Mr. Maksim

Another wonderful day! We got to see our little guy again today! 3 months to the day from the last time I saw him.

We woke up early as Sergei was coming to get us at 7:30am. Alyssa was our translator today. It was a 3 hour drive South to Prokopyevesk and the Orphanage. Jason tried to take pictures of the highway for our blog, but it was bumpy and his phone isn't very good at action shots. It was crazy blowing snow across the road!

We arrived at the Orphanage around 10am. We went directly into Dr. Ludmilla's office to speak with her and ask her more questions. She truly is a very caring, wonderful lady. I feel so blessed to have her watching over my son when I can't be there. I know she cares, and I know the other ladies working there care as well. Its obvious when they're with the children. About 5 minutes into being there, the door opened and in walked a little blonde angel. Ok, a little blonde, I'm not so sure about the angel part. :) He looked a little confused, carrying his little truck that we left him last time. He was so cute in a little brown & white striped shirt and overalls, with Winnie the Pooh shoes! He seemed a bit more timid than the last time we saw him, but still came to us without much hesitation.

We went into the music room with the kids to play for a few hours. Once again, Maks was enamored with our food. We were so much better prepared this time, with lots of variety and lots of cookies! He always kept an eye on where the food was. :) I loved that he loved to be held by his Mommy today. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I am a woman and that was more familiar than a Daddy was. Regardless, I'll take it any way I can get it! The time went by so fast! We were able to play, read a book, and try on some of his new clothes. When we came on the trip we weren't sure of the sizes to bring. He was wearing 9mos clothes today and his 12 mos new clothes fit fairly well. Still a little big, but with that appetite they'll fit soon!

One big change of plans today, due to some unforeseeable circumstances we are going to stay in Siberia for the next week instead of heading back to Moscow tomorrow. We'll be in Kemerovo one more day and then head down to Novokuznetsk to be closer to the Orphanage. Its about an hours drive from there, instead of 3! The great news is that we'll be able to see Maks more! We won't have a laundry, wi-fi or international calls though. All small prices to pay for that little face. So my blog updates might be more sporadic. Not sure how easy it will be to get online. Who knows? Maybe it will be easy! There is a Travelers Coffee there too. Jason checked it out online already.

9 more days until Maks starts his journey home with Mom & Dad! YEAH!