Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay Scenes of Summer - Part 2

Ahh...the cottage. The cottage. A trip to this secluded bit of paradise is always one of the summer's highlights. We were able to squeeze in two trips to the cottage this summer - one with Jon's family and another with our good friends Jana & Jeff. The weather was on the wet and cool side both times, but no matter. The views and the vibes remained the same - perfectly peaceful. One of our favorite spots is down on the dock, which sits in the bay and looks out across the lake. We can sit there for hours watching the natural world unfold around us... 

A spider secures her egg sac

Seagulls search for a snack

The beaver chews a birch branch

The loons perform a dance?

A water snake seeks a spot of sun

A mother merganser teaches her young

The kingfisher dives for fish

A shooting star casts a wish

(Disclaimer: I'm no poet. And I know it. But as I started to jot down the scenes we saw from the dock this year, they were coming out in rhymes. So I went with it!)

Thanks, Tom & Mar, for sharing this wonderful place with us!

We Be Jammin'

Margaret is the queen of raspberry jam. In just a few hours today, she made 31 jars of her red yummy goodness. Add those to the 12 jars she has stashed away in the basement, and I think we've got a new song in there somewhere. "Forty-three jars of jam on the wall... forty-three jars of jam..." Without a doubt, it's one of her trademarks (along with her chocolate cake and her cheesies) and one of the flavors I look forward to savoring each summer. I was lucky enough to get in on the action for the last batch, and now I'm determined to start making my own raspberry jam when I return to Kobe. I won't reveal any secret family recipes here, but I will say that I plan on jamming (ha!) a few packets of Certo Liquid Pectin into my suitcase before we leave.

Movement in K'grad

We heard today that a family from another agency received a referral for a 10-month old boy in Kaliningrad at the end of June. They traveled during the first week of July, accepted the referral, and were assigned their court date for six weeks later. This is great news - it means things are moving again in K'grad. I kept hearing from people who'd been waiting for 22 months, 29 months... and was getting worried that we might be in for a long wait. This particular family only waited 4-5 months for their referral. We still don't know how long we'll be waiting, but at least there's movement!

Northern Exposure

Our good friends - Gail and Jeff and their two girls, Kate and Little Celia - came to visit us in Ottawa this week. We toured Parliament Hill, the Byward Market, Dow's Lake, and a few other spots around town. We pondered totem poles, paddled with ducks, and played yellow-car BINGO! until it drove us to drink. It was great to see them this side of the border, and we hope to get them up to the cottage one of these summers. We owe them more than a few boat rides and dinners at the lake. ("I'll bring the chicken if you make the potato salad..." or is it, "I'll make the chicken salad if you bring the potatoes..."?) 

Into the Mystic with Los Lemleys

We met up with our good friends John and Julie Lemley for a few days in Mystic, Connecticut. It was great to see them again and to finally meet Maximo. He's going to be a little heartbreaker one day - those big blue eyes are too much! Julie's family graciously took us in while we were there and let us crash their BBQs, birthday bashes, and bedrooms (many thanks to all the Woods and Johnstones!). We kayaked along the Mystic River, made a lobster dinner, and caught up on all the FDR news. It was a great visit and we can't wait to see them again. Next summer, J&J?

Click here for more summer photos.

Scenes of Summer - Part 1

Getting out in the countryside is always a highlight of my summer, and the little town (read: unincorporated settlement) where my parents live is the perfect place in which to reacquaint myself with things au naturel. There's always something to (re)discover out there - whether it's something across the meadow, up in the sky, or under the hostas. Moments worth remembering this summer: greeting the early morning sun, watching a thunderstorm roll in, picking cherries, sighting the oriole and listening to him sing, watching the Red Admirals (butterflies) patrol their mating grounds, spying on the snapping turtle (hiding in the hostas!), and watching the family of swallows on the front porch. 

Other highlights of our time in Nebraska: visiting my parents, spending some quality girl time with my mom, playing Bohnanza (a.k.a. Bean Farmer) with my nephews, getting together with my siblings in KC (what should we do with all those Bobbleheads?!), watching my brothers play ball (just like the good ol' days minus the cooler full of Shasta!), boating on the canyon with Club 75, visiting with the Wlaschins, and catching up with friends (Gail & Jeff, Kim & Tony, and Steph & Shawn) and seeing all their kids.

It's hard to believe the first few weeks of summer have already come and gone! Click here for more summer photos.

