Things are moving, It is slow, but moving

From the process view, things are not moving as quickly as we would like. The main document we are trying to get at this point is a letter from the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, but we need a police report in order to get it. After visiting 3 different police stations and the Ministry 2 times, we have been told that our attorney should be able to pick up the police report at 11:00 tomorrow and the letter from the Minister hopefully on Thursday.

Gabriella is great! She seems very smart and repeats a lot of words. She knows how to count to 10, gets concerned when Laura or I are not around (and asks "Where's Mama" or "Where's Papa"), and pretty much figured out how to work our camera, the lights, the toilet, the TV, etc.

She is getting more comfortable with us, so is starting to test what she can do. She likes to be carried, but we are trying to limit it, but everything is new to her and overwhelming at times. At one point, we put her down and she didn't want to walk and just sat on the ground. We stood there and waited, but then a lot of people came by and we got the feeling like they thought that something was wrong, but it also scared her and she got up and took our hand. We may have to go a little bit easier on that until we get her back to the US.

One time Laura opened up her wallet to pay someone and a picture of Casey and Corey right on top. Gabriella got so excited because she recognized them and started smiling and speaking Kinyarwanda (her native language). We think she was screaming "My brothers". Later she took the wallet and we played "Where's Corey" and "Where's Casey".

We do not think she has been exposed to many animals because one time a dog came up on TV and she was frightened of it. Also, in a mall, there was a metal statue of and elephant, and she was scrared to get close to it, until she realized it was pretend. All this should go away in time.

She still likes to play with her bathroom kit which contains alot of hair supplies and uses them to experiment on Laura. She now says "ouch" when she pulls Laura's hair too hard. The funny thing is that she says it before Laura has a chance to say it herself.

Kigali is a beautiful city, very clean, and seems very safe. On the paved roads, we have seen many city workers sweeping up, not only the trash in the streets, but the dirt as well (all by hand). Many roads are paved, but the dirt roads get pretty washed out during the rainy season.

Kigali is just coming out of the rainy season, and we have been walking on some of these dirt roads. The good news is that the orphanage is just a 10-15 minute, down hill walk from the hotel.

However, the bad news is that it is a 15-20 minute, up hill walk to get back. By uphill we mean uphill. These pictures show the last block to the ophanage, but they really do not accurately depict how steep it really is. Think of a really bumpy, bumpy, bumpy road and then add a steep incline. Notice the ruts in the road. The drainage ditches are pretty deep to be able to handle all the water during the rainy season. Laura's calves and Brian's back are starting to feel the effects of the hill.

One last thing I wanted to mention was how they mow the lawn here at the hotel. The use hand trimmers and machetes with a curved blade. They have been working on it for 2 days now....I guess we all have it easy by being able to use lawn mowers.