A Good Cup of Coffee and English

It is 10:30 here on our last day in the Russian Federation. Man-oh-man, are we ever missing our boys, home, Whitestone, Family Tab and maybe even our pets! Mike says that the things he has really missed are a good cup of coffee and English. What I really miss is sitting in the non-smoking section...which I have figured out is not located in Russia!!

We will be out of here early in the morning and will be landing in Washington at 3:30 pm. We'll wait for our connection and will be back in God's country, aka North Carolina, at 6:30

Logan, good luck on tomorrow's football game. Brannon and Logan, don't forget The Journey"s yard sale tomorrow morning 8-??.

Eight Doctors and a New Name!

Most of today was spent on the road traveling back fromVladimir (3 hours) and then at the Moscow Clinic. Mike and I both had to see eight specialists to once again prove that we are healthy enough to adopt. (And Krystal, you are going to love this...we had to do all the bloodwork over!) We were checked out by a neurologist, dermatologist, pulmonary specialist, oncologist, infectious disease specialist, general practitioner, one that I can't remember =), and a psychiatrist. Whew, that last one was close but you'll be happy to know that...we passed!

We didn't write anything on the blog yesterday for two reasons. First, we just wanted you to get to see her without a lot of commentary on our part. Second, last night we were just too tired to put words together. It was a long day!! Plus we were emotionally drained...in a good way.

So, now on to what all of you want to know. What did she do when she was first brought to us?? Mike was closest to the door and smiled at her, she took one look and put her hands up over her face and ....cried! The timing of our visit couldn't have been worse for her. She has a bad ear infection and has a lot of congestion in her chest. Her fever spiked the day before and she was actually in the hospital until we got there. She spent a couple of hours with us and then they were taking her back to the hospital for a five day antibiotic treatment. She was not feeling well at all. She kept pulling at her ear and hair and her chest was rattling when she breathedIt broke our hearts to see her this way. Please add her to your prayers.

A couple more Riley "tidbits. We can all refer to her as Riley now...we signed papers today to officially change her name to Riley McKenna Shortt. Her birthdate is July 1st, 2008. She has been in a good orphanage; you can tell by the way she snuggles up to you that she has been held quite a bit. As you can see in one of the photos below, she is a thumbsucker. The most ironic thing we discovered is that, although Mike is the first man she has ever seen, he definitely was her favorite . She warmed right up to him and then lay on his shoulder whenever he held her. You can see below that she went to sleep all snuggled up to her new Daddy!

Brannon and Logan, we miss you more than you will ever know. She liked the pictures of you. She would try to scratch them. You guys don't stand a chance...you will be wrapped around her finger just like your Dad!

A picture is worth...

More Sightseeing....

Today has been dedicated to more sightseeing...or maybe I should say people-seeing. We started our day at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior(left). It is so grand, in beauty, in size in everything! It amazes us that the landmarks that the Russians are most proud of are their churches. We are told that most Russians are of the Russian/Greek Orthodox faith. You certainly don't get the feeling that Russia is an atheist country...probably never was, just the political machine was.

Below is a Russian family about to go into the cathedral. All females must cover their heads when entering a Russian Orthodox church.

We spent the rest of our day on Arbat street. It is a pedestrian only street known from the 15th century. It is a very eclectic street made up of antique, jewelry and souvenir shops along with several cafes and restaurants. There were also street performers, artist and folk arts and craft vendors. We saw the group pictured below and Mike has signed them on to join Family Tab's Praise and Worship Team. Butch knows we needed an accordian player!!!

Ok, it is less than 19 hours now until we see "you-know-who", but who's counting, right? =)

We leave tomorrow at 6am to drive to Vladimir. Once there, we will go and file papers with the Ministry of Education indicating our desire to adopt "Olga". From there we will drive on to the city of Murom to visit the Murom Baby Home. The day would be absolutely perfect if only Brannon and Logan could be here with us. We sure miss you guys!

The Kremlin, St. Basil's and the McTasty...not so much!

We began our sightseeing at the Kremlin. To the left is a picture of the main entrance.

