Pics of Moscow

Here is a little video of the pictures taken in Moscow from my first trip. Most were taken at the Kremlin, St. Basil's and the Gum mall with a few more of the Holiday Inn and view out my window.

Pics of Krasnoyarsk as promised

Just some pictures that I promised awhile ago. These were taken on our last day in Krasnoyarsk. Our driver, Dasha, was kind enough to give us all a tour of the city.

Time to update the Blog.......

Oh Boy....I've been a bad blogger lately. Sorry for the delay in this post. I know every one is wondering about court. No date as of yet, but I do have all of my documents completed. I think!!! I sent all of the required papers off a couple of weeks ago now, except for the CA police clearance and my extension to the I600 A. The papers (except those two) should be in Russia being translated now, and then off to the court in Krasnoyarsk.

As for the CA police clearance, I did receive my report back a week ago. ( Thank you to everyone who offered their assistance with this one.) Just need to check with my agency to see if I need to do anything else with it before forwarding it to Russia. I also received papers back from Homeland Security yesterday. I think the extension has been granted but want to ask someone at the agency to interpret as the wording is a little unclear. So anyway...everything is just about done from my end. Oh also purchased a couple of small photo albums yesterday and will put together a photo album for the Judge.

What happens next...??? Well, from what I've been told. Now the document preparation starts for my Little Russian Princess. Once her documents are together my agency representative in Krasnoyarsk will hopefully get us a date with the Judge so that I can go back to Russia to complete the adoption and bring my sweet Little Russian Princess home.

Home...that is a beautiful word. Can't wait to bring her home. The wait is starting to drive me crazy. I miss her so much. It has been a little over 5 weeks since I've seen her and it seems like forever. I don't want her to forget me. She wasn't old enough to understand why I had to go after spending three mornings visiting her at the orphanage. It has to be very confusing to her. I know it's been hard on me having to leave her there. I do know that she is being well cared for by her caregivers, so that part is comforting. Still, the missing her and wishing she was here part is hard. And so the waiting continues.......

Almost two weeks home from trip one

Sorry for the delay with the pictures of Russia. It's been a busy (almost) two weeks since my plane landed. I have been trying to get all of the documents needed for court prepared. Not an easy task, but its coming together. I have everything in progress and almost completed except my California State Police Clearance letter. Since I now live in Michigan, this is proving to be very difficult. For any of you that read this blog and live in CA, please feel free to chime in and tell me who to contact to get this done. I should have everything else completed and waiting for apostilles by the beginning of next week.

Aside from recovering from Jet Lag, which seemed to last for a week, and running around with paperwork, I returned to work and had a wonderful baby shower thrown by my church. The folks at Grace United Methodist Church are so loving and giving. I was overwhelmed by their love and generosity this past Sunday.

Just a couple pics to share as my camera battery decided to die before the gift openning began. I need to get the rest of the pics from my sister-in-law. Thank you again Jill, Jane and Candy for such a wonderful party for the Little Princess.

And now to the pics of Krasnoyarsk:

This is the Hotel Sibier where I stayed

and the new Fountain by Hotel Krasnoyarsk

Okay, blogger is taking forever to upload today, so sorry. It could be the computer operator too. I need to figure out how to do a slide show to show you more pics.

Need to get going for now.

Thanks again everyone for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers. Please continue to keep me and the Little Princess in your prayers as we work toward getting back to court and bringing her home. Also pray that I can figure out how to get my CA police clearance.

Bye for now,

Shannon

Back Home

I'm back home again!!! I arrived home in the Detroit area yesterday around 1pm EST after a very long day of flying. No complaints about the flight, plane or food, just long...... The flight from Moscow to Franfurt was 2 1/2 hours with only about 1 1/2 hours in between flights. The next leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Detroit was 8 1/2 hours flight time. I sure was glad to get off the plane, but at the same time wanting to go back to Krasnoyarsk quickly to pick up my Little Princess.

Here's a couple of teaser photos of my Little Princess!! I can't post any identifying pictures of her until she is legally in my custody, or fondly known as "Gottcha Day" on the next trip.

These will have to do for now. Will post again later today with more pictures from Krasnoyarsk and Moscow.

Bye for now... Shannon

P.S. Just wanted to send out a big " Thank you" to Jill for providing taxi service to and from the Detroit airport along with emotional support prior to take off when I was sooo nervous.

Also, a great big "Thank you" to Oleg, Sveta and Dasha in Krasnoyarsk, for making Trip one a very memorable and enjoyable time. Also, Thank you for all the work you do on behalf of me with the orphanage and court system when I am not there.

Once more big "Thank you" to my niece Katie, for watching over the house and Jake while I was away.

Moscow Last Day

Just a quick post before trying to get some sleep for tomorrows early departure. It was a fantastic day here in Moscow. The three of us ventured out and tackled the metro system to get down to Red Square and the Kremlin. We spent several hours touring the sites and of course doing a little souvenir shopping. I got a really nice Matroshka doll and traditional Russian dress for the Little Princess, along with a couple of other little goodies. We ate lunch at the famous Gum Mall and then we mostly window shopped. The stores here are very posh and expensive. It was fun to look anyway.

Dinner tonight, again at the Hotel as we are all tired and need to get up very early to get rides to the airport.

I'm having problems with blogger and uploading pictures, so will have to add them at a later date.

Next post, home......

Shannon

In Moscow

It was a very early morning departure today from the hotel, leaving at 4:30am to catch our flight to Moscow. Flight on Aeroflot was very comfortable this time. No problems, even slept about an hour. yipee!!!

Rick, Angela and I are all staying at the Holiday Inn Sokolinski in Moscow. it's a very nice hotel and within walking distance to McDonald's as well as several small malls for shopping, grocery stores and a lovely large park to stroll in.

We are all feeling a bit jet lagged and tired after our quick trip to Krasnoyarsk and all the emotions that go with meeting your children and then having to leave them behind, so we did not venture down to Red Square today. That is planned for tomorrow. This afternoon we did visit all of the little shopping centers and took a walk through the park. The weather was beautiful, even if on the cool side. The sun was shining and the wind was light. All the time in Krasnoyarsk it was windy, cold and rainy on and off, so sunshine was wonderful. We opted to eat at the bar/restaurant in the hotel tonight and then call it a day as 1) we were unable to locate any eatting establishments near us that could handle our very limited Russian. 2)We had already eatten at McDonald's for lunch, so did not want that again for dinner. 3) we were all just too tired to venture out much farther. Dinner was delicious, so not a bad choice afterall.

More from Moscow tomorrow!
Shannon

P.S. Thank you for all the comments from everyone. It is so nice to be able to stay in touch with everyone while being so very far away.