Embassy appointment

Today was a lazy day. Hannah got up around 8:15am - very respectable! We went for breakfast and them just lounged around waiting for our 2pm Embassy appointment. We joined about 5 other adoptive families with young children in the waiting room while a lady explained what we needed to do when we entered the US and information about the children's dual citizenship. It was great to speak with other families and hear that their experiences were very similar, we even met a family that used the same agency. Everyone has experienced tantrums and were getting their kids out of the regimented orphanage routine. After a very quick and painless 30 minutes we came away with her visa and a sealed envelope with copies of her papers to give to immigration at JFK. We are technically now able to leave the country, but since we are registering her at the consulate, we have 2 more days. We gave in the paperwork to the consulate this afternoon and the documents will be ready on Thursday afternoon. Irina will bring them to our hotel at 5pm on Thursday and we will say our farewells.

Hannah is starting to get used to Marc more and more each day. As I write, he is giving her a bath, so I took the opportunity to sneak away and enjoy some tea and desserts in the Executive Lounge (yes, I'm becoming a hotel snob). The embassy appointment was right at nap time, so Hannah got about 10 minutes nap on the car ride there and about 30 minutes on the car ride home, so hopefully the bath will soothe her so she is ready for bed. Hopefully she'll sleep in late!

Nothing much planned for tomorrow or Thursday. We'll probably walk around town a bit more and try the pool again. We tried the pool yesterday and at first Hannah was petrified and just put her head on my shoulder. Her ears turned bright red and hot, not sure if this was a reaction to the temperature of the pool or fear. After a short while, I sat her on the ledge where she was much happier splashing the water with her hands and kicking her feet. We walked down to the pool again this morning just to look in the window to gauge her reaction and I couldn't pull her away, perhaps this means she liked it? We'll find out.

Thanks to everyone for their well wishes, kind words and prayers. It has made the trip even more enjoyable knowing there are folks who care so much back home.