This makes me want to cry. It's from my friend who, as of yesterday, is now the proud mama of 2 Russian former-orphans.
P is the older one (age 6), who has been thrilled about the whole thing from Day 1. D is the younger one (age 3), who has been terrified of my friends and didn't want to leave the only world she's ever known.
Okay, so here's our first 24 hour summary:
Crying, no, wailing for 32 minutes (we timed it) from D last night. She was so exhausted she just fell asleep midcry.
Naps for both of them today (we intentionally wore them out), during which I could hear D saying "P____, P____" in a very quiet voice.
Baths tonight, which went over verrrry well. You'll see from the pictures. Don't fret, <husband> is doing their hair.
I got smiles from D, a hug and kiss and an "I love you". That was HUGE.
Shockingly they love Disney Princess movies, in Russian, of course.
Papa reads to them from a Princess book before they go to bed.
I am a very lucky woman.
We are still scared to death.
I'm so happy for them! They've been through all kinds of hell. Failed IVF treatments. A surrogacy that ended in a miscarriage. Husband refusing to consider adoption, then changing his mind, then having this adoption take twice as long as they usually take (which of course is ridiculously long to start with).
Still another couple of weeks before the kids' visas get processed and they come back home. I can't imagine the shell shock of going from an orphanage to a giant midwestern walmart.