Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.

Pic #1 Alex in the Courtyard Marriot in Moscow. He is looking great for his trip
Pic #2 Alex and Chloe meeting eye to eye
Pic #3 Alex discovering that it is fun to drop food on the floor and watch Chloe eat it.
Pic #4 Alex mesmorized by our TV
Pic #5 Alex just sitting at the bottom of our stairs

Things are going real well today. I am preparing to head back to work tomorrow and Cathy will be with Alex all day.

Take care,

The Van Voorens

We all made it home safely last night at 10:00 pm. After about 20 + hours up, Alex was great.

Today was an adjustment period for all of us, including Chloe. I will post more somtime tomorrow.

Scott

Here are some more pics.

































I will post a description at a later time.

Scott

Hey gang,

Just one more day here in Moscow. I thought I would post a link to the Marriot we are staying at. http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/MOWCY Do not forget to click on the photo tour link on the main page. It is a little bit of America in the heart of Moscow.

Now some pics. More to follow at a later time. Alex with a newspaper after Dad showed him how to rip it apart and a smiling moment.

No need to email me anymore. I think everything is working great. On to more pics.

Pic description in order..

1. McDonalds
2. Alex hiding all our plastic bottles
3. LUK Oil (Premium grade is 98 octane and costs 2.50 a gallon regular is 2.25 a gallon
4. IKEA at the MEGA Mart mall

PICS IN ORDER.

Ferris at TVER City Park (open in the summer only)
The infamous Peanut Butter (Nasty stuff)
Movie Theater
Alexander Puskin Monument
Alex eating Russian Pizza
Alex hiding plastic bottles behind the chair. He thought that was great fun.

Next post will have more pics

Well it seems our new host blogspot is a little more receptive to picture uploading. I am going to try and post as many as possible.

BUT FIRST, our days events with Alex.

Breakfast was great, much to the amazement of his parents, solid food is now an option, particulary waffles!!! Of course this is after we asked Cathys mom to purchase baby food in advance for us. Maybe by friday, Alex will be eating more solid foods throughout all his meals.

Aleshia (CHI Translator)picked us up today and off we went to the medical clinic. The doctor said "Alex is fine, just that he is small". So more food it is for Alex. Of course he did not like the exam, but who really likes going to the doctors.

Since this Russian doctor has been approved by the US Embassy to do Orphan physicals, we have finished one part of Consular process. Of course tomorrow is the big day, off to the US Embassy for our interview and filling out more paperwork. I tried to fill out as much as possible in advance so things will go more smoothly. We actually had a chance to drive by the embassy today. What a huge building.

Funny to see the Russian Guards as the first line of defense to the embassy. Of course the US Marines are the second and final wall of protection. I am going to try and take a picture of the Embassy, I was told we can't by our translator. Hopefully I can get one.

We are supposed to be in our room between 11 and 12 noon tomorrow to wait for our call. Most likely our appointment will be sometime in the afternoon. Once the embassy is done, it is just time to pack and fly off to home.

We hope all is well and that you all can read this. Pics will be in the next post.

Hello All,

Comcast has really messed with the blog. I migrated it to blogspot to host. Hopefully this will work.

Please email me at s_vanvooren@yahoo.com if you can actually see this post and the pics we already have posted, of course not the bad ones.

Thanks, Scott

Hello All,

Well we made it to Moscow. We checked in at 5:45 pm. What a long day of waiting around in a lobby.

It was nice to have some American things in the hotel, like Cheeseburgers, real Heinz Ketchup, Fries, American TV, USA Today, you get the picture.

Still having a problem with pictures. Will tackle that again tomorrow.

Also, Cathy and I bit the bullet and have been brushing our teeth with the water, I even drink it at this point. No problems so far.

Tomorrow we have to meet a CHI facilitator in the lobby at 9:20 am. We are off to get Alex's medical exam for the US Embassy. That ought to be fun...strange place, undressing him, shots, OH MY! The good news is, after that, just one more hoop to jump through before we head home. YAY!

Well, signing off for now. It's been a trying night and we are headed off to bed.

Our love to everyone~

Sorry gang, Blogger won't accept or Comcast will not let us upload more pics. We will try again when we arrive in Moscow as we will be able to use our laptop that we brought.

Till next time.

Sorry Gang. Yesterday was kind of hectic for Cathy and Myself. We were going stir crazy having been the 8th day in our hotel room. We were more agitated then Alex was. And of course we had to pack for a depature today anywhere from 10 am till 2 pm. Well it is 1:30 and we still have not gotten Alex's passport yet. HMMMM

The concern is we are already checked out and really are just in a holding pattern.

