Our Visit today

Well, I would like to say that we woke up this morning to great news, but.....no water!!!  Apparently, the city shuts off the water supply to certain "districts" to do "repairs". Normally, this wouldn't have been such a big deal, but we were going to K's school today for "show & tell" in her English class, which meant that we could not take a bath beforehand.  Fortunately, we had some bottled water, so we could at least brush our teeth & our faces, but not our rear-ends! FRIGHTENING, we know!!!  I'm sure you will all get a big laugh out of this, and we'll probably not hear the end of it.

Actually, the director told us that because their government doesn't have enough money, sometimes, they shut off the water, electricity, etc... to save costs.  Sometimes it is off for a week or more.   He told us, "this is very bad"!  Obviously!  We are horrified to be without it for even 30 minutes.  We should all remeber how very fortunate we are to live in America!

So, before we went to K's school, we had to make a stop at our lawyer's office to sign our petition to adopt for the court proceeding.  Our facilitator received all of our documents last night to submit for the final stamp of approval in Kiev.  He should get these documents by Friday, which means that our court date will be Monday afternoon.  We are praying for this!  If court is on Monday, we should have her passport & birth certificate by Friday, which means we can finally go to Kiev for the end of our process, which involves more medical exams & our Embassy appointment.  Then HOME!!!!  But, we'll be updating this information as it changes frequently!

So, after the lawyer's office, we headed to the orphanage to pick up one of the caretakers who escorted us to K's school.  We stopped at the little store/market to pick up candy & snacks for the children in the class.  It was a wonderful experience!  This was a class where they teach the children to speak English.  There were 27 students in the class & about 6 of them spoke English very well.  Of course, they only asked us questions in English, so it was mostly the same children doing the asking.  There were some basic questions about where we live, how many cars we have, how many pets...but there were also some serious questions about our plans for K's future, her education, etc..., but the most serious question we got was "can you tell us about what the "American Dream" means?".  We told them that we were living it (in much more detail than this, of course).

One child even asked if the Terminator was our mayor.  (Paul, I'm sure you appreciate this, yeah?)  The children & their teachers were very gracious hosts.  K even gave a short speech on how great it has been to go to school with these children & that she will miss them. One girl cried like a baby.  They all wished us good luck, great health, and much happiness.  It was precious.  Then, we were off to buy gifts for all the children at the orphanage & their caretakers.  S & one of our favorite caretakers took us to the central market, which is where everyone in town goes to shop.  It resembled an American flea market, but with better merchandise.  We found these really beautiful compact mirrors that had beautiful decorations on the case.  We bought a different design for each girl in the house.  I also got one for myself.  For the boys, we purchased a soccer ball & posters for their bedroom walls.  The caretakers all got different items based on their personality.  I also managed to pick up a refrigerator magnet, made in Ukraine, with many beautiful colors & the country name in Cyrillic.  R got to be "Santa" and give the gifts to everyone while I took pictures.  He LOVED it!!!

And, as usual, we had dinner with the children and conversation surrounding more questions that the children had for us.  Tonight was a bit more serious questions.  K asked about college & how long children in America live at home with their parents.  Of course, our answer was "for as long as they like".  We feel like we have a lot of catching up to do since we missed her first 12 years.  Also, the children wanted to know how R & I met, about our childhoods, our family, our friends, our school years.  We do a lot of talking considering that we do not speak their language.  S, the director, will probably be very happy when we leave so his phone, his car, and his lips can have a break...not to mention getting his apartment back.

One last bit of information....

On our way to the school today, we noticed a baby kitten next to a dumpster by the orphanage.  (There are too many stray/homeless animals here; it will break your heart.) When we returned, two of the girls from the orphanage took it some milk & raw chicken.  Tonight, we were at the supermarket buying cat food for it because it has since been bathed, blow-dried, and made a permanent resident.  These children are amazing, how much compassion & love they have for other people & animals.  You would think that they would be "jaded", but their hearts are bigger than anyone's I could name.  It is heart-warming & wonderful to spend so much time with such amazing souls!

Tomorrow's post may be a bit shorter; we do not have big plans.  Maybe just some time with K after school.

Until tomorrow.