( education / news / rss )
Shocking eyewitness footage captured during this past weekends unrest in Portland shows a Black Lives Matter protester, who claimed to be disabled, wishing death on police officers and their families. Read Full Article at RT.com
... read more
( education / news / rss ) 'Space, horizon and plenty to do were the criteria for our family holiday,' writes Ticky Hedley-Dent. 'So, rather than heading to overheated beaches in southern Europe we settled on the ... read more
( education / news / rss ) Even when the patient is unconscious and close to death, they still have their sense of hearing and can hear what their loved ones are saying to ... read more
( education / news / rss ) Experts from a Florida reptile sanctuary were summoned to the home of a family who found a baby alligator swimming around their backyard ... read more
( education / news / rss )
Sheikh Waseem Bari, a regional leader of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis BJP party, has been shot dead in the disputed land of Kashmir. Baris brother and father were also gunned down, with police blaming terrorists. Read Full ... read more
( education / travel / rss ) The Mail on Sunday's Sarah Oliver went on a family fitness holiday toQuinta do Lago in Portugal. She stayed atFour Seasons Fairways and joined its 'Active Living Week' ... read more
( education / news / rss ) Do you own multiple gadgets or have teenagers starting college or university? If so you'll probably need to extra software such as Microsoft Word to help them with their ... read more
( education / news / rss ) A large alligator with two missing limbs has a new home at a reptile rescue after it showed up on a Florida family's front ... read more
( education / news / rss ) A family out fishing in a boat on a Wisconsin lake ended up coming to the rescue of a bear swimming with a plastic jug stuck over its ... read more
( education / news / rss ) Awareness Junkie When you are on the lookout for the right dentist for your family, you have a few things that will need to be taken into consideration. Aside ... read more
( family / pets / advice ) See how to get rid of dog urine smell for details, but it's basically hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda, sodium bicarbonate, and lemon. ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Went hiking with my daughter, Elizabeth, yesterday evening. There's a nice little park in Thompson's Station with fairly extensive walking trails on the south end of the park, near the water tower.
We saw an owl, so, with her new birthday-gift SLR camera in hand, Elizabeth shushed and gestured for me to stop while she took pictures. She... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) continued from Hiking with ElizabethThe scariest part was when we stopped. Then he stopped. I had my phone in hand, looking at the map. There was a tense moment until he smiled and said, Y'all lost?Just trying to find our way back to the parking lot, I said. He walked o... read more
( family / holmes ) A few words about my Dad01-06-17father'sday.jpgI tried to come up with the best word to fill in the blank in the following sentence: He was the most ----- man I have ever known. He was certainly the finest, hands-down, bar none. Most fair-minded, too. With se... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Preparing to take Elizabeth to a skating party, I said, Here, take some money. Go ask your mom for more. I thought I had at least a $10, but only had $6. When she returned I asked how much she had now.
Forty-six dollars.
What?! Yeah, I'll need most of that back. ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Me (folding clothes): I need some of your hangers.
Elizabeth: Here you go.
Me: Wow, a variety of hanger types, thanks.
Elizabeth: Well, I am diverse!.
Her friends are diverse, actually, but it's an inside joke with us about her overbearingly liberal school whose biggest source of pride is its "diversity."
... read more
( family / holidays / christmas / holmes ) With wife playing Christmas music this morning (as soon as is socially acceptable), it put me in the mood for this: Christian melodic death metal. Something for Mr. Hap... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) I was explaining to my 9 year old daughter what networking is, and that I'm not very good at it. She said, That's because a lot of people judge you by your looks. And you're not ...
You trying to say I'm ugly?
I don't think so, she said, but other people do, yeah.
