Time at the Orphanage Part 1 & 2

I have been having some difficulty with the internet here in Siberia. Must be the cold. I will have to include pictures later because I am on the hotel computer. We arrived here in Krasnoyarsk yesterday morning after a 4 1/2 hour flight from Moscow. After almost getting shot by Russian soldiers for videotaping the outside of the plane and being crammed in the tightest seats on Aeroflot (Russian airline), we were happy to get off the plane and to our hotel. We had a few hours to freshen up before meeting with a member of the Ministry of Education to discuss our adoption, and then it was off to the orphanage. We met Mikhail for the first time, and it was an amazing experience. Just waking from a nap, he was both tired and sick, and clung to Sara for at least the first thirty minutes. Having not seen men before (all the caretakers are women), it took him a while to warm up to me. I was mostly relegated to camera and video duty for the first hour. It wasn't until snack time that I was able to break some ground. He let me feed him, and after that we were buds. We played for the rest of the time before we had to leave after about 2 hours. It was back to the hotel then for an early morning back to the orphanage. Second visit was similar to the first, but everything progressed faster. We got to play blocks with him and color in a coloring book. He is a very quiet kid, but also very smart. We got another two hours with him on this trip, but we had to say goodbye this time for a few months instead of a night. That was hard for sure! There were so many details of our visit that I would love to write down, but I could spend hours writing about Mikhail (Misha as he is nicknamed in the orphanage, which means "bear") and nobody wants to read all that. But one thing stuck out to me above everything else. Many have asked me, and I have asked myself, "Will I love this adopted child like I love my biological children?" I now have the answer, and it is without a doubt "YES". From the minute I saw him walk into that room to see us in the orphange, I knew I was in love with him. It felt right and perfect from the moment I held him for the first time. And when I kissed him goodbye at the end of our trip, I felt as if I was leaving my own son behind, and it crushed me. We have agreed to adopt Mikhail, and it will still be months before we can take him home, but in my heart he is ours from now on. For anyone thinking about adoption and wondering if they could possibly love another's child, the answer is yes. We are all God's children, and he loves us with a love that stretches beyond anything that we can possibly understand or imagine. And it is He that gives us the ability to love, not just our own family but our neighbor's as well. And He has placed in our hearts as his adopted children the ability to love adopted children of our own. Well, my eyes are crossing as it is getting late and we have to be up at 4 am for our flight back to Moscow. Until next time.....