Day 29

I always wanted to take the boys white water rafting and we almost did that today. We have been watching the local forecast and thought we might get some rain tonight. Well, we got it once we arrived at Sarah’s orphanage. In a few minutes, it began to downpour. We stayed inside, played, ate pears, and drank apple juice. Sarah shared her juice and water with her Papa. We also played a bit of indoor ball-hockey with a soft inflatable ball and some batons. No toes were injured during the events. The rain brought a cool breeze but the windows are known to leak a bit. We made sure that Sarah understood that she only has 7 days left in the orphanage; and of course she loved to hear that. She wears her “clips”, ring and bracelet most of the time and she stands in front of the mirror telling herself that she is a beautiful girl. At least the orphanage didn’t break her spirit. Our visit with Kaitlyn was dry and hot. We snacked outside, blew and popped bubbles, played a bit and headed into the sports room. She loves it in there and so do the boys. It’s a nice, clean respite from the outdoors and it gives our kids a chance to play with other kids. It’s hard to truly bond or even just get attached to someone when you only have an hour or so a day and it’s spent trying to be active. What we could use is some down time, you know, just hanging out, watching a little TV, or playing on the living room floor. That will have to wait. There was a parked car nearby (construction going on) and Kaitlyn got a chance to get close to it. She was so enamored by the car that she walked around it, touching it, about five times. I even caught her kissing the car every now and then; of course, I told her not to but she just really wants to leave the orphanage. About the waiting, we are able to get a flight to return home on August 1st. Yeah, I know it's only 4 days but that makes a difference to us; plus we have to figure the costs of staying (food, apartment, taxi, and yes entertainment - the girls have no toys here and we'd all get very bored). It appears that we will be leaving Kramatorsk Tuesday night (overnight train) and the VISAs will be in our hands within two days. Once we have the VISAs, we are good to go!