Days in Nakhodka

Did ya think we were MIA? We aren't. Most definitely not.

In fact, we've had a busy couple of days. We drove to Nakhodka. We stayed in a motel there. We visited Jack three different times. We drove back to Vlad.

Is that enough information for you?

It's not. Okay, fine. I'll give you the expanded version.

You would have had an update or three in the past couple of days....but we couldn't get online at our motel in Nakhodka. We tried. Many times. But it just didn't work.

Anyway. Friday morning Oksana picked us up at the Vlad Inn about 8:00. It was about 8:30 til we actually left though cause our second driver got lost on the way to the Inn and went about 25 minutes out of her way. Off we went. Zipping off to Nakhodka.

The drive is a beautiful one...though prime for bouts of motion sickness. This time around I felt great as I sat in the front, but poor Jason didn't fare so well. No throwing up, but he was feeling pretty crummy til we arrived three hours later.

 Our first stop in Nakhodka was the Bureau of Vital Statistics office. Our judge didn't remember to get Nickolay's birth registration paper so we had to stop and attempt to get it. Oksana isn't even supposed to be able to do it, actually. The office was closed that day, but someone that Oksana knows called them on Thursday and talked them into letting us get what we needed. With a little chocolate bribery, getting the registration wasn't a problem. Good thing. We had to have that paper in order to have court on Monday.

From there, we headed to our motel to check in. Our rooms are right across the hall from each other. They look so nice, but looks can definitely be deceiving. Oh, yes. Looks are deceiving. The showers have severe issues. The water runs down the wall, out under the tub, and soaks everything that happened to get left lying on the floor. The beds strongly resemble a slab of concrete....complete with rebar every four or so inches that didn't get completely covered when the concrete was poured. Jason and I actually slept on top of the bedspread to add a little cushion and covered up with the bathrobes that were provided. Dad and Mom toughed it out til about 4:30 when Dad resorted to the same thing that we did. Our bones are aching. The rooms are rather chilly. No thermostats. We've decided that the motel must be on government heating. The lobby has a couple big heaters and the restaurant has several space heaters. The best part of this motel is the water jugs in the hallway that give water hot enough to make tea....or water cold enough to drink.

Friday afternoon about 1:00 we headed to the baby home to see little Jack Nickolay for the first time in four months. (Poor Dad couldn't go cause he isn't feeling so hot. Not at all, in fact. His head is/was so plugged that he could hardly breathe. It's clearing a tad by now....Sat. afternoon....after drinking tons of Oregano Tea and Ginger/lemon/honey tea.) Back to the topic. We got to visit Jack. He's huge. I'm hoping that at least some of the clothes that I brought will fit him. I know we'll have to buy new shoes.

 He didn't really want too much to do with us....and we were so thankful. It's such a good sign if they are apprehensive at first. Several times during our three hour visit he would get a terribly sad look on his face and just about cry....but a little distracting and he'd be back to grinning again.

Anytime one of his caregivers would walk through he would pucker up again and reach out his arms to them. He giggled. He walked around a tad...but his favorite spot to be was sitting on a lap. All but Addie's. Which greatly disappointed her as you can imagine. We'd try to stand him up so he could go play and his knees would go weak and he'd flop back down on our laps.

He loves to give hugs and kisses. Today...Saturday...we found out why he likes it so well. One of his caregivers came in, swooped him up, smooched all over him. It was so fun to see. He has been so well loved in the past four months.

 Friday after the visit, we went to the grocery. Our menu here consists of cold meat, cheese, bread, yogurt, string cheese, ice cream, bananas, tea, and water.

We got back to the motel hoping that Dad would be back to normal, but alas, he wasn't. We gobbled down our supper and went to our separate rooms to ready for bed. By 8:30 we were all snoozing. Kind of. Addie and Will slept very well, but the rest of us? Well, between relieving our bones of the concrete mattresses, we got a little sleep!!

