Hi from Moscow

We are here in Moscow at the airport wasting time before our next flight to Magadan. We have a 10 hour layover and have about 3 hours left. We will be heading to the gate soon.

We actually go some sleep on the plane and took some cat naps in the airport. We are more relaxed this trip because we know the lay of the land.

We get into Magaday at 12:35 Monday afternoon and will see Ella. We can't wait. I bet she has changed in the last 10 weeks.

I will post in a few days- probably from Moscow.

The Room is Ready!

I am really happy with how it turned out. Here are the after pictures! If you want to see larger images just double click on them.

COURT DATE!

We got our court date on Wednesday - September 30th!!!!!

It has been a busy week trying to get things ready at work for when I take leave and all the planning and paperwork associated with the trip.

We have our flights. We will leave Saturday September 26th in the morning and get to Magadan on Monday afternoon the 28th. We will be in Magadan until Saturday. Once court is done we have to process Ella's documents (passport, birth certificate etc.) so that takes a couple days.

We arrive in Moscow on Saturday. We will be doing business on Monday and Tuesday. Ella will have to have a physical before the US Embassy will issue her visa. We also have to register her at the Russian Consulate.

There will be some free time this trip unlike our first trip which was mainly travel. We are looking forward to seeing Moscow.

Ella's room is almost done. My mom and I are putting the finishing touches on this weekend. I'll post after pictures soon.

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.