This Reminds Me

We had to say “Dos Vadanya” to Guanna today, as we start the long trip home tomorrow.  We were allowed to play with her for more than two hours in one of the sleeping rooms of Children’s Home #47 – just us, Guanna and the interpreter, no observers from the orphanage.  The sleeping room let us to spread out a bit more.  During our other visits, we were jammed into rooms no bigger than walk-in closets, and 6’5″ Keith doesn’t “jam” well.

We were anxious to see what she could/would do with the gifts we brought today – basically, creative stuff. Could she color?  Draw?  Build?  The answers:  Da, Da and Big Fat DA!

Coloring books were no challenge for her.  She carefully selected her crayons, and only the right ones would do.  She colored inside the lines (certainly a first for our family).

Free hand drawing was more taxing.  Her drawings were age-appropriate - her gender-specific stick figures featured heads, faces (with red lips!) and limbs.  Her very first drawing – on manilla paper with markers - was of a “machina” (car), and a male and female stick figure.  We asked her to write her name, which she immediately started to do, but required help from the interpreter to sound out all the letters.  Keith and I were no help sounding out Cyrallic – imagine that.  We have noticed that she is called by a variety of pronunciations (Jew-Wanna, Jew-Nah, Jew-Anna) and I think that could cause phonetic confusion.

She drew a second picture – “Mama and Papa.”  Rectangular “Papa” is a good deal taller than oval “Mama.”  I promised her she would see this picture displayed when she comes home.  And she will.  She will also see pictures of herself scattered about the house.

An Etch-a-Sketch was a huge hit.  She quickly mastered the knobs and proceeded to draw a flag, stairs and even wavy lines.

Mechanical pencils – not much fun – no color!  A little rubber stamp kit with stars and other shapes – very much fun.  Keith showed her how to stamp notebook paper; it was definitely an unfamiliar skill.  Like all kids, she immediately wanted to stamp skin.  (I’m thinking a few more pink butterflies on his hands would help Keith get in touch with his feminine side.)

A wooden building/construction set totally captivated her.  She built a little wall and stood little wooden trees within it, then built a house and garage for the “machina.”  The child likes machines.  She commented on every “trolley bus” when we were out yesterday, and she twisted and turned to follow the path of a snow plow.

Twenty small tubs of Play Doh for her and her friends – big fun!  She had to open each of them and examine the contents.  Did you know Play Doh came in black?  I didn’t.  I mean, I saw some ground into our carpeting in Houston that had turned black, but this stuff was black out of the tub.  Guanna squeezed each color with a delighted smile, and carefully replaced the Play Doh and the top of each tub, then neatly stacked all the tubs back in the tube container.

Finally, we left her with four disposable cameras.  We asked her to take pictures of her friends.  When she comes home, we will make a scrapbook for her before she forgets their names.

As we played with each of these gifts, I accumulated a small pile of trash – the Etch-a-Sketch box, the Play Doh tape, some shrink wrap.  I walked through a few rooms and couldn’t find a place to throw it away.  Suddenly it hit me – they don’t need waste baskets.  They have no waste. There is no blizzard of wrapping paper here for birthdays.  There are no fast food bags, no packaged-for-nuclear-war Barbie boxes, no granola bar wrappers, no paper towels, no Capri Sun pouches, no string cheese plastic, no catalogs, no grocery lists.  They have no waste because they have nothing TO waste.

All too quickly, it was time for Guanna’s lunch (“soupa”) and nap.  The interpreter explained to her that Keith and I had to leave – that we couldn’t see her again before we went home. That we would come back, as soon as we could, maybe in two months.  That Keith and I were asking permission to adopt her.  That she would ride on a train (to Moscow) and in an airplane to go to where she would live.  That she would sleep in a purple room with stars on the ceiling, and she would have three sisters, all of whom were so happy she was coming. That she could see the fish in the pond in our backyard (right?), and that in the summer, we would swim in a big pool for all the houses around us.  Not to worry about the toys we brought to her this week - that when we came back for her, we would bring her a backpack (“rucksack”) to wear, and it would have new toys to play with for the trip home, and there were already lots of toys in her new house.  And they were all waiting for her.  And she promised – with a solemn look, she promised – that she would be waiting for us, too.  No tears.  Just hugs, and a few kisses (taught to her this week), and a promise between us, similar to one that Jesus made almost 2,000 years ago:

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  John 14:18

Does your refrigerator need some original Russian art?  Would you like to own the very first “Guanna Creation” depicting a “machina,” a man and a woman, plus her attempts at writing her name?  I am keeping the “Mama & Papa” masterpiece, but am wiling to let this one go for a donation to Buckner Orphan Care International. Send me a check made out to “Buckner Orphan Care International” by February 27, 2006.  Biggest check wins this exclusive collector’s item – and your donation is fully tax deductible.  Even if you don’t win, you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you are helping kids who badly need it and who can’t possibly thank you.  So I will.  Right now.  Thank you for writing that tax-deductible check. Thank you for putting food in their mouthes, shoes on their feet and blankets on their beds.  Thank you for writing that tax-deductible check – right now. Need my address?  Ask for it via “Contact Me” on the left nav.  And bless you.

