SURPRISE!!! Guess who we met today?!?

We met Jonathan of course!!! Without first explaining how we got here and met him on a Saturday, I know all you really want to see is photos!  Here you go! :-)

Total cuteness or what?!? :-) I LOVE THAT GIGGLE!!! The doctor told us that he is very attentive and smiles easily. We was little unsure about us at first, but as you can see in the video he is warming up to us a bit. He's really good at looking at us in the eye and seeking the eye contact. That's great! He's absolutely beautiful and we love him so much!!!

He has an eye infection too. :-(  You can see his right is pretty red, so hopefully they will give us the name of something to get for it at the "apteka" (pharmacy) soon.

Ok, if you want to hear details about our crazy day yesterday, and how he is doing medically, keep reading. Otherwise, I give you full permission to stop now. LOL

So, yesterday morning, Vanya, our most awesome facilitator/translator, went early to try and get us  train tickets to region Friday night. See, it's a 3-day weekend (Monday is yet another holiday), so everyone is leaving the capital city and the train was booked weeks ago. Sometimes, a person can pay the conductor to sleep in his/her quarters on the train. They make a little extra money and helps out people, like us, to get where we want to go. He found only one car left that the conductor hadn't "sold" her quarters.  It was in 3rd class, but her quarters lock, so it wasn't a big deal. Vanya or Kostya, our facilitator we had worked with to our paperwork, had called the orphanage to see if anyone would be there so we could meet Jonathan on Saturday. It was a go!

We left the apt about 10:30, met Vanya at the SDA, had lunch at Celentano's (yum yum!), did some shopping for gifts, some sightseeing, relaxing at the park overlooking the river, eating some ice cream and back to the SDA to pick up our referral. The referral is the official paperwork we need from the SDA to give us permission to visit Jonathan. The referrals are supposed to be ready between 3-4pm on Fridays. (4-5pm on other days.) We got there about 2:45pm, had a nice LONG chat with Rochelle and Jason, and a couple of other US families adopting various aged children (one was from Roberts, WI - just a few miles from where I grew up!). FINALLY at about 5:15pm, the paperwork was ready!  Our train leaves at about 7pm...we booked it back to the apt, grabbed a few groceries, threw our stuff in our bags and headed out to the train station. Because the traffic was terrible on a Friday, we took the metro (subway) instead. We were stuck in traffic last time trying to get to the train station, so I was glad to not go through that again. Navigating the metro with suitcases on a very busy Friday night was interesting as well, but we got there on time!  A little sweaty and very tired, but we made it. Our compartment was 1/2 of a 2nd class compartment, but it was fine. We had the window open, and it was very comfortable. Vanya slept in 3rd class and just put his luggage in by us. Neither Pat nor I slept all that well, but maybe by the time I get back to the capital city w/ Jonathan, I'll be able to sleep on the train. :-) It's an acquired skill to say the least.


Whew...still with me?  Good. Vanya had called from the train to find available apts and secured one that was available in the morning for us to look at. (We would have stayed in a hotel for a couple of days otherwise until we found one.) When we got off the train at about 7:30am, we took a cab to the apt and checked it out. It is very nice, recently updated w/ a washer and hot water. Internet was installed mid-afternoon. Plus, it's only $20/night. That rocks! Only downside is it's up 5 flights of stairs, but it will do me good. I'll be in great shape by the time we get home! :-)

After we took much needed showers, we walked to the orphanage. It's about a mile walk one-way, so not bad. We did scout out some "marshuka" (bus) numbers to take if it's raining or if my legs just need a rest. The doctor that was in today was very nice and is the doctor that takes care of Jonathan. I think I'll save all of that for the next post so it doesn't get buried here. We learned of his social history as well. The director kindly came in on his day off to meet us, which was very nice. He seems very friendly. Debbie, he really enjoyed the photos of your boys! :-) He was glad that we already have a child with Ds so we know how to care for Jonathan. He's a favorite there and they wanted him to go to a good home.

We visited with him 2x today. Both times for only about 15 minutes. We'll be able to spend more time tomorrow I hope. We will also visit on Monday.  On Tuesday, we start the paperwork to get our petition submitted to court. It's a bummer we "lost" 3 days w/ the weekend and holiday towards our court day, but we are so thankful to Vanya for working so hard to get us in to meet Jonathan. It would have been a long weekend here if we were not able to visit him.

Ok, I'll put his medical stuff, his current condition, and more about our visit in the next post. This is plenty long enough for now.

Thank you again for your continued prayers!  We can certainly feel them as everything is going so smoothly.  Please continue to pray for our kids back home and their caregivers. Everyone seems to be doing fine, so that is a blessing. Love to  you all!