She's the One!!

Today was CRAZY! I’ll start with yesterday evening. Our driver was 20 minutes late picking us up for the train. Then traffic was the worst we’d seen – it was ridiculous. We could have probably walked there faster! We ended up running for the train with our bags (SO glad we packed light), and making it with just a couple of minutes to spare. We traveled with one Oksana, who is our translater. She is great and we are having fun being with her. We learned what is so bad about the train. It’s not really the train itself. Scott said the bathroom wasn’t bad at all (though I didn’t go! Hehe!). Judging from the picture he took for me, I should have gone there, instead of the city offices where I had to go in a hole in the ground. Gross!!! Anyway, back to the train…the compartment was nice enough. We went 2nd class and bought the whole car (4 beds for 3 of us) all for $100. The problem is that it is impossible to sleep on that crazy train! It stops at least every hour (or so it seemed), there’s always some random light flashing through the window, and it’s just loud (people are getting off and on the train all night). I found myself counting down the hours on my watch. I think I finally slept from about 4am to 6am.

Once we arrived in Donestk (around 8am), our driver met us all and drove us to Mariupol. NOW we have seen the crazy Ukraine driving everyone talks about! He did get pulled over once by the police, but it only took about 10 minutes (I’ve heard this can be a long ordeal sometimes). We went straight to the Inspector’s office (in this city office building). We waited in the hall for about 45 minutes, then finally got in and got the paper we needed. The inspector then came with us to the orphanage (we didn’t know they did this). We arrived around 11:15, and we knew lunch was at noon. We spoke with the director and the nurse about the little girl’s background. Her past is sad, like all orphans, but her health is fantastic. She has had one surgery on her eyes, and they said it is still unclear if she will even need another one. Then they asked if we were ready to meet her… YES!!!

In she walked – this precious little girl. It’s one of those moments you know will stay in your memory and in your heart forever. She had on a purple turtleneck, a denim jumper with a butterfly on it (which she was very proud of!), yellow knee-high socks, and silver sandals. Her brown hair was in a ponytail, and I was just dying to take down that hair and play with it! She was very polite and we spoke to her via our translator. She started telling us all the things she likes to do – she likes Cinderella, dressing up, baby dolls with strollers, cooking, and dancing. Then she belts out in PERFECT speech this Russian poem about sunflowers! Precious! We knew right away that she was meant to be ours. We showed her the photo book we brought with pictures of our family, our home, friends, etc. She pointed to the bed in “her” room and said, “I want to lie down on THAT bed” (in Russian, of course!). Little does she know the hours I spent choosing that fabric and making that bed look perfect just for her! When it was time for her to go, she gave me the biggest hug and would not let go. I also got a couple of kisses on the cheek…while she probably got all wet from my tears! What a precious gift this little girl is!

After running around literally ALL day long getting paperwork started to set a court date, we got to go back for a quick visit this evening. This time, she gave Scott big hugs and even sat in his lap. We brought her a little doll, and she spent most of the time braiding the doll’s hair in perfect little braids (no delayed fine-motor skills here!). She also downed 3 cookies, and wrote down her numbers for us to show off her skills! We measured her, and she is about 42in. tall – just about Garrett’s height! She is just the smartest little thing…we’re biased a little, but I really would never have guessed that she was an orphan! It’s incredible and we know that the Lord has truly been keeping her in the palm of his hand for us. There are no doubts that He has been preparing her to meet us, and us to meet her.
I can’t do a link right now, but go through my blog and find the entry about the dream I had about the SDA office meeting. It’s amazing to see how it actually worked out!

More later…there’s so much more to say!
By the way, I am keeping my blog as is. We had a sensitive issue with a potential adoption that I can’t go into, but that was the main reason for wanting to take it “more private”. That reason no longer exists, so I’m leaving it the way it is! Your comments and prayers have made all the difference for us in this journey, and I wouldn’t want to complete it without each of you!
Enjoy the pictures! (Aren’t private blogs great? You don’t have to wait till court to see this precious little girl!)


Random Thoughts by Scott

Ukraine Driving - I have always thought I was in the top 10% of drivers. Clearly, these Ukraine drivers are in the top 1%. These guys are the most aggressive drivers I've ridden with. We passed cars going the wrong way in the city. We passed cars on the sidewalk. They are nuts.

Crazy Train - Not as hot as advertised and not as bad. It is very hard to sleep on the train, though.

Mariupol - the dirtiest city I have ever seen. We are in a toxic wasteland fueled by several metal and chemical plants spewing black smoke in the air. You can't see more than about a quarter mile here.

Veka - she is really a special girl. We had expected to adopt a girl that would be delayed physically and mentally. This girl is very smart and is as tall as Garrett. It is clear that she has been very well cared for. A little girl walked by while we were visiting Veka, and Veka said, "My parents have come for me." The other girl replied very sadly "I see". It is really very sad. The kids have all been taken to a church where they were told to pray that parents would come for them. Most of these kids are not eligible for adoption, so their "parents" will never come.