Gotcha day and our time so far!

The day we picked them up at the orphanage was a really emotional and tiring day. Picking up Zhenya was somewhat painless as she has just been at the orphanage in Kichiry for nine months. She was ready to go and kissed each child in her group, hugged her teachers then immediately started taking her clothes off. She was ready to get the new duds on and get going!

We went over to Alyosha's building and all his class was there ready and waiting for us because they were putting on a special program in honor of his leaving. The kids were all dressed up in various costumes and excited when we arrived. We went into the music room and they immediately started the show! It was absolutely precious.

They quoted wonderful words to all of us about how happy they were for Alyosha and his new family. They said some really sweet things about Alyosha too (we only know through what Tanya our translator told us). They sang songs and danced. I was pretty teary eyed through the entire program and toward the end I could no longer hide my emotions. I believe I started a domino effect with all the kids and teachers. There was not a dry eye in the room, even Zhenya was crying. It was hard, but also a sweet time of saying goodbye crying, hugging, and kissing.

It is a day we will never forget. We will also never forget all those sweet faces of those precious precious kids and will continue to pray for them and the hope that one day they will get a family of their own. Everyone needs a mama and papa and I know if anyone met these beautiful children they would want to take them all home like we do!!!

Our last few days having the kids has been so much fun! Everything is new to them! They remind us of toddlers who start discovering the world around them for the first time, except that they're faster, stronger, and smarter! Once they looked everything over thoroughly and asked millions of questions, in Russian mind you, they have calmed down considerably.

Zhenya is just a ball of energy and has had a few strong willed moments and some mild meltdowns. I'm so thankful for Dave. He corrects her, calms her down and she has made positive strides in learning some self control. Alyosha is a quiet, sweet guy and the only thing we've had to help him with these last few days has been a little sneakiness!

We really have had a good time eating out, walking around, taking the bus, and playing here in the apartment. Zhenya is so cute when we're walking around. She is used to saying "drasty"(hello) at the orphanage whenever people walk by, so when we're out she says "drasty, drasty" to everyone and most of them don't say it back so I taught her to just shrug her shoulders and make a silly face..it's our little game :D

Okay, there is so much more I could go on about, but I'll spare you this time!!

We have been very disappointed that our lawyer and translator have not been able to apply for the kids passports yet. It's something about the bureaucrat who signs the birth certificates is on vacation so they're trying to find someone who can do it for us. This has been a typical hold up throughout our adoption process over the years. It seems there is only one important person who is able to do whatever you need done and they are either on vacation, or in another town, or are unable to be contacted for some reason or another.

So at this point we think that unless a major miracle happens, Friday the 9th is out and Sunday is looking sketchy. We will wait and see knowing that God is looking out for what is best for us and does not withhold anything good from us.

Tomorrow is "Gotcha Day"!!!

Hey Everyone,

Yes, two blogs in one day! I guess we owe you since we haven't blogged in awhile :)

(just for the record, the food has been fine here, but we would not compare it to home)

We just wanted to let everyone know that we get to pick up the kids tomorrow at the orphanage! In the adoption world lingo we call it "gotcha day"!

We have their clothes all ready to go just like newborns we're bringing home from the hospital. The only difference is that Dave had to go through as much of the labor as I did!!! Yet another reason to adopt girlfriends!!

I believe we're going to first say goodbye with Zhenya and her group and teachers and office ladies then we'll go over to Alyosha's building. His class is going to do a small program for us and then we'll say goodbye to his class and teachers and be on our way! I think it's going to be harder for Dave and I saying goodbye tomorrow than it is going to be on the kids because they're excited and maybe don't quite get how far away they are going and how different their life is going to be.

There are going to be so many new things they are going to be experiencing in the next few weeks and then at home it's going to be an interesting time for all of us!

I hope we can sleep tonight! I know we'll need it!!

Love you all and we can never thank you enough for praying and caring for us and our family.

food around town(at least as far as we can walk)

So here are some of the places where we have eaten. Sadly, we don't call some of them by the given names because we don't know them. The top two are from Krendel (how we pronounce it, probably not totally accurate but it works for us). We think this is one of the hardest places to order from but the food is pretty stinkin' good. What you see here is two eggs over medium, small steaks, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, cheese, all in a skillet = Delicious! The latte is called the "Balshoy Latte" in Russian which means the big delectable latte in English. They don't have an English menu for some reason, but once you figure out what is what, it is worth the trouble.

