Zaporizia on our own...

Our international dinner was great. There were many countries represented…Italians, Argentinians (who now live in Israel), and Americans all gathered together in a pizza restaurant in the Ukraine! We had so much fun talking about politics, children, family, and food! I think there was agreement on which cheese was better, parmesian or romano (athough I confessed I did not know there was much difference between the two). The couple from Rome, Giovanni and Maria, offered to cook an authentic Italian dinner for the group Saturday night! So we are going to their apartment for what I think may be Eggplant Paremsian if I am translating it right. Regardless, I know it will be a wonderful evening of good food and fellowship. We are blessed to have met such wonderful people going through the adoption journey at the same time and place.

We are hopeful our court date will be Tuesday or Wednesday next week. Sergei has everything lined up, but it’s a matter of the court agreeing on a giving us a date to hear our petition. After our court date, she will be officially ours, but we are not able to take her out of the orphanage for a mandatory 10-day waiting period. We’re not sure what this waiting period is for, but we will use the time wisely to continue to bond with our little one.

We have successfully survived living in Zaporizia without Sergei for 2 days now. A man who works at the orphanage, Nikoli, has agreed to pick us up from the apartment each morning and take us several places during the day. He does not speak a word of English, but we write down times and he uses arrows to indicate where we need to go next. We have ventured out around our apartment, where life seems to be hopping 24-7. There are outdoors bars and vendors selling crackers and cigarettes. We managed to find some water and orange juice along the way.

It’s sweltering hot here and all the families are trying to find shade around the orphanage. We may try to get a baby pool if we can find some water to put in it. All the families have agreed this would be a much needed addition to our afternoons there.

In the picture above she is saying "please" (rubbing your chest) with her sign language and a smile or sorts...her eyes are definitely on the gummy bear daddy is about to hand her.


Today we had a good morning, but we had a hard afternoon (sound familiar?). Up and down, up and down…it seems to be a standard theme with many of the couples adopting from the orphanage. Here are pictures of a fun game she is playing with daddy with the bucket. Lots of giggles! She is quite stubborn and acts out when she does not get her way (typical 2 year old behavior compounded by the fact that she’s lived in an institution her entire life and has not have parents to guide her in the right direction with love, not to mention the HUGE language barrior between us). We are trying ways of communicating through hugs and smiles and the few Russian words we know, but these are of little help to us when she is in the midst of one of her rages. Maybe all you parents of toddlers out there are nodding your head that there is no communicating with a raging 2 year old no matter the language. Fortunately, she has a definite case of child ADD and I am at times able to distract her from what she was upset about to begin with. Since Hunter and I have no experience parenting a will-full 2 year old, it has been an eye-opening week!! Amazing that you can be afraid of something so small escalating into a big melt down before your eyes. On a more positive note, she seems to be demonstrating some signs of attaching to us as mom and dad. The only people we truly can not compete with now are her care givers. But I believe this is a good sign that she is endeared to someone in her life and feels at home with them. When we take her back to her room, she gets so excited to see her primary care giver and group mates.

This is a picture of the care giver taking the group back to their room. She is the only one with clothes on (orange dress) looking back at us as we wave goodbye.



Hunter and I pray every time we enter the orphanage that our hearts would be open to what God has to teach us about loving this little girl and that her heart would be open to receive our love. We know there are years of scars and more wounds than we can imagine from the neglect she has endured. We know this precious one did nothing to deserve such a hard start in life, and has found some coping mechanisms that have helped her through these years. We know we have a long way to go in teaching her that she can trust us and we will take care of her and love her forever. We are thrilled that we were chosen to be her parents and teach her what it means to truly be part of a loving family.

We know we have already traveled so much of the journey just to find her, but the work has just begun. Today, they dressed her in the same outfit we met her in...11 days ago. She was a scared little rabbit the first day we saw her, trembling and staring off into space to get through the 5 minute visit. Poor thing. It’s only been 11 days since then, and she’s come alive before our eyes. What an amazing tranformation already!

We are so thankful for the good and bad, the ups and downs, because they all include her! We are excited about the adventure that lies ahead.

We love you and can't wait to get back home so you can meet her!

Blessings,
Hunter and Lauri