Meeting the girls

On the first day we were in Ivanciv we checked into our room. We were late getting there and were to meet the girls at 2:30 pm. We opened the door to the room and pushed our bags in and left to go to the orphanage.

The next 15 minutes were very anxious for me. It was like a cross between that first date, asking my wife to marry me and our wedding . I thought all of the what if's, what if they didn't like me, what if I didn't like them?

As we pulled up to the orphanage I noticed a girl coming through the bushes ( we would later find this was a short cut for the kid's) towards the building. As I got out of the car she came to see us and I saw it was one of our girls. She saw wife and a huge smile came across her face. She gave us a hug and ran into the orphanage to get the other girl who was there. We found out we had missed the Orphanage Director by a few minutes and nobody knew if or when she would be back. Protocol was to see her first and give her some paper work and then she would bring the children in for a formal introduction. Instead we walked over to the town stadium located next the orphanage and sat in the stands with these two girls and tryed to talk to them through the interpreter. They were shy and only gave yes and no answers. A few minutes later the Director came up and we all went inside where we did it the right way.


As we headed in the two girls ran off to the school to get the other girl and bring her back. Upon her return the director gave them a pep talk about there lives would be different and that sh had met us in America and we were good people etc. She excused herself and we had a few questions asked back and forth. The youngest one was antsy and couldn't sit still. The oldest one looked as though she was going to burst out of her skin but they remained reserved. We decided to go to the market area and see if we could find some banana's. The girls came with us to show us the way. As we were walking there one of the girls gave wife a hug. That started what became love fest. Another one hugged me and it was one hug after another from then until we left them to go back to the hotel 5 hours later.

After getting a box of banana's we went back and the director brought the kids into the great room and told them who we were and what we were there to do. Most of them smiled and for the first time I felt awkward. It dawned on me that all these kids wanted to go home and some had the why not me look. The fruit was enjoyed and we saw that our girls all had a servants heart as they passed out the fruit and the candy we bought for all them.

The time flew as the girls wanted us to see there beds and the few things they possessed. They each gave us a little trinket as a gift and we gave them some things we brought for them. They would bring their Friends over and introduce us to them through the interpreter.

At about 6 pm the interpreter announced she had to leave and go back to Kyiv. We were there with only a little girl we had met in the states to help us talk with them. The girl and her brother were going to be adopted by another couple we knew. The girl had been to the states and had been taking English lessons. She could speak some and spent the remainder of the weekend helping out. One of the first questions the girls asked was what do you want us to call you. I asked what do you want to call us and they answered Mama and Papa.

That was settled and in time it was time for us to go leave as the orphanage locked down at 9 pm. We left and felt as though we walking on clouds. These children were all so loving and ours seemed to need it the most.

After cleaning up the rooms enough to get by we called it a night about 11:30 pm. At about 12:30 I was awakened as wife was shaking me and I heard someone coming in the door to our room. I looked at him and he was bobbing back and forth, obviously drunk, and I said hay!! He said something I didn't understand and backed out into the hall and closed the door. It took me a minute for it to sink and I got up and stacked the bags against the door so no else could get, key or no key. When I woke up the next morning I looked around to see if we had any other visitors.