* GOTCHA DAY !!! *

Today was the big day! After a morning trip out to sign documents, and a delicious lunch at the hotel restaurant, we got to go to the orphanage at 2:30 for the final trip. Finally, not just another “visit” to the orphanage! Meredith was brought to us in the same special outfit we had left for her. We had brought another one just in case, but this orphanage seems very conscientious and they wanted her to be able to have this outfit. They also - to our surprise - brought out the blanket and bear that we left with her in May! I don’t know if they put them away somewhere while we were gone, or if she actually had them during our absence, but either way it was so thoughtful of the staff to hang onto them for us.

Our final time at the orphanage was spent getting some questions answered about Meredith’s eating and sleeping schedule (three 2-hour naps per day, and 5 feedings) and giving several of the orphanage staff a chance to say goodbye to her. We were able to get her photo with one of the care staff, her opthamalogist, her pediatrician (who we’d met on the first trip), our facilitator and translators (both today’s translator – a new one – and the court translator from a couple weeks ago, who happened to be there with another family). We were getting ready to leave and then we were told to wait for one more person: the orphanage director. I was really glad she wanted to come and say goodbye. I have the impression that she is an intense, sort of severe kind of person after having interacted with her on our first trip. But saying goodbye to Nadia brought out her sweet side. She was so happy to have her picture taken with her, and she held her and whispered little things to her. I got a little choked up. Then she started talking to us – she makes eye contact even when though she’s talking in Russian and knows we can’t understand, and then our translator translates. She told us that she knows Meredith will do wonderfully well now that she has a family, that they will look forward to getting photos and letters from us, and that we are invited to return to adopt again in the future. It felt so good to have her blessing.

We don’t think it’s a good idea to show photos of the various people we took pictures with today, since this is a public blog and we did not get their permission to post their faces on the internet. We will be putting these photos in Meredith’s album, so you will have a chance to see them when you are with us. For now, enjoy a few photos of our special day…
Rob and Meredith reunited:

Sarah seeing whether Meredith was okay with being in a carseat – she was!

Rob bringing our little sleeping princess (fell asleep in the car) to the hotel room:

Home sweet hotel room – they brought in a crib for us today! And the cleaning lady – who knew a baby was coming since she helped with the crib – saw us with Meredith and just smiled from ear to ear and spoke in an approving tone. I think what she said was probably something like “Isn’t that the sweetest little girl I’ve ever seen!” At least, that’s what I would say if I were her.

The plan for the rest of our trip is to get Meredith’s passport here tomorrow and then leave for Moscow in a car in the late afternoon (seemed like it would be easier than navigating the train with her). Then Thursday and Friday we will work on paperwork in Moscow and stay in an APARTMENT again!! We loved our apartment there last time, and supposedly the one this time is just as good and more centrally located. Over the weekend, I hope we’ll be able to get out and about a little bit. Given the three-nap schedule, we’ll have to organize each day in little chunks, but maybe this is good for all of us! We think our paperwork will be finished there on Tuesday (or so) and our plane flies out on Thursday. I finally feel like we’re in the home stretch! Only a little over a week left.

We don’t yet know our internet situation in Moscow – we think it will be good – but just be aware that we might not have as much freedom with our time to go find an internet café now that we are MOMMY and DADDY! We’ll try to post when we can, but please assume that no news is good news :)