Last day in Vladivostok

It has been snowing all day today. Right now the flakes are so big and it is beautiful. We have had a good day today. We started the day off by going to see Ben today. He really likes Thomas the Train. Him and Dan played in the floor for a long while. The room we were in was so small that was hard to move around to play really good. After we said goodbye to him for the last time we made our way downtown in major traffic to go to the notary's office. Evidently notaries are very few and far between here and it takes a long time to get in. Since our adoption coordinators know them well we were able to get in quickly. We still had to wait for a couple of hours so we had to leave our passports there and we headed back the way we came to go to the mall for souvenirs. We bought the funniest things for Mom, Erin and Sam. They are the same as the picture I posted yesterday of the flower thing in the car cup holder. So many cars have them and they run on solar energy. The sun makes them bounce up and down. They have every thing you can imagine. We also ate lunch there with Lana and Irina. They had a cafe on the top floor that was like a cafeteria. It served Russian food which was very good. There was nothing American about it except for the Coke fountain machine. It was such a strange thing to find in a mall! I am sure the food was much healthier than in our malls though and much tastier too if you like Russian food. Sorry Mr. Mike, Russian food does not involve many fruits and veggies! After we left the mall we drove back toward downtown and found another souvenir shop that sold all kinds of nesting dolls. They were much more reasonably priced than at the mall. The shop was down this narrow little alley that only a native Vladivostokian(?) would know about. We finished up our shopping there and headed to the notary. It took about 15 minutes and we were done. Our trip here is basically over now. We just have to make it home and fill out much more paperwork and wait for our court date to be scheduled. That will take at least 3 months. It will go fast. I have much peace about leaving. I know God is in control and all will be well. I am so very thankful for that knowledge. Without it I would go insane! Now I am waiting for laundry to dry so we can have some clean clothes to wear home. Our plane leaves tomorrow at 2:15 PM and we will spend the night in Moscow and then head the rest of the way home. I miss the kids but not as badly as I thought I would. I think I have been too busy to think about it. I have thought about Diet Pepsi and salsa though. I have really taken these things for granted!! Ha Ha. I have had I bottle of Diet Pepsi the whole time we have been here and it is almost gone. Salsa can't be found anywhere! Ughhhh! Only 2 more days, 2 more days!