Unexpected early morning excitement

We received an unexpected wake up call and instantaneous knock on our door this morning( Saturday May 20th) at 5am. To our surprise, Andre had arrived to take us to the airport. We had nothing packed and we were still basically asleep. All he said in his stern voice, over the phone, was "are you going to Moscow" and I replied after regaining my composure from being asleep "I thought we were supposed to leave at 5pm" sternly he replied with his thick accent " Reg! Open the door!". Andre does not have a great deal of patients. As I tried to locate my pants, I was in my boxers, Andre kept banging at the door eventually awakening Ethan and creating total chaos. I answered the door with only jeans on and he said "Let's go to the airport" and I gave him a pretty confused look and said " I thought we were supposed to leave at 5pm not am" at this point I was beginning to believe he was right as he had looked at our tickets the night before. I picked up a crying Ethan and got the tickets and itinerary and showed them to Andre. Like an angel, calmly smiling, Andre replied " I very sorry, go back to sleep". For a split second I wanted to wipe that smile off of his face. The calming effect of having Ethan in my arms made all the difference.
In the end I was not mad at Andre, just relieved our flight was in the evening, and we could enjoy a peaceful morning with Ethan. After all, without the help of Andre, the adoption of Ethan may not have been possible.

Life is good

We were taken to the orphanage this morning around 11:30am to take custody of Ethan. We were so excited and filled with anticipation, we could not contain our emotions. As soon as he saw us he started smiling, kicking his legs and flailing his arms. I Couldn't help but think aloud, what have we done right to deserve this blessing. We were both very giddy and giggly, on cloud nine is the best way to describe our feelings. He seemed overjoyed at our presence. Before we left, Ethan took pictures with his doctor Svetlana and his caretakers. Svetlana also wanted some pictures of Ethan and our two daughters, Logan and Christian, which we gladly gave her. Svetlana could not stop hugging and kissing Ethan. You could tell she really genuinely cares for all the children in the orphanage. She is truly a godsend for all of the kids in her care.
We are now enjoying having Ethan in our care at the hotel. Remarkably he has started saying Dad(da,da,da, over and over, first words to our knowledge) and right before dinner it was Mom (Ma, Ma, Ma). We feel that his vocabulary should increase very quickly as we work with him ( Chris and Logan are the next words on the list). We cannot wait to get him home so Christian and Logan can meet and also experience the feeling of being overwhelmed by his presence. It is truly unbelievable and certainly not a feeling you can put into words.
We will be flying to Moscow tomorrow for five days to meet with more Russian officials and a pediatrician. We will continue to update so stay tuned.