Dave and I left Alice Springs on the 18th of December for the last leg (or so we thought) of a nearly two year adoption odyssey. With only 4 days notice, we traversed the globe and landed in a city whose claim to fame is that it is the “Gateway to Siberia”. In case you aren’t aware - late December is Australia is extremely hot. It was 104°F the day we left Alice. This time of year in Perm Russia would be on the opposite end of the thermometer. The day we landed it was a bone chilling -14°F. In case you are bad with math - that would be a whopping 118 degree difference in less than 48 hours.

 

It’s now the 22nd of January and we’re not heading tomorrow like we’d planned. We’re still waiting on one piece of paper from the Russian government and we hope to have it into to depart Russia on the 10th of February. Dave will head back to Alice and Dennis and I will head to the States and await a decision by the Australian government about Dennis’s entry visa. Tears have been shed, vodka drunk and chocolate consumed over this situation. We’ve done everything we can and now it’s just a waiting game with no clear end in sight. Please keep your fingers crossed and send all the good karma you can our direction.

 

I’m not going to bore you with the daily saga of our adventure. I’ve kept a journal that I’ll someday share with Dennis, but I will share with all of you some of the highlights, images and observations from our adventure.

 

The parenting advice received from my brother, who is the father of 17 year old twin boys, was to finish each day by thinking of what you learned verses what you taught your children. He finished by saying “Give me a call if you ever suspect they learned more than you did.” By his own admission, he hasn’t had one of those days yet.

 

I’ve been a parent for a whole 11 days now and I’ve learned a great deal and I hope the little person who has come into my life has learned at least a little bit as well.

 

Here are a few of my recent discoveries:

• You don’t need to speak the same language to know if a three year old is tired, hungry, cold, angry or happy.
• Three year olds don’t care about keeping different colors of play dough separated and you shouldn’t either.
• It’s very important to ask a three year old if his needs to pee BEFORE suiting up in winter outdoor gear.
• Parents of a three year old should NEVER leave home without toys and snacks, regardless of how long you THINK you will be gone.
• Don’t assume both parents will share the same philosophy on three year olds using ink pens, TV watching, remote control usage or food consumption.
• Children can lie perfectly still with their eyes closed for VERY long periods of time and not really be asleep.

 I've been uploading may on photos taken over the last month.  They can be seen in the Flickr Gallery shown on the left side half way down the page of by clicking here.

 

Here are Dennis and I in the lobby of the Ural Hotel in Perm.