Eta Ukraina!

This morning, we got up a little earlier than we thought we might, which was good. I have a lot of catching up to do with the blog, and was able to get up to at least our conversation with Bogdan written.  I know we had a lot of people praying for this conversation and knew we were on our way to Mariupol, so I desperately needed to update the blog.  My computer is on the fritz and the hard drive is going to totally give out any minute now.  It will only work for a few minutes and only if I am doing one thing at a time. I never know when it is going to just stop and I have to do a hard shut down. Since I do the blog in a program on my computer, I must have it working to update the blog.  So, we have been very behind in this and other work I need my computer for.  Even now, I’m saving after each paragraph and praying that it makes it through posting one page at a time. So, I apologize for leaving you waiting so long to hear what was going on with Bogdan. At least I was able to work on that this morning.  I’ve been typing on Lance’s computer and then sending the text in email and uploading one page at a time and that seems to work OK so far.

Hasan picked up up a little after noon today to go the the orphanage. We didn’t have much food left in the house this morning for breakfast, so we drove through McD’s on our way and I had a Happy Meal to hold me over until we left the orphanage and could get to the grocery store.

We were both suspicious that the boys might be sick and in the nurse’s quarantined area of the orphanage because we had not heard from them since Sunday afternoon.  A little part of me was worried that Babushka might have run off with the boys, but deep in my heart, I knew that had not happened.  I guess I’m going to be on edge a little until it is final and we have the boys with us and out of the orphanage. 

The building the boys are normally in was very quiet when we got there and their classroom was locked. So, we stopped by the nurse’s area just to make sure they weren’t in there. The nurse told us that all the children were in the main building for a program.

Hasan left us to go to the program as he was going to go get the birth certificates. Tanya had called to ask him to pick them up. We were very confused as we didn’t think we could get the birth certificate until we had the court decree in hand. It turns out that the had gone and gotten their old birth certificates and not the new ones with us listed as parents.

We saw Dima right away when we walked into the auditorium. He was up front and was going on stage with someone and discussing I guess what he was going to do in the program. As we were going to find seats, we noticed Tolic and he waved to us and smiled really largely as well.

We learned that the program was a theater group called Agape and they were there to do a religious skit program for the kids. They had been there in the past and the kids seemed excited about the performance. At least the younger ones did. The older kids in the orphanage always seem to have a tougher, I’m too cool for this childish stuff attitude. It takes a few days to break through their tough exterior. That is one reason longer camp type programs are really good for reaching the older kids in the orphanage. By this age, they usually seem pretty calloused. Another reason we wanted to adopt Bogdan and get him out of there before the system got the best of him. Anyway...

The program started with a song we sang at the first few camps I was a part of in Ukraine.  I had forgotten all about it until they got to the chorus, which goes like this:  “Stoboryou droog, Stoboryou brat, stoboryou ochen, ochen rad”.  Ignore the horrible spelling...well, I guess you probably can’t tell that I spelled it right or wrong, huh?  Basically, the song means, I’ve got all my friends here, I’ve got all my brothers here, and I’m having a very good time, or something to that affect.  Maybe those of you reading this that were at camp with me will remember it and enjoy a good memory.  

That song finished and then the lights went out! “Eta Ukraina” is a common saying here. It means, “that’s Ukraine”!  A back up plan is always needed when doing programs, camps, etc. here at the orphanages.  The group tried winging the program in hopes that the lights would come back on again soon, but they didn’t.  I wanted to go up on stage and help the poor group come up with something to do to help out, but of course did my best to stay in my seat. they said that they couldn’t do their planned program without lights and were trying to pull things out of the air to entertain the kids. They did a few magic tricks, and a few group clapping type activities to try and keep the program alive. Finally, one of the main gentlemen of the orphanage announced that they were going to do with a different plan. They would have lunch now while it was still warm and then go finish their class work.  Then they would come back and have the program at 4:00 and the lights might be on by then.

While all this was going on, one of the guys in the group to the back of the auditorium and introduced himself to us. His name was Sergey and he was a great guy.  He told us a little bit about the group and was just wanting to make sure we knew what was going on since he could tell we were Americans and he spoke English. We told him we were there adopting children and that we had lived and worked as missionaries in Mariupol.  We got to visit with him a little more while waiting on the boys to eat lunch.  He too, as two adopting sisters. He was telling us the story and how it was God’s plan that unfolded for them.  Adoption stories are so wonderful to hear and to see how God just brings people together!

After the boys ate, we went up to their classroom to visit. They of course right away wanted the cell phone and camera to play with. They enjoyed taking Lance’s cell phone apart and inspecting the SIM chip.  It did take a little while for them to get it back in correctly, but they didn’t give up until they had it working properly. They really are both very smart when it comes to technology and figuring out how things work.  Now, aren’t I a proud momma bragging on her boys.

Nothing too exciting happened at the orphanage today, but the normal things. We played with Legos some and mostly the cell phones, comparing them to the cell phones their friends had.  It just amazes me how the kids in the orphanages end up with so many cell phones.  The most exciting thing in our visit today was that Tolic called Lance Pappa.  It was a very clear, Pappa, and not just “I think I heard him call you Pappa”. He is really opening up more and communicating more with Lance than he did at the beginning. In fact, while we were in Mariupol, he would use Dima’s phone and call Lance because he just wanted to hear his voice!  Ahhh...

Leaving the orphanage is always hard.  We have started kissing the boys more when we leave.  Lance explained that we hug and kiss them because we love them so much and miss them when we are a part.  Dima loves the affection and eats it up.  Tolic on the other hand, can’t stand the kissing!  In fact, even in our hugs, he has pulled away some.  My guess is because it has been several days since we’ve seem him.  Lance purposefully gave him a kiss on the lips to try and bring him out a little.  Of course, we do this in the hallway away from their friends, because that would just be too much for Tolic to handle! Dima would love it!

We then had to go to the grocery store to get some food as we didn’t have anything in the apartment.  I think we were too hungry because we ended up with three bags full!

When we got back to the apartment, Lance went to work online and I cooked dinner.  There really wasn’t much excitement tonight.  Oh, we did put on one of Hasan’s videos to watch. It was the Michael Jackson movie that came out after his death. It was a boot-legged copy and the quality was not all that great, but it was something to watch. Anytime someone spoke on the video it was dubbed over in Russian. It is weird how if you can tune out the Russian, you can easily hear the English in the background. Of course all of the songs were Michael singing and were in English.