Our International Adoption From Russia

Our International Adoption Story To Belarus...no Russia

January 10, 2004- Today Peter, Mary and I went to Knotts Berry Farm for a reunion with all families that have adopted through Nightlight Christian Adoptions. It was wonderful to meet other families that had adopted both through Nightlight's International and Domestic programs. During dinner at the reunion tonight, I had a thought to myself that maybe God wanted us to adopt from the International Program and within minutes Peter said what I had been thinking to myself out loud. Before dinner tonight the desire of my heart was to experience pregnancy and adopt from Snowflakes again. Walking out of dinner, I suddenly had less of a desire to experience pregnancy and/or adopting a newborn. We feel like God is "calling" us to adopt Internationally and that our next child maybe waiting for us in an orphanage in Belarus or Russia February 23, 2004- Today I brought our application and home study packet into the adoption agency. On our application we officially chose Belarus as the country that we would like to adopt from. We will now be matched with a social worker to complete our home study. We still need get physicals, blood work, fingerprints and DMV records to have 100% of paperwork in for our home study. We received a large binder with INS paperwork and instructions on completing our Dossier. Looking at all the paperwork can be overwhelming, but Peter and I decided to take one form at a time. We have our first Garage Sale fundraiser scheduled for March 5th and 6th. We have received a lot of stuff to sell. Here's praying its a success!March 6, 2004- My how the Lord has blessed us since our last update. In less than two weeks, we have almost completed our dossier, home study packet and had our first garage sale. Our garage sale was yesterday and today and we were blessed with great weather (today was at least 80 degrees), great donations (of treasures to sell), and great profits of $860.00. A great thanks goes out to Marlene and family, Karen and family, Julie G and family., Adele and family, Mom (aka Grandma Mary), Annette and family and Michelle and family for all your donations. I could not have done it without all of your help....Annette with presentation, Adele for pricing, Michelle for back up pricing, advertising, and for joining Mom and I on the front line in the war of bargaining and collecting money during our sale. I also need to acknowledge some younger helpers of Danny and Kelsey for helping at the wee early hours to set up, making fliers and of course entertaining Mary during the sale. I thank God for everyone of you for making this happen and being sooooo supportive of us on this journey as we grow our family. I wish I had some pictures of our garage sale to share on our photo album page but I forgot to take pictures until we were done. Our next step is our home study interviews with our social worker (both by self and as a couple).March21,2004- We had our first meeting with our social worker. Meeting went well just 3 more meetings to go (next one being in two weeks). Went to the Snowball (fundraiser for Nightlight Adoptions) last night and had a lot of fun. Met some new Snowflake families and babies. I also had an opportunity to meet some people who have adopted from Belarus. I feel so blessed to have them be so willing as support for information. I also ran into a girl I met over the summer, her husband and her were participating in Snowflakes but recently made the move to International Adoption from Belarus of all places. I am so excited to have someone else going through this at the same time.May 6, 2004- Wow time is flying past. Late April we completed our home study with our fabulous social worker. Peter just has to take First Aid and CPR. We awaiting to hear from the INS when we need to go in and be finger printed with them (already did finger printing thru DOJ/FBI). We went to a class at our agency about attachment and bonding the adopted child with an emphasis on International Adoption, while there I saw the Director Ron and he says we are up there in the next families to receive referrals and thinks we should have our referral and travel by Oct or Nov. We are getting very excited! Trying to plan our next BIG garage sale (such a busy time with B-days so its difficult to plan....we had a mini (half day on the spur of the moment) sale in late March and did well. Ebay is doing great too! Michelle and Adele gave me great training ! Hope to keep you all posted more soon.July 7, 2004- We received word about a little girl, baby E. that is two weeks older than Mary. Waiting to receive more information.August 2004- It's a girl! We have accepted the referral of Elena. We hope to travel by the end of this year. We are so happy and excited.Sept 2004- We received our official referral. We might be able to travel by the end of next month. We have been keeping very busy buying gifts for our trip.Oct 7, 2004- We are so very saddened. We had hoped to travel within the next 2 weeks to bring our daughter Elena home. We received word today that the president of Belarus has put a hold on all international adoptions until November 15th. We hope this delay is temporary.Oct 27, 2004- Rumor now has it that nothing definite will not be known until at least January 2005. My mommy heart hurts not being able to bring Elena home. All we can do is pray.January 15, 2005- A new year with renewed hope. Belarus has come up with their new regulations and laws regarding international adoptions. Not much has changed except there is more government agencies to approve the paper work. We hope this wont delay much longer.Feb 2005- Keep hearing contradicting news on Belarus adoptions. Some say any day now others say no adoptions will take place this year. We continue to pray as we consider our options about adopting from Russia. Regardless we plan to adopt Elena when ever Belarus reopens.March 10, 2005- We plan to host 2 sisters from St Petersburg, Russia. They are 12 and 6 years old. We are looking very forward to being part of these girls lives. Whether it is to just host them, keep them in prayer, introduce them to their forever family or be their forever family we will see but are anxious for their arrival next week. They will be here for Easter. How exciting!March 15, 2005- Belarus News- Read on another adoption agency web site that Belarus has reviewed over 30 official referrals that were out at the time adoptions were put on hold. Those documents have been reviewed and sent to the final government agency that will review them and hopefully give us a court date. This web site that they were