I am going to try and upload a bunch of pics to pass the time.

The ones above are;

1. The river "Volga" and some tour boats
2. The Ministry of Education building, this was the first stop for us on trip one. This is where the journey began.
3. Alex all dressed for his walk along the river

Today is day 3 with Alex. He is a little cranky, maybe it is the rain today. I was able to upload a bunch of pics today. I have figured out it is Comcast.net that is being difficult with the pics. Maybe we are uploading at a busy time, who knows. Could be our satellite connection.

We have to go and retake Alex's passport pictures, the first ones were too close and part of his head would be chopped off. YIKES. We do not want any issues at passport control when trying to leave. Today we posted earlier b/c we will be heading out this afternoon. We also went to the Pharmacy to get some medcine for Alex's runny nose and cough. Hopefully they meds will work.

We really appreciate all the comments. It really helps alot to read them from everyone. As you know, PC time is a prime, so we cannot respond to them but please know we read everyone. If anyone hasn't figured out yet, you must type in your post and then click the anonymoust button to actually post your comment.

Here goes for the pics.

1. Typical Russian Apartment building there are many, this one is about a block away.
2. Alex all bundled up in his stroller.
3. The post office
4. Cathy and Alex people watching near the post office in front of a dry fountain.

Note: We have to bundle Alex up like it is 20 degrees or "Babuska" = Grandmas will yell at us in Russian saying we are abusing him. So when in Rome, do as the Romans do, Alex is always layered even when it is 65 degrees.

Thanks for reading.

Love the Van Voorens

SORRY GUYS, some pics did not make it. Will try again tomorrow.

Hello All,

Well we are day 2 with Alex. He did not take to well to the bath nor the crib last night. Sleeping was an adventure to say the least. But he got his required amount of sleep. Breakfast was interesting. He did not like the high chair but I put him in it anyway and Cathy put the food in front of him and then the crying stopped and eating commenced.

We had an "Aha" moment today. We noticed that Alex was not really eating solid foods like beans, bread, chicken, etc. He would either take if off the plate and then hand it to me or Cathy would feed it to him and he would take it out of his mouth and hand it to me. We both were perplexed, b/c his schedule translated from the baby house stated things like, Chicken 60grams, Broccoli 120 grams, Fruit 100 grams, etc. Then it dawned on me that the things he took to the most were soft, IE: yogurt, mashed potatoes, vege-puffs, so I let him have some of my beef broth that I had for lunch. BINGO, he kept his mouth open like a baby bird.

So later in the day after nap time, we went to the grocery store with the other woman who adpoted from the same baby house ( A 20 month old girl named Georgine). And did we load up on jar food.

The pics are of Alex in my lap, Alex in stroller, and the local military school, post office and a typical Russian Apartment building.

Hi All,

Today is day 1 with Alex. As previously stated we had to be on the road by 8:00am, so that for us was a 6:00am start. This being Saturday, the breakfast buffet started at 8:00 therefore we were both at out the door with no food.

About 1 3/4 hours after driving, we arrived back in Kashin to pick up Alex. What an emotional moment it was. We entered the baby home with Diaper bag, gifts for the caretakers, donation of clothes, car seat, etc. Within 5 minutes came Alex. Cathy promptly changed him in to our clothes and we returned "his" clothes to the caretaker. It was at this time, we noticed Alex had a big bruise on his forehead and some small scratches on his face and neck. It is not like we wouldn't notice, so we questioned. The caretakers said it was blue paint, but he must have fell between Tuesday and Friday, HMMMMM. You may notice this on his head in some of the pics. Apparently the scratches were from other kids who Alex was "playing" with. Maybe he is a future boxer.

The whole process took about 20 mins and we were back on the road heading back to TVER. Cathy was great, but I knew she was filled with emotions as well as I. At first Alex did not like the van, but after awhile he slept.

Upon arrival back in TVER, we had Alex's Passport photo taken and will sign the papers for his passport on Monday. Hopefully, if all goes well, we will have his passport on Wed. and then we head back to Moscow. I will detail that end of our journey when we are there.

Well till tomorrow. We plan on uploading some more pics now that Blogger seems to be more friendly.

Love, Scott and Cathy





Pics: The two ladies in blue with Alex are his caretakers from the Kashin Baby House, Cathy and Alex resting, and Alex playing with his eating utensils.

