This week we celebrate "Gotcha Day".  Those who have adopted know exactly what that means.  Four years ago our lives changed dramatically.  As we welcomed two little girls into our lives we had no idea what we were getting into or how our lives would look at this stage.  To be honest, we expected some kind of problems.  The risks of adopting from Russia and the likelihood of FAS caused us to wonder if, or what symptoms our daughters might exhibit.  By God's grace, our girls show no signs of any abnormality!  Both girls are doing well in school, and are fun to be around.  Each night I go in and kiss them good night, and say a short prayer over each one, remembering how inadequate we are as parents, and how much we need God to give us wisdom and grace as we raise our girls.

Lately I have been thinking about legacies, and what we will leave for our girls when we are gone.  Certainly there will be some "things", which is kind of neat to think about some of our special things going to these children who we love so much.  Jewelry, knick-knacks, heirlooms, etc. But I have realized how temporary these things really are.  What can we really leave that will have lasting significance to our girls, and the generations who come after them?   We can leave them with a lasting faith in Jesus Christ!  The foundation of faith will last forever, and can pass from generation to generation.  All other things will be spent, lost, break, rust, decay, or be thrown away.  Ah, but faith lasts.  I pray that our girls grow up to be women of faith, which is carried forward for generations to come.  That they would marry God fearing men, and together they would raise there children to love and know The Lord. 

So on this day, as we celebrate what God has entrusted to us, these two beautiful girls, who have turned our lives upside down, we stop and say thank you to The One who has blessed us so much.

We can't believe it was 4 years ago today that we left to meet our daughters for the first time in Russia.  The last 4 years seem surreal.  The girls are 4 1/2 and 6 1/2 now, and doing very well in school and family life.  Looking at the weather today in Kras, it is -35.  Just remembering when we came home it was -40.  Burrrr.
Saw a web cam in Kras today showing the Christmas tree outside the hotel and remember all the ice carvings and lights that made it so exciting to be in Russia around Christmas.  Remembering all our friends we met while in Russia and wonder how all the children are doing that found new homes along with our girls.  God has richly blessed us with Sasha and Dasha.  Thank you God!

Merry Christmas

Well, we are about to celebrate our second Christmas with the girls, and we can't believe how time has flown. Both girls are so excited about Christmas. Sasha is singing today at a rehab center with her school. She was practicing her songs in the car on the way to school this morning. Next week is her school concert. We are excited to hear her sing. Both girls love to sing (they must have gotten that from their Papa) . We learned last year that lots of presents don't necessarily make the girls happy at Christmas, so we will again try to minimize the gifts and focus on Christ this season. All that said, we did finally get lights on the house yesterday, and are trying to bake some cookies as we establish some family traditions. It seems so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season without giving much thought to why we celebrate. So, will you take a moment today and ponder The Creator coming to live with us in order to die, but coming not as a king, but as a baby, helpless and fragile. Perfect.

Merry Christmas
The Falstads

Vacation '10

We are enjoying a week away in North Carolina. The girls have experienced the ocean for the first time, and it is a mixed bag. Sasha, after the first day jitters, declared that she was no longer afraid and wanted to go in deeper. Dasha never did warm up to the idea of going near the water, but maybe next year. They both loved the pool. The weather has been very hot, mid 90's this week, but we have found comfort near the water. The ocean temp has been in the 60's up until today, when it warmed up nicely in the 70's. The sand lived up to it's advertised size and both girls loved to play in it. Of course, they also had it in every imaginable nook too. Nothing a good shower can't correct.

We have had our fill of sea food, enjoying the shrimp and scallops, along with the other Atlantic fish. Even the girls liked the shrimp, their first attempt at such fare. It is a long way from Illinois, but it is nice to get away and spend time with friends and family. Everyone has been so welcoming of the girls, and it is hard to remember a time when they were not a part of our lives. MaryEllen mentioned, she can't remember having so much fun at the beach. God must have had little kids in mind when he created the sandy shores. Sea shells are just the thing to keep a four year old engaged during a nice walk.

