Four Feet More

Eamon's in a contradict-everything-I-say-in-a-high-pitched-voice phase, and it's extremely tedious.  During one loud episode, during which I childishly held up a "What do we want?  COOPERATION!  When do we want it? NOW!" strike sign, Eamon yelled, "What do you mean by cooperation???!!!"

Ah, yes.  I guess it would be a good idea to clarify that, wouldn't it? 

The teacher in me took over and I grabbed a piece of chart paper to begin my mini-lesson on cooperation.  At the top I wrote, "COOPERATION" and underlined it.  Below that I made two columns, one headed with a drawing of an eye an the words "Looks like" and the other with a drawing of an ear and the words "Sounds like."  As an afterthought, I inserted the word "Family" before the "Cooperation" title.  This chart is a trick I learned in my GLAD training, an I do it every year with my students.  I'm not sure why I didn't think to do it with my kids.  Chart prepared, the four of us sat around the table and began brainstorming what cooperation in a family looks like and sounds like.  These are the things we came up with: using kind words, asking "How can I help?," teamwork, and encouraging each other.  Another interesting idea that came up, which wouldn't have occurred to me, is "Walking together."  When we are out in public, Vika generally walks far behind us and Eamon walks far ahead.  The kids and Jeff noted that when we all walk together, we are cooperating and being more of a family. 


It was a good lesson, and I think the kids have a better understanding what we mean by cooperation in a family.  I've spotted both kids standing in front of the chart (which we've hung by the kitchen), reading over the bullet points on their own.  We are also able to refer to the chart when someone needs a reminder about cooperation.  This worked against me the other day, when I was feeling irritable and Vika pointed to the chart with the reminder, "Is that a kind voice, Mama?"  Oh brother. 

Things have been a little tough here lately, and it seems that Jeff and I are making far more negative comments to our kids than positive.  It must be a burden on their self-esteem, so we took a step back and did another activity to remind everyone of the good things we see in each other.  I took some photos of the kids' faces and put them in the middle of a square piece of paper.  One page was for Eamon and the other was for Vika.  Around their picture, we wrote the good qualities and things we love about each child.  Eamon's page says things like: loving, caring, funny, affectionate.  Vika's says words like: determined, helpful, adventurous and loving.  The kids ate this activity up.  It was good for them to hear the things we love about them, and to remind them that despite the rough patch we're going through, they are great kids and we feel lucky to have them in our lives.  These pages have an added benefit for Jeff and I as well.  When the kids are driving us nuts and we're reaching our breaking point, we can look at the page and remind ourselves of the good things about each child.  It kind of helps put things in perspective and helps us focus on the child as a whole, not just the bad behavior he or she is currently displaying.

Remember these stupid essays you had to write whenever you returned to school from a vacation?  I hope Vika and Eamon aren't given this assignment, because their essays would be very boring reading.  Poor kids.  They were cooped up inside practically all week while Jeff and I worked on redecorating our bedroom (a project that was supposed to take one day, two tops, but wound up stretching through the entire week and beyond.  It's still not done).

It all started with our old duvet cover and shams.  Jeff is one of those people who, when he buys something, he really wants to get the most out of it.  Which is why he still drives a 1991 Honda Civic.  But I digress....  He bought this duvet cover the year before we started dating, making it 15 years old.  It was kind of this funky, Middle Eastern style of print, and I always liked it.  But the thing was OLD.  The shams started tearing about a year ago, to the point where I could not sew them back together.  Finally, I convinced Jeff that it was time to buy a new duvet and sham set.  We found a great one on Amazon, and with our Amazon Prime shipping (thanks mom!) we got it in two days.  Love that.

However, the duvet did not match anything in our room.  Nothing really matched in our room.  It was a mish-mosh of things we'd each had since before we knew each other, and random art work that followed no particular theme whatsoever.  In fact, the room was a bit anxiety-provoking, and whenever company was over, we would close the door so no one would see the mess of a hovel in which we slept.

