Update from Jill

Hi All!

Sorry for the lack of updates lately! We had a crazy busy day the day we left the capital city that started with a seemingly simple trip to pick up our referral that turned into a very long night - but successful. I'll explain that all later. No one will care about that now that we've met Elijah though, right? :-) We don't have internet YET in our apt, but hopefully will very, very soon. We miss Skpe-ing with the kids. And then I'll be better able to update you here. We are at an internet cafe right now and did bring a thumbdrive with a typed up post about the first half of our day yesterday - WITH PICTURES. I just emailed it to Sarah and she will post it as soon as I get this one up, so I'll be quick.

We are doing well here! My husband has been fulfilling his God ordained responsibility and taking great care of me. He got me groceries last night (and found this internet cafe) once we got to the apt and I had a mini-meltdown due to lack of sleep on the train, no food all day and a good dose of culture shock. But a good night's sleep and a couple bowls of cereal did wonders for me! Then today he ventured out by himself to find the bus route to the orphanage. Thank you Stephanie for making it so easy for us! You rock! :-) So, as of tomorrow, we will be saving $29/day by taking the bus instead of the driver. (Driver = $30/day, bus = $1/day) YAY!

We had some fun visits with Elijah today. I think we are bonding! :-) He is so cute and we are both pleasantly surprised by his physical abilities. (I was preparing my heart for the "worst" if that makes sense.) He's so cute and fun! He seems very playful and it will be fun when we can communicate better. He can blow kisses - enough to melt my heart. :-) I promise to post some more pictures (and hopefully videos) when I can.

The most emotional thing about today was meeting Elijah's birth parents. Yep, you read that right. They asked permission to meet us and we granted it. We were happy to oblige. I'm not sure how much I'll share about them for the sake of Elijah's privacy, but I can tell you this. Elijah is VERY loved by his parents. They gave us all their contact info (I just gave them our email) and we promised to send them photos and updates. I do have photos of them too which I may or may not post. His mama is very beautiful and he looks like her. :-) Both of us mamas were a puddle as you might imagine.

Ok, almost done. Sarah is chatting with Pat right now and she keeps asking when I'm going to be done. :-) I just wanted to say THANK YOU to ALL of you that have praying for us. There is no way we could be doing this without the Lord and all of you covering us in prayer. Praise the Lord for His Faithfulness!