Updates from Russia

We got Ella's new measurements and she has gained 3 pounds in one month! Here head grew 3cm and her height grew 5cm. This is all good news. I told our adoption agency that we need to get back over there before she is all grown up! the notes also said she stands on her own but does not take steps.

We also got word that the official release letter that takes Ella off the databanks in Russia was received. This means that we can file for court on Monday. Hopefully we will get a fast judge who will assign a date quickly.

Ella's room has really just been in the planning stages and I have been gathering things here and there. This is the weekend we paint and put it together. I want to make some curtains too. It is a tall order to get it all done this weekend but I would think it would be feasible in a couple. So, I am posting a before picture and when the room is done I will post an after.

My Amazing Birthday Boy!

You should have heard Connor last night. Darren is putting him to bed and he calls me up there and Connor asks me “How does God hear me? How do I know he hears me when he doesn’t talk back to me and I can’t see him? I ask him to bring my baby sister home but I don’t know if he hears me because she isn’t home.” So I told him that God is everywhere and he hears us and he helps us all the time. I told him how God helped us find him because he knew we were meant to be a family. I said sometimes it takes time for God to make things happen.

So then he said his prayers and at the end he asked God again to bring his baby sister home and he almost started crying. I said “Oh Buddy – God heard you!” I told him that we need to get her room ready first before she gets here. Then he was excited to help paint the room.

Happy Birthday Connor!

Pictures From Trip One

Oh and the name is going to be Ella!

We can't post identifying picture of Ella yet since the adoption is not final. I will say she is a little squirt. Six month clothes fit her perfectly right now. Hopefully she will be into 9 months soon after she is home.

Here she is hugging her dolly.

View of the Magadan and one of the two bays that surround it.

I will post more pictures of Magadan soon.

Back From Trip One Whirl Wind

We just got back home last night at around 11pm. Glad to be home and done with the travel.

It was a successful trip and we have decided to move forward with the adoption. We saw her for about an hour on Thursday afternoon - the day we arrived - and twice on Friday and once on Saturday before we left. On the first day she knew we were strangers but warmed up to me pretty fast - letting me hold her and walk around with her. She was checking out Darren and wasn't too sure about him. The children in the orphanage aren't exposed to men since all their caretakers are women.

We saw her twice on Friday. She did let Darren hold her and was grabbing onto his nose. We were playing a game (saying beep when touching the nose). She was still not quite sure about us but was warming up slowly. Saturday she felt comfortable enough to crawl around the room and play with toys and interact with us. She was smiling and laughing. We brought her a soft doll and she just loves it. She would not let go of it.

Friday she let the caretaker know that she wanted to hold onto the doll so we let her keep it (as we intended to). Saturday, the caretaker pulled out the doll and she giggled and was happy. So hopefully they are letting her play with it. We also left a soft blanket and a disposable camera. Hopefully they will take some pictures while we are gone.

Now, we are ready to get her home. I wish we could have just brought her with us on this trip.

I will post a few picture tomorrow.

Getting Ready to Leave

It has been a hectic preparing for the trip. We have been working on getting all of our paperwork done that is needed for court. We are hoping this may speed up the process a little.

Court is held on the second trip. The second trip is usually around 8 weeks after the first trip. Our particular region (Magadan) waives the 10 day wait period after court. So our second trip will be longer than our first but we won't be gone too long.

So, this weekend will be spent packing and shopping for the trip. We really don't need much but you want to be prepared and have all the OTC medicine available just in case (like pepto, imodium etc...).

Our referral had her 1st birthday on Thursday. It would have been nice to be there. We tried but flights were impossible to get. We were on waiting lists but we finally had to get the tickets.

The countdown has started - 4 days until we hop on an airplane!!

Yes - I am still here - Good News -finally.

I have not posted in sooooo long. I felt like there was nothing positive to post about. I just didn't feel like posting more of the same.

Well...... We have our referral for a 12 month old girl and leave July 21st to meet her! We are really excited and feel there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We will only be in (or above) Russia for 5 days. It will be a marathon of travel. Magadan is basically like another trans-atlantic flight from Moscow. We leave about 2:00pm on Tuesday and arrive in Moscow about noon on Wednesday. We then have about an 8 hour layover until we hop on the plane to Magadan at around 8:00pm. We arrive in Magadan Thursday around noon. We stay 2 nights in Magadan and leave Saturday at about 4:00 pm and get to Moscow 5:00 pm. We stay over-night in Moscow and leave Sunday to arrive back in St. Louis at 7:00pm. Whew! We are trying to get psyched (mentally prepared) for the long travel. I have a feeling adrenaline will keep us going at least until we meet our referral.

Connor will be staying with the Grandparents and is looking forward to it.

Long Time No Post

It has been a while. I think mainly because there hasn't been any news related to our adoption. We are feeling optimistic that we will be getting a referral soon. We are still registered in Magadan. Our agency has told us that we should have a referral the end of April if all goes well.

Time has really been moving slow. I have been researching Magadan. It has a very interesting history. Below is a link.
http://www.myrussland.ru/regions.php?ocd=view&id=48

I also found out that there is a priest from St. Louis at their Catholic Church. Small world! There is a lot of interesting information about the people of Magadan on the site also.

http://www.magadancatholic.org/Main%20pages/English.html

One more tidbit- In June Magadan experiences white nights - the sun doesn't set. It is really on top of the world!