Hello from Moscow

What a journey this trip has been! We got into Moscow yesterday morning, and slept the day away. We did not realize how tired we were until we layed down for a bit. Moscow is COLD, much colder than Siberia. Vince is not feeling 100%. He has some sort of cough/cold. He started it in Tomsk, and thankfully I was prepared, and brought Z packs for both of us. It seems to be helping him some.

Ok, so let's relive our Tomsk journey....

Day one and two~

We spent about 10 hours in Moscow on our layover. We went to the flea market for some souveniers and stopped by Red Square. It was a great day, but a LONG day. We had a 10pm flight into Tomsk, which we almost missed because we did not spring our clocks forward. Thankfully, we noticed the "NOW BOARDING" sign, or we would have been stuck since it is the only flight this airlines does into Tomsk. The flight was not exciting, and not comfortable at all. We laned in Tomsk, to the one run way airport. It is so tiny...never seen anything like it.

Once we found our coordinator, we were taken to our hotel and allowed to clean up and take a quick nap...although we were both too excited to sleep. We were picked up around 10 and taken to the dept of Children where we "officially" recieved her referral. It was emotional to hear the ladies talk about how much they want the children to be happy and not "returned".

After we finished there, we went to the Baby Home and met the director who is AWESOME!! She went over the medical and history of the referral. Everything checked out well, and we were excited to meet her. We were taken upstairs to the playroom and waited, cameras in hand, for the director to bring her up. Oh my, was my heart beating so loud! The director walked in with this beautiful little princess with 2 piggy tails on top of her head. She studdied us for a second then burst into tears. She was so afraid at first. After a few minutes, the director had me pick her up, and she stopped crying. She snuggled in my lap and played with bubbles. She was very shy, but very snuggly. When it was time for her lunch, she looked at me as if asking if I was going to go with her. It was too cute. We returned a couple of hours later for our afternoon visit, and she squeeled when she saw me! We played until dinner. She was a little more adventurous and explored the room more.

Day three~

We woke up at 3 am! No rest for the weary! We are not used to the time change! We played on the computer, skyped the kids and just hung out in our room until breakfast. We were picked up at 10 and taken to see our princess. She was upset to leave her room because she thought she was headed to get a shot. When I picked her up, she stopped crying and burried her face in my neck with the tightest hug. She is so wonderful!! We shared the playroom with another family today who was on their 10 day wait. Their little boy is a cutie, and very busy. If I knew how to link you to her site, I would...but I am not that tech savvy. Our visit was nice and she loved to ride the rocking horse. She has us wrapped around her little finger for sure!! We got to see some of the sites of Tomsk today. It is a beautiful city. We had a great evening visit with her and she willingly gave me kisses!! We were able to watch her in her class. Her teacher is wonderful and you can tell she is very loved. She is a smart little cookie, and followed instructions very well. She was a little distracted with us there, but still did well.

Day four~

We had a great morning visit with her. She was dressed in a soft peach little dress...we call it her party dress. She was a little tired, but her personality definatly showing more. She is very ticklish and loved to have her feet tickled. She loves to dance! We would dance back and forth and she would sing, "da da da da". Soo cute! We officially accepted her referral and started the petetion to adopt her! Between visits, we went to the notary and got everything signed. We were also able to tour around a bit. Our evening visit was wonderful...but very emotional. It was so tough to snuggle her, knowing it would be a long time before I got any more snuggles. It was so nice to see how much she was bonding, but difficult to know she would be waiting for us the next day and we would not be there. I had a very hard time say good bye to her. Her care giver was wonderful and promised to take good care of her and love her until we got back. She assured us she would let her keep her bunny and favorite rattle and would show her the photo album we left. We added 6 pictures of us with her to the family pictures we brought. She will now get to see us everyday in pictures. I can't explain how much I love this little princess. She has stolen my heart as well as the heart of her daddy. She has the biggest sighs when she is content, and they just melt your heart. Here eyes are the deepest blue and you can get lost in them if you are not careful. This is going to be hard waiting for a court date!!!

Day five~

Vince woke up sick! Not good, considering we had a flight out of Tomsk at 7am! Thankfully, he was able to make the flight ok. He had been eating so much salt, and not enough water and it threw off his system. He has a horrible cough as well...but I rock, and brought medicine!! I cried as we said good bye to our Tomsk coordinators. They are wonderful people, and will forever be part of our family. We got into Moscow, slept most of the day and went to dinner. We stayed up late and skyped our boys when they got home from school. We miss them so much!!

Day six~~

Today!! We enjoyed the sites of Red Square and the Kremlin. We got to tour the Amour Museum. Tonight we are going out with some friends from Vince's work. (There is a Moscow office for Ernst & Young). Tomorrow...we go HOME!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!!!

Here is a little sneak peek again of our girl and her party dress....

We can't wait to get her home!!!

Kellie