Too Good not to Post

Okay, I had to post more pictures from our homecoming at the airport. These were too good not to share. The Parker Family snapped some priceless pictures for us...thank you guys for this precious gift. It is hard to believe this was only 10 days ago. I still get teary-eyed seeing us walk through those doors with Andrew and Kathlena. Thank you sweet friends for sharing this with us at the airport and/or through the blog.

Proud Dedushka's holding the sign.

Look at all those signs...thank you for your hard work in
making all of those sweet signs. We have kept every one
of them for Andrew and Kathlena.

The sweetest kids who waited a long time for us to come
through those doors. Thank you for making this even
more special with your signs and smiles!

Okay, all I can say is priceless...Ben what a great job you
did on your sign.

Here we are at last...first Kathlena

then Mommy and Andrew

Meeting Babushka-Nana(Gina's Mom) for the first time.

Daddy introducing his baby girl to Babushka-Grandmommie
and Dedushka-PawPaw for the first time.

Andrew meeting Babushka-Grandmommie and Dedushka-
PawPaw for the first time.

Kathlena went to Grandmommie quite quickly...so sweet.

Andrew with his new friends!

Wes Hood(one of Daddy's good friends) meeting Kathlena

Look at this crowd! What a welcome, thank you!

Kathlena and Daddy

Mommy and Andrew...it took Andrew a little while to warm
up, but once he did he was giving hugs to grandparents and
ready to play with his new friends.

Andrew was so excited to meet Dedushka-Dodad that he
has seen a picture of in his little albulm for months.

Kathlena with both her grandmothers from which she is
named. Kathy and Lena together make Kathlena.

David visiting with Joseph DiClementi.

Getting to know new friends.

Emily, proud big sister sharing about the trip.

Daddy with two of his good friends: Chris Beach (left) and
Wes Hood.

Kathlena meeting her new friend Abby who has waited and
prayed for Kathlena for a long time. So, sweet for them to
finally meet.

Andrew with Grandmommie and PawPaw.







J.Michael sharing with friend Taylor P. about his trip.

Proud big brother.






Now we are having fun!



Emily with her little sister...she is so happy to have Kathlena
home finally.

Packing up for Moscow

Today we are packing up and getting ready to leave for Moscow. It has been a wonderful first few days, and the Dvina Hotel will always be a special place for us. We had our translator, Helen, talk to the kids before she left about flying on the plane. Andrew is quite excited about going home and riding on an airplane. Everybody has joined in on the packing...see pictures above. So far the transition has been pretty smooth, but this change will be one of the first of many for us on this journey. We pray for grace and patience...traveling mercies for these precious little ones and our family.

We are going to head down to the mall that David and Emily discovered yesterday. Probably a good thing we did not discover it sooner. Emily said it is just like malls in America...very nice. We sent them in search of pants for Andrew, as we guessed too big and were having problems keeping the ones we brought with us from falling down. They did come back with a pair of pants (courderoy) that fit perfectly. We had seen a Levi's store on our trips to the orphanage, but apparently American brands are "designer" in these parts, so they are quite proud of them to the tune of $80 for basic Wranglers (probably less than $20 at the mega-low-mart back home). The Levi's store wanted $130 for basic jeans. Wow! On top of that, all of the children's jeans they found were lined inside with flannel or fleece. We're concerned that fleece-lined jeans might be considered child abuse in Houston. So, in Shiflet fashion we decided we could make do and set off to convert one of J.Michael's belts into one for Andrew. My resourceful husband found a maintance man down the hall who had some sort of filet knife and cut the length of the belt down. He then went back to the front desk and was able to communicate that he needed scissors to cut a notch for the buckle, then he used a butter knife back in the room to screw the buckle back on. Voila...we have a belt for Andrew...pictured below with his balloons that he figured out how to tie together. An unintended by-product of the shortened belt was a 6-inch leather rod that is very discreet for traveling. :)

Emily, J.Michael and I are heading to the Mall now to do a little souvenier shopping before we go. Daddy is watching little ones during nap time.

Packing up for Moscow

Today we are packing up and getting ready to leave for Moscow. It has been a wonderful first few days, and the Dvina Hotel will always be a special place for us. We had our translator, Helen, talk to the kids before she left about flying on the plane. Andrew is quite excited about going home and riding on an airplane. Everybody has joined in on the packing...see pictures above. So far the transition has been pretty smooth, but this change will be one of the first of many for us on this journey. We pray for grace and patience...traveling mercies for these precious little ones and our family.

