April 4, 2003..train ride back to Kyiv

Kyiv bound!

Clarke:

Morning comes and Natalie has slept well. She takes 5 minutes to wake up, but has a smile on her face! We are reveling in our first successful night! Breakfast is an incredible  treat for us! We are overjoyed at watching her savor each morsel of food. Natalie is happy, cheerful, and even playful. We have a little secret sign when we are having fun. One  of us will stick out a “rolled tongue” at each other and at the other will correspond. We were doing this to each other in her way of being teasing and coy when all of a sudden a light switch was turned off! We were scared she was going to be sick, but she just sat there for about 7 minutes like she was in a comma. She must have just has a little gas and didn’t know what it was. All the orphanage food is normally very very bland! (We know form the experience) 

Sasha has arrived, so we take care of our errands. We have bought more time for the cell phone, train tickets, gifts for the orphanage, arranged out Tuesday Embassy meeting and eaten “dinner” it is such a joy, maybe I’ve overused that word! It is so refreshing to see a 3 year old gobble up soup and enjoy it! Again, she eats until she is about to burst and we have to pull her from the table. Thank goodness she hasn’t had to go “peeza’ this morning for the public restrooms are squat holes!

Sweet Luba

Faces that will haunt me forever...the ones left behind

We have succeeded in booking our Warsaw flight, Doctor appointment in Warsaw and the 2^nd US embassy appointment. All of the puzzle pieces are in place except for our trip home from Warsaw. We may be home in 6 days from now! We are thrilled! Our goodbyes with Nikoli and Nadia are heart felt. Even more special is our goodbyes with Sasha. He has bought us candy for going away present. He is a soft and wonderful man, as he stands outside our cabin window waving till the train rolls by. It was just like a movie! The countryside here is absolutely depressing and bleak. The trees without their leaves do not help it any; mud everywhere, and dense haze. Limiting our visibility to about ½ mile.

Inside our cabin though, the sunshine is bright. Natalie communicates with her many exuberant faces. She can smile with just her eyes, her mouth and cheeks, or her whole face can light up. Most of the time she is impressing content to play with all of her newly gained possessions; putting them in bags or back into her backpack. We had a good snack at our 4:00 pm departure, but now it is nearly 6:30 and time for “Supper’ of cold cuts and yogurt!

Kooshight- to eat

Natalie's face filled with glee!

Look who is having fun

Natalie was trying to figure out if she was in trouble or not

Kris:

Our final day in Lugansk, what a great day! Natalie is being so good! She woke up with a smile on her face at 7:00a.m. Right to business and she wanted to get dressed! Very organized and business like!  And then, time to start playing. She spent 2 hours to organizing her things. Clarke and I showered and started to pack up. Sasha picked us up at 9:30. We went to buy a phone card for Inna, train tickets and headed to the open market. We wanted to buy another dress, tights and a small backpack for Natalie to carry het items. We also bought dolls and trucks for her groupa. We drove to the orphanage to deliver the gifts. We also bought the groupa a soccer ball. When we arrived at the orphanage, her groupa was headed outside to play. We caught them and presented them with their presents; they were all so happy! 

After the orphanage we ate at Sasha’s favorite café (again for the 20^th time) Natalie had borscht, bread, tomato & cucumber salad and potato perogie. What a good eater!

The afternoon we spent finishing up packing. We got on the train at 3:45 and Sasha wished us a good bye! It was so bittersweet! He even bought Natalie and diary for her to write in and some candy bars. We are on the train right now… it is 6:20. Natalie is being very good and it is time for dinner.