Kelsey meets brother #1

We got to see Sasha (Silas) today! Milo and Kelsey were able to come too. He was moved from his original orphanage to a summer orphanage. It was only 10 minutes away! He is so small. I guess I was expecting him to grow some in between our two trips, but he seemed to stay the same. He was adorable and remembered us right away. We didn’t have our own room to interact this time. All the kids were outside playing. We took Sasha over to an outside table and we were able to get out some toys to play with. As soon as the toys came out, the other kids of the orphanage flooded our space. I think Sasha liked the attention at first because we were there to see him but after some time he became overwhelmed. This was the first time Kelsey was able to meet her brother. Kelsey did amazing with him. She played with him and was very gentle. After he was overwhelmed, she took his hand and walked him around the playground. Other kids loved her too. She blew up balloons and gave them out. Then she tried playing with them with the balloons. She did a great job interacting with them. She said the few Russian words she knew and just smiled and was friendly. She was so good. Milo was a bit overwhelmed I think. He was doing great with the kids too. The kids wanted his attention and he gave it to them. Several times I caught him with tears in his eyes. The reality of these kids with no homes really sunk in I think. He loved on the kids as long as he could.

It started to rain so we went inside the door and got out his animals sounds book that he loves. Julie went through it with him multiple times. We also got out the goldfish for him to snack on. He really likes them. After a while he started feeding me one every once in a while. I would make a surprised face when he would stick it in my mouth and then he would laugh. Then he started to pretend he was going to give me one, then eat it himself. I would give him a big reaction and he would laugh.

Then all of a sudden it was time to go. They said it was lunch time. Sasha gave us hugs then disappeared into the orphanage. The orphanage director was less than friendly. From his reactions, we are figuring that we will have to wait the 10 day waiting period to have him join us. The plus side to that is that he is only 10 minutes away so it won’t take much to visit him every day.

The rest of the day was cloudy and off and on rain. We walked to a nearby grocery store but it was mostly alcohol. We will have to try to find a better one to actually get food to make lunches. We are looking forward to seeing Anton tomorrow. Although it is an hour and a half drive each way. Milo and Kelsey cannot come tomorrow so they will spend the afternoon together back at the hotel.