Goodbye...for now....

Today began with Sasha taking us to see "The Cathedral of Christ's Resurrection" also known as "Church of Spilt Blood". We are at a loss to explain the extreme beauty of this structure - it is absolutely amazing. We did not visit the inside (possibly our next trip) but just getting the opportunity to see the outside of it was a wonderful experience. We were then off to the notary to have our official application for adoption (of this specific child) filed. This particular form is the first step needed so that Natasha can begin applying for our court date. The next destination was to have our Russian medical exams completed - apparently 2 American medical exams and blood work is not enough :) It was a relatively painless experience - John was not a fan of the blood work, but Laurie is very used to having that done though :)

It was then time for our final visit of this trip. We were first taken to the social worker at the orphanage who needed to meet us before she could sign a form of our approval in "their eyes". Then we were led into the same room we were in on Tuesday (with the truck). They brought him in and he soon eased into playing with our toys again. John decided to bring the truck over to him at one point and his entire face lit up at the sight of it. We followed him as he circled the room countless times happy as can be. During a break from the truck, he discovered two hula hoops that were in the room. John began to spin them on the ground and he surprised us by trying (and succeeding) to imitate the movement. John then placed the hoops together and started hitting them on the floor making a silly sound...for some reason, that was a funny movement to him and for about 5 minutes there was uncontrollable laughter coming from him - it was probably the best sound we have ever heard. Laurie video taped it and we have already watched it 3 times this evening :) When our visit was winding down, he began rubbing his eyes. With about 5 minutes left he cried a little bit (for the first time) out of fatigue - we think all of the truck riding and laughing tired him out. We were sadly able to say goodbye - knowing that this is necessary to bring us closer to the time when we can bring him home with us.

We visited our favorite little Italian restaurant again for dinner - 3 out of 5 nights we ate dinner there :) It is difficult to feel adventurous when it is so freezing cold outside and a restaurant we are comfortable with and enjoy is relatively close. Sasha is picking us up at 11:00 am tomorrow to begin our journey home (our flight leaves Russia at 2:00 pm which is 6:00 am at home). We will arrive home in Pittsburgh very late Friday night. As hard as it will be to leave him here, we know that the end is in sight and he will be home with us soon.