Dateline NBC

Read this on the FRUA site, thought you all would think it is interesting...

We are excited to finally share with you our story of the adoption of our 3 sets of twins from Russia, which will be airing on Dateline NBC on Sunday, June 25th at 7:00 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) for the full hour. The Dateline website at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/ will soon have video clips of all of our children that were just filmed days ago describing their life in the last two years, and their thoughts on their life before in Russia. You will see the story scheduled for this coming Sunday in upcoming stories on their site It is our prayer as a family that the large platform our children will hold on Dateline NBC will be a window to their healing for many others to witness and perhaps be moved to make a difference in other children’s lives. It is also our prayer that countries, like Russia, who have made it so difficult for adopting parents to give children without hope better lives, will be moved by our children’s miraculous progress and understand how many other children can be helped. Please let as many people know about this story as possible. We would like to ask you to please rate this story after it airs on the Dateline web page. You simply click on the line from 1-5 (hopefully near the 5). We’re hoping that your input will cause Dateline and other media sources to continue to air positive adoption stories that benefit children and change lives for the better. Also, feel free to email or write Dateline to further add positive input. Help us show NBC and other networks that we applaud positive stories that really change lives. Lisa Salem Mom to 3 Sets of twin miracles

News Piece

I learned today that I was quoted in a news piece that seems to be making it's way around. Well, funny thing about this is that I didn't talk to a reporter, and have never heard of this reporter. The quote isn't bad, and might have been what I would have said if I were contacted...it says that I said this 'in an email message'...not true!

I contacted a reported from the News Observer to ask when the sentencing hearing was going to be. She then forwarded my email to this reporter guy to say that he might want to contact me for a quote. It appears he took my name, made up a quote and never thought I would find out. Nice ethics...

Here are some links to the news pieces...
http://www.newsobserver.com/member_center/help/contact/

http://www.russiablog.org/2006/05/child_murderer_punished_americ.html

Hilt Case - judge's response

We heard the other day that the Judge in Irktusk was on local TV there commenting on the outcome of the Hilt trial. Here is what we heard:

"She made a comment on Hilt's case, her comment was rather neutral. She did not eleborate"

We think that since she isn't saying anything negative that is a good thing. Russian people don't typically come right out with an opinion that is positive - but they are very quick to say that something is bad or shed a negative opinion on something. So, to us, a neutral comment is a positive one.

UPDATE ON THE PROCESS

The documents that we had left in Irkutsk are being translated – YAY! We have most of everything else ready to go this week. There are 2 documents (both we need to get from lawyers, go figure) that we will have by the 20th. One is some silly letter from our local court, that has to be certified by a Judge (thank goodness our friend Kathy is in Rotary with a Judge!) – and the other is a copy of a law license from a lawyer.

Things are moving!!!

Here are some very cool stories about divine intervention and adoption... I love stories like this- for us, those who believe in God and divine intervention, it is what keeps our Faith that God is in the middle of our process. It is also things like this that make our family and friends who aren’t so in-tune with divine intervention, think we are crazy!

On our trip to Russia about a month ago – we were to be met at the airport upon our arrival. The person who was meeting us was not someone we had ever met before. Of course when we got into the tiny airport, got our luggage – several taxi drivers were all over us wanting to give us a ride. We “Ya nee pa-nee-mai-ooo”ed our way out of that for over an hour. An hour and ½ into our wait, there was still no sign of anyone coming to pick us up. We would have taken one of the taxis, but we didn’t know where we were going. We realize that we have contact information for one of the coordinators in Russia who is helping us with the adoption – we get the number and look for a phone. Well, there are no pay phones at this airport. So we stand and wait some more… One particularly nice taxi driver seemed to be following us around. He spoke a little English, which was of some comfort when we were looking for the invisible pay phone. He brought over to us some people who worked at the airport to help us. They did not speak English either. After a brief conversation, they walked away. No help at all.

Over 2 hours, and several panic attacks later - this nice taxi driver offered to allow us to use his cell phone. We were able to get a hold of someone to come and pick us up! I hung up the phone, handed it back to the taxi driver and turned to tell my husband that I was able to get a hold of someone. As I turned back around to thank the taxi driver – he was gone. My DH (dear husband) went outside to look for him, to offer some money for allowing us to make a call on his phone, and he was gone and his car was gone. How a human could disappear THAT fast is beyond me.

