As for Hope, she is an adorable 2 1/2 year old with a big beautiful smile that will absolutely melt your heart! She is very affectionate, sweet, funny, smart, independent, focused and determined. And she likes everything to be neat, organized and in it's place! She will fit well into our family, lol! She is so precious and reminds us so much of her big brother, Benjamin. We wish we could share her photo with you, but we have been instructed not to post photos or any specific details about her identity on the internet until after the adoption is complete (and some details, like her medical and family history, can never be shared). That means we cannot share her photo by email either. If we see you in person, we will be happy to show you a picture. She is absolutely beautiful and precious!
She only has a few words, but she does speak Russian. She understands most of what is said to her, so we will need to know some words. We learned quite a few words and phrases while we were there and we were able to communicate with her quite well. I am amazed how God helped us and gave us what we needed when we needed it. But we really don't need to be fluent. As long as we know a little bit of Russian, we can help her learn her new language. Getting to know her as we did last week, she will have no trouble learning! She is a very smart little girl!
When we go back depends on the paperwork and the Russian courts. I personally feel that I should be awarded a masters degree for all the work that goes into this process! Regardless, I will be off the radar for a few weeks while I work hard at completing all of the remaining requirements. Please pray for strength, steadfastness, and expediency in the coming weeks as we do all the work that needs to be done to bring her home. And especially pray for Hope, who will be missing us very much while she is waiting. They will do a good job of explaining to her why we are not there, but it was really hard to leave her behind knowing she would not fully understand why we were gone. She is in a good place where they have and will continue to take good care of her. Still, leaving her there was very hard to do.
A few sweet stories we wanted to share before we go ...
When she walked into the orphanage director's room and we saw her face for the first time, she ran to Chad and threw her arms around him. We were told this is very rare as children in orphanages rarely see men. We felt it was a beautiful sign that she would be her daddy's girl. She gave him many, many hugs in the days that followed, but this one was a super special start to their relationship!
At the end of our first visit, her friends came out to the playground and she ran to them saying (in Russian) over and over again, "Mama and Papa came to me!" It was the last thing she said that day and it melted our hearts!
Before we left for Russia, we made a photo book of pictures of the three of us to give her. When we showed her Benjamin's picture (below) and told her that she has a big brother, she kissed it. The rest of the week, she would say "bye-shy-ah brot" (which means big brother) over and over. She loves him already and was so proud to show is picture (and ours) to her little friends and caregivers!
We will be happy to share more stories about Hope when we see you in person. Until then, thank you so much for all of your prayers and support throughout this long process. It has been felt and appreciated so much!!!
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