Saturday, April 3 - Bonding Day #9 - Good visit with Kirill this morning. Each day after John and I unlock the bonding room, hang up our coats, and put on our indoor shoes (our crocks), we walk down to the end of the long hall where Kirill stays, open the door and all the children call out Kirill’s name. Today he was standing just a couple of feet from the door waiting on us. Kirill is a bit more reserved than most of the boys (and little girls) in his group and I’m glad. As we learn more of what he has experienced in his short little life, we are blown away with how his heart is still soft and willing to trust.
This is the morning that we presented gifts to Svettslana, our son’s doctor. These were small purses, perfumes, ect. that I purchased in Sept. 08 for our first trip which have sat in bags on our dining room floor for 20 months! I hope that they serve as an expression to these workers of how much their love and care for these children is appreciated. They do work very hard. The gifts will be given out at a later time to the workers at the baby house. (The other 3 families from Children at Heart Agency presented their gifts 2 days ago so I guess this week may feel like Christmas at the baby house.) Svettslana was very gracious in receiving our gifts and then proceeded to tell us (through Zhanat’s translation) the most precious words we’ve heard since we have been here. While checking on another child in Kirill’s group, she overheard him tell his friends, “I was lost but now I am found. I will be here with you a little longer and then I will go and live with my family.” Wow, we can’t ask for anything better than that from a child who has known us for only 9 days.
Lunch was at the Turkish Ankara Café (Ligmon soup) with the American families, followed by a visit to the Net Café to check our e-mails and re-write previous 2 posts which were stuck inside of John’s uncooperative computer. Thank you, thank you for all your e-mails /comments – our main connection with the real world.
Our afternoon visit with Kirill was cut short since Gulnara wanted to meet with us and Zhanat was not able to stay with us after 6pm. We were presented an Easter Cake by the other group’s translator. It looks like a giant cupcake with white icing and sprinkles. (John said it tastes like a piece of bread with icing, not so much like cake.) After parting with Zhanat, we headed to Helen’s apartment (along with Gulnara) . Helen had been a translator for a previous Night Light family and was very kind to have us over. Like the apartment that John and I are in, the exterior building and the stairway leading up to their apartment were not so pleasing to the eye, more on the scary side. Yet Helen (and her husband, Seragei) have a nice 2 bedroom apartment. Lasagna and salad and instant decaf coffee never tasted so good!
Gulnara had spent the day with Iger back in Timmertow and learned much more about Kirill’s past. Gulnara was able to visit the place that Kirill was found last July (a quarry worksite where he and his mother were living in an abandoned train car). She was able to obtain a more updated address of where Kirill’s mother and boyfriend lived after he was abandoned at the quarry. Gulnara went to this apartment and actually talked with the new tenant who had saved a bag of clothes and papers (including Kirill’s clothes) that Kirill’s mother left in February when she and her boyfriend were kicked out of that apartment for not paying rent. She was able to talk with the boyfriend’s mother who has not seen either her son or Kirill’s mother since February. She was able to talk with the policewoman who wrote the report of finding Kirill and who is very interested in helping Gulnara locate the mother in order to obtain a release for Kirill. It was a busy day for Gulnara and it seems that the momentum is building to complete everything we will need to have success in court. Praying, praying that this mother, who has made no attempts to see her son, after a police officer told her where he was being cared for, will allow us to care for him and for him to be a part of our family.
This is the morning that we presented gifts to Svettslana, our son’s doctor. These were small purses, perfumes, ect. that I purchased in Sept. 08 for our first trip which have sat in bags on our dining room floor for 20 months! I hope that they serve as an expression to these workers of how much their love and care for these children is appreciated. They do work very hard. The gifts will be given out at a later time to the workers at the baby house. (The other 3 families from Children at Heart Agency presented their gifts 2 days ago so I guess this week may feel like Christmas at the baby house.) Svettslana was very gracious in receiving our gifts and then proceeded to tell us (through Zhanat’s translation) the most precious words we’ve heard since we have been here. While checking on another child in Kirill’s group, she overheard him tell his friends, “I was lost but now I am found. I will be here with you a little longer and then I will go and live with my family.” Wow, we can’t ask for anything better than that from a child who has known us for only 9 days.
Lunch was at the Turkish Ankara Café (Ligmon soup) with the American families, followed by a visit to the Net Café to check our e-mails and re-write previous 2 posts which were stuck inside of John’s uncooperative computer. Thank you, thank you for all your e-mails /comments – our main connection with the real world.
Our afternoon visit with Kirill was cut short since Gulnara wanted to meet with us and Zhanat was not able to stay with us after 6pm. We were presented an Easter Cake by the other group’s translator. It looks like a giant cupcake with white icing and sprinkles. (John said it tastes like a piece of bread with icing, not so much like cake.) After parting with Zhanat, we headed to Helen’s apartment (along with Gulnara) . Helen had been a translator for a previous Night Light family and was very kind to have us over. Like the apartment that John and I are in, the exterior building and the stairway leading up to their apartment were not so pleasing to the eye, more on the scary side. Yet Helen (and her husband, Seragei) have a nice 2 bedroom apartment. Lasagna and salad and instant decaf coffee never tasted so good!
Gulnara had spent the day with Iger back in Timmertow and learned much more about Kirill’s past. Gulnara was able to visit the place that Kirill was found last July (a quarry worksite where he and his mother were living in an abandoned train car). She was able to obtain a more updated address of where Kirill’s mother and boyfriend lived after he was abandoned at the quarry. Gulnara went to this apartment and actually talked with the new tenant who had saved a bag of clothes and papers (including Kirill’s clothes) that Kirill’s mother left in February when she and her boyfriend were kicked out of that apartment for not paying rent. She was able to talk with the boyfriend’s mother who has not seen either her son or Kirill’s mother since February. She was able to talk with the policewoman who wrote the report of finding Kirill and who is very interested in helping Gulnara locate the mother in order to obtain a release for Kirill. It was a busy day for Gulnara and it seems that the momentum is building to complete everything we will need to have success in court. Praying, praying that this mother, who has made no attempts to see her son, after a police officer told her where he was being cared for, will allow us to care for him and for him to be a part of our family.
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