How a day with jet lag, a car sick four year old, and our cluelessness was the best ever!

Phew, the first 24 hours are in the books! It has had it's crazy moments already of course but we are loving every minute! As always, we'll tell our stories through picture and captions!

We hadn't seen Ava in a whole week so we were extra excited to see her on this day.  The staff there told us how much she missed us and how glad she would be to have us back.  When they brought her down to us, she ran down the hall.  Of course I couldn't wait to hug her so I start running towards her as well.  She greeted us both with that beautiful smile and lots of hugs.  We immediately changed her and started saying our goodbyes.

The moment we left, there was a new adoptive family from Canada coming for their first visit.  The director and other staff were occupied with meeting them so we pretty much signed the book, and left!  Ava waved goodbye to the orphange and got some big kisses from people there who will miss her very much.

Sweet pictures but a very un-sweet event was about to occur.  Ava began looking car sick just about 10 minutes into our drive.  We have mentioned before that the drive out to the village is brutal.  Many bumps!  I thought she was car sick but we had our translator ask her in Russian and she said no.  But, she was wrong I guess b/c she vomited all over the car :-(  Poor girl.  We pulled over and cleaned up the best we could.  She was the only one in the car who was all smiles and giggles.  She must have felt much better while we were all feeling a little worse.  So much for the thank you speech I had planned for our translator and driver...we rushed out of the car and couldn't even give hugs goodbye as we were covered in you know what :-/

So, as you can imagine, the bath was the first on the list of things to do when we got to the apartment.  Again, all my plans of slowly introducing Ava to each room in the apartment went completely out the window. She was thrown into the tub and scrubed!  Thankfully, she is such a trouper and just loved playing in the tub.

Ahh, all clean!  Ava explored the new place with a smile!  She danced through the rooms and pointed with excitment at all the things around the apartment that she recognized as her own.

She didn't waist much time before she broke into some toys!

The kitchen is by far her favorite room in the house.  She loves watching Daddy cook and she waits so patiently for her meal to be ready.

The washing machine was also quite fascinating!

Already feeling right at home.

She didn't feel up for taking her afternoon nap which is to be expected...so many new things to see and do.  By early in the evening she was beginning to get sleepy though.

We took a second bath, purely to establish routine, not to wash, and then changed into our PJs.

We went into the bedroom and got a few (by a few I mean almost all) of the books off the shelf.  She did a good job of staying in her room.  She too about two hours to fall aleep but eventually she drifted off.  James and I were so tired b/c of the jet lag and all the events of the day but it just didn't fall right to sleep!  I was so worried she would need us and we wouldn't wake up.  Exhaustion took over and we did fall asleep...thankfully she slept through the night and so did we :-)  In the morning we woke up to a smiley face!

This picture is for Peggy, Jan and Casper.  Ava says thank you for helping us get our visas and getting us safely back to her.  She also says that she loves Belgium already and can't wait to visit with us next time.

It was a nice day today so we took a little stroll outside.  Look at her strutting her stuff!

Ugh, these playgrounds would never be exceptable by American standards but it's all we've got.  Ava didn't seem to mind the squecky sound or icy puddle right beneath her.

With the warm weather, our apartment is a furnace.  Here Ava is helping Dada take the tape off all the windows (which we originally used to keep the cold air out, but now we welcome it!).

This is where we sit to watch Daddy cook.  Ava helped stir the soup today for lunch.

Overall, we are all doing very well considering.  Ava is doing amazingly well...no breakdowns, no visable anxiety. It is strange being thrown into this parenting thing with a four year old.  Usually parents can grown and learn with their children but we haven't had that chance.  Since I don't have my own mommy here in Kaz to answer my questions, I have been calling Belinda a few times a day to ask silly questions...are we feeding her too much?  Too little? How often should I wash her hair? etc.  We're figuring it out :-)
Ava's new birth certificate and adoption certificate are in already!  We're currently working on her passport (and by we I mean our faithful coordinator, Sveta). Paper work should be complete by Wednesday or Thursday of next week.  Then it's off to the American Embassy for two business days before heading home!  Can't wait. 

We want to thank everyone at home who has graciously donated funds to help with our adoption. We couldn't finish it out without you.  We are humbled by your gifts and couldn't thank you enough for helping in our time of need.  We also want to thank our friends Peggy, Jan & Casper who took us in for the week, fed us, drove us everywhere and only asked for our friendship in return. Also a big thanks to Chantal, Frank & Emile who drove us to the Kaz embassy in Belgium twice and treated us to the real Belgium waffle.