The ball is rolling

So we got great news yesterday that our court decided to make the decision now to give us our needed documents rather than waiting until next week! We are so excited because this will get us home a week sooner than we were initially told and now we don't have to spend all weekend wondering if there was going to be something else come up to keep us here even longer. It was definitely an answer to many prayers. I'm really missing my family back home and can't wait until we are all back together again.

As always Becky has been slaving away on her blog, keeping such a great record so rather than recap it all, I'll send you over there. Ha ha, yes I'm being lazy. Our friend told Wayne he could just picture me lounging about eating grapes while Becky is putting in the hard work on the blog, and that pretty much sums it up. I'm the entertainment and she is the public relations in our duo. That's what she gets for being so good at it.

http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/celebration.html?m=1

She did however forget to tell you about our day on Wednesday. You see lately I've been the one causing a ruckess where ever we go but Tuesday was here day in the limelight. I have to admit it was nice for me. Ha ha.

So it started when we were walking around the GUM mall. It's this fancy high end mall right on red square. We were looking around in this gadget shop and were turning around to head out and Becky knocked over a display of about 13 containers of ribbon and bows. We quickly started picking them all up cracking up while doing so.

Then a bit later we were in our favorite store. It's a british called Accessorize. Kind of like a Claire's but much cuter, every time we go to the mall it just sucks us in. It's where she found the cute Russian had for Gabe. So while she was checking out she saw a cute nesting doll Santa so she picked it up to see the dolls inside. When she picked it up the bottom fell off and the pieces went flying all over the floor.

I quickly hit the ground trying to pick them up and I couldn't quite reach one that had gone between the feet of a woman that was waiting in line. When I looked up at her just staring at me like I was complete idiot down on the ground I started laughing so hard I could barely breathe. She didn't even budge an inch. When I got back up and handed the piece to Becky we saw that it had cracked. Becky tried explaining to the teller that she would pay for it but the lady just examined it, gave us "the look" and set it aside. Becky handed her the cash to pay for the hat and the lady stuck out her hand and said something in Russian. Becky asked if it was on sale because she thought she had given her enough. Then the lady said, 20 rubles. She was asking for exact change.

It's funny because everyone here wants you to pay with exact change. So different from the states where I almost feel silly when I give exact change for something. I rarely pay for things with cash so it's just different. We are definitely brushing up on our math skills, always trying to convert rubles to dollars. I still feel like I'm paying with Monopoly money. For instance if something costs 3,000 rubles, that means its $100 US dollars. So I'll be carrying around a wad of 100 rubles bills and think I'm so rich and then I do the math and its only like &20.

To top if off when we walked out the door the alarm went off and they had to pull all the stuff out of my bag to make sure I wasn't stealing anything. At that point we were so embarrassed we just wanted out of that place. Good times indeed. I was so excited to report Becky's blunders to Sally when she picked us up and let her know its not just me doing all the crazy things over here. We had a good laugh.

Here are some pictures from the produce market we went to yesterday and the bag of goodies I got to bring home and take to the kids at Jaymi's orphanage to go with their blankets.

We are hoping to pick the kids up by Tuesday and will most likely be home the following Wednesday.

See the good

After finding out that Becky and I would be here in Russia for at least 3 more weeks before being able to travel home with our kids, I decided I needed to change my attitude a bit to get me through the
waiting period. Though part of me wanted to crawl into bed and stay there until it was time to come home, I knew that would only make the time pass slowly and I would be miserable. So I decided I would look for the good each day and focus on the opportunities that I would have missed out on had everything gone the way we had hoped it would.

- I have had three wonderful visits with Jaymi and with each visit we are getting more and more attached. She is always giving me loves, just because she wants to, not because she is asked to. It really is so tender and brings so much peace to my heart that things will be okay once we leave the children's home together. Throughout this whole process one of my greatest fears has been that week after we take her from the children's home and we are finishing up paperwork in order to come home. I just didn't know how hard it would be to take her from the only life she has ever known. After these past couple weeks I feel more confident that she will be okay during the transition because of the bond we are beginning to form. Instead of fear, I now feel great anticipation and excitement for that day and week I will get to have her all to myself. I get to be the person that shows her this beautiful city she has lived in her whole life. I get to be her window to the great big beautiful world that is waiting for her. Such an honor and a privilege.

She was thrilled when I pulled out the flower clips to put in her hair.

Her favorite thing in the magic backpack today was the notepad from the hotel.  She is pretty easy to please.

