Christmas in June

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just KNOW it's going to be a wonderful day full of joy and blessings? You feel the anticipation like it's Christmas and you wonder what the 'big' gift is going to be? Well, that's how I felt when I woke up on Thursday. We had been praying that our Interpol clearance would arrive so that we could have court on Friday. Court had already been postponed once. We were SO hoping it would not be delayed again. We want to come home. Jon's mom will need to head home to care for our nephews and we are PRAYING that we'll be home before she needs to leave. If court was postponed again, that hope would pretty much disappear.

I was getting ready for our morning visit with Vera when our phone rang. It was Missy wanting to arrange a lunch get together. Oh my...I can't even tell you how much that thrilled me! Really. It honestly seems like we've known them for years and we are so blessed to be here with them. I love how adoption seems to instantly bond people for life. I was SO thankful for this gift of getting to have lunch, not only with other Americans, but with a WOMAN! We left the apartment and I was on cloud nine. I knew our visit with Vera was going to be great and it mostly was.

When we arrived at the baby home on Thursday, Vera's group was already outside. Have I told you that she doesn't cry when we arrive anymore? She hasn't done that in over a week. No matter where her group is or what they're doing. She smiles and happily leaves her group and leads us elsewhere. Another gift from God.

Vera led us over to where these little concrete boat things are and we sat down and had our snack. I don't think she's ever been allowed to climb on these. While we were here, the Housers came walking over. They were at the baby home meeting their little one for the very first time. I knew they were there because we had seen the inspector and the director together go into an office. I told Jon, "That's gotta be the Housers in there!" Oh, more excitement. An American family HERE at Vera's orphanage! We just waved a hello, but I'm sure we'll be talking more with them in the very near future.

Vera loves to pick any kind of fruit and eat it, whether it's ripe or not. I think we've stopped her from eating these small, green peach looking things, but she still loves to pick them and smell them. She smells EVERYTHING! We wonder if it's because she can't see well. But everything in her hands goes right to her nose...food, leaves, wipes, books, paper, toys. Everything.
There are lots and lots of cherry trees here. Most of the cherries are red, but they are sour, sour, sour. Still Vera loves to eat them. She even knows to spit the seed out.
When it was finally time to head upstairs, Vera came mostly willingly. We got to her door and it was locked. No problem. No panic. No tears. We just hung out there until her group came. We knew they'd be coming in for lunch any minute. So Vera got the brush and did my hair.
We left the orphanage and had a delightful lunch with the Kruliks. Have I told you how much I enjoy spending time with them? When we spoke after our morning visit to confirm where to meet for lunch, Missy told me that their clearance had come. She asked if I had spoken with Sasha yet and I hadn't. Missy said no more and I was thinking, "Oh, she already knows that our clearance didn't come and she doesn't want to tell me." But when we got to the restaurant, she told me that our clearance DID arrive. Praise the Lord!

Sasha was with us for most of our afternoon visit on Thursday. We left Vera to her own devices (picking and eating who knows how many sour cherries) while Sasha prepped us for court. Then Vera came over and asked Sasha a question...I can't remember what it was but it had to do with home. We got out the photo album and went through every picture. Vera had many, many questions that she hasn't been able to ask Jon and I. Well, she can ask but we don't understand. So, Vera's questions included...

Will we let her play outside? Will we let her bathe herself and wash her own hair? We got to the pictures of the school room and Vera asked what's outside the door. So we flipped to the picture of the boys bathroom and it was right next to the picture of Abbi's bathroom. (Soon to be Abbi AND Vera's bathroom.) She saw the cabinet above the toilet and wanted to know what's inside. I told her hairbrushes and hair things (like rubberbands). She asked if the hair things are for her. And she was very happy when I replied positively. With a great big smile the Princess asked if there are also bracelets and necklaces in there for her. :) Vera had many questions about her bedroom. Toby (the dog) is in a few of the pictures of her room and she wanted to make sure that the dog has his own room and she's not sharing her room with him. So funny! She saw the dollhouse in her room and asked if there are dolls to go with it. She asked how to open the doors on the dollhouse. She also asked if there are hair accessories in the dollhouse for her. :) She was very excited about the books in her room. She's an Evans alright! She asked what's in her dresser. She asked what's in her closet. I answered all of these questions and then Vera asked about gloves. Do we have winter gloves for her? We told her 'no' but when winter comes, we'll get some for her. Her response..."How can I play in the snow without gloves?" You just gotta love this girl. Then she was concerned about a winter coat. Again, we assured her that when winter arrives, she will have everything she needs. Then she was concerned about Jacob, Caleb and Abbi not having winter coats. But she kept going back to the gloves. Why don't we have gloves for her? (Sasha told us that Vera was being harder on us than the judge would be.) Vera wanted to know what shoes she'll wear when she leaves the orphanage. She wanted to know if Jacob, Caleb and Abbi will try to take her things. She's worried that the kids won't love her. We told her they love her SO MUCH already and are so excited to meet her. Then she asked what they will buy for her. We got to the bedroom pictures and Vera pointed to Abbi's room and said, "I want to sleep in there!" Sasha explained our bedroom and Vera said, "You mean they want to sleep TOGETHER?!" Vera is always very concerned about Caleb's glasses in the photos. She asked if Jacob has lost all of his teeth. She was looking at his picture and pointed to his watch (what is it with her and watches?). She kissed Jacob's picture and said she loves him already and when she meets him she will kiss him on both cheeks. She also asked HOW Jacob, Caleb and Abbi are her brothers and sister. A very good question. How do you explain it to a 6 year old?

We also learned that Vera wants to be a teacher and work with children. She would not have the opportunity to fulfill this dream if she stayed here. If Jon and I were not here, Vera would most likely be in an adult mental institution already, where she would literally do nothing all day, every day. She has no future here. I worry about taking her to Kiev. I've read stories of families who were there recently finishing up their paperwork at the embassy and the responses they get from locals about adopting disabled kids. "Why don't you take two healthy children and leave this one here to die?" That's pretty much the attitude here. I worry that people will be impatient with Vera's slow walking and I hope that she'll compliantly sit in the stroller.

Anyway, Vera was finally out of questions. And with that, she closed the album and declared, "Okay. I'm ready to go on the plane now. I'm ready to go home." And that was our big gift of the day! A HUGE answer to prayer! I'm sure it will still be beyond difficult for her to leave the only home she's ever known. But we are very thankful for all the time we've been able to spend with her and that she is beginning to trust us. Please continue to pray that God would be preparing her to leave the orphanage and come with us. Pray that her heart and mind are at peace. Pray that Vera continues to look forward to coming home with us. Sasha was SO encouraged to hear Vera asking these questions and accepting the answers with smiles and nods.

Then it was time to take Vera to her group. Jon was swinging her up and around in the hallway and Vera called to me to watch. It was the third time that she has sought me out to see what she's doing. My heart melts a little every time I hear her call me Mama. It's hard to believe it's been less than two weeks since we met her. It's so obvious that she belongs with us. I miss her when she's not with us. I think I hear her voice when we go places. It's probably hard for some of you to understand this, but I love Vera as much as if I gave birth to her. There's no doubt that she's my daughter. We are so thankful for Vera and that OUR family gets to keep her!