We're back from DC and taking Alyona back to Dulles. It has been a hard week with Justin moving to Minnesota on December 28th, then Alyona leaving on January 3rd. Needless to say, I have cried a lot this week, but I will fill you in on some of the events since the last post.

We had a wonderful holiday. On Christmas Eve afternoon, we took her to the movies for what was possibly her first time. I think she had a great time. We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks. She laughed hard and even at the right times! It was a good movie as they are hard to understand so we all had to listen closely. After the movies we went home and did our hair--she loves using hot rollers. Then we went to Christmas Eve service at church. She was so sweet. They had all the kids go up front to listen to a reading of the Christmas story. I was not sure she would go, but she did. After church we had my parents and the Tygarts over for light hoers d oeuvres’. After eating, we watched the movie, The Nativity. It was a good movie. I would recommend it to everyone. She sat and intently watched the whole thing. After the Tygarts left we started preparing for Christmas breakfast & dinner. She helped make the stuffing, then homemade cinnamon rolls. She is such a good help in the kitchen; and she seems to love to cook. Then we played around a little and off to bed. Both boys came home for the weekend; and my parents spent the night along with their dog. Alyona loves their dog, she covers her up, and puts her to bed, and tries to spoon-feed her when my mom is not looking. Of course, Mom knows, but says nothing.

Christmas morning was great. She slept in until about 9:30am, then the boys made me go wake her up. They could not stand waiting any longer. She helped Tim pass out the presents and was such a good helper. He would say who to give them to; and she would take it to them. When he would say her name, she looked so shocked like, "For me?" After a few gifts, she was not sure they were really meant for her. She got a baby doll, a porcelain Disney doll (Bell) from Grandma & Grandpa. A Disney doll (Cinderella), a stuffed dog, a bag and clothes for the dog, and a few other small items, but she loved them all. We then ate the cinnamon rolls she had helped make the night before. She didn't like them, though, so she only picked at them. When we ate lunch later, the turkey was a big hit. She helped clean the bones. I mean there was nothing left on them. She had some turkey and celery; and that was all she would try. We have had a hard time getting her even to try things. She really might have liked them if she would have at least tried them. For the most part of the day she played in her room or was outside with the boys.

We had to go to do some shopping Saturday morning; and she is not much of a shopper. It is okay if it is for her, but she was a trooper for most of it. We went home and assembled some of her furniture. I am not sure she understood that it was for her. She will definitely understand when she comes home to stay and sees it all her room!

Sunday morning was church. Then most of the day was at home doing nothing. She does seem to get bored easy, but I guess she normally has so many kids to play with. It can then be hard to be the only child. I didn't have to work Monday so we just ran some errands, went to see Tim, then back home to being bored again. We had our friends, the Brookers, over for dinner. After dinner, we sat down to talk with Alyona. We wanted to see what she would think of being adopted by us. I definitely was not ready for all we heard. She stated that she has another sister. At first I thought, "See. I knew we were supposed to do our home study for three. Now what?" Then she informed us the other sister is an adult and has child of her own. WOW! Then she said she had a few more aunts & uncles than we had known about. Two of them apparently visited here sometime last spring and told her they would not leave her in the orphanage, but she hasn't seen nor heard from them. Also, sometime early in the summer, before Alyona had received our letters, her grandmother had come and asked if she would like her to become the girls' guardian, but Alyona told her she needed to think about it for a few days. The next time Grandma came back to visit she didn't say anything more about it. As we finished talking that night I was not sure she did want us to adopt her. Then, at bedtime she did not want me to read to her or really help her get ready for bed.

The next morning I had to work so Christopher came to stay with her. When she woke up she was very quiet and did not want to eat. When I picked her up, we went in to Jackson to see Tim as he was finishing some revisions on the adoption paperwork. We spent most of the afternoon in his office. She was not so quiet, then. We left and went to pick up her friend Anastasia to spend the night as the girls were going to spend Wednesday at my mom's house. Moises, our exchange student "son" called to say he and his family were visiting from Mexico so we had them over for dinner that night. When Moises came in he gave me a big hug and kiss, then his family did the same. Alyona just stood there watching. It could not have worked out better. During our conversation, the night before, she had also informed us her grandma told her if she came to the U.S. we would lock her in a cage, and beat her, and not feed her. Grandma also said that in some cases Americans sell the kid's body parts. Alyona asked Anastasia why that family came to our home and then hugged & kissed me. Anastasia told her it was because her grandma had lied to her about us. Alyona & Anastasia played on the Wii that night, then watched The Nativity again. Her, Tim, and Anastasia played and wrestled together for quite a while before bed.

Wednesday morning my mom came to stay with the girls until they woke up. She then took them to her house. As I was pulling out of the driveway, after picking them up, I asked Anastasia to question Alyona if she was looking forward to going back to the orphanage. She responded, "Yes," with a big smile. Then, as we drove home, she asked about a building we had passed, so I took her back to show her. It was the school she would attend if she lived here. Then I showed her what would be Kristina's school. She asked me why they would not be at the same school. I explained that our schools keep the older and younger kids apart so the younger ones don't get bullied or beat up. "Oh," was all she said. Later on, after we had arrived home, I was making a phone call and Alyona came running through the house. She was speaking Russian so fast I had no idea what was wrong. About that time, Anastasia came behind her. I asked what Alyona was saying. She said she wanted to come and live here and be our forever child. I fell to my knees, we were hugging, and I was crying. I totally forgot I was on the phone. When I went back to it the man on the other end said he was sorry to over hear what had been said, but it was the best New Year's gift he could have heard. We then called Tim. As you can guess I was a mess! We went to church that night my face was so big with a smile that everyone was asking what was up.

Her & I spent the day together on Thursday. It was my last day with her all to myself. I tried to get as much of her as I could. We were then going to the Brookers for a New Year's Eve party. We had so much fun. There was about fifteen of us there. We ate authentic Russian food prepared by Svetlana. It was so good. Shortly after midnight, we sat down with Alyona & Svetlana and made sure she still did want to be adopted (and she said yes!). I came home that night and slept so good.

Friday morning, it was time to pack her stuff to head toward DC. We left about 10:00am. It was a long day in the car. We finally stopped about 2:00am. We had kept on driving much longer than expected because it was snowing and we wanted to get as close to DC as possible. I am not sure she had ever been in a hotel before as when we walked in you could see the amazement on her face; and we only stayed at a Jameson Inn. Nothing fancy to us, but to her she loved it. She was so funny when she noticed the fan made out of a washcloth in the bathroom. Earlier that evening was also the first time she had ever seen a drinking fountain. She has shown me how much we take for granted in America.

Saturday morning we made it to DC. We parked and got out to walk to the Washington monument, it was so windy we had to hang on to her as she may have blown away. It was so cold that day, too. There were times when Tim and Christopher would go see something; and she would not want to get out of the car. No matter how cold it was we had a great time and made a lot of memories. That night we stayed in DC and ordered pizza into the room. She would not even try it. I felt so bad those times that she would not eat what we were eating, but there wasn't much we could do. Once the girls get here they will learn to try more American foods.

Sunday was spent seeing the last few things we missed the day before. I didn't think it could be colder than the day before, but it was. I thought Chicago was the windy city, but, apparently, it was DC's turn! I spent most of the day thinking about the last 15 days and how she has changed our lives forever. I hope we have had the same impact on her. I want her to go home and pray that we get there soon for her and for Kristina. It was so hard to say good-bye, but really, it was just, “See you in a few months!"

Lynn