Introducing, Officially.....

Even though I can't get the girls from the orphanage yet, today is the end of our 10 day wait! So, I can reveal the big, exciting secret of their names!! I know you all are just holding your breath!

Nastya's real name is actually Anastasia. As you know, we already have an Anastasia, so we thought we'd better change it (I know we have two Catherine's, but we gotta have some creativity). So, Nastya will now be called......drum roll......cymbals clashing...(can you tell I have been by myself too long?)........

Francesca Philomena
(I just picked Francesca because I thought it was a beautiful name, but Philomena is a special saint that we have prayed to throughout this whole ordeal, hmmm, I mean "special journey")

Moira's real name is Victoria, which is a name Travis always loved, so her name will be.......

Victoria Rita
(Rita is another saint that I have prayed to many times!)

I have some exciting things to report. Today, I was actually well enough to take a shower and......shave my legs!!

I still am dreaming of things like pre-made mashed potatoes (they actually expect me to cook here!) and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls.

Pre-food poisoning, Anya wanted to cheer me up so she took me to her hairdresser. I was a little nervous, but I figured I could always shave my head if it turned out badly. I picked three different colors too! Then the hairdresser wanted to cut my hair. She and Anya were having a lengthy discussion in Russian, but I started yelling "Choot Choot" which means "a little bit". The entire thing only cost $25!

I think it turned out really well! No more gray!

Here I am at the restaurant that caused my demise. Little do I know what's coming. They have a dessert called "hot chocolate" which is actually melted chocolate in a cup. It was very rich and delicious, but never again!

I managed to drag myself to the orphanage yesterday. They told me Francesca was sick, again. Anya is coming with me today to find out what is going on.

I actually had a conversation in Russian with one of the orphanage caretakers.
I began with: "Prevet. Cock dil-a" (Hi, how are you?)
(keep in mind I am writing this phonetically. I have no idea how to spell anything in Russian)

The caregiver was excited to hear me say something besides my usual "spaseba" (thank you)

Then, I told her, "Ya bo-le-la". (I was sick)

Apparently, she thought that I had amazingly learned Russian because she launched into an entire paragraph of really intersting sounds, that sadly I could not respond to. But, still, we had fun and that's...

"Hara-show" (GOOD!)