A Heart to Heart, A Grandmother & A Photo Session

Saturday, October 23 - Monday, October 25 - Since we are in the middle of our 10-day waiting period since our court case was heard and our adoption of Sara was approved, I am trying to put 2 or 3 days of entries in one post so here is a synopsis of these 3 days. On Saturday, after breakfast and hotel-schooling, we had our daily visit with Sara at the orphanage. I had taken my laptop because Summer and I had scheduled a Skype call with Steve while still at the hotel; however, the day before we had arranged with Sara to arrive early for our visit time so we could surprise Steve and have her in on the call. And boy did we surprise him. I slowly moved the laptop camera over to her and he was so elated and Sara was obviously happy to see him. (See photo of Steve's Skype smile on my laptop.) Sweet Ola was in the room with us and I encouraged her to come to the laptop so Steve could see her. At first, she was shy and reluctant but then she did move the laptop and say hello. (See photo of the shy sweet Ola before she leaned into the laptop.) We had a great call with Steve and I think he enjoyed it even more than we did because he is missing not only Summer and I but Sara and her friends as well.

On the large majority of days, like today, we go to Sara's room for our visiting time. One, two or even three of her friends are typically in her room with us which is crowded since her room is maybe 10 feet X 12 feet and has 3 beds in it with each against 1 of the 4 walls. After the Skype call, Summer and sweet Ola had gone to the nearby recreation room to dance to some music and Sara's other friends were not around. I had Sara all to myself and I had her for a good 35 to 45 minutes with no interruption which is rare because there are scores of roaming kids (boys and girls) on her hall. Our time together was wonderful! We had our first really great heart-to-heart talk with her understanding enough of my English that she could answer questions, etc. She really opened up and asked lots of questions about going to school in America and expressed her anxiety about it, etc. She did confirm that she understands that these concerns will get more and more relieved with each passing day once she returns there. She has a really good command of basic English but still continues to struggle with sentences longer than 7 or 8 words but she continues to improve with each day that she spends with us. At one point when I was encouraging her about her good English, she asked for my Russian to English/English to Russian dictionary and pointed to the word "shy" saying that she is shy to speak too much English around others because she isn't sure she is saying the right thing. I told her how well I was understanding her and encouraged her to speak around others because she is doing better than she realizes. She seems comfortable talking around me, particularly this day when we were alone, but I do think she will hesitate to use her English around others when we return. So...if you are one of those who will be seeing Sara once we are back in Lexington, keep in mind that she may be very quiet and shy but that she is listening and understanding a decent amount of what you say but she will be shy to respond because she is still uncomfortable with her English.

On Sunday, Summer and I got up earlier than usual, had breakfast with Moises (I call him my surrogate husband now that Steve is gone and we share all meals together) and then Summer and I headed for a short visit to Sara's orphanage. Her grandmother has been wanting to visit her one last time before Sara leaves for America. We arrived and Grandmother seemed truly happy to see us. She is such a humble and loving woman and she welcomed us with a warm and lingering hug as she mumbled Russian words of affection. (See photo of Sara and Grandmother followed by a photo of all four of us.) We had Sara translate several reinforcing messages to her about how much we love Sara and will take good care of her. We left a gift with her and told Sara we would return for the afternoon visiting hours. As we walked out, we were greeted by Cujo the Dog and "The Cat," both of whom just hang out at the door to the orphanage. Summer just loves these two and always has soft words and a petting for each of them. (See the two photos of Summer petting each of them.) When we arrived back at the orphanage, Sara wasn't there but we found Olga and Ola, two of Sara's closest friends, watching a Taylor Swift video. (See photo of Olga with Taylor Swift video behind her.) As I said before, the kids at this orphanage love anything American. We see them wearing clothing from American stores, wearing American brand shoes, loving American music and more. The girls love not only Taylor Swift but also also Hannah Montana, Rhianna, Avril Lavigne, Justin Beiber and they even still love High School Musical and all of its stars. Sara returned from an errand with friends and then I got her to try on some clothes and shoes I had bought her in America. Believe it or not, I don't believe this child has grown one iota since we hosted her in December 2009! I bought everything one size bigger and virtually everything was too big. The shoes actually fit but I will be returning much of what I bought for sizes 3 or 5 and most likely in petites since the pants were 5 to 6 INCHES too long! And she's 15...and her 10-year-old sister is now 2 inches taller than her!

On Monday, we had a great day - and, sadly, I don't have even one photo to back-up my claim!! My camera card was full and I did not have time to purchase a new one before the Monday fun. So you will just have to use your imagination. Monday was a GORGEOUS Fall day here in Severodonetsk, Ukraine! The sun was out and it was in the upper 50's and the yellow and orange leaves were falling out of the trees in beautiful streams with the help of the light breeze. Summer and I walked to the orphanage to attend a party organized by Moises for the three kids on our girls' hall who were celebrating their birthdays in October. Moises brought the cake and teachers/caregivers Larisa and Irina provided "blue fruit hot tea" for us all. (The kids here ALL drink hot tea - it is a popular drink in Ukraine.) There were 5 adults and probably 15 kids as we sang "Happy Birthday" in English and then chowed down on some cake and sipped some tea.

After that, Larisa's daughter took Sara, Summer and I along with six of Sara's friends outside to take professional-type photos of the girls out in the Fall-colored surroundings. We must have walked for at least two miles total as we scouted for picturesque locations for the pictures - and boy did we find them amongst the old buildings and tree-lined streets! The girls posed leaning on trees, up in trees, on walls, on houses, behind rusting fences, on steps, on the leaf-covered ground and in one-girl photos, pairs, trios and groups. They were too cute but, let me tell you, they take their photos seriously. A couple of the girls had changed into dresses for the photos and sweet Ola even had a pair of high heels in her bag that she slipped on for a few photos. And my Sara had her gorgeous l-o-n-g red hair flowing throughout - but, as soon as the photo session was over, her hair was up in its trademark ponytail! Then we had to take the long walk back to the orphanage and the group split into two groups. My group was Sara, Christina and Galla. We chatted and laughed as we walked and before long I felt Sara's hand slip into mine and we walked hand-in-hand! All together now...awwwwww! I soon brought up something about not having any ice cream yet since we arrived in Ukraine. Sara marched our group to the nearest store and bought me an ice cream - which was delish! As we walked more, we began talking about that there is no "th" sound in Russian. I began an English lesson on how to pronounce "th" and began to give example words for them to practice such as "Thursday" and "three." It was too adorable! These girls kept saying "Sursday" and "sree." After many, many practices, I finally had to settle for a couple of mildly successful "Tursdays" and "trees." It was indeed a fun day with a great group of girls with whom I have grown attached and hope that I will be blessed enough to see again when our adventure here is over!! Monday ended with another delicious dinner at Istanbulista with the Amazing Chef Sirhan and the wonderful return company of Sergei (yea!) and not only Moises but his new DAUGHTER Julia! YEA! And all is well in Ukraine!!

So what do fragrant flowers, smelly fish, popcorn, Snickers bars and liver have in common? I guess you will find out when you read the next blog entry and then you will have...the rest of the story.

Sunny