cautiously optimistic but had no idea of the time frame this might happen. So we continue to pray!March 18, 2005- We heard from the agency. Our referral of Elena has been approved! We will travel the 2nd or 3rd week of April to bring home our daughter Elena. We give thanks to God for watching over us during this past 5 months and for making this happen. He is so good!March 20, 2005- Purchased Elena's crib today. Should be delivered next week. Worked on our Visa application will send it out tomorrow. We are getting very excitedApril 3, 2005- Wow what an amazing week and a half. God is full of surprises! We are expecting 2 more girls! We hosted the two girls from St. Petersburg Russia. They were an absolute joy and we are in love. Today we did the hardest thing we have ever done in our lives by taking them to LAX and put them on a plane to fly back home. Our hearts our heavy and we are sad. We ask everyone to please keep us and the girls in prayerApril 5, 2005- We have decided that we will go to Russia 1st and bring the 2 older girls home by June get them started in school and adjusted to family life.. We plan to go to Belarus and bring Elena home in October.April 14, 2005- We received news our first trip to St Petersburg will most likely be May 7th - the 14th. We can't wait till we see our girls again! We miss them so much. We never thought we could fall so in love with 2 children of that age so fast. Suzanne is remembering back when she knew she was suppose to adopt at age 17 it was actually 2 older children...she only shared and took the "suppose to adopt" part and tried to ignore the older children part. She also remembers during this past summer at the NIghtlight picnic while visiting with other families right in front of the stage they had at the park, someone announced that the children on tour were going to perform (dance) and for everyone gather around the stage. Suzanne suddenly felt this feeling of suffocation and told those around her "I need to get the heck out here, I know I'll fall in love with one of the children", ironically Anya the 12 yo was one of the children on tour who were performing that day.April 30, 2005- Wow one week until travel. Been running around doing last minute preparations for our trip. We are still awaiting our visas (Lord please let them come soon). Had a garage sale fundraiser last week earned $700 (a total God thing) and being doing well on things listed on ebay. John, Marlene, Michelle and Dave thank you for all your donations and ladies for helping me at the garage sale. I am overwhelmed by your generosity and support. Thank you also to my other friends and family members for their donations of stuff too. Mom and I held a sale this past Friday...didn't do that well financially speaking but introduced many people to both embryo adoption and International adoption through our story. A big thanks to mom for the help of that sale and for being one of my best customers5/02/05 Here is our Flight Itinerary:Departing Flight InfoSAT May 7 Depart LAX 3PMSUN May 8 Arrive Frankfurt 10:35AMSUN May 8 Depart Frankfurt 5:25PMSUN May 8 Arrive St. Petersburg 10:05 PMReturn Flight InfoSUN May 15 Depart St. Petersburg 4:20PMSUN May 15 Arrive Paris/Degaulle 5:50PMSUN May 15 Depart Paris/Degaulle 4:20PMSUN May 15 Arrive LAX 9:55PMKiss the Land Back in the USA!Peter had suggested we not get Mary a seat because she could fly for free as a lap child....OK seriously anyone want to hold a 23 month old on THEIR lap? If I thought for a second she would sit on Daddy's lap for 14 hours of flying I might have considered it. I argued that my way we could strap her in her car seat so maybe she would think we were on a car ride...but that long of a car ride? We are gonna need big time prayers for this.5/5/05 VISAS ARRIVED TODAY! I was getting a little concerned because Federal Express (they seem to always play an important role in me becoming a parent. They delivered my sweet Mary with her three siblings as frozen embies to our fertility clinic) had not arrived by 4:30 pm. I called New York (the travel agency we ordered them thru) and the girl was gone for the day. I hung up the phone and looked outside to see the Fed Ex van turning on 2 wheels around the corner and into my drive way "thank you God." Almost entirely packed just a few odds and ends left. We are both so excited to see our girls. Well it turns out that our lay over in Germany is turning out to be a major blessing. We found out we can leave the airport and see a little bit of Frankfurt AND we get to visit with a friend and her family. They have adopted 2 from Russia themselves and are stationed an hour away from Frankfurt. She has been one of the instrumental people in my life in my fundraising for our adoption. It will be wonderful to have lunch with her and her family celebrating Mother's Day and our adopting the girls. Well hope to update from Russia Monday.Monday, May 9, 2005 10:40 PMHello all,Made it safe and sane to St. Petersburg Russia. Flight from LAX to Frankfurt was less than desirable (no air what so ever and a flight attendant from you no where obsessed that we brought a car seat for our daughters $1400 seat we paid for) but safe none the less.Arrived in Frankfurt to meet a friend Kelly and her husband and beautiful children (made the flight there a distant memory)...Had lunch with them and a short visit before we rested with out setting an alarm (I really thought I wouldn't fall asleep)...I woke up in a total panick...yelling what time is it?! We thankfully had 10 min to get our belongings together to leave the hotel for the airport. We arrived at the airport via shuttle...took a look and count of everything and everybody...Mary check, Suzanne, check...Peter check....Nightlight bag times 2 check check...diaper bag check... Bad carrying our new digital camera and video camera?...Huh? Where is it? Peter then left me to go back to hotel via shuttle to look for it. Thank God Peter went to the from\nt dest\k where they where holding it for us. We then ran to our gate (we were running late at this point) and evidently we were early because no one was there....OH NO THEY CHANGED THE GATE! We then RAN upstairs took a tram with all of our gear in check...mary in the baby carrier that is meant for newborns on my chest. Made it there in time for boarding (thank you God AGAIN)! Had a very nice flight to St Petersburg. Made it to our hotel room at midnight. After not sleeping all night (Mary and I couldn't) we toured the city with staff Nightlight provided. All of their staff here has been incredible! Food is well...food Not very good but interesting. By the way happy cows evidently do live in CA (Ca people