Liana's birthday

August 6, 2004 Friday

This morning I actually woke up before the roosters outside. I couldn’t believe it. I wondered if there was a Chicken-Q last night or something. But, in just a half hour or so, they woke up too. John and I decided that this part of hiUkraine sounds like roosters crowing, birds chirping, and cars driving by on a gravel road hitting multiple pot-holes.

We walked to the nearby store this morning to buy ice cream treats for the kids. Today is Liana’s birthday! We have a six year old now! :O) We bought six ice cream bars for just over a buck. Pretty unbelievable how cheap everything is here. We gave Katya one of the treats after telling her that it was Liana’s birthday. She gave me a kiss. Aw…

When we saw the kids this morning they all came running to us with giant smiles. Liana was the first one to see us, and I got the first hug this morning. I got to tell her that it was her birthday and she couldn’t believe it. She was so happy. She asked for a “bananchka” but was THRILLED when we pulled out ice cream for them instead. They all loved them, and they fought over the wrappers so they could lick them clean. I think I got some cute pics. I just so happened to start a video just as Liana got ice cream all over herself. Aleksa dropped hers or got it on Liana somehow and it got in Liana’s hair, and all over her leg, etc. Aleksa’s dress is covered with chocolate. I’m sure we’re some caregiver’s Favorite People today. ;O) (I just hope she's got a different dress on tomorrow... we shall see!)

We had such a good time! We played and played. Papa came home a sweaty mess today, but that’s ok; Papa needs his exercise anyway! ;O)

Our excitement for the afternoon was that John realized that he lost our phone. It’s somewhere on the orphanage grounds. Ain’t that exciting? He’s off trying to figure out what to do about that right now. Who knows if we’ll find it again. It’s just a good thing that our minutes are prepaid (and I don’t think there were too many left on the phone anyway).
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Back from the evening visit. We found our phone by having another couple call our phone number and then they all ran around listening for it. It happened to be ringing just behind where Aleksa and I were playing. Someone had thrown it in the bushes. No minutes gone from it, so all is well.

The visit tonight went really well. We had the children ask us in English for some crackers.... and we held the bag, so they had to ask us over and over again. Even little Aleksa spouted off English left and right. She'll be speaking English long before the other two. She has the biggest urge to make her wishes known. Speaking of, she kept saying "No" to me tonight, and she hits when she says that, so, um, lets just say we went round and round. She's five years old, (or will be in a few days), but really acts about three. She's definitely the orphanage favorite, but Oh, have they spoiled this girl!

The other two are doing great. Giant strides with Liana in the last few days. She's more relaxed around us, and we are bonding really well. We'll see how it goes when we get home, but the more we get to know her, the more we know that all this little girl needs is a home with parents who love her.

Adam is still wearing that nasty green shirt. *grumble, grumble* I can't wait to take them all shopping! Adam is a great kid though. He's as normal as any other little boy we know back home and then some. Of the three, he's going to settle in the easiest back home; there is no doubt about it.

John left the orphanage tonight dripping wet with sweat. Everyone was making fun of him. There is a couple here from Spain now and boy did they get a kick out of how wet he got. They wanted to know how many of the kids were ours, and were shocked when we told them that all three were ours. They said we were brave, and at that moment Aleksa was pitching a fit so I said, "yeah, or Estupido" (all in Spanish though). We all laughed. It really hurt my brain to even attempt to speak Spanish tonight. Too many languages being dumped into the brain at once. Can't do it. I did find out from this couple that they came to Ukraine looking for a baby boy (or toddler) and wound up with a six-year-old girl. They have a daughter back home who is younger, and she had been promised a baby brother and is NOT happy about getting an older sister. They told me there would be a war back home between them. It's scary to adopt from Ukraine if you are not flexible with age and gender (and number!) You just can not predict who is available at what time.

Anyway, enough for tonight. John has to get on and blog some too...

Love,

Shelly


Liana and her ice cream
Adam with ice cream
Aleksa and her papa