Well, that was all about to change.  We painted the walls a nice, neutral khaki color that went well with our new duvet.  Then we repainted the bed (it is a bed we inherited, which we actually love, but had been painted when we got it, so now must be either repainted to match the room or completely stripped down to the wood - a project much more daunting than either of us wanted to tackle at this time).  Since we didn't have the funding to buy all new bedroom furniture, we decided to tie our existing furniture in to the new decor with accent pieces that pulled out the color in the furniture and the darker brown on the room fixtures and duvet.  The duvet is kind of a tropical print in dark brown and sea-blue that reminds me of this travel show I saw on Bali.  So, we decided to decorate the room with pieces from Indonesia and South East Asia.   It was a great excuse to shop at Cost Plus and Pier One!  I also found some images of Bali and Thailand and printed them out in black and white to hang on the walls in black frames with white mats.   The room is coming together pretty nicely, if I do say so myself.

Now, we just need to finish the closet doors (they are original from when our house was built in the 70's and are much in need of updating).  We're recovering the off-white contact paper that covered the doors with a grass-mat pattern which ties in nicely to the room.

Unfortunately, we did not take any before pictures of the room to show you a comparison of how it has changed.  The room was just too awful before, I couldn't bring myself to document it.  Here are a few "after" pictures I shot, even though we're not done redecorating.

 Here's the new bedspread and the wall hanging we bought.  not sure what to put on either side of it yet, but hopefully we'll find something.

The new wall above my bookcases.  My favorite thing is the elephant teapot, which probably shouldn't be in a bedroom, but I love it!  Also, notice the picture of the Buddha face up above?  I took that on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyworld.  :)

Despite being cooped up in the house all week, the kids did surprisingly well.  There were a few rough patches, to be sure.  But for the most part, it was smooth sailing.  They hung out in our room with us, Vika reading and Eamon tinkering (with legos, transformers, Hotweels, etc.), and in the evening we watched movies to unwind.  It was kind of like a week-long "time-in" for them, and may have been just what we all needed.  Hopefully now that Spring Break is over and we have to get back to our regular school day routine, things won't start getting crazy again.  And hopefully we'll get this dang room done before Summer Vacation!

This morning, while Jeff was out on his run, I dismantled the dang Christmas tree. The kids helped me haul the pieces back into the garage, where we shoved them back into the box. It's not a pretty put-away job, but at least it's done.

Jeff's birthday was this weekend too, on Saturday. We put his gifts under the tree and his cards in the branches. It looked a bit festive, if I do say so myself.

I had this whole post prepared about New Year's resolutions and revelations, and staying connected to family and friends rather than taking them for granted. But reading through it again last night, it smacked a bit of bitterness. I think I'll rework it a bit before posting it here. Or maybe I won't. Maybe it will just languish with all my other draft posts which lost some of their appeal when I went to press the "Publish Post" button.

We'll see.

In other news, we received a bit of a surprise last week in the form of a message from Russia. The kids' Russian Mama sent us New Year's Cards. It wasn't much, but it was enough to let me know that she wants to keep contact with us, which was a huge relief. I was so worried that she might just ignore our last letter, which was sent nearly 6 months ago, or that future contact might be too painful for her. I was also concerned that she might have moved since I dragged my feet so long in writing to her. But now we have a current address to work with and a sign that connection with our family is not unwelcome.

I'm not sure how to respond to these cards though. They were basically holiday cards with brief notes written inside (we're having them translated), and didn't answer any of the questions I posed in my letter. I guess, rather than ask more questions, I'll just send an update on how the kids are doing with some additional pictures. Although I might sneak a little request in there for birth father pictures, if I can find a tactful way to do it. This whole thing is tricky - I desperately want information, but don't want to offend or seem too pushy. Any suggestions or input from those of you who have contact with birth families would be appreciated!

As some of you may remember, in March of 2008, we successfully completed a birth family search for our kids. It was amazing to get the photos, video and info on the birth family, and I especially felt that it would be great to keep up a relationship with them as Vika and Eamon get older. And yet here it is, over a year later, and I haven't done anything. I've drafted several letters, but have not had the courage to actually send them out. I guess I'm just a bit conflicted. While the kids' Russian Babushka and Uncle seemed very pleased to see their pictures and learn how they were doing, their Russian Mama seemed mostly sad. I'm not sure how more contact would be received, and I really don't want to cause her additional pain. But then I thought that perhaps having the initial contact, with nothing else afterward might be even more painful than getting another letter and update.

So I am again making contact with the kids' Russian family. I have written a letter (which an acquaintance generously translated for me), both apologizing for the length of time since our last correspondence, and asking the family what kind of contact they would like to have in the future. I figured in this instance, it is best to follow their lead and let them set the pace. I'm also sending photos of the kids and have offered to create a DVD of videos as well (if they are interested).

