We've got him!!!!

Yesterday Irina picked us up from the hotel at 11:15am. She took us by the court house to sign more documents, then to the grocery store to buy two cakes for the orphanage and some extra food for Danil...then it was off to the orphanage! Irina took us to the director's office for our last chance to ask questions... at that point, we couldn't think of any more to ask. We gave the director his Robin Williams movies...they didn't work in his DVD player but they worked in another dvd player in the orphanage. We found out the little girl we fell in love with on our first visit has been adopted out. We were happy to hear that. I brought clothes for the orphanage to change Danil into - a caregiver came and got the clothes from us to go change him. After about 20 minutes in the director's office, they brought Danil out in the clothes we brought. Well, needless to say, he was a cutie pie. But it turns out he's not big enough for 12 months clothes yet and his shoe is not a size 7. Oh well.

There wasn't any fanfare when it was time to say goodbye. The orphanage director gave him a hug and some kisses. We all had a picture made together. Danil didn't fuss or cry. He just left with us and sat quietly in Carl's arms all the way down the mountain. Just riding in the van was a big adventure for him. We were back to the hotel by 2:30 pm. Carl had to go with Irina to get Danil's passport and do some more running around. He was back to the hotel about 4:30. We "skyped" my parents at 5:00pm - which would have been 5am for them. (They asked us to call them no matter what time it was when we got Danil back.) By that point Danil had missed his afternoon nap so he was quite fussy. We decided we would just play until bedtime @ 8am. We knew this unfamiliar environment would throw him off - and it did. He ate good, though. He had one jar of chicken and gravy baby food, one vegetable baby food, one juice box, and two bowls of oatmeal. Eight o'clock came and went and Danil was showing no sign of winding down. So I finally picked him up and attempted to rock with him on the small couch in our room. We discovered early on that Danil loves music so Carl put in a cd I brought of piano hymns I bought at Hobby Lobby. We turned out the lights and sat together on the couch. Danil loved the music. Carl said, "He's liking this. Start singing." So we sang to every song - "Be Thou My Vision, Nearer My God to Thee, In the Garden, What a Friend we have in Jesus, Softly and Tenderly..." Danil was jelly in our arms. We sang every song on that cd and Danil sat and cooed. I realized this qualified as our first family devotional and the #1 most special moment Carl and I have shared together in our almost 8 years together. Our little boy went to sleep and slept the whole night through.

We were up this morning at 8am. We've done nothing but eat and play...when I finally get showered, we'll go out to explore. Our flight out of Siberia leaves tomorrow morning at 7:30...we'll spend the week in Moscow and fly out on Friday.

Paola and Callan, we haven't booked our flights yet but it looks like we'll be arriving around 9:15pm...we will let you know when we know. Hope that time works for you...

Gotta go...gotta a little boy to chase...