Editor’s Note: This installment brought to you by the MAMA!
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Good Morning from
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Saturday was a very good day. We left the flat and went uptown to do some shopping at 9:30 am. We went into several stores looking for a new toy or outfit for Perfect, but only found 3 books at a newspaper stand and a cloth, 3x4 teddy bear ornament at a Christmas store.
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We walked back to the flat and got our laptop computer and met the Williamsons downstairs then went to “the boat” restaurant for our usual morning breakfast and WIFI transmission. Our food portions were smaller today, but still as good.
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Ostap had called a taxi service so we could go to the orphanage to see our sons today. While the others were waiting for the bill, I ran up ...ok walked…up to the flat to drop off our computer and get the daily supplies needed to brighten our little man’s world (juice box, banana, water, cookies, squeaky cat, books, etc.) then all four of us stood outside to meet the taxi. The driver had never been to the orphanage, so we had to guide him. Darrin & I gave him direction by pointing and saying left or right. (The driver was young and could speak some broken English.)
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Once flawlessly guided to the orphanage, the girls headed to the play area while the boys went upstairs to tell the nurses we were here for a visit with our sons. About 1:15pm, down came the nurse with Perfect. He was dressed for an outdoor adventure and it was clear that the nurse wanted us to take him outside. Darrin & I put our coats on and headed outside with Perfect. We brought our camera and camcorder for the first time. We took some great pictures and got some great footage to share with you later at the end of this blog entry. Perfect still loves the “woof-woofs” and likes to play in the Little Tikes jungle gym and swing on the Little Tikes baby swing.
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He is such an independent little guy. He likes to walk wherever he wishes and do things for himself. I hope as time goes on he will learn to trust God & us to provide his comfort and needs. (Darrin just says that he has us wrapped around his little finger…whichever way he turns, we follow.
After our 30 minute venture outside, we headed inside to play. Perfect did his usual walk up and down the hallway, but today he was trying to be in control. He would walk down the hall and hit the metal door so that it would echo down the hall. He knew that when he did this, one of us would come get him. (We are on the baby floor and we didn’t want the nurses to get upset with us.) We fed him a juice box, that he thoroughly. He then enjoyed a half a banana and several animal crackers. He enjoyed playing with the books, looking out the window and being rocked, walked, and held by Darrin. Then about 2:05 pm, he started rubbing his eyes and we knew things would start to go downhill now.
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At about 2:30 pm, the nurse came back and scooped up Perfect for his nap before supper. As we watched him go down the hall, I thought to myself how wonderful it will be when we won’t have to do this part of the process anymore ... when we can take him and just leave.
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We then waited for our taxi to arrive to take us back to our flats. After dropping off the Williamsons, we went back to our flat anticipating a nap…NOT. When we got to our apartment door, Darrin inserted the key only to hear the door start to open from the inside. “Someone is in there” said Darrin with wide-eyed surprise. We stepped back to find our Landlady, the cleaning lady and the maintenance man putting together a new bed. (So much for that nap.) So we went into the living room and downloaded the pictures from the camera and edited them. It was fun. Once they finished up with the bed and left, I headed into the bedroom and laid down for a nap. Darrin, however, stayed up and finished editing the pictures…go figure.
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After an hour’s nap, Darrin & I had a sandwich and some chips for supper. Later Darrin retired for the evening. I stayed up, played solitaire, read a book, and updated my journal with the day’s activities. I fell asleep on the couch for awhile, but just couldn’t seem to stay asleep…my mind racing with thoughts and questions.
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Sunday morning, I awoke to find Darrin sitting in the kitchen playing solitaire on the computer. We both ate a bowl of cereal. We then received a phone call about 10am that Ostap and his family were going to the market and would we be ready to go….Darrin informed them we would get ready. The market is a large, open-air, flea-market, type of swap-meet that everyone goes to shop on the weekends. Ostap picked us up at “the boat” and off we went. Once we got there, we started the hunt for a USB modem. We found several vendors that had one, but not quite what we needed. (We did come home with a DVD of Ukrainian cartoons and some toys for Perfect.)
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On our way back to the flat, Ostap said he would have to drop us off at the flat and call us a taxi to go to the orphanage today. So we called Williamsons and informed them we would be coming to get them in a taxi. Once we arrived at the orphanage, the guys went upstairs and the girls went to the visitation area to prepare to play. There were two women there playing with a boy already.
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As Darrin & James went to the boy’s floor, a great moment of recognition occurred. Darrin asked the weekend nurse for the boy. She looked confused but then reappeared with a different boy with the same first name. Darrin assured her that was the wrong child, and she disappeared back into the room to find the Perfect one. This time as she and the boy appeared in the hallway, Perfect began to move towards Darrin. The nurse had to take him back into the room to get him dressed in play clothes. Darrin then came down to the first floor play area to wait for Perfect. The Williamsons came down the stairs behind the nurse carrying Perfect; they shared with us that Perfect was calling for Papa. It gives us great excitement to think that he has come to recognize us after just 7 short days.
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His playful interaction continues to get stronger each day. At the market this morning we had purchased two baseball size bouncy balls. He will now play catch with us knowing we will return the toy back to him. He is comfortable walking away from the balls, knowing they will be there when he comes back. He does throw with a strong right arm, so it looks like his career as a Cardinal Pitcher may be in jeopardy. The other good news was his ability to follow directions. Several times Darrin asked him to get the Ball and he went directly and picked it up. Darrin also asked him to bring or throw the ball to mama, and both times he came back down the hall to see me. We continue to see signs of him picking up on words and actions when spoken in English. His father says that with a Perfect brain like his papa, we should have expected he would be smart.
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With the weekend nurses on duty, we suspected his schedule was off a little bit today. From the moment we arrived he seemed tired. He rocked in Darrin’s arms several times with a sippy cup, but fought sleep. With two other boys in the play area there was too much activity going on for him to keep track of. He also played well with both boys. But he grew increasingly fussy, and I told Darrin he needed to go back upstairs for his nap. So I gave him kisses, and Darrin laid Perfect’s head on his shoulder and started to head down the hall. Darrin later recalled that when he opened the stairway door to go upstairs, the boy’s grip on Darrin’s neck tightened. As Darrin reached the second floor door, Perfect started crying as the nurse started towards him. It was all Darrin could do to turn his back and walk back down the hall. We’ve only known him for 7 days, but we believe he is beginning to grow as attached to us as we became of him 6 days ago. It is hard to believe it has only been 7 days….but we are confident God had this planned long ago.
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So the taxi brought us back to
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We’re looking forward to heading back to the orphanage Monday. Can’t wait to see what new wonders await us in the Perfect little man that God has blessed us with. Thank you everyone for reading. We hope your world is as Perfect as ours.
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Missing You,
Barb (& Darrin too!)
