HOOOORAY!
We had a few calls from friends who were very disappointed when there was no posting on Friday. Thank you to everyone who is now addicted to our blog. Let me try to recap Friday for everyone.
We were a little late arriving to the baby home due to Arina's daughter being sick that morning. We arrived at the baby home and like usual went upstairs to wait for Nakita. Arina comes bounding into the room with out him and says come follow me quickly. As we are racing down the pink staircase, she tells us that his groupa is performing for the celebration of autumn. She asked the director if we could watch. We went into the music room.(Picture posted previously) His groupa is sitting ever so still in the lined up chairs all dressed up. His caretaker Rita is dressed in a gown of autumn colors and sequins with a crown on leading the songs. The girls are all in white dresses with HUGE bows( Pam this would totally put the girl's bows to shame:)) The boys are dressed in white t-shirts and bright yellow shorts. They all have bibs made of bright yellow crinoline and feathers. The boys had orange bow ties on theirs as well. Come to find out that the children were all chicks and Rita was "Mother Autumn". The 3 year old groupa came to watch and sing along too. All the doctors and directors were there. They sang a few songs, with a man who was dressed in bright colors with the children and playing an accordion. Rita gave all the children tambourines to play along with on the next song. They shook them above their heads, and on their feet. Nakita loved this part. Rita got a volunteer from the 3 year old groupa. He played a mini-accordion with the man for a special song( we found out later that he is 4 and is waiting for his court date next month!!) The little boy and Rita then went out into the hallway, when they cam back into the room, they were singing about machina(cars). The little boy was pulling a truck full of bananas. You should have seen their eyes light up! Then all the children were singing about bananas.( Arina told us that the children don't get many fruits, because there are very few available, and the ones that they import from China are full of chemicals) Nakita ran over to the truck and followed by all the others from his groupa. They then turned on the music and the children got up and danced and laughed. I was invited up as Nakita's mama to dance too! Great fun!
We were then able to go upstairs and play for a bit. – I thought saying good-bye would be full of tears. – We both gave him a kiss and then before we could get too sentimental, he ran off (being of COURSE he was late for lunch – and boy that boy LOVES to eat!) – he sat at his table and waved “paka” to us both. That was it! – HE is SOOOO loved and they really take great care of him there. I feel good and we know we are coming back right after the holiday season – (I’ve already put in a tentative leave at work!!)
We’ve had a rough time adjusting to the time zones coming back, but we’ve also found a WONDERFUL sleep aid! (this will help us so much on trip #2) – Nat was excited to see us and we’ve put up quite a few pictures of Nakita at home. – It won’t be long and he will be running down our street and chasing after the dogs!
I will post more pictures and possibly some video when our computer is back up and running - it has a virus and it is totally down - go figure!!
Thank you to Everyone who has helped us in this amazing journey! We are so truely blessed!!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Thursday in Vladivostok
Hi everyone!
We woke up early again today. Neither of us has been able to sleep well here. So, we tuned into yet another episode of Seinfeld. Yes, we watch the older american sit-coms on satelite. Everything says "stay tuned for the new episode". I spose they were all new...10 years ago. Anyway, it's fun and keeps us occupied. We've watched so many movies. I know Jon can't wait to get home and watch college football.
We went to the baby home around 10am. Nakita was ready for us. We stopped and watched the turtles and frog in fascination. He loves tapping the glass to scare the fish too. (He will really love the Petco fish station!) We hid the snacks today for just a little while to try to get him to play. It worked for about 20 minutes. We did a puzzle and he loves his touch and feel books. He mimicks "neigh" and "meow - meow". After awhile, he mainly concentrated on finding the snacks. He looked behind, under and around us. In the sack that we bring everyday, he took everything out trying so hard to find his snacks. We couldn't hold out and once we opened the can, he would take 2, give the can holder one and close the lid.
We had a great day playing and when we took him back to his group they were in the midst of story time. We open the doors and they all shout "Nakita" for his return. Very heartwarming!
We ate lunch with Lana and Arina here at the Vlad Inn. They are very comical in their stories of Russians and the "2" New Years celebrations they have. They call it Drunk month from December 31 - January 20!
This afternoon, we went to notarize our final document to formally request the adoption of Nakita. The gal was out to lunch so we went souvenier shopping quickly (as you all know, I don't like to shop quickly.... Jon became a little impatient. Shocker!) But, the store was about 5 million degrees and there definitely not alot of time to do everyone justice as Arina was waiting for us in the car. So Lana helped us pick and choose items. We had to go then back to the notary, who was located in an dark alley way. Very quick!
