This page is here to describe all of the experiences we encountered in our one year and two month journey to adopt two children from Russia. 

Hello our names are David and Linda and we are from Gladstone, MO...

These are the events covering our first trip to Chelyabinsk, Russia.  Look for the link to our story about the second trip at the bottom of this page.

We started our journey by attending one of Children's Hope International's informational meeting in January of 2003.  That day we decided, after trying to have children naturally for over two years, to go for an adoption.  Many of our friends had followed this process and even one of our neighbors daughters adopted from Russia and was very delighted with the decision.  We looked at all options starting with domestic adoption and decided against it.  Friends of ours had tried for several years with no positive results and often heartbreak.  Adoption can definitely be like an emotional roller coaster.

The Russian program offered us a lot of positive features: a fairly quick turnaround, helping children in a very poor area, able to provide a loving home to two children that haven't had much, a chance to visit an area that shouldn't be too hostile, we were familiar with the program due to friends who had just returned from their first trip and a chance to adopt siblings.

The known downsides to the Russian program were: having to make two trips, possibility of very inclimate weather conditions, long flights across the "big pond," possible political unrest, or any other number of unknowns that one may encounter in any foreign country.

Once we opted to start this process we found out just how much paperwork has to be done. Wow, it seemed like it would never end.  This is one of the biggest drawbacks to the Russian program.  If you're not mentally prepared for the daunting task then go for Guatemala or some other country now.  Everything has to be notarized then apostiled by your state's Secretary of State.  When I say "everything" I mean everything!  There will be some minor paperwork that doesn't but you might as well be prepared for the onslaught of paperwork.  The paperwork will delve into every nook and cranny of your entire past, present & future.  I think an IRS audit or a root canal would be preferable to all of this intrusion into your personal lives.  It will cover everything from finances, family life, why you want to adopt (which you think would be obvious after two years of trying), criminal background checks, proof of home ownership, proof of citizenship, medical physicals (twice), blood tests for hepatitis and HIV, proof of employment, proof of marriage, proof of birth, etc.  Luckily most of our paperwork was from the state in which we live but for any paperwork that comes from outside of your home state, it has to be sent off to that state's Secretary of State's office to be apostiled.  For those that aren't familiar with the word "apostiled" it refers to any document having to be notarized a second time by the state in which it was notarized in the first place.  This requires much time off of work and patience of the saints to get through it all... thank God for my wife.  She had what it took to get it done.

Once all of our paperwork was completed it had to be placed in a certain order as a dossier to be turned in to CHI and then sent to the Russian embassy in Moscow to apply for adoption.  Once we turned in our dossier in September, we received our first referral in October for a boy & a girl.  We were elated that we might travel soon, however we found out that it was two boys.  This probably wouldn't have been a problem except we had set our hopes for a boy & a girl.  This is not a problem since you are asked in the beginning what your desire is and we had stated a boy & a girl which can sometimes take a longer based on availability.  Approximately two weeks later we received our second referral and this time it was confirmed that we had a boy that was four and a girl that was two years old.  We accepted the referral and thus started us on the second leg of our adventure.

Now this was the first time I, David, had ever been out of the country and had never even dreamed of crossing the Atlantic Ocean.  So off we go on the first of two trips to Russia.  We left Kansas City at 8am on Saturday the 13th, 2003.  This was fun because we didn't know when we would be traveling until the last minute due to availability of flights inside the U.S. for the holidays coming up.  Our passports/visas arrived the Wednesday prior to our flight day and our airline tickets arrived on Thursday... nothing like cutting it close.  This an important sidebar: you do have choices of how to arrange flights to and from Russia.  Option 1 - let CHI perform all travel arrangements with refundable tickets in case problems arise and plans change.  If plans do change it may cost you and arm & a leg to get them changed otherwise.  Option 2 - make all arrangements yourself to save money.  Once in New York we met several couples that made their own arrangements and saved a lot of money.  I advise this if you're a world traveler or are quite competent in  handling problems if flights get delayed and you miss your flight.  Keep in mind that there are only so many flights to and from Moscow to the U.S.  Option 3 - another option is to make all of your own domestic travel plans and connect with the Aeroflot flight to Moscow in New York that CHI makes for you.  It should be noted that CHI recommends letting them handle all travel arrangements since you are ultimately responsible for all scheduling conflicts once in-country.  We opted to let them handle the arrangements completely... just one less thing to deal with.

