Best. Christmas. Ever. !!!!

I know, I know...I've slacked a little on the blogging! But, I haven't had as much time- our last day in Russia we were running back and forth to the Embassy and Moscow Doctor (who told us some funny things....one of which is that our boy is going to Hollywood someday- he is playing us...with all the fits! lol) Then, we had the joy of packing our hotel room up with Landon in tow...unpacking each thing we put in!


Fast forward to our last day in Russia- going to the SVO airport. If you've been following, you probably already know, but we didn't have a zone on our tickets that allowed us to get our seat assignments before gate check in. This meant we possibly could have been bumped to another flight on a different day, or been given seats that were not together. Well, maybe thanks to Aunt Nancy calling the Delta agents for us, or maybe all the prayer, but we got on that flight....seated together! We had a really smooth flight coming in- I don't know how, but it seemed to be the easiest of all the plane rides- maybe it was the emotion and excitement carrying me through each hour. Landon slept two different times- only 1/2 hour the first time, and about 40 min. the next. During both naps, I listed to my MP3 player which got me crying- just listening to the Christmas songs playing while I had my son's head in my lap on our way home on Christmas Eve (while thinking...this is really happening!) couldn't have made me any happier! Landon only had a couple of meltdowns, and they didn't last but for 2-3 minutes a piece...not bad for 10 1/2 hours in the air, 40 minute mandatory de-icing of the plane before taking, almost 3 hours in the airport prior to boarding, and a 1 1/2 hour car ride to the airport! The poor boy had a long day...and so did we! But, when we landed, and were heading through customs, our emotions continued to carry us. We were so excited to see our family through the doors!  (PS- I do want to mention- we met a great couple on our plane who was bringing home their 16 month old son too- Noah and Landon got to play together for a little while on the plane- SO cute!!)

I caught site of my sister, Aunt Sue first! She was standing up on a metal railing waving at us! I think I almost ran the stroller through the double doors I was so excited!! We were HERE...in America, with our boy! A new US citizen! We had a great 15 minute reunion with the family in the airport, and then got in the car again for about a 2 hour ride home.

Once we were home, Landon got to meet his big sister, Dakota. Dakota couldn't be better with him- in just the past 24 hours, she has endured being poked in the eyes, having some toys flying in her direction, and a hand in her food bowl! She handled it all with such nurturing gentleness! She even lays next to Landon's crib at times, and is just being a great big sister! Landon is still a little unsure of Dakota- he has given her treats, pet her, and all...but sometimes we see him back away- like he's not quite sure of her. I'm sure in the next few days that will pass. :)
 
We had a good amount of family cycle in and out today- it was Christmas and we know that the grandparents and aunts and uncles wanted to meet and spend some time with Landon. He did great with everyone! We tried to keep the visits to around an hour each, and only have 4 over at a time.  Landon seems to be adjusting rather well...I'll tell you what- our house is much better for him than a hotel room! I think that we have less meltdowns because he actually has things to do here! YEAH!
 
 
Landon's 1st Christmas in America started out at 3:15 AM today which was after 7 hours of sleep- so he was definitely still on Moscow time...so were we! Waking up that early wasn't that bad for us either. We got to enjoy about 5 hours of time, the 3 of us, getting used to the house, and getting settled in from traveling. Greg surprised me and had wonderful friends of ours put in a new tub, new dry wall and paint in our bathroom- a much needed improvement in our home- we have wanted to do for a while! We LOVE it!! ...and so does Landon! :)  Since there was some construction in our home while we were away, there was that famous layer of white powder everywhere- so I decided to vacuum. Who would have known that would be such a great adventure! He took the attachment in his hand, and helped me the whole time! I mean...WE vacuumed for almost 45 minutes straight...the whole house! And, he was great the whole time! It was adorable!
 
Landon didn't know how to open presents, so Dakota volunteered happily to show him. She opens presents better than any dog I know- after just 1 lesson, Landon tried opening one just like his sister- with his teeth! lol! It was too cute! As the day went on, he got better and better at opening gifts. He loves all the new things he has to play with! I'll try to upload just a few pictures...and then I need to get to bed!
 
Well, it sounds like we may have the day mostly to ourselves tomorrow, which will be nice. We apparantly brought the snow AND Landon back from Russia with us!
 

Greeting our awaiting family in the airport!

 

I think Landon was happy to be going home, too!!



 
 

Landon giving Dakota a treat!

Who would've guessed that sunglesses would be the big hit? :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Love, Greg, Liz, Landon, & Dakota!!!

Great Day!

