Wow sorry that last post was so quick...but I knew I had to update you all or I'd be hearing it! First of all, woah look at our FSP!!!!! Thank you to all of you who are donating!!!! Thanks to LittleLola who suggested the idea of donating $5/day that I blog...so cool!!!! We are so very blessed! And we appreciate every single donation!
After our SDA appointment we ran in to change real quick and then we were going back out with Anna and Jerad and Eugene (our driver) for some fun. So I took a few minutes to do a really quick update...sorry some of you thought we were leaving tonight because I said "leaving now" but that's not what I mean unfortunately....Someone asked what it meant to "trade" a picture. Sometimes you are allowed to give them a copy of your child's Reece's Rainbow picture in exchange for the picture that was in their file, this is great for adoptive parents since we often only have that one referral picture of our child...it means the world to have just one more picture! And another asked about the beetle, it was told to us that it is good luck to rub the beetle on the guy's jacket, so hey why not! Another person commented that baby girl looks like a red head....that picture I posted is a picture of a picture and really doesn't look like that in real life haha....her hair looks a lot like Zoya's from what I can tell...and Zoya's picture sometimes has a red hue in pictures, but it's not red....so we will see :) I'd love a little orphan Annie with red curls....lol. It is striking to me how much the picture I posted today looks like the baby picture of Zoya we were given from her file! Wow.
The plan is tomorrow we will pick up our referral and hop on a train at 6:40pm.....we will arrive FIFTEEN HOURS LATER!!!!!!!!!!! Oiy! For Zoya's adoption we had to only take a train for 8 hours....so this will be LONG, but totally worth it! I hope I can sleep because the plan is usually to hit the ground running right off the train!
Anyways, after our appointments this morning, we went out to lunch with Eugene at a fancy pizza place and then he took us to his mother's apartment for some tea, fried goat cheese with fig jam, some other cheese stuff, chocolates, and good company :) It was so kind of him to invite us and I love the opportunity to hear as much as possible about our daughter's birth country...it's history, it's people, and all the inside perspective Eugene has being a native! I am so thankful for these opportunities to experience this culture and it's people! Eugene is a really smart guy and pretty funny too! I can't wait to share our experiences with our girls one day! We left, but of course not empty-handed. Eugene's mother insisted on sending some berries with us. Then we went to the train station to figure out our tickets for tomorrow. And we also paid to use the potty....had I known it was a "squatty potty" I definitely would not have paid for that! Serioulsy I totally understand why there are no gyms here...between all the walking and squatting, people are pretty toned! Eugene wanted to take us to some floral gardens, but we were all so exhausted! Maybe tomorrow!
I have not slept well since being here...it's worse than last time. I slept about 4 hours last night and simply could NOT sleep. It is partly jet-lag, partly excitement and adrenaline, and partly just being in a bed other than my own. I am so tired that I can't sleep if that makes any sense! Shawn, however, is currently sleeping upright in a chair....he could sleep on the back of an alligator in a swamp...seriously! It's pretty annoying, but at least one of us is sleeping!
Two more sleeps until we meet baby girl!!!! Hoping to get some rest tonight!
After our SDA appointment we ran in to change real quick and then we were going back out with Anna and Jerad and Eugene (our driver) for some fun. So I took a few minutes to do a really quick update...sorry some of you thought we were leaving tonight because I said "leaving now" but that's not what I mean unfortunately....Someone asked what it meant to "trade" a picture. Sometimes you are allowed to give them a copy of your child's Reece's Rainbow picture in exchange for the picture that was in their file, this is great for adoptive parents since we often only have that one referral picture of our child...it means the world to have just one more picture! And another asked about the beetle, it was told to us that it is good luck to rub the beetle on the guy's jacket, so hey why not! Another person commented that baby girl looks like a red head....that picture I posted is a picture of a picture and really doesn't look like that in real life haha....her hair looks a lot like Zoya's from what I can tell...and Zoya's picture sometimes has a red hue in pictures, but it's not red....so we will see :) I'd love a little orphan Annie with red curls....lol. It is striking to me how much the picture I posted today looks like the baby picture of Zoya we were given from her file! Wow.
The plan is tomorrow we will pick up our referral and hop on a train at 6:40pm.....we will arrive FIFTEEN HOURS LATER!!!!!!!!!!! Oiy! For Zoya's adoption we had to only take a train for 8 hours....so this will be LONG, but totally worth it! I hope I can sleep because the plan is usually to hit the ground running right off the train!
Anyways, after our appointments this morning, we went out to lunch with Eugene at a fancy pizza place and then he took us to his mother's apartment for some tea, fried goat cheese with fig jam, some other cheese stuff, chocolates, and good company :) It was so kind of him to invite us and I love the opportunity to hear as much as possible about our daughter's birth country...it's history, it's people, and all the inside perspective Eugene has being a native! I am so thankful for these opportunities to experience this culture and it's people! Eugene is a really smart guy and pretty funny too! I can't wait to share our experiences with our girls one day! We left, but of course not empty-handed. Eugene's mother insisted on sending some berries with us. Then we went to the train station to figure out our tickets for tomorrow. And we also paid to use the potty....had I known it was a "squatty potty" I definitely would not have paid for that! Serioulsy I totally understand why there are no gyms here...between all the walking and squatting, people are pretty toned! Eugene wanted to take us to some floral gardens, but we were all so exhausted! Maybe tomorrow!
Here is a picture of the pizza menu, Eugene told us what was on each one but it looked pretty easy to figure out what was what!
Jerad and Anna (sorry its dark but do you see that SUN behind them?? It's frigid here but so nice to see the sun shining!)
And...us!
Here is a picture of us with Eugene and his Mom:
And here are the kiddies waiting for their tea:
Two more sleeps until we meet baby girl!!!! Hoping to get some rest tonight!
The pizza looks pretty yummy :)
ReplyDeleteBrooke
www.TheAnnessaFamily.blogspot.com
I hope the long train ride is uneventful and that you are able to get some sleep. Darren is like Shawn, he can sleep anywhere and he can sleep through anything!
ReplyDeleteOH WOW, two more sleeps! Praying for you guys, and for sweet Zoya-bug back home.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to you meet her! She looks adorable! Pizza sounds very comforting when you are so far from home! Thinking of you all!
ReplyDeleteJerad and Anna look like they could be related to you! I bet it is nice being your 2nd time around I hope you are less stressed and are able to take in the sights. I often wish we could go back to where we adopted Vahnya and just walk around and look at things we were too stressed to take time for.I know you are not stress free but I bet it does help that it is not all new to you. Can not wait to see that baby girl in your arms. And most of all can't wait to see Zoya holding her with that great big big sister smile!
ReplyDeleteHow great is it to have an awesome driver take you around as a tour guide, sweet!
ReplyDeleteI hope rest and sleep comes for you soon.
You crack me up...your trip sounds so familiar to our 2 when we went to meet then adopt our son almost 6 years ago. I was awake and crazy and my dear husband snored through every single night. He would happily slurp his coffee every morning in our teeny tiny apt. in Russia as if it was another regular day at home. I on the other hand, was going crazy with missing my kids at home and apprehension about the task at hand. Gotta love these men and their faith in situations and that they can sleep in peace at night through it all. P. S. What kind of Pizza did you get? Was it good???
ReplyDeletesounds like fun!! good luck on the train!
ReplyDeleteyou are so close :)
hugs!