We arrived in Voronezh at 8am, and had 2 new drivers waiting for us. Everyone (10 people, plus the 2 drivers) piled into 2 cars.We were taken to and checked into the Don Hotel, across the street from the court house. We went to the room - It was like a small apartment. We went to our room and at 8:30 am we took a shower. We met for breakfast at 9:00 am. For breakfast we had French bread, cheese, meat, and "eggs" which was like an omelet. We were told to go back to our room and wait. So, we changed to camcorder battery & waited - well we both took naps, 2 hours worth.
We were waiting for Julia & Tatiana to go to the Ministry of Education to have our dossiers approved. At 2:00 pm, there was a knock at the door. It was Tatiana saying "we go now!" It was time to go to lunch, then to the orphanage. We went to a place called Gulliver's & Kevin wasn't feeling like eating, but I had a Caesar Salad and Soup.
We then went to the orphanage. First we had to meet with Alla, the orphanage director. We were called in first. On the wall, behind her desk, I spotted Marina's picture. Someone said she was "Mama's" favorite. She went over Marina's life with us. Told us that her mother abandoned her at the maternity hospital and they found her several weeks later - by chance. She did sign off her maternal rights, gave is a few stats on her father.
We then were escorted up to the room where we would meet Marina. When they told her we were there to meet her, she became very upset and started to cry. She did calm down & came to me, then Kevin. She likes waving. Kevin was leaving the room & she waved bye-bye with a big grin on her face. She would allow to be held by one and not look at the other. She would suddenly realize that she did not know us and start to cry again. She is much smaller than we thought. She wears a size 18 month clothes and these are still too big for her. She wears an infant size 4 for shoes. They had also cut her hair, very choppy and very short! We stayed with her for 30 - 45 min. taking pictures and videotape. We were asked to bring her a toy tomorrow. So we will go and buy her a doll before we go to the orphanage.
Alla, the orphanage director is a peach! The kids call her "Mama", and I can tell that Marina really loves her! One of the nannies told us that Marina is one of "mama's favorites". She described Marina in Russian, than said in English "you say Woman of Character". What was translated as "a real character girl". We also found out that Marina has Asthma, which was not on her medical report.
Julia took us out to get some money exchanged. We then went to our room and at 7:30, we were taken to supper. We had tomato and cucumber salad, Kevin had Steak and fried potato, and I had Salmon and fried potato. Plans were changed and we will leave Veronezh and spend a day in Moscow. We will fly instead of train and hopefully get a hotel there. Tatiana wants us to stay in someone's home, but I am not comfortable with that.
We both slept very well last night. Kevin woke me at 8:30am, and we needed to be at breakfast at 9. We met Lynne and Debbie in the lobby at 9. Tatiana abd Julia met us at 9:10. For breakfast, we had the typical french style toast with sliced meat and cheese. Kevin ordered scrambled eggs and for fried. I had porredge. I had a hard time getting milk for it, and one of the translators told me to put butter on it. WHen the milk finally came, it was the consistancy of slightly thinned yogurt.
After breakfast, we had to go to the court to submit our application, but the judge was "absent". We will have to come back later. We then went shopping to buy Marina a doll and 5 cases of juice boxes for the orphanage. We then headed to the orphanage. Alla was not there, so we headed right up to see Marina, but stopped to talk to the doctor first. This was when we found out that Marina has a history of asthma.
Next we were taken to a differant play room to wait for Marina. Again, she cried when she was brought to us. She went to Kevin first, and settled down a bit. She sat on his lap, looking over his shoulder into the mirror behind him, and watched me through the mirror. She would cry occassionally. SHe wanted nothing to do with the doll.
There was a slide in the room, and we tried to help her on the slide. Kevin sat on the floor at the bottom, and she went down the slide holding my hand. SHe then climbed it herself, but went down only after a lot of coaxing. The 3rd time, she would not climb it, so I picked her up and put her on the top. She would not go down. I tried to take her hand and she pulled away. She did eventually go down herself. But she didn't want to slide anymore.
We then pulled out the bubbles. It was slow at first, but she was willing to sit on Kevins lap while I blew the bubbles. After a minute or so, she started letting herself have fun with us for the first time. SHe was waving her arms in the air and popping the bubbles with Kevin. WHen Kevin said "pop", she would call out "op, op" as she popped each bubble. She was having a good time with the bubbles, so we continued with them until they came in to take her for her nap. SHe went with the caregiver, waving "bye bye" and saying "Papa, Papa" to Kevin, with a big smile on her face.
After we left Marina, we went to Alla's office to sign some papers, stating that we did indeed want to have Marina as our daughter. We then went to the hotel for lunch. Kevin had his usual beef and fried potatos. I had cucumber tomato salad, crab salad, and chicken noodle soup. After lunch, we went to the court house. We were told to stay put, so we sat on the bench while Julia ran around. We left with an estimated court date of April 15th.
We then went to the hotel to pack our bags, checked out, and headed to the Ministry of Education. We were asked if we had seen Marina, and if after seeing her, if we still wanted her. Of course we said yes. Can you imagine being in a delivery room, being shown your new baby for the first time, and have the doctor ask if you still want this baby? Well, we had more papers to sign, then headed to the airport for a flight back to Moscow.
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