Cashing In!

The Shortt brothers cashed in this week. As many of you know they have been saving their change in a white and pink polka-dotted piggy bank for well over a year now. That was "Riley's bank" and the plan was that they would pay her airfare home.

They took the piggy bank to the real bank this week and were pleasantly surprised that they had saved $345.91. I love it when a plan comes together!

I also thought I'd share a few more pictures of our little princess!

Sports!!

If anyone should ever wonder what we do with all our "free time," I thought I would post pictures to explain. Logan is just finishing his football season with Shady Grove. He has had a great time and has the bruises to prove it! He is also trying out for basketball at Calvary this week. For a couple of weeks he wil be playing both and keeping us busy!



Brannon has one more game in his fall league season. He is going to do some showcase camps this winter, work on pre-season conditioning and continue to work with Scott Bankhead on his pitching. He is also a three sport athlete with the three sports being baseball, baseball and...baseball!

Our 10 day waiting period is over today so hopefully we will hear from Russia very soon. Please pray that we will only have to make one more trip and that will be to bring Riley home.

Coming Home!

It's 6:15 in the morning here and we will be leaving in a few hours to go to the airport. We can't wait to see our boys and to sleep in our own bed! We should arrive back in Charlotte at 7;30 pm. I guess we will jump right back into our regular schedule and I'll do baseball with Brannon at ASU in Boone on Sat. and Mike will do football with Logan. We are also anxious to get back to Family Tab on Sunday!

Malik and Malik II

Today has been a resting day for us. It is really amazing the effect being in a different time zone has on the human body. We have discovered that it makes one sleeping ALL the time but unable to sleep well when you are supposed to. We went back to Arbat street today to the Hard Rock Cafe (in honor of Chi Chi!). As I said last time, we are now seeking out American restaurants. We ate at a traditional Russian restaurant in Vladimir after court yestertday....Yuck! It was a terrible way to celebrate but Vladimir has only one American restaurant as far as we know....McDonalds (very Russian McD's). Anyway, the Hard Rock here is the second largest in Europe and is located in a very old 1600's three-storied mansion. Nice.

We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvenirs for our THREE kids. For Riley we got a traditional Russian rag doll and a matching costume for her. For Brannon and Logan, we got knives.(their choice of gift, not ours!) I just remembered a while ago to take those out of my handbag and put them in one of our suitcases. That could have been a hairy situation at Domodedovo airport tomorrow with me trying to carry knives onto a flight!!!

Finally we stopped by Starbucks before heading back to our hotel. After standing in one line, getting to the front and being told that clerk didn't speak English, we got in the other line and finally ordered. As you know, they always put your name on your cup for you for pick-up. Mike gave his name and when we got our drinks, we were Malik and Malik II. Ha!

Thanks to all of you who make comments on the blog...we look for them everyday. Just another way to stay connected! We would love for all of you who follow the blog to comment and let us know who you are. We ARE all in this together!

ADOPTION GRANTED!!!!!

At 12:40 pm, October 14, 2009 the adoption of Riley McKenna Shortt was granted. The picture to the left is of her new proud parents standing outside the court building. The hearing lasted about an hour with all parties testifying; Mike, myself, our attorney, a social worker, the orphanage deputy director and the procecuting attorney. The judge then went out of the room for about ten minutes and then came back in to announce that the adoption was granted! There is now a ten day waiting period for either party to appeal the ruling. AS IF!!!

There were two moments during the hearing that were so touching for us. First, they questioned us about Brannon and Logan's attitude toward the adoption. Guys, we were so proud to tell them how excited you are and how much you already care for this little girl that you have never met. I guess Logan said it best last week when I told him about our court date and said, "on Wednesday, she will become your sister." With 11 year old wisdom he replied, "Mom, she is already my sister. She has been from the beginning."

Our second moment of great pride came when the procecuting attorney asked how our church family felt about the adoption. With our hearts in our throats, we told the representatives of the court about Family Tab and all the love and support they have given us and this child.

After court we got to go to Alexandrov and visit Riley again. She was just as unhappy to see us as the first time. However, once again she warmed up to Mike and just looked at me with her "a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do" face. Brannon and Logan, the bet is still on...still no smile from the littlest Shortt....

You will notice that she is in her "meeting my parents' outfit once again...same dress, same tights and yes Uncle Jim, same boots.

Sorry, we didn't post yesterday but we were in Vladimir, and our hotel's wi-fi kept crashing our computer.

Safe and Sound

We arrived in Moscow at about 10:40 this morning. I will write more later because right now I'm pooped!

Later...

The flight over was uneventful....which, thank God, is a good thing! It is 37 degrees here with wind and rain. The jet lag really got to us this time. We have just woke up from a 4 hour nap!

I'll share two things I've learned about making air travel easier. First, and this is from our trip home last month, if you are crying when you take off...your ears don't pop as bad. (When we were on the plane to leave Russia was when it really got to me about leaving Riley SO FAR behind,) Second, it helps to put yourself to sleep on long flights if you watch movies in a foreign language that you don't understand. I watched Transformers in Russian on the way over and was zzzzzzzzzzzzzz'ing before I knew it. And another side note to Brannon and Logan, Megan Fox isn't nearly as hot when she sounds like large Russian discus thrower.

Vladimir...here we come!

We just found out yesterday that we were given the court date of Oct. 16th in Vladimir. Then this morning that got bumped to the 14th. So, we will be leaving Sunday to go back for our second trip to Russia!! We will arrive in Moscow on Monday, leave for Vladimir on Tuesday, have our adoption hearing on Wed. morning, travel to Alexandrov to the orphanage for a visit on Wed. afternoon, travel back to Moscow on Wed. night and then fly home on Friday! Follow our blog and go along with us. Much love to you all!

My Handsome Boys!

We are still waiting for our second trip dates. Everyone warned us that once we saw Riley and got to hold her, the wait after that would be the most difficult. True that!!! However, Brannon and Logan are keeping us busy and our minds occupied! I thought I would share their school pictures with everyone. This is one of the first years that both of their photographs turned out good...no one looking stoned, no missing teeth, no braces, no black eyes, etc. You mothers of boys know what I'm talking about.