Retail Therapy and More

Our last day! We started off shopping on Old Arbat Street. The weather was so wierd. It was rainly lightly, then sunny, then we had flurries, then sun.... You get it! We got a lot of shopping done and really helped the Russian economy. It was so nice to feel like we could buy things for Grace and not worry about something going wrong. We got her a pretty Russian doll and a traditional dress and headpiece. Even if she only wears it once, it will be a nice keepsake for her to pass down to her children one day. We also found a nesting doll that had strawberries on it. The meaning behind that is this...Grace's given name at birth was Kulpunai (Kyrgzstan). The orphanage called her Katya for obvious reasons. It took me months, but finally through the wonderful internet learned that Kulpunai means "strawberry". It's just a little something, but we feel like we are almost honoring her birth mother and the name she had chosen for her. Plus, strawberries are pretty!

We got to skype the boys after shopping and it was so good to see their sleepy faces. (We skyped right when they woke up.) We then headed to the orphanage to visit with Grace. It was the last time we would go there and leave without her :) She must have just gotten up from a nap. She was quiet and sleepy and had her thumb in her mouth 90% of the time. We just cuddled and played. Now we have almost 2 full weeks until we walk out that door for good!

It finally dawned on me that most of the trees in Russia are painted white at the bottom. Vlad told us it was started to protect the young fruit trees since the bark splits. Also to protect them from insects. But then the "tree painters" decided to paint all the trees! Interesting!