know what I am talking about)....St Petersburg cows must not be happy because their milk is not that great tasting (how can a cows milk taste so different? Anyways we get to see the girls today for the first time..I must go now...becuase we are due to leave. I haven't gotten the Internet stuff worked out so no updates to the site.With Love From Russia,Peter, Suzanne and MaryWednesday, May 11, 2005 3:28 AMGreetings from St Petersburg,Well yesterday morning we went to the orphanage and though I had been told to do so I forgot to turn the camera on before entering the grounds. When we entered the grounds we could see the kids running around the play ground (evidently having a race). Once they saw our van many of the kids came running up to us...none that I had recognized...when suddenly out of the blue Gayla was yelling "papa" as she ran into his arms...Peter grabbed her and held her tight. It was a so serile...I joined the group hug when I looked and Anya appeared again out of no where. I began to cry...it felt so good to have OUR girls at our side again. I didn't expect so much emotion...but we all just hugged. We then went into the Deske Dom (orphanage) and the girls showed us their rooms and their family/tv rooms. The girls live on opposite sides of the orphanage. We sat and played with them and them with Mary. The oldest Anya had such big smile on her face the caregiver said they both had been waiting for us all morning. Anya took Mary into her arms and kept kissing her and saying "Maaarrry" in her Russian accent.Peter later explained the moment of first seeing them and that whole morning as feeling like a big hole in our lives had been mended. We both agree it is going to incredibly difficult to leave the girls in Russia and wait for word of when we will come back. We also got to see a few of the kids from the tour....sigh...I know this is bittersweet for the other families that will receive this email. I will email a private email of those children I did see and let you know I did get some pictures to share. They all looked so happy. And it appears the kids really get along well. Anya and Galya were almost showing us off..like "look these are MY parents." Other children I had not met before I wanted to just take them all. These children are all so wonderful and in need of Mamas and Papas.We got a chance to sit with Anya and go through a family photo album she has of pictures of when she was younger and of her extended family. I explained to the interrupter that the girls feel like they have always been our lives. God is so wonderful and gracious. After we left the orphanage I teared up and told Peter how I just feel so privileged to be called "mama" by these two precious girls.After we left the orphanage we went for more sightseeing...Mary has been a trooper but is in the process of cutting a new tooth (she only cuts them on airplanes and vacations it seems).Today we saw the girls again for a couple of hours...we played hide and seek..Anya played a little piano. Anya is such a wonderful big sister and so good to and with Mary.Both girls told the interpreter that they didn't want us to leave.Tomorrow we do some official business...paper work and what have you. We hope to have time to see the girls in the afternoon. We decided against sightseeing today to let Mary rest. She is adapting to the time difference..she got up at 3 am today but went back to sleep at 4;30 and slept till 7:30 (hey I'll take it)...I am sure she will have it adjusted real well in time for us to head home and readjust again.Life is good. We feel blessed. Thank you to everyone that has walked before me (HP sisters and Nightlight families in particular) and shared the journey before me...I feel and have felt so prepared through this journey. A BIG thank you for everyone prayers and support again we feel SO BLESSED!Well I am off for now. With Love From Russia,Peter, Suzanne and Mary5/13/05 - Greetings from St. Petersburg! We received our official referral to see the girls yesterday. We went to a government office to do so. It was a formal yet informal meeting with a government official asking why we would want to adopt 2 older children and if we thought we could handle raising older children. We explained that with all our nieces and nephews experience we have had plenty of interaction with children of that age. Peter and I were very somber before the meeting (nerves) and our interpreter noticed and said she understood. After receiving our official referral with permission to officially visit and receive information on the girls, We proceeded to pick up a social worker representative from the government to observe our meeting with all the orphanage's staff. We met with one doctor, a social worker, the orphanage director and assistant to the director. The director asked us to explain a little about ourselves and then asked why we wanted to adopt. I basically told them how I have known since I was 17 years old that I was to adopt and that I felt strong enough about it to make sure Peter was open to it before we got married and how when we discovered our infertility it almost made sense. They all got a little confused about our infertility and Mary so I had the pleasure to explain the Snowflake program....hey I am going world wide with snowflakes now. Anyways she then asked why we weren't pursuing that type of adoption again, I explained we were until God told us differently when at the same time He told Peter and I we were to adopt internationally. Then she asked why were not pursuing a baby or younger child and we explained that we were but that it became very evident that God intended these girls to be ours and took the baby desires out of heart and mind. The doctor then spoke and gave us the girls health history, the social worker about the girls backgrounds and then the director asked about if we had support of families and friends to help us with the girls and asked about our jobs and home. Then the director and the government official signed the official referral for us to adopt the girls...they said that we could think about adopting them and if we decided we wanted to we would need to sign the form but once we signed it it would be official that we have accepted and then would be officially pursuing their adoption.."helllloooo would we fly this far if we weren't?"