About Day 16...

Every evening after we get back from the orphanage, we go up to our hotel room on the 9th floor and download the pictures onto the computer. We try to narrow them down to 2-3, but believe me...with her beautiful face, it's hard to narrow it down. Even Tom will say "That's a good one, we'll have to keep it" to just about every picture, lol!

Anyway, last night we copied the pictures to the CD and then walked down the street to the internet cafe and we had spent about 30 minutes typing up the blog and almost had all the pictures downloaded....when....the electricity went out! It was only for a couple of seconds, but long enough to lose everything we had done! Very frustrating! By that time it was after 9pm and we were tired and hungry and the computer wasn't working very well, so we decided to wait until this morning. Hope you all understand and hope no one was worried.

Yesterday we went to the zoo which is within walking distance of the hotel. We went with Brian and Tamera. It is really nice to have another American couple here to visit with and share the experience with. After the zoo, we enjoyed a late lunch at a nice place and then....it was already time to see Elizabeth!

When she came into the play room she only cried briefly and soon we had her interested in books, toys, and Cheerios. She liked to dig all the toys out of the diaper bag (see picture ~ do you recognize that diaper bag, Machelle?) and then put them back in again...too cute! She likes to eat! I had taken quite a few Cheerios and a few animal crackers and she finished them off pretty quickly. I took some water in a sippy cup and some in a bottle, but she doesn't seem to care much for it. The tea they usually give her is warm and the water was cool. Anyway, we had a good evening and played and played. She sat on my lap which was awesome! She stood up a few times, but then would sit right back down on my lap. Tom stayed behind the cameras, but each day he moves a little closer. We are trying to move at her pace. If we were going at our pace, we'd be on the first plane out of here!!

Just want you all to know that the e-mail here sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. We are always able to read what you write, but sometimes (more often than not) it won't let us reply or send new ones. Please keep sending them, as we LOVE to read them, just understand if we don't always reply.

Nancy ~ Could you share our blog address with Kathy Marshall at HRH. I know she would love to see Elizabeth. I know you all are getting excited...only 11 more days until you are on your way to Russia!!! We are praying for both you and Tim!

We got a great phone call from my brother, Gary, the other night. I can't explain how awesome it is to hear familiar voices. Sorry the phone call didn't work the other night, Machelle. After it went dead, I told Tom that it sounded like your voice. Try again another night.

Today, we are shopping for a winter coat and diapers. Fun, fun! It is a sunny day here. Cool, but nice and crisp and perfect for walking around the city. We have greatly enjoyed the bantering between the Gottmans and the Hagans. We cannot wait to see how many bushels the beans are making today! Tom says you may want to hold off on the tractor, though, lol!

Hope everyone there enjoyed Halloween. No trick or treating here, other than another reason to celebrate. They do lots of drinking here. Every market has 2 aisles devoted entirely to booze. One aisle for chocolate and then 2-3 for everything else. We have been to most markets within walking distance here and have yet to find baby apple juice. Not much of anything for babies, just a few clothing stores and one toy store. Many, many pet stores. Interesting, huh?

I thought my brother Tim would be interested to know that we have seen 2 street sweepers here. One was underneath a small Belarus cab tractor and the other looked like a smaller, older version of what he drives for MODot. They keep the streets and sidewalks very, very clean here. Everyday they are out sweeping with their homemade brooms.

We are all warming up to the babushka and she is warming up to us, too. Last night she let Brian take a picture of her. You can see it on their blog at www.elrichsadoption.blogspot.com as well as their beautiful son CJ.

In one picture above you'll see 2 other little girls in the background. They are also being visited in the play room by their soon to be mothers. They are also very cute, blonde hair and blue eyes.

We love you lots. Hopefully the electricity won't go out tonight and we'll be able to let you know how the next visit goes!!

Love you all, Valerie and Tom and Elizabeth