Wed. May 10

We woke up this morning and were about to have breakfast when the doorbell rang. It was the taxi driver here to take us all to the orphanage. We knew we would be going back soon to see the Director, but we did not know exactly when and nobody said anything about 9:15am. I guess this is part of being “flexible”. We rushed to get dressed and get their suitcases together and get downstairs for the taxi driver. We had no interpreter and the driver spoke no English so we were depending on Sasha to tell for us. It takes about 40 minutes to get to Timertau. When we got close the driver started asking us questions about how to get there. Sasha sat up and seemed to maybe know where. As we continued the driver stopped several times and asked directions. We were clueless but at some point we turned left and Sasha perked up and said turn right. The driver stopped again to ask but when the guy said one way Sasha was emphatic it was the other way. The driver believed him and he was right. We found our way. Sasha was very proud.

So we had no interpreter at the orphanage and no one spoke English except for Rada, S & S’s “sister” from their former home. We were so grateful she was there. She became our interpreter. She showed us pictures of her family in Colorado that is adopting her. They have family that lives in Atlanta and come often so we will be able to see her when she goes to the U.S. We are praying it goes quickly till she comes. Stella asked about Andre and if he will come to the U.S. someday. We told her we do not know. We hope so.

The Director has the right to decide whether or not a child can stay with their parents all the time or part of the time. The government checks with the Orphanages regularly to account for the children for funds. The Director was very nice and asked us lots of questions about ourselves like our jobs, age and did we have children. She seemed to like us and thought we would be good for the children. She is going to let us keep the children for the whole time it would appear. That will be great instead of going back and forth.

We left around 12:30pm and had lunch. Then we had English lessons at 4:30pm for the kids. The teacher tested them and they are at different levels. Sasha can read very well and understands what he is reading. He just has a problem with grammar and cannot talk well. There is a big difference in Russian sentence structure and that is difficult. He is doing very well. Stella knows little so they will each have a 1 hour lesson. We do not know how often though.


A family came in from Canada today and are adopting a girl Oolia that is 7. They are very nice and we enjoyed talking with them and sharing their experience. They have been waiting 2 years which makes our 9 months seem small. We will be eating with them for lunches and dinner. They do not know if they will get to keep her the whole time or not. She will be going back to the Orphanage tomorrow afternoon.