Some pics (finally)

Sorry again for short and boring posts. Being instant parents to an active toddler is taking a toll on my internet time. :) But here are a few pics.

This is a picture of our apartment complex in Ust by the Oolbah river where we would walk. Finally, when we would walk he would take a much needed nap.
This is the helicopter at the playground in our apartment complex. Much of the toys were unsafe by US standards, but the helicopter seemed too cool for Maksim to pass up!

At lunch time, we went to an indoor playground. Maksim had a lot of fun riding a coin operated train. He played for a good while and got sooo sweaty. He was quite a happy boy! Doesn't look like it in the pic. :)

Here is a picture of the view from our balcony yesterday. Yesterday it was 70 degrees F. Today we woke up to a blizzard. Almaty is a beautiful and modern city. We went up to the mountains today. It was snowing too hard to get a good view but it was white, beautiful, and Maksim got in a little nap.

Almaty

Phew! We made it to Almaty on a 2 hour plane flight. It wasn't too bad for the first 1 1/2 hours. He was happy, silly, funny and cute. Then ... well something different happened. He screamed "schelone (green)" at the top of his lungs. Over and Over. Yikes. Really it was only for about 10 minutes but it was pretty gnarly. Mom's and Papa's hair nearly fell out.

But we arrived and he had fun seeing the city and going to the grocery store. It was a real grocery store with lots of american foods. I couldn't even think I was so excited. I am making mexican food for dinner (chicken soft tacos!!!). So excited. Bulgan thought I was a big dork. It is definately more expensive in Almaty. Probably costs twice as much at the grocery store.

We already miss Semyone and Lena. They are awesome. But we are very lucky to spend time with Bulgan again. Bulgan is really funny. She tries to pull jokes on me. It is cool. I like teasing makes me feel at home. She bought us a house warming gift - a beautiful purple hyacinth. It was really sweet. Poor Bulat had to carry our gnarly luggage up to our apartment. He was very kind, too. Not to mention that the view from our apartment is amazing.

Thank you to everyone for all the advice about our son. Your words and thoughts really have given us strength. Maksim will need this from us. We are willing to give it.

No pics -dial up sucks. :)

Sorry Everyone

OOPS!

We apologize for leaving everyone in the dark. We have been so busy that as soon as there is a moment we fall asleep. I haven't even been checking my email!! Boy were there alot of people wondering what had happened to us....

I just wanted to tell everyone not to worry and everything is going okay. We are really homesick and can't wait to get to the USA!! Tomorrow morning we will leave for Almaty and spend a week or 2 there waiting for Maksim's paperwork to be done. Nothing about this adoption process has been easy - especially the wait. Wait, Wait, Wait!!

We are having some issues with Maksim centering around food and language. He is frustrated that we cannot understand his sentences and requests. We are frustrated that he cannot understand ours. Each day he has some tantrums that we cannot seem to calm or help. But each day he learns some more things and we make progress. We learning how to help eachother feel good in the family.

Any advice from you parents out there?

Sorry for the lack of updates! I cannot promise they will be more frequent. :)

Nap Time!

Good and Bad news. Good news first - we are going to Almaty on Friday! Bad News - we can't leave for home until probably April 16th. I am supposed to be back at work on April 10th. I don't know if we can push the time sooner - we are going to try. Can't wait to be home.

Yeah! We got Maksim to go down for an hour nap and that made sooooo much difference. We knew he needed to nap before -we were just unable to get him to. He woke up all happy and smiley and snuggly. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing, playing and playing with a madrushka doll (those stacking Russian dolls), and watching ice age (again). It is so funny because he tells us lines from it even when we aren't watching it. He is sure picking up English fast! Anyway - short post - because I am tired. Yeah Yeah I know! But here are some of the pics I couldn't get to post last night. Nevermind blogger sucks!

Maksim!