Don't you just love kids?... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) It was father-daughter day (for me, my brother, nephew and our daughters) at NorthStar ski resort in Lake Tahoe. See vimeo.com/122485652... read more
( family / holidays ) I'm just writing this post to get something new on the blog. :)
We drove up to be with my wife's side of the family today for Father's Day. An extra special treat upon returning home was to discover that our 8-year-old, Elizabeth, had decided to trim her hair — to give herself bangs — on the drive home. (Similar to her... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) ( vacation )holiday-world.jpgI rode a rollercoaster for the first time in I don't know how long. It was a blast! The Raven has been voted most awesome... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) holiday-world.jpgI rode a rollercoaster for the first time in I don't know how long. It was a blast! The Raven has been voted most awesome or whatever wooden coaster several times in the past ten years. Th ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Elizabeth received a birthday card from Grandpa today with $20 inside! She said, I love your dad! Tell him thank you very much! Your dad is rich! I wouldn't have thought such an old old person would have so much money!... read more
( family / holmes ) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Old SacramentoOnce Bijou and her people hooked up with Elizabeth and her people, our first stop was a candy sto... read more
( family / holmes ) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
The ZooThe next morning, I was up before Elizabeth. I couldn't wait for her to wake up, so I snuck downstairs f ... read more
( family / holmes ) Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Going to CaliforniaA couple weeks ago for my Dad's 94th birthday, I brought my (almost) 8-year-old dau... read more
( family / pets ) Contentment is lying in bed, social networking on my laptop, listening to my wife and daughter fight/tease each other in the other room, while I've got the cat cuddled up on my left and two out of three pugs cuddled up on my right.... read more
( family / pets ) UPDATE: Franklin has been adopted!
Our daughter was sad to see him go, but he's now in a good home. And they're close to us, so Elizabeth might get to visit sometimes. ... read more
( family / pets ) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2190086/Cat-parasite-worms-humans-brains-drive-victims-suicide.html
From: diankat
The answer is yes, but not through parasite worms. Mostly through ... read more
( family / pets ) Chandler's a good dog. He's been through a lot in this life and will probably never fully recover. Never fully trust anyone again. I know the feeling. Maybe that's what we have in common. Whatever it is, I just love the heck out of that dog.And now he's getting old, like me. Blind in one eye. Mostly blind, anyway. Losing his hear... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) After catching a cricket and putting it into her bug cage (yes, she has a bug cage), my six-year-old daughter Elizabeth asked, Can you ... um ... look on the Internet and see what crickets eat? I just laughed and said, Yes, I can actually do that. So, excuse me while I go do that. And here's the link: ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) This could get expensive coming here on a regular basis at $9-$10 every time, but Tara had a coupon that made it half price. We're at the new one in Brentwood/Cool Springs. Much better than the one north of town near Rivergate. Much more professional-looking. For one thing, all the bouncy... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Tara had a busy day off. Her basic schedule consisted of: 1) taking our pug Chandler back to the vet (for the fifth or sixth time the past month) to check on his ulcerated cornea; 2) awaiting delivery of our new used clothes washer; and, 3) picking up Elizabeth from school. U ... read more
( family / pets ) I spent all day today wondering how I was going to tell our 5-year-old that our cat, Sunny, was no longer with us.Literally.After being awakened last night at 2:30 a.m. by the sound of a VERY close coyote, and then not finding Sunny asleep somewhere in the house later that morning — and she's ALWAYS sleeping it off by that time &mda... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Elizabeth, 5, came up with the following play just as we were finishing dinner the other day. Dinner theater, if you will. :) We were in Sacramento visiting my Dad, joined by my brother Greg and his wife June.
MOM (Tara): Where is the prince? There he is. Will he join me for dinner?
DAD (Bill): Will my mother stop making me work al... read more
( family / pets ) by Jinx
Good news from best friends Julie and Bert in Las Vegas. One of their cats, Tobie, went missing this past January. He was an indoor/outdoor cat and one day just disappeared. Needless to say, they were heartbroken and spent many hours/days posting fliers, contacting neighbors and shelters, etc. Nothing. But no one gave up hope.
Last night, ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) As Elizabeth likes to say, she and I were hanging out today while Tara had a girls' day out with Ronica. I think Tara's was a belated birthday thing. Hers was on the 10th. Anyway, once Ronica finally called — after Tara had started to worry — I was left alone with Elizabeth.