Tomorrow we start the long journey home, saying goodbye to family, friends, and this lovely place along the ocean. Our hearts will long for the next trip, despite the long drive. We decided to make this trip every other year, but now that we are here, it seems like torture to wait two more years to enjoy all this. Besides, our girls are growing up so fast, they would be 4 and 6 the next time they saw the ocean. That seems cruel. Hope you enjoy the pics, and have some to remember your summer adventures.

Summertime fun

We are coming out of the Independence Day Holiday and spending some quality time with the girls. The girls are Americans, and hence celebrate with all of us our independence and freedom. We not only have freedom from oppression and religious tyrany, but freedom to worship, pray, meet, speak the truth, and travel to other parts of the world where the Gospel is not known. These are just a few things we celebrate together this Holiday.

Sasha is growing up so fast. This fall she will attend a preschool in our area, and then next year she will be in kindergarten! Can you believe it? We are learning how to swim this summer and doing very well. Sasha is also riding her two wheel bike very well. It still has training wheels on it. Sasha loves to color with markers, and is exceptional in staying in the lines. Her mother is so proud. She can also write her name, and loves to sing. I remember a some my mother sang to me when I was little called, "My Little Teddy Bear". Anyone remember that song? Sasha loves to read the Bible every night, and helps turn the pages.

Dasha is growing up so fast too. Her hair is getting long, and is still blond. She runs around with her sister and they laugh and play. It is so pleasant to hear their laughs. Dasha can sing the ABC song all by her self, and loves to play with dolls. She rides a big wheel, but doesn't put her feet on the peddles. She just shuffles along. Dasha still loves to to on stroller rides, and we try to do that a few times a week for Mom and Dad to get some exercise. Dasha loves to read books, and watch movies, although we don't watch many in the summer. She enjoys being outside as much as possible, and sometimes is sad when its time to go in. She loves going down the slide at the pool, and has a huge grin on her face when she comes down.

Both girls are just amazing kids. Dasha has trouble being two sometimes. And she doesn't always listen to her big sister. But to see them play together reminds us how precious it is to keep sisters together during adoption.

We have a trip planned for vacation to NC in a few weeks to see MaryEllen's brother Joe and some other relatives. This will be Joe's first meeting with his nieces. We are all excited. Too bad it has taken so long. The rest of the summer will be taken up with pool time and playing at the parks near our home.

Hope you all have some time this summer to kick back and have a glass of tea, or somthing, and enjoy all that summer is.

Pete, MaryEllen, Sasha and Dasha

One year ago.....

One year ago we were in Russia and had be awarded the girls in court, and were waiting for the day they would be handed over into our arms. (March14 is gotcha day) It has been a wonderful year, as we watched our girls learn and grow. Sasha doesn't remember any Russian, and Dasha is beginning to talk in sentences. Both girls have gained weight, but have grown in inches even more! Clothes no longer fit that were big last fall, and they are growing up to be such lovely little ladies. We just had pictures taken at day care, and it is amazing how they have changed in the last six months. Dasha looks to be keeping her blond hair, and Sasha's bangs have started to really grow in . They don't even look like the same little girls we met a year ago. I remember looking at other children's pictures after they had been home for a year or so and thinking, wow have they changed. We can only imagine what the next year will bring, but undoubtedly God's blessing will be evident.

The girls love to sing, and their favorite songs are "Jesus Loves Me" and "The B-I-B-L-E". They also like ABC, itzy bitzy spider, and the bumblebee song. Remember those? Sasha got a big bike from Santa, and finally got to ride it this past week. She is good. It didn't take her long at all to get the hang of it. We have been going back to the park near our house lately with the weather in the 50's and 60's. The girls love to be outside. We love the exercise.

Not a day goes by that we don't remember how blessed we are to have these little angels in our lives. God has been good to us. We will celebrate Dasha's birthday next weekend along with remembering the day we stepped off the plane in Chicago with our new family members. (March 21) Thanks for the prayer and encouragement this past year. We could not have done it without your prayers and God's help.

I can't believe we are coming up on a year with the girls. We have our one year home study this coming week even though we are 2 months away from our year anniversary. Each girl has grown so much, and developed more than we could have imagined. Other than the expected colds and ear infections, we have been doing well. The weather has been cold and wet, so getting outside has been a challenge. Each girl seems to be happy in our home environment, with very distinct personalities. Sasha is talking so fast her brain can't keep up, and Dasha is trying her best to tell us what she wants. Her favorite phrase is, "Where is Papa"? Both girls like to sing, read books, dress up, and go to school.

