MAJOR PROGRESS!

WEDNESDAY,  1 DECEMBER, 2010

Evidently things went OK yesterday afternoon for Dmytro’s second visit. This morning we were picked up and taken to the Inspector’s office (the person who handles the paperwork on the orphanage side). We picked up the Inspector in our car and all of drove to the orphanage. We were seated in the Asst. Director’s office. “S” entered wearing the same oversized black suit, especially for us. He had been crying but stopped upon entering the room. We offered him a Kleenex. After blowing his nose, one of the caregivers came in and sat “S” on her lap. She was very animated and spoke to “S” in fast Russian, translating some of what she was saying for us. She said he has a best friend, Nichols, at the orphanage, he likes to write and draw, he LOVES football (soccer) – we nodded our heads approvingly- and especially loves a certain player named Andryis. I chimed in, “Andryis Shevchenko?”  “Da, da!” was the emphatic reply from those in the room. I had been reading about this Ukrainian soccer superstar in a local Ukraine/English magazine I purchased last week. He’s the captain of the Ukraine soccer team and a studly player who hopes to lead the team to a win in 2012 when Ukraine sponsors EURO 2012, the Super bowl of European Soccer, in preparation for the World Cup (he’s also very cute which is why I spent so much time on the article ;-). 

 The irony of this is yesterday, we were out for dinner, discussing what American name to give little “S” (his real name would be too hard to pronounce back home). I suggested many names which Gavin and Scott quickly dissed. When I said “Andy” and told them about the cute soccer superstar I read about, we instantly all agreed to this name! What a coincidence that little “S” actually worships this guy! Anyway, the caretaker’s questioning continued as she slowly worked in questions about living in the US and if he would like it – would he like to have pets? (he LOVES parrots! Thank God for Chucky). Would he like to have a mama, papa and brother?  Slowly I think “S” was coming around.  He did mention that Gavin was BIG and that he was scared of him (although we never saw any evidence of this when we were playing. In fact, little “S” liked to throw the ball at Gavin’s legs as hard as he could – Gavin did nothing but laugh. Gavin’s also been very good about showing him how to use the I-Pod and praising him when he pushed the right button). Scott and I think this fear may come from him being bullied by bigger kids in the orphanage. I had Dmytro translate to him, “Gavin will never hurt you at all! He will never be mean to you. He will ONLY protect you.” He seemed to understand and acknowledge this. He then must have agreed to be adopted by us since they walked him over to the other side of the desk and showed him a piece of paper with some writing on it. He was asked to copy the statement written on the paper. He wrote the statement carefully in beautiful Ukrainian handwriting (even though he speaks Russian) then signed it. We then all went off to the playroom for some fun time! As we were walking to the playroom, a group of darling, smiling boys, all dressed up for school, said hi to us in English. One boy stopped,  grabbed  “S ‘ s ” arm,  whispered something in his ear and looked at us. I would have paid good money to know what he said! Maybe “S” WAS now a source of black market Skittles and M& Ms.....   

We played for only 30 minutes since we needed to return to Donetsk to have some documents notarized. We had the afternoon off again so we hit the local McDonalds and fed some pigeons our leftover fries. Today wasn’t  the day to be outside since it was 18 F, so we went back to our apt. and relaxed. We were all happy about the outcome of our day.

There is one more hurdle to cross in this journey, which Dmytro is working on this afternoon.  “S” has a sister who is 16 years old in another orphanage. She’s in a school where she’s learning a trade and I believe will be emancipated next year. We’re not being given too much information on her relationship with “S”, but we DO know that “S” does not even know her name. Still, she needs to give her consent to this adoption also.  Details are still sketchy so stay tuned.

N.B.,

At 7:30 tonight we received a phone call from Dmytro. He has received verbal approval from the sister!  He said she was crying on the phone but DID agree to allow “S” to be adopted. I wish there was more we could do for her.  Who knows……she may have helped raise “S”. We’re just not set up to adopt at 16-year-old too. I will put my thinking cap on; there’s got to be something we can do to help her as well.