Chapter 2 What it takes to fix an old House in a short time.
May 25 six weeks until your arrival
It is about a month before you guy get here and I know that you live in Birobidjan, about two hours from China and about 15 hours ahead of us time wise. It is the place Stalin sent all the Jew in the thirties to live. Both of you were born in Oblucha, about an hour or two from Birobidjan. It is cold there in the winter and I don’t want to come and pick the two of you up in January. I was hoping like Chinese food you could be delivered, I doubt it.
I sent away for a CD to learn Russian. It sounds like it will be a scary trip, but if you guys can come to America I guess We can return the favor and go pick you up in about six or eight months. I am learning to speak Russian and I’m hogging the tape a little bit. I drive all day and have the ability to listen to it for several hours a day. After the first day of listening to it I was very frustrated. I had the first chapter down and then something happened and I could not remember any of it so I put it down and came back to it the next day and started over. I made slow progress over the next few days and I learned something about myself, that I can apply myself to something hard and I can learn it. My hope is that when you get here I’ll be able to speak with you a little and that when we pick you up early next year I will be a lot better. I know about three dozen words now and at every opportunity I try to use them on Teri. So for now it’s spa-COIN-a NO-chee (good night, there are no Russian characters on this computer.
May 31
is . We're having the Memorial day barbecue at Grammy's house at 3:00 pm today, Monday, your time it is 8:00 am Tuesday morning. A little barbecue starting out with just a few people had grown to 45 people with about 37 actually attending.
The menu is simple hot dogs, hamburgers, deviled eggs, some salad and lots of deserts. I went over to help set up and your Aunt Ruth was already there with her two kids Cory and Ryan. I did little to help. I wanted to do more but I didn’t. One of the perks of being an adult when you don’t want to work and there are others there and you usually help out you can get away without helping.
I forgot to bring over the tank of gas for the grill so I went back and picked up Teri and drove back to the house with the top down on the Mustang. Cory and I grilled the food.
Afterwards Everyone sat around and talked and the main subject was your guys. Everyone who didn’t know you or hadn’t seen your pictures wanted to see and I wanted to get the children (Cory, Ryan, Billy, Dennis, Amanda, Thasha ) all involved so that no one would feel threatened by your coming. It was a plan that Teri came up with that we were to get everyone to try and learn Russian. It will be interesting to see if any of these seed come to germination. I first told Thasha and Amanda that they needed to learn Russian and I gave them the phrase ‘Meen yah zavoot(My name is …) by the end of the party everyone had a list of Russian phrases that they were trying to learn to pronounce. It was all very encouraging. Later we went to Ally’s to see Teri’s Aunt Sue and tell them about you guys and Pat, Alley's wife kept saying that you were a blessing and everyone agreed that it was a good thing for everyone. We even might of found a camp for you guys to go to this July. There was little information about it but it should have some Russian speaking people there. I hope you both will enjoy it. It’s close to home and easy for pick up and drop off. I’ll know more soon.
June 01, 2008
Went to an informational meeting in New York City, at Ferman Hall in Greenwich Village today. When I heard the meeting was a parenting meeting, I assumed, they were going to teach us to raise children. For other people I thought it was a good idea but I was outraged and I kept going around complaining about Big Brother intruding on our lives ( Big Brother from the book 1984 written by George Orwell, if you haven’t read it do so it is excellent, well worth the time. It was written in the 1930’s I believe and it was just as relevant when I read it in the 70’s and should still be so today)
Well after all my complains it turns out to be an informational meeting and they had some guest speakers who had adopted children from Russia. It was four interesting hours.
During the meeting We were asked to introduce ourselves and say a little about ourselves. I did the introduction and said Hi my name is Joe and this is my wife Teri. We live in Rockland County and are adopting two girls eight and ten and my big question is when we get them home what do we do with them? It got a laugh, but it's the truth. Iv’e been an Uncle, a husband, boyfriend and other things but never a father. I don’t even know what you should call me.
After the meeting broke up at about 4:10 Teri wanted to go home saying her stomach was all jumpy. After a little while she changed her mind and we went to Little Italy to Messa Luna a place with homemade Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce, they are good (no wonder I have high cholesterol) It was St Anthony’s day in Little Italy, so we walked around after eating. The day was warms and sunny and it could not have been a better day. Our Thoughts not far from either of you. One day I hope the four of us can come here and have a day like this.
We got home around eight in the evening a long but good day. At the meeting they were not able to give us a day for your arrival. A couple told about their adventures adopting and the horror story of having to stay a whole month in Birobidjan. I don’t think I would come home to a job if I stayed away that long.
June 2, 2008
Today we did some paper work. We got two things notarized at seven thirty in the morning at the County Clerks Office down the street and then I went down to lower Manhattan to get them Apostilled. It took all of ten minutes in the state office, the ride, half a day. I love lower Manhattan.
June 03, 2008
Took some more time off from work today and Teri worked from home so we could met in Hartsdale with our case worker, Audrey Elliott. A happy and energetic person, she kept things light and moving. The interview portion of the work lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. She discussed with us our written questionnaires, we had submitted in the spring. Mine was four pages long and I felt that I had to cut it off because it was too long. Teri’s was two pages and Audrey had a lot more questions for me then she did for Teri. I was told that mine had a lot of stories in it.
