Getting Packed & Ready To Go!!!!

This is our last full day in Moscow Russia!!! Alyssa is taking her nap, and we are blogging and packing. We cannot believe that the day has finally come!! Our flight to Atlanta leaves tomorrow afternoon, and we can hardly wait. When we touch down in Atlanta Alyssa will be a little U.S. Citizen!!!! She is getting more and more confortable with both of us each day, and we look forward to getting home and settling her into her new home. We are going to miss seeing the other family traveling with us though. It has been such an enormous blessing to have them with us on both our first trip and the second one. Their little boy is so beautiful, and it has been so great to see their journey as well. They will definitely be a part of our family from now on. We look forward to visiting with them in Michigan, and we hope that they can come and travel to Tennesse to visit with us!!!
Well, I guess I will sign off for now!!! We will blog again when we touch down in the States!!!! Please keep watching our blog. On friday I will be home and be able to download all of our wonderful pictures!!! We know that you will not want to miss that!!!
Please continue to keep our family in your prayers as we prepare to bring our "little Russian Princess" home!!!
Blessings..
Julie, Wade & Alyssa

One More Day In Moscow!!!

Tomorrow is our last day in Moscow!!!! We are trying to find things to do today to occupy our time. We decided this morning to try to go to the park that we can see from our hotel. The wind was quite brisk, but the temperature was not too bad!!! We pushed Alyssa in the stroller. She does ok in it, but after awhile she wants me to carry her!!! In a snowsuit and boots she feels like is weighs 50 lbs. She is definitely not fond of bundling up "the Russian way". Thank goodness she is going to be a Tennessee girl!!! We don't have to pile on the cold weather gear most of the time. There were alot of people at the park despite the cold wind. She did not want to play on any of the playground equipment, but she loved seeing the other children!!! She started to throw a small fit on our way back so we tried to bribe her with these little bread sticks that she likes so much. Most of the time it will make her hold out until we get back....but not today. We stopped and looked at the Christmas tree that they have erected outside of the hotel last night. Everywhere you look people are putting out trees with lights!!! This really makes us anxious to get home!!! Wade ventured out to the grocery store again, which is usually an everyday or every other day venture. We get milk, bread, snacks, Pepsi, juice, breakfast stuff, baby food, diapers and bananas. Alyssa loves bananas!!! You would think that she is a little monkey!!! We have decided to stay in the rest of the day. Maybe we will venture out tomorrow. It will be our last day in Moscow.....
Thank goodness!!!!!!
Thanks for stopping by..... :)
Love,
Julie, Wade & Alyssa

U.S. Embassy Approval!!!

Today at 1:00pm we left the hotel for the U.S. Embassy. Alyssa really does good on all of the car rides that we have been on so far!!! She loves to make the sounds of a car or truck (vroommm...vroommm)(beep...beep). She has not gotten car sick yet!
The other family with the little boy usually travels with us as well. I think she just likes to be where he is!! She keeps trying to hold his hand, but he does not like that idea. She also loves to throw "kisses" to everyone when she says goodbye. She is starting to pick up on a few english words already. She says mama, papa, go. She understands the words: no, yes(shakes her head), go, drink, eat, ride, tickle, and a few others. When she has had a good amount of sleep she is so funny to watch. She thinks that she is a little comedian!!!
Back to the U.S. Embassy appointment. The building is a rather large one, but we were kind of disappointed in the fact that there was not a U.S. flag on the outside of the building. The Russian flag was flying on the building though. We thought also that we would be greeted by the Marines, but that was not the case. We were however put ahead of everyone in line because we were Americans. We were told to pay and get our number in line. We took the number and waited our turn. When they called us they already had Alyssa's passport and paperwork in hand. They looked at her and she smiled and waved hi to the man. We had to raise our right hands and swear to the accuracy of our documents. We also had to sign papers saying that we would have her vaccinated when we get back to the U.S. There were about 10 other families there besides us. The children probably ranged in ages 9 months to about 10 years old. There was one family there that was adopting for a second time. They had adopted an older girl and then when they got back home, the child wanted to know if they could go back after her best friend!!! So they went back and got her!!! Now instead of best friends, they are sisters!!! They live in Italy I believe.
Once we had our papers we returned to the hotel for the evening. Alyssa had not had her afternoon nap, so she has been a little bit wild tonight. Wade is in the room with her trying to wear her down for bed. She has had her bath, and we usually try to get in bed by 9:30pm.
Tomorrow we have decided to go to the park!! We can see it from the hotel so the walk is not that far. We know that the kids will love it, as long as we can get Alyssa to agree to put on her boots and snowsuit. It was a high of 37 degrees today!!! Hopefully it will be that warm tomorrow. They will love to ride on the swings and walk around.
Thanks for stopping to check on us again!!!
We could not have done this without all of you!!!
Love,
Julie, Wade & Alyssa

