They're really mine!!!

What a day!  We went non-stop today.  Liz got to experience what we've been doing the past several weeks.  I hadn't realized how normal this crazy life is feeling to me until I heard her reactions.  We started by going to the courthouse to get our court decree.  We stayed in the car while Natasha (same as Natalie but we are now calling her Natasha) went inside to meet the lawyer.  It took about an hour because there were many mistakes on the court decree and they had to fix it.  Then we followed the lawyer to her apartment to get some of my documents that were accidentally given to her but I will need them at the US embassy in order to leave the country.  And yes, we had already told her that we needed these documents before we left Ukraine and Natasha reminded her yesterday also.  Next we headed to the orphanage to get more documents.  I'm not sure what it was, but I don't even ask anymore.  The orphanage lawyer is on vacation but she was willing to meet us anyway.  Praise God!  When we got to the orphanage, it seemed like something was wrong.  There was a lot of commotion in the directors office and everyone was talking very fast.  I had to sign a billion papers and then they told us that the director is in the hospital with kidney problems and he is the only person that can sign the documents that we need.  Sounds impossible right?  Wrong, we will just go to the hospital to have him sign there.  Really?  We were excited that we would get to see the inside of a Ukrainian hospital.  So, for the next 15 minutes they discussed who would go with us to the hospital.  After the discussion Evalina, the orphanage lawyer, disappeared.  We were all in the office waiting and we asked what we were waiting for.  Natasha said that Evalina went to figure out who was going.  About 15 minutes later, she returned with a handful of mushrooms.  So that was what we were waiting on!  It has been raining so much that there were mushrooms growing in the field in front of the orphanage.  Everyone was very excited about this.  Finally we headed to the hospital.  We got out of the car and it started raining pretty hard.  We were now in a huge hurry so we couldn't go back to the car for the umbrellas.  We went to several different buildings before we found the right one.  The hospital was awful.  We peeked in a couple of rooms and there were 6 to 8 people in each one.  All of the lights were off.  They went to the directors room and he came walking out in his regular clothes.  All they told  us was that he was in the hospital for his kidneys.  He signed the papers and said some really nice things about how he hopes that we will be happy and that God will bless our family.  We gave him our donation and he said that he wanted us to know that he will buy a copy machine for the orphanage with the money and he will not keep it.  I'm not sure what the other $940 will be used for but there are a lot of things they need.  We went back to take Evalina to the orphanage.  Natasha went inside to do something and Liz and I decided to explore a little.  We went around the back of the orphanage and found another playground and soccer field.  We heard Natasha honking the horn so we hurried out front.  She had been looking for us and was a little worried.  When we got in the car, she said "I kindly ask you girls to stay with me.  It has been about 7 minutes I have been looking for you."  We teased her about that being the meanest she could ever be.  We made up those 7 minutes and more on the way to Chudnov because she drove so fast.  Liz was scared to death.  She passed every car on the road.  In Chudnov, we went to some building that we thought was abandoned from the outside.  When we went in , we were sure that it was the wrong place because we didn't see anyone and all the lights were off.  Natasha knocked on a door and it was the right place.  I guess they just like to work in the dark.  This is where we had to get new birth certificates for the kids with our names on them.  So now legally, I gave birth to 2 children in Ukraine.  That's what the birth certificates say.  We waited for Natasha in the lobby for an hour and 15 minutes.  While we were there, we met a man name Yuri.  He spoke a few words in English but mostly he spoke to us in Russian for the entire hour and 15 minutes.  This must have been his smoke break.  We had no idea what he was saying and kept telling him "Ya nopinyumiyo" (phonetically spelled the best we can come up with) which means "I don't understand."  He just kept talking and we tried hard to figure out what he was saying but we never did.  It was exhausting.  Finally Natasha came out with the birth certificates and we headed to camp to pick up the kids.  Alex (which we are now trying to call Bogdan) saw us at the gate and ran to get Tanya.  