Second day...

We had our appointment with the SDA in Joshua's country. They showed us his file with limited information in it. We know that his parents signed off for him to be adopted in the hospital. He was a firstborn with no siblings. Of course what information they have is limited and we might find out more details when we get to his region. There was one photo that we had not seen before but the updated photo they have is the exact new one that we got in February. They only asked us a couple of questions. One was how we found out about him and the second is why do we want to adopt a child like him? I do not think the gals question was meant to be rude but rather just wanting to understand why we chose a child with Ds. We explained about Jacob and they didn't ask anything else. The gal just commented on how young and cute he was. We can pick up his referral between 3-4p and then we are going to try and get a train to his region on Saturday. While at the SDA we met the St Claires adopting Zara and the McFarlands adopting Frederick. Oh yeah and not to dropping names... ok maybe dropping names but guess who we did get to see??? Little Miss Mia Cox! What a cutie that is for sure. For those who have not heard about Miss Mia- she was recently sprung by her mommy and daddy. Their story can be read here.  She is such a doll and has such a cute personality. She reached out and grabbed Dave's hand. Thanks to the Cox's we are hoping to have a little bit of luck getting around and at the market since they left us their language map for some guidelines. We are still on the hunt for toilet paper and will be actively searching for that the rest of the day. I have taken pictures of the area today. They are not the real good photos as those won't come until probably Monday when we meet Joshua but it gives you a look at where we are.
This is the entry to our apartment area- it leads to like an alleyway where are buildings door is

 Door leading to our building

Our apartment is smack in the middle. That is our I guess deck where we can hang clothes out on it.

Tiny elevator that Dave is a chicken getting into. LOL I suppose it is because the power goes in and out of it so it gets a bit claustrophobic. Dave wants me to put in a disclaimer that the picture does not represent the scariness of the elevator and says the lighting and sounds are like something that comes from the movie SAW..OHHH poor Dave and his fear of this small elevator.

Our apartment door is below.. Luckily we have double doors to the apartment so that makes us feel safe. I know you can make out the number but please no visitors lol.

We are only about 1 block from Independence Square so we are very close to some of the shops and the SDA. Here is the front of the SDA and the bumpy road

Be careful what appears to be sidewalks... well they are just parking spaces apparently

Here are some pictures of Independence Square

Well I have to log for a bit.. we are suppose to meet up at TGIF's tonight and have absolutely no idea where it is yet. Will post more later and will try to get more pictures...Also our FSP has gone up tremendously!! I can't thank you enough for this. I believe we now have enough in our funds for our tickets home. So thank you thank you for all that you have done. While we are good on our funds now please think of other families that you might be able to help. There is a closure coming up here on adoptions. They are closing down July 11th for about 3 months so there are several families who are attempting to get submitted within a week and are going to need funds quickly! Please say some prayers for them as well as the families who will not make it before the deadline. Pray that this shutdown goes quickly and does not interrupt their adoptions too much. Pray for the children who are affected by this. There are children that will be affected by these changes and who are barely holding on now and will have to wait even that much longer. Pray also that we can quickly complete what we need to so that even if they close it will not affect us. We have to get our court date and once we get that we should not need the SDA anymore so pray we get that part done before the shutdown.