Night on the town

January 4, 2007

Whoa! a lot has been going on since our last post. I remember Nichols telling me that trying to get home is like "The Great Escape." Dude, we've been right in the thick of it. We've been trying all week to get our visa to bring Dasha home. Monday and Tuesday were a loss because of the holiday. Wednesday was a loss because we we didn't realize that our daily window of opportunity was only from 10-12. So we finally got in yesterday. We all went. I was thinking what a wonderful opportunity this would for our kids to visit a US Embassy. Well, let's just say they were not impressed. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that there iPods were taken at the door. This was an integral part of my plan. We were now on our own to keep them occupied.

We got to our window and turned over what we had been given in exchange for a few forms to fill out. So I took on the task of working through the forms. The kids did what kids do - fidget and squirm and try to find something to do. We met another couple there (as you always do) from another state (Delaware in this case) also adopting. We exchanged our stories and it was a genuine pleasure. About half way through this process and a lady appears and tells us that our I-600 form had expired and that we would not be abel to get a visa. Oh my. It was a flagrant violation of our team rules and I thought I would have to sit the lady on the bench or through a flag or something. We had given her the form that our government had given us, but alas the electronic version of that form had not shown up (over a month later). Frustrating does not even begin to describe the feeling.

The kids said that the couple we met both gasped when she told us that. They began praying for us right then. We turned in what we could a paid the fee and hoped for the best. After we left, we immediately began to scramble to find out who dropped the ball on this one. Like Louis from the movie Casablanca, I already had a list of the usual suspects in my head. Fast forward to this morning and I have just learned that we will be receiving our visa this morning. I know that I've not described this event in a whole lot of detail, but I want to save some of your attention span for what we did last night.

So there are these orphan graduates here - Katya and Sonya. Some of you know them very well. Such sweet girls with so much potential. They are an absolute hoot! We spent some time with them over at the Casa de Underwood the other night and it was a lot of fun. They are helping out with the Music Mission Kiev. This is a group of people - Ukrainians and Canadians in this case - that hold concerts from time to time. These girls are helping with the translating for the Canadians. We had been interested in attending one of their performances and so the girls were able to get us some tickets. - the circus meets the symphony. Seven children, four parents and two orphanage graduates - the circus meets the symphony.

Our seats were (wisely) in the balcony and we were not really dressed for the occasion. But hey, when else could you do something like this? Our seats were not all together and so we had to choose which defensive scheme to run. This did not set well with some of the children - Ukrainians in particular, but after a little drama we ran the play. The program was both choral and instrumental. It was really nice. Our balcony seats also were not elevated so those of us not on the front row could not see the action downstairs.

Now you can imagine what kind of people attend such an event. Needless to say, there were not many families which multitudes of children. If you've ever been to a symphony concert you know what to expect. You will find some high brow folk well dressed and all proper. The good news is that most of those people had better seats at locations other than ours. However, across the way, I spied an older gentleman and his wife. Obviously not people of wealth, but those two were in the "groove," as it was. He looked like a kid listening to a lullaby and she looked like she was in prayer (and I think she might have been). Both of them looked so content - smiling and swaying - and I just sat there and wondered what there lives were like. I too enjoy "freshly prepared" music. Something about it makes me breath better. But a lot of my pleasure this night came from observing these two.

Our elder daughter did not quite fancy the event at first. She was very clear about her distaste for such events. But beside the couple which I was observing I noticed her. She had made her way to the edge of the balcony where she could see. She had wedged herself between two columns and was just watching intently. By the third or fourth song, she was actually clapping after the performances. I'm sure that her level of satisfaction with the performance was not even close to the couple I was watching, but hey, when was the last time she had a chance to attend such an event. By the end, she had taken the camera and was snapping up photos right and left. Not sure if that was a response to boredom or a genuine attempt to capture the moment.

So, we wrapped up and made it back to our flat. Ande made a pizza run and we finished it up with some Orange Fanta - what a night! BTW, not sure if Ande said anything about it over at his blog, but he had wanted a pepperoni pizza. What we ended up with was a pizza with pepper "on it." It was really good, though.

Continue to pray for us as we are trying to wrap things up and head home.

Love you guys,

The Graces