Mama Who??

Daddy's home!! Randy has been overseas for the past couple months while I played the role of "geographically single mother" and he finally got to come home yesterday for a well deserved break. While Randy was gone, Artem and I talked to Randy almost every day on the webcam, watched videos of Randy and looked at his pictures everyday. He knew who Randy was and was always excited to see him everyday on the webcam and talk to him on the phone. We wondered how Artem would do when he actually saw him in person and we knew he might be a little stand-offish at first but he totally proved us wrong. He has not left Randy's side since he got home, literally. He wants to be held by Randy all the time, he looks under the door for Randy while he's using the bathroom, he wants to hold Randy's hand when we go anywhere, he calls for Randy when he has to take a nap or go to bed. Suddenly mama is out and daddy is very much in. I'm not bitter; not like I was the one to change every single poopey diaper for the past few months, or take care of him after his surgery, or feed him every meal, kiss every boo-boo; none of that matters now that daddy is home. It is really sweet to watch them together again and Artem will hold Randy's hand and just beam and say, "Mama, dada" like he's trying to tell me, "Mama, look, it's daddy!"

Helping daddy with his luggage:

Randy will be home for a nice long visit and we've got lots planned during his stay here. Our first PPR (post placement report) is due in Sept (where has the time gone?) and we've got a big Labor Day weekend planned at the lake camping in the travel trailer and playing on the jet ski. I can't wait to do that with Artem and see how he does with nature and I especially can't wait for the night time when we can make smores!!

First thing Artem had to do with daddy home was ride his airplane. He can steer it all by himself.

Watching the plane go all by itself:

Taking a break with daddy:

Watching airplanes in the sky:

All of this leads me into my next little tidbit of news...we are moving overseas! We will be relocating to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and will be living in the city of Abu Dhabi. Randy was offered a job there and we have decided this is as good of time as any to move overseas. Artem and I will be traveling the end of September and meet Randy over there. Unfortunately I have to make the trip by myself with Artem. We will fly to Atlanta first, have a five hour layover, (heaven help me, five hours in the airport with a toddler) and then fly 14 hours to Dubai. Just me and Artem, 14 glorious hours, just the two of us. I should have my head examined. My only saving grace is that we are flying business class and Artem will have his own seat and will have plenty of room to spread out to play. We plan on keeping the house here at least for a few months and Randy's aunt is going to house sit for us and keep Bella here until the weather cools off and we can ship her over to UAE with us. I'm looking forward to becoming an "expat" (this is what they refer to people that leave their own country and live and work in another country) but I really hate leaving our friends and family behind. The good news is, Randy's company provides all of us with tickets to fly back and forth a few times each year so we'll be able to visit. We are not sure how long we are going to stay overseas; we are playing it by ear and see how it works for our family but we are blessed with the fact that I can continue to stay home with Artem for the next several years. I will definitely keep the blog going so everyone can see what life is like in Abu Dhabi and we are still trying to figure out a way for us to adopt a second child while living abroad, so our "Journey to Adopt" could possibly be "Our Journey To Adopt Part II".

I have had a few people ask me how to get on the database and look at the children. There is a link on the right hand side of the blog that says, "Russian Database". Start with that and in a few days when I get a chance, I'm going to do a seperate post explaining the database and how to search it.