The day Alina went away

I stayed up way late to post pics, enter the blog and get some work done for my office. This was the first time I really had a chance to do any work and I was dismayed to discover that when I VPN into work, the air-card drops after 5-30 seconds. Sometimes it holds for a few minutes, but that requires a celebration. So I am thinking I will need to work harder in Kiev and take time off without leave while I am back for the second effort.

So, this morning I got up, did a load of laundry, made some hard boiled eggs, and tea. Later, Marina came by to pick up some things and to meet with us for a few, but I was in a bit of a hurry and Victor got us moving. We went to the trolley stop and caught the trolley and then changed to a bus. Victor is teaching us how to get around and what it costs for when Jennifer is here alone. Tomorrow, we will follow Jennifer so I hope she doesn’t take us to Moscow.

We went to the orphanage and got hugs, etc for a while, played with the baby Koshka (kitten) and then we did some business. With Victor with us, we were able to ask how you feel, what are you thinking, etc on both sides and were able to verify on both sides that we are all still very happy to have each other. After all, interpreting squeals, squeaks, and hisses is a job for Doctor Doolittle. Then the important thing, the event that made us not able to be with Alina any more.

Victor, Jennifer, and I asked her if she liked the name “Leah”, she said no because it is too much like a Ukraine boys name. So we used our backup “Elizabeth”, and she loved it. Her middle name: “Jane”, also loved. She wanted to have a typical American name, and we wanted a traditionally Christian names, so we gave her both. I am so glad that we had the chance to ensure the name not only fit us, but that she enjoyed her new name. So we said, your name is going to be “Elizabeth Jane Steen”! She smiled, and said “DA”, paused, and then “YES”! A few minutes later is when we realized “Alina” was gone… We were talking about something… nothing special and I said “Alina… “, where she stopped me and said “NO ALINA! ELIZABETH!”, so we recoiled and agreed. The rest of the afternoon, if you said Alina, she just responded “ELIZABETH!”… I think she likes her name very much. She is assuming her new identity.

So, we gave her a shirt with Virginia on it and a shower kit like the one we gave her teacher. She enjoyed spraying everyone’s pits with deodorant and we discussed our day since tomorrow I leave and she’ll be without me for 2 weeks. It was decided to go to the store and go have a beach picnic with her and her best friend Dasha. So Victor turned over his passport to essentially sign her out and off we went to the store. This time it was the same old one from the mission trip. Elizabeth is just like Alina (imagine that), in that she eats everything that crosses her path with passion. She wanted chips, sausages, cheese, soda, candy, seeds, etc. We limited it somewhat, but not enough to prevent us from all eating well and leaving her and Dasha chips to eat while watching TV.

We left the store and went down to the river where Victor lit a fire (one of the cool things you can’t do in the states just anywhere) and roasted sausages while Elizabeth and Dasha jumped into everything. They prepped for the sausages by putting ketchup and tons of mayo on some bread. Dang they like mayo! There I found that she rather enjoys pickles, pickled mushrooms, and pickle juice. YES! She’s like me! Then I found that she also enjoys eating dried, salted minnows. She kept offering them to me, and I finally ate one. Not bad… very salty, and after you eat them, the fish flavor bursts in your mouth as the fish reconstitutes. The big drawback is that they are so salty. She offered a third, but I couldn’t touch another, so I waved her off on that. Within a few minutes, she polished off a bag about the size of a regular McDonalds fry. It’s kinda cute, but a little disturbing that when she is enjoying something, she does a little thing where almost every part of her teeth are coated and she makes a big smile at you so you can see whatever she is enjoying. It’s funny, but I will be happy when she learns that is not something to do in America.

So we took photos, played a bit, and other things like looking at pics on the computer and listening to music. Elizabeth caught a frog and we took its picture. Then, when she was done with it, we signaled to put it back and she tossed it about 15+ feet to the little stream that she found it in. We hope it survived. A little while later, Victor found a snake and we all went to see… I thought she was gonna try to catch it also. She’s fun! We relaxed a little and Elizabeth laid down in mamas lap and Jennifer braided her hair. I have seen her relaxed and docile before, but never like this. She’s looking forward to a mama. I guess all girls would who have gone without.

So eventually, her and Dasha got us and said something. Victor said “they are going swimming now”. They were both in shirts and shorts or pants. I asked Victor “With their cloths on?!”… Victor said, “No… they will take them off and swim naked”. “What! No way!”… I started towards the dock. I know I am supposed to let them “keep being the orphan” until after court, but I can’t let my daughter swim around like that… especially with these boys around. I stopped and asked Victor from about 20 feet away “Are you serious”, and he was just laughing… so I came back, got the camera and ran to get some photos. I looked at the dock, and decided I could only go so far and I was on my way there and they started yelling “NO!!!!” at me. What rejection! I just wanted to get some pics, so I went to where I was going to stop and they started yelling real load… so I called Victor on the cell phone so I could find out what was up. He came over and said that they are afraid that if you walk on the bridge it will collapse. I thought it was funny because that is why I didn’t walk on it last year. So we went back a little and I took photos of Elizabeth and Dasha. I asked Victor about if it would be good to have the missions team rebuild and improve the dock for them. I had been told that fishermen might take it over and the kids would not get to swim. He said that “this is not true, it would be very good for them”, so mission team, take notes. There are two docks here that could be worked on. The one the kids use most heads out about 35-40 feet, then has a 5’ wide platform. There are no ladders! They get back out of the water by walking up the dock to where they can get out, pull themselves up and roll over onto the dock. It would rock to rebuild the entire thing. A real gang plank to the dock the new dock that is little wider with two ladders on each end would rock. Many more will go swimming if we did this.

So, we went back and spent a little time with a few other kids before we left for the day. It was the best day ever… Lot’s of fun, lots of bonding. We are feeling the family forming. So yes, it was hard to say goodbye to Alina forever, but Elizabeth is so sweet, and is Alina all over, but in addition, she truly is part of our family. Thank you God for the deep love and the bonding that you are giving us, you are so good past we could ever imagine.

It was a great day!