Update

Hello
We went to the flea market this morning! It was very similar to our flea markets, except noone speaks English and it is VERY crowded. We bought a few gifts to bring back with us. We then went to Arbat Street, which is mainly for tourists. They have a Hard Rock Cafe, which was awesome and they have ICE!!! Tomorrow we have to register Drew at the Russian Consulate so they will now where he can be located! Other than that we don't have anything much to do. We are just counting down the days until we get to get on that Delta plane and fly home!! Love you guys, please pray for our flight home!!
Love
Tim and Laura

Update

Hello from Moscow,

Today we walked all the way to Red Square which is about a 40 minute walk from our hotel. On the way we stopped at McDonald's and Drew got his first taste of a cheeseburger happymeal with coke!! He loved the fries the best! It is about 85 degrees here and you have to walk everywhere so we are really sweaty and nasty all of the time. Tomorrow we are going to the flee market with Vladimir. I am not really sure what to expect at the flea market! It is Russia's "independence day" weekend so every night there has been fireworks and parties everywhere! Not much exciting stuff happening here. Drew is doing o.k. He is testing his boundaries with us all of the time. Hopefully this will get better when we get home. Love all of you
Tim, Laura, and Drew

Update Day??

Hello from Moscow,

Well, only 5 days left! Thanks for all the support while we have been here! It has been a very long and eventful trip. Drew is doing o.k. It rained today, so we couldn't get out of the hotel to do anything. Tomorrow we are going to go to Red Square and try to find McDonald's. We will go to a flea market with Vladimir, our driver, on Sunday. A flea market in Russia, this should be interesting. We just can't wait to come home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tim and Laura

Update Day ????

Hello from Moscow,

It is Thursday at 610 pm. Now we are only 8 hours ahead of you guys instead of 12. Drew is doing well! He is a very active 2 year old, to say the least! The doctor came to check him out this morning at our room. This afternoon we had our appointment at the American Embassy. So, now Drew has his passport and his Visa to come back to the U.S. Tomorrow is a holiday here, so we have to wait until Monday to go to the Russian Consulate to register Drew. OH yeah, Greg and Alan will be happy to know that Drew is probably a leftie!! Tomorrow we are going to try and take Drew to the zoo. Everything in Moscow is so expensive that we can't do a lot of activities here. I almost had to give Timothy mouth-to-mouth in the supermarket because I bought a PEOPLE magazine and it was $27.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought Tim was going to die! Love you guys!

Tim and Laura

Update Day 20

It is our last night in Kemerovo! I am so sick and tired of this place! We fly out in the morning at 7 am for Moscow. It is about a 4 1/2 hour plane ride. We have our bag packed with toys and food, hopefully enough to keep him occupied. Drew did well today. We took him to the park and he had his first ice cream! You should have seen his face! He did not love it. It is around 9:40 pm here. We have no air conditioning and it is about 85 degrees. Tim and I have only slept about 5 hours in the last 3 days. It is so hot in our room we can't sleep. Anyway, only a week to go but it feels like an eternity!! Please pray for our plane ride in the morning!! Love you guys

Tim and Laura

Update Day 19

I don't even know where to start! Today was a wonderful day! We picked Drew up from the orphanage about 4 pm. He acted like a different kid as soon as we left the orphanage! He did great the whole 3 hour ride back to Kemerovo. He didn't get sick, didn't cry, and didn't even fuss. He played the whole time with the toys I had brought him and his seat belt. When we got back to the hotel, we came up to the room to let him use the bathroom. Then we decided to go down to the cafe next to our hotel. He ate spaghetti and LOVED IT! We had to stop him from eating but we didn't want to feed him to much. He did great at the cafe! He did run straight into the glass doors on the way out, it was pretty hilarious!! Right now it is 11 pm here. He is laing in his bed looking at me like, what is going on here? He has his stuffed animal from the orphanage that they let him bring with him. He loved his bath, but did not like to have his teeth brushed!! Tomorrow we are going to take him to the park if it is good weather. We fly out early Wednesday morning to Moscow. Please pray for us and him on the 4 hour plane ride back to Moscow! Thanks for all your prayers and please keep them coming! Only 9 more days to go!!
Love Tim and Laura

Update Day 18

Only 3 more days in Kemerovo!! We leave in the morning to go to the police department for his new passport and to pick up his new birth certificate and adoption certificate! We have been walking a lot today and we actually ran into the other two couples that are also adopting. We went over to their apartment and spent about 3 hours just talking about what we had all been through. It sounds like we have all been through a lot! One of the couples came last year and their adoption did not go through!! So, this is the 5th time they have been here. The other couple had problems in court hearing. The maternal grandfather was still alive and had not "signed off" that the child could be adopted. So, it could be worse!! Everything for both of them is o.k. We are going to try to sleep tonight. We are a little nervous and excited at the same time! Tim is feeding me our supper, which is our version of ramen noodles, while I post on our blog! Such a sweetie!! Please continue to pray for Drew's transition to his new parents and his new life. It is going to be a big change for him! Love you guys
Tim and Laura