But no, V is not home yet. We just went to visit her because it has been so long since we've seen her. She is doing wonderfully and we were very happy with how things are with her. We were able to spend portions of 3 days with her and they were more "lenient" this time on our time with her. We were allowed to go into her Groupa and see where she lives her day to day life and her little bed where she sleeps in the room with 15 other babies.

She is still teeny-tiny, just 17 pounds 14 ounces and is now 28 inches tall. She's still in 9 months clothes, but can wear 12 months too. I took a pair of pajamas that I bought for D and V to match (there's a pic of D in her jammies that match V's), but I was afraid V would outgrow them before she came home, so I left them there. I got lots of pictures of her in them, though in case I can't find the exact pair. I took two pairs of shoes, size 4 and 3 and the 4's are still a little big, but the 3's too small so I left both those pairs since they were white and she won't be able to wear them after Easter (you know no white shoes before Easter :o)

She is doing great developmentally. About 3-4 months behind according to my What To Expect the Toddler Years book. She really surprised us! She's running all over the place and is very social. She is really affectionate, but she is indiscriminately affectionate, so we'll need to work on that when she gets home. She's just got a really great little personality. I saw not one bit of the rocking that we saw in March. That's not to say she doesn't do it to go to sleep, but at least she didn't feel overwhelmed and rock to soothe herself. She was way too busy for that!

We weren't able to do anything further toward getting a court date, there is nothing that can be done until our agency's accreditation is renewed. But we are so hoping that it comes soon and that we'll be able to be over there quickly once it comes through. A representative from the Ministry of Education was at the orphanage while we were visiting, she was observing another family who was about to go to court and she stopped in our little "closet room" to visit with us a minute. I think it can only help our case for them to see our commitment to V and that we are dedicated to bringing her into our family.

It was 100 times harder to leave her though than it was the first time. I had a mini-melt down. I was crying so hard, even our coordinator was crying. I don't remember crying that hard since I was a child. You know the kind where you're crying so hard you have hiccup breathing? My sister always thought I was acting when I did that, but it is real. Too real.

The time went by so quickly and we made such a fast trip that we were just wiped out. We flew from Dallas to Atlanta - 5 hour layover - Atlanta to Moscow. Then we had 5 hours to kill before we could go to the train, so we went to the Kremlin then ate lunch at the Starlite Diner then went to the Cathedral of Christ Our Saviour then to the train. On the train I had a bit of a breakdown from the shear exhaustion. We rode the 15 hours overnight to the region and when our coordinator picked us up she asked if we wanted to go to the apartment and rest and shower or go straight to the orphanage. When we asked her what hours we could visit V she told us only from 9:30 - 12 on Monday and it was alreay 9:15! Of course we then went straight to the orphanage!! We hadn't had a shower in nearly 3 days!

When they brought her in, I just grabbed her from the "nannie" and started bawling! I was hoping I didn't scare her! But she was fine. We both held her for a while and then it occurred to us that she could walk now so we put her down and witnessed her first steps in front of us. Then she was off and running! We only had about an hour and a half with her because they came to get her at 11:15! So much for the 12 -o-clock timeframe. We spoke with the orphanage director and he said we could meet with the doctor the next day at 3 p.m. so we came at 3 to see V and she was in there with us while we talked to the Doctor. I'm glad I had my questions ready. We were supposed to see her from 3-5 that day, but we ended up staying till 6:30. That is when we took her to her groupa and saw her bedroom and all the little toddlers sitting on their potties getting ready for bedtime. She had missed her supper, so she sat down at her little table to eat and she kept getting up and coming over and hugging our legs and then running back to her table. It was precious. The last day we spent from 3-5 with her and then it was over way too soon! The one "nannie" who just comes and whisks her away was the same one who came and got her that last time. I just watched them walk down the hall and V was smiling and waving at me as they rounded the corner. Then I lost it. The social worker was just hugging me and saying who knows what. I was a wreck. Then we were off to the train. I just cried the whole way. We took the train to Moscow Wednesday night and arrived Thursday morning. We spent the night at the Ukraina and then headed to the airport Friday morning. It was a fast trip and we're paying the price in jet-lag.

I am so glad we were able to see her, though. I would do it all again - but hopefully we'll be back for her soon. We are praying so hard that she'll be home by Christmas, but it'll take a miracle.

I wish so badly that I could post a picture for you all. She is such an angel.

I'm sorry I couldn't tell you all on the blog before we left, but we just wanted to be sooooo careful. I didn't intentionally wait tonight to finish the story, but I was babysitting for our friends. They adopted their daughter who was born on March 7, when we were in Russia on the first trip. So, I was very busy tonight with an almost 8 month old and trying to get D ready for bed. It's going to take some time for me to find a routine once V comes home! It's hard to juggle it all. I don't know how Kim does it with 6!!!

The stocking was bought in the gift shop at the Ukraina. We got D a red one and V a blue one. I think they were about $9 or $12 each. I didn't think that was too bad at all. We had seen them at the market last time and didn't buy them, and I have regretted it. So we went ahead and got them. We found the Cheburashka in our region for only $5! I'd looked all around Moscow last trip and couldn't find one. We also got the Russian Alphabet blocks at the Ukraina.

Ok, the beans are spilled. Please don't egg my house!