Today was the SDA appointment at 9am. It was brief. They told us all of Ruslan's disabilities (microcephalic, developementaly delayed, mentally retarded, crossed-eyes, Cerebral Palsy). When we had him evaluated by a doctor from Kiev, he didn't mention most of those, so Bill was a little shaken but I suspect they are just painting a worst-case scenario, just in case. At any rate, no one backed out so apparently the appointment was successful and we are going back tomorrow at 4pm to get our papers.
I decided to break some of this up so that those of you who aren't my parents won't have to wade through all the mumblings to get to the heart of the issue. You can stop reading now. The rest is just yammering about the details.
So, our appointment was at 9am this morning. We got everyone up at 8:00 and went downstairs PROMPTLY at 8:30 to catch our ride, only to find out that we were locked in the building. We stood at the entrance for a few minutes (because people are going to WORK right now...surely someone will come unlock the door soon...right?) until the boys started frantically pounding on the door, and the girls cried. That was enough to get Bill off looking for another way out. The security guard walked right past us once and didn't see or hear us, so we had to wait for him to come around again and yell louder. He finally motioned for us to go up one floor and use the working/back door. Apparently the front door is only for decoration. In the meantime, our interpreter called and said that our ride was stuck in
One of the other adoptive parents met us and watched the kids while Bill and I were in the meeting (Thank you God and Danielle!). I loved the meeting. The ladies chatted away in Ukrainian for minutes on end, and then Nadya would turn to us occasionally with a five word explanation. She is really great, and was probably sparing us the details, but you can't help laughing. In the end, we found out that Ruslan has a sister who also has CP and is available. I think they were thinking that we might get her, but we would need an entirely new dossier since she is in another region of Ukraine. This would take at least six months, so it is not possible right now. They have no information about Ruslan's birth parents. This was disappointing, since some of the other adoptive parents have actually met their kids birth parents and we were hoping...but I guess he will have Sharon to discuss it with, since she is in the same boat.
After the meeting, we walked around downtown and then took the metro back to our apartment. It is only one metro stop to downtown, so it's not too bad, but if you go at the wrong time, it's REALLY crowded. We had school in the afternoon. I tried to make spaghetti for dinner, but their tomato sauce is NOT LIKE OURS. It's more like ketchup, and there are no spices in it. ...It was a strange meal, all the more so since the kids actually ate it with less than normal wailing. Apparently ketchup spaghetti is acceptable.
The kids are doing pretty well. They miss home and their friends, but our apartment is so nice, and they actually have MORE cable channels here than at home, and only two hours of school instead of seven. So when they do complain, I just ask them if they'd rather be at school? They always say, "No!" so I know we're OK.
I just love our apartment. The sun shines in all the rooms all day long and I love sunshine. We have a great view because our building is monstrously tall and I love beautiful views. I said yesterday that we have two balconies, but we really have one balcony (off the living room) and one sunroom (off the kitchen). The girls took over the sunroom today and made a house, then a restaurant. It's really a lovely room...
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| Sunroom, restaurant, playhouse, school room and perfect time-out spot! |
The upshot is that all the outside walls are windows and I have a glorious view. We can see the whole city from every room. I took some pictures of the sunset and even though it's the city, I just love the feeling of SPACE.
Tell your kids their friends miss them, too!!!!! A whole bunch was at the house yesterday looking for them.........
ReplyDeletegreat update, wow a sister, you just never know in Ukraine. We never got bio info either, we even did 3 searches post adoption, nada. Your court papers will have some detail, like he was left at the hospital, their legal names and such. it is basic but it may enable you to search later. I am so excited for you to meet him. My sons medical was HORRIBLE as well and just plain wrong, he has things wrong with him that weren't documents and things that were that were not there or so blown out of proportion. You know who you are getting! He'll be great. I can't wait to see those pictures! Amy
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a shock about his sister and the negative report! Knowing how fast the other children recently adopted are progressing I think he'll catch up quickly! Any news about Boy #2 yet? Tell Nadya I said 'Hi' and that I'm trying to keep them busy!Give Ruslan a hug from me!!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. Oksana was also listed as microcephalic but when we got there the orphanage doctor said she is not. I've heard that sometimes they will add a diagnosis to get more money. I don't know if this is true or not but Oksana is NOT microcephalic. She also had crossed eyes and had surgery for it. AND we were told that she had a significant developmental delay (which she does) and they compared her to Ruslan saying that he is VERY smart and when they had their surgery together she had very little language but he was talking away. I'll be very curious to hear what the orphanage tells you and what you think when you spend some time with him.
ReplyDeleteNina's list of disabilities was long at SDA papers. The doctor from Vorzel scoffed it off, said "don't worry, she does not." I do believe the longer list of problems, the more money they receive.
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