A Peek At The Past

This was the first picture we ever saw of Erika. Papa Dima sent it to us so we could show Sarah what her friend looked like. She missed her so much.  After they saw this picture, both girls wre jumping up and down, "Let's Adopt her! Let's adopt her!"  
So we did.  :)

The girls and I were reminiscing about when Erika and Sarah first met in the airport.  Erika was shocked that Sarah couldn't speak Russian and Sarah INSISTED "I never talked like that!" LOL
We had such a great adoption experience in Ukraine, even with all the stresses that come with  International Adoption.  We were going through some of Erika's life book and I thought I'd share some of the pictures. :)
This page has a picture we found on the internet. It is the earliest picture we have of her. She was around 6.
The people at the bottom are from our church. They went to visit her before we were able to get there!  On the right, Papa Dima is getting a hug.  The bottom left, I am getting her ready to break out of the orphanage....They strip them down right in front of everybody. :(
These pictures were taken during our 10 day wait.  Her first bath.... she enjoyed it once we convinced her she wasn't going to be in trouble for taking off her braces.   She also got hold of the camera and took loads of pictures of herself. :)
These were some pictures of our trip.  The van driver stopped and purchased these lovely pastries to celebrate Erika leaving the Orphanage..... We taught her to say, "Let's blow this joint!" And she yelled it! LOL
These were taken during our travels home. I think we were all up about 26 hours straight.  She did sleep on the last leg of our trip between Atlanta and Dallas.
Here is our happy airport welcome! The girls wasted no time playing. The picture (3rd down on the left) is where Sarah insisted that she had never talked like Erika.  The top middle picture was when they first saw each other.
The middle picture of us.... yeah, we were EXHAUSTED and waiting in Atlanta for a final flight home. Erika took that one. :) 
These are just pictures after we came home of Erika settling in to her new environment.  The picture on the bottom right was Erika's first popsicle. :)

More random pictures.  The one in the middle was published in our agency's magazine. But they are no longer in existence. :(
These were of Erika's first boating experience. We had a family reunion in Oklahoma.  The top left picture, she is in the left innertube.  4 days after this picture was taken, Erika had her feet amputated.
She likes to see this picture so she can remember her feet. :)
In this video, she had no idea what she was saying.... Every time we said "Cheese" she would break out into the song we were teaching her. LOL