Meeting Maddux

Well today was the big day! We got up and drove to the orphanage, got there around 10am. The town was bigger than I thought it would be and the outside of the orphanage had a lot more playground area.

I was pretty nervous and excited at the same time. So we go in and met the Dr. in charge of the orphanage. She was very friendly and she gave us all of the information she had on our referral and his birth family. We were all ok with the information and all in all he is healthy little guy.
After all of the information was given, they brought him into us. It was a surreal moment, I couldn't believe we were finally meeting him.
Rich captured the moment on film and did a good job, got him coming in from the beginning.

He is a sweet little boy. He has very blonde hair and blue/gray eyes. He was SO scared at first, he didn't know what to think. He was breathing really heavy and wouldn't move. You could tell he thought we were aliens or something. He didn't really cry but was on the verge a few times. We kept showing him the toys we got and after awhile he became more and more interested. He loved the books we gave him. If he heard a caregiver speaking Russian as they were passing, he would perk up and look more comfortable. He is a very curious little guy and was trying to figure it all out. The other family came in and he stole the little one's toy and was curious about them also. He started to then feel more comfortable and crawled some and played ball with Rich. They rolled it back and forth and he finally started smiling and you could tell her was more at ease. We love him to death and he was so worth the wait.

Today was a true test for the Director and the orphanage staff. The couple we were with had to turn down their referral for health reasons. We were glad we were there because how the staff handled it was amazing. They live up to their wonderful reputation! You can tell they truly care about the families. They worked with the family and really found them a little boy that matched up to their family perfectly. He is a sweet little boy who laughed and laughed. We were so happy to see this and just utterly impressed. I can't not speak highly enough of them here, I really can not.

We signed our papers for letter of intent and the staff gave us hugs and were very happy for us.

We get to sped tomorrow with Maddux and then will have to leave him. I am at peace with it. I know he is taken care of and he is bonded with some of the people there so that is nice. I know he will be in good hands. We can't wait to bring him home though and hope the time goes fast.

Oh and as far as the name. We were going back and forth between Major and Maddux. We went in and basically had him decide. He would look up everytime we said Maddux but didn't respond to Major, so we went with his wishes. Ha :)

Tonight we went to Traveler's Cafe for late lunch/dinner, it was good. It is super close and a good place for us to go and hang out and eat. I think we will spend a lot of time there on our next trip.

Well that is it for now, it was a very good day!!! Can't wait to see Maddux again tomorrow.

Oh and all of the food we brought he does not like! :( Oh well, maybe next time..

Jenny