Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2010!

December 30, 2009

I have to say… waking up this morning with the knowledge that Slava is ours forever is an absolutely wonderful feeling. Irina stopped by… she is going to call the head of the orphanage today to see when we can bring Slava to the hotel with us. We are now in the midst of Russian Holidays – New Years and then Xmas – so it’s a little tricky. Best case scenario – we get him on Monday. Worst case, we get him the following Monday but we visit a couple times next week.
Not much going on the next couple days… the city shuts down so we made another voyage to the market to stock up… even bought a bottle of champagne (or at least what appears to be champagne) to celebrate the New Year. Tonight looks like a fun night of cards and cocktails!

A sight for sore eyes...

We passed Court!!! It is absolutely official… we are the proud parents of a baby boy! We are both beyond exhausted right now… the day started at 6am and we just got back to the room. We saw our sweet boy this morning and it was magical to hold him again. He has a virus so he just wanted to be held which was fine by me. We only got to spend about 30 minutes with him but he came to us both with open arms… I like to believe that he remembers us  He is still a little peanut… he weighs in at 18.5lbs. We will find out tomorrow if we can get him before the 10 day waiting period is up – we’ll keep you posted. More to come tomorrow but just wanted to share the great news. Thank you – to each and every one of you – for the prayers… we are blessed to have such amazing people in our lives and we can’t wait for Slava to meet all of you!

One more day until court...

We spent the day yesterday just getting settled in. We have a refrigerator in our room which is great! This, however, inspired Marc to want to take a walk to the grocery store in 0 degree weather (-16 degree wind chill). He assured me that, because we lived in Minneapolis for 2 years, it would be no big deal. He was very wrong. I wore 4 layers and I was still freezing. We had fun trying to shop all the Russian-labels. We bought some essentials… cereal, coffee, beer and some unidentified liquor.
There is a gym here so we’ve been working out in the morning… it helps to pass the time. Today we are just getting ready for tomorrow. We will go to the orphanage around 9am to visit Slava and then head to Court. Court isn’t until 3pm but it is a considerable drive from the orphanage. It is going to be a very long day tomorrow but we will be sure to send an update when we get back to the hotel.
Still doesn’t feel real that we will see Slava tomorrow… it takes my breath away just thinking of it. There will be a social worker with us (she represents us in Court) so I will have to do my best to control my emotions and not burst into tears – I’ll try but no guarantees!
Please say a prayer that all goes well tomorrow…

we made it!

After 18 hours on planes and 4 different countries... we have safely reached our destination, the Vlad Inn. We were greeted at the airport by Irina, our coordinator, with lots of hugs. We talked to her on the way to the hotel and she said she has seen Slava... "he is a good boy." Marc asked if he's gotten any bigger and she responded with a definitive "yes"... then came back with "just a little." There are 3 other families here that have Court this week - we met them in the lobby and they all seem great. It has taken one of the families 1 full year to get their Court date! I guess our 4 months could have been much worse.
We are meeting with Irina this afternoon so she can prep us for Court. Apparently, we have been assigned a very "tough" judge so we have some homework to do. Looks like we won't get to see Slava until Tuesday morning... long story but we will try our best to get there on Monday.
There is about 2 feet of snow on the ground so looks like we will be spending lots of time in the hotel. There are 3 other families here adopting who already have their children with them - all boys. Marc met them last night ... I can't wait to see the babies!!!
So happy to be here but the stress is already setting in... looking forward to having Court behind us and Slava in our arms!

6 hours til takeoff...

Just finishing packing our 4 suitcases and 3 carry-ons!!! We leave on a 5:30 flight to Toronto, then to Korea, then to Vlad. I am trying to pick my outfit carefully as I will be in it for the next 2 days! We will send a message when we arrive at our new home for the next month... the Vlad Inn.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!
Talk to you soon :)

One week to go...

We leave in 1 week from today - yay! Lots of things on the to-do list before we leave... like finding a doctor, a priest and packing. I'm not sure how we are going to fit a month's worth of clothes for 3 people in only 4 suitcases... I think I could fill 2 with just Slava's clothes!!!
We are headed to my sister's to celebrate Christmas this weekend. This is only the second Christmas I will have ever spent away from the kids and my family... I'm sure there will be a couple tears on the plane :(
Marc booked his flights to China. He will be there Jan 4th -9th and I will remain in Russia - solo! Taking a month off is a little challenging so Marc is off to do a little business. The GREAT news about this is that Marc's brother, Kevin, is meeting him in China then coming to Vlad for a couple days! It will be awesome to have Kevin with us and for Slava to meet his Uncle.

