We left the hotel this morning at 7:30 am. We had to go see the Inspector, and then off to the orphanage to visit Sergei. We got to the orphanage late, so we only got to spend about 45 minutes with him before they put him down for his nap. Then it was off to the Notary for more legal work. After that we went and had lunch. For those of you who know how picky I am when it comes to food, you'll be happy to know I actually tried some Ukrainian food today and actually liked most of it! We stopped at a baby store to try and by Sergei some clothes. It was a pretty limited selection, so we didn't get anything today. The caretakers told us we could come back at 12:30 to see Sergei again. When we got there, another couple was in the playroom with their Sergei who was also 15 months old. There was a language barrier between the adults, but the children had no problem playing with each other. It was difficult to tear them apart when the parents wanted to spend time with their children. We were there until 3:00 while Max was running around getting some other legal stuff done. Our papers are being sent to Kiev tonight to the NAC to approve our adoption, and hopefully they will be back tomorrow. Max is telling us we will probably go to court either Monday or Tuesday. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it happens then. After a stop at the supermarket for a few things we headed home, only to be caught in the Kharkov rush hour traffic. Out of the 10 hours that we were gone we probably spent at least 5 of them in the car. Maybe not an issue for most, but I'm 5'11” and David is 6'2” and sitting in the back of a compact car for 5+ hours is not my idea of fun!! We both know in the end, we'll look back and laugh at all of the inconveniences especially when we look at our son. Actually the process in Kharkov has been extremely smooth and everyone has been very nice. Even the Director at the orphanage comes in when we are visiting with Sergei. She is always smiling and very attentive to Sergei. On a sadder note, I forgot to mention that yesterday when we were leaving the orphanage, there was a group of toddlers coming in from outside, and one of the little girls stopped and reached up her arms and said “Mama, Papa”. My heart broke and I just wanted to pick her up and bring her home with us too!
I’ve loaded some pictures of Sergei, the orphanage, Kharkov and our apartment in Kiev. Hopefully tomorrow, the Director will let us take some pictures of Sergei with his playmates and his favorite caretakers.
Tomorrow should be a short day. We're going to see Sergei in the morning and hopefully take him to have his passport picture taken. Then we're going to do some shopping for him, and then back to the orphanage to spend a couple more hours with him. The next couple of days are just going to be quality time with Sergei as we wait for our court date.
February 26, 2004
We woke to another overcast day in Kharkov. We haven't seen the sun since we've been in Ukraine. It hasn't been as cold the last couple of days so the snow is melting, and the roads are like rivers. It's hard for our driver to miss the pot holes when the streets are filled with water. He did pretty well though. David asked how long the cars usually last here, with the road conditions the way they are. Our drivers car is 20 years old, I don't know how they manage to keep them that long. We had some pretty hard hits (potholes) the last couple of days. I was expecting at least a flat tire from one of them.
We went to see Jacob (Sergei) this morning. There was another couple there with their child, (it's hard to tell if they are boys or girls at 15 months of age!). We were supposed to go and have his picture taken for his passport and visa, but the other couple was before us, so we had to wait until the afternoon. We got to spend about an hour with him before they put him down for his nap. During this visit, we had the pleasure of watching about 12 other children who were about 3 come into the playroom for some music time. They all sat in their little chairs while one of the caretakers played the piano, and they sang songs. The children were more interested in us than singing, and it got to the point where I had to get up and leave. It was heartbreaking. Whoever in Ukraine made the rule of only adopting one child at a time is a complete idiot! I just can't understand their thought process when it comes to this. After spending 15 minutes in the hall, trying to compose myself, one of the caretakers came out and told me not to be sad, and that the children would be OK. When I finally went back in, the children were in pairs of two, swinging each other around to a song, and then they did another song with flags. The last song, they were in a line, singing a song about a train I think, and that's how they left, everyone of them waiving good-bye to us. It's hard to even write about it now. I managed to get one picture before I was told I couldn't to take pictures. I'll get it uploaded when I finish here. In between our morning and afternoon visit we did some shopping for Jacob. For those parents yet to travel, the baby stores here, at least in Kharkov are different. They stock everything from food to strollers to clothes, but not very much of anything. We went to two stores and they really didn't have anything in his size except sleepwear. On the third try, it was a bigger store by the selection of clothes was still very limited. We bought enough to get him home in, but it's not like going to the stores in the US where you can buy a whole wardrobe. We grabbed a bite to eat and it was back to the orphanage for our afternoon visit. The couple who was adopting another 15 month old Sergei was there. We had met them a couple of days before. We decided to take the clothes we bought for Jacob in so we could try them on. Well, we were a little off on size. We thought mayber 12 months would fit, but they were too big, so we'll take everything back to the store tomorrow and get 9 month. Jacob doesn't like getting his clothes changed, or maybe he was just a little cranky in general today. A game of peek-a-boo fixed that! We played for a little while until it was time to go for the passport / visa picture. There were 5 of us and a baby crammed into a compact car. We only had to go a couple of blocks for the picture. Jacob was in awe, looking out the window the entire time, his eyes open wide with amazement. Of course when we got their, our usually happy child decided he didn't want his picture taken, so there were 4 adults looking like fools trying to make him smile! When we got back, there was the couple from the morning (from Italy) and the other Sergei and his parents (from Israel, we think) playing. Of course, the parents wanted to spend quality time with their children and all the kids wanted to do was go and see what each other was doing. I took pictures of all of them together which I will post. At 3:00 it was time for naps again. We're back at the hotel for some down time. Even though we had a short day, we're tired. We're still waiting on word from the NAC, don't know if our documents will be back tonight or tomorrow, we can't set a court date until we get them. So tomorrow will be pretty much the same as today, but hopefully with a court date! I'll let you know!!
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