Lana, our interpreter, loves cats as we found out on one of our many drives. We told her that one of our good friends, Mr. T has 2 cats and a stroller for his kitties!! She loved that and had never heard of such a thing, but would like to see one! Mr. T you are are international icon now!! Such a trend setter!
Here are a few photos for you of the city and of Nakita today!
We miss you all!
Love Jon & Becky
Vlad photos.....
We woke up early again today. Neither of us has been able to sleep well here. So, we tuned into yet another episode of Seinfeld. Yes, we watch the older american sit-coms on satelite. Everything says "stay tuned for the new episode". I spose they were all new...10 years ago. Anyway, it's fun and keeps us occupied. We've watched so many movies. I know Jon can't wait to get home and watch college football.
We went to the baby home around 10am. Nakita was ready for us. We stopped and watched the turtles and frog in fascination. He loves tapping the glass to scare the fish too. (He will really love the Petco fish station!) We hid the snacks today for just a little while to try to get him to play. It worked for about 20 minutes. We did a puzzle and he loves his touch and feel books. He mimicks "neigh" and "meow - meow". After awhile, he mainly concentrated on finding the snacks. He looked behind, under and around us. In the sack that we bring everyday, he took everything out trying so hard to find his snacks. We couldn't hold out and once we opened the can, he would take 2, give the can holder one and close the lid.
We had a great day playing and when we took him back to his group they were in the midst of story time. We open the doors and they all shout "Nakita" for his return. Very heartwarming!
We ate lunch with Lana and Arina here at the Vlad Inn. They are very comical in their stories of Russians and the "2" New Years celebrations they have. They call it Drunk month from December 31 - January 20!
This afternoon, we went to notarize our final document to formally request the adoption of Nakita. The gal was out to lunch so we went souvenier shopping quickly (as you all know, I don't like to shop quickly.... Jon became a little impatient. Shocker!) But, the store was about 5 million degrees and there definitely not alot of time to do everyone justice as Arina was waiting for us in the car. So Lana helped us pick and choose items. We had to go then back to the notary, who was located in an dark alley way. Very quick!
Lana, our interpreter, loves cats as we found out on one of our many drives. We told her that one of our good friends, Mr. T has 2 cats and a stroller for his kitties!! She loved that and had never heard of such a thing, but would like to see one! Mr. T you are are international icon now!! Such a trend setter!
Here are a few photos for you of the city and of Nakita today!
We miss you all!
Love Jon & Becky
Vlad photos.....
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Day 3 in Artyom
Good Wednesday morning (or evening for those of us on the other side of the world!)
Today was great. Nakita's main objective was his snacks! He ate all morning long! We did go out for some playtime outside, but it was shaded and quite chilly. After that we stayed indoors and played with his books and ball, but he was HUNGRY! As we spend more time with him, he's really reminding me of someone else we all know.....stubborn, strong willed, a mind of his own, does what he wants to do, wants to eat when he wants to eat..... hmmm, who could that be? He did get slightly irritated with Jon when Jon tried to hug him. He yelled "NYET, NYET" followed by a finger point. Jon laughed. This is his boy.
We were able to take him up to his group of mates and they were ready for lunch and waiting for him. It is so heartbreaking to see all these faces staring up at us, not knowing their final story. Nakita pushed through them and was ready to eat! He turned around, waved "paca". We waved to all of his mates and will return tomorrow.
I tried to attach video of the countryside here, but it is taking WAY TOO long, so I will try to do that when I am at home.
Thanks for all your support! We love reading the comments and appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Becky & Jon
Here are some pics of his baby home "Desky Dom".
This is where they have music and special holidays.
This is the pet turtle. He even has his own heater!
Today was great. Nakita's main objective was his snacks! He ate all morning long! We did go out for some playtime outside, but it was shaded and quite chilly. After that we stayed indoors and played with his books and ball, but he was HUNGRY! As we spend more time with him, he's really reminding me of someone else we all know.....stubborn, strong willed, a mind of his own, does what he wants to do, wants to eat when he wants to eat..... hmmm, who could that be? He did get slightly irritated with Jon when Jon tried to hug him. He yelled "NYET, NYET" followed by a finger point. Jon laughed. This is his boy.
We were able to take him up to his group of mates and they were ready for lunch and waiting for him. It is so heartbreaking to see all these faces staring up at us, not knowing their final story. Nakita pushed through them and was ready to eat! He turned around, waved "paca". We waved to all of his mates and will return tomorrow.
