Robin here. I don’t know if it’s jet lag or not, but I awoke about an hour ago, saw that it was 6:30 and mentioned something to Greg about going to the orphanage in a few hours. It took several minutes of conversation and the need for Greg to walk me to a window so I could see where the sun was at in the sky before I was willing to accept his idea that it was not 6:30 Saturday morning, but instead, 6:30 Friday evening. After getting over the disappointment that we would not be seeing Kristina in a few hours as I had thought, I immediately relished the idea that I still had a full night’s rest ahead of me! One would think with all the napping I’ve been getting that I would feel well rested; all I feel is disoriented…

Our visit with Kristina today (Friday) was just great. The children were in a different room when we arrived this morning. As we approached the door, we could see that they were watching a TV program. Still, the moment Kristina saw us standing in the doorway she jumped up yelling, “Mama, Mama, Papa, Papa!” She hugged us both tightly, and although I know her excitement was genuine, it was also quite evident that she was declaring to her group mates that SHE had a Mama and a Papa. It made me sad to imagine how envious the other children must have been at that moment.

Today’s visit was cut short by half an hour when we were informed by our translator, Igor (who, by the way, is just the best) that we had to leave early in order to meet our coordinator, Shoboln (female) at the notary office to sign some papers. We also lost 15 minutes of bonding time with Kristina when she was called out for a shower. So, between the shower and leaving early, we felt a bit cheated as we said our DAH svee-DAHN-yah’s (Good Bye’s.)

We stopped for lunch with Igor on the way home from the orphanage and Greg enjoyed his first taste of horsemeat by way of a bowl of soup. Greg is not a soup eater, but he said it was the best he had ever eaten. It looked to be highly seasoned and it contained dollops of sour cream and a slice of lemon among its ingredients. It had rice, potato and vegetables and was garnished with lots of fresh parsley. I am not at all adventurous when it comes to meat, so I am sorry to say that I did not partake.

Tomorrow (Sat) is day 4 of our bonding time with Kristina. And, as much as I enjoy every minute we spend with her, it’s almost as if I want the two hours over with quickly so we can move on to the next day. Having done this with Julia in ’04, I know that we will be in court before we know it. But, my heart is impatient…