Tirana Sunset

Tonight after supper we enjoyed a beautiful evening up atop the SkyTower/Vodaphone Building for coffee. Ellie was beside herself with excitement to see a "spinning restaurant".

Sorry we look like we're radio active.

This is a little better.

Kerri and I

(below) view to the south. The Hotel President rooftop was where we ate our anniversary supper (see post dated 7/18/2010)

(below) view to the north
These photos make the distances between locations appear farther than they actually are. We can walk from our apartment to the center of town in about 15 minutes.

This afternoon we had an appointment at the embassy and were able to confirm that we will be able to bring David Reni home on a passport with his birthname. That means that we will not have to wait until the adoption decree is issued and released (on the 12th or 13th) to apply for a new passport with the "Waggoner" name but he can travel on a pre-existing passport. This will save us several weeks! Just a week or so ago, we were making plans for Nathan to return to Albania around Labor Day and fly back to the States with my mom on September 18. Now our plan is to have Nathan stay and bring Reni home, probably around August 20 or 21! We are awaiting some itineraries from our travel agent and will share those plans as soon as they are confirmed. We are positively thrilled with this turn of events.

We were able to gain this special permission for health reasons. The cause of Reni's birth defect is yet to be determined. Our pediatrician has expressed that external anomalies (like limb deficiencies) can be related to a syndrome and indicative of internal anomalies (organ-related). We haven't shared this on the blog because we are optimistic that his health will check out and his needs are simply mechanical (his growth, cognitive, and motor skills all appear on track). Our optimism seems to be confirmed by Reni's development, but we don't want to take anything for granted.

Ellie continues to long for Kentucky ("Tentucky"). We think she can sense that the end is near. Toys at home seem a whole lot more fun than the toys we have available here. She's even tried to cheat the "two sleeps til we leave" by napping. Hopefully we can confirm Nathan's travel tomorrow. It will be hard to leave him for two weeks, but we're so excited that when he returns, it will be with a little boy in arms!