First Time seeing Tatiana

Scott and I were having lunch in the director's office (which is a separate building from where the children live), and after we finished they told us the nurse will bring in Tatiana very soon. I was looking out the window and saw in the distance the nurse with this little wrapped up child coming toward the office. As they stepped into the door, I had huge waves of emotions like the rush of the first hill on a roller coaster. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh, cry, jump up and down, it was incredible. She came in already talking to the woman who was with her, and she was extremely personable from the time she walked in. Now, the director gave her a piece of candy and told her not to open it. We didn't know that is what she said , so we kept looking at her playing with this piece of candy and not opening it. We thought she didn't know how to open it. While she was playing with it, they were talking with her and she would look over at us. Again, we were not sure what was being said, but they were probably explaining to her about us. Then after ten minutes the director told her she could eat the candy, and she immediately opened the candy and put most of it in her mouth. I think they wanted to show us she listens to instructions and obeys them. I wasn't even thinking about that; I was just looking at her and thinking that's my little girl sitting over there and I want to get up and hug her and tell her to take my hand we're taking you home.

Scott and Missy in front of St. Basil Moscow

Home at Last!

We are home and trying to think about unpacking and getting back into life again. I feel since we recieved the call in mid-December our lives have been crazy. I went early to pick up Luke from school because I missed him so much and couldn't wait to see him. I cried and Luke got very teary.

I'm so glad to be home but if they asked us to come back tomorrow, I would be on that plane even though I can barely think straight right now. It was an extremely busy trip with loads of travel, so we tried to take naps whenever possible. I didn't sleep at all on the long plane ride home because there's something about sleeping in the upright position that gets me every time. I wished at one point I was working the trip so time would go by faster. I told the flight crew on the trip to Moscow I was an ex-flight Attendant and they teased me about helping them out. I didn't sleep good last night and was wide awake at 5am. I remember this feeling all to well from my flying days. I can't wait until it's over and I'm back on EST.

I thank God for a wonderful and blessed trip. At times it feels surreal. Was I really there? Did I really meet our daughter? But, He has this all under control and we will wait for His prefect timing to go back and bring her home! Please Lord make it soon!!!!!! I have more to write about our journey, but this brain is just too sleepy. More to come....

Still trying to take it all in.....

Well, we are back in Moscow and the train ride was long but we slept a little. Today, Ana is taking us around Moscow to see the sights. I am very tired today and I'm still trying to put together everything that has happened since being here. We had a wonderful stay in Voronezh and the people here couldn't be more loving. I cried when we left the train station because everyone took us there to see us off.It was Galina (stayed at her home)with her daughter Kristina, our translator Nick, our driver Sergei. I felt like Dorthy leaving Oz and all her new friends. They stood outside our train window waving and blowing kisses. In fact this whole trip has felt like being in OZ.

This is a part two email because I couldn't get it done this morning, so I will tell you how our day went. Ana took us around Moscow today and we went to Red Square, Lenin's tomb, St. Basil's Cathedral, and some more shopping. They love to see American's come in and shop. It was a very cold day but exciting to see these things I have read about my whole life. We are leaving tomorrow to come back to US Land, and I will be happy to return. I miss everyone, but I miss someone here too that is tugging at our hearts, so that makes it hard to leave.

While we were in the orphanage after spending some time with Tatiana, the Director was asking our translator questions she wanted him to ask us, and while she was asking him the questions Tatiana was answering them without me knowing what they were saying yet. Here is what director wanted Nick to translate to us. DO you think you are going to adopt this little one? Are you ready to take her back to America? Do you think she will like living there? All of these questions were answered by Tatiana saying Da (YES!!!!!),and she wasn't even asking her yet! We have lots of pictures of her and video of the kids in her group, her bedroom and playroom. I can't wait until I am allow to share them.

We were able to talk to Luke using Skype and our webcam, so we were able to look at each other and talk. It was very good for mommy because I sure do miss him. It's free and worth it's weight in gold if you have family far away. It really made me feel good seeing Luke and him seeing us!