Hopefully the letter will be well-received and we'll be able to maintain some kind of future relationship with the kids' Russian family. I also hope that the family is still living where they were last year and my feet dragging hasn't cost us the opportunity to regain contact.

Wish us luck.

Christmas Eve is that special time of year for our family, when we not only celebrate the holidays, but the anniversary of bringing our kids home as well.

So here it is, our annual trip 2 video. I know long-time readers of this blog are probably sick of seeing it, but I can never get enough.



I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and wish you nothing but the best in the coming year!

Here are my excuses. First of all, we’ve been decompressing after our trip to Disneyland. Which was awesome! Some highlights:

• Vika was selected to become a Padawan at the Jedi Training Academy. And she was FIERCE! Seriously, Darth Vader was shaking in his boots when he had to face her. Vika even got to stand in the place of honor next to the Jedi Master, who had a little comedic interlude with her while she looked at him as if he were crazy. Good job playing right into his hands Vix! I did feel a little bad for Eamon though, who wanted to be a Jedi in the worst way. He was just too small to be selected. He was also very scared of Darth Maul, so it was probably best that he didn’t get picked for the training.
• Meeting with my best friend Mel and her family on her son Chad’s 3rd birthday. We had a breakfast with Minnie and Friends, and later met for dinner at the Blue Bayou and watched fireworks over the castle. Unfortunately, we were in a “secret spot” behind the castle, so we spent the whole time frantically turning our heads from side to side because the fireworks were exploding all around us. We were right under Tinkerbell though (I couldn’t confirm the rumor that she is actually a large man in a fairy costume), and it was a spectacular show.
• Going on Splash Mountain with Eamon. It was his first time on the ride, and he let out this huge, victorious belly laugh after we made it down safely through the briar patch drop.
• Going on Indiana Jones with Vika for her first time. She was scared to death in line and on the ride, but when it was over, she looked at me and exclaimed, “That was FRICKIN’ AWESOME!!!” (note to self – stop using the word “frickin’” around the children).
• Watching fireworks with Jeff outside of our hotel room. It was our first night at the resort, and the kids were already asleep (although how they could sleep through all that thunderous noise is a mystery). Jeff and I slipped out onto a little balcony area with our cups of hot tea and watched the fireworks display. It was a nice little bit of alone time after a long day on the road.

After returning from Disneyland, we had two other family events. First was Vika’s 7th birthday. We did a mini-celebration at home on Monday, and then did a bigger joint celebration with my mom (who’s birthday was Friday) at my brother Joe’s house. Joe has a pool, and Vika learned to swim without floaties! She was so excited to be chugging around the water in her little goggles, and wowed us all with her swim moves. Eamon was content to keep the floaties on and take running jumps into the pool. Over and over again. He also coaxed his Uncle Joe-Monkey into throwing him high into the air so he could splash down into the water. Again and again.
















The second family event is my dad’s visit from Tennessee. He’s been here almost a week now, and the kids have really enjoyed hanging out with him and visiting with the rest of the family. Eamon has become Dad's little shadow, following him around everywhere. Both kids will miss him after he leaves.

Tomorrow, dad returns home, and my life should return to normal. Or our family’s definition of normal anyway. I have one other exciting development to write about, but I’m going to do that in a separate post. I don’t want it to get lost in this quickly-thrown-together-recap of our week.

OK internets, I need some help. I'm in the process of updating the kids' lifebooks with the information we received from the birth family search. However, I'm stumped on how to handle some of the less-than-savory bits of the birth family's past. Without getting into too much detail, let me just say that the history includes alcohol and drug use, prison time, and assault. Among other things.

So, here's my dilemma: how do I present this info in an age-appropriate way for the kids' lifebooks? Should I just say, "so-and-so did some things that were against the law and had to go to jail?" I don't think I should be terribly specific about the nature of the misdeeds because the kids are too young to understand (plus, they don't really need to know all the specifics right now anyway). But, I do want to be as honest as possible, so the kids don't idealize the lives of their Russian family.

Has anyone else faced this problem? If so, how did you deal with it? If you would prefer to e-mail me privately, that is fine too. A link to my e-mail is on my profile page.

One of the benefits on our birth family search was that we got a couple of baby photos of the kids. The quality isn't the best, and the images are kind of fuzzy, but it's more than we had before, and we are very happy to have them.