We have had some exciting couple of days. Not to mention crazy, wonderful, tiring, happy, sad, fun, and scary. Yesterday, we went to a ski resort. It was cold and there was some great snow. It was kinda like Utah must have been in the 1950's. There was just one lift or should I say a tow rope and a few buildings. I didn't even see the cashier. Jason and I were sad that we hadn't come up to try it before picking up our bundle. Actually, Mom tried to talk Papa into it but he wouldn't. Then we get up there and he tells Lena- man I wish someone would've have told me about this. Of course he must have forgotten Mom's pleading. ;) We ate lunch and talked to a couple of doggies. We sure miss our Audry Bear.

Maksim was trying to push all of his Papa's buttons.  He would do everything that
Papa told him not to do.  Dangerous things like eating HUGE bites of stuff to
choke and putting smaller toysin his mouth, pushing the buttons on the DVD
player,hitting the glass doors- even redirection wasn't working.  It was a little
frightening.  So I took him into time out.  He was crying big tears and scream-
ing (just a bit - actually whenever his voice is too loud - I just remind him and
he screams with a whisper) Then I remembered something I read about kids
that are grieving the loss of their caregivers.  It was just like they described.  So
I took him to the computer and we looked at pictures of the kids and Mama
Tanya (his favorite) and he stopped and stared for many minutes.  The comp-
uter would try to move the next pic and we would put it back.  Jason and I were
both were tearing up thinking about it.

It must be really scary for him to not be able to communicate with us in Russian.
It must be frustrating that these dummies can't even understand a simple
sentence.  It must really suck that all we do is say all this stuff he can't understand.
On top of it he has been "abducted" and can't see his friends or his Mamas or any
of the things he knows.  

So today, we went back to the baby house for a visit. We took some flowers for a couple of our favorite caregivers and some little candy bar/cookie things for the children. I wanted to take fruit but everyone thought candy would be better. I was half afraid to go back because I thought Maksim might either scream at the top of his lungs and not enter or not want to leave when it was time. Neither happened! He just visited with some of his friends. Hugged and laughed with one of our favorite caregivers and got punched by Alosha in the stomach as he pinched Alosha's arm (nice). We said goodbye forever and headed out of there. Lena and Maksim laughed so hard as she said "lets get out of here quick!" They both ran as fast as Maksim could down the stairs and off the driveway. Yeah! He wants to stay with his Mom and Papa. (BTW - I decided to be called Mom because I couldn't stand it when Maksim says Mama to all the ladies he sees. I am right here!!!!! I know, I know, all ladies are Mama but I can't help but have hurt feelings :)

We went for a long walk to the local grocery store and Maksim fell asleep in the backpack. I was so happy. I looked over at him as we started out and gave him a quick smile. I got my first "I love you" smile back. All the other smiles were "you are so funny" or "this is fun". But THIS smile was a "I am happy and your pretty cool." Sigh. There was some sight seeing and playing and picture taking. One interesting thing at a playground, there was a small collection of "Apache" Indian statues. Strange - I guess we owe that to Hollywood. It took me a second to sound it out in the Cyrillic Alphabet... No Kazakh statues, or Mongols, or... just Apache (?) Questionable history, too, because there was a Tinglit totem pole. Oh well - Hollywood isn't all that accurate.

We are learning some things about being Maksim's parents. We are frustrated with his behavior sometimes. But all in all a wonderful first few days together. Now can we come home, yet???

I have some cool pics, but you know blogger!! :P

Beautiful Garshok!

Too tired to post except for some pics and one story.


Maksim was a doll. We took him to Pizza Blues for lunch and play time. It is a pizza place with a large play area. Maksim played so hard that by the end, he couldn't move anymore. He got stuck in the balls. I pulled him out and we decided to take him home and forego some shopping. We did however need to get him a little garshok - it is a little potty for kids. We thought maybe he could relax more than he was when he had to support himself on the big potty. He was sleeping on Papa while Momma and Lena went into the store to buy the garshok. When we came back out Maksim was awake - still comatosed on Papa's lap - but awake enough so that Lena could show him what we bought. He said (translated)- "Oooohhh a potty! It is beautiful!" What the heck! We all laughed all the way home. Except Maksim. He barely blinked.

