A Few Photos of our First Full Day at Home

Mrs. Beaver:

When you add three children to a family in one go, getting through even the first full day at home is a reason to celebrate. God's grace followed us through the day, and we had a good initial 24 hours.

Again, we'll go back to the recounting of our days in Russia, but here are photos from our first day at home. I wish I had more, but somehow everyone just seems to be everywhere when 14 of you share the same house!

We normally eat breakfast together, but since we have a house full of folks recovering from international travel and three children adjusting to EVERYTHING being new, we rose at various times and each ate separately.

Thus, our first meal eaten together was lunch. To help our new children adjust, we tried to create a meal similar to one of the delicious feasts we ate in the home in which we stayed during our court trip about three weeks ago. Although the imitation lacked Luda's brilliant touch, Daria said in was tasty. This is a high complement from her because thus far she hasn't enjoyed American food.

Here and just below, Alexander and Oksana are sitting down for that first meal together in our dining room (where we always have to eat becasue of the size of our tribe.)

After lunch our dear, dear friends, Gary and Amanda, and their daughter, Katherine, needed to head back to Minnesota. They'd arrived two days before we got home to reopen the house. They picked up Mr. Beaver's Mom, Jane, (right) and Aunt Jean from the airport, who'd traveled from Colorado for our homecoming.

They also ran errands for us like a grocery run (a BIG job when buying for 14) and picking up our dogs from the kennel (a BIG job anytime, with our two dogs). This fervent love (1 Peter 1:22) took a great deal of pressure off our return. Before they left today, Amanda helped us all unpack since we're still in the jetlag fog that makes decisions difficult. Meanwhile Gary took Speedy to the orthopedic surgeon to get his cast removed after breaking his thumb about three weeks ago.

Amanda and Gary are on the right in the back row, and Katherine in the right front row.

Gary and Amanda's 15-year-old, Katherine, (right)
 and our 15-year-old, Daria

All of this would count as a remarkable amount of help from friends who truly understand the strain of international adoption. But Gary and Amanda's assistance went way beyond this. Before they came they prepared and froze nine meals for us, and every one of them had to be doubled to feed us. That's eighteen 9x13 pans. What friendship! What generosity! From our past adoption experiences, we know this to be a sweet gift becasue it takes weeks to get back into a meal planning and grocery shopping routine. Food prep at first is HARD.

Our stress- relieving freezer as we adjust

During meal clean up today, little Oksana showed she was willing to help, too--after a little coaching from Tatiana. (She tends to skip adding soap to the water.)

We began short stints of homeschooling with the new kiddos today.

Jaynie helping Alexander with his English

We had a truly satisifing first day. And now we can say the exact challenges of the first day will never exist again! May God be praised!

Much Needed Reminders

Mrs. Beaver:

Jetlag woke 6-year-old Oksana, who slept in our room last night, about 4:30. Thankfully, she did eventually go back to sleep (something that never happened yesterday when she woke at 3:00 something in our hotel room.

I didn't return to sleep, however. After I heard that parent-pleasing sound of the deep breathing that indicates sleep. I snuck into my bathroom to get refreshed through reading God's word. I started, as I usually do, by reading one of the prayers in The Valley of Vision, a collection penned by the Puritans. (HIGHLY recommended! Available at Grace and Truth Books)

As I face my first full day of parenting all 12 children at home, I was encouraged and strengthened by these phrases from the prayer on page 234:


O God Most High, Most Glorious,

"Thy great power knows no bound
   thy goodness no stint...

"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth...

"Revive deep spirituality in my heart...

"Let me live near to the great Shepherd,
   hear his voice, know its tones, follow its calls....

"Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill...
   sin makes me forget thee....

"Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots;
Grant me to know that I truly live only
   when I live to thee,
that all else is trifling.
Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout,
   strong and happy.
Abide in me gracious God."

Homecoming!

We'll return, as we're able, to our day-by-day recounting of the wonderful family-melding adventure God gave us in Russia, but a more current update is that we arrived home last night with no travel hitches (Thank you, Lord!). A cheering, banner-waving crowd greeted us--which meant the world to us! (pictures to come)

For families who adopt internationally, the arrival at the home airport is HUGE. It marks the end of months, sometimes well over a year, of pouring your heart and soul, time and money into following what you strongly believe is God's will for your lives.

