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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Day 2, Visit 1

or

"Owen" eats a banana

Today was the social worker observation visit, which I inferred from its similarity to last time with Ana - way too many people in the room, talking loudly. My translator mentioned it on the way out - 'Oh, I should have told you. That was the child protection officer.'  Indeed.

But the visit went well - many fewer door attempts today, and I was able to let the nurse block many of them. "Owen" was interested in playing, ate a picture of Small Porgies (recoverable), and chewed some on Christ the Good Shepherd, which Aunt Cathy assures us is what kids are supposed to do. I mean, I guess Eucharist and all that.

"Owen" let me swing him on the play swing for a while, which was good. Most of the time, my pocket was playing lo-fi public-domain Bach that I found online. We listened to Brandenburg 1, and to the first two movements of the Italian concerto in F. This seemed to be well-received, and I added Violin Concerto in E just now. Maybe I will make some more playlists if I can get my phone to cooperate and find good stuff.

The nurse brought a banana, which seemed to be a rare treat. He wanted to eat the peel. He stuffs. He wants to have his hands on the food. But he chewed and swallowed.  My handkerchief saw a deal of duty. Tomorrow I am supposed to be able to observe/help feed lunch.

But the visit went about 50 minutes, until "Owen" was determined on the door, and we said Ciao. I think it was productive. Though he's very willing to try to get any adult to play with him, he seemed content to be redirected to me most of the time.

Now I have a drink of ginger, lemon, and salt, since the translator is sick, and I feel like I may be getting it. I've popped two cloves of garlic already, and have lots. So maybe you can pray that we stay healthy over here. And that Mama and the kiddos don't get sick, in case this is an AZ bug.

And my head is healing. Big scab, but behind the hairline, so not very gruesome. Hopefully vespers tonight - the apartment is two klicks from the church, but the driver says he will drop me off and pick me up. Perhaps he will come, too - he is "just regular Christian", which is funny to hear, since in America (from an adult, anyway) it is often an evasion because a) you don't go to church, or b) you're ashamed of belonging to some oddball fringe group and don't want to explain. Here it means Orthodox, and possibly (a) as well.

Thank you for your prayers. Please keep it up. God is the Lord and has appeared unto us, granting the world the great mercy!

In Christ,
Tatko

The more it snows
tiddily-pom
the more it goes
tiddily-pom
the more it goes
tiddily-pom
on snowing.

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