US Population: 312,434,554 + 1

We are home! What an adventure.  36 hours after leaving Anna's apartment in Moscow, a ten hour flight, a 2 hour flight, and a 2 hour car ride. Malia was put to bed here in her new home. Our worries of missing our flight in DC were so not needed.  Our flight from Moscow left 30 minutes early, I didnt even know that ever happened any more. Malia was amazing on the flight.  We were prepared for worst case scenario with her. She could not have been better.  She passed back and forth between me and Wendy and played with everything in the seat pockets.  She tore up the emergency instruction card and later I threw her up in the air and just had a big time.  She talked to everyone around us.  I would stand her up on my lap and she would see all the other people behind us.  She thought it was her audience.  She would smile really big and make faces.  On a 10 hour flight she slept maybe 2 and we slept none.  I thought we were in for it though when she started waking up because she was not interested in doing so.  Wendy fed her some apple sauce and that got her going again.  When we landed at Dulles she officially became a US citizen. We along with another family bringing home a baby girl cheered for our newest Americans! It made me smile to see the Washington Monument and the dome of capital off in the distance as we landed. We got off the plane and headed to customs.  Where I thought we would most certainly be prevented from catching our flight to Nashville. This massive room that was crammed full with people in a rope line the past two trips we returned home had only 3 loops full out of probably 20.  Wendy and I got up there and before we knew it there was a line out the back of the room.  We had just beaten several other international flights. We handed over Malia's sealed envelope to the customs agent and she greeted Malia and said, "now, I hold your life in my hands little girl.", it was funny.  That took maybe 10 minutes, which shocked us.  Next we head to security again which was where we got hung up for 30 plus minutes the past  two times because of the mass of people.  We made it to the line and there was no one there, we walked right up to the table to put our stuff through the x-ray and went right on through.  We were stunned!  We hauled it down to the shuttle to another terminal and got to our gate an hour before our flight!!!!!   I had probably prayed more specifically for this part of this entire trip than anything else.  I just wanted to get us all home and start our lives together here and not spend any more time in an apartment in Moscow and certainly not any more time in the airport. We made our flight to Nashville.

We were hoping that Malia would be able to keep it together on this final flight as it was a smaller plane and she was bordering on exhaustion.  I mean 2 hours of sleep our of 34 for a 2 year old? Come on! We were running out of seat pocket contents and there were fewer people for her to entertain. But it went by pretty quickly and we finally landed and we all started to get excited about meeting everyone.  We were finally let off of the plane and headed up the gateway.  Malia was singing and screaming happy all the way in momma's arms. We came out to meet Wendy's parents who flew to meet us waited at the gate.  They headed out after a few pics and meeting Malia. Then it was just the three of us. Finally making the long walk down the concourse to show Malia all of her friends and family excited to meet her!  When we saw everyone they had on shirts that said Next Stop...Home with POCNN (Russia in Russian) crossed out and Heavrin Party of 3 on the back. We were worried she may draw up and become overwhelmed by the people and attention but instead she pretty much fed off of it! It was all so great!  She met her new friends that were right around her age as well as our friends and family.  Wendy and I were honored and overwhelmed to see so many there to greet us.  We fed Malia there and changed into some more comfortable clothes for the ride home.  We strapped her into her car seat and she passed out before we made it to I24.

This past week more than any other during this process, Wendy and I were able to see and feel the tangible effects of many people's prayers for us, specifically this week.  God was definitely faithful.  Wendy and I have prayed together and on our own throughout this process for God to open and close doors for us during this process because there is more than we could comprehend involved in getting this pulled off successfully. He indeed was there for us.  I'm humbled now as a Daddy to rely on prayer and the wisdom of scripture to lay the foundation of faith for this little girl.

"There's one less broken heart in the world tonight." -Matthew West


-Poppy


Here are a few pics from the ride home:

                                              

  

The week in review

Big sigh as I sit down to write this.  It has been a long week.  I have had no time to write down anything in between 2 hours meal times, 2 hour bath times, and 2 hour screaming, fussing fits to go to sleep!  But there have been many sweet, sweet times with our little Malia Nagima.  Gotcha Day could not have been any better.  We arrived after Malia's lunch so she had a full tummy on her way out.  Her caretakers were wonderful as they dressed her in the clothes I brought for her and told her we were her new "Mama and Papa." They hugged and kissed her and took several pictures of themselves with her and a few of us with her.  Then I put her coat on and they took more pictures of her.  I stood back and watched and one of the caretakers cried as she held Malia for a long time and said her final goodbye.  I was crying too, I didn't know how much they loved her.  I had no idea.  It made me so happy to know she was well taken care of these last 2 years, 5 months, and 1 day.

