What a day!!!

Due to a tempermental internet connection this is going to be brief. I'm keeping a handwritten journal and will update this properly once we are home.

Here we are in India! We arrived late last night after a very long couple of days flying. The flights on Northwest were great, but Air India was quite the experience! Very old airplane that crunched and groaned so bad! It was amazing that it made it off the ground, and a big relief when we landed. The traffic here in Delhi is insane! It was probably a good thing that we'd just come off a nerve-wracking flight, as by the time we had to brave the roads our nerves were already shot. Two lane roads with 6 lanes worth of traffic. Throw a few stray dogs and a lot of cows in there, and you have the picture. Total madness!! Our arrival at the hotel was just as nuts. They couldn't find our reservation anywhere. We called Vijay and after a lot of yelling back and forward down the phone between her and the guy on reception, they miraculously found it. They've been pretty much kissing our butts ever since. The good news with that is that we got to speak with Vijay last night instead of waiting for today, and got to meet with our boy a whole day early!

Vijay and our driver picked us up at 2.30pm. It was originally going to be 2pm but they were running late. We arrived at the childrens home and by the time we got upstairs Rashid was right inside the door colouring. He came straight to me and gave me a hug and a kiss, and then went and kissed his Daddy. I gave him his little toy dog and he went back to colouring. I went and sat with him and he crawled up on my lap which was really cool. I got lots of kisses and loves. I pulled out the bubbles we had bought and it was all happening! Total madness! It only took him a few seconds to work out what to do with them. I'm glad I bought an extra set as Babbu was a little upset that we were there. I think the bubbles made Babbu feel a little better and he decided he liked me after that.

When we arrived a lot of the younger kids were having a nap, so we got some alone time with Rashid and the older kids. When the little kids got up he got territorial and decided that on my lap was the place to be. He showed the kids his bubbles and let them all take turns. He was fine with me paying attention to all the other kids, just so long as he remained on my knee. One of the very young girls, Kira, stole his toy dog and his instant reaction was "Mama, Mama" and he was pointing vigoursly at her and the dog. We managed to wrangle it back so I was an instant hero. After that he hid it behind my back. He let me love on him and I got a bunch of kisses on the cheek in return. He even said "I love you" in perfect English which just about saw me lose it. Vijay shared with us some information about his past and his personality ... I'll write more about that when I'm sure this internet connection will stay with me.

Saying goodbye was hard, but we'll be spending some time together again tomorrow. Vijay still doesnt have his passport, so its off to the passport office to do that, and then off to get his medical. Tues and Wednesday will be taking care of his immigration.

In the meantime I'm going to try to post some photos.