What a Day!

Update from our first full day in Nizhny, Wednesday July 30 (which was actually yesterday for us as we are writing this in the AM on July 31)

We woke to the most beautiful view from our hotel window...it is simply breathtaking here. Our hotel looks out onto the Volga River and is in a safe, nice part of town. We've been enjoying long walks (where we are heading in just a moment actually!) so that is a major blessing.

Following breakfast at our hotel buffet, we headed out to the Ministry of Education where we received the official invitation to visit the little one and learned his birthday (April 1, 2007) and his last name. We then took an hour ride through lovely countryside to his orphanage.

What we found when we got there was a pleasant surprise. It was clean and well-kept, many children were outside being taken for walks around the grounds in strollers. We looked at each little face wondering if "Little Man" was one of them...

After 45 minutes with the orphanage Dr. and Director, getting the social and health history, we each could feel our hearts about to beat out of our chests as "Little Man" was brought in...

He was very apprehensive at first (a great sign in the adoption world!) not showing any facial expression AT ALL! His little face held fixed eyes as he tried to figure out why these strangers were here to see him. After 15 minutes or so he warmed up nicely. He gave us a sheepish grin as we played--melted our hearts I'll tell you! We were so blessed to spend an hour and a half with him. He crawled around, played with the stacking cups we brought, devoured the cheerios we introduced him to, loved the rattle and other light up/ noisy toys we brought, and was a happy, even giggly at times, child. He took steps to us and honestly just played so happily. He is small for sure—16 months old tomorrow but much more the size of a 12 month old at a max. We did find out that he was born at probably 29 weeks, very premature, but he has caught up quite nicely…he’s a little fighter we think.

Here is a photo of us with “Little Man”. We aren’t allowed to post any “recognizable photos” of him so you’ll just have to take our word for it…he’s scrumptious!


We came back to our hotel, took a nice nap to the rain outside and woke up to this:

Needless to say, we are THRILLED! We had a wonderful visit and were so impressed by the kindness and care that the orphanage workers had. They seem happy for us, happy for him. We go back in a few hours to spend additional time with him and have another visit Friday as well.


The Lord has given us peace, excitement, and so much joy! And we are both feeling healthy and quite rested...added blessings for this journey.

Here is how our day ended yesterday...What a Day!


Thank you for your continued prayers. We LOVE sharing in this with each of you.