Home!

We are home! Mike went to go get the boys at grandma's while Sova is expliring the house and I am trying to get some laundry in...she is asking for Caleb :)

What a Long flight- Mike was not even sitting w/ us so it was Very long for me! I have a meduim starbucks in my hand :)

All smiles

Sova's Shell is cracking and so is her smile!
We usually have to waker her up- and she is happy and chats away. Walking through the hallway yesterday a staff said, 'goodmorning' to her and she anwered clearly-'good morning'...her 1st engilsh word (besides mommy/daddy) we were pretty surprised! After breakfast the 2 girls hammed it up in the lobby- singing the months of the year and the days of the week for us in English w/ their strong Oriyan accents- it was beautiful. We drove through Old Agra past the India I always pictured- narrow cobblestone paths, rickshaws and oxen carts- people everywhere of course. Little tiny shops- pile of rice and fruit for sale. We went to Rajeevs home where he gave us the girls files and his wife made us the best lunch ever. The girls played on the couch for such a long time.
Next was the Taj- of course amazing! It was the hottest day we have ever felt though- (Lindsay I took great pics just for you- but unfortunatly I cant upload right now) We got the most stares yet at the Taj- we felt like one of the wonders of the world!
Saddly we had to say goodbye to the Millermons that day- it was such a blessing going through this process together- we will definatly be staying in contact!
Sova enjoys the pool- although she was not to keen on keeping On her bathing suit! She though it was weird that we wore clothes in the water- but the water she does love- she wanted to go under alot.
Friday when she woke up she asked for 'Mingy' (shasmita's nickname) who has left for good- we got a little nervous because she was asking all morning- but she is fine now. She wanted to give Mingy her bread left over from her dinner- and we coulnt help but crack up becasue all week we were joking around w/ the Millermons that Shasmita has been stealing our daughters food it was pretty funny that she wanted to do that. She did not want to go to bed last night but by the time I tucked her in- brushed my teeth and came back - she was really sound alsleep- she litteraly breaks records in the falling asleep division.
We are now homesick for the boys- we did more sightseeing today and we are about to go out to shopping and dinner again w/ Rajeev and his wife- we leave tomorrw but not until very late night- we get home early Sunday morning.
Im not sure if I will be able to blog again- I really hope to upload these great pictures but our wifi is not working and Im using the hotels.

Visa Done!

Well we are done! Rajeev has been doing adoptions for 15 years and has never seen visa’s issued so fast…2 families at that-he is so effiecient! So are we now back on schedule even after delays in Orissa that I will never forget. We are driving to Agra as I type. Im looking out at crowds of people in their little make shift tent homes- they litteraly sleep anywhere- there are also monkeys, cows, many dogs, I am told elephants and camels too but it is dark. Sova is sound asleep curled up under my arm. She is defintaly a Turner kid because she is a complete cuddle bug w/ mommy…although she wont cuddle w/ mike yet he has gotten 3 kisses so far :)
When we first met her she came in the room and walked over to us- I got on my kneees to hug her and and I tried so hard not to cry- she said in a tiny voice that was slightly choked up, 'mommy...daddy.' I said, 'mun thumor mommy' (I am your mommy) and she did a big exhale-it was the most emotional experience ever- (she is the bravest child I know- she does a lot of big exhales to help control her emotions- she also purses her lips into almost a fish face to try not to crack a smile when...although it's so close to cracking!) I did not want to make her cry so I carried her over to my purse and gaver her a tiny baby doll-she loved it and and happily played w/ it while we collected ourselves! She was happy all day as we walked freely around the orphange. SHe was proud to show her friends that her parents are here- other kids would call us mommy/ daddy and sit on us and want to be held- Sova made it clear to them that we were her's- although that did not stop us from holding nearly every child!
Her 'playschool teacher' loved her very much- in broken English she told me she too has 2 sons but she loves Sova as much as her own...that was a litteral prayer that came out of my mouth many times this past year- I was so happy to know someone had been showing her real love. The girls were happy all day but when the cars pulled up they got scared- what a sight to see the 2 of them hand and hand trying to get away! Needless to say there were many tears- but as we drove away past the little shanty town she fell asleep and woke up w/ out tears. She cried again before we got on the plane but she quickly fell asleep again.
She is timid but very loving. She holds us very tight- almost clings to my neck-She wants to be held rather than walk- when we are in a store she will look for me if I am a few feet away- walk over and say, 'mommy je boh.' (mommy let's go)
She woke up late this morning and asked for mommy and then some other unknown words. We understand the basics- she tells us when she has to use the bathoom and when she wants water. We have been able to tell her in Oriayn that we love her among quite a bit of other helpful phrases. She is a very good eater which is great because she is so very boney- her braclets we bought her slip right off- caleb (2) is bigger than her we think. We have been actually limitng food because they can consume quite a bit- and when we place a glass of water or juice in front of them they chug it w/ out stopping.
It was quite a bit of driving around to embassy- Dr. and back to embsasy- and then a lot of waiting around for the visa. The girls were amazing. Sova has been so quiet we have barely heard her adorable voice- when she does speak her language sounds so beatuiful. Sometimes we catch her just staring at us w/ those huge eyes and I cant help to wonder what in the world she is thinking! She has been so tired- she will curl up on my lap and fall sleep so easily- I think they are used to doing that when they get tired- I saw many kids sleeping on their chairs or in the middle of the playroom at the orpahnage.
Shasmita is the daughter of Joel and Ginger- it is so fun to watch them interact. This morning when we met for breakfast they said something to eacheother and then looked eachother up and down in their new clothes-checking eachother out-it was so cute. They are such girls- they love their jewlery that they wore home from the orphange- sova wont take off her gold necklace. Today she pointed to a street vendor selling coloreful beaded necklaces….needless to say she has added these to her growing collection.
A few months ago we sent a doll to sova with another family. That doll had become her secutiry object and she rarely puts it down. She held it tight all day feeding it a bottle I brought. We gave her a little backpack filled w/ a few small things and she guards it tightly- she wants it on her lap in the car- she does not play much w/ the items but likes to peer in often to make sure they are all there. I think she is proud that she has her own things and may be afraid of it taken away-
In the morning we will go to the Taj Maul- we are right down the street.