....they almost acted shocked when we said we would sign it right then "are you sure? You may have time and wait." We told them this decision had been made and these girls were already ours in our hearts. Through out the meeting Mary was...well...Mary. A semi wild and a little cranky...Everyone was very understanding and 2 of the ladies even want her...don't worry we said "nyet!" Peter did an awesome job keeping her busy while I asked medical questions and wrote down their information...He was a very good doting daddy. After the meeting which felt like FOREVER, the girls came down to the office and we took them out for the day. First we took them to get their passport and visa pictures and then lunch. During lunch, Mary got a little excited so Peter stepped outside with her..Well Mary fell on a corner of an old concrete building (they are all old & concrete) and split her chin open. Peter came running into the restraunt, Mary bleeding and crying. We took her and the girls to a pharmacy to buy hydrogen peroxide, neosporin and bandaids. The girls and I stayed in the van while our interpurter and Peter had gone into the pharmacy. Well evidently they dont have bandaids...hydrogen peroxide we did ok with but the neosporin ointment came in a sheet. When they came back out with their findings I got a better look and felt Mary should see a doctor. We took her to the hotel doctor who cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide, applied neosporin and low and behold a BANDAID that they call "plastic." Mary was very brave while he cleaned it...and really hadn't cried since it first happened. After the doctor we went to our room, changed Mary and my bloody clothes and then took the girls to an amusement park. And let me tell you it was amusing!!They had a rollercoaster I think would be a fabulous addition to any senior's retirement home..it was soooo slow and low to the ground. They had no height requirements and so Mary could have gone on anything if I was foolish enough to allow her to (maybe this park is really a test from the officials of Russia to see if you are good parent?). Anyways the girls enjoyed their outing. Mary did go on the carousel and a car ride (like the ones you see in front of grocery stores). We then brought the girls back to the orphanage. Peter, Mary and I were absolutley exhausted! We came home and fell asleep and so here I am at 1:30 am sharing my story as Peter and Mary watch Blue's Clues on the DVD player. Today we will be taking the girls out for another day trip..probably a museum and then bowling. Our driver and interpurter and all of Nightlight's staff have been so GREAT! Especially with Mary. Well that is it for now. I am not going to be able to post picture until I get home, the digital camera software I installed before we left home...evidently did not install. Until tomorrow...With Love Fomr Russia,Peter, Suzanne and MarySaturday May 14, 2005 10:40 AMHello Everyone,Well this is our last full day in Russia. Tomorrow our plane leaves in the afternoon. Today we will say good bye to the girls until our next and FINAL trip hopefully next month. Yesterday we took the girls out to the hermatage museum...we didn't stay to long becuase Mary was not a happy camper (the girls were not enjoying themselves all that much either) so we left for our hotel's bowling alley. The girls had never bowled before and had fun. Well I should say Galya had fun while she was winning..Anya had fun the whole time. It will be nice to get them home and to be able to get in a routine of things. I am afraid they might be thinking life in the Murray household is going to be all about Disneyland, the beach (from their visit with us, amusement parks, Mc Donalds , ice cream, snacks (even though they didn't finish their happy meals) and bowling (from our visit here). regarding ice cream and snacks when they haven't finished the meal we just ate our inturpetors almost keep demanding we feed them ice cream and snacks after their meal they haven't finshed ("they are hungry!"). Anyways like I said I just want to get them home. I am worried about the spoil now pay later when they have high expectations of the same thing at home (am I making sense here?).Anyways keep us in prayers as we say good bye to our girls. They are so sweet. Mary is in love with them as well (until they have something really coool that she can't have).Anyways until we are back home in the USA!With Love From Russia,Suzanne, Peter and MarySunday May 15th 1130 AMOur last Greeting to you from Russia! Oh and Happy Birthday to my sister Michelle. Well yesterday we went to the Church of the Spilled Blood (incredible!) and to the flea market. It was our last day with the girls...very sad at goodbye. I told Anya thru the interpreter that I was afraid that she wouldn't want to be adopted into our family she laughed and said she was afraid we wouldn't want to adopt her. I told her how could we not fall in love with her. Both interpreters we used during this trip and our driver all said that Anya is a very well behaved and respectful young girl....I of course already knew that. Galya is busy Galya....talking more than mommy and Mary combined. Always smiling and hugging us (ok Daddy more than I). We said our goodbyes and told them we would be back in about 6 weeks...Anya said that is too long...we agreed but said we have to wait for Goverment of Russia to give us court dates. I told her that this would be our last good bye ever at least until she gets married....when she is 40...Anya laughed and said she is NEVER leaving Mamma and Pappa...I laughed and asked her to wait and repeat it again AFTER getting our camcorder out...so I could remind her years from now (I wont hold her to it but it was a sweet moment). I also told her this goodbye is easier than our last becuase this time we know how we feel about each other and we have that to keep us until we come back.This morning Peter and I packed our bags..and took one last walk down the street...Until next time.Our flight leaves about 4 AM California Time...3PM St Petersburg time. We will have a short layover in Paris..and then land at LAX at 10ish PM Sunday Night California time.So Good bye for now.With Love From Russia,Peter, Suzanne and MaryThursday May 19, 2005Greetings from California. I had tried to type a very sleepy update when we got home Sun night/Mon Am but after finishing it I accidently deleted it. Our flight home of course was eventful. At our short layover in Paris we were informed that the flight was overbooked and that they had no more seats available...they basically said we were checking in so late maybe if we had checked in sooner..."Excuse me? we should have been checked in at St Petersburg..I had asked for gate info and boarding passes on St Petersburg, but the girl wouldn't/ couldn't. The airline knew where we were. Needless to say this mommy traveling with a 2 year old was well...NOT happy. I began to cry, they reassured me everything was OK ( I am just not too sure who it was