Goodbye, Steve :-( ...And Now We Wait!

Tuesday, October 19 and Wednesday, October 20 - On Tuesday, we lost the wonderful company of both Steve (boo-hoo!) and Sergei because Sergei drove Steve 2 1/2 hours to the airport and then drove several more hours to his home to spend almost a week with his wife and child. It is going to be tough for Summer and me without Steve because he has been like our rock of normalcy and support and, sadly, our family will now be apart for two weeks (double boo-hoo)!! Steve and I have never been apart for more than a week so this will be an exercise in strength and pure will. So our original breakfast-and-dinner group of 6 is now down to 3 - Moises, Summer and me.

Tuesday also starts our required 10-day waiting period for the adoption to be complete. This period allows anyone who may have reason to object to our adoption of Sara to do so, but we certainly do not anticipate this. According to Sergei, our tentative schedule for our remaining time here is as follows. Our 10-day waiting period is complete at midnight on Thursday, October 28. We complete final paperwork on Friday the 29th and MAY even be allowed to "withdraw" Sara from the orphanage and then have her with us at the hotel for the remainder of our time here - and I really hope this happens so she can have some time away from the orphanage (i.e., her friends and Larisa) but still be able to visit before she boards the plane to America. Sergei tells us that no government work happens on Saturday and Sunday in Ukraine so those are basically lost days other than buying Sara some clothes, shoes and personal items because she will likely leave the orphanage with only the clothes on her back and some photos, personal mementos, etc. (Side note: Clothing, shoes and accessories are community property at the orphanage. We bought Sara a good bit of clothing, etc. when we hosted her and I have seen these clothes, etc. on many other girls during my visits.) On Monday, November 1, we should get the final court decree and, on Tuesday the 2nd, we will get her passport done. Our tentative departure date will be Wednesday, November 3 when we will fly to Kiev, Ukraine and stay for 2 more days to complete a required physical exam, go to the U.S. Embassy to submit paperwork and to get her visa to travel to the U.S. My hope is that we will fly out of Kiev and head for America on Friday, November 5 - but, again, all this is tentative.

So, this morning, Summer and I had our first breakfast for three with Moises. Our conversation began with Moises and I commiserating about both of us now being without our spouses. Inspired by our commiseration, Summer had a great photo idea. (See photo depicting the commiseration.) Conversation flowed during breakfast and then it was off to school for Summer. That's right! Now that our waiting period has begun, Steve is gone and we have no adoption errands to run, Summer will be home schooled (or should I say hotel-schooled - ha!). Her two teachers gave me all the materials needed to try to keep her up with her 5th grade classwork. So we got out the books, notebooks, paper and pencil and got started.

Later that afternoon, we walked to the orphanage in a cold rain, received our usual enveloping but tender hug from Sara and then went to her room with sweet Ola. After a few minutes, Sara said she would be right back and left with no explanation. I thought this odd but we started playing Uno with Ola. After about 20 minutes, the room door opened and what I saw took my breath away. Sara left the room looking like a teen in jeans and a ponytail and now entered with her long flowing hair and a gorgeous all-white satin floor-length dress with swirls of frills looking like a young woman or, better yet, a princess or...gulp...a bride! (See photo of Princess Ariel, Sara's favorite princess, wink, looking like she's about to marry Prince Eric followed by a photo Sara & me as I beam like a proud Mom.) She was so stunning, even without a stitch of make-up on (must be nice, huh, ladies?). Sara changed and joined in on the Uno game. Every time she fed me a card that meant I had to draw more cards she would say, "Sorry, Mom." I was filled to the brim with love and pride!! After our visit, we had dinner with Moises at the hotel restaurant (which is really good, by the way) because it was still cold and rainy! Being the snow lover that I am, I keep hoping for a few snowflakes before I leave but that is not likely since I have been told that the first snow is usually in November.

On Wednesday, we woke up to...that's right...more cold and more rain! We had our usual breakfast with Moises then hotel-schooling for 3 1/2 hours. At 2:30 pm, Summer had an appointment with her teacher to Skype with her class. She was SOOOO excited! The call connected and on the screen appeared her entire class seated on the floor of their classroom and all waving at her as they watched her on their Smartboard screen. (See photo of Summer during the Skype call.) Her classmates asked questions including what her favorite Ukrainian food was so far (and like all 10-year-olds she said ice cream) and what her favorite thing she has done/seen (the monastery and catacombs in Kiev). Running late to make our visiting hours, we then rushed off to see Sara in what was now, thankfully, only a cold drizzle. Summer and I walked arm in arm under one umbrella for our eight-minute walk to the orphanage. About halfway, a stray dog (I told you strays are everywhere) trotted past us. We continued to walk and after a while, when I turned to look at something, I could see out the corner of my eye that this same stray dog was walking almost on her heels. At first, we were a little scared because Summer had a close encounter with a vicious stray dog in Kiev. However, after a few blocks, he was still behind us and we were still in one piece so we no longer felt afraid. As we approached the building we became concerned that this rather large dog was going to attract the attentions of Cujo (remember the fearless mutt of a dog that guards the orphanage entrance). Indeed he did and out came Cujo teeth fully bared and ready to attack this trespassing stray that was 3 times his size. Long story short, there was back-and-forth growling and baring of teeth, a few snaps and one of the stray's snaps must have braised or frightened Cujo because he retreated. I am not sure if Cujo just loves his home on the orphanage stoop or if he is protecting these children but I like to think he is protecting the children. And , in this case, I think he was protecting us.

As we walked into the orphanage, Sara was coming down the stairs so we hugged and walked to her room. (See photo of Sara's one and only counter space and the photos she keeps on it - awwww!) We spent time talking about America, what clothes (if any) and other things she will bring to America, etc. Sadly, since we had arrived late and she had a 4:00 pm rehearsal for a Friday program you will learn about in the next blog entry, we only had a short visit. We then met Moises at the orphanage entrance and walked probably a mile or more to the wonderful Istanbulista restaurant which we had eaten at before and loved. (See photo of Summer and Moises as we walked to the restaurant.) The owner/chef, Sirhan, and his wife, Olga (the only waitress) greeted us at the door. (See photo of Sirhan and Olga.) As I said before, Sirhan has taught himself a good bit of English and, each time we go, he recommends dishes he thinks we will like and he has been spot on every time. This place is a gem and we just LOVE the food here. Moises and I both had THE most delicious baklava we have EVER had anywhere. Sirhan said it takes him 11 hours to prepare it and it tasted like it. It was better than ANY baklava I have had anywhere!

Regarding the last teaser, what DO the words "spasibo" ("thank you" in Russian) and "procedure" have in common? The answer relates to a running joke that started between the Jewells and the Antenuccis (Moises and Jamie). Steve used his Russian one night in front of Jamie to say thank you to a waitress. The correct pronunciation is "spah-SEE-bah" but Jamie got tickled and repeated the word in Steve's southern accent saying "spah-see-BURR." A few days later he said "adoption procedure" and again got ribbed as saying "prah-SEE-jure." It has been an ongoing joke since then and Moises, Summer and I are honoring Steve's memory by continuing the joke. Speaking of Steve, he and I will be the subject of my teaser for today. When your spouse has traveled over 5,000 miles and gone home after you have spent 3 weeks together with no interruption in a foreign country as you work on expanding your family through adoption, what do you talk about for over one hour on Skype? Tune in next time...for the rest of the story!

Sunny