Thursday, March 31, 2011

SDA appointment

Today we had our SDA appointment, that is when we get our official referral for our child. Our appointment was scheduled for 10:00.  We were told somebody would come pick us up at 8:30, at 9:20 he still wasn't there, I started to get worried, so we called Nico to see when he was coming. He said he would call him, About 5 minutes later our doorbell rings, and Eugene is here, he is our driver today.

We were running late, so Eugene is walking as fast as he can and his legs are long, so we had to run to keep up with him. We get to the SDA building and were told to come right in. Usually Serge is there and maybe Yulia, but today it was just Eugene, he said Serge didn't come because he was nervous. Strange! Anyway, they got out our little girl's file and then asked us a few questions like what our family was like and why we wanted to adopt a child with special needs, then they told us her name and that she has down syndrome and that she has heart problems, all of which we knew. We were shown two baby pictures, one was more recent, she was so beautiful and happy in the picture. The other one was a newborn picture, but she wouldn't let us see it up close. After, I asked if we could trade pictures, because I brought the one I have. She almost gave it to me, but then changed her mind, so I asked if I could take pictures of them and she said no. I was surprised because most other families are allowed to do this. She said we can't have them until we proceed with the adoption, then we could get them. Knowing we wouldn't be coming back to the SDA, I was confused, so asked if we would be coming back, she laughed and said no, so I asked how we could get them. Eugene says he will get them for me, maybe he will, but I think I will never see them again. I was really upset about this, because we are going to be her parents and they belong to her, they will probably just go into some file and get forgotten about. Oh well, what can I do, at least we will have her. 

I am learning that I cannot expect anything, or compare to other people's stories and that we should just go with the flow. It is very difficult to actually live that way. 

Anyway, our appointment went great other than that part, and we will be picking up our referral tomorrow, but because it is the weekend we won't be able to go to dnepropetrovsk until Sunday. :( but, that is only4 days until we can meet her. 

I am feeling very taken advantage of here, like people think we have all kinds of money to spend. Yulia called us this afternoon and said she found an apartment for us that is 10 minutes walking distance from the orphanage and only $30 a night. We were so happy and praising God, then a few minutes later she calls back and says the person who agreed to $30 was talking to other people and changed her mind to $80 a night. That is such a huge difference and way over our budget. Plus from what we were told the amount that would be in a month is more than 4 times what middle class people get paid. Yulia said it is too much. We are still working on it, so please keep praying that wherever we end up is exactly where God wants us and is reasonable.

We did have a great day, despite those things. It really is ver nice here. I love the language and we can tell they truly love their children. It is just very different than our culture, but still fun. We found a park to take the kids, it was the coolest park I have ever been to, very old and kind of dangerous :),but very fun. We had to walk uphill,  about 20 minutes with many stairs to get there. I realized when I got to the top that I had to go to the bathroom, but there was no going back. I did make it though :). The kids had a blast, laughing and having more fun than ever before at a park, until Malika got hurt. Poor thing, she scraped up the entire left side of her face and her nose was bleeding. It will look so pretty tomorrow :). I took lots of pictures, too bad you can't see them. I can't figure out how to upload pictures from our iPad yet (note to all other adoptive families: bring a laptop, not an iPad). I think I can upload one at a time, so if I can I will put the important ones on here.

I know this is getting so long, but this is kind of a journal for me too. 

I just wanted to share with all of those who don't know already, Priscilla is not her real name, it is Irina (ear-ree-na). Priscilla was the name Reece's Rainbow gave her and we didn't know in the beginning, so that is what we put on our blog. We were told not to write it on public things, but now that it is private, I think it is ok. We will keep it Irina. We have to come up with a middle name by Monday. So fun! 

Oh, and thank you to all of you that left kind words and are praying for us, it really means a lot.

4 comments:

  1. It won't be too much longer before you can hold our precious Irina. We love you and can't wait for you to be HOME.

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  2. Yeah!! So happy that you got your referral...I remember how nerve-raking that is, as well as how hard it is to just do what they tell you to do. We just kept telling ourselves that soon we'd have our children home and they'd truly be ours. When my husband and my daughters got our Lily and Joshua out, and they had to find an apartment for a week, a lady said they could rent her apartment but when they saw our adopted kids with disabilities she changed her tune and said that it was too small for us (even though she had been told how many people on the phone)....and we encountered that too--people thinking we were made of money. It is frustrating! We were given advice to do just that--go with the flow...and it is hard to do, I know. But God will see you through it...He loves you and Priscilla and can work even through not so nice people to rescue her. We were blessed by some wonderful people overthere who helped us alot too. Praying for your housing situation and for your Irina.

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  3. I am so sad about the baby pictures as well, I remember that Saturday before you left you told me you would be able to see them, and I was so excited! :( But, it is better to see the real thing!! i can't wait to see her!

    I have been worried about you guys but reading this has given me peace, you seem much more confident this blog-go-round! :)

    Please post pics as soon as you have time! Rachel told me today she missed Malika and her blocks and she wanted to play...I told her it would be a while and she wasn't happy! LOL so tell Malika Rachel says Hello!

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  4. Hey Crystal!

    We're praying for y'all every day, and I'm so glad to be able to following what's going on. Press on, and God bless you!

    Tim and Karen

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