Others on this journey

This morning we got to talk to 2 other families here in the middle of adopting...one couple is from Ohio and are adopting 2 children, the other couple is from Italy and adopting one. It was nice to share our experiences with each other....none of us speak Russian (the Italian family speaks English) so we could relate to what each other are going through here. Because their children do not have disabilities, it has been a much longer adoption process altogether...I think 2 and 3 years, although the American family had to come back because the paperwork was not ready for the sibling of the boy they got a referral for.

We ventured to a new restaurant for lunch and Irina translated for us via our cell phone...that was interesting. We'd hoped to go by the outdoor market but it is closed Mondays so we'll try tomorrow. It is a beautiful day here-- we did not even need a jacket, though we've been trying to keep the children in their jackets at the orphanage since they are very strict about kids being bundled here :)

This afternoon at our visit Vladik was engrossed in playing with dirt in a big tire(like our kids at home play with sand)...scooping to fill a bucket and dumping it. He sat and quietly played for a very long time. A sandbox will be a great thing for him. We tried him in the ergo carrier to get him used to it for traveling home--he did pretty well, though a couple caregivers seemd confused while we had that on.

We've been able to talk to the girls at home but last night we managed to do Skype with video...it was so wonderful to see them...they looked so good, but made us miss them all the more. We appreciate your prayers for our precious ones in the US and for our family here. The dustiness of this area and everything blooming is causing some problems with the girls and John's allergies and we're thankful we stocked up on medicine before coming.