These images are a bit small because the resolution was so low. However, we were able to print them out as wallet size photos, which we can put into the kids' lifebooks.

Here's Vika at around 10 months of age (I'm totally guessing here. I'm not terribly good at judging babies' ages). She's sitting in front of the same rug that was hung on the wall behind her Russian Mama during the interview (which gives kind of a nice sense of continuity). At the top of this photo, which was framed on the Tatiana's shelf, was a cut out picture of an unknown man (I edited it out here). I'm hoping his identity will be revealed when we get the video translation.



Here is a photo of the two kids sitting on their Russian Mama's lap. Eamon must be just a few months old in this photo, and Vika is probably around 20 months old. This isn't too long before they were placed in the orphanage.

The Russian Mama did ask that we send her regular updates and photos of the kids, and she promised to send us some photos as well.

An interesting side effect of the birth family search is that our family became a bit more extended. Even though we do not know them personally, and may never meet them in real life, I feel as if our kids' Russian family is part of our family too. I also feel a bit as if I am sharing Mother's Day this year with Tatiana. In previous years, she was a faceless person whom we did not know a lot about. Now that she is "real," my empathy for her and her loss of Vika and Eamon is even greater. I'll be keeping her in my thoughts this Mother's Day and hoping that the pictures and information we sent will give her as much comfort as the pictures and information she sent gave us.

We received the written report yesterday on the birth family, and it was VERY informative. Some of the details were pretty hard to read. But there were some good things in the report as well. It was wonderful to read of the love this Russian family had for our kids and to see the genuine joy both Great-grandmother Maya and Uncle Nikolai felt regarding their adoption. The bad parts of the report are pretty awful though. They left me feeling both sympathy for Tatiana (the birth mother) and a strong desire to shake her and say, "Snap out of it! Make better choices!" I know that many of her decisions were the result of life experiences and the environment she was in, so it's not fair for me to judge her. And I don't, really. I just want her to do better for herself (and any future children) from here on out.

Now it's up to us to navigate the tricky path of disclosure and decide which details to make available to the kids and when. I've already started a bit with easy things, such as a comment I dropped when Vika was laughing: "I love that dimple in your chin Vika! You know, the people in Russia told us that your Russian Mama has a dimple in her chin too. But that dimple in your cheek, that's all you!"

I want Vika to feel a sense of connection to her Russian family, especially since she remembers them. But I also want her to have a strong sense of herself as an individual separate from her Russian family. I'm concerned that she may take some of the burdens her birth mother has had to carry upon herself, and maybe even feel that she's destined for the same kind of misfortunes.

For some reason, I'm not as worried about Eamon. Probably because he doesn't have any real memories of the Russian family, and does not feel connected to them. This may change as he gets older and starts really understanding what it means to be adopted. Part of him is still convinced that he grew in my "tummy" and that Jeff and I put him in the orphanage because Russia wouldn't let us take him home. It will be interesting to see how he processes things once the truth of the matter starts to sink in. Hopefully he'll be an "acknowledge and move on" kind of guy and take things in stride.

One detail I will share here is the answer to a question I always get when people find out that our kids are bio-siblings. That questions is, "Did they have different fathers?" Well, the answer is yes, they did. Vika's birth-father was a Tartar man who bestowed upon her that gorgeous olive skin and those eyes that are so dark as to be nearly black. Eamon's birth father was a blond-haired, blue-eyed man whom Eamon takes after in both coloring and appearance (except for his eyes - those are very much like his birth mother's). It is also interesting to note that Vika was named "Victoria" after Russia's "Victory Day." However, since that holiday is May 9th, and Vika's birthday is July 14th, I'm having difficulty finding the connection. There must have been some link in her birth mother's mind, but I sure as heck can't find it!

For anyone out there who has adopted and is considering doing a birth family search, I would strongly recommend it. Even though we paid for the service, I still feel as if our birth family searcher has given us a wonderful gift. We now know many of the details surrounding the time in Vika and Eamon's lives before they were ours. I feel much better "armed" to answer those tricky questions that may come up as they get older, and hope I can help our kids approach their adoption with an understanding that is grounded in reality. Also, I now have baby pictures of each of my kids! BABY PICTURES! It seems like such a small thing that so many others take for granted. This year I keenly felt the loss of such mementos because at school, I collected baby photos of my 6th graders to put in the yearbook. I couldn't help thinking that my kids would feel left out of such common activities since the earliest pictures we had of them were taken when they were 3 years old.