It should be noted that this was one of the more stressful issues in my opinion.  I am not the world traveler and don't mind flying 2-3 hours but little did I know that it would take over an entire day to get from Kansas City, MO to Moscow, Russia.  WOW!  After leaving KC at approximately 8am we flew to Washington/Dulles to meet our connecting flight to JFK.  Once at JFK we hopped a shuttle to the Aeroflot terminal and waited what seemed an eternity to get checked through security and then find that the Aeroflot check-in line rather lengthy.  Another side-note: God Bless those in New York but coming from the Mid-west found those at the security gate the rudest, disorganized cluster of people I have ever seen.  They had one doorway open to allow you access to three screening machines.  On top of that they started letting people through a side entrance that was next to one of the machines they wanted to shut down so the crew could take a lunch break.  We didn't know so we started placing our belongings on the machine since it was still running and no one told us not to.  The next thing we knew some supervisor started shouting at the top of his lungs at the attendant next to us.  All I have to say is what a mess.  We waited at the check-in gate for approximately two hours and checked our bags.  We were told that the flight would be on time - 7:30pm ET.  This gave us a little time to kill so we went to the gate and relaxed for the first time all day. 

At the gate we had a great time.  We met several couples going through CHI as well and even met a guy from Maryland that was going by his self and staying with a host family in Vladivostok.  Now this guy was amazing!  He knew no Russian and was traveling alone.  This would have terrified me but this guy had the best personality and was going into it with a great attitude.  We met another couple going to pickup their children after attending Operation Hope.  They were a great wealth of knowledge since they had been missionaries in Russia for awhile before.  The best advice we were ever given was by this couple: Expect the unexpected because something will happen to test your resolve.  We'll pursue this later...

Side-note: Aeroflot is ALWAYS late.

Our flight showed up on schedule but due to whatever, we did not board until 8:30pm.  This is one hour later that it should have been.

Side-note: NEVER fly coach on Aeroflot and if you do make sure you get seats on the side not on the center seats.  Aeroflot runs a Boeing 767 with a seat configuration of 2-3-2.  The seats are small and there is ABSOLUTELY no leg room for those that are taller than 5'.

We got seated fine and settled in for the flight.  I have to say that so far I have no official opinion of the Russian people other than I cannot understand them and that terrifies me.  Nothing like being around a plane load of people that you cannot communicate with.  I will say that the Aeroflot crew took pretty good care of us.  Once up in the air and settled we were served dinner and drinks.

Side-note: A good idea is to carry-on a laptop/mini-DVD player.  Anything to make the time go by quicker.  In coach it is hot sitting on top of someone else and since you are packed in pretty tight you gotta make the most of it.

I brought my laptop so we could watch a movie on the way and I am glad we did.  It's a pain to have to carry one more item but it was well worth it.  If you do bring a laptop I would recommend purchasing either a spare battery or Best Buy carries a light, flat external battery that can be used for multiple purposes with different optional attachments.  The latter was my choice since a standard laptop battery is good for 2.5 to 3 hours or one DVD.  The external battery is good for 3-5 hours.  Another good thing about a laptop is for entertainment once in your region and communication via the internet if so desired.  The flight went pretty smooth except I forgot that I checked my contact lens case in my checked baggage and had to keep waking up every hour or so to re-wet them with drops.  This made for a very long night.  For those that don't know, the flight from New York to Moscow is roughly 10 hrs.

Once in Moscow we were directed downstairs to the worst looking receiving area I have ever seen.  I have worked on docks cleaner and ... well you would have to see it to believe it.  This started the perception I had seen in every Cold War era movie I have ever seen.  All of the workers wore military looking uniforms and I also noticed that most Russians appear to be unhappy about something or everything.  Passport control took forever since only a few of the many gates were operational.  Russians seem to thrive on chaos.  We finally made it through Passport control and thought we had to fill out paperwork to declare what we were bringing into the country but thanks to a frequent traveler we found that once through Passport Control, as long as you are not bringing on more than $10,000 in currency then you do not have to declare your belongings.  We picked up our luggage and you will always want to go through the Green gate.  Once through this gate we were greeted by Sosha from CHI.  If you get this far you will be delighted with Sosha.  She speaks fluent English and is fun to speak with.  You're interpreter's job is to make sure you get where you're supposed to and assist with anything you might need.  They will not do everything for you, of course, but will guide you in the right direction when necessary.  We met up with two of the other couples we met in New York and were whisked away by our driver to our hotel.