ok for....OBVOIUSLY they had never traveled with a 2 year old). Anyways the gentleman told us he put us on a waiting list to our own flight that we had tickets in hand for. He directed us to go upstairs to 2C area and go to the desk and wait to see if any seats open up. Well we went upstairs to find nothing but signs pointing back downstairs to where we just came from. We walked up to each side of the terminal with me telling Peter this was a set up game to MAKE US miss our flight so it would be our fault. Every one we talked to reassured us that "don't worry everythings ok." My thoughts were could you please share that bottle of wine that you our obviously under the influence of...becuase everthing is NOT OK. Anyways after running what had to be over 2 miles..carrying Mary in a Bjorn, 2 carry ons and a carseat we final arrived in the area that we were suppose to check in for the waiting list (mind you we had to go through the passport control area, outside the airport, down some stairs and under/across the street to another part of the airport). To get in this line they had security checking passangers carry ons..I MUST have had a bit of an emotional breakdown look about myself because they let me pass thru it with out hand checking our bags. We got to the counter explained the situation and again were told we have no seats at this time..but again "don't worry we can see if we can get you some vouchers"...I dont want vouchers I want to go home. she then asked for our baggage claim tickets.."why? I don't want my luggage..send it to LAX..its useless to me all it has is dirty laundry!" with tears streaming down my face. The lady at the counter proceeds to tell me what every Frenchy has said that I have encountered "don't worry." She then tells us to wait another 10 minutes to see if they can get us on the flight. So we wait. Finally she calls me to the counter and says something. I ask her if we are on the flight her response was "no your in the airport." HELLO...do they do this to make you want to drink wine?...maybe its good for the wine industry in France to drive the passagers insane and make them so stressed they drink more wine. I then clarrified so we will have seats on the flight to LAX tonight. She said yes...you have 5 minutes to board..you must go through passport control on the other side of the airport and then go to our gate. So we go through passport control as if we had stayed in the country longer than 2 hours, then through xray (again) until we finally made it to the gate and were the last to board the darn shuttle this insane airport uses to board planes. Being the last passangers to board this shuttle we had to stand up and there was NOTHING to hold onto to keep from flying all over the place. So as I am flying around trying to hold onto Mary I whisper to Peter what the heck is wrong with the men on this shuttle that they don't offer a seat for a woman holding a child (ok I might have not said it so nicely and rated G). When suddenly a gentleman across the shuttle offers me his seat. I thank him but then look on the floor across the shuttle and I would have to jump 10 diffrent carry ons while carrying Mary in a moving vehicle driven by a gentleman that I am sure is drinking his own bottle of wine. I told him thank you but I am afraid I would drop my daughter. Then an elderly woman that I had almost landed on at least 5 times (I am sure her life flashed before her eyes several times)offered to hold Mary..."thank God"...I thanked the elderly lady as I handed Mary off to her..and held unto the bar above my head that I could reach on my tip toes. We finally boarded the plane on seats that were on opposite sides of the plane. I sat next to Mary again with tears streaming down my face wondering what I was going to do if I had to go to the bathroom or if she got hyper. We had asked several people to change seats when I finally figured out if we had asked this one couple in particualr it wouldn't have been a major sacrafice (they would still be sitting next to each other and still have aisle seats...they agreed. So Peter and I moved Mary and I next to Peter. After buckling in the captain announces that they are having some compter problems and hope to have it fixed with in a half hour. About an hour and half later the problem was fixed and we took off. The actual flight was great! The staff on the plane was great...food was great...and yes they did drive me to drink a glass of wine (after what I had been thru). We have been safely home for4 days. Mary's sleep is totally off and as a result so is ours. We are hoping that it is better seeing she slept from 3pm yesterday until 4:30 am today (she has never slept that long even as a newborn). We recently have been invited to travel to Washington DC to participate in a press conference regarding embryonic stem cell research this Tuesday...we have accepted the invite. So we covet your prayers that we may have safe travels, be free of exhaustion and that the money will be there to travel for we truely believe in this cause...you can read updates on that in a new link I will create from our Home Page. So until we recieve our court dates...good bye for now.Love,Suzanne, Peter and MaryJune 2nd, 2005 , Today is Elena's 2nd Birthday. I am saddened that she is not home with us this day. I am saddened not knowing if she will ever be home with us. We pray for her often. I ask God that if she is not meant to be our daughter then that a Belarussian family might adopt her. If it is meant to be that she is our daughter then I ask God to continue to watch over her and protect her. And finally I ask that Belarus reopen soon so we may bring her home. "Happy 2nd Birthday Elena!"June 14th, 2005- We have a court date!!! Nightlight called and informed us we must leave in 11 days for St Petersburg. Our court date is June 27th. As God so designed that is the three year anniversary of our daughter's birthmoms death. This will be a bittersweet day...a day of remembering their first Mamma and a day of celebration of a forever family for them.June15th, 2005- WOW! I literally spent 2 hours at the Auto Club and 6 hours on the phone with Delta trying to make airline reservations! So 8 hours and $10,000 later we have airline tickets! Evidently Russia is very popular with the tourist this time of the year becuase of the "White Nights."