We went back to the orphanage at 4 PM and went directly to Julianna’s sleeping area. She’s in a room with about 16 beds attached to another room with about the same number of beds. I think this area is for the older girls however there didn’t seem to be any restrictions on other kids entering the area. She showed us her locker and a good selection of pictures she had there. Included were two pictures of her mom and dad with her as a baby. We were really happy to see these as we think it’s important she have these memories.
We discussed more details of the adoption and she was very happy that court would be relatively soon. I made a mistake previously when I said court would be next Thursday, we’re actually shooting for May 6. She was also happy that Jillian would be returning with me to bring her home. I think she’s anxious to meet her siblings.
One interesting request she had was for us to help her distribute her money. She’s been getting some from the government since both her parents are deceased. She wants to use part of it to buy gifts and donate the rest to the orphanage. I have a strong feeling she’s had some official guidance on this one but we’ll support her wishes. The other interesting question was if we would like to meet her sister. This was a bit of a shocker but we said we would be glad to. I casually asked her if her sister knew about the adoption and how she felt about it. She said her sister was very supportive and felt she would have a better future with us. It turns out she’s a half sister so I don’t know if she has any legal standing anyway. We played Uno for awhile (I won) and then Pasha drove us back to the icebox. It turns out they turn the central heating off on April 15 so I might try involuntary cryogenics on my 50th Bday.
We went for dinner at our new favorite place. The waiter is really nice but his English is on par with our Russian. Basically we grunt and point and misunderstand each other and then he brings us some food. We ended up with beer, tea, salads, soup and bread so it turned out OK. The grand total before tip was around $6 USD.
I broke Diane’s hair dryer, our only heat source, trying to dry our only towel so tomorrow we go shopping. I’ll also try to find a memory stick so I can upload some photos/videos to the blog on the foster home computer.
One last note, Julianna has taken to calling Diane Mom already so she’s pretty happy. I’m not going to give her any Bday treats tomorrow until she calls me Dad.
Da svidanya.
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