It also marks the BEGINNING. From this point forward, the child (or children) become the complete responsibility of the family. That can be scary and overwhelming considering the magnitude of the task of intergrating someone new into a family and doing it in a way that makes Christ winsome and attractive. The goal is, of course, that some day the child (or children) will belong to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Having a crowd of people at the airport that cares about you and your new children is a great encouragement that you're not launching into this tremendous undertaking alone.

Our deepest thanks to those of you who sacrifced your time and rejoiced with us at the airport! You just wouldn't believe how much that fervent love (1 Peter 1:22) meant to us. What a gift! (And if you would please, pray for us. We know from having adopted multiple older children twice in the past, the full adjustment takes about two years.)

We also know that many who wanted to be at the airport simply could not. Your presence was also felt and much appreciated. We want to acknowledge all the support and prayer cover we have received from you already over the past several months. Your continuing support (both physical, emotional and spiritual) will be so important to helping our kids see Christ in our church body, and in building an openness to His salvation.

Deeply grateful to God for the tremendous support system He's given us, both near and far,

Mr. and Mrs. Beaver

Our Second Day as a Family - Day 7 in Moscow (11/17/10)

Mrs. Beaver:

Our first full day together was magical, truly a gift from the Lord.

This was the view I awoke to in my 24th floor apartment. Wow!


Truly a massive city! From our earlier posts, you'll recognize the tall building topped
with spires on the left as being one of the seven Stalin built during 1950s Soviet times.


We started our morning with a "snack" of yogurt (delicious in Russia--slightly sweeter than in America), in each of our five flats. We had to rent this many flats because each one slept only two or three. We still can't believe we're a family of 14!

We then gathered in my flat, which had the largest "family" room, to read the Bible, an important tradition in our family. At home in the mornings we read a Psalm and the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds to the day of the month.

Gathering to read the Bible together first thing in the morning

On this first morning as a family we started with Psalm 1. Mr. Beaver read a verse and then Daria read the same verse in Russian from our parallel Bible. Her Russian is simply melodic.

We then read the chaper of Proverbs 17. Again, our tradition is to go around the circle and have each person read a verse - this keeps everyone thinking and involved throughout. When we've had a new reader thoughout the years, I have read one word and had them repeat that word, repeating the process until we've finished the verse. We did the same thing in this new situation. When we reached Alexander he followed along beautifully and even jumped in with the word "is" on his own, a surprise to us becasue we didn't know he knew how to read any English. When we reached Daria, she surprised us by being able to read every word on her own, although we can tell she's learned to read letter by letter because she pronounced "knowledge" with the "k." We know she doesn't understand all that she reads, but what a wonderful head start that she can sound out English words!

The next step on the agenda was some sister attention for Daria. She has wavy hair, but apparently prefers to straighten it. Tessa and Lissie obliged.

After the coifing was finished we headed across the street for a more complete breakfast at Dunkin Donuts (see Mr. Beaver's earlier post). Again we saw the grace of God because not only were there enough chairs for us, but also we had smiling gracious servers who were patient with Mr. Beaver's rough attempts at Russian.

Our next stop was an enormous store somewhat similar to Barnes and Noble. The children's book section was extensive and truly one of the most beautiful chdilren's books stores I've ever seen. My heart filled with joy becasue ever since we adopted Jaynie, Cassandra and Speedy nine years ago I've longed to own more Russian picture books. I  have to admit I'm as dangerous in a Russian book store as I am in an American book store. We ended up with MANY books, including some classics like Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol! The illustrations in the books were beautiful. Overall, the books seemed more innocent and pure than are now found in the childrens' section of American bookstores and libraries. As is common in Russian stores photos were now allowed.

As we stepped out of the store, Lissie was surprised to be hugged from behind in this strange city. It turns out it was wonderful Marina, our adoption facilitator. She had realized from a difference that the large group HAD to be our family and she was delighted to see us. We were equally delighted to see her. After introductions and many hugs (after all, 14 hugs is a lot!), Mr. Beaver and Marina exchanged some adoption paperwork relating to the last step in Russia--registering with the Russian consulate. (In our other Russian adoptions this took place in America.)

I caught these photos as the rest of us waited on the wide sidewalk.

Again and again, we've seen a precious look pass over Daria's face that just seems to say, "I have a FAMILY!"

