Gotcha Day!!!

Changing them out of their orphanage clothes into their clothes



Poor sick baby




Gettin' out for good!




Goodbye orphanage




In our apartment

Gotcha day! We left around 10am to get their birth certificates. That was cool, to hold their Russian birth certificates in my hand with their new names and Paul and I as their mother and father:). Then we headed out for the drive to the orphanage. We really hadn't gotten out of Krasnoyasrk when the orphanage called to say that Asher was running a high fever and the doctor was not wanting to let him leave the orphanage with us due to his illness. We assured them that we wanted to take him today even if he was sick and that my mom was a pediatric nurse. They would not commit to letting us take him on the phone but told us to come and see. We prayed like crazy the whole way...I even prayed that you all would just pray even though you didn't know why...so if any of you were woke in the middle of night with the urgency to pray for us, thats way. We arrived at the orphanage and met with the director (also a Dr.) and again reassured her that we wanted to take him today. They drafted up a paper that they wanted me to sign saying I assumed full responsibility for his medical needs and care and didn't hold the orphanage liable. It cracked me up...he's MY son for crying out loud...yes, I will assume responsibility...

We were so happy though that we could take him and that we wouldn't have to go back there again on Monday. So I changed them out of their orphanage clothes into their clothes, bundled them up in true Russian style and off we went! They did great on the three hour drive back. Poor Asher's fever had spiked again and he was pretty puny the whole time but Faith kept us all laughing and giggling with her little antics. She spend a 1/2hr trying to figure out the water bottle nipple we bought her. She has such determination. Bless her little heart, she is potty trained and drank her whole bottle of water on the trip home. We all asked her if she needed to go potty and she said she had gone in her diaper. She was in tears though by the time we got to the apartment because she had to go so bad and come to find out she hadn't gone at all in her diaper, she had been holding it the whole time. Poor precious girl.

They explored the apartment and we got Asher some medicine. They both seemed fairly calm, a few tears here and there but overall, they did great. I rocked Asher to sleep and he went down fine. I laid down with Faith who was much more teary, scared and unsure until she heard Asher fuss and realized he was in the room with us. Then when Grammy came in for bed too she was even more calm. She is just so used to the sound of lots of bodies around her while she sleeps. Asher woke up a few times with the fever and sore throat but overall they slept well considering the circumstances. Faith fussed once or twice but when I would remind her that we were there she would go right back to sleep.

God has been so good. There are two less orphans tonight....