Downtown Vladivostok

I have met some wonderful people during my adoption journey. On the first trip, I met Steve and Sharon and continue to stay in contact with them. They just recently brought their daughter home from Russia. On this trip, currently there are 6 families in the hotel including myself. As you can imagine, the days get long here. We have begun to get to know each other, share information and spend time together. Today, some of us decided to take the train into downtown Vladivostok. It was a fun day of adventure.

The front desk wrote out the information for us to show the train station for our tickets and we walked down to the tracks to catch the train. It was a nice ride along the coast of the Sea of Japan. Again, we saw the poverty of the area. The teenagers and some adults have a fun time riding for free, getting off before they are asked to show tickets and running to the car ahead before the train begins to depart again. It was amusing to watch. When we reached our stop and headed to the downtown department store, we were happy to come across a farmer’s market. It was a great experience! We bought some food items and walked around among the vendors. After, we headed towards the department store, went into some children's stores and decided to find a place for lunch. Our adventure included; Heather and Justin who are from Illinois, Amy and her dad, Randy, who are from North Carolina, and mom and me. Heather and Justin had been downtown on their first visit, so they were the leaders of our expedition. They led us to a nice restaurant that had a menu in English. After lunch, which was actually about 4:00 pm, we headed back to the train for the ride to the hotel.

Justin, Heather, Me, Amy and Randy

It was nice to get out and do something, as we are very limited here without knowing the language or having a car. Honestly, I would not even attempt to drive here…Yikes! It’s crazy enough just being driven around by our driver for legal stuff and visits to the orphanage. We won’t see Victoria again until Monday. We will go early Monday morning. Tomorrow, which is Sunday, is Orthodox Easter here in Russia. We are all hoping there will be some festivities here at the hotel or down by the shore.

Proud Mother of Dylan and Victoria!

Leaving hotel, ready for court.

I survived court and am now the proud mom of two beautiful children (Dylan 15 and Victoria 3), well almost. The court ruled in my favor for adoption, but the actual court decision is not final for 10 days. Court lasted about an hour. It was a closed court session, meaning the only people present were Lana (interpreter and agency rep.), social worker, court reporter, prosecutor, Judge and me. Interestingly, the prosecutor did most of the questioning. Lana commented that this was unusual and interesting too. She also made a point to tell me how well I did in court. She felt I was completely prepared and did a great job at answering all the questions. She told me last night to talk a lot and elaborate on my answers, instead of just answering yes/no. That is just what I did! The social worker even commented on how well she thought I presented myself. Basically, it went something like this; lots of questions from Judge and prosecutor, social worker spoke of the history of Victoria’s family (learning more every day), and the Judge reviewed docs and identified them as she went through them. Social worker gave a favorable recommendation. Prosecutor gave a favorable recommendation. Judge asked us to leave the room while she makes a decision. We exited, came back in, then were told the Judge agrees with recommendation of adoption and court was done! Court was a breeze, there really was nothing to be concerned about and I felt fairly comfortable.

Victoria is not allowed to stay with us during the 10 day wait. This was disappointing, but I knew that would be the case due to another family adopting from the same orphanage and receiving that news the day before. We were brought back to the hotel after court and told we would be picked up at 3:00 pm to visit Victoria. We went with the other family that was also not able to have their child with them during the 10 day wait. They have adopted a little boy the same age as Victoria. He is in the same group as she is. We had a very fun time today with both children. The children were comfortable with each other and we had times where we enjoyed our own individual child, but also played as a group. The children really loved all of the attention. Babies were sleeping in the other room and we were told we had to quiet down. That was hard! We really had so much fun! The little boy was kissing on my daughter and she is also a little flirt! The play was so wild that the other mom and I had broke out in a sweat and decided we were exhausted by the time the two hour visit was over! It was another great visit! We will visit again on Monday, as the orphanage does not allow anyone on the weekends!

“Remember today, for it is the beginning of always. Today marks the start of a brave new future filled with all your dreams can hold. Think truly to the future and make those dreams come true."

Great Visit!

Today we were able to visit the orphanage. Victoria was very shy at first. Her caretaker came in the visiting room with her and gave me tons of information. This was mostly about habits (eating, sleeping), moods, personality, disposition and so forth. I was told she speaks well and is a leader among her group, as she lets the others know what they should be doing and when they are doing something they should not be! The orphanage director came in, talked for a while and two different doctors came in to provide information as well.

It took Victoria about a half hour to warm up to me, which I expected. I have not seen her for 6 months. Lana told her that she needed to play because we had to leave soon. Victoria began to cry at this, because she did not want us to leave. We brought a toy cell phone, which she loved. I also brought a purse with gloves, a necklace and hair scrunchy (which she wore as a bracelet). She enjoyed the purse and gloves, and put her cell phone in her purse. We began to play ball, and she was just not letting go of these items. She mostly kicked the ball to me because her hands were full. She really began to relax, talk, show me things, laugh, and have fun!

It seemed too quickly my time was up with her for today. That was hard because we were told we should take the things we brought for her. If we didn’t, they would be gone. She really did not want to give the phone back. I promised her I would be back and with the phone. Apparently, the toy phones are a rare item. The caretaker explained that there are two that the children play with and if a child gets a hold of one, they will usually hide it from the others.

Her mood completely changed when they told her we were leaving. It made me sad and I could tell she was sad and very unsure. They told her I could walk back with her where she was to join her group. She grabbed my finger, pulled me along and was eager for her friends to see me. When we entered the room, she sat on a chair among the other children (about 10 or so the same age as Victoria). Several of them started waving at me. Victoria stood up, gesturing for them to stop and telling them in Russian “my mama, my mama”. With that, she came running over to me and gave me a great big hug! She ran back to her chair and proceeded to run into my arms a couple more times for a big hug! She really is sweet, but I suppose not willing to share me with her friends today. It really was a great visit!

We returned to the hotel, had lunch and walked along the shore of the Sea of Japan and to the market. Dylan would have enjoyed the walk, there were lots of clams and oysters on the shore (of course Dylan and I have been texting most of the afternoon). Shortly after we returned to the hotel, Lana called for me to meet her in “The White Rabbit” (sort of like a TV/game room here at the hotel) to discuss court. Apparently, she thinks I don’t talk much because she indicated that I need to talk a lot during court. I asked if she would be interpreting for me. She said that she would. I told her that I would just babble on and she could tell the judge whatever she saw fit…haha…sounded like a good idea to me!


Court is at 10:00 am tomorrow. I will be picked up at 8:45. I did find out this evening the social worker for this orphanage will not allow the children to stay with the parents until after the 10 day wait. Another family had court today and this was the situation. Irina and Lana both said they will continue to work on this, but at this point she will not be able to stay with me. I will be able to visit her though. Hopefully this will change. Oh, and since my last visit, she has had chicken pox and they cut her beautiful hair.