Sunday at Red Square

Today we got up and went with Ana to have another tour in Red Square with Alyssa. The other couple and their son also joined us. The kids love to copy each other, so the ride in their strollers and on the subway went pretty smooth!!
We took a few pictures, but Alyssa had fell asleep on the subway going to Red Square. I will have to post more pictures when we get home. Unfortunately I cannot upload any in the business center either. Their computers do not accept my memory stick. Kind out of date I guess!!!
We will be going to the US Embassy tomorrow to take care of some more paperwork. We are getting very excited about coming home. Alyssa finally slept through the night last night in the crib. She is soooo funny. We love to hear her laugh!!!
Please keep watching our posts. We have alot of good pictures, and as soon as I can, I will put them on here!!!
Thanks for checking in on us....
Love,
Julie, Wade & Alyssa

Last Saturday in Moscow!!!

I am up this morning in the lobby trying to put in a small post. I will probably try to upload some photos today in the business center. We are still having problems uploading them on the laptop. We have our hands full with Alyssa. We are still having a hard getting her to sleep in her crib or even in the bed. She wakes up after only a couple of hours of sleep, which means we are going on little sleep as well. She is definitely a "drama queen", which is what the Dr. in Moscow said that did her medical exam. When he talked to her Russian he could calm her down. Unfortunately we do not know the language well enough so that does not help up. She thinks that everything goes her way or know way. Constant tantrums are a regular for us, so we are really ready to come home. The Lord has definitely blessed her with a good set of healthy lungs!!! HA HA HA!!!!

We are doing fine though. When we do get to see that little face when she is asleep it is the most peaceful thing you could ever imagine. Please keep her in your prayers. She is going through some enourmous changes, and she needs some extra prayers...
Thanks for stopping and checking on our new family!!!!
Love,
Wade, Julie & Alyssa

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We have soooo much to be "Thankful" for on this day!!!
We have a wonderful little girl that keeps us on our toes!!
To celebrate Thanksgiving we had dinner with the other couple and the kids in one of the hotel resturants for dinner. It was Alyssa's first meal in a resturant!! She did really good because she had the little boy with the other couple to pal around with. It is soooo funny!!! They copy each other on everything!! He is 2 yrs old and she just loves him!!! When you say his name she knows exactly who it is!!!
Alyssa is asleep in the room this evening with Wade, and I am in the hotel lobby with free internet access. It is very expensive in the room so we may not be able to call by Skype unless there are not many people in the lobby at the time, or you may not be able to hear us. I am getting ready to go back to the room to watch some Thanksgiving football with Wade. We miss you all and home terribly!!! But we are counting down the days until we arrive in Tennessee.
I will try to get some more pictures on hopefully tomorrow.
We are still having computer issues with downloading our photos!!
Thanks again for stopping by....
Julie, Wade & Alyssa

We are in Moscow!!!!!

We flew out Wednesday morning with no sleep the night before. Alyssa kept us up all night. The flight took approximately 4 1/2 hours and Alyssa kept us on our toes the whole flight. She finally fell asleep on the ride into town in the van. We found out we had to stop for her physical before going to the hotel. She was not very happy with that, especially the blood drawing!! We then had to stop for a photo for some paperwork. We finally arrived at the hotel. It is the Marriot Renaisance. The room is very nice but not very child friendly. There is not much floor space to run around in and there are lots of mirrors and pretty furniture for a child to abuse. We are getting ready to venture out to the grocery store. We will blog again later.
Love,
Wade, Julie & Alyssa