PS> Jacob & Caleb- mommy & daddy miss you so much! We will be coming home in a few days to give you Big hugs- Sova wants to see her brothers! We love you!

Beautiful

Today we met our daughter and found out what her name meant....'Beautiful' and that is what she is! Wow is all I can say. It's past midnight here- we got her today and it was completely amazing. She is so sweet- definatly shy to us but w/ her friends she was a little chatter box so in time that will change- she is very quiet yet so incediebly trusting w/ us.
She is sleeping like a real princess in our hotel back in Delhi- that somehow got upgraded to a suite :) After a very long lice treatment and major scub down she fell asleep in 10 seconds after we said our prayers. I dont have much time to write but for the families of children in Basundhara....your children are so amazing... they are so happy and very eager for their families to come- I gave the gifts and got pictures too :)
Tomorrow is embassy work. I was really hoping to write more but my wifi is endind and I need sleep! THanks for your prayers everyone!

Maybe today...maybe tomorrow

Hi we are now in Orissa and staying in a hotel only 20 minutes from Sova!

I have soooo much to say but not much time- we are doing great and ready to get our daughter.

We met up w/ Ginger and Joel- the other family traveling w/ us, they are great and we are really enjoying their company.

There is a minor problem in the city and we might have to wait to go to the orphanage until tomorrow- we are meeting Rajeev for breakfast now and he will let us know. If you dont here from us today then we are probrably getting Sova! Otherwise, I'll write more later!

Day 1

Because of lack of sleep, we were showered and eating breakfast by 8:30- which consisted of mostly Indian type food buffet, I enjoyed the little rasin spice pancakes.
We met Rajeev today- he is our agencies in-country contact who will be guiding us through the week. 1st stop...coffee at a cool cafe- after dodging auto rickshaws and mopeds we went Shopping! It was a 4 story building w/ hadicrafts from all over India which ranged from really cheap to a $10,000 large wooden elephant. Elephants is one thing that this store was Not lacking. Everything was here and it was the highlight of my day...Im sure Rajeev and Mike had better moments ;)
We spent the rest of the day at the hotel, Mike is enjoying the movie channels that we do not get at home and Im about to take a Benadrly to ensure I Sleep tonight! I will fall asleep the sounds of horns...I kid you not...it is a constant drone if beeping that Never stops.
Tomorrow we meet up w/ the other family traveling and we all fly w/ Rajeev to the girl's region. We arrive late and check into a hotel before going to the orphange in the morning. I cant wait!

We're Here!

