Introducing............

Introducing EasternStar!

Born in Tyumen, Russia on May 30, 2008
Joined our family on September 3, 2009

Welcome to the family sweet baby!!!



Court Day - Holding her favorite blocks


Court Day - Love those yellow pants!

It has been such a wonderful day!

But not with our classic moments! As we were getting ready to leave, I realized that I forgot something in the room so I took the elevator up to our room to get it. As I was going up, the power in the hotel went out for a few seconds. There has been something going on in the city that has been affecting the power. It didn't affect us until today. I was stuck on the 4th floor for a few minutes and then the elevator went down to 3. Finally I made it up to 9 and to our room.

We picked up EasternStar right around 12. First we met with the orphanage director and all of our gifts. We had five huge bags of clothes, 50 toothbrushes, some formula and some cash. They are remodeling EasternStars building and they will use the money for the remodeling. Then we gave her her gift and the gifts for the nannies. Then it was off to her group house! She had just finished lunch and going potty and they brought her out to us wrapped in a towel - Naked as the day she was born! 8 ) We dressed her and said our goodbyes to the nannies. And we were off! It was so emotional - I know we will give her a better life - but it is sad that she is leaving the only place that she has ever known.

We returned to the hotel around 1 and she was tired (it was nap time) but she was too excited to sleep. We goofed off with her until around 2 and she and I passed out. Stranger left at 3 to go and see if her passport was done. We weren't sure if it would be - a 1 day turn around would be unusual and the passport office had been without power for 2 days. Through a miracle from God - EasternStar's passport was ready! Our translator heard some people talking that the office is closing until Wednesday - so if we hadn't gotten the passport today - we would have been here until at least the middle of next week! We are so blessed! So Stranger and our driver and translator went to the ticket office and changed our flight tickets. We are headed to Moscow tomorrow morning. Very early!!!

Stranger got back around 5 and woke us up! That was a long nap!!

Then we talked to TinyDancer for a bit and to Granny and Paw Paw for a bit. And then we were starving (no lunch!) so we went downstairs for dinner. It was delicious! And EasternStar is a great eater! She had a snack of yogurt and Teddy Grahams at 5 and then at dinner she had some bread, some mashed potatoes, ground meat, and milk. I gave her some of my dinner but she didn't like it and spit it out. 8 )

We came back and started packing and EasternStar was getting tired. We did her bath and got her ready for bed. But she was again to excited to sleep. So she watched us pack and finally fell asleep around 10:15. Way past her bed time!

She has been awesome! She has not cried - or made any sound really - all day! We have gotten her to giggle at little since dinner - but not too much. We have gotten lots of smiles and kisses though.

She is not very active yet. She is used to sitting still I think. She can crawl when motivated properly - like for a Teddy Graham. She can walk a little with support - again - if motivated properly. She and I walked from the bed to the bathroom. She heard Stranger running her bath water and wanted to see what all of the noise was about! And she can walk around the bed - using the bed for support - again - if properly motivated (Teddy Grahams again). Hmmm....motivated by food ....... loves to be naked ....... she is going to fit in just fine at our house!!

We have to get up at 5am to start getting ready and to leave in time for our flight - I think it leaves at 7:30 am.

More from Moscow!