As mentioned earlier, Alex picked us up from the hotel lobby at 9:20am on Saturday and we drove to the baby home to see Emma. We were a few minutes early so they had us wait in the foyer. We weren't sure what we were waiting for...we were expecting to be led to the same room as before but this time out of the blue, Emma walked around the corner with her caregiver. She was all bundled up since they wanted us to have our visit outside this time. The caregiver picked her up and handed her to me, and she was not very happy. There was a big frown and a few wimpers, but she never really cried. It was obvious that she did not remember us from before since it had been over three months since our last visit with her. We did leave a soft photo album with our pictures in it, but we are not sure that she was able to look at it.
We walked to the playground area and had about an hour and a half with her. The weather was beautiful on Saturday and eventually it warmed up to about 65 degrees. We were told that they wanted her to be outside since there won't be many more nice days here before it really gets cold. The playground was surprisingly nice and new. It is not what I expected at all. Eventually Emma let me set her down and I walked her up the steps of the slide. JC was waiting for her and was able to get her to slide down with his help. She LOVED that. After a few goes, she even let him pick her up and throw her up in the air. She was really laughing out loud then. We did a lot of this! There was also a small storage building which looked new, and it had a pull down door. Inside were some ride on toys that we were able to get out for Emma to play with. She also found a baby walker in there and was constantly trying to climb in it. She was WAY too big for that but she didn't care. Finally we put everything away and closed the door, but she walked right over and figured out how to lift the door enough to crawl under. Smart girl!!! After that it was a little hard to distract her.
There were multiple groups of children who came out that morning to play. It was obvious that the other caregivers were keeping the children away so that we could play with Emma privately. Two little boys did break free and run over to us though. We said hello and waived to them and then the caregiver ran over and ushered them away. One of the little boys yelled out, "MaMa, MaMa", and my heart broke into a thousand pieces for him. I am praying that one day soon, he too will have a mama.
Our visit came to an end all too quickly. They came to take Emma inside for her lunch and we left with Alex.
We met with Tania, his girlfriend, in a cafe and reviewed my speech for court. It is about 2 pages in length, and I get to read from the paper one sentence at a time and wait for her to translate to the judge. It is a little difficult to read as it is written in the English translation of Russian. It does not flow like typical English speech, but I think I'll be ok.
After this, we arrived back at our hotel and were able to check in. We were placed in three different rooms, and the third one finally had an internet connection. It took an hour and 15 minutes to get this worked out. We had not showered since the previous morning and were still wearing the same clothes so we felt quite bad and ready for a shower and a nap.
It is Monday afternoon here now, and we've done nothing towards the adoption since Saturday. We have been able to walk around St Petersburg, but really, we just wanted to visit Emma. The baby home director would not allow us to come back for more visits since it was the weekend. Alex should be here any minute now to take us back, but we will only have these two visits with Emma on this trip. All things being likely, we'll not see her again after today until our EMMA DAY - the day we go and welcome her into our arms for the rest of our lives.
Below are a few more photos from our walks around the city centre. As soon as I am given the ok, I'll be posting photos of Emma!!! I can't wait to share her with you all.
Since St Petersburg was built on swampland, there are many canals throughout the city to accomodate the water.
Kazan Cathedral, St Petersburg
Pepsi, Born in New Bern, North Carolina, enjoyed all over the world
The restaurant across from our hotel where we shared a couple of pizzas
The Coffee House that we visited every day
Beautiful Fence beside the Church on the Spilled Blood
The Church on the Spilled Blood
Baskin R*bbins
JC watching the Tar Heels pull out a win against UConn
11 comments:
I'm so glad you were able to have a good visit with her! I can't imagine how hard it must be to leave her there, but it is only a short time till you can take her home and have her forever! Love all the pictures, it seems like a very beautiful place.
You will NEVER forget that day on the playground with Emma. I know one day you will show her the pictures and tell her all about it. Maybe even take her back to visit that same playground. May God bless your sweet time together before you leave. It won't be much longer until Forever Day!!!
The cycle of emotions you must be feeling can be no less than overwhelming ~ I can't begin to imagine.
Love the last photo of JC in his Carolina blue ~ guess which team we cheered for! :)
Jo
Just think...this will be all over before you know it! and you will have that little cutie home and your family will be complete. Hang in there.
The pictures are really great!
I'm so glad you were able to have a great visit with Emma. I know what an emotional roller coaster you must be on right now. Seeing her and hten having to leave! But, soon enough she will be in your arms for good!
So glad you had a lovely visit. Good luck tomorrow with court - you'll be in my thoughts!
Wow! I wish you could take her home with you on this trip. What emotions you must go through! We're praying!
I am so glad you got to spend some time with your sweet girl today, but it must have been so hard to leave her.......Hope everything goes well and next time you see her, she will be yours forever and you will never have to let her go!!
Thinking of you......be safe!
xoxo,
Lisa
Oh I pray court goes well for you! It certainly is taking me back again to when we adopted Small Fry. That little boy who cried Mama... Oh I want to say so badly... I'll take you home! One more little boy to fill our home.
I'll be checking back tomorrow! I can't wait until your little Emma is finally at home with you.
Oh my goodness! Memories, memories, memories... I ate at la Davinci! :)
It sounds like you had another great visit with your sweet girl! I can't wait to see her adorable face again! What a journey of a lifetime!
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