Here are some pics

Best Visit Yet!

3rd time is the charm! We had the best visit yet today with the little guy! He warmed up to us quickly and played more than he did the previous 2 days. It was really fun to watch! And he's SO sweet - I gave him kisses on his little forehead and he would just melt in your arms and smile and laugh! He just loved it!! He was very active today and had fun playing. It was so sad to see him go....he was leaving with his caretaker and he had his little head upright looking back at us, like "hey guys, you coming too?!" SO sweet - I love him so much already :) I pray we can get our paperwork for court done as quickly as possible, so we can return soon to get him!

After our visit, our facilitators showed us the apartment that we should be able to use the next trip. It was so nice - with a kitchen, washing machine, pack 'n play and high chair. It will be great! It's right next to grocery stores, a market and many restaurants.

We came back to the hotel for a bit and then went out to dinner at a restaurant around the corner. It was tasty (americanized food). Afterwards, we went to see all the ice sculptures they have in a square in front of our hotel. It's really pretty, and they have several ice slides. It's Sat. night here, and there were lots of children on little plastic sleds (about the size of a large skillet) speeding down the ice slides! It was hilarious to watch - crashes of children everywhere!! If any of you have been to the ICE exhibit in Nashville, that's what it's like here now temp.-wise. I think I remember them saying they have to keep that exhibit at -20 degrees.

We have to be ready to leave our hotel at 4:30 in the morning for our flight to Moscow -ugh!!! I sure hope I can sleep on the plane! On Sunday we get a tour of Moscow, and then on Monday we have our medicals. We leave for home on Tuesday.......I still can't believe I'm here! Miss the little guy already....

2nd Visit

Today was an overall great day. We both felt much better after a great night's sleep! We had a good morning chatting with family via Skype and we left with our facilitators at 11:00 for the orphanage.

I ate a very large breakfast, since I knew the time frame we would be gone. I don't think these people eat lunch! We left the orphanage at 2 and went to our notary appointment at 3:00. We arrived back at the hotel at 3:30. I had a Luna Bar and my roll that I took with me from breakfast, but I don't know when these people eat!!

Anyway, we had a wonderful visit with our little guy today. He felt much better and more rested. It wasn't too long into the visit that we were able to get a smile from him!! :) It was fun - all I had to do was sound like a complete idiot by making all kinds of baby sounds - ha! He said this lady is a hoot! He even laughed a bit too, so that was awesome! They had him all dressed up today in a very cute outfit. He did very well with Wes today as well. He doesn't seem to be unsure about him being around, so that is good. A lot of times the children are never around men, b/c there are all women caregivers at the orphanage. So, it wouldn't be unusual for him to be uneasy around Wes.

I can't think of anything new to tell besides that. I'm so happy we get another visit with him tomorrow with no other appointments! Yay!!!

We spend tomorrow night in Kras, and then we leave early Sunday morning to go to Moscow. We will get a tour on Sunday of Moscow, have our medicals done on Monday and then leave on Tuesday. We'll arrive home on Tuesday night around 11:00 pm. Crazy trip!

MOE appt and First Visit

Ok, so yesterday was the hardest day on us physically! That morning I felt great getting ready and then soon before we left I just kinda sank! Ha! I ate my luna bar before we were picked up at 2:00 p.m., because we had eaten a relatively late breakfast.

We first went to the Ministry of Education which I was initially stressed/worried about and definitely wanted to get out of the way. However, it really was a great experience. We met with the head lady in a very small office where she basically just talked to us and asked us questions (via our awesome translator!!) about why we want to adopt, how the adopted little boy will fit into our family, our employment, etc. It was a very pleasant conversation, and I think she liked us! She told us we were a very young and charming couple and she was sure the little boy would love us :)

That took about 30 minutes, and then we headed out to to the orphanage. I was a little surprised that we were able to go so late in the day. It was about an hour away, and our driver takes no prisoners!! The orphanage is actually located in another town outside the city. After you get out of Kras, there is nothing at all to look at but snow! Since that was the case, I closed my eyes to try and keep from getting motion sickness due to the driving, lights of other cars and having little to eat.

Anway, we got there and walked right in to the director's office which was very nice. She had a whole wall of photos behind her of children, and she seemed very professional. She told us (again through our translator) mostly a lot of the same information we already knew about the little guy and how he got to the orphanage. Then, they brought him in for us! He had been woken up from his nap an hour before we got there, b/c they thought we would be there at 3 instead of 4. And the poor little guy is teething and didn't feel well at all. However, he did awesome!! He played with us, but mostly just wanted to go back to sleep!! He fell asleep on me once, but they encouraged us to play with him while we had him. So, we woke him up and played some more. But, after a little bit longer he explained to us that he was too tired to play :) He fell back asleep and was totally out! They said that since he had been woken up early to let him sleep - it was SO precious!!!!

We go to the orphanage at a much earlier time today, so we hope to catch him while he's awake and not just woken up. After our visit today, we have a notary appointment. We should get back to the hotel by about 5:00 which will be nice.