First day together

Papa's Pants!!

Today is Family Day! We are so happy to say that we are finally united as a happy family. We had a lot of fun. We learned alot about each other. We are all pooped!

We picked up Maksim, gave some thank you gifts to the caregivers and orphanage director. We asked if we could return on Saturday to bring some things to the children. We were told that "would be fine. Maksim loved his new snow clothes. He told Lena they were "Beautiful Pants". We didn't take any pictures because we were stunned, I think.

He cried for about 2 seconds when we first put him in the car. I picked him up quickly and told him it was okay because Momma had him. He said Horosha (okay) and we left. His eyes were ride and he kept asking Momma for something - but Lena couldn't hear what it was. Our driver Semyone had to attend a funeral so we had him bring us straight home. We were happy to get to spend time with Maksim alone.

First Car Ride

At the apartment, he investigated everything. We had to scramble to put items out of his reach. We thougth we had already done this. Silly parents. Everything was interesting. He loved eveything that we gave him. Even Momma's food was really good. He kept saying It was really funny because Papa gave him a huge bite of chicken before Momma could grab it - it was in his mouth. He chewed on it for a while then looked at Momma with a scared face and spit it into her hand. All the juices were gone so what good was the chicken lump? Jonny knows all about this.

We finally got him to relax enough to watch Ice Age with us this evening. He was like wind up willy the whole time. Sorry Roni Ron! We think you have a new rival! When the movie was over his was still singing songs trying to redirect our attention from getting him to sleep. During the credits. I put him on my lap and rocked him. On the very last note, he was out! Yeah! I was so excited. I looked over at Papa - Now what? We managed to get him into his bed and now we hope he doesn't wake up scared in the night.

Anyway - I forgot to take pics for most of the day - but did snap a few. Family Day was as perfect as we imagined. Complete with pee on the floor, toilet, Papa, Momma, 3 pair of underwear and 3 pull ups. Toys everywhere! Bath time, lots of food. :) I am sure we will all sleep soundly.

We have got him!

We got the official decree this morning. We applied for his birth certificate and adoption certificate
which we will have tomorrow morning!

It is kinda crazy having him. It is like a dream.

Anyway. For some reason we are trying to put him down for a nap. Ahhh...not really working. He is wound up like a top. I guess we should've known that a nap on day one was not going to work. Kinda dummies. :)

More later...

Cruel Mistake

Apparently there was some mistake and we are not able to pick up Maksim, yet. We have to wait until Wednesday at 3:00 pm to see if we can pick him up. So we are trying not to cry too much and trying to continue to surrender control of our lives to strangers. Lena was upset, too. She tried to say she was sorry. It is not her fault. We are sorry, too.

We went to visit Maksim. He made us smile and laugh and we were very happy to see the little guy. At the end of our short visit he was quite sad. Poor baby. He was very confused because everyone had made such a fuss that he was leaving in the last few days. He didn't understand why we weren't taking him (we don't understand either, Masya!) and we couldn't explain it to him.

It sucks really bad.

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We have had a while to digest the news. We even got to visit Maksim again. The caregivers were sympathetic and kind. So now we wait again. Lena told us that we might get the paper we need on Wednesday morning instead. We are not holding our breath. Cautious Optimistism. :) I wish I could draw one of Helen's funny faces here instead of this computer one. Will this one work? : P

Can't Sleep

Well - I can't sleep very well. I am so excited to go pick up Maksim for GOOD! Yeah!