The next photo is from the "Russian Restaurant" which has a name but we don't know it and can't pronounce it. This is one of our favorite places, now that we know how to order. We have found that in most of the places we have been the food is extremely fresh, as in they might have just run out and picked the tomato and killed the chicken fresh. They have a menu in English which we also appreciate.

The last photo is from a place called (or should I say pronounced) Skief. We went there based on a recommendation from an American couple. He described an item with chicken and vegetables rolled up in the local version of a tortilla and deep fried (aka Chimichanga). We were drawn in by the cross cultural possibilities of finding Mexican-ish food in Pavlodar. We found they also had chips and salsa, onion rings, and shakes. Unfortunately, they were all breaded with the same batter and fried in the same oil. On this place we were split, Jeannie liked it and I didn't. However, I would go back and try something else because you just never know.

There are a couple of other places we go to probably too often. Classic Pizza has an English menu but there are some translation errors, like peppers in translated as pepperoni. So when you order the "piquante" (picante) pizza with "pepperoni" what you get is a nice ham pizza with nice spicy peppers. It was still very good and we have ordered it several times. Classic isn't Pizza Hut, but you know what they say...

The Old Englishman (one of the names we don't have any problem pronouncing) is also a favorite stop. No English menu but there are pictures. They have fajitas (pronounced phonetically fa-gee-tahs here by the way, just like it in pronounced in Tipton county, we have been corrected several times). They are very tasty. They also have a taco salad with the shell bowl, very good also. I would recommend something from the shish-ke-bob selection near the back. It comes with this wonderful salsa that is muy bueno, or karasho as they say here.

We found another pizza place this week that was also very good. It is supposedly named after a Turkish city - Ephes. It is hard to miss with the big giant retro PIZZA sing on the side of the building.

The last good place I want to mention is the one we call IHOP. It is not really an IHOP, that would be too much and probably like the Dennys in Japan. It is really called The Cherry or something like that except in Russian of course. It has a 50s diner look to it with lots of chrome and Naugahyde. We had the "Americanski" breakfasts which were pretty good. Two thumbs up.

There are other places too. One bad place to mention was BurgerMaxx - worse than McDonald's, can't say much more than that.

Eating out here is pretty much an adventure every time. We have advanced the "point and grunt" method of ordering to the "point and say 'eta' (this)" method. Early on we had some interesting meals where we weren't sure what we were going to get. And there is an occasion where we are surprised by what shows up at the table. 99% of the time, it is something good. We haven't accidentally ordered pigs snout or anything like that, yet. There was an occasion where we asked for the check and got tea (chai), which was understandable.

The prices are all very reasonable and the servings are proportionate for what you pay. There has only been one occasion where we paid $10.00 per person, and that was a lot of food. Normally we pay $7.00 each including drinks and tip. We could probably just order one thing and split it most of the time except that Jeannie likes gross things like onions and garlic.

I am working on getting these all put on Google Earth or Google maps along with walking times from the apartment and of course our expert reviews.

Sweet Moments

Jeannie, Tanya (the interpreter) and I were talking today about how much the kids have changed since we first met them just over a month ago. They have both grown taller, gained a little weight, been given haircuts, and Z lost a tooth.
They have become more accustomed to being hugged and are clearly more comfortable with us. Initially Alyosha would give perfunctory hugs as if to say "I am doing this becuase I am being told to, but I really dont trust you yet." After a few visits he switched to deep, strong hugs as if to say "Please make sure you come back." Now he gives the very comfortable hugs of familiarity.

When I first kissed Zhenya on the check, my scratchy beard made her grimace. Either my beard has grown less scratchy or she has become more comfortable with it. Either way is OK way with me.

With all of these changes in the kids, Tanya pointed out the biggest change: when we first met them they didn't have a family, or even each other for that matter. They might have known they were brother and sister, but they had no relationship. Now, they have parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, AND each other. As Grandma Betty likes to say "What a deal, huh?"

The month's schedule

Hi, it's been a week since court! We still have about ten days left until we can pick the kids up. Since the appeal period ends on a Saturday the last day will actually be on Monday and we will pick the kids up on Tuesday the 29th. That day Svetlana, our lawyer, will apply for their birth certificates and passports. We will bring the kids back with us to Pavlodar where we will wait to receive those documents which can take 10-13 business days(approx. 2 weeks) After we get those, we can fly to Almaty and get the kids visas at the US Embassy there. That should just take a few days. Then home!

We continue to visit the kids about every other day. We made a chart that we are using to count down the days with the kids. They get to draw a smiley face in the circle for every day that passes until they get to come to Pavlodar with us! Then we'll make a new chart for our count down to America!!

