A letter from one year ago...

Here he is...our laughing, and always-on-the-run, Bear Cub!

I was just looking back on old emails (yes, I still have ALL my Russia emails saved in my inbox) and saw this one, dated July 31, 2007. It was the very end of our Russian adventure and we were about to head home the next day. It's amazing to reread my words and think about all that we've accomplished in the last year. I did indeed print all my emails that were written while in Russia, and they are safely stored in a notebook that I continually work on for Bear Cub. So enjoy a little look back in time, as all of our "year-mark" anniversaries are about to come to an end. No longer is it an adoption adventure for us, but just the wonderful, extraordinary adventures of family life. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Hi everyone…one last time from Vladivostok! Our day to head home to the USA has finally come! Like I've said before, it's kind of hard to believe. We've been gone close to 4 weeks now….and what a four weeks it's been! We are still busy packing things up around here. It's pretty hard to know what to bring on the plane with us – lots of baby food, diapers, toys and extra clothes! I'm sure we'll do fine. BC slept really well last night and we'll try to wear him out today before our flight. By the time we leave Seoul, it will be close to his bedtime, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that he will be able to sleep peacefully on that long leg of our trip. We can make it through regardless. As soon as the plane touches down in L.A., he will be an official US citizen. What an awesome moment that will be for us all!

Thank you for following our story as we've been here. It's been great to record our days by email --- I've saved them all on the computer and will print them out for BC to have one day. This has been my form of a journal and it's been a fun way to chronicle our experiences here.

It's raining here today, just as it was the day that we arrived. Maybe that's just the way it's supposed to be? It's come around full circle for us. Except now we leave as three. I think I will feel a bit of sadness as we leave here. Vladivostok will always hold a special place in our hearts. A city that I had never heard of before our adventure began will now forever be a part of us. This is the birthplace of our son and our family. How can we not treasure it?

As this part of our journey comes to an end, we know that this is really a new beginning for us all. And so our story continues…..

From Russia with much love,
K, W, & Bear Cub