Keith and I met 6-yr-old Guanna at Children’s Home #47 in St. Petersburg, Russia today- an amazing encounter with a delightful dark-haired, dark-eyed little girl.   I wish I could show you her picture, however, we’re not allowed to publicly post her photo until the adoption is final.  But I can post a photo of the building where she lives now – a third-floor (walk up) self-contained world of a a playroom, doctor’s office, admin offices, kitchen, dining room and sleeping area.

Children’s Home #47 in St. Pete – Currently Home to Guanna and 40 Other Children

After a bit of initial shyness, she was happy to tell us about herself.  Her best friend is “Catya.”  She used to be good friends with “Viktor,” but he’s been moved to another home.  Her favorite foods are cereal, ice cream and cake (Keith bought a lovely chocolate Valentine’s cake today for all the kids, plus a large bag of apples and bananas.)  She likes all kinds of fruit, especially apples.  Her caregiver, Ludmelia (sp.), said she likes hotdogs, hamburgers and mashed potatoes, too.

She likes to play outside, especially on the slide.  Keith roughhoused with her a bit.  She could hold herself off the ground, holding onto his extended hands.  What I loved was when he would quit playing with her to listen to our translator or the social worker or whatever, and she would lean back and look up, like, “Well, come on – I’m waiting.”

Our jaws dropped when she mentioned dolphins – she really likes dolphins.  Lois, is, of course, an aquatic fiend with her favorite stuffed toy of all time, “Pink Soft,” her self-chosen birthday gift when she was five years old.

We’d brought two 24-piece puzzles, and were fascinated to watch her work them.  She’s right-handed.  If she picked up the puzzle piece, she was much quicker to position it correctly the first time than if a piece was handed to her.  She worked the puzzles quickly and well, and was eager to show them to her friends.

We also brought a small (3.5″) Disney princess doll set, like Polly Pocket.  Omigosh, that was huge, really a bigger hit than a larger doll we also brought.  Keith showed her how to dress and undress the little Cinderella in her rubber clothes; the idea of “more is better” was quickly evident.  Cinderella wore a multitude of rubber gowns, complete with capes, shoes, a “fur” wrap and always her little gold crown.  Guanna counted the shoes for us, and told us the colors of the outfits.  The Cinderella set was never too far out of the line of sight of her quick brown eyes.

We brought clothes to size her, including a size 6 lavender Cinderella furry hoodie, and a size 4/5 pink Princess furry hoody, plus an assortment of pants, shirts, underwear, gloves and socks for all the children.  She’s definitely a size 4/5, and we are thinking that she’s hanging onto one of those hoodies (i.e., it’s not going into the communal clothing bin!)  She recognized the Cinderella emblem on the hoody matched her doll…and (shudder), really liked the Barbie gloves.  We’ve had very little Barbie for 14+ years of parenthood, and I am hoping to keep it that way – what possessed me to buy those gloves?  They must have been on clearance.

When we left her, she was trotting off to nap time, clutching a red flannel blanket that “Babushka” (Keith’s mother) made her her.  The blanket is a thick red flannel, trimmed in a wide blue ribbon with white stars, and an embroidered Texas flag.  If the blanket doesn’t make it out of the orphanage, we’ve got another at home that looks just like it.  We slept with Guanna’s blanket for two weeks before we left so it would smell like us.

We also left her with the scrapbook that Rachel and I made more than a year ago with its photos (house, family, friends, San Antonio postcards, etc.), complete with English and Cyrallic captions.  Ludmelia promised to read it to her at least once a day. Guanna had Rachel’s name nailed; she sometimes confused Lois and Hannah.  With the way Keith and I butcher all their names (we’ve become our parents), we joked she will be “RaLoHanJul,” much as I was “JuBeck.”

Tomorrow we are taking her crayons, markers and an assortment of papers and coloring books.  We want to see what she does with those.  Hannah and Rachel picked out most of them, and I can assure you that Disney Princesses play heavily in the covers and designs.

Yes, purple is her favorite color (imagine that!), followed closely by pink.  We showed her the picture of Hannah’s room with its purple walls – which she will share – and Keith described the glow-in-the-dark stars he stuck to the ceiling.  What is harder to explain – what is difficult to picture – is that it’s not the room that’s important, it’s the sister that’s in it.  It’s not the purple walls that matter so much, it’s the family they protect.  It’s not the blanket Babushka made for you that matters, it’s that she cared enough about a new grandchild to create it.

We will get past the language barrier.  She is bright, and we are determined, so we’ll get past that.  We can attack the (minor) health issues we know she has.  We can (continue to) document, notarize and apostile out our ying-yangs, and I know we’ll have to do so.   What’s going to be tougher is just teaching “family” – God’s first organizational unit.  Before the temple – before the church – before the high priests or the apostles or the government, there was family.

Happy Valentines Day to you – our family and friends.  No cheezy hearts cut out of construction paper here in St. Petersburg, just two beating hearts being held in the hands of a six-year-old girl.