He was so excited and kept running back to peek at us.  They took a while to come because Tanya was saying goodbye to everyone.  I just can't even imagine what she felt like.  She is leaving everything she has ever known to go with people who are basically strangers in a country where no one speaks her language.  While I am so happy to finally have my kids, my heart was breaking for them, especially Tanya.  She really understood that she was saying goodbye to her friends and that she will most likely never see them again.  It took so much courage for her to make the choice for herself and her little brother.  I know she is excited about going but this is such a huge change.  I can't even imagine what my life would be like now if I had to make such huge decisions at 13.  While they were saying goodbye, all of the girls were crying and the boys were teasing them about it.  The older boys who graduated are at camp now until they head to trade school in August.  It's a completely different atmosphere with them there.  I could even tell that all of the younger kids act different when they are around. They are very intimidating.  We were in a huge rush on the way back from camp because we needed to get the kids passport pictures made and go to a notary again.  Yarik called and said that he and Yura were at their house so we stopped by there on the way home.  I had a bunch of clothes for them and a computer so that they can keep in touch with the kids by skype.  We only had 10 minutes so we took a few pictures and had to leave.  We really hope they can come and visit us at home.  These boys are both so sweet.  I wish we could have spent more time with them.  I could tell they have started to work on the house a little.  They put something up to cover the window and they have cleaned out a bunch of the trash that was inside last time.  I can't believe they are going to live in this house for the summer.   It's really terrible.  They met us on their motorbike.  Yarik was driving it so fast and his face was scratched from a wreck he had recently.  They both saved their money from working and put it together to buy the bike.  I was pretty impressed by that because that is a hard thing to do when you don't make much money.  We left them, hoping that we will see them again soon.  We hurried back to Zhytomyr (45 minutes) and on our 2nd try we found a place that could take passport pictures and get them to us in 30 minutes.  We drove all over looking for a notary that was still open but we couldn't find one so we will do that tomorrow.  We were trying to get everything in Zhytomyr done today so we could go to Kiev tomorrow and hopefully leave on Sunday but it didn't happen.  Maybe tomorrow we will have a better idea when we will be leaving.  The kids were so good while we were running around all over the place.  Alex was so excited and keeps asking when we are going home and when we can swim!  He also wonders where Papa and Ellie are.  We moved to an apartment we stayed in last time and it's so much better.  Tanya and Alex had fun looking at all of their new clothes tonight.  We went to the mall to have gelato and coffee. Bedtime went very smooth.  Alex was great.  Tanya and I looked at a few magazines together and it was fun.  Today was so just like the rest of this process - an emotional rollercoaster.  I was so happy to get to take the kids with us, but so sad to see Tanya hurting.  It was heartbreaking also to watch all of the other kids turn and walk back to their rooms after we said goodbye.  While I know they were happy for Tanya and Alex, they are going back to a life of loneliness.  No one will be there to tuck them in their beds tonight, and no one to care if their feelings are hurt or be proud of them when they do something great.  It is so sad.  Ok, sorry this is so long.  I don't have Jody here to hurry me and tell me how nobody wants to read something this long :)  Liz is actually doing the opposite and telling me more details to add :)   Jody, I will quiz you later to make sure you read this entire post!

Liz and I at the orphanage in front of the Ukrainian national symbol. (I think)

Evalina, the orphanage lawyer, with her mushrooms.

More mushrooms

The director signing at the hospital

Our new friend Yuri holding the Chudnov flag.

Tanya and Alex Redding's birth certificates!

1st hug in 10 days!

Friends at the orphanage saying Goodbye.

Tanya and Alex leaving camp.

Tanya was sad to leave all of her friends.

Alex couldn't wait to ride in the car!

Yarik and Yuri on their motorbike

Yarik and Alex

Yura and Alex

Tanya and her oldest brother Yura

Yarik, Alex, Tanya, Yura

The kid's house

Front door to the house

Inside the house

Mama and Tanya with our delicious lemon gelato.  What a great way to end our crazy day!