Downhill stretch!

Time to get everyone caught up since you get the basics and that's about it from Mark. Hard to believe we have been here one month today! Our "gotcha" was a sweet, sweet moment. All of the other kiddos were in their "bedroom" when we got there. Maia was sitting on the little couch. Several of the caregivers had come to see her off. I had brought 2 outfits because I wasn't sure the one from home would fit. It was snug and I was going to put the bigger one on - the caregivers must not have thought she would be warm enough because they jumped in and put the bigger one on top of the smaller one. Poor girl, she had a dress on with a sweatsuit on top of it - she was BUNDLED UP!  They hugged her and off we went. Unfortunately, we have no pics of the moment - the batteries (2 packages) that we bought at the market were ALL dead!

Maia did pretty well the first night, it took her about 90 minutes to settle down and go to sleep. Once she fell asleep, she was out! Slept through until we had to wake her up early yesterday morning for our flight to Kyiv. Here she is waiting to board the plane.

She did all right, considering. Got a little bit cranky towards the end of the plane ride. 2 hours is a long time for a little girl to sit still.

We arrived at our apartment around 10:30am. There is a little market just next door so I went and picked up a few things. Made lunch and attempted nap time. I think our girl was over tired and on overload because she was not having anything to do with a nap! I can't imagine what must be going on in her head - she's never seen a store before, rode on an airplane. Her normal routine is nap from 1-3pm. We tried lying her down, lying down with her. Finally, we just laid down on our bed (same room as her cot), shut the bedroom door, and let her wander around. She eventually crawled up on her bed and went to sleep at about 3pm. We let her sleep until 4pm so she would still sleep last night. Went for a walk, came back, had dinner. I decided to try giving Maia a bath - wasn't sure how she would react to that. She absolutely loved bath time! Snack and off to bed without protest! She slept all night.

Our embassy appointment was at 9:30am. While we were there, we met a family from Louisiana who is adopting two little boys. We also ran into April and Alyona who were there as well. Submitted all of Maia's paperwork to get her Visa. Then, we went for her medical examination - no surprises there. We had lunch at a little cafe on site while waiting for the documents. Then back to our apartment for the rest of the day. We are going to take a walk now and pick up a couple of things (including batteries).

Tomorrow morning at 11am, we will have our Embassy interview and pick up Maia's visa. That will be the last step to get on the plane Wednesday morning. If no flight delays, we will be back in Minnesota Wednesday night!

Maia seems to be coping very well given all the changes in her world. She has her challenging moments, but the happy and joyful moments are far more frequent. We see her blossom and grow every day. And I can't speak for Mark, but I feel so blessed that God has chosen me to be the mother of this beautiful child!

We are looking forward to being home and introducing Maia to her forever family and friends! Please pray for continued attachment and bonding for the three of us as well as an uneventful embassy interview tomorrow. Pray that Maia's visa will be in our hands by noon!