A day in the life

First, a HUGE thank you to everyone who has been praying! Thanks is just not enough, you just don't know what it means to us. Yesterday and today we have been able to get online at a hotel lobby across the street from our apartment. We have so enjoyed reading your emails and encouraging words. Again, you just don't even know how much we appreciate your messages. I don't know what the people here at the hotel think of this strange foreigner woman crying over the computer, but there's nothing I can do about it!
We are disappointed that we are unable to get the internet at our apartment. I guess the apartment next to us has the capability, but there is a French couple there now and we will have to wait for them to vacate before moving in and being there. It's probably okay for now though because it's especially good for me to be out and about as much as possible as my body gets acclimated.
Many of you have asked about our routine and what exactly we will do each day. For the next few weeks we are doing a required bonding time with the kids. We are picked up outside our hotel by our translator, Tatiyana and driver, Genadi every morning. They are both very friendly. Tatiyana or less formal, Tanya is very sweet and we are enjoying getting to know her. We take an very bumpy hour long drive out to the orphanage. Once there we go to a special room to play with the kids. They come in and are told to hug us and say hello etc...soo cute. We have a few hours a day with them. I'm so glad I brought some things for us to do with them. As you can imagine it is a little awkward one big reason being the language barrier! Tanya is there to help us communicate with them, but it's not the same as you can imagine. I bought these cheap matching card games that have been a good way to interact, also Carla, remember you sent those jacks along with other toys like three years ago? Well, the jacks were a big hit with Aloysha today! He is very coordinated! Also, they both enjoy coloring and color very neatly. Dave has been great with A....he has been reading a simple book with him and learning Russian from A and teaching him some English in exchange.
As I told you briefly yesterday A is quiet and Z is a hummingbird. She goes from one thing to the next! She is super happy and just a little spit fire! Dave and I look forward to our mornings with them!
Today was interesting because a news channel was at the orphanage. They taped us playing with A and interviewed someone from one of the education offices there and asked us if we would do an interview. Our translator asked the director and others and they all agreed it would not be a good idea. There are just lots of rules and regs here and we wouldn't want to hurt our process.It was pretty awkward trying to play with A and having this big tv camera guy taping us for about 10 minutes. I mean he had that camera really close to us at certain points. We asked Tanya if she would find out when it went on tv and if she would record it for us. That would be neat to have for A in years to come.
We get back early afternoon and will probably be in the routine of coming over to the hotel to email or blog. Yesterday we walked and walked around town. We are close to everything here. There are several good places to eat. Tonight we are probably going to a pizza place that we tried a few days ago. It was very good and they have wireless if we want to check in again.
Last night we went to the store and bought some fruit, cereal, bread, water and of course Dave can always spot a treat! There are plenty of icecream treats to be found here just like Japan. In fact J,D,J,and G...the stores here remind us a lot of Japan.
Okay, there is still lots I could ramble on about...the people we are working with, the apartment, the city, but I'll save some things for my next blog okay! LOVE YOU ALL!!! MISS YOU ALL!