....couldn't we have fell in love with our girls in the fall and adopted them in the winter when things are much less expensive? With that heafty airline price also comes hotel. I was a bit shocked to find out that $200 a night was a bargain and includes no air conditioner...and no availbilty. We reserved a bargain (more like the only hotel available) for a mere $425 a night (we didn't even pay that much a night for our honeymoon)! Now this $425 is not for anything special...just your regular run of the mill hotel room. Right now their is a car commercial on tv (I think it advertises hybrid car) where the cars have cash flowing from their tail pipe...I told Peter thats what I feel like we are doing. This day was also our little Mary's 2nd Birthday....How could that be? Amazing! She is talking up a storm.! I felt so bad becuase mommy was so busy with reservations. We did have a party tonight for her though "Happy Birthday Mary!"June 19th, 2005- Today was Peter's 3rd Father's Day (his first was the day Mary was born). We spent it at Carlsbad Inn. Carlsbad Inn has a bit of history and meomories to our family. We came here the week that Mary was thawed as an embryo and transfered into my uterus. I remember that week taking morning walks on the beach and talking to God. It was here one evening that I took our first pregnancy test after the embryo transfer and saw the first postive pregnancy test in my life. It is here that Peter and I embraced and rejoiced that I was pregnant. 6 days after Mary's birth we again came to Carlsbad Inn. This was the first beach Mary came to at 7 days old. When Anya and Galya visited in March I brought them here for the day. And so this week we are here looking forward yet again to the blessings God has provided us and entrusted us with. We arrived yesterday and will be here until Friday AM(Peter's a little tapped out on vacation so he is commuting) we will drive home and take a shuttle to LAX for our flight to Russia. Here is our intenary;Friday 6/24 delta/air france at 6:20 pm leave Los AngelesSaturday 6/25 200pm arrive ParisSaturday 6/25 air france 415 pm leave ParisSaturday 6/25 936pm arrive St PetersburgSaturday 7/2 Delta 115pm leave MoscowSaturday 7/2 315 pm arrive NYC KennedySaturday 7/2 Song 545pm leave NYCSaturday 7/2 858pm arrive LAXStill trying to tie up loose ends, such as a hotel for our last night, My mom's visa (did I mention she decided to go?), packing and last minute shopping. In just 7 days we will be Anya and Galya's forever family....the count down has begun.June 22nd, 2005- Prayers needed! I am loosing my one and only form of coping my sense of humor. Mary has been acting a little grumpier than usual. Last night she woke up with a high fever. I took her to urgent care here in Carlsbad (her primary MD at home is on vacation) and Mary has been diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease (no realtion to the cattle foot and mouth disease). It is a non serious virus that casues a rash to hands, feet and mouth. Sometimes there maybe ulcers or blisters. Mary has one small ulcer inside her mouth. Praying that she feels better and that she doesn't get any more ulcers. The MD said this is common wiht young childten espiecally this time of year. Many times it goes undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. I am not sure would have brought in if it weren't for the fact we are flying to the other side of the world Friday.Anyways MD also said it id perfectly safe for Mary to fly Friday.Still waiting for my mom's visas to come in and need to tie up those loose ends. We are planning to head home tomorrow around noon. One day closer to bringing our girls home.Sunday June 26th 2005Greetings from Russia! ! Well we made it to St Petersburg safely. Mary didn't sleep a wink....it was very painful to hold her for 13 hours of travel while looking at an empty seat we paid for that she would not sit in. Her mouth was hurting a bit and she appeared in pain. Also yet again another international flight with NO air condition vents abouve our heads. Everyone was complaining about the heat so finally they turned up the air. We again chose to fly thru Paris (I guess the first time wasn't bad enough). And again we were sent on Mr Toads wild ride....by mom being in the front of the plane and deboarding first onto the first shuttle. We were seated in the second to the last row and one of the last people to deboard the plane and took the last shuttle. Well Mom's shuttle dropped her off at a different gate than ours . An hour later we found mom.We arrived around 11pm Sunday night local time (10am ca time). Mary didn't sleep well neither did I. Mary slepted maybe 4 hours, I slept about 30 minutes. One reason for my unable to sleep was because I was told that night that we needed to bring all of our gifts and I had to arrange them in bags with tissue paper. Also I learned while unpacking that the wonderful LAX or Paris Airport employees stole 7 watches that were to be gifts to the older boys at the orphanage. This had me a little stressed because now I had no gifts for the older boys. Also I learned that night that we would be picking the girls up at summer camp 2 hours away and that they would be with us for about....uh...FOREVER! So I layed in bed not having sle pt for over 30 hours first thinking this is the last night with just Mary, Peter and I. I then started thinking of being a parent to three girls one just 5 months shy of being a teenager. How would Peter and I do as parents? Would the girls be happy? How the heck am I going to communicate with them? Homework, school, birthday parties...what did we do? are we ready?So the next morning everyone...ok just Peter and mom (which by the way she ended up with oher own room) because i never went to sleep got up dressed at breakfast and then drove to the store to buy the older boys in Anya's group gifts and cakes for a going away party. At the store the cakes cost $16 or more. We bought 4 cakes because we were adopting 2 children and had to buy for each of their groups....cha ching! We then drove for 2 hours thru the country side to the girls summer camp. As we approached the camp (really just summer homes for the orphanage)Mary started to scream (partyly exhausted partly in pain to her mouth and partly becuase she is 2)_! Ok now Mamma is workijng on 30 minutes sleep in 40 something hours at this time. Mary wanted NOTHING to do with this party. So we ate cake...handed out gifts and the girls said goodbye tp their friends and caregivers. There were some tears as they left...and then we drove the 2 hour trip home to the hotel with the three girls...two of which know little to no English, one with a painful mouth and little coping skills, a pappa who had 4 hours of sleep in 40 something hours and then me...the one who had not sleep. We ate dinner at the hotel restraunt...which I kept contiously falling asleep at the table...so finally excused myself to go night night and prepare for the big day of