We went to the ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) My wife Tara has written up our adoption story in response to that
woman (living not too far from here, unfortunately) who returned that
boy to Russia a couple weeks ago.Here's the local link (ourrussianadoptionstory), and here's the original link (... read more
( family / adoption ) Please sign the petition (at the bottom of this post) in favor of Russian adoption. I did. My wife and I adopted from Russia in 2007. You can watch the videos here and here.Of course it has been difficult at times — she's a child... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) You will not believe what I've been through! :) Okay, maybe it's not been that bad. You single parents out there are laughing at me, I'm sure. But I went an entire week taking care of Elizabeth, our 4 year old, while Tara not only had to work all week, but also came down with a cold. So, I've had to start her baths — ... read more
( family / animals / pets ) Eleven Rottweiler puppiesrottweiler-puppies.jpgHelp her come up with names starting with the letter B by leaving comments below! comments closedSee NightShadowRottweilers.com for more details.... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) I can't believe I made it. Of course, it's not over yet. It's only dinner time. It's been a LONG day. I'm at McDonald's as I write this. I tried to get online with their free wi-fi, but you have to have an account already before you can use it. Now I know. For some ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) In the twenty minutes that Tara and I left Elizabeth alone, she found some (child-safe) scissors and cut off all her hair. At first I thought it was just wet. Then I realized she'd cut it all off. I laughed and said I was just glad she hadn't hurt herself.
A few seconds later, Tara came into the room and I told her what Elizabeth had ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) elizabeth.jpgWe had a list of stops to make. First came Ace Hardware for a clothes line and a no-pest-strip. Elizabeth had rediscovered her Barbie electric guitar earlier that day and brought it with her on this trip. She want... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) The other day at the house, we had this conversation:Elizabeth: This is my house.
Bill: Your house? I thought it was my and mom's house.
Elizabeth: No. It's mine. I'm sharing it with you.
Tara and I cracked up.... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) It's this Sunday! Just FYI if you want to send an email or call or whatever.We should have pictures up here from tomorrow's party at Chuck E. Cheese's.... read more
( family / holmes / bill / internet ) Tara's Favorites- Tara's got a new blog! It's called Tara's Favorites, available at http://tarasfaves.com or ... read more
( family / pets ) It's something I do every night. I actually stopped for several months starting in May, I guess, when my back problems flared up. Then came my knee surgery, which kept me from walking much. Then I got to where I enjoyed not having to walk the dogs every freakin' night of my life. :) But then they started doing their business in the house ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) The links to both 1 and 2 are here. Part 1 has been updated slightly, in case you want to watch it again. Part 2 might be updated eventually, too, if more pictures come in. Here are the links: Part 1 ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes / videos ) OK, so it took a year, but here they are, finally:
Part 1 Part 2
You'll see all of our videos of Elizabeth, including the updated versions of these, on the right. ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Tara, Elizabeth and I just returned from a trip to California. Ostensibly, we went for my nephew Thomas's wedding (to bride Heather at Lake Tahoe), but it was also a convenient excuse to let everyone on my side of the family, especially her Grandma and Grandpa, finally meet Elizabeth. No offense to Thomas and Heather!
Tara's si... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) I delegated the responsibility of reading Elizabeth her bedtime story :) By the way, she slept great! I put her to bed at 8:15 and she was asleep by 8:30. We woke up at 8:00 this morning. — Ronica ... read more
( family / pets / horse ) We have started our non-profit organization in Cottonwood. Harmony Haven Therapy Riding and Horse Rescue. We will add you to our mailing list if you want updates (we now have 3 horses for our riders). Hope to hear from everyone.