MaryEllen and I are feeling the result of having little germ carriers in our house. Both of us have been sick more times than we can remember since March. As we review this past year we are filled with awe over the blessings God has given us in these little lives. Not a day goes by that we realize how fortunate we are to have two beautiful little girls to care for. They are both so good.

We look forward to going to North Carolina this summer to introduce the girls to their Uncle Joe, and spending some time on the beach. I'm sure we will have many walks on the beach and time with Uncle Joe learning how to fish. The van will get another workout this summer it looks like. We are also looking forward to a visit from some friends we met in Russia who also adopted a little boy. We became very close in a short period of time as we helped each other through some difficult times. Now we just need to get though the winter. We look forward to planting a vegetable garden this spring and teach the girls where food comes from. We will let you know how that project turns out. For now, blessing to all of you from our happy family of 4.

Our First Chrismas

9 months after coming home with our girls we celebrate our first Christmas together. It felt like our first Christmas ever due to all the excitement. The focus was definitely on the girls. By noon MaryEllen and I were so tired we put the girls down for their nap and just sat and watched a movie. We were too tire to do any cleaning up. This parenting thing is hard. Both girls were fun to watch as they opened stockings and presents. Admittedly we over did our purchasing for the girls, but we are saving some for birthdays. Dasha got a rocking horse which she loves, and Sasha got a bike, which she will have to wait a while to use due to the snow. They received some other small gifts which are keeping them busy for many hours. That is the parental benefits to Christmas gifts.

We attended church on Christmas eve as a family, and sang songs and heard about the baby Jesus. Sasha is very into baby Jesus. We stayed home this year and spent time as a family, which was a lot of fun. The girls are growing up so fast, and we enjoy seeing them change and grow. Each girls has a distinct personality and we are learning how to bring out the best in each of them.

We went to our friends house for dinner on Christmas and were spoiled with a wonderful dinner and some little gifts for the girls. Very thoughtful.

The girls each had ear infections leading up to Christmas, and ME and I have some sort of sinus stuff now. It seems like someone has been sick since March. Hopefully this is just a phase, and we will all outgrow these little viruses in time.

Thursday is new years eve, and a blue moon. Hope you have clear skies to see the moon. We will be staying inside and spending a quiet night together again. That is our favorite pastime. We all wish everyone a blessed new year, and pray that you are drawn closer to the Lord.

Happy Holidays

We made it through Thanksgiving, with much to be thankful for. Keeping in mind everything is new for the girls, it was fun to watch them interact with family again, and share in the big meal. Every night we pray for thing we are thankful for, so everyday is thanksgiving for us. Now we prepare for their first Christmas. I put light on the outside of the house last week and took Sasha out to evaluate the effort. After coming back inside, she said, "Papa, can we go back outside to see the lights." Everything is new to them, and it makes us see things in different perspective. We have become so numb to so much splendor around us that we begin to take things for granted. The girls encourage us to see things through new eyes. How refreshing!

The tree is up now, and we have bought some Christmas gifts. The girls are learning that Christmas is about Jesus, and giving, because Jesus gave us so much. I read somewhere that a family had a tradition to always give money in the Salvation Army kettles. So, we have begun that tradition for our girls, giving them some coins to put in the kettle. I don't think they understand money, but they will always remember putting money in.

At times we become overwhelmed at our responsibility to raise these young angels. But then we are reminded that we are not called to be perfect parents, but to love our girls and teach them about the love of God, and of His son Jesus. God does the rest. That is a relief.

This weekend we will take the girls to meet Santa at State Farm, and then on to church for a Christmas concert. Sasha is excited to meet Santa, and we will see how they do at a 1 hour concert. I hope they like it.

As we get close to Christmas, we pray that the spirit of our Lord Jesus permeates your home and your life.

