We had a really great day today. Probably the best day we've had here so far.....we spent quite awhile with Zhenya at his internat and then he came with us to visit Leeza at the orphanage. We played football, American football, ate pizza and just had a great time.
The kids in Zhenya's internat were very interested in us, Americans. One little girl kept asking me to take her to America with us. Another little girl has been to America twice on a hosting program....she couldn't tell me where. A few kids knew a few words in English and many of them knew how to say "My name is".
One little boy was a booger. He said he was in the 5th class. I told him I teach the 5th class and knew how to handle him. I gave him my strongest "teacher" face and he backed away!! LOL He was quite a mess. It was amusing when some of the old kids would say things kind of mocking us..... like we cared!!! I will be glad to get my boy out of there....there are so many boys there that are really out of control...so sad.
Jeff still had a good time running around playing football with the boys.
We played on the computer with Zhenya for awhile today. I hooked up the camera and we played with the feature that makes your face into crazy shapes and such. We were quickly surrounded by Zhenya's friends.
The boy in black is his close friend. I will have to ask his name again...I forgot it!!
Zhenya's caregiver (Natasha) is a very nice lady who seems to really care about him. She speaks a tiny bit of English. She showed us a bag of clothes that Zhenya's older brother sent him. We aren't sure of the details and were surprised to hear this. We did not think he had any contact with his older brother. We were told Zhenya and Leeza had an older brother and sister who are 26 and 28. We wondered why they didn't live with them.....
I tried to ask the caregiver more questions and she said Zhenya does not see his brother. We will have our facilitator ask more about that when he gets here. I would love to get contact information for their siblings, so we will have it one day if they want contact them. I assume the siblings had relinquished all their rights, because it was not mentioned in court to my knowledge...of course much is said in court that is not translated word for word.
We left Zhenya's internat and took him into town to have pizza. It is not pizza exactly like America...but good enough. More along the lines of gourmet pizza. Very tasty...but I miss Dominos! There was a political rally going on in town when we arrive. We stayed for a bit of it, but Zhenya was getting bored....mama was too!! ;-) So we left to see Leeza....she hugged her brother right away!! We called my mother on Skype so they could all meet. They got to see our dogs, cat and their bedrooms. Then we went outside for some family football! Jeff taught Zhenya how to say "hike" and throw the football...I tried to intercept a couple times, but I am not a great football player!! Leeza was more affectionate with me today..but I think that is because papa was playing football and gave more attention to Zhenya. I was second choice...it's okay though!! I still got several hugs and kisses!
Well, we have one more day for our 10 day waiting period. Our facilitator will be here either tomorrow evening or Monday morning. Then we will go get the court decree and the new birth certificates. If we get back in time, we will be able to get the kids. Otherwise we will visit them and celebrate Zhenya's birthday. Then we should be able to get them for sure on Tuesday...but everything in Ukraine is subject to change so I won't say for sure. Just hoping!!
Thank you for the continued prayers!!
2 comments:
What a beautiful family!! I am so happy for you!
You are such a GREAT looking family. They look like they belong to you all along. GOD is so cool that he does that for us.
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