Itinerary

Our itinerary is just about finalized... we leave on Dec 24th at 5pm and arrive in Vlad on Dec 26th at 11am. We arrive back home in Chicago on Jan 23rd at 9am! We still have lots of questions that need to be answered... like can we visit Slava during the Russian Holiday (Russia Xmas is Jan 7th and the whole government shuts down for about 10 days). There is a 10 day waiting period after our Court date where Slava will remain in the orphanage but we can go and visit him - that is, if they let us because this falls over their Holiday time. Regardless, we can't wait to get there! We will definitely see him on Dec 28th and we are counting the seconds! Lots to do between now and then!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just received our Court Date... 12/29!!!! We will most likely be leaving around the 25th and will return Jan 21st. THANK YOU, LORD!!!!!! Slava... we're coming to get you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update

Here's the latest... our caseworker told us today that we should get a court date assigned to us next week - she is very confident it will be for the end of December. Fingers crossed!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So... we were hoping that our Court date would be the thing we were most thankful for this Thanksgiving but looks like we are going to have to wait a little longer. Our caseworker thinks we should hear in the next 2 weeks so we will continue hoping and praying. In the meantime, we will give thanks for all the amazing blessings we have in our lives... our families, our friends, our dogs, our health and of course, our sweet son.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving - we will continue to keep you posted!

One more thing...

We added the current weather in Vlad to the blog... scroll to the very bottom. Currently, it's -6 degrees F - WOW!!!!

The wait continues...

It's been a while since our last note and we've been busy... Slava's room is just about finished, the playroom is done and he has the most darling wardrobe waiting for him in his closet. We are hoping to hear about our Court date in the next couple weeks. Looks like we will be in Russia in December... hopefully we'll make it back home by Christmas. As soon as we find out our travel dates we will let everyone know - I promise! Say a prayer that our boy is safe and healthy and that our Court date gets scheduled TODAY!!!

Home again

We made it home safely. Next Steps- finish up some paperwork and prepare for Slava's arrival. First on the list, turning his room from pink room to blue. Waiting to get a court date, hoping to go back mid November. The second trip is a little longer- about 3 weeks- but we get to bring him home for good.

Heres a picture of the central square in downtown Vladivostok, Russia.

Last day in Vlad

Today we went to downtown Vlad to notarize our papers... it was stress free and easy. We then spent some time doing a little shopping - not too much to chose from. Tonight is our last night in Vlad and it is with such mixed emotions that we prepare to leave. On the one hand, we know in our hearts that the sooner we leave, the sooner we come back. However, the thought of going a couple months without seeing Slava's face is too much...

Speaking of our sweet boy, we have chosen his name - Samuel Iaroslav Turco. It turns out that "Slava" translates to "Sam" in English. We will use Sam and Slava interchangeably. For those of you who don't know, Slava's only male cousin is named Sammy (hi Sam!) and we couldn't think of a more wonderful little boy to name our son after. So now we will have a Big Sammy and Little Sammy.

We leave tomorrow for Korea - stay overnight in Korea - fly to Japan- then fly to Chicago.

Off to dinner...

Video from Day 3

Day 3 with Slava

We got our first official hugs from Slava today... he got a running start with arms wide open... I almost cried. He was smiling all day today - it was perfect. Praying that time goes very quickly.

Video from Day 2

Day 2 with Slava

We had another great day with Slava. We officially accepted him today! Another step closer to bringing him home. One more day with him tomorrow.

Video from Day 1

Our first visit with Iaroslav

We met Iaroslav today. One word to describe him- precious. He is sweet, cuddly and likes to give BIG kisses :) We can't wait to see him tomorrow.

Arrived in Vladivostok, Russia

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We made it to Russia! We're here at the Vlad Inn, getting adjusted to the time difference. We meet Iaroslav tomorrow, after a trip to the D.O.E. Our coordinator Irina, and translator Kate are really nice. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Made it safe to Korea last night... the flight wasn't too bad. It ended up only being about 10 hours. We are now off to breakfast and then a 10am flight to Vlad!
PS - Ton, we brought the note cards you made with us and we've been practicing... should be fluent in a day or two!!

Larry's Cousins

Little Larry