P, ME, S &D

Greetings from central IL. It is football season, so we are trying to teach the girls that Illinois and the Packers are our teams. MaryEllen is still putting a plug in for the Giants :-) The girls are doing great, and growing like weeds. We were getting some warmer clothes out for them recently and found that pants are a bit short. So, MaryEllen measured each girls and found out why. Sasha has grown 5 inches since March, and Dasha has grown 4 inches. Wow! At this rate they will be taller than their mommy. Each day show a new development in the girls. Dasha feeds herself pretty well now, and Sasha is learning how to love her little sister. It is very cute. She tells me when Dasha is getting into trouble, which is often it seems.

MaryEllen and I have just gotten over bad sinus infections, which were going around lately. The girls have stayed pretty healthy other than a little cold for Dasha and an ear infection for Sasha. Our weather have finally changed so we can at least go outside and play. Dasha is thankful for that. It had rained so much we were cooped up inside, but now we are enjoying some moderate fall days with temps in the 50's and low 60's and some sun.

The girls enjoyed trick or treating, and after a few houses even Dasha learned not to walk into the house when the door is openned. We collected a fair amount of candy, but haven't let the girls eat too much. They have such beautiful teeth, we don't want to ruin them. As you can see, each girl looked so cute in their Halloween costume, and wanted to wear them long after Halloween had passed. With the way they are growing, we have one year to use the costumes before they go to someone else.

We are all looking forward to Thanksgiving, and traveling to Michigan to spend time with family. This is our tradition, and the girls will grow to look forward to it as much as we do, I'm sure. We have been talking about all the reletives who will be there, including her cousin Brighton. They are just a few months apart, so they should have fun together. This will be their first year going Christmas shopping with Grandpa, and they already know to ask for WII and a computer :-)

Hope you all have a safe and thoughtful Thanksgiving, and remember to be thankful for all the things God has given all of us.

Pete and MaryEllen

Its been a while

It has been quite some time since I have updated 0ur blog. Sorry if you are one who checks often. We have been busy as you might expect raising Sasha and Dasha. Both girls are growing up fast, and developing right on schedule. Sasha is becoming a fine young lady, and her speech is coming along well. Dasha is starting to talk now too, and her sister is helping her say things correctly. Just this morning Sasha was correcting Dasha at the breakfast table. The girls love Elmo, and enjoy watching alphabet and phonetic DVDs. Each girl has a little plastic tricycle but Dasha can't reach the peddles yet. They ride around the driveway and Sasha even takes her trike on walks.

We are getting ready for Halloween this weekend, and Sasha will be wearing a Snow Maiden costume we picked up in Russia, and Dasha will wear the bunny costume we bought there too. They should be so cute.

Sasha and MaryEllen are now over the flu, but for some reason Dasha and I did not get it. Who knows? Two sick in the family is enough. Otherwise both girls are healthy and growing fast. Sasha has grown about 3 inches since March, and Dasha has grown about 2 inches. I keep threatening to put bricks on their heads :-) With winter coming we will need to find things to keep the girls busy and engaged. We thought about swim lessons, but decided to wait a while. Not that they don't like the water. They both have taked to water like fishes, and love going to the pool over the summer. We can't wait for the pool to open again next year.

Our lives have changed, mostly for the better. It is hard to find time for the two of us, but we manage, and love having the girls in our lives. Our home is full of toys, and all of the breakable stuff is out of reach or in storage, but these are choices we gladly make to allow room in our hearts for the precious souls God has trusted to us. We are blessed.

I guess once a month is all I am going to be able to update the blog. I have been meaning to do this for weeks. Both girls are doing very well. Sasha moved up to the 3 year old class at day care and is handling it well. She is coming along with her potty training, and is talking up a storm. Some of her language is hard to understand, but she is getting better and better each day. Her day care teachers are very impressed with her development. Sasha turns 3 on June 21st, so we are excited to help her celebrate this milestone.

Dasha will move up in a week when she reaches 15 months. She is also very ready to move to a more education focused class. She will be challenged with more learning opportunities and will have more physical activity. She is babbling like crazy now, and climbs on everything. Any door is an opportunity to get into trouble, and it all starts in her mouth.

We are buying a van today to accommodate our new family, and plan to drive to South Carolina the end of June for a family reunion. We are excited about the rest of Pete's family meeting the girls. This will be the first of many road trips we hope to take with our girls. There is so much we want them to experience.

