We Made It!!

We made it to Simferopol this morning about 8:45. It was a 16 hour train ride and it was BORING! Luckily we were able to sleep for about 8 hours of it.

After we got off of the train today we went to the Adoption Inspector's office to get permission to visit Roma without our official SDA referral. It was supposed to be signed today and shipped. I haven't heard anything else about it. Right now we are down here without a translator! It has been frustrating at times. Yulia will be coming down here on Tuesday. I'm looking forward to Tuesday!

We did get to see Roma today, but it was very briefly. He appears to still be sick and has a pretty nasty cough. We rushed to see him because we didn't want to miss the visiting hours window, and I didn't grab any toys because they were buried deep in the suitcase. So for about 45 minutes he played with my cell phone, book reading light, and camcorder. It seemed to entertain him though. Tomorrow I will take toys!! They brought him out and we had to spend time with him on the couch. They would not allow us to take him outside and they brought him out wet. He didn't have shoes on so I couldn't even let him walk around. It was strange. So tomorrow I am taking him a diaper, some socks, and tennis shoes!! And also toys! Roma had a good time with us though. He appears to have lost weight since we were her in April, but he's handsome as ever! He laughed and giggled and made some great vocal sounds. He even took my booklight and camcorder and put them back in my bag. It was too cute! He's a smart little guy. I can't wait to get him out of there and cleaned up!

And I asked about Miss Dasha. They brought her out long enough for me to get a peek at her and hold her hand. She's so cute! She looks the same, but her hair has gotten a little longer and now it stands straight up on top of her head. It was too cute! I'll try to get a picture of her tomorrow. The director knows that the SDA has already given us permission to come back for her in October. They just need us to submit another dossier for her. So hopefully with him knowing that, he will let us spend time with her and Roma together. I may have to wait until Yulia gets here to talk to them and make it happen. They have no idea what we are saying and our driver is the one that got them to bring Dasha out.

We did find out that Roma has a heart murmur. Not real sure what that means, but I am ready to get him home and find out for sure! He is small, but all the babies at this orphanage are really small. Dasha is also tiny, even for 2 years old.

Well, I'm going to run so I can walk back to our flat. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to update with some pictures.

Thank you all for your prayers!!!