We had a jam-packed fun day! We did have a little bit of an unexpected early start though. Landon woke up at 4:30 or so crying. We waited a few minutes, and then decided he wasn't going to fall back asleep on his own, so we went over, and rubbed his back, and "shhhh" 'd him until he fell back asleep. That bought us about 1/2 hour more of sleep before he started crying again. This time, I rocked him in my arms for a few minutes, and then decided it was time to just bring him into bed with us. I was so tired, I just wanted to sleep. It seems as if the early morning hours are finally when my body lets itself sleep. This worked...and got us through til about 6:15. We then got up, and ready, and went downstairs for breakfast.

Boy does our boy love Porridge! (aka oatmeal)  He is so cute- he always opens his mouth wide open and sticks his chin out towards us letting us know he is ready for another bite. Usually this is barely by the time the spoon has made it's way back into the bowl. He is a super quick eater. We have been working on trying to get him to slow down! If we break something into pieces and put it on a plate, we have to limit how much we put on the plate at once, b/c no matter how much it is, it is gone in under a minute. We aren't sure exactly, and don't really like assuming "bad" orphanage habits, but we are thinking possibly their eating there is like the driving here? The bully gets the road/food! Who knows, really. Today we actually got him to put food that was in his hand down for a second to take a sip of his drink. This was a big deal- before, if we tried to give him his drink while he had food in his hand, he would first stuff that into his mouth, and then reach for the glass. I purposely made sure not to touch the food he put down, trying to show him that he can leave food out, and he will get it back... hopefully Dakota will follow this pattern of training too when we get home- NOT! :)

At 9 AM, our driver, Slava picked us up from the hotel. We were off to Red Square to capture some memories of our boy's birthplace culture with him so we can share the pictures and memories with him in years to come. We loved our site seeing, even though it was a high of 14 degrees! Landon didn't seem to mind the cold, and everytime we walked into a building, he fussed. We got to enjoy St. Basil's Cathedral together, the Kremlin tour (really neat!), the guard changing outside of the Kremlin, and part of an ice show in the middle of Red Square! Here are some pictures of our morning together!

We had to get a picture here! I am so excited to put this picture in a frame in Landon's room. Our dear and talented friend, Karen, painted a mural of this building on the wall in Landon's room for him. It was in the works when we left last week, so we can't wait to see the final product when we return- what a wonderful way to always remember our time together here in Moscow!

Daddy and Landon right after the changing of the guard.

We cracked up when we looked down and saw this! Landon tucked his little face into his scarf like a turtle going into his shell! It was cold!!  Take note of his hands- he has his daddy's gloves on! He wouldn't let us put his mittens on- he just wanted daddy's gloves! Poor Greg graciously gave them up for the happiness of his little boy. ;)

This is daddy holding Landon while we watched about 10 minutes of an ice skating show. It was all in Russian- it had the music of the nutcracker, but no characters that went with that music...it captured Landon's attention the whole time! I told Greg he probably enjoyed it more than us b/c he understood what the songs were! It almost brought tears to my eyes watching his eyes light up watching the ice dancers- he definitely hasn't experienced anything like this before, and we are looking forward to all these kinds of fun things we can do with him!

The afternoon we spent at the hotel. We came back, had lunch at a local pizza shop, and Landon did really well, especially since he had to sit in an adult chair! After lunch, we came back, and he went to sleep- for almost a full 2 hours! He had a big morning, so we weren't surprised! It was a lot easier to get him to nap today, too! Crying only lasted maybe 5 minutes, tops! After his nap...which we decided to wake him up from, so he would sleep tonight for us, we went over to the mall and walked around with him for a while. He was using daddy's glove to "wash" all the glass on the store fronts! Too funny.  Then, we walked out to that same Chinese restaurant. All went well...and we even decided to let him play in the ball pit tonight! Another first...he LOVED it!

Yes, he loved the ball pit- so much so that he screamed when we had to leave. We came back to the hotel, and got him all clean in the bathtub, and bedtime was the smoothest ever! I don't know whether it was that we had some Christmas music playing in the background that Greg rocked him to, or that he was more tired tonight than usual, or if he is just getting more used to us and the routine...maybe all 3? :)



I'm going to turn in for the night- we have our big embassy appointment tomorrow and his medical exam. Should be another packed day!

Paka Paka!

We are SO happy to Finally Be Introducing....

Landon Gregory Jackson!

It was so hard to pick a just one picture out of just him....so here are a few more!

This is our Gotcha Day photo! I was going to crop it...but I thought I'd leave it in its original state. :)

Daddy and Landon on our car ride back to the hotel together- we had just learned the word for "cheese!"(AKA Smile!)  in Russian at this point...and it works! It's "SEER" (like Sears, but with out the S and the slight roll of the R)

Aunt Laura, he LOVES brushing his teeth! He cries when you take the toothbrush away, in fact! lol!

