Finally made it...

We arrived in Orenburg after a 30 hour adventure at 3:30 in the morning. We were given a 3 hour nap and then met up with our coordinator for breakfast at 7:30am. I have never felt fatigue like this before. You know the type that you keep saying the same thing over and over again... like... we are getting old.

At breakfast we were told that the baby home of our little girl was a 3 hour car ride... a small town called Orsk. I thought I would fall over at the thought of sitting in a car for 6 hours each day. I won't get into the details of the driving down here, but lets just say it was certaintly not my hightlight here and I am grateful to report that we are back in Orenburg drinking a few beers.

We have been challenged with internet access and have been trying to keep up with family at home in any way we can find possible. On a whim... we found a signal and here I am. We are traveling with another couple that does not speak any english and staying in a hotel where very little english is spoken. Chris has taken this opportunity to speak freely and I often look around to see if anyone has any expression. It has been fun ordering. You get this huge menu and you just say BEEF. A couple of time we have had to act out the animal of choice. It is a goodt thing Garrett has been keeping us up to date on the cow sound. I wonder what I would get if I barked. I don't want to know.

Anyway... back to Orsk and the baby home. We arrived right before her nap. Met the pediatrician and got the simplified version of her medical and her social background. As suspected, we don't know much. As we were sitting there talking a little baby appeared from around the corner and we were caught completely off guard. You can't mistake the eyes and immediately she was very inquizative to her surroundings, Chris's goatee and my jewlery. Unlike Garrett, she did get some giggles out and had a few other noises. Hearing was definitely not an issue as she was very interested in any new noise in the room.

She has blue eyes and dirty blond hair... a little peanut. We both got to play with her for awhile and see where her "group" hung out. Took plenty of pictures and like clockwork... she fell asleep in my arms toward the end of the visit. We took that time to hang outside and some children came out to play. It amazed us how carefree these children were with strangers. We felt so far from our luxuries of home.

I will post pictures from Moscow on Thursday.