I tried to attach video of the countryside here, but it is taking WAY TOO long, so I will try to do that when I am at home.
Thanks for all your support! We love reading the comments and appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers.
Love,
Becky & Jon
Here are some pics of his baby home "Desky Dom".
This is where they have music and special holidays.
This is the pet turtle. He even has his own heater!
Happy Tuesday!
It's been a great day.
We met with Nikita early this morning and were overjoyed when we walked in and he ran to Jon, immediately gave him "knuckles", a "high five" and hugs. Jon was overcome with emotion and in his words "what a great way to start a day." He then ran to me, gave me a hug and grabbed my hand and we walked into the playroom.
We spent alot of one on one time with Nakita today, and we know in our hearts that he is the child for us. He laughed, had a little temper (hello Jon!) and ran after us for hugs when we started to leave the baby home. As part of the adoption process, we understand that there are no guarantees - health wise - but we are more than willing to face those challenges head on with the support and love of each other, our family and friends. We are formally moving forward with adopting him and can't wait for the day when he can ride his trike! We do expect a very difficult day for us when we leave on Friday. We won't be able to return until late January/February at the earliest to see him again to bring him home, which seems so far away. We ask all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. While this has been an experience of a lifetime, we are both mentally and physically exhausted from the happenings over the last 48 hours.
We're attaching some photos of our son ("brother") and are excited for the day when you can all meet Nakita.
Love and hugs to all of you!
Beck and Jon
We met with Nikita early this morning and were overjoyed when we walked in and he ran to Jon, immediately gave him "knuckles", a "high five" and hugs. Jon was overcome with emotion and in his words "what a great way to start a day." He then ran to me, gave me a hug and grabbed my hand and we walked into the playroom.
We spent alot of one on one time with Nakita today, and we know in our hearts that he is the child for us. He laughed, had a little temper (hello Jon!) and ran after us for hugs when we started to leave the baby home. As part of the adoption process, we understand that there are no guarantees - health wise - but we are more than willing to face those challenges head on with the support and love of each other, our family and friends. We are formally moving forward with adopting him and can't wait for the day when he can ride his trike! We do expect a very difficult day for us when we leave on Friday. We won't be able to return until late January/February at the earliest to see him again to bring him home, which seems so far away. We ask all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers. While this has been an experience of a lifetime, we are both mentally and physically exhausted from the happenings over the last 48 hours.
We're attaching some photos of our son ("brother") and are excited for the day when you can all meet Nakita.
Love and hugs to all of you!
Beck and Jon
Monday, October 8, 2007
Monday
What a wonderful day....
We met with a representative from the Russian Ministry of Education at 9am this morning to discuss adoption of a child in Russia. She asked us a smattering of questions about the US, about Russia, why we're choosing a Russian child over an American child, etc. Jon was sweating bullets, but all went very well. We'll detail out the traffic & Russian drivers (Jon will rarely complain about his commute any more!), as well as the hit and run we saw first hand. Oh, and the guy that attempted to break into the car we were sitting in ..... yes, our translator and adoption rep had to get our paperwork notorized, left us in the back seat of the car, and a gentleman attempted to break in. When he saw us, he took off. Again, welcome to Russia!
We weren't able to go to the baby home until 3pm, as the home did not want to interrupt Nakita's daily schedule. Words cannot describe the immediate love that we felt for him when he walked through the doors to meet us. Although he was somewhat leery of us at first, he warmed up quite quickly. Within 5 minutes, he was out of his caretaker's arms, eating cheerio-s with us and playing with the ball that Natalie had picked out for him. Not long after, he was in Becky's arms, playing ball and reading books. He is such a smart boy. He was high-fiving Jon and caught on quickly when Jon told him to give him knuckles (push his knuckles against Jon's). We were there over 3 1/2 hours (most parents are only allowed an hour on the first day) and got to go outside and play with his entire group of "mates". The children are wonderful, they were hugging and playing ball with Jon and we could not get enough of them. It's very sad to see the number of children that are so desperately in need of (and deserve) a loving home. Jon was the first one to say that he wished he could take more home with us (we'll need to discuss that a little more.....)