Next, we asked Marina the location of an unusual grocery story that is housed in a mansion that is a couple of hundred years old. The trip coordinator from our January visit to Moscow to meet orphans raves about this beautiful place so we really wanted to see it. Marina's response was, "Pash lee! (Let's go!) I'll show you." We were flabergasted! To have the opportunity to spend time with this woman we have come to deeply repect and love was an unexpected treat. We are especially amazed by her heart for orphans because over the last 15 years she has facilitated about 700 adoptions.

So off we went on the long walk. As we walked, we got to see interesting architecture. Here the old stands alongside the new. Russia also tends to be a contrast in colors. There's a lot of gray, punctuated by strong color.

Here Mr. Beaver, Tatiana and Oksana cross one of the many major intersections on our journey. Behind them is a monument to the poet Pushkin and his wife.

I'm not sure any of our children noticed the length of the walk because if ever there was a Pied Piper, it's Marina. She kept the kids laughing and chatting throughout the trek.

Finally we reached our destination--the former mansion turned grocery store. We were duly awed! There are no grocery stores like this in Sioux City!

We got a kick out of this case that said "Business Lunch."

I was surprised, there were no prohibitions on taking photos as there often are in Russia even in everyday stores. That is until I took this picture of the seafood. Then a security guard appeared out of nowhere and motioned that it .was okay to take pictures of the architecture but not the food.

It wasn't long before we departed. The store isn't large; there was a lunchtime business crowd and we're a HUGE group. I'm so glad we got the chance to see this beautiful store. I think I'd have a different outlook on grocery shopping if I got to shop there all the time! Do you think Wal-Mart might consider a interior design change?!?

After we left the mansion, Marina wanted to take us to a pizza place about half a block away in an old building. Apparently even the pizza parlor had retained the architechtural beauty. She was so disappointed when we arrived and the whole building was shrouded in scafolding and netting for renovation. No more pizza parlor!

We tried two more restaurants before finally ending up at --you guessed it: McDonalds.

This McDonalds is chic and probably 10 times the size of a normal McDonalds in America. As usual here, however, it was very, very busy even though by now it was about 3 p.m. We had the gift of a mercy from God again. He made a way where there seemed to be no way. Seats opened up and they were even together. In addition, the restaurant's hostess (again--different from America) was happy and kind. She had a hand held and took our complex order so Mr. Beaver never had to stand in line.

While we waited, Marina told us that this was Russia's first McDonald's. When the restaurant first opened, the line was out the door, and the wait was FOUR hours long!

Jaynie traipsed through Moscow in this
very Russian looking hat she
purchased in America.

We finished the day by watching the cartoon movie "Bolt" in Russian in one of our flats. Mr. Beaver had purchased this at that amazing bookstore we visited earlier in the day. He wanted the nine children we've been parenting to experience what it's like to try to watch a movie in a different language.

All day we had sweet interactions with one another as love and trust is growing between us. Praise be to our great God.

A Few More Photos of our First Day as a Family

Mrs. Beaver:

Here are a few additional pictures of that long-awaited first day together (really it was a half day by the time the nine kids and I arrived from America). As Mr. Beaver said, there's no way to describe the warmth and sweetness that marked our first few hours together. Each child had their heart open and was ready to love and to be loved.

Actually, there was one exception--little 6-year-old Oksana. She was understandably overwhelmed. However, a gift from God was that there were no tears, no meltdown. She just wanted to be near her Papa. In the photo below, she had just sidled up to him in the midst of the controlled chaos in the room and slipped her hand into his as he made a phone call.

Although Oksana's favorite place was right near her Papa, she didn't refuse to interact with the rest of us. She just looked a bit cautious as she did. Here she is sitting in Jaynie's lap for the first time.

One of the evening's ice breakers was Tessa showing photos of her fiance, Aaron, to the crowd. Fifteen-year-old Daria was especially interested and wanted to see picture after picture after picture. With a divorce rate of eighty percent here in Russia, we hope to demonstrate to our new children, by God's grace, that marriages can endure and even grow stronger and sweeter with the years. (I love you more with every passing day, Mr. Beaver! Happy 27th anniversary next month!!!)

One final photo--in his most recent post, Mr. Beaver had a picture of Alexander drawing. The activity was initiated by his brand new sister, Tatiana. She loves to draw, and we quickly learned that Alexander must share this same love because his skill far exceeds what we'd expect for an 11-year-old.

