Today started off a little different than the rest of the days. My blackberry rang at 7:30 am telling us it was time to wake up and start our day. We got ready and headed down to the restaurant about 8:30 am, as we do every day, and began to eat breakfast. Then a funny thing happened, I looked at my watch and saw that my watch was reading 9:50 am and my blackberry was reading 8:50 am. Apparently, the country of Russia decided that this year, they were not going to set their clocks back, and no one told Verizon. We had 10 minutes to get to the orphanage or risk missing one of our visits we had planned today. We are not allowed at the orphanage without our translator, and if we were late and she thought we were not coming, she would leave! We left our plates full of food and dashed out of the restaurant and into the street. We made our way, as fast as we could, down the street until we reached the underground train. Luckily, we only had to wait for a couple of minutes to get on the train. When we got off of the train, we quickly moved above ground and made a mad dash for the orphanage. We were in luck! Our translator was still waiting outside and told us she would've waited for the whole two hours since we had told her we were coming! We had made it, 15 minutes late, but we made it. Record time actually.
We made our way into the orphanage and once inside we saw our little man. He was sitting in the lap of one of the nurses, eating oatmeal. When he saw us he smiled really big at Leah, and stuck his arms out as if to say "come get me momma!" We had a great visit this morning. He seemed to be feeling better, and was playing like crazy. He loves to crawl to Leah, then lean and get me to hold him, then two minutes later reach our toward Leah. We call this his "hot potato move"! He just loves being passed around and held. As with all of our visits, this one ended too soon and we left and headed back toward our hotel.
Since we left without eating breakfast, we decided to go eat lunch. We went to our spot, Grand Pizza, and Leah had soup and I ordered a dish called "Grand Pancakes". I was expecting pancakes like in America, but I got a very thin pancake like thing that was wrapped around chicken and cheese. It was amazing. Like nothing I had ever had before. Those of you who know me know how picky of an eater I am, but in this country, I haven't come across many things that were not good. Russians know how to do food, especially if you can figure out how to order it. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to rest, and when we got to our room, our room key didn't work anymore. Add this to the list of strange occurances today. We went back down to the front desk and told them it wasn't working. They asked what room number, and gave us a new key.....that's it. It made us feel really secure! haha
Our second visit today was less eventful. We went to the orphanage and saw Jonah. We got to play with him in their music room, which made him feel right at home. I"m pretty sure we have the next Justin Timberlake on our hands. This kid loves all things music. Any toys that play music, anything he can beat on to make a beat, anything he can dance to, he loves it all. Once again, upon arriving at his area, he lit up and reached for us when he saw we were there. He is beginning to recognize us when we come in . That is very exciting for us and for the nurses who are with him. They all want him to be happy and want us to adopt him. I was a little worried that they wouldn't want us to have him, but they have been great. Even when he was sick, they kept coming out and telling us why he wasn't playing because they were afraid we would change our minds and want another baby. It was sweet.
Tomorrow is the day we have been dreading. The morning will be a celebration of his one year on this earth, and tomorrow evening will be the time that we have to leave him until we can go home and return in a month or so. We are very sad about this, but we are both coming to terms with it. We understand that this is just the process and we have no choice but to do what they tell us we have to do. We do not want him to feel like we are not coming back, but we have both decided that he is too young to know. We have been praying for God to comfort us during this time. This afternoon when Jonah was playing I noticed something that I knew was God comforting me. Jonah has this horse that plays music. It plays Old MacDonalds Farm, a few other songs I do not know, and It's a small world. His favorite is It's a small world. Every time he hits that button and that song comes he just smiles and dances as fast and as hard as he can. This song must've played about a million times today. While watching him play it and dance a thought hit me. It really is a small world. Compared to the vastness of the universe, and the depths of the heavens, this world is very very tiny. The God who created this small world and this HUGE universe loves Jonah and he loves Leah and I. Even though we feel like we are worlds away from our son when we leave, we are really only a short distance. That distance gets even shorter when you think about the fact that God will be holding us both and Jonah in his arms bringing comfort during the seperation. It meant the world to me. It really is a small world. It took a 1 year old with a toy horse to drive that point home. I am not sure if we will be able to post tomrrow night. Our flight to Moscow leaves at 9:05 pm and we won't get to our hotel until nearly midnight. I will do my best so be looking out for it. Until then I leave you with this..it seemed appropriate...
it's a world of laughter, a world or tears
its a world of hopes, its a world of fear
theres so much that we share
that its time we're aware
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small world after all
its a small, small world
There is just one moon and one golden sun
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide
And the oceans are wide
It's a small small world
We love you all.
We love you both....L.T.
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