We made the News

Wow. I think that is about all I can say. You can check out the story here: Regina Family Celebrates New Addition

Once again, we feel really blessed with this whole ordeal. I would like to thank the LP for doing the story for us.

Have a great day!

Home again Home again Jigitty Jig

We have been home for a few days now trying to get over jet lag but I'll try to recap our travels since we had unreliable McDonald's Internet access in Moscow and too much other things to accomplish in just one rainy day. Canadian Embassy, Old Arabat street for Christmas presents for family and friends as well as a trip to Red Square to capture Annika with some landmarks on film. I enjoyed the many gorgeous, tall Christmas trees set up all over the city. Our agency director surprised us at our apartment with 3 white roses. We both had to travel to a different continent to meet for the first time, life is so funny.
Our flight from Kabarosk to Moscow was long but Annika did very well. We were armed with nose drops to help her sinuses for her cold and benedryl to help her sleep if she needed it. She also takes a soother and bottle which was great for take off and landings. She had her first taste of McDonald's french fries and sucked them like noodles as everyone looked at us for not having her over dressed and feeding a baby fast food. We kept her on her schedule in Moscow which meant she was sleeping 3pm to 1am and we were off to the airport again at 3:50am for our flight at 7am to Frankfurt. Awake at 1am Moscow time and finally got to sleep at home at midnight = 33 hours of no sleep and running on adrenaline.
All of the flights home were simple, on time, helpful with baby in tow and surprisingly relaxing and spacious. Thanks to Air Canada we were able to catch up on our movie watching. There was enough empty seats on the plane Annika was able to have her own seat and watched a little "Rolie Polie Olie". She is such a happy baby and due to her developmental delays she was not needing to run around like most 14 month old toddlers. We met a little girl who was 19 months old also named Annika on that flight doing her laps of the plane.
During this journey God has connected us with so many great people, some encouraging and some full of questions. Although sometimes we felt like we were being interrogated we have been very open about our journey in the hope to help people understand how, why and the myths about adoption. We didn't decide to make a life long commitment to a child as a charity or a tax deduction. Just as women do not make an adoption plan for their child on a whim or out of convenience. It takes a very strong women to go through a pregnancy and choose a better life for her child than she can give. The prosecutor in court asked me if I had heard about child abuse and I had to tell the unfortunate truth that it happens far too often in North America by the child's own "family" that should have chose adoption and the children end up in foster care instead of a permanent loving home.
As our last flight landed I started to well up with tears, partly from lack of sleep but mostly of the realization that this very difficult journey of mountains of paperwork both in English and Russian, medicals, the 4 different currencies in my wallet, the 14 flights, the re-mortgaging of our house and the agonizing waiting was coming to an end. Don't get me wrong we are going to be paying for this journey for a long time to come but seeing her look you in the eye and smile knowing everything will be ok as long as we are together makes all the hard work melt way. It's like labour and delivery you never forget it and you make sure they never forget the story but you wouldn't change it for the world when you get that first baby open mouth kiss. I must say that the toilet paper felt like an epesiotomy and the food was much like hospital food, we are glad to be home.
We started down the stairs of the airport to be welcomed by family, friends, flowers and signs! Annika was a little overwhelmed by all the new faces but had no problem pulling her big brother's hair while posing for our first family picture. We enjoyed sharing some pizza, cake and stories at home followed by a much needed shower and sleep. She eats really well (nothing dry like arrowroot or Cheerios yet) and sleeps really well. In fact I think she has switched days and nights better than we have. Our dog Lady is having the most problem with the adjustment and looks for any opportunity to sit on my lap that she can. Nathanael has been a very good big brother helping with feeding, getting blankets and toys and singing her songs. He as been wanting a little sister or brother for over 3 years and with the age and sex difference the competition for toys is not an issue. He knows that he gets to do things with mom and dad that she can't yet, like movie nights and mini golf.
We also have had our first visit with a physiotherapist and although it is not a complete assessment, at 14 months of age she is physically at 6 months and socially at 8 months. She may have some problems with her right arm as well. This is not the norm for Russian adoptions most children are close if not on track developmentally which is why she was given the "possible CP" diagnosis and why we had our 10 days waved. Although she is not "perfect" she is perfect for us and our family and most, if not all, of her delays should "catch up" by school age as she shows no signs of CP. We are willing and looking forward to helping all of our children through whatever struggles they have in life as our parents helped us through ours.
We would like to add a special thank you to all those who made this possible. It takes an army to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together at just the right time. Thanks to God for opening our hearts and arms and working a plan to have just the right child be placed in them. Thanks to those working in both countries who's knowledge of the process was more than priceless it was comforting. Thanks to family and friends who asked daily for "any news" and was supportive even when the "news" wasn't all sunshine. Thanks to our son who kept us going to enjoy every minute of the waiting and to keep the promise to him that hopes and dreams do come true if you want them bad enough.
We will post pictures soon we just have to figure out how... so please stay tuned!

