Day One: Medicals

Well, we made it to our region capital with no problems, no lost luggage, and with no sleep for 48 hours! But really, I can't think of a better way to try and quickly adjust to an 11-hour time change than staying up for so long that you can't remember how long you've been awake.

We arrived in the region capital yesterday late evening and settled into the hotel. We got up and going right away this morning and began working on our visits to the 8 different doctors that we need to see here. For the first several meetings we were very pleased at how quickly things went! But after about noon, we began running into longer waits with one or two doctors. There were a couple times were there was a long line, but we were allowed to go right to the front! Can't say that we know exactly why that is, but it sure was nice :) The visits with each doctor aren't all that much, and we (thankfully!) only have three left to go.

One other nice thing that happened today was that we were able to connect with another American family here in our region (there are 2 others here now; 1 in our hotel and 1 in another) that is also in process of adopting and had their first trip when we did. We got to share a few stories, and were even given an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow! Kind of nice when you can make friends with someone so quickly when you're so far away from home.

It looks like tomorrow isn't going to be very eventful. We need to wait for our blood test results to come back tomorrow afternoon before we can see the rest of the doctors we need to see. We still don't know when we will be able to see Ivan yet, and we also still don't know about a court date yet. Please keep the regional court judges in your prayers, and even the entire region's adoption system, as it seems that they aren't all cooperating well with each other. Please also pray for the other families here, who have been here for several weeks. We are reaping the benefits from their time here, but it has been a long time for them to be living the wait away from home! The miracle to pray for (along with a quick court date for us) is that the 10-day wait period after court is waived. That has not been done in this region (though it has in others), and would truly be a miracle!

We have a couple random messages to pass on...
Mom - Karin's pants are at Sew & Press in downtown Anoka
Sara - We got your note about the fees. Thanks!
Kris & Tony - Could you please hook up our Christmas lights? The timer is on the red bench in the living room.


Karin's Knitting Notes - Just turned the heel on my first ever toe-up sock. Miski (love it!) on #3 DPN's with pattern from Ann Budd (Interweave Knits Summer 2007). Very interesting to not have a heel flap but short rows instead. Saving my opinion until later (now that I have a lot of leg to make these into knee highs!).