— Jeannie, 2008
Click below to see how much they've changed since this original post! ... read more
( family / holmes ) Yeah, Kristen graduated tonight from Christian Brothers High. The ceremony was at Memorial Auditorium. Attached is a picture of her, Dad, and me. — Steve
... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Well, Elizabeth's birthday party is this Saturday. She'll be 3, and it'll be her first real party. It'll be outside at a covered table next to a playground in a nearby park. I can't tell you here on the Internet exactly where this park is because you might be a murderer or child molester. You know who you are.Anyway, let's hope it's better w... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Elizabeth spent her first official full day at daycare yesterday. The teacher went on and on about how wonderful and good and helpful she was. I say first official day because Tara took her to a free trial day last week. Daycare is probably a lot like the orphanage, which is why she flouris... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Tara took Elizabeth to the international adoption specialist doctors today for a psychological evaluation and another physical exam. They say she is perfectly average/normal for a girl her age. Of course, that puts her well above average for a foreign orphan. We think she's better than any other girl her age, but we might be biased.... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) I can't believe how nice my coworkers at Franklin are. On Friday, they had a luncheon at work for Elizabeth and Tara. They invited me, too. :)
Great food, several gifts, and the biggest surprise: a money tree. Tara and I were speechless at that. It's not like my coworkers have any more
spare money than we do. Don't worry, we'l... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) I just thought I'd mention that Elizabeth is settling into her new life pretty well. Tara is her full-time parent, I just appear after work and on weekends. :) Even then, it's Tara who does most of the work.
Elizabeth's biggest hurdle so far has been getting used to our pets, three pugs and a cat. She's ALMOST completely used to the pugs by now ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) To sum it all up: We love our daughter. Elizabeth is a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent little girl. We thank Russia for giving her to us. Otherwise, we did not enjoy Russia.In their defense, we weren't there under normal circumstances. It was not a vacation. We felt under pressure and stressed-out as we spent most of our time dealing with ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I hope to get the rest of the photos and videos on here, at least in raw form, over the next few days. I think I'm getting over my post traumatic stress disorder from the trip and can now face looking at the video again. :)
Regarding Comments, I had to set those to require approval before showing up on the site because spammers have disc... read more
( family / adoption / holmes / travel ) Some pictures as we arrived in the airport. There was a great welcoming party there! We've never had an airport welcoming party before!
ed4b1fc71f0700e1558e24bc25695457.jpg altairport1.jpg width128 ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Finally, some pictures of Elizabeth. They're not even the latest, but it should hold you over if you've never seen her before.
... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) All three of us went to Red Square this time. I'm glad Tara was able to see it. Elizabeth was fascinated, too, but probably won't remember a thing.We then had lunch at Sbarro in the ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We're going to attempt to ride the Metro subway to Red Square today. Wish us luck. The exits aren't numbered, they are listed by name ... in Cyrillic. Of course, the overhead announcements are in Russian. One helpful thing is that the announcements are in a male voice if you're ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We're in a different hotel, the Holiday Inn - Moscow Sokolniki, for the rest of our stay. This is the one that was originally reserved for our return from Astrakhan. It has a reliable internet connection, costs less per night than yesterday's, ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Our last stop before the airport on the magical mystery tour is the US Embassy. They will make Elizabeth a US citizen and a registered Republic ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) ... but at least it's all over. The Embassy visit went fine.
Delta said that the only way we could take the available seats on earlier flights was to pay $2800 extra FOR EACH ticket. We said no. Unless someone wants to donate that to us, then we'll call them back. :) As it is, we can't leav ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We're in Moscow.
Bill already summarized our trip here. I do believe that I am fully initiated into the sisterhood of Mothers. I have changed an exploding poopy diaper in an airplane bathroom, with turbulence! I'll spare you all details, but lets just say, I will be burning our clothes from that trip.
