Gotcha Day!

First off, my deepest apologies to ALL whose blogs I have stalked on their Gotcha Days wondering why it took SO LONG for them to post about it! LOL It's dag gone near impossible, especially with me being here alone, to blog now that Ian is with me, ahhhh, so much for the grand plans (no pun intended but someone just started playing some serious classical music on the baby grand piano they have in the lobby here at our hotel) cool! I get to wright Ian's Gotcha Day post to some live Mozart:).

It's fitting though, because this kid Ian - HE'S AN INSTANT CLASSIC!

So, the morning of Gotcha Day went like this:

- 5:15 I woke up, sent some emails, listened to a voice memo from my son telling my he loves me:), got ready, packed Ian's clothes (yea!), lugged the orphanage donation suitcase of clothing down the flight of steps (nope, no elevator here), grabbed a quick continental breakfast and got myself into the lobby all ready to be picked up.

- 7:15 am left the hotel for the Passport application process.









- 7:15-9:45 waited in line for the passport office (which is located in a fantastic renovated factory called the "United" document center) to open at 9:00 am and then waited for our number "19" to be called to room "19" to apply.

- 10:00 changed some money to purchase train tickets.

- 10:30 arrived at the train station to purchase tickets for the train ride from here to Moscow on Saturday. Train tickets were about $300.00 for a one way to Moscow on the fast train for both of us.














- 11:00 Arrived at the Adoption Unit office to pick up documents that we will need in Moscow at the Embassy.

- Noon: Arrived back to the hotel for a surprise break in the day, I had until 1:45 to work my nerves up even more before we left for the camp LOL!

- 1:45 left to pick up our facilitator "E" then headed to the grocery store where we bought $150.00 worth of goodies for Ian's farewell tea party - of which neither he or I get to partake in (yeah, crazy sad). I bought some really tasty chicken with peaches and cheese on top (sounds gross but it was SO SO good) and some bread as I could not eat lunch at the hotel because remember, I was working myself into cold sweats getting all nervous.

- About 3:45 we arrived at the camp! Earlier that day I lamented that the sun was officially gone from St. Petersburg until May 2012 (which is what E told me!), as we pulled into camp, the SUN SHONE all over the place and the cold nip ran away from the air. It turned into a beautiful day outside.

I was told this morning that our arrival to the camp would culminate in a swift removal of Ian and goodbye. I hated that. I wanted to spend some time with the other children. I was impossible. The moment we got there they released Ian to me and I got zero help with him the entire time.

Not all orphanages are created equally. Some caregivers love the kids, some clearly don't. Today the clearly don'ts were out in force, mean mugging me the whole time. A couple were gracious and one in particular at least tried to help me get him dressed by talking to him.

any who......

Ian was outside on the walk when we came up. I had a 50 pound suitcase filled with clothing for the groupa and we had 5 big bags from the grocery store. Pulling the suitcase through the SAND at the camp was a workout!

Guess what my baby did for the first time EVER?

When he saw me, HE RAN TO ME and jumped into my arms and gave me a hug and then turned to everyone and waved and said BYE! Oh my gosh that moment was SO funny! If you have been following Ian's story you will realize that for him to do that, to run to me and hug me, was MAJOR.

On the way to the camp, I flipped open my ipad and touched to open an app I have. It's called DAILY HELP. It's a spiritual app, and gives you some scripture and a message to start each day with. I don't know what made me open it, but I am sure it was not by accident that the message for today had this printed in it in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS:

SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM

Like I said, I've been doing enough thinking to think myself into a pit about these two weeks of me and Ian alone together. I've followed LOTS of blogs and I've met Ian twice, and both times he screamed most of the time and dismantled his immediate surroundings. Craig calls me the softie of the two of us when it comes to parenting. He's right, I'm the love-v dove-e one, I cave easy!

When I read this message today right before we turned into camp, I knew it was about me and Ian. I needed to BELIEVE that he could do this, and be okay. I kinda hoped he could, and I have told others that I thought he'd be great, but I know that I did not fully BELIEVE my own words.

So, right quick, before we got out of the car I said a prayer and I made sure that I walked towards his groupa a with a new attitude. I KNEW IAN could do great! and the whole tone of the day was instantly changed.

Here is more of the passage:

The woman opens her soul wide, expecting great things of Jesus, and he fills it with his love. Dear reader, do the same. She laid fast hold upon him, and drew arguments even out of his words; she believed great things of him, and she thus overcame him. SHE WON THE VICTORY BY BELIEVING IN HIM. Her case is an instance of prevailing faith; and if we would conquer like her, we must imitate her.

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Up first: GET IAN DRESSED TO LEAVE (they don't do it at #40, you do it and they watch you!)

Let's talk fashion for orphans for a moment. It leaves lots to be desired. The first time we met Ian he sported pink pants, socks worn so thin they had holes and his little tootsies were sticking out of them, too tight shoes, and about 4 layers of upper body clothing - oye vey! Today was NO better, he had on full body purple girls tights, corduroy shorts, and 3 upper layers. It was a screaming struggle, but I finally got him dressed.

