Our Last Visit!

Today was our last regular visit to the baby home. We stopped on the way and picked up her passport and visa photos that were taken yesterday. She has quite a worried look on her face as it was such a new (and a little scary) place for her. Our visit was in the morning this time and lasted fairly long – about an hour and a half. Time flies when we’re with her though – it always seems like less than it really is. During the week things are very strict at the baby home, with lots of rules we have to follow. But on Saturdays, things are more relaxed and we have a little more freedom to do what we want, and for her to do what she wants. Our little one was pretty good today. We played with toys mostly on a blanket laid out on the floor. At one point, there was a little crying for no apparent reason, but she got over it quickly and we went back to playing.

After our visit, we went to BananaMama, a children’s store, to get things for her that we’ll need until we get her home. Things like tights, mittens, food, diapers, etc. We found some tights, and some baby food of the meat variety there. We had to go to the big grocery store (the one like Sam’s Club – blue front, big yellow letters) to get the rest. We never did find any mittens. Shopping for food was pretty tough. The list provided by the baby home was fairly generic so we had lots of questions about exactly what foods she is used to. There are many choices on the shelf, but with our interpreter’s help, we did the best that we could. Hopefully, everything we picked up will agree with her.

Since tomorrow is Sunday, we don’t get a visit. But Monday we get picked up at 9:00 to go get her birth certificate and then in the afternoon, she becomes ours for keeps! It should be quite a day for all of us.

For dinner tonight, we walked to the Krem Café. This was our only walk for the day. We brought a taxi back to the hotel because it was dark by the time we finished our meals. Tomorrow is Sunday and we are on our own. I’m sure we’ll make up for our lack of walking. The temperature is supposed to be cooler tomorrow – high of 58 degrees. We’ll have to walk fast to keep warm!

Andy and Kathy flew to Moscow today on their way home. I know we said it yesterday, but again, we wish them safe travels and a short wait to come back and make their journey complete.