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We made it home......

Made it home and Nadya is doing great!!!!!!!! She LOVES school and is adjusting really well...... Just thought you would all like to know......

Just a few more pics from the days I didn't post.

Nadya seemed to enjoy the rides more than the animals at the zoo.

Flowers for Babooska....

This was on the menu at a restaurant we ate at. I have no idea what it was, but it works like a bong.

Today was a good morning. Nadya woke up and got herself dressed, brushed her teeth, did her hair and then looked at us and said, “Parrk” complete with rolling R’s. We looked at our watches and pointed and motioned in a few minutes because we still had to get ready ourselves. She seems to really love the park and already knows the way by herself. (although we don’t allow her to go alone she will run off in front of us but stops and waits at corners and turns).
She is eating really well right now. She seems to be craving protein. It is funny to see what she can eat in comparison to our other children. She is very independent and enjoys getting her own food out and preparing it.
We just got back from the embassy where we got Nayda’s visa and met other American couples who have already adopted and were getting their visas as well. I think it was great for Nadya to see she is not the only child going thru this currently. We also told our coordinator that we would register Nadya at home and this is allowing us to leave one day early. So, we have changed our tickets, again, and will arrive home tomorrow night, Tuesday at 8:24 assuming we make our connection, so be praying for that. If we do get hung up in Atlanta, we will try to post to our blog and let you know.
I can’t wait to be home, to see all of our children together and to see just how the dynamics of our family have evolved. I am a little nervous for Nadya, but I am sure she will find some comfort in seeing Tanya again soon (another little girl from her orphanage who was adopted by some friends of ours from church recently as well.) I also think her brothers and sister will be great for her.

A day of Walking

Well, we did a lot of walking today. We visited the zoo where Nadya did more people watching than animal watching. She started to warm up towards the end and was watching the animals more. We also found a park today as we were walking and Nadya was very excited about that. She seemed to love the swings and the slides. As we are outside she is still pretty quiet and bashful but as soon as we walk in our apartment door she is very comfortable again. She ate really well today and is still drinking a ton of juice, milk and yogurt. We sat down today and worked on some of the alphabet letters (practiced saying them and writing them), she did really well with it. She also did some math and did really well with basic addition and subtraction. I still am in shock with how well we are able to communicate. We are all getting pretty bored of being here in Moscow. Tomorrow we plan to take Nadya to the Kremlin, St. Basil's and Arbot street. A few more tips for any future travelers...
1. Take Kleenix. They are no where to be found......
2. Pay attention to the water you buy or you may end up with carbonated water. I finally have that one figured out.
3. If you want to lose weight, I highly recommend a trip to Russia. Thank goodness our apartment has a kitchen and we are able to buy things that we can recognize at the grocery store. (sort of)

Update

The over night train to Ivanovo was good except we didn’t really sleep. This made for a very long day the next day. We drove about 1 and a half hours to the orphanage and Nadya walked in nervously with a smile on her face. She has gotten a bit taller and actually looks thinner. She was quit shy, but warmed up although she didn’t talk much she would answer our questions. Our visit at the orphanage was actually a lot longer than I expected, because of all the adoption formalities and Nadya was a sport. So patient, and left a few times to go check up on her friends, but was always back quickly. That night we met up with Tanja, our friend, and had dinner. We also saw Katya briefly. It was a comfort to see them as we are both missing home. The next morning we arrived at court and Nadya was waiting for us. She gave me a hug immediately, and didn’t really want much to do with papa. The court hearing went actually pretty quickly and there were really no surprises. Then they waived the ten day waiting period and made it all official. Nadya seemed nervous and scared and wouldn’t talk much at first. Typical kid. She was very attached to me at first but after shopping at the mall, (where she wanted everything!!!!!!!!!!, but was able to pick out only a few things and was really good about it.) She learned that papa is the man who buys everything and does all the opening. The Johnson household is now going to be poor, because I am afraid that Nadya can out shop me. She walks around taking in everything and wants to go in every store and looks at everything. She picked out a new outfit, a new doll and two children movies in Rusian. Hopefully we will get her passport quickly. As I am typing Nadya is doing my hair. She looked at pictures and she can say Hallie and Alex. Carter is a little different because she is rolling the R’s but it still sounds similar. She is talking up a storm in Russian and Doug and I just look at her and throw our arms in the air and she just smiles. We are looking forward to being able to understand her tonight when we meet up with Tanja for dinner.




