http://lusey.com James 1:27 Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:59:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   The adventure Saturday to get home was actually much easier than expected.  Some of that was due to the blessing that Valera got his own seat on the Singapore Airlines flight from Moscow to Houston.  He got to play and climb all over the seat.  While the girls watched numerous ... http://lusey.com/?p=88   After a 5 hour flight delay trying to leave Siberia Wednesday, we finally made our way to Moscow. Valera was quite the ham on the plane. He hadn't had a nap and wasn't interested in sleeping on the plane either. He enjoyed grabbing the hair of the people sitting in ... http://lusey.com/?p=85 It's official. We are Valera's parents. Katya has all of our documents and we went and filed for Valera's passport today, which should be ready tomorrow night. We will then travel to Moscow on Wed morning and complete all the necessary steps to bring him to the States on Saturday. You ... http://lusey.com/?p=80 Well, we've been in Tomsk for nearly two weeks and most days have consisted of two visits with Valera. Each visit needed to be supervised by someone from our agency since we are not officially his parents until we receive the court certified documents on Monday, July 27th. ... http://lusey.com/?p=78   Yesterday we wrapped up the shopping for the Baby House with Xenaida (Zena).  I can't tell you the joy that it brought her to be able to buy some very needed supplies.  She shared with us that the global economic crisis has hurt their budget at the Baby House.  The ... http://lusey.com/?p=73           As the days have passed we have really started to see Valera seem more and more comfortable with us, especially Krista.  He's always very excited to see us arrive at the Baby House to pick him up.  He seems okay with both the stroller and the car seat, both of ... http://lusey.com/?p=65 [gallery]   Yesterday afternoon we got to take a trip with the Director of the Tomsk Baby House.  "Zena" is the head Doctor and Director of the City Baby House in Tomsk.  She has been overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends and family.   As you can see from the pictures, we ... http://lusey.com/?p=59   Krista and I spent nearly four hours in the courtroom yesterday presenting our statements and reviewing nearly 60 documents for our petition to adopt Valera.  The Judge returned with his ruling and decreed that Krista and I are granted permission to adopt Valera.   We were also permitted to change his ... http://lusey.com/?p=55 After being up more than fifty hours in a row, I finally got to sleep last night.  Our trip to Siberia was physically exhausting for me personally.    I really can't complain.  Our flight overseas was terrific.  Our accommodations onboard the Singapore Airlines 777-300 were better than any economy class cabin ... http://lusey.com/?p=49   As I sit down to update our blog, I couldn't be more excited about the news we have to share, but it wouldn't be fair to just write about how we feel today without sharing how difficult the past three weeks have been.   As each day passed, we missed Valera more.  ... http://lusey.com/?p=47