1st week back

Well we've managed to adapt back to our schedule. Grant started 1st grade at our neighborhood school.. He likes his teacher and is making new friends...Brett and I have just been running around getting errands finished (oil changes, etc...) and going to Tumbles...We finally signed the lease to our store and have met with our contractor to start the build out of My Girlfriend's Kitchen in ... so excited... We're trying to keep busy so the weeks will go by faster and we can get back to Kyrgyzstan soon and bring our baby girl home...Now we're just trying to get our house back in order and start thinking about repacking for the last trip... We'd love to have everyone over soon for a BBQ and see pictures of our trip... Love you all! Until next time...

more pictures

last day w/ our baby girl

Hi all, this is our last post in Kyrgyzstan.... We have very mixed emotions of leaving... we are extremely homesick... We miss the boys tremendously and all of you.... but leaving her behind, just is heartbreaking... she really is well taken care of... The director, the doctors, and caregivers are very loving and we feel very fortunate and at ease knowing that they really do love the children.... so we will be home Thursday evening and will wait until August to come back- this time to bring her home forever.... It's just the next step....I caught a cold 2 days ago & think I gave it to Riannon- yesterday she had a mild temp & runny nose, but they gave her medicine & today she was fine... We took the babies to get their passport pictures taken yesterday... It was cute- they all have little mugshots :-) Riannon was so adorable today.... she made lots of little noises and cute faces... she also seems a lot bigger and stronger from last week.... On day 2, we bought some multivitamins for her & it seems to be working..We're going to try to post one more picture of our princess.. if it doesn't work... we'll have you all over this weekend to see video and pictures of our trip.... Thank you all again... I love all the news & comments from home..... see you this weekend.... love to you all...

Day 5 and 6

Hi all- well these 2 days w/ Riannon have been great.... for the first hour, she interacts and smiles with us, but these past 2 days, she's fallen asleep on me for about 40 mins. or so... We think she's probably overstimulated and just really loves the snuggles (we do too)...The time w/ her seems to fly by... we all feel like the movie GroundHog Day (remember how his day was the same every day)... that's us... except after coming home from the baby house, we do get a little down time, then we venture off to eat dinner and walk a little....We've had some pretty funny run ins, the language barrier is a bit tough... today we had Italian (sometimes I feel like we're not in Kyrgyzstan)...it's so funny......that's all for now... Happy Birthday Christian (7th) & Angela (11th).... Sorry we're missing it.... Ang- take lots of pictures and notes at MGFK retreat...
It sounds like the boys are having a blast w/ everyone... thank you all so much again.... We love you!!!

Day 4 with Riannon

Today was a short visit...We had to get back because our interpretor (sp?) had to get back... but any event, when we got there, she was getting her massage.. Look out Daddy- I see mother/daughter spa days :-) It seems that is great for her circulation, but I'm not sure she liked it as much... She was pretty mellow with us today, a couple smiles, but she just wanted to snuggle... About 15 or so minutes into our visit, she fell asleep on my chest for about 45 mins. or so... it was such a great feeling to snuggle with her like that... when we left, she had to wait her turn to be fed & I put her in the little bouncy seat... when I walked out, I heard her start to cry... It's only day 4 and it's getting harder and harder to leave her....
We met up w/ a family from Raleigh, NC adopting a 5 year old little girl... we had dinner at an Indian (as in from India :-) restaurant... pretty good... Now we're heading up to our apartment to rest up for tomorrow.... Love you all so much, thanks for leaving comments, it's so nice to get word from home....

Happy 4th of July

Wow- I cannot believe we are half way around the world on the 4th of July... Dorothy is definitely not in Kansas anymore :-) I guess now, I will definitely have to make a trip to the Philippines with my Mom & Manani...Well we had an eventful day w/ Riannon today... No pictures today, because it's kind of a pain here in the internet cafe (although this place is great)..
When we walked into the baby house today, Riannon was already dressed & playing in her little bouncy seat... I called her name and she looked right at us.. It seems in 3 days, she already knows the sound of our voice. She was so expressive and happy today.... Lots of smiles and giggles.... she loves to be kissed on her cheeks.. everytime I'd kiss her cheeks or the filipino sniff on her cheeks she would have a huge smile on her face (it's comforting to know, that it does seem that she is used to getting kisses because her reaction is not one of uneasiness)...She is already a Daddy's girl.... She loves nose rubbies and butterfly kisses (just like her big brothers love from Daddy)... Just her huge smiles and giggles just absolutely melted our hearts...We fed her again today, but we fed her bottle first- we didn't know we needed to feed her the mashed potato type of food first... She's definitely used to eating fast.. she would get kind of irritate with us if we slowed down for anything... hopefully we'll get to feed her again tomorrow..We get so excited everyday to see how much of her personality we will see... Just in these 3 days, it seems that the 3 babies (ours, Nadine's, and the Brugnoni's) have progressed and they are all starting to open up.... I just feel very blessed & fortunate....We do have comfort in believing that our children are loved dearly....It's not as difficult to leave.... We've been taking in the sights a little here (yes I'm not such a scaredy cat :-) Walking around (lots of people walking everywhere & yes Dad- we're not walking in the dark :-) It really is a beautiful country... I wouldn't trade this experience for anything... We miss you all so much... especially Grant & Brett and again thank you all for your support... none of this would not be possible without you all... sorry again for no new pictures... we'll see if we can spend some time here in the early part of the day to get some new ones up.... God Bless & kiss our boys for us...