It's time for this boy to rock some style! Unfortuatley, since they basically just gave him to me and never looked back, I had a really hard time getting any decent pictures of this day AND trying to keep Ian from bolting!

Choosing a gotcha day outfit, and Ian's first real outfit was too much fun for me. I had lots to choose from this morning since I had to abandon the choice Craig and I made together at home before I left (it was shorts and a short sleeve shirt) as it's straight up chilly here.

So, I chose a navy blue ensemble, and he rocked it like this!:














Then it was, believe it or not, time to leave! Talk about a crazy few moments there, I was trying to focus on Ian but my heart was breaking that I was not going to be able to hug our little friends here Heidi and Angelina. I did manage to get a picture of Angelina making quick work of a play structure (look out Randy and Shelia! She's a monkey!)








"E" tried to snap a Gotcha Day photograph but Ian was having NONE of that! I think it is a conspiracy at #40 (right Heather?) to NOT let your new parents and the hundreds of others waiting for this ONE picture, have it!







This is the best one we could get - I swear that's Ian under that hat!







We left the camp right away and he was chomping at the bit to get into the car. The social director from the camp rode back with us - awesome, now I had three people in the car with us all watching me try to parent Ian, and boy did he work me! We were ALL glad to get out of that car when we arrived back at the hotel. Sufficient to say, I had to keep telling myself "BELIEVE BELIEVE" in order to make it through that RIDE.








Once we got back to the hotel, things got under some modicum of control and the magic began to really happen for this sweet little boy. He is such a gift, such a smarty pants, he's been a giant blessing to us for more than a year and now that he is in our midst, he is so much more than I ever imagined. I'm crying for HIM because God knew that he should not languish and die in a terrible place. Ian would have KNOWN all that was happening to him. He is not at all imbecilic or even slow (as they call children like him here), he's the OPPOSITE! He can do things I have not seen typically developing children who have grown up in families do. He is AMAZING me in every second I am with him.

I so don't feel even worthy for this treasure that God has placed in my lap, but I'm not gonna lie when I say that ALL OF THE WORK that it has taken to make this day possible (and y'all know it was HELL of earth for much of it), has totally WASHED AWAY. For him, I would do it 100 times.

There are SO MANY things that happened for Ian and me in the space of the two or three hours he was awake after they left us at the hotel. I can't blog them all right now because it's 2 am here and I have got to get some sleep. So for now, here are some highlights:







After we did potty (which is an issue, kinda funny, actually kinda hilarious, for which I promise to talk all about tomorrow), and because the weather was nice and I knew I needed to run those energizer bunny batteries down if I was going to have any chance at getting him to sleep, WE LEFT THE HOTEL. Yep! thats right, we went outside, to the total violation of all suggested actions for brand newly adopted kiddos and mama's traveling alone. What can I say, I'm just not good at following directions!







I was a witness to a child's first time out FREE to run in the world. This ALONE was worth it all, to watch this was absolutely amazing! Stunning really. Once we got to the little playground adjacent to the hotel (yep, that is one reason I chose this hotel) I let him out of my firm grasp and he ran, and then stopped....and looked up.

He was speechless. The tall (to him) buildings that he could reach out and TOUCH, the people, the birds, the air, the FREEDOM. He looked up towards the sky and closed his eyes and reached out, as if to touch God and say THANK YOU. It was SO hard for me to keep it together, I wanted to just sit down and cry. Not possible though because this kid is FAST!

















































We had fun. We got stared at and I am sure talked about, but I could have cared less, there was something SO amazing going on around the people watching us, it was kind of a strange happiness in me that only him and I knew what was unfolding - to everyone else we looked crazy I'm sure.

Do you see him examining the under side of the seesaw? Ian is an examiner. He wants to know HOW everything works. He is a brilliant learner, he can already sign "more" and I swear to you that he knows what I am saying to him! I ask him if he wants water (just like that in English) and he answers in Russian, clearly and with purpose. When he's thirsty, he answers yes, and when he's not, he says no.

He explored the hotel room, every inch, and we had some minor needs for parenting to keep us all safe (like throwing toys full force into the mirrors and other newly released freely into the world 5 year old boy teachable moments).

My favorite funny moments from our time in the hotel room are:

-When I brought out a mechanical dog who barks and walks when you pet his back, IAN took off my flip-flops (yes, he loves to wear my shoes) and proceeded to batter the barking doggie over the head with my shoe!

-When we were eating dinner, mac and cheese for him and Ramen for me (he clearly does not do noodles), he would look at me really close, smile, look at his food, and bust out laughing!

-When it was time for bed, he wasn't sure about it so after I laid him down and sat on the edge of his bed, he got back up, pulled off the blanket, and climbed into my arms and hugged me tight. Then he laid back down. AMAZING.







I don't know when I will have a chance to let all of the emotions of this day, this trip, this year plus adoption process - OUT. I need a really good hard, cry. It's the good kind to be sure, but it's been bottled up and wish Craig was here. I miss my Ari bug badly and I feel like if one thing does go wrong, I'm gonna fall apart. Today was a good day. 2 of 14 down, 13 to go. Please keep us in your prayers.

AMEN. :)



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Location:St Petersburg,Russia