Internet access is very expensive in ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I went ahead and paid for the 24-hour internet connection from the room. It wasn't even double the cost of one hour. I also swapped out the flaky cable and that seems to have fixed the connection problem. Wrong. I had to call the techs back to fix it. The hotel sure did send up some techs quickly to check it out. Tara and Elizabeth a... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) ... maybe less! That cheers me up. That's assuming everything goes as planned ... and it WILL. I believe in positive thinking (when I'm desperate, anyway, because it leads to positive actions, which lead to positive results, or at least your chances are better). I don't always practice it, but I try. It doesn't always work, but it n... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Tonight is our last night in Astrakhan. So, I thought I'd post some pictures of where we've been living for the past 19 days.We've had many battles over clothing. She thinks I put too much clothes on her. In the hotel room, she wears her thermals. But, she loves her boots. So, she often walks around in her thermals with her snow boots. Ronica to ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) That's how long before we leave Astrakhan for Moscow. Not that we're counting or anything. The bad thing about these in-country flights is that they don't use jetways, those expandable tubes that protect you from the weather as you get on and off the plane. You are out there exposed on the tarmac, which is no fun in bad weather.
Once in Mos ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Everyone is wanting an update! Well, we're parents of a two-year-old now. No time for updates!
She is keeping us busy. Her favorite things to do are: play in the sink, play in the tub, and play in the toilet. She is a waterbaby! One of the things we were warned about an adopted child from an orphanage was that they may hate baths and it wou... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I slept on the floor most of last night. It's a little after 7 a.m. here. Elizabeth refuses to sleep in her crib, even though we're told that's what she slept in at the orphanage. So, she sleeps with us in our bed. That bed is barely big enough for just me and Tara. Anyway, Elizabeth can go to sleep in the bed, but whenever she wakes up ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) She's just driving us crazy. Luckily, Tara is taking the brunt of it. I had to get out and walk around town in the freezing cold, just for the sake of getting out. I was at least useful, coming back with some groceries.
Elizabeth's sweet as can be and very playful most of the time, but she turns on a dime. The main problem is just keeping her e ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I like a headline that demands attention!It's official, I'm a parent. Elizabeth had her first bowel movement since we've had her, and it was on my watch! Tara was unable to put Elizabeth down for a nap while I was out walking around town looking for groceries and sundry items. Once I returned, Tara decided to take a nap hers ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Here are some photos from today of the hotel and the closest major street to us. We didn't get very far on our walk because it was too cold.
azimut-front.jpg altAzimut Hotel front width... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Oh my gosh! She's a handful!
Well, we left the orphanage without much incident. She told the orphanage staff that she wanted to leave in the car. But, she refused to let me or Bill hold her hand or touch her other than put her snowsuit and boots on. The orphanage director walked her out and then Vika, our interpreter took her from there. Sh... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We have her in the hotel now. I tried typing that sentence earlier but she shut the computer down as I was typing! I don't know how. But just a few keystrokes and it was shutting down. Now she keeps trying to run away from Tara down the hall. So far, she hasn't cried, just the occasional I don't want to do that sound that kids make. She's so grea... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) ...from several days ago, the morning of our court appearance. Taken by the other adoptive family in town for their first trip, the Mees.
... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We visited Elizabeth again today. We caught her when she was in the music room with all the other kids in her age group. She smiled wide when she saw us, but by the time she reached us, she tried to keep it cool. Like, Oh, it's you. I thought you were somebody else. Just kidding about that quote. I hope I'm kidding. :) After th... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We had her laughing, smiling and giggling today. I pushed her around on the three-wheeler, then flew her around the room. She even let us chase her around, and it didn't scare her when I chased her! She seemed more comfortable with Tara than she was with me today, so that's good. They can do girlie things together, you know. I forgot ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) That's all I wanted to say. :)We had a shortened visit with Elizabeth today because we had to first stop by the pharmacy and get some Ben-Gay and ibuprofen for my sore neck. Ben-Gay actually sounds (and smells) the same in Russian, it just looks funny on the box. Then when we got to the orphanage... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Tara made a good guess earlier. She thinks that the orphanage caretakers are telling Elizabeth that we will be taking her away from the orphange soon. They think they're doing us a favor, trying to prepare her. But now, every time that we come to visit and they leave the room, she freaks out because she thinks it's happening no... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) The time stamp on these blog posts are in US Central Time, not Russia time. It's 6am Sunday morning here.
