Christmas Eve- The most wonderful blessing!

Yesterday we arrived at the orphanage like any other day. But this time instead of taking us to "our room" they took us to the head nurse's office. She was sweet as always and asked Hunter if He wanted to play with any of the toys she had in her office. So we waited there for about 10 minutes and than they took us to the Director of the orphanages office. So as usual they start talking to us in Ukranian and all we can think to say is "No capisco", which is in Italian. HAHA. So than the director calls someone on her cell phone and than she handed us the phone. On the other side of the phone was a sweet woman who was a translator from another city. She said that the director had some things to discuss with us, and she would translate. So she began to tell us about Emma's mom. She said that she was "well known in the community", that is why we were discussing this with a translator from a different city and not our normal translator." She told us Emma's mom visited her in the orphanage and cared vary much for her. She than asked if we would agree to keep in contact through email or regular mail. Tyler and I looked at each other and agreed. Then she asked us if we would be willing to meet the mom before we left. We again looked at each other and agreed. So the plans were discussed alittle more that we would meet Emma's mom tomorrow after our afternoon visit with the babies. This is the beginning of the story and it continues on into tomorrow(Christmas Eve).....

So now it is today, Christmas Eve. To be honest it didn't feel special or different, just a normal day of visiting the babies. Like I said earlier, we were going to meet Emma's mom after 4 pm, after our visit with the babies. So after the nurses came and got Asher and Emma, we headed down stairs. The nurse told us to wait and keep our shoe covers on. About 2 minutes later the head nurse came out and behind her was a woman, older than I expected for Emma's mom, though not old! She looked like her heart was as heavy as a MAC truck. So we all walked up stairs to meet her and as the door closed, she introduced herself...in ENGLISH. She was not Emma's mom but Emma's grandmother. She was coming to see if we would agree to meet in a cafe since Emma's mother was not able to leave work at this time, it is also at this time when we found out what Emma's family does for a living. We are going to keep this private out of care for them. So we said yes and we had them bring Emma in so Emma's grandma could see her, this was her first time I think ever or since she was born. She just kept saying her name, Elizaveta and looking at her. My heart broke as I thought of my mom having to do this. I can not imagine what she was feeling.

So we got our driver to take us to this restaurant in the center of Kirovograd, a place that has a menu in English!!! After waiting for a table for about 5 minutes we sat down and Emma's grandma said that her daughter would come soon. So right away I asked how she spoke such wonderful english, and she almost ashamedly said "I am a teacher, an English teacher." She was worried that she wouldn't understand us!! She spoke beautifully and had no trouble. She is used to a British accent so it was different listening to us, but she was wonderful. We talked as if we had known each other forever. Soon Emma's mom walked up to the table. Again, she was not what I imagined. She was over 35, beautiful blonde hair, tall, and you could look at her and see she was accomplished (I mean this in a good way!). She sat down, we could tell she was so nervous. We went back and forth for 2 hours with questions for each other. They explained to us that when she had Emma the doctor said " If I had known this child had down syndrome, I would have done everything in my power to make it come out DEAD!!" I was shocked. This is how this country views these angels. They act as if they are brain dead. We than went on to talk about the down syndrome clinics in America, and how people with down syndrome can work, go to school and even get married. Did you know that children with down syndrome don't even get to go to school, and when they are 4 they are sent to a mental institution where they are no longer adoptable but also laid in a bed to waste away and die? They were so happy to know that Emma would have these opportunities but I think at the same time they were so sad that where they live this is not a reality. We showed them pictures of us, and our family and friends back in Italy. We showed them the videos and pictures of Asher and Emma playing. They had such hope! Emma's grandmother told me that the whole family had just been devestated, not that Emma had down syndrome , but that this was their only option. Even though Emmas parents are both super successful, it is not possible for them to keep their baby. There is no health care for them, no services like we have in the states for people with disabilities. They are seen as already dead here. Emma's mom is my hero and I hope that one day Emma will feel the same. I hope she sees that her mom loved her so much that she gave her a chance at life. That family could have kept their rights..that maybe one day things would change and they could get her back. But they knew that was not reality and instead of thinking of their own comfort, they put their beautiful daughter first. That is a HERO!!

We enjoyed being with them so much, but our driver was waiting so we had to go. We were so excited to receive a dinner invitation for Sunday with Emma's whole family!!!! Of course we said yes. I can see now that all this waiting and delays were for this day. God's timing is perfect. I am also glad that we do not have the children and will not get them until Monday. And the reason is because that would bring to much pain to Emma's family, it is still to new, to fresh, and to painful. As time goes by, Tyler and I hope that we can reunite them, so they can see their beautiful daughter and how far she has come, to see she is ALIVE and NOT DEAD!!! Please pray for this family, I can never even pretend I know what it feels like to have to give up a child. Thank God that he has placed you in a place where you have options, support, services, health care, knowledge and most of all HOPE!!