The Day After...

Crazy baby!!! Who, me?

Well, I'm knocking on wood right now, but I think we have a good baby! She slept this morning until 9 am when I woke her up! I know, never wake a sleeping baby, but we thought it would be best to wake her up instead of her waking up in a strange place, crying! She isn't one of those babies, (or adults, like myself) who are still sleepy and cuddly in the morning. She was ready to go! That girl has more energy than anyone of our boys ever had! It's fun though seeing her explore new things and get so excited. She is such a happy girl. There is a smile on her face pretty much all the time, or that cute little flirty grin where she scrunches up her nose. I know, it's only been 2 days, give it some time! But we really have been lucky so far.
This morning, she ate a jar of peaches and some glue-like porridge (nasty). She's a goood eater, that's for sure. I don't think they exposed her to "real" food in the orphanage because everything we've tried to give her with texture she takes a while to warm up to. She does love the Gerber puffs (who doesn't)! Poor child has acid reflux, just like ALL of my boys so evertime she burps, she spits up! And that nasty porridge and other foods don't smell so nice coming back up. Good think I brought water proof bibs!
After lunch we put her down for a nap and she is still sleeping, despite the jack hammering going on upstairs. We layed her down and left the room and came in the kitchen. She sang for about 10 minutes and put herself to sleep! Have I mentioned how blessed we are yet? Really! I know, I know, it's only the 2nd day!
I'm attaching a few pictures of her last night when we sat her on the potty (they say she is potty trained...W.H.A.T.E.V.E.R!!!! Some other cute pics I took of her around the apartment this morning are pretty cute too. I'm having trouble with the hair, though. I put velcro on all the bows and even tried the baby rubber bands too. Her hair is so baby fine and her long bangs are trying to grow out on top of her short bangs. They really butchered her hair. Can't wait to take her to Tracey!!!
We leave Kranoyarsk tomorrow at 8 pm to fly to Moscow for a few days where we have to take her to Embassy. We're a little worried because basically, we'll be flying during her bedtime and when we get there it will be 9 pm, because of the time change...should be interesting!
Pray for us again tonight. I know we can't get this lucky the 2nd night in a row. Those prayers are really working. God has been so good! Oh, happy day!!!!

Reading People magazine, of course! Outside the orphanage, Baby home #5
Her main caretaker! Poor baby's dressed for a storm. We were told to bring her clothes like this!

Gotcha Day!

We are just getting settled in...and it's almost 10 pm! We ended up getting Sophie later than we anticipatd. Yelena said the judge was really busy today and she finally got the OK for us to go get her around 5. Luckily, I think she remembered us. There were no tears and she walked into my arms, until her careworker turned around to give her a bye hug and kiss. Cue the tears! Fortunatley they lasted about 10 seconds and she really hasn't cried since.

We were told that the care ride usually causes the kids to either cry or vomit! She did neither! She actually laughed at every bump we went over and if you've ever been on the roads in Russia, you know that she laughed a lot! She has such personality! She flirted with me the whole way back. I even taught her her first American word-flower! Really, ask Serge! When Scott and Yelena went into the grocery store to get food for her, she kept pointing at the flowers on her shoes. So I saw this as a lesson and sure enough, she says, "flower"!!!

We've fed and bathed her and she's exploring like any 19 month old does! I forgot how active they are at this age. She's everywhere! We have got to get out of here soon!!! Only 1 1/2 more days, then on to Moscow.

I'll post more pics tomorrow. Need to get some sleep. Hopefully she sleeps. Start praying!

Here she is:

Sophie Marina Boyd
DOB-March 8, 2010

Back in Kras...Again

Well, after 2 days of traveling, we finally arrived in Krasnoyarsk this morning (Sunday). We had a 12 hour layover in Moscow, so we were booked in a hotel near the airport where we got about 6 hours of sleep. I HIGHLY recommend it to other families who might be traveling to Kras. I had read on some blogs about how families chose to stay in the airport the entire time. I honestly don't know how they did it! All that smoke can kill a man!! Even though, there are "designated smoking areas" in the airport, it lingers EVERYWHERE and all of our clothes and bags stink! Anyways, the hotel was a little like the hallway in The Shining! A little creepy, but I'm a little spoiled when it comes to hotels. Just ask Scott! It did serve it's purpose though...