Drawing is an activity that all of our children have spent time learning and perfecting during our extensive times of reading aloud as a family. Having our eyes opened to Alexander's interest was enough for Mr. Beaver and I to marvel at our great God for the umpteenth time over the years. Over and over as we've added nine older Russian children to our family, we've been amazed to see how often their interests match the interests that we've nurtured in our family. God has orchestrated the perfect fit repeatedly. What a great and kind God He is!

May God be glorified!

Day 6 in Moscow - Meet the Family Day!! - 5th Day with the Kids

Mr. Beaver -

What an amazing day! Today began with great anticipation. For Daria, Alexander and Oksana, the day was to be a day of happy reunion. They were both excited and a little nervious at the thought of seeing Momma again. I knew it would be an even sweeter day than they imagined, as they were actually going to meet their new brothers and sisters as well!

I asked the kids what they wanted to do this morning while awaiting Momma's arrival. I offered up various types of sights to see, shopping or playing games. Instead, they all agreed they wanted to make a "Welcome to Moscow" sign for Momma, much like the "Happy Birthday" signs we had made, photographed and sent to them by e-mail on their birthdays.

We had no art supplies so our vision required some shopping, and I knew we needed to hurry as Mrs. Beaver had texted me that they had already landed... 30 minutes ahead of schedule! I figured we had time to shop because the family had the daunting task of getting through immigration, customs, and Moscow traffic. So Daria took the enormous Moscow yellow pages and identified a likely shop just up the street - Noviy Arbat is a very 'happenin' place - and off we went to buy poster-board and markers for the joyous task.

The store turned out to be an amazing 2-story book store (which I knew would not escape the detailed scrutiny of Mrs. Beaver if ever she saw it). With MUCH help from Daria, we purchased the supplies we needed and headed back to the apartment to create the sign of love for Momma.



While Daria, Alexander and Oksana were shopping...

  

Mrs. Beaver and the rest of the crew were on their way!

Just as the kids were finishing up the sign, Momma texted that the family had arrived downstairs. This was an amazing blessing from God. I had been praying for His intervention to make things work on this special day, as we had simultaneous appointments at the embassy and the apartment building... not to mention that those appointments generally coincided with the time I expected Mrs. Beaver and the family to show up. As usual, the Author of all time and space orchestrated things far better than I ever could. 

I hurried the kids along to finish their poster, bundled them up and headed down to the first floor with them to what I knew would be a big, happy surprise. As we exited the building, the family was nowhere in sight. But as we headed around the corner to the front of the building I saw the large group of people I had been missing... and their equally large pile of luggage mounded on the sidewalk. This was just the first unusual sight of our family that Moscow would see! I was sure we would be a spectacle many, many more times before traveling home.

There is simply no way to adequately capture the meeting. It started with our American kids nearly flying over the sidewalk toward their new siblings who were in shock that their whole family had come to Moscow. We had done enough with pictures and SKYPING that they knew their new siblings when they saw them, but I think there was a mixture of surprise, joy and a feeling of being overwhelmed... we ARE an overwhelming bunch!

After quick introductions outside on a November morning in Moscow, we assembled the tribe and their amazing pile of bags for the trek up to our apartment. At this point we were balancing our desire to get to know each other with our need to get off to our required Embassy appointment with the new kids. We had about 20 minutes to get things moved upstairs before we had to go.

First group picture standing just outside our apartment building in Moscow

But this was where we hit our first "large group" glitch. The desk clerk (quasi-security guard) in the lobby of the apartment building was NOT happy with our group of 14 heading upstairs. I think he was concerned about all of us going to stay in just one apartment... an understandable concern if that had been the case. There was no way he was going to let this giant crowd go up in his building to a single apartment! Not on his watch!

I did the best I could to explain that we had enough apartments for all the family and promised to bring back the paperwork to prove it. Then, I just did what I have frequently observed since arriving here... I did the Russian thing -- I went ahead and led the family up to our apartment over his mild protests. It seems the assumption here is that someone will object to just about anything you do and you need to just push ahead and let them stop you if they really mean it. At least that how it seems to work amongst Russians themselves... from an outsider's perspective.

Momma and I quickly "settled" the troops in our apartment, gathered the three newest Beavers and headed off to the embassy. There was no time to check in to rooms and spread people out before we left, so we left this jet-lagged group as comfortable as possible considering that we had 9 jet-lagged people occupying a single apartment with only 3 beds.

