With the time available to ruminate at this stage of the process there can be a tendency to magnify petty annoyances into major issues. We therefore are trying to stay focused on our long-term purpose here in order to blur these more proximate concerns.

Yesterday we took the children to McDonalds for the third time. This is an eatery to which we seldom go to at home; in fact, it is one that Susan and I strenuously strive to avoid. But the children here find it an exceptional treat. It is almost always full. McDonalds would do well to add another restaurant in this city. As we were trying to leave McDonalds Dasha called out "Let's go Family Peckham!" It's good to hear them begin to refer to us all as a family.

Stan said that he needed some fishing line because he was going fishing in a lake near the school that night. Some of the boys catch fish on occasion and take them to the school kitchen to be cooked and eaten. I agreed to buy the line as it cost less than a dollar. While in the sporting goods store Toli indicated to me that he would like some new shoes. I tried to tell him that we would buy him some new shoes before we leave for America. A few moments later he saw some soccer gloves and asked me to buy him a pair. I told him “No.” We have the tendency to want to give them whatever they ask for because of the hardships and deprivation they have experienced. But we know it is not best for them. We also know it’s a challenge for these children to comprehend that their dreams and perceptions of our unlimited funds and their unrestricted access to them do not correspond with reality. Furthermore, working for something is a new concept for them.

Once we had returned to the school we handed a large bag of cookies that we had bought that morning to our children to distribute to their classmates.

We learned a day or two ago that Andrew, Vern and Nanette Garretts’ newly adopted son, could not get a passport to the US because Vern’s fingerprints had just expired. This is something that on one hand seems so ridiculous that it’s hard to believe our government would have such a silly regulation and that our embassy here would not waive it in this case. Then, on the other hand, I reflect on some of the US government people with whom I’ve dealt over the years and it makes perfect sense. So Vern and Andrew have had to delay their departure perhaps ten days while they await processing of Vern’s new fingerprints that may have changed over the last 18 months! Nanette left a few days ago so she could help with preparations for their son’s wedding in a couple of weeks.

While I’ve never been the least bit superstitious, I could make a mild case for Friday the 13th mishaps yesterday. As I was bending over to pick up the toothpaste that morning I felt something slip in my lower back. I slowly and carefully returned to vertical and seemed to feel it slip back into place. Vertical is comfortable; but sitting and rising therefrom is not. Later, as I was boarding the bus, the top of the low doorway removed part of my scalp, which was fortunately protected by my hat. The only real case that can be made is for my age, poor physical condition, and clumsiness.

We are anxiously anticipating our court date on Monday.