We left early today about 10:30 and got to Lutugano at about 11:00. There was much paperwork for our sweet Ksenia (translator, lawyer, friend) to do so we sat in the one cafe in town to have breakfast. She had to go with us so that we could order....it is ridiculous for Jeff and I to try to communicate what we would like to order. We waited for Sasha to get out of class at 12:00. He was the first one out and we sat with him and had a fun day playing, laughing and enjoying just being with him....dreaming of the days to come. Jeff and Sasha played WAR outside and in with a couple of guns we bought for him. We heard a child come up to Sasha to try to get his gun on a "trade" deal.....but Sasha resisted and we stepped in to say....Sasha, those are mama and papa's. We didn't want the kid to bully him. We heard him say, eeehhh mama and papa. The boy walked away.
We had some resistance and difficulty with getting signatures today. No cooperation, so we may be delayed in our return to America. Ksenia and Nastya are doing everything in their power to keep us on schedule. This seems to be a very difficult orphanage for adoption. Every child that a family has tried to adopt has said "no" the first day.....lots of pressure from teachers, etc. to stay. We hope to have court by next Thursday or Friday and will try to catch a flight that same day back through Munich and finally Charlotte. It's absolutely emotionally exhausting to be with thesse precious children. A smile or hug or piece of candy totally lights up their faces.They are just like everyone else in this world...they just want someone to love them. Today was hard for Jeff and I....we are struggling with the pain these kids are having to endure on a daily basis.
By the way, I forgot to mention the day that Sasha said "yes", we had the most amazing thing happen. Our sweet daughter Kelsey had prayed specifically that the teacher who was giving Sasha a hard time would soften and that his heart would change. We had the opportunity to talk with him and laugh with him...we tried so hard to "befriend" him. God is so good! He told us that in Ukraine they can only have one child because of finances. We were also able to walk back with him and the other students to the building where the children sleep. The kids dress up in their nice clothes for school and at noon go back to change into play clothes. We talked with him while they were changing and I asked if I could see the bathrooms. He said, "Your not going to like it." He was right....I didn't!!!!! Too much emotion to put into this blog...but let's just say, it wasn't pretty!!!!!!!!!!! When we left him he trusted us enough to walk back with Sasha alone to the school building across the street and he murmured, "good luck" to us. WOW!!!! amazing!
We cannot watch tv, as it is all in Ukrainian, but last night I saw Jeff watching James Bond and he said he just knew what was going on...he had seen it before. Also, we have a decent shower, but we found out that the kids at the orphanage only get to shower once a week. Now we know why Sasha splashed around like a fish in his shower/bathtub the first night he arrived at our house. It is very likely that he has never enjoyed a bath.
These kids are so precious and it is so difficult to not reach out to all of them. We just want them to have a family and we want to say to them....God loves you and is a Father to the Fatherless! Many of them have been abandoned as a baby or been left someone by their parents. They have truly never experienced "family." Many of them just accept life for what it is....living with lots of other brothers and sisters who are in the same boat as they are.
We are sooooo tired and emotionally drained! We have a long ways to go but we know that God will give us the strength. It is getting extremely hard to say good bye to Sasha. He said, "Mama, Papa, America...two days, five days, what?" We showed him on the calendar that we will be here everyday next week, but then we are going home but will be back the following week to take him home to America to be Jeffrey Sasha (Batman) Nyman. haha...he wanted Batman in his name.
We always say to him.."Ukrainians, Crazy!" He says, "Mama and Papa crazy." Make sure you roll your r's when you say all of that...haha. He is definately right....we are crazy! feeling nutso! haha
love to you all!!!!! duck spit on ya.....remember.......good bye
Misty and Jeff
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