Update from Aimee about Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday: We walked to the orphanage about 1:30 on Tuesday, and were actually sweating it was so warm. It had to be close to 70 degrees. We looked at the forecast for the rest of the week and it said high 60’s. We are very surprised at this because it is mid-Oct and we almost expect it to be snowing here. When we arrived Anya was still not interested in leaving with us. I think she finds comfort in being with Nastiya because they speak the same language. So we did the normal things we do, sitting in the little room for a while, doing word searches and Sudoku puzzles for a while, until everyone was bored and Anya begins to tell me the word for outside in Russian. I cannot remember what the word is at the moment, but as with many things she says to us often I recognize it when she is saying it to me. We played around with the soccer ball for a while, mostly Anya did I think the rest of us have just had enough of soccer ball games. Anya has a very strong leg, and often time’s hurts people or things when she kicks the ball, not meaning too but just playing hard. She is very competitive. This day she hit Wendy’s pregnant one eyed cat Pirate. She felt really badly and went after her and held her for a while to make sure she was OK. Don’t worry Wendy she is fine, it looked worse than it was and I posted the photo of Anya holding her so you can see. After we had been there for over an hour, Matt & I finally convinced Anya to at least go for a walk somewhere other than around the building. We got her to agree to walk to the supermarket close by because I had not brought Anya her favorite bottles of tomato juice today and we would go and buy some. It was so good to just be going somewhere, she held both of our hands the entire way there, telling us My Papa, My Mama, and comparing our sizes, it was very sweet. When we got to the market we purposely walked up and down isles we did not need to go down just too waste time. We bought even more time by allowing Anya to pick out all the junk food and snacks she wanted for herself, Nastiya and the Fields who were still back sitting at the orphanage. After we picked out all the snacks and drinks and paid for them, I asked her if we could stop and get coffee, there is a little coffee shop attached to the supermarket. To my surprise she had no issue with this, so we went in. I ordered my coffee and Anya got a little snack size pizza. It was a good time to just sit and talk to her about things coming up in America. I told her some of the things our girls have been doing back home and what they told us in their emails, not sure how much she understood. I also showed her some of their pictures from my cell phone. She responded some in English, saying I have 3 sisters, I love sisters. We also talked some about when she would begin school in America. Matt and I have been trying to figure out what would be best for her transition, and going back in forth about starting her after Christmas Break as a freshman, or waiting and homeschooling for the rest of this school year. We got out the calendar on Matt’s phone and showed her the options. She said in English she wants to start after Christmas. We all agree this would be the best plan. It will give me about two months to get her used to normal life and family, and work at home on conversational English and phonics. She has a hard time with our vowel sounds when she reads things in English. I think Anya has been reading about Christmas in America and is very excited about this. On or walk back to the orphanage she held the bag over her should and said she was Santa Claus, and that she likes Christmas. She also said Christmas in December not October, then this lead to her and Matt saying all the months in English and then in Russian. Back at the orphanage she gave out all the gifts/snacks to Nastiya, Tami and Brian and “fought” with Matt over his soda, she had one of the same but wanted to drink Matt’s and share it with everyone else in order to save hers for later. It was all pretty funny to watch. We stayed for only a short time after this and then we had Anya call us a taxi back to the apartment. She is very useful like this, she has our apartment addressed memorized and calls them on my cell phone. When the taxi arrives she makes sure he again knows where to take us before she lets us leave. After we got back to the apartment Matt and I walked to the store by us to get some food for dinner. We have found they have some good pre-made stuff in their Deli; they have cabbage rolls and little meat loaves, and something like a chicken pot pie, all very convenient to heat up in the microwave when we don’t feel like going out to eat.

