We Called the Girls!

After trying all Saturday morning to contact the girls, we decided to try a call at 10:00 pm (our time). It worked!

We waited awhile for the orphanage caretaker to find the girls, and she even returned to the phone to say T was on her cell phone! T is very unique…not everyone there has a cell phone!

V answered our call and immediately said “hello” and “when are you coming here?” That question is always the most difficult one to answer, and I responded, “As soon as we possibly can, we’ll be there.” She understood and then we asked her how she was doing. V said she was “good” and then she passed the phone to "I" (whom we haven’t spoken to since spring, since she was at a different camp than her sisters). "I" was excited, and she was quite giggly as we asked her about camp and school. "I" said she is now in 3rd grade and is doing well. She had fun at camp and missed her sisters while they were apart. We asked if they received the huge box of stuff we sent, and she said they did! I’s favorite item was the Barbie we sent. When we asked if she wanted anything else, she said she would like a pair of jeans. And more gum!

T made it to the phone and we congratulated her on her FIRST PLACE finish in a flower arrangement competition in Kiev. She explained there were many flowers included in the arrangement, not just in a vase. When I told her “Maladietz” (good job!) she laughed and said “Spaseeba Papa” (thank you). T said she will send us a photo of the flowers. T’s favorite item in the box was the gum, of course, and she also asked for jeans. T explained that school was going well, but it is “too early for grades.” We spoke more about the timing of the adoption and explained it will likely be sometime in the Spring. T sounded a bit disappointed, but she said she understands. When I told her someday we’d visit Chicago, she seemed to cheer up and said she would like that. Me too!

As we finished speaking with T, I started to get disappointed that V only spoke to us for a minute. But, all of a sudden T said V wanted to talk and she passed the phone over to her. I was thrilled when an excited V got on the line and began to talk! She sounded very happy to hear from us, and when I said I miss her, she said she misses us too! We got to talk to V for quite awhile, and she told us that her favorite item in the box was the GUM! We all shared a good laugh. V said school was going well, and her favorite subjects are Music and Art. I told her my sister is an Art teacher, and that we’d go visit her in Chicago someday. V liked that idea, and we heard a lot of laughter in the background. We all agreed, V is “a character.” She was very cute and funny on the phone!

We will call again in a few weeks. We miss them.