The last two days are a bit of a blur for me but the one thing I do know and keeps popping up in the back of my mind is that we now have less than seven days with Natasha. Nina is spending more and more time with Natasha and I can’t thank
Jeff and Donna enough for this gift of time with the girls.
Sunday was a tougher day with Natasha and I knew one day the “war of the wills” would come to light. She had on one of her yellow hoodies sent from Texas and wanted to paint her Diva Puppies. I tried and tried to get the hoodie off and she was pushing back with all she had. I tried to kid with her and gesture to her that she would get paint all of it. She understood but she still wanted to paint in it anyway. She just sobbed after we got it off (partly exhausted from so much activity the last few days and partly because she is not accustomed to many rules or guidance.) Blend the two together and it was a total meltdown. I decided in the end it wasn’t a battle I needed to win and I’d just let her enjoy being a little girl (paint and all). She eventually went back into her room and slept for 5 hours! I spoke to Jeff and Donna about it (Nina’s Mom and Dad) because it was far more hurtful to me to see her unhappy and confused than it was for her. Your heart just aches for them and what they’ve been through and you are never quite the same.
On Sunday afternoon Nina came over and spent the night. I gave up my room “for the team”so that they could enjoy watching DVD’s on a big down comforter and a king size bed which somehow they managed to use every inch of it with toys and books. They had all kind of treats and it was snowing in Louisville so they would run out and have a snowball fight and then run back in and jump under the covers and watch TV. Natasha stopped by my home office and wrote “26” and looked at me with concern. I had to write down that it was “27” meaning December 27th and I knew that our thoughts were moving in the same direction. She said “Ok” and ran back to Nina. That was a tough moment since I knew her little heart was sad about the flight on Sunday the 3rd. I am dreading it as well.
Nina has taught Natasha how to play hundreds of games on the I Phone and I wished she could keep the phone for the flight back to soothe her but I know that is not possible. The girls are living in their pajamas and extending their over night into a triple play which I’m happy to do because I get a glimpse of my past as well and times I spent with my cousin Liz. Natasha is learning so much and grasping onto every new adventure with such enthusiasm and promise. She was talking to Nina’s friends from the International School as if they were all old buddies and this generation is interesting to watch as technology takes control of their life from the moment they get up until they go to sleep. They continue to have appetites that are beyond anything I have ever seen and included moon pies, oranges, chocolate, hot dogs, ramen noodles, sprite, mashed potatoes, grilled chicken and juice boxes.
I finally turned the lights off at 2:30 since I knew we had an early morning ahead of us.
On Monday, I had to go to work so Donna picked them up and took them for the afternoon and Jeff brought them back for their sleep over. Donna called me later in the day to tell me about a Russian grocery store on Taylorsville Road and I told the girls I would take them since I forgot to pick up ramen noodles at Kroger. They flew through the door and the owner and his wife immediately started talking Russian to them and they were in their element. We came home with ravioli, honey molasses cookies, chocolate, various cheeses, sausages and as my stomach tumbled around I added two cans of tomato based sardines to my basket. Seventy two dollars later we were out of the store…
They immediately stated pulling out plates and I started boiling the water for the ravioli. They consumed all the cheese before I even had a chance to get the remainder of the meal on the table but at least they were eating healthy and you could tell they were loving their delicacies. As I sat down to the table they offered me sardines which for the first time I had to decline. I started to try the ravioli and was looking at the packaging and it was lamb ravioli which for all my might I downed a couple before retreating back to grapes and deli meat. They were eating the tomato based sardines like a Texan would eat queso and chips. There was not a drop left once they finished and my fine diners were happy and content. They took off to the bedroom with their honey molasses cookies and sprite along with some play dough and I didn’t see them for an hour or so. They know their way around the Ponderosa and are both very independent little girls. A quality that will serve them well later in life and am happy to see that they both possess.
Natasha stopped by my home office and I could tell she loves office products. She wanted one of my binders and punched holes in the paper and bound them in the binder so she could start writing. She loves my ink pens and can write for hours. She also found my labeler and I’m not sure what she was typing in but she quickly learned the concept and said “thank you” and tore off with the labeler to the bedroom. When I checked in on them she was having the best time and I think most of my furniture had been labeled.
They went to bed early Monday night and we have a big day ahead of us. Grandma Jo is picking them up and they will have lunch with some other Ukrainian kids that have been adopted here in Louisville. I will pop in on them later to see the reunion.
I think at night about all these kids in the Ukraine and the circumstances they currently live with and wonder how I can help. The stories I have learned will break your heart and knock you to your knees at times. I admire these two little girls more than you can imagine for they have far more courage than I will ever possess… Their stories are replicated again and again with children desperately needing to be adopted and loved.
If you asked me was this hosting event worth it, I would tell you it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I hope more families take advantage of the program. If someone would ask me if I find older children to set in their ways to blend with an American family, I would tell you that you only have to see how grateful they are and how hard they try to learn our customs, our way of life without forgetting their own traditions. I can only tell you that Natasha is bright, curious, interested, grateful and loving and that I hope other families will think about adopting an older child if they are lead to do so. I can only tell you how desperately she wants to stay here and how lucky I am to have hosted her. She has changed me forever in ways I never thought possible. How do you save these children? You save them one child at a time…