One Year Ago Today...

...in a courtroom in St Petersburg Anastasia Elisabeth legally became our daughter. That was our second trip to Russia- for court- and it was a hard trip. Ana was not with us in court (not allowed) and when we visited her in the "Baby Home" (orphanage) she was running a fever and congested. I knew there was no one to hold her when she was feeling bad as I would with my other children, especially at that age. There was a human bite mark on her arm. She was wearing an ill fitting dress which had sleeves so constricting and tight I could not move them to check for other bite marks. It was very hard to fly home knowing she was there and not feeling well and unaware that things would ever be better for her. We pleaded with Svletlana to move up our date of return to get her....but paperworks and passports and visas can only be done so quickly. We would fly home and back in 14 days. I will relay our court experience in another entry...but for now, just rejoice that she is here with us. Even as I type she is dressed up with butterfly wings and a necklace and a star wand out of the dress up box. She is brimming with happiness and our family is very grateful!