Rather than you skipping right to the bottom to see his pictures, I will feed you a few starter pictures:
I have called him about 5 different names now. I have had many people ask me, “okay, WHAT is his name now?” Offically, his name will be Stanislav Thomas Thibault when that time comes to name him. When we went to the room to get him for the first time, they called for “Stas” pronouncing it “Stoss.” They call him “Stassi” and “Dassi” like “Stossi” and “Dossi.” As the social worker said, “that boy needs a new family name—his name Mogilnitski means ‘grave’.” I would say she is correct. He needs more than a family name though, he needs a family. (Oh boy, he isn’t the only one needing a family here! I will get to that later, but first….let me tell you about our last 24 hours.)
We did a lot of running around yesterday (Wednesday) getting documents notarized after we got our referral around 4:30pm. We hurried home to our final dinner at Genya’s until our return visit to Kyiv at the end of our adoption journey. My goal was to leave a few bags behind in Kyiv at Genya’s house. It is way too hard to transport that many bags…with one of us carrying Ricky, Dan has to carry/pull almost of them. I emptied 1 suitcase and two carry-ons to leave behind. Not bad.
I was so tired on the train that I fell asleep in the middle of prayers as soon as we settled in, only to awaken about ½ hour later and not return to a solid sleep for most of the 10 hour ride. There were A LOT of stops…maybe 12 in all. I think I might remember nearly each of them. I wondered how we were going to sleep Ricky on the train. Well here it is:
Briliiant, ay?? I thought so. And it worked. He slept all night until we woke him at about 6:30 just before the train stopped. After unloading the last bag, I looked over to find poor Lizzy crouching over in a corner of the station throwing up in a box. (Now the end of the day Friday she is feeling a whole lot better…eating a little but getting sick of Ukrainian food. It is good but not when you are sick.)
Fr. Andrew met us on the train, helped us get our bags off, said a blessing in the car as he does before each drive (After seeing how they drive here I see why!!!!!), and then we went to the Cathedral of Holy Father of Divine Mercy. We showered very quickly, went to Mass, and ate breakfast. Sweet cook! Fr. Andrew drove us to the social worker:
Dan thinks that people make up social problems just to meet with her :-) Do Ricky and I look out place in that picture? Do I look like I photoshopped us into it?
You KNOW Lizzy was sick when she volunteered to stay back from our first visit (and our second visit and third visit). Once at the orphanage we went to the director’s office for the paper that says we can visit little sweetie, then to the doctor who was in the same building as Stas, and then to his room. You can see in the pictures above, walking into his building, standing in front of the door of his groupa, his favorite caretaker bringing him out with the doctor standing on the side with the ponytail and white coat, Ricky dissatisfied with me holding him, than with Dan holding him! He is very, very sweet.
I’ll make one thing very clear. As of today, Ricky does not like Stas at all. He wants nothing to do with him. He wants us to have nothing to do with him. When he was sitting on my lap and I reached over to Stas he would grab my hand and pull it back. He was completely traumatized. It actually makes me very sad, but as my sister told me when I commented on this concern before my trip, she pointed out that all kids go through this to some degree or another when a younger one comes in. The problem is that Ricky has been “the king,” not just any king but a “super royal king” in our house. He didn’t crack a smile until we left the building. I prayed for everything for this trip except one thing…GUESS…yes, Ricky to accept his new little brother. I guess I will have to call him his younger brother because I’m not so sure he is littler. He is a chunk! His feet are super wide. The shoes we brought will have to go to other orphans, and ALL of the clothes!!
Stas has two other kids with DS in his group. It is a very depressing group. He is with all kids with special needs. I am able to see first hand the need for therapy and what happens when you don't. I come to tears when I enter the room each time. There are so many children that need homes. Please pass this around and please search your own heart to see if you are being called.....This little guy has a fever I am told and that is why he was crying. Glad they put Stas in the playpen right after they took him out! You who know I am a germ freak---no I didn't make them wash it first!!!!!!!!
The second visit was just Halya and me. Dan stayed back with sick Lizzy and napping Ricky. I suspect he napped a bit too.
After our visit we stopped by Kristin and Jim’s to meet their family and see their newest little Nadia. They had court today and were leaving Zap to go back to Kyiv to finish up. Yeah! Congratulations.
We came back to a wonderful meal again.
Scheduled meals around Masses…it’s great.
So internet has been an issue. Hopefully you got pictures that Dan sent to Bobby to post.
Blessings to you all and thank you for all and any prayers offered for our family.
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