A few other exciting things:
***We have flights booked for our trip HOME!!!! Even though we don't know for sure when we will get Elijah's passport, I went ahead and reserved/paid for some seats for us, so we had them. Due to the holidays, flights next week are getting slim pickings, so I scheduled them for Thurs., Dec. 30th. We will be able to hold those flights if Elijah's passport comes tomorrow (Friday) or Monday. We need two business days in the capital city at the embassy for a medical visit and visa processing. Our travel agent said availability on the 31st is pretty slim, so PLEASE PRAY we are able to make our flight as scheduled. IF Elijah's passport comes tomorrow, we will have "Gotcha Day" tomorrow too!!!!!!! (Gotcha Day means we take him out of the orphanage for GOOD!!!) We would then head to the capital on Saturday then. Oh my, what a Christmas Eve it would be!!!!!!!! :-)
*** Debbie's suitcase may be here tonight or tomorrow morning! Praise God! Sarah, my daughter, sent gifts along with her for the orphanage, so it would be wonderful it would be here before we left again. :-) A HUGE thank you to Max for calling and checking for us. Oh, by the way, the other day when Max was traveling with us around the city, I decided it really rocks to have someone with you that speaks Russian. LOL UPDATE from this afternoon: Max called (again) to check on the suitcase and they said either tonight before 6pm or early tomorrow morning. Debbie decided to stay home - just in case. And low and behold, it came!!!! Praise God!!! She looks like a new woman in a different colored sweatshirt. LOL
*** We have English speaking friends here with us! :-) Dave & Summer Spitz arrived yesterday morning on the train and met their beautiful little girl yesterday! http://www.luckytolovelyla.blogspot.com/ She's beautiful and they are in love. :-) They had their first long visit with her this morning. I remember those emotions of the first visit. It is fun to be on the other side of that, but I have great anticipation for them as their love grows for their sweet princess. I've had the honor and pleasure to "show them ropes" so to speak with the "marshuka" (bus) as our visiting hours are at the same time. Their apt is just down the street from ours, so we are able to walk to the bus stop together. What a blessing to be able to meet them and get to know them better! We even had our first market shopping experience together today. Fun! They did great and are going with the flow. PLEASE PRAY for them so they can have court by the end of the year!
*** We hope to have a little party with all the boys in Elijah's grouppa tomorrow afternoon. I have some balls for them, bananas and cookies. (I also bought balloons too, but I found out people with Shea's type of spina bifida have a high chance of being allergic to latex, so I'll bring them home for our kids. I'm sure they won't mind...) I also got a little pop tent for them too. I hope they are able to keep it. I thought it would be fun for them to crawl in and out of. I asked the very nice nanny yesterday that speaks some English what was on their wish list for the kids. I finally understood that they had to ask the doctor for ideas. :-( I've learned that she also is very "by the book" though. Hopefully, she will get back to me. We would like to bless the grouppa with a few new toys. UPDATE from this afternoon: I found out this afternoon (through charades with the nanny :-)) that a gift I could buy them is a wall heater for the main grouppa room. They have one in the sleeping room, but not in the main room. I was very honored to gift them a heater. I went to the store where we were this afternoon to get something for Summer, and picked one out. It was less than $40, but the lady gave me a discount. After I paid I told her "detsky dom" (baby house) and she shook her head yes. She gave me the discount because she knew it was going to the orphanage. How sweet is that! And this is something that will make a huge difference for those precious boys left behind...
Ok, enough rambling for today. I'll leave you with some great photos and videos that Debbie took. It is very nice to have my own personal pro-wanna-be photographer. :-) We were outside for the whole morning visit - so wonderful!
When Pat was still here, we taught him how to make a "doggy" noise. There is a nice orphanage dog that we see on our walks. He used to just make a single grunting sound, but he's doing MUCH better now! SO cute!!!
Auntie Debbie had a little tangerine in her backpack, so we went over to the other side of the grounds to see if Elijah would take it from me. He did great with it! I peeled all the "chewy" stuff off of it and he loved it! He was patient with me. I'm so happy he accepted food from me! That can be a big deal from some institutionalized kids. We are definitely not over the hump with food issues, but this is definitely a good start.
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| Introducing "Luda" Shea told me her name tonight. :-) I found out Shea is a little tattle-tale too. LOL Anyway, this is the sweet woman Debbie blogged about and the same one that I got all teary eyed with over Shea a couple weeks ago. She loves him dearly and wants to see him have his own family. I'm SOOO thankful Shea has his perfect family coming for him. Can't wait to tell you all about them! :-) (with their permission of course) |
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| His teeny tiny hand in mine... |
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| You can see above how dry and beat up his cuticles are, so I try and rub lotion on them as much as I can. |
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| Just too cute not to share! |
2 comments:
Awwww Jill, he is really such a sweetie pie!! I hope you get to have your Gotcha day SOON!! Can't wait!!
praying you get his passport tomorrow so you can head to the big city for christmas!!
Hugs!
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