Brown eyes, bowed lips and beautiful curls!

Here is a little treat for working through the blog invite...

Introducing Little Miss

Nina Bea Printy

This is the "referral" picture of the beautiful baby girl we are traveling to meet. She is described as healthy, a girly girl and very shy. Our agency director told me "Lori she warms up slowly...she opens like a flower". Her given Russian name is Nina which as you can see we have decided to keep and Bea is for Dart's grandmother. We believe she just turned 22 months old. Her sad little face breaks my heart. I can't wait to see her smile, (I plan to spend a lifetime making sure she does).

We've had information on her since we accepted the offer to travel but didn't want to post too much until the blog was private.

I actually received this picture by email while I was at work. I was on a conference call and saw the email from my agency. I couldn't get off the phone so I quickly sent a text to Dart, "don't open the picture!" I wrote. I really wanted us to see it together. About ten minutes later I got off the phone, grabbed my keys and literally ran out the door. Once I got to the house we opened the email together. The boys were already home from school and Aidan broke out the video camera to catch our reactions. I have to admit I was surprised (pleasantly so) when I first opened the email and saw her, my daughter, for the first time. Wow, gorgeous but what is this little brown eyed beauty doing in blond and blue-eyed Ust! To me she looks like she could be a little Portuguese girl like me :)! I feel it is a sign - meant to be....meant to be mine.

Since then I've carried her picture with me everywhere. Each time I look at it she grows more and more adorable. Her face is becoming familiar and I feel attached in a way I did not think possible. I am worried almost constantly that we will not get to Ust in time to adopt her. Since there are no true referrals in Kaz we need to be there in person to initiate the adoption.

And so as we prepare to leave for Kazakhstan, I am trying to maintain some reserve, somehow emotionally protect myself, but really it is too late. I am already hopelessly, happily, forever in love.