Stage one complete.

Nice leisurely start this morning after our travels last night, surprisingly familiar breakfast in the hotel restaurant, though can't remember the last time I had roast pork and sprouts with my sausages and eggs in the morning!  After breakfast we ventured out for a walk to explore the area and get a few supplies.  Finally 4pm came round and we were able to head out for our meeting with the ministry officials so that we could formally begin the adoption process.  We met in a very 'Soviet' building and handed over a huge quantity of paperwork, answered a few questions through our interpreter and thankfully everything seemed to go very smoothly.

Tomorrow we are heading out to a local clinic to have our medicals, these are a requirement for court.  Over the course of the whole day we see 8 different doctors and have blood samples and X-rays taken.  We have been warned to expect a long, boring day.

Weekend we have nothing to do and will hopefully head out to a few of the tourist spots around Moscow, Red Square, Kremlin, etc.

Finally on Monday we will have our follow-up meeting with the ministry official and then at last we get to the real reason we have come all this way, seeing our son for the first time!

Thanks to all who have been praying thus far, keep praying that the rest of the trip will progress well.

Philip & Amanda

Made it to Moscow...

It's 3.02am and we have just arrived at the Hotel Bega! Drove past the Kremlin on the way, any lingering doubts that we were really in Moscow kinda vanished then!!

Will post more tomorrow, just wanted to let everyone know we've arrived safely. Feels very surreal at the moment, lots of memories of our time in Kazakhstan flooding back!

We are meeting the ministry officials tomorrow at 4pm, pray all goes well.

Philip & Amanda.

Part of the Kremlin

Our Hotel 

On our way to Russia, yes really!

Ok, that was a little quicker than expected!

Got a phone call on Monday night from our agency in Russia telling us that they had a referral for us in Moscow and could we make it out next Wednesday.  Once the initial shock wore off we very quickly agreed and have spent the last couple of days frantically trying to get visa's, flights and hotel accommodation, etc organised.  Few issues with our visas but I think everything should sorted out now.

Leah is incredibly excited, firstly because we are going out to Russia to start the process of bringing home her new wee brother and also the fact that she will spending the 8 days we are away staying with both sets of Grandparents, Brooke and Molly's house and Charlie and Olivia's house and being spoiled rotten!

So... heading out to Moscow on Wednesday to meet our son for the first time, we'll keep you posted!!

Keep praying!

Philip, Amanda and Leah

Documents in Russia... Patiently waiting...

A few minor delays, a few redone documents, few last minute changes, standard adoption procedure really but all our documents are now finally in Russia, nothing more for us to do other than wait and pray!

Our agency has told us to expect a 1 to 3 month wait for a referral and once we get details of a child we should travel out roughly a week later.  Three trips this time and it could be up to 3 months between travelling out and meeting him for the first time and the third trip when Leah, Amanda and I travel out to bring him home!  Very surreal to think that we will meet our son for the first time soon...

Meanwhile, since our last post Leah has started school and loves it so far, it really helps that she knows so many of her class already from our Sunday School and last years playgroup.

I'll finish this edition with a few pics of Leah in uniform.

Next post will be confirming when we are travelling out for the first time, hopefully we will be posting soon!!

Philip, Amanda and Leah

Leah's first day.

In the park after a stressful first day!

Leah's Ballet Pose.

Documents nearly in Russia!!

Since our last post we have finally got our full adoption dossier completed and notarized in Belfast, then sent off to the FCO office in England to be legalized, then back from the FCO 2 days later with word that 8 of our docs couldn't be legalized, then spent a few days tracking down replacement documents, then back to the notary in Belfast, back to the FCO, back to us and then finally out to our agency in America, phew!!

Our agency will spend a couple of days reviewing our dossier before sending it out to Russia. After their workers in Russia have checked it over we have been told to expect a referral in one to three months, back to patiently waiting....

Keep you posted on any fresh developments!

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Its been a while...

Can't believe its been almost two years since our last blog post!!

Leah is now 4 and starts P1 in only a few weeks, she is doing fantastically well and is just a delight, she has the lovely combination of being a 'girly' girl, into her princess dress's, sparkly shoes, bling, dressing in mummys clothes etc as well as running, jumping, climbing as fast and as high as possible with no fear whatsoever! When people said 'the time will fly', 'they grow up so fast', etc you just nod and agree but don't really believe it! I can actually confirm the time DOES fly and they DO grow up at 100mph right before your eyes...

All the pain, blood, sweat, tears and frustrations of our adoption journey are now far enough in the past that we are well on the way to adoption number two. We decided pretty early on our return from Kazakhstan that we would adopt again and after a couple of years on the waiting list and another exhaustive period of assessment we have finally completed all the paperwork from the UK side and our adoption dossier is almost ready to go out to Russia.

We will hopefully get details of a referral in the next month or so and possibly be out in Russia within the next couple of months, its a three trip process this time and we trust it will run a little smoother than our Kazakhstan experience, (we hope)!!

Will keep you posted, in the meantime I better update the blog with a few pics of Leah.

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Leah with Jacob and Charlie

Leah on the log ride at Disney

Leah and Olivia at the Zoo

Anyone still out there?!

Wow, been a long time since my last post!

Not sure is anyone is still out there but I'll give you a wee update anyway!

Leah is now two and a half and is doing great, shes is talking really well, has an absolute obsession with Disney Princesses (Cinderella in particular), has boundless energy and is a load of fun. She is also unbelievably girly, I had hoped for some tom-boy tendencies but she is into dress's, beads, singing and dancing and definitely not football.

Despite her girlyness however she is also a bit of a dare devil, wants to climb everything in sight and she loves me throwing her in the air as high as possible and pushing her around in her car as fast as my legs can carry me, very tiring being a Dad! :)

Anyway... unto the pics, I promise I'll update at Christmas....

Philip, Amanda & Leah

Cheeky Smile


Meeting Cinderella in Florida


Out for a drive with Jacob


Playing with Rosie

Leahs best Cheesy Smile!