Kolya and bring him to stay with me.  There is still additional documentation that has to take place before we can leave the country, like getting a new birth certificate and a new passport, and getting all the immigration papers taken care of, and getting an immigrant visa from the embassy.  I should be able to leave the country to return home around March 2.  What a relief!

After the hearing (which took 30 minutes), the facilitator and I were visiting with the judge in his chambers so long that the caretaker from the orphanage took Kolya and left!  ha!  I didn't even get to see him after we took this picture!  Well, I do get to go see him tomorrow; and I'll bring him his Valentine candy then.  Yes, Valentine's Day is celebrated here.

I can't believe how nervous I was for court!  As many times as I have been to court, it is sooo different when it's your own Petition.  Also, I started the day with a big fat Coke Light, then had both tea and coffee with my lunch!  I don't do caffeine at home at all, so I was quite jittery - lol!  The judge pretty much just asked standard questions:  my background, my life in general (including describing my home and family and work), why I wanted to adopt, why from this country (and why not Russia this time). He also asked how I felt about the Orange Revolution.  He wanted to know how much public defenders in the U.S. are paid, and how much judges make.  He also asked what type of budgets judges in the U.S. have for staff and supplies.  (For those who don't know, I am an attorney, and I worked as a public defender for 7 years.)

After that, he sent us out while he made his decision, then called us back in about 10 minutes later and read the judgment in favor of the adoption.  He did not waive the 10-day waiting/appeal period so that there could never be a question in the future that the letter of the law was followed.  We had not expected a waiver, but put it into the paperwork just in case.  Court was adjourned, and I asked if I could take a picture.  The judge put on his robe and let us do so.  Here is the result.

Have I mentioned the odor in the hallway of this apartment building?  Have I described the hallway, yet?  The stairwell is very much like a dungeon.  The steps are concrete, and the stairwell was once painted bright blue.  The concrete is chipped, and the paint has peeled away revealing large spots of still more chipped concrete underneath.  The stairwell is dark, dank, and an odor lingers there that eeks in through the front door of the apartment somehow.  There is no elevator in this building, and I climb 4 flights of stairs to this 3rd floor apartment.  There is a small landing between each flight where there are double-paned cracked windows, as well.  Usually, at least one of the windows on each flight is open to let in "fresh" air, creating steam inside the stairwell, and I am certain that Dracula once lived here, or perhaps still does.  Feel free to scratch 'n sniff your computer screen so you, too, can experience this odor!

The second pic is my apartment door with the light above it. Yes, I know you can't see the door!