Wednesday, October 27th - Happy Birthday, Mom! - umm when is Max's???

First of all, Happy Birthday, Mom! Well, today was a BIG day! Woke up and it was still pretty dark outside so I was just having quiet time when I happened to glance at the clock - 9am! Uh oh - meeting in 1 hour and have to get through city traffic! We threw ourselves together and took off like a shot. I was told that if I was asked certain questions during the meeting, that I would need to lie. Now those of you who know me know that I just can't lie. I prayed and prayed and I thought that I had a way of answering those questions so that I wasn't lying or being deceptive, but...it wasn't necessary! During the meeting, family services did not ask me any questions!!! They gave me Max's info., wished me luck and said the look forward to my answer, and they granted Annie permission to visit the baby home, too! Three prayer requests answered in less than five minutes! From there the day just got better! We left there and went for some stress management - AKA SHOPPING!!! FYI - shopping is just as therapeutic in Russia as it is in the States! We ate a traditional Russian brunch - when you ask what is in something the answer is always the same - "meat." So, we ate all kinds of mystery foods and it was delicious. But we quickly learned that Russian food is like Mexican, it's tastes great but then...well let's just say that tomorrow we're sticking with McDonalds! Then came the best part of the day - we went to the baby home!!! It was a rather dismal place that had toys, but no sounds of children anywhere. Very sad. But then I walked around a corner and there was my son! He was standing there in his little turquoise blanket sleeper holding his hand straight up for the worker to balance him - an image I will never forget! He is cuter than any picture and is as sweet as can be. He sat on my lap and kept wrapping my arms around him to hug him!!! We played for about an hour and a half (pics posted on facebook until I learn how to do it on here). He loves music and just giggled and giggled at Annie! The tough part is that they are saying it will be 2-3 months before we can take him home (but we are praying against that!). The worker came in with an official document that stated his birthday is July 1, 2008 but Famiy Services said that his birthday is January 28, 2008. Hmm. They are going to try to get clarification from Moscow tomorrow. Leaving the baby home was difficult. I asked Annie what she thought and she said "can't we just take him home!" We get to visit him Monday-Friday from 10-11:30 and from 4-5:30. Is it 10 o'clock tomorrow, yet?!