If you do conduct a search, just be prepared for both the good information as well as the bad. Our kids were placed in orphanages for a reason, and many of those reasons are not pleasant. But I believe it is better to know the details, rather than be left wondering what happened and why. If you adopted from Russia, you also should know that a law was passed recently protecting the privacy of Russian citizens. This has made it a bit more difficult to locate birth parents if there is not an address on file from the time of relinquishment. However, our documents had no last known address, and the search was still successful, so don't give up hope!

If any of you have questions about our birth family search, I'm happy to talk to you about it via e-mail (link in my profile). Melissa also conducted a successful birth family search recently, so you can check her blog out for details as well.

Now I need to make plans to update the kids' LifeBooks....

Last week, we received more information relating to the birth family search we had performed for our kids. It was a CD containing numerous pictures and a video-taped interview with Tatiana (the Russian mama), Nikolai (the Russian uncle) and Maya (the Russian great-grandmother). Unfortunately, the whole thing was in Russian, so we have no idea what was said! However, the four of us still watched the hour-long video together, transfixed by the images of Vika and Eamon's birth family, watching them talk, and listening to their voices.

The first thing that struck me was the awful condition of the apartment in which they lived. Rickety stairs, paint peeling off the walls, and a long, dark hallway led to the front door (which looked almost as if it had been melted by extreme heat at some point). This apartment belongs to the kids' great grandmother, and Tatiana lives there from time to time. Inside the apartment, Tatiana sat on a bed, answering the questions put to her by the interviewer. She seemed a bit reluctant at first, and not terribly happy to be put in this position. I can't say that I blame her. It must be a terrible shock to have someone show up on your doorstep with a camera, asking to talk to you about the children you no longer parent. To her credit though, she did seem to answer all the questions, sometimes though tears, and I'm hoping that the translation of the interview will give u s a lot of valuable details.

Later in the video, she gave us a little "mini-tour" of her bedroom, which it seems is the same one she shared with Vika. There were stuffed animals all around, and as some were held up in front of the camera, the name "Viki" was mentioned. This was what they called Vika as a baby and toddler, so I'm guessing those toys were hers. On the shelf was a framed baby photo of Vika. She must have been about 10 months old at the time, but we could still see the resemblance.

After showing the room, the interviewer gave Tatiana our letter (she said "Spaseeba bolshoy" - Thank you very much), and then handed her the color printouts of our photos. Tatiana took one look at them, then turned her head away and broke into tears. My heart went out to her. I know she may not have been the greatest mother to our kids, but it seems that she did love them, and she probably tried her best given the resources and and parenting skills she had. I may feel a bit differently once we get more details from the translation of the video and the written report, but for now, I simply see her as another mother, living a world away, feeling a tremendous sense of loss.

Once Tatiana recovered, she led the interviewer into the main living area, where both Nikolai and Maya said some words for the camera. My first impression of Nikolai as a happy guy who seems to take things in stride was further strenghtened by this video. Great Grandmother Maya was still the most amazing for me to see. When she was handed the photos, she could not stop looking at them. She gazed fondly at the images, saying how Vika was "kraseeva" (beautiful) and Eamon was "haroshki" (handsome). In the little Russian that I still understand, I also heard her mention the kids "sistra" (big sister Ali, who was in a graduation picture with the kids), their babushka (shout-out to you mom!) and "Mama" and "Papa" as she pointed to a picture of the kids with Jeff and I. It seems that she is pretty accepting of the adoption and happy that the kids have a more stable life than they had in Russia.

Towards the end of the video, the interviewer videotaped the living room, in which there were two dogs (Vika said she had a dog in Russia, and we didn't believe her. Sorry Vika!), a cage with a singing bird, and on a book shelf, a picture of Tatiana holding a newborn Kolya (Eamon) in one arm, and a 15 month old Vika in the other. Vika is grinning at the camera with these chubby cheeks, looking completely content to have a baby brother. I'll admit that we were a ll a bit relieved to see this picture. From what we do know if the kids' past, it is clear that Vika was much more a part of this Russian family than Eamon, and it would have been heartbreaking if there were baby pictures of her, but none of him. We're going to make still images of these photos, and maybe I'll post them here later (with Tatiana's identity concealed).

