Thanks some more

Wow, hard to believe we have been home a month. Tonight we had a sweet time of celebration at church and were so encouraged by all of the sweet comments you had for us. We want to thank everyone for all of the cards, letters and calls. And to thank God for this wonderful gift.

Anna Beth is doing very well. She is healthy, she is growing, and she is doing a great job learning English. Right now, she understands everything we say, and she mimics everything. We are going to do a little speech therapy just to catch up.

On Sunday we celebrated a sweet time of dedication.

Its only been a week? Really

Even thou we have only been home with Anna Beth for one week, it feels like she has been a part of our lives forever. Sorry that it has taken us this long to update the blog, but we have been very busy with her. She has done extremely well, and we are all very excited. Here are few pictures from her first days in the USA!

Thanks again for all of the prayers.

Meeting Lucy

I am still silly

Championship family

This is how you do it

Very cold for sigthseeing

all dressed and ready to go

They took me for my first trip to McDonalds

Here we are at the front of red square

That famous onion top thing

Moscow underground. Check

Red Square. Check

Frostbite. Check

Too cold to buy souvenirs. Seems that 0 degrees F is at least good to keep the crowds down at the famous tourista sites. We saw more wedding parties in the Gum mall, then we did sightseers in Red Square. To put in prespecitive what a -11 feelslike tempature will do, our camera died during the experience.

Well, home tomorrow. We leave the hotel at 7:15 am, and hope to get to our house within 27 or so hours. Don't forget to pray for us. We have 3.5 hour flight from Moscow to Amsterdam, then a little over 10 hours from there to Memphis. Then a one hour to Jackson. Then a ride to the house.

We raised our right hand, and they said we could bring her home

"Cheese"

We made it to the Embassy today. They said congratulations and gave us her visa and imigration paperwork. Next stop for paperwork is the Russian Consolate. Then we can come home Saturday. Thanks everybody for checking in on us. We hope to get out and see Red Square and a few other places tomorrow.

Photos for those watching at home.

Silly faces

I love my mommy

I got to nap in the big bed

Daddy shows me the dvd player (with the baby crack on it)

I like my phone

Moscow outside my window

I want to go outside

My shirt says princess

Getting dressed up for the embassy

We made it to Moscow

Wow, sorry it has been a couple of days. Not a lot else went on in Arkhangelk except a good bit of cabin fever. With only four hours of daylight, and most of that while Anna Beth was down for her nap, there wasn’t much of a chance to get outside and play. Oh, and it was 10 degrees and snowing, so not very much fun in that anyway. We were able to complete all of our required paperwork and get ABC’s Russian Passport. Leigh was the one that had to go and pick that up, and since she got back Anna Beth has been a little testy with Bryan. Seems that since mamma left her for an hour, papa is to blame. It really only comes out when she is tired, or stressed. This too shall pass.

We had a rather uneventful flight from Ark to Moscow. A little late getting off of the ground, and that extra 30 minutes of having to sit strapped into our seats was almost more than she wanted, but we made it. She got a little fussy about an hour into the flight. She was fighting sleep, and fighting Leigh for not letting her down on the ground to stay awake. After 5 or so minutes of pouting, crying,and mild screaming, she was asleep. Another hurry up and wait in the Moscow airport for forty five minutes because our driver was stuck in traffic (a very common excuse) and we made it to the hotel. The Moscow Hilton has proven, so far, to be well worth all of our points to stay here. English is the primary language, a very helpful and accommodating staff, (well, for a regular price of $350 to 400 a night, what do you expect) and good food. Leigh has decided that civilization is much better than the best the north of Russia had to offer.

One of the main things we have had here is comfort food. For Leigh it was a rack of lamb on the night we arrived. For Bryan it was the first good cup (whole pot)of coffee since we left home, and for Anna Beth it was what might have been her first waffle. (With medical care in close reach, Leigh is feeling out the boundaries of Anna Beth’s diagnosis of food allergies.) We haven’t quite caught up on missing our nap yesterday, or waking up at 6:30 for the Dr.’s appointment this morning, but we all feel much better today. Even in a city a far from home as Moscow is, the 17th floor of a hotel where people speak your language, and u can see out makes things a lot better.

Speaking of the 17th floor. We have a neat view of the northern end of the city. We have a corner room, so we can see about 130 degrees of the city. We are much higher than most of the other buildings, so other than the smog, the view is unobstructed. The hotel is built in one of the seven Lenin towers, so it is in a historic building. Anna Beth enjoys looking around out of the window here too. After her nap, we plan to let her get out and experience the city a bit.

I mentioned the Dr.’s appointment. We were given the clean bill of health required by the US embassy for her visa. Our paperwork has been filed at the embassy, and we have an appointment at 2:00 PM on Thursday for our interview, and to get her visa. After that, either Thursday or Friday, we go to the Russian Consulate and register her to leave. Mixed in there will be her trip to Red Square, Arbat Street, and anywhere else we can stand. A good friend of ours pointed out that it was warmer at the south pole today then it is in Moscow. Thanks to global warming, Moscow is having its coldest January in 20 years. At least we have daylight here longer than we did in Ark, so that should help all of our feelings.

Thanks for stopping by, we hope to see you all soon, and here are a few more pictures.

Cousins

Thanks Dr. Mills for the dum dum.

Getting to know the airport monkey

Waiting on our airplane. Alex, Anna Beth, and Anya

I love my new clothes and hairbrush/ waiting on my hairbow

still learning

A few milestones. We were told one time when we needed to go potty number 1. And after she woke up from our Sunday nap she went to the fridge and pointed. When Leigh opened the door, she grabbed a bottle of food and a spoon.


Other activities included acting like a two year old at breakfast. Seems she is a lot easier to keep in check in a lap, then she is in the high chair. She likes the freedom, but she also likes to see your reactions when thinks go sliding to the floor. She continued to be a little wild until nap time. She didn’t want to go down, but ultimately did. And she woke up being Anna Beth the easy again. We also learned today that for the long skinny kid, elastic waist are good, but draw strings are better.

A few more photo’s.

Little Miss Anna Beth Bed Head
























Poopy trilogy

ABC was excited to hear that the Saints won. And Bo thinks she is back in college, because with our weight restrictions on luggage she is having to redefine what exactly is dirty clothes and what isn’t.

photos for now

I can do it.
I play hard.

This is fun.

Cold, but out for dinner.

I can smile.

First shopping trip. Shoes that fit.