Notes from John

November 4, 2006
Good Morning Friends,

All is well in Ukraine. I awoke this morning to a deafening quiet. After a night of the wind howling thru the cracks around the window and trees banging against the building, not a creature was stirring not even a goose. To my surprise when I looked out the window all was white. Snow had graced the little village of Sakhnovschina, but it was lost on the inhabitance.

As I walked Oleg to school, for the last time, a car raced around the corner. Splashing ice and mud on the sidewalk and racing by within inches, like a Formula One race car driver. Life is the same as the day before, just a little colder. Welcome to Fall in Ukraine.

I spent most of last week in Kharkov working with Trey and Slava at Orphanage #4. There is an amazing difference in the children at this orphanage. As we walked thru the building many of the children ran to greet us with smiles and hugs. Clearly there is a healthy relationship with these children.

RU4Children was given a storage room for their materials and educational supplies. I was asked to help clean and organize this area. What a challenge, without the proper tools and supplies, well lets just say “you can not make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. The children were excited to help us. Just a few at first, later we had to divide the children into two teams. The space was too small to have everyone in the room at one time. The boys were moving boxes furniture while I was teaching the girls to drill holes and drive screws. By the end of the day we were joking and having a good time.

The next day we bought paint for the door into the storage room. As soon as I started painting the door, here came the boys asking to help. As each child took a turn paining a small section of the door, I could not help but think about Tom Sawyer. Life is not that much different here.

I returned to Sakhnovschina Friday morning. This is the last day of our 10 day waiting period. The court decree is final on Saturday, but of course the Court is closed on Saturday. So Monday morning bright and early I will get the necessary paperwork to get Carrington (aka Oleg) release from the school. The importance of this day is not lost on Oleg. We were walking home from school Friday evening he brought up the subject of his “Ukrainian family”. We talked about his brother; I showed him pictures and a short video clip of our meeting. Oleg played the video clip over and over watching the details and asking questions. He is excited to meet his brother and to take him a gift. He shows great concern for his brother, asking to take him some food because “the food in the orphanage is bad.”

Oleg said he has never met his Father and does not know his name. His Mother; he remembers her name, face and the color of her eyes, but not much more. He stated his opinion of her very clearly several times and pulled no punches. We talked for two hours discussing family and dreams of his new life. This has been the most profound evening of my trip.

Well Sunday is the Good-bye party for Oleg’s friends. He is in the gift giving mode, being sure to give something small to friends and teachers. He has given away several items of new clothing that we have bought him. It warms my heart to see my son, who has had so little in life is generous to others.

This next week will stark contrast to the last three weeks. We will make our way to Kharkov and then Kiev. Stopping along the way to meet officials and gather documents that will allow us to leave Ukraine and return to the US. I have an appointment with the US Embassy in Kiev on Wednesday. Then, I hope to leave Kiev no later than Friday November 10.

God Bless you all and I hope to see you soon.

John P