I carried Malia out of the orphanage and as we started to walk away, one of her caretakers opened a window and called out to "Nagima."  I carried Malia over to the window and Malia waved again to her caretaker. Our representative told me Malia had been their favorite, that she was well liked by everyone.

One little thing I want to remember about that time with her caretakers saying goodbye is the 4 little potty's that scooted over to the open bathroom door watching intently at everything going on. We were told that after every meal, all children, even children under 1, sit on their potties several times a day.  We arrived after lunch so when I walked in to the bathroom to give Malia's new clothes to the caretaker, all the kids were sitting on tiny potties.  So when we all walked into the play room to take pictures, they all scooted to the door to watch.  It broke my heart.

The next few days were a blur. We had appointments to go to and of course, a toddler to take care of.  She has been so fun!  She is very interactive and repeats everything we say.  She has several Russian phrases that she repeats over and over.  I love it!  I hope we capture them on video to be able to show her later.  One phrase she repeats is "I'll do it myself" in Russian of course. Too funny! She loves to sing and hum.  We have been singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat over and over.  She will say "row, row" now, but with a heavy Russian accent.  It's the cutest thing ever!  All English words she repeats has her Russian accent so it makes everything she says even extra cute!  And does she ever call me Mama!!!  I love it!  It's a strong Mama, almost like calling it out loudly when she says it.  And daddy is "Papa" in Russian but now it sounds like Poppy when she says it.  It melts Scott into a puddle!

We have had some very hard times too over the past few days.  That's mainly why I haven't had time to type out a post. (Courtney, I haven't had much Skype time either.  I'm so sorry I haven't been able to talk to you.) Malia's eating has been very hard.  She would not eat for us.  Last night, I had to call our translator to come help. I cannot sing enough praises to wonderful Anna!!!!  She sat Miss Malia down and in Russian, told her to eat her dinner.  Malia didn't fuss at all.  And she ate more in that one meal than she had probably eaten all week!  I cried silent tears watching her.  Anna even taught us how to make porridge the way Malia would have eaten it.  This morning, Scott was already making it when Malia woke me up.  I sat her down the same way Anna did last night and she ate the whole bowl!!! For lunch today, she ate everything I gave her, without fussing.  And nap time today didn't have one peep.  Anna suspected that Malia was still hungry when I put her down for naps and bed time and that might have been why she has been so upset the last 3 days.  

Ok, it's about time for Malia to wake up from her nap.  I have much more to get down, but one final thing I wanted to share is that Malia doesn't understand why she can't brush Mommy's hair.  The brush just keeps getting caught, ha!

We come home tomorrow!!!  Can't wait!

~wendy

Gotcha Day!

We got her!  I must go ahead and say this will be short as we have to be up VERY early tomorrow morning to get Malia to her medical checkup for visa clearance.  But to say this was a surreal day would be the understatement of our lives.  We had a very sweet time at the orphange with Wendy and Malia's care takers getting her dressed in her new clothes. She pranced around looking at her dress and smiling once they put her down.   Pictures with them, tears shed and goodbye kisses. Malia was so excited to see us.  She was loving the attention and was not overwhelmed at all.  That was very comforting. We met with the orphanage director and some of the doctors. Wendy and I tried our best to thank them for taking such amazing care of Malia over the past two years. I had to hand write into a formal book that it was indeed our intent to take Malia from the orphanage. It was a fast, emotional, and exciting event that we haven't had time to process yet.  Malia knows who her momma is, and it looks like I'm gonna be papa. We had a sweet afternoon with just the three of us.  She is such a good, happy little girl.   We wondered at one point if we were going to get her to eat anything but she got hungry shortly thereafter and was packing it away! Anyway, momma's tired papa's tired and there is a passed out little girl in the bed about to snuggled with.  Yep, We're pretty much floating right now. G'night from Moscow.

-Scott
(Wendy will add more when she has time.  Ha!)

We'll have a daughter in the morning!