Some pictures (hopefully)

We forgot to tell you all, we are 14 hours ahead of you... okay let's see if we can get some pictures on here... Here's our sweet baby girl and our eyes first meeting... I'll try again in a minute & see if I can get at least 3 more pictures up...

We Made It

Hi all- yes-we are finally here in Bishkek and have met our sweet baby girl... but before we get into it... let me update our adventure to Bishkek...
Thursday, June 29, we left LAX at 6:50 p.m. on Aeroflot airlines (Russian air), we arrived in Moscow on Friday, June 30th at 7:00 p.m. The Moscow airport is full of shopping, lined with Lancome products, Moscow duty free...Our flight to Moscow- was long, but bearable- I think a 14 hour flight time... we were sitted by it seemed like a million teenagers and Armenian families w/ this dance troop and they were pretty loud and crazy :-) We finally leave Moscow at 11:00 p.m. and arrived in Bishkek on Saturday, July 1st at 5:10 a.m......
The flight was great and all or baggage made it... Our passports got stamped and customs went well....so here's where the fun begins.... We were warned by a previous family to be careful of taxi drivers, etc... trying to carry your bags, then having to bribe them to get them back... so with our 3 huge (filled to capacity 50 lb. bags & 1 box of diapers), we came out and was very overwhelmed by the amount of people... Luckily, our translator & coordinator found us quickly and were not mobbed.... We were taken to our apartment- which is absolutely gorgeous= more than expected....and then had breakfast at the "American"style restaurant= FatBoys... I was pretty starved at this point and probably ordered everything I would've ordered at Family House Pancakes... everything is different... Jet lag took control of us & we all pretty much slept for the ladder part of Saturday...
Sunday, July 2nd...... The big day...
We were picked up at 9:00 a.m. and drove about 45 minutes- finally we arrive at Riannon's baby house.... Our emotions are so mixed at this point.... anxious, excited, terror.... all in one... we've had 3 months to bond with her, but nothing could prepare us for holding her... When we walked into the baby house, the outside courtyard/playarea was very colorful, with lots of child like pictures painted, old colorful tires as planters.... We were met by the baby house director and doctor and then split into 2 groups... Riannon was in a different group from our friends' babies, so the director brought us in to her room... the room is kind of musty and she was in a room with probably about 10 babies in her group.. she was laying on the changing table being changed and she looked right at me and Ted... our hearts absolutely melted....She was pretty layered up and there was a recent flu epidemic in the baby house, so she was pretty congested (sounded a lot like Grant in bronchitis days :-) The director picked her up and we just took it slow... saying her name, touching her hand, when she decided to give us a smile... Then we held her.... I can't even describe holding her... it was the same feeling we felt when I gave birth to our boys....She is a tiny little thing, but now weighes 12.5 pounds... We just held her & walked around, she would look at us and touch our faces, she was very curious.... At 12:00- it was time for us to leave- they keep a very organized schedule....
Monday, July 3rd- Day 2 with our princess.....
Today was a wonderful day today, we heard a lot of noise from her today, laughter, whines, and a little cry... but she smiled a lot for us today..... She is already a daddy's girl... Ted would hold her and she would just smile this big smile......They let us feed her twice today, which was a wonderful bonding experience for us.... We went over her medicals today with the director and some of the personal information about how she ended up there.... She is absolutely beautiful and a pretty happy mellow baby so far in 2 days.... The times she would start to cry, we would hold her up and just kiss her cheeks.. she seemed to absolutely love that..I'm just excited that she shared so much of her personality with us today.... everyday is just going to get better....
*We are having a great time so far here in Bishkek- It's more westernized that I thought and there are a lot of Americans..... Right now we are in an internet cafe- our labtop broke the night before we left, but were kind of glad we didn't bring it.... So we won't be able to post everyday, but we will try to get on here again in a couple days... We hope you all are well.... and please KISS GRANT AND BRETT FOR US AND TELL THEM WE LOVE THEM & MISS THEM... I hope they are not any trouble....We love you all so much... We're going to try and post some pictures... if it doesn't work, then we will have a picture/video party when we get back... We love you!