court for the next day. So tomorrow am is court. I asked Peter to do the speaking but he decided it would be best if I did the talking.So as I type this I have 3 sleeping beauties sleepng quietly...hold on I think we are in for a ride.With Love from St Petersburg!Sent: Monday, June 27, 2005 10:01 AMSubject: russia update 2Greetings from Russia!We are proud to announce the adoption of OUR daughtersAnna Patricia MurrayandGalina Rose MurrayWe survived court! They are ours forever! I am exhausted and will post more later.Love,Pappa, Mamma, and the three bears!Sent: Friday, July 01, 2005 11:00 AMSubject: moscow update we are going homeDear Family and Friends, We arrrived in Moscow on Wed Night. I have attempted to send 2 other updates that I got diconnected from the internet and lost before sending. When we arrived in Moscow Airport our driver met us there. While waiting for the driver to pull up at the curb we had multiple offers from other drivers with vans...that we passed up. Imagine our suprise when our driver pulled up in very small car much like a volkswagon GTI...now remember we have three adults and 3 children with luggage to go with it. It took me 1/2 hour of rearranging luggage with little help of our driver to fit every piece of luggage in and then cram into the car with Galya (who will be 7 in August) and Mary on our laps...it was a veyr uncomfortable ride but we decided to make light of it and joked the whole 35 minute drive to our hotel. Well we had orginally made reservations on our own with the Marriott when we were encouraged to call a travel company that specializes in Russia travel. Well I informed the agent that we required AC. It took almost a week but I finally heard back from him that he found a room for a little over $200 a night...a big discount from the $500 a night quote I had from the Marrriott...I figured if it had air it would be safe....Warning to all behind me...stay at the Marriott. +Anyways we arrived at our $200+ a night hotel entered a beautifully CLEAN lobby and recieved our key (regular like house key) with a big piece of wood shaped like a bell attached to it. I thought the key was odd but ok...we are in Russia. We went to the eleavator and it arrived sounding a little old. We pushed (and I mean push not just touch) our floor number button IN. and waited for the elvator door to close and it didn't. Finally someone told us to push the green button. We arrived very shaken to our floor when we tried to get off the elevator it wasn't even flushed with the floor...not only that when we arrived at our floor the button we pushed with our number popped out very loudly. So we go to our room that looked like it had not been dusted, cleaned or redocorated since before Gorbachev took office...mom estimates the bed spread and curtains to be at least from the 40s...the dust possibly from the 60s or 70s...we found out we had NO AIR and NO SCREENS on the windows. I was warned to bring screens becuase of the summer heat and bugs..but thought I would not need it becuase we were staying at a place with air. I spoke to the hotel clerk who reassured me they have air in some rooms and in the beautiful lobby. Also None of those rooms with air were available. Imagine if you could the worst roach motel you might have ever encountered....that hotel your thinking of was the Ritz compared to this one. So we think...we will just make the best of the situation...its after all for only 3 nights...we can survive. Well the kids as kids do started jumping around moving pillows , being just regular kids...unfortunately it moved the dust around and Peter (who has asthma that never act up...begins havving difficulty breathing. Even I could not breath in the dust..it felt like there was dust just sitting on our lungs. I got on the phone immediately...called Marriott and a taxi and at midnight we packed up our bags (I am postitive the girls think we are crazy americans) and went to the Marriott (which by the way I found out after 2 nights at over 500 a night that they offer a discount to those that adopt...I will get a discount for only tonight). Anyways...I had prepaid the travel agency for the other hotel so I think it is a loss even thought I didn't stay there. I plan on calling them when we get home to aks for a refund at least for two of the nights.The girls have been wonderful. We feel absolutely blessed to have them in our lives...they are just as excited to get home as we are. Anya even complained about us having to stop in Moscow. We walked around the Kremlin today. Yesterday we went to the US embassy to pick up the girls visas and other paperwork. It was so fun to be around a bunch of other Americans with lots of children (you don't see too many children out and about in Russia especially in restraunts. It will be nice to get home. We leave tomorrow! Thank God! We are very tired and a little sick of eating out...thank God my mom came she is very creative with meals and eating in our room. If it were not for her on this trip I think I would have broke down a million times on this trip. Sometimes even a mommy (me) needs a mommy. She was my rational side anytime I attempted to get worked up.Also everyone traveling behind me bring a caculator...St Petersburg and Moscow are using untis instead of rubles to price things...very confusing!I tried to update everyone on court but like I said it erased twice...I hope to update my website soon. It went real well. The judge was so NICE! I was so proud of my girls when they spoke before the court. The judge had Galya recite poetry (it was mentioned during the hearing she likes poetry). Peter did a good job too. The judge mentioned a concern that Mary was so young and if we could handel the older children and delagate time for the older girls. The representative from St. Petersburg reassured the judge Peter and I make a good team beacuase during our meeting on our first trip Mary was very active so Peter kept Mary busy running interference when she would pick something up he would put it back in place all the while Suzanne kept focus on the meeting and getting information on the girls. The orphanage social worker mentioned how excited Anya was for our first trip and to be adopted by us. She also mentioned how pleased she was that Mary had bonded well with the girls. Anyways we were relieved when it was over...I told Peter I felt like I just went thru child birth! It was stressful..mainly the speech part and the fact when I arrived I had noticed I forgot to put socks on and was convinced the judge was going to think I was a loser. I am finding it a bit of an adjustment to get 3 girls ready in the morning plus myself....I think this