Amazingly, we feel so much more comfortable traveling here now. I guess since this is our 3rd time, it should feel more comfortable. We know where to go and what lines to get into. We haven't gotten lost on this trip! That's huge!

We also haven't smelled B.O. yet! Yippee! I think it's due to the fact that it is freezing temperatures here right now. To top that off, Scott doesn't have a coat. He might have to make a purchase at the Kras mall...hmmmm, a black leather coat, perhaps, since that's ALL the people wear here. Unless you're a woman, and then it's lined with a fur hood! Yes, we are standing out a little more now than the last time we were here. Oh well, I'm just thankfull we aren't here in winter. PTL!!!

Our flight to Kras started off a little frightening. About 10 minutes after take- off, a woman towards the back started screaming and there was a lot of commotion. People started turning around. We couldn't get a good view because we were in front of a divider. I about threw up! I thought there was a terrorist and I was going to die. Really! I did! Here we are, obeying what God has called us to do, and we were about to go out on a plane! I'm so dramatic. But really, something happened because after the flight attendants ran back there, they came back with a large man (I'm not talking about fat, either) up to the front of the plane with an enormous welt on his face and he was bleeding. Then, another elderly woman came and sat down in the front, obviously upset. We never found out what really happened, but when we got off the plane, there were 2 police cars at the bottom of the stairs. When we exited the plane, one of the policemen came onto the plane and the other stayed at the bottom of the stairs. Oddly enough, we never saw the large man! Scary! Nice welcome back!!

We slept for about 7 hours today, went to the "grocery store" and bought some pasta (go figure), water and bread. Thankfully our peanut butter and jelly is still here from last time. Yay, lunch! We are going to aske Yelena to go to the store tomorrow with us to pick out some things that Sophie would eat, since we can't read Russian! I don't want to give her our "American food" cold turkey. I'm hoping to ease her into that transition.

So, tomorrow is the day! We pick up Sophie at 3 pm. Yelena said after we leave, we will go to a passport photo place in Sosnovoborsk afterwards and wait for her picture to develop before leaving. I asked why we don't just do it in Kras and get it the next day and she said that most times the babies are crying by the time they get back to Kras, or they've "thrown out" (funny) from the car ride. Yikes! Makes sense, I guess!

I keep thinking of what Sophie will be feeling tomorrow. It's so strange to me to think that a baby will be leaving her home of the last 7 months of her life with NOTHING! She has no personal items. She will be leaving with the clothes we bring for her and nothing else. So sad. I also am sad for her. She's leaving all of her "family" that she has probably grown so attached to. I wish I could make her understand that we are going to give her a life that the orphanage could not! That she is a child of God and He has a HUGE plan for her life. I wish I could tell her and make her understand how much we love her and have loved her for the first time we saw her picture. Sadly enough, I know it is going to be so hard on her tomorrow, and the next few weeks to come. I know there are going to be many tears. I know there are going to be sleepless nights and hard days to come. It's not going to be all sunshine and butterflies! A girl can dream though, can't she! We love this little girl so much and she will never know how much she has changed our lives...for the better! I think she has already drawn us closer to each other, our family and God!

We covet your prayers and have been so thankful and blessed by all the encouragement from our family and friends. This is going to be a long journey and although it seems like the end, tomorrow is just the beginning! Please pray for little Sophie that her day tomorrow will be as peaceful and it can and all the days to come. Please pray that Scott and I will be able to give her what she needs and comfort her and understand that she is coming from a hard place.

Good night and sweet dreams! I know what I'm going to be dreaming about...if I can even sleep at all! Tomorrow we will have her!!!!!!!!!!!!