We picked a family member to take care of you the two of you if we should both die and I hope you guys never find out who that is, because then we might be dead and I would miss out on so much that I am looking forward to.
Went to an informational meeting in New York City, at Ferman Hall in Greenwich Village today. When I heard the meeting was a parenting meeting, I assumed, they were going to teach us to raise children. For other people I thought it was a good idea but I was outraged and I kept going around complaining about Big Brother intruding on our lives ( Big Brother from the book 1984 written by George Orwell, if you haven’t read it do so it is excellent, well worth the time. It was written in the 1930’s I believe and it was just as relevant when I read it in the 70’s and should still be so today)
Well after all my complains it turns out to be an informational meeting and they had some guest speakers who had adopted children from Russia. It was four interesting hours.
During the meeting We were asked to introduce ourselves and say a little about ourselves. I did the introduction and said Hi my name is Joe and this is my wife Teri. We live in Rockland County and are adopting two girls eight and ten and my big question is when we get them home what do we do with them? It got a laugh, but it's the truth. Iv’e been an Uncle, a husband, boyfriend and other things but never a father. I don’t even know what you should call me.
After the meeting broke up at about 4:10 Teri wanted to go home saying her stomach was all jumpy. After a little while she changed her mind and we went to Little Italy to Messa Luna a place with homemade Gnocchi in Gorgonzola sauce, they are good (no wonder I have high cholesterol) It was St Anthony’s day in Little Italy, so we walked around after eating. The day was warms and sunny and it could not have been a better day. Our Thoughts not far from either of you. One day I hope the four of us can come here and have a day like this.
We got home around eight in the evening a long but good day. At the meeting they were not able to give us a day for your arrival. A couple told about their adventures adopting and the horror story of having to stay a whole month in Birobidjan. I don’t think I would come home to a job if I stayed away that long.
June 2, 2008
Today we did some paper work. We got two things notarized at seven thirty in the morning at the County Clerks Office down the street and then I went down to lower Manhattan to get them Apostilled. It took all of ten minutes in the state office, the ride, half a day. I love lower Manhattan.
June 03, 2008
Took some more time off from work today and Teri worked from home so we could met in Hartsdale with our case worker, Audrey Elliott. A happy and energetic person, she kept things light and moving. The interview portion of the work lasted about an hour and 45 minutes. She discussed with us our written questionnaires, we had submitted in the spring. Mine was four pages long and I felt that I had to cut it off because it was too long. Teri’s was two pages and Audrey had a lot more questions for me then she did for Teri. I was told that mine had a lot of stories in it.
We picked a family member to take care of you the two of you if we should both die and I hope you guys never find out who that is, because then we might be dead and I would miss out on so much that I am looking forward to.
June 08, 2008
Signed you guy’s up for a summer camp yesterday. We have been looking for the right camp to send the both of you to and having little luck. Every camp we look into has a problem. We tried the YMCA camp which sounded like what it was day care for working parents and we wanted something more then that for you two. We found a camp at Rockland Center for the Arts that was affordable but it was only three days a week. All of these camps had one thing in common each has a pool or go swimming at another place. Something We are told you both are looking forward to. The best camp we hope, and the most affordable one turns out to be the town camp. They have swimming from twelve to three everyday. Games and crafts in the mornings. There are four trips you can go on but we haven’t decided if we are going to let you go. If they are out of state, the rules say we can’t let you go. We will play it by ear and see how you guys react to all this new stuff. Having never been parents before we feel that using common sense is the best approach. Yeah, I know all parents are laughing at me now. We will see just how good we can be at parenting for the month. Piece of cake?
June 10, 2008
Signed you guy’s up for a summer camp yesterday. We have been looking for the right camp to send the both of you to and having little luck. Every camp we look into has a problem. We tried the YMCA camp which sounded like what it was day care for working parents and we wanted something more then that for you two. We found a camp at Rockland Center for the Arts that was affordable but it was only three days a week. All of these camps had one thing in common each has a pool or go swimming at another place. Something We are told you both are looking forward to. The best camp we hope, and the most affordable one turns out to be the town camp. They have swimming from twelve to three everyday. Games and crafts in the mornings. There are four trips you can go on but we haven’t decided if we are going to let you go. If they are out of state, the rules say we can’t let you go. We will play it by ear and see how you guys react to all this new stuff. Having never been parents before we feel that using common sense is the best approach. Yeah, I know all parents are laughing at me now. We will see just how good we can be at parenting for the month. Piece of cake?
June 10, 2008
Audrey Elliott came over on Thursday and Friday. She told us we did not pass the home inspection. I called her back to get more specific information about what was wrong. She had a list of three vague items and none of them were what I expected her to have problems with. The first one is the porch, the floor boards are springy and she thought that was not good (Teri had been saying the same thing for years and I kept saying it’s not a priority. And of course I heard about it from her.) The second thing is the hallway. She thought she saw some holes in the plaster. She later elaborated that it was also the cracks she didn’t like. The final thing she didn’t like were the chipping paint, Can’t blame her on that one really. So today we worked on fixing the three big problems and it’s now 7:44 pm (10:44 am tomorrow, Birobijan time) and I have stopped work for the day, I’ll do some work tomorrow but it’s father’s day and we are going out with Teri’s family to have breakfast.
