We made it to Russia after a long trip. We arrived in Phoenix airport Friday night and were pleased to be bumped up to first class on the overnight trip from Phoenix to JFK airport. We were able to get a little bit of sleep that night. Then we spent our 8 hours roaming JFK airport. We did some shopping, but no buying. I do have some things picked out that I want to grab when we go back through JFK on the way home. While at JFK, we made a little fort for ourselves and watched a movie and slept a bit. It was nice to relax in a quiet corner. We had a late lunch at Chilli’s there in the airport.

Our plane to Moscow was a little late in taking off. We spent an hour in line for take off. When we finally got in the air, we had an 8 hour trip to Moscow. We arrived in one piece and then found our way to the Novatel. We spent about 5 hours in the lobby, enjoyed a cup of tea, and found a couch to lay down on. Our agency’ interpreter picked us up from the Novatel and took us to a different airport across town. We then had to wait another 3 hours before boarding another plane. By this time, it was about 10:30 pm Moscow time. We flew to Tomsk and arrived in Tomsk at 6:00 am Tomsk time. Tomsk is 13 hours ahead of Tucson. So as I type this it is 12:45 in the afternoon on Monday, but it is 11:45 Sunday night in Tucson.

Our coordinator met us at the airport and brought us to our hotel. I actually had the pleasure of taking a host shower. Despite our lack of sleep, we did not try to take a nap. We were too afraid we’d not wake up and miss our 9:00 AM appointment.

At 9:00 AM we headed out for the Ministry and received permission to go to the Baby Home. The Baby Home is just about 10 minutes away. We met with Dr. Nina the Orphanage Doctor and learned about Abby’s medical history. Then we got to meet here…

When they brought her in, she was terrified and began to cry. I didn’t know exactly what to do, but my instincts took over. I went over and took her and stared to comfort her. The caregiver brought me some toys and I tried to distract her. It didn’t work too well, but she did stop crying. She is very sweet, but very shy and nervous. She was a bit shocked by Papa, but curious at the same time. She appears to know Russian as she was interested anytime others started speaking. She was not too sure about our conversation with her as it was just jibberish. While she cried, she clung to my arm. Then once she calmed down she held my fingers. She did not get too interested in toys, but seemed content to sit on my lap and watch all that was going on around her. She played a bit of ‘peek-a-boo’ with Papa and giggled a little at being tickled. She did play with an Elmo toy phone we brought. We could tell in watching her that she has good fine motor skills for her age.

I am guessing she will be the introvert of the family. But we need an introvert! Tomorrow we will go back and watch a session with the speech/physical therapist so we can see how she is doing developmentally. This afternoon, we are going to sleep!

We cannot see Libby until Thursday, so we may be coming home a day later. We are waiting to see how all that works out and will keep you all posted.