We had lunch the other day with Nancy, Joel, Vika and Liena at a Western-themed restaurant called The Horseshoe down the street from the hotel. I ordered some sort of goulash and a salad that Vika said was a traditional Russian dish. I ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Well, we're much more relaxed now that we've gotten past the court appearance. The problem now is getting Elizabeth to like us again. Today, she cried for the first time. She let me hold her, but my Russian words were not much consolation. She calmed down once our interpreter Liena returned to the room. Liena then commented that she was sor ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) ... in the freezing cold, because we were THAT bored. I'm starting to hate this place. There's just nothing to do when we're not visiting Elizabeth or going shopping. And both of those require a driver, and usually a translator. I can't wait until we're out of here, but we've got two weeks to go. I'll see if I can't download stuff from YouTube or s ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Elizabeth (a.k.a. Masha) was much happier today. We were told that the orphanage caretakers probably were not telling her that we would be taking her away, but who knows? She let me fly her around the room again, which made her laugh. We played piano. Yesterday, she wanted up on my lap to play piano, but she batted my hand a ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) As you probably read below in Tara's post, our court appearance went very well. Ten days from now we will officially be the proud parents of Elizabeth! And now Vika tells us that we get to visit her not just a few times, but every day except Sunday. I don't know what Elizabeth has on her schedule for Sundays, but apparently she's busy. ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We leave in an hour for Court. I just got back from breakfast. Tara did not join me because she can't eat, she's so nervous. Gotta go get dressed. Wish us luck! ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Oh ... my ... God. Do not EVER lose that document they have you fill out on the plane before you land! Stapling it to your forehead would be less painful than what Galina, Liena and I went through today. Vika was tending to the other couple, Nancy and Joel today. Anyway, we just spent ALL afternoon standing and sitting in line at the Immigration de... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I've taken a job here as a Russian adoption consultant. The hours are long, and the pay is in barter, but you gotta do what you gotta do, seein' as how I can't leave the country. :)
But seriously, the Children's Hope office in Brentwood, TN has an opening for such a job. T ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I set this blog so that you can now add your comments anonymously without logging in. So, comment away! I was afraid that the requirement for a login was keeping people from participating. Now you can go crazy because you're anonymous. Just watch your language! Elizabeth is reading this, too ... some day. :) Email me if you have a problem using ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) She's ours!It's official! Elizabeth is ours. The court hearing went very smooth. It took about an hour and a half. There was a judge, prosecutor, a rep from the Child protective services, and the Minister of Education. They had a lot of questions about our parenting style, our finances and guardianship of her in the event of both our dea... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We made it to Astrakhan, but I've lost my immigration form that goes with the passport and visa. It's just a little sheet that they have you fill out on the airplane before you land. If I'd known it was so important, I would have stapled it into the passport instead of just sliding it in there. It's not the end of the world, but I c... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Sunday, November 25, 2007, 5:00pm CST
We're in the air on our way back to Moscow. Delta Flight 46. The current in-flight movie is Evan Almighty, which we saw on one of our other flights to or from Moscow last time. You know, when you jet back and forth like we do, you forget exactly whi ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Time flies when you lose nine hours. We fly to Astrakhan this afternoon. This morning, we'll be having the free breakfast that the hotel offers. Then we'll exchange our dollars for rubles (before the dollar devalues even more). I could've done that yesterday, but I ... just ... didn't ... feel like it. :)
They don't get a ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We made it. The flight was horrible. I think I slept about 30 seconds out of the 11 hour flight. It was not a full flight, and half the people around us were able to take up two or three seats, but we weren't quick enough. The other movie on the flight was Next, with Nicholas Cage and Julianne Moore. It's about a guy who can see two minut ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) You probably guessed what that means: We are going to the aiport this morning. It's probably not grammatically correct, but I ain't got no time for linguistic correctitude. :)
Unlike last time when the cat kept waking me up, this time I was able to get a good night's sleep. I was up at 5:30, but I got a good seven hours. It helped t ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I'm wondering about internet access now that we've tentatively planned to stay in a weekly apartment in Astrakhan instead of the hotel the entire time. We'll probably want/need that internet access for the sake of something to do. Normally, we could go sightseeing, but when it's below-freezing outside, that doesn't sound fun. An ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Translation: We'll be there soon. This time next week, actually.
