Bonding with Brooke

The past couple days have been a bit different ... the care takers had us spend nearly the entire time there alone with Brooke. We think they're trying to help us bond even more together and show the other kids that we're Brooke's parents and not their mommy and daddy. We love playing with the other children, but always want to be sure that Brooke gets the most attention and doesn't feel like she's competing for our affection with the other children. Brooke is much more cuddly when not competing with the other kids for toys and attention. On Tuesday, she just wanted to curl up in my lap, sucking her thumb and rubbing her ear while Kristi stroked her hair and we all listened to some music.

Brooke has shown a very compassionate side too ... especially with Natasha. Whenever Natasha starts crying, Brooke gets a very concerned look on her face, gets our attention, then points to Natasha as if to say, "Hey! She's crying. Do you see her?" Natasha seems to get in trouble a lot and then has to go to her crib. Of course she starts crying and then Brooke will pick up a toy or book and put it into Natasha's crib. We're pretty sure she's trying to comfort Natasha, but maybe she's saying, "How do I shut this kid up?" :-)

There have been other good signs that Brooke is bonding with us. Yesterday, Shy Max was talking to me as I was sitting in a chair. Brooke saw us, came over, pushed Max out of the way, then climbed into my lap, sucked her thumb, and looked at Max as if to say, "This is MY daddy, not yours." And when we got ready to leave, one of the care takers was holding Brooke while Kristi stepped out to put on her coat. Brooke stretched out her arms toward where Kristi went, looked scared, and said, "Mama?" ... she didn't want Kristi to leave. Although we've had delays here in Kharkiv, we think it will be a good thing in the long run. It's giving Brooke time to bond with us.

We had lunch at the Italian restaurant on Tuesday with our new friends from Peru, Angel and Mariel, then went back to the apartment and talked for hours into the evening. All we could offer for snacks was a bottle of Coke and some cookies. They are adopting a very cute 3-year old boy whom they've named Martin (pronounced Marteen). He had to have some medical tests and, much like us waiting for Brooke's tests, they were so scared as they waited for the results. They had already decided that they would adopt Martin no matter what the results were, but the great news is that the tests turned out well and there were no problems at all. Martin was born a bit premature and is small for his age, but he's already filling out just in the few days they've been here. It's amazing what the love of parents (and a banana or two) can do for a child's health! Martin lives in the building next to Brooke and we hope to stay in touch with them as both Martin and Brooke grow up. We think they'll have a special bond and would even love to visit them in Peru someday.

Both Angel and Mariel are strong Christians and one story they told us gave us goosebumps. A few years ago, way before Angel met Mariel, he wrote a novel about two cities. Angel took out an Atlas, opened to a page, and happened to pick out Kiev and Kharkiv. He has no idea why he picked these two cities and even thought they were in China, not Ukraine. He had completely forgotten about this novel until he came across it just a couple months before they came here to adopt. So here they are in Kiev, at their 3rd and final appointment with the State Dept. of Adpotion, and they are presented with two boys. One of them, Martin, live in Kharkiv and they immediately know that this is the child that God had picked just for them since the beginning of time. Wow! We've become close friends very quickly and today is Mariel's birthday, so we're all going out and celebrating tonight.

All of the ice and snow are gone and we even got to take Brooke to the playground at the orphanage yseterday with some of the other children. She loved running around with them and playing on the equipment. One young girl, Ira, is about 6 years old, and really likes Brooke. Ira often watches us play with Brooke from the other room through a glass door. She'll wave and talk to Brooke through the door and tries to tell her how to play with certain toys. Ira was out on the playground when we brough Brooke out and took Brooke all around like she was Brooke's older sister. They played on a rocking horse and Ira made sure to wrap her arms around Brooke so she'd be safe. Brooke just laughed and had a great time. Ira is so sweet, but there is always this wistful look in her eyes whenever she watches us with Brooke. You just know she's wondering when some parents will come for her. But being 6 years old, the odds are starting to stack up against her because people usually want to adopt younger children. It simply breaks our hearts, but again, we know that God sees her and has a special plan for her life. Still, I woke up at 3:00 this morning and found myself praying that God would provide a forever Mom and Dad for her soon.

We found out that they have to fix yet another court document that was missing a sentence. AAARRRGGHHHH!!! We went to the notary's office again to fix the document and, amazingly, as we were walking home, Yuri called us to say that our court date is Monday the 16th, first thing in the morning. Yay! Seems like we have gray overcast skies during our waiting periods, punctuated by a single sunny day every time there is good news. This time was no different ... the sun is out today and it's warm. We're pretty sure that Serge got back invovled and is pulling some strings for us in Kiev. We texted him just to say hello and say thanks and he immediately called us back and said in a very loud voice, "You're welcome! All is good now, yes?" :-) Love that guy!

The end if finally in sight. We left home three weeks ago Saturday and are ready to come home. But tonight, we're going to go out and celebrate Mariel's birthday and our court date!