Finally...

Many of you have asked where some more pics are and if we had anymore information. So I posted lots of pics below of Hudson and some more of our touring Moscow.

I hope to get back into a routine this week. I have a ton of laundry to do and I'm trying to lay out some things I know I need to take back to Moscow. I have most all of Hudson's things washed and ready to pack even though it'll be a little while before we go back.

Last week was rough and feels like a blur. Thanks to all of you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for Angelica and Bruce's family.

I'll try to not repeat myself from older posts, but here are a few things we found out about our little man...

In September he weighed 20lbs. 2 oz. He is small for his age as far as weight goes. He is average for height. We are thankful that he is able to eat 3 meals a day and a snack because we had heard that some orphanages could only feed 2 meals per day. I hope he hits a growth spurt when he gets home. The 12 month outfit I took over for him was a little big so I have taken back a few 18 months things and exchanged them for 12 month. But I don't want to get too many 12 month things because he will probably grow right out of them. OH ME!

Is Sep. he was given an EKG and he no longer has a heart murmur. I know I had said that below but I had to say it again, isn't God so good!

I asked if he has any allergies and they said to oranges/citrus.

We really didn't get to see his play room, I only stuck my head in a few times to tell the workers we were here for him and everytime there were 3 of them sitting on a couch while the kids were playing.

Orphanage #20 is in the southeast part of Moscow. There are 70 kids in his orphanage ages 4 and under. It is a 45 min. ride on the metro or a 2-3 hour ride by car because the traffic is so bad. Next trip we are going to ride the metro instead of having a driver. Our agency said we need to use a driver on the first trip, but on this next trip I only want to use a driver for court and taking Hudson to get his passport because it is $100 per day for a driver or around $0.50 per day for Metro!

We believe Hudson's heritage comes from the Caspian Sea/Georgia area. When I showed his picture to my friend Lena who is from Russia, that is exactly what she said and then when we got over there they told us that! His mother was 22 and had him in a maternity hospital in Moscow. She only gave him his last name, Mamadrizabekov. A lady who works in the orphanage gave him his first name. We were told that any last name ending in "kov" is from the Caspian Sea area, he also has the darker features of that area. In his journal I told him one thing I do know is that she cared a lot about him. While in Moscow we learned that abortions are very common and are VERY easy to get. And you can have abortions up to 7 months now. She cared so much about him that she chose life for him and carried him full term where he was born a very healthy baby. I also know she is beautiful because we have the cutest son!!

We were told that we should be back in Moscow the first week of Dec. I asked 3 different times about this and the last time she told me no worries he would be home by the end of December. I hope this is true. We should hear a court date in a few weeks. Once we have our court date we will know about when we should be home with him. We are seriously thinking about me staying over there instead of going back 2 different times. The airfare in December is outrageous. Also when we go to court we will have a 10 day wait period and then we can get custody of him. If we come back home after court they said we wouldn't return for 2 1/2 weeks, so I would rather stay and get custody of him after 10 days rather than wait 2 1/2 weeks. Then we have to get his visa, register him, and take him for a medical exam. I am not sure how long this takes but maybe if I stay we can move things along quicker, but I'm not sure about that. It would be hard being away from home for 3 weeks or so, but to be with him it's worth it!

That's all for now, if I think of anything else I'll post it later.