Day 3 with K

Before heading out to the orphanage in the afternoon, JD and I ventured out into the streets to go shopping looking for Q-Tips (requested by the Orphanage Doctor), hand cream, purse-size tissues (K has a cold right now) and toys --- we needed something "exciting" to bring out the smile in our little girl!

Finding stores in Yekaterinburg when you don't read the language is next to impossible unless they have window displays...and many don't -- they have posters that do us no good! But when walking down a side street with the locals, we came across what looked like a pharmacy. Oh, the sense of accomplishment felt after conveying our needs in my little Russian and pointing, as well as using Rubles was incredible!

After shopping, we were scheduled to meet with our coordinator and translator at 2:45 to sign papers and then head over to see K. They finally showed up at 3:15...but they were late for a good reason: a fellow PAP (prospective adoptive parent) who had dinner with us Wednesday (Lori) was at court and was granted parental rights to her twin girls! Congrats, Lori!

Olga and Lydia provided us with papers that we officially signed stating our formal intention to adopt K.

So, it is now official and K is on record to become our daughter...of course, after the mountain of paperwork is completed/reviewed/revised/reviewed/revised/etc. and the Court Date set (which can be 3-8 months...or longer). We're not out of the woods yet...but we're closer to becoming a family than before!

FINALLY, we got to the orphanage around 5pm and since it was raining, we knew it would be an indoor-day. Let me tell you, we are so glad we went toy shopping! K was wearing the cutest outfit -- a lightblue courderoy dress, white long sleeve T-shirt, blue ribbed stockings and her bright yellow sandals. This time, JD greeted her first when she was brought into the music/playroom by her caregiver (good job, JD, with your new Russian!). She went to his arms but then started to bawl. I quickly passed off the video camera to JD, picked her up and life was back to good. (We knew it would take time since the children never see men unless they are the maintenance person, the guard or the grounds keeper ~ someone they don't interact with.)

We had such a great visit. She sat with both of us and played with her toys...we even got a few cherished grins. We gave her a Fisher Price PDA which made noise and had lights --- huge hit. She kept putting it to her ear and we'd pretend she was on the phone. JD struck it big with her giving her a few Animal Crackers! (It was right before dinner time and we were afraid to be caught by the caregivers...) She has a mouthful of teeth which can only be seen when laughing and crying so we haven't seen much of them ~ yet.

At 6pm, the caregiver came in to take K away --- just when we were in the midst of having so much fun. K started to cry...she didn't want to leave! That was a great feeling. We took some last minute pictures and she was whisked away. JD and I had grins on our faces...we really felt connected...all of us.

Below is a "teaser" photo of K with JD when she was looking at our photo album:

Good News: We thought we had Saturday off to see the city, get souveniers, etc. but instead, we get to go back to see K again! Four days this week...what a blessing!

But what lurks in the background of my mind is that after Saturday's visit, JD and I won't get to see her for months and months.

Will K forget us? She is only 20 months...

What will she think? Anything? Probably return to her daily routine and not realize what's going on behind the scenes...

Will the caregivers follow through and show her our pictures daily? We can only hope so.

I sign off now, in great anticipation of seeing K today. We will try to get enough hugs to last us the duration of our separation until our next trip ~ when we can bombard her with more love and attention that she is so desperately lacking of but willing to receive and learn to give back.