But now I'll show you some of it, in all of its randomness.
Addyson posing in daddy's Russia hat.
It's mink.
She looks really funny from the back wearing it!!!
The furs everyone wore there were SO beautiful. So many different kinds. Full length fur coats. Beautiful hats and gloves and even boots. The women looked so pretty!!
We started to get her room ready. It looked really boyish before so I started getting a few things in case we needed to show a picture in court. I wanted them to know we really did want our girl, but didn't want to spend too much money before it was a done deal.
One night when daddy wasn't home for supper, Addyson and Braden asked if we could put his picture at the table and then we decided that we needed Karina there too!
Addyson watched a slideshow of the pictures from our first trips over and over and over.
And kissed and hugged her little sister many times.
We ate bierocks and beef stroganoff and borscht and anything that reminded us of Russia.
Every day we would take one off. It helped to visualize how many days were left and made the kids realize she was really coming home so they could start to prepare and ask questions. Each day there was a little something that we could do together - some Christmas things, some not. Just something to make sure we intentionally spent some time together. It helped the days go faster and reminded us to enjoy the time we had as a family of 4. Sometimes daddy joined us and sometimes we did it during the day while he was working. It was fun - maybe we can do something similar for a Christmas countdown family tradition.
We started with 36 days left.
Day 0 was her birthday - the day we would all be together!!
We celebrated Thanksgiving at lunchtime . . . and Karina's picture was there.
a picture of all three!!
That night we got to welcome home another sweet little girl at the airport with her forever family. It helped all of us to make Karina's homecoming seem more real!
The banner helped but I had a hard time counting down days. When Addyson and Braden were born and then when they came home we had no idea what day that would be. So you couldn't exactly prepare for it or count down days. So to know an exact day to plan for and wait for was surprisingly hard for me; I think I am better at the unknown thing and not trying to get through a to do list by a certain day.
Our community life group threw us a surprise shower one night. It was fun to celebrate and have new girl clothes and to share that with our friends. They were so thoughtful. We had yummy Russian desserts and matryoshka doll decorations!
There was a quick trip that was only a few days long. And only one of us had to go. So Ryan took his friend Bill along. We were so thankful that Bill wanted to go and that his family was willing to share him for a few days. Ryan could have done it alone, but it gets lonely to spend that much time by yourself when there's no one to talk to. I wished so badly that I could go, but we all knew that it would be best if I stayed home. It made things so much less stressful for Addyson and Braden and we had some really good time together just the three of us that we won't really have anymore. There wasn't much time between that trip and the final trip and having one parent that wasn't jet lagged was helpful and I could prepare more for when she came home and for our last trip.
There was a pretty good snow storm in Russia right before the guys left.
The view from the hotel room
Things were decorated for New Year's. I think I mentioned before but the Soviet's outlawed Christmas. December 25 is not a holiday there. Now there is big celebrating beginning on New Year's with decorations that are pretty Christmasy. We were told they give New Year's gifts and have New Year's trees. My understanding is that Christmas is celebrated on January 6 by Russian Orthodox and Christians but is more of a solemn holiday than the New Year's one where gifts are given, parties, etc.
New Year's tree
There was a giant outdoor ice skating rink that wasn't there before.
St. Basil's covered in snow
The GUM is a pretty fancy mall and it was really dressed up for the season.
Ryan got to spend some time with Karina.
She was scared at first. But still loved her favorite toy we brought.
Tried on some clothes and got some info to make sure we had everything ready to take care of her!
Her front two teeth had come in since we saw her last!
Leaning in for a kiss from daddy
And the usual nap
We celebrated Christmas a little differently than normal. There was too much traveling already and no time to go to Oklahoma so my parents came up for a weekend instead.
The dress up clothes were a big hit at our house. Braden no longer has to dress up girly. Instead you might see him as the lone ranger or a firefighter on any given day.
Addyon has a new princess dress and shoes to add to her snazzy dress up wardrobe.
Some even got Russia hats almost as awesome as Ryan's!
The Vogt cousins
We opened a few presents before we left with these two.
They got the Charlie books.
They both LOVE watching the Pioneer Woman's show on Food Network with me. They both like cooking with me so they like watching that part and Braden loves seeing the horses and cattle. And they like Charlie the dog. So they have really liked reading her books.
And we opened stockings.
We saved the rest of the gifts for when we could all be together. Getting closer to catching you up. Only a couple more posts to go!!
Did the people in Russia know that your ancestry includes Russia? At least I assume your family is a big part of that migration from there in 1874. I think that would have been neat for them to understand that you know about borscht, bierrocks, etc.
ReplyDeleteI loved the photo at the table for meal time! I remember that empty spot too, waiting for the day when she would come home!
So, New Year's trees, huh? As I see freedoms slowly (or pretty fast actually) being taken away in the States, I wonder if we will have to give up (not in our hearts of course) anything to do with Christ's birth?
Yep, you're right about our ancestors coming over in the 1870's. We mentioned it as one of the reasons that we had decided to adopt from Russia. But our agency advised us to be careful about saying too much as far as food. It can come across to the judge as if you're being too know-it-all like you know exactly how to cook everything and like your way is superior to theirs. Because there were differences and mostly we just wanted to be really respectful!! But we did have some yummy bierocks (they called them pierogies) and blini (flat pancakes or Russian pancakes) that were exactly the same as we make them. It was fun to realize the similarities!!
DeleteGoing abroad definitely made us think about all the things we take for granted living our whole lives in the U.S. Our freedoms aren't guaranteed and they could be gone too.
Russians celebrate Christmas in January.
ReplyDeletehttp://english.pravda.ru/history/24-12-2011/120074-christmas_Russia-0/
I'm sorry - you are correct. Christmas is celebrated on January 6 in Russia. The people we talked to in country explained it as though New Year's was the big celebration and Christmas was sort of looked over. But I guess they were just speaking for themselves and not for everyone. Christmas seems to be more of the celebration of Christ's birth in Russia and not the way it is celebrated in the U.S. where everyone celebrates the same day whether you are celebrating Christ's birth or doing the Santa Claus and gift thing. I'm no an expert for sure. Sorry for my inaccuracy and thank you for pointing that out!!
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