Newsy bits 11/5/2007
We have now been together as a new family for 4 days and they have been sweet days. Not entirely easy, but overall quite pleasant and fun. Sophie did fight a bit of a cold for awhile, but she seems to be feeling a bit better. Adelina and Sophie continue to play fairly well together, though Adelina is already experiencing some serious sibling difficulties. She has such a strong personality and we tried to prepare her for both the positive and negative aspects of having a younger sister, but she opted to focus in on the positive, which is not surprising. Sharing Sophie with us and having to share us with Sophie are real challenges for her, and she has had more than her fair share of disappointments thus far. Hopefully, she will begin to ease into her sisterly role as she gets more accustomed to it.
In other news, our process continues to move forward. Tomorrow we pick up Sophie’s passport, then we go somewhere for her medical examination required by the US embassy as part of her immigration requirements. Then we have an appointment at the consulate for an interview, which is another part of the same requirements. Then on Wednesday the courier will leave for Moscow to complete the requirements. She will return to Vlad on Saturday just in time to hand us Sophie’s passport with her Immigrant Visa intact as we head to the airport to fly home.
We are in awe at how gracious God has been to us during this adoption. Between trips 1 and 2 we will have been in Russia for a total of 16 days, which is pretty well unheard of these days. We have met other families here who had court well before ours but who will be leaving a few days after us. It mostly depends on the ten-day waiting period, but even if it is waived, it is rare to get in and out in 11 days, like we will be doing. I guess it is only fair, since Adelina’s adoption was record-long at 14 weeks in-country. God has such a sense of humor! 
I’m smiling so big my cheeks hurt! I’m so glad the 10 day was waived and I can’t wait to see your family of four! It seems like you are meshing really well. I’ll start praying specifically for Adelina’s role as a sister. I love you guys so much and can’t wait until your home! Hey..isn’t your church right down the street from us now? I think I passed it..it reminded me to pray for you!
Hello, can’t believe we haven’t run into yet. We did meet Steve in the lobby the other day (we were the ones that told him we visit Tucson every year). We also answered a few of your questions about Vlad Inn on yahoo group over the last few months. Anyways you can check out our story at the website above in case we don’t get to see you. We are in room 222. Good luck!
Gary & Rosalie Clute
Glad your trip is going smoothly. I loved our time in Vlad - all 3 trips! We didn’t quite get out in such a short time, it was a total of 24 days.