SDA - Done!

This morning was our SDA appointment - Niko picked us up around 9:15a and drove us there.  We got a nice history lesson on the way, too :)  Amazing that this city is over 1,000 years old, and holds nearly 3 million people, with another half million commuting here each day for work.

Our SDA appointment was a piece of cake - they told us things that we already knew, like the fact that he has Down syndrome, his birthday, his name.  They also told us that he has a hole in his heart, which we did not know before, but knew there was a chance.  However, we feel that this 'diagnosis' is overused, and there's a very good chance that he does not have a hole.  We'll just wait and see when we get home - which is what we planned on doing even before we got here.

We saw 2 baby photos of him, but forgot to bring an updated photo to exchange!  But - Serge said "it's okay - which one you want?" - so this is the one we picked....

We also saw his parents birth dates - March 5, 1983 (father) and September 1, 1981 (mother).  They did sign away their rights, which means that Carter is fully adoptable.

Something interesting we learned yesterday, while talking with Alecia & Brian (from Oklahoma) - in this city, we never see kids.  Ever.  Alecia said when they were here in December, they had their 4 kids with them - and they said they were the ONLY kids around.  There had to be other kids somewhere?  Their facilitator explained it to them this way: "In this country, people don't care about kids.  They care about fashion.  Fashion is everything here.  In America, family is everything - but here, it's about fashion.".

Alright - a few photos from our day...

behind us are the street vendors near the SDA.  We didn't buy anything today, maybe tomorrow after we pick up our referral.  Lots of nesting dolls and Christmas ornaments.  

The infamous SDA sign - Jake is missing, I know.  I figured that our camera is too complicated  to ask Niko to take a photo :)
Maybe I'll photoshop Jake in after we're home :)

A very skeptical babushka.  I'm sure she thought we were spies.  Jake was pretending to take a photo of me in order to get this photo of her.  I'm sure she was on to us.  

And our apartment...just until tomorrow when we move....

the door by the couch leads to the bedroom

It's small - but clean, and that's what really counts :)

And lastly - our food from our first time grocery shopping with Niko...

Yes - we realized we got the wrong milk.  Alecia & Brian showed us the right stuff last night :)  Not bad for $25!

That's all for now - we'll head to Friday's in a bit to relax and get some food (even though it's one of the more expensive places, we like it there because it's somewhat familiar).  Tonight we'll pack our stuff up - just in case we get a call in the morning saying "It's time to move!  We'll pick you up in ten minutes!".  Then tomorrow between 4:00p and 5:00p we'll get our referral, which gives us permission to visit the orphanage & move forward with adopting Carter...I think.  At least that's how I understand it :)

One Thing I Know For Sure:  The SDA was a total piece of cake...!