PS: I forgot to tell you.... if you see a red X below, there is a picture there hiding. Just click on the X and you'll be able to see them.

tootles :)

WELL.... IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!

As you can see in the picture, I am standing in the courtroom right after the judge made her decision declaring that Alex is our son AND we will not have to remain in country for the 10 day waiting period. This means we will be coming home on Saturday, May 27 after all. In the picture, from left to right: Me, the Russian Federation Prosecuter, the Judge, and then on the end, the Russian Federation translator. Not pictured: SCOTT (taking the picture), our Russian Federation court stenographer, and the Regional Social Worker/Inspector (who came to each visitation we had with Alex).

Court was a trying experience. In our hearts we knew everything would be fine...but it was a bit of a bumpy road during the proceedings. Prior to court, Scott and I spent time studying our home study and practicing answers to any possible questions that may arise. We even assigned ourselves certain topics of "expertise" so that when asked a question, we would already know which one of us would answer that specific question. Yeah, well, you know how they say "Best laid plans...."

After standing up in the courtroom and stating our names & addresses, we were told to sit. I then stood to answer the 1st question. Well, at least that's what we thought.... What the Judge meant was "Which one of you will answer a string of questions 1st?" So, about 35 minutes later, I was STILL answering questions while standing in front of the courtroom!!!!!! Scott was being very supportive and even offerred to take over the interogation, but he was told that it "Wasn't his turn." In any case, I was on a mission!!!!! So, after I was FINALLY done, Scott was asked to stand and his questions were more general, lasting about 10 minutes. We had to laugh. As for the content of these questions, that is far too much to write, so we will explain in more details later. Lastly, the Regional Inspector stood and vouched for us based on her observations of us with Alex. She was so warm & supportive, insisting to the Judge we were best suited for Alex.

Moving on... we were then asked to leave the courtroom after our questioning and asking the Judge to waive the 10 day waiting period in region. We then stood in the hallway outside for about 5 minutes and then we were asked to come back in and listen to her verdict. Obviously it was a positive one and we were thrilled!!!!!!

Following court, we went to the Archives Building to officially sign his birth & adoption certificates stating we are his parents. At that moment, it all became very real for us and I can't even tell you how many emotions came over us. *Tear-jerker moment* We then decided we wanted to make more of a donation to the orphanage so our facilitator, Alexei, called the orphanage director to see what they needed. They said clothes so off we went to purchase a bag-o-clothes to bring with us tomorrow. We were also told that it is Russian tradition to bring the orphanage workers a cake, bottle of wine, and a box of chocolates to show our gratitude- so we took care of that as well.

Tonight we ate dinner with the couple we came in with on Tuesday, Judy & Bill, and they surprised us with champagne at the table. It was incredibly sweet of them!!!! And just so you know...the champagne was incredible. It is very similar to Asti and guess what.... SCOTT LOVED IT! (<-- special note to dad & Matt, b/c you know how Scott is with Asti)

Our schedule for tomorrow begins with the VERY important task of going and picking up OUR SON!!!!! We will then be going to have his picture taken for his passport. After that, we are in a holding pattern here until the passport is completed, which should be Wed., the day we are traveling back to Moscow.

So, the next time we write we will have our little man with us here. It should be quite the adventure on our 1st day together!!!

love,
Cathy & Scott

Well, here we are, and it's already Thursday- YAY!

Today we had 2 doctors appts: 1 with the psychiatrist and the other with an oncologist. Both places were very interesting. The psychiatric hospital not only addresses patients for those matters but it is also the place to go for your driver's license and license to carry weapons. The oncologist dealt with our drug test results. Both were quite the adventure- the stories are too long to talk about on here, so you will have to wait for all of the details when we return home.

Afterward, Scott and I went out to the mall to look around and grocery store again, to get more "Alex" supplies as we now have his daily menu and schedule in hand. We are planning to try to adhere to it as much as we can except of course for the larger calorie intake. As for the mall, we bought Alex a hat with ear flaps (the standard so we wanted to blend in) and a curling iron for me as mine has decided to stop working here. Just an FYI- curling irons are found in an electronics store along with TVs, microwaves, blenders, stereos, etc.

We are now hanging out in the hotel waiting for our facilitator to contact us about tomorrow's court proceedings. He was off with another couple today dealing with some issues they have run into. So far we do know that we need to have our home study memorized, be familiar with all the info. we received on Alex, and have a thorough answer to the question: "Why did you decide to adopt from Russia?" Also to kill time, I decided to try to use the curling iron....notice the word "try"? Well, by the time I was done, Scott told me I looked like I was ready for the prom because I was so frizzed out and kinky. GOOD TIMES!

