Smiles All Around!

(Our boy's first name will start with a B, and our girl's with a C. So, to make blogging easier, I'm going to refer to the kiddos as B and C. We are keeping their Russian names as middle names.)

We started the day by visiting C at 10 a.m. She wasn't very hesitant coming to us at all. We took her down to a large playroom and and got to love on her some more. We saw her first huge smile and heard her laugh as I was stealing kisses. She has the most beautiful smile and her giggle is music to my ears. She loved Derek's kisses too, though is still warming up to him. Chances are, she has not been around men much, if at all, so he's just "different" to her. But you'll see later in the post that she is taken with him! We were blessed enough to be invited to watch the Fall Festival play that the caretakers put on for her "groupa." One woman was playing a keyboard and telling a story, as the other caretakers danced and doted on the kiddos. It was like watching her first pre-school production, I suppose!

We then made it over to B's Baby Home just before his lunch. Yesterday was definitely just a "getting familiar" day. I didn't expect an instant smile and hug from him upon first meetinghim by any means. However, I did pray that we would be able to connect even more today. And we did! Though he cried again at first when his caregivers took him from his groupa, he stopped almost instantly just a minute after he was in Derek's arms. He absolutely LOVED thestacking cups and showed his intelligence by correctly putting all 8 of them together! Derek stacked up the cups and he kicked them over, resulting in us seeing him smile for the first time!

During their early afternoon nap, we visited the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. Unfortunately, is we could not go inside, as it was closed for "technical reasons." We just walked around the area, taking in the beauty of the city.

We stopped to have lunch at a Russian cafe, where I was adventurous and ordered "Herring with a Fur Coat." Our translator promised us it was good and explained that it is a dish usually made during Russian celebrations. Well, we were definitely in the celebrating mood! I wasn't expecting much, but ended up with something out of "Top Chef." The "fur," while it looks like cheese, is actually shredded egg.

Then, it was back to C's Baby Home for some more giggles. If you remember, she loved my bracelet yesterday (and she still loved it today!), but she showed an great interest in my necklace as well today. This is sweet to me, since the stone is her birth stone. It seems like she will be an accessory queen!



Our driver offered to take us to B's Baby Home one more time. (We are SO blessed that we got to see each of them twice today!!) This visit, we gave him some Gerber puffs and I think that's what finally broke the ice for the three of us. While he loved chowing down on those things, he loved feeding "Papa" even more! Especially when Papa pretended to eat his hand along with them. We got many toothy smiles from that! He alos loved looking at the picture book we made him. It may be our imagination, but when Derek would ask him "Where's Papa's picture?" he eventually would turn to it and look up at him. It was the sweetest thing! When is was time to go, he saw me putting the toys back in my bag and decided to help. So cute! Derek carried him upstairs to his groupa. When B was walking away with his caregiver, he looked back twice as if to say, "Please come back!"

And, of course, we can't wait to do just that!

Tomorrow, we will file our official intent to adopt the kiddos. Horray! And then spend more time with them in the Baby Homes. The first day, to be honest, I was a little scared as I didn't want to frighten them by making them play with us strangers. But today... I'm so in love! And I can't wait to try to make them smile tomorrow!