Tuesdays news...

Our driver came for us at 10am and we went straight to pick up Rashid. Surekha had him all dressed up and ready to go. Again he was very excited to see us. We headed off to a market where we bought a few treasures to bring home. Prior to leaving the childrens home Surekha gave him the lecture about holding Mamas hand. I couldnt understand a word she was saying but her actions let me know beyond a doubt that THAT particular lecture is universal. It was clearly along the lines of "There will be a lot of people, Mama and Papa might be looking at something and if you let go, you get lost. Hold on tight, or no more Rashid!". It got thru, because he grabbed my hand immediately. Upon our arrival at the markets we discovered he LOVES elephants. Everything he saw was "ellie-phant". This kid was born to shop! He was putting little trinkets in his basket at a million miles and hour ... mostly ellie-phant trinkets.

After leaving the markets we came back to the hotel, as its been made pretty clear that he has a rest in the afternoons. J and I agonised over what to order him for lunch, and finally settled on something that we were sure he would like. J decided to go with a chicken sandwich. Our food arrived in our room and he had the tops off those plates like a little waiter, and zeroed right in on the burger and fries! We about died laughing. After he'd scoffed that down he discovered the remote control for the TV and stayed occupied changing channels for the next half hour. He doesn't just point the remote at the TV, he actually swings it across his body every time he hits a button. We then found out he loves Power Rangers and the Power Puff girls. After those shows were done he was doing some channel surfing and found some Indian comedy show that had us worried it might be something he shouldnt be watching. He was getting quite the kick out of it, and I was sure I was going to catch an earful from Vijay when she found out we'd allowed him to watch it. It can't have been too bad as nothing was said, but we both came to the conclusion he's going to be a fan of the Blue Collar comedy channel when he's older. After the remote grew boring he found the digital camera and insisted on taking photos of us. He was getting frustrated as he would see me in the screen on the camera, and then turn the camera to show me and I'd disappear. He also found another english word yesterday ... every time we said Thank You, he said Welcome! Just too cute! We also found out that he sings the alphabet .... very passionately at that!

Our driver came to get us at 4pm and then it was off to the passport office to pick up his passport which thankfully was ready and contained no mistakes. Vijay decided at that point that he could spend the night with us if he wanted to. I felt like it was kinda sprung on him as he hadn't really had a chance to spend a last night with Surekha and the kids ... he clearly thought he was going back to the home. I insisted Vijay ask him what he wanted to do, and he said that he wanted Surekha and would go with Mama and Papa tomorrow. I felt a lot better about that. He'll be with us from tonight onwards. Back at the home we gave Surekha all of the donations that we'd accumulated and she was clearly very grateful. She had all of the kids dance for us, and it was just awesome! The girls were just so beautiful, and the boys were hysterical. I took a bunch of photos.

As the week goes on I find I'm getting more emotional. I've been holding things together just beautifully all week, but last night being there and seeing all those kids and the sadness in their eyes was a bit overwhelming. A lot of the children already have families and are waiting, but there are some who don't. One in particular is a 10yr old girl ... she is beautiful and very very smart. She smiles, but her eyes are the saddest I've ever seen. If it were at all possible I'd scoop her up and bring her home too. She so badly wants a family and wants to be loved, and my biggest wish in the world would be that her dream comes true for her one day soon. Surekha seemed grateful that we'd bought Rashid back for one last night, and she had sadness in her eyes too. These kids are HER babies, and you can clearly see that while shes happy they have a family now, its hard for her to let them go. She is just amazing with these kids, and very clearly the boss. She can't be any taller than 4'9", but she is the BOSS. She speaks and the kids jump! They are planning a goodbye party for Rashid for Friday, right before we go to the airport, so even after today he'll get to see them all one last time. I have a feeling Friday will be the day I lose it, if I manage to hold it all together until then.

Rashid picked out his outfit to wear today and it was pretty funny. We bought him some Batman jammies and some Spiderman jammies, and he was stoked! He decided he'd like to wear the Spiderman ones to the consulate, so we settled on the Spiderman top and some navy blue pants. He got great joy ripping all the tags off his new clothes, and when he discovered the Batman toothbrush that Maddie chose for him he was off to clean his teeth immediately. Every time we tried something new on him he raced for his little mirror (we bought one for him yesterday that he'd attached himself to), and checked himself out. He is very appearance-conscious and will give his sisters a run for their money over bathroom time.

Well, time to get showered and dressed and go get our boy from the home for the last time.

Will write more tonight/tomorrow if this internet continues to play nicely.