Today we were able to go to the theatre with Svetlana and the other kids at the oprhanage. It was actually right next to our apartment. Stage theatre is a very big part of the Ukrainian culture. We hope to find something for Svetlana to become active in that will help facilitate this for her - she is a bit of a 'drama queen' - but really - from what we have seen in her, she would probably do well and enjoy it. The play was about lost time - kids not using there time to study but playing instead of going to school and then what happens to them when they get old. It was actually very comical. At one point, they came off the stage looking for one of their friends who was lost and as they came through the audience - of course they spotted Grant on the end and pulled him up asking the kids ' Is this Vasha' - then they saw Grant's backpack and then they took that - 'Oh this must be him he has his bags' (to the best of our translation). Suzanne and the teacher from the orphanage were in tears! We thought he was going to end up on stage, but then the kids were yelling 'no-no that's not Vasha' - and they let him go and kept looking for him.
We are hoping to get permission to take Svetlana for the day tomorrow and for church on Sunday. She didn't seen too interested when the girl from church came today to tell the kids a Bible story, but she's not to interested in anything other than playing right now probably because she is in a comfortable environment - her own 'territory'.
Sergei got our court paper today and has to file for a new 'tax number' (like a SSN number) for Svetlana for her new name. It may be Tuesday and then may take a week, and we need to have it to get her Ukrainian passport. So hopefully somebody will make an exception and do it Monday for him.
Sergei is also helping another couple at the orphanage now. Please pray for them also and the 2 girls they are considering adopting. There are some difficult paper/legal issues that they may turn there backs on the kids after they have bonded with them a little bit, but if they are not truly the parents God has chosen for them, that they would leave before any further damage is done to these girls hopes.
We are anxious to have Svetlana with us all the time, but having her out with us for part of they day only now is probably a better transition for both her and us as she wears us out pretty quick!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
From Felicia & Ray
We have written to you several times but can't seem to get this blog thing down. Well I guess "Congratulations" are in order to the new parents. God willing the next 10 days will go by quickly and your hearts and minds will be at peace and you will be ready to start the next exciting chapter of your lives as a family of three. God Bless and hope you receive this. Love you guys.
I'm the guy of the couple. I've been working on trying to adopt these girls for a couple of years. Give up...hardly. Actually Suzanne and Grant had not actually met us at this point and did not have any reason to make this post. I first met the 5 year old 2 years ago when I was told she was dying of cancer- she has a large facial tumor covering 3/4 of her left cheek, which we now know is not malignant. I tried to get her help in the US and discovered getting her to the US for treatment was impossible. So I proceeded with application for adoption. International adoptions closed last year for 6 mos. I continued the quest. Then when I discovered she had a sister 5 years older, she was included in our application. Prior to coming to Ukraine, I was told repeatedly that the girls papers were completely ready for adoption. In Kiev we again were assured everything was ready. When we arrived in Poltava were were told due to an error the orphanage had made the girls were "not adoptable". Both girls could have been very likely stuck in the orphanage forever in a "non adoptable" state had we not received a md letter on US letterhead indicating the need for urgent treatment in the US. Ukrainian law doesn't always make sense.
Naturally, the process has been painful as we had hoped to bring the girls home in June so they could have English exposure prior to school, but now due to this complication we will need to travel back for the girls in late July. They should come to the US in early August. Traveling back will be difficult due to great expense and again needing to leave our 4 other children behind. My wife has a limited amount of time off of work and we had hoped to have sometime for the younger girl's medical needs and time to help the girls adjust. Please pray that our next trip will go smoothly.
We wish Grant and Suzanne well on their new adventure with their very sweet daughter
Post a Comment