Registered in K'grad

Our dossier was registered in Kaliningrad today, and we are now officially in line for a referral. There is still some uncertainty as to how quickly adoptions are moving in this region, but it feels good to be in line somewhere. Fingers crossed that all goes well in K'grad!

Kickin' Back at the Cottage...s

School's out! Summer's here! As I start packing my bags, I find myself mumbling a mantra: at the cottage. Are these words music to everyone's ears, or just mine? Without a doubt, it's my favorite summer phrase. My favorite summer days. While Jon and I don't have a cottage of our own - yet - we spend a great deal of time each summer at other people's cottages, catching up with various family members and friends. Here's the line-up of cottages in which we plan to kick back this summer...

In-the-Country Cottage (a.k.a. the Quilting, Cooking, Bocce-out-the-Back Cottage)

At-the-Canyon Cottage (a.k.a. the Boating, Beading, Listening-to-Lyle Cottage...in its diamond-in-the-rough recently-relocated splendor) 

In-the-Woods Cottage (a.k.a. the Bird-watching, Tech-talking, Make-Me-a-Mojito Cottage)

By-the-Sea Cottage (a.k.a. the Lobster-Eating, Maximo-Meeting, "Jo(h)n-You're-a-Jackass!" Cottage)

By-the-Lake Cottage (a.k.a. the Scrabble-playing, Bower-laying (Euchre!), Canoeing-with-the-Loons Cottage)

And some favorite 'cottages' of summers past include the Idaho, the Heidi-ho, the Cubby Hole, and the Eureka!.

THIS is the stuff summers are made of!

The Year in Review - Newbies No More

As all our fellow teachers out there know, the year really comes to an end on the last day of school - not on December 31 as most people seem to believe. As we near the end of this school year - our first in Japan - I've been reflecting on our year as 'newbies' and all the newness that has come our way... New jobs  Both Jon and I have enjoyed our new jobs and feel we've made positive contributions to our new school. We look forward to another year at CA and the professional challenges a new year brings (after all, I've got more pink study carrels to rid the library of!). New culture We've gotten just a glimpse of the Japanese culture (sumo, maiko, onsen, ohanami, and sushi-go-round jump to mind) and can't wait to experience more of this country's old traditions and new innovations. New friends  This is one of the things we like best about international teaching. There's always a great bunch of people waiting to embrace you as one of their own. New places We've taken some great trips - both inside Japan and out - to Shanghai, Hiroshima, Beppu, Kyoto, Bangkok, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. As always, we're looking forward to our trip back to North America for our summer holidays, and our much-anticipated travels to Russia can't come soon enough. New favorites  Someone asked me what I like best about living in Japan, and I think I've finally narrowed it down to my top three. All fascinating bits of the Japanese culture aside (sumo, maiko, onsen, ohanami, and sushi-go-round again come to mind), my favorite day-to-day Japanese ingenuities are... 

my mama-san bike (both functional AND fashionable!),

my train pass (this is the card I never leave home without),

and our heated toilet seat! This, I must admit, is my all-time favorite. It truly is ingenious. Nothing feels better on a cold winter night... On a sticky day in May, however, nothing feels worse, as I discovered a few weeks ago. Luckily for me, the Japanese think of everything - this feature can be turned off/on as needed. 

That, in a nutshell, is our year in review. School's out on June 13!

Gion by Night and Dinner with Maiko

Jon and I spent Saturday night in Gion - Kyoto's famous geisha district - on an outing organized by a local tourist company. The evening started with a walking tour that took us through two of the five geisha districts, and what felt like a walk back in time. If you've seen the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, you might be able to picture the narrow streets lit up with red and yellow lanterns and the kimono-clad women quietly scurrying in and out of doorways. Our Canadian guide was actually one of the location scouts for the movie (most of which was filmed in Hollywood) and is married to an ex-geisha. Needless to say, he is well connected, and his situation affords other gaijin a glimpse of this intriguing part of the Japanese culture. The tour was followed by a dinner at a private restaurant during which two maiko - geisha in training - came to entertain us. They were beautiful young women (17 and 19 years old) and were fascinating to watch.

Click here for a slideshow of the evening.

Finnegan the Dog?

It's recently come to my attention that Finnegan was a famous dog on the Canadian television show Mr. Dressup. I have no qualms about choosing a name that was once a beloved pet's name (convincing my husband that this is perfectly acceptable is another matter!). I've known lots of pooches and pusses and people that have successfully shared names such as Molly and Ellie and Zoe. But, I have to wonder, is naming a child Finnegan akin to naming a child Snoopy? 

For all the Canadians reading this blog, do tell me, what on earth was the Tickle Trunk?  

