2nd Visit, Day 4

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, JAKOB!

Little Jakob turned 2 today! Wayne and I arrived to the orphanage today a bit late as our driver had car trouble and they had to send us a different one.

When we arrived, it was just before lunch time, but they allowed us to go into the group room with Jakob and all of his friends to give them some cake. It was really sweet to see all the little kids sitting there and loving the cake. We gave Jakob the first grape off of the cake and he quickly started handing me the skin off of the grape. We then passed the grapes out to the rest of the kids. Jakob quickly took one from the kid next to him. When I gave it back to the other boy, he said he did not want it, so I gave it back to Jakob. So, you'll see in one of the photos, he has 2 grapes in one hand a piece of cake in the other! That's our boy. The bigger kid in the room (who called us Mama and Papa yesterday) kept shouting to me, "Mom! Mom!" I think he has been watching U.S. TV shows as his accent was perfect (We did see a TV in the room yesterday that had Russian soap operas on it).

After we were done with cake and Wayne and I sang Happy Birthday to him, we let the ladies feed him his lunch and waited for him in the big room. Once Jakob arrived, it was clear he was off of his "routine" as he normally would have taken a nap straight after lunch. He was glad to see us, but at the same time, I think ready for his nap (as he was tossing crayons around and could not concentrate on anything longer than about 20 seconds). We decided to get the most out of that visit and not return in the afternoon as we felt the coming and going was probably starting to wear on him a bit like it did the last time (i.e. when will they just come, stay, and not leave me???).

So, I used my Russian Phrase book to tell him that we had to leave, but we would be back, and Mama, Papa, and Mian would go on a plane to our home. (that is what I intended to say, not sure if he understood it like that). We took him back to his room and he was so happy. He walked straight back to his room to go to sleep where all the other kids were (which by the way, is one of the cutest rooms I've ever seen....a bunch of little beds...so much for the crib we have...we'll be putting the toddler bed out instead).

After that, we stayed and spoke to the 2 caregivers for about 10 or 15 minutes. We explained to them approximately when we would return (earliest is Feb 16) and that we really love Mian and we really appreciate them. We also wrote down his new name (Jakob Paul Turpin) and they said that they would stop calling him Mian and start calling him Jakob! So, that was good. (of course, all of this was through broken English / Russian and lots of pointing). We were really happy to have spoken to them because I think they realized we were really nice people and we realized they were as well...win-win!

After we left the orphanage, we stopped by a nice grocery store to pick up a few things (including a cake for the Relf family) and we also ate lunch at the food court. I have to say...I had a little moment there were I could not fight back the tears. I was so sad to leave Jakob and I am just ready to have him with us. Hopefully soon...

So, we are back at the Relf house with Annabelle (wife), Jeffrey, Abby, and Peter and will enjoy another dinner with them on our last evening here before leaving extremely early in the morning! They have been such wonderful hosts to us and we are eternally grateful to them for allowing us to stay here!

I apologize for no video of the birthday experience that we can upload. We took the video on our regular video camera vs. the handheld camera.

Thanks to everyone who has followed the story on this trip. We'll do another posting once we are back in the U.S. and know our final date to pick him up.

Love- Courtney, Wayne and Jakob!

P.S. In one of the photos, you'll see the artistic side of me in the very cute birthday hat I made for him (which he hated wearing), but I'm saving it to show him one day when he is older.