Getting Settled

First off, I apologize for it taking so long to post. My life has been going around in a whirlwind ever since I stepped off the plane and has not quite stopped yet. I came home to mountains of paperwork, eager friends and a very wide open 1yr old!! Noah is doing great. You would think he had lived here his entire life. God has been so good to us and I praise Him for it!! My Noah is the best child anyone could ever ask for. He has slept like an angel from day one. It's like the time change and lack of sleep on the plane didn't affect him at all. I couldn't have asked for him to adjust any better. He only cries or whines if he is sleepy and other than that he is usually smiling. He jumped right in with his new friends and plays like he has known them for a while. He will smile and be attentive to almost anyone who talks to him. He has bonded with me so quickly. He knows who his mama is! He will practically eat anything you give him. I will have to say, he is learning that he likes to play games now at meal time. His new game is how long can he hold his food in his mouth before swallowing! It's driving me nuts!! I need a trick to make him swallow it. I guess that about sums it up. I can't imagine life without him now. I was thinking tonight that it seems now like I had just sent in my application. Like there was barely any wait. I guess it probably helped that there were next to no bumps in the road for me. Sometimes I still can't believe he is here....then I hear a little voice and know he is :)



Thank you all so much for all the prayers and gifts and support. I can't tell you what they have meant to me!! Here are a couple picture of Noah since we have been home.

Almost American!!

Yep...tomorrow is it. The day that Noah Overman becomes an American Citizen. I take pride in just typing the word American. I was so proud today, as other times in this journey, to say I am a US citizen. I had such joy inside of me to walk up to the US Embassy building today and see The American Flag on the coats of the guards there! One day, I pray my Noah will be just as proud. How blessed I am and how Thankful to live in my country. No matter what is going on or how rough it might get ..I know that God IS still in controll. That will never change!! Therefore I am so glad to bring Noah home tomorrow to the USA!!
I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm not dreaming. I look at him in his crib sleeping and he looks so perfect! I can't beleive that he is finally, officially an Overman. That tommorow we will board a plane..together, to go home to meet his new family and friends. He has no idea what lies ahead, but I know that no matter what his life brings, he will always be very loved and very wanted! This journey has been an adventure to say the least. It is by far the scarriest but most exciting, saddest but happiest, hardest but most rewarding thing I have ever done. I am certainly glad it's almost over, but would do it all again for the same result! There are so many beautiful children here that I have seen. (That would be the saddest part.) I wish they all had homes to go to. Someone to take care of them..especially after seeing how much Noah has "come alive" since getting personal attention. I pray that anyone who has ever had the thought of adopting, for whatever reason, that you would follow through or at least look into it.

Our flight leaves tomorrow at 1:30 and we arive in Raleigh at 10:45pm. Please pray that God will continue to keep us safe and that Noah will be an angel on the flight! :) At least somewhat. Also, that we will quickly get through check in since I changed my tickets and have to finish some things at the airport and that we will breeze through immigration!
Thanks for all the prayers!!! Can't wait to see everyone!

Almost there..

We went today with some friends to Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral. I have seen pictures of St. Basil's in magazines or on blogs, but still nothing compares to seeing it in real life! When we turned the corner and there it was, I was almost awe struck. It was very impressive. Unfortunately, the pictures are on my mom's camera and she is out for the night so I will try to post them tomorrow. We also went to GUM which is a VERY nice, high end mall. I will say that for the most part, I love alot of the fashion here. I could have spent all day going through the stores. Too bad for Noah, his mamma does love to shop!! We ate at a little cafe in the mall. Mom and I both ordered a club sandwich thinking it would be our supper. It was more like an appetizer. Good..but very small. Let's just say for our real dinner tonight, I had rice and mom had toast. blah! Noah did really good all day. He has gotten to where, if I am holding him, he does fine. It's when I put him down now, he cries. At least alot of the time. It's understandable considering he has never had so much attention. He is having so much fun learning about his surroundings. From bath time (which is much better now), to sight seeing, to just playing here in my room, he is always observing and always copying. I am so ready to get him home in a more baby proofed environment so he can just explore. I especially can't wait to see what he does when he is let loose on the grass. I hope there is a little warm weather saved for us! It's not looking too promising from what I hear :( I really can't wait to see what he does when he meets Tucker..or maybe should I say, what will Tucker do :0

Tommorow is it. The last thing to accomplish before leaving. I can't believe it! Around 1:30 I will have my appointment at the US Embassy. It will take about 2 hours. They will go over things about immigration/naturalization and tell me what to do when I arive in Chicago...at least that's what I'm told. Then we will pack and be ready to jump on a plane Friday. Hip Hip Horray!!!

A Reason to celebrate!!

