A Moment like this...

A Moment Like This ....some people wait a life time.

Wow.. What a day this was.

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I know many of you have been waiting for that 1st family photo...

Proof that this is truly happening. lol

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Like many adoptive first family photos and moments ...ours was no different.

Every parent would like to think that their child will some how recognise them as their parent and come running... arms stretched open and they would get that perfect family instantly.

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Truth be told I would have been a little concerned if that would have happen.

It would be a sign of a child that would have attachment issues.

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Tamara is 3 and although she was told we were coming I don't think she fully understood the scope of it all.

She is very attached to her Foster Family. And after spending the afternoon with them and it is obvious they are bonded to her as well.

Upon our arrival we found Tamara home with the Foster Grandmother and the two other foster children living in the home.

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The first picture is what happen when I scooped her up in my arms. Tamara is extremely shy around strangers. You can see the raw emotion of the moment.

A moment later she starts to settle a bit but is still extremely shy.

As I held her .. it took what felt like forever to get her to look at me.

The stuffed toy she's holding is the one we had sent to her with our pictures over a months ago.

She likes the toy and as the afternoon went on she actually brought me the photo album we sent her of us, our house, pets and family. Her way of saying... I know who you are.

I bought all the children a glow worm or seahorse.

Here she opens hers. Another good choice... she likes it as do the other children.

Tamara is very shy around men. Children in orphanages and foster homes don't see many unless they're Drs. so it will take a little while for her to warm up to Daddy.

On the other hand she already has him wrapped around her pinkie... super cute.

She has been checking him out though and he almost got her to eat a spoonful of his ice cream. It's just a matter of time until she takes his whole bowl. lol

About Tamara

Our little girl is extremely shy until she gets to know you. By the end of our visit she would put her arms up for me to pick her up and is a cuddle bug. Best Hug I ever had!!!

Tomorrow we have court... the next BIG Day!

Then we have to go to a notary, embassy and then visit our baby again.

It was a little bit of a heart breaker to leave her today. We have decided to leave her in the foster home for another few days. It will be less traumatic for her if she gets to know us a little better first. Besides we have a lot of official running around to do tomorrow. It just didn't make sense to take her away from her foster family and leave her in our apartment with the nanny.

So if all goes well we'll take possession the day after tomorrow. By then all the legal running around should be pretty much under control and we can devote all our time to her.

Tamara is a very sweet, smart, tiny little thing. She's a good eater and is very co-ordinated. She has rhythm... yup I think we have a dancer. She also likes to be clean and tidy.

A definite girly girl... can't wait to give her a bubble bath and dress her up.

So so cute. You're all going to love her as much as we do.

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On the country front.. today was Election day in Georgia and the losing party has already called for protests.. which is one of the few concerns we had before travel. So we'll have to keep an eye out and watch the local news.

We will also be here for their Independence Day which I believe is next week?

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The city by day could use a fresh coat of paint. But still very interesting and has an old world charm to it like many cities in Europe. There seems to be a monument and or fountain on every street corner. Well maybe not every but the way they drive here it seems like it. lol

We will try and get video of our driving adventure as well for you... somethings are just hard to describe on paper. This is one of them.

The people in Georgia are awesome!!! I haven't felt this warm and fuzzy about the natives since I left Aruba in the 80's. They the Georgians genuinely seem to like people. And they all seem to appreciate what they have and are proud of who they are. It's refreshing.

All in All a wonderful Day in Tbilisi. One we will cherish in our hearts forever.

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The Eagle Has Landed...

The Eagle has landed...

Good Morning from Georgia.

We made it safely.

Plane got in at 3 am our time. We sailed through customs and were greeted by our agency staff.

Very very nice people. Super efficient.

They brought us to our 2 bedroom apartment in the heart of Tbilisi.

4th fl. 2 bedroom, 1-1/2 bath, kitchen, LR, balcony.

Has all the comforts of home. Awesome and decorated in a European style.

Reminds me of Croatia.

Being picked up at 12 noon to go meet Tamara. Woohoo!!!

So excited!!!!

We stayed up till 6 am unpacking and wrapping gifts for the foster family.

4 hrs of sleep... already showered.

at 10 am we were woken up by their Jack Hammer alarm clock somewhere in the court yard.

Perfect timing...it got me up. ;o)

From what we saw of the city last night was beautiful. Can't wait to see more.

This really does look like a magical place... nice people ... very pretty.

So far life is perfect!

Better go... Big Day Today!

I'm gonna meet my baby girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks to all who have left comments.

It makes this easier and more fun to know you're all with us.

More later!

Kisses

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Woohoo... Good Morning Tbilisi!!!

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Update from Germany

Update from Germany

Yup we're still here... thought I'd give you a shoppers update.

Duty free used to be fun... not worth it in Munich.

Compared to USA's Toys R Us .. duty free shop 3X the price on toys.

Compared to Macy's Perfume and Cosmetics are at least double here.

I am comparing to our FULL MSRP prices.. not on sale or discounted.

After years of working as a buyer price tags stick with me...lol

My advice... go to Bloomies buy your souvineers before your vacation.

Seriously... I'm not shopping here so you know it's really high.

OK... that's my shoppers update from Munich. ;o)

I know many of you are traveling this summer for both vacation and adoptions.

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We still have 5 hours in Germany... catch ya from Georgia?

Big Hugs

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Greetings From Germany

Greetings from Germany... yes we've made it to Munich.

The flight was fine... had a great check in and the movies were good.

Finally got to see "27 dresses" ... very cute chic flick ;o)

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About 2 hours of sleep so far... so now we have a 10 hr wait until our next flight.

Thought about leaving the airport to site see as we won't be allowed on the way back once we have Tamara. Her VISA is only good for the USA. But we thought it wasn't a good idea to risk it. After all this is not a good time to get mugged.

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Anyway... for those who are traveling soon to Europe save your pennies.

I just gave a guy $40 US for two very small blah grillled sandwiches and two small coke diets. No not diet coke... coke diets...lol any way it's very expensive. A small iced coffee at the airport will cost you 4.9 Euros... about $10? Starbucks is looking better and better.

I also just realized that my blog controls show up in German... can'twait to see what happens in Georgia? Yup and spell check isn't working eigher... so keep that in mind as I'm sleep deprived.

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OK... gotta go ... Duty Free shopping ... more soon.

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And we are off

This is Bruce. We are at the Newark airport about to board on our adventure. Catch you in Munich

We're off

It's Crunch time...

Limo will be here soon.... still have to get ready.. Eeek!

Just wanted to say... see ya... if we can we'll pop in when we arrive in Munich?

Have a Great few weeks without us... stayed tuned

This will be fun... lots of interesting stuff will pop up I'm sure.

Kisses L&B

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Good Morning

Goooood Morning Everyone. ;o)

This is it... our big day... Lift Off ... Woo Hoo

Yes... we did get some sleep last night. Amazingly.

This morning I got an email from the Embassy in Tbilisi. They have our

I600 but our fingerprints are missing. Gotta love it...lol.

Why am I not freaking out you may wonder? Well after several fingerprinting (different levels of clearance through the process and different US gov. departments) I know we checked out and I know that in order to get an I600 you need the FBI/ Homeland Security print clearance.

So I emailed all our contacts the message and I am confident that they will straighten this out probably before we land in Munich. The system isn't perfect but it does work and the people we've been dealing with are "THE BEST" on both sides of the Atlantic.

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OK... I'm off to Target to pick up another Glow Worm... yup still shopping ;o)

Catch ya later...

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