Hopefully we can get the work on the house finished before Audrey gets back from her vacation and she can reinspect in about a week or ten days. Teri has been upset that we might lose you guys over this. I think if we make a good faith effort to fix things we should be OK at least in the short term.
It’s been a full Month for Teri. In addition to her preparing for your visit she has been offered a promotion at work which will involve travel and more work. It is a big deal and I think she should take it. I think we can weather that and you guys at least in the short term (Month of July). We also got a letter from Patrice Gancie stating your visit to America is tentatively scheduled for July 9. Up dates to follow.
Hopefully we can get the work on the house finished before Audrey gets back from her vacation and she can reinspect in about a week or ten days. Teri has been upset that we might lose you guys over this. I think if we make a good faith effort to fix things we should be OK at least in the short term.
It’s been a full Month for Teri. In addition to her preparing for your visit she has been offered a promotion at work which will involve travel and more work. It is a big deal and I think she should take it. I think we can weather that and you guys at least in the short term (Month of July). We also got a letter from Patrice Gancie stating your visit to America is tentatively scheduled for July 9. Up dates to follow.
Audrey Elliott is coming over again tomorrow to re-examine the house to take a better look at things she should have the first time. We have taken some preventive measures in hopes of her giving us a break. We have employed a carpenter for the walls of the bathroom and a plumber for the pipes that are leaking. It is an expense that we did not expect and it makes a tight and unsure budget a little tighter. I hope I am not making a big deal of the money issue, it’s just that we didn’t expect the Bridge of Hope people to give us two children even though we said we would take a family and we will gladly do it. It’s just that I have gotten used to having a comfortable life and not having to worry about money and I like it. Now things are going to change and some new and old fears are coming around. The price of gas has gone from 2.65 a year ago to over four dollars and the experts say it ‘s rise is not over yet. Everyone also says its in a bubble and the price is going to fall. The price of food is going up there is renewed talk of world food shortages that you haven’t heard about in twenty years. The world seems a scary place and here we are bring two kid over here into a new environment and it is scary. Hopefully Audrey Elliott will not be too tough. She arrives at three PM tomorrow.
June 23, 2008
I find myself in a very uncomfortable position right now. I am mad at everyone and everything. I am so mad that I feel a tightness in my fingers that makes it tough to type. My heart pounds in my chest and there is a large excess of anger running through my veins. And it all relates back to the two of you. That doesn’t mean that I am angry at you or hate you it just means that in the run up to the two of you coming to America I am not handling the pressure very well. And right now it seems that nothing is going right. We employed a friend of Teri’s to put new pipes in for the upstairs bathroom. He said it would take three days and cost $2,800.00.
An amount that I felt was way out of line and more so when he came in on a Saturday with three guys left during the day, leaving his guys to do the job and came back at the end and was finished in less then a day. $2,800.00 good pay if you can find the work. Oh the job was first rate which brings me to the next guy, the guy who is doing the walls in the bathroom and is getting 1,000.00 dollars for the job. I come home today to find he has put no insulation in the walls and I must tell him to take down the walls
and to insulate and he is going to tell me it will cost me more and I might just fire him and that would be a big mistake considering that I paid him for the job and we are under a time limit. No word if your arrival date has changed, it’s still on for the ninth of July.
I find myself in a very uncomfortable position right now. I am mad at everyone and everything. I am so mad that I feel a tightness in my fingers that makes it tough to type. My heart pounds in my chest and there is a large excess of anger running through my veins. And it all relates back to the two of you. That doesn’t mean that I am angry at you or hate you it just means that in the run up to the two of you coming to America I am not handling the pressure very well. And right now it seems that nothing is going right. We employed a friend of Teri’s to put new pipes in for the upstairs bathroom. He said it would take three days and cost $2,800.00.
and to insulate and he is going to tell me it will cost me more and I might just fire him and that would be a big mistake considering that I paid him for the job and we are under a time limit. No word if your arrival date has changed, it’s still on for the ninth of July.
July 1, 2008
Now the fun news we got today. The Russian government has de-certified The Bridge of Hope and adopting you guys just got a whole lot more difficult. I’ve included the letter in the file, read it it is not good news.
Your arrival date is still set for the ninth of July. Arrival at J.F.K. Airport at 6:30, a ride to Yorktown Heights a rest and some snacks. We arrive in Yorktown about eight, some snacks, introductions and home we go getting there about 11:30. With all four of Us full of our dreams for the next twenty-two days. Yes, your month of fun in the sun starts on the ninth of July and is set to end on the second of August. I don’t think I’ll get a chance to get you guys out on the boat, but we’ll see. Do you guys like the water?
July 7,2008
We worked most of the final weekend before your arrival. I put up sheet rock and Teri painted the walls. We ran out of time so we cut a few corners with the idea to revisit the hallway after you leave.
Continued in the arrival…..
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