Day Twenty Three – Go Viktoria!

Well, last night Viktoria provided good news about our paperwork – with one exception. The Rivne administrative offices are so unaccustomed to dealing with adoptions by foreign parents that they were insisting that we both return after the 10 day waiting period following our court appearance. In most parts of Ukraine, only one parent is required to be present after the court day. We put the pressure on Viktoria to work her magic today and convince the administrative checkpoints that having only one parent here after our court date would be OK.

It worked! The 'gifts' required to make it happen were substantial, but we're pleased. There are still more ways than we understand (and there are many ways that we do understand) for the plan to be fouled, but we're aiming to come home during the 10 day waiting period after our court appointment on the 19th. Then, depending on the progress of the paperwork in Kyiv and Rivne, either Todd or Sherri (but not both – woo-hoo!) will return to Ukraine on or about the 29^th and continue the process which should take about another two weeks. Any volunteers who are willing to exchange free airfare for help on the plane ride home, please email us.

Today's visit to Peter's orphanage as a real wake-up call. There are a number of new children in his class and a couple of them are particularly heart-breaking. One new child repeatedly cried over and over – for two hours – 'papa', trying to get Todd's attention. When Todd took the child to the window (the objective of all the pleading), all he said was 'mama' while pointing out the window. Clearly his mother had dropped him off at the orphanage over the past couple of days—heartbreaking to us as this child will now not be adoptable for another 1 ½ years at the earliest—and that is only if the mother has given up her rights.

A second child was delivered to the class while we were there this afternoon by his mother, complete with a small bag of special belongings. That child cried most of the afternoon as well - and understandably. It was heartbreaking to imagine what those children will go through over the next few weeks as they try to adjust to their new life. The caregivers in Peter's class are good, but their goal is to incorporate these children in the daily group schedule as quickly as possible, so there was no consoling beyond giving the child a piece of candy and a stuffed animal. Needless to say, Sherri did her best to provide some mothering comfort by holding them and trying to play with them a bit. Quite an emotional day. Sadly, the more senior members of the class like Peter treated the situation as normalcy, and largely ignored the children. It's a real reminder about why these children have such a difficult time truly attaching to people—despite the best efforts of their caregivers they are taught to be survivors.

When we arrived this afternoon, one of Peter's caregiver (Elissa) mentioned that Peter had asked when 'mama and papa' were coming. Peter's interest in us is very heartwarming, but we worry a bit about how he will perceive our 10-day absence. We will leave behind a picture book that he seems to love filled with pictures of us and immediate family. Peter loves to look through the pictures and has started to identify family members. It seems a treat for all of the children to see themselves in pictures! That will be a small gift that we are planning to leave them with—pictures that are at their level and probably laminated so the caregivers will allow them to examine them whenever they want. Given the little bit of history most of these children can touch and see, it seems a simple, but meaningful thing to leave them with.

As you can probably tell, our affection for Peter's classmates is growing each day—good thing our dossier limits how many little ones we can bring home—we see potential in each of them.