May 16, 2008

We say good bye to Alyona, Kristina and Victor

Today was a very difficult day.   We were picked up by Mariya, Svetlana and Sasha and taken to complete more documents.  We signed so many documents today it reminded us of buying our house.  Svetlana explained to us the timelines and how the legal process will work.  After our court day yesterday there is a 15 day waiting period.  This is in place to allow us to back out of our decision to adopt.  Obviously this will not happen but it is part of their law.   Kristina and Victors documents for name change, passport and visas to leave Kaz and enter America have to be prepared.   There is a ton of paperwork and it is all in Russian and we are thankful and trust Svetlana and Mariya to guide us through this maze.  After signing the documents and getting them notarized we went to say goodbye to Alyona.

This was very difficult.   We have grown to love this girl and she us.  We know of her reasons to stay and we respect them but wish she was coming with us.   We promised to stay in touch with her and have Victor and Kristina call her regularly.   We got her a cell phone so we can call her.   This will allow us to stay in touch, keep Victor’s Russian language skills and follow Alyona as she grows up.   She will not be able to come visit us until she is 18.   We hope to make this happen in 2 years.  After a tearful good bye to Alyona, her friends and the caregivers at the regional boarding school we got back in the car and traveled the 45 minutes to see Victor and Kristina at the orphanage in Poludino.

When we arrived, Kristina’s group was just coming in from playing outside.   She saw us and immediately flashed that beautiful smile and ran up to us and gave us hugs and kisses.  We presented school supplies to her group and they all laughed at us as we spoke English.   They thought this was very funny.  They were all so cute.  We said good bye and they all yelled “ spa cee ba”  thank you and “dasvidanya” good bye.  We then went in search of Victor.  Kristina went with us and did not want me to put her down.  This little angel had me wrapped around her tiny little fingers from the day I met her and she knows it.  She is so cute.  We found Victor and got another huge smile with hugs and kisses.   He is such a handsome boy.  We then did the same with Victor’s group.  We presented some school supplies and thank you’s to the caregivers and said good bye.

We took Victor and Kristina to one of the playrooms to explain what happened and what will happen in the next couple of weeks.   We first gave them bananas, juice and candy.  Kristina would not be happy with us if we did not bring her bananas.  While they were having the snacks we explained that the court made it official that they were now our children.  Kristina was more concerned with the snacks but Victor watched and listened very carefully.   He asked about Alyona and we told him she decided to stay in Kaz.  He told us she informed him and Kristina of her decision during sibling reunion day and that it was because their aunt might have cancer and she is staying to help their family.  We told him we would call her often and send her pictures so we could stay in touch.  He told us he asked her if she would come visit them and she promised she would.   He said he heard that he would soon learn English and forget how to speak Russian and is worried he will not be able to talk with Alyona.  We tried to reassure him as best we could that we will do everything we can to make sure he can communicate with Alyona.  We then told them we were going to America on Sunday to prepare out house for their arrival and in a couple of weeks they would travel in the airplane to come to their new home.   He said yes I know it will be June 9th.   We are not sure how he found out this date but based on our timelines if all goes well it is pretty accurate (to Almaty and then a few more days to America).  He seemed OK with everything but both would have left with us today if they could.  We talked a little more and then took some more pictures.   He said he wants pictures of us on the walls at our house.   We smiled and said we would definitely have pictures of all of us on the walls.

It was now time for us to say good bye to our new children.   We gave many hugs and kisses and good byes and dasvidanya and we headed back to Petropavlovsk.  It was very difficult to leave them knowing we will not see them again for almost a month.  We wanted to scoop them up and take them with us.

We made the 45 minute drive back to Petro.   Julie and I reminisced about our first trips back on forth to the orphanage on this drive.   It was cold, we could see ice and snow on the beautiful wheat fields and birch forest were bare from winter.   Our trip today had newly plowed fields and the trees and everything else were green as spring had finally arrived. 

It was hard saying good bye to everyone, especially Alyona.   We know we will see Victor and Kristina in a couple of weeks.   We have grown to know and love Alyona and will miss her very much.

The Hrenko Family

Adoption Journey to Kazakhstan

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