2nd bath picture- the first night...not such a happy experience! :) Tonight was much better!

Today was well...interesting! It was good, all in all- we had a long time in the hotel room- Greg had to drive around to gather a lot of paperwork, so Landon and I got to play a lot together in our room. I decided after two hours, that it was time for a change of scenery. We bundled up, and headed across the street with the stroller to the mall. The stroller didn't fare too badly in all the snow laden sidewalks. After walking slowly up and down the mall, we headed back to the hotel. I was disappointed to see the clock in the hotel when we returned back- we had only used up about 40 minutes! All went pretty well until nap time. He did cry a lot when we tried to put him down, but we learned that if we both stand or kneel by his pack and play and rub his back, letting him know we are still there and that it's okay, he eventually lays down, and falls asleep. That took close to an hour this afteroon, but mabye only a half hour of the same tonight at bedtime.

Landon doesn't like it when you tell him no...what 2 year old does? But, we are trying to teach him. He also doesn't like getting changed, or changing whatever current state he is in- like when we come back in from being outside, he doesn't like getting out of his coat, etc. Not sure if it's change overload or what, but he seems to be getting a little better at it each time.

It's almost 11 o'clock here, and I guess I'll try to turn in for the night- I'm still adjusting to the time change, and didn't sleep well last night at all, so I'm hoping I do better tonight.

Please pray for our flight situation if you think of it- we don't have seat assignments, for whatever reason, the tickets we got, unbeknownst to us at the time, do not allow for a pre-boarding seat assignment. So, the same thing that happened on our way out here, could...and most likely will, happen again on our return Friday. It is completely booked. We are praying we get a seat...and that we can find 1 if not 2 generous people to switch seats with us so it is us, not them sitting next to Landon...I doubt they would want that either...and if they think they do- I'd give them 30 minutes, and guarantee they'd change their minds anyway. ;)



Fun Family Time Together

We had a great day together! Shortly after my last post, we got Landon all bundled back up and headed out to the Chinese restaurant right next to our hotel We figured if he fussed about being in a high chair we could just let him play in the ball pit/playground area. But, he did great! We brought along a baby food jar that Anna had helped us pick out. He ate about half of the jar (the big size jar) and then, when our food came, he opened his mouth wide open and leaned his chin in, as if to say, "I want to try that!" Since I only order the dull, plain buttery rice (kind of like hibachi style rice without the egg or chicken..just some finely chopped veggies) and chicken (that's much like chicken nuggets), I let him try some. He loved it! He ate a lot! He cracked us up at one point- Greg was eating his meal, which had long noodles in it. As he was eating the noodles, with them half hanging out of his mouth, mid bite, Landon started cracking up! I mean really cracking up hard! Everyone in the restaurant seemed to turn to smile at him- his laugh is priceless! I can't wait to share it with you all on video sometime soon!

We brought along a Cars sippy cup. We had to teach him how to use that (which I kind of expected from what I saw and read about the way they feed the kids at the orphanage) and then he wanted more- so we ordered him apple juice. It came in a tall skinny glass. We held it too, but let him drink it right from the glass- he did great! He seemed to just like sipping it that way instead. We were going to just take the sippy cup lid off, but decided we don't want to teach him that yet, b/c we need to keep the juice from spilling in the plane.

We then came back...skyped a little, then gave him his first bath. He didn't like it too much- he doesn't like getting changed in general. That's when he seems to fuss. He got through it though, and was much better once I scooped him up in the towel. Greg and I lotioned him up really good after we got his diaper on, which he loved. We are going to try to do that all the time as a way of bonding with him.

He likes his footie pajamas b/c they have monkey feet, but he can't reach his belly button...and that kinda frustrated him. He likes to play with that to fall asleep just like I used to when I was little.

We put him in the pack n play that the hotel had here for us. He didn't like it at first (he is used to a toddler bed) but he didn't cry...just wined a lot for about 10 minutes. We walked back over to him a few times, laid him back down, and rubbed his belly telling him it was okay, and shhhhh... he likes that it seems. He seems to understand that. :)

As I am finishing up this post, I can hear our son breathing deeply while sleeping. It is amazing we are in the same room TOGETHER. It is a dream come true- thank you Lord! I pray he continues to adjust to us as smoothly as possible.

Tomorrow, Greg is headed out all day with Anna and Slava to drive around to get his birth certificate, go to the MOE, and then to the passport agency. He probably won't be back until 4 they are estimating. Hopefully Landon and I will enjoy some good time together tomorrow!

