Trusting3:5: September 17, 2015 Dnipropetrovsk

This teacher is wonderful her name is Sveta... She loved our Annie dearly!

This was an interesting day! We said goodbyes at her school and spent the morning packing her up and handing out presents. We realized we still needed shoes for her. I didn't bring shoes because I didn't know what size so we had to go out and buy shoes and then return her other shoes to the school. Also, some of the nicer clothes and toys that I had given her were mysteriously missing I actually poked around the school in all the places I thought they could be but I could not find her little pink sweater anywhere :(
Artem was there to spend time with her again in the morning and he helped her pack up. It was really nice to get that time with him and get to know him a bit. He is very sweet and gentle and he LOVES his sister so very much! She thinks the world of him and it is so sweet to see them together!

At some point we left for the long drive to Dnipropetrovsk for the second passport office. It was a looooong and bumpy trip that included some rather uncomfortable bathrooms and other relatively icky things. We have a funny joke now that started at a (one of my favorite) restaurant in Dnip.

The "Poozata Hata" incident.... will herein be forever lodged in our brains as the definition of disgusting or as Annie says it best "foo foo foo!" We got stuck waiting at a rather dirty section of town and saw a Poozata Hata restaurant so we decided to sit down for an eat...... I really like this place because it usually has a large display of really tasty things and it is all out there for you to know what you are ordering. For a non Ukrainian speaker this is very convenient. Remember this is the first time I've had Annie out of the school for the day and I'm still learning how to help her around to the bathroom etc... We ate what I thought was a nice meal and then she had to use the restroom.....it was upstairs..... no access to the rail.... time for momma to do her job! Ok lets go to the bathroom.... she giggled the whole way up the stairs... not easy to exert physical energy while laughing that hard... we had to sit down and laugh a few times... but when we got to the top of the stairs, well, the bathroom was "foo foo foo" to the tenth degree. One of those truly terrible Ukrainian bathrooms that we have all seen or heard about... wish I took a pix. She tried anyway and needed my help because it was just so so bad in there and she didn't want to touch anything... so we tried but it was just too too icky and she could not do the business... We drove home... all the while laughing about how "foo foo foo" the "Poozata Hata" was. Then about half way into the 2 hour drive she yelled stop! And yes, we actually did stop just in the nick of time... she threw up quite a bit and afterward she giggled out..... "Poozata Hata foo foo foo" and that's it.... so for her it had nothing to do with a full stomach and a trying to read in a bumpy car.... but a disgusting bathroom and "foo foo foo food" at "foo foo foo Poozata Hata"... it continues to make us all laugh days later. And um... she continued to have motion sickness for the next few days in all of our adventurous travels. It was my first few days experience with my new daughter.... Lord give me grace...this is only ever by the grace of God!

Here are some pictures of us from this day...

Annie's dining Hall.. Her last meal before we left to Dnep.

Luda, another sweet teacher

Annie holds Artem as she stands up to leave the school.

Beautiful Polia waving goodbye from the library window as we walked out the front garden. It was such a sweet sight to see all these teachers that she has loved and been loved by so dearly!

In the car on the way to Dnep. for second passport office

after the first "foo foo foo" moment the driver, Igor, gave her this toothpick to hold in her mouth...maybe its an old Ukrainian remedy for motion sickness?