Happy Birthday to me

Friday we were able to take Annika to the apartment. We had to take her back several times to have her breathing checked due to her cold. Sunday was wonderful we had a "pajama day" and stayed in the apartment with no where to go! We had gotten some cake from the bakery here... only missing one person... Can't wait to get home and see our son and have our family of 4 under one roof!
We went to the outside market a few times and bought some more warm wear. Jason got a mink fur hat and a wool sweater with reigndeer on it... and I got a matching knit hat and scarf as well as some things for Nathanael and Annika.
Annika has been flurishing at the apartment and can now put her soother in all by herself. She is rolling over both back to front and back again and starting to sit. She can put all her weight on her feet but can't stand yet. She is chatting like crazy now (I thought she would wake up the neighbours that woke her last night with her chatting this morning)so I've been trying to get her to say "mama" and she has but she hasn't associated it to mean me yet. She is smilling most of the time and has had a few laughs at Jason sneezing from his allergies.

Tonya, Jason and Annika

New Timelines

Hey folks.

Ok, we have new timelines. We are pushed up a week from where we expected to be. We have new tickets and we will be home on December 5th. Whoo hoo!

This is great news for us as we will be able to make Nathanael's Christmas concert. That is one of the things we are very happy that we are not missing.

On the front here, Annika is teething right now. Yesterday she had a slight fever, but it has gone down, and we hope to bring her to the apartment tonight.

Ahh... we went shoping yesterday at the outdoor market. I was able to buy a fur hat, and Tonya a matching hat and scarf. I think that I got the better deal of the two :)

That's all for now. We hope to send another e-mail tomorrow.

Jason and Tonya

79 stairs

Today is another day... and yet another big one. Today we are going to get Annika her passport. Well, atleast her picture for her passport and visa.

I remember how much fun it was for me to get my photo. Look up, look down... darn, the camera is not working any more... well, I am sure we will have as much fun getting her her passport as well. I have never seen a baby get a passport photo before, but I betcha its gonna be fun!

For the past few days, we have been staying at the coordinators home. There is another couple here right now in the apartment that we are supposed to be in. Once they are gone (Wednesday or so), we hopefully can bring Annika home with us to that apartment. Until then, we have 79 stairs to climb each and every day. I tell you, if those stairs don't deter people from breaking into the appartments, the steel doors do. It takes a he-man to open them each time. By the way, I don't think they have WD40 either.

The apartment that we are going to has a crib, and all of the emenities that we need to have her stay with us overnight.

Well, it is first thing in the morning now, and we are off. I hope to find myself a nice fur hat, and some vodka.

Enjoy!

Jason, Tonya and Annika!

Do you believe in Magic

Don't ask me why, but it seems from time to time, I have a song in my head. Lets just say that it is a theme song. Well, today is "Do you believe in Magic… in a young girl's arms"

Well, I do, and we have a little girl!

As you watched the Grey Cup, we were in court deciding the future of our family. Tonya thought that I should do most of the speaking as I am the less emotional of the two of us. Both the Judge and the Prosecutor asked some tough questions… but most were important ones except for "how long is the hair of your dog?"

