Finally reunited!

I’m sorry that this update is a day late. We tried to get to the business center yesterday, but were unsuccessful. So, here is a recap of our day yesterday……

We are thrilled to report that we got to visit Alexander yesterday!!! We left the hotel at 9:00am and went right to his orphanage. We spent about 2 hours with him and it was so great to see and hold him again. He had a hard time with us initially. I don’t know if he remembered us or not, it’s just too hard to tell. He cried whenever he encountered a change, so we tried to keep things as constant as possible. He did warm up to us about half way through our visit and we had a wonderful time! He was playful and full of smiles and giggles. He hasn’t changed much since January, except for getting taller. His hair is a little shorter now, but that’s about it. He’s as cute as ever! :O) We initially met him in the music room, which is where we met him in January. We played with a few little toy instruments (he really seems to love music!), the wooden stacking toy that we brought for him, along with a toy car. For the last half hour of our visit we moved from the music room into one of the therapy rooms. There was a big ball pit, some large foam shaped blocks, a big toy dump truck (which was large enough for Alexander to sit in the back of and take a ride) and other fun toys to play with/in. It was great! We’re hoping to be able to spend more time with him in that room during our future visits. Seeing and holding Alexander again was just as wonderful as I was expecting it to be. It really is amazing how much you can love these little ones!

It's hard to catch his quick smiles on camera....but he's cute nonetheless! :O)

I've been waiting for this moment since January!!! I'm in love all over again!

After our visit to the orphanage we came back to the hotel to have lunch with John, Joyce and Marina and then we went to the “hospital” to have our psych evaluations done. Just 15 minutes later, we were done with our appointment and left to come back to the hotel. It was a great way to get that done….much easier than having it done in the US.

Today we have our court hearing at 1:00pm and it will probably take a couple of hours. We could really use your prayers for court. We met with our facilitator to go over court preparations and we feel confident about what lies ahead. We have a pretty good idea about what to expect based on our experience for Marina, but are still a little anxious. We’ll just be glad to have court done with and to have been granted a successful adoption. We won’t be able to visit the orphanage today, but will be back again on Wednesday.

There are several other families here with us. There will be 3 other families with us in court this afternoon, and there are 3 others that are here on their 2nd trips, but that had court last week. It’s fun to talk to everyone about their experiences and to meet all the new children!

It was much colder yesterday than on Sunday when we arrived. It rained in the morning and was in the low 30’s all day. Still much warmer than in January! Marina has been enjoying her time with Grandma and Grandpa. They get outside to play as much as possible while we are out and about doing things. There is a really nice walkway along the Yenisei River and a large plaza in front of the hotel where she likes to chase the pigeons. We are really glad we made the decision to bring her. She is doing amazingly well and it’s just fun to have her here with us as we work on getting Alexander home!

Thanks for all the comments that you’ve made on our blog so far. It’s really nice to hear from the other side of the world! We’ll update again soon….hopefully after court today!

From Siberia with love………:O)