Well, all, we didn't get a travel date today. We'll see about next
week--"International Worker's Day" is Tuesday, and the govt offices are
closed Mon-Wed. Big holiday, even post-communism! Prayers appreciated,
because the sooner, the better. Today would have been pretty early by
their time frame, though, so I'm not shocked. Keep praying!
Peace, Susan
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Fun in Russian
Alex speaks Russian. So Jerry has been learning it to beat the band. I'm seriously impressed. We've had help from a local friend named Elena, who is from Russia.
Jerry went to Elena's home yesterday for some practice, and they were fiddling with Google Translate. It's mostly a VERY good app. We hope it will help us out in the institution if we really need to communicate something beyond all the set phrases. But it has its quirks, like this one:
English: May we take him for a walk down the street?
Google translates:
Russian: May we take him for a walk to a bar?
Yah, THAT would go over well.
--Susan
Jerry went to Elena's home yesterday for some practice, and they were fiddling with Google Translate. It's mostly a VERY good app. We hope it will help us out in the institution if we really need to communicate something beyond all the set phrases. But it has its quirks, like this one:
English: May we take him for a walk down the street?
Google translates:
Russian: May we take him for a walk to a bar?
Yah, THAT would go over well.
--Susan
Thursday, April 19, 2012
The deal on a date
Everywhere I go these days, people are asking me whether we've received our travel date yet. I think people know that we were supposed to travel sometime around now, but they're not sure when...so here's the deal on our travel date, in a nutshell:
Our paperwork was submitted to the appropriate government authorities on March 29. Before they reorganized (before Feb. 1), it only took a couple weeks from paperwork submittal to acceptance and a travel date. Since February 1, it has been taking about five weeks, give or take a week. The office processes five-year-old special needs children for international adoption on Thursdays. That means we would be most likely to receive our travel date next Thursday or May 3. We are expecting May 3...and are aware that it may be even later than that, given that they have a couple major holidays around that time.
Once the paperwork is officially accepted, the travel date is usually about two to three weeks later (usually closer to two weeks).
That means that if nothing goes wrong, we can expect to be traveling around May 20. We'll be there for three weeks and back in early June. In the meantime, there is still plenty to do to prepare...next up: in the next few days, I hope to begin making our "photo album" (a very simple overview of our family and friends and home) to show Alex and the various officials over there.
Thanks for your continued support!
Our paperwork was submitted to the appropriate government authorities on March 29. Before they reorganized (before Feb. 1), it only took a couple weeks from paperwork submittal to acceptance and a travel date. Since February 1, it has been taking about five weeks, give or take a week. The office processes five-year-old special needs children for international adoption on Thursdays. That means we would be most likely to receive our travel date next Thursday or May 3. We are expecting May 3...and are aware that it may be even later than that, given that they have a couple major holidays around that time.
Once the paperwork is officially accepted, the travel date is usually about two to three weeks later (usually closer to two weeks).
That means that if nothing goes wrong, we can expect to be traveling around May 20. We'll be there for three weeks and back in early June. In the meantime, there is still plenty to do to prepare...next up: in the next few days, I hope to begin making our "photo album" (a very simple overview of our family and friends and home) to show Alex and the various officials over there.
Thanks for your continued support!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Happy Easter...(the post on Catholic stuff!)
Happy Easter everyone! Christ is risen, alleluia!
As we've said to some of you, we are trying our level best to make sure it is Alex's last Easter without a family. Maybe, maybe we'll even meet him within the Easter season (for you non-Catholics following along, we celebrate Easter until Pentecost, so 50 days!). Happy Easter, Alex....
FYI, Alex is in an area that is primarily Orthodox. His country is part Catholic (although not Roman) and part Orthodox, with a (very) few other faiths thrown in. Some people have asked if he has been baptized. The short answer is, like a lot of things, we don't know. It is possible, because people have adopted from that country and received momentos of a baptism in their file (at least I have heard of this, I don't know how common it is). Whether that is or is not the case, we'll be having what is called a conditional baptism sometime after we get home. Basically, it is a baptism that is understood to be effective as sacrament (visible sign of invisible grace) in case the person has not been baptized. But Catholics don't believe in "re-baptism" or multiple baptisms, so the first valid baptism is considered the effective one, whether he was baptized in a different Christian church or not. Usually people who enter the Catholic church do not have to get rebaptized. We asked a canon lawyer in town about this, and he said whether we are able to get a foreign certificate of baptism (if it exists) or not, we should do the conditional baptism, because it is a document that is required for a couple of other sacraments (marriage or ordination). Having an English one here will just be easier for him as he grows up. Also, you don't want to chance that the momento was placed in his file by accident, or the minister baptized him in the name of the flower, leaf, and stringy cattail or something: really unlikely, but hey, weird things happen.