We picked up a bunch of groceries and I cleaned the apartment very well this afternoon. Papa and Momma had a very nice lunch at a the Red Dragon (a Korean restaurant). The food was good and I had some SPICY chicken satays. Yum! I am happy to burn my mouth on capsicum. :)

I have had a bunch of questions about the timeline from now, so I thought I would get up and blog. After we pick up Maksim tomorrow, we can apply for his passport. This takes 7-10 days. Once we have his passport, we will travel to Almaty, visit a clinic for a medical check up, then we can go to the American Embassy. In Almaty it takes 3 days. So we are just a couple of weeks from home if all goes well. We hope that the paperwork goes smoothly and we have no more unexpected fees. We'll see.

I guess that was a boring blog. It sounded like it would be much better in my head when I was trying to sleep. :)

NO MORE GOODBYES! Nyet Paka Paka.

1 more goodbye!

We can't believe that we only have to say goodbye to Maksim 1 more time. Today was a really difficult goodbye. Maksim held onto his Papa and wouldn't let go.

We had a great time. Maksim is adorable and we love him so much. He found a funny looking bug in the spider book that we read together. He copied the face we saw. It was too funny. Momma and Papa also did the face. Now every time we look at that page, we all make the face. Too funny.

He bonks his head on everything! We think we need to get him a little helmet. Do all children bonk with no abandon?? Notice all the bruises. Sometimes it is Momma or Papa's fault, somtimes Maksim kinda throws himself down and bonks it, other times it an accident. It all adds up to a bunch of bruises. Maybe he is just a rough and tumble little guy. I suppose that is what they mean. Cute Cute Cute.

He is coming to trust us. I love it when he copies his Papa. From his walk to things he says. He loves to sit on Momma's lap and snuggle. He loves Papa to swing him high and carry him around. He is very loving and shares hugs and kisses with each of us. We noticed that in the last couple of weeks he stopped saying I love you so much. We kept saying it but he wouldn't repeat. Today I asked him for a kiss and he kissed me and then said Nyet Paka. I said no we aren't leaving. Then he gave Papa a kiss and said Nyet Paka just to be sure. Papa agreed that we weren't leaving. Several times during our afternoon visit he just kept checking that we weren't leaving. Nyet Paka. Then I realized - we always say I love you so much at the end. He just didn't want it to come. Neither did we. At the end of the visit he cried and held onto Papa's arm as best as he could Nyet Paka Nyet Paka. We had to literally peel him off and shove him through the door. He looks so sad as we close the door. But we know it is almost over.

Lena and Semyone took us to take some pictures of the city. It was a little too cloudy/smoggy. We will try again with Maksim. Well, here are some pics. It is going by so slowly. 1 more day of visits. 1 more goodbye. I know I sound like a broken record. So.

Two more goodbyes to go!

Today Papa is writing his first blog.(It's true I'm not a blogger or even a computer guy).This morning we both visited Maks, but Momma had a migraine and couldn't make it for the afternoon.Papa got his first taste of what my next couple of months with Maks will be like.I loved it but still missed Momma.I had our translater Lena explain to Maks that his mom had a headache.He pointed to his head and said "does her head have pain"with a worried look on his little face.Then he said"banana?",just making sure it woulnd't affect his snack.At least Momma comes first.After our snack I suited him up for our walk outdoors.One of his caregivers told me this was the last time she would see Maks and she was going to miss him(he is one of their favorites).On our walk we saw the resident orphange dog"Reegshee"(the closest I can spell it without using the cyrillic alphabet).Maks was well behaved until it was time to go back in.He cried for just a minute until I told him I would swing him in his blanket when we got back in.He decided to start calling his toy dog "Reegshee"also.When I swung him and his toy dog I would sing "Rock-a-bye Maksim"with the last line"and down will come Maksim-e-Reegshee cradle and all".

Papa is very tired from typing the above paragraph. The end.

4 more goodbyes!

