We're in Russia!

We have arrived in Russia. It was a long trip. Charles was able to fall asleep on the plane. I had a much harder time. We had a nap at our hotel then had an early dinner at a little Italian restuarant.

It is extremely cold here! They have snow everywhere! It's supposed to snow while we are here this week.

Last night while walking to dinner, Charles and I wore our matching Sorel snow boots. We past a lady walking with her child and she stared at our matching boots and laughed out loud at us. Oh well, our feet were very warm, I bet her feet were cold.

We are supposed to be sleeping right now, it's twelve o'clock and we are both up. Charles is working on emails.

Tomorrow is a big day for us. Keep us in your prayers. God is watching over us every step of the way. He knows exactly what's going to happen next for our family. As matter of fact, He knew even before we were born. He's in total control. What a wonderful feeling.

A Little Girl Might be Available!

We received an email from Anna on Dec 23rd.  They have a little girl that might be available for adopiton.  As of right now, she is still available for domestic adoption thru Jan 18th.  On Jan 18th, if she is not adopted locally, we will receive an invitation to go to Russia .  We did not recieve any other information on her age, health or anything else.  We are rushing to get our visas.  If she is still available on Jan. 18th, then we will travel to Russia on Sunday, Jan 23rd through Saturday, Jan 29th.

Gracie is very excited.  She especially can't wait for her grandparents to come and take care of her. 

Paperwork....paperwork!!

The other day we were told that we needed to update our home study by basically starting all over again.  I was extremely frustrated, but willing to do what we needed to do.  Then last night we found out that we only need to do an addendum to the home study.....hip hip hooray!!!!  This will go faster and cost less...yeah!  We still have lots of paperwork to put together before the court date.....but it's a managable list.

Last night we put together the crib in the nursery!  It was very exciting.  Gracie loved to see that her sister is going to use her crib.  The room is starting to come together.  It's real exciting.

We're still thinking about names.  Gracie comes up with some real sweet ones.  I'm so glad she is so excited.

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.