A Good Day

1. The Balloon Man

2. Tired Ana
3. Lenin statue in Kramatorsk

4. A more dynamic Lenin Statue -- in Ana's hometown

5. Laughably outdated pro-Lenin sign in southeastern Ukraine

[Phil]
It’s been a long and nerve-wracking day, but we finally have some good news to report. The short version is this: Both Ana’s sister and the director of Ana’s orphanage agree that the best thing for Ana is that we adopt her, and they will testify thusly in court next week. The same goes for the original social worker who initially opposed the adoption. So right now there is no one opposed to the adoption. We are tremendously relived, but the judge, for whatever reason, could still rule against us next week (the hearing has been delayed), but that really seems unlikely. So we are cautiously MUCH more optimistic than we were yesterday. I’ll let Robin tell more about our day.

[Update - I forgot to mention that Ana's orphanage director said she could not make the trip, so it was just Robin, Kostya, the driver, and me]
[Robin]
We traveled all day—3 hours there, 3 hours back. We hired a driver who took us in his minivan (just like the first one, its seats were covered with pseudo-oriental rugs to protect them from wear). Most of the road to Ana’s hometown is two lanes, necessitating passing numerous trucks carrying heavy loads on very curvy and hilly terrain. Both Phil and I wanted to kiss the ground when we returned to the hotel safely. Ana’s sister’s orphanage is for older kids, so it was interesting to see teenagers running around. The sister was very sweet, pretty, and mature for her age. We (through Phil) were able to ask questions and answer her questions. She eventually wants to become an elementary school teacher. We brought her a picture book filled with pictures of Ana and of Ana with us. She was delighted to get this. We also showed her our family album and videos we had taken of us with Ana. She seemed to enjoy seeing these and our house, family, etc. We found out some more about her family situation and how Ana and she had become orphans. Nothing that she said was a surprise, and it was good to see the product of the same mother turn out so well. We’ll be seeing the sister, social worker, and orphanage director again on Tuesday at the hearing.
[Phil]
Like I said earlier, it was long day. We’re now at the Restaurant Premier, having a late dinner. It’s lunch for us, actually, since we haven’t eaten since 9:00 this morning. We’ll go post the blog soon and probably pass out in front of some Russian TV show.
[Robin]
We read our blog comments the minute we got back and it was REALLY heartening to read them and once again feel that the universe is rooting for us and Ana. I can’t tell you what a sweet surprise it was to find a post from Meridith and realize that she has been able to keep up with our experience. We have really found that it is a small world.
We have yet another weekend in front of us. We heard today about another market to visit and are looking forward to exploring that and to seeing Ana at the orphanage.
[Phil]
Yes, we need some distraction. We actually tried to go to the movies the other day, but the woman working there pointed at a sign that said "A Minimum of 7 People is Required to View a Film". We were the only people there, alas. Maybe we’ll have better luck on the weekend.
Another small thing to mention about today: As we got closer to Russia, we encountered more and more remnants of Ukraine’s Soviet past. As we passed a big monument to Lenin, the driver even mentioned to Kostya, "Shouldn’t they remove this communist stuff?" Kostya just sort of shrugged, like "Eh, whatever". The Ukrainians are now firmly in the present. When the news came on the radio about the recent developments following Sunday’s election, the driver and Kostya sat rapt with attention, and Kostya even politely shushed Robin when she tried to ask him if he’d like to have a piece of cheese while the news report was going on. Politics is serious business here!
[Robin]
One last note. We bought Ana some tights yesterday. This morning we stopped by the orphanage to see her before our trip. Maybe you can guess what she was wearing. Yes! Her new pink tights with flowers. She proudly pointed them out to me. Then caretaker smiled and kind of laughed and pointed at her bottom. Apparently we had gotten the length right, but not the girth. She had a hole in the seam right at her bottom. I had to laugh; she’s such a sturdy little rascal. We will be getting some more tights!
[Phil]
And we now know her size. In European, it’s 26-28. If you want to buy her anything, err on the side of too big. Robin just told me that the tights say "3-4", so she’s probably really a 4 in American sizes. Tomorrow we need to get her some new shoes. She had a big hole in her Nike trainers this morning.
That’s all for now. It appears that your good thoughts, prayers, candles, karma, etc., are working for us! Thank you so much.