After actually sleeping in the past two days, I find myself wide awake since 4:40 this morning. I checked my emails and looked for things to do in our down time in Moscow, if we have any. Yesterday was one of the most enjoyable and stress-free days we've had since we’ve been here. Now that court is over and we're beginning to see light at the end of this tunnel, life should be much more enjoyable.
Yesterday we were able make a morning visit to see the boys. We spent about an hour and a half with them. Grandma and Grandpa got to along as well! They boys are really warming up to us and even seem very anxious to come by us when their caregivers bring them into the room. We also had a chance to sit down and meet with the director of Children's Home #12 to learn a bit more about the boys. Earlier, she given us their baptism book and silver crosses. All the children in the orphanage are baptized Russian Orthodox and are usually given a Godmother. Their names are in the book and usually it’s a particular caregiver. Our translator Nina also gave us photocopies of their records from the orphanage along with the original bounded court orders allowing the adoption.
During this visit I brought along photos from another family who adopted children from the same home a few years back. The family wanted them to go to a particular caregiver who their child was particularly fond of. As it turned out, that same care giver was working, so the director (Svetlana) called her into the office where she was given the photos. She began looking at them and her eyes welled up and she began crying and even kissed some of the photos. It was really a memorable experience. Our translator told us the woman said she remembered the child very well and in fact had a picture of him on her TV at home. Apparently, the woman was also his Godmother at the Children's home.
After our visit, we went to a Chinese restaurant and had a huge meal. There was so much food that everyone passed around their own dishes and had a chance to sample just about everything. The food was really good and we had a great time.
Next, we stopped at a bakery near the orphanage to pick up some cakes and cookies to bring on our afternoon visit to the orphanage. We planned on giving them to the caregivers. They are really the special people throughout this whole process. While some seem non-nonchalant, others, like the woman mentioned above, are so genuine and really do love the children.
On our way in, we saw the same woman at the guard shack that we've seen almost every day as we enter the orphanage. She was her friendly usual self saying her hellos to each and every one of us as we entered single file. We forgot about her when we bought the cakes and cookies, so we picked up a box of chocolates later to give her on our next visit.
After we gave the cakes to one of the employees, she took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to answer some of our questions. She told us Roman and Sergei each have their own toddler beds now set up next to one another as opposed to the cribs they used to sleep in. She said often times they find that one or the other has crawled out of his bed sometime during the night to sleep with his brother. She told us they are very good boys who don't fuss much and that they play well with each other and others.
Our afternoon visit with the boys also went well. Roman still isn’t feeling 100% with his cold and congestion. Hopefully he has a chance to get better before our travels home.
Today, we get to go to the Hermitage Museum before our afternoon visit. We purchased our airline tickets to Moscow yesterday and will be leaving St. Petersburg forever on Sunday morning.
Our translator in St. Petersburg later told us that one of the caregivers she spoke to described some sort of desert the boys seemed to enjoy. Oksana said it's a cottage cheese dish the orphanage makes for the children as a treat. It’s made up of cottage cheese, raisins, sugar and flour and is then baked. Oksana said milk isn’t as common for children here in Russia as it is back home but she did say they usually are given some sort of dairy product with their afternoon snack. Sometimes the snack is milk, yogurt, cottage cheese or something I can't remember the name of but it's supposed to be like yogurt.
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