Day 15 waiting - "Delivery Day Eve"(double click for pics)

It's been a while since we had to buy these...

Thursday, August 3--- (Day 15 waiting period)

Privet from KA3ACTAHCKNN. The 15 day waiting period is officially over….We are so excited about this and what’s happening tomorrow. Can you believe, months of paperwork, changing countries midstream, setting a record for length of time to get the letter of invitation, 15 days of bonding, then court being moved out 7 additional days and another 15 days of waiting, we are seeing prayers being answered before our eyes… Landen will be in our arms for good tomorrow.

As for today, we started the day with some calls from the family…Kim enjoyed talking to her brother and had a little fun quizzing him on the blog updates…We should be saluting him from now on as he just got a big promotion from the U.S. Coast Guard. Congrats Bro! The rest of the morning was spent replaying our journey to this point and preparing for what’s coming tomorrow….If we have not told you, we are to get Landen tomorrow.

Lena came with us today on the visit so she could assist Kim with the meeting with the caretakers. We found out some interesting facts: first, he had a big lunch today that consisted of beet root soup (bright red in color) and fish with rice mush. This had a very distinctive aroma after it came back up later in the visit. He does not have any known food allergies at this point. Finally, Lena translated his “baby house” schedule for us….Not sure he will be on this one for long…for your viewing pleasure - here it is:

Gets up between 6:30am and 7:00am
Breakfast 7:00am to 8:00am
Play time 8:00am till 9:30am
Naptime 9:30am till 11:30am
Lunch 11:30am to 11:32am (kidding, 12:00pm)
Play time 12:30am till 3:00pm
Snack 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Naptime 3:30pm till 5:00pm
Play time 5:00pm till 7:00pm
Dinner 7:00pm to 7:30pm
Play time 7:30pm to 8:00pm
Goes to sleep 8:00pm.

Nothing too crazy here. This baby house is very good about keeping this schedule and we have grown to appreciate them for that.

We had one of the best visits of all to end with. Landen was again in a great mood when he came down the steps and was laughing at RyRy most of the time. I wanted to video some of the play time and the property for him, so I walked the grounds to film my documentary. Kim and Rylee strolled close behind and allowed Landen to take it in one last time. If the simple things like wind, birds and bees amaze him, just think about 4 dogs, 2 turtles, 2 frogs (thanks Nana), and 2 hermit crabs will do to the child. This seemed to be the fastest visit yet, which was somewhat surprising to us. Kim made the walk she dreads so much (dropping him off for the night) for the last time. The caretaker had music playing and he loves to listen to music. Kim thought he would go straight to her, but he held on to Mommy. He played a game with the caretaker, where he would smile and turn from side to side, but never letting go of Mommy. What a feeling to know that was the last time to make that walk!

We left the baby house with a list of errands to do. We started off going to a notary (this is a very big deal over here) for passport paperwork. Yes, we will actually be coming home soon. This took a good 30minutes for 4 forms and cost about 10.00 each. The lobby was packed with other patrons, so I’m guessing there are very few notaries in town. After the notary, we went to the big baby store and bought some baby food….wow, we will get to feed him from now on. Of course my selections were quickly rejected by the three ladies (especially the 6 yr old), so I left well enough alone and let them enjoy. Kim and I looked at each other with one of those…“its’ real“looks. We got a variety of cereals and puree foods along with some cookies.

During the ride from the store to our apartment, Lena remembered that our package from Nana had finally arrived. We planned for Sergey to pick it up from the train station and Lena advised she would call when he was near our apartment and we would meet him in the lobby. Well, our hopes on the package turned to disappointment when Svetlana arrived with a package from Indiana. The only good thing is the date on that package was June 27th, prior to the date Nana mailed hers. I guess the horse needs a lot of breaks on long trips to Pavlodar.

We finished the day with a little dinner…Actually we threw half of it away as the taco’s were not good at all. We are sooooo ready to get home, but know how blessed we are to be this close! Until Gotcha Day….. Poka, poka…