THIS IS THE DAY...

That was the song in my mind as soon as I woke up at 3am.  "This is the day - This is the day that the Lord has made!"

We started the day very early with a shower and my new blow dryer. (So happy to have one now! This would be the 3rd one I've bought in Ukraine by the way. :-)) We left Kyiv about 4am with our MAF (most awesome facilitator) and headed south.  After experiencing all we could experience on Ukrainian roads (pot holes, chickens, pot holes, cows, pot holes, trucks, pot holes), we arrived at the social workers office around 11:15.  (SW office is always the first stop in region.)  She hardly asked us a single question.  SOOO very different than when we were in Simferopol adopting Elijah - she grilled us.  It really does help tremendously to already have adopted a child with Ds.

Anyway, next stop - the orphanage!!!

We met with the director first and talked quite awhile. She was very nice and cordial. I was also very impressed with the cleanliness and "niceness" of the orphanage. It was very obvious that director cares deeply for her children as she greeted each one by name as we walked around later. She showed us picture updates from other families that had adopted from this same place. We assured her we were more than happy to send her updates about Grace.  We showed the director and all of the other "legal" people there our photo album. One of them noticed Elijah looked a little like Grace. I would have to agree.  It is probably just a Ds thing, but some of their mannerisms are the same.

Then it was time to meet Grace! We heard her before we saw her. :-(  An unfamiliar caregiver brought her downstairs to the office, which she was also unfamiliar with, and she was scared and crying. She had a toy that she threw on the ground when they tried to comfort her with it. (I've seen that before!) The director said she had never seen her cry before as she is usually very happy. So, they took her back upstairs and let her settle down a bit. We talked more with the director about her history. She has no known health issues beside Ds. As is pretty typical, she was abandoned at birth and her parents terminated rights then. :-(  She will go potty when she sits and sometimes asks to go. Yay! (She'll be wearing diapers/pull-ups on the way home I can assure you.) She also feeds herself and doesn't need her food pureed, just maybe the bread softened a bit. That is great news as well!

After awhile, the director called up to see if she was calm and we went up to meet her! She was calmed down and ready and eager to play in what looked like the PT room.  Grace's main caregiver was very proud to show off all that she knew and could do.  She was able to point to her ears, nose, eyes and even did nose on the puppy we brought. She waved hi for the camera and we got a few good smiles and giggles out of her. She's very ticklish too. :-)  She responded and turned to her name being called too - a great sign! I think she will learn to sign very quickly.  The nanny knows she understands everything said to her, she just can't speak in return.

They told us how she is very active and likes to get into trouble. LOL We've dealt with that! We saw a little taste of this.  In the room we were in, they have a long, wide, flat swing mounted. Several times she took a flying leap on it and went swinging.  My little sensory seeker!  We'll see how well Elijah and Jonathan have prepared us for her. :-)

She was receptive to me holding her after awhile. She is tiny, but I think she is taller than Rachel. She has lost her 2 front teeth too. Very cute!

Our visit ended all too quickly, but we'll go back Sat and Sunday AM.  We ran around all afternoon doing paperwork, including a visit to the notary (like a lawyer here) and lunch finally at 2:15 while waiting on the notary.  Our MAF got the bus route figured out for us, so we can return our car once we are done filing the paperwork early next week.

Sorry for no pictures though!  I know, I know.  But I've said from the beginning that we would not be posting pics of "who" we are adopting until sometime after court. Sorry...Thanks for understanding. Thanks for all your love and support!  We appreciate it!