Now the magic part. The 10 day waiting period has been waived. In Russia, the only reason that the waiting period is supposed to be waived is when it is in the best interest of the child. We were able to convince them that she needed to come home as soon as possible to see the physiotherapist to work on her motor skills.
What that mean? Well to put it short, we are coming home sooner than we expected. As of right now, we don't know when that will be, but we will let you know when we know.

By the way, who won the Grey Cup?

Signed
Family of 4.

We have arrived in Biro

Well it is 12:47 on Sunday here as we type. For those who are keeping track, or even trying to figure out what time it is at home, it is 8:47PM on Saturday. The weather is a balmy -10C, and all is well.

This morning we had a chance to see Annika. She has grown so much since we last saw her. Suprisingly she is only wearing 6-12 month clothes. She has 4 teeth (2 top and 2 bottom). Unfortunately, we think that it will take her some time to get used to us again. I was able to soothe her, and she once again fell asleep in my arms again.

This afternoon, we are getting ready for the court date, and we will hopefully see her again after that meeting. Other than that, all is great.

About the trip here. Well, needless to say, it was LONG! We left our hotel in London at 7am Friday, and we arrived in Biro 4pm Saturday. Throw in a few timezones, and a few airlines and well, you get the picture.

We were extremely lucky though. On the flight from London, all the way to Khab, there was a few Canadians. Would you beleive, they looked to us for advice on how to get through the customs in Moscow. It was quite funny. They are here for helping the area in their environmental studies. We thought we had it hard. After landing in Khab, they had another 14 hour car ride to the small village in northern Siberia.

Well, we must run. Just think of us as you watch the Grey cup as we will be in court at that time. Thank you for your prayers for the first part of our trip, and we know that you are praying for the rest.

Once we get some more time, we will hopefully find a stable connection, and will Skype those who we can, and we will also publish any pictures that we can.

See yall soon!

Jason and Tonya

London Tours

Phantom of the Opera was amazing! As many of you know I can not get through a love story without crying my eyes out. Phantom was no different.
Today we started off at the Chocolate Society (yum). We toured Harrod’s department store and couldn’t afford to sneeze but loved to look. Off to Camden Market for some great deals on some fun items and tried to tempt Jason with a tattoo after passing 6 tattoo and piercing parlors. We enjoyed St. Paul’s Cathedral and the crypts then took a double decker tour bus to take in a Jack the Ripper tour with a very chatty tour guide. Our tour included 3 people from Australia, 3 guys from Germany, a couple from Ireland and a couple from England that took us through many dark alleys for 2 hours. We enjoyed some falafels for lunch, Wagamama (noodle place) for supper and finished off the night with nachos and ale at a local pub… all were very good and yes the ale hit me like all alcohol but I risked it anyway.
London is expecting snow tonight as Moscow and Frankfurt have already received its share and are having flight delays tonight. Hoping it does not delay us too much as we only have 3 hours between flights in Moscow tomorrow.

London Sightseeing

We are in London and are sightseeing machines! Autumn in London is beautiful. The leaves on the trees have mostly fallen to expose the ivy growing up the trunk almost all the way to the tips of the branches. We love people watching and seeing the cute kids in their blue school uniforms. We have enjoyed the English fish & Chips and “Yo Sushi” with their 30 meter long sushi conveyor belt.
Yesterday we checked out Westminster Abby, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, Canada House, Piccadilly Circus, London Tower tour with a beefeater, 3 km long walk down the Thames to the London Eye for a beautiful view of city at night. Today we started out with Buckingham Palace for changing of the guards, Canada war memorial and Canada gates as well as the Spencer house, Wellington Arch, Aplsey House and the British Museum for a wonderful tour of Egypt, Greece and Roman history. Tonight we are going to Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. Jason is very excited to following in some of the footsteps of his hero Rick Steves.
Walking this much not only hurts the feet! Our room at our hotel takes us on a breathtaking journey up 55 narrow winding stairs which makes the stairs at our last house pale. I’m glad to have already booked a massage for when we get home. I picked up a purse in the market here already and a pen for our son Nate. We have become very acquainted with the subway which has been very easy to navigate. Between the tube and airports I haven’t been on this many moving sidewalks and escalators in my life as I have in the last few days. Our travel agency’s slogan is “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page” – St. Augustine. Our little girl has given us reason to see much more of the world then we ever imagined thank-you for teaching us!

