Frozen Pizza

Have you ever wondered how much you would give for a piece of pizza? Well, we figured out our price today. After much boiled fish, chicken and potatoes we were growing tired of the same buffet of limited choices in the hotel so we decided to venture out today in search of "Mama Mia's" which was recommended to us by our Coordinator. He says that he sends all of the American couples there to eat. Well, all I have to say is, "Thank goodness for Mama Mia's" because I couldn't take another boiled food item. Two times today, lunch and dinner, Nate and I walked about a mile in the freezing weather to partake of pizza! At lunch time it was 7 degrees and at dinner it was zero degrees. For us Californians, I'd say this was quite a sacrifice simply for the sake of pizza. It certainly wasn't Me-n-Eds, but it was the best thing we'd had all week!

As for our time with our daughter today, it was sweet. She was visibly more tired than yesterday so she was more subdued. I think we wore her out yesterday! While we played with her this morning, she crawled more than walked and by the time we took her back to her group at lunch time, it was obvious that she would sleep at naptime--that is if she didn't fall asleep while she ate lunch! We will definately need to bring an umbrella stroller with us when we pick her up so that she can rest often. Also during that time with her, we were able to get some video footage. Yeah!

We also spent some time in her room with her group. We were able to take pictures of her bed, her bathroom, her play area, etc. During this time, we left a disposable camera with her caregivers to take pictures of her life while we are gone. They seem very conscientious of making sure she will get back everything we have brought for her. As we stood in her room, we were able to ask her caregivers about her routines, her favorite friends and things to do. The basic overall theme no matter what we asked about her was that she is very easy-going and such a good girl. We will see what happens when we get home! Her caregivers shared with us that she has been telling everyone about the picture of her bed in her new home. Each time she shows it, she makes sure to point out her sister's bed and then her own bed. She is very excited about that part!

A funny little note about our daughter is that she loves to say "thank you" in Russian to everything. It became a game as we played with Play Foam. What makes it even funnier to us is that for some reason that was the specific word that I kept forgetting how to say. Thanks to our daughter, it is now firmly planted in my head!

Speaking of Play Foam...we brought a $10 package of Play Foam with us and it was the hit of the orphanage. We've been asked by many different people in the orphanage if we can bring some back. So we will be in search of bulk pricing for Play Foam when we get home. They cannot wait for us to come back with it! It was actually a last minute buy and never in a million years did we think it would be such a winner! Our daughter loved to have us make all different sizes of balls with it. She just thought that it was hysterical to make them, pretend they were eyes, try to throw them and make baskets into the ziplock bag with them and especially to be able to give and take them while saying, "Spla-SEE-ba" over and over. What a crack up!

We ended our time with her with hugs and wishing we could come back sooner, but we leave knowing that she is well taken care of and that God will bring us back in just the perfect timing. Tomorrow we get up quite early to return to Moscow, but once there I think we might just take a big fat nap! We'll fill you in on our Moscow adventures tomorrow. Off to get some sleep!

II Corinthians 5:7 "For we walk by faith, not by sight."