waiting days one and two

Things we've done while waiting (in no particular order). Ate pancakes-3x.
Walked the "mall"-2x
Almost got hit by a car-1x (we learned quickly that yellow lights here are for when the light is about to turn green) Spoken to by Russians in Russian-2x
Smiled and nodded polietly (same amount)
Number of times groped by a Russian trying to butt in line-4x
Number of train tickets to Moscow bought-3!
Naps taken-2
Total combined hours slept on the hard squeaky bed-approx.8
Loads of wash done in the worlds tiniest washing machine-1
American food consumed-chicken nuggets,french fries,pizza, coke "light"
Same amount actually tasting American-0
Jazz concerts to be attended tonight with Anna-1
Days left until we see our boy again-6

Fairly Faulous!

My dear friend, Meagan has a more than fabulous shop on Etsy called "Fairly Fabulous". She hand makes these fun and funky one of a kind clothing pieces for children (and some grown-ups too). Cute stuff like stuffed owls, leg warmers, tutus, t-shirts for boys with hand stitched ties, really, really cute stuff. Please check her out HERE. 
Anyway, before Meagan hosted two Pampered Chef Fundraisers for our adoption, and now she wants to donate 10% of her February sales to us as well. What a generous friend......

Now our story- Meagan and I met in High School in Florida, in drivers ed to be exact. That made us fast friends. I guess experiences like that have a lasting impact! Anyway, Meagan has always been charismatic and driven, she was (and still is) a wonderful photographer, journalist, and also had the "privledge" of wearing the giant Kowboy head of our mascot at football games. (Yes I spelled it with a "k" on purpose) Anyway, now we live literally as far as two people can lie apart in the US- different coasts, numerous time zones. But one thing is for certain, I am honored to call her my friend. She has been a prayer warrior in this crazy journey. She is a wonderful, fun mother to her two beautiful girls. If I had to name a "top 10" of people excited about our adoption, Meagan would definately be in the top 10. She calls and emails frequently just to check up on us. She always knows what to say and reminds me that I wasn't always a pastor's wife and it is perfectly ok to cuss at USCIS employees. For that I love her. It's funny how moving further apart has made us closer together, but I guess that is a test of true friendship and the sisterhood of a Keyette. (That's another story) Anyway- THANK YOU MEAGAN!!! 

Oh Happy Day ;0)

Today the Judge said "Da!" Charlie is finally ours! Court went very smoothy.....thank you for your prayers. The proceedings were only about 1 1/2 hours, everyone was kind and professional. Not to say that we weren't nervous beyond all belief and dreading the worst, but it was a success!
Thank you so much for your prayers and for thinking of us today....Now we just must endure the wait, but since we are professional "Waiters" that should not be so bad! We were told we could go and get him on Monday, February 7th (a day earlier than originally thought)
Talk to you soon!

At last.....

Together again......Things went pretty well today, considering Charlie hasn't seen us in 10 months and he is so such bigger and even more independant now.
He pretty much screamed the first 30 minutes until the Russians cleared the room, then I guess he figured he was stuck with us and wanted to see what goodies we brought for him. He had his little picture book and would identify "mama" "papa" "Stasic" in the book. Dr. Anna would ask him "Where's mama?" and he would dart his eyes at us and say "nyet". What a stinker. An incredibly handsome, perfect little stinker.
We spent the early part of the day with him- he is totally potty trained and they say "he is the leader of the class" now and he is still "very active" and "very naughty". ;0)
Once we joined the class again he started to smile and laugh and "show off" for mama and papa, including a trick where he jumped out of his crib and landed on his feet. Oh boy.
His hair has gotten a lot darker, now he REALLY looks like his papa. It's uncanny. Everyone says it.
This whole thing feels surreal.....to see him, to hold him.....finally......
So tomorrow we will prepare for court and do some paperwork (imagine that...more paperwork). So it will be a boring day. Hopefully next time I post, it will be after court and I can tell you he is ours (AT LAST!)
Please remember to keep us in your prayers Thursday early morning as it will Thursday 10am here (we are 8 hours ahead of you....) We are nervous about court and hope that things will go well. Talk to you soon!
Love, Chad and Sarah

hello!

Greetings from warm and sunny pskov. Oh wait its negative 14c here! And there is an amazing amount of snow on the ground. If this much snow was in south carolina we would be shut down for weeks!Anyway we are doing well. Tommorrow we get to see Charlie. We can't wait! We ask your prayers for four things: travel. It is scary here. Two, there was a major bombing at the Moscow airport, the one we leave from on FEb 17th. Many Russians lost their lives today. These types of dangers really frighten us traveling in a foreign place. Third, that Charlie is happy with us tommorrow. FOrth, for court on Thursday. There is a recent story of abuse by an american with an adoptive russian boy all over the news here. They say that court. Was going to be tough for us before, now even worse. If you happen to be awake from 2am-5am on WEdnesday night say a lot of prayers for us as it will be 10am here. They said to prepare to be grilled for close to 4 hours before a verdict is reached. We are nervous. Today we had our medical exams by 8 doctors. That deserves its own special post, one where I am at an actual keyboard and not a tiny cell phone, too many words! But the end result was positive. Thank you for your continued prayers. Love you all!

They have arrived!

This is Sarah's sister Brittany (currently on dog duty and blog duty (they don't have any internet) while they are away!)

I received a text message from Chad and Sarah last night, and they have arrived!!

"Just so you know we made it to St. Pete with no problems, good flight.  It's 6 am here. We are leaving for our doc appointments at 7."

YAY! One day closer to seeing Charlie and bringing him home!!