Today is the day we meet with the State Department of Adoption, known as the SDA. Galena picked us up around 12:30 for our 2:00 meeting. The city is really quite dirty. It has the feel of any large city but everyone seems to be walking and all wearing some form of black, except me, the only one wearing tan dockers (ouch!!!), should have listened to Ann about bringing those black dockers I never wear. When we got to McDonalds, we couldn’t read the menu and there were no numbers for the meals, thankfully Galena was there to help us out.
When we arrived at the SDA, there was a locked gate and a small door around the side of the building. Soon a guard appeared and let a few anxious pairs of prospective adoptive parents in the door. The place was very small and we waited for our name to be called as we stood at the bottom of the stairs. We were the first ones called in the afternoon and we went upstairs past the other parents into a room with a small couch. We sat down and were greeted by a psychologist named Maria who was very friendly and smiled (unusual for what we have seen). We introduced ourselves and Maria asked, through Galena, what the boy’s name was that we wanted to adopt. We answered Ruslan and then she wanted us to tell her about ourselves. I motioned to Ann to go first and Ann told her that she worked for a doctor and a little bit about our children, then Maria asked about how we knew Ruslan and Ann told her quickly about hosting Ruslan last year. I expected her at some point to turn and ask me some questions but she did not ask me any questions at all. Then the surprise of all surprises. Maria pulled out a paper, and through Galena, said “and this is your Ruslan” showing us a paper with lots of writing and a picture. The only problem was the picture was not of Ruslan, so instead of us acknowledging Maria’s gesture Ann said “that’s not him” and I agreed. This picture was of a boy that had light hair, a lighter complexion and blue eyes. Ruslan has darker hair, a darker complexion, and has brown eyes. Everyone was stunned. Maria and Galena did not know what to say. Ann quickly produced a picture of Ruslan and Galena said, “oh yes, that is him, he is just not smiling in this picture, look at the ears.” Anyway, they convinced us it was Ruslan in the picture and I think Ann and I were both too scared to say anything for fear of slowing up the adoption so we agreed with them. Then everyone laughed and laughed about the fact we didn’t recognize Ruslan, except it wasn’t Ruslan!
And just as fast as it started it was over, maybe 10 minutes total, 5 minutes of interview and 5 minutes of picture discussion. After we got outside Galena continued to laugh, so hard she had tears in her eyes, saying that had never happened to her before. She quickly had Natasha on the phone trying to verify Ruslan’s name and date of birth. Natasha called back a little later and told Ann she had talked to Ireyna and she had verified Ruslan’s information. Natasha told Ann everything was fine and to “get over it” and just relax, everything was fine. Natasha was also laughing so hard. We are assuming it will be fine. It appears they have the wrong photo on the paperwork but the paperwork is correct.
We had a few hours to kill, since there was an outside chance the director would sign our paperwork today instead of tomorrow so we waited to find out. We visited a few of the sites of Kiev; Independence Square, St. Michael and St. Andrew churches. About 5:30 Galena told us that the director was not going to sign the paperwork and we would have to come back tomorrow. On the way back to the apartment Sergei asked about Barrack Obama, politics, and who we voted for. We explained about America’s politics and the different politic leanings. We will go to Poltava tomorrow but probably won’t see Ruslan until Wednesday. This is been a day to remember! We wish we would have had a video of the SDA official’s face as Ann told her that was not Ruslan. Priceless!!!
When we arrived at the SDA, there was a locked gate and a small door around the side of the building. Soon a guard appeared and let a few anxious pairs of prospective adoptive parents in the door. The place was very small and we waited for our name to be called as we stood at the bottom of the stairs. We were the first ones called in the afternoon and we went upstairs past the other parents into a room with a small couch. We sat down and were greeted by a psychologist named Maria who was very friendly and smiled (unusual for what we have seen). We introduced ourselves and Maria asked, through Galena, what the boy’s name was that we wanted to adopt. We answered Ruslan and then she wanted us to tell her about ourselves. I motioned to Ann to go first and Ann told her that she worked for a doctor and a little bit about our children, then Maria asked about how we knew Ruslan and Ann told her quickly about hosting Ruslan last year. I expected her at some point to turn and ask me some questions but she did not ask me any questions at all. Then the surprise of all surprises. Maria pulled out a paper, and through Galena, said “and this is your Ruslan” showing us a paper with lots of writing and a picture. The only problem was the picture was not of Ruslan, so instead of us acknowledging Maria’s gesture Ann said “that’s not him” and I agreed. This picture was of a boy that had light hair, a lighter complexion and blue eyes. Ruslan has darker hair, a darker complexion, and has brown eyes. Everyone was stunned. Maria and Galena did not know what to say. Ann quickly produced a picture of Ruslan and Galena said, “oh yes, that is him, he is just not smiling in this picture, look at the ears.” Anyway, they convinced us it was Ruslan in the picture and I think Ann and I were both too scared to say anything for fear of slowing up the adoption so we agreed with them. Then everyone laughed and laughed about the fact we didn’t recognize Ruslan, except it wasn’t Ruslan!
And just as fast as it started it was over, maybe 10 minutes total, 5 minutes of interview and 5 minutes of picture discussion. After we got outside Galena continued to laugh, so hard she had tears in her eyes, saying that had never happened to her before. She quickly had Natasha on the phone trying to verify Ruslan’s name and date of birth. Natasha called back a little later and told Ann she had talked to Ireyna and she had verified Ruslan’s information. Natasha told Ann everything was fine and to “get over it” and just relax, everything was fine. Natasha was also laughing so hard. We are assuming it will be fine. It appears they have the wrong photo on the paperwork but the paperwork is correct.
We had a few hours to kill, since there was an outside chance the director would sign our paperwork today instead of tomorrow so we waited to find out. We visited a few of the sites of Kiev; Independence Square, St. Michael and St. Andrew churches. About 5:30 Galena told us that the director was not going to sign the paperwork and we would have to come back tomorrow. On the way back to the apartment Sergei asked about Barrack Obama, politics, and who we voted for. We explained about America’s politics and the different politic leanings. We will go to Poltava tomorrow but probably won’t see Ruslan until Wednesday. This is been a day to remember! We wish we would have had a video of the SDA official’s face as Ann told her that was not Ruslan. Priceless!!!
6 comments:
Ha ha that's so funny. Ann was probably freaking out inside! Good times.
awesome. I can't believe you could not tell. funny. just one more thing for mom to worry about haha.
great story! loved it!
what the ______! that is really funny and not funny at all at the same time. kind of like those old switched babies in the hospital type of stories. i'll bet you thought you were going crazy, or that the lady was crazy, or maybe she thought you were crazy. anyway! crazy story. hope you end up with the right kid...it was starting to sound like they were trying to swindle you!
Loved the story and all the details. Every third boy in Ukraine is named Ruslan. Maybe you should bring how two just to make sure. Thanks for the blog.
David & Eldie Howick
Just another great story to add to this adoption adventure! Too funny!!
Kirstin
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