Our last day here

I took these of the two of us, gotta love the look on Amanda's face. She was actually laughing and hugging me, and it was a really special time for both of us. The best thing? When we loaded the pictures on the computer she sat in my lap and got excited when she saw us. She said Mama to every new image of us. I want to think she is calling me Mama, but I was told that the kids here say it when they are hungry (maybe someone was pulling my leg?) I chose to believe she knows I am her Mama. :o)

A nice American woman took this picture of us, not the best picture of me, but we are together in it, and in Tallinn. I was talking when she snapped the picture, oh well...I am in a PICTURE, amazing.

Truth be told, I feel sad to be leaving Tallinn, it is so beautiful here and I feel like there is so much to see and learn. Amanda and I took a walk to Toompea Hill and took quite a few pictures of lower town. I took them until my memory card was full and there was still so much more to photograph.

I am not a world traveler, I would love to be, as nothing makes me happier than seeing new places, exploring, and discovering a special place or thing. However, on a teachers salary, that will rarely be a huge part of our lives. So adopting both girls has been such a gift to me (us) in that respect; allowing me to see such wonderful places and living in a completely new place for a while. My only sadness this trip is that I did not get to share my discoveries with my husband or my other children.

Being in Tallinn is a gift from God, I am so grateful for being able to be Amanda's mother. I get to have the privilege of seeing her learn and grow.

I feel so lucky, and I know that I did not get here under my own devices, but with a lot of help from very good people from our agency AHI to my friends at Reece's Rainbow, Angelsisters, 10nbelow, and BCSN. All of you helped us get to Tallinn to adopt sweet Amanda. So on this, our last day here, I wanted to tell all of you thank you from the bottom of my heart.