Working and Waiting....

Today I was thinking about our daughter Alyssa, like I usually do many times during my day. I am always thinking about what she must be doing at this time or that. Krasnoyarsk is exactly ahead of eastern time by 12 hours. I am always wondering if she is having a good day or a bad one. I hope that a small part of her remembers our visit with her, and that she remembers who her mama and papa are. For the past few days I have been printing out pictures from our trip for family and friends. I am also burning DVD's from the video we took. It really amazes me how she responded to us in such a positive way. She was a little bit leery of Wade, just because we were told ahead of time that most of the children do not see men at the orphanages. There are usually only women caregivers. We found out that she really loves music, and that she is very inquisitive!!! I found out this past weekend that my sisters are having me a baby shower on July 5th. Everyone is so excited to see Alyssa when we bring her home. I also got a call tonight from a friend at church who said that they would also like to throw Wade, Alyssa and I a toddler shower!!! Our church family is amazing!!! They have been there for us through this whole journey so far. The Lord has blessed our family and this entire adoption journey. We have made so many new friends, and there are so many people that are willing to give to us their prayers and blessings, it really takes my breath!!! Little does our daughter realize just how much she is already loved!!! I can't wait to share Alyssa's picture, but for now that will have to wait. We cannot post her picture until after court. Just know, that she is absolutely beautiful, and so full of life!!! How did we get so blessed???

We Are Home!!!!

We have finally had a chance to post after returning home on Sunday night at 11:30pm.
We had an amazing first trip to Krasnoyarsk to see our daughter!!! I did not get a chance to post before our flight on Tuesday. We left on Tuesday headed for Moscow. We flew Delta thru Atlanta and then on to Moscow. We arrived early Wednesday morning and checked in to the Aerotel for a few hours of rest before our next flight to Kras. We flew out on Aeroflot on Wednesday night and arrived in Kras on Thursday morning. We were then picked up by Sergei from the airport and then checked into the Hotel Krasnoyarsk. Then we were off again, with not much sleep I add, to our meeting with the Ministry of Education to formally ask to visit our daughter at the orphange. When we were done with that meeting, we were off to the orphange!!!
We met our daughter for the first time on Thursday. She was kind of timid at first, but she soon warmed up to us when we started playing with her. My sister Lori gave us some toys to take on our trip, and as soon as she seen them, there was no holding her back. We had arrived late in the afternoon, so about halfway into our 2 hour visit, she fell asleep in my arms. Let me just tell you, that there was no better feeling in the world than her trusting me, and falling asleep in my arms!!!
While we were there we got a chance to talk to the orphange doctor about her, and she said that our daughter is very inquisitive and gets into everything!!! She can walk and she can already drink from a cup. Alyssa stayed asleep in my arms for the entire meeting with the Dr. The Dr. was chuckling and smiling, and was truly happy to see how she was taking to us. The next morning (Fri.) we went back to see her for another 2 hrs. She was a little more calm because she kind of knew who we were. We played and played and she really opened up, especially when we would say a few words in Russian. She loves music and swayed to a piano being played by the daughter of another couple who had also went to the orphange with us to meet their son. We met 2 amazing couples that were traveling with another agency, and it was a true blessing to have them there. We really look forward to staying in touch with them as we follow along on this journey together. When it was time for us to leave the orphange on Friday, our daughter said mama and waved goodbye. That little face, that we finally got to smile and laugh, was telling me that she knew who we were, and that she couldn't wait to see us again really soon!!! We flew out of Kras on Saturday back to Moscow. We had pretty much all day Saturday to tour Moscow. A lady named Ana took us on a tour of Red Square, the Kremlin and downtown Moscow. We rode the subway(my first time), it was sure exciting!!!! We had bought a few things that we wanted to pass on to our daughter as she grows that were from Russia. We spent the night Saturday night in Moscow trying to somehow realize just exactly how we did so much in such little time while in Russia. We left Moscow after lunch on Sunday, flying Delta back to Atlanta, and then on to Knoxville. We would just like to say that we really appreciate all of the prayers and well wishes from you all!!!! Our daughter Alyssa, we hope, will be coming home soon!!! We think in the next 3 to 4 months (I am praying sooner)that she will be home with us to stay. I guess I will sign off for now, and show you a few pictures from our amazing trip!!!!
Picture #1 - Playroom in the orphange
Picture #2 - Orphange
Picture #3 - Hotel Krasnoyarsk

Ready To Go!!!!

