Update: 05.20

Well,  today was our last day in Moscow and this will be the last update on the first chapter of Sasha's life story.  Now that Sasha's in bed we are getting our luggage packed and getting everything around so this will be a short posting.  Today was full of challenges.  Sasha was just a little pill.  You tell her "no" and she turns around, laughs and does it again.  As a result she spent a lot of time today sitting on the couch for disobeying.  We have to teach her that there's a consequence to her actions because right now everything just sounds funny to her.  So much of our challenge today is due to language barriers.  As soon as our facilitator arrived and spoke to her in Russian she immediately obeyed and sat nicely on the couch. 

Another part of our challenge today is that she's a very bright girl and she probably knows something is changing again.  We've started gathering things a little bit during her nap time and got our luggage back out which created insecurity and concern for her.  She tried really hard not to fall asleep very much like the first night we had her with us.  I'm sure lots of things are going through her head and she isn't sure what to expect.  She paced a lot all day and no toy or game was of interest to her.  She seemed very stressed and nervous.  While we've made great strides in developing a relationship with her she easily reverts back to those survival skills that she has relied on her entire life.

We are heading home bright and early in the morning.  Due to Moscow traffic and the size of the airport we are leaving the apartment at 7:00 am.  Our flight leaves at 12:30 and will last 11 hours.  Once in the U.S. we will have two additional connecting flights before arriving home after 10:00 pm.  Please keep us in your prayers as we fly across the world on our journey to bring Sasha home.  Once we are home and recover from the jetlag more pics and updates will be added.  

While our real journey is just beginning the ride so far has been life changing in many ways. Thank you to all for your interest, concern, encouragement, love and support over these past 18 months.