A Very Happy Easter

The first week in America for Bo and Ellie was one big adventure after another. But, between us putting them in goofy hats and introducing them to spinach in a jar, I'm sure they were wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

Thankfully, their first week also included baby-sized birthday cakes, enough toys to occupy a small army, lots of new foods they really like and several visits from friends and family. All in all, the kids are doing really well and Mom and Dad are adjusting nicely too.

As the pictures that follow will attest, the Marker household will never be the same. And, that's a good thing. We've learned that sleep is overated, dirty diapers aren't so bad when they're from your own kids and that naked kids in the bathtub are sometimes funnier than Seinfeld re-runs.

Although it's a little sad to have our big adventure in Russia behind us, it sure is nice to be settling into a bit of a routine. The kids are sleeping well and eating everything in sight. Bo seems to be getting closer to taking his first steps, and Ellie isn't far behind. Even Linus the Cat is starting to warm up to the new little ones that invaded her serene existence a little over one week ago.

Thanks to all of you that have welcomed us home and shared well wishes with us. Your support has been a real blessing and we appreciate it very much.

Our New Friends

Let's Eat Cake

Goofy Hat Club

Bohdan Bunny

Ellie Bunny

Easter Best

Living the Rest of the Dream

It's good to be back home. All things considered, the kids did a great job on the various flights and car rides that brought them to their new home in Indianapolis. Yesterday we spent some time introducing them to their new family, their new surroundings and their new cat, Linus. Although everyone is sleep deprived and trying to transition back into some kind of normal sleep schedule, things couldn't be better.

Our journey has been amazing to this point, but the road ahead will be even better. We think the lyrics to a 1990 John Hiatt song, The Rest of the Dream, capture how we are feeling right now. Bohdan and Eliana (Bo and Ellie) are a dream come true for us, and we certainly hope to help them live a life full of faith, love and tremendous promise. Here's how Hiatt puts it...

Well, I had a dream of you
But I never realized
Baby, the dream was true
That's when you opened my eyes

And I will come through
Do my very best for you
And your lovin' arms
Gonna keep me warm
Like no other arms will do

When you can't find the light
At the top of the stairs
When you cry in the night
Well, you know I'll be there
Till the light of the day
Is as bright as it seems
And you know in your heart
You're livin' the rest of the dream

Enjoy the new pictures. We'll continue to post new photos on this site in the months ahead, so come back when you can to see how Bo and Ellie are doing.

The Stork Visits Hillside Avenue

Ellie's First Time in a Car Seat

Bo's Big Ride to Indy

Destination USA

It's Saturday morning in Moscow and since the wind chill has the thermostat reading well below zero, we are more than ready to make our trip back home. We ventured out earlier to get a picture in Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral. And, it's safe to say Mom and Dad were more interested in that than the kids. With it being so cold, we darted from the cab to the Cathedral and back in about four minutes.

We fly out around 3:30 p.m. today, arrive in NYC's JFK airport around 6 p.m. and then stay over at Newark's airport before an early a.m. flight on Sunday. The 10+ hour flight from Moscow to NYC could be a real adventure, but we're hoping the kids do okay. They did well on the flight from Rostov to Moscow, but that one only took 90 minutes. We'll see what happens.

The highlight of today will be landing in NYC. The way the U.S. Embassy drafts the paperwork, Bo and Ellie will officially become U.S. citizens once the wheels of the plane touch the runway. Since Russians tend to clap for plane landings, the kids will get a round of applause to mark the occasion.

Last night was good fun. We carried in all kinds of Russian food from various vendors and had somewhat of a potluck on the fourth floor gathering area of our hotel. We joined the Robinsons from Texas and another couple we met earlier in the week from Baltimore. All the kids had a good time playing with each other.

That's all for now. We'll post more when we get back to Indianapolis.

Marker Family at St. Basil's Cathedral

Cathedral in Moscow Near Our Hotel

Ellie in Her Crib

Statue Along Don River in Rostov

Shakhty is Spelled Like This

Bo with Stas (orphanage director)

Ellie with "Uncle Sasha" (our driver)

Playing at the Hotel

Our Little Miracle

One of the guidebooks we read before our trip described why Russians don't smile much. The book says that smiles and friendly gestures are exlusively reserved for people they know and that people who smile at strangers are thought to be a little odd. If all that holds true, you can bet we are the strangest group of oddballs walking around town this week.

The Marker family has been all smiles for the past several days. Since arriving back in Moscow on Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m., we have been spending lots of time together at the hotel getting to know each other. The kids had their medical evaluations yesterday with a Russian pediatrician, Boris (of course). Dr. Boris said they look healthy. And, after he got a good look at Ellie's blue eyes, he encouraged me to buy a shotgun to keep the boys away.

