We Made It To Ismail

We had a great visit with Nastia on Sunday evening. We arrived and she came running out to see us. We were so happy to see her excited that we were there. I think she is getting used to us! We played some checkers and learned the Russian rules. Nastia showed us around her school and explained what they do each day. It was our best visit yet.  

When we first got there.

This is a little blurry, but I like it because she is smiling!

I didn't want anymore pictures of me!

She has started to show some personality! She can tell when Mike is being silly!

She wanted to show us her room, but it was locked while the girls were at dinner. So she showed us one of the boys rooms. She said it was the same. 

Some of the play equipment for the school.

Old buildings on the orphanage grounds. I am not sure what they are used for, if at all.

The school bus. It's for when they get to take field trips

Decorations as you enter the school

More decorations. The one on the right has the music and lyrics to the National Anthem. I tried to get Nastia to sing it for me, but she wouldn't

Mike and Nastia playing human Chess. This was a common area outside a couple of the boys rooms.

The cafeteria

There are plants everywhere in the school. I think it must be a full time job to keep them watered.

Nastia seems to really like taking photographs. We allowed her to use the cameras and she snapped and snapped all kinds of things.

These were paper flowers made by the kids for New years (taken by Nastia)

Taken by Nastia

Mid kaila-ing. Taken by Nastia

Sasha being silly. Taken by Nastia

This was her taking some with Mike's camera. We left her with that one so she could take some pictures of her school and her friends.

This was the owner/cook/waiter of the little diner that was next to our hotel in Balta. His food was delicious! We ate there a bunch of times.

This is the cafe! The GARAGE

We had to say goodbye to Nastia yesterday afternoon, so we could head down to Ismail to start Olena's paperwork. The school has been really great in getting the paperwork done quickly for us, so we were able to leave a day earlier than planned.
It was very sad to leave her there, but the director didn't allow us to take her all the way to Ismail. We had to cross the border into Moldova to get to Ismail, and they didn't think it was a good idea for us to have an undocumented child with us, in case we were stopped.

We discovered that Nastia is a very sensitive girl and worries very much about her older brother and father. She told us her father had a stroke and cannot move. He and her disable brother (he cannot walk, he has something wrong with his spine) live in a hospital in the town where she and Olena were born. She is concerned about leaving them. Sasha had a conversation with her about it and told her that we sadly couldn't save everyone, but he would be happy that she gets to have a future. We truly hope that she is happy to be coming with us. We know its a lot to ask, since we just met her, but we just want her to be happy and have a successful life. I hope that at some point she will see that.
It was hard to see her upset about not coming to see Olena. But we tried to tell her that she would be seeing Olena very soon and they would be together always. Those are very hard things to get across when you don't speak the language, but she hugged us and smiled so we hope that she understood at least a little.

Long drive To Ismail! We stopped half way in Odessa for the night. It was dark when we arrived and dark when we left so we didn't get to see much of anything there. We drove and drove and along the way we had to dodge more potholes. I think we could get places a lot faster if the roads were better! But we finally made it to Ismail.

This was our hotel in Odessa, very nice.

There was so much farm land. It was really pretty

Old homes

Little farming communities

Thatched roofs with a small amount of tin on top

This was what we drove on for a long time.

At least it wasn't icy today!

More homes with thatched roofs

More potholes!

Can't you imagine this in the summer, with leaves on the trees? It would be beautiful (except for the road)

Yes this is a major road!

Babushka walking home from the market

More roads. It is amazing to me that a major road that connects towns would be so bad. Its hard to get anywhere quickly.

Entering Ismail

A beautiful church in town

We haven't had a chance to walk around the city yet, so I am not sure what this building it. But it is very old. Sasha told us there are about 100,000 people that live in Ismail. It is a lot nicer than Balta.

While the city part is nicer than Balta, there are parts of Ismail that are pretty similar. The orphanage is on the outer part of the city. There are many homes and dirt roads like this one. 

Welcome to Ismail

Entering the orphanage

Excited to see Olena

Outside the Ministry building. A statue of Lenin

There were some places on the way that were so green already. It made me feel like it was spring.

Sunrise

Salt water Lake. It is very large.

After receiving our official referral from the town's Ministry we headed to the Orphanage. We met with the Director. She was very nice and chatted with us a little. She asked us about our family and how we felt about having Olena stay with us over the summer. Then the Nurse came in a spoke with us. Then we were allowed to see Olena!
She came to the directors office and then she saw us! She ran over and there were hugs all round. She sat on the couch between us and couldn't stop hugging us! It was the coolest feeling! She was as happy to see us as we were to see her.

She just came in. (Sergei our driver in the back. He is super cool)

Happy to see her

Olena got to talk to Nastia while we were driving around. They do not get to speak often.

Outside the school.

On our way to the Drs office

She just wanted to hug us!

We sat for a few minutes in the directors office and then we took her to her medical appointment. Then we got to just hang out with her for a little while. It was hard to have to leave her there when it was time to go, but we will be back tomorrow. We hope to see some of the other kids we met over the summer, so we can say hello to them as well for everyone. We didn't have a chance today.
We might only be here in Ismail for a couple of days before we have to head back to Kiev. We have to work between the two orphanages, which are about 460km (6 hours) apart. I am a little disappointed about that but I know we are trying to get things done as quickly as possible. Our goal is not to spend a vacation visiting with the girls but to get them home so we can spend everyday with them. So even though its hard to leave we know that we will see them again soon.