We have so much to tell all of you about Nikita. We also have several pictures of him and were going to post a few to the blog. However, we've decided to limit it at this point because of some news that we just received. Throughout the adoption process, we are working with our adoption Doctor at Illinois-Chicago regarding specifics around Nikita. Unfortunately, the Dr. just told us that he is concerned about some of the information that he has received from us about his health. It appears that this may complicate some of our decisions about Nikita. We certainly don't want all of you to become attached to this boy, as we have, so are waiting to post photos. We ask that you all please keep us in your prayers. It is so difficult to be here, live this life changing experience and not be able to talk to everyone, the way that we want to. Overall, it has been a wonderful day. We have met a boy that will forever change our outlook on life and how fortunate all of us in the US have it.
Unfortunately, it was also filled with sorrow. We learned this morning about the passing of Jon's Uncle Doug on Saturday night. Uncle Doug, a diehard Missouri Tigers fan, is most remembered for trading barbs with diehard Iowa Staters Jon and his brother Jamie over the years. It is Jon's hope that Doug is golfing with his Dad in Heaven, talking about the thrashing that MIZ-ZOU-RAH put on the Tigers' (and Cyclones') hated rival the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday night. Our thoughts and prayers are with Spencer & Dawn and the entire family back home. We love and will miss you Uncle Doug.
Thank you everyone for your comments. We look forward to logging in every few hours and seeing who has replied. By the way, you all are making us laugh. You can sign your full names...don't have to be initials! (But, we do like the challenge!)
Love to everyone back home!
We Love and miss you,
Beck and Jon
We met with a representative from the Russian Ministry of Education at 9am this morning to discuss adoption of a child in Russia. She asked us a smattering of questions about the US, about Russia, why we're choosing a Russian child over an American child, etc. Jon was sweating bullets, but all went very well. We'll detail out the traffic & Russian drivers (Jon will rarely complain about his commute any more!), as well as the hit and run we saw first hand. Oh, and the guy that attempted to break into the car we were sitting in ..... yes, our translator and adoption rep had to get our paperwork notorized, left us in the back seat of the car, and a gentleman attempted to break in. When he saw us, he took off. Again, welcome to Russia!
We weren't able to go to the baby home until 3pm, as the home did not want to interrupt Nakita's daily schedule. Words cannot describe the immediate love that we felt for him when he walked through the doors to meet us. Although he was somewhat leery of us at first, he warmed up quite quickly. Within 5 minutes, he was out of his caretaker's arms, eating cheerio-s with us and playing with the ball that Natalie had picked out for him. Not long after, he was in Becky's arms, playing ball and reading books. He is such a smart boy. He was high-fiving Jon and caught on quickly when Jon told him to give him knuckles (push his knuckles against Jon's). We were there over 3 1/2 hours (most parents are only allowed an hour on the first day) and got to go outside and play with his entire group of "mates". The children are wonderful, they were hugging and playing ball with Jon and we could not get enough of them. It's very sad to see the number of children that are so desperately in need of (and deserve) a loving home. Jon was the first one to say that he wished he could take more home with us (we'll need to discuss that a little more.....)
We have so much to tell all of you about Nikita. We also have several pictures of him and were going to post a few to the blog. However, we've decided to limit it at this point because of some news that we just received. Throughout the adoption process, we are working with our adoption Doctor at Illinois-Chicago regarding specifics around Nikita. Unfortunately, the Dr. just told us that he is concerned about some of the information that he has received from us about his health. It appears that this may complicate some of our decisions about Nikita. We certainly don't want all of you to become attached to this boy, as we have, so are waiting to post photos. We ask that you all please keep us in your prayers. It is so difficult to be here, live this life changing experience and not be able to talk to everyone, the way that we want to. Overall, it has been a wonderful day. We have met a boy that will forever change our outlook on life and how fortunate all of us in the US have it.
Unfortunately, it was also filled with sorrow. We learned this morning about the passing of Jon's Uncle Doug on Saturday night. Uncle Doug, a diehard Missouri Tigers fan, is most remembered for trading barbs with diehard Iowa Staters Jon and his brother Jamie over the years. It is Jon's hope that Doug is golfing with his Dad in Heaven, talking about the thrashing that MIZ-ZOU-RAH put on the Tigers' (and Cyclones') hated rival the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday night. Our thoughts and prayers are with Spencer & Dawn and the entire family back home. We love and will miss you Uncle Doug.
Thank you everyone for your comments. We look forward to logging in every few hours and seeing who has replied. By the way, you all are making us laugh. You can sign your full names...don't have to be initials! (But, we do like the challenge!)
Love to everyone back home!
We Love and miss you,
Beck and Jon
Saturday, October 6, 2007
A few photos from Vlad
Hi all!
We are having a quiet day here. We took a walk this am on the beach. Jon dared to try the water and he said it was freezing.
