Tuesday, November 07, 2006

November 6, 2006, Happy 16th Birthday Elliott!!


One day, when we walked into the restaurant for breakfast, a guy heard us talking and said in perfect english, "where are you from?" We were surprised so we invited him to sit at our table. His name is Yaroslav Ovsienko and he is actually a native Ukrainian!! He has a home in Washington state and Britian. Now get this – he is an interpreter for Scientech – a nuclear consulting company!! He has to translate terms like "Probabalistic Risk Assessment" and "HPSI"! How interesting that we run into someone from the nuclear industry in Berdyansk! He and his wife took Kathie and I to get a present for Elliott for his birthday, to get Kathie’s hair done (color & cut for $30) and to order pizzas for Elliott’s party at the orphanage.

Elliott had a great birthday! We got him couple of DVD’s and he wore his new coat and shoes back to the orphanage for his pizza party. (Can you tell he really loved his new clothes?) His classmates gathered for the celebration with, of course Nicky, who thinks he is as old as the others! You could tell the kids all loved each other a lot as they ate, talked and joked around. They gave Elliott a hand-made booklet. Each page was an outpouring of their love for him, including pictures, words of encouragement and past memories together. It will be a sad day for many when he leaves the orphanage.

These children, even though they are older, still long to have their own Mama and Papa and they all dream of coming to America. Unfortunately, in America you cannot be adopted from a foreign country after you reach the age of 16.

Olas called Moldova again and was told to call back tomorrow….

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Kathie and Dave,
I'm sure this will be Elliot's very best birthday...ever!!! We're praying that the birth certificate issue will be resolved very shortly.
love,
Terri and Stan

p.s. I'm so impressed that you found a hairdresser. Keep her number for the rest of us! *smile*