Bo and Ellie did well on their first plane ride. But, I wish we had video of all of us making our trip. We're traveling with two other families -- one from Indy, the other from Temple, TX -- and we must have been a sight lumbering through the airports in Rostov and Moscow. Six adults, enough luggage for 10 families and five kids all under 14 months.

Several Russians smiled at us (the odd ones, of course) and nodded in agreement. Some even came up and asked us questions about the kids' names, if we had hats for them once we boarded the plane, etc. The good news was that we had lots of help getting things situated for the flights from our agency people in Rostov and Moscow.

Although we had to do a lot of paperwork yesterday for the Embassy, we were able to spend most of the day with our kids and our new friends from Texas. Bo and Ellie have been very sweet. They have been playing well together and they are clearly enjoying their new adventure. The only drawback is that their schedules have them down for two hour naps every two hours between 6 a.m.-1op.m., so we have to get our love in while we can.

Everything has gone so well on the trip and we are anxious to bring Bo and Ellie home. We were commenting yesterday how we feel like we've hit the jackpot with these two little miracles. It's better than we could have are imagined. Now if the Cubs can finally win a World Series, all will be well in the world.

Cathedral in Rostov-on-Don

Bo and Ellie Do Moscow

Bo and Ellie Go To Moscow

Today will be a day of firsts for the kids. Their first time to meet each other. Their first plane ride. Their first visit to Moscow. Their first time in a hotel, etc. Today is rainy and cooler in Russia and we will head off to Bo's orphanage to pick him up around 1:30. Then, we'll head over to Ellie's place to pick her up. Later today we'll start our adventure of traveling with two kids and lots of luggage. Needless to say, we'll be happy once we get to Moscow and can relax with the kids at the hotel.

If we get the chance, we'll post some more pictures later today or tomorrow.

Vodka 101

If this post contains more typos than most, understand that it has a lot to do with the Russian dinner and corresponding traditions we took part in last night. In a word, Vodka.

Around 6 p.m. local time we joined our Frank Foundation agency leader, Alla, and her colleagues Lara and Sergei for dinner at a local place that translates into "Cherry Orchard" in English. We had lots of great food that was spread out over a large table in front of us. Russian salads, Greek salads, Armenian appetizers, Georgian entrees, etc. It was all so good.

As we ate as much food as possible, our hosts poured vodka for the group and provided several very heartfelt toasts. Then, following Russian tradition, we were all encouraged to provide toasts to the group as well. These toasts were interspersed throughout the dinner and Michelle's was particularly good. We also toasted with champagne. It was fun, but this morning came too early. It's a good thing we only celebrate like this once during the week.

Today will be more of a relaxed day as our coordinators finish our paperwork in the various government offices here in Rostov. We will shop and tour the city some, and then we'll get back to Bo and Ellie's orphanages tomorrow and bring them with us to Moscow to finish up our proceedings later this week. So long for now. I'm off to breakfast with a printout of the NCAA brackets in hand. Hopefully we'll be able to get some of the games on TV in Moscow.

Mouth Open, Eyes Shut

Ellie with Orphanage Staff

Elliana Teething

Ellie Says Hey

Russian Judge Grants Parental Rights

Mike and Michelle officially became Mama and Papa to Eliana Inna and Bohdan Sergei today around 12:30 p.m. local time. In front of an audience of 10 people, gathered in a small courtroom, the female Russian judge announced that she approved of our request to adopt Bo and Ellie. And, then she went that extra step and agreed to waive the 10 day waiting period occasionally required of adoptive parents.

This was a morning full of emotion. We started the day stressed out and waiting for word on when our coordinators would meet us to arrange our visit with Eliana. We also were apprehensive since we had yet to be prepped for what would happen in court.

Everthing started falling into place after a call around 8:15 a.m. We drove to Ellie's orphanage around 9:15 and we were able to visit with her until 10 a.m. Ellie has grown and she now has five teeth. She was as sweet as could be and she wanted to be held the whole time. We went to place her on a mat to watch her crawl and she had no interest in all that. She stuck out her lower lip, let it quiver a few times and then let out a good cry.

This was our first time to hear her cry, and it was good (in a stange way). She has a good set of lungs on her. But, once we picked her back up and bounced around a bit, all was well again. We had to wear masks again because of the orphanage's concern of any visitors bringing in their germs. So, Ellie has yet to really see our faces. We kissed her goodbye and told her we'd be back soon this time.

Court was a stressful, yet thrilling experience. The judge asked us lots of questions and our interpreter did a fine job keeping up. We were prepped a bit on what to say and we passed the test. Our orphanage directors and local inspectors (social workers) were in the courtroom with us along with a prosector and a notetaker. Everyone was very pleasant and after about 45-50 minutes and a few breaks for the judge to take a phone call and then deliberate on our case, we received the thumbs up.

What a great feeling. Excitement, love, relief, awe, etc., all at once. We left the courts and went back to the hotel. We stopped for lunch at a local pizza place and ended up dining with a couple from Baltimore adopting two children. They are on their first trip.

