* All the details of our GOTCHA DAY *

Going to bed the nigh before I felt just like I did when I was kid on Christmas Eve.

Weather wise we had a beautiful day. By midday it was 62F here. We had no idea it was going to be that nice out. It was wonderful for us but not for Lincoln who was required to wear a snowsuit all day. Even though the poor thing was sweating so badly his clothes were soaked. By midday Eric and I had on sweaters and no jacket that is how nice it was outside.

Ceric picked us up this morning at 9AM then we went to pick up Gen and Joel as usual. As we were driving down the road to the Baby House Ceric got a phone call our judge approved the adoption we may proceed with the paperwork and take the boys from the baby house. Yahoo! Our coordinators would meet us at the Baby House to start the paperwork for Lincoln’s birth certificate and adoption certificate. Once we have these two items we can submit for his passport. Normally submitting for a passport would only take up to 7 days to receive but since this weekend is a huge holiday here it may take up to 10 days for us to get it. Once his passport has been issued we then need to request a visa and Lincoln will need to have a medical exam which is a requirement of the United States. Due to the holiday we may or may not make our flight home on March 31^st.

Gul’nara and Aina came to the Baby House where we started the paperwork process. They then suddenly told us we must go. We must go to the toddler house to sign off on paperwork required by the Head Baby Doctor. It was all very sudden and rushed. We had barely enough time to pack up Lincoln’s stuff and get him in his snowsuit. We had not said our good byes yet to Bernadette & Gaia or Agnes & Sasha. We had also not given the Nannies their good bye gifts. Aina did rush Lincoln & I downstairs and allowed us only a minute to say good bye to the nannies. The Nannies did not even know he was leaving the baby house today. They were all shocked and teary-eyed and unable to say good bye properly. I felt so bad for them and Lincoln who fussed a little when I took him from his play room that last time. We were rushed back upstairs to gather our belongings and during this we said our good byes to our play group. It was too rushed they didn’t even like the fact that we were trying to take picture of our exit. We are not really sure what the big hurry was other than they told us the Head Doctor does not like to wait. Our first appt with him when we arrived in Aktobe was the same rushing around only for a brief meeting.

Lincoln was nervous being outside and getting into the car. He was silent and just starred at everyone. I had given him a rattle to hold and he had a death grip on it. He never let go of it till after we got to the apartment.

From the Baby House we drove over to the Toddler House and when in to meet with the doctor and sign off on some papers. This only took a moment then back into the car to our apartments.

We dropped Gen, Joel & Gabriel off. Lincoln was still being pretty quiet in the car but was starting to look around a bit. Once we dropped the Feliciano’s off we sat Lincoln down on the car seat in between us. He actually really liked this and gave us a few Dada’s and clapped his hands a bit. It was very cute and we of course were happy he was relaxing a bit.

We arrived at our apartment around 11:30am. We brought Lincoln in set him down and took off his snowsuit. He was all smiles and crawled over to play with his toys. We were all very happy. He had missed his snack time so at noon time we feed him a little lunch. We are not sure how much he is suppose to be eating so we gave him one large jar of chicken and veggies which he liked but it had little chunks of potato in it and he had a hard time swallowing them. After this he acted like he was hungry still so we gave him a small jar of fruit. He then seemed satisfied and we changed his diaper. He started fussing and crying we knew he was full and had a dry diaper so he must be tired. At 1:30 he had not given up yet on sleeping so we made him a small bottle of formula and he drank that down fast and fell asleep shortly after that.

Unfortunately for Lincoln we needed to be at the Dept. of Vital Statistics at 3:00 to pick up his birth and adoption certificates. After only 45 minutes of napping he woke up as we put him back into his snowsuit. Needless to say he was not very thrilled about all this but once we got outside he stopped crying and he was very good after that. We drove over to the Dept office and went and completed the paperwork. From here we went directly to the Notary office to have these items notarized. During our short car ride I gave Lincoln his bottle of formula which made him very happy. While we were at the notary office Eric went next door to the Travel Agent and bought our airline tickets back to Almaty on Monday, March 24^th. Lincoln who has all these changes happening so fast and is off his schedule and missing meals you would think he would not be happy but in fact he was sitting on my lap in the notary office and clapping his hands and talking to all the people.

After the notary office and buying airline tickets they dropped Lincoln and I off at the apartment. Eric was taken to the Texho Dom along with Gen & Joel. They were buying our donation to the Baby House. They requested from us a copier/printer so the four of us bought it for them. We are also donating some medicines and clothing that we brought from home for the children. When I got back into the apartment I changed Lincoln’s wet diaper and put him in cooler pants because it was so warm out. I then pour him a bottle of juice and as I was feeding him Eric came back in and said we have to go and we have to go now. Apparently someone called our translators and told them we missed filling out some paperwork that was a requirement and if we did not get their within 10 minutes we would have to wait till Monday to do it due to the holidays. We have airline tickets leaving Aktobe on Monday so this was not going to work for us. So I took Lincoln’s bottle from him which made him cry, packed him back up in his snowsuit which he still isn’t thrilled about and out the door we went. We rushed to the Center of Child Affairs and all of us raced up to the third floor where our coordinator was waiting for us. We walked in the woman behind the desk looked at us and we were told we could all leave. What?? Apparently she just wanted to make sure we were real people before she would complete the necessary paperwork. Back into the car and back to our apartment. It was around 5:45 when we got back again and by 6:30 Lincoln was sleeping and slept till 9:30. At 9:30 he got up drank a bottle, got a new diaper and PJs and went to bed again. He slept through all through the night.

Today is day we will never forget. We wished we were not rushed here and there all day long but Lincoln handled it better than I ever would have expected. He was so good in the car and never cried at any of the stops we made through out the day. He even at times cracked a smile, did some babbling and practiced clapping his hands. It was obvious he was willing to put up with whatever it took to get him home with us forever. I hope the days when we take our flights he is just as a happy and as well behaved.