Sorry no post yesterday. It is too boring sometimes to write about. :P

We had an awesome day today! Maksim was a sweetheart. We shared an apple. He learned to count to 9. We sang 5 little speckled frogs and he loved saying "yum! yum!" We had tried Hokey Pokey - "Nyet!", I'm a little teapot - "Nyet!". Except he liked it okay when Momma sang it as fast as she could and then did a sommersault at the end when the tea pot tips over. Then he wanted to see that over and over. Momma recorded it into the cell phone toy we brought and he laughed and laughed as Momma acted silly.

He even showed off some of his English skills for Lena. She was impressed. I know. Our Masya is very smart.

At lunch time we went to the town square to look around. Today is Kazakh New Year. There was a street fair and some performances and a bunch of Yurts. The is a very large cultural difference between people here and back home. There is no such thing as personal space here. If you want to go somewhere you go - it doesn't matter if someone is in your way or not. There were several times that I was looking at an item at the fair and someone would push their way right in front of me between the table and my body. What the heck! No excuse me or anything. Jason got pushed several times. He was getting very tired of it and decided not to take it anymore if someone did it again. He prepared himself for this when someone pushed him really hard. He turned around to get angry and a 12 year old girl had her elbow in his back. Strange Strange. They are not being rude by their own standards. But by ours - man. If people did this in the States there would be brawls in the streets. We found a few cute items for souveniers and decided not to eat there. (Jason was getting freaked out.) So we left to have lunch at this new restaurant we found the other day. Actually Simyone took us to it. It was good food - but it takes about 45 minutes to get your food once you order. So we chatted about a bunch of things.

We went back to see Maksim. He is so wonderful. We feel very lucky that we made it to him. On the way, we stopped at the hospital where he was born. I felt a tinge of sadness as we looked at the building. I thought about the 3 times that I had the privilidge to see my sister's children born. I feel lucky to have witnessed such a marvelous event and sad that I did not witness my son's. We took a picture and were happy to see the purple light patches all over the picture. Maybe you can see them, too.

Maksim was a joy to be around today. Smart, loving, fun, silly. We went for a walk and saw Rezhi. He is the orphanage dog. He talked to us for while and told us that he is lucky to have a box in a doorway to snuggle himself in. We really miss our Audry Bear!

We went back into the visiting room and took off the layers of outdoor clothes. We read books. Sang songs. Went to the toilet. Then, one of the caregivers called him back into the room. She told me that he was going to eat something (in Russian so I was confused a bit). So I thought we had stayed past our time and it was dinner. I glanced at the camera - my time keeper - and it said ?:59. We felt guilty for keeping Maksim past his dinner time. So we packed everything up. He came back in in two minutes with Kefir and Bisyeeni (yogurt drink and cookie) all over his mouth. This is his snack food that he normally has at about 4:00. I thought Maksim just hurried as fast as he could to eat his dinner. Well - we told him that it was paka paka time and he tried everything he could to redirect our attention to the beautiful child we were holding. But we knew it was time to go. He began to cry and wouldn't be comforted. Finally we pushed him back into the room. A caregiver told him to stop crying and he did. We sadly got our coats on and began to leave. Another caregiver brought him back to us and told us he had been crying. We consoled him and sang 5 little speckled frogs and said paka to all of the children in his group. We were so sad to leave. Why had the time gone so fast today?? It was just because he is so darn cute. As we got into the care to come back to the apartment, Lena asked us why we left Maksim so early. It was only 4:00!!! Waaa! We are supposed to visit until 5. It was such a bummer - because we could've had 1 more hour. But we didn't want to put him through the goodbye again.

I ignored all of the clues that it wasn't time. What a dummy.

We love him so much. 4 more days of visits. 4 more goodbyes. Only 4.

Six more days

Well - we have six more days to go. Momma feels nervous. Papa feels excited. Will Momma make it home in time for school to start after spring break? Will we get Maksim's passport and airplane tickets? Who knows when? We'll see.

Maksim wasn't feeling very well today. He had a stuffy nose and coughed a bit. There was also a few strange noises and smells. He did not want to come inside after our walk, either, and cried all the way up the stairs and threw himself down and pouted and wailed. Poor baby.

