November 28, 2005

We are counting down the days until we get to take Matthew from the orphanage(next Monday). We are still visiting him twice a day except on Sundays when he gets his bath, so we only visit in the morning. Yesterday we went downtown and bought him a pair of long underwear so he doesn't have to wear tights (which is what kids wear here). The weather has been nice here lately, I hope it stays that way until after we leave.

Matthew is learning to play hide-n-seek with us. One of us hides and he tries to find us, although it isn't too hard to find us on the orphanage playground. He loves to watch the dogs outside of the orphanage fence and watch the orphanage cats. He has learned to give real kisses with puckered lips. He also likes to run up to us and give us hugs. We bought him some bubbles at the toy store and he could blow them right away, we didn't even teach him. He answers to "Matthew" now, although he is still called "Dema" by the orphanage staff. One of the caretakers told our facilitator that they can tell Jeff will be a great father.

We are hoping to be home the second weekend in December, we can't wait to see everybody!

Happy Birthday to Angie, Laura,Caleb, and Hope Erickson! We wish we could be there to celebrate with you!