Information Please

Dave sez, Today is Friday, April 11, 2014. 04/11/2014, or as I like to call it, 4-1-1. Information Day. Whatever you do today, try to be informative.

Yesterday afternoon, Cathy was Google-ing for information that might help her feel a little better. She found a few solutions. One, was warm water and baking soda. B, was fresh fruit, like Kiwi and Pears. She's been eating pears and apples since we've been here. She's diabetic, with high blood pressure, so we need to monitor her health and well-being. At six o'clock, just as I was settling in in front of the keyboard to share yesterday's adventures, she shared with me the information she'd found and asked if I would run downstairs with her to the market for pears and kiwi. Trying to find baking soda would be a bit of a challenge, so we opted for fruit. We went downstairs to the corner market. She didn't like the look of the fruit there and asked if I would mind taking a walk with her to another store that was farther away. It was a grey and chilly late afternoon with evening coming on. I told her I needed to run upstairs to add another layer on for the hike. She said she would wait downstairs for me. I went up grabbed some extra cash, threw on my sweatshirt and came back down.

She had changed her mind. Instead of a hike, she wanted to head down to Maidan, catch the Metro, and head two stops up to the market by Domino's. Good thing I had cash, 'cos I hadn't grabbed any tokens for the subway. Subway tokens are two hryvnia apiece. We usually get twenty hryvnia worth at a time to make the trip back and forth to the orphanage to see Masha.

Just as we were coming down the hill into Independence Square, two Number 18 buses pulled to a stop at the curb and belched a swarm of commuters. Awesome! We get to experience Rush Hour! Woo-hoo!

We jumped into the stream of people heading for the subway. We either held hands, or Cathy had hold of my arm/sleeve/belt loop as we made our way down through the shopping mall into the subway station.

The mass of people clogged and bottle-necked at the turnstiles at the top of the escalator to the platform. Construction is starting there on the landing at the top of the escalator with partitions set up on either side, going down and coming up.

We made it down to the platform and saw folks jamming themselves into the subway cars like sardines. It looked as if somebody was going to lose an arm or a leg.

We decided to wait for the next train. Which wasn't much better.

Cathy and I have only made the trip back from the market to Maidan a couple of times. We've never made the trip going the other way. So, we weren't sure where we would come out of the subway station. There are at least four exits to any subway station, two at either end. Each one coming up maybe on the opposite side of the street. There must be at least a dozen exits from Maidan. Most people are using just one, because of all the tents and barricades still up since November.

We came out of the subway station from a different exit and had to get our bearings so we wouldn't be wandering around. Did I mention it was Rush Hour, after six in the evening and getting dark? Once we had gotten oriented to where we were, we headed for the market.

At the market, we found pears and kiwi. But like in the states, the fruit has to be weighed, and a sticker tag attached to the bag. We did this once before a couple of days ago at the same market. Find someone in the fruit section, get their attention, and ask for help. Usually pointing at yourself and saying "English" works. We have found in every encounter that folks here are very helpful. So pears, kiwi, and a small Tuborg to settle the throbbing vein in my forehead (kidding; it actually felt like a sharp needled through my eyeball!) and we were heading back to the Metro and back to Maidan and the apartment.

Which is a pretty long walk across Kiev to let you know that today was a pretty quiet and slow day with Masha. We worked on her sentences, we read for a little bit, then played Uno and she played Bejeweled a little. It's still a little grey and cool, only 42 degrees today. What I am noticing is that we used to spend more time outside. Justin is incredibly active. He can't sit still. He always has to be doing something. To the point that he fidgets. He would be outside, running around and playing soccer on a day like today. I don't think Masha is much of a soccer player. Which is okay. There are fewer children here Justin, Ethan and Masha's age. The children here now are younger - still in need of a loving forever families.

Our desire in sharing our adoption journey has been to encourage adoption. Hopefully sharing our journey is inspiring and encouraging.

Tomorrow, our daughter turns 13. We count down the days to our court date with Masha. Twenty days from this passed Monday. We pray that it comes just a little sooner, God willing. Ten days after that we'll have our court decree and then our Gotcha Day.

 

This has been the song that has given me strength in bringing both my two sons home. I think it works for both boys and girls.