The afternoon visit was much more fun for everyone. We tried to teach Maksim to sing the Hokey Pokey. That didn't go over very well. He watched Momma and Papa and wondered what the heck they were doing. We'll try it a few more times before giving up completely.

Counting the days. Missing Audry and Shamma and HOME - dom mali dom. Good thing JonJon and Natey visited with their doggie cousin yesterday. She really needed to see them, I think. I bet she got hair all over them - yuck!

6 silly 6.

Seven Seven Seven!!!

Today we had a great day with Maksim. We read a book and learned some English words. We played plastilinee. Maksim learned to say "again". We have been swinging him in the blanket and singing Rock-A-Bye Baby. He of course, loves it and says again. Maybe we shouldn't have taught him again. He is sharp. Today as we were waiting for something to snack on, Maksim started singing the alphabet song. I think he made it to L without any help. Then he finishes it all by himself. "Now I know my ABC's" He obviously doesn't know what he sings but he is very musical. Momma and Papa learned that he loves to dance and likes to watch Momma and Papa dance, too.

Papa fed him some beef jerky and then we ask him "who likes beef jerky raise your hand?" just like JonJon. "I do!" He tries to feed Momma some beef jerky. Good thing he really doesn't like to share. Momma loves that he likes the clothes she brings him. He is very proud and shows us how cute he looks.

At the end of the day, we have realized it is much easier for all of us - if we just say bye quick. Da Svidanya. Paka Paka. Dobrae Vecher! Close the door. No tears. Soon no more goodbyes.
7 7 7

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We've got some great photos but blogger is being mean. Try again later.

Finally!!

8 is Great!

Eight is Great! My favorite saying is back. But only for a day - so don't worry Uncle Punk. Maybe Uncle Punk doesn't even remember. :)

Today was a good day. Maksim listened and tried to learn some new English words. Verbs are very difficult to teach. I think Maksim is learning "where is...?", "More, please." and a few more nouns from some books.

If our posts are boring, good. Because visiting Maksim in a closet is boring and now you know how we feel! :P

We went through the "Chinese Mall" today (this is an outdoor flea-market) and I found the cutest jacket for Maksim and of course one for me, too. I need a nice spring jacket, too! We also found a few souveniers at a Bazaar - this is basically a mall-ish flea-market kind of thing. Some stuff is inexpensive compared to prices in the US; while some is about the same price.

Anyway... here are some randomn pics. A drummer for Uncle Bryan.

A hydroelectric plant for Uncle Punk.


8 is Great!!!

9 days to go...

Momma and Papa have things straightened out. But boy is this experience tough on the level of the water in your ocean. I love you so much, Momma. I love you so much, Papa. I love you so much, Maksim. : )

Today is brought to you by the number 9!

One more day down

We are counting the days until Family Day. It will be here one week from Monday. That is not too far. We try not to let the little things at the orphanage bother us.

Maksim loves to go outside and see the dog and the swingset. We spend probably too much time out there. He is really bundled up so we know he is warm. He wants us to carry him everywhere. He never wants to leave the swing. He is quite upset when swingtime is over. He grunts and whines. Yie.Yie.Yie. He calls to the orphanage sobaka endlessly whenever we see him. We were scolded once about the dog by someone we didn't know so we aren't sure if we are allowed to let him pet the doggy. We let the dog get very close today (sniffing and petting a little) and no one said anything. So hopefully we can continue this. We think that he is going to like Audry right at first. Phew. Actually - talk to us in a couple of weeks and we'll see.


Maksim continues to make progress in accepting us as his caregivers and authority figures. He is a really sweet boy and is trying very hard to make good decisions. It probably sounds like he is going to be trouble to you all- but really we think he is amazing. The fact that we can communicate at all with him is somewhat surprising. There have been a few days where he tests his limits (of course) but he is very responsive to our boundaries and our rules. He is so smart and loves to learn and repeat everything that he hears. Ah-Oh Mom and Dad. Better learn to curb the old sailor language.