Not much new with Noah today other than each day he is testing the waters to find his boundaries. It has been crazy to watch how much he has changed in just the few days since he has been out of the orphanage. In there, he never cried...he just played with his toys and looked cute. Of course he became more outgoing as we kept visiting him, but not like he is now. Now, he is a little comedian one minute and crying for attention the next. Too funny! I have to turn my head sometimes just not too laugh at him when he is showing his colors. He knows his name very well now and he quickly learned the word "No" too. He will try to do something he is not suppose to and when I tell him no, he just looks up at me with this pathetic little face and huge brown eyes and looks soooo pitiful. Like I just stole all his joy. Sometime he will fall back on his behind and pout/cry..then stop, look to see if I'm looking, then do it again. Very cute. The doctor came this morning to look him over and he did great. Many times the kids from orphanages are scared of men because they are never around them. Not Noah, he was completely fine with the doctor and when he picked him up, Noah started pulling at his mustache. He got a clean bill of health and that's one more thing down. Two more to go!
Now on to the other good new...We get to come home this Friday!!!!! I called the airlines todayto see if by some off chance I could get my tickets changed. I couldn't believe it. It only cost $150 to change. Two of the tickets were no charge. I was shocked and thrilled!!! God certainly took care of us. My friend who is here tried to do the same thing and it would have cost them a fortune to change. Tell me that's not a miracle! The extra bonus is this will save me several hundred dollars in hosting and food. I am beyond ready to get back to North Carolina and to my Tucker!! Just 4 more days!!!

The Zoo

Today we took Noah to the zoo. It was only about 15 min away by metro and we had no problems getting there. It felt good not having to wander around lost. He loved watching the animals (once we got him to see them) My favorite was the monkeys. Other than that, it was a rather quiet day which is more than I can say for yesterday. Noah showed us that he does have another side. It was not pleasant. I woke up sick, he woke up sicker. My poor mom had to put up with both of us all day. He cried at everything. Eating...sleeping...falling...walking...holding...not holding...you name it, it brought tears..and screams. It's a good thing we had already decided to stay in yesterday, accept for the embarassing trip to the grocery store. I was quite frustrated by the end of the day. Thankfully after some pep-talks from a few people back home, I got over it and slept good. Everyone woke up on the right side of the bed this morning :) He is also almost over his cold. Tomorrow, we are going to try to make it to Red Square if weather permits us. Here are a couple pics from today and a favorite of mine from yesterday !!





This bear was too cool. He would just sit there sticking out his tongue at everyone.




This is the fun we have at bathtime....I don't think the mohawk helped :)





PS..Later on, I'll be posting for some friends that are adopting things that were invaluable to bring on my trip. For now, I have a couple. One would definitly be Helman's Mayo. Haven't seen it in the stores and sandwiches for lunch has been great. Earplugs! The only thing that has helped me sleep. The traffic here is so loud. Most important..a mom that can cook for you. My mom has cooked almost everynight a home cooked meal. A few I think have been inventions, but still good. It's been great, plus having an extra set of hands to hep out with Noah. Thanks Mom!!

Under Moscow

Well, we went out to use the metro today to get somewhere new and literally wandered under the city in the tunnels for a while. It is like a maze....correction...an endless maze down there. Just think of one of those maze games that you have to find your way to the middle without knowing what's ahead....then throw in about a half a million people and you have Moscow City Metro System. Noah tollerated it much better than I did. He is such a trooper. We actully found ourselves "off track" several times today. I guess we had that "lost look" because three different people came up to us to see if they could help...all at different times. We made it to our destination and back though, which is always nice. Noah was mostly happy all day. I think he was just getting tired by the end of the afternon. Tonight, he let me know that he had figured out exactly what I was doing when it came to bath time. He was having none of it..or so he thought. I didn't make him suffer too much and as soon as he was out of the water, he started smiling. Big faker! He is also eating everything I put in front of him. Some of his 12 mths clothes fit good, some are too big and almost everything is too long but I think with his appetite, he needs the extra space! That's about it for today.

Happy Gotcha Day Noah!!!

What an awesome day! We woke up, after a good night's sleep, finally, to a beautiful day. It was about 53 degrees today and all sun. Vlad picked us up and said this was very unusual for this time especially on the day we were picking up Noah. I say God knew exactly what He was doing. He planned Noah's first day out to be perfect..and it was. We got to the orphanage and the doctor, who I absolutely love, gave us lots of hugs and kisses and said how much she liked us. She said this time she was going to be the one crying because she hated to see us all go. Very sweet!! I signed a few documents granting me permission to take him out early and then they brought him down. All smiles as usual. We had to put on his new clothes and thankfully his 12mth old clothes fit him perfectly. I bundled him up and then we said our goodbyes. I have to say, it was almost a bitter sweet for me. Even though we could not verbally communicate, I will miss the ladies that we saw everyday. I know how much they cared for Noah and part of me felt like I was taking him away. That's just me though. Vlad says they are just used to it and I know they are glad to see him go to his new family. Then we were off to this exciting new world. Noah was soooo alert. He was very pleasant, but very serious. He just stared at everything. It was really neat to watch his little face soaking it all in. After about 10 minutes, he just laid back and started smiling again. Mom and I took him out for his first restaurant experience tonight. He did great. He sat in a high chair next to me and ate everything I gave him. The caregiver said he was not picky. We then walked back to the apartment and he was amazed by all the lights. I'm pretty sure he really enjoys walking around because he started making all kinds of noices. He got his first bath tonight too. He was a little apprehensive about it, but did fine. By the end, he started fussing a little, but as soon as he was out, he was ok. I am so relieved to have him with me. It is a good feeling to know that no one can just come in a take him away again. The rest of our stay should be much better but I still can't wait to get home.

To God be the glory for all His blessings. I am so thankful that He would give me the priviledge and responsibility of taking care of one of His children.


New clothes..




Not sure where my face came from..but Noah looks cute :)








Taking it all in...





Night on the town..





Clean as can be...