93 days...

93 days. That's how many days we went without seeing A or having any sort of update. Here is the story of seeing him again after all that time. 


First visit of trip 2

We made it here late last night and really enjoyed flying Korean Air...if there is such thing as enjoying 14 hour flights. We got to see the Rockies while flying over the US, Canada, and also we got to see some awesome views from above Alaska. But the coolest thing was flying over Siberia and seeing smoking active volcanoes. We had a short layover in Seoul and then took a Russian airline up to our final destination. Mrs.P sent another driver to meet us at the airport, D, and he took us and another couple (from another agency) to our hotels. Turns out the other couple lives 20 minutes from us back home – such a small world.

This morning we met Mrs.P at 10 am to leave the hotel. We were prepared for a 30 or so minute drive to the orphanage but were pleasantly surprised that with the new suspension bridge built, it's a short 5-10 minute drive. We arrived at the orphanage and the entire place seemed to be under construction. The parking lot is in pieces and workers were everywhere, hopefully this means good things are coming for them.

We saw the director, who then went to get A and she told us to wait in the big room for him. A few minutes later she brought him in and we were surprised to see a little boy with almost no hair! He had a brand new buzz cut but they left him with bangs. Mrs.P said she didn't even recognize him at first. He was shy at first but this time we knew what he liked so it didn't take long for him to warm up. We played with the same ball, his puppy dog, and brought out his picture book (has some of the same pictures as the one we left with him) and he responded well. It seemed all he wanted to do today was hug us and be held. It felt so good to hold him. He would spend 5 or so minutes with each of us just laying his head on our shoulders and letting us give him love. We knew we would only have a short visit of about an hour today since we had to go with Mrs.P to the airport to pick up another couple so we when the director came back in after 30 minutes we thought our visit was going to be cut shorter than we thought. We were lucky, and she was just coming in to let us know we had about 30 more minutes. 

A is still pocketing food in his mouth but he didn't seem as rushed or concerned about food this time he spent 3 weeks in the hospital in July but all is well now! It's starting to get cold here and viruses are spreading through the orphanage, so prayers he stays healthy would be appreciated! 

When our time was up, A was so excited to go back to his room/friends. We got him to wave bye-bye to us and blow us kisses. He was so adorable waving to us and sending us kisses, we're going to try to get a video or pictures of it tomorrow. 

After that, we left for lunch and then we went to the airport to pick up the other couple from our agency. They are very nice and are staying at the same hotel with us. 

Tomorrow we will go to see him again but it will be another short visit. Then after lunch we'll come back to the hotel and then go get our medical evaluations.