March 27 - April 3

The Power of Attorney letter, authorizing Pam to pick up guys, moved without sleeping from Seward to Leipzig, Germany and then, because it was a weekend, sat for 48 hours. Makes the whole “express” label a little hollow sounding—kind of like my bank account. My cousin, who lives in Germany, says Germans characteristically value their time off. “Es ist fünf Uhr. Wir müssen nicht arbeiten. Viel Arbeit bedeutet viel Taxes.” (It is 5:00. We must not work. Much work means much taxes.)

This would put the letter in Kramatorsk by sometime Tuesday, which would really pinch things to make our flights home April 6th. Masha said she would try again to convince Arkady, who is a decent guy, to accept a scanned copy, given the clear evidence that the original would arrive eventually. He said YES. Arkady is not your typical Ukrainian bureaucrat.

So, Monday and off to Mariupol! On the way, Masha’s brother Andrii got pulled over by Urkainian police. He wasn’t speeding—I think it was just one of those random stops to remind you that this is a country of … law and order. They determined that his driver’s license, which he got while he still lived in Siberia, was no longer acceptable in Ukraine. New rule.

So, how would Sasha say “goodbye” to his classmates and teachers and caregivers? Pam, who has been thinking about how to throw a parting party for months, was pretty pickled about the way it turned out. “Take Sasha. Leave the gifts. The party will happen later.”

Pam finally saw Sasha's room. It was not crowded like another orphanage in Komarivka we saw two years ago. Each room had just two beds and two towel bars. Clothes are kept elsewhere.

The saddest part was that Sasha was leaving his roommate Kolya, whom he had bunking with for 3 ½ years and had moved with him from Kramatorsk to Mariupol. Pam knew that Sasha understood and felt this loss deeply. He asked if he would ever be visiting again. One of the teachers, whose son could speak English well enough, shared an email address and offered to pass messages. Hooray for email. Pam gave Kolya a special gift.

Tuesday the brothers were reunited after two years. Sasha’s teachers from Kramatorsk were glad to see him. I wish I could have been there.

Meanwhile, Masha was in Donetsk, the regional capital, waiting for a passport stamp. The administrator was out of the office on end-of-month business. By the time he returned, there was no chance to catch the train back to Kyiv. So, the day we gained due to Arkady’s flexibility we lost again, and they wouldn’t arrive in Kyiv until Thursday morning. I was a little worried, because the State Department website says we must allow 3 business days to finish up embassy work, and we had 5 plane tickets set for Monday, April 6th. It would cost me $280 each to change them, and Pam had from the beginning wanted help from Adrienne in bringing them home.

The boys spent the night with Pam at Stas and Natasha’s. Imagine Pam, using her vast command of Russian, getting these giddy boys, enamored with their new environment, to take baths, settle down, and not mess up anything electronic. “Нет, ні вода splashing!” “Нет, ні компутер messing upski.”

Some think the brothers are twins. They play well together. Sasha offers to interpret for Jonathan.

There were only first-class tickets left on the train, which are relatively expensive, so Masha arranged with a friend in Kyiv to help Pam with the final steps. So Pam said teary goodbyes to Stas, Natasha, Masha, the two dogs Endora and Fido-orovich, the cat Marquis, and the unnamed fish, who survived.

They arrived in Kyiv, did the first of the two-step at the embassy, then went to get medical checks. There they (we) were given some stern advice. When the boys get to the States, it will be like they had lived on another planet. They need 3+ weeks of restricted exposure to just our family and home before the rest of the community and relatives meet them. Volumes have been written on this topic, but here’s a sample: We aren’t supposed to ask them how they feel, rather we should model emotions for them. Sorry!

They then met Adrienne, Rachel (pictured below with Becca) and Susan. Here are some of Rachel’s Facebook notes:


"The activity for today was supposed to be the zoo. But we thought it would be better if we saved that for when Pam came with the boys.

This morning, Adrienne woke up early to exchange money for her mom who was arriving today. I got to sleep in. We had lunch at the apartment. We didn’t know what to do afterwards, so Mrs. H. had us go to the grocery store to buy some things. We went to a different store than the first two times. This store was in the basement level of a mall. So we walked around in the mall before going down. In the grocery store, we (but especially Adrienne) were grossed out by all the fish. They lay in front of us chopped in half. We bought cookies, cheese, and bread. By the time we were done at the mall, it was past the time Pam and the boys were supposed to be at the apartment, so we decided to head back.

When we got there, nobody was home so we decided to watch The Mighty Ducks. About half way through, Pam and the boys arrived so we stopped the movie. We went to the door to meet them. Pam introduced Adrienne as their sister and had them hug her. Valera was a little shy. They’re both so cute!

For supper, we had hamburger (but not in a normal hamburger shape), green beans, and rice. Before we ate, Pam said a prayer where everyone would repeat what she said so Valera and Sasha could participate. To get them to eat their beans and rice, they were promised ice cream for dessert. They LOVE ice cream. They were so excited to get seconds in it.

After supper, Adrienne and I played with them. It wasn’t organized, but we kind of started playing hide and seek. They ran upstairs and we couldn’t find them. I finally did and they ran away. They kept saying “cuckoo”. After chasing and tickling them upstairs for awhile, they decided to go downstairs. On the way down though, Valera tripped and hurt himself. So we had to go outside.

Outside it was easier to entertain them. We drew a hop scotch grid. But Sasha was more interested in playing with an inflatable ball. We kicked it around until I kicked it onto the roof. To get it down we tried using a broom but that didn’t work. So we put Sasha on Adrienne’s shoulders and after awhile he got it down with the broom.

Adrienne got creative and invented a baseball game with some nerf balls and rackets and chalked bases. Some neighbor boys came by and tried to sell a cell phone to Adrienne. I scared them away by taking pictures of them. I think the boys’ favorite thing to do was crawl under the van parked nearby. Once under it, they liked to have their pictures taken. When it started getting dark we wanted to go inside. Adrienne and I finished watching The Mighty Ducks. Goodbye" (Thank you, Rachel, for providing this content!)



On Friday Jonathan wasn’t feeling well, so the zoo plans got scrapped. But traffic was a *bear*, and they couldn’t park close to the place where you get to see the embassy *seals*, and they were running late, so S. carried Jonathan like a *monkey* on her back. :)

The last signature in Ukraine has dried—now that’s a milestone worth celebrating! So they said their prayers, ate ice cream without me, played foosball, and watched Finding Nemo.

Adrienne and Rachel went to see the ballet "Romeo and Juliet" at the National Opera House. As they got closer they realized they didn't have their tickets, so they called Pam. She and Sasha met them back at the metro (the subway). Pam asked Sasha if he wanted to ride. He said 'Да да да' and was so thrilled. He came back saying to the flat saying, "Я поехал на метро! Я поехал на метро! Я поехал на метро! Я поехал на метро!" In English this sounds like "I rode the metro! If I were king of the world I would ride the metro every day! Will there be a metro in heaven? Does Seward have a metro?"

Saturday Adrienne and Rachel hope to meet their Kiev Christian Academy friends again this weekend. They’ll climb the bell tower at the 1000-year-old St. Sophia’s church and act like ding-a-lings, go to a soccer game after church on Sunday and have a ball, and generally try to perfect this hookey thingy and have as much fun as they can before they fly back and start school again. Good thing there's Good Friday off. They'll need another vacation by then. O. will take the boys on a hike in the hills of Kyiv.

I will clean the house. There’s no one to ask about whether I should keep this or that, so if you don’t see it next time you visit, blame me.

Sorry about the sideways video clip. That's what boys do to your life.