I really want to be able to communicate with our daughter Elizabeth when we get there. I've been playing ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We've received our court date. We're haggling with the airlines now. One round-trip ticket for one adult costs a little over $800. One one-way ticket for our daughter's flight home with us costs $1,600!! I suggested just buying our daughter a round-trip ticket (which would be only $900) and not using the return portion of it, but Tara ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We're in the Atlanta airport now! Good to be on US soil, except that they keep mentioning George Bush (... as in the Houston Airport). :) It's 1:45a.m. Moscow time right now (5:45p.m. EDT), but I'm not tired. I'm anxious to catch the flight to Nashville. Customs and security here in Atlanta is sooo much smoother than Russia, thoug ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) OK, now we're home! I'll try and do a trip summary tomorrow after a good night's sleep ... in my own bed. Tara says she feels like Dorothy, There's no place like home! ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We're feeling closer and closer to our child, especially after today. And I think we passed the test of having the psychologist there, observing. She was pretty cool, actually. She didn't stay the entire visit. I think she could see that Tara, the child and I are all getting along well. She'll be observing again tomorrow, but we'r ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) First things first: Our little girl is warming up to Tara. She gave her a kiss yesterday, I think without even being asked.
Now, for some more random thoughts:
Before I forget to mention it, I need to tell you what happened Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday. My whole sense of time is pretty messed up. Anyway, it was a momentous day. Yeah, yea ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We'll be leaving in a few minutes for our last visit to the orphanage this trip. I'm practicing asking for my baggage back from the hotel baggage room. Baggage actually sounds like boggage. Please is pa-ZHAL-sta. Fascinating, I know. I thought about getting a parting video shot of the lobby as we sit here waiting for our ride. But then ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We just got back from today's first visit with the child (we're not supposed to mention her name online). We'll be going back this afternoon. In the meantime, Tara's trying to catch up on her sleep. She had woken up around 5 this morning. I was able to sleep until almost 8.
The girl (hopefully soon to be known as our ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) I'm attaching pictures we made of Astrakhan and our room.
We are staying at the Hotel Azimut in Astrakhan. They are going through major renovations right now. It's kind of funny to see the interior design mix. The lobby is decorated in Art Deco while the rooms are decorated in traditional Russian decor like lace curtains, handblown gl ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We had a great visit with our little girl this morning. There were no observers. That happens this afternoon. Vika had mentioned that we should think about showing more affection in front of the observers. It's more in line with how Russians treat their kids. We're fine with that. We like kids so much, we flew half way around the world to h ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Oh My Gosh what a difference 1 day makes! So, we have a beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed, 2 1/2 year old girl!
First, the obvious question: What happened to the 4 year old boy? We don't know. After 2 trips to the Minister of Education, and two interviews, they gave us a referral for this girl. It's been so difficult getting to this p ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Where to begin...
The original plan was for us to go to the Minister of Education and submit our dossier and then formally receive our referral. What really happened:Galina called the ministry this morning only to find out that they were closed in the morning supposedly because there had been a death within the ministry (I'm assumi ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Just some random notes this morning
There's a real stray dog problem in Russian cities; or, at least Moscow and Astrakhan. A lot of people even apparently let their dogs run loose. They're almost all large dogs. The small ones don't survive.
