Birth Certificate Received!!

This morning was great! I went with my buddy Igor (our driver) to go and pick up Dima's Birth Certificate. I was a tad bit nervous due to the paperwork snafu the previous day, but Syvette said everything should be alright. She then said...BUT, if you have ANY problems, please call me ASAP! So, we went to an office that ended up not being open yet and about 8 people were standing outside waiting.  One thing that I have noticed here is that it is not first come first serve....it's whomever shoves to the front first. When they opened the doors, Igor and I followed everyone else inside.  Once we got inside, Igor just went right in front of all these people.  There was one woman already in the room for birth certificates. In America, you would patiently wait outside until that lady was finished, not here, Igor walked right in and started talking to the lady behind the desk.  Next thing I knew, that lady was no longer there and the door was shut! The lady behind the desk spoke back to Igor and the lady started speaking to me in English and looking into my eyes. You usually don't look people in the eye here when you speak, as it is custom. Some see it as offensive if you look too long into their eyes.  She was very sweet as she directed us into another room and told me to have a seat.

Igor and I sat there while I heard the ladies behind the desk say my name and then Dusty's name. Rather than staring at a blank wall, I thought I'd show Igor, my buddy, pictures from my iPhone.  He thought it was so cool how you can look at all the pictures at the same time.  He doesn't speak English, but while showing him pictures, it made it easier to understand each other.  He laughed at the pictures of our greyhounds doing goofy things and of Dima with scratches on his chin from the hosting camp in PA.  He was generally interested in me showing him those pictures. People here are very stone faced and do not look friendly at first, but most are caring once you get to know them. Honestly, I was a little intimidated of Igor when Dusty and I first met him, but after him laughing at Dusty singing "Careless Whispers" by George Micheals, he became our buddy. I told him today that I would not sign to him like Dusty did.....not sure if he understood what I said.

Back to the birth certificate, after about 15 minutes, the ladies asked me to sign a few places and there was Dima's birth certificate! Eventhough I could barely understand it since it was in Russian, I could recognize our names on it. What a feeling to finally have that in my hands! I couldn't wait to tell Dima later and he was excited as well after I told him.

Not too much happened at the orphanage today, just a big group get together again in the art room. Not sure if we are causing a commotion with so many adoptive parents being here because it seems like some kids want to come to the room with us and are getting in trouble by their teachers.  Even the Assistant Director is not letting us visit some of the kids in their rooms.  We have to stay in the art room only.  With four families, we are now taking up a lot of room.  When the art teacher is there, she is running out of space and I feel she is getting a little frustrated.  She is a very nice lady, and we don't want to upset or disrupt what she is there for.

We have had a few kids come to visit and ask if Lori, Cindy and Eric will find a Mama and Papa for them from America.  That is just breaking our hearts.  One girl today weighs on my mind.  It was the first time I've seen her come to the room with us.  Later Lori told me that when Syvette came to our room to tell us it was time to leave, the girl ran over to Syvette and had her translate to Lori that she wanted her to find her a Mama and Papa from America:( This poor girl is 16 years old! She has no time left as she should "graduate" this year from the orphanage because of her age. Lena said she is a very nice girl and I don't even want to think about where she will be in another year. It is so sad, but I just have to keep focusing on saving Dima and getting him home!

Tomorrow we are going to apply for passports.  We tried to do it today, however, the lady that normally does them was not in.  We hope she is in tomorrow as that could hinder our trip back!  Please pray that we go tomorrow and also for Eric and Cindy Noel as they have court tomorrow at 11am.  They ran into some problems with their adoption and it is not totally for sure yet they are able to adopt. They have been told their court will probably be 2 days.  I couldn't imagine as our court was only about 50 minutes long and one day! That seemed like forever! Please pray as they will need strength and for the judge to rule in their favor!!!

Good night!