We signed on the dotted line!

Last night was a strange night. Gregg went to sleep before 6 pm and slept until 12:30 am. I went to sleep at 8 pm and slept until 12:30 am. At 12:30 our skype "rang" and it was the girls and Benjamin. I didn't want to miss talking to them so we called back and talked. We were then up until about 2 or so and went back to sleep and slept until 6 am. Not too bad. We never did eat a meal yesterday after breakfast. ha ha Everything is messed up!

This morning we got up and skyped again with the kids and with Mom and Dad. Was nice to get a take on what was happening at home. It seems like everything is going well except that Tara has a nasty ear infection she's fighting. :(

We had breakfast in the cafe this morning. It was ok, not great. Fried eggs, bread and cheese, tea, and...A CHOCOLATE BAR!!! That cracks me up! Anyway, it was ok but like usual, after I ate I had a stomach ache.

We left for the orphanage at 9:00 and stayed until 11:30. Was a great visit. We met with the doctor, the social worker and the psychologist/therapist while we were there. They gave us so much information about his history and what he is like. A couple of the highlights were that the medical conditions we were told about is probably going to end up being that he has allergies and maybe asthma. I'm almost 100% sure that is all his problem is! Of course, when we get back we will have everything checked out but that was a relief. We would have been fine either way but you never want your child to have to suffer through anything if it's avoidable! Anyway, we also heard about his mother and father and that their rights were terminated due to neglect. They have no history of abuse or of alcohol previous to the kids being born. This is good news as it could mean he was not exposed to alcohol, though there are no guarantees with Russia. :(

We enjoyed taking Ruslan outside today. He was happily walking along holding our hands. He seemed to be much more interested in Gregg and I as people today instead of the toys we had with us. :) This was a lot easier to deal with. I can already feel myself beginning to bond with him. When you pick him up he puts his head on your shoulder. He was interested in the flowers, the butterflies. We tickled his nose with a piece of grass and he tickled mine back. He laughed.

We also were able to see him play with another child. A couple from Ohio was there visiting before their court on Tuesday. We may see them later as they will be at the hotel tomorrow night. Their daughter and Ruslan  played together...well...kinda. :) Ruslan knows what he wants. He never stole toys from her but he did bring her a different toy in substitute for what he wanted several times. Was really cute. His favorite toy? A doll in a yellow dress! Gregg said we'll have to take care of THAT! :) I told him I'm going to buy him a blue boy doll. :)

We will return this afternoon to visit again and have our last visit tomorrow morning before returning to Krasnoyarsk. We DID by the way, sign the paperwork to adopt Ruslan this morning. So it's official! We have been told that since we brought our court papers that we may be back mid to late July for court. This would mean he will be home in August! We'll see how that goes. :)