Waiting to Wait

I may have spoken too soon when I said "we're officially in line" for a referral. Apparently, more translations need to be made and more papers need to be shuffled before our dossier is officially submitted to the region of Kaliningrad. Shouldn't be long - within the next week or two. So, we're waiting to wait for now. We'll keep you posted.

The Name Game Continued

One good thing about having to wait for a referral is having more time to decide on a name. Top names this week (for me anyway) are...

and...

Nikolai is a great Russian name. According to one source, it's also Polish and Estonian...bringing us back to the Baltics yet again. We could easily shorten Nikolai to Nick - or Niko, which I love. Either would be easy to pronounce in any culture. (The Russian nickname for Nikolai is Kolya, another great name, but not one that would come naturally to us.) Don't ask me why I like the name Finnegan, but I do. Must be the Irish in me! And isn't the name Finn oh-so-cool? But, as you can see, we'd have to buy another set of fridge magnets - or at the very least an extra 'N' - so little Finn could learn to spell his whole name properly. For those of you with nothing better to do, take the poll off to the right! 

Reaccreditation!

It's official! FTIA was reaccredited on Friday, May 23. Wonder if the birthday boy wished for this? 

FTIA will now be working in Kaliningrad, Ekaterinburg, Rostov, Ufa, and Kemerovo (due to re-open in June). We told our coordinator that we are interested in continuing with Kaliningrad, even though the waiting time there may be longer (3-12 months). Estimated wait times for the other regions are all listed as 2-5 months after submitting your dossier. We've decided to give it some time in K'grad, to see how quickly things are moving. I suppose we could always request to change regions if, after some time, we don't feel we're getting any closer to receiving a referral. But for now, we're just happy to know that FTIA has been reaccredited and that we're officially in line! 

Reaccreditation?

We received an email from FTIA this morning saying that they have been invited to the Ministry of Education in Moscow for Friday. They expect to be given their reaccreditation certificate at this meeting. If they do receive their reaccreditation, we will be able to move forward with Kaliningrad without having to make the extra trip to submit our dossier. We are still interested in K'grad and are hoping that the estimated timeframe for a referral will be at the shorter end of the 3-12 month range. Fingers crossed! 

Hopefully, this little bump in the road is behind us. I want to state that my frustration was not directed at FTIA - they have been nothing but professional and helpful and patient with us. Nor was my frustration aimed at the Russian government. I was simply feeling anxious...antsy...eager for things to keep moving. However, we were told at the very beginning of this process that things don't always go as planned - that flexibility was key - and I'm trying to remind myself of that.

The Moody Blues and A Bluesy Mood

Let's start with the bluesy mood. We got an email from FTIA this morning saying that their representative in Russia suggests that we wait until FITA is reaccredited before we submit our dossier to Kaliningrad. They've also changed their estimated timeframe for a referral from 3-4 months to 3-12 months. This is not what they told FTIA a few weeks ago, and we aren't sure what to make of all this. Is this a sign that the process isn't running smoothly in K'grad and that we should choose another region? Or is this a backlash from the situation in Kemerovo, now affecting all other regions in Russia? It's hard to know what to think. We know that FTIA is due to be reaccredited 'any day' now, but we've been hearing that since we applied in January. We haven't been too worried about them not having their reaccreditation since they've been able to work independently in a few regions. But now that one of those regions has closed, and another keeps changing its requirements, we're wondering if we should be worried. FTIA is going to contact their representative again to see if we can still travel to K'grad to submit our dossier in person, and to try to get a better estimate on the referral timeframe.

We do have other options - we think. Apparently the region of Ekaterinburg is still accepting dossiers from FITA. However, there's something about a required medical evaluation by eight specialists that has everyone concerned about this region. I'm still a bit unclear as to why everyone is concerned. I think it has to do with where the evaluations must take place. Apparently, if you're evaluated in Russia, it's a mere formality and happens all at once. However, I think I've heard that E'burg requires this evaluation to be done ahead of time (in your home country) and people are having a hard time finding - and paying for - all eight specialists. We'll have to ask about this region and decide if it's a better option for us. I'll be sad to let go of K'grad, I think.

As for The Moody Blues... You know how a random song pops into your head for no apparent reason and stays there all day, driving you nuts? Today - and I apologize outright for the warm and fuzzy moment here (I can already see Jon rolling his eyes at me - and he's in Bangkok!) - the song was "I know you're out there somewhere...somewhere you can hear my voice...I know I'll find you somehow..." And it's just occurred to me why that was the song of the day. He's out there somewhere, our little guy. And we'll find him.

