Woman's Day

I slept great last night and didn’t wake until 6:47 AM. Could not get on the Internet, so had plenty of time to exercise. Egg, yogurt, coffee/Energy Refresh Tea.

We left a little early and went up to the Blaser Café again. We chose different beans for our mochas and picked up some Limited Edition Galapagos San Cristobal beans. The woman working was very affable and patient. She confirmed the price and was able to determine that yes, we would like it ground for use in a French press. Again, it was a peaceful interval in such a congenial place. The traffic was remarkably, incredibly decreased from any other morning, including Sundays. Ukraine really takes its Woman’s Day seriously! The flower shops were still doing brisk business we could observe from our vantage point.

Next stop: Billa. John put more money on our Internet device (minutes? Broad-band width? Ya nees niuu - I don’t know) at a machine that can also be used to add minutes to a cell phone and we picked up two boxes of chocolates. One we left in Daniel’s room - telling them it was not for little boys or girls (since we don’t know how to say 'grown-ups', 'nurses' or 'caregivers'). The other box we passed out as anyone passed us in the green corridor. We checked with Nadya yesterday about the appropriate greeting for the day. Essentially they wish each other “The Eighth of March”. So we said “Eight, March” in very poor Russian grammar all day. Didn’t seem to matter. One lady carrying food was crabby in her refusal. I think the only other refusals came from two ladies in Daniel’s room, one of whom we had actually handed the whole box to. Everyone else cheerfully took a piece and expressed their thanks - and I think wished me the same.

While we waited for Daniel the doctor of the day came out and indicated he had a little bloody nose. We had noticed a bit of dried blood a couple of times before and he managed an active, but minor, bleed for us once too. Another resemblance to his next older brother. He came out shortly thereafter and we had a good visit.

We avoided the “Up, Down” game in deference to the recent nose bleed. He did some fishing. We have been told he likes puzzles. For us he only likes to pull the pieces out of the puzzle, or use the empty surface to tap the fishing pole on. Once or twice he has accidentally but with obvious ability put a piece in its place before he caught himself. Today he put four pieces in place in a row - but obstinately refused to put even one more in. We had a pit of a stand-off over the triangle piece. It landed on the floor multiple times before I maneuvered his hand into place while he held it. Yes, his mother has completion issues and can be (is always) quite stubborn, too.

He has learned to say “zoom, zoom” to let us know he wants to ride the motorcycle. He got a lot of use out of the motorcycle, and with much less foot traffic we took him along hallways beyond the green corridor. John has been especially diligent about getting Daniel to use his right arm and hand, which is more difficult than his left. Today as long as he used his right arm to indicate which direction he wanted to go, John complied.

Nick had one primary caregiver that we have always referred to as “the stern teacher”. She always seemed more serious and maintained excellent control of her group of ten three-year-olds. She could quickly and with seeming easy engage all of them in organized play (circle games). We never did get her picture or name last round. Apparently she drew the short straw and had to work on Woman’s Day. It was a great break as far as I was concerned. Weekends are generally more relaxed at the orphanage and this holiday even more so. She accepted a chocolate with lots of smiles on her first pass. The next time I was ready with a photograph of Nick to give her, the camera and a notepad. She seemed very happy to have the picture of Nick (I referred to him by the original version of his name, but I have no doubt she remembers us). She didn’t protest very much at all when I asked to have her picture for Nick (it is their custom to protest, at least a little bit, to having pictures taken or accepting gifts). When the picture turned out to be too dark I showed her and she gestured to move down to a lighter area. She commented on Nick being six years old now. I told her he is a ‘very good boy’. Wish I knew the equivalent of “great kid with a fantastic smile”. She even wrote her first name down - in big block letters in both Russian and English. I didn’t realize this at the time, but when she passed by yet again I commented “in English, good job” (Russian) to which she replied “of course” (Russian). So “Nick’s stern teacher” is now ‘Natasha’.

At the end of the morning, we noticed it was the first time Daniel seemed sad to have us leave. Maybe none of his favorite caregivers are working today.

