"Happy Birthday To You, Happy Birthday To You..."

Monday, October 11, 2010 - How do you have the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER??? By being Steve Jewell celebrating his 51st birthday in Ukraine with his family and with his soon-to-be daughter who has a great big heart!! Steve's special day started with the usual free breakfast at the hotel restaurant which we again shared with the Antenucci's. (Sergei was running adoption errands.) And I just have to take a moment to thank God for blessing us with this wonderful couple with whom we have talked, laughed but most importantly with whom we have shared this adoption journey. Sergei told us that it is rare to have two adoptive families in Severodonetsk at the same time so we truly consider ourselves blessed to have been able to share this experience with them.

To make our usual 3:00 to 5:00 pm visiting time with Sara at the orphanage, we left the hotel around 2:50 pm to take the 8 minute walk. As usual, we walked up the stairs to her third floor hall (no elevators there either - and still NO heat - BRRRRR!). As we entered the long hall, we saw kids at the opposite end of the hall near the recreation room. Sara was one of them and, instead of running down the hall to give us our daily hug-greeting, she turned into the recreation room - but that was no surprise because we have met in there several times. We walked on and, as we approached the series of recreation room windows, we could see about 15 girls and boys lined up against the wall with Sara in the center. (See photo of kids lined up on wall - sadly Sara is hidden by someone.) A little birdie (with red hair - wink!) had already told me she wanted to do something for Steve's birthday so I stepped back and let Steve enter first. In unison, their voices burst forth in English singing "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you (and here is the America's Funniest Videos part), Happy birthday dear ... a mumbled murmur, then a split second of silence, then laughter from all present and then..."Happy Birthday to you!" Too hilarious and too sweet! I guess they forgot to practice his name. They had also put up balloons and one of the girls, adorable Ola, had drawn a beautiful poster that was up on the wall. (See photo of Steve with Ola's "Happy Birthday" poster.)

Then, Sara asked us to sit on a sofa in the room as eight girls took positions in the room, including Sara (who was right in front of us, by design I am sure). They danced two routines for us and I snapped MANY pictures of Sara like any good momma would do :-). (See photo of Sara dancing - one of her many talents.) Then Sara pulled up a bench in front of us and sat down with a guitar (yet another talent) along with three of her friends and touched us deeply with a beautiful song sung in Russian. (See photo of, left to right, Alainia, Christina, Sara & Nastya.) Then we were entertained by two couples doing traditional ballroom dancing. (See photo of Christina dancing with partner.) This was the conclusion of Sara's gift to Steve and, afterwards, there was a hug-fest with not only Sara but with the many participants. (See photo of Steve and Sara - priceless!) After the hugs, we were SO touched by Sara's wonderful teacher, Larisa, who gave Steve a gift followed by several children who came in with small gifts of their own for Steve and even one for me, a beautiful bead bracelet made by Nastya. These children have very little of their own things since clothes, shoes, etc. are shared among the children so gifts of personal items are truly from a place of love. (See photo of Larisa, Steve and these selfless children.) Gifts to us from orphans who have so little! Amazing...and oh so touching!!

After what Steve described as "The Best Birthday Party EVER," alternating groups of the kids enjoyed playing with "Photo Booth" on our computer. They were gathered in a big circle around Sara as she held the computer looking at some of her poses from her stay with us last Christmas and then they all began posing, making faces and doing all kinds of distortions to their own faces and snapping photos. (See the three photos of various kids playing on Photo Booth.) Once they broke from playing with the computer, I took a breathtaking photo of the beautiful best friends, Sara and Christina. (See the close-up of the two of them.) I understand why Steve said this was his best birthday party ever because these children gave of themselves to recognize his birthday. They honored him with their time and talents and he was beyond touched!

After this memorable birthday celebration, we went to dinner with the Antenucci's and Sergei at a wonderful restaurant named Istanbulista. It is a cafe-like restaurant that is owned by a Turkish couple, Sirhan and his wife (didn't catch her name). When we entered, our first impression was that of an American Internet cafe that also had a big screen TV with music videos. But then effusive and incredibly likable Sirhan comes to the table, greets you with his self-taught English and asks what type of food you like and then suggests a dish that you may like. He made a suggestion and we all ordered it, except Summer for whom he brought a grilled chicken breast with french fries. Personal customer service at a Ukrainian restaurant that felt like an America restaurant where the owner is also the waiter who speaks Turkish, Russian and English - again, priceless! The Antenucci's had surprised Steve with a birthday cake before we left the hotel so Sirhan brought that out and we all enjoyed a slice, including Jamie and Steve who had ALSO ordered other desserts. Jamie is feeding two (remember she is pregnant) and Steve...well, it was his birthday after all!!! What a GREAT day this was!

Teaser - how do you top the pinnacle of a surprise birthday party put on by your big-hearted daughter-to-be and her big-hearted friends at their orphanage? Tune in for the next blog entry...for the rest of the story...and Happy Birthday, Hubby!! I love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunny