A Trip of Firsts

Tomorrow we head home to Dubai and our time in the states has been hands-down, our most memorable trip yet; a trip filled with many "firsts" for our family.

It was the first trip to the ER for stitches. Andrik tripped at the splash park while carrying a water bucket and although he didn't fall but a couple inches, he was wearing his sunglasses and when he tripped, his head hit the bucket and the sunglasses busted his eyebrow wide open. The surprising thing about it, I only had to dab it twice with a towel to get it to stop bleeding and Andrik didn't even cry. He wanted to keep playing, but it was slit wide open and he ended up needing a total of 14 stitches, both internal and external to close it up.

When we weren't at the ER, we were going to the zoo, riding trains, and watching Artem tackle his first rope course. We thought he would be afraid of the height, but he did a great job and took his time to think about his moves and finished the course off with a zip line ride to the bottom.

The boys spent some time on the water fishing with cane poles and Andrik caught his first fish! Artem was an old pro at fishing having done it last year at our Moscow Reunion, which we attended again this year and I'll blog about separately, but this year it was Andrik's turn and he ended up catching several fish.

We also had Andrik's first yearly post placement visit with our social worker in Central Texas. In September it will be one year that he has been in our family and we had arranged for our social worker, (the same one we have used for the past four years since we started Artem's adoption) to come to Florida to complete our visit but after trying to contact her several times to work out the details I couldn't get a hold of her and told Randy I had a feeling I needed to leave Dubai earlier than planned and drive out to Texas with the boys and have Andrik's meeting in her office. (We later found out her adult son had passed away and she was out of the office dealing with his unexpected death) We planned for Randy to join us the first week of August (our original date home) since he couldn't take additional time off of work and we would continue on with our vacation.

My flight home with the boys was uneventful, the two day drive to Texas went great and the meeting with our social worker went really well.

Towards the end of the meeting, our social worker asked if we had considered adopting a third child. I thought she was making small talk and I told her that we actually had considered adopting another child but weren't sure which direction to take. Our international agency, Catholic Social Services of NC, had recently closed their Russia program and I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to Russia for a third time to deal with all the paperwork struggles, let alone the huge financial tab that goes along with an international adoption. We had talked about other countries but didn't feel a pull to a particular place. I explained to our social worker that we had discussed domestic adoption but knew we would have a hard time finding a birth mother that would pick us since we lived in the Middle East and already had two children and "we didn't exactly have a woman ringing our doorbell asking us to take her baby". Basically we knew we wanted one more child but didn't feel like we had a lot of options.

Then she asked me something and I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life. She paused after hearing me explain everything and then said, "Can I show you something?" and got up from our table and retrieved some paperwork and pictures. She returned to the table and placed a few pictures in front of me and said, "We have a newborn baby girl that was born two weeks ago and we don't have a qualified family to adopt her at this time and she's currently in foster care. Would you feel comfortable talking with Randy about adopting her?"

I was in shock and stayed that way for the next couple of days. Were we really being asked to adopt this baby? How would we get her a passport in time to return to Dubai together as a family? How would we pay for this adoption? How would we fit three car seats in our car in Dubai? Our home study was expired so how would we get it updated? What would we name her? My head was spinning and I literally walked around in a fog the next couple of days.

The biggest concerns Randy and I had were purely logistical; securing the baby a passport, getting her residency visa in UAE, and scrapping together the money for the adoption. The agency uses a sliding scale based on income and it's based on GROSS income, not net and that put our agency fees alone at $41,500 and didn't include all the birth mother expenses, foster care fees, and medical costs. This adoption was going to cost us much, much more than an international adoption but it was a lot less of a paperwork headache. We were able to write a letter to the agency that they took before their board of directors requesting a reduction in fees and although it wasn't as cheap as we hoped it would be, it worked out in the end.

We also had the issue of our expired home study. A few of our documents were out of date and by Texas law the social worker had to meet with us in our home, but the good news was, our home in Central Texas that is for sale has not sold yet so legally we still had a home to meet in with our social worker. In the following week, we had our TB tests redone, had Artem and Andrik's pediatrician write a health statement on our behalf, and the best news of all...our FBI clearances that we did last year just before court for Andrik's adoption were still valid and Catholic Social Services was able to fax the clearance letters over. The paperwork was easily coming together and 16 days after our social worker asked to show me some paperwork, we had custody of a beautiful newborn girl! I still can't believe how quickly this happened. It was truly meant to be.

Our beautiful daughter, Atalie Grace, born July 13, 2011 and placed in our arms August 11, 2011.

And in continuing with our trip of "firsts" this is now our first time as a family of five.

Homeward Bound

There are some things this country does really, really well. Covered parking everywhere we go; shopping malls, movie theaters, grocery stores, Randy's work, all have covered parking. It's nice to shop and have your car shaded and given the current July temps in Dubai, it's also a necessity.

This country also knows how to offer a variety of great food. I never thought I would love eating Lebanese food as much as I do and the other night Randy and I went to a Portuguese restaurant for Date Night. Delicious!

I love that I don't pump my own gas here. I'm so spoiled with the fact that I no longer have to stand out in the elements and fill my tank. I won't be surprised if I roll into the Walmart gas station back in the states and sit in the car waiting for the attendant to ask me if I want, "full special?"

I love buying fresh baked bread at the grocery store rather than the stuff baked off site and trucked in.

I love that in UAE we don't use "change" when paying for stuff. There isn't sales tax here so things are priced in even amounts. Somethings like fruits and vegetables can end up costing 1.35 dirhams but in that case they round down or up depending on the amount so there isn't a need for pennies.

But there is one thing that Dubai just can't seem to get right...an American breakfast and man oh man do I miss a good breakfast! We never go out to breakfast here since the cafes specialize in more English breakfasts and no matter how much I love baked beans for lunch or dinner, eggs with salmon and baked beans is not my idea of breakfast food. The other morning we thought we'd try breakfast out and found a cafe that boasted an American breakfast. Want to guess what these are?

Despite having butter and syrup on them and being called pancakes, they were not the pancakes we love in America. And for this very reason, I cannot wait to get home to the states this weekend and run, not walk, to the nearest Cracker Barrel.

The boys and I will fly home to the states this Saturday while we leave Randy behind to work for a couple more weeks before he joins us in the states in August. I'm driving back to Texas with the boys so I can meet with our social worker for Andrik's one year post placement visit. Yes the one year mark is almost here!! We have so much planned for our trip including taking the boys to Disney World with their cousins, doing my part as an "Economic Ambassador" to stimulate the US Economy with my various shopping lists, and something that I'm super excited about...our big Moscow Adoption Reunion 'The Do-Over' is being hosted by Dinia and Ron again in Alabama and even more families are attending this year.

So as much as I love Dubai and all it's wonderful services, I cannot wait to get back on US soil and catch up with some of the things we've missed over the past four months.

When a Two Year Old Orders Lunch...

One of the things I LOVE about Dubai is everything can be delivered. Want an order of Wendy's fried mozzarella cheese sticks and chocolate Frosty at 9:00 p.m. at night? No problem, a man on a motorcycle will have it to your house in 10 minutes. (not that I've ever ordered that) Too lazy to drive to Chili's to eat? Not to worry, Chili's can get your meal to you in just a few minutes. How about KFC? Chinese food? Hardees? Burger King? We've got it all and it can all be brought to your house on the motorcycle.

But could it be too much of a good thing when your two year old tells the person on the phone to make sure they include tomatoes, pickles, and lettuce on their order? I like to think he's a quick learner rather than admitting that I may indulge in this service a few times too many.

Random Updates...bullet style

*This is what I see when I look at my right foot. I had to have my big toenail removed. I thought I would be up and running around the next day but I was wrong. The podiatrist told me I wouldn't be in any pain; it would just feel like a "tiny mouse heartbeat in my toe". She lied. For one, I don't know what it feels like to have a "tiny mouse heartbeat" in my toe, and two, my toe throbs a lot and bleeds when I don't stay off of it. I didn't do so well with taking the dressings off last night so I'm starting to understand why God didn't have me birth my own children. I'm finding out I'm not so good with open flesh.


*Andrik is learning how to use a napkin. Unfortunately he hasn't learned to use a clean section of the napkin each time he wipes so even though he tries to be neat, he ends up messier. I still say he uses food as wearable art.

*Andrik sleeps in the funniest positions. The other day I went to wake him from his nap and this is how I found him. He's still a great sleeper and gets at least 11 hours of sleep at night and then naps for a couple hours during the day.

*All that sleep is necessary for bossing us around during the day. I get a lot of pointed fingers at me lately telling me what I need to do or telling Artem what to do. He's definitely learning to assert himself, even if he gets a little too big for his britches at times.

*The boys are starting to play together a lot better. They do more interactive play than parallel play during the day. Andrik absolutely adores his big brother; Artem still has his moments when he can't be bothered with a little brother. But it's getting better, slowly but surely.

*We all attended an Emirati wedding the other night. At a Muslim wedding the men and women are separated and have their own party in separate buildings. I took Andrik with me and Randy took Artem to the men's side. I walked into a huge reception hall with approximately 500 women in attendance and the only person I knew was the two year old holding my hand. I didn't even know the bride. Talk about awkward. At a Muslim wedding on the women's side, the ladies are in VERY elaborate gowns and eat for awhile, visiting with the other women in attendance. The bride prepares to enter the room for the first time and gets up on a raised runway and does her "catwalk" where she walks back and forth in her wedding dress, smiling and waving to the women. After a couple laps, the bride sits on stage while more food is consumed by the ladies in the hall and then the dancing starts, still separate from the men, and finally at the end of the night the women cover themselves with their abayas and the groom enters the hall. At this point the couple is considered married and allowed to be in public together.

*Artem is obsessed with his Cars shirt. He dresses himself in the morning and wants to pick this shirt every time. He's starting to get particular about his clothes and not just put on anything that mom picks out. Right now he wants to wear his Cars shirt and Harley Davidson shirts but can't be bothered with remembering underwear.

*Sweet tea...how do I love thee? My liquid obsession isn't available here in Dubai so I brew my own now and keep a gallon in the fridge all the time. We have a Swedish babysitter that comes over once a week so I can have some "mommy time" and she comes over every other Friday night so Randy and I can go out. Every time she comes over she helps herself to glass after glass of my sweet tea. I love that I got our Swedish babysitter addicted to a Southern delicacy. :-)

Dubai in June

June in Dubai is not exactly "Chamber of Commerce" kind of weather. It's not unbearably hot, but with temps in the low 100's and humidity levels hovering around 75%, it's a little sticky. Despite this, the boys still love to get outside and play. We have some great shade trees along the west side of our yard that shades the boys "playground" so as soon as the sun goes down behind the trees, it's playtime!

Andrik's blood obviously hasn't thinned out yet from those cold Russian winters which makes him the sweater in the family. He sweats just walking around the house, so 98 degrees with 80% humidity makes this kid look like he just got out of the shower.

I send the boys outside with cups of ice water and make them stop every 10 minutes or so to get something to drink but the best way to beat the June heat is popsicles! Even Bella likes to get in a bite or two.

Speaking of Bella, June in Dubai means nothing to her. She still wants to play ball despite it feeling like a sauna outside.

But the best way to beat the June heat is in the pool!!

Randy better be careful, these boys are going to grow up quick and pay backs are going to be rough!

A Home Schooling We Will Go

Years ago when I was a brand new public school teacher I had my opinions about home schooling. I thought it was for the children that couldn't behave in public school, or for the children of the super liberal, granola/hippy parents that didn't want the system to "corrupt" their children, or for child actors that were living on movie sets. But home schooling wasn't something that I would ever consider doing because, after all, I attended public school and turned out just fine. Thank you very much.

Isn't it fun to look back and laugh at oneself at some of the simple-minded beliefs we held when our rose colored glasses were brand new?

Home schooling...the thing I said I'd never do...guess who is now home schooling her four year old?

Here in UAE expat children must attend private schools rather than the public schools that the local children attend and the majority of private schools here are "for profit" and charge an arm and a leg for tuition. Randy's company pays for a good portion of the tuition but we would still have to pick up quite a bit of the price tag to educate our boys.

The schools that follow the American curriculum have a KG1 and a KG2 program and the children start when they are four and they must be four by December 31st of that school year. KG1 is the equivalent to the American PreK program and KG2 is equal to Kindergarten in the states and according to Artem's birthday of November 15th, he would make the cutoff here in UAE and go to KG2 (Kindergarten). However, if we were in the states he wouldn't make the cut off which is normally the first day of school in August and he would have to wait another year to attend Kinder if we were in the states. That's fine with me because even though I think he could handle it academically, maturity wise, he's not there. Plus, if I put him in KG2 (Kindergarten) here, when we return to the states he would be the youngest in the class by almost a full year and the rest of his schooling he would be the baby. I was the youngest in my classes all through school since I have an October birthday and started when I was four. It's not that big of a deal for a girl, but I think for our son, he needs to be older rather than younger.

So for those clear as mud reasons, we decided to keep him out of school this year and have me homeschool him instead. I shipped a large portion of my teaching things here to Dubai including 750 children's books, which I think means I could start my own library for the neighborhood and we use an extra room upstairs as our "classroom". I also include Andrik in our classroom time and have him practice colors, shapes, writing, math, and he joins Artem and me for calendar time.

I wanted our classroom to look and feel like a typical classroom so we ordered some white boards and Randy installed them for me. To the left we have our calendar area and to the right with all the letters is our word wall. In a couple months that will be filled with sight words.