Paka from the 3 Jacksons!! :)

Together!!!

Just a brief update to let you all know we are all together in our hotel room. It was a great afternoon- we got a few pics of the three of us outside the orphanage. We then headed to the grocery store across the street, and got a few things for Landon. He did great in the car, and in the grocery store. We walked into the hotel, and he had a little meltdown- not too bad though. I think it was finally it...like it hit him. We were able to calm him down, and change his diaper, and give him a snack. We even watched Sesame Street on DVD (Thanks Aunt Jilly!) for a little bit. Then, we laid down together and we are still trying to get him to nap a little on our bed. He does periodically get scared and cry a little, but it is good that we have been able to calm him....he will learn soon that we are here to love him and take care of him. His entire world just got turned upside down. It's hard not to be sad myself for him...but I know it's all for the best, and it will just take some time. It is so cute- Landon and Greg are still laying in bed together, and they are both just resting. I think he is close to falling asleep, but not sure. And, to my mom, and sisters- you'll love this! While he is laying here trying to sleep, he keeps pulling up his shirt, and playing with his belly button to soothe himself...sound familiar?? :) Like mama, like son!

Okay- I'm going to go join the sleepy boys for a little nap time...then we are going to try to take him out to eat with us- luckily the Chinese restaurant we found next door that we love has a nice size play area that's padded with a ball pit! I'll try to get some pics.

I'll upload pics as soon as I get the final word I can. :)

Well, ever since we woke up, we have been trying to keep ourselves busy passing the time until we find out we can leave to go to the orphanage. We went down to our breakfast buffet in our hotel, and then came back up to our room to pack Landon's bag with all his clothes to leave the orphanage in. We then decided to venture out in the snow (yes, it's forecasted to continue snowing here everyday we are here, except tomorrow!) to the mall accross the street. Come to find out, the grocery store is the bottom floor! We walked around in there fore a while so we could get an idea of how many rubles yogurt, juice, etc. is. We are supposed to be taken there later with our facilitator to pick out some snack items to keep in our room for Landon in between meals.  It was really funny to see M&M's, Snickers bars, Lays potato chips, and all kids of American food brands in Russian here in the grocery store!


Side note: We got his schedule during our last visit. He wakes up around 7 AM,and has breakfast then. A little later, a mid-morning snack around 10. And, lunch around 12:30. He then sleeps between 1-4 PM. We aren't exactly sure on when the nap begins..but he definitely wakes up at 4 every afternoon- b/c we have gotten to the orphanage to see the end of nap time.  He then eats dinner around 6 PM, and goes to bed between 8-8:30 every night.

Anyway- back to passing our time: We walked around the 3 floors of the mall- each floor isn't that large. They have some of the same stores we do- The Body Shop and Starbucks (we enjoyed some latte's!). They also had lots of other shoe stores and clothing stores. I even saw a wedding dress store- and saw the price of a beautiful brides' dress- 31,650 rubles! That only $1,032 in USD. So, pretty comparable pricing, I guess. :)


We bought our very first 2 souvenirs from Russia this morning at a little shop at the mall. Yes, after 2 other trips here, our first souvenirs! The other trips have been jam packed, so we didn't have time to walk around anywhere too much. After walking around the mall a bit, we walked back across the street to our hotel. And, now we are down to our last hour here before leaving to go get our boy. We are super excited!!!

Here are a few pictures of things here...

These are little Matryoshka dolls that we bought at the shop in the mall! They are so cute!

A little plate we also bought  as a keepsake.

Here is Landon's pack n' play all set up in our room!!!! Tonight will be his first night here with that!

This one's for you, Sarah!!! I was so excited to see this in our room with our coffee maker! :)

They have NesQuik here!!!

Well, that's all for our last blog post before we have our boy for good! YEEEAAAHHH!!!!

Landon, HERE WE COME!!!

We are Back!

Over the past week, as we were preparing our home with the last minute details and cleaning I kept thinking as I was doing things, "this is the last load of laundry I will do without Landon standing here at the gate wanting to come in and unload the dryer!" ..."this is the last night in our house without Landon" , and the list goes on. I think it finally hit me on Friday as I was saying goodbye to my students that this is all happening...FOR REAL!  

