Welcoming committee!

Look out world, here they come!

As it turns out, 11:30pm on the east coast is 6:30am Simferopol time, which is when we (read just Mike) get up to boil the water for my morning instant cup of coffee.  I’m so over the Starbucks Via packs.  They work, but it ain’t the same.  First world problem…that you could solve if you bring a French press as they have ground coffee in the stores.  Enough about my coffee woes.  I point out the time as that is when the children were due to arrive in Raleigh.  So I was hungry for pictures of the children, both for me and Sophia.  Well their flight from Detroit was delayed 40 minutes.  Now I know how some of y’all feel when I don’t update the blog at the same time.  The anticipation was killing me.  Couple that with an internet connection that makes waiting for a fax seem fast.  Thankfully, about an hour later the pictures started coming in.  Thank you to Janice for taking these photos.  It looks like they put sweaters on for their flights.  They won’t use those for another 3 weeks until they return.  It’s hot in Raleigh!  In any case, I wish all the host families and the children good luck and we’re praying for y’all.  Please post pictures on FB, or send me emails with them at txnhoki@gmail.com.

The smiles are genuine, because they don't know someone is taking their picture!

Now, for today’s visit with Sophia.  Remember today is shower day, so that takes up a good portion of our visit.  Actually today, it took up almost all of it.  We did get to see her for about 15 minutes early on and show her the pictures from last night’s arrival.  She pointed out Lera who was adopted from Losovoye a little over a year ago and said she had received a call from her, but then didn’t give much more detail other than that.  She did lift her head and smile when she said it though.  I’ll take it.  We also had a bunch of pictures of Nastya that we had received by email and she was smiling looking through those too.  The change in Nastya over one year is amazing.  These children are underweight, almost to the point of unhealthy.  No, not almost, it is unhealthy.  Your body cannot fight off infection if it does not have the reserves to begin with.  And to be constantly fighting off some new disease is draining on the body and it needs resources to survive, even more so to grow.  Think of a daycare in winter.  Illnesses spread through a daycare with all the cleaning and sanitizing solution available.  Now take that same illness and chuck it into an environment that does not see the same standard.  The poor children don’t stand a chance.  That was pretty much the extent of our visit with Sophia.  She grabbed her shower bag and headed off to the showers.  We walked with her for a little bit and stopped at the park.

We spent the rest of our time today playing with the children.  I got to play soccer with Dima, Vanya, Maxim, Ivan, Axtem, Kolya, and I think Vishay.  I’m exhausted as they would rotate in and out and I had to keep playing.  It was worth it as I have water and fruit back in our apartment.  They have to wait for lunch.  Most of the boys I played with today were older.  By older I’m guessing they are 14-15 years old.  They are close to “graduating” out of the orphanage and hopefully headed to technical school to learn a trade.  My guess is tech school is a huge wakeup call and they get overwhelmed with trying to learn with nobody hanging over them.  It wasn’t easy for me when I went to college and I was 18.  Imagine a 16-17 year old with limited to no resources now having to make it on their own.  I wonder if there is a halfway house where these guys (and girls) can find support and encouragement.  Might be something worth noodling, though I think I’ll put it on the back burner for now as I’ve got a lot on my plate.

Lisa spent her day playing ping pong with Ala and Marina before they had to head over to the showers.  Then it was watching the soccer matches on the sideline while the children filled up our memory card with videos.  We did not get to say good bye to Sophia today as she never returned from the showers.  We walked all over, but did not feel it was our place to go near the showers, plus we didn’t exactly know where they were.  We felt a little empty not getting to see her one last time.

Over the next few days I am going to start introducing her to her brothers.  What they like, don’t like, how they play, what they have said about her, to try and get her warmed up to the idea of having brothers.  Plus, being the only girl, can be a bit scary I would imaging.  Good thing Lera called.  That’s definitely something they will both have in common.