Friday November 16, 2007

Today I decided whether or not to go running. I told Natalie, our translator, that if I waited until all the lights are green before going into town, I’d never go. After I was out the door, I some-what regretted my remarks and wished I had come up with another saying such as “let common sense govern your actions”. I wouldn’t dare suck up my pride at this point – I knew I was committed, and remembered my runs in Rexburg, ID in sub-zero temperatures (Fahrenheit) or windy blizzards of snow, and plugged ahead. It was probably 2-5 degrees (?37-42 Fahrenheit) with the rain coming down in a generous manner. It wasn’t the rain so much that caused my consternation on my run, but the slush produced with the mixture of the existing snow and new falling rain. After about 1 km of running I had my first fall on some hard-packed ice underneath. At this point, my shoes were pretty much soaked so I gave up on trying to pick shallow patches of slush to place my feet with each stride. There seemed to be a bit of new found freedom as I moshed my way through the rest of my run, not really caring if the slush was 1” deep or 4” deep with each stride.


Shoe Repair Shop - After Morning Rain Storm



Truck on our Street After Morning Rain Storm


Picture of "Taxi/Bus" - Most Common Form of Transportation We Used



This afternoon we went to the orphanage to officially take custody of Roman. Vladimir, our facilitator, had earlier received the court papers officially stamped, granting legal custody of the children to us, after our obligatory 10 day waiting period. After signing the papers, Natalie informed us we needed to go to Nadia’s technical school and sign similar papers. Having previously committed to playing basket ball with the children at 3:00 pm, I was able to sign ahead and just send Cheryl along to complete the process with Natalie at the technical school.

Roman’s music teacher, Serge Mehilovich, organized the basketball match. He said he usually plays with the 7th graders (Roman’s grade) and asked if I would stand in for him. I told him I would be happy to play with Roman’s team, yet I was not a very good basketball player. Serge took over as the referee. The first game was the 7th graders against the 9th graders. We won with an ending score of about 16 – 12. I think I scored 8-10 points by playing center. The 9th graders then played the 8th graders and spanked them – with the 8th graders only scoring a few points. We then played the 8th graders and were up by about 14 points. Serge let me sit out due to my apparent exhaustion with sweat profusely running down my face. The 8th graders got hot and got within 4 points. I came back in the game and was absolutely no help to the team. The 8th graders ended up beating us by about 6-8 points.

I’ll have to say at this point, my experience in playing basketball was unique. I’ve never seen so many turnovers and misplaced passes in my entire life. The basketball was passed more like a rugby ball with the physical contact also resembling a rugby match. I felt fortunate that I had one of the two-three fouls called on my behalf, for the entire three games of play. At one point, I had a break-away shot. To prevent the scoring attempt, one of the 8th graders grabbed me in a bear-hug fashion, which prevented not only the points, but the attempted shot. I think Roman will fit well into Church ball when he comes to America.


BYU vz U of U - Ukranian Style



Roman Playing Basket Ball


Calvin Playing Basket Ball


After the basketball match, Cheryl, Natalie and Vladimir came back to the orphanage to pick up Roman and me. Roman gathered some of his clothing and what few possessions he had in a very non emotional manner. Cheryl said “nyet” to some of the clothes. While Roman was packing and talking to his friends, Vladimir showed us two Ukrainian passports – one for Roman and one for Nadia. We were extremely pleased to see these, knowing this was the last step of the adoption process we needed to complete while in Sumy. As we were able to receive passports for both Roman and Nadia, we would be leaving Sumy early Monday morning to go to Kiev to complete the last leg of our adoption process.

It was a sobering event pulling away from the orphanage, knowing Roman would never spend another night in his dormitory. He no longer will have any formal connections to the orphanage – no more classroom instructions, lessons in Ukraine, or football games with his friends, and that all his earthly possessions he owned fit into a shopping bag which sat inside the trunk of Vladimir’s car.

All six of us (except Nadia, who was at a school dance) went and had pizza at the Underground pizza café in Sumy. After dinner, we had Vladimir drive us over to the technical school where we could go see Nadia at the school disco/dance. Previously, we had asked her if we could come see her at the dance. She told us “yes”, but was quite embarrassed, as ANY teenager would be, when her parents showed up to their school dance. After a while, she warmed up and we were able to take pictures with her and many of her friends she would not be seeing for the indefinite future.


Nadia and Friends



Nadia and Friends



Nadia and Friends


Nadia With One Of Her Best Friends