Just one pic... Here she is!

We have a very slow internet connection in Vologda. Here is one picture just for our Oscar. She had to be introduced to Woody! Hopefully I can post more from St. Petersburg. We are headed there tonight and staying until Sunday night. We pick up Olivia on Monday and head back to Moscow on Tuesday. Enjoy!

First Picture!

So here are the little feet that will be soon taking over our house!
We just bought our tickets last night for trip 3. We are heading back next Saturday, a week from today already! We will have her home on Friday, May 6th. We have to spend two weeks there because it takes 7 days to process her passport. We are going to take a little side trip for 4 days to St. Petersburg while we wait for her passport. If anyone has suggestions for what to see or do please pass them on. We are feeling a little selfish because we aren't very excited to see St. Petersburg even though we know it will be beautiful. We just want to get her home!

We have a daughter!

Yippee, court is done and it was a success! The hearing was just under 2 hours and not too difficult at all. It helped a lot that we adopted Oscar from Russia too. The judge and the prosecutor kept referencing our son and our experience. With that being said though, it was still very stressful. It feels great to have it over with!
We did visit Olivia this morning but only for an hour. Plus, the whole time we were with her our translator was reviewing everything with us for court. On top of that, poor Olivia has a bad cold. She had this bright red nose and chapped cheeks. She wasn't the same happy little baby from our first visit. Seeing her sick just makes this next wait even more difficult. We don't know the exact date that we can come back yet. We are going to go back to the orphanage this evening before we have to get back on the train. It will be nice to have time with her with no other distractions. So excited to just get her home!

Court tomorrow

Well we made it to Moscow and survived the 8 doctor medical. We got in yesterday and completed the medical today. We are going to see Olivia tomorrow at 8 and then head to court at 10. We can't wait to see her! We are a little nervous about when we will be able to pick her up for trip 3 because of the Russian May holidays. We won't know until tomorrow. Our coordinator has to speak with people tomorrow to find out when they will be closed. Say a prayer for us that we are not waiting until May 9th to come back. They said that is our worst case scenario.
I would like to give one little bit of advice for families thinking about adopting or are starting the process. Get a Marriott credit card!!!!! We will have all of our hotel nights paid for in Moscow (4 total nights) and a possible side trip (while waiting for her passport) in St. Petersburg (3 nights)because of this card. Hotels in Moscow are insanely expensive (500+ a night) so this has been a major cost savings for us. There is no Marriott in Vologda, but at least everything else is free. The Marriott company has been great about scheduling our trips and working with us when we needed early check ins and late check outs too.
Well wish us luck on court tomorrow!

Our Little Man is 4!

Happy 4th Birthday to our Ozzie!!!!
We had a pretty low key birthday with visits from Grandpa, Uncle Slug, and Aunt Jeanne. Oscar loved his new trampoline and the policeman toys from Uncle Slug and Aunt Jeanne.
In two weeks it is birthday time with the cousins and next month will be birthday time with Grammie. That is the joy of not living close to family, birthday's last for much longer. :)

Thank god for kids

This past week has been crazy!!! Our furnace broke, portions of our house lost electricity, Joe's truck needed brakes, our insurance company is fighting with us over our flooded basement from a month ago, and I had to run around to get paperwork done. In the end, I just keep thinking thank god for kids! I am not a really religious person, definitely more spiritual than religious, but thank god for kids. In all of the craziness of this week I just kept thinking thank god we are going to Russia next Sunday and thank god Oscar makes us laugh every day. The thing is that as a teacher, I have always been thankful for kids. I know many people can't fathom the thought of teaching high school students. I however, have very few days where I don't laugh at work. Now of course, the kids can make me crazy angry or disappoint me, but in the end I really do laugh and smile a lot. Now, as a mother, I am just more thankful for children. They always put things into perspective. We are now down to 11 more days before our court date! I can't wait to see baby o again! :)