After our court date, we had 10 days to hang out in the town visiting Gianna. It's a law in Ukraine that any court decree has a 10 day mandatory waiting period afterward during which anyone can appeal the decree. Then after the 10 days it is final. That time ENDS TOMORROW!!! Tomorrow we will sign Gianna out of the orphanage forever and we will have a new daughter living with us! Cue freak out!
During this period we have gone to the orphanage every day to visit Gianna. 7 of the 10 days we walked, the other days we took a car depending on the activities of the day. It took about 40 minutes each way. Most days we visited between 10-12 and one of the days we visited from 4-6. Those are the orphanage visiting hours for people like us. We have had sunshine and clear skies every single day and today looks no different.
During this period we have gone to the orphanage every day to visit Gianna. 7 of the 10 days we walked, the other days we took a car depending on the activities of the day. It took about 40 minutes each way. Most days we visited between 10-12 and one of the days we visited from 4-6. Those are the orphanage visiting hours for people like us. We have had sunshine and clear skies every single day and today looks no different.
These flowers are amazing. They have little snails living on them, and no matter how wimpily you kick off the thistle heads, they always sail 10 feet into the air! :) A fun walk activity.
One day the whole family walked together
We did various activities with Gianna, most of the time we made our rounds on the playground equipment, then went in the shade to color or draw or dig through mom's purse for lotion and coverup to play with. The last few days I brought nail stickers and stuff and practiced braiding her hair.
Her favorite, the merry go round
practicing braids
nail stickers
The rest of the days, we tried to have a variety of activities to entertain the boys. We tried to make each day a little different for our sake, too - to break the monotony a bit.
There are a few playgrounds close to the clinic. Carrie and Drew took them to these often while we visited Gianna. This ride was their favorite - it was pretty close to Cedar Point worthy.
This play place was also a favorite activity while we visited. It was at a shopping center close to the orphanage.
One day we visited the orphanage together as a family. (they allowed us to do that one time)
We visited the Ackerman fortress one morning.
It was really fun climbing around on the stairways and walkways at the fortress. Kian was delighted to see a "real castle"!
ice cream was a popular evening activity, of course.
Carrie helped him after it dropped on the ground for the 3rd time. Breaking the parts off where it fell made it smaller and smaller and we were afraid he wasn't going to have any ice cream left to eat!
A few evening we had a taxi take us downtown to visit the restaurants and parks. The parks have various activities, like riding around in RC cars...
playing on the statuary...
eating at the fine dining establishments...
...and saying hello to the gnome statues.
Another morning we visited the Black Sea. It was a delightful time of dipping our toes in the ice cold water, eating ham and cheese and chips, and building sand castles. The boys loved it and so did we.
So now our Bilgorod time is coming to a close. I think we sufficiently filled our days with good family time, and now we are ready for Gianna to join us on the rest of the journey! Pray that Gianna feels peace, and if she feels sad or scared that I am able to comfort her even though I don't speak the language. Continue to follow as the story unfolds!
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