Wed. Oct. 21st

So we sat down, the Director behind her desk, the Inspector & Sergiy sitting in chairs to her right, and the three of us to her left in a row of chairs along one wall. Vala was closest to the Director's desk, with me next to her and John to my left.

The Director welcomed us in Russian and it was translated, but not word for word. The formal stuff was stated with the Inspector inputting questions to Vala also. We were asked, in that awkward meeting, if we accepted her as our adopted child and if she accepted us. We weren't expecting such a question immediately. Vala answered yes, she wants to be adopted by us. We came knowing that we intended on adopting her so even under those circumstances could answer yes without even looking at each other. John and I answered in verbal unison. The look on Vala's face showed she understood our answer and she was happy.

We pulled out photos we had planned on showing (thanks for the heads up Mark & Sally!). They poured over them, asking many questions and Sergiy translated our answers. During the photo time, Vala received a phone call on her friend's cell phone. She quickly smiled, said "sorry, excuse me" and ran out. This happened twice. We know now what was happening was the group of kids upstairs were all congregating around another cell phone and couldn't wait to hear about us!! She was obviously excited to tell all. : )

Every Ukrainian is dumbstruck when we tell them we have 5 children. Even then, the Inspector and Director really believed us when they saw the photos of our children with us. They can't understand why we would want to adopt 2 more children. We are told most Ukrainians only have 2-3 children. Life is too big of a struggle here and the housing is all very small, it's hard to care for more to them at a time. We are blessed to have the time, space and love in our hearts to expand our family.

As the attributes were told of Vala, it was mentioned that she loved to dance. This orphanage prides itself in teaching their children to dance. They are very talented! A special performance was put on for us. It was delightful! They dressed in costumes, greatly decorated, although revealing. (Shannon? PL conference?)

The entire society, as I'm sure it is throughout Europe, is very provocative. To a decree, it's embarrassing for us. It seems like there is very little to relieve your eyes, except the ground. Even in store windows, there are maniquens dressed in scanty outfits and underware. Women's modest clothing is still short skirts and low cut blouses and 3" heels (either in high heeled shoes or boots!). It's their way of doing things. We are thankful for this insight into their culture - it will help greatly in adapting our new daughters to things in our culture.