We are going to head down to the mall that David and Emily discovered yesterday. Probably a good thing we did not discover it sooner. Emily said it is just like malls in America...very nice. We sent them in search of pants for Andrew, as we guessed too big and were having problems keeping the ones we brought with us from falling down. They did come back with a pair of pants (courderoy) that fit perfectly. We had seen a Levi's store on our trips to the orphanage, but apparently American brands are "designer" in these parts, so they are quite proud of them to the tune of $80 for basic Wranglers (probably less than $20 at the mega-low-mart back home). The Levi's store wanted $130 for basic jeans. Wow! On top of that, all of the children's jeans they found were lined inside with flannel or fleece. We're concerned that fleece-lined jeans might be considered child abuse in Houston. So, in Shiflet fashion we decided we could make do and set off to convert one of J.Michael's belts into one for Andrew. My resourceful husband found a maintance man down the hall who had some sort of filet knife and cut the length of the belt down. He then went back to the front desk and was able to communicate that he needed scissors to cut a notch for the buckle, then he used a butter knife back in the room to screw the buckle back on. Voila...we have a belt for Andrew...pictured below with his balloons that he figured out how to tie together. An unintended by-product of the shortened belt was a 6-inch leather rod that is very discreet for traveling. :)

Emily, J.Michael and I are heading to the Mall now to do a little souvenier shopping before we go. Daddy is watching little ones during nap time.

The Wooden Village

Our first real outing with the kids. We went to see the Wooden Village; Arkhangelsk is known for this. It was built in the 1600's as best we could tell-all the signs were in Russian. It was truly beautiful and amazing craftsmanship. It was really not far from the orphanage where Andrew came from. We were traveling in two cars and the boys were in the second car. I was hoping that Andrew wasn't nervous or worried that we were going back. I asked David later and he said he did not seem the least bit concerned, but enjoyed taking in all of the scenery. Kathlena slept the whole way there but was ready to go when we arrived.

It was very cold today...it even snowed on us a little at the Village. We did lots of walking...J.Michael and Andrew hand in hand the whole time. J.Michael is really loving being a big brother. Emily, our faithful historian, took pictures and video for us. The children, especially Andrew really enjoy watching the videos and seeing themselves with us...it is so sweet. Kathlena walked some but took in the view from 6ft up on Daddy's shoulders. She is starting to really warm up to Daddy. I do not think she has ever really been around men, especially tall, deep voiced men. :) The kids took a ride on this rope swing (pictured below) it was really fun. Just as they had a few turns they were overrun by a group of school children on a field trip. One of the girls looked at J.Michael and said "Hello, I am from Russia" in very good English. She was about his age. I wonder where she learned her English?

After a couple of hours of touring we decided we were freezing and hungry so we headed for the hotel. Kathlena did not sleep on the way back and about half way to the hotel she tells me " ho-chesh pee-sat" which means I need to pee. Nothing I could do so I asked her to hold it then remembered she has the pull up on so no problem. I placed her in my lap to see out the window and take her mind off of it. Well, she really needed to go and her pull up was apparently already full. So, I was quickly reminded what life is like with a toddler as I now sat looking like I am the one who needed to "Pee-sat". I shrugged to myself and thought well this is one of the joys of toddler motherhood. Soon we were nearing the hotel so I began to bundle up Kathlena to get ready to get out. We had to wait in line for a little while to get into the parking lot. Kathlena was a little fidgety, but I figured her soaked pull up, tights and pants were probably getting uncomfortable. Wrong! She began to throw up all over herself and down my jacket and pants. Not once but two times before I could convey to the driver (who only speaks Russian-but some things like a kid vomiting transcend the language barrier) we needed out. I fling open the door but by then she had finished throwing up. I am not sure if it was car sickness or if we simply fed her too much for breakfast then the excitement of the trip and all.

We got her back to the hotel and gave her another bath. She seemed just fine. She ate a little lunch then we put her down for her nap and she is still sleeping even now. I am not even sure that she has ridden in a car much before we took her to the hotel. I can only imagine what all is going through her little mind as her world is so rapidly changing.