Quote

On the first day as we were leaving the baby home and walking down the stairs our translator and coordinator asked what our first thoughts were regarding the Little B. The Mister said "do you have the term, walking on air in Russian?

~mama :)

Thanks! Keep it Up!!

Thanks to those of you that have made contributions to the orphanage. Every penny makes a dollar (or a ruble) so please keep up the good work! I would say that we are still at least $375 away from our goal of $500 (or more, of course). With love...always!

~mama

Home Again and Passing the Hat

Hey! We are still recovering from the trip. I'm not sure that we've managed to stay up until 9:00 since we have been home. We got home late after spending the night in the airport. It wasn't as bad as it sounds...kind of like Night at the Museum but with a few random people walking around and sleeping on the floor. I was going to ask the janitors if I could take the floor polisher for a spin but they didn't look like they had a sense of humor. The whole trip seems really surreal at the moment. My love for this little girl grows more and more each second. It's kind of unbelievable really. We are waiting to see if we need to do anymore paperwork. All of our pre-court documents were in Moscow when we left. They were being translated before being sent to the region. Once they are there, the judge may ask for more documents or for us to re-do documents...or may simply give us a court date (could it really be that easy?) I am hoping HOPING HOPING that we will know something in the next week or two.

Did I mention that the orphanage staff were amazing? These people work so hard and obviously want to do everything they can for these children. It really wasn't what we imagined at all. Because we want the best for them and the children we would like to be able to make a donation directly to them. If you would like to contribute a monetary donation in any amount please let me know. We would be extremely grateful.

I will add that part of our fees include an orphanage donation, but this is split among all of the baby homes in the region- the full amount does not go directly to the Bee's baby home...a place that is really deserving of something special.

love,
mama

Stuck

Our flight was late and we can't get home. We are spending the night in the airport. On a positive note...did I mention that Baby B said "mama" on the last day? Not once, but twice. I know she wasn't making the connection to me, but she was making a connection to her photo album. Maybe she thinks the album is called mama? So hard to say goodbye. Watching videos of her is helping our long night in the airport go by a little faster.

~mama

P.S. I hate United Airlines

Moving on to Moscow

We just arrived back to our hotel in Moscow. We both slept pretty well on the train so the night went fast. Today we will do some tourist things in the city and get some rest before our long travels tomorrow when we leave for the airport at 8:30.

Yesterday things went extremely well. We have officially petitioned to have Baby B as our daughter. It was very moving seeing her name as ours on the forms. I am excited to get back home and prepare (and wait) for our next trip back to Russia.

This trip has gone by so quickly and our moments with Baby B have gone by even quicker.

Love,

~mama

P.S. Baby B wanted me to send you a message...da da dad dada da daa daa ddaa da da :) I think this means see you soon!!

Super Fantastic

Just wanted to say that today was an unbelievably good day. Everyone has been so good to us. Tomorrow we sign the documents to proceed and meet with the notary and maybe the MOE with our bottle of cognac. The people here are amazing! All of the people that work at the orphanage are so kind and loving and incredibly helpful. They have answered all of our questions and shown us so much with this little girl. Whatever we ask, they help, they provide answers and let us see how she lives everyday (and even ask us to participate). I cannot thank these people enough. The team with our agency is 100% fantastic. We have been so lucky.

Most of all I want to say that we have so much love for the little B. Tomorrow it will be a hard day to say goodbye....maybe not "goodbye" but see you soon my love, my little yum-yum.

Love you all,

~mama

Rainy Tuesday

What a great anniversary present! I will have to make this brief, but if summary we were met in the morning and went to the MOE office, followed by a trip to a bakery to buy a small cake for the children. The cake we selected had a little fondant bear and some flowers and mushrooms on it. I looked for one with a bee but I didn't see one. We met with the doctor for a discussion and then we went to the playroom...and guess who was standing at the door!! You got it! We went inside and had an opportunity to play with her and watch her interact with the children (p.s. we want to bring them all home). We then moved to another room where we were allowed to play with her on our own. She loved being tossed in the air by John and coloring in her note pad (she was singing while coloring!!) We took pictures and video. They then came in and said it was time for "yum yum" which means lunch. She heard those words and took off running to the door. This baby loves "yum yum" and I have now started calling her Baby Yum Yum. They said that we could talk to the doctor again. He is VERY nice and loves American sports. They also said that we would not see her again until Tuesday (today). All in all the day went very well. We meet with different doctors today and will have more time to spend with her. Gotta go. We will be leaving soon for another day.

