One Year Ago - He's Stolen Our Hearts

{This post was originally published one year ago, when we were in Ukraine adopting our sweet Carter}

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Around lunch, we met up with our friends, Bryan and Alecia - they were in the city just for the day, and it was SO good to spend time with them again.  We laughed about all kinds of things - like apple crisp vs. brownies, kids growing up and moving out, bubblers, sparkly headbands and puffer vests...and it was just, good.  So good.  And I learned something about myself today...apparently, I have a Wisconsin accent :)  I'm not too happy about that!

Keep praying that God would work out their situation.  It's so cool to watch them seeking God and His will for them!  They are such an awesome couple, and we know God is honored in their lives!

One of the cutest stray dogs we've seen yet :) He looks like just a puppy - and he was so hoping that someone would buy him a happy meal :)  No such luck!

I ordered a Mocha at one of the 'coffee trucks' - it was so, so, so, SO good.  And it only cost $1.50!!

And this picture has brought to my attention an important packing tip for the next trip.

BRING A COMB!!!   :)

Us and Bryan & Alecia...At Friday's :)  We even ordered dessert this time...who knows when we'll see each other again!  

We knew that we'd hear sometime after 4:00p about our potential court date.  So we went to our afternoon visit as usual.  We were a bit early, and Carter was sleeping again when we got there, so we took advantage of the sunshine and snapped a few photos of his orphanage.

Soon - very soon, we can break our boy outta here.  

There are many birch trees around the orphanage - in fact, the name of his orphanage means 'birch' in Russian.

Inside the orphanage.

This is for Alecia!  Butterflies!!

Today, Carter was so ready to ditch that little couch in the hallway.  This boy wanted to explore.  As he gets more comfortable with us, he tests his limits.  It's good - it shows that he feels safe with us, I guess.  Today, we explored the ramp up to the second story.

I know it's blurry, but I just had to share it.  LOVE this little tongue sticking out.

 We didn't take many photos of Carter today, because much of our visit was Jake and I discussing 'should we do this' or 'should we leave this day' or 'what if we leave this day...'.  Not an easy decision to make!  But it was a good visit, regardless.  We got a few snuggles, gave lots of kisses...and walked around a bit with our boy.

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We spoke with Yulia around 5:00p.  She said that we will have the adoption friendly judge - which is wonderful.  However, we won't know our actual court date until Monday.  There is a slight chance that we could have court a week from Monday (the 24th of Oct), but again, we won't know until this coming Monday.  There is also a chance that court will be farther out than that.

That's just how it goes.

We have decided to leave tomorrow, and we'll wait to hear our court date.  If we have to come back in 8 or 9 days - that's just fine.  Of course, the sooner the court date, the better.   We plan to stay 4 - 5 days around court, and then come home for the 10 day wait.

For now, that's the plan.  It's not concrete.  It might change.

No - it will likely change.

And we'll just roll with it.

Because that's what we do :)

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Needless to say, leaving Carter was hard.  We typed another note to the nannies.  It said "We are going back to America tomorrow.  We will miss Anton very much.  Can he keep this puppy with him?  We will be back in a few weeks.  Thank you!".  They seemed to understand it when they read it - but we noticed that as we left, the nanny was holding the puppy.  So who knows :)  We specifically didn't leave a 'special' toy with him - because we know we might never see it again.  It's just a puppy that my mom had, and had given it to us to bring with us. I've been sleeping with it, so hopefully they'll let him keep it, since it has our smells on it.

We said 'paka paka paka' - because that's what the nannies say when we leave.  And we walked out the door.

And Jake cried.  And then I lost it.

This little boy has stolen our hearts.  In one week.

Incredible.

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So - in 7 hours (3:00a)...we will meet Niko downstairs, and we'll be on our way to the airport.  We should be home around 4:00p (home time).

And that's that.

One Thing I Know For Sure: I never, never, never thought I'd be sad to leave.