4/23/07 - Day before Court !!!

Tomorrow is the big day... court date!!! Everything has been checked and confirmed for our big day tomorrow. After tomorrow the 10 day clock starts ending on Friday 5/3. The actual effective date of the adoption is Saturday 5/4 which means no birth certificate or passport until 5/6., then on to Kyiv. We learned today that there are only 2 working days between 4/30 and 5/10 (holidays 5/1 - 5/3 and 5/9 - 5/11 and extra days in between. They take their holidays very seriously here, a minimum of 2 days but as many as 5 days per holiday mostly by government workers (probably because they work so hard!!!). Debbie is having difficulties trying to reschedule her flight out. We were told Delta is booked through the end of May!!! So another little hump in the road. Maybe we can take the Orient Express and try to get home from Bejing, China. Whatever works... We have had several conversations with the Henry's. They are having their fun too. They did finally get their referral from the SDA today and are off to Berdansk via night train. We wished them well. They are hoping for a break to get their court date in somehow with minimal delays given the holiday down times!!!

After court tomorrow, we (I) will have Ira for the ten day wait, thanks to the orphanage Director. Ira will have to be my guide while we visit Donetsk since she knows the language! We will practice common phases to continue to better communicate. Although I have gotten pretty good at knowing the Russian alphabet and reading signs, my accent only gets me stares and shrugged shoulders, so I guess I could do as well trying to talk Chinese. My mouth and lips do not work right trying to say some things!!! And Ira is concerned with what it will take for her to get up to speed with English. We had her talk to a recently adopted girl from VA Beach yesterday and was given reassurances. Although it made her feel better, she still said she wishes we could adopt her and stay in Ukraine. I hate to be the one to say it, but "fat chance". As much as we are trying to absorb and learn the culture, it is difficult to make the adjustments after living in the US all your life. We bought Ira several Russian DVD movies and music Cd's and player to keep her from being too bored after staring at each other for hours... Sign language is often misunderstood so we have to try other things. Ukraine is rapidly trying to catch up with the speed of the rest of the world, and is doing the best it can.

Over the last 15 years, after the fall of the Soviet Union, the people of Ukraine are fully engaged in free enterprise, trying to work and earn money. The government is slow in moving ahead. Infrastructure is in dire need of attention and the answer heard is they ran out of budget. Can't wait to get home and "smell the roses".

One more note: The DVD/CD/Karaoke player, music Cd's and DVD movies we bought Ira's class was an overwhelming hit. They all gathered around, hooked up the mike and sang along. It was a sight to see. They preferred the karaoke over playing a movie!!! It turned out to be the best gift idea of all (and very affordable).