We made it to Khabarovsk!

We made it to Khabarovsk! Our travel was uneventful, which is always good on an airplane trip. Two long layovers but no big issues.
We were treated to home cooked dinner and breakfast by our friend Susan and her son Nick! In case you don't know, we met Susan and her husband Mark on our trip in Sept.07. They live near us at home, and are in the process of adopting a 5 year old boy named Nick.
Nick is adorable, a little chatter box, mostly Russian with a few English words now and then, "1,2,3,4,..."he counts the fruit on the window ceil, we all cheer!
Susan is just finishing up 14 days here with no other Americans, I have a lot of respect for her. I went to her this morning as she multi-tasked packing and making us breakfast, I had tears in my eyes....nothing was working for me, adaptors, converters, sparks flying out of the outlets when you plug something in, my phone card wouldn't work and I can't get on the internet! She fed us, gave us flowers, lent me everything I forgot ,gave me a big hug and made me feel like it was going to be okay. She was like an angel here to help us get start
Just as I remember being in Khabarovsk before in the winter, constant sub-zero outside, stifling dry heat inside. There is n thermostat in the room, so we keep the window open to cool it down to the low 80's, I'm not kidding, I brought a thermometer. More to come.....

We have travel plans!

You should see our itinerary.....Wow! We fly to Chicago for a 5 hour lay over. Then board a plane for Seoul S. Korea at 1am. It takes about 12 hours or so to get there. Then we sit at the air port in Seoul for 5 hours then take a 2 hour flight right into Siberia! Khabarovsk is about the latitude of Winnepeg, so cold, even colder than Wisconsin maybe.

Look at that face, she's worth it all!

Craig and I have every emotion;excited, worried, happy, relieved, nervous.....

September 2007, visit to the orphanage

This is Daddy Craig playing with little Svetlana (a.k.a Naomi) at one of our visits to the orphanage in September.

She was 16 months old at that time. She was not walking yet, but was bright eyed and easy to make smile. Many family members commented on how much she reminded them of the way Scotty looked at that age; peach fuzz head with chubby cheeks!

September 2007, Traveling half way around the world to meet a little girl named Svetlana

Three years ago it seemed like Craig and I only took a few minutes to decide we definitely wanted to adopt again from Khabarovsk, Russia. Our experience adding Scotty to our family was magical. The adoption process had gone quite smoothly, and we both felt it's obvious God made him for us!

This time around the adoption journey has been a very rough road. If you want details, you'll have to call me directly. The set backs along the way have almost been insurmountable. Yet I still feel here is a little girl waiting for us. So we press on.....

WHAT A DIFFERENCE FOUR YEARS MAKES

Four years ago today Craig and I nervously appeared before a Russian judge in Khabarovsk to adopt a thirteen month old boy name Petr. Today he is very American wearing Sponge Bob Square Pants pajamas and drinking tea in Wisconsin. He swims like a fish, laces his skates for hockey and is one of the happiest kids around. Thank God for finding him for us.

My first blog! 1-8-2008

We hope to bring our little girl from Russia home soon. Adopting from Russia now takes two trips. I will share some of our first trip to meet Svelana that was back in September 2007.