Stahlke Adoption

Photos VI: Explanation

I didn't have much time to write yesterday. Here's the explanation of David's photos:

Clothing in the orphanage was not assigned to a particular child. After a kid wore an outfit for a week, the staff washed the clothes on the weekend. Then the kids would nab their favorite items as soon as they became available. When we met David, he wore the matching pink shirt and shorts for several days. Sarah told us (quite sorely) that those were her favorites! (In Ukraine, traditional colors for boys and girls are more on the lines of dark for boys and light for girls, so the pink and blue concept was foreign to them.)

The judge assigned our court appointment for August 17, 2005, and everyone dressed up for it. The caretakers brought out the dress clothing reserved for such occasions, and the children looked very nice. But the adoption could not be finalized on August 17 (that's another long story), and we waited for hours on August 18 for documents that the judge required from Kyiv. He didn't allow faxed papers, but needed the actual documents in his hands.

At about 3:00 pm on August 18, the courier gave us the necessary papers, our facilitator telephoned the judge's office, and suddenly we had another appointment. The children were hastily plucked from their groups to get ready, but 6-year old David didn't have time to don his dress clothes. That's why our family photo, taken moments after the adoption was finalized, features David in his favorite pink shorts.

posted by Stahlkes @ 11:06 AM