April 1

April 1, 2009 – Received the phone call that told us our court date for Blake was April 16th
April 1, 2011 – Baby B’s gotcha day

We are still unable to post his full name and his pictures until the 10 day wait is over. And we will pretty much be confined to the hotel for the next week and a half, but it is totally worth it. We headed out at 9:00 a.m. for Ussuriysk. We stopped by and picked up a beautiful cake for the staff of the baby home and some traditional Russian cookies for the children. We then picked up the director of the baby home and went shopping for a new copy machine. This is part of our donation to the baby home (more on that later). After shopping we learned that we only had about 10 minutes to get Baby B changed and head back toward Vladivostok. The caregivers changed his clothes while Justin took a few pictures. I was jotting down notes of his current schedule and foods he eats. We then scooped him up and were off. It truly felt like we were breaking him out of there. He had big tears rolling down his cheeks for about 3 minutes. After that he ate a few snacks and was content. About 10 minutes into the ride he fell asleep in my arms! When we arrived at the Vlad Inn he was a little teary-eyed again until he was able to just sit on my lap and take everything in. Justin sliced a banana for him and he was happy after that. He has warmed up to Justin very quickly. I was able to leave the room to use the restroom and Baby B didn’t cry at all. He is a jabber box in a sweet, quiet sort of way. He likes to mimic sounds which is fun for us. And just like Blake, he loves to flash us a toothy grin!

I just had to give him a bath. I wanted to shampoo his hair, clean his ears, lotion him up… Again for the first minute or so we had tears. He seemed as though he was going to be terrified of the water which we half expected. We stuck it out long enough to get his hair washed and then he seemed to calm right down. He played with a cup in the water for awhile. Then his foot slipped and he tipped over in the water. That was the end of bath time! 18 month clothes seem to be perfect for him – with room to grow.
Honestly, we feel like God knew exactly what He was doing (like He needs our affirmation!!)! I know we are likely to be in for a few surprises in the upcoming days, but so far we are blessed beyond our expectations. We will stay up late tonight and Skype with Brady, Madison, and Blake before they head off to school. They are so ready to see their little brother!