We are back home.

Marc and I arrived back in Baton Rouge on Saturday evening after a very smooth trip back home and a really wonderful first trip to meet our kids which went as well as anyone could have wished for.

We got the chance to meet both of them 4 times over the last week which was one more time than expected (YEAH!!). it was so much fun to see them warm up to us over the days. The first day they were both shy and didn't do much but the bubbles we brought on the second day really did the trick. We got a giggly girl and a very interested boy. The picture books were a big success as well and our little girl was able to name everybody in the pictures after going through the book just twice. she also told the other kids in her group that her mammy and daddy came and that we will take her and her brother to America! Oksana (or facilitator in Vladivostok) said that just from knowing that they are picked for adoption, the kids get better, become more confident and are more proud of themselves. I really hope they will. They were both great kids. Very sweet and according to the social worker, doctor etc. there was nothing wrong with them that could not be fixed by good food, fresh air and a lot of love. Well, we'll give them plenty of all of this.

Overall our visit was wonderful. The people we met were all very nice and helpful, both the russian people as well as the other adoptive families we met. I guess that is the great part of staying at the Vlad Motor Inn. It is THE place for adoptive families to stay and while we were there we met 5 other couples and some kids. It was great to hear other people's stories and just have others you can relate to.

We got to visit Vladivostok a bit as well between kid visits and paper signings. Unfortunately we didn't see it at the best time of the year with bare trees, dirty snow etc. It is a city with a lot of controversions. Buildings ranged from very modern to old but nice to very run down grey blocks of concrete. Traffic was quite an adventure and the idea of renting a car and getting off by ourselves was turned down quickly. But amazingly the drivers stayed quite calm under the chaos. Under the same circumstances honking horns would have been an all day sound anywhere in the US or western europe.

So now we are back home and really hope that we can go back as soon as possible and make one little boy and one little girl our very own. I am glad there is a lot going on between now and then. It will make time go by a lot faster.