Exausted after 30 seconds of "work"

Cydil is working on getting some pictures ready to post from yesterday, so I am going to give a brief report on today's activities in Albania.

Our first day as parents, and we have only seen Elisona for a couple of hours. Instead, we traveled 3+ hours one way in a 1983 Mercedes sedan only to wait 2 more hours to sign our names to 8 pieces of paper (because the First Lady of Albania was visiting Ellie's orphanage today and the director couldn't meet us at the notary's office until the First Lady & her entourage left, go figure), and then wait 3 more hours while being shuttled back and forth between offices where we never saw the insides, trying to find officials who were either at lunch (at 2:45) or attending birthday parties (seriously), and finally another 3-hour return trip to Tirane. We arrived back in time to see the last 30 minutes of Ellie's playing before she curled up on the blanket on the floor to go to sleep. Tonight will be our first experiment in moving a sleeping baby to her crib.

Grandma and Aunt Hannah were in their glory babysitting today. They not only gave Ellie a bath, but were successful in getting Ellie to drink an entire cup of water (this is amazing because the young children in the orphanage are not given water to drink and Ellie has been strongly resistant of taking anything by mouth that she hasn't had before) and down a meal of rice, chicken & carrot soup that didn't contain 3 tablespoons of sugar! Grandma also surmised that Ellie is getting some more teeth which would account for her occasional low-grade fevers and un-settled tummy.

Tomorrow will see us in the same red Mercedes for the same long round-trip only this time with Elisona in the backseat with us. Pray that she will do better in her car seat than she did last night! Pray that we will be able to find a way to feed her! We are on a really tight timeline to get to Vlora before the police station closes at 1:30 and we can't leave Tirana without getting a stamp from the Interior Minister's office. Also pray that the police station in Vlore will expedite our passport so that we can beat the deadlines of the embassy which are closed for an extended time over New Years. Thank you so much!