hugs and kisses and giggles

Posting from: MarKuel Hotel, Khabarovsk, Russia.
Local time: 6:30 pm, Tuesday August 29
Weather: Clear, warm, light wind, very pleasant

We had a wonderful marvelous visit. When we arrived they were just getting up from their naps. Andy was up and Juliana was still asleep. He spied us and ran back into the sleeping room to wake her up. We got to watch their waking-up routine (toilet, wash hands and face, get dressed, have crackers and juice) and then we got to play play play. Even though we had our eight-doctor medical exams yesterday, the children gave us each a thorough going over with their little hospital kit.

We learned that they did receive the letters we had sent, and the pictures. They greeted us by name (mama and papa of course) and hugged and cuddled and showed us all their special treasures. At one point, Andy gave me something and I said thank you. Thank you Spaseeba he said. For the rest of the day it was thank you for him. By the time we left, Juliana had a nice version of FlankYou going too. She is up to 33 pounds now. Yippee. Her hair has grown and is curly on the ends and she was dressed ina fluffy pink dress that left glitter all over us. She spent most of the afternoon in my lap. We both got kisses from her when we left. We are leaving the glitter on.

We get to go back tomorrow from 10 to 12. We will spend the afternoon with our facilitator preparing for court and the evening with our friends welcoming the two families that arrive on the Wed flight.