Photo Opportunities

Tuesday, May 23

Today I was not feeling well so we had a quiet morning and then after lunch the kids had English lessons with Alona. They usually have about and hour of lessons each and then she doles out homework. They are very eager to work with Alona which is great. So about 3:30pm Nastya came over and we headed downtown by taxi to get Passport and Visa pictures. The pictures turned out fine but they are not the most flattering pictures of the kids but the man gave them both an extra picture to have and they were very excited about that.

While we waited for the photos to be developed we went to the Asia Store. It is a small store around the corner that has handicrafts and local arts and crafts. We want to take some native souvenirs back for them. They both got a hand crafted inlaid box to hold treasures like jewelry in. They also got necklaces made of silver. Stella got a cross like momma, and Sasha got a sword. They were very pleased. We will get some more stuff before we leave. There are some beautiful pots and dishes made of wood and hand painted. There are also dolls and Garrett would like to find some glasses like the ones he saw on “The Hunt for Red October”. He figures this is a good place to look.

We went to a digital processing lab and had photos printed for our court date. You need to have pictures as a family that are happy for the Judge look at. We also bought some photo albums and made pictures for Andrey and Rada to have of our adventures here. We also went to a bookstore and bought some native books like Pushkin’s Fables and a couple of other books for them to read in Russian.

We were going to go to the Orphanage tomorrow to see the kids teachers and schoolmates since it will be the last day of school but we have found out this evening we have to go to the notary at 11:00am to sign another paper for court. We also have to meet a Social Worker at 4:00pm so that takes care of our day! It is always an adventure here. We might go back on Thursday if that works out. We still don’t know when the court date is we hope to find out tomorrow.

After dinner we watched “The Princess Bride”. They seemed to really like it. Until tomorrow…My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory! May God bless you all!