John and I flew to Russia to meet our daughters in May of 2005 for the first time. We were very thankful and felt very blessed to be invited to take a tour of their orphanage in Ivanovo. We had heard that some families were not even allowed to see where their children slept let alone video tape the whole orphanage, so I consider this a priceless memory that I am so grateful to have.
In the beginning of the tour we walked into an entry way that has a wall lined with coat closets for each of the kids. Above them are pictures of the kids that I was very interested in because Anna and Sveta might be in them. Sure enough they were, and later I came back and took stills of them so I could have a picture of a picture of them when they were younger.
Soon, we walked into the playroom of Anna's and Sveta's group. We were surprised to see so many toys for the children. I found it kind of old fashioned that our translator told us "This corner is only for girls," when she pointed to a bunch of doll toys.
The children were eating where we later found out was where they not only ate, but also had group learning time. I can still remember many of the children's names. Artom, Yulia, Sergei, Natasha, Misha, and Angelika. Do you know the child left behind syndrome you feel when you connect with another child and wish that you could adopt them too? Well, I felt that way about Artom and Angelika, and to this day I wonder how they are doing. I know that Artom, a precious little boy with a missing hand, was adopted by a Spanish couple, but I don't know what ever happened to Angelika.
Though I didn't show it, I remember how seeing all of those little beds lined up next to each other in that little room made me very emotional. To think that my Sveta would be going to sleep there tonight without me to tuck her in, was very hard. It broke my heart thinking about how all those beds would soon be filled with little boys and girls come bedtime who had no one to kiss them goodnight.
But on the other hand, I was very thankful that my girls were lucky enough to be in such a good orphanage. It could have been much worse.
Later, they took us to a place where they kept their pet parrot. A pet parrot. Can you believe it? Sveta told us that his name was Mashinka.
We took a quick look at the bathroom, but honestly, the smell was pretty bad and so we didn't stay long.
In one of the hallways was a book shelf filled with crafts that each of the kids had made. It was amazing to see how artistic these children were. Just look at the little figurines and paintings!
As we walked out of their group's area, we passed a mini kitchen that we told was where the children got to role play what it was like to live in a family with a mom and dad. They wanted the children to learn what it was like to sit down at the table and have a meal with their family.
I was impressed that these caretakers wanted to provide this experience to these children, but again it made me come to the realization that many of these children's only opportunity to feel what it is like to be part of a family is through this role playing. How heartbreaking.
We left the older children's group to visit the other side of the detski dom where the younger children are housed. Again, I was surprised to see how many pets they had. Maybe those pets were there for therapeutic reasons to help the kids learn how to love and care for a living thing.
As we finished our tour, John shows us what the children were watching on television. It was interesting to say the least.
