Yesterday afternoon, we had a tour of the city with a tour guide from our adoption agency.We tried to take it all in so we can share photos and memories with Nik as he gets older.
This morning, we had another great visit with Nik. He was very, very excited to see us when we arrived and immediately started hugging me and didn't want to let go. We played with him for a couple of hours and had a lot of fun with him. We seem to be getting into a groove of communicating with him, so I am a little less intimidated about figuring that out when we bring him home. This afternoon, we spend a couple of hours in an attorney's office signing a lot of papers that we didn't understand very well, so they can file a petition in the court to officially adopt him! We were told we will know our court date in about 2 weeks and it should be before the end of September. Tomorrow morning will be our last visit with Nik before we head home. He was very upset when we left him today, so I am anticipating tomorrow being a little (okay, a lot) rough. We appreciate your prayers for us, but especially for him as we leave him for the next month or six weeks.
Below are photos from our tour of Moscow and from our visit today!
 |
| Brent and I at St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square. This was built to commemorate the defeat of Napoleon by Russia and is one of the few cathedrals to survive the Soviet era. |
 |
| Photo in front of the Kremlin, also at Red Square. The wall was the original wall to the city and dates to the 1400's. Currently, government offices and the president's office are at the Kremlin. |
 |
| This is the Cathedral of Christ our Savior. It originally took 44 years to be built but was destroyed by Stalin. He built a swimming pool in its place. In the 1990's it was rebuilt in 2 years by workers working 24 hours a day in shifts. We went inside and it is very ornate and beautiful. |
 |
| This is a photo of a gate at a famous nunnery in Moscow. In times of the Tsar's, infertile wives were sent there to be nuns. During the soviet era, it was used for different purposes but it is now a nunnery again. There is a very large cemetery there with many famous Russians including Boris Yeltsin and Stalin's second wife and various writers and actors. |
 |
| Nik loves the flowers around the orphanage. |
 |
| Playing with Nik on the outdoor play equipment. |
 |
Brent is getting Nik started on technology with my iphone.
He quickly figured out how to scroll through photos and enjoyed
a video of Maddie and Dylan. |
 |
| So sweet! Nik loves hugs. |
 |
Nik thought it was VERY funny to put my sunglasses on me
upside down. Shortly thereafter, he broke them. It was a
small price to pay for the fun! |
Love seeing y'alls journey. Saying some prayers as you go into this last day with your sweet boy.
ReplyDeleteTiffany
Everytime I read your blog I practically cry. But they are tears of joy and some of pain as well as you navigate through this journey to adopt Nik! What a precious little boy he is and how blessed he is that you will be his new family. I so believe that God has called us ALL to be restorers to a very broken world. This little boy's world was broken and YOU as God's servants will be part of making his life whole again. I am in awe of the way that you have trusted God through every step of this process and can't wait for you all to be able to share your story to encourage others to also be agents of restoration and healing! Praying for you and for Nik as you depart. I know it will be hard and there will be tears but I'm reminded of that passage and I know it will be true for Nik and YOU too,
ReplyDelete"You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you forever." Before long those tears will be completely replaced with joy as Nik experiences the gift and love of one incredibly amazing family and you will know the fulfillment of your longing and the answers to all your prayers!