We received an early
Christmas gift! Our Children's Hope coordinator extraordinaire, called to let us know we would be traveling
back to Astrakhan, Russia in January, 2006, to
officially become the parents of our Hattie Ekaterina!
Having signed the petition to adopt on Thanksgiving Day,
it seemed appropriate to be making travel plans over
Christmas! It was the news we had been hoping for and
before we knew it we were on our way to Russia!
The day before our
Monday, January 16, court date, we were able to see
Hattie. She was brought out to us donning a fresh
?orphanage? hair cut (very short with bangs) with a huge
Russian bow.
We
didn?t know whether to laugh or cry, but she was our
little girl and we were reunited!
Why is there a
blue toy car on the kitchen table?
Did you want a boy?
The next day in court,
Mark and I stood up and spoke of ourselves, our lives,
our desire for a family and our petition to adopt this
little girl. We were both very nervous but Mark did an
outstanding job of presenting our information ? his
story drew only a few additional questions. The most
interesting one came from the prosecutor after she
looked over the photos of our home ? ?Why is there a
blue toy car on the kitchen table? ? Did you want a
boy?? she asked. Mark replied, ?No, that is actually a
cookie jar ?. and everyone likes cookies!? That actually
brought a smile or two.
After given parental
status that afternoon, we left for the orphanage to pick
up our daughter. We brought flowers and cake for the
orphanage personnel and clothes for Hattie. Once
dressed, the staff brought her out for us to add the
final layer, the mandatory snow suit.
The
van ride from the orphanage to the hotel will always be
significant. I will always remember the emotions I felt
? with Mark beside me as I held our little girl on my
lap, we quietly watched out the window as we crossed
over the Volga and drove through the downtown city
streets. It was snowy and the city was still decorated
with Christmas lights and decorations. It was very
pretty: A perfect beginning for our new family.
The next eight days in
Astrakhan and Moscow enabled us to spend uninterrupted
bonding time with Hattie (of course record low
temperatures and spending lots of time indoors only
furthered that!) We explored hotel rooms, walked the
halls, played with each other and even had a tour of the
Kremlin.
We finally left Moscow on
our 14-hour direct flight to California. Hattie?s new
home. I think all three of us were happy to land! After
an airport homecoming with family, a short drive and
unbundling later, Hattie was fast asleep in her new
room, probably wondering why it was so quiet in this
new, very different place. And we would find out how
full a home can be!!!
To find our how you
can adopt from our Russia adoption program
