The Meeting

This morning we met Zhenia in the lobby and went by taxi (2 taxis) to meet with the inspector. She is the same inspector that Zhenia worked with the last time he was in this region. They seem to have a very good rapport.

The office opened at 8:30am. She called us into her office and asked us our names, ages, and work. Even the girls answered. They said their work is "being a kid." She thought that was funny.

The inspectors are a little bit like social workers in the U.S. They keep track of all the kids in orphanages in their region. They are supposed to visit each child twice a year. So they do "know" the kids. This is our first contact with someone who has actually seen her. The inspector's assessment is mixed, but she thinks we should go to the orphanage.

So we all load up in the taxis and go to the orphanage. I must admit that the orphanage is not what I expected. It is institutional - rather like a school - but also homey. It smelled wonderful. Made me wonder what was for lunch.

We met with the assistant director, the inspector, and a teacher. They told us background and their assessment of the child. Then they brought her in to meet us. They did not tell her that we were considering adopting her. She thought we just wanted to meet a child and tour the facility.

She is a beautiful child. Honey blonde hair, clear blue eyes, lovely smile, petite build. They had her hair up in pigtails. She wore a red jumper with little black scotties embroidered on it, a white turtle neck, and lacy off-white tights.

Before we arrived, we knew that she had some delays (expected due to orphanage conditions), and we knew she had "speech issues." When we got there, we found that while she understands a lot and can follow directions, she is basically non-verbal. She can say her name and "da" (yes), and when Zhenia asked what was on her dress, she said, "Arf, arf." This was actually more than we thought we would hear after talking to her teacher who said she only babbled.

Unfortunately we made the painful decision to not adopt this beautiful child. The caregivers said they had not seen much progress and did not have much hope for progress for her.

So we caught the overnight train back to Kiev. We are back in our original flat. Cliff and the girls are resting. Even though this train trip was better for all of us (we slept more) we are still tired.

Zhenia says we need to officially request a second appointment with SDA. That requires a notarized form. We will do that this afternoon. Hopefully we will get a quick appointment (ideally Thursday, so we can pick up referral paper on Friday, travel again over the weekend, and get to orphanage on Monday), but it will likely take longer to get an appointment.

So we wait. And pray.