Zhenya was at camp when we arrived into town. The plan was to meet Leeza first due to the negative reports about her that we received from the director and her medical file. The concern was that we may not want to proceed with the adoption. Now this wasn't our concern, because we found it an unpleasant thought to reject a child just because they have some challenges. After meeting Leeza and confirming with our facilitator that we were still interested in pursuing the adoption, the internat sent for Zhenya. On our dime, of course. I had no idea it cost so much to drive 30 minutes!!!!
Jeff and I arrived at the internat, and we were escorted into the director's office. Jeff later said the director scared him!! She was a very forthright in her opinions and thoughts!! We sat nervously in the director's office, answering questions about our ability to parent Zhenya, when a little boy with sandy hair came quietly into the room and sat at the director's desk. He sat there answering questions from the director. My heart was gone from the first look at his face. The funny part about this is that when we first started the adoption process, I only wanted girls. Jeff was the one who wanted a boy. I never felt like I would be a good mother to a boy.....but Zhenya completely and totally stole my heart. When we left the director's office, we were allowed to take Zhenya with us for the night. We had to sign a document indicating our liability..etc.... How brave of this child to go off with strangers for the night! We made sure he had a lot of fun! The hotel we were staying in had an above ground swimming pool, so we stop to buy him a swimsuit! We also took him to a local aquarium and out to eat. He REALLY loved playing the Nintendo DS we brought with us! I showed him how to write his name in English and he copied it on the whiteboard I brought. To my EXTREME delight, we discovered he was lefthanded just like me!! Funny how things like that happen....I love the idea of having one of my kids being lefthanded too. God gives us the desires of our hearts even when we don't realize it is a desire. I KNEW he was my son!!
The next day, the director came to the hotel. (Let me tell you, she LOVED to be wined and dined.) Apparently she wanted to go swimming in the Black Sea which was next to our hotel. So over drinks on the beach with our facilitator and swimming in the Black Sea, we met her approval to adopt Zhenya. Of course, we also had to fork over our "donation" to the orphanage. The funniest part of this strange visit was when she came into our hotel room and laid down on our bed WET from swimming in the sea. Jeff and I did not know what to think. In the meantime, with the inspector present Zhenya had to write a note indicating his desire to be adopted by us. Sadly, Zhenya had to go back to camp and we wouldn't see him again until our court date. I was a nervous wreck that he would change his mind or that a teacher at camp would tell me the wild stories that are often told to the kids in Ukraine. I wanted to go see him at the camp, but our facilitator said we couldn't do that. Though now I think that was not true......
Our court date was set for August 26th...............
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