- Becky and I were able to spent Saturday with our friend Yulia. She is the one that took us to the ballet last week. She was born and raised here in Moscow. Oh what a beautiful person she is, both inside and
out. She has been so hospitable to us and even sent me away with the most beautiful hat. I loved talking with her about religion and her experiences volunteering in an older children's home here in the city. I want to be a better person after being with her, I want to do more to help those around me. I will never forget her kindness and humility.

The beautiful tree in front of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  I love the angels.

A wedding party outside the cathedral.

Love this blue building across the street from the Pushkin Museum

Pushkin museum

The Cathedral of Christ the Savior.  It was much bigger than I imagined and very beautiful and spacious inside

-Sunday we had the opportunity to attend the international ward with our new dear friends the Murray's. the talks in sacrament meeting were about the importance of family and they were just what I needed to hear. Although I miss my little family at home so badly, my heart is at peace because I know the sacrifice of this time away will be worth it for all of us. I can't wait for my little girls to finally get to
play together, I just get so excited when I think of all the adventures we will have together. From lazy days where we stay in our pajamas and play, to trips back east and to the west coast to visit
friends and play on the beach.

Wayne has been good to send me pictures and videos of my silly girls at home. They make me laugh and smile even when I'm thousands of miles away.

Kaelyn still loves her piano and played me some songs on skype last night.

Yep, every toy they own is scattered throughout the house.  Gotta love it.

Apparently Bryn is all grown up and lounging about on the couch.

CHEESE!

-Staying with the Murray's is quite the treat. When I told a friend that knows Sally that we were staying with her, he replied "it's a good thing Wayne has your girls as collateral or you might not have
returned home". Ha ha, yes he knew how good she would be treating us here. She is like a long lost mother to Becky and I while we are so far from home. Some day I hope Becky and I can get together with our moms and our "Moscow mom", I know they would love Sally as much as we do and be so grateful to her for watching out for their baby girls. I just hope Sally's house is still standing by the time we leave. Yesterday Becky and I blew the circuit in her garage due to our exercise regimen using the elliptical, treadmill, television and two heaters. Then at lunch I burned Becky's grilled cheese sandwich. We will see what I manage to destroy today. Ha ha. Anyone that knows me well knows I tend to be a bit on the accident prone side of things.

Sally and Steve took us to the Moscow equivalent of a super target.  It was pretty impressive,  its inside a nice mall too.  We will be hanging out there tomorrow, yes we feel like teenagers again asking Sally to drop us off at the mall.

Becky and I were working out in Sally's garage until we blew the circuit and had to head over  to the community center.

Sally trying to make a snowball to throw at me.  Luckily the snow is just powder so she did not succeed!

Sally showing of her mad skills on the lanes.  They were so kind to invite Becky and I to the Tuesday night bowling extravaganza!

Becky bowling away, check out that follow through!

Thats me whipping that ball down the lane, check out my hair blowing in the wind.

-We have been able to have some great talks with our facilitator Alla and I respect and admire her so much. She is a hero in every sense of the word and I plan to keep in touch with her forever. I wish we could bring her and her family back to the states with us. I really hope she will be able to come visit us and we can show her our part of the United States. Very different from her visit to New York City.


-On our previous trips to Russia we weren't able to sight see very much. It's been amazing to spend more time out and about. Yes I wish it was a bit warmer, but everything is so beautiful with a blanket of
snow. I wish Wayne could be here to enjoy all the sights and especially to see the small town girl he married brave the Moscow metro. I really am a different person after this past year. I joke that before all this I didn't dare call the neighbor to see if I could borrow and egg, and look at me now. Doing news stories and confronting governmental officials. This mammas heart of mine has proven much more brave than I could have ever imagined. It all started 3 1/2 years ago when our little 1 pound miracle joined our family. I was changed forever. Any way, I digress. This country has so much history and I
just thirst to learn more about it. I want to be able to teach my girls about the place their sister came from.

We saw a number of people rubbing this statue of this dog.  Found out later that it was for good luck.

I decided to join the club, but I don't know if my luck has kicked in yet.

We did some window shopping in the Bosco store at the Gum mall on Red Square.  I saw a coat I liked and we checked out the price tag...$1,200!!!!  Yikes, no wonder we were the only ones in the store.

This is me inside the Gum Mall, its HUGE!  There are 3-4 big hallways like this.

