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!