Stahlke Adoption

Big Week

This time it's Jonathan. We're trying to be more efficient with our time, and have both of us on two different computers simultaneously. Mary is taking care of business, trying to get the kids enrolled in school, dispatching doctor's appointments (along with the rest of the world, evidently), and generally organizing our lives. No small task. This may be the first time my being on a computer has been considered efficient!

The internet cafe that has the fastest computers in town has been really booked up lately. Last night, there was a line waiting for available computers, and this noon there was a line once again, so this seems to be the best time to post.

Things are coming into focus pretty quickly. Masha called from Kiev less than an hour ago to say that she secured the last of the signatures from the NAC (Adoption Center) to move forward on everything. Already on Friday, she had begun setting up a court appointment here in Kirovograd (through the lawyer who's representing us) for Wednesday morning (August 17). We are awaiting confirmation and the exact time.

She further said that she was unable to get a train back to us until Wednesday morning at 3 a.m.! As big a city as this is, there is not daily train service between here and Kiev. So, she arrives at 3 a.m., and we go to court later that morning. There just always has to be a yet more extreme circumstance than we could have imagined. We end up just waiting for the other shoe to drop, and then wondering if there's a third shoe on this particular beast.

Anyway, that means that we maneuver all of the pre-court details on our own without Masha's translation assistance, but with trusty Andrei driving us around and interpreting for us when we get in a bind (yes, several times a day). Andrei claims to only speak Russian, but he understands Ukrainian just fine and understands us from time to time.

Today was frenetic, but fun. We had to get Ruslan's (Ukrainian)passport pictures taken, and while he was out with us, we took advantage of the outing and bought him some black shoes. Shoes are the hardest to buy for the kids without them present. We also got a dress shirt for him (and for Bogdan, while we were at it), since they were for sale in the same shop. He was definitely wide-eyed at the mall, but he's a quiet and serious child, speaking only when it's critical.

We got a good smile out of him today, however, as he and I were tossing little nubby handballs back and forth on the orphanage grounds. We started throwing the two balls to each other simultaneously (having them cross in the air), and then clapping once, twice, three times, and so on before catching the in-coming ball. It was like a circus act, and he's quite good at it. Mary got in a game of chess with him this morning (which he won), so we feel the ice is thawing well. He is, with good reason, apprehensive about the trip, the new home, new friends, and precious little Ukrainian in his future. We suspect it's impossible for any of the children to know just how much English they will be surrounded by. We're hoping that Saturday morning Ukrainian school will help relieve some of the pressure and give them someone (besides each other) to speak to fluently.

So, back to the story. We've bought underwear and socks at the open market without the children present. We had taken their measurements, and just whipped out the paper tape measure we had gotten at IKEA a few months ago. I'm sure the sellers at the market got a real kick out of us rummaging through children's underwear packages, stretching the waistband just a bit, and measuring it dutifully. Then saying in present tense verbs with incorect prepositions, "We were thinking of something a little larger," or "It won't work for the two girls to have the same kind of underwear." We should have been charging admission for the entertainment we provided. It would have paid for one of the plane tickets back.

I guess I'm off the track again. We found out last week that only the children over eight years old are required in court. So, we have a set of clothes for all the kids (for when they leave the orphanage), as well as dress clothes for the oldest three (for Wednesday morning's court appointment).

It's hard to imagine, but after the court appointment, we're supposed to go out to the two villages where the children were born (about 100 kilometers away, or 65 miles) in order to do something with the birth certificates which are housed there. We find it unusual, but it's universal practice in adoption to get "new birth certificates" for the children. This is cognitive dissonance for someone who has spent a year doing archival research! Anyway, on Wednesday, we mess with this, then get Ukrainian passports (internal identification documents) for the children. They need these in order to get visas to go with us to the United States. I had thought that they would be getting U.S. passports before travelling, but we no longer think that this is so.

After all of this happens (maybe still Wednesday), we throw a party at the orphanage for each of the grades represented by our kids, give gifts to all of the caretakers (as well as the director, doctor, and orphanage as a whole), and if there's still time, take the children to Kiev. Assuming that we won't have time for all of this, the children stay one more night in the orphanage, the party is Thursday morning, and Thursday becomes a travel day. If possible, we get to Kiev early enough to transact business on Thursday, so that our Kiev time is not protracted.

Don't mean to make this a cliff-hanger, but we're out of time for today. It's looking like we'll be home next week, but aren't sure which day just yet. We know that this has implications for whether or not the baptisms will be on August 27, and we're still discussing the parameters. Will let you know soon.

Thanks for listening. I feel so much better now. 8-)

posted by Stahlkes @ 11:02 AM