Sweet smiles

Today was so much fun! Our little girl was so much more open and comfortable with us. We had her giggling and smiling a lot, and she loved getting and giving hugs. She even said a few words...which included "mama" :) We will definately need to buy her a doll stroller, it was her favorite toy of the day! We are really tired and have to get up early, so we are off to bed. Tomorrow morning they are picking us up at 8am to have a morning visit, and then we go to sign some papers in front of a notary. We are so excited to spend more time with her, but super disappointed that it will be our last day!

We are in Love!

Today was an amazing day! First we went to the Ministry of Education and received approval to go visit our girl. Then, after lunch we drove an hour to the city of Sosnovoborsk where her orphanage is located. The orphanage seemed very clean (no one is allowed to walk around without covers on their shoes) and all of the caregivers wear scrubs. When they brought her in she was timid at first, but we showed her some toys and the caregiver was able to sneak out. She is so sweet! We even got a few smiles:) And guess what ... she is potty trained! Our translator said that in Krasnoyarsk the kids go to kindergarten at age 3, so they potty train them very early. We were able to spend two hours playing with her, and she sat on both of our laps. She was definately more cautious with Mark because there are no male workers in the orphanage. But, she warmed up to him quickly and was soon leading him around the room! They work with the children as though they are in preschool, and we were really impressed with how smart is. When the caregiver came back in to get her, she smiled and ran over to her. Even though we were sad to leave, we were so thankful to see that she is well cared for. Before leaving, her caregiver told her to go back and give us each hugs, and she did! We can't wait to see her again tomorrow!

Our first day in Kras

Our street

Pizza and Sushi?!?

Our apartment

The view from our window

Wow, I can't even tell you how different it is here! We are pretty proud of ourselves for making it through the afternoon on our own :). Once we woke up from our nap, we walked to lunch at "California Pizza." The pizza was good, and it was easy to communicate because we could just point at which type we wanted. However, when we stopped at Subway to grab sandwiches for later, it was a different story. Luckily, we had a really sweet girl waiting on us, and were thankful for her patience! Next we went to the flea market to buy two more gifts that we will need for tomorrow. It was very interesting! Somehow, we managed to buy two nice scarves, at what we think was $10 a piece :) Then, on the way to the food market, we witnessed a mangy dog getting hit by a car. We were horrified! No one seemed to notice or care, as people just kept walking and the driver kept going. Luckily, the dog jumped up and ran away, so we are hoping that he is okay! The food market was uneventful, but we had a hard time getting back into our apartment. A Russian man helped us out, and we were able to get into the building, only to find out (after going all the way up to the 9th floor) that we were in the wrong side. Luckily, the man was gone when we left to go around to the door that accessed our side! We came back, unpacked, and assembled all of the gift bags for tomorrow. Our coordinator Yelena, and our driver Serge will pick us up at 12pm and we will first go to the Ministry of Education to officially receive our referral. Then at 3pm we go to the orphanage to meet our little girl! Words cannot describe how excited we are :). We hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Two days and three flights later...

We are finally in Krasnoyarsk! It is 830am on Sunday here, and is a snowy 17F. Our apartment is really nice, and there are plenty of restaurants and markets within walking distance, even a Subway. We haven't slept much since we left on Friday! The flights were pretty full and cramped, but we were able to sleep a little more on the last flight (thanks to Aeroflot for seating us in the exit row!). We just ate some Ramen noodles for breakfast :) and now we're going to take a super long nap. Once we feel like human beings again we are going out to explore. Will blog later, thanks for the prayers for safe travel!

Here we go...

We are leaving in the morning! I can't believe we are actually going :) Our VISAs are here (finally today at 1pm!) and our bags are packed. Thanks to our generous families and friends, we have an entire suitcase full of clothes for the children and gifts for the caregivers! This time tomorrow night we will be somewhere over the ocean, a little more than halfway to Moscow. Our apartment in Krasnoyarsk is supposed to have Wi-Fi, so we should be able to post updates. Pray for safe travels!

Craziness...

We have been so busy getting ready for our trip to meet our little girl! Most of the paperwork is done, and luckily what isn't finished can be sent over after we come back. Tomorrow I am headed downtown to have our stack of papers sealed by the Dept. of State. We are supposed to get our VISAs in the mail on Wednesday...pray that they arrive on time! Here is our travel itinerary:
April 2-we will leave STL at 10am and fly to JFK., our flight then leaves for Moscow at 4pm
April 3-arrive in Moscow at 10am, go to a hotel for a few hours to rest and shower, and then leave that same night at 9pm for Krasnoyarsk.
April 4-arrive in Krasnoyarsk at 5am (finally!), then have the rest of the day free.
April 5-travel to the Ministry of Education to officially receive our referral...then we go the orphanage to meet our girl!
April 6-visit our girl
April 7-visit our girl for the last time before we leave :(
April 8-leave Kras at 7am and arrive in Moscow at 7am (four hour flight and four hour time difference!), then stay in Moscow overnight.
April 9-leave Moscow at 10am for the USA
When we get home we will probably sleep for a really long time, and then start getting ready to bring home our little sweetie! I ordered a pink giraffe lovie for her, and it came in the mail today. It's really soft and super cute. We are going to leave it with her, along with a photo album with pics of us and our family. I talked to a mom who just adopted their little boy from Kras last year. It turns out that he came from the same orphanage! She said that the caregivers really care about the children, and that her son was well taken care of. We were so thankful for that knowlege, and for all of her help and great advice. Please pray for their family, as they have already started the adoption process again, and hope to get another referral from Kras soon!

Referral!!!

It has finally happened! Last Friday we were on our way downtown to renew our immigration fingerprints and my phone rang. I knew immediately that it was the agency because I gave them a special ring. :) Mark and I looked at each other and said "this could be it!" Only it was the Bethany director, Donna, not our social worker, Aimee. So, initially I was disappointed and thought she was calling about something else. Then she said, "this always happens to Aimee when she is out of the office...believe it or not, I have a referral for you guys!" I cannot even tell you how amazing it was to hear those words! Then she gave us a HUGE surprise when she said "it's a girl!" Since we were on the highway near the Bethany office, we went straight there to see her picture and get her information. Donna had phoned Aimee by the time we got there, and even though she wasn't able to be the one to share the news, she was excited to tell us congratulations. :) I can't describe how we felt when we first saw her pictures...she is beautiful! We aren't able to share her name or pictures on any public sites until after court, but we can tell you that she is 19months old and has the cutest little smile. We had such a great time telling our families! On Monday we spoke with Aimee and she told us not to expect to travel until late April or May. Then, Tuesday morning she called and said "how would you like to leave April 2nd?" OMG!!! We are leaving next Friday! Needless to say it has been craziness in our house. We are up to our elbows in paperwork! We will post more about our travel plans soon...