He loves to sing. We have taught him a few english songs that he kind of sings. He likes ring around the rosies - especially because when we all fall down it is tickle time. We have forgotten all of the nursery rhymes we once knew. LOL Today we captured the cutest video of him belting out a song in Russian of course. Wish I knew how to share it with you guys from here. You will have to wait till we get home. JonJon and Natey - what song should Auntie Belissa teach him??

He is resilient. He is a sponge. He is our son.

10 more days! (and counting)

Thank You!

We just wanted to say thank you to all of our friends and family that have posted to the blog and written emails. We love to hear from home and appreciate the time you have taken to support us and Maksim.

We are so excited to be his parents. He is excited, too.

Yesterday, one of the caregivers was singing, playing games and dancing with the children. We have asked them if they will teach us one of those games to play so we can teach it to Nate and Jonny back home. So she took a hold of Maksim's hand to bring him into the circle and he started crying those big crocodile tears. Nyet! He said softly. I want to be with my Momma and Papa.

Papa and Maksim are developing quite the bond. He loves when Papa lifts him in to the air and carries him. They sing together "Family Goolets." It means "Family Walk". Maksim sings it all the way down the stairs as we go outside. We played follow the leader, Duck Duck Goose, and Redlight Greenlight. Maksim is getting more attached to us and stays next to us and won't talk to the "machina people" anymore. He just silently watches them clinging to one of us.

The Gaines family has there court date today and then we are all going out for a celebration dinner. They will fly out soon and return in a few weeks. We are jealous that they will get to eat Mexican Food!!

Here are a few pictures. We brought one of his new outfits for him to try on. Including new shoes. He loves it! He puts it all on and then turns all around so everyone could see how cute he is. Could we have another clothes horse? JonJon - we can all go shopping together. Yeah!!

It's Official!!

We are Maksim Jason Woods' parents! We couldn't be any happier. Court went pretty smoothly. At about 11:50, we were called into the Judge's chambers to begin the hearing. The Judge, his assistant, the prosecutor, Lena, the orphanage director, Tahesia (the lady from the department of education), and us we seated in a small office. The judge said a bunch of stuff in Russian and then we began our speech. We were pretty nervous. We would read a segment "My name is Jason blah blah blah, we live at blah blah blah, we will take care of Maksim, etc." Then Lena would translate. Then I started, "we are rich, blah blah blah, we have more than enough money and can prove it, blah blah blah." "We love Maksim!"

The prosecutor had no question for us. Pheww! Then Tahesia started. The prosecutor definately had questions for her regarding the circumstances of Maksim arrival at the baby house. She stood and vehemently asked Tahesia questions. It was scary for us because we couldn't understand everything and the tones in the voices seemed frightening. Lena would translate but they didn't stop for her to translate so of course we missed some things. We actually learned a bit more about his biological mother. The judge heard a few things from the orphanage director and then called for a break.

Before meeting with the judge again, a Russian man with a big smile told us "Good Luck!" We were pretty stoked to have someone say this to us. In this country and in public people are not friendly at all. They mostly scowl and stare. We have come to recognize this as normal behavior. It seems Americans are over-smiley. We met back in the judge's office at aobut 3 pm. It was a very short "You are now pronounced Maksim's parents!" We shook his hand and he gave each of us a very kind smile. We can count the number of people who have smiled at us on one hand. That includes the 2 today! We were elated. Lalalalala!!!

We went back to the orphanage and saw OUR SON for the first time. He was sweet and played machina most of the short time we got to spend. We shared an apple and Maksim wanted his Momma to have her own piece! Yeah! He shared with me. I was very excited. We taught him to say "America!" It comes out more like "Amarelica!" He loves to say it and boy do we love to hear it. "Amarelica!"

P.S. the "we are rich" comments are supposed to be silly..of course.