Easter in Pictures

We had a wonderful Easter and the last 3 weeks have been consumed by trying to complete our second packet of paperwork. We have met timeline obstacles...this is tough, because each day is one more day that we are without Anastasia.....

For now, hope you enjoy our Easter pictures. Yes, most of them are of Ellis Anne. This is because she and I came home earlier from church. She is so hard for me to photograph because she will not consider slowing down for a picture and she does not yet know what the camera is for and that I need her to smile for the bulky black thing that I carry around with me where ever I go. Needless to say, I thought I got some good ones of her....the bigger kids, weren't really into me taking the pictures, so I only made them do a few.

Avery hunting eggs!

Mary Claire on the hunt too....

The big kids

And following, many pictures of Ellis Anne.....

Playing in the backyard

On the move......

Still on the move. Let me tell you that this girl never quits.

Not crying here, but we are singing the song,

"Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes"

this is her "Head"!!!

She is definately crying here. She is done.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stephanie

Day 4: Last Day, Hard Goodbye's

We are home. Here are some pictures from our last day with Anastasia. It was a hard day because we had to say good bye!!!

What happens now, you may ask? Well, we are now working very hard to get our 2nd part of our dossier done. It is more paperwork than the first part, and some of it is stuff we have already done...but have to do again. Our agency wants us to get it done in 2 weeks and we are trying because that means we get to travel and bring her home sooner. However, with mail times and things that are out of our control, it will probably take a little over 2 weeks, but WE ARE WORKING HARD....WE WANT HER HOME!!!!!!!

We did find out today by phone that we got our USCIS approval....that was weighing heavily on my heart, so I shouted..."PRAISE THE LORD" when I got the phone call.

Hope you enjoy the pictures....no bows the last day :( But wait till she gets home...I will have plenty for her.

Looking at herself in the mirror

She loved playing with these red sticks. She would place each one down

very carefully and then go get another one.

Showing us some of her skills!

More skills.....

She's not scared to get into my red bag. This is where I had my toys.

My favorite one of our last day....captures her sweet little face and

she was doing what she loves to do....look at herself in the mirror

Stephanie

Day 3

We didn't get to go see Anastasia until the end of the day, not sure why it is that way, but we didn't ask to many questions. We had another good visit, the social worker came in and watched us with her. We were in a different room, which is where I think they have P.E. They had her dressed up in blue today complete with the big bows! Her hair was in pigtails, I think it is pretty long. Here are some pictures from our visit. This afternoon we have our last visit with her....I already know it is going to be a tough one for me....very hard to leave once you have gotten to hold and love on her. Wish we could bring her back now!

She loved trying to play with these hoops, they weren't hula hoops,

but she liked playing with them

We brought a massage therapy brush, b/c I wanted to see if she had any sensory issues with it. She doesn't it.....she loves to carry it around and brushes everyone in the room.

In the ballpit with mommy!

Getting tickled by daddy!

These next couple of pictures are in her room (her groupa). We did not get to stay long in there. Only long enough to take a picture of her bed and then they said it was time to leave.

Her bed

Korina, our translator, helps us do anything we need to do. No one speaks english. I wasn't ready for this. I thought some people would speak English, but they don't....so, without Korina, we would be lost. One day Korina took us out to find some souvenirs; we went to a clothes market....next to the clothes market was an open air meat market....this is not for those of you with weak stomachs.....it was amazing the stuff they had there. The answer to your question is "NO, we did not buy anything." But there were tongues, and rabbits (with their legs still on)...quite an eye opener from a girl from Arkansas.

This is for Avery and Mary Claire; this is a lego man that we saw in the Moscow airport!

This is a picture of a Kentucky Fried Chicken...this is the ONLY American fast food restuarant the we have seen....No McDonald's. Yes, we have eaten at KFC.

Thanks for keeping up with us and for praying for us!

Stephanie

Day 2

Anastasia continues to be a HAM; you can't really see her personality in the pictures, but she loves the mirror. She is a total copy cat and sponge. She will do what you do....and if she can't do it, she will give it her best shot! We found out about her medical background and history today. For the most part, there are no surprises. They had her all fixed up for us again today.

She loves to take her hankie or tissue and wipe everyone's nose

Pictures of me, the head

doctor and Anastasia

We are spoiled Americans...we are spoiled.

This is the outside of the orphanage.

Reed is in the red jacket going in.

Another shot of the orphanage

We went to the orphanage around 9:00 a.m. and met with the head doctor. Her medical background told us no real surprises. She has had pneumonia 3x's and has been hospitalized for those times. She has a hernia, which we will get checked out in the states. She has dry skin, which we already knew. They think she might be allergic to certain types of food, so we will just get this all tested when we get to bring her home with us. She was born to a typical family here is Russia. She has 2 sisters who live with their family. Anastasia was brought to the orphanage at 2mths and 20 days because the family did not want to care for her. She has not been visited by any of her family since being brought to the orphanage. She will be four in May....she has never left the facility, but to be hopitalized. The orphanage is the only things these kids know. Oh, how they would blossom if they could be exposed to the attention and love they need.....they have so much potential. Anastasia has so much potential. I am already dreaming big for her.

We got to sit in on one of her speech therapy sessions. She did really well. She tries to do what her therapist asks her. Karina, our translator, said that her therapist, really loves Anastasia. I could tell....she was great with her. I thanked her at the end of the session for doing so well with Anastasia and for loving her.....it made me cry. I am going to leave you with some more pictures. We have another appointment this afternoon to see her.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks for checking in on us!!!

She is rolling a red therapy massage ball in this picture

Above more massage therapy, and above this one giving her therapist kisses!

More Pictures.......

Here are more pictures......

Details about our visit will come later. As I said I want to get the pictures out there, we all know that is what you really want to see anyway. I never know when the internet may go down. Plus it is 12:00 a.m. as I post. Jet lag has set in

and our bodies are saying, sleep. So enjoy the pictures...

I had to get a picture of her BOWS!!!! For those of you who know me, I love bows and I loved these too! They had her dressed up with her hair fixed to meet her mommy and daddy. Her hair looked so cute....it was braided and then twisted....it looks like it is pretty long.

She is wonderful....and spunky! We love her so much!!!!!