Medical Tests

This week we are making the rounds with medical tests for Ike to apply for his temporary residency and Ella to apply for her longer residency. It's nice that we can do them both at the same time, as it is a tiring process. Yesterday we took the kids to get tested for TB and were told that they wouldn't give us the results for them unless Leif and I got chest X-rays. Thankfully the kids didn't need to go with us for that, and the girls got to play outside with some nice teenage girls from our church while we went to another clinic. Leif got his chest X-ray without a hitch, but right when I got into the changing room the electricity went out. We waited for awhile, but it never came back on, so they told us to come back later. We ran some errands and came back after a couple of hours, but it was still off. It was off in our apartment building, too. It's no small feat to climb 7 flights of stairs in the dark carrying a baby and wearing high heels. We also came home to find that our water was shut off. Today the cold water is on, so we're counting our blessings! The picture above is from the communicable disease clinic. We waited in line (thankfully there were these nice benches to sit on!) and right when it was our turn, the nurse came out and said that they were closing for a half hour break. Thankfully I brought a book to read to the girls! Ella was such a good girl with all of her blood draws and pokes. She didn't cry at all and even offered her second arm just in case they needed it! This was a huge answer to prayer, as these tests can be so hard when the kids are emotional! The only strange thing at that clinic was that I had to change Ike's diaper when they tested him for STDs and when I asked if I could wash my hands, the lady said it wasn't allowed. In other news, I overhead Ella practicing how to say "who's there?" in Russian during her naptime today (I taught the girls to say that when someone comes to the door). And Ike is now rolling over from his front to back and is very close to rolling from back to front, too. The weather has been nice the last couple of days (in the 70s). I had a hood over Ike's head, but not a hat, and a lady told me he'd be crying all night because his ears were exposed. But it turned out he was just fine- he even laughed quite a bit that night for us! We'll be happy when this week of medical testing is over!