One more evening and one more night is all we have left to wait before we have our daughter in our arms!  Anna told us that we will be picking up Malia after we to go to the passport office in the morning.  I'm so excited. Anna said the orphanage director has been told that we are coming in the morning.  I wonder if they have told Malia that tonight is her last night with her friends in the orphanage?  Breakfast in the morning will be her last meal there.  If they have told her, I wonder if she is thinking about us coming for her.  I wonder if she is scared or if she doesn't understand at all.  She will probably be outside playing when we get there. The caretaker will call to her, "Nagima, it's time to go, Mama & Papa are here!" (Or at least that's what I would want them to say to her.)

We are staying in our translator Anna's apartment.  It's on the top floor (16th).  There are apartment buildings all around us, like New York city maybe.  Her apartment is lovely.  She has done a lot of the work herself and it's so cozy.  Other families have stayed here as well, so there are toys for Malia to play with that they have left.  And I can't wait to give her a bath!!  Anna went with us to the grocery store when we got here and picked out some food that Malia would like.  That was a relief!  

Here are some pictures of our view.  The camera didn't capture how brilliant the colors of the trees actually are.

The Final Trip Begins

We are in DC waiting on our flight to board.  It's really pretty hard to describe how we feel, at least it is for me.  We are tired of the waiting, anxious for parenthood, and elated beyond belief that we are getting Malia out of the orphanage soon.  I go through a range of emotions.  I think about the firsts we can't wait to experience. I think about my dreams of taking her to Disney World.  I think about how different and wonderful life in general will be with her, with us.  I think about Thanksgiving with a new family member.  Her first Christmas!  I think back on how long we have waited for these final days of this process and I just about fall apart.  I think about how I hope God looks down on the two of us, fallen sinners, with no hope but in Him and finds His favor in everything we do with Malia.  That the grace we were given from Him and adoption into His family has driven our desire to bring this little girl into a Christ centered, yet imperfect family.  We'll post more pics soon on our Gotcha Day.  We seriously cannot wait!

-Scott

We Best Be Gettin' Ready!

Today was our last day and we got to visit Malia in the orphanage once again.  We got hung up in traffic on the way.  The traffic here is extraordinary.  To our advantage our driver is also extraordinary.  When we entered through the gate at the orphanage many of the children were outside playing.  As we walked we spotted our little yellow puff ball walking towards us on her own.  We got closer and spoke to her as we approaced and she went right to wendy smiling with her arms out.  It was perfect.  I would swear she knows something has changed since yesterday, I pray she does.   We walked around to the other side of the orphanage today and played on some slides and other plastic play sets.  She is such a content little girl.  She has the cutest smile.   Wendy would start her down the slide and I would catch her at the bottom and throw her up in the air.  She loved it.

We got out some of the toys we brought and she sat down in Wendy's lap and carefully played with each one.  Wendy had to blow her nose so she got out a tissue from her bag and Malia was all about it.  She is fascinated with tissue and watched Wendy so intently when she blew her nose.  Wendy gave Malia a clean kleenex and she mimic'd Wendy.  then she carefully put the cleanex back in the back and zipped the zipper up.  then, she took a little electronic book that sings kids songs when you turn the page and decided it needed to go into the bag too.  Just a little heart breaker.  She is all about her momma! Watches every move and wanted to go to her all the time.  It was great.  She'll understand the coolness of daddy very soon, dont anyone worry about that.

Finally, we took her back inside to try on some clothes we brought to see what would fit and what didnt.  Wendy took off her snow suit and she knew to put it up in her locker so I helped.    We sat her down to start putting her clothes on and noticed she hadnt put her shoes for outside away. So I gave them to her and she walked over to her locker again. I shut the door and noticed that she kind of hesitated and pointed at the door but I didnt realize why.   we sat down again and realized she didnt have her inside shoes.  Her hesitation was because she knew she needed them.  We were totally screwing up her routine.  It was cute.  It was like a different girl with these different clothes on.  She cooperated so so well.  We took her passport and visa pictures with one of the little dresses on her.  We changed her back into her clothes and she was starting to get tired of the whole ordeal and we eventually experienced her first meltdown with us.  I mean screaming crying tears.  It was all too much for her.  But momma got her in her lap and she layed over into her chest and calmed down.  It was precious.  Wendy got to see where she slept and ate and bathed which was great.  Today was the best day we have had with her, which was appropriate I think.  Her world has been so small.  We're gonna take care of that! Fortunately we left without time to get emotional.  But we KNOW when we are returning so it is all good!

I cant thank each of you enough for your kind words of encouragement, prayers and interest during this process. It has been hard.  But we will soon be complete and this little one will have a family.  How fun is that?!

But there are still so many........

-Scott

Pictures!!