A Great Day!

Today was great! 

John and I woke up around 7am after sleeping for 7 hours straight.  Rachel on the other hand was up at 5am.  Still not bad considering the time change.  We ate breakfast and got dressed and then headed over to the SDA building.  Since we are very close and this is how the area looks right now, our facilitator gave us directions so we could walk over.  It was only a 10 minute walk.

Another couple in front of us delayed our appointment by 15 minutes, but that's okay.  We got to talk to another adoptive family.  They are adopting a 15 year old boy they hosted over the summer.

Finally, we were called in.  The meeting went very well as we showed the woman updated pictures of our family.  They were very happy to see how all the kids are doing.

We took pictures of the baby pictures they have of the boys- -  both ones we had never seen before. An unexpected, yet precious gift.

After the meeting we went to exchange money and get a few things at the nearby grocery store.  In walked two drunk guys who began harassing John.  One kept asking John for money.  "One, two, one or two," he kept repeating holding up one and then two fingers.  John stood his ground with the guy as Rachel and I nervously watched.  The drunk kept it up as John pulled out money to pay for our stuff.  "One two, one two."  

John answered to the drunk in Russian, "Not one, not two, I'm forty."  Then he got our bag and we walked out.  Of course I looked over our shoulder, but John knew he was too drunk to follow let alone keep up with us.

After lunch, we went walking around.  Then we met up with another adoptive family, also from California.

We hit it off and ended up spending the whole day and even dinner with Tatyana, Sergey, and Elliana their daughter.  After walking all over the mall and taking pictures that we shouldn't have, we went to a restaurant pronounced Poo-zata Hata.  It was awesome.  I had the best cherry vereniki topped with sour cream and sugar.  We did lots of walking and took lots of pictures.

I wish I could upload them all, but Internet is too slow.

Tomorrow we will pick up our referrals before heading to the region on the overnight train.  If all goes well, we will be meeting our boys on Saturday or Sunday.  If not, we will meet them on Monday.  

For those that asked, we are in contact with Sasha and hope to see him soon.