A hard day for Josie

Yesterday was a hard day for our sweet Josie.  We took a very scheduled little girl that has probably never missed a nap and that has her own methods of putting herself to sleep on a 4 hour train ride to Moscow.  Yikes!  I'm quite sure she has never eaten or slept in a vehicle.  Poor baby.  She ended up getting a quick 30 minute nap where she always gets 2 / two hour naps.  We tried for all we were worth but she just could not get to sleep as there was just too much stimulation.  We only fed her small snacks on the train as we were warned about babies that have not been in a car much getting motion sickness.  Well after 4 hours on a train and then 7 lanes of backed up stop and go traffic in Moscow the poor baby was hungry.  I took my chances and fed her some baby food in the car figuring it was much better than on the train.  Nope I was wrong.   I got christened.  I'm sure the driver was thrilled!  We could definitely use some prayers before our 24 hour trip home Saturday.  I pray that planes don't cause motion sickness as bad.

A day of adjusting

Today Josie is definitely more reserved and not nearly as active.  I think yesterday was a fun adventure for her and today she is wondering when it will be back to normal.  She has wanted to snuggle and be held most all day.  Not that either of us are complaining about that in the slightest.  Thank goodness we bought her that Russian musical princess book.  It has been a lifesaver when she gets sad.  It usually brings her right back to her fun loving self.  Tomorrow Chad and Megan will be leaving for the States.  Megan needs to go back to work and Chad will be going home to our boys!  Boys, Dad will be home soon! We are missing you very much.  My Mom and I will be leaving St Petersburg on a train headed to Moscow.  We have to register her with the embassy and do some more paperwork then on Saturday we will be headed home where Josie will become a US citizen as soon as she touches down on US soil!  She is very excited to meet her 3 big brothers. 

Happy Valentines/Gotcha Day!!

Today has been amazing.  We did a couple of paperwork related things this morning then headed to Luga to the orphanage.  The director was out today but we worked with the wonderful Social Worker.  She took Josie's new dress that Grandma made, to her caregivers.  They got her all dressed up and brought her out.  We had to sign her book and that was it.  She is ours forever!  She did wonderful and has continued all day.  She is so funny, sweet and just plain wonderful.  We have seen very few tears all day and she has been so happy.  We bought her a Russian Princess book that has buttons that play music.  I played one of them that she had obviously heard before because she really started dancing and has been dancing ever since. There was music playing at the restaurant where we ate tonight, and she was dancing the whole time she tried to eat.  She was really being a ham.  What a Wonderful Valentine’s Day/Gotcha Day!

 Josie playing with her Russian Princess Book.  She loves it!

I said "where's Mama"  Could she possibly melt my heart anymore? 

Today is the Day!!

 
Today is the day we have been working toward and waiting on.  In a few short hours we will leave for Luga to go get our sweet Josie and she will be ours forever!  I am so excited I just can't sleep any longer.  It is definitely the same type of excitement we had on the early mornings as we were leaving for the hospital to go have our boys. We were told that the orphanage is going to have a celebration in Josie's honor.  We are going to stop by a grocery store to get some cakes for the party.  What a special day for her!  This is the best Valentines I could ever imagine. 

As happy as I am, I can't help to feel a little sad for our girl for all the changes that she will go thru in the next few weeks.  Josie’s life as she knows it will soon be completely changed.  I can't even imagine being in that place where everyone and everything that you once knew are suddenly gone forever.  I know that we will give her all the love that she needs to help her thru this time and that in long run it is by far for the best.  As we walk around the city of Saint Petersburg we see street people and can't help to wonder if they once lived in an orphanage.  There is just no help for these people that need it so badly.  It really pulls at our heartstrings.  We have grown to love Saint Petersburg and all of Russia.  There is such beautiful culture, the sights are absolutely spectacular, and there are so many wonderful people.  But most of all, we love Russia for the wonderful gift that they are giving our family.  Our sweet girl!  She is without a doubt the missing piece to our family.  I can't wait to get her home and introduce her to our boys. 

I'm very excited that my Mom and my sister Megan get to share this special day with Chad and I.  This is both of their first trips oversees and it has been a fun adventure already.  Chad has been here since Wednesday but Megan, Mom and I just got here yesterday.  We walked around last night and saw some beautiful sights.  Boy was it cold and we are told it will be getting much colder.  It was -17 yesterday and was told it will be -37 for the next few days.  That is not wind-chill temperatures either.  We thought Kansas had been cold last week but it has nothing on St Petersburg type of cold.  

Well Paka Paka for now.  The next post, we will be official parents to our girl.  We have actually been her official parents since court now it will be real and she will be in our arms forever.

Only one little something missing

           Her Russian Nesting Dolls

The Angel Daddy Gave her for Christmas and her Faberge Eggs
and coach which was the

inspiration for

her room. 

Our next step

The paperwork is finally complete and we are ready to go get our sweet girl and make her a forever member of our family.  Our next step will be to help her bond to our family and help her realize that we are something more than another caregiver that comes for 8 hours a day.  We have been blessed to be working with an International Adoption Doctor that has given us many good ideas and suggestions that have worked for other families.  Unfortunately our Sweet Girl has no concept of parents and family other than the caregivers that she will soon be leaving.  One main suggestion that our International Adoption Dr has given us is that Chad and I, with the help of her brothers, do all of Josie's care, affection and holding for a while.  This will be hard as we know there are many family members and friends that are anxiously waiting to meet and love our sweet girl. The importance of this is that she has never had parents show her all the affection and love the biological children normally get.  If we play the "pass the baby game" she will be much more likely to look toward others in the future, even strangers for the affection that normally comes from parents.  We are told that the first few months when she is going thru the loss of everything familiar to her will be a critical time to form a bond that normally forms at birth.  She is a very sweet girl and we know the bonds will come with time, and when it does we will be anxious to share her with family and friends.

Travel Schedule

We have out tickets bought and are ready to go get our girl!  This last trip is a long one and we really want one of us to be here with our boys as much as possible right before we bring Josie home so our travel is a little different this time.  Chad leaves tomorrow (Tue).  During this time he will be applying for Josie's passport and doing some paperwork.  I will then leave Sat with my Mom and one of my Sisters.  We will go get Josie on Monday, (Valentines Day).  Chad will stay with us until Wed when he will leave with my sister to come home to our boys.  At that time my Mom, Josie and I will ride the train to Moscow for the last bit of paperwork and will then bring her home on Sat the 19th.  Our boys are very excited to be going with Chad to meet us at the airport to meet their sister.