Day 9 - Conversations.......

Finally, a slow morning..... we aren't really sleeping well and have been mentally and physically exhausted each evening when we return home. Olya and Clay (another couple adopting two brothers) left to head back to the states. Their court date is Feb. 28 and they have a little one at home. So they dropped their luggage off at our place to lighten their load.....

We went to the orphanage with our new translator (Galya) since Victor is now it Kiev. It's great having her with us as it enabled us to spend some time "talking" with Angela. We decided to head outside so we could have some quiet undisturbed time.

We asked Angela to give some thought to a new middle name as we will need that soon for our court date.... We talked about her time at the orphanage and her friends that have come and gone. She said she has liked being here and loves Mama Nikolya very much. We asked her what she thought America was going to be like and she shrugged her shoulders. She told us she thought that people in America are courteous, hard working and nice! We told her about our home, that it's quiet and peaceful and that she will be the only child there. She said that this was OK but wanted to know if she could have her friends over...... :)

We told her about our community, Clifton, her school and the friends she will make. She was happy to hear that she will have a Russian speaking instructor for her ESL classes. She said she loves school and wanted to know if she could do her homework every day. :) We told her that her cousin, Chelsea works at the after school program at the Montessori school that she will attend..... she was very excited to know that Chelsea would teach her new things and be there to spend time with her. We asked her what she thought of doing when she grows up and she said she dreams of being an artist.

We told her about our plans to go to St. Simon's this summer with Pam's cousin Joe, and his wife Christine. We showed her pictures of Casey and Natalie (their girls) who will also be with us. She couldn't stop smiling..... she told us of times at the beach with her Babushka here at Sevastopol.

She said she is glad she will have a cat and wanted to know if he could sleep in her bed. We went back inside as it was getting cold. She made of point of telling "mama" to dress warm this weekend when we go to the mountains as it will be cold. She told Galya she worries about me.....

Back inside we practiced reading..... She knows the English alphabet and eagerly jumps right in to read aloud.

It gets harder each day to leave but when Len asked her if she goes to sleep at night with a smile on her face, she quickly smiled, gave him a big hug and said "yes".