Our Final Day in the Ukraine

Spring is in bloom all over the city. The tulips are comin' out. Nina has already succumb to the American way... eating and talking on her cell phone. I thought the "I love McDonald's balloon sealed it!

She's all-American! 4/24/2009

Wow! I can't believe it's coming to an end, but it is. We woke up this morning in our usual leisurely fashion. We had breakfast, got our clothes on and the telephone rang. Our ride had arrived. We exited the apartment to the elevator. Nina has been stopping in the doorway to the elevator all week. I have been hurrying her through it so that it doesn't close on us. (Actually, it slams into me everytime, and Nina thinks this is really funny.) So this morning, she hesitated just long enough that she ended up on the elevator alone when the door closed! (I don't know why traumatic events occur with my kids and elevators.) She begins to scream, and I am on the other side hoping and praying that it does not move from our floor. I also cannot tell her to push the "open door" button because she is unable to reach the buttons. Finally, the light goes out, and I push the button again. The door opened to a terrified little girl. She hasn't hesitated across the doorway since!

We met our friends from Florida and made our way to the embassy. It was so nice to have friends! My heart swells as I recall just having friends through this part of the process. We went to the visa area and waited. This was the first time we have had to wait for an extended period of time. Alina was so busy, but she has the perfect parents. I was in awe of their energy. Alina ran up and down the hallway, in and out of rooms. She was crazy. It was fun to "watch." Her parents are incredible the way they are curious about Alina, focused on her best interest, planning for her future... God put her into the perfect family. It was then that I realized we were the right family for Nina. She is perfect for us and us for her. Nina was precious and calm at first. Then, Alina got her stirred up a bit. I mourned Nina's lack of mobility, and yet I rejoiced in this moment. Instead of running, we "cruised" the hallways and waiting area. Alina's mom offered Nina some water from the water cooler. The water cooler then became the focus of entertainment. Nina decided she wanted some more water, and she wanted to get it herself. She can be quite pushy and quite forceful. She will often do whatever it takes to get to the thing she wants. We will have to work on impulse control. In this case, she pushed me aside and bullied her way up to the water cooler. The weight of her body, as she plowed forward, shoved into the HOT spigot on the water dispenser with her arm as the target. She burned her arm. She has a quarter sized blister on her left arm. It looks really painful, and yet I guess that's part of growing up and learning.

Two painful events down and it's not even ten o'clock!

We visited during the waiting period... Alina's parents are awesome. They told me about some things they had experienced, like being told that Ukrainians are a superior race. Well, what is one to say to that?

Anyhow, we met another lady who is adopting a 15 year old boy. She's from Alabama and had the accent to prove it! She quickly asked me where I was from... I guess my accent told her I was not from around "these parts." She has been in the Ukraine since March 15th! Wow! We also met another woman who lives in New York. She is originally from Ukraine and came back to get an older son. The embassy rejected her request. She did not provide any details, but she did leave disappointed.

We completed our process! There was no fanfare. I kept waiting for a bunch of people to jump from behind the curtain and yell "Congratulations and throw balloons!" Or something?!?!? There was nothing. The lady from Alabama said, "you'll have to get that back home." She was tired of being in the Ukraine. I could tell by many of her comments. She was ready to go home.

We left and went to lunch at Nina's favorite Ukrainian restaurant. She ate every bite and wanted more. So, we went for a pastry and coffee at our local bakery. We walked around the city some, and then took our toys down to the little park outside the apartment. Nina is bored with this. I think she's looking for playmates! She wanted to walk around, and we headed over to the outdoor street market. Nina fell asleep in the stroller. One little catnap later, we were awake and in the BIG park. Nina played by herself for a little bit, then she wanted a friend. She hauled me all over that park and stopped at nothing! (And, it was getting cold!) We had a great final day in the park. We left the park and freshened up for dinner.

We had dinner at Nina's favorite Ukrainian restaurant... yes, meal number two! She again ate every last morsel, then proceeded to take her spoon and put it into her drink. In the process, she knocked her glass over and spilled her drink all over the floor. I told her not to put her spoon into her drink, and she started crying so loudly that everyone was looking at us. One of the waitresses came to our table and told Nina to stop crying. She gestured around the room, and my best guess is that she was telling Nina that she needed to stop crying because she was disrupting the dinner of all these people around her. She was very stern! Nina started crying louder. So, we left. Not the best ending to our day, but kids will be kids and that waitress was one too! We came home for bath and bed. She cried about bedtime and fell fast asleep by 7:30pm. I'm glad, because we have a big day tomorrow. We will leave our apartment at 8:00am. Our flight will leave Kiev at 10:50am. I have got to finish packing. See you all very soon!

Some things I will miss about Ukraine: the slow pace, the tasty pastries, the walking, the lovely weather, the intensity of my relationship with Nina, the good coffee. Some things I will NOT miss about Ukraine: the lack of hot water/water pressure, the dirt in our noses/nails/knuckles, the unhappy expressions, the abrasiveness of the people, the overwhelming feeling of impermanence. I say these things, but it's all part of the experience. It's been a molding experience. Yes. I feel like clay! Good night.