Good news and not so good

We've seen the boys and that's the most important thing. They look wonderful and were happy to see us. We had a great visit, gave them Red Sox caps and showed them the photo albums we brought. We'll post pics soon...having problems with that right now.

However, there are some problems arising already and they are potentially serious; we met with the orphanage director and the ministry official in Ridder yesterday and it's clear they are nervous about our being here. They are asking for a lot of documentation before we have even filed with the court and they have already informed the prosecutor that we are here. The prosecutor's office is asking a lot of questions about us...so nice to be famous. All that would be fine but the big problem is that there is an issue in the boy's file that still needs to be resolved. Alma will be trying to take care of this in the next few days; in the meantime, we are being allowed to visit the boys each day from 2-4pm. The boys are awesome and certainly worth every bit of our effort so we'll keep fighting for them.

We have decided to remain in Ust and drive each day to Ridder even though it makes a long day (2 hrs each way and a 2 hr visit for a 6 hr trip total). There is a hotel in Ridder and we could stay there but we are concerned that we would be without support. Ridder is much smaller than Ust and not as accustomed to Americans so it would be much harder to go it alone there. If we stay here, Alma will give us a driver who will also serve as our translator. At least for now, that's what we're doing....we'll keep you posted.