Home Sweet Home!!!

3 Flights.....24+hours.......We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How wonderful it was to pull in the driveway last evening very late!!! Our little angel is adjusting unbelievably!!! He is such a happy happy little boy except sometimes from 1 am to 5 am (we have to work on that!!) Other than lack of sleep.....LIFE IS GREAT!!!! He loves his new house, his new room, all of his toys and his puppies.....well, not too sure about them yet but getting better by the minute!!!!

Will update some more after we get settled and rested!!!!

Tour of Moscow

We had the wonderful opportunity to take a guided tour our agency set up for us of the City of Moscow during our stay. The city is absolutely spectacular!!! I would also use the word Magical and very very snowy!!! We got there on thursday and it snowed every day all day up until when we left in what we would consider a blizzard on monday!! We were so pleased that we made the decision to go to Moscow ourselves rather than sending a courier as it was such a wonderful opportunity to be able to see another part of our son's country. We truely hope that someday in the future we will have the opportunity to go back to Russia!!!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We are all packed up and ready to head to Moscow today. Can you tell a little someone is ready to go?????? We are so excited to move on to the next step and then in no time will be headed home to the south!!!! Our little boy is not really liking this cold weather so we think he will be happy, happy, happy living in Alabama where the weather is much warmer!!!

Next post will be from Moscow.

Introducing......MATTHEW WALTON COOPER

The clock is ticking.....

We had a very nice visit with "K" today. We had not seen him for a few days so it was so good to see his smiling face! He is becoming more and more independent every day! He is changing right before our eyes but we love it, love it, love it!!! And more importantly, we fall more in love with him everyday! We got smiles within minutes of him coming in the room today. His caretakers told us that after we leave, he is bad, he is sad, he does not listen, on and on......on 1 hand, made us so sad to hear that today but on the other hand, it makes us know that he would rather be with us and that is an absolutely wonderful feeling!!!! After today, we have 5 days left until "Gotcha Day"!!! We sit here at the Vlad Inn and know it is happening but sometimes just look at eachother and cannot believe it. This has been such a long road but we know that he is the PERFECT little boy for us and we would not change anything for the world!!! We are finally on the home stretch.....what an awesome feeling!!!!!

Hang in there our little angel!!!! The countdown is on and there is no one counting louder than your mommy and daddy!!! Everyone at home is so excited to meet you!!!! Your cousin Becca is getting your puppies ready at home to meet you!!! Thank goodness for Becca, she is our other angel!!! Your puppies would not have been happy in the kennel!!!

We love you our sweet little boy!!!

This is our last tuesday EVER without you!!!

Couple random pictures of Vladivostok

The Sea of Japan is an Ice Skating rink

The Sea of Japan is frozen solid. It is truely an unbelievable site. People, cars, horses are all out walking around on it like it is a sunny afternoon in the park. We saw people out on snowboards being pulled by parachutes. There are ice skating rinks all over with people ice skating, music playing and everyone just having a good old time even though it is freezing outside. Does not seem to bother any of the Russian people. If you have not been to Vladivostok in the winter time, you would not believe how different it is. When we were here in the fall, people were on the beach and in the sea....now, just a tad bit different.
Thought I would share the pictures so if you have not experienced you could see Vlad and the beach down the street from the Vlad Inn in the winter.

Visit #3

On Friday we went to visit with "K"!!! We were super excited to tell him that the judge said "yes"!!!! The 1st 2 visits this trip he cried a little bit when they brought him to us. On friday, he did not cry at all....we were so happy to see no tears!!!! We finally had his toys and books that we brought on the 1st trip after getting our luggage. We think he remembered a couple of the toys - he loves music toys and he also showed us that he likes to dance!!! So so cute!!! He seems to be becoming more and more independent each day. He will be in awe once we get home and he has a whole house to run around in. We will visit him a few more times next week and then "Gotcha Day" will be on monday, 2/15. The countdown is on!!!!

The Verdict is In!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The judge said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whewwwww......glad that is over!!!! Now we have our 10 day wait period and are counting down the days until we can leave the Baby Home with our little angel!!! We can't wait to visit him tomorrow since we were unable to today!!!

Reunited!!!!

Today is the day we have been longing for since our last visit 4+ months ago!!! We got to see our beautiful baby boy!!! I am not really sure if he remembered us but he sure warmed up pretty quickly. We brought pictures from our 1st trip and tried to spark his memory!!! They brought him into us and he was bundled up like a snowman!!! We couldn't wait to get the layers and layers off of him so we could get a good look!!! He looked as gorgeous as ever!!! What a sweet reunion it was! We are now counting the days until the THREE of us are all leaving the Baby Home together and on our way home to the good ole' USA to start our lives together.

Sleep tight angel and we will see you again in just a few short hours.


Side note - we are hearing and are being very hopeful that our luggage will arrive tomorrow afternoon. Keep your fingers crossed.

The good news is.......

We made it to Vlad and to the Vlad Inn. The bad news is...............only us and the stuff we have had since we started out on friday night in Huntsville are with us!!! NO BAGS......3 bags checked....not ONE single one made it!!!! Of course, 1st instincts are to freak......I (we) are trying to stay calm and hope that they arrive in a day or so!!! Last thing I expected to be doing within minutes of arriving at the Vlad Inn was doing wash but unfortunately that is what I am doing!! Thankfully since we have been traveling for a few days, we have a few changes of clothes so guess we will just have to get used to seeing ourselves in the same clothes for a while until our luggage arrives - yes, I am being optomistic that it WILL arrive hopefully sooner rather than later!!!! So much for being a Platinum preferred customer with the airlines!!!
Please say a prayer for us that we get our luggage soon!!!

2ND GOOD NEWS......tomorrow morning we will meet our girls at 9:00 am and head to the baby home to see our angel.....when we think of that all the rest of the anxiety goes away!!! He certainly won't care if we are in the same clothes everyday!! :)