Friday, July 4, 2008

Well, Logan did not exactly sleep the night thru and so we were up with him pretty early. Everyone was at our house and we headed out to Crackel Barrel for breakfast. Logan enjoyed all the different types of food. I still cannot believe how well he is doing for such big changes in his little world.

Afterwards we came back to the house and they all told us to just relax and they would take care of him. This was such a blessing, because we were still so exhausted. They gave him a bath and played with him and all his new toys...it was like Christmas in our living room. Brian and I took this time to take a much needed shower and nap. Oh how thankful I am for family!

When we woke up we went to buy tons of fireworks. Logan loved them and was laughing and smiling the whole time. Once again we were shocked at how well he adjusts to new situations. One thing we wanted to always do was continually expose him to new things and experiences. He sure makes that easy to do!

I don't think we could've come back at a better time....Happy July 4th! We truly do love America.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

We are on our way home! It seems like forever since we were there. This is definitely an experience I will never forget. The driver picked us up and we headed to the airport. We bought Logan's ticket and next thing we knew we were in the air. Our first stop was Frankfurt Germany. We got there and first thing we did was loose one of Logan's shoes on the bus. So we had our first mishap with him, and we were positive it wouldn't be the last :)

We had a long delay and then finally boarded the plane for Washington Dulles airport. Were not looking forward to this flight b/c it had already been a very long day and this was our long flight. Unfortunately Logan decided to not sleep the entire flight and wanted to cry alot....actually so did Brian and I. We couldn't console him to sleep so none of us got any sleep at all. Then, we finally landed in Washington and he still did not sleep, so neither did we. One good thing is that we were finally able to call our family b/c the cell phones would work. Logan got to talk, actually listen, as grandma's and grandpa's spoke to him. After the layover there, we got onto the smaller plane to Indy and finally he slept for an hour on my lap. Needless to say an hour in 24 is not enough for any of us. We were all exhausted and pretty grumpy with each other (first family fights).

I will never forget the excitement and feeling of love that I felt when we got off the plane and saw all of our family there waiting on us. Tears instantly came as they stood there with their excited grins and balloons. We were so tired, but at that moment everything was just perfect and all that I could ever have imagined. Logan was a lucky little boy to have these wonderful people as his family. There was my mom, dad, brothers aaron & alex, grandma & grandpa cummins, aunt tonya, uncle eric & cousin nick, and brian's mom & dad.
Logan obviously welcomed the change too b/c he actually went to pretty much everyone and we were oh so thankful for that! We all headed back to our house and a couple hours later finally all went to bed.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Today we had to go to the US Embassy in Moscow. Our driver picked us up and dropped us off. It was a little daunting to go alone, but we felt comfortable immediately b/c there were other Americans. Once we got to the final waiting room it was neat to see all the different families and their newly adopted children. Logan was the cutest of course :) We were pleasantly suprised to see the lady that translated for us at the Moscow hospital in the beginning of the trip. She was so happy to meet Logan since at that time she had only seen pictures.

Our driver picked us up and gave us some places to go since we still had the rest of the day. We headed out with Logan in the stroller and walked miles and miles again. We saw a whole new part of Moscow and were glad for the info from the driver. Only problem was that as we got away from the hotel it started pouring down rain. We grabbed Logan out of the stroller and I held him. We stood under a store front and I had him stick his hand out into the rain. He really enjoyed that and thought it was pretty funny.

That evening we got everything packed up and ready for our departure the next day....Finally heading home!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today the doctor came at 8 am to check out Logan. He came to the hotel and examined Logan in our room. He kept saying how good-looking Logan was and it would be hard to keep the ladies off of him :) He also said that he was positive that the seizure medication could stop once we had Logan checked out by a neurologist.

Once Logan got a clean bill of health the Doctor left and we were one step closer to getting home. We had the rest of the day to ourselves so we decided to tour the city of Moscow. We took Logan everywhere! We pretty much walked miles and miles that day and he really seemed to enjoy it. He ate Sbarro pizza for the first time and really only liked the crust. We fed him cheerios all day long and he drank lots of bottled water with us. That night we gave him a bath and he wasn't too thrilled at first, but then he started to like it. It was a great first day as a family!

Monday, June 30, 2008

Well, today was the big day. We arrived at the orphanage to pick up Logan forever. We got there and gave them the clothes for him to be dressed in and then we had to meet with the doctor for instructions on his eating, sleeping, meds, etc. What a wonderful moment when they brought him into the office. He was wearing the yellow striped shirt and tan pants and gave us the biggest smile. He actually looked so happy to see us...especially since it had been a couple of days. He came right to us and then we had a couple pictures taken and we were off. So long orphanage forever!

He was a little frightened of the car, but he sat on daddy's lap and just watched out the window. We stopped by a baby store to buy neccessities such as formula, food and of course diapers. He loved playing with brochures in the store and was doing very well with us, what a brave little boy.

We did have one scare on the way to the airport...I forgot the papers from the visa dept stating that we could be in Moscow and Rostov. Usually the officers ask for them before you can leave Rostov and if you don't have them then you have to get them. Man did I start praying fast. I couldn't imagine being stuck in Rostov all because I left that folder at home....of course I could envision it lying on the desk at home where I left it. Guess that's what happens when you only have a couple days to pack for a 3 week trip. So, anyways, we got up to the officers and all they did was congratulate us and play with Logan a little. Larissa told us that we were very lucky...I told her luck had nothing to do with it, I had been praying like crazy in my head :)

Logan did awesome on the plane. He just watched out the window and was playing with us. We were a little scared at the end b/c we weren't landing very smoothly, but I looked down and he was fast asleep in my arms. How good that felt.

When we got to the Courtyard Marriott in Moscow the first thing we did was just let him run around the room and explore everything. He loved the mirror and thought it was so funny to walk barefoot on the carpet. The orphanage was vinyl flooring so were pretty sure he hadn't ever felt carpet before. Then, the couple from America, the Orrs, called and said that we could meet for dinner that evening. It was such a wonderful time to spend the evening with them because well we really missed Americans. They were on there way to Rostov that next morning to meet their two little boys. Logan was loving the french fries and did a great job just hanging out at dinner.

After that we headed back to the room and got him ready for bed. There was a crib in the room so we put him in it and he actually layed down and went to sleep. I couldn't believe it. The next morning we woke up around 7 something and there he was looking at us over the rail of the crib. It was probably the happiest moment of my life...just to know that Brian and I were actually parents to this beautiful baby boy.