It's Tutu Time!

We are done. We got her visa at the US Embassy this morning. Everything went smoothly.

Now, we just wait.

So...while we wait I decided to pull out her tutu....

Here she is tutu and a great big bow!!!

Climbing in to a little shelf

Getting into things.

Ahhh! This is the life.

We leave tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m. It is atleast a 2 hour drive to the airport. We would appreciate prayers for safe travels and that Anya does well in the plane.

We went sightseeing yesterday. I may try to post those pictures later on, but if I don't...we will see you in.....

AMERICA!!!!!!

We are In Moscow

We are in Moscow. Anya had her first plane ride today from Novosibirsk to Moscow. She did great!!! We are in Moscow on the last leg of our trip. Over the next two days we will be going to the US Embassy completing her immigration papers.

The last few days in Novosibirsk were spent getting her passport, visa, as well as other small things that needed to be taken care of. Here are a few pictures that we took in Novosibirsk.

This is a picture of our hotel.All of the buildings in Novosibirsk are old and run down. It is not what we are used to in America.

This picture was taken in front of a fountain across the street from our hotel. Anya loves to go strolling outside. She does not talk yet, but whenever I try to get her out of her stroller when we come in, she grunts at me.

Anya feeding herself...

Right now, she is eating baby food. We are too scared to feed her much variety yet, because of the fact that we do not have a good understanding of her allergies. I would so love to get her to a McDonald's and give her some french fries (mmm, I know she would love them),

but for now we are sticking with a conservative diet.

Having fun in the bath!!!!

The rash in these pictures is looking much better and her

ankles are looking better also.

This may be my only picture of her with a bow in her hair.

We are having a hard time with the bows, but I have a

good feeling that when we get home Mommy

is going to win the war of the bows!

Anya and daddy skyping with family

And tonight in our Moscow hotel....

Going....

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Our sweet little girl is sleeping.

Sleep tight.

Good night.

Pictures of Anya

A few more pictures of our journey. Thank you to all who have given us suggestions on how to care for Anya's skin. This morning when she woke up, she had a rash all over her skin....so we went out with our translator to get something that might help her. Unfortunately, they don't have the same creams as we do in America; we did the best we could. We have a cleansing gel and cream that we were told was for dry skin, but it's so hard to be sure of just what you are getting in a foreign country. I applied the gel, rinsed it off and patted her skin dry tonight and then followed with the cream patting it all over her body. Praying that she will get some relief.

Overall, she is doing good. She is busy; possibly busier than Ellis Anne...BUT I didn't think that was possible. She is also very smart. She dresses herself for the most part (she put my pants on tonight while we were skyping with family). She feeds herself (a bit messy). She is a sponge (she signed "shoes" while watching a Baby Signing Times video) and she is a climber (Oh no!!!).

I see many doctor appointments coming up for us, but we expected that. She sleeps through the night but periods of it are very restless. Her teeth are in decent shape, but need attention. She needs some braces for her feet. Her skin obviously needs attention, and although we know of no heart defect she will see Ellis Anne's cardiologist at some point when we get back and settled. Lots of fun coming up in the near future!!!!

I do think that she is a little unsure of things right now. I am trying to do my best to make her feel secure. Although living in an orphanage without a mommy and daddy is a life that none of these children should have to endure, the truth is that the orphanage life was the only life she knew and in one day, it was turned upside down. I just can't wait to get her home....then we can start growing together as a family.

Here are more pictures....

Eating her porridge.

Sticking to the orphanage diet until we get a handle on her dermatitus.

Caught a giggle!

Signing papers to get her birth certificate

She loves to crawl in little spaces....

And a pretty smile before going to bed....

(we were told that she got that bruise while in the hospital)

FInally some pictures...

It ended up being a super long day. We did not get Anya until the end of the day. I am up and the lights are out. She is asleep. To say the least, we are alarmed by the looks of her feet. Yes, that is her dermatitus. If anyone has any experience with how to care for this, please let me know. We are in a foreign country, so it is hard to get our hands on things easily. The doctor only gave us some iodine and some type of pill (an antibiotic) that we were scared to give her. Leaving the orphanage was rushed and the head doctor told us to come back Monday if we wanted to talk to her. She does not seem to be in any pain. Here are the pictures. The bad ones are first. It is hard to move the pictures around.

This is the dermatitus. Those are scabs.

Leaving the orphanage forever!!!!

Our facilitator and translator.

Daddy and Anya

I will post more tomorrow. The day has gotten aways from us and I better get some rest.

Thanks for checking on us and please put her dermatitus in your prayers. We will take her to the doctor as soon as we get home, but I don't want it to get worse before we get to the states.

SHE IS OURS!!!!!

SHE IS OURS!!!!

WE ARE TICKLED PINK

(or is this purple)

We have no pictures. We have had limited access to the internet.

Anya is in the hospital, so they have not let us see her yet.

She was admitted for dermatitus. Not a big deal, but because of

construction going on in the baby house they admitted her.

I will explain the details later. Right now we are waiting for

the minute we have been waiting for over a year. Our facilitator is

coming to get us to go get her at the hospital. Then.....we will have pictures!

I promise lots....

P.S. We also got our 10 days waived. Praise the Lord!!!!

THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS!!!!

GUESS WHAT.......

We have a court date!!!!!!!!!

September 22nd

we leave the states on September 19

YES, we are more than excited

and I am overcome with emotions.