Into October!

1. Ana and Mama Oksana (as photographed by Dasha)

2. Playing with baloon

3. All alone at the Chinese restaurant

4. Future Flying Wallenda

5. The outdoor market near the courthouse

[Robin]
We are back in our hotel room watching some National Geographic TV show about hammerhead sharks (English translated into Russian). We are seriously hurting for some entertainment. We just got off the phone with Carmen and it felt so good to talk about the Day of the Dead fundraiser for Kidzu rather than the adoption process. I am looking forward to going back to my "real" life.

We spent the afternoon at the orphanage. We spent most of our time outside pushing Dasha and Ana ‘round and ‘round on a carousel. The older kids had all requested some more balloons, so Phil blew a bunch of them up and distributed them, to their delight. They spent the rest of the time pushing the balloons up in the air and then catching them as they descended. They are really sweet and it is amazing how much these little things can make them happy. Dasha is also really a hoot and we played with her and Ana with modeling clay and made plates of clay "food". We spent time instructing both of them how to say different items in Russian and English, which Dasha really got a kick out of.

When we got back to the hotel, the couple from Spain was in the lobby and we were so excited to see them before they left the country. We hugged and wished each other good luck. We were so happy for them; they are going home with their little boy.

Tonight we received a call from our facilitator and although things are still not finalized, we have some hope that the sister may allow things to be resolved this week. We are grateful to even have a little good news. We are going back to Ana’s hometown on Wednesday to talk to her sister in person.

On a lighter note, did anyone read the post by Natalya? The "stern" woman in the Skating with the Stars is a very famous ice skating teacher. We can’t wait to find out who the other contestants are!

[Phil]
Yes, Natalya, can you tell us who the contestants are or provide a link? It seems like the audience and the judges are overly forgiving to the ex-athletes and the older contestants. And then there’s that one judge whose SON is actually one of the contestants! How did that happen?! We need an expert in Russian pop culture to tell us who these people are and who we should root for.

Okay, we’re off to find the mythical Chinese restaurant in Kramatorsk that we have heard about but have never seen. Apparently it’s on "Prospekt Mira" and is not too far from the giant Lenin statue, which is only a couple of blocks from our hotel. We would pay about any price to have some spicy food at this point!

[Tuesday afternoon]
[Phil]
The Chinese restaurant wasn’t too bad, but we were the ONLY people there. We felt a little uncomfortable, especially since there were two waitresses waiting on us. I guess they were bored. We also got upsold a LITER of hot & sour soup. We had enough left over to share with the entire readership of this blog.

We talked to our facilitator today, and he is encouraged about our trip tomorrow. Hopefully the sister will see the bond that Ana already has with Robin. There is no doubt that she considers her her mother. In any case, we are feeling more optimistic than we have in a long time, but keep those candles burning! I will not consider the adoption complete until we are wheels-up on the airplane back home.

Robin has just returned from her shower. The hot water supply is very unpredictable, so you have to seize the opportunity when it arises. I’ll let he describe our trip to the photographer’s studio with Ana this morning.

[Robin]
We went to the orphanage this morning to meet Kostya and found out we needed to take Ana to the photography studio to get her picture taken for her passport (yes, we loved the sound of that!). A representative from the orphanage had to come with us, and so the really nice secretary hopped in a cab with us. It was pretty funny seeing Phil (with his knees scrunched up to his chest), the secretary, Ana, and me all in the back seat. We looked like we were ready for a Chinese firedrill. When we got to the studio Ana wasn’t at all shy about getting her picture taken -- she moved her head around based on what the photographer told her and kind of posed. She’s a ham. When it was finished, she stood with her little hand and foot cocked like a fashion model. The Secretary and I laughed. We didn’t need to go back to the orphanage, so we proceeded to try to put Ana in the car with the secretary and send them off. Ana started to tear up and really didn’t want us to leave her, so we all hopped back in the cab to take her back. We are such softies.

We are now going to get some pictures developed in hopes that we could give these to the sister tomorrow. We both have major butterflies thinking about the meeting. We really hope that it goes well; I guess that goes without saying. We have no idea what it will be like, but I’m really hoping that she asks us questions about how we would care for Ana rather than sit silently and just look at us. It’s unbelievable that we will be traveling in the very same minivan with the same driver, but this time with Ana and a representative from the orphanage along with us. We bought Ana some toys at an outdoor market near here for the long car ride. We also finally got her size(s) and bought her some new tights (yes, Barb, they are very cute!). The outdoor market was the place to be; lots of people were shopping at the various kiosks for everything from detergent to sausages to toys to shovels. It was very similar to the markets in Mexico, except no one was cooking food.

[Phil]
Thanks again for all the comments. We’ll try to check in one more time after the late afternoon visit. By the way, the Ukrainian couple that is going to adopt Dasha was at the orphanage. She was so excited, and had on a cute purple dress. The orphanage secretary came by and told Dasha that her father is really good-looking. The same can be said of the secretary! Spott, we’ll try to bring her home with us as well.