Preparations Begin

Whew! Can you believe we had to spend $700 in addition to our outrageous plane tickets just to get tourist visas in time for our trip?! It would seem Russia really doesn't want people to visit. On our visa application we had to list what countries we had visited in the last 10 years. I was shocked to discover that we have been to 9 countries in the last 10 years! --and not one of them required a tourist visa to visit. Does anyone know why some countries require this? Is it leftover from communism? Are they paranoid we are terrorists? Do they just have a control complex? Does the U.S. require tourist visas from Russians? As you can see I really don't know a whole lot about this.

Anyways, after overnighting our application materials and the hefty check this morning, I began the fun part of the preparations. I bought a super soft little pink blanket and Isabelle picked out a cozy little puppy stuffed animal as gifts for our new little one. I also got heart lockets for the girls for Easter and one to give our new daughter with family pics inside. After we leave her and come home, she will most likely have to wait a month or two before we get a court date. This separation will be the most trying part of the process for her and for us.

I wanted to get a cute little pink walkman and record our family singing songs and saying a few Russian phrases to her on a tape so she could get used to our voices. The salesclerks at Wal-mart gave me a very strange look and politely informed me that they don't carry walkmans anymore. :) So she'll have to make do with our old beat-up black one.

I also went to Sam's Club and got huge bags of candy to hand out at the orphanage, as well as the big bottles of chewable childrens vitamins to donate. I bought a bunch of bubble blowing toys too. I think I will pick up some baby Tylenol too. I can't imagine not being able to give a sick or teething baby some pain relief. I had big dreams of bringing a whole bunch of things to donate, but that will have to wait till the next trip. Besides, what they really need is money to buy food and things that the children need. I read that they feed the children on 1 cent a day! No wonder they are all so malnourished. I can't wait to get her home and feed her lots of fresh fruits, vegetables from our garden and freshly baked whole wheat bread. They hardly ever get fruit at all. In some orphanages before the children are old enough to feed themselves, they puree everything and basically pour it down the childs throat, not even stopping if the child is gagging, simply because they don't have enough time or workers to take time with each child.

The more I learn about the lives of these little ones, the more heart-wrenching it is.