Victory Park, lunch and new words

Today, we decided to take Svetlana to Victory Park. It is a park that was named for a battle that was fought years ago between Soviets and Afghanistan (I think). It's on the way we walk to the orphanage everyday. It's just a regular park, but has some rides in the back and places to eat - nothing fancy. Svetlana had her choice of rides. We had a train like a bull, bumper ducks on water (see picture), bumper cars, bounce house, merry-go round (if you want to call it that - she looked pretty bored - didn't move up and down), and a hanging circular swing - you know the kind you sit on and goes in a circle so it swings you out to the side - that one she chickened out of after getting in the seat. She really enjoyed the bounce house. It looked like a shark and the mouth had teeth and would open and close so it looked like it was eating the kids!










We stayed there for a while and then took her back to the apartment so we could eat and show her where we had been staying. We had told her that we would be coming back after eating, and she seemed to understand as we were using some words we knew and some new ones from the dictionary. Everything was fine, we got into the apartment we showed her around, and then all of a sudden she started crying, but we couldn't understand why. We thought she understood we were going back, I could here her say 'I want' and couldn't understand the rest. We thought - Oh my, if she is having shock set in like she finally understands more she is really going to America, it's starting sooner than we expected. We thought maybe she realized she wouldn't see her sister anymore - who knows....So we made an emergency phone call to Sergei - he was on his way back walking, but then took a taxi back instead. By the time he got back she had calmed down some, Grant was starting to get some things out of the refrigerator and Sergei asked her what had happened - why she was crying. Thank goodness! She just wanted to go back to the park! Whew! So we ate and had some fun at the apartment. Sometimes we learn new words because we need to, and sometime by accident. Today, as we were playing and she fell on her 'rear' and was laughing, Grant in his humour, pointed to his rear and said 'tooshi'. Sergei started laughing after she said something, and she had said 'So-what, I have panties too!'. Then Sergei told us she thought Grant said 'trousie' which means underwear! So we all had a good laugh from that one!

We went back to the park for more bounce house and cotton candy. We had stopped at the store on the way to the apartment and I guess she was eyeing a Snickers bar, so we told her she could have Snickers or cotton candy. So we got a real good size cotton candy before dropping her off at the orphanage. (Isn't that what all good parents do? Give there kids sugar and then drop them off to someone else? ha ha).

We all had a lot of fun today and are beginning to be able to communicate some new rules to her. We have been told there is a mentality of 'survival of the fittest' at most orphanages, and we have been observing some subtleties of this, mainly of behavior and attitudes going unchecked of all the kids. It is hard for her to realize that not everyone has this way of thinking/treating others. It is a delicate balance to know what needs to be corrected (and how) because a lot of it is rooted in wrong thinking and lack of teaching/training. I'm sure it is very hard for her because it means losing some of her freedom in making her own choices until she can learn to make better choices.

We hope to take her to church tomorrow. The Deputy Director has been letting us take her without the Director's approval since she is out until Monday, so she is a little nervous. I'm sure the director would let us take her out, she just doesn't want to overstep her authority. Whatever takes place though, it will be good.

Day at the theatre

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!

Day in court

Well, we didn't find out until 8:30pm Wednesday night that papers had been signed in Kiev to approve our court hearing! The papers were overnighted to us along with another family's and our court hearing was scheduled for 1:30pm on Thursday.

So, today we headed over to the court hearing around 1pm to be ready. A little before 1:30pm, we went into the court room which was smaller than the size of the Maybury jail (for all you old timers who watched the Andy Griffith show!). They even had a jail cell in the court room off to one side (not for us). So we came with Sergei - our translator, Irina - the social worker from the orphanage and also there was the Poltava inspector and the court attorney. Everyone was there......except the judge. So we waited, and waited, and waited some more. Gradually one by one, everyone left to go and finish other work they had (keep in mind they are not in the same building). First the court attorney, then the Poltava inspector, then Grant (bathroom break), and when Irina said she was going to the bank and would be back, the judge finally showed up. Now, remember it's Ukraine......the judge showed up a little after 3pm. So then everyone was called and they came back and we started our court hearing.

Sergei had very well prepared us, and things went along just as he said. Grant was asked to speak first and he was asked a lot of questions. Fortunately, when Suzanne got up to speak, she pretty much just had to say she was in agreement, and answer a couple of other questions. At one point when Irina was making her statement and included that we had visited Svetlana's sister Neelya, and that Neelya had said that 'she has a family and she wants her sister to have one to', so she wrote the paper allowing her to be adopted - the court assistant next to the judge almost started crying.

Everything went well, and at 4:12pm the court declared us as Svetlana's new parents! There is still a 10 day waiting period to allow for any objections (just a formality) and then we get to start more paperwork again. But we should be able to take Svetlana out for the day now, as we went out to celebrate and have pizza tonight. She has never seen ice before - so that was fun, and she had Sprite to drink and was amazed at all the 'fizz' when we poured it out. We think she is still having a hard time comprehending exactly what is going on, or she is just cautious about putting her trust in someone. We had hoped she would be a little more excited than she was, but that's okay. We had enough for all of us. It is hard to understand what she is going through as with any child that is being adopted. After the 10 day waiting period, we will have her permanently, so that would be on the 18th of June.

Please pray for our guidence. She will have a lot of changes she will be experiencing, and too much too fast will spell a really frustrating time for her. Everyone keep telling us 2 things about her - what a sweetheart she is, and what a strong personality she has. We know both of these to be true. Please pray for our discernment in our understanding of her responses to situations and that her trust in us would continue to grow.....when compared to our relationship with the Lord - isn't that what He always does with us? Teach us to trust Him more........

Getting ready for court

Well, it is now Tuesday here. Today we went and met with the inspector in Poltava, the Deputy Director over the inspectors, and the head of the administration (?) of the city. Svetlana also had to come with us as they have to ask her a couple of questions by herself. Everything went well. There has been another family also adopting from here and they are from Italy (Sicily actually) and we have been getting to know them (without an interpreter). But they also had their meeting with the inspector just before us, so we got to see them today. As we all were leaving, and we were heading for our cars, we can't believe who we saw walking across the courtyard......Neelya! Svetlana's sister! She was there with her 'grandmother' the mother of the lady caring for her. It was a very emotional time as we same Svetlana and her sister caring for each other and very emotional as the 'grandmother' was very happy for Svetlana but also very sad to see her leaving. Many tears.......but good ones. This was certainly a divine appointment!

We may actually have our court hearing on Thursday! We are waiting for the documents to be signed in Kiev, which they only do on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So, Sergei went out on a limb and talked with the judge that our papers will be signed tomorrow, so as of now, our court hearing is set for Thursday at 1:30pm. After that there is a 10 day waiting period before we have full custody of Svetlana, and then we will be heading back to Kiev to go to the US Embassy.

We continue to be able to see Svetlana everyday and hopefully, once we have the court hearing, they will make an exception for us and we can take her for the whole day out of the orphanage. We went to church on Sunday and met the girl who works with the younger children around Svetlana's age and found out when they go, so we can make it a point to take her to the group this week. They will also be having the church picnic while we are here and they invited us to go - hopefully with Svetlana. It looks like the timing will be well also, so that we can swing by the EEO camp before we leave.