Finally holding our Angel, again!

We woke up at 5:30 am Thursday after pretty much sleeping away Wednesday, our first day in Ekat. It was great -- sitting on a tiny couch comfortably made for one but we squeezed together and talked about the day that was about start. We saw the sun rise and before we knew it, it was 9:00am and breakfast time (delivered by our apt. manager each morning at 9am ---more to come on the apt. in a later post).

We're staying in an apartment in the heart of Ekat and we're on the 16th floor. From our balcony, we can see for miles and miles with church steeples and gold domes scattered throughout. The weather is BEAUTIFUL --- probably around 50 degrees F. My ski jacket is more than enough but Jon is doing fine with a sweatshirt.

Around 3:45pm, we were picked up by our translator, Lydia. It took 25 min. just to get out of the City (ugh -- Ekat traffic is still horrendous) and then about 40 minutes more to Orphanage #6 in the country. When walking through the yard, kids were playing in the "huts" for lack of a better word. We could hear them calling out "mama" and "papa" repeatedly but could hardly see their little faces peering over the hut fences. We were brought up to the 2nd floor playroom which we know very well and awaited K to be brought to us.

It was a looong few minutes but then we heard a little girl's voice say "mama" and the door opened. She was carried in by her caregiver and set down to walk towards us. She opened her arms for me so I could hold her. It was a wonderful moment but I could tell she was unsure as she watched her caregiver leave and close the door. Her tiny bottom lip started to quiver but within a few seconds, JD and I were able to engage her with some of the toys we had brought back from our last visit. Whew --- Operation Tears Diversion successful!

What we noticed is that she hasn't really changed in the long 7 months since we saw K in September. She's still little and I think the 18 mo. clothing will fit. What is noticeable is that her hair is definitely longer...I could almost braid it in the back -- if I knew how!! (he, he - gotta learn these things FAST!) She was wearing a pretty white dress with lots of red/black tiny flowers, blue socks and matching blue shoes. We only got to play for about an hour but it didn't take 3 days to get grins, smiles and giggles this time! She's saying some words but since they are in Russian, we have to rely on our translator to try and make out what it is she's saying. She's using both hands to stack items, she waves "paka" (good-bye) and even blows kisses (ugh, heart melted when I saw her blow kisses...).

It was comforting to say "Das Zaftra" at the end of our playtime, meaning "see you tomorrow". She didn't cry when having to leave us but we hope that after she gets to know us again, that she'll start crying like last time when they come for her.

So, today we're off to see her again. We were hoping to go play outside since the weather has been so beautiful but go figure....it's now snowing! Fingers crossed that we get to go outside...we've only seen her in the same room for all visits and it would be fun to take her outside to the play area and let her run loose.

Chances are we won't be able to see K this weekend so I'll get the opportunity to elaborate on our adventures here on "Survivor - Ekat Island". It's actually getting easier and my pocket Russian Dictionary is coming in handy (thanks, Dawn!!). But we still feel like fish out of water at times - that's for sure.

We completed a wonderful day by celebrating our 15th Anniversary by going to The Old Dublin Pub for dinner. The food was delicious and the beer a great accompianment. We know these days of quiet evenings out at a nice restaurant are numbered but that's ok...we spent the majority of the evening talking about K and looking at her pictures. She might as well have been there!

Celebrating 15 years of wedded bliss...and now ready to be parents!

Time to get ready for our second visit ~ but in the meantime, I'll share some sneak-peek pictures of our angel. Thank you, EVERYONE, who happen to be following our journey, posting, sending e-mails, or just lurking. We feel the support literally from all over the world and it means the world to us.

K playing with a Winnie the Pooh book. K said "Pooh" but we're not sure if it was in context or just a babble!