Meet Ruslan

End of Day Five

So today we met Ruslan and he is precious and as sharp as a tack.  I just kept laughing in the back of my mind that the SDA listed him as retarded.  He was in a wheel chair and probably scared to death, but he gave us great eye contact, smiled when he saw us, held our hands and gave "high fives."  Bill was so wonderful with him.  He showed Ruslan his digital camera and taught him how to use it.  Ruslan caught on after the first try and was taking pictures of everything in sight.  He didn't need to be told twice how to make it work. (Just to explain to  you what a sacrifice this was for Bill, bear in mind that Bill bought ME my own digital camera so I wouldn't ruin his.  Taking it as a matter of family harmony, I don't actually have clearance to touch the digital equipment.  I'd have to take a class and purchase some sort of liability insurance....Now that I think about it, Bill probably had Ruslan sign some sort of waiver before letting him press the buttons).

Anyway, Ruslan also caught on quickly when we taught him English words and he told us the Ukranian words.  It was nice that he got the idea of the exchange.  The kids were great with him.  Thank God that they are still essentially jet-lagged.  I think they were just too tired to fight with each other.  We had gotten them up early to catch the ride to Vorzel and they were asleep in the van after about five minutes.  We were appropriately grateful, since it was about an hour ride and another 30 minutes wait while they sorted out the paperwork.  Also, THIS TIME we knew enough to let the kids take their Nintendo DSs along.  The thought of losing DS time is enough to keep even Paul in line.

This is the front porch of the baby house.

Anyway, we stayed with Ruslan for about an hour and played on the front porch of his baby house.  It is cute and clean.  We probably saw about five other kids there--all girls except for one other boy.  We inquired about getting him, but it was clear that he is a huge handful. Nadya (translator) said that he has some behavioral problems and honestly, I don't think we could handle them both.  That leaves us with the problem of locating another child to adopt.  Please pray that God works it out for us.  I'd hate to leave here with just one!

We left about noon and came back to our apartment to nap and then work on dinner and school.  If you ever wonder what I am doing during the day, I can tell you with about 99% certainty that if we are home, I am cutting vegetables or doing dishes.  Nothing comes prepared here, so we have to make everything from scratch.  It takes a LOT of time.  Plus, there is no dishwasher, so all the dishes have to be done by hand.  The laundry is another thing, but I'll go into that later. On the plus side, our apartments is "V" shaped and there is a whole wall of mirrors at the apex of the "V" so I can stand at the kitchen sink and see what the kids are watching on TV in the living room.  God thought of everything!  Did I mention that the tile on the bathroom floor is heated.  Oh yes.  Would I trade that heated tile floor for a dishwasher and a stash of Campbell's soup?  ...I don't know.

We are meeting another adoptive mom tomorrow to learn how to use the subway/bus system (since the "taxi" was $70 to get us all there and back.  It looks like our daily schedule will be morning visits, and home in the afternoon and evening.  This will go on for two to three weeks, then a ten day wait, then a few more weeks to get his passport.  It will be worth it though.  Ruslan is adorable.