Iron Mama & Wild Child

Jordan is not the "wild child" (this time)!

We had an exhausting day! We walked down to McDonalds for breakfast to make Wayne happy. Then we had to return because Ira called and the tv guy was coming. We are desperate for tv at this point. Slava picked us up at noon to take us to the WWII museum which is located under the Mother Russia statue which we fondly refer to as Iron Mama. From there we hit the grocery store and tons of traffic, then off to visit our Slava. Big Slava did not stay with us for this visit because he said he had to go to the passport office (???? we are praying this has to do with Slava's passport????). At first we thought it would be a good thing to be alone with him again, but the boy was non-stop. Every toy we tried to play with he just threw (so we promptly took it away) or he used as a hammer to pretend he was hammering the wall. This got us in trouble with an orphanage worker who came in and told us to be quiet because they were trying to get the babies to sleep - at least I think that's what she said :) Then Slava discovered the sink and wanted to wash his hands for like 15 minutes. These visits are more difficult than they are enjoyable, it's sad to say. We have no control as parents yet and feel like we're being watched by the staff. We cannot discipline, other than saying "no" or "sit" and removing toys. When Big Slava is with us at least he can speak the same language and little Slava obeys. And I forgot the juice boxes in the car and the whole visit he kept asking for "Sok" which means juice. He even ransacked my backpack because he didn't believe my "no Sok" story. That will be the last time Mama forgets the sok! And to top it all off, Jordan was acting up. I think he's vying for our attention while we're trying to interact with Slava. The whole thing is very draining. We can't wait to just get him home where we are in charge and there's a million things for him to discover.



Today Irina told us that we need to visit the orphanage everyday during the 10 day wait. Apparently families are supposed to visit 2x per day. It's fine if we only go once per day, but we can't skip a day. When we visit is recorded in a book. The purpose of the 10 day wait is so if anyone wants to appeal the adoption they can do so during the 10 days. We're not concerned about family members appealing, but Irina said that there were people "interested" in adopting Slava. So we must do everything that we are supposed to do so we don't have any issues.



Tomorrow we will visit Slava in the morning, so we will all be on the playground weather permitting. Ha, no toys to throw out there! LOL. Then we are to meet some YWAMers, Stephan & Oksana and take the metro to their place for a visit. They are friends of our friends and graciously offered to spend some time with us. Stephan runs the Dental Truck for YWAM and visited our home church not too long ago. It will be nice to spend some time with fellow believers as well. That should get us through the half-way point of the 10 day wait!



Please continue praying. Pray for our visits with Slava to improve, for Jordan's behavior, for the rest of the 10 days to fly by and that no one will try to appeal the adoption, and for a very fast process at the end...we need that passport asap!



We are thankful for all of you supporting us and praying for us. We are thankful too for good health, good weather (near 60 today), good apartment with a washer & internet, good travel, and a good team helping us here.



We love you all and miss you soooo much.