Day 24

Today Jennifer and Gela went to get a photo take for Gela’s Ukrainian passport. Jenn says that she was happy to leave the orphanage but a bit once they got to the studio, she was scared. But I think they have a good enough photo for the passport. And as expected, she was sad to have to go back to the orphanage.

We visited Vicka today. The visit started better than yesterdays; though language can still be somewhat of an obstacle, we are getting better at it and we are all getting to know each other better. We spent over an hour outside playing, coloring, and having snack. She loves it when I pick her up and toss her in the air. When she saw that I was getting tired, she about drowned me by forcing me to drink a lot of water at once (she was holding the water bottle as I held her). As for the coloring, she liked the Tinkerbell pictures the best so I will have to get more of those. It's a good thing her room is filled with those. It was hot but it was a good day. She allowed us to get emotionally closer and Jennifer was able to perform her motherly duties: hugging and holding when ouches happen. She was sad to see us go but we said we would see her tomorrow. In my broken Russian, I told her I love her. We gave each other loves and said good-bye. Again, tomorrow is the hearing. It is expected to last about 30 minutes. We will see Gela in the morning and Vicka after the hearing. We learned that since the hearing is in Slovansk, the Kramatorsk orphanage and social worker have waived the right to their appearance. Hopefully, this is merely a technicality; however, we would still like to have the 10 day waiting period waived (yeah, I know I keep saying that). The heat really wiped me out today and Marsha says that it's warmer than usual.