Our First Meeting

This morning we met the girls for the first time.  They are delightful.


First we had a brief meeting at the local Education Ministry office to sign some documents, and then we were driven to the orphanage in a nearby town.  The caregivers brought us to a large, colorful room with toys and activities for children, and then the girls were brought in.  N, the older one, was smiling and looking around at us and the other adults in the room, having been told ahead of time that the parents she's been waiting for were coming to meet her.  Her younger sister A was a bit more reserved, but still came to us when beckoned.  We played with the girls by ourselves for a while among a colorful ball pit in the room, blowing bubbles, looking at books, and presenting them with a pair of teddy bears we brought for them.


We learned that N is the oldest child in the orphanage, and her sister A is the youngest.  N is a great helper at the orphanage, and not only looks out for her younger sister but also helps take care of the other younger children.  By this time, typically a child at N's age would be moved to another orphanage for older children, but in this case she has remained at this orphanage to be with her sister.  


We heard N tell and act out Russian children's stories with toys, and share rhymes she's learned from the caregivers there.  While she was doing this, we were holding A in our arms and showing her a book with various animals with fur patches for her to touch while she looked at the pictures.  After playing with a particular toy, N would put everything back in its place just as it was before.  One thing that was interesting to watch: she had taken out a set of ten stackable cubes and had stacked them up.  Then, we showed her a new set of ten stackable plastic cups of about the same size that we had brought with us.  Without hesitation or direction, once she unpacked the cups and saw that there were ten of them, she immediately began pairing them up: the largest cube and cup next to each other, then the next largest cube and cup next to each other, and so on all the way down.  She seems very organized!  


During our visit, N pretty much had a smile on her face the whole time, while A watched what was happening or played in either my lap or Linda's.  A was quiet but seemed content to be with us, initially watching her older sister when she wasn't sure what to think about us.  By the end, A was smiling back at me when I smiled at her.


When it came time for the girls to have their lunch, we said goodbye until tomorrow afternoon, when we will return to see them again.  They both hugged us (A seemed a bit reluctant to leave Linda and just kept hugging her until her sister N came to get her) and then left with the caregivers, holding the teddy bears we gave them.


We then spent over an hour with the assistant director of the orphanage, going over their medical and family history, and learning about their routines at the orphanage.  Our plan is to try to let them adjust as gradually as we reasonably can to help them transition from their institutional life to that of our home.  


One thing that deeply impressed us was the quality of the care that the girls have been receiving at this orphanage, and the quality of the staff members that we spoke to.  The assistant director was fantastic and clearly cares a great deal about the children there, and she was very knowledgeable about the girls.  One of the caregivers with us in the room with the girls described her work with the girls as "art therapy", where they teach the children to tell stories with toys and puppets, and thereby help them develop their speech and communication skills.  We saw other evidence of good care of the children; everything was clean and bright, there were plenty of staff around, they were in a great facility, and they were all quite knowledgeable about the girls.  The girls looked well fed, clean, healthy, and had good rapport with the caregivers. 


One of the head caregivers made a point of talking with us and our translator in an impromptu meeting as we were leaving, to tell us much more about N.  She said that N is the staff favorite among the children; she is helpful and patient with the other children, and they were very glad to see how happy she was after their meeting us for the first time.  While she was telling us how N has been waiting for parents to come and bring her and her sister to a home, this woman got emotional herself, since they love the girls and will miss them but are very glad they are getting adopted by parents.


After leaving the orphanage, we had a big lunch with our agency reps, went back to our apartment, and crashed.  We are very much looking forward to our next visit tomorrow afternoon.