Our ride home and progress with Mr. Caleb

Pictures: Caleb with puppets and camera; Orphanage Director's office; two views of Caleb's orphanage building; backyard playground area is a bit under the weather

It seems we have our return flights mostly figured out. Thursday when Dima called the airlines to get my return ticket changed he was told that unless I flew out by February 23 (one month past flying out of Boise) that my ticket would expire. And Dima said there was only 1 % chance that the process would be complete by then. So then Kevin and I started checking out one-way tickets home for the following week and I was horrified to discover they cost MORE than we'd paid for the original round trip ticket. Tickets originating here have a significantly higher percentage of taxes added on. To say I was not a happy camper would be an understatement. Kevin called the Lufthansa Airlines office here in Kiev and the gal there basically reiterated what Dima had found out but said her system was down so Kevin should come in on Friday. I believe it was Dima who suggested we get in contact with our travel agent so I sent them an email requesting assistance in our dilemna. By Friday morning I had about decided that if nothing had changed I would just join Kevin when he goes home on Tuesday Feb 12 and USE my ticket rather than lose it, kiss my kids and get back on the plane 2 days later to come back. We did not yet have any kind of reply from the ticket agent . But Friday afternoon when Kevin called Lufthansa back and gave the booking reservation number for me, their computer showed that the ticket had been changed to Feb 26, though they pointed out that was breaking the rules since it was a 30-day ticket, etc, etc. Kevin assured them HE was not the one who had changed it, that the agent had changed it and if they wanted to break their own rules they could. The airlines wanted confirmation from the agent so we just forwarded the message we eventually got from the agent to the airline's email address. I would appreciate everyone's prayers that everything continues to work out with the return tickets for Caleb and me and that we would have divine favor with all the offices that have a part in our final round of paperwork and that God would grant us godspeed.

Our visit Friday with Caleb started out with the usual tears and refusal to have anything to do with us--wouldn't even eat candy we had seen him gulp down a couple days before with a huge sticky smile on his face. The orphanage workers brought in one of his friends--the other Sasha that we have already met that the French couple is adopting. The room was instantly a much cheerier, busier, and louder place. This other little guy is a blond, blue-eyed, two-year old full of smiles, energy and mischief and Caleb was his willing cohort in all escapades. They got scolded a couple times by workers for rolling their cars on the window and rattling the lids of the pots. I was impressed that even the scoldings were in a low voice and certainly not mean. One thing we are definitely going to have to work on is the meaning of 'no' because when Caleb grabs my glasses and I firmly say 'no' he thinks it's funny and does it over and over. He did seem to like to look at my face with my glasses off. With his friend in the room, Caleb was absolutely willing to eat candy and cookies. Kevin was even on the floor playing with cars and Caleb was not freaked out. Caleb got all sad-faced again when his friend left the room without him but did finally look up when Kevin called his name over and over and did help us pick up the toys. Also when Kevin led him down the hall toward lunch he kept holding Kevin's hand and didn't push him away. Hey, that's progress.