Paperwork progress and more kid stuff

August 4, 2004 Tuesday

Lots and lots of running around today. We were supposed to go to the orphanage at 10:30 this morning, but Vica found out early this morning that one of the medical/psychological papers for Aleksa were never signed, so that meant she had to be re-evaluated right away this morning. (Btw, Vica spells her name Victoria in English instead of Viktoria which is the transliteration, so she goes by Vica not Vika in English). All of the childrens’ paperwork should really have been done two years ago when the children were admitted to the orphanage, but they leave it for the families who adopt them to run around completing. Why do all that extra work for every child when only a few will be adopted? Oy.

Anyway, after that, we went to city hall again, and who knows where else to get things signed. The major document, the conclusion for adoption, was signed today. That’s a big deal actually, and Vica was really relieved. It means that the city of Belgorod-Dnestrovsky agrees that this adoption is in the best interests of the children, etc. The NAC will now be given a copy of this document and we will have paperwork in Kiev processed. Vica is on her way to Kiev right now. She hopes to have that paperwork done by the end of the week, and she will be back on Sunday night. Thankfully we have our wonderful driver to take us back and forth to the orphanage this week. She drove Vica to Odessa tonight, so we had a different driver just for tonight, and boy will it be nice to get our Katia back. ‘Nuff said.

We gave the director of the orphanage a nice gift and the orphanage donation. It was nice that she didn’t tell us how much to give, she just said however much we wanted to give was fine. She told us that another American family was on their way to this orphanage tonight to visit a sibling group of four. The entire orphanage is excited about that. They will be treated like royalty here.

This morning our visit went really well with the kids. Liana was an angel and let me snuggle her, and she played and played with us. But, more testing from Liana tonight. Mama told her “no” and the end of the world came. (Isn’t Mama terrible?!!!) Please pray that we’ll know how to connect to this little sweetie. It’s so hard to be a parent when you only have two hours a day on someone else’s turf. I’m already dreading the plane ride home. Mama breaks into cold sweats at the thought of it. ;O)

In the middle of Liana’s “episode,” Aleksa got hit by her sister, so the end of the world came for her too. One thing we’ve learned about Aleksa is that she will cry about a half hour longer than she “has” to. By the time she quits crying, she (probably) has forgotten all about why she was crying in the first place. Oh, AND she has to be carried everywhere she goes. No exceptions. Mama ustala. (Mama’s tired.) (Though she let Papa carry her all around tonight while Mama was dealing with Liana.)

We’re tired, so that’s all for tonight. Vica is hoping for court on Monday, but we’ll see. Then off to get birth certificates, then to Odessa to file everything at the regional level, and then to Kiev for the INS medical exam and for our Embassy interview. We’ll be home before we know it!

Love you all,

Shelly

P.S. Here are the measurements...
Aleksa, neck to crotch: 17"
Liana, neck to crotch: 18.5"
BUT, these are two very active children, so these measurements may be off...

Papa blowing up a balloon
Papa working hard