Our coordinator did arrive – about 45minutes later. He had called back the number we called him from (the taxi driver’s cell) and the number was not in service. This is just one story in a long line of things that have happened to us on this adoption journey. It is amazing to us how God is taking a life-event like adoption, and continually testing our Faith and growing our Faith at the same time.


FROM AN ADOPTIVE MOM – ALLISON (taken from the FRUA chat board)

Hey everyone- I think some of you have heard the story by now about how difficult it was to get our VISAs & passports so we could get to Russia for trip one on the adoption of our little girl. For anyone that hasn't heard it, our trip was cancelled twice all in the same weekend due to Russian Consulate errors & FedEx errors right down to the wire. Our trip was scheduled for Sunday April 23 (7am) to fly out to Moscow, via Georgia. When the trip was finally back on, we went to bed Saturday night with FedEx telling us the VISA & passport package would be on our doorstep at 1am Sunday morning. A special package delivery with a "special" tracking number. Package never came. Flight was delayed. Then the flight came in & our package wasn't on it. We were up at 3am, so we could leave our house at 4am to leave for SeaTac, but with no package. I was calling FedEx trying to figure out what to do. They said nothing could be done because our package wasn't on the plane, even though it was "on" the plane when it left Chicago. No one would be looking for our package until 1-1:30pm Sunday afternoon in the SeaTac office when they reopened for the next FedEx flight. With much pleading in my nicest tone & explaining the situation over & over to FedEx dispatch, FedEx said a lady named Lydia in Seattle FedEx volunteered to go look for our package if we wanted to head for the airport. So we did. Lydia called us at 4:45am to say she was looking. At 5am she called to say she found it. She told us she was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, & she's 5' tall. Where would she like us to meet? We told her & she met us at 5:25am at the Delta check-in. She brought us a yellow package with our necessary documents. I thought it odd it wasn't a FedEx package. She said they must have packaged it differently so it would stand out & they wouldn't lose it (something like that). We were chuckling over this because our package was of course, lost. She would forever be our angel for rolling out of bed & doing this on her own time! Well, now that things have settled down, I wanted to call FedEx & have her work & efforts noticed. I've spent portions of the last two days hunting her down. I told corporate FedEx that because of Lydia, we were able to get in & out of Russia, sign our adoption paperwork and have it all in within one day of Russia suspending international adoption. Because of Lydia, our adoption is possible. FedEx has no record of her!!!! SeaTac airport has no record of her!!! There is no FedEx employee named Lydia. Everyone is astonished at hearing this story. Multiple employees I've called at corporate FedEx said they of course want to hear such wonderful stories about their employees and they are so grateful I'm calling. They want to hear all about this type of thing, especially for an adoption. But they've had me on hold several times and called me back multiple times by multiple people telling me they have no record of such an employee. They are dumbfounded as to how such person could have gotten into FedEx to get us our package. I asked a FedEx lady today on the phone "do you believe in angels?" She said she got goosebumps all over. So now the management for Sunday April 23 FedEx at SeaTac airport is on this, as well as SeaTac airport management & security. They want to know how this could have happened. I'm wondering if the next thing they tell me is that my yellow package "didn't exist". I'm quite organized & still have my tracking number. They'll probably tell me my tracking number doesn't exist. I was told on April 23 four times that her name is Lydia. FedEx dispatch said her name is Lydia, then I talked to her twice.... each time she said her name is Lydia, and when she came with the documents she told Francis her name is Lydia. There's no mistake there. The only other employee with a name close to that is a "Lillian" and she wasn't there that day. Believe in angels? -Alison (Here's an update) I've still been looking for Lydia today. I talked to FedEx twice. They called me back the second time to tell me that a "Lori" logged into the FedEx system April 23 and said Francis was the recipient of our package. "Lori" signed in as an employee of United Air. Now, at United Air we're trying to figure out who Lori is. Is Lori "Lydia"? Is Lori someone who just recorded the info? Still unanswered questions. United Air asked around today and their 2 Lori's don't fit the description of our story. We still can't seem to find the actual person who gave us our package!!!!! United Air is looking and will call me back. I told them I just want to thank whoever gave me the package. I want to send them a picture of us & our little girl. FedEx has has no record of a Lydia still and neither does SeaTac airport. FedEx does however want to know how Lori logged into their system & (how someone) got our package out of FedEx cargo. -Alison (Another update) And my first call from FedEx today was to inform me that my tracking number is NOT a tracking number. I'm not surprised. They said the number I claim to be a tracking number is a "workorder/joborder". The wonders never cease. An adopting acquaintance of mine sent me the bible verse today: Exodus 23:20 "See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared." Wow. What a blessing!!! For certain, FedEx, SeaTac airport, my family, and now many many friends, family members, and acquaintances, want to know who or what are Lori and Lydia? FedEx thinks this is just FABULOUS!! They do find it disconcerning though that someone got in their cargo area to get my package. They want to know how that happened. Angels. Have a great night. -Alison

