Wednesday, December 10, 2008
We hugged and Kissed ourTWINS TODAY!!
Today has been the most amazing day.
First things first, we were exhausted and we had to be dressed and ready to go at 7am for the drive to Tver from Moscow. We piled into a yellow van and headed out. It was snowing and the roads became more and more treacherous as we got farther out of Moscow. The sun (and not much of it ever) does not come out until after 9 am and goes down before 4. I have read that in the summer the sun is up at 4 am and does not go down until 11 pm. Not sure which one is better.
We saw over 15 accidents (and I am not exaggerating) It was crazy. There are NO rules to the road in Russia so people go really fast, cut others off, slide on black ice etc. It made for a very tense morning. I took some video out of the window during the drive. It just gives you a little look at the area and the run down roads along the route.
Мы прибыли в Тверь, Россию~ We have arrived in Tver
It took a little over 3 hours to get to Tver, slow and steady through the snow and ice. Right away we were taken to the Adoption Center Office in Tver so that we could get permission to visit the children. We had to hand over our passports and ticket stubs that proved we flew into Moscow, so they know that we are really here to meet the children and not having someone else get the documents for us without us really meeting the kids. The official who was supposed to help us out was not there so we had to leave empty handed. Sad and dismayed, we headed to the hotel in Tver to drop off our bags instead of going straight to the Orphanage. The hotel, called Hotel Volga, was not the one that I thought we were staying at. We were told not to make hotel reservations, that our in-region coordinator would be making them for us. Every time I looked up Tver or read other Tver adoption blogs and list serves the only hotel I heard of was the Osanbruck. Well, we are at a much different place. We are in dorm style rooms but thankfully we have a private bath. The postitives are that it is a very inexpensive place to stay , and it is in a great location. It has a 24 hour café where we ate dinner tonight and a nice gift shop with local Tver made gifts and souvenirs.
As soon as we put our bags down in the rooms, we were told that we would be allowed to visit the orphanage, so off we went. A dozen snow covered scary roads later and we arrived at Teremok Orphanage. A large, run-down looking building. It does have what looks to be a brand new play area outside. We were whisked into a main reception area that has a throw rug and a brown leather couch. It turns out that this was the location where we would spend the day getting to know our children.
Very quickly an older woman caregiver, briskly and without ceremony, came down the stairs holding a precious baby girl. D was all dressed up wearing a blue knit dress with white tights and pretty white shoes. Prior to coming inside was were told to let the girls get used to the idea of us watching them before we tried to touch them our hold them. But the caregiver just thrust her into my arms the second they came down the steps. She is the most delicious girl ever. Zvery flirty and sweet. A definite strong personality. She was content in my arms. Next down was M. She was dressed in a pretty red and white knit sweater dress and red tights. She looked adorable. She was a little nervous at first and was thrust into Michael’s arms a bit too quickly. She probably has never seen a man before, except maybe a doctor who poked and proded her. So, she was a bit weary of Mike. But she calmed down nicely and was engaged with mike’s antics. We learned that they save these pretty outfits for when adoptive parents come to visit and normally the children are in older jumpsuits and donated clothes. We got to spend about an hour with them. Playing with toys we brought and taking loads of pictures and videos. Because they were given to us right before lunch and nap time they were a bit sleepy and cranky. We were allowed to bring them upstairs ourselves, into their playrooms, and place them in the play pens. There they are fed by caregivers and take their afternoon nap.
We left to go out for lunch while the girls ate and napped. Our coordinator took us to a lovely real Russian restaurant. We ate a tasty meat soup in a light tomato broth (I have since learned that it is called Salanca- they just put everything that is left in the fridge into a stew, either way it is tasty, but never the same) Mike had meat pot and I had seasame chickem, Russian style. Also FYI- the Russians put Mayonaise on Everytthing!! Lunch was great and filling. We were then allowed to go back to the orphanage to spend more time with the girls from 3:00 to 5:30 we played with them. We also had an important meeting with the orphanage director, coordinator, translator, and social worker. We learned some more information about theiur health and backgrounds. Of course with 2 little 11 month old girls crawling all over us it was hard to write down the important stuff. We did find out more information on their birth mom along with a copy of her photo. I know hoe blessed we are to have it, I am sure the girls will want to see it when they are older. More impotantly we found out that they orphanage had baptized the girls after they arrived at the orphanage and were given these beautiful baptism certificates all filled out in Russian. These go right into their Life-Books for when they are older.
On to the girls:
D is spunky. She is very strong willed, pulls herself up and is walking with assistance. She is inquisitive and likes to lay her head on your shoulder and snuggle. She is always on the move and has a sweet toothy smile.
M is the shy one. She is quiet and content to sit on a lap and play with a toy. She would hum and rock to the music on the glowworm. I got her to smile a few times by throwing her in the air. She really took to Michael and he entertained her with numerous made up songs ( I think he also threw in some Rush and Metallica songs in lullaby voices)
I cannot wait to post their pictures, but am not allowed until after court. I’ll try to get some of just their backs. Maybe I can find a little teaser.
It was a long and exhausting day- completely worth it!!! On to the hotel, dinner and sleep.
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