The weather is beautiful. Perfect fall days. Here are a few photos from the inn.
We will post more tomorrow. Lana and Irena are picking us up at 9am tomorrow for our meeting with the Minestry. Wish us luck!
Hugs to all!
Becky & Jon
We are having a quiet day here. We took a walk this am on the beach. Jon dared to try the water and he said it was freezing.
The weather is beautiful. Perfect fall days. Here are a few photos from the inn.
We will post more tomorrow. Lana and Irena are picking us up at 9am tomorrow for our meeting with the Minestry. Wish us luck!
Hugs to all!
Becky & Jon
We are in Russia
Hi everyone....
Our two hour plane trip from Seoul to Russia was a rough.... alot of turbulence. You all know Jon and his "mild" fear of flying.... enough said.
The funniest thing on the plane.... the guy sitting next to us said "Sure could use a stoli." We both looked at him (it was just after Noon) and he laughed and told us "in the US, they say it's 5 o'clock somewhere, in Russia, it's Noon somewhere." Our kind of guy....
The airport was incredibly remote. The was only one runway/taxiway and was very narrow. The wings were out over the grass. The pilot also made a terrible landing (see... Jon's fear of flying). We then parked about 300 yards from the airport building and waited for buses straight from 1950 to shuttle us over. Once we got there, we waited for about an hour to get through passport control. Then, went through immigration and then finally got our bags (they were both there! Hurrah!).
We noticed once we made it through the double doors from immigration, two ladies were ferociously waving. We thought CHI (our agency) would have a sign so weren't sure who these ladies were. Anyway, they ran over to us, gave us hugs and welcomed us to the country. They had our photos from the St. Louis office.... Arina is the CHI rep here (young, speaks some English and has a great personality. Lana is our translator for the week....also young, speaks great English and has a great personality. They talked/laughed the entire way to the hotel.....
Vladivostok is beautiful. It reminds Jon and I both of northeast Iowa and Wisconsin with the leaves changing colors, etc. It's somewhat hilly with very narrow streets, with very FAST drivers. There were several landmarks on our way here....so there were alot of wedding parties on the side of the road taking photos. We also unfortunately saw a horrendous car accident with a fatality. Welcome to Russia!
Once we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by several other guests from Canada, New Zealand, etc. In fact, they invited us to "The White Rabbit", the bar in the hotel for some cocktails. We'll plan to catch up with all of them later this evening.
The hotel is near the ocean - a quick 2 minute walk. We already have ventured down there. The ocean is beautiful and some of the scenery was interesting... including men with speedos on (it's 50 degrees) and 15 year olds drinking beer on the beach. Fill you in with more later.....
We are so excited to meet Nikita on Monday morning. We go to court at 9am (5pm CST Sunday). Please pray for all of us and wish us well.
And Happy Birthday Pat Pat, hope you had a great one!!
Friday, October 5, 2007
We're in Seoul!
After a 14 hour flight from O'Hare to Seoul, we landed this afternoon at 4:45pm local time (2:45am in Chicago). Both of us are all over Korean Air.....the flight attendants were phenomenial...primarily because they had our first Budweisers (Bud Heavy - but not really an issue) to us about 15 mins after we took off. We continued on Buds and wine, for free, for the duration of the flight. Needless to say, it's was Jon's best flight ever. They fed us every 3 hours (large meals) and Jon was thrilled it was "good beef". He's eating away, thinking that he may not be eating much over the next week. Seriously though, Korean Air has exceptional service. We had our own 10 inch tv screens and were able to chose new movies, comedys, news and play Nintendo games. We also had a seat between us, so Jon chose to spread out and lay across all 3 of the seats - including mine. Always thoughtful!
Needless to say, we are both exhausted. Jon's patience is at an all time low. We've been having some difficulty getting this message to everyone because all of the internet cafes at the airport are Korean, and we hadn't been able to connect to any American websites.
We leave tomorrow morning for Vladivostok and will post photos, etc once we get there....probably within the next day or so. Please continue to check in and pray for us.
We hope everyone at home is doing well and we'll talk to all of you very soon.
Love, Beck and Jon
Needless to say, we are both exhausted. Jon's patience is at an all time low. We've been having some difficulty getting this message to everyone because all of the internet cafes at the airport are Korean, and we hadn't been able to connect to any American websites.
We leave tomorrow morning for Vladivostok and will post photos, etc once we get there....probably within the next day or so. Please continue to check in and pray for us.
We hope everyone at home is doing well and we'll talk to all of you very soon.
