Plugging Along

Hello from snowy Ust.  It's been snowing a bit each day, and Max could not be more excited.  As for me, it just reminds me earlier in the year than is typical that I do NOT like winter.  HA!  Blogger is unexpectedly blocked again, so I'm emailing this to the blog.  Hope it works.  :-)   We won't keep you hanging – still no significant news to share on the adoption front, other than it has been officially confirmed that the little boy who we traveled to meet is being adopted by someone else.  It's all a bit awkward – we may very well have blog readers who know her (we don't), and she is staying in The Shiny River, although she has never spoken to the six of us (7 with Max) who travel in a pack.  The most important thing of all is that little boy now has a family, so we are so happy for that and we have moved on, because there really is no other choice.   As a lot of people know, the Kaz adoption process is shutting down after the end of the year to "activate" a new process, and there is a "cut-off" of December 15 – if a family is not in process by then, the family can not push forward.  We are in a tough spot – we are almost certain that we will not qualify under the new Hague standards in 2011 (drat the aging process), and absolutely no one can tell us if we could be grandfathered in for 2011, or even if we could, there's no clear understanding of when the country will open back up to adoption travel.   So, it's not really making much sense to see children who "might" be available in 2011.  It's an interesting time to be in Kaz, as people who work in this adoption world wonder what their own future's hold (let alone ours).  We're basically the last families who will be in Ust for the foreseeable future.   As we continue to wade our way through the complications of our situation, we also continue to push forward as a family to ensure that this is the best adventure that we can make it to be.  It has tested Glenn and I as a unit, and we feel confident we will come out of this with a stronger bond than we had coming into it.  We are so thrilled to be traveling alongside two other couples who are experiencing amazing joy as they bond with the children who will soon be their sons and daughter.  We love to see their pictures and gush with them over the "first moments" they are already experiencing with their children.  It is such a blessing that we've been through it all before, VERY SUCCESSFULLY.  They are all so generous and loving towards Max, which has not always been easy.  :-)  (More on that in a moment).  I suppose our situation could be awkward at times – two couples moving forward as planned, one, not so much.  BUT, it is NOT! All we need to do is look over at Max (who is typically in our face, so it's not hard to miss him – ha!) to be reminded of how blessed we already are.  We love hanging out together with our traveling pals, and once I am more comfortable that the "real Max" has emerged again, the offers of others to watch Max here and there to give us a bit of a break will likely be graciously accepted.  It's typically hard for me to accept offers of help, but we're in survival mode here, people!  HA!   Ah Max …. Our beautiful amazing little blessing Max.  I cannot imagine being here without him, but at times, it is the biggest pain in the ass to be here with him!  I can't hold him fully accountable for his wacky behavior, as his sleep is still nowhere near as scheduled as I'd hoped he'd be by now.  For the most part, he still has his days and nights mixed up, so he is whiny and clingy all day (because he wishes he was in bed), and then he has yet to even come close to sleeping through the night.  You can imagine how wonderful it is to have a clingy whiny almost-4-year-old at your side as you are going through could-change-your-life meetings at the orphanages in town. It's just a laugh a minute! A mother who I trust very much has suggested Baby Benydryl -- while I did not bring that, I believe Baby Motrin has the same effect on Max, so tonight, we may be drugging him.  Don't tell anyone.  :-) We think that Max is completely confused at this point (so are we!) so it's hard to know exactly what to say about the potential of a sibling.   We are walking a fine line of having looser standards (as we would on a vacation) while holding him accountable for his actions (often-times in front of many watchful eyes).    Before we came to Kaz, we talked a lot about our "adventure vacation" to Kaz.  Max loves vacation, but of course every vacation he's been on has been to a warmer climate with either his grandma or a lot of other friends (usually Kaz families!) around.  He has taken plenty of opportunities to remind us that "this isn't vacation."  Dude, you sure have that right!   Fortunately, we were very prepared for the fact that he wouldn't eat anything – he's like that at home, too.  Some of you may remember my debate on FB as to whether or not to bring a hot plate from home.  I ended up doing so (I left seemingly nothing at home, and have almost 300 pounds of luggage to prove it!).  After we'd been here for about an hour on night #1 (before the fateful meeting), I plugged it in to a converter, fired it up, and after a really loud crackle, the electricity immediately went out in our room.  I rushed to the window to see if I'd knocked out the lights in the entire town – HA!  The thing started smoking and I was ready for the sprinkler system to kick in next.  Holy Moly! We had to call the desk to have the breaker re-set, and that was the end of the hot plate experiment.  Three less pounds to carry home.  HA!   So far, Max is surviving on bananas, jelly sandwiches (he won't eat peanut butter, although we brought plenty of it with us), granola bars, potato chips, oatmeal, mac and cheese (EasyMac, made in the room's hot pot), and milk (laced with either Carnation Instant Breakfast or another nutritional supplement).  We found a milk that he'll drink – it smells a bit sour to me (I have yet to taste it – ha!), but he drinks it down without complaint.  We have tried a couple of instant mashed potato mixes, but so far, we haven't come upon one that he'll eat.  The Shiny River has mashed potatoes that we've yet to try – that's next on the list if he's ever awake when we're there.    There are so many differences between our trips for Max and this current trip – stating the obvious here!  When we traveled for Max, we went out to dinner and/drinks just about every night with at least two or three other people, and some times as many as 10 other people (Suz, Matt, Crystal, Tina, Kristen, Sevi, Paolo, etc. etc. we miss them all!).  We have managed to eat out one night with our current traveling partners (with Max sound asleep in a stroller) but we're just not sure how often that's going to be realistic.  We're in a weird weather spot, in that there is too much snow/ice/slush on the ground to make the stroller feasible, but not enough snow/ice on the ground to make pulling a toddler-filled sled feasible either. Next step is to more aggressively use taxis to get into town – otherwise, I fear we'll become a bit more shut-in than we'd ever intended.  I also find myself wishing for just a bit more snow (what?!) so that we can buy a sled and pull him (and our groceries!) around town more easily.  I also want it to be about 70 degrees while it's snowing, so I may have to readjust my expectations a bit.   A few things remain exactly the same as 2.5 years ago:   You still need to plan double the time for a shower at The Shiny River, as you spend all of the extra time adjusting the water temperature, trying to match it degree for degree as it changes temperature unexpectedly.  We can't let Max take a shower by himself, for fear he'll be scalded without enough time to react. That said, we are just happy to have hot water!  That's not always the case in other parts of town.  Diet Coke seems to come and go regularly. When we find it, we buy up as much as we're willing to carry at the time. The heat is regulated by a wizard behind a curtain somewhere, and it is hot and dry. We can never get enough water. Even Max is guzzling it down.  The traffic.  Ay, ay, ay.  Now we get to experience that same traffic, at the same crazy speeds, on a layer of snow and ice.  With a toddler in our lap in a jam-packed van.  Without seat belts.     You can exchange money everywhere, at these little windows that are usually up a few steps and tucked just inside of a nondescript building. You can spot them because there is a sign outside stating that day's exchange rates.  It almost always feels a bit shady, and it almost always feels like you'll be robbed at any moment.  And, it's always perfectly fine.   We hope we have more news to share soon.  Thank you SO MUCH for the support!!!