We got to JFK on Saturday after a nice ride up with both of our parents...listening to Christmas music almost the whole way. Two special Christmas songs this year are "I'll Be Home For Christmas"and "All I Want for Christmas Is You"  After a yummy lunch at Chili's in the airport, we arrived back at our gate for seat assignments and check in. We found out at that moment that due to the type of zone we had assigned to our tickets, our seat assignments could not be made earlier. We were literally the last ones in the gate area, the rest of our plane had boarded. The counter ladies kept announcing a $600 Delta voucher and guaranteed Sunday 4:25 PM First class tickets for 4 volunteers who would be willing to fly out sunday... We did not want to do this because that would put us here on Monday, when we may be picking up Landon. Long  story short, we shared why we needed to get to Moscow on that flight, and the lady seemed to work that much harder at getting us on the plane. We don't know how she did it, but she gave us our seats! We were so happy to be getting on. She had told us that if no one volunteered then we would have been forced to leave tomorrow (which is now today...) and they would give us the voucher, hotel arrangements, and first class....But, suddenly, she got us seats! Thank you to our parents who were the only ones that knew what was going on, and went into prayer mode! :)

After we got on the plane, we were just about to back out when everything shut down in our plane, and the captain came on and announded "flight attendants, please prepare for arrival" - arrival? what? Yes, this was the beginning of 3 hours of sitting there on the plane...not going anywhere. A pipe in the underbelly of the plane was leaking and needed to be replaced. We then took off at 8 PM not 4:25, as scheduled. We got here a little later than expected, a little more tired (is that possible?) but we did get here...safe!

Our drive to the hotel wasn't too bad, in regards to traffic, but for some reason I was really not feeling well- headache, and my typical motion sickness. blah... Right before we pulled into our hotel, our driver said, "Anna phone you" then "baby (while he hugged himself) tomorrow" - he said this in the form of a statement, like he had heard this...we are praying he is right! We are still awaiting a call from Anna to confirm this.

It's only 5:30 here, but it feels like midnight to us. We are trying to stay up for a while,  so we don't wake up in the middle of the night unable to sleep anymore...like last time. We want to make sure we are well rested to take our boy with us tomorrow (Lord willing!)

Tonight may be his last night in the orphanage. Happy tears, and tears of "wow...it's happening!" are coming.

I may be updating later tonight if we get a call about the week's plan. 

PS- I'm working on changing the blog song! NO MORE WAITING!!!   :0)

Belated Last Post from Trip 2

So, the jet lag was pretty rough this time- or maybe it's just the 12 hours or so we were on our plane the other day. AH! It's SO long. I can't wait to be done with long flights for...ever?

So, I never really posted about our visit out to get Landon's passport photos. We arrived at the orphanage at about 3:45, and he naps until 4. We were told we had to wait for him to wake up. Literally, at 4PM on the dot, the lights in his room were put on, and we heard talking. I guess they wake them up...and don't just wait for the kids to wake up. (Side note here: we found out he sleeps in a toddler bed! We didn't know this, and have a crib sest up for him...after a few weeks we may be switching over! ...sigh)  They brought out a snowsuit, hat, gloves, scarf, and boots for us to put on him...I was so excited to be able to get him ready! I had him all bundled up, but apparantly the way I tied his scarf wasn't "the right" way, because the worker that was coming with us untied it, and re-tied it...UNDER his hood.  After we got him all ready, I picked him up, and was about to head down the steps and out the door, but the worker took him out of my hands, and had him walk next to me. They have these kids doing everything on their own so young! I can't wait to carry him when I want to! :)

We put him in the backseat of the car, in the middle between both Greg and I. The worker was in the passenger seat. The photo place was literally less than a mile away, so it didn't take long. While we were getting ready to pull out of the orphanage, I looked at Landon's face, and his little eyes were filling with tears, and they were darting around all over the place, like he was scared. I just held his hand, and ran my finger along his cheek, telling him it was okay (even though he didn't understand...lol)

When we got there, I tried to carry him in, again...but he was put next to me to walk into the store just holding our hands. We got inside, and sat him on the chair. This guy squatted down in front of him, to get a close up shot of his face. Our driver took over, shaking his keys above the guys head, and saying something in Russian that must be the equivalent to our "Cheese!" because all of the sudden Mr. Scared face turned into the ham again- he stuck his chin out, and made a huge smile! His passport is going to be hysterical! I can't wait to be able to show you that picture! :)

We arrived back at the orphanage too quickly, and resumed our last visit together. We had a great time playing with Mr. Potato head, and dressing up the Mishka in my scarf, gloves, and hat. When we knew we only had 5 minutes left, each of us took turns holding him close, and just giving him all the kisses we could (which is probably why Greg seems to have caught his cold!) We walked him down to his room, on time, and said our Pak-kuh's for the last time. It wasn't as hard this time as last since we know we will be back in just over a week to pick him up for good. I just kept thinking of that anytime I got sad.

