Meeting Alona

Gorodnia – 01 Feb 07- Thursday

Dateline – Kyiv Ukraine, 0600 01 Feb 07 – Sneg, sneg, sneg, and more sneg (snow). We awoke to a snowy morning at 0500. After quick preps, we met Nicoliy (our driver and Oles (our on-the-road facilitator), packed everything into the trunk of Nickoly’s Passat (just like Lee drives) and hit the road. We arrived at Gorodnia about 1000. Oles got permission for us to go straight to the orphanage and meet the assistant director and Alona, but we had to wait until 1100. We cooled our heels (literally) at the only cafe in Gorodina. There was a poor skinny cat at the door. I (Tim) let him in and then got to say “Cat under the table” in Russian ( I had been practicing that for months!). At 1100 we arrived at the orphanage.

Quick digression….we were forewarned (by Gary) that not a day went by when it looked like the whole adoption may fall through. That was yesterday for us. The Official at the SDA had mentioned that Alona had visited a family in Spain, but they didn’t want to adopt her. We didn’t think much of that, but when we mentioned it to Yulia Wednesday night, she became concerned that Alona may have a family from Spain that is trying to adopt her which would, of course, create a terrible situation for a 12 year old girl to have to decide upon on a family she just met from America that was at her orphanage and a family she knew but wasn’t here yet. Of course we prayed for clear direction for us and for her.

Back to the dateline…. We showed up at the orphanage and were met by the lawyer who escorted us to the main office. She was very pleasant and talked with Oles the entire walk. We next met the assistant director, who was also very pleasant and kind. She had Alona’s file and asked what would we like to know. Now that was a good question we should have been ready for. Charlene jumped in and asked many questions. After a few minutes her medical record arrived and the Assistant Director briefed us on its contents. We were excited and a bit apprehensive wondering if she would cry, laugh, run away - who knew? When she came in we were very excited. I gave her a small box of chocolates as a gift. Charlene then opened the picture album and told her all about our family (she had done the same thing minutes earlier for the assistant director and lawyer and they had been very interested in all the details). Alona was obviously nervous, but very attentive. When we finished, we talked some more and she told Oles she would like to be part of our family and she wanted brothers (quite the diplomat I think).

Turns out that unbeknownst to us, several important things had been communicated: First, during our walk into the orphanage, Oles learned that Alona had been told earlier that a family was coming to adopt her. She had asked, “are they Ukrainian?” – no, “Italian?” – no, “Spanish?” – no, “American?” – yes – to which she responded with a big smile! Also, during Charlene’s explanation of our family, the assistant director and Alona had made eye contact and exchanged non-verbs that told her she liked us and our family! (we learned from the assistant director later). Whew – funny, but I never considered that part of our job would be to convince her that we would be good parents and a good family to be part of (no comments otherwise on the blog please ;-).

We spent some additional time with her. Charlene asked what she liked and didn’t like, They spent some time going through an English / Russian basic text book and we discussed names. Diplomatically (once again) she said she would like any name that Mama Charlene picked (smart girl not to trust Papa Tim as I had some pretty interesting ones ready).

We left after about an hour, then spent about 3 hours in the car while Oles talked with the Oblast inspector. During that time (still snegging) we saw horse-drawn carts and sleds, motorcycles with sidecars, cars and trucks of every type and bicycles (snow was about 8 inches by now). It’s true the bicycles are better here!

After about 11 hours in the car we arrived at a nice hotel in Chernigov, checked in and had an excellent supper for three for about $15.00.

Alona seems like a wonderful girl and we’re excited to move ahead with the adoption!

Regarding our (common now) problem of being mistaken for a Ukrainian couple… Though some (especially our Ukrainian readers ;-) might not believe it, we have been asked, by real Ukrainian adults – not once, but twice – for directions. Unfortunately our cover is blown immediately when we open our mouth!

Thank you for your prayers and support – please continue them, Tim and Charlene.

Still snegging!