Round 2: Back to Kherson

If I never fly for 24 hours and then ride a 1950's Soviet era train in my lifetime, it will be too soon! (Wait, I'm doing that again in 3 weeks - oh well). Those were both Judi and my thoughts as we boarded the "train of pain" for a second time right after flying and sitting in airports for the past 24 hours. Neither of us had slept at all and I was prepared for the worst, as we boarded the train. Above is a photo of the outside of the train. As you can see, Amtrack it is not. I think I previously posted a photo of the inside of the cabin. Although it started out swelterting again, there was a trickle of air conditioning coming from the roof. That, along with my battery operated fan, made it somewhat bearable this time.

Lenin....... We arrived in Kherson around 10:30 am on Wednesday morning. After meeting with our facilitator and having an early lunch, we went to our apartment, which is luckily the same one we had a few weeks ago above the Irish pub. We took showers and a nap and then headed to the orphanage to see Vova. As we pulled up and got out of the car, who just happened to be coming out the door.....Suzanna. When she recognized us, she immediately ran to Judi and I and gave us big hugs. Then, her best friend Anya (who our friends the Castanzas are coming to adopt next week) showed up.

When we looked for Vova, we were told he was at a Boxing tournament. Not as a participant, but to watch as the European Amatuers were in Kherson to fight some Ukrainian boxers, one of which was on the Ukranian Olympic team. Our facilitator took us across town to the sports arena. On the way, she told us that Vova had won the 11 year old Kherson championship on May 4 with a first round knock out! Wish we could have seen that. Does Roanoke have Traveling Boxing? Might be a rougher crew than the wrestling teams. Anyways, we entered the arena which was pretty full. We went down to the front and found Vova and two of his friends from the boxing team. For the next two and half hours we watched some great boxing matches.

Although I enjoyed it, I think it is safe to say Judi is not a boxing fan. . During intermission, we went outside a tossed the football. Below are Herman, Vova, Andre and myself.

Photo of Judi and Vov

It was great to see Vova again. He is such a happy kid. While going to the orphange early in the afternoon, our facilitator told us that just two weeks ago, on the day we got our court date, Vova's mom coinidentally showed up at the orphanage to see him. It was her first visit in over a year. Apparantly, she has Stage Four cancer, has had her stomach removed and has a tube inserted in her belly. It appears she has little time to live. I am not sure if Vova knows this as he later told us she had had some surgery but was going to recover. Maybe his mom did not want Vova to worry. When Vova's caretaker, Olga, met with Vova before speaking with his mother, Vova decided not to tell her he was being adopted. As he put it, she was sick and he did not want to upset her. Not an easy decision, but Vova seems comfortable with it. Judi and I thought that maybe Vova's mom would be happy to know Vova will be taken care of after she is gone. But, after thinking about it, we agreed this was Vova's decision and not ours to make. Tomorrow, we have our Court date with the Judge who has to approve our adoption. We have heard we have a good judge, but will welcome all prayers for a positive result.