A Day of Dissapointments and Triumphs

May 27,2011

The plan today was to go sight seeing with our translator Inna and meet up with our facilitator at 2 to go get our refferals at the SDA and get our signed permission to visit the orphanage from some government official. So we spent the early part of our day at museums, a monk monestary,the World War II memorials and a house that the queen built here. It was all very interesting and kept our minds off of things. We walked many miles and also rode the metro (like our subways). We finally met up with Anatoly at the SDA office and got our referrals. We had to drive a ways in bumper to bumper traffic to this other office to get the permission stamped. It took over an hour to get there in traffic. The orphanage said we had to be there by 4 or they wouldn't let us visit. So it was a race against time. We get to the government office and led inside. A woman is talking with our translator and we are finally told that the government official who signs the permission left already. You see today is "last bell" or the last day of school and they had to get home to their families. Our facilitator and translator tried to get them to allow us to visit without this so we could at least meet our girls and not have to wait until Monday. They called the orphanage and talked with the principal who said that they have been going through inspections and the inspector may come back so they don't want to do anything that may not look legal. After much discussion with our facilitator and translator and the people in the office we left in defeat. I couldn't believe I wasn't going to meet my girls until Monday. I was so disappointed. But once we got to the car our facilitator made phone calls and said we were going to the orphanage. He had contacted the orphanage lawyer and she met us there. Then she and Anatoly ( our facilitator) went in to talk with the director and principal once again. About 10 minutes later he came out and said come on. We were going in. We entered through the iron gates and into a yard where there were several children. We were taken into the office and met with the director, the principal and another woman who may have been a teacher or something. They asked us questions and told us how much these kids mean to them and that they will miss them terribly. They asked us questions about our family and how we will have time with so many children. We explained that the 3 older children are not there as much and that we have plenty of love and time for all our children. Then in through the door came 2 amazing little girls. The first one was Miranda (her name on Reeces Rainbow's site) we will tell her real name later. She was so happy and bouncy. She went right up to Tim and was greeting him and talking to him. She even gave him a big hug. Our next little girl (Victoria on Reeces'Rainbow site) was a little more shy. But they both were doing dances for us, showing off their shoes and talking quite a bit. I then gave them each a toy cameral which they loved and quickly learned how to use them. I then got out the real camera and took their pictures. Miranda was so excited when she saw herself on the camera. Let me tell you Miranda is a bundle of energy and she never stops. Victoria is quieter and more shy. They say Victoria speaks clearer but since we don't understand them at all we couldn't tell. They were saying each others names and trying to say ours. They were both very happy and loving. They threw kisses when we left. Unfortunately since this was not an official visit we cannot go back until Monday to visit again. But let me tell you. My hear is filled with a peace today after getting to meet them and hearing their stories. I will still miss my Anya and hold her in my heart always, but these other 2 girls need a mama and dadda too. I will love them just as much but my heart still aches. I may get to meet Anya on Monday, I don't know. I am still praying for my sweet girl, but for now she is not to come home with us. So today was hard but in the end triumphant. We know we will be giving a forever family to 2 very precious little girls. So I will show you some pictures. They wouldn't stop moving for any decent pictures but here is what we were able to get. Miranda(Abby) is in pink and Victoria is in blue.