Meeting Yuri....finally!

I know you all probably think we have fallen off the face of the earth...we have not although being away from internet and phone for so long does indeed cause withdrawl.



Ok, I promise I am going to tell you about meeting Yuri.. but first let me give you the details leading up to it... if you skip to the end you are only cheating yourself ;)



We took the train from Kiev to Simferopal on Monday at 6pm. Usually the translator rides there with you and turns around and comes right back once your new translator is with you. Being that we are ever so daring and adventurous, we did it all alone! Yep, look Ma no hands :) more like look ma no Russian! We've become friends with our translator in Kiev and really thought it was not only a waste of money but time for her... thus we proceeded to the train.



We had our own carriage which is nice because if we had to be in there with 2 other people who spoke only Russian and likely didn't bathe often.. we may have panicked. It's a tight squeeze already and well... 13 hours in a cart with total strangers just isn't our thing. As soon as the train pulled off the party in the cart next door started... 4 men in their 30's with no shirts and lots of vodka. They were happy as can be. They got off at every stop to reload their cart and laugh at themselves being topless. Ok so we laughed at them being topless they just laughed because they were drunk. But it was very fun to watch, except when on the way to the bathroom one of the topless drunks brushed his stinky chest hair up against my arm. I don't really like to be touched by strangers--especially not by their chest hair. Oh well..."when in Russia........"



Although we feared we'd miss our stop and/or oversleep, we did not. (insert applause and crowd cheering "yaaaa americanitz") We awoke to Andrew's watch alarm at 640 to prepare to unload all of our luggage at 7. Oh and let me tell you the luggage was a joke. I decided rather than have a big ol back pack and a suitcase I'd cram it all into my suitcase and just 'heave ho' it around... Um ok so yes, I knew that since my suitcase was bigger and it would really be Andrew heavin' it around but hey....what's a girl to do? At the last minute I regretted my decision but as Andrew "oh so tight lipped and politely (HA) reminded me--it was too late. Late? What does that word mean? There is not late in my world? Hmmmmm But in this case late would mean ending up in a place in Ukraine with absolutely no one to pick us up or even try to speak English (you know like our translator who couldn't translate?). So in the light of that fact I shut up and shipped out....with the lighter luggage...oops



We arrived in Jonquoy (prounounced john coy) bright and early, rumpled and probably a little stinky (no place to bathe on a train come on now we didn't just skip a bath). We looked for Alex, our translators husband... but he was not there so we just started walking. Alas, a tall Ukrainian version of a friend from church named Brent McMillian jumped the tracks and stuck out his hand. They said to beware of clever pick pockets... but this was just strange--doesn't he know that we are smarter than to just hand it over... what? oh this is our guy? Great another translator who spoke no English. We were about to blindly trust him and walk to his car when he said he was Albert... Albert? Andrew and I exchanged glances because we are smart and we know that Gayla said Alex...right? It was Alex wasn't it? So our little Vandy Grad here said, who are you with and when he replied Oksana--we knew Albert was Alex... And Brent McMillan (which is what we call him--don't worry he has no clue. Also, if you are reading this and have Brent McMillian's email feel free to send this to him. We feel like he should know since we are spending a month with his twin brother).



We've been at the mercy of strangers for over a week now and so blind trust is no big deal but I must say I did get a little Nancy Drew after we were in the car. Here's what the Nancy Drew in me was thinking:

Why doesn't he try to speak to us even in Russian like everyone else? Why do we have no idea

when Oksana will be here? Is he Oksana's wife? (He never told us he was, she did later... after

we asked). Why did he just pull over in a random ghetto apartment parking lot and shut off

the car? Omgosh, he knows we are carrying an ungodly amount of cash! Omgosh we are

waiting for his KGB thug leader. Oh no this is it this is it!!! aaaaah.

Luckily the better part of me, Andrew, told me not to worry when I voiced a seriously small fraction of that worry and said it would be fine.

Long story short turns out we were waiting for one of the orphanage directors and giving her a ride to the orphanage and waiting for Oksana (the only one who speaks English) to get off the train.



