Our Day Out

Today was a great day for many reasons first because we heard from Victor that Lela said we could use the computer to post! Plus we finally get to add pictures too! What I know you all have been patiently waiting for. We also got to go and pick up Natasha and take her out of the orphanage to find her a few things to wear and to have some lunch. She had to borrow everything she was wearing out from other children and had shoes on that were too small for her and a thin coat and no gloves. Luckily, we were mainly driving the whole time. First we drove past the Black Sea to get to a small market. It was interesting to see people on the side of the road selling fish out of the trunks of their car! One man had the trunk filled to the top with fish. On the way Ariana showed Natasha different pictures on cards we had and had her say them in English. Then Ariana took out her note book and would draw a picture and Natasha would try and remember what it was in English. They are both so sweet and patient with each other. We arrived at the market and thankfully didn't have to walk too far to find some shoes for Natasha. Her favorite color is pink, so I was trying to show her these cute pink suede like tennis shoes(like your old Addidas Miranda) for her. The lady working there however pointed to these pairs of white tennis shoes that had some color on them and came in 4 different colors. She said they were better because they would keep her feet warmer. So Natasha didn't even have a chance to decide excpet to pick a color out of the four they had, which luckily there was a pink one. I even think the shoes are a bit long but the lady kept insisting that she would have heavy socks on to keep her feet warm and that would make up the difference. Then she was trying to get us to by these insoles which she said would keep her feet warm too! Oh brother! I asked Galina to ask Natasha if those were the shoes that she wanted. And Natasha said yes but I don't really know if she knew she could decide out of all the shoes they had and not just the four the lady picked out. I guess she was just so excited to get a new pair of shoes it didn't matter to her. She was happy and that's all we wanted. Then we quickly went to pick out a sweater(Victor does not like to shop) We were trying to decide what kind and color and you can't try anything on you just hold up the clothing next to you and see if it looks like it will fit. So she chose (this time) a cute salmon colored sweater with a butterfly on it and it fits wonderfully on her. She looks like a doll : )
We went to McDonalds and went through the McDrive and then went to Lela's to sit down and eat. It was a nice lunch and the girls enjoyed playing with their prizes. We found out Natasha doesn't like a variety of foods even ice cream! So I'm sure I'll need your help on this one when we get home Cathy. : ) Or I'll have to invest in an Ukrainian cookbook!
We had Natasha try on her coat which we brought for her and thankfully it fit well. We only had one pair of jeans to give her(which were too long but fit well at the top) because the other clothes we brought were smaller. Maybe we'll have to borrow some of those size 0 jeans when we get home from the VPs' girls if they've out grown them yet.
Afterwards the girls were going to play a game but it was then time to go take Natasha back to the orphanage. There was no one there when we got back because the children had a field trip to a factory of some sort so we had to drop Natasha off where the sick children stay. She didn't seem to mind as she was all smiles when she last waved good-bye to us at the door. She is so sweet! She always said, "Thank You mama, thank you" after each thing we had got for her and would hug me so hard. One time she practically lifted me off the ground!
It was a nice day out for us. We will meet with Natsha's brother tomorrow. We are praying it will go well and he won't want to get anything out of Natasha being adopted but to just be meeting with us because he cares about his sister. Thanks for your patientce with us on the pictures and a great big thanks to Grandma and Michelle for helping us out so wonderfully in typing up the blogs and sending e-mails.