One of my favorite memories of Ukraine

This post really should be backdated to February 3, 2011.  That was the day that we were to see Alex for the first time in Ukraine to get her official consent to be adopted.  Originally we were supposed to be there on 2/2/11, but the Inspector had gone to Kyiv for the day so we had to postpone until 2/3/11.  We should have been able to see A that morning, but the Director had gone to Lugans'k that morning so our meeting time kept getting pushed back further into the day.  We were in Lutugino all day, just waiting and waiting.  Our friends, Kelly & Scott, were at the orphanage visiting their son and saw Alex throughout the day.  At one point A asked them where we were.  Kelly told her we were just having coffee at the 999 Cafe and we would be there soon.  As soon as A heard we were just down the street she excitedly told them she would go to us and she took off running.  Keep in mind we were not allowed to see her until after our meeting with the Director.  Jeff, our facilitator Sergei and I were enjoying our coffee when Little Miss Sassy Pants comes bursting in the front door.  Amazingly enough, I wasn't the least bit surprised to see our girl breaking all the rules.  I jumped up and gave her a big hug.  It took Jeff a moment to realize it was actually her standing in front of us trying to catch her breath from sprinting to the cafe.  Our poor facilitator went completely white, eyes shifting back and forth from us to the door with the fingers of his right hand furiously tapping out a nervous beat on the table.  Her being there was a huge "no-no" and Sergei was about to have heart palpitations.  After a few minutes I took mercy on Sergei and told Alex to go back to school to wait for us.  She left and Sergei regained some of his color but he was still a nervous wreck.  About ten minutes later our little trouble maker walked back in and said she got someone to cover for her.  We let her stay about ten minutes, then sent her back again.  It wasn't too much longer before we were called back to the school because the Director was on her way.  When we saw Kelly and Scott later on Kelly looked almost as panicked as Sergei had when Alex came to the cafe.  She said when she told Alex where we were A took off so fast Kelly didn't have time to do or say anything.  Poor Kelly was scared for the same reasons as Sergei.  But all was good.  If anyone found out about her "breakout" nobody said anything to us.

The reason I never posted about this while I was in Ukraine is because you never really know who is reading your blog.  I'm still slightly nervous to post it now simply because I really don't want to get our facilitator in hot water should he be working in Lutugino again.  But, this is just one of those memories from Ukraine that always brings a huge smile to my face and I wanted to share.