Side-note: If it is important to you... request one of the Marriott hotels when staying in Moscow.  They run approximately $155.00 per night, which is a little expensive but wow are they nice and make you feel a little more like you are back home.  What ever happens request to avoid the Hotel Rossia.  You will pay almost the same price and get a very degraded facility and rooms.  Its only upside, if there is one, is that it is located across from Red Square.  A high price to pay for location.

We were driven to the Marriott Hotel, Tveraskya in Moscow.  I just want to say one thing... Thank God for Marriott Hotels.  This was a piece of heaven in a strange land and the employees speak fairly good English.  There is wireless internet available, restaurant with English menus, very good amenities, etc.  One thing not to overlook in your travels is a good night's sleep.  Travel is stressful enough but add on a foreign language, adoption worries and just two weeks prior to our arrival Chechnyan rebels set off two suicide bombs in downtown Moscow.  Another concern was that night Saadam Hussein was captured in Iraq which worried us about being Americans traveling abroad.

Side-note: When you check-in to any hotel in Russia they will ask for your passport and will usually charge a fee associated with processing your passport.  This is normal but make sure after approximately one hour go down and retrieve your passport.  Everywhere outside of the hotel you must have your passport for identification.  YOU MAY BE STOPPED AT ANY MOMENT AND ASKED FOR YOUR PAPERS.  It will only make it easier, as I and another gentleman found, when stopped by a soldier or policeman.  If stopped and you don't have your passport, we were told to show your hotel room key or even your driver's license for I.D.

On our first night in town we were lucky enough to have befriended a couple from Nashville and the husband was a Russian historian and had recently spent a year living in Russia to study.  They treated us to a small tour of Moscow, its beautiful subways and a great dinner a Russian restaurant.  The next day we had opted for the tour of Moscow provided via CHI.  This is highly recommended if you have the time.  We spent the entire day with the tour of Moscow then the tour of the Kremlin/Armoury.  That night I hooked up with another gentleman I met from our flight/tour and went to purchase water from one of the street vendors.  It is highly recommended not to drink tap water anywhere in Russia.  One person we spoke with said he tried on one trip and made him sick for two days.  Upon walking back from purchasing some bottled water we were stopped by a Russian soldier and we think asked to show our papers.  After a few tense moments of not understanding each other he finally waived us on, probably after realizing we were crazy Americans.

The following day was Monday the 15th and we were delivered to a different airport in Moscow which we were told all of the domestic flights go through.  This is a very nice airport, much like any new airport in the U.S. is like.  Sosha took us to our gate to check-in and made sure we got through security fine.  It is important to watch the monitors since our gate changed minutes prior to the flight.  Now one must be prepared... domestic flights don't board at the terminal.  That's right, one more weird thing.  You have to go down to the tarmac and board a bus that will take you out to your awaiting flight.  Once you arrive at the plane, that looks like it is from the 50's or 60's, you step out of the bus and they check your ticket at the steps leading to the plane.  These planes don't just look old, they are old.  Once up in the air we were provided with another nice meal and it was only a two hour flight.  When we landed in our region I found another old item... the Chelyabinsk airport.  Once again we de-boarded the plane out on the flight-line, entered a bus and traveled the entire 100 yds to the oldest airport I have ever seen.  We met by hour Regional Director Katrina and our interpreter Katya and both drivers, Anatoly and Miesha.  By the way, did I mention how old a decrepit this airport is?  We were directed to a locked doorway that looked like a stall door to a horse barn and after a few moments it was opened and a stampede of people jammed into a small room where our baggage would arrive.  Once we were ready to leave everyone had to go through one lady whose job it is to check our baggage numbers with our ticket stubs and then we were off.

