We met Dema today!

Today was a good day--we got to "meet" Dema!  I say "meet", because one of the local officials who was in the room could not know that we had ever met Dema!  Sounds strange...the folks at the National level knew we had preselected him, but at the local level, pre-selection is not permitted.  We have learned (the hard way) that we do not ask questions, just go with the flow and do what we are told, when we are told!  When they ushered Dema into the room to meet us, you could see his face flush red, and his little hands were shaking! (He was coached to not recognize us when he saw us) As the officials asked questions and talked about him, he just kept clenching his hands while his face and forehead changed from shades of pink to bright red.  Finally the orphanage director must have told him to come over and meet us, we got a very tentative hug and he said "prvet" (hi)!  Then they dismissed Dema, and then us only after he had left the building.  The officials discussed our meeting for 45 minutes or so--which seemed like an eternity.  Finally, we had permission to go and play with him.  It was in the play room that we got "real" hugs!  We played tetris, army men, and toy animals (thanks Bubba!) and  It wasn't long before Russ, Lori, Eric, Lena Dusty, Tina, and Dima met us there.  And as our time came to an end we enjoyed Nastya, Vika, and Andre's company!  It was great to see all of the kids together--there is a true bonding occurring between the kids who were at camp!  We did get some great pictures, but the internet is really slow this evening--we will post them tomorrow morning...hopefully!  We are already looking forward to finishing this process, but we have just begun jumping through the hoops!  Thankfully, we can look forward to daily play time!  It's 11pm here--well past our bed time, so look for more tomorrow!