We got Nadya’a passport in one day which is great, but it looks like we still can’t go home until Wednesday. After we see our coordinator tonight to verify we will call and try and change our plane tickets. The apartment that we are staying in is great. It has wireless internet, free international calling satellite TV, air conditioning and a washer. This makes our stay a little bit easier. Our hotel in Ivanovo didn’t have air conditioning and it was HOT.
Nadya doesn’t seem to be eating much but she is drinking a ton of juice, drinkable yogurts, and strawberry milk. I guess it is a good thing these all have a lot of calories. We saw the doctor today and he said that Nadya is doing well, she is thin and has long fingers and toe nails and although she is small he expect she could grow like a weed and may actually be tall.
Nadya seems to enjoy her Russian cartoons and channel surfing. She loves to tease her papa, maybe a little too much, but this is what they did in January and he now has a different role. I think that when we get home and she can see Hallie, Alex, and Carter interacting with him as a father, she will start to understand. We are waiting for our laundry to finish washing so we can leave and go out walking perhaps visiting the zoo.

Back In Moscow!

A really quick update with a promise of more to come. We have Nadya, we are back in Moscow, very tired from the car road, and Nadya is doing well. She is taking everything in. EVERYTHING is new to her. It is amazing how many firsts we missed out on, but how many firsts we are witnessing. First thing she wanted to do when we got to our apartment was take a bath in the big tub. More to come in about 10 hours when it will be morning here.

Sight Seeing

Here is the picture of the green apple juice from yesterday…… Yuck!!!!!!!

Doug is such a good sport. He drank it all and liked it. The sight of it made my stomach turn……. Oh well, he has been able to eat much more than me this entire time. When we eat, I opt for familiarity like Hard Rock Café or Mc Donald’s and he is always wanting to try something authentic. I think we are trying to meet in the middle. I must say, breakfast was great, pancakes with chocolate sauce, bananas and ice cream. Yum.


Today we walked to red square and saw the Kremlin and St. Basil’s Cathedral. The weather is so nice here, about 80 degrees and we both got some sun. Here are a few pictures of our excursion today.

St. Basil's Cathedral

The Kremlin


A few more tips from Russia-
1. You can buy Ray Ban sunglasses at a steal, (around 20 bucks), as long as you don’t mind the logo washing off when you wash them.
2. Be careful where you sit. Moscow has many pigeons and it could be dangerous. It almost was for us today.
3. The metro can be very confusing. Find a young nice person to help you.
4. You can drive on the sidewalk for a fine of about 2.00 dollars.
5. As a pedestrian, you can cross at the crosswalk (or zebras as our translator called them), and cars are suppose to stop, but they don’t and the fine is also only a mere two dollars.
6. I’ve decided when standing in line, perhaps it is not about where you line up, instead I think it is a lot like driving here. You must be aggressive, or you will get no where.


Tomorrow is our last day in Moscow and then we take an overnight train to Ivanovo. We are excited to see Nadya again and nervous for court. It is starting to feel like the end and then again just the beginning, and we are a little nervous about that. We are mostly nervous for Nadya. We are hoping she is ready for this and does well with the transition.
I’ve been able to email and find out how the boys are doing. Alex and Carter are doing well. Carter misses his mom at night, but apparently Alex is a great comfort reminding him that mommy is in Russia and then tickles his back as I often do. Carter snuggles right up to Alex and falls asleep. Alex can be so sweet.

Medicals......

Well, they are complete... Not much to say about them, except I would say that they were more throughel than we were expecting. No needles or anything like that, but I can say it is a good thing neither of us have a gambling problem. :) We meet a couple who are adopting a little baby boy while we were there and we are meeting them tonight for dinner. They are on the first of three trips and should bring him home in September. It is crazy how different the process can be depending on what region you are adopting from.

I have learned a few things while traveling in Russia that I will share with you.

1. Lane changes are absolutely crazy!!!!!

2. Pedestrians do not have the right of way!!!!! It is dangerous to walk the streets!!!!

3. Do not buy bottled water from your hotel unless you are good with paying five dollars a bottle for a tiny bottle. (maybe 4 swigs!) Our beer was only four dollars and it was a huge glass. Go figure!

4. Tylenol PM and one Russian beer makes for a great nights sleep. (Thanks Theresa for the tip)

5. Snag the barf bags from your airplane because they might come in handy. If your adopted child doesn't need them, you may yourself. Moscow traffic is something else, plus they have no exhaust regulations and the air is horrible!

6. If you plan on being served while standing in line, stand next to the person not behind them or you will not be helped (or in my case, people may just continue to go infront of you).

7. Flea markets are great and the fruit looks amazing. We plan to try it soon!!!!

8. Your websites can come up in Russian!!!!!! (this one does anyway, so I can't run spell checker, sorry!) It's a good thing the buttons are all colored.