The kids seem very anxious to get on with things! We hadn't pulled out the photo album in awhile and today we did and Alyosha said "we will get to see the rest of our family soon" I was surprised because sometimes it seemed he wasn't that interested in the pictures, but he could name everyone and is ready to go!!
You know Zhenya is...she thinks everyday is the day for her to leave!

A new name with a beautiful pronounciation.

Group Fun :)

This is Alyohsa's group and teachers. The half with us are the ones that he schools with.(One half in the morning the other in the afternoon)

They are such sweet kids. We were able to come hang out with them and have a small birthday celebration with them for Alyosha. We brought some juice boxes, candies, a toy car for each boy and bracelot for each girl. It was a lot of fun playing and visiting with them, except that we want to bring them all home with us!

We are hoping that the orphanage director, Olga, will let us come teach a little English to the class on our visits in the next few weeks to the kids. Of course we'll ask if Zhenya can join us! Since we are trying to teach A and Z some English anyway we thought it would make it more fun to be with all the kids.

Today our translator, Tanya, and I went shopping for some clothes for A and Z. We wanted to get just a few things to get us through the few weeks we'll have them here, since they are given to us just like newborns with nothing to their names.

We hope everyone is doing well! Pray the rest of our time here goes quickly! Dave and I are missing the rest of the Tribe and friends and A and Z are anxious to get to America!

Video: Looking through the photo album

So this is us looking through our photo album we made for the kids. It has pictures of family, friends, our house, but not the dogs. We have been sitting down with them and going through the pictures. It has been a lot of fun. One of our favorites was when Zhenya first saw the picture of my family from my parents' anniversary. The picture is of my parents, their 6 children, 3 spouses, and 13 Grandchildren. With so many kids she thought it was a picture of the kids from the other building at the orphanage.
Another time I was sitting with Zhenya asking her who was "krasiva" (pretty/handsome). I would point to someone like Jeannie for example and say "Is Mama krasiva?" She would say "da" (yes). We went through the family and got to the friends page. I pointed to some of the children and asked if they were krasiva, and she said "da". When I started pointing to some of the men in the pictures and asking if they were "krasiva" she gave me a curt "nyet!" (no). Sorry fellas.
Unfortunately neither of these made it to video so this will have to do.

Some Russian words that might help:
"Vota"- 'look at that', or 'and that', or any other similar iteration as best as I can tell.
"Babushka" - Grandmother
"Dadushka" - Grandfather
"Brat"(like the big hot dog) - brother
"sistra" - sister
and of course Papa and Mama.

Introducing Alexey Benjamin and Zhenia Claire Truman

Pictured above is the Kichiri courthouse. It is where our two new little Trumans were officially deemed ours today! We can't believe this day has finally arrived! It's just really hard to believe that after 3 1/2 years of paperwork, waiting, disappointment after disappointment, and  many tears we finally have these precious  gifts of God!.

 The picture of us was taken right after court when we went to the orphanage and we told the kids their new names. Zhenia accepted it all right away and was like "okay" and thought we were leaving right then for America! Alyosha was extremely shy acting and had his thought-filled face on. He was looking down as we told him and was mulling it all around in his mind and smiled slightly. I think he was overwhelmed with the new name idea. We hadn't wanted to bring it up until everything was official.
I can relate to Alyosha. I think it's going to take me a few weeks to get over the fact that I don't have to do another document for our dossier...don't have to get anything notarized, certified, and apostilled!! I'm going to go into withdrawals I think. I will be dreaming about reams of paper with special stamps and seals attacking me or something!

We headed back to Pavlodar after visiting with the kids and had a celebration lunch with our lawyer Svetlana, translator Tanya, and driver(S's father)Genadi. We went to a Russian restaurant(I know I thought they all were too)
 It was very nice and such a relief for all of us! We can't wait to get home to celebrate with everyone in TN and to our wonderful friends, family and fellow adoptees following the blog THANK YOU so much for your prayers and encouragement! We have loved all the comments and emails..they all just mean so much to us!!!

Another Court Update

Our court end date has been moved to Friday. Every day things get moved back means more days here, more expense and Dave's paid vacation days will be coming to an end soon :(  Thanks for continuing to pray!

