Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day 5 - We see the Girly!


Verily, the fine folks at the train company heard my many complaints and reduced the overbearing temperature of said former "shake & bake" sleeping compartment! I actually had my first great train experience although I still haven't gotten the ever elusive 1st class accommodation. The ride was a cool 60-ish degree temp and the driver never once, not once did he jar the cars! Wow, I was truly amazed and slept in fine fashion!

We are in Kherson! Tanya, the Kherson region facilitator, met us at the tracks and whisked us away to our room at the Bible House where we freshened up before taking on the tasks of the day. We learned, while we were boarding the train last night, that Tanya had sprung Rimma from the sanatorium and had her placed back in the orphanage, "to make things easier"! Wow, we were amazed at her take charge attitude. It seems as though she has the Kherson orphanage marching lock-step with her every order. Good for us, huh!

Our first order of business was to take off to the regional inspectors office. We dropped off our bags, brushed our teeth and jumped into the taxi just minutes after arriving at the Bible House. Ten minutes later we were sitting in the inspectors office. As we waited for her to retrieve the file, we perused the photo board by her desk and we got a glimpse of the Volf family picture recently stapled to her collection. Those Volf's are everywhere!
She eventually found the file and then made some comments that seem to be hinting that things weren't going according to plan. I asked about the situation and Tanya told us that Rimma had a little brother about 3 years old(which we knew about) and that the inspector was checking into his where-abouts. Yikes, our first scare (Kherson region does not split sibs). We explained that we knew this and that we were told by Rimma that he lived with his Dad, he had the same mother but different Dad, and that she had never met him. The inspector said that, yes, it could complicate the situation and before she gave us permission to go ahead, she must find out and clear it up. The next bit of news hit us like a ton of bricks...the inspector said that he was not with his Dad, but in an orphanage! Yikes, our second scare! Is he registered and if not, will he hold up Rimma's adoption? If he is registered, can we adopt him! The next bit of news from the inspector....wait for it...confirmed that the brother was adopted by a Ukrainian family last year and that Rimma was free and clear! So much for the Ukrainian double standard of not splitting sibs for foreign citizens!

Bullet dodged, we loaded up the very spry and friendly inspector into the tiny cab with us and headed off to the orphanage to meet with the director. On the way the inspector looked at our photo album and commented that she knew a 35 year old girl who would like to be adopted. Yeah, sure lady! After that scare you put us through! By the way, can you quit sitting on Zina's file and send it up to the SDA already!

We skied over to the orphanage (did I mention that Kherson is getting the snow storm of the century?) and entered the director's office. We sat down with the director, the orphanage lawyer, our facilitator, and the inspector. Everyone was jovial and happy, speaking with each other. Heidi and I just sat there with excited faces as they read off the details of Rimma's file.

And then, in a flash, Rimma entered the room and ran to Heidi! She gave her a great big hug and then she turned to me. Uhh, I didn't want to let her go! Rimma was invited to sit and they asked her the usual questions, "Do you want to be adopted, do you want these people to take you, do you want to live in America". I great big "Da" was heard every time until the last question. The director spoke and Rimma went quiet. Everyone around the table laughed and Big Nick (the director as I will call him) said some more words. It seems he told her that he changed his mind and was going to refuse the adoption. He was joking he said. Errrrr!


We finished up the day and visited Rimma later that day. Sorry to wrap it up fast, but we have to leave the Internet cafe. I'll write more soon. Stay tuned. All is going well!

13 comments:

Karen said...

yeah yeah yeah!! So happy for you guys!! See you soon I hope!! :)

Jim said...

I remember that office well. It's nice to know we made it up on the board. I love the Ukrainian record keeping system. They know something for certain, then a short phone call, then they know something entirely different for certain. What would a trip to the inspector's office be without taking a couple of years off your life?

Glad you had a nice train ride, and I'm very glad everything is going according to plan so far.

Alan said...

Congratulations! Wow it's like a dream come true isn't it? Blessings to you!

Kevin and Pam said...

I just got to know how you got the temp in the train turned down! You had my heart beating quickly when you said Rima had a little brother! That must have scared you to death thinking they wouldn't seperate them and he may not be available. The story sounded all too familiar to me! Yea, so much for not spliting siblings! I think God can do it when He feels it is necessary. :) I am so happy to hear things are heading in the right direction. We will keep praying it all falls into place. Thanks for the update.

Anonymous said...

Wow - things were a little dicey for awhile, but it all turned out ok! I'll bet the three of you are on cloud nine!

Rolan and Eileen said...

Yeah. Sick man that Nick. Jesus is watching you.

The McEacherns said...

Praise the Lord! It's so exciting to see God's perfect plan for your family finally coming into place!

Conethia and Jim Bob said...

Yeah!!! So excited for you all! I can't imagine how you felt to find out the brother was in an orphanage. Yikes!! Waiting for pics!

jandt said...

Okay you still got my stomach muscles twisting as you told your story and I remembered ours. You are in our prayers. I gotta check for updates at least twice a day. Thanks.

Unknown said...

What a wonderful day! I am smiling from ear to ear for you!
Stephanie

The McEacherns said...

Oh, and I forgot: Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

Cassc said...

Congratulations you guys! Prayers are with you are you continue this journey!

Jeri said...

Sure they don't separate sibs...or at least they did in 2000. We weren't even told our son had a sister or a half-brother. It took a trip back to find out why...sister was almost adopted by a local woman whose family convinced her not to because they're half-gypsy. Papers never sent back to adoption centre. She was adopted by a French family six months after we applied for info to the adoption centre (son had many, many issues and we were not able to consider adopting her :-(

Glad the brother was adopted already...thrilled the path is clear!

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Longmont, Colorado, United States
Heidi loves to play sand volleyball, sail and garden. Felix loves to fly at the local aeroclub, sail and fish.