(Sorry this is long- Im going to be using these printouts as part of Sova’s adoption journal so that’s why it’s detailed…I don’t feel like writing up 2 :)
Im glad that we left for the airport early because we got so lost in New Jersey…it had to be the worst area that you can get lost in. We even ended up getting a police escort back to the highway!
We sat on the runway for about an hour and a half before we took off. Somehow we ended up getting the best seats near the emergency exit w/ full feet room. ‘Big Mike’ as my friends used to call him in highschool-really apprectiated that! We sat next to a young Indian mother traveling alone w/ her baby girl. We made friends and ended up bouncing her on our knees and walked her around the cabin to give her mother a break. When we held her we just lookede at eachother and laughed. She had the biggest brownest eyes, we couldn’t help but think that she looked like Sova, as we imagined that Sova looked just like her as a baby. We are one of the 3 white couples traveling to Delhi on the plane, I cant stop looking at the Indian people as I really think that they are the most beautiful people. As soon as we started flying east the sun started coming out so we had to all keep our windows closed to sleep. But there was no sleep for us- we definatly tried-closed our eyes and layed upright frozen, but I don’t think we really even slept. We were given Indian chicken curry and other unknowns to me…I ate the brownie J
It was cool watching the screen above us that showed our flight path- when we were over Switzerland I really hoped that we would have to do an emergency fuel up or something to get a better look J
After going through Immigration we had to walk through a roped off crowd of people holding up signs for the tourists. I nervously scanned the crowd- Mike found our names 1st…I was nervous because our plane was almost 2 hours late- I didn’t know if the hotel driver would wait for us. I couldn’t stop smiling when we finally breathed in the notorious Delhi air. Immidatly we were pinpionted and 2 men ran up and grabbed Mike’s bags out of his hands even though Mike said no thanks- they wanted to bring them to the car for us for a tip. Out hotel guy came to our rescue and pryed the bags out of the man’s hands.
The 40 minute drive to the hotel was slightly overwhelming…although it was dark so Im sure I didn’t even see it all. There are cows, camels, and boney dogs walking around the street. The driving is crazy and the horns don’t stop beeping. This I could take in w/ an exciting smile but then I had to do a double look. Was that crowd of people really sleeping on the highway medium? Yes. And for the rest of the way, that is what I saw. I knew people lived on the streets of India but I never imagined it to be like this. They are litteraly on the sidewalks and street and sidewalk mediums.
When we came to our hotel we were ready for sleep- Mike is still sleeping- the sky is just getting light now…unfortunatly I could not sleep. The hotel is quite nice, the said they upgraded us too- we are on the top floor overlooking a foggy city. It is still monsoon season here, our driver said that today was the 1st dry day in a while. So anyways, we made it and we ready to see India! We meet our agency contact in the morning.

Ready or not!

Well my to do list is slowly dwindleing...It kind of feels like Im getting ready to go give birth- I want everything perfect in the house before I leave. I walked around all afternoon looking for another spot to clean. I even had the boys wash and vacum the car w/ me- it was actually raining out while we did this but I needed to burn off some nervous energy!

We are ready...the boys are ready- I really think that even Caleb knows what is going on- when we talk about India he pouts and says, 'me come too!'

So 1 more day...I never thought this day would come!

Sova-Grace Elliana Turner...

Yes- it's long but everytime I would look at her little face- I just saw the name 'Grace'... but we decieded not to change her name so we are hyphinating her 1st name to Sova-Grace...Im sure most people will just call her Sova which is fine- it may just become a 'mommy & daddy' name.
As for her middle name, 'Elliana' means 'the Lord has responded'- this is obviously perfect and means a few different things to us.

Thanks for your prayers for safe travels, peace for Sova, the bonds of attachment to start forming, and for the embassy paperwork to go smoothly.

India here we come!

India Itinerary

This is what our week in India will be like:

Thursday after a couple hour drive from CT we will depart from New Jersey- non stop to Delhi @ 8:30 PM

Arrive in Delhi, India- Friday 8:15 PM(Talk about LONG FLIGHT...we skipped our date night this week because we will have almost 24 hrs. belted next to eachother :)
Our Hotel will be holding up our names when we arrive (Hopefully!)

Sat. morning we meet up w/ our in-country contact from our agency- Rajeev.Maybe we will shop?

Sun. we are meeting up w/ the other family adopting- we will all fly together to the region of Orissa- a tribal region where the orphanage is.staying at a nice hotel overnight

Monday Aug.25th is what the adoption world calls our 'Gotcha Day!' We spend the day at the orpahnage- pick up Sova and fly back to Delhi that night w/ her.

Delhi is the capitol and where the US embassy is- that is why we fly back there. We will stay in a nice hotel and do our embassy work on Tuesday and Wednesday- visa interveiws ect-

Once we get her Visa (hopefully Wednesday AM) we will drive w/ Rajeev and other family to Agra- about 4 hours away and stay in another hotel near the Taj Mahal.

Thursday I think we are touring the Taj.

Friday the other family leaves- we'll just hang out by the pool.

Saterday the 30th we will drive back (4hrs) to Delhi to catch our 10:50 PM flight HOME!

We arrive in New Jersey Sunday Aug. 31st at 4:30 AM...yikes...then we drive a couple hours north to home sweet home Connecticut!

Just thinking about our 1st day home is making me tired! It will seem like a very long trip because we are going to be missing our boys like crazy.