We're Back Home!

Wow....what at long flight home!  I thought we were never going to get home.  We were up for 24 hours straight!  We were exhausted last night.  But we were so excited to see Gracie.  I gave her the biggest hug and kisses!  She did a great job while we were out of town.  My mom and dad were amazing with her.

Last night Gracie could not stop talking about her sister.  She said she is going to teach her how to walk and talk.  And she is even going to teach her how to jump in the deep end of the pool!!!  The last three days of school, she has taken new pictures of her sister to show everyone at school.  She is so proud.

Life is GREAT!  God has blessed us in so many ways.  We are so very thankful. 

Today, Charles flies to India....yes....India!!!  Bless his heart.  He has two 9 hours flights.  His poor body is going be a mess.  His mind is going to have no idea what time it is.  He is a trooper.  He could have taken a flight from Russia to India, but he wanted to share the moments with me on the flight back and also see Gracie's face when she talked about her new sister.  He is the GREATEST!!!!

Well, we are not sure when we get to return to Russia.  We have two more trips to Moscow before we get to bring her home.  But our translator told us it could be July or September.  In the meantime, we are going to get our house ready for a baby.  Cribs, high chairs, changing table....etc.  Wow...I have my work cut out for me!!!

Thanks again for everyone's thoughts and prayers.  You all are amazing!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

We just returned from the orphanage. We were able to spend about two hours with her. She was so sweet. Bless her heart she has a little cold, but she still enjoyed our time together. We are very excited. We signed the papers to officially adopt her.


This morning Charles looked on the computer for a toy store so we could bring something age appropriate for her to play with. But unfortunately we were never able to find the store. We walked over six blocks in the pouring rain. Our pants and shoes were completely soaked. Then our driver picked us up and took us to a toy store beside the orphanage. So thank goodness, because we had something to give her. She actually loved the box the most! Ha!

Now we have to decide on her name. Luckily we have a little time to think about it.

This trip has been very organized. Our translator and driver have been so nice. Our agency has done a fantastic job getting everything ready for our journey here. We have so many people to thank.

Tomorrow we fly home. Yeah! Ten hours of flying....I can't wait!

It's A Girl!

We met her today!!!  It was a surprise.  We registered for a 3 or 4 year old, but they introduced us to a beautiful little blue eyed girl that is only 12 months old!!! 

The meeting with the Ministry of Education was short, but stressful.  They asked a few questions about us and why we wanted to adopt from Russia.  They were interested in me being a preschool teacher (Charles said they smiled when I told them that I work with 2 and 3 year olds.)  Then Charles did an excellent job answering the why we want to adopt question.  Granted he was sweating bullets...really!  Then they handed over a sheet of paper with a black and white picture of a small little girl.  At first we thought she was only 6 months old.  Then they told us all about her.

Next we took a long ride through lots of traffic (Atlanta has no idea what real traffic is...this is unbelievable here.)  They brought her out all dressed up, she even had on a bonnet!  We played with her and the doctor examined her and gave her a great report.  The funny thing is we brought big girl toys...so we had nothing to give her.  She loved the photo album of our family. 

We just called and told Gracie all about her.  Gracie had a smile on her face when she saw the picture.  She is looking forward to pushing her in a stroller and being her Big Sister!

We get to go back to the orphanage tomorrow and see her again.  We will take lots of pictures. 

Well...it's 12:00 am here and we are ready for bed.  Talk to you tomorrow.

We Arrived!

We made it to Moscow!  It has been a very long day.  We did a little site seeing.  We visited the Kremlin and Red Square.  Then we meet with the doctor and social worker tonight.  We are extremely tired.  We have only had a few hours sleep in the past two days.   

We get our referral tomorrow and then go to meet her at the orphanage.  It will be a BIG day!

Talk to ya tomorrow.

Our Visas arrived! Yeah!

Fed Ex delivered our Visas this morning!  Now it's official we can travel to Russia.  If our visas did not arrive today, then we would need to postpone our trip.  Hip Hip Hooray...they arrived.

We're all packed.  We put together the photo album that will leave with her. Plus, today we went and picked out some toys to take.  Gracie picked out a sweet little baby doll with a bottle.  Then we picked up some playdough and coloring books.  All the toys we give her will become "community toys" for the orphanage. 

Here's our schedule for the time we are there:

Monday:  Arrive and go to the hotel and rest. Maybe a little site seeing
Tuesday:  Go to the Department of Ministry and see a photo of the "referral"
                Go to the orphanage and meet our little girl
                Meet with the Director and doctor
Wednesday: Go to the orphanage and then in the late afternoon sign papers to adopt
Thursday:  Travel all day.  Arrive in Atlanta at 7:40 pm

Very quick trip.  Wow!

Thank you to everyone for your sweet notes.  They mean the world to me.

Talk to ya later.

"The Call"

Yesterday we got "The Call!"  Our agency called me at my preschool around 9:30ish!  It was amazing.  I couldn't believe it.  She said were were registered and we have an invitation to go to Russia on Sunday!  I said..."SUNDAY!"  Usually families are given two weeks notice to get everything in order.  Oh well....we'll take it!  The next hour was full of phone calls to Charles, our parents, the VISA office, and of course to the airport!  We got our airlines information all worked out.  Luckily were able to use our airline miles.  The flights were about $2000 a piece...wow!   Our Visas are applied for...now we just wait and hope we will recieve them before our flight on Sunday!  Fed Ex is amazing....thank you Fed Ex!

The day was spent sharing the information with Gracie, friends and our church family.  Gracie is excited.  She is doing well with the information of her parents leaving town.  Thank you to everyone for all your love and support.  Your prayers and thoughts are what has gotten us to this point.  God has blessed us in so many ways.  He is the reason and He is how we are going to make through this very emotional journey.  He will give us the grace we need to meet all the new challeneges and joys over the next couple of months.

Today I am working on my super long "To Do" list.  We'll get it all done!  Talk to ya later.

Paperwork in Russia

We heard from our agency that our paperwork is in Russia and is being translated.  The coordinator in Russia is scheduled to go the ministry of Education on May 4th to submit our documents.  Once they review them, then we will be officially registered in Moscow City.  Yeah!