Today we got the new money that we needed from the bank....finally!!!
It almost took an act of Congress to get it!!! Our bank called Suntrust came through for us, when no one else would even try!!! Debbie you are amazing!!!
Yet another friend helping us out on this journey... Where would we be without our family and our friends help. We also got our visa's back today!!! The only thing left to do this weekend is to pack. This should be very interesting, since usually when we travel I find a reason to bring more than I really need. This trip will definitely teach me to pack light. We cannot believe that in a couple of days we will be flying out to see our little girl!!! LORD, thank you for blessing our family on this journey so far... we cannot wait to see what YOU have in store for us next.....

First Trip Travel Dates!!!

We just received an email of our first trip travel dates!!! Praise the Lord!!!
We will be leaving on our first trip on Tuesday, June 3rd, and we will be returning on June 7th or June 8th. Excited and nervous are not the only words that we can express receiving this wonderful news!!! We have waited so long to find our daughter, and to know that we will be seeing her in just over a week, it just takes our breath away!!! At church this morning we made the announcement about our little girl. There were a few happy tears shed by myself, and a few by our church friends. Our journey so far has just been amazing. Our family is so incredibly blessed, and we are always so amazed how the Lord has worked in our lives and our adoption. We know that our daughter Alyssa will truly be blessed to have all of you in her life!!!

WE GOT OUR REFERRAL!!!!

Praise the Lord!!! We have a referral!!! She is a 12 month old little girl in the region of Krasnoyarsk. We just accepted the referral today. Hopefully in the next couple of days we will learn when we will be traveling on our first trip. Kristen at AWAA told us that we should expect to travel in the next 2 weeks!!! We would like to take just a minute to thank all of our family and friends for praying for us during this long and eventful adoption process. We have learned so much in the past 2 years, and we have made some new amazing friends!!! We would love to post a picture of our daughter, but we will have to wait until after our court date. We will let you know soon, when we will be leaving on our first trip to meet our baby girl named Alyssa Marie...

Our Adoption Journey

We start this blog today as a way for our family and friends to follow us in our amazing adoption journey to find our little girl. This process began back in 2004 when we decided to adopt after trying to have a child for 9 years, with no pregnancy. We began to gather information about adoption, and we attended many adoption group meetings. In April of 2006 we learned of an adoption group meeting at a church in Knoxville sponsored by America World Adoptions. After the meeting, and the video, there was not a dry eye in the room. We knew that our hearts belonged to Russia, and we would find our little girl there.
We started the paperwork called our dossier for the "paper pregnancy"
of our journey. After gathering all of our paperwork and having had a home study complete, we were ready to send our dossier to Russia in October 2006. Unfortunately at the time our dossier was sent in, re-accreditation had put a hold on all international Russian adoptions. Our agency along with all of the other agency's in the U.S. had to reapply to be able to work through Russia. This delayed all adoptions out of Russia until July 2007. In July we learned that our agency's umbrella company had gotten their re-accreditation, and the adoption's could begin again. While waiting through re-accreditation our dossier was expiring. All paperwork expires after a year, so we had to work on keeping it up to date. As the fall and winter of 2007 approached we started to hear of movement in Russia with families getting referrals and of families traveling to bring their children home. We were told that we should hear something in the spring of 2008 about getting officially registered in our region.
We got a call from America World in January and was told that we would probably be registered in Krasnoyarsk Russia. As we started to work on region specific documents for this region, we knew the day had to be getting close. We then got a call from Kristen at our agency, and she said that we were officially registered for Krasnoyarsk Russia as of March 2008!!!! We were so excited!!! All of the paperwork and the waiting was finally coming to and end. When will we get our referral??? It can't be that far away....