OKAY, so daddy isn't so bad after all.

This was our visit on Friday and all completely turned around. Thank goodness for goldfish crackers.
Today we went to the zoo and didn't get back till late and only have 2 minutes before business office closes. It will not be open tomorrow because of holiday so I will do more on Tuesday. We get to go back and see him again tomorrow. It's been a long weekend not being able to see him.
Love to all.

We are so bored.

Today we have not accomplished much but wanted to write and just let you know how things are.
Every morning we are waking up around 7am, only cause Marty makes me of course, he has usually stirred for about 2 hrs already by that time. He's telling everyone here that I would sleep 24hrs if he allowed me too. The way I look at it is that there is not much else to do right now and as of next Saturday we will have Mason and we are to keep on a strict schedule given from the orphanage and he is to be awake at 7:30 each morning.
We went on a walk down by the river today and it is a breath taking view unless you look down at the waters edge and you see all the garbage they leave behind. It is so sad cause it is so beautiful here and they leave garbage everywhere--I'm not kidding, beer bottles are broken everywhere and there doesn't seem to be a drinking age because all ages have beers in their hands very early in the morning. There was a young couple down by the waters edge making out--very heavy--and I tried to get Marty to do the same but of course he just shook his head at me like always :o)
We went to the market (grocery store) and bought items to keep in our room--meat (I thought was meat) bread (very hard bread). We made sandwiches when we got back and I had to pass it to Marty cause I don't think they cook their meat. You all would be so proud of me cause I am trying all kinds of new things (not by choice of course cause you just point at the menu and hope it's what you think it is) can't complain to much because I haven't had to many bad things because of course I always choose safe things but Marty on the other hand eats it all. The other day Marty drank a glass of milk here and I told him if he drank it I would no longer kiss him--of course he drank it, but it was worth the funny disgusted look that came across his face. He's just dying for a tall glass of milk while I am dying for a Pepsi--everything is Coke :o( I have seen a Pepsi truck so I know they are going somewhere I've just got to find where.
One thing I do have to say about being here is that the women are gorgeous looking and nice bodies to boot but the odd thing is that the men are nothing to look at so you see a lot of women walking around arm and arm. They all wear stiletto hills too, young and old.
It will probably be Wednesday before we get to see Mason again because Monday is a Russian holiday (May day) and Tuesday is the day couples go to court so we have a lot of time to do nothing. 3 couples did get their kids today so it does help with having them around to entertain us.
Talk more tomorrow:o)

Thursday was a great day.

We got to see Mason yesterday and it was great. He did not come in crying and he warmed up to Marty. He started the visit off by not leaving my lap but quickly Marty got him to play and shortly Mason was on his lap. We played so hard and Mason had some laughing spells that just made us beam with pride. After the visit I realized we did not have the video camera on so won't be able to share it when we get home but I will forever remember. We are unable to got see him today (friday) or this weekend so we have to entertain ourselves. It is very difficult being away when we are so close. Last night we went out with some of the other couples and it has been a lot of fun meeting everyone. We do alot of walking around shopping and site seeing to help pass by time. We have found some great restuarants and have tried some really great food.
All is going well, we miss the kids terribly. I'll continue to post more as we continue.

Today was a better day.

Hello everyone. Today we saw Mason and things were a little better. He walked into the room with caregiver and he turned around to walk out as soon as he saw us. Marty and I began to panic. I went to him and picked him up and he cried for only a moment. We quickly learned that if we gave him food he was much happier so we got out the gold fish crackers and quickly we were a hit. He clung to me mostly and if Marty bribed him with a cracker he would go get it and get back to me as quickly as possible. He cracked a few smiles but not a whole lot. It was so wonderful having him cling to me like he did but I could see the hurt in Marty's eyes. We now understand the purpose of the 10 day waiting because it would have been to traumitizing for Mason to have just removed him from the only place he has know all his life. Tomorrow we go back and they are going to let us take him outside if it's nice and go for a walk.
We met up with a lot of couples also here to adopt and we sat around and drank a few beers and got to know one another. We are having a good time considering the difficulty of being away from the girls is very hard.
Today we went for a walk and got some excercise. We went shopping at a store but it is so difficult to read the tags that we didn't buy anything. We are having to shop and find some cooler clothing for us. It is 90degrees in the rooms at the orphanage and we sweat terrible when we are there so we are going to look for short sleeves. We walk around with out a jacket and the Russians are still bundling up as if it was cold and it's in the upper 60's.
I'll post more tomorrow and hopefully all goes well with Mason.

Hello to everyone. Marty and I arrived in Moscow on Saturday and stayed for about 6 hours in which we got a hotel just to sleep. We then flew out to Krasnoyarsk that same night and arrived at about 6:00am Sunday. Monday morning we went to see Mason for the 1st time and it was devestating. He cried when they left him with us and it took a few minutes to get him to stop. I was able to hold him and once I did he would not let me put him down. He held a ball up to his face to prevent him from having to look at Marty. Marty was just heart broken. Mason would not let him look, touch or say anything to him with out crying. We were finally able to get him to stop by feeding him rice crispy treats, we couldn't feed it fast enough and he just keep it in his mouth. Before we knew it the 2 hours were up and they came to get him and he lept out of my arms. Hopefully all will go better when we see him on Wednesday. Today we had court and all the stress we were putting ourselves through was unneccessary. The judge made it final after about 45 minutes of questions. Marty had to answer for the most part, which I was thankful for, and I finished us up. After a short recess the judge announced us as parents of Mason James Paul Peck. It was a very happy moment. Tonight we will celebrate with another couple that also had court with us.
I'll continue to keep in touch and hopefully I'm able to start including pictures soon.