Benjamin turned one today, Thanksgiving Day. Eric has been in India for the last 2 1/2 weeks and the team there had a cake to celebrate Benjamin's 1st birthday.
We are traveling back to Russia to finalize the adoption of Benjamin and bring him home. We leave for Russia on our ninth anniversary, November 30th. We will return the 12th of December with our little boy. We are so excited and can't wait to share him with everyone.
We had the unique opportunity to feed Benjamin the last day we were in Izhevsk. We had no idea that this was a possibility and were thrilled to have the extra time to spend with him before we had to return to the states. Normally we would have had to leave when it was lunchtime/naptime. It was a unique experience; one that will not be soon forgotten. He has stolen our hearts and we can't wait to bring him home and start our lives together.
We have made it safely back to the US and are trying to get over the jetlag. We were just starting to get used to the nine hour time difference. Spending 24 hours traveling doesn't do a body good. We will post more pictures this weekend. Thanks for all of the comments, they are much appreciated. BTW, I have changed the settings to allow anyone to comment. The default setting was registered users only and I didn't know it, sorry for the inconvenience.
The past few days have been a roller coaster of emotions, compounded by the nine hour time difference. We have been allowed to spend a substantial amount of time with Benjamin. It has been a blessing to be able to familiarize ourselves to him. Although we are complete strangers, he responds to us much better than we expected. He loves to be held and is perfectly content to sit on either of our laps for long stretches at a time. He also enjoys when Eric walks him around holding him to his chest.
We brought several toys for him to play with and he loves to put them in his mouth. He is teething and I’m sure it feels good on his gums. He also likes to throw things to hear the sound they make. We typically sit on an oriental rug on the floor in the music room and play. He loves to go to the edge of the rug and bang on the hardwood floor with his hands or whatever toy he may possess at the time. A future drummer perhaps? He crawls really well and raises up on his arms and rocks front to back, he’s definitely trying to get up on his own.
The psychologist spoke to us today through our translator and asked how our visit on Wednesday went. We told her all about what he was doing and that he was starting to coo and babble for us. We explained that he cried for less than a minute when another little boy 
was crying when he was brought into the room to visit with his parents. She asked how we were able to calm him, and we said that we walked him around the room and he quickly quieted down. When the translator told her this a look of surprise came over her face, along with a smile. She said that it was wonderful because he is a very difficult baby to calm down. We were very pleased of course; he is clearly becoming more and more comfortable with us. Eric was able to get him to smile this evening as well. What an amazing feeling to be with him and just soak in his sweetness.
Benjamin does the cutest thing when he is sitting on our laps. He will lean back against us and tilt his head back and just look into our face. It is a good sign that he will make eye contact with us and let us hold him. We have already fallen in love with him and will miss him desperately until we return for court and bring him home. Thankfully he is in good hands with his caregivers at the baby home.
We brought diapers and about forty pounds of fruit to the baby home today. The funds are just not available for them to have fruit very often, if at all. They were very pleased. We hope to be able to bring both to them on the second trip as well.
We will be traveling back to Moscow on Thursday after one last visit with Benjamin. Then back to the states on Friday. This has been a whirlwind trip and we pray that the wait between trips will go quickly. We can’t wait to bring Benjamin home and begin our lives together.
I think my sister-in-law, Heather, said it perfectly when she reminded me that next to Tara, today I would be meeting the most important person in my life. Truer words could not have been spoken!
This morning we had an appointment with Svetlana, the department head of the Ministry of Education to obtain permission to visit the orphanage where Benjamin is. This process took approximately one hour. It was completely painless and actually very pleasant. Upon receiving permission to visit the orphanage we traveled across town to the place where Benjamin has been staying since June. Once we arrived at the orphanage we spent what seemed like an eternity listening to the medical history. Then suddenly, the door opened up and there he was! Tara told me later I never stopped smiling from the moment we met. It was amazing! Tara and I both fully expected Ben to start crying but he warmed up to us very quickly. I loved watching Tara hold our son. That’s right. Our very own baby boy!
We will have a chance to spend more time with Ben tomorrow before returning to Moscow on Thursday.
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