Days 5, 6 & 7 - Catching up.....

((PICTURES ARE TAKING FOREVER TO LOAD....I WILL KEEP TRYING........))

Whew! What a few days we have had.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

We left Kiev on Thursday evening at about 9:45pm after picking up Everlyn's official referral paperwork from the SDA. We traveled about 12.5 hours by train to Everlyn's region arriving at 10:15 Friday morning. The train ride was uneventful. We bought first class tickets so we were in a 2 person cabin by ourselves. There were two little "bed/sofas" so we each had one and got a bit of sleep. I will be honest...I was WAY too excited to sleep!

Friday, October 8, 2010

We arrived in Everlyn's region and were met at the train station by Tatianna, one of our facilitators. She took us straight to the Regional Inspector's office. We have to get her permission to go visit the baby home. Well, the inspector was in a meeting all morning so another representative from that office went with us so we could go ahead and go over to the orphanage. YAY!

We arrive at the orphanage and I could hardly contain my excitement. It looked how I imagined. It is an older building but neat and clean. There is a playground outside for the kids as well.

We were taken into the Baby Home Director's office and spoke with her for a bit. Tatianna translated. The first thing the Director asked was how many children we had. I said 4. She said something and Tatianna laughed and said "She says you look much too young to have 4 children." I love this Director already! She then asked us about our family, and why we wanted to adopt a child. I guess we answered these questions to her satisfaction because she smiled and went on to tell us about Everlyn's history...her parents, her birth, her medical history, etc. Those details will remain private for the most part....they belong to Everlyn.

As they were telling us these things (and I am trying to remember all of the details since I had nothing to write with!), Eric's face lights up and he says "I saw her." WHAT? My back was to the door and I guess a caregiver bought her in but was "shoo'ed" away since we weren't ready. Ahhh!!! I could barely stand it! He got to see her! NO FAIR!

Finally as we were wrapping up, Eric again smiled and I turned to see the smallest, most adorable little thing I have ever seen. There she was! She was PERFECT! She had on a little pink turtleneck, pink fleece jumper dress, tights and the most GINORMOUS purple hairbow. Her hair wa smuch darker than I imagined but is perfect with her dark brown eyes. We were taken to a large room which seems to be where parents come and visit with their children. There are chairs, a piano, a desk and some toys. We had a backpack full of toys for her so the bribery began to help her warm up to us! LOL! "Wanna see your new doll? Wanna draw on this Magnadoodle? Wanna play with this ball? Wanna see the blanket GiGi made for you?" She loved everything and tried to hold ALL of it at once! Finally....toys of her very own!!! She was so proud!

We stayed about an hour and it was time for her to eat and nap. We came back later in the afternoon for another visit. She seemed happy to see us....or at least our bag of toys! We did get some good snuggles though!

We then went to our apartment to rest for the night. I do NOT sleep well here. I think jetlag is getting the best of me. Eric sleeps like a rock! LOL!

Saturday, October 9, 2010

We got up today and got ready for our morning visit. She came in the "play room" in the same clothes she had on the day before....but a new hairbow! LOL! This girl loves her bows! She immediately sat down and started playing with HER toys. She laughed and was so so happy. We took lots of pictures and even a video. Our internet connection isn't awesome so we can't upload the video just yet.

In between visits, our neighbor Viktor took us to the "cell phone place" and we bought a 3G modem card to plug in the USB so we could have internet in our apartment. I would DIE if I had to stay here a month with no internet. LOL! We also bought a flash drive (we forgot to bring one) because the orphanage has offered to copy all of her baby photos onto it for us....soooooo very thankful for this as many adoptive parents have few if any baby pictures of their child. We also visited a toy store across from where we are staying...on the 2nd floor of this place was the best STROLLERS ever! I know some of you can't relate but Eric and I were freaking out! Quinny strollers for about $350USD! And so many other European brands.....Eric loves stroller more than I do...he was like a kid in a candy store! :o) We may be coming home with a stroller....LOL! And honestly, she will need one for a while. She's so tiny - those little legs won't be able to keep up for long.

We then went to our afternoon visit. It took a while for them to bring her to us. We were told she was asleep and they had to get her up and dressed. I felt so bad we cut her nap short. She had on different clothes this time and her hair was all down! We were so busy playing this visit that we took NO pictures. Ooops! She has a LOT of hair and while it isn't how I would have cut it, it isn't the worst "orphanage 'do" I have ever seen either. I am pretty crafty with the hair accessories so we'll make it work while we grow out her bangs and get it all evened out. She's such a doll baby! She loves to give kisses and gives GREAT hugs....like squeeze-tight-around-your-neck hugs!

After our visit, we had our driver stop at a local pizza place so we could get a pizza to take back to the apartment with us. We had to call Tatianna on the phone and have her order for us. LOL! We wanted pepperoni, onion, peppers, and mushrooms. We got it home and it looked GREAT....except "pepperoni" must translate to "hot dog" here....but let me tell you, hot dog pizza is GOOD STUFF! :o)

We are settled in for the night and can't wait to see our girl in the morning! Gosh I miss her!

Our court papers should be filed on Monday. I am praying for a Friday court date but odds are it will be Monday of next week. Pray for us....it would be great if it was smooth sailing from here on out!