Visit - Day Three

First, thank you all for your prayers and comments. They really encouraged us a great deal. I never thought this process would be as difficult as it has been, or as stressful. It would have been difficult even if we didn't have to turn down a referral! Maybe in my mind I idealized the entire process, but when people say "International Adoption is not for the faint of heart".... I get what they mean!

I'm finally sleeping better.... I really credit my lack of sleep to the stress. My mind was going a mile a minute, and your adrenelaine is up... cortizone levels are probably up too. So, I couldn't sleep if I wanted to... Now, I'm sleeping at night a little better, but I've also managed to also sleep in the car on the hour long drives to the orphanage. Our driver's name is Max, and he's GREAT!

So today we went to visit the little one in the orphanage in the morning. He was so cute! We pointed to a picture of us in the photo album that we will leave with him. We showed him Mama and Dada... (for some reason here they say Dada, but I know that at a lot of orphanages they say Papa). Anyway, by the end of the visit I would ask where's Mama and he would point to my picture, or point to me. He also would say Dada. He's been wary of Chris, because they have no male personnel in the orphanage at all. But today he warmed up to him, with the help of the xyllophone. They played musical instruments together and then raced them across the floor. (they're on wheels you know.) They also took turns putting cups on their heads and let them fall to the ground. He and I walked around singing a little tune he made up, and then pretended to feed the toy ducks. It was a very good day.

We officially filled out the notary paperwork to adopt him... Yay! This will start the process for the court documents. Our director will be presenting them in court tomorrow. We are thrilled! (Tired, but thrilled!)

Tomorrow we actually will get a chance to see some of Russia before we leave. We've seen quite a bit of it, from the car driving everywhere. One thing we won't miss, and probably won't forget is the traffic in Moscow. It makes even LA traffic look good. It's the way they make their own lanes, and decide to do a U turn across 5 lanes of traffic. It's truly never fast like our freeways are. (It's city driving, stop and go..... mostly stop) When a road is blocked off it can take 2 and 1/2 hours to travel somewhere that would normally take an hour! The jockeying for position is pretty interesting... You really need to know how to drive, if you want to drive in this city!

So, that is my latest update. We are doing much better, and feel a peace about everything. Thank you again for all your comments and prayers! They have truly been a blessing and an encouragement through this stressful process!

Jackie