We Have Our Court Date

 Elena having fun with Mama and Papa

Yesterday we signed a few official papers at the notary office in Lutugino and found out our court date is Thursday, June 24th at 11:00 am.  Elena will also need to go before the judge and state that she wants to be adopted.  We will also be asked various questions.  After that time, there will be a 10 day waiting period. On the 11th day, July 5th (if all goes smoothly) then Elena will officially be our daughter!

Entrance to Notary Office

We went to the lake two times with Elena and her group of children yesterday.  We spent most of the time outdoors in extremely hot weather.  One of our main goals now is to bond well with Elena and spend as much with her as possible.  It is going really well and we are enjoying our time with Elena although we never have time with her alone at this point.   Elena prefers to sit with us instead of the large group of kids after their nap time. When it is time for us to leave, she gets sad (that is a good thing).

Elena and her friends at the Lake

While we are there, we can see how hungry ALL the children are for a loving family, so we try to dote on them as much as we can also. Several of the children surrounded Lauren on one bench and then a few others surrounded Jay in another part of the play yard.  Little nurturing gestures mean the world and any time a child is singled out, he or she feels like they are really special.  Elena is enjoying the unusual attention she is getting from us and from the other children.  

Elena's friends playing Bop-It

Yesterday late in the day we joined the children at the lake for the second time in one day.  It is a long walk especially when we have smaller children in the group and stop at the well for water and stop when anyone misbehaves (rare in this setting). However, one boy did act up and after a strong reprimand, the children were instructed to hold hands starting with hands together up high.  So we did the same thing as them side by side with them.  Then we held hands for a while and the children were so happy to see us walking hand in hand.  We think it gives them hope since there are not a lot of role models for whole family units.  Several of the children stared at us with hopeful smiles and eyes!

Today, the children had a hard work day around the orphanage.  We went to the lake first and were told Elena and her group of children were not there due to a new breakout of lice! We were able to spend a good amount of time with Elena before lunch and then again after her nap. When Elena was called in for lunch, we went in the building where they eat and sleep and waved to the children eating.  Then a caretaker insisted we eat some borscht with the kids. They were so kind to serve us borscht, bread and a milk product. The children thought it was funny when we ate their food.  Their giggles were echoing in the cafeteria. 

Borscht Soup at the Orphanage

Later in the day, we spent more time with Elena and called Hannah and Micah via Skype.  It was fun for the kids to see each other halfway around the world!  Micah had Elena laughing very hard (just with hand motions).  We played games and handed out cross necklaces to each child making sure they knew (in Russian) that Jesus loves them.   We also treated about 30 kids to their own ice cream stick or cone.  They had a hard day of work carrying heavy pails of water across the play yard in the 94 degree heat (and many did not get to swim at the lake today).   We are thankful for the special time we are having here with Elena and the other children.  Our hearts are breaking for these other children so if you have never considered hosting or adopting, please consider it!

 Jay playing games with the kids

Tank Monument on the way to the Lake