Last night we all went to a graduation party for our friend's son. He just graduated from college. Dasha and Olia wore summer dresses and put on sandals with little heels. Olia wore one of her silver necklaces and she let Dasha pick one to wear. The girls looked so cute. They were both excited to go to the party. Olia has been to a few graduation parties with us, but I don't think Dasha ever went to a graduation party. There were probably close to a hundred people at the party. They live on a cul du sac and all of their neighbors were at the party. Olia and Dasha met two sweet little girls and they played together all evening. There were also several boys between the ages of 9 and 12 and the girls spent lots of time tormenting them, but it was obvious that the boys liked being tormented. They all ran around and giggled and laughed all night. Everyone made a big deal out of Olia because most of my friends have older kids and Olia is a novelty to them. The two girls that Olia and Dasha met were ages 9 and 11. They all exchanged phone numbers and email addresses. We live in the same township so they were all planning to get together again. I thought Olia and Dasha would be bored and want to leave after they ate, but they had a great time and didn't want to leave at 11:00 p.m.
Today Dan and Olia and Dasha got up at 6:00 a.m. and left for a road trip to meet Dan's brother and his wife at a "train watching" spot. Dan packed the car the day before and put in pillows and blankets. The girls slept in the car for a few hours. They spent a few hours watching trains and then Dan and the girls were going to Dan's father's house to spend the night. They will be back home tomorrow afternoon. Dasha has a dentist appointment so they have to come back tomorrow. Olia called me and told me that she wrote a story while riding and will read it to me when she gets home. She told me that she and Dasha are having a lot of fun. Dan took them to the Dollar Store and they bought stickers.
After Dasha's dentist appointment tomorrow, Dan is taking the girls camping for two nights. My niece is at the beach for senior week so Dan has to watch the girls. He asked them if they wanted to go camping and they both were really excited. So they will pack up their supplies tomorrow late afternoon and then take off. One of my friends is coming over in the early afternoon to see Olia and to meet Dasha. Dasha is just like Olia in the sense that she is always ready to "go." I sometimes ask her if she wants to just stay at our house with me, but she always wants to go. I think she wants to experience as much as she can while she is in the U.S. Last night I watched Olia and Dasha running around and laughing. It is just so sad that this isn't the life that Dasha normally lives. I am hoping that my friends adopt Dasha so that she has a chance to live in a loving family and have a good life. Every child deserves a family
On Sat. morning I took Olia and Dasha to the swimmming supply shop to get new goggles. They both chose lime green goggles! The goggles were expensive, but they fit snugly and don't fog up. When Dasha put hers on at home, Olia gave her a big smile and told her that they looked great. They are both skinny so they look like "flies" with their goggles on.
Dasha's friend Lianna's host family called today to ask if their host daughter could chat with Dasha. I told them that we had tried to call them several times, but it was difficult to understand the telephone number they left on our answering machine. I had tried several different numbers. I asked the host family where they lived so that the girls could play together. They live in Colorado so that won't work for getting together! I told them that Dasha could call when she gets back tomorrow. That host family is planning to adopt Lianna.
I am happy that another orphan has found a family to love her.