MaryEllen and Pete are doing well, but tired. There never seems to be any rest. We go from early to late everyday. Hopefully we will get a chance to go on a date this weekend.

Blessings

Mother's Day 2009

We had a wonderful Mother's Day with our girls. Pete bought a dozen roses, and the girls got Mommy a card and chocolates. Not cheap stuff, but the good chocolate. How quickly they learn how to butter up Mommy? Daddy had it figured out a long time ago. After going to church, we spent the day together enjoying the day. It was truly a special 1st Mother's Day, and worth the wait.

The girls are doing well, and have transitioned into day care very well. No more fussing after only two weeks. They are making friends and interacting well, even though Sasha is still not able to communicate as well as she would like. Dasha is babbling up a storm, and walking better and better each day. She is learning to put her toys away, and loves to take her bath. All we need to do is start the water and she is trying to climb in. She still has her 8 teeth, but seems to be ready to cut more anytime now. She is happy most of the time, and we are starting to see more and more of her personality come out each day.

Sasha is speaking in short sentences (2-4 words), and repeats what we say. She had a breakthrough day yesterday and went potty 4 times. Perhaps she is ready to go back to voiding on the potty after all. She like to sing songs, and likes the Bible song and ABC. We can see her wheels turning when we speak to her, and she seems to comprehend much of what we say. Her temper tantrums are less and less frequent, and much shorter duration than before. We are amazed at both girls progress in just 7 weeks.

Each night we pray and thank God for these little ones in our lives. And Sasha says, "Amen".
Thanks for sharing in our joy.

Settling into a new routine

This week marked the first week the girls are in day care. It has gone so, so. Both girls showed some resistance to being left in the care of others, but Sasha is putting up the most resistance. However, she is getting better, and we hope by week end she will go to her class without incident. We had a great Easter, and have had some family visit last weekend. It is fun to see our family and close friends experience the girls for the first time. Both girls warm up well to others, and seem to love the attention and interaction they get from family members. We look forward to all our families meeting the girls and getting to know them. So far they talk to grandparents on the phone some, but they are a bit young and lacking speaking skills to communicate well.

Dasha has at least 9 teeth now, and is getting over a double ear infection. Her hair is coming in nicely, and she is a joy to be around most of the time. She eats well, and poops well. What more could a parent ask?

Sasha is making progress in her speech, saying lots of words like parts of the body, foods, clothes, animals, and no. She seems to comprehend much of what we say to her, and it amazes us. Parent talk is no longer safe. She is a very good big sister, and other than fighting over toys, she gets along well with Dasha. While MaryEllen was home, Sasha would help with some cleaning, laundry, and setting the table. We are still working on potty training, and have seen some improvement, but we are not pushing that. I heard someone say, diapers are cheaper than a psychologist.

Both girls are going to bed well and sleeping through the night. Our friend can't believe the girls sleep through the night. Oh, well, we live a blessed life. God must know that old people like us need our sleep. The girls love bath time, and enjoy getting lotion put on them afterward. We read books every night, and they both enjoy that time too. We say prayer at meals and at night, and Sasha has learned when to say "Amen". She is very cute.

Life is moving very fast right now, and we look forward to getting into this new routine now that MaryEllen is back to work today, so Papa took care of breakfast and getting the kids ready solo. So far so good, by God's grace.

Happy Easter

We have been home for just over two weeks now and we still look at each other and are amazed we are the parents of these two little girls. Wow! MaryEllen has been sick with a bad cold the last week, and that has taken some of the fun out of staying home with the girls. Even so, we have been enjoying the challenges and joys of being parents. Free time has become something of the past. Our lives now revolve around these little beauties. Sasha is doing better about going to bed, and we are not pushing the afternoon nap. Dasha was doing better, but now is cutting another tooth, so she is cranky at times. She is so good about sleeping, we can't help but think this won't last much longer. You just lay her down and poof, she is asleep. She is walking all over the place, and getting quicker each day.

