Court Date Set!!!

Up at 7:00 this morning for some coffee and quiet reading. What would you like to know about wound closures or spina bifida?

Sasha left before 9:00 for his errands to the court and police inspector. Domestic note: the small garbage pail under the kitchen sink was full to the max, and smelled accordingly. John was the manly man and took it out to find a dumpster and empty the pail. (Normally he puts our garbage out Wednesday evening at home.) We left at 9:35. We missed the walking short cut near the orphanage, so it took a full thirty minutes.

John went for Nick. He would be in class for another half-hour. We waited about 20 minutes total for Dennis. Not sure why, although they did tell us! I carried Dennis down. He put his head down on my shoulder and snuggled in for the whole walk. Just wait till you get to cuddle with him! Once we sat down, he popped right up to see what Papa and Nick were doing. Today is hotter yet, so the uniform for both was leopard-spotted skivvies. The only additions were diaper and shoes for Dennis, the honey-bee hat for Nick. The benches in the shade were all taken, so we camped out on some steps. We had to take toys away from Nick at various times because he wanted to throw what wasn’t meant to be thrown, otherwise the boundary-testing was much less intense than yesterday. Dennis pulled the bubbles out of the backpack, and today he wanted to play with them. He liked dipping the wand up and down in the bottle just like he had seen Nick do on previous days. Rather than trying to blow at the circles, however, he put them to his mouth and tasted them. Eventually that became a game as Mama would tell him “nee KU-shai” (something like ‘not eat’) again and again. I offered him a half-cookie at that point to distinguish between edible and non-edible, but the game continued. He did eat the cookie, though, and in a more typical fashion – bite, chew and swallow, get distracted, bite, chew and swallow, holding the cookie away from him.

When we returned Nick to his group, they were standing outside, sans skivvies. Apparently this is bath day. We also saw some pretty intensive cleaning going on all over the orphanage – curtains and drapes removed, men cleaning above very high windows in the stairwells, etc. Outside new wiring is being laid to the outdoor lights, trenches being dug by back-breaking manual labor. Nick is interested in the multicolored scaffolding they use and move around.

We stopped at the grocery store Billa next to the Metro station before coming back. Their logo is a big yellow shopping/grocery bag that rotates on a sign high over head. It is part of a chain. We saw another one near the church Sunday. We were in luck. Not only a blanket we can lay on the ground for visits, but a light-weight nice shirt I can be more comfortable in (about $5). Lunch was at McDonalds.

Back at the apartment Sasha called to see if we were back. When he arrived he had good news: Sasha in Kyiv could have the necessary paperwork back to us Friday, and we could get a court date already next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Say – that bump on my forehead from the train – it fortunately never did turn purple, but since
Sunday has been going through the green/yellow stage. I draped my hair over it for church, but no one seems to have noticed this week.

For the afternoon visit we took the Metro back, and in the very same car were Bill and Sue, the other American couple hoping to adopt from the same baby house. Turns out she has quite a history with Ukraine, having worked in Kyiv for five years, following five years in St. Petersburg, Russia. They have been given more medical concerns regarding their little fellow, so are trying to sort out how serious it all is.

John went to find Nick, per usual. He was watching for John through a window. When they came down the hall where I was waiting for Dennis he came running and gave me a hug.  Having the blanket worked out well. Dennis sat on it most of the time playing with the usual toys. Nick had great fun with a couple of sticks he broke out of a bush, thwacking away at the dirt or a solid bench. For the most part he was careful around us, and John only had to take custody of the stick once. Mama did have to clean up and band-aid blister on his index finger, though. Only twice did he throw things at or hit one of us, and both times he say “excuse me” in Russian without too much resistance. He also discovered a water bottle we were carrying. He asked for drinks frequently during the two hours. He is learning to say “water, please” (in order to get another drink). Dennis was happy to just play with the closed water bottle. Nick and John also spent some time watching the men work to dig the trenches.

Bill and Sue with their boy and another couple with a little girl were all in the same general area, although we kept to our own activities.

Does two hours ever pass this quickly anywhere else? We packed up, took Nick to his room, found it empty so found the group outside. We took Dennis up to his room. When I let him walk up the steps he was as energetic and happy as the first time we saw him with the caretaker before our meeting with the director. Furthermore, as he neared the top he put his right foot up two steps instead of one – quite a stretch for an eighteen-month-old. I put it back down a step, he grinned and moved it back up. We repeated that a couple of times. Oh how hard it was to leave him there. I told him I loved him, in Russian and English.

We went back on the Metro with Bill and Sue. Sasha was at the train station buying a ticket. He is going to Kiev tomorrow. He led us through a typical court appointment tonight; ours is scheduled for Tuesday – hurray! He will be back before then. (Remember, we still have to wait 10 days after that for the appeal period. Wait through that weekend, secure a bunch of paperwork in the boys’ hometown, here in Kharkov, then in Kiev). He also told us that June 1st is national “Children’s Day”, and thus the reason for all of the sprucing up at the orphanage and the program where Nick will be a prince. He is confident we will be able to attend the presentation. Also, departure on June 16th is still a possibility.