 Saturday morning we headed to the restaurant for breakfast where we were served cold omelets, chilly toast, ham, cheese, cold cereal, salad, warm milk, apple juice, warm Kasha (which strongly resembled a bowl of rice in a warm milky sauce). It was....good. Most of it anyway. We really couldn't complain, though. At least we had food. Cold omelets and all.

Back in our rooms we laid the children down for naps til time for Oksana to come pick us up. We headed to visit Jack once again....and had yet another good visit. He was a little more welcoming of us today. He still loved his caregivers more than he liked us...but it really didn't matter. He is so sweet...and no, I'm not biased. Even Mom thinks so. :) Our visit today didn't last as long as it did yesterday, but that was okay. It gets a little difficult to entertain a child...or three...in a little room for three hours. He was sleepy today. Til we left he had popped both thumbs into his mouth and was ready to drift off.

We headed back to our motel and Mom, Jason, and I bundled up and headed to the outdoor market across the street. It is very similar to a mall. Little stores with coats, hats, and mittens. Others with kitchen supplies. Others with games and toys. Then the grocery section....groceries of all kinds. All frozen, of course.

We didn't buy much. I bought a hat for myself, one for Will (he has managed to lose his sometime in the past week), and one for Addie.

We didn't last too long. Our bundling up wasn't quite enough. I don't know for sure how cold it was, but about noon it was -15* C. Cold. Really cold. I didn't even know it could be so cold out. And we're told that next week it's supposed to be even colder.

Sunday evening......

Here we are again..back home in the Vlad Inn.  It's so good to be here.  The beds are hard, but nothing compared to the concrete slabs we 'slept' on at the Gorizont.  The room was chilly when Dad and Mom arrived, but they cranked up the heaters and we shouldn't have to worry about the curtains freezing fast to the windows as they did in the Gorizont.  The hotel looked really nice....but as stated before.....looks can be deceiving.

This morning we ate our breakfast at the hotel restaurant again.  The children each ate Muesli, ham, cheese, and toast.  Dad and Mom had oatmeal porridge, fruit salad, toast, and jam.  Jason had Milk Kasha, fruit salad, and blini with jam.  I stuck with the tried and true omelet (which was warm rather than cold as it was yesterday morning), cheese, toast, and vegetable salad.  

After breakfast we headed back to our chilly rooms where we all took our naps.  Oksana came to pick us up about 12:00 and off we went to visit Jack Nickolay.  Dad and Mom headed back to Vlad with the other driver as Dad has been sick and wasn't able to go with us to see Jack Nickolay.  Hopefully he's on the mend now.

Our visit with Jack Nickolay was short today.  His groups naps didn't go well, so he was tired and a little grumpy.  Poor little guy.  These weird folks who don't even know his language likely have him worked up a tad.

After the visit we zipped off toward Vlad.  We stopped at the grocery in Artem to restock for the next few days and got home about 5:00.  Supper was fixed shortly (potato/chicken soup and bread), showers were given, and three of the six are already in bed....at 8:45.  It's so good to be back.

 Tomorrow we head to court.  This time around we aren't half as nervous as we were two and a half years ago.  Oksana will be here to pick us up about 2:00 (11:00PM at home) and court should begin about 4:00.  

We've been rehearsing our statements over and over in hopes that we don't forget everything by then.  My biggest fear is the language barrier.  It's so hard to keep eyes on the judge while trying to listen to the interpreter at the same time.  

Please pray.  I know that I don't even have to ask for that, but I'm going to anyway.  Though we aren't stressed about it now, we very well will be by 2:00 tomorrow!!  God will be with us, we know.

Blessings to you all on this Sunday.  Soak up some church for us, please.

By the way....thank you all so much for the comments and e-mails from home.  It's so fun to 'hear' from you all....even if you think your days are boring.  Sometimes while we're here, a little more 'boring' would be welcome.  

Currently, we have a load of laundry in the dryer.  It should be dry in roughly three hours....after we empty the water tray a few times.......  Actually.  I think it won't get dried completely tonight.  I'd like to get a tid bit of sleep tonight.  After all, we finally have some comfy beds again.  We'd better make good use of them.