Two Days to Remember

Gorodnia – 05 Feb 07- Monday

Dateline – Gorodnia Ukraine, Sunday 04 Feb 07 – We arrived for our daily visit and couldn’t find Sophie. We looked in her room, asked the other children and after about 10 minutes found her. She was more reserved than normal, but we didn’t think much of it. As we sat in her room, Sophie’s weekend floor caregiver, Olha, came in and sat down. Oles (our facilitator) was busy working with the inspector (on a Sunday!). Charlene was able to communicate with Olha, who obviously cares very much for the Children, and learned that she had braided Sophie’s hair that morning. When Oles arrived back at the room, we learned why Sophie was so apprehensive. Turns out one of her teacher’s told her that American couple’s adopt children and then sell their body parts. Imagine that – on top of just meeting us and wondering what we’re like, and thinking about becoming part of a family, to add that horrible idea! We immediately prayed that she would have peace, and after the visit I sent some e-mails asking for the same from the U.S.

Olha (the caregiver) had her 19 year old daughter come in to speak with us in English (she is studying to be an English teacher) and I think to help size us up. We had a wonderful time getting to know Olha and her daughter (named Sophie!). Big Sophia helped translate for us and little Sophie – allowing her to ask us many questions about our family.

Dateline – Monday 05 Feb 2007 – what a difference your prayers made! We showed up at our normal 1100 at the orphanage and who was waiting in the parking area? Our intelligent and beautiful daughter Sophie. She introduced us to an old lady that turned out to be her teacher. Then, she took Charlene’s hand and led us to her room, talking all the way. I brought my laptop and showed her a power point I put together the night before with all our Ukraine photos and the short video clips I had taken. We tried to reassure her that we weren’t monsters! We played Uno – which she won – and then she took us on a tour of the Orphanage. First to the little store, then the library, then we met the 2 dogs that live there. We returned to the room just in time to see a few pictures she drew and then had to leave.

These last two days are ones we will never forget. I have so much more to say (I know imagine that), but it’s best saved for a face-to-face meeting back in Virginia.

We continue to enjoy the genuine warmth of the people we’ve met. For example… Last night at supper, the waitress presented us with a newly translated English version of their menu. It was very thoughtful, but the translation reminded me of how I must sound to them. “Boiled language” – that one threw us for a loop until Charlene figured out that the Russian word for “language” and “tongue” are the same. Needless to say, I haven’t ordered that yet. As we happily chose things from the English menu, we quickly realized another problem. The menu didn’t have any Russian or Ukrainian words, so the waitress still couldn’t understand what we wanted. To our rescue came an enthusiastic young stranger who introduced himself and explained that he would try to help. He was Ukrainian, but had studied English in school. What a gentleman he was and how genuinely happy he was to help!

We had another encounter during a walk in the park behind our hotel. Charlene found a stray cat and couldn’t help herself. She picked it up and it purred like – well like a kitten. An older man on cross country skis struck up a conversation. Once again our traditional dress threw him off :-) After realizing we were a little slow in Russian, he switched to German. I replied – “Raise ze schnorkle!” and he switched to English. We had a nice conversation then. He told us that the cat lives in the park and several people feed it. We asked how he knew English so well, and he told us about his fascination with English as a boy and how his interest almost got him sent to Siberia (lots of sneg there) during the Soviet years.

Pictures – one is me (Tim) and Sophie outside the little store at the orphanage with the village in the background. The other is Charlene, Sophie, and Olha (the kind caregiver) in Sophie’s room.

Thank you for your prayers, Tim and Charlene