SDA Appointment!

It went without a hitch, as we had hoped and expected. Well mostly :) We had a cab driver pick us up for the appointment, and he didn't speak English (most people don't here), so we had trouble making sure he was there for us and going to the right place. And we didn't know how much to pay him until we called Yulia, but as always, the team had it under control. We got to meet Yulia, see Niko again and meet one of the other drivers, Eugene, who will be taking us on a tour of the city in just a couple hours. Since we left CA, it's been a huge lesson in trusting others for almost everything. Our cab driver dropped us off, but pointed us in the wrong direction, so we got to the Department of Family, Youth, and Sports and knew we were in the wrong place. If it hadn't been for Shea Coleman getting there before us and coming out of the gate to let us know it was just next door, we'd have been panicking (well I was kinda anyway). Even though I knew it was next to a church, there were no signs anywhere.

The Colemans had the same appointment as us and they went in first. We went in immediately after. Here's us in front of the SDA building with a very jet-lagged Annie.

Here is St. Andrew's Cathedral right next to the SDA building.

And us with the Colemans after our appointments. Our girls are only 3 months apart! :)

We learned that Micah was abandoned at birth at the maternity house. We will find out more information on his family possibly when we get to the orphanage on Monday. We also found out that he is described as quiet in nature. Along with Down syndrome, medically he has mental delays because of the DS (to be expected), flat feet, chest decompressions (but I'm saying that wrong and will get the right term on Monday), and tetralogy of Fallot (a congenital heart defect that is correctable with surgery). On Micah's profile at RR, it says he had heart surgery, but it wasn't in his file, so we'll clear that up on Monday too.

Unfortunately we have to wait until Monday to go to his orphanage because our referral to meet him won't be ready until tomorrow between 3-4pm. We expected this before we came out here, so it's okay. We will keep ourselves as busy as possible until then (not hard to do here).

So I guess the most difficult thing today was learning Micah's mother abandoned him at the hospital. I'm not sure why it was difficult to hear because I had suspected that all along, but to hear it for a fact made me tear up a little. His mother and father will never know the joy this young boy can bring to their hearts. I hope to learn more about them at the orphanage so I can document it for Micah. I want him to have peace about his birth parents when he is old enough to understand it all. We are grateful more than anything that they didn't terminate the pregnancy because otherwise we wouldn't be able to ever know our son. That may sound silly to some, but if you've followed our blog, you know that we believe God designed us to be a family with Micah specifically, not just any orphan boy. We're also grateful his birth mother was selfless enough to give him a chance with a family who could take care of him. His birth mom gave him life, but God gave our family to him to raise and love him. I cannot wait to hold him in my arms and to know how close he is to us right now is killing me. Just four more days! :)