We were taken to the Hotel Victoria in Chelyabinsk.  Chelyabinsk is and has always been the transportation hub of Russia and Eastern Europe.  Much of the rail freight and truck freight that travels between Asia, the Middle East, Mediterranean and Eastern Europe goes through this city of approximately 2.2 million people.  Chelyabinsk is also known for its industry with many factories located here.  During the Cold War many tanks were made her along with other war factories.  There are still several academies located here for soldiers.  Everywhere we went the living conditions look deplorable.  It reminds me of old WWII movies depicting scenes from European homes and how old they looked.  Even our hotel, which was said to be one of the nicest in town, is very 1960-ish.  If you were to take a page out of a magazine in the U.S. 1960 and held it up to our hotel room, you would swear they were they same time.  Now don't get me wrong... it was nice and came with a complete kitchenette but boy was it old.  Oh, and nice bed to!

Side-note: To save money on your first trip, you might ask CHI before booking your in-region accommodations to see what your options are.  We really didn't need an entire apartment with only the two of us.  Your driver will be able to take you to the grocery store when necessary and there are always restaurants available.

We met with the Director of CHI here after checking in.  Now remember the earlier side-note about expecting anything to go wrong and be prepared... well here was our first bomb.  Katrina, the Director, explained through our interpreter that the two children we had been referred to had already been adopted and were no longer available.  Wow, talk about being pissed off after traveling literally half-way around the world to find out that the two children you were supposed to be seeing aren't even available.  Then she proceeded to tell us that there were, however, two other children that were available and were siblings and were brother and sister.  Now the next bomb... the girl was six years old and the boy was three.  This is where most people would say that it shouldn't matter but let's step back a little and go back to when we started our adoption process.  We were asked to state the age range that was what we were looking for.  We stated 0-3 yrs and a boy and a girl.  Later in the process we were told by our local CHI office that we would stand a better result and sooner referral if we broadened our range to 0-4 yrs of age.  Then when we received our referral the girl was to be 2yrs old and the boy was 4 yrs old.  Now we're being told that we will have to see a 6 year old and a 3 year old and the girl has some problems but should be O.K.  Katrina did say that if this wasn't O.K. that she could look further.  This reminds me of a used car salesman after you've bought the car and says... ohhh yeah I forgot to mention...  Well we were stuck. The next days plans were to go to the Ministry of Education where we would see the pictures of the children.  Once there we knew shortly that more problems were coming by the sound of the conversation between Katrina and the person at the Ministry of Education.  After a few minutes of loud discussion and assurances that they were just discussing "business", we found that these two could not be adopted due to the Grandmother contesting her Granddaughter's adoption.  The boy could be adopted but not the girl.  Whew!  Are ya tired yet???  Once this was thrown out to us the Ministry worker found two others... with the exact same birth dates as the ones listed in our referral.  Amazing, what a coincidence that two completely different children in the same region and both be up for adoption and have the exact same birth dates... hmmm.  Well we setup the appointment for the next day to travel to the city of Kopeisk and meet our potential children.

Tuesday, December 16th we drove approximately 45 minutes to the orphanage.  I didn't think the living conditions could have gotten any worse but they did.  Kopeisk is a fair size town with a large amount of plants located here.  I saw heavy equipment and a brick factory here.  The houses that were at the edge of town appeared to be barely standing up and looked to be put together with whatever they could find for building materials.  It reminded me of a trip I took back in college through Alabama and Mississippi where I saw some of the old shanty houses.  We arrived at a very modest building with an unusual fence surrounding it.  We entered and met with the doctor that presided over the facility.  This is where the next bomb landed.  A few moments into the meeting and we had a re-enactment of the prior day's meeting with the Ministry of Education.  Katrina and the doctor were having a boisterous conversation when we were told that the boy was not there and they did not know where he is located.  Later they found that he was sent to a different orphanage approximately 30 minutes away.  He was sent there due to his age.  I don't know if it is like this throughout Russia but in this region the children are split in the following groups: 0-3, 4-10, 10 & up.  So we met our potential daughter first.  We were escorted to a small room where we could meet and play.  Her name is Tatiana and she is the cutest thing.  She appeared very healthy and the doctor, prior to meeting Tatiana, covered her medical background very thoroughly.  She seemed to be very healthy and playful.  After our allotted time we had to go find her brother.  Tatiana's brother was located in another part of Kopeisk and was at an orphanage that CHI had never worked with.  We met with the administrator and she had just come back from a trip to Louisiana and Wisconsin to try and locate adoptive parents for the many children they had at this orphanage.  She went with us to a building a short trip away where the boy was located.  We drove up to a very rough exterior building and went in and upstairs where we entered a classroom where a teacher was reading a small group of children a story.  They invited us in and sat down until they were finished.  All of the children were very excited to see us.  Once they were finished all of the children picked up their chairs and marched very orderly to the eating area and had their lunch and then returned.  This is when we met Dima, pronounced D-ee-ma.  This is short for Dmitry.  He was just like the photo we saw at the Ministry of Education.  He was very happy to see us and they introduced us to him as his momma and papa.  We sat and colored for awhile and enjoyed meeting him.  Dima was very healthy as well and seemed to have an over abundance of energy.  The one thing we noticed is that both children were very big.  Not in a bad way but compared to many of the other children, they were stockier.  We found out that both children had only been in the system for approximately one year and were probably pretty good prior to that compared to the children that grew up in the orphanage.