More to come later. The best part will be new pictures of Eliana Inna. I was hoping to post those now, but that will have to wait until a get my backpack (and camera) back from our driver.

Ellie will see you soon.

New Pictures of Bohdan Sergei

Enjoy the following pictures of Bo. We were able to spend a little over two hours with him today. He wasn't happy with us at first since they woke him from a nap when we arrived. I guess he takes after Michelle in not being pleased when a good nap gets cut short.

After a bit of crying to let us know he didn't appreciate the interruption or the fact we were three months late coming back to see him, Bo was all smiles and a happy guy now weighing in at a little over 17 pounds.

We were able to ask lots of questions of the orphanage staff about his overall health and what all he's been up to since November. The staff was very friendly and informed. We even got to see how very much Bo cares for one of his caretakers...Doctor Svetlana. She is very nice and it was clear from the smile and sparkle in his eyes that our little guy has a thing from Ms. Svetlana.

We arrived at Bohdan's orphanage around 11:30 and left at 2:00 p.m. But, since it's Sunday, this is the only stop we'll make today. We'll have to wait to see Eliana Inna tomorrow morning. That visit will come very early since we have our court appointment at 10 a.m. tomorrow. We can't wait to see Ellie in the morning and then speak to the Russian judge to make everything official.

Today was a great day. And, as the week progresses it will get even better. More good news to come in the days ahead.

By the way...birthday greetings to Patrick Alderdice. He's been angling to make this blog for weeks now, so I'm finally relenting. Happy Birthday, buddy. Cheers from Rostov-on-Don.

Horsing Around

Hey...I've Got Four Teeth

Bohdan Sergei Is All Smiles

Bohdan Sergei w/ Dr. Svetlana

We Left and Joined The Circus

All is well in Russia. Spring is only a few days away, but the temperature is hovering at -8 c. And, let's not even get started on the wind chill brrrr.

We arrived yesterday afternoon and after a short nap took in the Old Moscow Circus. The performances were great...lots of gymnasts, acrobats, dancers, clowns and all kinds of performing animals. Monkeys on motorcycles, poodles in a conga line, parrots riding little bicycles and more. We'd tell you about the others, but we arrived 20 minutes late for the show since our Metro (subway) adventure took a little longer than expected. Thank goodness for a kind Russian woman that showed us the way.

The circus ringmaster was difficult to understand, but one thing was clear, monkeys dressed up in goofy clothes and dancing to Living la Vida Loco is funny stuff in any culture.

Today was another travel day. We left Moscow for Rostov around 3 p.m. and are getting ready to join another couple for dinner shortly. We are anxiously wishing the hours away as we leave to see Bohdan Sergei tomorrow at 10 a.m. Then, it's off to see Eliana Inna in the afternoon.

If technology is our friend, we'll post new pictures of the kids asap. All the best.

Here We Go Again

We are off tomorrow morning to make our way back to Russia. You'd think with three extra months to pack that we'd be ready to go, but there is nothing like the last minute. We get into Moscow at 12:35 pm local time on Friday. Since we'll have 24 hours before we need to meet our agency coordinators, we're hoping to take in the circus or some theatre on Friday night. And, if we're not too tired from the flight, we might take a quick tour of Red Square on Saturday morning.

On Saturday afternoon, we'll head off to the airport in Moscow for our trip back to Rostov. Then, we get to see the kids on Sunday. This is all very exciting and we've had a lot of fun this week as many friends have been so kind about wishing us well on our adventure. We look forward to sharing new pictures of the kids with you in the days ahead.

See you in Moscow.

Travel Schedule

The hits just keep coming. We now have travel dates for our return trip.

We will leave for Moscow on March 10 and arrive in Rostov on March 12. On March 13, we will finally get to be with Bohdan and Eliana again. This will be a great day as it has been more than three months since we've seen them. We'll go to court on March 14 and then Bo and Ellie will be with us starting that next day.

We'll spend a few days together in Rostov, and then fly back to Moscow on March 17 to complete paperwork, get Visas and passports for the kids, etc. Then, we will fly back home on March 19 and introduce the kids to their new family and friends.

The first day of Spring is March 20. Regardless of the weather, things will be bright and sunny in the Marker house. As Chevy Chase would say, "Good times, Russ. Good times."

Letter of Release = Letter of Relief

The long wait finally seems to be coming to an end. Earlier today, we learned Bohdan Sergei and Eliana Inna have both received letters of release from the Russian government. These are the letters that are needed before international families can adopt orphaned Russian children. This is very good news and a tremendous relief.

We had also hoped to receive court dates today, but that good news will have to come later this week. If we had to guess, we will probably travel sometime late next week and have a court date around the middle of March. This could make for a Happy St. Patrick's Day.