February 18

While we were ???, Masha and Andrei maneuvered past the potholes from Kramatorsk to Donetsk, 100 km but 2 full hours away.  She has only had her cast off for two days now, so her brother holds her arm while they walk ever so carefully over the icy sidewalks, streets, and steps.  

This part of the process is going WAY faster than in 2009.  There we were working in three cities, each several hours apart, and the legal process had to be coordinated.  Ukrainian law insists that siblings stay together if at all possible.  All hinged on Valya, and obviously, she declined.  So in 2009 we had our first SDA appointment Feb 23^rd and finally were in a position to request to adopt just two children on March 11^th.  In 2011 we had our SDA appointment Feb 15^th and by Feb 18^th are about as far along.

Masha was able to get Valya's letter saying she wanted to be adopted (smaller children do not do this), medical records and various evaluations, and the Internat director's letter supporting the adoption.  Now it is Friday afternoon, and she hopes that Monday the regional social worker's office paperwork will be done.  They translate all the medical records, and in general are responsible for a lot of paperwork ensuring that the process follows the careful guidelines of the law.

After classes, we may take Valya out with us; we only need to let the lady at the front know where we are going and for how long.   She was excited to go out, and borrowed her friend Yulia's coat.

First stop – McDonald's.  There were no tables available at 3:30 pm (you must know that McDonald's is like a big dating destination here), so we wandered around and took pictures of the glitz at The Golden Ring shopping center across the street. 

Then we went back for some golden fries.  We gave Valya the camera.  Listen to her voice :)

Valya seemed like she had been here once, but wasn't at all familiar with what the various stores sold, what her size was, or which stores might have her sizes.  The orphanage clothes belong to the orphanage, so we do have to have some successes.  Most of the store items were too big for her.  We only bagged one item.  A pair of nylons.  Woo hoo.  They must have been a good deal, because it is too cold to wear dresses, at least in my opinion. Combine the lack of success with heels that were hard on her feet, she was definitely tired by 5:30.

As we waited for our taxi from the Internat back to DCU, we watched 40 or more 12-year-olds come in (from an excursion? from outdoor play time?). They all seemed very healthy and happy.  I just kept thinking: adoptable, adoptable, adoptable.

We, of course, will always cherish the little things that parents want to know about their children.  The way she didn't want me to take the tray back at McDonald's, but offered to do it for us, how she showed concern about the bandaid on my finger (her medical history is short: once she had the chicken pox), how she showed such confidence and respect in asking questions of and working with store personnel, how she called us Andy and Pam but once mixed that up, … how she called us her mama and papa.