The Great Escape: Family Adventures BEGIN

It's been 24 hours since we walked out that door, with him in our arms, and he has not looked back once. Pictures can tell 1,000 words, right? Excellent -- so, here's my "out"...enjoy the show...As we were getting ready to put his coat on, he took off towards the door and went right to his room... I swear, all of a sudden he realized he was going, and wanted to give a proper good bye, thank you, and "I love you" to Svetlana... She was with him 1 day last trip and 3 of our days this trip -- I loved Sveta myself -- she was kind, loving, gentle -- she took time with each child to give individual attention. And, I will never know if it's true or simply she was trying to help us feel better about him, but she really seemed to have an extra soft spot for Aslan.... As he ran towards the room, I knew in my heart where he was going and what he was doing --- and he turned back and looked at me as he headed into the room and stopped. I said "go ahead -- Da" and he ran right in and held his arms to her -- As they sat there together and had their special goodbye moment, her eyes got red, and she was holding and talking to him quietly and gently... I had to take a picture -- "Good Bye, Sveta, thank you
for loving me while I was here"

She clearly meant a lot to him, and him to her... and it is so important we all remember -- no matter what we think of orphanages, the people in them care. I truly truly believe that -- forget what we know about what orphanages do to development, social and attachment behaviors -- we all know that these things are NOT good... but, children are cared for in them, and watched carefully -- the process of monitoring caregivers is far better than what we have in the US foster care system -- children are safe, they have food, they have playmates, they have routine, structure, and they have someone who cares about them, even if that person has 14 other little people to care for....I have been in orphanages across eastern Europe since 1998 -- and even back then, they cared - -but the staffing was short, and money was tight, and social reform hadn't fully taken hold.. It has, and here in this orphanage, it was clearly felt -- they cared, they did the best they could, and they loved the children...and in this one, there was not a single doctor or caregiver who didn't seem to know every child's name as they walked thru the playroom and in/out of his baby room... It was important I respect our son's need to say goodbye to the special people there -- We also were sure we stopped thru the director's office to say a special goodbye and thank you -- they took good care of him. We will always be grateful to them... ok, THAT is a lot of words... back to the pictures..

Hey, look, a plane..

He did great on the plane -- His Pop-Pop (amy's dad!) will be so proud!!

Rules were meant for breaking, right? Well, we figure we can always get him on a schedule, but we can't always visit friends who are also in Moscow with their kids --- Last night, pretty much we dropped our bags in our apartment, grabbed a celebratory bottle of wine, and headed less than 2 blocks away to Laura and Jon's apartment to meet them in person and meet their little Kristina -- Laura works at Cedars, where I moonlighted when in LA - we know people there in common, but really, it is awesome Joan who is a mutual great friend -- and Laura and I became friends along each of our adoption journey's... I have a lot of respect for Laura and Jon -- they followed the path to EKat -- Kristina is fantastic and a great ball of wonderful, shiny, smiling personality and I can see why upon meeting her they'd do whatever the judge asked!! We do have a picture of all of us on their camera, so will post that when we do. It was a great way to end our day, as we all toasted our children -- They left this morning for LA, and we hope to see them at an AO picnic soon! (where, of course, we will insist Aunt Joan come and play with us all & meet all our other AO friends!)

Walking home from Laura, Jon, and Kristina's! Who knew we secretly transported ourselves from Moscow to Vegas??

Passed out cold after a long long day...

While it was "wonderful" for us, and he handled it really well, we know how hard this transition is for him -- His resilience, patience, and tolerance with his sense of humor and wonderment of it all is admirable-- how many of you would be able to have someone you barely know take you from the only place you know, from all the people you know, the food you know, the language you know -- put you on some alien craft (ie: airplane), land and immerse you in a new language, people you don't know giving you new food, etc?? He woke up smiling today. How incredible is he? I think I'd be very worried. How would you be?
just something to consider in how much his life has changed..
But, today is for another post -- he just woke up, and we are heading out to play on Old Arbat Street!! love to all! thanks for supporting us and reading! we love the comments and don't feel so far away..