Sasha and I went to church on Sunday and spent the morning in Sunday School. She was apprehenive for the first 30 minutes, but relaxed after that and did fine. I stayed the whole time, and will eventually leave her in the care of the teachers who are great. With Easter coming up this weekend, I don't know what we will do with the girls. Maybe we will go to the crying room again like we did our first week back.

The weather has kept us inside most of this week, but we did get out this last weekend some, and the girls loved it. We have a great park down the street, and our neighbor who is 9 loves to be out with the girls. With so many kids in the neighborhood, I think the girls will fit right in.

Both girls are doing well adjusting, and have stayed healthy dispite MaryEllen's cold. They are eating well, and enjoying their new life in the U.S. Sasha is speaking some English, but we can't always understand it. Then she will throw in some baby Russian and MaryEllen and I will just look at each other and shrug.

Bonding is going along fine, but it is clear that the real emotional bonding will take time. There is no rushing this process, and what we read is it takes about 6 months. We are spending as much time as possible with them, and love and care for them as best we can. Both girls seem to go to any adult, especially women, which is part of the bonding problem. They need to learn who Mommy and Papa are, and know that we will care for them no matter what. Knowning all this, I still think this is one of our biggest misconceptions. I don't think we really understood how hard the bonding process it, but we are making progress. It is hard to conceive what our lives and relationships will look like 6 months from now.

We plan to color Easter eggs this week in preparation for Easter Sunday. We don't want the girls to load up on candy, so we will limit the candy eggs, but what is Easter without some chocolate? Maybe I will give the chocolate to MaryEllen, she deserves it.

Have a blessed Easter

Getting settled in

We are getting into a pattern at home, and overcoming some issues and facing new ones daily. Sasha went to bed without incident last night, so our strategy is maybe starting to work, but she is reverting on her toileting, which is very normal. MaryEllen is working with her during the day, but she is in a state where she doesn't seem to care if she goes in her pull-up.

Thursday was Dr. day and we had a good check-up. Both girls were very good considering what they went through. They took blood and checked them out thoroughly, and everyone seems to be healthy.

We have been getting outside the last week as temps have been in the 60's. The girls love the park, especially the swings, and seem to fit right in to our neighborhood. There are lots of kids of all ages.

Dasha is walking better each day, and can walk 10 - 20 yards without falling sometimes. Sasha is starting to say some things in English, mimicking me and MaryEllen. We think she is understanding quite a bit already, but just not speaking. She is still rambling in Russian, and I can only imagine her thoughts as we have a dumb look on our faces and don't do what she wants. That will all change quick enough though.

Each day is an adventure. Chinese tonight, and Sam's tomorrow. Yea.

Home at last

We finally made it home, and just a bit tired. We decided to stay in Chicago at my sisters Sat. night. They fed us a home cooked meal, and helped us with the girls so we could rest a bit. It was a good transition. We made it home Sunday afternoon and after a bit of unpacking, grocery shopping and baths, we all fell asleep by 8:15. Today I am back to work while MaryEllen is home with the girls. I'm sure she will need a break when I get home. She was tired at 10:00am. While exhausted, we are fulfilled at being parents. We have two beautiful girls, who are inquisitive, smart, and testing all the boundaries. Sasha is doing a bit better about going to sleep, and Dasha is still teething, but is a trouper about it. Both girls did very well on the flight home, all things considered. Sasha is starting to parrot us in English after resisting for the last week. She is starting to understand us when we speak to her, which is remarkable. She is speaking much more now in Russian, but it is fun to hear her communicate. She is obviously feeling more secure with us everyday. Hopefully with the warm weather, we will get a chance to play outside and go for walks. We all could use the exercise after being cooped up for 4 weeks. We are learning so much together about being parents. Have you looked for infant cereal lately? There are about 20 different kinds. Who knows what to buy? And apple juice. Who would think there are so many kinds of apple juice. What is the difference? We just don't have time to look on the internet to research what is the best for our girls. We plan to make Dr. appointments this week for the girls to get them checked out and receive any instructions from the pediatrician. Thanks again to all of you who have prayed for us and helped us in so many ways to make this all possible. We hope to see you all soon and introduce you to our lovely daughters. Pete and ME

Leaving Kras

We leave Kras tomorrow early, starting out at 4:30am. We will arrive in Moscow at about 9:00am, and see the doctor for the girls before we can get visas. Tomorrow will be a busy day. We will have go nap whenever we get the chance. I hope the girls sleep on the plane.

