Social Worker "Success"

This was an early day for us....had to be ready by 8:30am. (I'm usually on the road commuting by 5:55am so 8:30am is already mid-morning!) Our translator arrived 15 minutes early so we had to gobble down our breakfast in record-breaking time ~ not good prior to driving in Ekat.

We picked up the Social Worker who brought a fellow SW because they needed to stop at a home prior to heading out to the Orphanage. Just out luck...we sat there in the car for 50 minutes while the Social Workers dealt with a sticky custody case on our time!! Finally, at 10am, we were on our way to see K.

When we arrived, we found Adriana and Sergio playing with Pablo in the Playroom!! They will be picking up Pablo tomorrow *for good* so it was wonderful getting to see them again. :)

We waited and waited and finally our little angel was brought in. Two pig tails today, the same black/white/red floral dress that we've seen on 5 occasions now and cautious smiles. She was in good spirits but definitely guarded probably because of the "audience". This didn't stop her from focusing on all of Pablo's toys. Gracias, Pablo, for letting K play with your toys! After almost 2 weeks of the same old toys, we think she's getting bored with them.

Just when little miss K started to open up and hide behind the lacey drapes (one of her favorite "hide and seek" games), in comes the caregiver to take the kids to lunch. UGH!! We only got to see K for 40 minutes!! We were so bummed but Lydia (translator) said we could come back in the afternoon. OK --- feeling better.

During our together time, I glanced over a few times to the SW and knew this was not a big deal. All she was doing was talking with our translator. You'd think it was just a technicality that she had to be there. Later on, I asked what she thought and she responded with a long response. Our translator responded, "She thinks she's beautiful." I think something was lost in translation...oh, well. One step down and only a few more to go.

On the way back to the apartment, Lydia took us to the Church on the Blood, a famous landmark here in Ekaterinburg. (I'll post pics later as I left my camera in her car.) Truly remarkable. JD and I will be going back again next week when it's just the two of us.

Just when we were leaving, it started to snow --- pretty hard. That's when our translator felt it would be best that we *not* go to the Orphanage and instead, start to prepare for tomorrow's meeting with the court translator (independent person not affiliated with our agency). Heart dropped and I was sad. I wanted to go see my little girl as we won't get to see her tomorrow.

Hey - just thought - the next time we see her will be *after* we are officially her parents!! Whooooo-hooooo!!