We're Back!!

We are back. It was a long trip -- but sooooo worth it. Our little girl is adorable. She is full of energy and showing affection already. We just love her. We can't post pics of her until after court. But I will post some of our trip. Above is a picture of downtown Magadan. Below it is a picture of the mountains surrounding Magadan. And below is a pic of little "B" on the flight to Magadan.
I'll post more after I get some sleep. Yeah... now we can't wait for court!!


I'll post more after we get some sleep.!!!

Off to see our little girl!!!!!!!

It's hard to believe that in a matter of days I will meet our little girl!!! I can't say much as many of the adoptive parents know... but I will tell you she is "four fingers and a thumb" old!! We leave JFK Saturday and arrive Monday at 9:10 am in Magadan -- that's a direct 9 hour flight from NYC to Moscow and a five hour layover in Moscow before we head over to Magadan. It's a nine hour plane ride with one stop for about an hour on the way. So yes that is 20 hours in flight and a five hour layover --- notice NO HOTEL stop on the way to Magadan!!! 25 hours of travel without a bed and it will only be 9 am when we arrive!! WOW... We are having an agency rep meet us in Moscow to take us to the other SVO airport... since the international and domestic terminals are about 15/20 minutes apart.

We are excited and can't wait!! I better finish packing. I'll try to touch base when I can if not I'll certainly let everyone how it went when we get back.
Wish us LUCK!!!

Magadan here we COME!!!

We've been waiting for an MOE official to sign off on the invite. While everything was ready on Monday it took until Wed. for that one signature. BUT I'm told the invite is official and we were told to book airplane tickets and visas!! So we did!!

Now I'm just waiting on the official referral. My agency says that should be e-mailed to me on Monday. (I've already received a mini referral, but I still want the BIG Referral letter before I start talking about her to family and friends) So today I started putting together the photo book we are going to leave with her. It has pics of me and my husband, little "B", both dogs, our home, her room, and both sets of grandparents. I figured that should be enough people and things for her to start with. I tried to find pics of us having fun and doing things. The photo book is a Disn*y "Princess Book".... and I'm thinking about putting the photos I took of Steve this past August with each of the princesses in the book.

I actually took the photos for him to study up on his princesses, because he didn't know Sno* Whit* from the others...( yes I do believe we have all the princesses represented!!) so I took photos with each one and know he knows who is who!!

Can you guess which two are his favorite.... and no it's not either of the ones here!! (Stay tuned I'll post pics later)

But anyway getting back to the photo book. The orphanage director said in the small bio we have of her, that she loves fairy tales -- so maybe she'll think her dad is cool because he knows all the princesses personally!!

Travel Dates!!!!!!

We are soooooo excited..... but for the first time I am stressed!!!!!!!!

Nothing like getting an e-mail at 6:30 Friday night asking if April 21-23 is okay to be in your region. While these dates are still tentative, I was asked to start working on plans to see if it could happen. Normally this wouldn't stress me out at all......

HOWEVER--- I am leaving my house Saturday for our trip to Grand Cayman. Nothing like planning an international trip while on an international trip!!! I'll have e-mail so I guess my nice relaxing beach vacation will be overshadowed by my rush to plan this trip. Meanwhile this is how our schedule looks for April...

March 29-April 6 ---------- Grand Cayman
April 12-13 ---------- Annapolis, Md for a wedding
April 19-26 ---------- Magadan, Russia

I hope it all works out!!! I'll keep you posted!!!!

Updated Home Study Arrived Unharmed

One year ago I sent our dossier packet to our agency only to find out it was ruined in the mail. This time, it arrived safe and sound!! "Perfect condition" is how our agency director described it. And not only did it arrive in good condition, she approved it and said the updated pics with little "B" were great!!

Now we are just waiting for the official referral. Like I said before, we have some info about our little girl, but until it is official I don't want to share any details. SO stay tuned!! We are hopeful the referral will come either this week or next. This is good timing because we are heading out on vacation this weekend. And we won't be able to send our passports for our visas until we get back (we could send them while we are on vacation and risk not being permitted back into the country... which on one hand wouldn't be bad.... sand, sun and palm trees --- sounds nice... but I have a little girl waiting for me to come and pick her up... so we'll send the passports when we get back.)

A Busy Week

Wow, I was certainly on the run this week.

Mon: NYC (non adoption related)
Tues: B's shots
Wed. 40 minutes north and back --to pick up our home study-- drive 90 minutes to Harrisburg then rush to the post office to get it in the mail to the agency.
Thurs: Drive to Philly to get B's passport

Hopefully everything is done and we'll get our "official" referral soon. The social worker was just suppose to do an update or add a page or two about the changes in our family.. (the arrival of little B, etc) but she went through and made the changes to the actual home study.. so now we kind of have a new home study.
I know the agency director has said we will be traveling the end of April. And while we know some info about our little girl ( I'll share once it's official) ... it will be nice to have the Official Referral in hand and the invitation to travel. All of that will happen once the home study is updated in Russia. I'm hoping that comes before or while we are in the Caymans. Then when we get back from the Caymans... I'm hoping we'll have to send our passports out for our visas.

Home Study Visit

The home study visit seemed to go well. I am just waiting on the social worker's e-mail to send to our agency to make sure everything is good. then it's off to Harrisburg. I'm hoping to go on Wed. We'll See.

B's passport apt is set for Thursday. My husband and I have to both be there for that. That means a trip to Philly.

B gets his shots tomorrow.