A few pictures

Here are a few of the pictures form the last couple days. The lion pictures are from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior Church in Moscow. Then Michael and I in front of the court after we became Reagan's parents.

Thanksgiving in Russia

Our Thanksgiving Day is almost over here and I am most thankful that we are flying home tomorrow morning to see our boys! We have had another amazing week here but by Thursday both times, I hit the wall. I miss my boys so much and it has been especially hard this time since it is Thanksgiving. We just enjoyed turkey dinner at our friends flat here in Moscow and it was great! Turkey, mashed potatoes, and beet something! :-) Although it wasn't the Pine Cove traditional feast, it was good. God is continuing to bless us more than we could imagine! We booked our flights back to Moscow for a couple weeks and the price had gone up significantly. Also, we have a new place to stay since we will have our daughter with us and the hotel costs are crazy here! At least $350 per night! While we were at dinner tonight with a bunch of people that we have really just met; a couple offered to let us stay at their apartment the entire week that we are here. They are leaving for the US the night before we arrive in Moscow and will be back after we leave. They even have a crib! God is just taking care of all the details!


Yesterday was an amazing day for our family! We went to court in the morning to "prove" to the judge that we will be amazing parents to a sweet, Russian orphan named Aleksandra. After a speech from each of us, lots of questions, and a couple hours later; the judge said that we were Saints to come all the way here to adopt her. She granted us the adoption and said that we were to pick her up on December 13th! Everyone started congratulating us and hugging. Michael and I were a little in shock since this whole process has taken so long and it was finally here. The translator kept asking me if I was excited since I was so quiet. I explained to her that since we still have to go back to the States, back to Moscow, and back home that it didn't really seem over yet. We have this amazing daughter and can't even be with her right now.

We called the boys and they seemed excited. Reed said he wishes that we weren't coming home without her but he is happy to see us soon. We will be home again (Austin and Dallas) until the 12th and then off to Moscow for the final trip! We arrive back in the US on the 19th. I could not ask for a more exciting birthday!

Court Tomorrow

The day has finally come- We go to court at 10:30 tomorrow morning! We will know when we get to bring her home as soon as it is over! Please pray that everything will go according to His plan.

I will update as soon as I can!

Reagan Hugging on Dad

Feels like Siberia

We have made it another day here- really missing all of my favorite things back home: my boys, my bed, and good food. :-) We did get to spend 30 minutes today with Reagan, so that of course made it worth it! The Baby home has lots of sick kids so they would only allow us to visit one time all day and we had to wear masks. It is not easy kissing on a sweet baby with that on!
The city that she is in is small and really quite sad. Everything is really old and worn and there isn't anything to do after 6pm. We can't watch tv since it is in Russian and you can't really go for a walk since it is rainy and below freezing, so you have to be creative. Michael just got done ordering new toll tags and I have been looking at everyone's pictures on facebook. :-)

Tomorrow, we get to see her again and then we will head back to Moscow to prepare for court on Wednesday. Please keep praying that all will go well and we may be able to bring her home very soon!

Got to visit today!

We had a wonderful time with our sweet Reagan tonight! She had already changed in just the few weeks that we were back in the States. She warmed right up and gave us lots of slobbery kisses. :-) She has about five teeth and was very excited that we brought her a teething ring. She did not want to put it down. I realized how small she was- her clothes were a little short but were not tight and they were 3-6 month! She turned 1 this past Wednesday so Michael and I sang her happy birthday. Since it was a Sunday, the Doctors were not there and the caregivers let us stay about an hour! We usually get to spend half of that, so it was a pleasant surprise.
I cannot wait till we go back tomorrow to see her again!

Traveling!

We leave tomorrow morning for trip #2! This time we will get to see her for several days, attend Moscow Bible for service Sunday, and go to court! Please pray for safe travels and that the 10day wait will be waived so that we won't have a 3rd trip. We have been told that a 3rd trip is almost inevitable, but we can always pray! God is so good and he knows the desires of our hearts! Also, please keep our boys in your prayers as they are going through so much change right now. Reed is a little upset that we will not be at Pine Cove with them for Thanksgiving and Riley says he just wants to go in my suitcase because we are gone too long. Now more packing!

Happy Birthday Reagan!

Today our sweet princess turned one! I hate that she isn't home yet, but it sure is close! I cannot wait until we see her this Sunday! Riley asked me today why we don't have a cake for her. He said that he could blow out her candle and of course enjoy her cake for her! :-) He didn't quite understand that we wouldn't have her party without her, but I do give him props for thinking about it.
Now it is off to packing- I am determined not to be packing for our trip over there the same morning we fly out!

Finally going to start this!

I have "tried" several times to start this and I just get frustrated and give up. This past week we have met two people that have asked if we are blogging this exciting time in our life, so I figured that it was time! I know that there are a lot of really cool blogs out there and I aspire to be one of them someday but for now, I just want to make sure and get all of these cool experiences down. So, here I go...