Trip 2

We arrived in St. Petersburg last night for our court trip. The trip itself was (thankfully) less eventful this time. There was no run-in with security about the wallets we had hanging around our necks, we didn’t have to sit in middle seats so the flights were more pleasant, our layover in Frankfurt (Germany) was only 2 hours, and I was able to sleep a bit on the plane. We’re in a different hotel this time. It’s comfortable and westernized – the best part being we can actually control the temperature this time instead of just choosing between hot and hotter! Another plus – the water is not nearly as brown as it was in the last hotel. We still are not drinking it, but it’s not so disconcerting to shower in it!

The driver picked us up at 9:30 this morning to go to the orphanage. We were excited that we were finally going to see our baby girl again. I really thought I had a realistic expectation of today. I really did. I never envisioned that she would come running across the room and jump into our arms after not seeing us for three months, but I wasn’t quite prepared for what actually happened either. I wasn’t prepared for her to cry, scream, and kick (really hard I might add!) from not wanting to leave her caregiver. I kept telling myself – this is healthy; this is what I’ve read about that we should want. It means she can form good attachments and will be much less likely to suffer from an attachment disorder that many children suffer from who are adopted from orphanages. But I can’t say it didn’t bother me when she tried to run out of the room. While trying to comfort her, I tried to look on the bright side. At least she has found her voice (she was so quiet when we visited her in October), and she is walking really well now. In reality, it lasted less than 10 minutes, but I’m not going to lie and say that we weren’t saddened by it.

She did calm down and wanted to snuggle a bit. She is terribly congested and her face is quite irritated, so I’m sure her not feeling well played a part in her reaction. We were able to spend almost two hours with her today. In that time, we won her over again. We brought some of the toys she liked last time as well as the Gerber puffs she loved. She even let Doug hold her today, which took a few days last time. By the end of the visit, she was smiling and interacting well, even giving “love” by wanting to touch her forehead to mine. The time went much too quickly.

We wonder what she will think when we visit her for three days and then “disappear” again. We so wish we could bring her home this time! In our hearts, she has been ours for months now, but we are more than ready to make it official.

After returning from the orphanage, Doug and I decided to venture out a bit to find a place to eat lunch outside of the hotel and take a few pictures of some monuments we didn’t see on the first trip. Those were the plans, but after wandering around trying to find a restaurant and fighting the snow and biting wind, we decided that we would ask our driver tomorrow to slow down so we could take pictures out of the window from the warmth of the van instead! It is REALLY cold here!

The next 2 days will be busy and a bit stressful. Tomorrow, we have our 8-doctor medical to prove we are healthy enough to be parents, and then court is on Wednesday. We’re planning to visit Reagan on both days as well, but the visits will be shorter due to our time commitments and her nap schedule. We’re thankful for those precious minutes though and can’t wait for the day we no longer have to tell her goodbye.