Countdown to Court

Well, we are finally down to just a few days before our first of two court appearances. Our court date is still on Tuesday, the 8th. Our facilitator has been out of town celebrating the Holidays in Kiev for the past two weeks and will arrive here the morning of our court date. Talk about cutting it close!

In the meantime, we have been visiting our little girl everyday at the orphanage. She likes to ask us, 'Mama, Papa, K, symeya?'(family) We tell her yes, she is our dochka (daughter) She seems to need assurance. We've told her what day we are going to court. I made a calendar one day and showed her how many days from that one to when we go to court. Then told her that Mama and Papa will go the first day, then she and the orphanage director will come whenever the judge says. Of course, I am not fluent in Russian (which is what she speaks) but with a Russian dictionary, the few words I know and an electronic translator a friend let us borrow, we get the point across. I think she's learning some English along the way too. There is an English teacher at their school, but if you don't have someone fluent in the language you are learning, it's hard to retain. Like us learning Russian.

Today, we were granted a very high honor. When we took her back to the building where her room is, she went and brought out her treasure box. She was showing me the contents of it. She shows me things all the time, like drawings she's done and such. Then, she told me to take it home to America. We plan on going home during the ten day court wait and she knows that. I don't know exactly why she wants us to take it now instead of waiting until we come to pick her up for good from the orphanage, but we will. Maybe it will give her comfort to know that something of hers is already in her new home before she gets there.