The orphanage director who's name I don't know yet, was very kind. Although she spoke no English unlike Brent she smiled a lot and gave us cafe (coffee). I only choked on the grinds of the instant coffee a couple of times. They like instant coffee and I'm getting good at stopping before the end of the cup--the grinds. She also gave us chocolate which Andrew of course declined because it might have "spoiled his lunch" not me --chocolate?! I will take it!
I'll skip the boring stuff but we basically sat around waiting for Oksana and filling out paper work. Yuri was not going to be back from camp until the next day. Meeting Oksana was not anything exciting so I won't write about it. Let's just say we like her she is really good at her job but the best way to sum up the relationship is "Awwwkwaaaard."

Oh yeah, one funny thing is when we picked up Oksana from the train Andrew greeted her by saying "welcom to the Ukraine." It was so funny we laughed but heard Ukrainian crickets chirping for miles. Guess American humor doesn't translate well and perhaps that is what set the tone for the painfully awkward relationship between us all. Oh well.

Part 2 (sorry it's so long) MEETING YURI

The next day we drove back to Jonque from Simferopal. We stay in Simferopal about an hour and a half from Johnque. Today is the day we meet Yuri. As it turns out it's also his birthday. Shocker to us since we thought it was the 10th and we thought he was 9--nope little stinker either didn't know or fibbed he turned 10 on the 25th and so we were able to celebrate with him.

We pulled up to the orphanage hand in hand in the backseat of Brent's Ford Feista (actually a pretty cool ride) hearts pounding loudly in our chest. This is it...here we go. We bowed our heads and said a prayer. Mostly praying he would want to have us adopt him as they made it clear it was his choice. It is obvious this is a great orphanage and they love the kids--especially Yuri. We step out into the dirt/gravel drive and make our way up the steps. I can honestly say I don't think I've been so excited/nervous/distracted/mind wandering with thoughts before.. ok well I have because that's just me... But Andrew hasn't :)

We were just sitting working on papers in the directors office when he came in--all wide eyed and excited--didn't seem nervous at all. I wish I could tell you how tall he is but I don't know--he comes up a little higher than my elbow and I'm 5'6. We were sitting when he came in--unnanounced really. I turned when I heard his little boy voice and my eyes lit up--I was the closest to him and when I turned he reached for me--Andrew says Yuri actually hugged me before I really even had a chance to register what was happening--I can't remember I was too excited. Either way I hugged his little neck and held that strawberry blonde head for what felt like ages. He hugged me back and burried his head on my shoulder. Andrew said he squeezed his eyes shut while hugging me and at the same time breaking to smile at Andrew. I will never ever ever forget that moment. All I can say is I've been dreaming of it for 2yrs now and it was better than I could have thought.

He remembered us--well. Apparantly they told him in June that we were coming. They then began using us as a way to make sure he behaved! Funny huh... now what will we use?! Juuust kiddding. The whole thing was a whirlwind and I wish I could be more descriptive but for all our worries that he may not like us, remember us and/or want us--none were further than the truth. He seemed happy--he was happy to see us. He hugged us both numerous times and we told him happy birthday.

We stayed in that office for about 45min doing paperwork. We gave him his leapster as a Birthday gift and some other small things. He looooves the leapster so thanks to all that helped on that with games and the back pack and gift--he couldn't love it more. Yuri had to write a letter of consent and I can't wait to show you all the pictures and video--he was just so cute.

Yuri was ours for the day. We took him to McDonald's for his birthday--he had never been. He loved it! He ordered a cheeseburger happy meal, a chocolate muffin and a chocolate sunday. It was adorable--he was trying to eat it all and we made sure he realized he didn't have to. He wanted to save what he couldn't eat for later--so he took the muffin, half a cheeseburger and 4 fries (ha!) back with him. He said this is the best birthday. He told us (through the translator) that last year on his birthday that he didn't get anything but there was another boy at the orphanage who did and it made him sad. Insert me trying not to cry. However, when he said it he wasn't sad or whiney--just matter of fact. Oksana asked what his wish for his birthday was this year and he said to be at home with his family and smiled. Once she translated that our hearts sank...but then he finished with--in America--which meant us so we smiled and hugged him.

All in all... it was a WONDERFUL day!
Happy Birthday Yuri and thank you God for making this possible.
Thanks to everyone for all your prayers--keep em coming...we're not done yet.

Sorry this post is so long but I didn't want to leave anything out. I'm going to do another about Yuri that will be shorter. Not sure when we'll be back on the internet.

Miss you all!