FINALLY -- We're Headed to COURT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We just found out we have court on July 23rd!!!!

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!!

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.)