A Great Mother's Day Gift

I have to say thank you to some strangers I've never met (in person). We met on our agency's chat one night. I had just gotten back from Magadan and she (and her husband) were about to leave. I gave her my phone number and said if she has any questions feel free to call. She did the next day during a long layover. We spoke for about an hour. I told her to give our little girl a hug if she sees her. Well she did more than that!!!


I opened my e-mail one day to find a message from her... and a picture of our little girl. She says she took this picture not knowing it was our girl. She took it because as she watched "this girl" run an errand -- she thought -- wow this girl has such confidence. She saw "this girl" again when she went into her son's group. She realized "this girl" is a helper to her son. She helps keep the peace and tries to keep her son from having little "melt downs". So she took pictures of her son with this girl. Again not knowing it was our daughter.

It wasn't until she was in the car with the agency rep and talking about me and our recent visit that she realized this girl was our daughter. Before I left Magadan I gave a family photo (with me, Steve, our little girl and little B-- we had just taken it on the trip) to our rep. I guess she had it in her purse/ or car and showed it to her. It was at that moment and to her surprise that she realized this little girl she had been taking photos of -- was OUR daughter.

She was soooo kind to e-mail me 10 photos of our little girl in action, playing in her room, surrounded by her friends. It felt so good to see her and to see her happy.

While I don't wish our girl to stay in an orphanage, I have to say she is blessed -- this home is very clean, nice and warm. It has soooo many toys and an indoor playground as well as a blow up bouncy (the kind you find at fairs) for the kids to play in, and there's even a ball pit. So while this wait is so hard, I know she is safe and having fun and for that I am thankful.

Below are a few photos.
This is the Magadan Airport.

This is the bus that drives you from the airport to the plane.This is the Okhotck Sea. Magadan is on the east coast of Russia. This is our little B doing what he did most of the trip. Sleep. No complaints from mom and dad. He was truly an angle.

Stay tuned for the next post.... Steve is trying to get a video post together. He gives you a tour of our hotel bathroom... and it's not to be missed!!