There's a real man purse problem, too. Many men have what amounts to ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) After a nerve-wracking trip to the airport and getting through the airport security we finally made it to our plane. We were told that our Rep, Galina, would be flying with us. We never saw her until we were already on the plane. She was one of the last passengers on the plane, she saw us and gestured to Bill. He figured it was Galina. Her seat was... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We check out in an hour. We got a nice free breakfast this morning. We then went back to that grocery store and managed to pay the right amount for the right kind of water (not sparkling, which is hard to find). Security guard work is apparently a large part of the workforce here, because every single business establishment we've been to has ha... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Monday - 1 Oct 07 - 6:37PM
zzzDRAHST-vueet-ya, DRAHST-ya, BREEV-yet ee DO-bree-dyen from Astrakhan! I just (phonetically) said Hello, hey, hi and good afternoon (even though it's now evening here) in Russian. I couldn't remember how to say evening.
We visited the Ministry of Education today, the people who decide who lives and dies,... read more
( family / adoption / holmes / travel ) Well, we made it to Moscow!After a long plane trip, we managed to get through passport control and customs with no problems. And all of our luggage made it!Our CHI Rep and driver were late getting to the airport and we were worried, but they did eventually show up. We got our first taste of traffic, and let me go on record to say — I wi ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We'll be spending the night in Moscow, after all, and flying down to Astrakhan tomorrow afternoon.
I was stressed out without an internet or even a usable power connection. But I'm obviously connected now. I had the power converters, but not the three-prong-to-two-prong adapter that I have plenty of at home.
We ran into another ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) 28 Sept - 3:55pm CDT — We're in the air on our way to Moscow. A little bit of good news is that it's only a 10 hour flight instead of 12 as we had thought. ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Sounds like a movie title. Anyway, it's Thursday morning. Grey's Anatomy season premier tonight. Tara says woo-h ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) We fly out today. It would've been nice to have gotten one last good night's sleep, but the cat made sure that didn't happen. Stupid cat. Anyone want one? Seriously. She's very pretty; and sweet when she's not keeping you from sleeping. I'll miss the pugs while we're gone, but if one of our pet sitters happens to lose ... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Tuesday morning. Everyone's still asleep except for me, the pug Joey and the cat Sunny. I'm trying to reacquaint myself with the digital cameras, video and still. I would've put Joey's and Sunny's pictures here, but the camera is connected to Tara's computer, which is off, and I don't feel like waiting for it to come on. ... read more
( family / holmes ) Eleanor's back surgery a success!
"Everyone warned me against back surgery," she says. "But, I'd be in a wheelchair now if I hadn't had surgery!"
... read more
( family / genealogy / holmes ) Lionel Rocha Holmes Memorial DNA Fund
Lionel Rocha Holmes (1919-2017) was an important part of the Sacramento, CA Portuguese community.
He was one of the founders of the Portuguese Historical & Cultural Society (PHCS), a former PHCS president, former Ca... read more
( family / holmes / bill ) Bill and Tara's excellent adventuremyca.jpgIt started out as an innocent attempt at "dinner and a movie" on a Saturday night. It turned into... Tara's nightmare! Okay, maybe it wasn'... read more
( family / genealogy / holmes ) ( , , )Got my genealogy DNA test results back. I have bits from all over the world:
1% E.Central Africa (what!?)
1% Native American (Chile)
5% Middle Eastern (what!?)
91% Europe (Portuguese, Hungarian, Slovak and German)
Tha ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Elizabeth and I went down to the creek this cold fall morning. With all the recent rain, Indian and Mill Creeks both had a lot of rushing water. We walked along the edge of Mill Creek. Usually, we stick to the closer India... read more
( family / adoption / holmes ) Our Russian adoption story With the recent headline news about the Russian adoption that went very very wrong, I have been asked by many friends and family about my opinion of the situation. I've not been able to really articulate my feelings about it, but I do have a ... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) Elizabeth's directorial debut. A probing, provocative, sometimes introspective look at a typical weekend around the house with Mama and Papa and the pugs.
... read more
( family / holmes / elizabeth ) e-with-chandler-300x263.jpgWe had a scare a couple of Wednesdays back with Elizabeth. She was at pre-school/daycare when she tripped and fell head-first onto the pavement outside as everyone was told to get in line to go back inside. W... read more
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