was the downfall on court date to already having the girls with us.Well we leave tomorrow at 1pm via Delta (info on our website)...right now it Friday night at 10 pm so in 15 hours we will leave Russia to head home. We can't wait to get home.A little side note some of you might know we have been worried about Galya and her bonding with me as mamma (basically she favors pappa and while visiting us in CA and on our first trip went to my female friends and family members much more than myself) well she has been doing very well. I haven't even noticed her clinging to others like they were the Mamma. I think she finally gets it to a certain point that I will be her forever Mamma and that I love her very much.Anyways I best sign off and get to bed. Can't wait to catch up with you all.With Love From Russia,Suzanne (peter, anya, galya and mary)Peter, Suzanne and MaryJuly 3, 2005A tired hello from the Murrays,The eagle has landed but it landed a day later and flew a different route home than planned. You know Murray's Law....if something could go wrong it will happen to the Murray's.Heres the story. Left our beautiful Marriott in Moscow Hotel Saturday at 9 AM Moscow. We took a shuttle to the airport and arrived 3 hours early. Going thru security xray I think a total of 3 times and having every last suite case full of dirty clothes, carry on, diaper bag, toy bag, fanny pack all hand checked I believe they are tougher on USA flights security. We arrive at our gate to find out that the flight is one hour delayed...we started stressing about whether or not we could make our connecting flight due to the fact we were due to land in JKF airport and would have to go theu customs and immigration. We wait an hour when it is announced that there will be an additional 1 hour delay...ok no way in heck will we get a flight out of JFK but hey we will be in the USA. Boarding time arrives every one pushes and I mean pushes their way to the front of the line. We wait 1/2 hour in line still no boarding...finally the coward behind a glass wall we can all see gets on an intercom. Imagine a russian ancient here "attention all passangers Flight 070 has been cancelled due to mechanical problems..please wait here 10 minutes for further instructions. So we wait and about a half hour later the gentleman tell us to exit the gate area and go to the ticket area. So everyone pushes their way I some what ran with Mary and told Peter and my mom to follow with the girls. I get a pretty good spot in line (so I think) when a bunch of europeans change the line from twos to fours across thus starting a new thicker line and making me behind many more people than I orginally was behind. we wait there for 1/2 hour when the gentleman from the airline shows up again and tells us they now wanted us to turn around (making those in front in the back and vice versa) thru passport control (ok those who have gone to Russia know going either way thru passport control can take a long time. So they had 300+passengers trying to fit thru one line of passport control. Well we waited at least an hour there when finally a second line for passport control opened up and luckily I was right there and got to go thru it immediately...picked up our luggage and then waited in a Delta ticket line for another. We waited in this line for another 3 hours when FINALLY we were told they could fly us to Paris on a flight that left within the hour, spend the night in Paris and then fly a direct flight Sunday afternoon to LAX. During this waiting time Delta did not offer not even a glass of water much less a chair to sit in. The girls were like typical kids restless..wanting to wonder, run or Galya's case lay in the airport floor sliding on her back and cleaning the airport floors. Well finally at about 7 PM We go thru passport control again, check in our luggage again and go to the exact same gate our first flight was orginally at to find out that this flight too has been delayed a 1/2 hour. We wait , we board and we fly to France. During the flight they served raw salmon and sushi rolls not exactly kid friendly meal. We arrive and land in Paris at 9:30 PM went to the Air France desk to get vouchers for a hotel and temporary visas for the girls when the agent tells us she had not heard of our canceled flight and needed to call Delta in the States for approval. 2 hours later they have approval but more passangers had arrived from another flight in Moscow and needed help too. At 3 Am YES 3 AM we finally got our vouchers and temp visas for our girls. At this time they informed us that they airport was technically closed and we would not be able to get our luggage. We spent a total of 15 and 1/2 hours standing in lines for one flight to Paris. We spent the night in Paris, went to the airport and flew out at 1:30 Sunday and arrived tonight at LAX at about 3:30 pm...so at approxiametly 3:30 pm my girls became citizens of the USA. One day before July 4th! We took a shuttle home to find that our friends Marlene Strege and Julie Grenier and my sister's families The Bellfi's and the Talpashes had made huge banners and signs in front of the house and when we walked into the house the livingroom floor was covered in red white and blue balloons, USA flags, and a beautiful cookie bouque red white and blue with Mamma, Pappa and each of the girls names (thank you Marlene) and presents for all the girls. It was so touching and moving. When we drove up the drive way my sister Jeanne and her family were here waiting. My sister Annette and her daughter came later in the evening. It was good to see familiy its good to be in the USA! The girls love their room. Anya tried on all her new clothes I had bought and NOTHING fits. I don't know if I mentioned this in my updates but when we went to pick up the kids from the summer camp the clothes I bought didn't fit either. Anya has grown so much since she stayed with us she is almost as tall as me (I am 5'7''). Anyways so Mamma's going to have to go shopping. Just about everything for "little one" aka Galya fits.The girls were running around tonight with their cousins when I asked my mom what time do you think these kids will leave?...it feels so weird. You pray for something for so long and then its here....And its supersized order in age and numbers. We are no officially a party of five.Tonight I tucked the girls into their beds and let them know how much we loved them. I am so proud of them espcially after the last few days at the airport they all were troopers. Thank you for your prayers everyone they were felt.Off to hopefully go to sleep!So much more to share but no ablility to type.Love,Suzanne, Peter , Anya, Galya and Mary