Vassily got us to Bucha on time and Vlad was waiting for us outside of the Inspector’s office. We kept Andry and Olya in the van with Vassily, Jim and Cara while Pippa and I went inside with Vlad to meet the inspector. We thought we needed to keep Andry out of sight because we had been told the inspector did not know Andry was in our custody. The school director giving us permission to have Andry with us prior to the finalization of the adoption has been an incredibly wonderful opportunity and very, very unusual, we’ve been told. So unusual that it may not even be legal!
We were in the inspector’s office no more than a couple of minutes. It was anticlimactic. She only looked at one paper out of our entire inch thick dossier, punched some keys on a computer (the first one we’ve seen), smiled at us and it was time to go. She already knew our entire story AND that Andry was already with us! Outside Vlad told us he had to get some letter from her and take it to someone else. We were free for a few days at least.
Since we were already in the town where Andry’s school is we decided to stop by for a tour: Andry’s room, classroom, etc. It turns out that all the staff was busy preparing the school for a valedictorian event and asked us to come back at another time. However an administrator took Andry into her office for a short while. It turns out they needed a letter handwritten by him stating that he wanted to be adopted by us. He wrote the letter they needed. Psychologically, this was one of the most important things to Ron and me.
In the car on the way back to Kiev, Olya rolled all over Andry, pinching and pestering him as she does every single minute she is with him. Andry is unbelievably patient and loving with his sister. It’s as if they have never been apart.
Before we left Olya told Ron and me, “When Andry first comes home with us he is going to be very nice to me. Then, after a while, he’s going to tell me to get out of his room.” Ron and I told her she was probably right. We told Andry Olya’s prediction and asked if that’s what he would tell his pesky little sister. Andry said, “No, never.”
Our translator, who has been handling adoptions for over seven years, said she had never seen siblings that were separated for so long enjoy each other’s company as much as Olya and Andry do. She said in most cases when separated siblings are reunited they act as if they are strangers. These two act as if they are making up for lost time…five years. They like wearing matching shirts, eating the same foods and playing the same pranks on Ron, my parents and me.
We have started playing "telephone" in the car to keep us all occupied. Telephone is the game where one person thinks of a word or phrase and whispers it in the ear of the person next to them. This continues until the last person says what they heard. The results are always ridiculous even when everyone playing fluently speaks the same language and has perfect hearing. You can imagine what our games are like.
We stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up some sausages, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers and cherries. Olya was tired and got a piggy-back ride from her grandmother. Fortunately everyone perked up by the time we got home and helped prepare dinner. Andry sliced and cooked the sausages while Olya thoroughly scrubbed each cherry individually.
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