Friday - Week 2

Three weeks, I will be here in Russia for at least another three weeks. That means that I will have been in Russia approximately two months total in the past year by the time I get my little girl home. Pretty crazy, but it will all be worth it. If you want to read why we have to be here so long check out Becky's post.

http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/patience.html?m=1

So what do we do for then next two weeks before we can get our little ones from the orphanage? We are going to stay with our sweet friends the Murray's in their nice place just outside the city. That will save us lots of money and help us not feel so isolated while we are here. We are also considering hoping on the train to St. Petersburg to check it out for a day or two. Hopefully we can stay busy and the time will pass quickly for us and our families at home. We both miss our kids so much and can't wait to give them big squeezes when we get home.

So I have a few funny stories to share, we are always laughing at ourselves as we try to get around and fit in here in Moscow. I just don't know what it is, but everyone can tell we are not locals and just stare at us when we are out and about. Like this evening we walked over to Red Square for a bit of retail therapy and dinner. (Btw, great time of year to buy warm clothes for good prices). So we are sitting at our table eating our Russian style crepes and I look up at this group of older men carrying on and catch a glimpse of one of them just staring us down. I thought maybe was dreaming it up, but Becky confirmed, he was giving us quite the crusty face. If looks could kill sorta thing. It went on the whole time we were there. Just kinda crazy, we were just minding our own business. But whatever, I guess some things we will never understand.

Then in one of the stores we were shopping at a young girl working there gave me this crazy look and then rolled her eyes at me. I wondered what that was all about until I was I the dressing room trying something on and saw that my coat pockets were so stuffed to the max with my scarf, hat and gloves that I looked like a pack mule. I just burst out laughing, she probably thought I was trying to steal merchandise or something.

The sun was shining today, it was so nice, even though its still really cold, it just seems better with the sun hitting your face. We walked around Red Square taking some pictures and I decided to do a snow angel outside the Kremlin. I'm sure it's something that may be frowned upon, but we needed a good laugh. Okay now I'm sure you are thinking, "and you wonder why you stick out and everyone is staring at you"?, but usually we are pretty well behaved :)

Wednesday

Oh dear, here we go again. Although the news from the Supreme Court yesterday was indeed good, we have hit yet another obstacle. Our coordinator called our judge first thing this morning to see when she can come get our decrees and the judge said that because of the ruling she made last week of not giving us our decree, we now have to wait until next Wednesday for it to be reviewed and another hearing set before we can get it. Does that make sense, NO? well it doesn't make sense to us either. 

The Supreme Court came out with its statement yesterday in response to an inquiry from our attorney about our cases specifically and yet we are still at a stand still. Although very discouraged, it is a step in the right direction. We will bring our children home, its a matter of when. Now Becky and I are once again not knowing the timeline and if we should stay here while things get sorted out, or if we should return home and come back. Both options require difficult decisions, emotionally, physically and financially, for us and our little families back home. 

I'm trying my best to look for the good and trust that there may be more work we are needed to do to further Gods plan. We will continue to press forward and invite opportunities to advocate for change and increase understanding in behalf of the precious children throughout the world, especially here in Russia. 

I did have a wonderful visit with Jaymi today. I just fall more and more in love with her each day and I know this time we have to spend together is precious. To be able to hold her and spin in circles with our cheeks smashed together is priceless. She is learning to trust me and I am learning I can be everything she needs. I know this is part of the process and preparation for us to spend eternity together, and for that I'm so grateful. When I'm with her it's a feeling of pure joy and clarity of why I'm here doing what I'm doing. She will fit perfectly into our family, like she was always with us, I have no doubt. She's our girl.

She is so cute when she eats her snacks that I bring.  She goes across the room, sits down and eats it quietly.  That is just what Bryn does because she knows that if she sticks around by me I'll help her eat it and she's not okay with that :)

The lady next to her is Alla, our coordinator.  This woman is moving mountains, she is  the most loving and humble person I have ever met.  She is no longer allowed to be employed by our agency because of the new law so she is working day and night for us out o the kindess of her heart.  She is a hero in every sense of the word.  So many children are home with families because of her tireless efforts.  We keep assuring her that some day soon we will have a BIG party in the States and invite all the families she has helped over the past 20 years so she can see the lives she has changed.

She LOVED her new boots!  She marched around in them our whole visit.

She walked around to everyone in the room to show off her boots!  This girl is going to LOVE all the goodies we have for her at home.  