I'm very tired again and will be until I get back on Maryland time so.........
Good night Luke in Maryland, Good night Tatiana in Voronezh! I know someday soon we will all be together in Maryland! And I'm headed there tomorrow! Hooray!

We feel your prayers

We are in Voronezh in case some of you do not know. Our train ride was very good and we slept most of the way. Everything is running like clockwork and we feel very comfortable. We had a very good day yesterday meeting the ministry of education. He was very nice and let us take pictures of him. Later that day, we had a tour of the city. There is a whole story here, but I will have to save that for later. I am using a computer in our facilitator's home. We are staying here with her and her daughter who speaks very good english, and she is so funny and cute.

The biggest news is we went to the orphanage to meet Tatiana today, and it was wonderful. Everyone treated us so nice and we had two meals prepared for us with the asst. director. She was very friendly and laughed a lot. They brought Tatiana in to meet us and I held it togehter pretty good. (that is one answer to pray), and she was adorable, and both of us fell in love with her. It was very hard to leave her there, but she is in good hands until we bring her home. Later, we will post some pictures from the back so you can get an idea of her. She is very small and wears a 3T slim or some 2T. She warmed up to us quickly and we had many hugs and kisses. I was able to meet the other children in her group and see where she sleeps and eats and goes potty. We are very tired, very long day for all of us. There is so much to write, but not the time now.

Thank you for praying for us. Tomorrow we see the MOE again to sign papers to adopt her, and Nick will take us around to shop, and then we will be back on the train going back to Moscow.

Thanks to everyone for checking in. We are reading your posts and they are giving us much needed love and prayers. We feel it all the way here because we have a very big God!

We are in Moscow!!!

Long plane ride, but we are here in the Marriott Hotel for some much needed sleep and a shower before we get on the train tonight. We were met right out of customs by our driver, a man that could drive that car through any type of traffic. I was so glad I couldn't see much but he really knew how to weave and fit in places the car didn't look like it would go! I had around three hours of sleep and I don't know if that will get any better tonight, so if you read this and if doesn't make sense, my mind is sleepy. We are staying at our translators house this week, and we are looking forward to it, and hope it will be good enough. Tomorrow we will meet the ministry of education, so please pray that all goes well. I can't wait until we meet Tatiana because that is probably the most on my mind. The Russian people seem very friendly and love having Americans come to their country.

I think it's amazing how a little shower can help your mind and body feel so much better. We are off to eat dinner because we slept through lunch, so i'm a little hungry. I hope to connect tomorrow!

Good News...and planes, trains and automobile

The good news is we got our visa's today!!!! Yeaaaa!!!! So, we are good to go!

We had a phone conference with Christi today concerning the whole trip! Some of it was hard to digest, but we will be on a plane (14 hours) then a few hours in Moscow to clean up, and then (11 hours) on a train to Voronezh where we will be staying in an apartment, and then (five hours) by car to the orphanage.(LOL) We will see the ministry of education the first day, go to the orphanage the second and possbily the third day, notary office and put back on a train to do everything above in reverse. We will have time in Moscow to tour, so we are planning to see some sites on Saturday because we will not fly out until Sunday. We will be very tired puppies when we get back! God is good!

Leaving in three days........

Well, we are leaving in three days and our visa's should arrive tomorrow, we are hopeful! The packing isn't going too good. It's this thing about cold cold weather and big big sweaters.

Anyway, I found another fascinating thing that everyone has told me is a must to take (beside our toilet-paper-to-go)and again didn't know about it, toilet seat covers to-go. It's a little compact five cover packet, oh how wonderful! Seeing that I have restroom issues covered (ha ha), I'm moving into what to take and what to leave. You may be thinking this can not be that hard, but let me tell you, I am lead to know that bringing gifts for people who help you while you are there is fun to do. We have no problem with this because I love giving gifts, so we need to think of everyone that will be dealing with us and that's a lot of people. I definitely want to take good care of the workers at the orphanage because I am leaving Tatiana in their good care until we go back, so I heard they like American chocolate bars, so I have lots of American chocolate bars with us. You know, those things weigh a lot in your baggage, now it all make sense.

