At 10:00am we went to the orphanage to meet our daughter, Olivia (we were with the Mikos family). We were escorted to the consoler’s office and meet with her and her staff. They talked with us briefly… they wanted to confirm that we were aware of our daughters medical condition (she has severe special needs, her condition is referred to as Amyoplasia or Arthrogyposis) and then asked us how many children we had. They seemed shocked that we already have 4 children, and talked a bit about that among themselves in Russian, it would have been interesting to know what was said… then they brought in our daughter, we had hoped to video her coming in, but they didn’t tell us that she was coming. Our daughter Olivia (her Russian name is Olga) is 6 ½ years old, so she came running out and greeted us she shook everyone’s hands and wished them a happy new year (so our translator told us) She was beaming from ear to ear. She hopped on our laps and immediately said papa and mama (which is the Russian words for mother and father, it was nice to understand something she said). She seemed to know who we were and that we were to be her parents. The other couple is adopting a 2 year old little boy, he could not talk but grinned at them, and seemed happy as well.
Each day we spend 2 hours with our children. The children seem clean and well mannered. They also seem happy, Olivia seems exceptionally happy. She is very playful and has no problem sitting on our laps or interacting with us. She keeps speaking to us in Russian, so I think that she forgets we don’t understand her. We are picking up a few words, but she is quicker with her English then we are with our Russian.
Olivia is somewhat of a celebrity at the orphanage, in part we believe that is because she is 6 ½ years old and children are supposed to be moved from the orphanage at 3 years old, so she has been at the orphanage since birth, and is well known. She also has a beaming personality, and all that have met her seem to remember our girl. They have all commented on her personality and that she seems to be the favorite child at the orphanage. Even the coordinator knew Olivia, and was excited that she was being adopted. He tried to convey to us how special Olivia is, and stated that Olivia was like GOLD.
During our first visitation, Olivia beamed with happiness and seemed very light hearted and carefree. She was very affectionate, we gave her some juice and she sucked it down in seconds, so we decided to bring two juice boxes next time. She asked if we would return tomorrow and we said that we would. We put a shirt on her from Salt Lake City, Utah and showed her photos of her siblings. We asked the translator when they told Olivia we were coming, and she stated that Olivia has known for months. She asked us in Russian if we had purchased a bed for her. I wished that I had taken a photo of her bed as I think it would have helped her feel that the adoption was more final. She didn’t seem at all upset when we left and just went bouncing out of the room to see her teachers and friends.
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