The Second Trip

With our court date set for July 6, we decided to leave one day early for Moscow in order to have one night's rest before going to Tambov. A friend from our church gave us hotel points so that we could have a free night in the Sheraton Palace Hotel. The flight to Zurich was uneventful, but the flight to Moscow was delayed by almost an hour. When we finally arrived in Moscow, Sasha was nowhere in sight. We waited a little while, and I kept walking through the crowd looking for him. We had Barbara's cell phone number and I had brought some rubles with me, but I could not figure out how to work the pay phone. Finally, after about 20 minutes I ran into Sasha. Because our flight had been delayed, he had been forced to go out and move his van to a different parking space. We were glad to see him and anxious to get our trip started.

The Sheraton was a beautiful hotel and we got a good night's rest. They did not have a room available for award points on our return but we could have booked a room for about $50 more than the Mir. We decided that since we were only going to be there one night that we would just stay at the Mir.

We celebrated U.S. Independence Day by sleeping late, and eagerly anticipating being with Sean again. After a buffet breakfast we relaxed at the hotel and made another brief visit to the flea market. Arriving a day early gave us a chance to be rested for the excitement that was coming up. As evening fell, we prepared for the train ride to Tambov. Since the heater was not running the compartments were much more bearable and we slept much better than on the first trip.

On this trip to Tambov we stayed in a different hotel than before. This hotel had the most rare of Russian luxuries, air conditioning. Each room was equipped with its own unit. The hotel also had a nice cafe downstairs where we were able to eat most of our meals.

We visited Sean twice on Monday. He had grown quite a bit in the time between

our trips, and was now able to sit up and crawl. He was pretty fussy when they brought him to us, still catching his breath from crying. The caregivers had given up trying to put on his hat and just brought it in with him. He calmed down pretty easily with us. Little did we know that the next day in court the Orphanage Director would point that out in our favor.

We did a little bit of shopping for the rest of the day and then Barbara prepared us for court. We also did some more sightseeing around Tambov and took as many pictures as we could so that Sean would have some knowledge of where he had been born.

Adoption Day! We arrived early for our 10:00am hearing, which lasted for just over an hour. The judge was all business, but very kind. At 11:15, she issued an order approving our adoption of Pavel, and approving the change of his name to Sean Pavel. She also, much to our relief, approved our request to waive a required 10-day waiting period. We were free to take Sean with us as soon as we could get the paperwork in order.

Our first stop was the Education Ministry where we received an adoption certificate and a new birth certificate with Sean's new name. We picked Sean up at the orphanage and took him to have pictures made for his Russian Passport and U.S. Immigration Visa. This proved to be quite an adventure. We went to several different places and took two sets of pictures before we had ones that we could use.

Back at the orphanage, we were able to spend some time alone with him. We found a stroller and took him for a walk around the orphanage until he fell asleep. We saw an Italian couple from our hotel visiting a little boy on their first adoption visit. Despite the language barrier, we were able to communicate some with them and took pictures for one another.

We felt it would be best for Sean to stay in a familiar environment, so we left him for one more night at the orphanage. Finally, our journey was coming to an end with just a few more details to complete.

The final hurdle before leaving Tambov was to obtain Sean's Russian Passport. We dropped off the paperwork and were told to return at 5:00pm. During the day we bought some food for Sean, saw a little bit more of Tambov, and then visited the orphanage for the last time to take him home with us. Lottie gave Sean a bath at the hotel while John went with Sasha to get the passport. After a brief wait, the workers were on break, Sean's passport was obtained and everything was in place for the trip to Moscow.

We boarded the train in the evening, and Sean slept at Lottie's feet in her bunk. For his first night away from the orphanage, he slept well. It was our first hint that he likes his sleep very much.

After a brief rest, we took Sean at 10:00am for a visit to a U.S.-approved doctor. The doctor pronounced Sean in good health, and we were cleared to apply for his visa. The doctor diagnosed some bumps on Sean's legs as a food allergy. After we arrived home and he shared some of those bumps with us, we discovered that he had scabies! Fortunately, a topical medication took care of the problem.

We had an appointment in the afternoon to obtain the visa. In the mean time, we

visited St. Basil's Cathedral and a few other sights in Moscow. There is a lot to see in Moscow that we were never able to get to, and we hope to be able to return someday with more free time.

We arrived at the United States Embassy at the appointed time for the last piece of paperwork required for our trip home. This was the one place in which Barbara was not allowed to go with us. Along with about a dozen other families we waited to be called up to a window where we answered some questions and received a packet containing all of Sean's paperwork. The visa was attached to a manila envelope that could only be opened by U.S. Immigration personnel at our entry point to the U.S. If the envelope was opened beforehand, we would have to return to Moscow to get another one. Ughhh! We took good care of that envelope.

Thursday night we took Barbara and Sasha out for an appreciation dinner. They had worked hard on our behalf to get every part of the process done in the shortest amount of time possible. We had been blessed that everything had gone so smoothly.

That night, we opened the windows in our hotel room as much as we could, but the temperature on the thermostat still registered 85 degrees F. All three of us were miserable throughout the night, and we wished we had paid the extra money for the Sheraton. Mercifully, we had to leave at 4:00am for the airport and our trip home.

We passed through Russian immigration and boarded the 7:15 flight to Zurich. Once in Zurich, we made our way to our American Airlines flight to DFW. The same friend who gave us the hotel points had given us Advantage points to upgrade us to Business Class. We settled in, and then waited for four hours while mechanics worked on one of the engines. Finally, AA decided that a part would have to be flown in from the U.S. We would be forced to spent the night, at AA's expense, in the Airport Hilton.

After checking in, we called home and arranged for friends to pick up Kelcie who was arriving home from Children's camp that afternoon. Then we took a walk in a meadow near the hotel and enjoyed the Swiss countryside. We hoped to be able to see a little bit of Zurich the next morning before leaving on Saturday afternoon.

Friday night gave us a much-needed rest in a comfortable bed. We received a call that we would need to return to the airport at 10:00, so we ate breakfast and then went to check in for the flight. We still had to wait for several hours while the plane was tested for safety. Sean was great throughout the entire time. Finally, we boarded the plane and began the long flight home. Business class was wonderful! The best part was that Sean slept in a bassinet for 9 hours of the 11-hour flight.

We arrived at DFW in early evening, and Kelcie was there to greet her new baby brother. God had richly blessed us as the adoption journey ended, and a new journey as a family began.

The Second Trip to Russia

July 2-10, 2004