As for the rest of the report, I'm not sure how many details I'll share on this blog. I believe that the story of the kid's birth family and the circumstances surrounding them being placed into the orphanage will be their story to tell. I don't want to expose Tatiana's story to the general public either. I think that would be unfair to her and disrespectful of her privacy. I'm so glad that we will have these details and images available to our kids as they get older though, to give them a sense of who they are and how they came to be our children.

The other tricky thing Jeff and I are dealing with is how much of the report to share with the kids. The four of us did watch the video together (since the kids don't speak Russian anymore, we figured it was safe), and while Eamon got a bit bored, Vika watched the whole thing. She cried quietly a couple times, especially when her Russian Mama cried, but she brightened up considerably when her Great Grandmother was on the screen. Even though Vika was so young when she lived with them, she still remembers a great deal. Part of her wants to idealize the past (which is why we were skeptical of her story about the dog), but another part of her knows the truth and is saddened by it. I guess how much we share depends on how sensitive the information in the report is. Eventually, the kids will know all the details, but we'll have to share them in an age-appropriate manner, and only when they are ready/mature enough to deal with it.

When I opened my e-mail yesterday morning, I saw another message with "Re: Birth Family Search" in the subject line, and this had attachments. With my heart in my throat, I opened the message and scrolled down to the bottom. There, I saw my kids' Russian Mama (T) staring back at me. Interestingly enough, I didn't really feel anything when I saw her face. Not anger, not gratitude...nothing. I mostly felt curious about her, and began searching for a resemblance to Vika and Eamon. There were 5 pictures of her in all, and she looked just the way Vika described her, even down to the hairstyle. Vika certainly takes after her in looks. They share the same dark hair, olive skin and black eyes, and in some of the photos, T is even making goofy facial expressions similar to Vika's. I guess that's where my daughter got her flair for the dramatic. Interestingly enough, I can see a slight resemblance to Eamon as well, mostly in the eyes. His coloring is entirely different though, and I'm hoping that the final report we receive includes some information about the birth father (or possibly even a photo). I think Eamon must take after him, especially since Vika says she remembers a "Papa with yellow hair."

As I scrolled down past the pictures of T, I came to some more photos which definitely caused an emotional reaction. The first was of an uncle, whom we had been unaware of until yesterday, named Nikolai. He seems like a happy guy, with a warm smile, and the same dark coloring as Vika. What was really special about this uncle though is that he has Eamon's Russian name. Could Eamon have been named after him? I really hope so, because until now, we had always thought that Eamon was completely neglected by his family. But if he was named after his uncle, then perhaps Eamon (Nikolay) was cared for more than we previously suspected. It will be interesting to learn more about this.

The next pictures were of the kids' Great Grandmother, M. M was the one who took care of Vika and Eamon, and she's the one who made sure Vika was baptized. She gave her consent for the adoption because at the age of 70, she was too old to look after the kids. In one photo, M is holding some pieces of paper and pointing to them with a look of wonder on her face. In another, she is holding the papers and smiling slightly. As I examined the photos more closely, it appeared that the papers were print-outs of the pictures I sent to Russia of Vika and Eamon and our family. As this realization hit me, my heart began pounding and I became teary eyed. By all accounts, this Russian Babushka loved our kids very much, and I hope that the knowledge that Vika and Eamon are well-cared for and loved by their new family gave her some peace of mind.

The final photo of the group was the most touching of all. It is a shot of Nikolai, M (still clutching the photos in her hands), and T standing together, posing for the camera and smiling. Smiling for Vika and Eamon. Maybe even smiling a bit for us. It is so amazing to think that a world away, there is another family, thinking of us, and caring for our kids. It is a strange connection we share, but a beautiful one too.

I cannot wait to get the full report and video from our contact in Russia. I look forward to learning more about this family and our children's beginnings.

I received an e-mail today from our contacts in Russia saying that our birth family search for Vika and Eamon was successful! The initial information indicates that they were able to locate and talk to the birth mother, grandmother and an uncle. Preliminary photos will come soon, followed by additional info and a video.

I'm so excited I could spit! I won't though, because that would be gross.

Anyway, they did searches for several families at once in Murmansk, so they will need some time to sort through all the information and prepare the packages. Hopefully we'll get everything within the next few weeks. I'll keep you all posted!