We have a DATE!!!!

We have a date!!!!
It has just come to our attention that we will be in court on November 24, 2008. Can I hear a whoo whoo!!!
We are busy on the phone making sure that every thing is in order.
When we find out more, you will find out more!!!

Jason

Home for now

Well we are home from the first trip! We saw Greenland and icebergs at 35,000 feet! We don't know when the next trip will be but when we know you can read it here first. We have some more paperwork to do here and some that need to be completed in Biro before we know. Glad to be home after 14,000km one way.

Shopping and Wildlife

Last night we enjoyed the fountains and memorials at Victory Park which they remember May 9th each year. One memorial of those who died in concentration camps in gas chambers and burned alive brought both of us girls to tears, it was very moving. Jason enjoyed standing on top of a Russian tank. There is a "marriage lane" where couples on their wedding day drive down it to the memorials and lay flowers. The fountains were all lit up at night and were beautiful.
Now for a little bit about wildlife here. Some tigers are native her as well as many animals we have in Canada eg. moose, bear, deer, etc. There is also a Zoo in Moscow by the hockey arena which we haven't had time to see. However we have seen some smaller wildlife. There are grey crows here with black wings and the pigeons and sparrows are so tame they know you won't step on them so they don't even bother moving. Until now I have never seen a cockroach either. I wanted Jason to catch it under a glass so I could look at it since I heard from a friend that they hiss when they are mad. Surprisingly they are very fast and can crawl several feet up the side of a wall. Jason freaked out and killed it! He couldn't sleep without the lights cause he had the creepy crawlies after that.
We did some shopping today and got some good bargins including some nesting dolls and a beautiful oil painting of St. Basil's Cathedral in winter.

Sightseeing

We spent last night walking around Arabat street and looking at Russian eggs, fur hats, traditional dance outfits, nesting dolls and amber jewelry. Some purchases will have to wait for the next visit as I have too many things I like. We drove by the hockey arena where the Canada vs. Russia 1972 series was played and the soccer stadium. Our driver showed us some of the architecture here including some of the buildings called “the seven sisters” very beautiful with spire tops much like you would see in London.

It is 34 C today plus humidity what a great day for sight seeing! (sarcasm). Our translator and tour guide Elaina started at St. Basil’s Cathedral and walked all the way around the outside of the Kremlin. We saw Red Square, Lenin’s tomb (closed), fountains, statues, a mall and a statue of “the unknown soldier” with a flame and guards. We then went into the Kremlin but all the Cathedral’s were closed for renovations. Since Jason’s beloved camera is “too professional” looking we where not able to take it into the Kremlin and had to check it with our back pack in a locker so we didn’t get any pictures of it. Big isn’t always better! She took us for Japanese food for lunch and then through the subway (which is beautiful with statues and history) back to the hotel. Moscow is 860 years old and has so much history it is hard to take it all in in one day. Especially since Jason is a history buff and wants to see everything.

Tonight our driver is taking us to Victory Park to see it at night is very beautiful he said with the fountains all lit up with different colour lights. There are Russian tanks and memorials to those millions of Russians who died in WWII. Tomorrow we plan on shopping and relaxing. We wanted to go to the ballet but I don’t know if I could appreciate it as I should and they are renovating the Bolshi ballet stage so it is on the student stage right now anyway which the building was one of the things we wanted to see. We decided that we would rather spend that money on keepsakes. Everyone we have met and everywhere we have gone have been so great. They all want to make sure we are well taken care of, going over itinerary’s, and informed of safety issues. Even with us being hot and sticky with sweat they are welcome to hugs goodbye and can’t wait to see us again on our next trip. Sunday we stay an extra night in Toronto to see an old friend I haven’t seen in 12 years! Boy time fly’s Kristina.

