10 endless days

Some of the darling kids we wish we could take home!!

We had hoped to have our ten day waiting period waived or shortened, but that didn't happen so we are very glad we registered Misha at the embassy when we first got here so that we will not have a problem getting him out of the country. Even though he is legally ours, the court gives 10 days for anyone to appeal the decision, and it starts from the day of court. Sometimes the child is allowed to stay with the parents after court, but our camp director is not going to go for this. We will be able to take him on the 24th, but we may not because we have to take a train to the opposite side of Ukraine to change his birth certificate in the city where he was born. Right now we are not far from the russian border and Moscow, but we will travel down to his region that borders Checkoslavakia and Romania. All three countries actually converge into the same city.

The train ride can be 24 hours there, and we are planning to just stay for the afternoon and head back so I think we will not make Misha go with us. He returns to the Internat on the 24th so he will have a couple days to spend with his room mother and other teachers. We hopt to go pick him up on the 28th, Misha's birthday, and take him forever. We have to apply for his passport in Sumy before we head back to Kiev for his visa, and a mandatory health check up requred by the American Embassy. We had a little incident at the camp, we attended a competition at the camp auditorium and then were handing out pictures that we had developed of the kids and we had a small group of younger children surrounding us, Misha took off for his soccer game. After about 20 minutes Misha, all the kids that we had been talking to and us were called back into a very serious meeting with the Director. Someone had stolen a cell phone from the deejay after the competition and she was sure it was either Misha or one of the kids we were talking to. We explained through our translator that Misha never went by the stage and neither did any of the kids we were talking to, but she was not convinced. She had at least 100 kids leave the room right before us, but she was convinced it had something to do with us. She just grilled and grilled the kids while we sat there. She had to know this was mortifying to Misha. She told the kids that the police would be called and they would be punished. They cancelled disco camp for the night as well as any other fun activities. It was an extremely uncomfortable situation and we couldn't figure out what her agenda was, but we are kind of at her mercy to see Misha everyday, so there is not much we can do. Yesterday we went back to the orphanage to formally give our donation to the orphanage. They let you choose how it is spent but they give suggestions on how they would like it spent. Two boys that are in Misha's grade stole some welding equipment and were going to have to go to jail for a year if they couldn't pay the fine so a large amount is going to this payment. The boys are at the same camp with us so we have to go talk to them today and explain what we did for them, and how their actions affected the orphanage. They hope that our talking with them will help teach them a lesson. Part of the money also went to help some kids go into Kiev for treatment for TB, only a small ammount was left over for Misha's class. We are heading back to the orphanage today to take some candy and gifts to the kids that are still there. At the camp, basketball is still the game the boys most want to play. They grab Kent as soon as we get there. He's playing about four hours of serious sports everyday, so he's going to come back a lot skinnier! Everyday we take a different American treat for the kids. Kent brought over a whole suitcase of American junkfood. The kids have had a blast with cheese whiz the last couple of days. I don't even think they like the way it tastes, but they have so much fun spraying it. The kids here are amazing at sharing. Everything they receive is shared, including phones and electronics, which explains why the boys never have working phones!!