Well, today we have gotten a lot done! We have our tree (articificial as it is though...) up, and the carseat installed, and his suitcase packed! Woohoo! I do have to say- we have a little issue on our hands- the car seat fits just fine into our SUV, but it doesn't fit in the back of Greg's pickup truck...which makes the selling of his truck, and finding another 2nd car even more at hand... we will have to do that in January, I guess before I go back to work. One thing at a time. :)

Back to getting the house ready- so fun!!!

We have passed Court!!!

We have a little bit of time here at the hotel before our afternoon visit with Landon today, so I wanted to just share our excitement with you!

Court was a pretty neat experience all around! While we waited for the judge to ask us to enter the room, we filled out our Embassy paperwork with Olga out in the waiting room area. This helped occupy our minds and keep us from getting nervous. The one document that the judge had not had in advance was our apostilled photos from Trip 1...so we gave those to Olga, who showed the head Dr. (who by the way also attends and testifies in court of our connection, and his condition in general). After they viewed those 10 photoes, I then showed both of them our little photo book I keep in my purse just so they could see all our favorite photos from the 1st trip. Little did I know how far this little photo book was going to go. The ladies loved the photos so much, that they asked to show the judge when we were in the middle of our hearing! She (the judge) also smiled as she looked through the album. I could tell from their facial reactions, they can see the love and connection we share with our boy!!

All that was said in regards to us in court was very positive. The judge left the room to think over her decision for about 5 minutes, and came back and read us the official decree- we passed!!! We are officially parents!! We, of course, have to wait for the 10 day wait to be over before being able to bring him to the hotel with us, but it is official as of today! I can't tell you how excited I am! When the judge was reading the decree, and Olga was translating my eyes filled with happy tears (as they are now, just remembering!)!   I can't put specific wording in regards to the hearing on here, b/c it's a private closed court hearing...sorry for the lack of details...but it's just to make sure we are not breaking any rules..but just know that it was all good!

Thank you all for your prayers! We can breathe a HUGE sigh of relief...on to the FUN part! Getting ready to bring him HOME!!!

We have an exciting afternoon ahead of us too! I am so excited! We will be able to take Landon today out of the orphanage for a brief ride to a local photo shop to get his passport photos taken. We will then be leaving them with our driver, to give back to Olga for our Embassy paperwork (which we brought in advance here this time, to ensure the process can be finished on the 23rd). We then will bring him back, but I am looking forward to a ride in the car with our boy!!! :)

One last thing before we head out: An idea of our itinerary for our return...

Option #1 - We arrive on Sunday, the 19th. Then, Monday, we visit him 2x. Tuesday, we get the court decree and pick him up for good. Wednesday, we will have a free day with him where our driver will take us to Red Square to allow us the time to enjoy his culture with him. Then, Thursday is our Embassy apt. and Friday we return home

Option #2- We arrive on Sunday, and POSSIBLY the adoption decree comes on Monday. We then pick him up that same day, and have EITHER 2 free days with him (Tuesday and Wednesday) and go to the Embassy still on Thurdsday OR we could get our embassy apt. on Wednesday.

Either will work, I think the embassy should be able to work with us- they said they are going to do their best. I believe we will be booking our flights as soon as we return home.

Pak-ah! for now!!! Thanks to all who have us in their thoughts and prayers!!!

Court Day!!!

We have about 15 minutes before our driver and Olga pick us up for court. We are very excited, and not as nervous as I had thought we would be. I know that is because there are so many of you praying for us- thank you!!!

I want to let you know, so you're not worrying (mom!) that we may not be able to post until tonight (for us) late afternoon (for you guys). We may be going straight to the orphanage for our last visit...or, we may just be back here at the hotel. We don't know what is planned for us today after court.

We enjoyed our visit with Landon last night, as usual. We didn't know if it was or wasn't our last visit...so that kinda helped me keep from getting sad again. But, at least this time, (Lord willing if court goes well...which as anticipate it will) we will be back in almost 10 days!

Again, thank you all for your prayers! I am hoping we can't update until later...b/c that will mean we got to go see our boy again!


Praying for a "DAH!",
Liz and Greg

PS- For any who do not know..."dah" in Russian means YES!

Tuesday Morning Visit

Today's morning visit went well. Not anything exciting, per say, but more quality time with our boy. He is still not feeling well, and we spent most of the time just holding him, either standing up or sitting down with him on our lap.   There was an interesting moment...he kept grabbing our two bags...my purse and our carry on bag we used to bring his toys in yesterday and today, since the gift bag broke...anyway, he grabbed both our bags, and tried to get us to walk with him to the steps. I don't know if he was trying to communicate that he wanted the 3 of us to leave...like leave the orphanage or if he just wanted to go do something else together. It's been getting harder and harder having such a small area to be in, with people walking through the whole time, and other people sharing the meeting space with us. Since it is so wet and muddy out with the snow on everyone's boots, we can't really sit down on the floor to play with him.