I have to admit that although this might sound horrible, I wasn't very emotional yesterday. I think b/c my body was in such a "zone" so to speak that it was almost as if I was going through the motions, but not getting to experience it all emotionally. Don't get me wrong......it was awesome and exciting, but I hope to enjoy our time today much more. I'll be in more comfortable clothing and in a better state of mind. I stole a bread roll from our breakfast buffet to put in my purse for later in case I need it (in addition to our cliff/luna bars). I thought I might need something plain.

I can't post pics of his precious face until he's officially ours (after court on 2nd trip and after 10 day wait period), but here is a precious shot of his little boot in his booties. I couldn't get over them!!!

We're HERE!!!!!!

SO, we left Memphis and arrived at JFK still uneasy about the visas. However, my Dad was awesome and called Delta as soon as he saw that the package had been delivered on the FedEx tracking. It was waiting for us at the Lost and Found in Terminal 3. We arrived in terminal 3, got our baggage and right next to that was the office where we got our FedEx package with our passports and visas!!! Praise the Lord!! Wes was a wreck until we had that in our hands. We went back to Delta, checked in for our international flight without a hitch and were at our gate an hour and a half ahead of flight time.

The flight to Moscow was fine...nothing too exciting. Neither of us could sleep very much...I don't think Wes slept at all. I slept a couple of hours. We got to Moscow, went through immigration and waited on our luggage about half an hour. We then walked through customs (no one was there that day) and saw our driver, Vladimir, standing with a sign with our name on it! He was great! He drove us right next door to our hotel where we had lunch, took a nap and a shower. He then picked us back up at 6:30 and took us back to the airport to check in for our domestic flight.

Our only problem was that we misunderstood the baggage requirements for the Russian domestic airlines. We had our large checked bag less than 45 pounds, but they counted our rolling carry-ons as well. We could only have 45 pounds per person, and we were over by 13 pounds for Aeroflot. Anywho....we had to pay $50 to check it all. It made me a little nervous to check my rolling carry-on, b/c that's what I had all my important "stuff" in. My suite, some gifts, heating packs, gloves, boots....you get the picture.

Anyway, our overnight flight to Kras was great. We had a good meal (at 2:00 a.m. Kras time which was very strange to me), and I slept about 3 hours total I think. The plane was very nice...looked brand new on the inside. We arrived at 6:00 a.m. local time and our facilitators were there to greet us! She teased us for having so much luggage for the 3 days we are here! :)

They drove us and checked us into our hotel here. It's great....it reminds me of my accommodations in Africa when I went to visit Wes, but a bit nicer. Also, it's different here, b/c so many people smoke and it permeates everywhere. There aren't big guidelines on smoking sections.

We are here resting, and our facilitator will pick us back up at 2:00 p.m. to go to the Ministry of Education appt. Breakfast is included with our hotel stay, so we went down for that earlier. All the tables were at least partially occupied, and when we asked on man if we could sit at his table you could tell by his face he was NOT interested. He mumbled in Russian that the seat was taken. Reminded me of Forest Gump.......random thought I know.

Anyway, we are thrilled to be here and are adjusting amazingly well to the time change so far.

I'll try to post again tonight.....

Leaving Tomorrow - if we get our visas!

SO, we leave tomorrow morning and we hope we are headed to Russia. You see, something went wrong with our visas. and we didn't get them on Saturday. We had to wait until today to hear something from our contact in California - we didn't get to hear anything until lunch time........he went to the consulate, got everything "fixed" and we had to have him FedEx the package priority overnight to the JFK airport for us to pick up there before our CONNECTING flight to Moscow! So, we have to leave Memphis and fly to NY before we have our passports and visas in hand.

I said in my last post that I wouldn't stress - well that didn't happen! Tears flowed for sure on Sat., and I had to get to a point where I accepted whatever the Lord would have happen. It was hard, but I know HE is in control and loves us.

So, hopefully the next time any of you check my blog I'll have an update from Moscow :) God is good - can't wait to meet the little guy!!! More to come.........

Oh by the way, it looks like the 3 days we are supposed to be in our region they will have a warm front and the low will only be -6 degrees and a high of 2 degrees. This is much better than the previous days low of -25 degrees - which is also what it returns to the day we are supposed to leave. I think God is definitely looking out for me with that :)

Packing and Trip Prep

This past week or so has been quite busy for me in preparation for our first trip. Wes has been out of town for 2 weeks at training, and he just got home late last night. His flight was delayed, so I had to put Kate to bed, and then scoop her up and put her in the car at 10:30 to go get Wes at 11:00 last night. She slept until he got in the car, and then all she could do (with a glazed look) was smile and kick her legs in excitement! It was so cute!

I feel like we're in good shape overall, but our visas didn't arrive today like they were supposed to. I've left a message, and I hope things are on track for us to receive them on Monday before we travel on Tuesday.

Since Wes has been out of town, our only day for medicals is Monday. So, we have to drive to Nashville (to see our doctor we had before we just recently moved who has done other paperwork for us) Monday morning, get our xrays and all our other paperwork done, and then drive back home to Jackson. Hopefully, Kate can take a nap at home. Then we'll load everybody up (including the dog to be dropped off at Grandma's) and head to Memphis. We'll spend the night there and leave Kate, then head to the airport the following morning. That is, of course, if we get our visas in time!! I'm not going to stress......