Day 2 With the Kids

Hi (Preevyet)!

We visited the children in the orphanage for the second time this morning. We had to make a stop first, but still spent about 2 ½ hours there with the children. They went out to eat lunch, but came back afterward and must have eaten very quickly in order to get back to see us before moving on to other activities of the day. We had a terrific time. Our interpreter was unable to stay with us, so we were limited again in our conversation with the children, but we muddled through and played with a ball, bubbles, drawing with chalk and crayons, and played with modeling clay. We also took more pictures which we are unable to post since we have not officially completed the adoption. Tomorrow we visit them again in the morning, as Big Sister goes to school sometime after lunch. She was asked by the orphanage director whether she would like to have Tony and I as her “Mama” and “Papa” (in her office in private) - she said yes. Later, the director told Lana, our interpreter, who told us about this conversation. Of course we were happy to hear that! It was so sweet to have hugs from them, and we all had a good time together. They are very well cared for apparently, and all the children we saw seemed happy and in good health. It is clear that they do the best with what they have at the orphanage. I am very impressed with the good character of the orphanage folks as well as the CHI folks here.

It has been good meeting the other adoptive families here and talking with them. The Vlad Inn where we are staying is very accommodating as well.

We miss Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah at home in Alabama. We have heard from them that they are doing well and are glad about that. Sarah would like to ice skate here in one of the outside frozen skating areas. Jeremy would get a kick out of all the interesting antenna configurations we see on the way to the orphanage. Christina would of course understand and communicate in Russian much better than Tony and I. It is cool to note so many things that are the same over here. We drove past the Coca-cola plant.

Diet Coke is “Coke Light”. Also, the bottled water is either plain or carbonated, and you want to be specific about which kind you want. We had to order “without gas” to get the uncarbonated water (“vada”). We have noticed that the people drive very fast here. We tried to ascertain if there was a speed limit. If there is, we don't think it is really enforced, or heeded. Amazingly, there are very few wrecks, however. People just dodge whomever or whatever, and keep on going. City driving is pretty crazy, but amazingly, it seems to work just fine, as there seems to be very few rules other that don't hit anyone or be hit.

We are already thinking about how difficult it will be to say goodbye to these children knowing that it will be a while before we can come back for them. We hope to be able to explain a bit more to them and assure them that we are coming back. We will be happy to be home, however, and see Jeremy, Christina, and Sarah.

Thanks for all of the prayers and please continue to pray for our family.

Good night from Russia!

Dawn