It is getting more exciting as the day goes by. To think we may actually have him here with us at this time tomorrow!!!

That's all for now-
love and kisses to all!
Cathy & Scott

Sorry gang,

I could only upload two pics today. We will try again later.

Scott

Hi All,

We have been having a hard time uploading pics. Please be patient as I try to trouble shoot this from here.

Scott

Privyet (hi) from sunny Tver!

Today we woke up, had breakfast, and then went to the grocery store. As usual, the store clerks followed us around as if we were going to steal something. Just a note, one of the things we bought was peanut butter and jam for sandwiches. Um...yeah, not really the same kind of peanut butter we are accustomed to, so we attached a pic. to show you. We then got adventurous and decided to go out in search of the post office to find phone cards. The difficult part of this journey was the fact that we had no flippin' idea of how post office was spelled in cyrillic.

At first, we walked into what appeared to be a book store of some sorts. So, even though we knew it was not the post office, we decided to peruse around. Upon leaving, in typical Cathy style, I set off the alarms. I quickly came back in emptying my pockets paranoid that they thought I had taken something, causing all the store clerks to laugh and point. Needless to say, we just about ran out of there.

We then continued on to another building that we thought "looked" like a post office. Score- it was! Of course, to be fair here, let me tell you what else can be found in the post office besides the actual mail windows. Coming in, the 1st room was a liquor store. The next office area seemed to sell cards for any occassion. There was another stand selling cigarettes and yet another, which was the one we wanted, selling perfume, make-up, and photos.

After returning we then got ready to go and visit ALEX!!!!! We left for the baby house at 1:30 PM and arrived at 3:15 PM. When they brought him in to see us again after waking up from his nap, he was less than thrilled and a tad confused. After a while, he was okay so we played trucks, had a catch with a ball, and then fed him giant goldfish, which he seemed to shove into his mouth as fast as we were giving them to him!!! Attached is one picture from today. I am sure once he is here with us, there will be many more to follow. Which, by the way, although we don't know for sure, the other couples just finishing with their 2nd trip told us that they both got to pick up their children on the day of court. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed he will be in our arms this Friday night!!!

Well, that's it for now. Oh, except for the fact that, as promised yesterday, we included a picture here at the bottom of our room. Okay, we are off....we have a dinner date with another couple here on their last night of trip 1. Hope all is well at home. Stay tuned for next time!!!!

loads-o-love,
US

Hello All,

Well, here we are again safe and sound in TVER. The Osnabruck moved us upstairs to the second floor, even though our room # is 125. HMMM. Bonus, we have a balcony that over looks the street. We will try and take a picture of this and post it tomorrow.

So, tomorrow we are going to spend the afternoon with Alex. We are waiting on a 6:00pm call from our new translator, Olga. She is going to give us the details for tomorrow.

The flight was fine, minus some turbulence. Some of you may or may not know that on our return flight we hit a huge air pocket. This, of course, plunged the plane down and rocked it so hard that the overhead bins opened up. Cathy thought we were going to plunge to our deaths in Greenland. The funny thing though, I was more paranoid then Cathy this trip.

We were greeted by a different translator, as mentioned before, Olga. She was waiting with another couple from Wilkes-Barre, PA. They are adopting a twelve year old boy named Dimitry. This is their first trip and they seemed real excited. They have a 22 year old girl and grandson, alongwith a 19 year old son. I am sure we will see them around.

We have dinner plans tonight with the Garretts, Angela and Kevin. Angela and I have been emailing for a few weeks now. They arrived two days before us and are also on their first trip. They are adopting an 18 month old boy named Elijah, he is very cute.

For our parents, we plan on getting a calling card from the post office tomorrow. Most likely though, we will give you a quick call today.

Look for more pics and a detailed report on how Alex is. See you tomorrow!

Hello All,

We will be leaving for JFK tomorrow in the early AM. We plan on going to my Aunt and Uncles house and leaving our car there. They live in Oakland, NJ and it will be better than having to pay the $16.50 a day for longterm parking at JFK. We will take a Towncar to JFK around 1 pm. Flight leaves at 6:40pm so look for an update when we arrive the next day.


Wish us luck.

Hello All,

Short of the Shifferobe that has yet to come in, Alex's room is finished.

So, I hope you enjoyed the pics. If the pics do not appear, click on the link to the most recent post on the list on the right.

Till next time.