This morning when Olia came downstairs Dan told her that her hair looked nice in pigtails! She was highly insulted and said "I am not a pig, that's not nice!" Dan explained to her that in America, two ponytails in the back of the head are called pigtails. I had to confirm that for her. I guess we take certain phrases for granted, but if we really thought about them, we would realize that they sound funny!
Olia twisted her ankle at basketball the other night so she has been limping around the house for a few days. It seems like she is in pain because she has been walking slowly everywhere, even when she is excited to go! Today we went to my friend Deb's house to make a Valentine craft. Her two daughters are adopted from China and Olia loves to hang out with them. They are homeschooled and they have a special sweetness about them. Even though I am a public school teacher and I strongly believe in public education, I think that homeschooled children are nicer; they don't know about clicks or coolness or excluding kids. Olia and her two friends cut out plastic hearts and glittered and glammed them up with sparkles and paint! Olia was invited to her friend Liana's birthday party next weekend. The theme of the party is "children around the world." The kids are supposed to dress in authentic clothes from another country. I was so excited, I said to Olia, "Great, you can wear your traditional Ukrainian outfit." She said, "I don't want to wear that, it's not pretty, I want to wear a Chinese outfit, they are pretty." Liana is Chinese and she is wearing an Egyptian outfit. Liana's mom lent Olia a traditional Chinese outfit to wear and it is PINK!
Last night I chatted on the phone with my friend Diana; she adopted three children from the same town we adopted Olia from. Her kids are all doing really well and are speaking excellent English! I asked her if she was interested in going to the national, annual, Ukrainian gathering which is going to be held in Hershey, PA this year. She is planning to attend so my Olia and her Olya will finally get to meet in person.
I got some very disappointing news from my facilitator about Olia's friend Natasha. The orphanage has not even gone to court yet to terminate the father's parental rights. They are not planning to go to court for several months due to financial reasons. Then, there are three court hearings over a 6-8 month period before the father's rights can be terminated. If he does not show up by the third court hearing, he will lose his parental rights. The mother lost her rights a while ago. If Natasha's father loses his rights, then Natasha will be classified as an adoptable orphan. This means that only Ukrainian citizens can adopt her for the first 14 months that she is available. That never happens. Ukrainians do not adopt older orphans. Natasha will be ten years old in March. Her internat will probably go to court to begin the process at the end of the summer. Then it will be a two year wait with court hearings, etc. Natasha will not be available for international adoption for over two years........which is so sad. She will be over twelve years old by that time and very few adoptive parents will adopt orphans of that age.
