The weather has turned cold and rainy. I wake up to a strange dream at about 4am and can't get back to sleep - the dream was something about an old friend I just hooked up with on Facebook...he was being attacked by Orca, the killer whale. Very strange - sorry K-Man...
But it allowed me to listen to the baseball playoffs - lovin the fact that the 'Skankies' are getting beat by Texas...
I think we are both having trouble sleeping lately as we are over-come by impatience and boredom. What is going on with our court date??? No news is bad news, and we just can't help but think that somethings wrong. I try to stay positive as Emma is already on edge, but it's getting hard for me as well.
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At about 8am I bring coffee up to Emma to get her morning started. And at 9:45, Nikolai arrives to take us to the orphanage for our morning visit with the boys. Today we stay inside and play in the gymnasium. The boys are a lot calmer today and we have a nice playful morning, reading books, singing songs and eating fruit. Halfway through the session, their teacher comes in to the room to get her jacket and boots, as her morning shift is over. But instead of heading out, she takes the time to sit down with DJ and gives him a little lesson in English vocabulary, using picture books and patience. It's really nice of her to do this - she tells us that she really likes these two boys and she is so happy that we are doing what we are doing for them. I guess it's her way of helping them adjust to their new world and she's doing it on her own time.
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After she leaves, their nurse comes in to take them back to their little world and we say our goodbyes. I love how DJ takes care of his little brother and they never fight with each other. We couldn't have asked for two sweeter boys, and then when you throw in Vanya - we did pretty good!
Okay - after all the cancellations, we are finally going to meeting up with Goldie and Al from Tel Aviv. We agree to meet at Camellia's for lunch, as they know it as well - in fact I think it's their favorite restaurant too, and they've only been in town a week! We enjoy a nice couple hours with them talking about how we all got here, and what our lives are like back home. We like them - she reminds us both of somebody, but we can't put our finger on it. She is an emergency nurse and he works for an American company dealing with packaging and shipping. They mention that Natasha told them last night that both of our cases would probably go to court next Monday, which immediately puts us in a funk as we were expecting it to happen this week. But I don't put much credence in it as Natasha probably doesn't want them to think we are getting preferential treatment - even though we've been working on this a lot longer than they have. Anyways - we enjoy our time together and we make plans to have them over to the house on Thursday to celebrate my birthday. Let's have a party!!! Goldie agrees and offers to bake a cake and make a salad. Sounds like a plan!
Okay - still no word from Kiev. I was really expecting to hear from Lesya or Natasha by now...and then on our way home, I get a call from Natasha and we get all excited. She asks me when it would be okay for the maid to come over and clean...bloody hell - she can come over anytime she wants, we don't care. What's going on with the court date? She says she hasn't heard anything from Lesya yet but she knows she's working hard on it. Patience my boy, patience.
Nikolai drops us off back at the house and we spend the rainy day indoors reading, sitting by the fire and wondering about poor Vanya. I tell Emma that I'm sure he's fine and to just let the process run its course. She decides to take a nap and while she's asleep I try to call Lesya to ask her what's going on but she doesn't answer. Five minutes later I get a call from Natasha and she tells me that Lesya can't talk right now - apparently they are having a problem finding Emma's Interpol clearance from the UK. They have mine but they just realized at the last minute that they didn't have Emma's. We had heard many horror stories about other couples having this very problem before, so I made sure to ask them about this weeks ago - are you sure we have Interpol clearance??? Yes, yes. no problem. Well, guess what...Houston, we have a problem. She tells me they are working on it and not to worry. Okay - there is no way I am going to tell Emma about this...lets just see what happens.
She wakes up and makes a fantastic dinner and we talk about how horrible this must be for Vanya. If the court date really does get pushed out to next week we need to make plans to visit him this weekend. I agree and sit her down to look at pictures of the boys and talk about how wonderful everything will be when we get them all home...
