Reunited with our precious daughter!!

Before I start, let me say that today was a great day.  We were reunited with our precious daughter.  It was a day that brought so much joy to our hearts and from judging Anna's reaction, it brought much happiness to Anna as well.

The last two days have been very busy.  We received our referral to go to the orphanage and begin the adoption process yesterday afternoon, Tuesday, Sept. 27th.  Before receiving the referral, we walked around Independence Square and browsed the shops under Independence Square.  We received the referral at about 5:00 pm.  Then, we had to hurry back to our apartment to load our bags into a taxi so we could get to the train station in time for our 7:30 train to Donetsk.

The train ride from Kiev to Donetsk took approximately 12 hours and was surprisingly comfortable.  Victor told us the train car we were riding in was a newer train car with more ammenities than the older train cars.  Sleeping on the train was interesting.  When the train would stop at a station, I would wake up.  When the train started moving again, I had no problem falling back to sleep.

We arrived in Donetsk at about 7:30 am.  We found our taxi and waited for another family Victor is working with to arrive on a later train.  The other family, Paul and Holly, are adopting a friend of Anna's, a beautiful blonde haired girl named Masha.  After Paul and Holly arrived, we took a long taxi ride to the children's services office.

When we entered the children's services office, I handed the roses I bought at the train station to the Director of the children's services.  This pleased the Director and she gave me an unexpected hug.  Giving the flowers to the Director had a positive affect on our meeting with her.  We were initially told the meeting would take 1-2 hours to complete; however, our paperwork was signed and we were out of the office in less than 20 minutes.  After leaving the children's services office, we were finally on our way to Anna's orphanage.

When we arrived at the orphanage, I noticed a group of boys playing outside.  They stopped what they were doing and looked at the van full of American's.  When we got out of the van, they approached us and asked questions.  We entered the building and went directly to the orphanage director's office.  We were invited to sit down and the orphanage director sent someone to get Anna and Masha.

We introduced ourselves to the orphanage director.  The director was very friendly and asked us questions about our careers, family, and why were wanted to adopt Anna and Masha.  After answering her questions, the director began telling us about Anna and Masha.  She told us both girls are very talented and participate in ballet dancing and singing at the orphanage.  The director also added that Anna is a leader.  The director seemed very attached to Anna and Masha.  She said she will be sad to see Anna and Masha leave but she is excited for them to have families.

At about this time, the door opened and into the room entered Anna and Masha.  We stood up and called out her name.  Anna saw us and rushed to us as quickly as she could, moving chairs out of her way to get to us.  She embraced both of us in multiple hugs.  I am not one to cry but I was so happy to be reunited with Anna that I am not ashamed to admit I had tears.  I had practiced countless times how to say, "I love you", in Russian just for this moment.  I was so moved by this moment that I could barely say the phrase I had practiced so many times.  Anna understood what I said and repeated it back to me.  I saw even more tears coming from Laura's eyes when she hugged Anna and they said "I love you" to each other.

Anna took us to see her room.  The room was very clean and orderly.  It contained 4 bunk beads for 8 girls to sleep in.  Anna and Masha share the same bunk bed.  I think it is so amazing that these two girls who are friends and have been in the orphanage for so many years are both being adopted to the United States at the same time.

Anna took us to another room to spend time alone with us.  Words cannot accurately describe how beautiful this time was with her.  We talked, looked at pictures, and hugged a lot more.  Unfortunately our time together didn't last long.  We had to leave to complete more paperwork.  We were very disappointed we didn't have more time with her but we will be back tomorrow.  Plus, when the adoption is complete, we will have her forever.  It may not be legal yet, but Anna is our daughter now.

After completing some paperwork, we had pizza for dinner.  The pizza was great.  As a matter a fact, all the food has been great so far.  After dinner, we went to our hotel.  On our way to the hotel, we drove past a relic from the cold war.  It was a chemical weapons plant built by the Russians.

That's it for now.  I will try to post again tomorrow.