Day 8

The second half of yesterday was pretty relaxed. We settled into our new apartment- which is GREAT. It has a ton of rooms! So far, both places we'd stayed were just one room with everything crammed in (and we thought they were nice!). This one has a large living room, huge bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, separate WC, and closets galore.

The only thing is trying to bathe- ha. You have to turn the hot water on full strength in the sink, wait until it's hot, then turn it down to a small stream and THEN turn the hot water on in the bath. You use a detachable shower head (they've all had that so far), but there's no shower curtain and very little water pressure.  It's a little tricky!- and cold- but it gets the job done.  We found a little space heater we are going to move in there tomorrow.

After an eventful a.m., we watched all the sweet congratulations and encouragement come in for a little while {grin}, but we both ended up falling asleep. We still aren't quite adjusted to this time zone and yesterday was emotionally exhausting. When we woke up, we made our first solo trip to the market to stock up on groceries for the week.

Thanks for providing our grocery bags, Tennesee Titans, so we didn't have to pay for any sacks! This is about $50 (U.S. dollars) worth of groceries- but it's a lot. It will probably last us about a week.


This morning, Edward and Tatyana arrived to pick us up. We went to the notary (Hot Topic @DebbieW!! lol) to sign our request to adopt AG. From there to the local administration and we were approved!! Tatyana sent our request back to the SDA yesterday, so as soon as that is approved we can have court. That will take at least five business days and could take up to two weeks.  We are praying very specifically for fast approval, both for the obvious reasons and for financial ones. We need Nathan back home and back to work ASAP.

We arrived at the orphanage around 11a and were taken back down to the playroom. After a few mins, they came in and told us Annie was sleeping and we would have to wait until 12pm. They woke her up at noon and gave her a very quick lunch before bringing her to us :)  You could tell she was still pretty sleepy! She snuggled into Nathan and buried her face in his neck. I'm telling you... I don't have a chance!

Yesterday, I asked if I could take pictures and the nanny said yes. A few minutes later, one particular lady was coming and she told me to hurry and put it away. Even after our visit, she stopped in the stairwell and said "photograph...shhhh" and held her finger to her mouth. Today, the nanny didn't stay with us so after we saw that one lady leave the room, we snapped just a handfull of pictures as fast as we could and then put it away! :)

We managed to wake her up a bit to try to play. We laid her down to see what she would do and tried to see if she could sit up- she's too top heavy! She played with a few small toys, but she mostly just wanted to be held. She babbled some today!! "Bah-bah-bah-bah-bah" like she was telling us the most grand story, complete with facial expressions! She sucks her tongue and makes the cutest little fishface!!  After about an hour, she fussed once or twice and started snuggling in again. She LOVES to be cradled... but then she started falling asleep! The nanny told us that everytime she's in your hands, she will go to sleep. Hopefully, that little trick comes in handy on the flights home ;)
Starting tomorrow, we will visit from 12-2 every day, after lunch and between naps.

I'll be honest- yesterday, I kind of had the same reaction our twins did: That's not Anna Gray! "Anna Gray" is brunette and little! I was just so stunned by the child in front of me, compared to child I had imagined for the last 7 months. I think if she had been big and brunette OR small and blonde, I would have been fine. But big AND blonde really threw me!

Today, I guess some of the shock had worn off because she came into the room and I immediately thought... that's our Anna Gray!!

(BTW- she actually had on a 6/9 mos outfit today. It was small on her, but we were happy to know that we could probably squeeze her into most of the clothes we brought just to get her home without buying any!)


We came home for lunch (AFTER Tatyana took me to get a hair straightener- woo woo!). It's annoying the tar out of Nathan that I take pictures of everything- but I want to make sure we remember the whole experience! Of course, I throw in some extras every once in a while just to aggravate him. bwahahaha

Carrie and Lee, another RR family, we were on our side of town this afternoon so they came by for tea and coffee to visit for a while. On Sunday, they are taking us to the church they've been attending in country :)

Off to eat Nathan's first attempt at making a Ukrainian meal- Paka paka!!

LAYLA, BRYNN, AND CALE:
Brynn, we watched Aladdin in Russian today! It was very cool :) Cale-man, Daddy is making broccoli tonight, your favorite! LP- did you get your makeup work done? What are ya'll doing this weekend?! We miss you soooooo much! You are just going to LOVE your baby sister, she's so fun!