Forever?

Today after English class I met up with Albina so I could take her up to Girls Camp.  Alina was eating lunch when I arrived and kept asking me something in Russian.  I didn’t understand, so I called one of the boys over to try to translate.  Alina asked me (through him) if next year I would keep the children that came to my home.  I was so confused, but answered with a hesitant, “I don’t know… I guess… Maybe.”  The boy told her that I’d said “Yes”.  Then Albina started pouting and saying something in Russian.  He told me that she really liked our family and wanted to stay with us.  I was completely confused about everything going on.  It seemed like a strange conversation to have out of nowhere.  Then Alina asked if I would go swimming and I told her I had to take Albina to Girls Camp so I couldn’t go.  She had already been noticeably upset, but by the time I left to go to the car she was crying… tears streaming down her face.  I kept telling her to smile and she would try, but didn’t stop crying.  
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Once I got to the car I called James and told him what had happened.  He told me to go get another translator and find out exactly what was going on.  I went into the church and Alina was still crying.  I found someone to translate and we went to a room to talk.  I asked what was making her so upset.  Come to find out, she was upset because she thought she was going to have to move to another family and she wanted to stay at our home.  Apparently someone had announced that morning that a number of kids would be moving to new homes (the reason being that the host families weren’t going to adopt, so they were moving them to potential adoptive families or families that could help them find adoptive families).  I explained that she and Albina were not going to leave our home… that we wanted them to stay with us!  The translator got really emotional and started crying.  She asked me in English, “Do you mean forever?”  I answered her, “We’re trying… but don’t tell her that please.”  She told me she understood and explained to Alina that she would be staying with our family for the duration of her stay in Utah.  Alina was elated and started hugging and kissing the translator and me.  I was crying, the translator was crying and Alina was crying. 

After I finished up with Alina, I called James.  We cried together as I shared what had happened.  It was an extremely emotionally meeting and broke my heart that Alina was so sad at the thought of having to leave our family.  Then I got into the car with Albina and typed (through Google Translate) “Alina was sad because she thought she couldn’t stay with our family anymore”.  Albina indicated that she wanted to type something, but I stopped her and said, “You and Alina will stay with our family.”  She looked at me and hesitantly said, “Really?”  Again, I repeated, “You and Alina will stay with our family… you will not leave our home.  You understand?”  She then said, enthusiastically, “Really????”  I nodded and she got a big grin on her face and leaned over and gave me a huge hug.  She was so happy.  It made me glad that James had suggested I get the translator… that would have been so sad for them to have dealt with that misunderstanding any longer!

After that, Albina and I drove to Girls Camp.  Albina was greeted by the young women and leaders.  Everyone was wonderful when we arrived.  I left her in good hands.  Then I drove straight home so James, Micah, Alina and I could go to a Soccer game.  We had lots of fun there (taking pictures and such), but Alina complained that she was tired and wanted to go home, so we left the game a little early.  We got home, relaxed and went to bed (later than expected since once we got home Alina decided she wasn’t tired… instead she wanted to cook and create lots of great sauces for scrambled eggs.  I thought James was going to die when he saw that she expected him to eat everything she’d created.  Haha!)

Such a great day today.  I truly felt so good about adoption after my conversations with Alina and Albina this morning and wanted nothing more than to give them stability in a family.

Here are a number of pictures that Alina took tonight when she got her hands on my phone: