A Blessing in Disguise

Guess who I spent the morning with? SHAMROCK!!! Yup, I've never been so happy about a cancelled flight in my entire life. Song and I showed up at the airport early this morning, only to find out that our flight to Moscow had been cancelled because of the fog. After an hour or so spent waiting, rebooking to tomorrow, and waiting some more, we got driven to the lovely Ambassador Hotel, where we get to stay free of charge, and even our meals and rides to and from the airport are covered.

But the best part of all is that we called our coordinator, and she arranged for her husband to drive us for one last visit to the orphanage this morning! I was so happy to be able to see my little boy again and not have to leave things how they ended up yesterday. I'm sorry if yesterday's blog entry left everyone down in the dumps, but I was in a dark place after leaving my boy in tears (his and mine!). Today, everything was a million times better!

When we showed up, his group was in the middle of some sort of program. The accordion-playing lady was in there, and the kids (who were dressed like peasant people, I think?) took turns doing all sorts of physical activities. They were crawling around when I came in, but Shamrock stopped and did his usual run-over-to-me-give-me-tons-of-big-smiles-and-hugs routine (which Song caught on video!). Then they got to take turns pushing big plastic balls, going through an obstacle course, dancing, riding toy cars, etc. He was having a blast, and he was so good about sitting in his little chair and waiting for his turn. I got some adorable pictures and videos of our little boy.

After the program, I helped him change clothes (he got to put his family picture shirt back on!), and he downed a yogurt cup. We then had about an hour in the main room by ourselves to play together. The main thing he was interested in today was trying to get the balloons off the walls. He liked it when I lifted him so he could hit them, but when my arms got tired, he did what any toddler boy would do. He carried a plastic chair and table over to the area below the balloons and tried to climb on top of them in order to reach. We are going to have to keep a close eye on this boy!





Eventually, Shamrock led me into the hallway where his locker is and started taking off his shoes, so that I would put on his coat and boots and he'd get to go outside. We only had about ten minutes, but I couldn't say no! We mostly just walked around hand in hand and went on the swing for a little while before he had to go back inside for lunch.

I showed him our family picture by his bedside one more time, to which he promptly started saying "Papa" over and over again. Mama spends all week with him, but all he says is "Papa" nowadays! Then I hugged him with the blanket my mom made for him and left that on his bed. I brought him over to his lunch table and told him goodbye and that I loved him in Russian (which impressed the caretakers), and then he waved to me with a large smile on his face. Such a better memory than yesterday!

I'm so so so thankful that my flight was cancelled today and I got one last chance to say goodbye without tears. The special program they had was just an added bonus. I'll be working on my half-finished blog posts throughout the afternoon and adding them below this entry, so check them out if you're interested. Goodbye Shamrock. In 26 short days, we'll walk out this door together for the last time!