We met again that afternoon with Katrina and accepted the children as our own.  We met with children the next two days and left Chelyabinsk with heavy hearts since they could not go with us.  On the last day Dima was very sad that we were leaving and we had them explain that we would be back for him and his sister.  We left pictured behind with Dima and Tatiana as reminders of us and their future home.  We flew back to Moscow on December the 19th on the 8am flight. 

Upon arriving back at the airport in Moscow we were met by another interpreter and she led us to our next hotel... Hotel Rossia.  Hotel Rossia is the largest hotel in Russia.  It has 6000 rooms and is like a mini city in and of itself.  When we arrived they had the entrance blocked by the police while a Christmas tree was being setup in front of the hotel.  This caused us to have to carry all of our luggage, along with another couple a very long way up the driveway through to the front desk.  This another take on how antiquated Russia is.  One would think that the largest hotel in Russia would have such amenities as bell hops, luggage dolls, etc... but they do not.  God help you if you have a lot of luggage and you happen to get a room at the other end of this place. You might have to pack a lunch and make a couple of trips.  Also, we found out after the fact, that you can request a renovated or un-renovated room and you may have the option to request a view of St. Basil's Cathedral and Red Square.  None of this was mentioned to us.  According to a couple we rode with and became good friends with, they were able to request an un-renovated room for approx. $90.00 per night. versus our $150.00+ renovated room we were given.  Now we never had the chance to see their room but were told it was very bare accommodations but let me tell you about ours.  It had a great view.  Beyond that it was deplorable!  If this was a renovated room I would hate to see what our friend's room was like.  We had burn holes in the carpet.  The room had two twin sized beds that were only a mattress on a wooden boxed frame and the shower had no inner curtain which allowed the overspray to go all over the floor.  I guess you could tell I and my wife were very displeased.  The icing on the cake was when we were checking out two days later and found out two things.  One, unlike every other hotel in the entire modern world, you don't check out and pay at the front desk.  Nope you have to go and find someone in a room in the hotel and pay here.  This is when we found out that there are apparently a bunch of small businesses located throughout the entire hotel.  The other problem is in finding the room.  The floors don't run completely around each floor.  In other words, you have to go up one floor and travel to the next set of elevators and then go back down one floor and find the room to pay. Nuts!!!  Secondly, when we were standing in line at the front desk to find out how to check out we overheard another guest who had a room from $70.00 per night.  We think the reason for the disparity is due to the fact ours was booked through a travel agency and not an individual.  The moral to the story is... ask ahead of time.  If you're going to have to pay first rate you should get first rate accommodations.

On Sunday night, the 21st, we flew back from Moscow, in coach, and were entertained all night by a band of teenagers that appeared to be part of a dance troupe.  By the way did I mention the flight was delayed two hours... always late.

Side-note: If you're above the age of 35... book Business Class both ways on Aeroflot.  I could see those we got to know and those that had just adopted and they looked completely exhausted.  A person can only be miserable so long.  Business Class had the lights out all night while we had the lights on all night with kids partying in Russian... did I say all night.

We arrived back in New York on Sunday the 21st at 10:30pm.  Due to flight problems caused by the holiday season we couldn't get a flight back to K.C. until the next day so we spent the night in New York.  I'm here to tell you that I have never, ever been so happy when I spoke to the Port Authority officer at Passport Control.  He was awesome & could tell we were doing an adoption.  He said he tell it on our faces.  I was never so glad to be an American in America.  Wow, it was finally over.  The first trip anyway.