Got To Have Faith!

When we arrived at the orphanage this morning and we were waiting for the caretakers to bring out the babies, we peeked in and saw two little boys ... oh, about 11 months old sitting on potty training toilets. They were not happy at all and were fussing in unison ... but they didn't dare get up. I don't know how long they are made to sit on these training toilets but it seems to be a loooooooong time. I've seen this on other days and it's amazing how these little children do exactly what they are told. I saw one little boy not dare cross the threshold of a door and his toy was juuuuuuust on the other side. When the babies have "KAK" (Russian for poo poo) in their diaper, the diaper comes off, the caretaker gently swings the child over into the big porcelain tub, the child spreads eagle, and he is hosed down. Then the child is laid down and dried off with something Joanie says feels like berber carpet!! The babies take it all in stride and just seem to go with the flow!

After we spent time with the babies this morning, we had lunch and then went to get pictures printed from our cameras. At court we must show at least 10 pictures as evidence of bonding. I had chosen about 30 and I let Larissa narrow them down for me as she knows what the judges like.

After our afternoon visit to the orphanage, we went by the fancy hotel here and made our spa reservations. We are all going to be very busy through Friday afternoon ... so we are going Saturday morning from 9:30 - 12:00. The three of us ladies are treating Larissa, our interpreter. We are all getting a sauna, a facial, and a one hour massage. We are having faith that the court decisions on Friday will be positive. Our hopeful plan is to celebrate a little Friday night, go get pampered Saturday morning and then after lunch ... do what we have all dreamed about. Go pick up "OUR" babies. It feels strange to talk this way ... kind of like how I felt when Beth planned a baby shower for me ... and yet there was no travel invitation.

Sometimes when something is so close after you've waited and dreamed for so long ... there is that little bit of fear that creeps in. Prayer is the answer.

(By the way, some of you have asked what time my court is ... ATLANTA, GA time. I am 11:00 hours ahead of you now (since the time change occured). My court hearing is at 12:30 p.m. on Friday ... which should be 1:30 a.m. your time. For my family in MS and my friends in TX, it is 12:30 a.m. your time. I will update my blog as soon as I can. You all will probably know the judge's decision around 10:00 a.m. your Friday morning.)


Today during lunch, I looked up and saw a big bottle of vodka sitting right in the middle of the table!! Surprised, I said "Who ordered the VODKA???!!! Everyone laughed ... I guess I hadn't been paying attention. Two men in the far corner had the bottle sent over to our table. WHO sends a bottle of VODKA to a group of ladies during lunch? Only in Kazakhstan!! We gave the bottle to Pasha, our driver. Pasha is ALWAYS saying, "Tequila ... NOOOOOOO ... Russian Vodka ... NOOOOOOOOOOOO PROBLEMA!!!!!! ... in his broken English.