See you all soon Tonya and Jason

P.S. this post is from yesterday but McDonald's is not known for reliable internet service so we are posting 2 entries today from Starbucks...

Well we were not able to find internet until it was basically time to leave so we thought we would check it out for the next trip since we expect the second trip to take 30 days total and 19 of them in Biro. So we waited till be got back to Moscow to add this to the Blog. Be prepared it is a long one…

The plane to Khabarosk was over 9 hours and we sat right behind the bathroom which would make most peoples stomach turn, however looking at the bright side we got extra leg room. It was night time the whole way and saw the Northern Lights and Ursa Major right above it. We got off the plane on the tarmack as well. The bathrooms at the Khabarosk airport are not as bad as Jason will lead you to believe. Yes, it was a hole in the floor but it was flushable and beautiful tile floors and sinks. Girls much like you would go in the bushes..he,he. We noticed that Jason’s beard he took 8 months to grow to try to fit in actually made him stick out! Natasha our translator met us there holding a sign with our names on it. She is very slim, long blonde hair and add to that slim diva style Gucci Jeans and 3” heals I was feeling a bit sloppy in my money belt, t-shirt, gym pants and crocs. Now for an almost 3hour drive to Biro which can be scary when your driver (named Dema, the guy was a boxer and know owns his own store in the market selling C.D.’s and movies) had his steering wheel on the right side of the car and they also drive on the right side of the road so passing a big truck on single lane bumpy road with no shoulder was a little tense. Along the way we saw little wooden houses with tin roofs sunken into the ground with gardens and flowers and selling vegetables and watermelon on the side of the highway. Biro is nice in the summer but hot and humid (we were lucky to have air conditioning installed the day we arrived at our apartment). All the apartments have bars on the lower window and balconies on the floors above with clothes lines hanging out from them (Jason was a bit embarrassed one morning when he saw I did laundry and hung his boxer briefs out to dry for everyone to see). We dropped our stuff of at the apartment and then on to the Ministry of Education to get a letter stating we are allowed to go to the orphanage. But not till the next morning (our Tuesday your Monday).

I am keeping you in suspense so you read the whole entry..he,he.

She is beautiful! The first day she was having difficulties holding her head up for too long (for those of you who have seen her picture the red marks were mosquito bites and have been replaced by new ones in different spots as they like to have them sleep outside at night as it is too hot inside with lack of air conditioning) but by the time we left the second day she was reaching for things, holding her head up very well, putting weight on her legs and even rolled over 4 times. Everyone has seen a big improvement in just 2 days with us and see that we are bonding already. They all can’t wait till we return. The Canadian approved doctor has now even ruled out the question mark for C.P. and no sign of F.A.S. which is an answer to prayer! Developmentally she is about 3 months behind but with a lot of attention, massages and stimulation she should get back on track within a year at home. She fell asleep both days we were there on Jason and we felt like we were “back in the saddle again” so to speak of holding a baby and getting spit-up on when burping…

We watched more of the Olympics and since there was no coverage of Canada we started cheering for Russia. Jason loved the sight seeing tour and took lots of pictures. We went grocery shopping a few times and were pleasantly surprised at how many labels we recognize on food, billboards and T.V. Russians take English in school like we do French and they remember about as much as I do…nothing. My favourite part (next to meeting our daughter) was shopping at the market. Natasha tried to bargain with them but none would budge. However, I got a great purse, belt, toy car (for Nate), coloring book with Russian writing, Jewish Vodka (only place in the world you can buy it other than Israel but this one has a Russian label), a book about Biro (as friends who have adopted from here suggested, we are glad we did), a decorative plate, key chain and fridge magnet. Since we can only bring 20kg each for luggage on domestic flights we (I) plan on stocking up in Moscow. The flight back to Moscow is again over 9 hours but due to time zones we are there less then 2 hours later. This flight was much better as we had an empty seat beside us so we could stretch out and no where near the bathroom. Jason and I found ourselves playing pica-boo with a cute girl just a little older that ours across the isle and missing both of our kids even more. The plane was much newer however the bathroom was still very gross (can anyone hit the right spot?). Anyway we have the same driver picking us up in Moscow again Dmitriy (is the correct spelling) and as our plane was delayed by 2 hours I hope he called ahead to check arrival times. We are staying at the Belgard hotel downtown Moscow and right beside Arabt street (can we say shopping!) Tomorrow at 10am we go to Red Square. There is a Mc Donald's at the underground street crossing by our hotel with free wireless internet so we will be able to post often. I hope all of you were able to read all of this as most of you know I find it impossible to make a long story short. Tonya and Jason , I Love you and miss you Nathanael xoxo

