Thursday, May 10, 2012

Day 14 - Are we there yet?!?!

Still no court date…..
Today is Victory Day so no school for the kids (YAY!) but no offices are open to do paperwork (BOOO!) It really is fun to go to the orphanage on Sundays and holidays because the kids are out of school and they are usually outside playing. It gives us a chance to meet  Sergei’s friends, meet some of the caretakers and hand out little treats to all the other kids. We are still trying to slyly make our way to the back of the orphanage so we can see the younger kids and see some of Max’s friends and get photos for all the anxious parents back home. Sorry….no go today.
When we arrived at the orphanage there was a circle of kids playing a volleyball type game. Instead of taking Sergei inside, we just watched and then Kevin was pulled into the game. Little Max came out to play and everyone made sure he got the ball and nobody complained that there was a little 6 year old playing with the big kids. I sat and watch theses sweet kids playing ball on a summer day and then it started to hit me…these kids are going to be on the streets, soon. One boy (Dennis), I am guessing 15, is as big as a full grown man. What are his chances of being adopted? He was bigger than the security guard but he is not a man, just a boy. He is one of Sergei’s friends and played outside with us long after everyone was called in. He was nice and polite and just a cute teenager boy. He played with Max and tried all his English on us. Good kid, praying that he can make it in this world. Another sweet girl, who stood in that circle of kids, kept trying to keep her hair in place after running after each throw. She had large bald spots from pulling her hair, a self sooth defense.  All these kids are cute, innocent, nice kids. They didn’t ask for any of this, it is getting hard over here.
The girls with a teacher
After the other kids went in, Sergei, Dennis and Keivn played a little soccer and Max played with me. It took some convincing but we played an AWESOME game of back and forth soccer. This kind of stuff is a big deal. He made tons of eye contact with me (although he still checked over his shoulder to make sure Sergei was right there) and we just had fun. Max is the strongest 6 year old I have ever met. He can kick that soccer ball hard and he has good aim! He went inside with both knees and elbows scraped but I think he would say it was a great day.

After Max left for naptime we asked Sergei who he wanted to say goodbye to when he left for the US. It got hard again…he wants to say goodbye to his uncle, his cousin and his Babushka (grandma)  who had a stroke so she can’t come to the orphanage. We will also get flowers for his Aunts grave and hopefully get to see it as well. After that, Sergei was done emotionally so we let him play a little Fruit Ninja to de-stress. This is going to be a hard goodbye for the boys. This is the only life they have known, good or bad. We are trying to do it right, pray that we do.
After a hard day at the orphanage and still no internet we decided to walk to the Sea of Azov. It was a little farther than we thought so we stopped in a beautiful park and people watched for a minute. What do you see at a park….LITTLE KIDS! I lost it. I just had a little cry-fest on my park bench.  I am missing the girls so much, I want to have the boys with me, all the children at the park have parents, the kids at the orphanage don’t have families, we are still just WAITING! Cute Kevin walked me back to a little pizza place where we split our $7 pizza and he got internet up enough for me to facebook my Mom. Love this guy…couldn’t do this without him.

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