Sasha!!!

I know that so many are eager to hear about the details of our day -- it's certainly been a whirlwind!

Thankfully, we made it to the train last night with only 10 minutes to spare!  Whoah -- what an adventure!  Honestly, I didn't think the train ride was all that bad!  I had taken two herbal supplements to help me sleep -- and sleep I did!  Until about 2 AM when I woke up and, honestly, it felt like it must have been 90 degrees in our little cabin.  We had closed the door -- but we quickly opened it and fell back asleep!

After we got off the train, we went to our apt.  It's way nicer than any of you are thinking right now!  At least on the inside.  Zap looks like a dump on the outside!  I'll get pics on FB pretty soon.  Seriously, if you read the post before this one, you know that I was feeling kinda' guilty when we were in Kiev, thinking maybe we shouldn't be taking Sasha away from all this!  Well, I have NO PROBLEM now.  It's really sad, actually.  These are really nice people and they are so fashionable -- but their living conditions are pretty sad! 

So, anyway -- this whole time (since Monday morning) our facilitator has been with us.  She's actually staying in the apartment with us until some paperwork is completed and needs to be delivered back to Kiev.  So, we get to the apt. (we have the same driver the whole time we are here) and lie back down for a while.  Then, around 8 -- we head out to the Children's Services Department in a town about an hour away.  We needed to get some paperwork from them (permission, I guess you could call it.)  They seemed very friendly there and really want Sasha to find a home!

Finally, we get to the orphanage  We meet with the orphanage lawyer, who asks us a few tough questions.  I hate it when they ask you WHY you want to adopt?  I tried to come up with something -- how do you explain that you saw a little girl's picture (didn't even know if I could say this -- so I didn't) and just KNEW that God told you to come get her???  But, I managed to squeak out something like "we just think that children need to be in families and we are willing to open up our family" -- I don't remember exactly what I said.  Halya (our facilitator) rambled on for quite a while with the translation -- so I think she probably helped me out!  THEN, Sasha's main caregiver came in.  She told us a few things about her -- some of which we already knew -- some of it new.  BUT, I could tell right away that she was definitely advocating for Sasha to be adopted by  us.  It turns out that this lady had given Sasha our pictures quite a while ago -- and she would use these pictures to get her to behave and calm down sometimes, etc.  Telling her that her family is coming for her she needs to calm down.

Anyway -- we talked for a while -- and as far as we knew we were waiting for the doctor to come.  Then, they said -- OK let's go into a bigger room.  So, I'm thinking that we will go into the room and meet with the doctor.  Well, when we walk in -- THERE SHE IS!!!!!!  She was so incredibly nervous and shy -- but she just could not help herself -- she jumped up and ran over and gave Quincy the biggest hug!!!  After about 30 seconds of hanging on for dear life, she came to me -- and pretty much stuck TO me the rest of the time!  Her classroom teacher was there and told us more about her.  Some of the things that these ladies shared with us COULD be a little intimidating if we were not totally prepared to hear them and if we were not COMPLETELY convinced that we were called by the Lord to rescue Sasha from this orphanage.  (Honestly, through most of it, I'm thinking -- she sounds exactly like her brother!  Did I post that she's only 9 days older than Quince?) 

So -- to try to explain Sasha during this time -- very shy, kinda' trembly (can you imagine putting ALL of your hope in these two strangers that are now hearing a whole bunch of bad things about you?)  There was a lot of talk among the adults in the room.  So, I was trying to get her to look me in the eyes.  She finally did -- and I gave her a great big smile!  SLOOOOWLY she began to come out of her shell.  At first, she couldn't look at the pictures in the album that we brought for too long -- it was like she had to look quickly at them because it was all so much to take in!  I started to show her different people -- giving them their names, etc.  By the end of the time, she was carrying that album like it was a treasure.  She took it with her and was no doubt gonna show ANYONE who crossed her path.  She also started to talk to us.  I have NO IDEA what she was saying -- but she didn't seem to get frustrated.  I told her -- "Mama, English"  and Halya was busy talking to the adults so I couldn't even get her to translate. 

So, after a while, we asked her what she would like for us to bring her (Actually, Halya asked her that) -- she said -- "whatever you bring."  Then, they asked about something she likes to eat and she said bananas.  So, by golly, we stopped at this HUGE store (probably bigger than Wal Mart) and bought her some bananas!

Finally, we spoke with the doctor, and to make a long story short, Sasha most likely does NOT have epilepsy.  She has fainted 3 times and gotten kinda' trembly at the same time when she got VERY upset about something.  It seems that we are dealing with a hyper sensitive nervous system.  The doctor also was very encouraging that she thinks if Sasha can work on not getting so upset, then she will probably be fine!

So, we head back tomorrow!  I'm really looking forward to those hugs again!  I'm sorry, but I didn't take any pics or video today!  I was caught by surprise -- and then she really didn't let me go -- plus I'd rather wait until we are more alone tomorrow.  So, I'll get pics up tomorrow, I promise!!!!!!! 

It is SUCH a blessing to us to know that you all are praying and walking this road with us!  Our kids at home are doing great -- thanks to some very incredible people in their lives!  We'll keep posting!!