Arrived in Moscow

We are here and other than some swollen feet and tired we are safe and sound and with all our luggage. A little bit of confusion at the duty free store in Toronto, but got that figured out and went for lunch and had a wonderful waitress that thought I had an accent from the States...he,he. Met up with a couple in Toronto also flying to Moscow adopting from the same orphanage and exchanged info. They are going on to St. Petersburg first to tour around before heading east to meet their baby boy. Demitri is our driver and has taken good care of us. Our hotel is a five star Presidental Hotel! Beautiful room with an entrance, bathroom, living room, bedroom and walk out balcony. The view is beautiful with lots of maple, birch and weeping birch trees towering everywhere. Our driver and lady at the hotel desk both speak pretty good English which has helped. Jason even got in a little of the Olympics on T.V. here (it was the only thing on he could figure out what was going on..he,he.) We are close to the airport and Demitri will be here to pick us up at 3:00pm and take us to the domestic airport tomorrow afternoon. We will spend the time sleeping finally and taking in everything to see. There is a wedding here today and we even snapped a picture of the bride and groom. We will be in a different hotel in down town Moscow on the way back through that we hear is even nicer but less trees. Right now it is 4:53pm and home is 6:53am both on Saturday. Love you Nathanael and miss you already! Hope to have access to the internet in Biro but if not we will when we get back to Moscow.

Getting Ready to Fly!

I (Tonya) wanted to get in and post my thoughts. I can't let Jason have all the fun. We were awaken early today from our agency giving us an update of how she is doing and there are some health concerns but we will have to wait till we get there and see our Canadian approved doctor to decide if they are too severe for immigration purposes. Nathanael will not be coming with us due to the trip being apx. 10 days and apx. 6 of them are in airports or on planes. We all decided that he would not have much fun and Grandma and Papa's would be much more up his alley.
Packing is interesting as we will only be able to take 20kg/person on the domestic flight in Russia and some that is taken up with camera, laptop, paperwork and a generous donation from Robeez of 25 pairs of shoes for the orphanage. Thank goodness we will be able to do laundry there. I bought some new clothes for the trip... "expecting" clothes that I can wear after too..he,he. On the international trip from Moscow home we will be able to load up with 20lbs/person extra in keepsakes. I'm just so excited to meet her I can hardly sleep or think about anything else! Thanks to everyone sharing in our excitement!

Biro, here we come

Well, it is one week from today, we are heading to Biro. For those who are wondering why... it is because we are adopting a baby girl. It has been a long and tough process, but, perhaps the end is near.

Where is Biro? Well... it can be found here: Biro


How do you get there? Well, a VERY long trip. We are flying from Regina to Toronto, and then o Moscow. We overnight in Moscow, and then fly to Khabarovsk. From there, we take about an 3 hour overland drive to Biro.

Do you want to know more about Biro... here is their city's website
What else can I say right now... not sure but I will let you know soon.

Our First Blog

Well, this is our first blog. As this is the interweb, I thought that it would be best that we keep the personal stuff down to a min... well you know, as much as possible.

The one thing that I ask is that if you do post anything to this blog, please use first names/initials only... my little pet peve... that is all.

Thanks!!!