It was a bit tight before we were able to check in to our other apartments

An amazing quiverful and blessing from the Lord!

Lissie and Jaynie with their new sister, Oksana

Tessa with her new brother, Alexander

Cassandra with her new sister Oksana

Natasha and Princess Bink with their new sister, Daria

We actually headed out a little early, as I had kept the Foat's waiting on more than one occasion. This time I was determined not to be late! We used our extra time to stroll down the noisy, 10-lane street on which the embassy resides to one of Stalin's magnificent old buildings which sits back from the main street behind a small park-like setting. The setting was somehow ironically idyllic.

As our appointment time approached we walked the short distance back to the embassy, arriving just before the Foats. Together we re-entered the embassy for our final visit there, where the screening process was much easier since I had not brought a lot of electronics this time (see Day 5 blog).

The Day 2 embassy process was mostly similar to what we remembered from the past. First, we were ushered into a packed waiting room with several other American families and their Russian adoptees. After a few minutes of waiting, one of the embassy workers came out and addressed all the families to let us know what was going to happen. She had us all raise our right hand and swear that the information in our paperwork was truthful. Then she provided a very helpful briefing about the process we would go through that day, and the process we would go through on the trip home.

There was one important addition to this briefing versus what we remembered from prior adoptions - critical information about citizenship. We learned something here that we had only stumbled onto when we tried to get visas for our Russian children a couple of weeks before this trip - namely that our adopted Russian children would be dual citizens unless and until they chose, as adults, to renounce their Russian citizenship. They also told us it would be impossible for our Russian children to return to Russia on an American passport (once again, our experiences provided more evidence that God is sovereign over even the most powerful nations in the world as He provided IMPOSSIBLE visas for our Russian kids for this trip! Praise be to our sovereign God!).

Finally, the embassy worker told us that the young men being adopted were subject to mandatory military service if they entered Russia between the ages of 18 and 35 years old. We have much to research to understand the pros and cons of our children retaining dual citizenship, but in the mean time we'll be keeping Speedy and Alexander clear of Russia from about age 15 on! They could literally be conscripted on the spot... it has happened! Hmmm... come to think of it... this does give us some leverage as parents... hmmm...

Next, we were called as a family to a little cashier-style booth where the embassy worker went through all our paperwork, checking names, spelling, etc. for accuracy. The person helping us was the one who had provided the briefing for the group, so we took the time to say a BIG thank you for the citizenship information, and explained that it was news to us who had adopted twice from Russia over the past 9 years. After our paperwork was processed the embassy workers spent about another 25 minutes issuing the US visas for our kids (in their Russian passports), and then we were free to go. We went outside where we met Marina and waited for the Foats to finish the process themselves. It was a VERY happy gathering at this point.

Now we were anxious to get back to our other kids and start being a family of 14. Off we went to be reunited with the jet-lagged crew in our apartment! I also needed to check into the other apartments and then move the troops so people could settle in. The check-in process itself took about 45 minutes as the apartment manager had to take me around to all 4 other apartments, two of which were in a building about a block away, making sure all the keys worked and making sure I didn't have any questions. This was important because every single apartment is different, especially the key/security aspects of the apartments.

Finally, it was time to feed this enormous crew. Even at home that task will always be at least a bit challenging, but on foreign turf, particularly in a large city not especially open to children and large families it was daunting. We prayed and God led us to a "Coffee Haus" on the first floor of our own apartment building. Amazingly, God went before us and the staff not only allowed the 14 of us to sit in their very busy restaurant, they actually helped pull together tables for us! It was crowded but sweet! We did the best we could to keep the orders simple for the server who had a sweet, patient countenance and had a glorious first meal together!

Our first real meal as a family of 14! Coffee Haus on the first floor of our apartment building in Moscow

After dinner we had a few more minutes to enjoy together before calling it a night. We settled in like any other family... of 14!

Did I mention that Oksana LOVES bubbles?

Alexander LOVES drawing and other forms of artwork

Cassandra was a hit reading English language children's books

To close the day I escorted each group of kids to their rooms, stopping at the local "prodookti" store to buy water and yogurts for morning. While it was difficult to be apart, we really had limited choices to house a group this big in Moscow. After escorting everyone to their appointed apartment and praying over them, I think we all grieved a bit to be separated, but remained grateful to God for His provision and just determined to spend only the nights in separate apartments. The rest of our time would be spent together, praise be to God!