Love, Beck and Jon
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
WE GOT THE CALL!!
Hi everyone!
We finally received the call last Wednesday, Sept 26! As I was tripping over Molly and Louie (our labs) on my way out the door to pick up Natalie, Marti (our Children's Hope Rep) was calling.... yet again. I figured that it would be more paperwork.... as usual. She asked how I was.... which perked my interest.... and said that we were needed in Russia for an appointment with the Ministry of Education on Monday, October 8th. As I was writing everything down, it dawned on me that the travel was the following week. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! And to top it off, Jon was in Duluth, MN (a lovely place from what I hear :) ) on business. So thank goodness for cell phones, I texted him .... WE HAVE TRAVEL DATES!....and of course, I got a call back in 30 seconds! His awesome boss, Mary Jo, told him to call me (she's been living this adventure with us the last 2 years), called the trip short and he came home to help me plan the trip of a lifetime!
We are leaving on Thursday! Our flight is at 1pm Central from O'Hare direct to Seoul, South Korea. It is about a 14 hour flight (pray for Jon!) and thanks to Tina Kennedy (my wonderful friend), we will have a few movies to watch! We arrive in Seoul on Friday at 5:00pm - a world away, not to mention a day away! (It is 14 hours ahead of Chicago time). We will spend the night in Seoul on Friday - (yes I think after this we can be on the Amazing Race and do fairly well!) then our flight leaves Seoul to Vladivostok, Russia (located on the far eastern side of Russia, directly above North Korea) on Saturday October 6. We are so excited and anxious to meet "brother"!
Once in Vladivostok, we are staying at the Vlad Motor Inn. A very cool hotel, fairly remote from the city - and managed by Canadians, with imported North American beef, so my incredibly picky husband is thrilled they have hamburgers and chicken fingers (oh, and American beer & wine!). You can see it by going to www.vlad-inn.ru. The weather should be decent (coordinates are similar to Boston) and we have a link on the side of our blog to let you know the time and weather!
As we continue with our journey over the next couple of weeks, we are going to try to write every day! We can't post pictures of "brother" until after court on our next visit, but we'll post updates as often as possible.
Thanks to each and every one of you for your support over these past 2 years!! We are so thrilled that God has led us down this path and we look forward to sharing it with all of you.
Hugs and love!
Jon, Becky and Nat
We finally received the call last Wednesday, Sept 26! As I was tripping over Molly and Louie (our labs) on my way out the door to pick up Natalie, Marti (our Children's Hope Rep) was calling.... yet again. I figured that it would be more paperwork.... as usual. She asked how I was.... which perked my interest.... and said that we were needed in Russia for an appointment with the Ministry of Education on Monday, October 8th. As I was writing everything down, it dawned on me that the travel was the following week. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! And to top it off, Jon was in Duluth, MN (a lovely place from what I hear :) ) on business. So thank goodness for cell phones, I texted him .... WE HAVE TRAVEL DATES!....and of course, I got a call back in 30 seconds! His awesome boss, Mary Jo, told him to call me (she's been living this adventure with us the last 2 years), called the trip short and he came home to help me plan the trip of a lifetime!
We are leaving on Thursday! Our flight is at 1pm Central from O'Hare direct to Seoul, South Korea. It is about a 14 hour flight (pray for Jon!) and thanks to Tina Kennedy (my wonderful friend), we will have a few movies to watch! We arrive in Seoul on Friday at 5:00pm - a world away, not to mention a day away! (It is 14 hours ahead of Chicago time). We will spend the night in Seoul on Friday - (yes I think after this we can be on the Amazing Race and do fairly well!) then our flight leaves Seoul to Vladivostok, Russia (located on the far eastern side of Russia, directly above North Korea) on Saturday October 6. We are so excited and anxious to meet "brother"!
Once in Vladivostok, we are staying at the Vlad Motor Inn. A very cool hotel, fairly remote from the city - and managed by Canadians, with imported North American beef, so my incredibly picky husband is thrilled they have hamburgers and chicken fingers (oh, and American beer & wine!). You can see it by going to www.vlad-inn.ru. The weather should be decent (coordinates are similar to Boston) and we have a link on the side of our blog to let you know the time and weather!
As we continue with our journey over the next couple of weeks, we are going to try to write every day! We can't post pictures of "brother" until after court on our next visit, but we'll post updates as often as possible.
Thanks to each and every one of you for your support over these past 2 years!! We are so thrilled that God has led us down this path and we look forward to sharing it with all of you.
Hugs and love!
Jon, Becky and Nat
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