A sunny day

Today was the first sunny day in December in the Tver, Russia region. I choose to believe it was because of us!


We met the girls today and it was nothing like we expected but everything we'd hoped for, if that makes any sense. It was a crazy meeting full of stuffed animals, a rolling ball, two party hats and a fake bowtie for Brian and two little girls running and playing and simply being adorable.

The (cold) day (but it's supposed to be even colder tomorrow - it's the kind of cold where you walk outside and the inside of your nose freezes instantly and people are walking around in those fur hats like you see in movies set in Russia - I gues now I get to say like you see in Russia!) started with us meeting our translator, a wonderful post-grad young woman named Masha, and our agency representative, Alexay. We drove to the "registry" where they officially keep track of orphans; we learned the girls exact birth dates, full names, a brief bit about their birth parents and filled out a form asking for permission to go see them at the baby home. In only a few moments we were done.

We then drove the two hours to the rural orphanage where the girls are. Yep, 2 hours.

We went into the director's office in this old building and waited for a few moments and then all of a sudden we heard little voices and they were there! They ran into the room and straight to the toys and started pulling them off and bringing them to Brian and me one by one. The younger one, let's call her N/H in a cryptic code until after the adoption, was obviously very confident and full of herself in an adorable way. The older one, let's call her A/L in the cryptic code, was more reserved but not in a stand-offish way, just more contemplative. It bodes well for us that they seem to like the word dog (sabaka) a lot. They know lots of single Russian words, so Brian and I need to relearn some tonight so tomorrow we can say things like rabbit and mouse!

The room was crazy - here we are in this tiny little office with the director, us, the girls, a social worker, various caregivers coming in and out and the college-aged granddaughter of the director. I kicked off my shoes (I'd had to wear nicer ones for our trip to the registry but tomorrow can be more casual) and got down on my knees and started playing. Before we knew it Brian and on two party hats and a small fake bowtie. The girls were fascinated with him and one of them called him beautiful. This also bodes well for us!

We just soaked it all in. We rolled a ball around on the floor until it disappeared to points unknown. We oohed and ah'd over endless stuffed animals and made choo choo sounds (we have no idea if Russian trains go choo choo but do now know that apparently dogs go arf arf instead of woof woof) and just watched them.

They do know they are sisters and were very sweet with each other - we even got a picture of them hugging! The older, A/L, guided her little sister at one point with her hands on her shoulders saying her name like she was introducing her. We're so glad they do know they are sisters and that they seem close - so glad for them that their journey will be together!

We got some additional personal background information and tomorrow will get to ask direct questions of the orphanage director. She was a kind woman who made us tea in her little office and climbed on a chair to get out a package of cookies for us. The caregivers frequently gave the girls kisses on their cheeks. Our translator says this is a very good baby home full of kind, giving caregivers, for which we are so thankful.

Tomorrow we leave here at 8 to make the 2-hour drive to spend more time with them - we hope it's as much as 2 or 2 1/2 hours tomorrow. Then we'll head back to exchange some money - we still don't have any rubles to our name! Thank goodness our hotel takes Visa as we've not had a chance to exchange any money yet!

I'm off now to look up animals in Russian and to make our list for tomorrow. Here are a few pics of the baby home - a gate, their outdoor playground and a quick shot of the outside. We'll take more tomorrow and maybe will have time tomorrow evening for some additional shots of our immediate surroundings. Oh, I had potato pancakes, sour cream and caviar for dinner last night!

We go to bed later tonight having met these wonderful girls and have memories of a sunny, cold day in Russia tucked into our hearts forever. From Tver, Russia to the rest of the world, love to all.