Planes, Trains & Buses...and a Cute Little Girl

Well, we have stopped moving for a few days, settled back into the same apartment as before.  My body has yet to stop swaying.  Thinking tonight will be a good sleep night, even though there will be three of us sharing a bed.

Remarkable how much the weather has changed in the past week.  I haven't seen any snow or ice and in fact there is some green grass popping up and I think I even saw a few shoots of tulips outside the apartment.

We expected to meet Grandma today, but found out today that that would have to wait.  Someone needed to got prepare her for the visit.  Apparently she is quite ill.  So maybe tomorrow.

Once we got to Nikopol we headed straight to the orphanage.  We had a short visit with the director and then they went to get our daughter.  I assumed that they would have told her that the court date was changed, but she was completely surprised by our arrival.  It was sweet to see her meet Annabelle and try to size everything up.  We took a few minutes to fill her in on what tomorrow is going to look like, what little we know and what would happen after that.  Jamie was having fun talking to her in Spanish, she is really good at it.  She was bright and happy.  It wasn't a long visit, true hunger was taking over.

As we head downstairs, another kid came to tell that her other Grandma was here to see her.  That was a surprise to me.  I knew about the other Grandma, that she lived in a nearby village but my understanding was that she never visited.  As we came around the corner we were greeted by the sweet smiling face of Grandma.  She hugged our girl, stroked her hair and then started asking questions about us.  Her first question was wether or not she would be able to stay in contact with her.  Our answer, of course.  Then she wanted to see pictures of our house and family, hear about the other girls.  She wanted to make sure that we would treat her well and not abuse her.  It also gave us an opportunity to ask a few questions.  This Grandma was on her dads side, so we asked about him.  Seems like he has nothing to do with her.  Works in Russia and travels back and forth between the two countries.  He and her mom never married.  We then went on to ask about mom, and got a bit more information on that front as well.  We were able to take a picture of Grandmother and Granddaughter.  A very sweet moment. At the end she said that she had some photo's of her when she was a baby and would bring them for her to take with her.

From there we said our good bye and made our way to the apartment so we could rest and mostly eat.  From the hours of travel and lack of food, I was feeling very weak and vulnerable.  But now, my tummy is full which makes all the difference in the world for both my body and my mind.  Ahhhhh.

By the time most of you wake up tomorrow, court will be done and we will have our 4th daughter.  I don't exactly know when we can start calling her by name but as soon as we get the green light we will post a picture and her full name.  We are anxious to make it official and get started on our life together.

My goal this go around is to post "the bright side" seems just writing the good makes me feel good.  It is interesting to see things through Annabelle's eyes.  She is seeing beauty.  She was impressed with the orphanage, the train and the apartment.  Even though she is bored, doesn't have wireless internet and all the tv is in Russian.  She is another stellar traveler, not a single word of complaint.

So it is 8pm and Annabelle and I are headed to bed.  One big hurdle tomorrow then it is just a matter of time and logistics.

Blessing to all...