We did get a good picture of the 3 of us...he is smiling in it too! Since we don't know how to communicate "cheese!" or "smile!" with him, that's been a challenge. There was another lady there visiting a little girl, and she was able to take the picture for us, and I could tell she was telling him "smile!" in Russian, b/c he totally smiled on purpose! It wasn't like she made him laugh...hard to explain the moment here in words, especially since I'm rushing, sorry. We are getting ready to head out shortly for our afternoon meeting. Traffic has been really bad, so it's been taking about 1 hour and 20 min. to get back from the orphanage which leaves us less in between time to eat lunch and update.  I'll try to update again tonight, but want to make sure we are getting good rest and have all our paperwork in our bag for tomorrow's court date! WOW! I haven't been thinking much about that, b/c I've been so focused on each of our times with Landon, but now that it is tomorrow, I'm starting to get some butterflies!

We have a ham on our hands!

Today's 2nd visit was great! I don't know what part to write about first!

We had more of the "dreamed of" meeting this time, where he walked up to the steps towards us this time. And guess what! He was really happy to see us! He smiled...not the blank thoughtful stare like earlier...yeah!! :) And, we just had a blast together from there on out- he seemed to be feeling better, and was back to his silly self! He definitely still doesn't feel 100%, but he did seem better than earlier.

So...our ham...Well, I guess it doesn't help that most of the time I start it...b/c I'm just weird, or silly...okay, weird. :)  For example, I had to try the Mr. Potato head glasses on myself...and then he took them off me, and put them on his face! I got a picture of that, and it's hilarious! Then, he decided that in addition to carrying around my purse, he could wear my scarf, gloves, and hat! He is a HAM! The hat, scarf, and 1 glove he took off after a few minutes, but the ENTIRE rest of the time, he would not take that glove off! It was so funny And, since it's an extra long glove...like halfway up to my elbow...it looks really funny on him!

Both Greg and I put him on our shoulders for a while, and goofed around- he likes that too...what kid doesn't? :)

There were a few things that I will never forget about today:

- He reached for us! He has not done that before, like he did today. There was a few times where he just genuinely wanted us to pick him up- love it!
- He threw a little fit when we were leaving him. While we were putting on our coats, he just stood there watching us, and we were trying to tell him we were sorry, but that we were coming back. It was like he was thinking...where are you going? Then, I picked him up and we walked downstairs, and knocked on the door to his room. 3 ladies were there waiting for him, but when I put him down, and said, "Pak-uh!" He stomped his feet, shook his head back and forth, and was wining... that made me happy and sad at the same time- happy that I think this is a sign he is starting to attach to us, and sad, b/c I know we are leaving him again....thank God it's only 10 days this time, and not 2 more months!


I probably could write about many other things...like the delicious Russian Skyoblanka Beef I had tonight for dinner for the 2nd night in a row (apparantly the dinner plan we got with our room is the same limited menu every night...lol...good thing we like it!), and the yummy Chinese restaurant we had lunch at today across from our hotel... but, I think I'm going to try to go to sleep now. Praying I make it past 4 hours tonight before waking up!

Until tomorrow...Pak-uh!

Our 1st Reunion!

Well, our long anticipated reunion has happened! Not as picturesque as you might have imagined, but it was wonderful! We couldn't sleep last night (changing 8 times zones is really rough on your body!), and our boy has a cold...runny nose, cough...so we were all a little "off." BUT, it was as awesome as you might think to hold our son again! And, since he isn't feeling well, he isn't as into running straight to the steps, rather, he has wanted to just sit next to us on the couch, or in our laps, and just play with some toys in our laps...we are loving the cuddle time!
When we got to the orphanage, we had all the bags of gifts for the caretakers, so we were escorted into the head Dr's office to leave them there (she wasn't there), and then head up to our 3rd floor hallway meeting area. As we were on our way back out of her office, our boy was already being walked up the steps ahead of us to meet us! So, our first sight of each other was through the bars on the stairs. He looked down at us, and we looked up at him, and it was almost as if he was thinking...."I know these people...but give me a minute to put this all together..." He kind of just stared for a second. Then, the lady turned his attention, again, to walking up the steps. We were walking up at this point behind him, and were able to resume our reunion once we got to the 3rd floor...how sweet it is to be here with our precious boy!!!