St. Basil's Cathedral was built in 1555 and is probably the most recognizable of the Russian sights. When Sam and I were working on houseplans, Brannon drew what he called his dream house. Oddly enough, it looked very similar to this!

In the spirit of "when in Rome..." , we have tried eating at a couple authentic Russian restaurants. We very much liked borsch, which is a cabbage, potato and tomato soup. We also tried their meat dumplings...uh...didn't really care for those. For breakfast, we ate Russian pastries that must have had 4 times the calories of a good old Krispy Kreme. Too rich! So finally for lunch, in an effort to find the familiar, we found a McDonald's. Antonio told us that the McTasty was quite "tasty"....uh, well...not so much!

22 Hours! Whew!

Well, it is 10:40 Moscow time and we are finally in for the night. The "Road to Riley" got a bit bumpy today. After our 5 hour layover in Washington, yesterday, we finally got back in the air for Moscow at 5 pm. Two hours into that flight, when we were over Canada, the captain announces that we have a hydraulic leak and that we are going to return to Dulles!!! So back to Washington we go!

As we started our decent to Dulles, the captain tells us that there will be emergency personel standing by...just as a precaution! Now, keep in mind that I'm sitting next to Mr. Happy. As we are about to land I notice that Mike is very quiet. He proceeds to tell me that he is listening to see if the landing gear is going to engage! We then feel the wheels touch down, and just as I stop holding my breath Mike then says..."Now, I hope the breaks work." Ha! That's my "the glass is half empy!" guy. By the way, kudos to our pilot, Captain Beck, who landed the plane flawlessly!

We finally leave Dulles again at 10 pm and land in Moscow at 4pm (which would be 8 am EST). That is 22 hours after we left Charlotte.

Our first impressions of Moscow are that Russians are not as cold and unfeeling as we had been told. There was a really nice couple that helped us out at the airport. (The wife is an adoption coordinater for Moscow, how ironic!) Our driver, Antonio, was like a Russian cultural expert and made our almost two hour drive from the airport, in horrible traffic, a pleasure. The hotel staff has been great and Michael, our Moscow adoption liason was quite nice and informative.

Now we are going to bed...we are exhausted! Sightseeing tomorrow...hope to have great pics.

On Our Way...

It's 3:25 and we are sitting here in Dulles airport, Washington DC, eating Starburst and waiting for our 4:50 flight to Moscow. It's been a 5 1/2 hour layover!! We just got a text from Brannon telling us that Logan just scored the first touchdown for the Shady Grove Bulldogs' Red team!!! We are hating we missed that! Way to go Logan!!!!

Pre-Trip Thoughts

As I sit here this evening, I'm just overwhelmed with emotion. Not only am I filled with excitement about finally meeting our little girl , feeling a bit apprehensive about traveling in a foreign country and leaving the boys for an entire week; I'm also feeling so blessed by the love and concern we have felt from our friends. Our church, Family Tab Church, has been so wonderful to us during this roller coaster ride. Our church family has embraced this adoption as its own. I cannot express how much love and support we have felt from you guys! Mike and I feel completely covered by your prayers! We love you all so much!!

We also have amazing friends that have cried with us, laughed with us, prayed with us and for almost two years waited patiently with us! You know who you are! God put you in our lives, and for that we will be forever grateful! I must also tell those extra special friends that began our journey with us but were called away (to Memphis!!), you really are still with us. Thanks for the phone calls and your efforts to stay plugged in. Distance means nothing in the family of God!

I guess I better get to finishing my 10 page instruction manual for our heaven sent "boysitter", Krystal and stop being so emotional. As my father used to tell me...Dry up, now! =)

The Last of the "Catching Up"

Brannon and Casey building Riley's bookshelf.
This is what dating is to a prospective brother.

Finally, after waiting for 18 months, we get to see Riley for the first time. There are no words to describe how we felt when we opened that email!!!

More Pictures of Riley's Room Preparation

Our wonderful friend, Angela, working on Riley's room. She and I taught together in the Fine Arts Department at Davie High. We painted many, many show sets together but this room is our masterpiece!

Riley's big brother's putting her bed together.

This is our final product!