Happy Birthday to me!

Today I had the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER, the only thing that could have made today even better is if Chandler would have been with us. I miss our little girl so much! We walked to the orphanage this morning and when we arrived M... ran and gave me a huge hug and then gave a hug to Casey. Casey looked at her and said Mama's birthday.. It took her a few minutes to relize what he was saying but then she gave me a big hug again and ran me upstairs to give me a bracelet she made me, best gift yet. While we were walking around she started singing "happy birthday to me" surprisingly in english! I felt very loved.

When we arrived we walked outside for a little while just talking with M, as we walked around to her groupas garden we wanted to take some pictures. So M jumped up on Casey's lap for a precious photo opp, then Casey handed her the camera and taught her how to take pictures. She wanted a picture of Mama and Papa, so she took a picture of us together. Casey then told her to take pictures of whatever she wanted and so the journey began. We walked all around the orphanage, up to her room, into her bathroom, then finally she looked out of her groups window and saw her friend Anna skating. So we all went downstairs and she quickly switched her little red shoes with Annas skates, but not before she could tell us Annas feet stunk (which they did). We pulled M around the orphanage at least 5 times, all while she held our hands and carried on conversation with us and Anna. We've established that there are not many words that end with an -er ending in russian so M is having problems saying her little sisters name, Chandler, so Casey gave her the right to call her Chan Chan. One of the best parts of this whole trip was when she said, "Before I was M... L... but now

that Mama and Papa have come I am M... Williams!" Amazing! After lap 5, we stopped near the younger children who were playing outside, and spent time with all of them before M had a wonderful idea. "Papa!" She exclaimed and pointed where to stand, Anna would pull M about 20 yards away then turn her around and sling her toward her Papa. yelling at him to catch her, and he would, time after time. Then Casey said, "uno mas, y Mama," thats right he wanted me to catch her, she looked very cautious pointing at her muscles saying Papa strong, Mama nyet. But he assured her I could catch her, and I did, once! It was so much fun seeing all this little kids and how M would interact with them all, one special boy just held onto me, and if the paperwork would have allowed us he would be on the same flight that M will be on to the US with us. We walked some more then had to say goodbye, but only for a little while and assured her we would be back around 2.

We walked a little while and then ate some pizza at a local resturant, then headed back to our little girl. When we showed up her groupa was walking outside yelling to M that her Papa and Mama were here. After we went outside, we followed her group to the play yard next the school, and spent some time playing with M and all her friends. It started to rain and the volunteer took the group inside to a play area where they played some games. M took us up to her room while the other kids did homework and we colored for a while. After her groupa got done we all went outside and threw the frisbee around. M is already a little daddy's girl, anything that Casey would do M would quickly do after him. Casey would fake throw the frisbee, M would fake throw the frisbee, he would set the frisbee on the ground and dare the kids to come get it, M would throw it on the ground and issue the challenge. It is pretty amazing and you can physically see her just wrapping her Papa around her little finger. Like we said she is a very smart girl. We had to leave but not before hugging her neck, then when I hugged her she said in english, "Love You." Talk about melting your heart. It is hard to walk away from her but we know these days are few before she will be ours always.

Please pray that tomorrow the inspector will clear all the documents, the orphanage director will sign off on her part, the local judge will see our case asap, and Luba can rush our documents to the SDA in Kiev. Prayerfully we will find out what our court date will be, and after that you can see her picture and stop refering to her as M.