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So far we have been having a fabulous time with our new family, and we plan on keeping the good times rolling. When we picked up the children, we decided to go West to East. After a long-haul 8 hour flight we arrived in Amsterdam and went to a hotel, for the night. The next morning we woke up late. After brunch we ventured to Maastricht and walked around, waiting for our hearing. After we got approved we hurried over to the orphanage where Nick was. At first he was a little bit concerned seeing as we were two strange adults and two strange children. Soon Tali began conversing with him and before we knew it he was holding her hand, still quiet. It was kind of funny because Tali has always been the louder one, so naturally I would have assumed it would be Ella who broke the silent spell. Nope. She was shy. By the end of the afternoon the three of them were skipping down the avenue together. We spent two more days in the Netherlands (both stormy) before we flew to Slovenia. The day we flew was suprisingly clear, for Amsterdam, and Nick was nervous as it was his first time on an airplane. We arrived in Slovenia midday and went to get Maya. We didn't need a hearing here. When Maya saw us she ran and threw her arms around us, obviously excited. She seemed to be alot more like Tali, than Ella. Once again the children happily walked together and three days later we headed to Hungary, but not before we visited Liljana and thanked her for her kindness. We got to Hungary at 8pm and everyone was tired. Nick, Ella, and Tali were sleepily stumbling after me, but Maya was asleep and Yoav carried her. That night I went by myself to pick up Zoe. When Zoe first saw me she was ok with me wanting to be near her but when I picked her up she began to scream! Eventually she calmed down and fell asleep and I took her to meet the rest of her family. The day after the next we flew to Belarus. We got there in the afternoon and hurried to get Alex. Alex was very charming and he seemed to enjoy the extra attention that he was getting from us. He also seemed to do well with Zoe, as he could comfort her much easilier than the rest of us. We spent two days in his country exploring before heading to Moscow, where we had arranged for a hearing and arranged for both Joseph and Esther to wait for us. In Moscow the kids were amazed by the beauty of the Catherdral. We left them at the hotel with a babysitter when we went to the trial. When it was over we headed straight to the orphange to get Esther and Joseph. We were actually a bit late to get them, but when we got them Esther was sooo excited. She acted similarly to Maya, for the first five minutes, she danced and kissed us and hugged us. But when the nurse said to Joseph, "Go to your Mama and Papa", she began to cry, as she missed her own parents. The nurse was going to interfere but Yoav got in the way and Yoav her and told her "We're not your Mama and Papa, sweetheart, we're your Ima and Abba." that must have made her feel a bit better because she relaxed and let us take her to our hotel. Once we arrived she became very bubbly and clicked with Maya and Tali. Three days later we flew to Israel to visit my family and then we headed home to the big apple.

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Now, over a year later, we are one big happy family. While we may have our trials and tribulations, love conquers all. Esther, who shares a room with Maya, loves to dance. She is in the head of her class for both dance and academics. She will be preforming in "Fiddler on the roof" at the local theatre real soon and maybe one day you'll see her on broad way. She also adores our three cats; Mitten, Socks, and Baseball. Originally we just got Mitten, but three weeks later we realized that she was pregnant. Soon enough she had two kittens Socksana "Socks" and Baseballjoe "Baseball". Alex's English has deeply improved since we first met him and so has his baseball, basketball, and soccer skills. After a long day studying he really enjoys shooting hoops and kicking goals with Tali, he's almost as good as her. Maya has been taking up drawing lessons, along with extra help/tutoring provided by her teacher, who is impressed with her improvement. Her writing has gotten so well that she can write letters to Liljana all by herself. Nick is no longer so shy, but still gets gitters around strange adults. He hasn't taken up anykind of sport/activity outside of school but for now thats ok. Joseph has begun talking, and Zoe has begun walking. They both stay home with me while the others go to their school (which is a Jewish Private School, by the way). Talia and Ella are the same as they've always been, but now that Tal's older she's starting to want a little more independence than we can give her, and she understands that. I also don't think I've mentioned that I'm about 8 months pregnant with a suprise baby, and when I say "suprise" I really mean it. With 8 children we felt like our lives were full but aparently someone up there didn't think so and we ended up pregnant. I wouldn't say I'm dissapointed, but I was definately shocked. I hadn't even mentioned the possibility of the pregnancy to Yoav, when I took the test, because I didn't know how he'd react. Thankfully he is happy, as am I, and so are the children. Zoe and Joseph don't really understand what's going on, but the rest of them do, and to tell you the truth, I think Tali's a little bit grossed out (They are learning about reproduction this year). Anyways we plan on going back to Europe in a few months to visit Liljana and the orphanages. We have already been to Cincinatti and we are planning to go again for Rachel's (Rahil) birthday, and on Esther's birthday, Rachel and her family are comming out here! We look forward to seeing you in a few months.

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With love, the Noams

This message was edited 1/25/2010, 5:18 PM