~mama

Sunday

We spent the day at the Kremlin and Red Square. It was overcast and rainy. The buildings were quite impressive and we took lots of pictures. Afterwards we went to lunch at the Avocado restaurant that I wanted to try, and then we went to a store to try to get a wireless card to use in P**ov. We found someone to help that spoke some English and helped put a card on the computer. I hope it works! I guess we will find out tomorrow. It is now 3:50. Dimitry will be here at 5:30 to take us to the train station. We checked out of the hotel but we are in the lobby using the internet and because we left our luggage here this morning. Well, if you don't hear from us you will know that the internet card didn't work :) Oh, I have been practicing my Russian without too many funny looks. Must go now. Hugs from Russia. I can't believe we will meet the Little B tomorrow!!!!

~mama

Adventures in Moscow

Privet everyone! Just a quick note to let you know we are here and we are now eating breakfast. The flight was uneventful except the movie selection was terrible. We arrived in Moscow and went through passport control. We then met Dimitry our driver and took the "traffic without laws' ride to the hotel. For those of you that helped with the money crisis, all went very well. We then checked in and took a walk to find a bank for money exchange. We ate at Mi Piace and came back to the hotel to sleep! We were pretty much done until 2 a.m. when we got up to look out the window at the traffic and read. All is well. Train leaves tonight at 6:30. We are one step closer.

~mama

Good Fortunes

When I was in Seattle awhile back searching for good karma (see previous post). I went to one of those fortune tellers like they have in the movie BIG. Yesterday, while I was cleaning out my travel bag for the next trip (heart just skipped a beat) I found the fortune card that I had forgotten completely about...here is it....

Thursday Message for Little B

It's almost 5:00 a.m. where you are now and you will probably be waking to a new morning soon. The high for you is 70 degrees and there will be rain for most of your day. As you are waking up I will be going to bed and, as always, I will kiss your picture and tell you goodnight (maybe I should be saying "good morning")? As I sleep I will dream of meeting you and holding you (as I will soon) and you, having no idea of my existence will play with other children (maybe in the little ball pit or with the plastic kitten or the ball?). I hope that you have fun today and that maybe you get to watch the rain out of a window and hear the music of it landing on the glass. I hope someone reads to you and holds you, but most of all I hope that you laugh and that you feel loved...

~mama

Congrats Tracey!!

My fellow pre-adoptive mom Tracey became an ADOPTIVE mom today!! Congratulations to you and little Vera. I am overjoyed with your good news. You really deserve all the wonderful things coming your way (and so does she). I am dancing with joy for you both.

much love.

~mama

Life is Good and Friends are Sweet!

Thank you everyone for your sweetness and thoughfulness. We have so many wonderful friends! I especially want thank CP for using her birthday as an opportunity to gather gifts for the orphanage! Your kindness and generosity is beyond words and leaves me with tears in my eyes and a super warm heart. I am very very happy.

love,

~mama

Wednesday Report

I spent the day yesterday working on the visa stuff and making some travel arrangements. I was surprised at the complexity of the visa application (addresses and phone numbers for past jobs and schools...dang) but managed to get it all mailed out by the end of the day. It made for a stressful day but ended it by lounging on the couch after a hot bath with a book. We also have our flights scheduled and a tentative hotel arrangement. The rest is done by the agency! I do have some phone calls to make but all in all things are moving right along!

thanks for following!

~mama

Happy Anniversary!!

We will meet the Little B on our 19th anniversary!! So happy to have travel dates in hand! Tomorrow I send off the Visa paperwork!

~mama

No News- According to My Opinion

They always say "no news is good news" but frankly I think "no news" kinda blows.

~mama

Dear B

Hi Little B,

It's kind of killing me knowing that you are there and I am here. I think about you all day every day wondering what you are doing. I watch the clock...it's bed time...you are asleep...it's mid day...you are playing (I hope). I can't wait to meet you. Every day seems so long. Every day without knowing when we will see you and hold you and know that you are our girl seems like an eternity. I hope we know something next week. Until then I will kiss your picture every morning and every night and wish you the best of dreams and the best of days.

~mama

Timelines

One thing that I always found helpful when looking at the blogs of others was the adoption timeline. It helped me to know what to expect (realizing that all agencies and regions worked completely different). Because of this I have decided to add a timeline to the sidebar. I have to say that my sidebar is getting quite full! I might have to take a few things off...maybe...I do love reading the blogs of others...and the gadgets are pretty fun...on second thought I think I will leave it alone. I hope other PAPs find the timeline as helpful as I did!

~mama

Patience is indeed a virtue

Things are moving along a little bit. This is a portion of the latest email:

"Have a great weekend and holiday as next week we get the ball rolling for a first trip!"

We've have also started working on paperwork that we will need before the second trip so we can stay ahead of the game.

The blasted Monday holiday is a blessing (for my need to relax) and a hindrance to our work here...but all good things come to those who wait.

I know in my heart that this can't me more true than it is today.

I can't wait to meet this baby girl.

~mama

Letter to the Universe

Dear Universe,

I am ready to meet my girl. Can you make that happen? She needs a mama and daddy and we need her even more. Can you give that to us Universe? Pretty please?

~mama