Good night - keep working hard for us Lesya, we know you are doing everything in your power to make this happen as fast as possible. Good night boys!!! We'll see you tomorrow and hopefully we'll get this done!!!! Just as we are getting ready for bed, my cell phone rings without a caller ID, so I consider not answering it - nobody knows my Ukrainian number except the people we are working with. I decide to answer it and it's Alla calling from the US with good news. She says they have located Emma's Interpol clearance at the UK Embassy! They just need to work on getting it over to the SDA tomorrow. She tells me that things still look good for a court date this week!!! Excellent news - strange that the call didn't come from Kiev, but I'm glad Alla called us...Good night Alla!!! ;^)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - My last day being the age I am...;^)
It's still raining this morning and this time I'm awoken to a dream where I am falling down Niagara Falls in a car. This is really strange (not the content, however that's pretty strange), but because I never remember my dreams! For some reason, the past few nights I have been having very vivid ones that stick in my mind long into the day. Anyways, it's a new day - one filled with new optimism about our progress, so I bring Emma her morning coffee (cuz that's what I do!), and we get ready to visit the boys. It's another indoor play day and they are charming and lovable as usual. They are brought into the gymnasium where we're waiting for them and their faces just light up when they see us! I hope that never goes away...
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Four bananas and two oranges are consumed while we throw balls to each other and ride tricycles and build towers and read stories. Once again, the woman that came in yesterday stops by to get her coat and boots, but sits down with both boys for about 20 minutes and works on their English. She sticks around for a while after they come and take the boys away and she tells us about her sister that lives in Atlanta and that she went to the University in Moscow. She teaches here in the mornings as well as the public school in town as a speech therapist. Her English is pretty good but she apologizes that it isn't better. I tell her that her English is a lot better than my Russian!
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We check out at the front office and see Goldie and Al as we head back to our house. We confirm the party tomorrow and say goodbye to our new friends.
Nikolai is there to take us home and as we turn onto the main road, we see the teacher from Moscow standing in the cold rain waiting for her bus. We tell him to pull over and we give her a ride to her next job downtown, to which she is most grateful. We thank her for helping us with Max and DJ and then she's on her way!
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Time for lunch, and as we somehow have four frozen pizzas in the freezer, it must be time for pizza! Just as we are finishing lunch Natasha calls us and asks "Are you ready to have a party??? Do you want to celebrate your birthday in a huge way??? Would it be even better if I told you that your court date has been scheduled for tomorrow - on your birthday???". Emma and I are screaming and shouting about how excited we are - what a great birthday present!! We ask her when she's getting back to Kirovograd and she says she's on her way after she stops at home and she'll probably get here about 2am tonight. We can't believe it - Lesya did it again!!! Natasha tells me she needs to call our lawyer Natasha to find out what time tomorrow and she'll call later. Plus we need to arrange for Vanya to come up from his school as he needs to be in court with us. Woo-Hoo!!! Happy birthday to Papa!!!
We are so excited about the news, we can't think of anything else but this wonderful bit of news! We pull out the suitcase with all the boys clothes and start to look at all the cute stuff we brought from the States, including assorted UofMichigan sweatshirts and t-shirts.
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Feeling much more at ease now, Emma decides to take a nap as she feels like her cold has started to come back. While she sleeps, I take a walk into town (about 30 minutes) to check out the local scene and to find some kids sunglasses that fit the boys - Max's pair broke today and I don't want to go to the orphanage tomorrow without sunglasses! It's a beautiful fall day as the sky has started to clear. The wind is still pretty strong and as I walk across through the park, the leaves come flying down from the trees as they shed their summer growth. The market is alive with vendors - old ladies sitting on stools selling their fruit, surrounded by hundreds of booths with locals selling everything you can think of.
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I find a booth selling sunglasses and pick out a couple pairs for the boys and then head back to the house. As I walk along the old streets of Kirovograd, I try taking pictures like Vanya would - shots of people, fences and dogs barking at me from the tombstone maker's yard.
"You don't see stuff like this in Michigan!"
"You don't see stuff like this in Michigan!"
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Emma is still sleeping when I get home - her cold has definitely returned and she feels 'bloody awful...'. She heats up leftovers of my favorite peala dish and we spend the evening thinking about our big day tomorrow. Natasha calls and confirms that our court time has been set for 2pm on October 21st (did I mention it was my birthday!), and Vanya will be coming in and spending the night with us after the judge rules on the adoption! We celebrate with a couple vodka and ruby red grapefruits (delicious!) and we call it a night. Poor Natasha will be on a bus to Kirovograd all night and won't arrive until almost 3am so we leave the doors open and the lights on for her. Good night Natasha, Natasha and Lesya - thanks for getting this done for us!!!
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