LIFE LESSONS…

On the way home, Marty got a little frustrated with one of the inspectors at the airport. Your luggage has to go through at least 5 different screenings before you get a boarding pass. We were on one of the last screenings, and the woman was trying to tell us something in Russian we didn’t understand. We said (in Russia) we don’t understand do you speak English? Well, of course her reply was ‘Niet!” and continued on with badgering us to do whatever it was she was wanted us to do. This went on for several minutes, and then the woman grabbed Marty’s arm and drug him to the end of the conveyor belt at the end of the luggage screening machine to get him to take off the luggage that had passed through the x-ray. This was odd because there was more luggage to be put on the conveyor belt…anyway, Marty was very frustrated with this woman and his mouth got the best of him. I think he said something like ‘I don’t know what you are saying you stupid, fat, Russian wench”…or something like that.

I grabbed him and told him to PLEASE watch what he says, that there were reports of Americans being detained for no reason in Passport Control as they tried to leave Russia.

We finally got to the counter, got our boarding passes, and were pretty happy to be going home. We proceeded to passport control, and were stopped by 2 women who looked like they worked for the INS/TSA/Homeland Security equivalent in Russia. They wanted our passports. They asked for a voucher – we had no voucher. The next thing we knew, we were being escorted to some office at the far end of this hall. Another women was again asking us for a voucher – something we didn’t have and had never heard of. I asked to see what it looked like – and it looked like a college diploma with the heading ‘Voucher’ on it. The guard woman took my passport and was pointing to some words on the passport asking whom that was. The document in my passport was in Cyrillic (Russian) so I didn’t know what it said. I tried to tell her that I couldn’t read Russian, and she huffed and puffed…went back to her office and typed something in her computer. She came back and asked who we got our invitation from (in Russia, when you get a Visa, you also need an invitation from Russia to enter the country). I replied ‘Red Star’ – this is a travel agency in Washington that I think also has an office in Russia. The guard questioned me about Red Star (none of the questions I could answer) – she huffed and puffed again, went back to her office and reappeared asking why we were visiting Russia. Well, Marty piped up ‘We’re adopting a little girl in Irkutsk”. I almost threw my hand over his mouth! That is THE LAST thing you should sat to these people! We were traveling on a tourist visa, not an adoption visa. So, this woman said, “What business do you have in Irkutsk”…well, I’ve been reading online enough to know how to answer these questions. These are the typical questions that American’s were being asked…I told her we were there visiting the girl we hoped to adopt, we conducted no business while in Russia, we got our visa and invitation from Red Star in the United States, and we do not have the voucher she had been asking for. Apparently this is the answer she was looking for – she went back to her office, did something on her computer – handed us our passports and said good-bye. The end.

What is the moral of the story? Keep in control of your mouth when going through security immigration, and always let your wife do the talking!!!

OUR LAST DAY…

Just thought I would update things since we’ve been home. Our last day with Anya was the best and the worst. We think she was all worked up from a doctor’s appointment, not seeing us over the weekend, not getting a nap that day and being in a new room with toys she’s never played with before. It was all too much. When we were getting ready to leave, she got very upset and didn’t want to go back to her group…this is pretty unusual. She kept saying that there was somewhere she was going to do, and she thought it was with us. She told our interpreter that she wanted to go with us in a car…well, Julia told her that we didn’t have a car to which Anya replied “go get one”!

Anya was just insistent that there was somewhere she was going, but she didn’t know where. It was heartbreaking to hear her get so upset, saying she wanted to come with us, and watch the frustration in her eyes from not being able to communicate or understand what was going on.

We told her that we would come back again to play with her, but not until she went to bed and woke up many many times. She seemed to understand that.