Wednesday: Today was to be Brian and Tami’s court day at 11:30. Nadiya returned by train this morning about 9am. It was nice to be with her again, she just adds to the atmosphere for us. It was good for Matt and me to have a few days alone, but we all like having her around too. She did not get to see the newly born nephew because he has developed Jaundice and has been put back into the hospital. I guess in Ukraine they do not allow visitors like they would in America, so she did not get to see the baby or her sister in law. She has promised to email us pictures after she does finally get to see him. When I called Brian this morning he was already at the orphanage, and he told me Anya was there and not in school. I asked him to have her call us if saw her saw her again, so we could make sure she knew we were planning to come early. The plan was for us get Anya and to meet up with the Fields after court to go to lunch and then to go get Passport photos. We would soon find out nothing went according to our plan this day. Nadiya Matt & I took a taxi to the orphanage and Brian, Tami and Nastiya all were standing out front all dressed up for court. Nastiya looked so pretty in her new outfit. Photo is posted. Nadiya went in to check in the attorney and came back with the first set of bad news, Nastiya could not come with them to court, and they said she was too young. Why they never told them this before they went out and got court clothes for her and before she was all excited to go, no one knows. Anyway Nastiya was obviously disappointed. Nadiya assured her that they would come back right after court and she could still have lunch with them. Matt and I also decided we would go and get flowers for her and Tami from Brian and Nastiya was excited about this and requested red roses. Soon after Anya came running by, she had gone to her apartment to pick up some books that needed to be returned to school. I tried to stop her and explain to her that we wanted to keep her out of school, but she refused to listen gave me a hug and ran away. Turns out this would be fine anyway, because we have now decided to meet up with the Fields again back at the orphanage after court in order to pick up Nastiya. So the Fields leave in their taxi headed to court, and we decide to walk to the flower shop that Anya had taken us to on Teachers day. On our way we stopped at a street vendor selling DVD’s we were hoping to find some of the type that can be switched into English for Anya, no luck all in Russian only. The guy selling them was completely drunk at 11:30 am and I almost fell over when he spoke to me because of the alcohol on his breath. He also kept falling into Matt and I had no sense of personal space. It was truly disgusting We headed on to the flower shop and not 5 minutes after we finished purchasing the flowers, Brian called with the bad news. No court today! The judge was sick apparently and never showed up. And they were not sure when it would be rescheduled, Nadiya said hopefully Friday but most likely Monday. This is really bad because their kids back home are not doing so well, and Brian had decided to fly home on Thursday to be with them, and Tami would stay and complete the rest of the adoption process. This was very sad and disappointing for all of us. They were headed to the attorney’s office with Nadiya to see what could be done. Matt and I decided to walk over that way and try to meet up with them for moral support. We walked down the way and near the large Market place only turned a block to soon. We ended up taking a long detour thru another large open market area, this worked out Ok because we found a shop selling toys and bought some soccer balls for the orphanage, something we had wanted to do anyway and had not found at any of the other places we had looked. By the time we made it back around to the main road, Tami called and they were done and heading back over to get Nastiya for lunch. So we walked back their ourselves and met up with them and Anya. Nastiya was asked to pick where she wanted to go for lunch, and she choose Pizza of course. When they asked her where she hesitated and Anya choose for her “Mc Pizza Chicken” so Nastiya agrees and we are off. It was a good lunch and I think Nastiya really just enjoyed being out with her new parents. Also on the way over Nadiya apparently asked the taxi driver about some of these museums we have been hoping to visit and he told her of the Mariupol Regional History Museum, this was supposed to e the most interesting one. After lots of pizza, chicken strips and fries we were off to the museum. It turns out it was just a block away from our apartment, in a direction we hardly ever go. We never would have noticed. It was a good choice. I posted a lot of pictures for all to see. The first part was a wax museum and this was a little creepy! Anya did not like the statues; she was truly scared I think and held on to me a lot. After the creepy wax part we headed up stairs to the history part. It was very interesting for us, and with Nadiya there we actually got to understand things much better. All of the exhibits were specifically about Mariupol. We saw the early history of the land with fossils of native animals, fish and exhibits on the farming and crops. Then we saw a lot of exhibits on the armed forces, and Soviet Union’s era. There was a part with artifacts and photos from the Nazi war camps and citizens of Mariupol, who died, it was very sad. Nadiya read from a notebook they had displayed of the poems and songs the people wrote which was of hopes of freedom to come one day. As we moved into the more recent history there was a wall that had a section dedicated to the girls’ orphanage opening. It had photos of Ludmilla with kids back in 1982; this was very interesting to see. Also there was an area highlighting some of the local schools, and one of the photos was of Anya’s former school and her fourth grade teacher. Then we saw area dedicated to the arts and local sport teams and the Olympians. One thing very strange was in the area dedicated to local medical stuff, Jasmine this you will appreciate see the picture of a “Novo Pen” This is the same type of insulin injection device our daughter Jasmine who has diabetes used to use. Over all I think everyone enjoyed the museum. After this we found an old building next to the museum that was bombed during the war and never torn down nor rebuilt, it was kind of neat just the shell of it was left, we took pictures of the girls standing inside, and I posted them for you to see. We then went to get the passport photos done and took the girls back to the orphanage. I had been a good day after all the disappointment with court not happening. The rest of us went back to our apartment and had some dinner and the Fields updated their blog and check email. Please pray for Brain and Tami and for Nadiya to be granted favor with a new court date sooner than later. FYI-I will post this as soon as I am able, as I am typing this in word to copy in later. Our Internet is not allowing me to sign in on this Thursday morning and we do not know why.