COURT TOMORROW !!! (1600)

Gorodnia – 07 Feb 07- Wednesday

Dateline – Gorodnia Ukraine, Tuesday 06 Feb 07 – We have settled into a routine in our two-hour visit’s with Sophie. She meets us and leads us to her room. Papa wants to stop and pet the dogs on the way (my favorite is called something like a cross between “ship” and “chip” – he’s a dachshund). Momma always needs to make a little stop on the way and insists on stopping in the building with the smaller children (as it’s much much cleaner). As we head to Sophie’s room, dad – the apprentice Sherpa – tries to keep up while the ladies talk in Russian. We get to the room and it’s time for a game of Uno.

On Tuesday, shortly after our Uno game began, Sophie’s teacher Marie came to the room. She and Oles (our facilitator) had a long and sometimes quite animated talk about many things – culminating in her being very happy that we were adopting Sophie. We have been ochen ochen impressed with Oles – and we know your prayers made all the difference with Marie. Marie was very happy that Charlene could speak some Russian, and that we wanted Sophie to write her to tell her about life in America. Her husband was a fisherman and spent some time in the Bering Sea. I told her about my time there in the Coast Guard. During Soviet times, her husband had saved 60,000 rubles (a new car cost 4000 rubles at the time). Overnight their savings were nearly wiped out during the Soviet Union’s breakup. Everyone we meet seems to have a powerful story of resilience. We got a picture before she left and Oles told her to say Hi to her husband from the U.S. Coast Guard ;-)

We stop in Chernigov for a late lunch on the way back from the orphanage each day. On Wednesday, we were discussing the menu in the restaurant (Mama-Mia’s). By the way – the hotel restaurant has already fixed their menu. No more boiled language. I was a little upset that Oles had told them because I was working up a scheme in which I would translate the menu (maybe subcontract some of the work to Oles) in exchange for free internet access. Back to Mama-Mia’s… One of the desserts was translated as “Desire of all Women”. Not sure who coined it, but it seems I have a new Russian nick-name ;-) The best Oles could come up with was “Chocolate Pie”.

Dateline – Wednesday 07Feb 2007 – Charlene has had just about enough of the new Russian phrase I’ve learned. After repeating “Where is the snow plow? several hundred times in Russian, Oles taught me to say “Very Interesting.” By increasing the number of “verys” and scratching my chin, I can now seem to be both fluent in Russian and quite thoughtful. We went to the pharmacy to get something to help Charlene sleep, and I listened intently to the interchange between Oles and the Pharmacist, not understanding a word, and then said “Ochen Ochen Intere-estna” (my apologies to real Russian speakers for my spelling). She said something that sounded equally thoughtful to which I replied, after a slower chin scratch, “Ochen Ochen….” You get the picture.

When we arrived at the Orphanage on Wednesday, we met Sophie, followed our normal routine, and then arrived at her room. Her roommate and best friend Katya, was sick in bed. Sophie told us several days before that Katya was an Uno master. After showing her our pictures on the laptop, she was able to muster the strength to play several rounds. Katya is a delightful girl and their deep friendship is very obvious. She lives in the Orphanage because her mother drinks and can’t take care of her. On the weekends she goes home to her grandmother’s. During our game, Oles went to see the judge and came back with excellent news – WE GO TO COURT TOMORROW!!! Please pray that it goes smoothly!


Pictures (our connection is very slow, so I'll try them later)– one is Charlene and Sophie walking hand-in-hand, and the other I Dad and Sophie petting my favorite dog.

Thank you for your prayers, Tim and Charlene