Day 7/10 – Much better day

It was still a rainy day outside, but we started the day out much better because we got to visit Blake. He seemed happy to see us too. The doctor said that his heart is fine and that they didn’t find anything wrong. Just as we had expected. We were also able to go to the gym today for a nice change of pace. Another great surprise was that about 40 minutes into playing the caregivers brought up rest of Blake and Victoria’s group. There were several more girls than boys. Blake was protective of his things at first, but then Justin and I insisted that he share his toys and he was receptive to that. He was protective of his photo album and photo books too. We did not make him share those as we feel it is important that he feels a sense of ownership to sentimental items. He seemed to be fine with that. We were able to get some great pictures of the kids. There was an adorable redheaded girl with pigtails that caught my eye. There was another girl as well that I just can’t get out of my mind. She seemed to be very intrigued with me. She had one eye that seemed cross, and I feel like she was trying to speak to me with her eyes. I wish so much that I knew what she had to say. I feel moved by her for some reason. Justin was a kid magnet. We had a beach ball that he would hit up in the air and the kids would chase it and bring it back to him. It was so cute to watch. Today we will go back in the afternoon for our visit because Blake and Victoria have to see another doctor in the morning. Don’t even ask!!

The rain had turned to drizzle by the afternoon time so Justin and I decided to take our stroll to the market. We heard something strange on the way. It almost sounded like infant children fussing. We then realized that it was two stray cats. Cats here by the way are HUGE, and the one that hangs out by the market is missing an ear and is quite mangy looking. Justin is convinced that the cats here meow in Russian. It started to rain a bit harder so we headed back to our room. I actually pretended to work out for an hour today so that seemed to help my mood a bit.

I missed saying goodbye to Nancy and Joshua. They are finally headed home to Texas. We are thankful for the other families here. If there weren’t other people to share this experience with we would probably fall apart. We ate dinner tonight with the True family. I find their experience quite funny – well funny isn’t the right word, but they make me laugh. They may be leaving Saturday or Tuesday
at 8 or at 10… you really have to be here to understand why that is sooo funny but I had to include in on our blog because it is so typical of how things go around here. As much as we want them to be able to head home, we selfishly hope that they are here through the rest of our stay.

Well I guess that is it for the day. We take great enjoyment on marking off the days on the calendar. Thank you all for your comments and support. We know this too shall pass, but sometimes in the moment you feel like you are living the proverbial groundhog’s day!

Paka Paka (Bye, Bye)

Here are a couple of pictures. One is a little table and chairs outside of the gym at the baby home and the other two are the playground right outside the front door.