Tomorrow will be a busy day of sightseeing, so I am sure I will have more advice soon.

Happy Birthday Jillzy!!!!!!!!! And Diana, Happy Late Birthday! :)

We Have Arrived and We are Tired!!!!!

Well, after a LONG and uneventful plane ride arrived in Moscow. Having only slept 3-4 hours on the plane we were tired. To make matters worse, the traffice is INSANE and it took us about 2 hours to get to our hotel from the airport which is relatively close. We arrived at our hotel and decided we would go walk around and try to stay awake so that we could get on some sort of schedule. We walked around Arbot street and where we shopped a little and then had dinner. At about 7:30 here we thought we had been up enough to sleep, but after about four hours of sleep we found ourselves wide awake. It is 11:00 PM here and about 1:00 PM , so I guess we are definitely still on Utah time. Hopefully our bodies will adjust soon. We are planning to get a drink and try watching a movie, with the hopes of falling asleep because we really need to get on some sort of schedule. It feels good to be here, although I worry by nature so I find that it is already hard to be gone, knowing it will be awhile before we return to the kids. More to come tomorrow after our medicals, which of course, we are hoping are uneventful.

Purchased our Tickets

Well, we leave August 8th and will arrive in Russia August 9th. We will have the 9th to ourselves and then on the 10th we have our medical exams. Over the weekend we will spend it in Moscow and then Sunday Night we will take the over night train to the city of Ivanovo where we will stay to finish up our adoption. If everything goes quickly we should come home August 22, if not, it may be the 24 or 25. I am really hoping we get Nadya's passport quickly so that we can get back to the kids. I have never left them for so long and I am not looking forward to leaving them for that long. It is looking like I will be missing the first few days of school. I wasn't expecting this, but it is looking inevitable.

COURT DATE!!!!!!!

August 14th! We are so excited. The bad news is that I will be missing my entire prep week of school, but I guess that is better than the first week of school. We don't know all the details yet, like when we will be arriving and hopefully returning, but I will keep everyone posted when I do find out.

New Room! It's Pink!!!! (the girls' favorite)

Doug still needs to hang the three white shadow boxes which go on the purple squares and then Hallie will have her own space for special items as well.

A few things on the shelves are Hallie's and will be moved as soon as Hallie's shadow boxes are up on the wall. The idea is that they each will have their own space for their special items. Nadya will be picking out a few things while we are in Russia for her shelves.



This is the "Reading Nook," Hallie helped make the pillows. We found the fabric at walmart for a steal! It is extremely cute. I even find the boys hanging out in there!

So, they will share a room until they are brave enough to move downstairs. Not too bad though, atleast they get their own closet!

Here is a close up of the pillows..................

Frustrated!

Well, we still wait..... We have been told for the past month that we will get a court date any day now! It is frustrating, to say the least. In the meantime, we finished the girls' bedroom. I will post a picture soon. It is bright pink with one pink, purple, blue, and white stripped wall. It is complete with a princess reading nook in the corner. Hallie helped make the pillows for the reading nook, and really enjoys it. Hopefully she will use it for reading. She just loves her room and my favorite quote from her this week is, "I just want to sit in my room all day long!" We also bought Nadya a day bed with a trundle. Hallie already had a day bed and the two day beds are on opposite walls, but face eachother. When they have friends sleep over they can raise the trundle and the three twin beds turn into one gigantic bed. Hallie can't wait for a sleep over. I'll post pics soon. I just got a new lap top and I need to find the cords for my camera.

Waiting on a Court Date

Well, I just heard from our agency and she said we should have a court date by the end of this week... Yeah!!!!!! We were also told that all adoptions that were not previously started are on hold. This makes us sad, as there are so many wonderful children needing good homes, and all of these delays slow the process down...... Here is a new picture of Nadya. Our church just got back from their 12 day mission trip and had a wonderful time. Nadya is on the right side dressed in blue....

Introduction

Click on the picture to see it in larger format. On the top is a picture of Nadya from Doug's Mission trip in January. She was all dressed up for her performance in "The Snowflake Dance." Doug said she did an awesome job! Above is a picture from our visit trip in April. This is Nadya in front of the orphanage where she has spent the last year of her life. Prior to this, she was at a different orphanage. It wasn't too cold, but the children are required to wear their outside gear when they go outside in the winter.

We've created this Blog so that we can keep everyone updated on our adoption process. Right now we are waiting for a court date. After we receive our court date we should be in Russia for about two weeks. We'll let you know as soon as we hear anything!