In any case, I hope Alex's institution observes Easter in some small way. It would be next Sunday, the 15th. For Catholics, that Sunday is often called Mercy Sunday. Maybe that is the small mercy we can pray for, that Alex has a good Easter in his homeland.
Happy Easter to everyone who cares for Alex! (Sorry about that diversion above into Catholic theology if you're not into that sort of thing--what can I say, I am a theologian!)
Peace--
Susan
As we've said to some of you, we are trying our level best to make sure it is Alex's last Easter without a family. Maybe, maybe we'll even meet him within the Easter season (for you non-Catholics following along, we celebrate Easter until Pentecost, so 50 days!). Happy Easter, Alex....
FYI, Alex is in an area that is primarily Orthodox. His country is part Catholic (although not Roman) and part Orthodox, with a (very) few other faiths thrown in. Some people have asked if he has been baptized. The short answer is, like a lot of things, we don't know. It is possible, because people have adopted from that country and received momentos of a baptism in their file (at least I have heard of this, I don't know how common it is). Whether that is or is not the case, we'll be having what is called a conditional baptism sometime after we get home. Basically, it is a baptism that is understood to be effective as sacrament (visible sign of invisible grace) in case the person has not been baptized. But Catholics don't believe in "re-baptism" or multiple baptisms, so the first valid baptism is considered the effective one, whether he was baptized in a different Christian church or not. Usually people who enter the Catholic church do not have to get rebaptized. We asked a canon lawyer in town about this, and he said whether we are able to get a foreign certificate of baptism (if it exists) or not, we should do the conditional baptism, because it is a document that is required for a couple of other sacraments (marriage or ordination). Having an English one here will just be easier for him as he grows up. Also, you don't want to chance that the momento was placed in his file by accident, or the minister baptized him in the name of the flower, leaf, and stringy cattail or something: really unlikely, but hey, weird things happen.
In any case, I hope Alex's institution observes Easter in some small way. It would be next Sunday, the 15th. For Catholics, that Sunday is often called Mercy Sunday. Maybe that is the small mercy we can pray for, that Alex has a good Easter in his homeland.
Happy Easter to everyone who cares for Alex! (Sorry about that diversion above into Catholic theology if you're not into that sort of thing--what can I say, I am a theologian!)
Peace--
Susan
Sunday, April 1, 2012
We are looking to borrow...
We're looking to borrow a tablet PC from someone willing to give up theirs for three weeks or so. Because we're going to have more time to play "Angry Birds" than you will.
Ha, no, just kidding. Actually, we want a tablet primarily to be able to Skype home...according to those who've been, Skype is the simplest, cheapest way to keep in touch with loved ones, and I'm determined to keep in touch every day if we can (see my previous posts about leaving our poor over-attached two-year-old). We'd also like it for ready access to Google Translate. If you haven't looked at GT's Russian translation service yet, you should check it out (here). Apparently others have found it useful in a pinch, and with a bright six-year-old who speaks nothing but Russian on our hands, we anticipate needing all the help we can get. (I am learning Russian, but I only know maybe three hundred words and phrases.)
If necessary we'll purchase one ourselves, but on our long list of things to spend a few hundred dollars on, a tablet PC isn't really a priority -- except for this trip.
Here's the deal. If you're willing to part with yours, we will send you a check for its value, which you can hold until your tablet comes home to you safe and sound -- or, if the worst should befall it, you can cash that check for a new one. We need one with a USB port...although Internet hotspots are common, we're not sure what Internet access will be like in the actual orphanage, and plan on going online with a USB modem (a little device that accesses the cellular data network).
Thanks, all!
Ha, no, just kidding. Actually, we want a tablet primarily to be able to Skype home...according to those who've been, Skype is the simplest, cheapest way to keep in touch with loved ones, and I'm determined to keep in touch every day if we can (see my previous posts about leaving our poor over-attached two-year-old). We'd also like it for ready access to Google Translate. If you haven't looked at GT's Russian translation service yet, you should check it out (here). Apparently others have found it useful in a pinch, and with a bright six-year-old who speaks nothing but Russian on our hands, we anticipate needing all the help we can get. (I am learning Russian, but I only know maybe three hundred words and phrases.)
If necessary we'll purchase one ourselves, but on our long list of things to spend a few hundred dollars on, a tablet PC isn't really a priority -- except for this trip.
Here's the deal. If you're willing to part with yours, we will send you a check for its value, which you can hold until your tablet comes home to you safe and sound -- or, if the worst should befall it, you can cash that check for a new one. We need one with a USB port...although Internet hotspots are common, we're not sure what Internet access will be like in the actual orphanage, and plan on going online with a USB modem (a little device that accesses the cellular data network).
Thanks, all!
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