Back at the apartment we got on-line with no problem, able to get Christine’s update and a couple other e-mails. Then we left again for lunch. ‘Our’ cafeteria was closed, so we had “Big Mac Menu”s at McDonalds. We waited and had our cappuccinos at the bakery - too full for pastries, though. John had another document for the Embassy printed at the nearby Internet Café. We were going to buy a plastic sleeve to protect it at the stationery shop, but it was closed. I’ve been thinking. Since it has been in that same location at least three years (we shopped there last visit) and it doesn’t carry note cards or letter-writing paper, perhaps it is more of a stationary rather than stationery store.

We got back to our Metro stop and realized we had left the document at the bakery. I went on to the apartment (first time I’ve ever done that alone) and John took the Metro back (first time he’s ever done that alone). He returned soon and he figured out how to buzz the apartment from the outside door and I figured out how to “buzz” him in remotely. I’m guessing we will never get that second key we were promised on move-in day 22 days ago. Hasn’t been a problem at all, though.

We called Nick and Dennis and we all (Engebrechts, too) ate snowflake-shaped Peppermint patties simultaneously as we had arranged prior to the trip. Of course, ours were an afternoon treat, theirs an immediately-after breakfast treat. Having had a muffin and a stayed-dry-all-day jelly bean too, Dennis spun off into a goofy sugar high.

Anya called us just before we returned to the orphanage. She is one hard-working lady who was back at her office because work on Friday and Saturday hadn’t been overly-efficient due to pre-Woman‘s Day celebrations.

It took awhile to get anyone’s attention at Daniel’s door. John finally stuck his head inside and called out the formal Russian ‘hello’. After the woman brought Daniel out, she was calling to another back in the room while she pushed on the doorbell. Yes, the doorbell is broken. It has been broken this entire round and it is still broken.

Up to the landing. We didn’t see any other families at all today. The landing is always much warmer than the corridor and I have started unzipping or removing Daniel’s jacket up there. We had several more grateful ladies accept chocolates. Daniel had his second knitting lesson. It was a little less complex since we were using only two needles instead of four. We were working with just three stitches, so we had to switch the needles back and forth from hand to hand frequently. At first he didn’t want to let go of the needles, but he stuck with me a long time and got the hang of letting go of one and grabbing the other.


John and Daniel stood looking out the window and Daniel was very talkative again. A great deal of the time was spent with Daniel on John’s back going up and down the adjoining hallway (without lights), occasionally going “Bump” against the walls. Daniel didn’t find it as side-splittingly funny today, but he liked it well enough to ask by name without prompting.

He was content to play with the train, two bags and look at the Russian book while lying on the floor. He army-crawled when he wanted to move and could capably flip tummy-to-back and back-to-right side (easier to use left hand). When we said it was time to leave he moved all over the blankets handing me things to put in the bags, and finally had an excuse to touch our boots (we frequently tell him ‘no, not a toy’) so he could hand them to us, too.

It was a nice visit. We intentionally savored it as possibly the last one of its kind. If all goes well, we will be busy all day tomorrow:

Picking up the court decree
Getting his original birth certificate from the orphanage
Driving to his home town to have name changed on birth certificate and obtaining adoption certificate (total expected time of 4 - 5 hours)
Getting his new name changed for his tax ID number
Applying for his passport at the passport office
And somewhere in there going to the notary’s office.

I’m packing a full day of knitting projects and medical journals.

Another stop at the Billa for water, yogurt, an orange, Coke and ice cream bars (our celebration of Woman’s Day). John cooked pasta and used up the rest of the tomato sauce. He also did the dishes since he read on-line that women aren’t supposed to do housework on Woman’s Day. We are eating the other bag of microwave popcorn. That leaves grilled ham and cheese and the last bag of chips for tomorrow night.

Oh - and the LHM devotion began with some things we do and do not understand about California. IVP Hard Saying: Psalms 51:16-19: Does God Desire Sacrifices?