The flight home was not nearly as bad as we had expected. First of all, Netta was really good all through the flight and layover. And second, on both legs of the flight we had a seat for Netta which made it at least bearable.
Netta busied herself with her zippy cup, a couple of toys we had and the TV screen. She would point at it hand say ‘da’. I tended to agree with her.
We arrived bleary eyed but mostly intact. Tamar and Aunt Karen were there to take us home. I can just imagine what this trip must have been for Netta. A taxi ride in the middle of the night, a plane ride, then wandering through the airport in Zurich, only to board another flight (a long one) and then a car ride. ‘Pretty strange’ would be the understatement of the year. read more

This is our first full day with Netta Polina.
She slept the whole night easily in the hotel crib and had breakfast with us at the dining room. Again we saw that solid foods were out, we will need to work on that. She did accept the sippy cup nicely and uses it for drinking all the time.
We are discovering things about her that are a direct result of the way they do things at the orphanage. Netta does not like to be undressed. In fact the more layers you cover her with, the better. An overall, coat, gloves, scarf and hat… The best.
We suspect she didn’t get many chances to get to know her body. When we leave her with no socks on, she examines her toes intently. read more

Today was a dramatic day, and a cataclysmic one for Netta.
We started the day by meeting Katya at the hotel and driving to the orphanage. Today we are to pick Netta up and then go the American embassy for Netta’s visa.
We arrived at the orphanage and (as usual) waited for the director to see us. She is always busy with something else. Finally after about an hour of waiting, we were let into her office, there is no small talk with that lady, she barked a few commands and Netta was brought in to her office. What followed was a strange scene that later, when we talked about it, we couldn’t understand why it needed to happen this way. We were to undress Netta of her orphanage cloths and dress her with ours as fast as possible, scaring Netta (literally) out of her pants. Michelle, Katya, Me and sometimes the head doctor all went at it fast motion. By the end of 13 seconds Netta was wearing the clothes we brought for her, the orphanage cloths were on the floor and Netta was screaming to high heaven. read more

My first visit with Netta this trip was somewhat of a disappointment to me, but only partially.
Today is Sunday and we went to the orphanage to see Netta. I have not seen her since the previous trip to Moscow when we visited her in the hospital.
We spent a little under two hours with her in the small area at the orphanage where you are supposed to meet your adopted kids. read more

I’ll be leaving for Moscow today to join Michelle who has been there a week already. Next Thursday we will be returning with Netta!
The week there has been a series of ups and downs as far as I heard from Michelle. At orphanage Netta was much more apprehensive than at the hospital. Perhaps this has to do with it being a familiar environment where the only things not familiar were Michelle and Karen (Michelle’s aunt who accompanied her). It didn’t help that there were errands that needed to be done with Netta such as taking her to the photographer for passport photos. It was all strange and frightening. Netta often looked like she was on the verge of breaking out crying.
According to Michelle, it seemed to get better though. By the third day, on the trip back from the doctor (standard procedure for visa application), Netta suddenly looked around and seemed to say to herself, ‘this isn’t so bad’ and started smiling and playing with Michelle.
So here is the plan, I am flying to Moscow today, on the weekend we will get to see Netta once in the orphanage then on Monday we pick her up at the orphanage and…. She is ours!
The next three days are full of arrangements for getting Netta’s Russian passport and American visa. Once those are in place we fly home.
So now you know everything.