SDA Appointment

The results of our grocery shopping: I don't know why I get such a kick out of seeing the names of foods written in another language. I think it's fun.

Our bathroom with it's own water heater. Two good things in this room are the heated towel rack (which you can't see) and the heated floor tiles (which you can't see either!) Smile.

Kevin took along two of his ministerial training courses. We also watched tons and tons of News on TV (which I jokingly called "Olds" after hearing it re-run so many times) Occasionally there were sports programs and even Christian programs in English as well.

Here are a couple views of Independence Square, the top one actually taken from our apartment window.

Here's the sign outside the entry to the SDA. There were lots of other people in there waiting on the stairway and right inside the doorway. This is where we got the official referral for Steven and permission to go visit him.


Exhausted me.

It has taken me at least 5 of my allotted 30 minutes to figure out how to get on here but we did it! It is tricky to try to follow directions written in another language.

Today was our SDA appointment. The SDA is only about 5 minutes by car, probably 15 minutes on foot. Our translator Nastya and Oleg met us at Mister Snack (looks like Mictep Chek). The lady who interviewed us was named Maria and she seemed very sweet and like she truly cares about children. I just 'happened' to take along a photo album with pictures of all of our kids and copies of Caleb's recent and handsome school pictures. I was asked if he has had surgery--I guess the one that is supposed to erase visible signs of DS.
Anyway, we got to read over R's file, found out his birthday and place of birth, weight, length at birth, etc. I asked if I could take a picture of the photo on the file and was told that I can actually have it in exchange for a newer one, once we are actually his parents.
The current plan is that we will pick up the official referral tomorrow about 5 pm as the SDA no longer gives it the same day as the appointment.

Sorry this sounds so choppy. Usually when I post I spend a lot of time thinking about my wording--now I am just trying to get done before my time is up.

Last night after posting we found a place called The Potato House. It was set up in kind of a cowboy style with the waitresses wearing cowboy hats, a thick wooden ledge for our table, wooden stools and thankfully an English menu. Kevin ordered the BBQ ribs, I ordered a baked potato with cheesy brocolli sauce and some kind of meat (veal I think), and we shared a 'salt' pancake--a very thin pancake rolled up with cheese, raw tomatoes and raw red peppers. Kevin ended up ordering a potato for himself as well. We are actually thinking of taking our on-line friends there tonight for dinner.

On our way to the grocery store we passed what we think was a street service. There was a man who would talk for awhile and then the group would sing and then he would talk again. We both think we heard the name Jesus Christ being mentioned.

This shopping expedition was much less 'interesting' than our original trip in January. Here in the minimarket all the chicken was placidly cut up, lying on styrofoam, wrapped in saran wrap; the pepper was already ground; we had a shopping cart and we paid for everything at once. I must admit I didn't mind the convenience at all. We each had two pretty hefty bags to tote home and up the stairs.

Today I have just been a sleepy-head. We have dark blue curtains and the weather has been very foggy which all just adds to my desire to close my eyes.