Landon obviously remembers us- he started unloading and loading the bag full of toys, clothes, and shoes we brought with us for our time together. He loves doing that...over and OVER! We brought the tape measure to measure his feet...5 inches long, by the way, Nana! And he immediately picked up the tape measure, and put it to Greg's forehead and smiled! SO smart!! He still loves trying to pick up things that are too heavy for him- he loved my purse today- he was trying to carry it up and down the hallway, but he was swaying the whole time b/c it was so heavy on his shoulder!

One of the things we did today was try on some shoes...Aunt Lori, the size 7 I think fits pretty good! In fact, he didn't want us to take them off, so he is still wearing them now! (well, we will see when we get back). They look much better than the green striped socks with the shiny blue pleathery sandals he was wearing when we got there! We also wanted to check out his size in clothes, so we brought his new Jackson 10 jersey...woot, woot! And, he fits that perfectly! We left that on him for a while to get some pictures, and then took it off so we could bring it back home with us. The pants he had on were 18 months, and while they were okay on his waist, they were floods! I think 24 months OR 2T will be just fine! I didn't want to make him have to change...so we just held up the pants to him...I think we are good to go!

And, I'm so glad we brought 2 different size diapers to hold up to one of his caretakers- size 3 and 4. And, she pointed to size 4! Now we know! :)  We won't have our translator until Wednesday, so body language it is in the orphanage, lol!

Okay- off to go see our lil' man again! Love to all!

Keeping Busy Til Dinner!

I am so excited, I can't lay down and rest. We have about 2 hours until dinner, and I decided to unpack all our bags, and organize the gifts we brought for the orphanage workers, and our coordinator. Once I finished that, I filled the gift bags we brought  with us with all the clothes we are donating to the orphanage. We were so busy this past week with preparing to leave, that I didn't mention that we were allowed to each bring another check-in bag, no charge! So we quickly loaded up two additional suitcases with extra clothes that were given to us for Landon...and then to be passed on to another in need if we didn't need them. After 5 showers, and picking through a few friends' donated clothes, we still had tons left over to bring with us. Here are some pictures!

These are homemade scarves that my mom, my cousin, Hannah, me, and some girls from Agape helped make! Thank you to all who helped!!!

Here is a note in Russian that we have tied to all the scarves with a ribbon.

Our note of thanks and appreciation for our boy's care over this past year was translated by Patti's in-laws...thank you Gafts!!! 

Here are all the clothes we are leaving at the orphanage! Little boy clothes and shoes!!! Much needed!

Here are all the toys we brought to play with him this time (and we are going to bring most of them back home too...rather than leaving them this time) and 2 sneakers in sizes 6 and 7 to see what size he is!

Our call from Olga just came! Here's our itinerary:

Monday and Tuesday we are being picked up at 9:00, and will be driving to the orphanage to visit with Landon. The orphanage in traffic, is about 45 min- 1 hour away...much better than 2-3 hours from the hotel before!  Then, our court time is scheduled for 10:30 on Wednesday. We are being picked up at 9:45, b/c it's only 5 min. from our hotel. Please keep this time especially in prayer!  Olga anticipates our court decree being ready on Dec. 21st...so that may be our Gotcha day! (sorry Aunt Lori!)  If we can, we will also be visiting Landon in the afternoon after court.

Off to dinner!! (so much easier to post updates when internet access is in our room!)

We Arrived!!!

It's 3:15 PM here, and we are checked into our hotel, and settling in. Our "included in the price dinner" starts at 6:00, but I can't hold off, so I'm munching on some crackers! I don't know what's worse the smell of airplane food, or the taste, lol! I can't help it- I'm picky! I have to say, I think I did very well on this flight over compared to my other recent flights. Maybe it's because I am not as nervous, but more excited to see our boy tomorrow!!! Our travel was VERY smooth- everything on time, and not too long of lines on either end in customs/security.

We were SO happy to see a familiar face when we got through customs and baggage- it was our driver Slava! We embraced, and then QUICKLY walked to the car...he walks so fast, I literally feel like my legs are moving faster than they can go...add that to the slippery icy sidewalks, and that made for a funny walk to the car! I got a cramp in my one foot too b/c my feet went from being super warm in my boots to freezing cold outside...but no worries, it went away once we got in the car and it warmed up. :)

Traffic in Moscow is the same! We are staying at a different hotel this time...further away from Red Square, but from what we here, it's closer to the orphange...and cheaper too!!! I have taken a few pictures from our window- we are overlooking a different area in the city, but if you look closely, you will see that we will have easy access to a McDonalds and Starbucks if we need either! :)

We are expecting a call tonight here in our room from Olga. She will be letting us know what our week's itinerary is....and of course, I will keep you posted!

I can't wait to post tomorrow after our visits with Landon!!! We are SO excited to see him! Thank you all for your prayers- we truly feel them!
Love,
Liz and Greg