Sasha has shown us she is not perfect by rebelling when it is time to sleep. She is definitely two. Dasha is still teething, but we are coping with this dilema. Perhaps by not having any teething medicine it will teach her to cope with the pain also.

We are having a great time with the girls, and even went to the mall yesterday and played on the slide. Sasha had so much fun. I think we tired her out. Now it is packing time, and off we go on to the next phase of our trip.

And then they were 4...

Well, it happened, they gave the girls to us. We picked them up at about 8:30am yesterday and everything went well. Dasha was a bit afraid, but neither girls cried or anything. Sasha fell asleep shortly after we got underway, and I had to wake her up when we got to Kras. Dasha fell asleep also, so everyone was well rested except Mom and Dad. Oh well, I guess we will get used to that. We had a nice day together, and everyone was asleep by 9:30pm. We all slept though the night just fine. The bed in the suite is much nicer than the one in our original room.

We had breakfast in the hotel this morning, and hung around the hotel as Dasha naps from 9:30 - 11:00, and then they both nap in the afternoon. When they wake up and have a snack, we will go out in the courtyard square and play some before going to dinner. It has snowed most of the day yesterday and today, so everything is a very pretty white. Not too cold, -2c today. We feel a bit tied down because of nap schedules, but plan to get out tomorrow around 11:00 with our interpreter to go shopping for more supplies.

We are so blessed with these little ones, we can't believe it. Sasha is such a gentle spirit, and Dasha is a smiling little girls when her gums don't hurt too bad. Each has beautiful eyes, and they sparkle in the sunlight. We have been looking out the window from the lounge, and the girls are just taking in every sight. There are so many things that they have never seen.

We have been playing simple games in the hotel. Sasha likes to play with some playing cards a friend gave us, and Dasha likes to practice walking, and eating anything her sister is playing with. Both girls are eating well, and adapting to us well. Dasha is a little fussy when we put her down for sleep, but Sasha lays right down and sleeps. If we had know this was so easy we would have done it long ago :) I hope to share some new pictures of the girls.

MaryEllen has been a great mom. We give her an A+ for her first day. It is evident that she has dreamed about this since she was a little girl herself. Papa is enjoying himself too. We are leaning so much already, and have so much yet to learn, but we are enjoying being parents together. God has truely blessed us more than we can imagine.

The final day...

We are two for one more day, and then we are 4 forever. Tonight we will pack up and be ready to change rooms to a suite tomorrow. We leave early to get the girls, around 6:30am, and have lots to do in the am. We then return to Krasnoyarsk and sign some papers and return to the hotel. The passports for the girls should be ready next week sometime, hopefully before we leave on Wed. Then we will have a birthday party for Dasha with our adoption friends, the Dunns, in Moscow before they leave for home on Thurs. We will get the physicals for the girls on Wed. afternoon, and start the visa application on Thurs. It will be ready for pickup on Fri, and home on Sat. Wow, we are starting the final stretch.

Our time here has gone very fast, thanks in large part to our many new American friends. Now we are the only adoption family in the hotel that we know of, but we have so much to do it doesn't really matter. We had a nice dinner last night, and will have our final dinner as a couple tonight before life changes for the better.

We went to the outdoor mall again today, and stumbled upon a really cool children's store right next door to the mall. It had everything, except backpacks for little girls. We thought Sasha would like a little bag to put things in after she showed us how she like to put things in bags and carry it around during our visits. For those coming to Kras in the future, you have to check out the outdoor mall area. You can find everything, and prices are great. They have a huge indoor section that has all kinds of meat, fruit, veggies, spices, nuts, dried fruit, and even a little pet shop. Just about 6 blocks from the hotel. A nice walk if there is not 6 inches of ice on the sidewalk.

The count down is less than one day now, so we are counting the hours. Really, we are too busy getting things ready, diapers, food, clothes, etc. One last trip to the grocery store this afternoon and I think we are ready. Praying for a smooth transition.

Das Vidanya