Court Update

I was hoping to post about our time in court tomorrow and about it being done, but instead things are postponed until Wednesday :(  There are a few more documents that were asked for by the judge (to do with the kids), so Svetlana is having to go to other villages to get those. We should be able to finish everything on Wednesday(Lord willing). Court today went well. We are done with our part. Dave did a great job presenting our reasons for adopting, financial state, and answering the judges questions. I just answered yes to a couple of questions and made a short statement about how I felt about the kids and bonding with them. I thought I would have to do more explaining about homeschooling, but Svetlana(our lawyer) explained how we would be educating the kids and the judge didn't even question it. I was surprised because homeschooling is a very foreign concept for people here.
It was an interesting day today. We were a little nervous this morning and for me a little more so when the judge came in the room. He was dressed in a velvet robe and had a Kazakh looking velvet hat on his head. It was intimidating to me especially since his manner was also somber. Once Dave was done speaking what  he needed to say and asking to adopt the kids, change their names etc...I felt less nervous. There was someone there from the equivalent of our dept. of social services and also the assistant director of the orphanage who  both spoke and were questioned also. It all took about two hours. Half of that time was paperwork exchanging/ organizing and waiting on the judge.
Tomorrow Tanya(translator) and I are going to get a few more things for Alyosha's class party. I think we'll still be able to have it on Wednesday after court.We appreciate your prayers for us as a few more paperwork issues get ironed out. Love you all  :D

Alyohsa's b-day :)

Alyosha turns 9 today! Although it was quite the little debate with him yesterday. Someone told him is birthday was the 9th of September, but we think either they or he was confused about turning 9 and his actual date of birth. In his paperwork his birthday is the 6th of September. We kept telling him it was the 6th, but he was insisting it was the 9th. It wasn't that important to us at this point to be right about his birthday, but our translator really wanted to settle it, so she asked the assistant director to go check for sure and tell him. She did and she told him and he was fine. We are going to celebrate with his class on Wednesday since we couldn't go out to the orphanage today and we have court tomorrow and Tuesday. We're really looking forward to celebrating everything on Wednesday(God willing!)
Today(Sunday)we will probably walk over to one of our favorite places to eat here called "Krendells". They have a bakery and restaurant. They have very yummy coffee drinks too :D It is our favorite Sunday place to go and often we are joined by fellow adoptionees :D. We have heard an American couple is coming in September. They are not with our agency, but we are hoping our paths will cross.
A few people have posted comments with success! Thanks once again for your prayers, encouragement and care for our family!

Court Dates

The pics are of A and Z with a few new clothes we got them...the one of both of them was their first taste of strawberries :D
We heard yesterday that we will have two days of court. Monday and Tuesday 10 am both days and we assume both sessions will be an hour or two.
Thanks for praying we love and miss you all :D

We have a court date!

This afternoon on our way to the orphanage we were told we wouldn't know our court date until next week and our hearts just sunk! It was the worst ride to the orphanage ever especially after the bad news. It was raining and a car spun out in front of us and the road felt bumpier than ever...it also seemed there were just more cows, horses, sheep and goats along side the road that Genadi had to watch today too!! You know it's not so much the waiting as it is the waiting and not knowing! We just want a date! Something to plan by, something to look forward to!
On our way back from the orphanage Tanya got a call with good news that we did get a date today! Our date is Tuesday, September 8 at 10 am! Which is next Monday night for you all! That's two weeks after our bonding was over...not the week to ten days we hoped for, but we'll take a few days later! And ya know it was the best ride back we've ever had...the road just didn't seem as bumpy and the sun was shining!! Okay so there were a few cows we had to avoid, but other than that I'm sticking to the best drive back ever!

We had a good visit with the kids today. Zhenya and I had a very silly moment. I had gotten her this little change purse to go in the purse we also had given her and it's kind of hard to open. I was showing her with her little hand how to open it and we both just belly laughed and laughed over me showing her...she was just getting so tickled and made me just lose it. Another funny moment with her today was her combing Dave's hair and then beard...it was so funny! We also started playing a version of hide and seek and both the kids just get soooo excited about it! I pretend to not be able to find them and they make a run for Dave(he's the safety zone) It's so not fair because they run to him yelling "papa papa" and into his arms giving him free hugs while I'm the bad chaser monster! So not fair...I think we're changing it around next time!! Dave says "sorry Jeannie, it's Biblical"! He'll have to find me that verse!

Have I told you how Alyosha takes any extra snack we bring to his friends to share? He is such a sweet kid. He loves puzzles and building things...he loves to try and figure things out.

We are teaching the kids the English alphabet and sounds(Dave put great pics and letters on his laptop ad we use that.) Even though we've tried to make it fun I think they're getting the idea it's like school and are starting not be as keen on it as they were at first!

We love all the emails and hearing about everything that is going on with everyone!! Keep them coming!! And if you haven't emailed you need to!!! Thanks for all the continued prayers for us means more to us than we could ever express!