This evening Becky and I were able to meet up with a friend of a friend, that is now our new friend Sarah :)  She was so nice to have us to her house for some delicious comfort food and great conversation.  She is also from the states, Texas in fact, my dad would be glad to know that!  She is also a volleyball player so thats pretty awesome.  Her husband is over here working and she is busy doing volunteer work.  We made it to her house just fine via the metro but got a little disoriented on the way back and ended up trapped in the middle of this park surrounded by heavy traffic.  We thought we were not going to be able to cross over again but thankfully we found a break in traffic.  My goodness its just one adventure after another.  We would have been fine except for the Red "M" that is found on the outside of the Metro stations.  I spotted one a bit up the road from where we were and when we got to it we saw that it was a sign for the Metro Diner!!  Seriously?  We are definitely getting our exercise walking around this city, thats for sure.

Matching Russian dresses for the girls.  When I asked the lady at the market if she sewed them, she told me her sister did.  We are now a little skeptical of that since we have seen identical dresses in shops all over the city.  ha ha, or maybe her sister is just very busy

We were a little creeped out when we saw these things sitting above the fur coats in one of the stores we were in. 

Monday and Tuesday

Yesterday we were able to attend an event at the U.S. ambassador to Russia's private residence and were able to discuss with him our specific case. He was able to share some information with us on their efforts to get information from Russia. It was very nice to know that they really are working hard for the hundreds of families caught in the middle of this.

Becky wrote a very detailed post about the evening if you would like to read it here http://preecefamilyadoption.blogspot.ru/2013/01/spaso-house_22.html

Today was a pretty laid back day. This morning I did an interview with a Russian television station that have been working with us to try and educate the Russia people about the families adopting their children and in our case a child with special needs. It was a great experience to be able to share our story with these two young girls and to see their desire to harbor change in their own country.

This evening we were absolutely honored to attend the Russian ballet at the Kremlin, with a local friend of Becky's. It was truly magical, everything I hoped and dreamed it would be. Everything about the performance from the venue, costumes, back drops, the orchestra, dancers, oh the dancers, was truly majestic. I can't imagine the hours and hours of practice and dedication that is put into it. This evening was just what we needed to take our minds off the frustrations our circumstance. it was so fun to be able to experience it with a local. Yulia was so kind to spend the evening with us, we have met some remarkable people here that have left such sweet imprints on my heart.

Pretty sure this is the world's largest coat closet!  Its amazing how most building have rooms just for hanging up your coats, its quite the system.

Becky and Julia holding on to each other to keep from slipping and falling down.

The inside of the Kremlin theatre where the ballet was held.

The stage was huge, bigger than any stage I have ever seen before.

The women next to Becky is Yulia, such a kind lady.

Loved the "concession" stands during intermission.  Very different from the popcorn and candy usually found in America.  Meats, Cheeses, Mushroom soup, pastries, sandwiches, wine, tea and juice.  Becky and I opted for an apple juice.  Cracked Yulia up that we ordered the same thing.

Becky's poor feet, once again we didn't choose wisely in the footwear department for the evening.   We were hobbling around by the end of the evening in our fancy heeled shoes. 

Final curtain call

Orchestra pit

Becky and Yulia

The first building of Moscow University.

Minutes before we left for the ballet we got a call from one of our helpers here informing us that the top story on the news is that the Supreme Court here in Russia sent a letter of direction to all the lower courts instructing them that anyone with a court decision made before January 1st are able to leave home with their adopted children. This is exactly the instruction our judge was waiting on. Praying that tomorrow will come with the news that we can pick up our decrees as soon as possible and that we can begin the process of bringing our kids home. We go to bed feeling very optimistic and encouraged by today's news, I will be sure to update you on what we hear tomorrow.

Thanks again for your prayers, they have carried me through this time and brought me more peace and comfort through this time of uncertainty than I could have ever imagined possible.

To close, some words from my husband Wayne, hope he doesn't mind me sharing.

"I truly believe and know that Jaymi is our daughter and will be in our home with us soon. If the Lord wanted it NOW, it would happen NOW. For this reason, I feel that we are a part of a bigger plan. I just hope that a few years from now, we will understand what that plan is. "

As Becky and I watched as all the other families we knew here specifically, in similar situations went home with their children in hand, it was hard not to feel a bit defeated and abandoned. Thankfully in those moments of weakness and sorrow, Heavenly Father wrapped his arms tightly around us by putting someone in our path to lift our spirits and strengthen our resolve to press forward. I have not for one second felt alone on this journey, a tender mercy indeed. I like Wayne, believe that our struggle in the final hours of this adoption are part of a greater plan, one that I may not understand in the near future, but one that I'm honored to be a part of.