Friday, August 15, 2008

All Our Work is Done

Today we spent the morning relaxing around the apartment watching Katie just play and play. She is really good at playing by herself, but she also loves to play with us. She loves to draw and to take things out of bags and then put them back in. She helped me work on her stocking a little bit, too.
After lunch, Andrei picked us up at 1:00, and took us to the U.S. Embassy where we got Katie's passport complete with her visa, and all her documents - birth certificate, adoption certificate, court ruling, etc. We also got a sealed envelope with copies of all these documents that we'll have to give immigration in Atlanta when we land. The envelope HAS to stay sealed or the contents are no longer valid and we would have to return to Moscow and go through the embassy again. Needless to say, that envelope is tucked away, and will not be touched!
After the embassy, we went to the Russian Consulate to register her, and then we were home at 3:30 or so. Katie just about fell asleep in the car on the way back, so we put her down for a late nap when we got back. She was so tired that she was apparently able to sleep in any position!

After her nap, we walked around a little bit and went to the store for a few things to get us through Sunday. We came home, played in the playground outside our apartment, and ate dinner. We decided to call our parents to let them know that all went well at the embassy, and Katie talked to Nana for awhile. She was absolutely hilarious because she was just chattering on and on to Nana about who knows what (and she was very passionate about whatever it was), and yes, we took video. We also took a picture.
Poor Nana had no idea what she was saying, but she enjoyed the conversation nonetheless.

Tomorrow is a free day before we fly home on Sunday. While we are so glad to be finished with all our work, we won't really feel as though this adoption is complete until we get home. It's just not the same when you're living out of a suitcase in a country where you can't speak or read the language.

1 comment:

Joe and June Louderback said...

All your pictures are wonderful and really make me feel like I was there with you. I will miss you at Starlight tonight, but I know you are exactly where you want to be tonight. Continue letting us all know how you and you family are doing. Looking forward to new pictures of your complete full family. :)