Another great day

Today was good!  We arrived a little later than usual so that we wouldn't have to wait so long to see Sasha.  He was very quiet again when he saw us at first.  His culture is very different from ours in that most Ukrainians do not like to bring attention to themselves.  Whenever he is put on the spotlight he gets very embarressed and shy.  Even when we celebrated his birthday with him in America, he tried to distract attention somewhere else, away from himself.  Today, he did the universal sign of "quiet! Put his finger to his mouth and said.....shhhhhhhh!  When we first saw him we said, "SHASHA!"  haha...Jeff and I are so loud and American.  "HEY SASHA!"  He said....shhhhhh!

We have learned slowly that we are to blend in and not greet people like we do in America.  HIs personality is not so loud and vibrant like ours.  Imagine how much Jeff and I stand out, with his  penny loafers and my little American haircut and our smiles ear to ear.  No one smiles here....it's so weird! 

So after the kids came back from lunch and changed clothes, Sasha came and sat with us.  I don't think many of his classroom of 5th graders was very happy though, because he was excused from cleaning for the day.  On the blog, I mentioned that Saturday was cleaning day, actually, everyday is cleaning day!  Cinderella Cinderella!  Wow, they clean a lot!

Anyway, we are still waiting to hear if we will have court on Friday.  The judge was going to celebrate his birthday for four days and wasn't going to be in town, but  evidentally our team is calling on favors and trying to pull some strings to get him there....it's complicated as Ksenia says....haha.

Also, we found out at dinner tonight that Sasha's little girlfriend has not been hanging around for a reason.  We wondered why and finally found out that we caused quite the ruckus at the orphange.  Evidentally she has been telling people that she is getting adopted and is going to America.  WE NEVER TOLD HER THAT!  I promise....but Sasha was saying when he introduced her, "Alena, go to Americ?"    Sasha is fine without her going, but now we feel absolutely aweful, because she evidentally had her hopes up that she was going to America.  WOW!!!!!  We are having a very hard time with this!  We are only aproved for one child or believe me, we would be doing everything in our power to bring her home with us.

We also learned a few days ago that there are 138 million orphans in the world.  Incredible! 
We won't share the intimate details of Sasha's life, but he hasn't had parents since he was three.  This is not "typical" here, but it is not "unusual."  As any child psychologist would tell you, he still needs to be a "little boy."  He never got to experience this part of his life.  I have got to look into this and hope to have some help from some child psychologists, but we have a lot to learn.  He is so precious but becomes discouraged very easily.  We will work through all of this...it may not be easy or immediate, but we will make it!

Jeff and I are sooooo tired.  We don't even feel like we do much, it's just so emotionally draining everyday.  Thank you again for prayers.....we are going to bed at 8:30 p.m. tonight.

love to you all,
m and j