Stories About Adoption
Lindas' Story
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He Makes All Things New
Chapter 5

Stories About Adoption, Lindas' Story

After travelling 300 km in the snow, we arrived at the orphanage the next morning at 9 a.m. sharp! It was a large place with over two hundred children in the orphanage. We were led to the director's office. He took us to another building where the children were staying. One building was used for the school and the other for living quarters. It turned out that this orphanage had never gone through an adoption. It was all new to them and no one knew really what to do. The director and his assistant asked us what they would like us to tell the seven year old girl when she comes into the room? I thought they should know that, or at least the translator should know what to say, but they didn't. Everyone was scared. I suggested that they just tell her that an American family was here to visit and our daughter would like to play with her for awhile. They thought that was a good idea! I asked them to please not tell the little girl that we might be adopting her, because if it didn't go through, it might break her heart. They agreed.

The assistant director shouted something in Ukrainian and someone else went to get the little seven year old girl. There was a lot of shouting going on from the room we were in, to the hallway outside (which seems to be common). In walked the little girl. She just had a shower and was eating in the dining room, so that is why we had to wait a little while for her to come. My heart broke inside. "Lord, is this the little girl that we came all the way from the USA to Ukraine, to adopt? I smiled at her but was holding back tears. She was wearing an old uniform that was probably two sizes too big for her. She had on old thick green tights and "army boots". Lord is this her? From there the whole atmosphere changed.

The assistant director (woman), took it from there. She greeted the seven year old little girl very friendly and asked her if she wanted to color with my daughter (we had a backpack with us with coloring books and crayons etc.). She said yes to coloring. Then her school teacher entered the room. We said hello and shook hands with her teacher who was very nice, but unfortunately could not speak English. She showed us the little girls school work, and we talked with her a little through translation.

The assistant director was smiling and happy with all the excitement that was going on in her office. She decided to pick up the phone suddenly and call someone. The whole atmosphere changed. She had a short (loud) conversation and then she slammed down the phone. All she could say was, that the person on the other side of the phone said NO! I asked our translator what happened? She told us that the assistant director just called the little girls grandmother and told her that the little girl was going to be adopted by an American family! The grandmother started crying on the phone and said she did not want her grand daughter to be adopted by Americans. She wanted her to be adopted by Ukranians, so she could stay in Ukraine. Her grandmother lived in the same city (as the orphanage), and the little girl was able to visit her every weekend. The assistant director told us that the grandmother said NO! The assistant director had decided to call the grandmother without asking us and the grandmother was very upset. I asked our translator, "why did she do that"? Nothing was final because we had just arrived and the process was just beginning. We hadn't even been in her office for an hour! The assistant director has a lot of power and wanted to tell the grandmother what was about to happen and that she was in charge!

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