Another person we care deeply about is the ministry of education. We will see him on this trip and he is the man in charge. He will ask us back and complete are adoption besides the judge (next trip).

As I move away from the packing issues and on to the true issues. We covet your prayers while we are in Russia. There are so many things that can go wrong, and knowing people are lifting us up to the One who can make it all right, gives us so much comfort. Thank you......

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Febreze and Toilet Paper to Go.........

Well, yesterday I felt like I won the lottery because I found, which I didn't know some company had already invented, toilet paper to go! I was literary happy as could be because of this wonderful find! Our agency told us, bring your own toilet paper because your two choices are sandpaper or none, so we were told to save half rolls here at our house. Well, we failed miserably at that pursuit because we kept forgetting. When I would remember there would be around four squares left, too late! I told my coordinator about my find and she said "I know, I take that on every mission trip." Who would have known?

Another interesting item popped up in a conservation at church the other day. We need to pack light due to space restraints in Russia, so wearing the same clothing more than once is necessary. I was telling some friends this, and one of them kinda breezed into the conversation handed me this lovely book and added you need to buy FebreZe, it will take the nasty smells out of your clothes. Yesterday, that was one of my purchases, so I took an item of smelly clothing out of the hamper and FebreZed it. Sure enough it was smelling nice in about two minutes. So, then my mind started racing, hey, I'm on to something here. Could this decrease my laundry load? My husband's one time wear policy! All the possibilities were swarming in my head. Even a commercial....Wow Missy your clothes smell so nice...Oh thank you...I've been FebreZed! And then I came back from La La Land and realized, that's not going to make it here in the good old USA, much less our household, but in Russia, I'm good to go! We've been FebreZed!

Good news, I talked with Natasha yesterday, and she told me that it looks very good for us to get our visa's in time before we leave. That is one very important item you can't leave home without.

Not so Bad......

I have had so many of you either leave comments or email or talk with us about our journey, and it has been completely comforting to know you are praying for us. Some of you have asked about the Russian Orphan video at the bottom our blog, and this is from missionaries that go to Russian orphanages and minister to these children. The statistics are terrible, but very true. I can only say that our hearts will be open to see what God will do in the future for a ministry such as this. I think Tatiana would love to help us do it too!

I am involved with this huge group (chat group) of families that are adopting from Russia. Our adoption agency has it set up and it's people from all around the world. It is so encouraging and we talk about everything concerning our adoptions. It's a great way to pray for each other, express our feelings, and hear how others have done things before us. Well, I put out some questions the other day about what can I bring to help bond Tatiana and us for our first time together. And this wonderful group had lots of ideas and one of them we did today. We went to Build-A-Bear and Luke picked out a bear to give to Tatiana. We also put a recording inside of the bear with each of us saying "I love you Tatiana" and ending with "We love you Tatiana." Scott and I got so emotional we almost didn't make it out of the store. We also got her a blanket to give her so she can sleep with it until we go back to bring her home. Very emotional day! It made it so real!

I love your encouraging comments, my heart feels lighter because of them.

Upward Basketball started yesterday and it was so much fun. Scott is coaching Luke's team and they did really good today. There are around 1000 children involved this year. It's a wonderful community ministry, and I believe it shows the kids that in all we do, including sports, honoring God is number one!

Our blog is mostly about our adoption, but as Scott and I were talking about it today, we are constantly thanking the One who is blessing us with Tatiana, for He is the one who made this all happen, not us, not our adoption agency, not Russia, they and we were just instruments of His greater picture.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us. 1John3:1

Cold Brrrrrrr......

