She's The One God Chose for Us

Sorry we have not had time to post. We have been quite busy. Don and I finally are here in the business center with a few minutes to share our days with those of you following our adventure.

Yesterday was our day to meet our little angel. We started the morning at the Ministry of Education (MOE) to get permission to visit the orphanage. Everyone was tickled that it was my birthday. We had been told we would have a short interview and to be prepared for some specific questions. We were ready for that but they never asked a single question. Perhaps my birthday distracted them!

After the MOE appointment, we went to the orphanage which was in the middle of the city. We first met with the Director and the physician to get additional information about our little girl. We were also allowed to ask specific questions about her health, background, family, etc.... After our questions were answered, they called for one of the caregivers to bring our angel into meet us. Don and I were nervous about meeting her.

When the door opened and she walked into the room, my heart jumped. I looked at Don and he was smiling so big - she was the cutest little girl with pig tails, a lime green sweater, denim skirt, leggings, a pink pig backpack, and silver sparkling shoes. She had a bubbly personality. The director told her to take us to another room. She, confidently, walked down the hallway with her shoes clicking all the way - she certainly enjoyed the way they sounded on the linoleum floor.

An interpreter was with us and we had a nice visit. The director came in after about 30 minutes and told our little angel that it was my birthday and they disappeared for a few minutes. She came back with a gift for me - this brought tears to my eyes - my first birthday gift from my child! Our visit seemed a bit overwhelming for her so we did not stay much longer.

After we left the orphanage, we went to lunch with our facilitator and discussed if we wanted to make our adoption of this little girl official. Without hesitation, we said "yes". We are sure she is the one God chose to be our little girl!

Today, our facilitator picked us up around 9:00am and we went to the notary to make it official that we want to adopt her. After our notary appointment, we took our little angel to lunch and then we went to a children's arcade similar to Chuck E Cheese. She had a great time! Playing and laughing. We took lots of photos and she took lots of photos also - she loves the digital camera!

We also shared a photo album with her today. We had photos of our house, cats, family, Don and me feeding a giraffe at Busch Gardens, and a photo of her room. We told her we wanted to paint her room and make it special for her. We brought paint samples from Home Depot with us and spread them out and told her to pick the colors she likes for her room. She picked an aqua, pink, and yellow. And, she told us she wants "cartoon heroes" painted on the walls! When we asked what she meant she said like princesses. She seems to be a typical 9 year old little girl! She is very healthy and extremely bright. She is in the third grade and gets very good marks in school. She even counted for us in English! She seems appropriate for her age in all ways.

We learned two things that were very surprising. First, she does have a slight medical problem, she has "flat feet"! Ha, she gets that from Don's side of the family :0) And second, she was born on my father's birthday! He is no longer with us but Don and I know he would be thrilled that our little girl shared this day with him. He is smiling in heaven right now.

We will see her again tomorrow morning for a few hours then we travel to Moscow on the train late tomorrow evening. It will be a sad day for us. We both can't imagine having to leave her. Our time away will be difficult.

We will not post again until we are home. Thanks for following our journey.
Praising God for this blessing,
Don and Elizabeth