Days of Waiting

Wednesday & Thursday were somewhat similar for us, hanging around the guesthouse with the kids. We have had a hunch that our court date to receive our adoption decree (making him officially our son) will be this Friday. That was confirmed in our "surprise/drop-in" visit today. So tomorrow we will be going to a Zambian court to make it official. We will still have a HUGE week next week, as we have to get the birth certificate & Zambian passport. That will be followed by a US dictated physical & getting his US visa. Things move in Zambian time, which translates to -
1. no schedule or known time for most anything (the time for our court date tomorrow is unknown, perhaps they will call us after lunch). The 2 social workers who have had our case dropped in on us today...but surprise we were at the HOM playing on the floor with a bunch of babies!! So we had to skeedaddle back to the guesthouse @ Juls to meet.
2. everything has three speeds - regular, expedited, & "expedited" (that means your driver knows a guy who can put stuff in the right hands @ the right time). The 3rd option is best b/c not only is it a bit quicker (from a couple of days to a week or three)but you also have the guy with you to keep them from overcharging you, or creating another obstacle.
3. wait and see time - which basically was how the fostering period began in earnest. We were supposed to have him for the weekend, but that was extended by the national holiday on Monday & the fact that they never called us back on Tuesday to tell us whether or not he had to go back to HOM. Then on Wednesday the social workers came by with committal papers, certifying us as his foster parents. So he has been with us, and hopefully will stay with us now that court is tomorrow.

We have had fun exploring the grounds here at Juls place. You can see that Zeke was not content with finding one monkey ball in a rubbish heap. Instead he skinnied up the tree to plop a couple down. Thankfully he did not fall into the open mouth of a lion. Rayna made a boat out of a circular, plastic egg carton & sailed it across the pool (fyi - we have not swam in it b/c the water is pretty cold). Addie made some mud-pies the other day, until Mandi put the kabosh on that b/c the travel nurse told us to watch out for bacteria in the dirt (she insisted that we wear shoes at all times because of this). The boy is enjoying making the rounds as well, as he points out the flowers & the trees, plays in the dirt & sits in the grass. You get the sense that he is making up for lost time grabbing & touching the outdoors. We have had picnics for lunch the last two days as the weather has been perfect!! The weather was so nice, that it provided a perfect "dryer" for the 2 loads of clothes that Jamie & the kids washed in the bath tub. The water was a murky tannish-brown, mostly because of the way Addie wallows in the dirt wherever we go. We also have a picture (just not for publishing) of what the kids call "the underwear tree." We'll let your imagination run with that.

Today Mandi & the other adopting couple went into downtown Lusaka for a routine blood test for the boy & then also to the hospital where we will have his physical. The hope was that we could knock the physical part out (including urine sample), but they would not let us do so until we have his passport...which you can't have until you have the birth cert., etc., etc.

It was also our 1st day back at HOM since we took him home on Friday. It was good to be on the floor again. All the kids were out of isolation, so it looks like the measles have run their course. It was a full room, with about 14 kids all laying on a big blanket having their snack time porridge drink - "tastes like buttermilk" - says Mandi. Our kids were glad to be back and playing with the babies. It was as if they really understood the opportunity they had to love on those kids. We were also able to take pictures of our boy's nursery room buddies, but we had to promise not to post them on the internet. We'll use them for his scrapbook, and it will be fun one day hearing Zeke or Rayna or Addie telling him about this other kid that he used to play with under the cribs, or this little firecracker of a gal who would take a swipe at him if he tried to take her toy.