I love that we have sliding doors and a balcony outside of our classroom. When the weather gets cooler it will be a great place for the boys to plant seeds and do messy projects.

I brought our old kitchen table upstairs to the classroom since I finally bought my dream round table from Pottery Barn for the kitchen. (Only took me about five years to find one I like, can't accuse me of making an impulse buy) This old table has been well "loved" the past three years here in UAE and was ready to be replaced so it's perfect for the classroom. Two major moves done by cheap labor have not been kind to it. The boys can get messy on this one and it won't matter a bit.

I bought this alphabet chart when I first started teaching. Randy thinks I need to update the chart since letter V has a VCR tape as the picture.

The boys work with math manipulatives; Artem makes patterns while Andrik strengthens his fine motor skills by clicking the unifix cubes together and identifies the colors of the cubes.

More patterning practice.

Finding letters on the word wall.

Practicing handwriting on his own white board.

Yep, we are knee deep in home schooling, the thing I said I'd never do, but it's the best thing for our family right now and I'm enjoying being back in the "classroom". I've missed it. Artem is excited everyday to go to school even after I made him write the letter b the correct way, twice, after which he announced, "School is hard!" You haven't seen anything yet little buddy. Just wait until September when we start Algebra!

Catching Up

I'm going to offer you are few different scenarios on where I've been this past month since it's obvious I haven't been busy blogging.

Scenario One: I was asked by the Royal Family to help make the desserts for William and Kate's wedding. My Pineapple Cherry Dump Cake was such a huge hit that the Queen Mum, after only one bite, passed out from the deliciousness of it all and insisted that I bake for her Ladies Auxilary meeting the following week and I've been so busy in the kitchen, I haven't had time to blog.

Scenario Two: My love of all things desert has driven me to enter myself into the competitive world of camel racing and after training day and night for the past month, I've managed to diet myself down to a lean 97 pounds and raced my first camel last weekend to finish a respectable fourth place.

Scenario Three: Dubai is taking it's toll on me and I'm so homesick for the normalcy of the states that I've purposely not blogged because I'm worried that I might sound too negative. I had my big breakdown in the middle of the RTA (Road Transit Authority, think Dept of Motor Vehicles) while trying to register our car that we shipped to Dubai and stood crying in the middle of the lobby yelling at the Emirati man behind the counter, "You're not my friend!" Not my finest moment.

Despite these little breakdowns, we are plugging away and trying to find our way here in the Middle East and maintaining the usual traditions that we would do in the States. Both of our boys have now had their first Easter in a Muslim country and this year the boys went hunting for Easter eggs at one of my girlfriend's houses. It was so cute to watch Andrik learn to find the eggs and then discover all the good loot inside of the eggs.

I thought I'd take a cute picture of the boys in their Easter outfits before we headed out to the egg hunt.

Not bad, a little squinty so let's try for one more...

Andrik, back to mama!

And here's where we start to go off track...

But in the end, the photo opp turned out cute despite Andrik's persistent ear picking.

And they were rewarded for their patience with their Easter basket loot!

In April Randy's sister flew over the big pond to spend a week with us. Her visit came at a good time since we are new to Dubai and hadn't done any of the great "touristy" things that Dubai has to offer. One night we went on a desert safari tour where they drove us out to the sand dunes and took us on an incredible ride through the desert.

On the way to the safari we had to slow down for the camels crossing the road. Only in UAE do you find camels being herded by Mercedes Benz SUV's.

We ended up with Mohamed, the owner of the company, as our driver; an Emirati man that has been driving these dunes for years. What is second nature to him, driving straight up mountains of sand, was one of the most thrilling things I have ever done. This lousy picture of the sand dunes doesn't do the drive justice but the ride was so intense and scary that I couldn't hold onto my camera long enough to get a good picture. We drove straight up walls of red sand only to perch along the top long enough for me to think, "No way is he going to drive down this mountain of..." and then we were off, sliding down the sand sideways.

This boys could not get enough. Seriously, they screamed, "WEEEEE" the entire drive.

I was in the back seat sucking my thumb, trying to curl into the fetal position and find my 'happy place' when Mohamed asked how I was doing. I told him I wanted my mommy and he said, "No, no mommy, say 'I want more Mohamed'!" He had a great sense of humor and took good care of us on the ride.

Once at the campsite we rode camels...

Got up close and personal with a falcon...

Did a little sand boarding...

Watched some belly dancing...

Ate some delicious food and topped it off with some henna tattoos.


Awesome, awesome night! And if anyone else wants to come visit, you can stay in our lavishly furnished guestroom complete with a bed and dresser (oohh, ahhh) and we'll take you out to the desert for a safari trip. Any takers?