Well, on the east coast this week it has been very cold. So cold that when I went out running the other day, I came back with a frozen face and couldn't move my frozen jaw for a long time. Now, how am I going to survive in frozen Russia? I'm planning to wear everything I own (of any warmth) on my body, so I can look just like the boy in the movie "The Christmas Story", but I will be warm! I'm cold here all the time and when Scott's does a fire at night, I can stand there for hours just trying to get warm. At least we will not be directly in Siberia where the temperture is -oh my gosh= compare to Voronezh -oh my.

Sleep is a beautiful thing. One thing we are not getting a lot of here. Not due to anything else but lots of stuff on our minds. The body is tired, but the mind is wide awake! I am getting a good every third day rest(exhaustion), but in between, its rough. Scott is doing about the same, so we said this morning, we need to try and get to bed early and sleep.

Another unexpected occurrence, I miss Tatiana and I don't even know her. I looked at her picture this morning and told her how much I miss her. It's wonderful how God prepares our heart for someone so precious and gives us that desire. I think its the same as knowing Jesus. I have never seen Him, but know him and desire to have Him in my heart.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

The innocence of childhood

Sometimes during Luke's bedtime, he likes to talk about his day at school, so last night he told us a little story the happened that day. He said his teacher asked him besides praying for your family's adoption what else could we do for you. Well, Luke thought about this and told his class the they could bring in all the toys they don't play with anymore for Tatiana. And one boy told him, I have tons of toys I don't play with anymore, I could bring those in. So, Scott and I got a big chuckle about this, and told Luke that was very sweet, but we are thinking more about what we can give to her orphanage and their needs, not so much here. It's very true that his sister has nothing not even the clothes on her back are hers. On our second trip, we will be bringing her clothes to wear out of the orphanges the day we bring her home. They have one book in her orphanage we were told she likes to read everyday. This is so hard to imagine with all the things we have here in the US. Luke has enough toys for twenty children, at least.

I will leave you with this one thought from one of my favorite song: Rock of Ages.......
Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling, Rock of Ages Cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee.

Listen to Logan's video and hear this thirteen year old boy who lives on a ranch in Nebraska when he called in to a christian radio station one day. How true!

Russian Holidays

Well, I just found out today that the Russian Consolate is closed until 9th of January, so that leaves us with a mighty tight timeframe for getting our visa's before we leave. The man I talked to in San Francisco (the place I FedEx our visa's) said we should be able to get them back on the 12th. So, as my stomach turns, we are hopeful the visa's will arrive and we can leave on the 14th of January.



This is where I am glad I'm not in control of this and the One who is does!

Two days down

Well, the last two days have been nothing short of stressful, but we were able to get our visa's in the mail yesterday. Getting stuff done during the holidays have been a struggle, but yesterday we got passport pictures taken for our visas. To go into Russia you need a visa, but can only get that once you are told to go. It took Scott around three hours to complete our visa forms, and now we have to do many other tedious things before we leave.

Since we will be spending most of our time traveling, we are starting to think about what books to take, movie to watch, and things to do. Scott ask Luke if he could take his Nintendo, and I had to laugh, but he was serious. So I guess that may come too!

I am also thinking about what it's going to be like meeting Tatiana for the first time. Our coordinator Christi said all the mommies cry, but make sure you tell the translator to say these are tears of joy not sadness, so Tatiana will not get upset. What is that moment going to be like for Tatiana? Hi, we are you parents, be prepared to get out of here! A song from a movie popped into my head the other day that my mom took me to when I was around ten years old. It was starring Babara Streisand, titled "Funny Girl", and she sang this song which one part of the lyrics goes like this "Get ready for me love cause I'm a comin" and that is my desire for Tatiana. She will feel our love and know we are her parents, coming to take her home soon.

I am also remindered about God's promise to Moses in Exodus 3:8 "So I have come down to recue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey." Sometimes I forget how good it is here in the U.S. where food is plentiful. I wish it were that way everywhere!