Time with the Little one...

We got to spend a good hour with the little baby... Vika as she is called. She still has green on her from chicken pox but we got a couple of good pics. There were several other babies with the same thing. She is very sweet and very mellow. She seems a bit lethargic form being in the hospital a few days with the pox. When kids get things like that, the orphanage has them sent to the hospital. We saw a few other babies with green that were just being brought back from the hospital. She is really easy to love and seemed very comfortable with us. They wouldn't let us bring her outside since she is still recovering. Instead we had to stay in this tiny little room with her on the top floor near where her room is located. The caregivers think that you have to keep kids very bundled up here. They believe that if the kids catch any kind of draft, it will make them sick. So, on the top floor of an unairconditioned building w/ no open windows, you can imagine how stuffy it is. On top of that, they have the kids in several layers (Nastya today was dressed in 4 layers and a hat just to go outside (on a mid 70 degree day). We stripped Vika down to her tank top. We were very tired and lethargic from being up there ourselves, so we felt really bad for her. She seems well cared for though and otherwise in good health. We had a good time holding her and getting comfortable with her. We'll get to see them both again in a few hours and then twice again tomorrow. Tomorrow night we leave on the train and it won't be easy. It sounds like it'll be several months before we'll be able to return and bring them home. Also, we're told that the second trip will be about 3 weeks. Yes, this is such a journey, such a long process. We continue to put one foot in front of the other and Trust... that's the theme.