Lots o' Loot

This kid has been showered with gifts this week. First off, Tom and Margaret (Jon's parents) sent the book, Make Way for Ducklings, as a 'while we wait' gift. I love this book...and as I told Margaret, it's never too soon to start a kid appreciating birds! (Thanks, T&M!) Then Todd and Kirsten loaded us up with baby/toddler clothes. We took everything that could be considered unisex and even some girl stuff - just in case. If we don't need it this time around, there's always next time. For those of you who don't know Kirsten - she is a kids' clothes shopper extraordinaire! Their girls are always dressed in the brightest of colors, the fuzziest of fleece, and the sweetest of hats. They were more than generous with their old baby loot. (Thanks, T&K!) And today, Jon and I went to the school's Sayonara Sale - an annual yard sale where all the departing teachers and families sell their stuff at bargain prices. We hit the jackpot! There were tons of toys and all kinds of clothes. We couldn't resist...

   

The Name Game

We've been told we have to have a name picked out and ready for our first trip to Russia - what will now be our second trip. We're finding this decision harder to make than the decision to adopt one or two kids. (We decided on one, by the way, between 8-15 months.) We obviously want to choose a name we both like - no easy task - and we'd like to honor our child's Russian heritage. We also hope to use the name he's already been given, possibly as a middle name. I like the idea of giving him a first name that is Russian and that crosses cultures easily. Jon just wants a name 'that isn't weird' or hard to say. Here's a couple that we've been using to refer to this future Schatzky, but not names we're likely to choose...

Yes, we already have fridge magnets. No bottles, no sippy cups, no diapers... Not to mention no kid. No, we have nothing essential like that. But we do have fridge magnets!

I-171H Received!

We're feeling lucky today! We had the day off school, as the kick off to Golden Week, and we were thinking what a great day it would be to go to the US Consulate to get some documents notarized (sad that 'great day' and 'notarized' are now in the same sentence when we speak) should anything important like a letter from the US immigration office arrive in the mail. And guess what turned up in our mailbox today? Yes, our I-171H from Hong Kong! We got the call from the school receptionist around noon, and we were on a train to Osaka shortly thereafter to get two copies of this document notarized. The other sad sentence of the day was made by the Consul when he asked, "Only two documents this time?" Yes, only two. The last two. So, that's ALL the paperwork! For NOW, anyway.

Update

Our dossier was sent to Russia yesterday. We were hoping to have it in Russia and already translated by May 1 - before the two week stretch of holidays - but we feel good about the fact that at least it's on its way. Now that our dossier is submitted we need to do the following:

• look into travel arrangements (flights, visas, etc.)
• contact an IA (international adoption) doctor
• choose a name for our child

There's not too much we can do about the travel arrangements, since we don't know our dates yet. But we've heard that some airlines offer 'adoption fares' which would allow us to change our travel plans with little or no fee, if needed. Of course, these fares would be higher than economy tickets, but would offer savings in the long run if our trips are extended while we're in Russia. Definitely worth looking into. I don't think we can get our visas until we have an invitation to travel. As far as the IA doctor, these doctors specialize in international adoptions and help adoptive parents decipher the medical charts from other countries. Apparently, the Russian medical reports can be pretty scary - if you don't know how to read them. Our agency requires us to consult with an IA when we receive a referral. We need to take his/her opinion into consideration when deciding whether or not to accept the referral. We plan to contact a few IA's next week to inquire about their fees and services. As for choosing a name, well, we're not even close!  

We're leaning more and more towards Kaliningrad. I've joined the Yahoo! Kaliningrad Adoption and the FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption) chat groups in order to learn a bit more about adopting from this region. Again, all I've heard are good things. People keep mentioning how well the kids are cared for, how healthy they are, and how well they've adjusted to their new families. These, of course, are our top concerns and we want to do all we can to ensure that our child has the best possible start in life - all things considered. So, what's an extra flight? We know we shouldn't generalize and assume our experience in Kaliningrad will be as positive as all those we've heard about, but we like the odds. And kids are a gamble no matter how they come to you, right? At least, that's what we hear... Our coordinator in the US has returned from her vacation, and we have a phone call scheduled with her next week to discuss the possibility of Kaliningrad. We were hoping to talk with her yesterday, but she wanted to make sure she had the latest updates before talking with us. So, she's looking into a few more things (we gave her a long list of questions), and we'll touch base next week.

Still waiting for the the I-171H form from Hong Kong.