Seeing Jackson’s Room

Tomorrow is the official day that we get custody of Jackson, but we won’t be able to take him out of the orphanage until Friday, which we just learned, because something about the need of the main doctor of the orphanage being present before we take him out. Another two days of waiting which is so hard, but at the moment our Embassy appointment back in Kiev is still tentatively scheduled for Monday or Tuesday of next week. We are anxious as ever to break Jackson out, but we are excited things are wrapping up!

Here’s a quick language barrier story for you:  When going to the grocery store, Scott and I try to not stand out as best as we can, but its not always possible.  The biggest trick is getting through the check out.  Today I was bound and determined to get out of the store without having to explain to anyone in the form of charades that I don’t speak Russian.  So, we go to the checkout and the lady asks a question, like she always does.  I always say “Nyet” (no) because I assume she is saying, “Do you have your Kroger plus card?”  Usually after this the cashiers don’t say anything and continue checking out our items and then I glance at the cash register to see how much money to give them.  Today though, the lady kept asking question after question.  I kept saying “Nyet” and finally after a few minutes, I gave in and shook my shoulders and said “English”.  She started smiling and laughed (very unusual for the culture here!) and we left the store.  Scott and I keep laughing about what she was could have been asking me and how she reacted when I answered each question with “Nyet”.  🙂

Today we got a glimpse of Jackson’s room that he spends each day in.  It is about half of the size of the music room that we play in.  It is up the concrete stairs and down a few dark corridors.  The front part of the room contained lockers for each child and a small little bench for the kids to sit on to put on their shoes.  Inside the main part of the room were a few toys, a slide with stuff stacked on top of it, a climbing ladder on the wall, a little TV in the corner with cartoons on it, and two little square tables in the middle of the room with chairs.  There was a kitchen to one side and a bathroom to the other side.  I believe that the cribs were off in another doorway.  It’s hard to believe that this is where he has spent his life!

All of the kids in Jackson’s groupa were having their potty time when we walked in.  Each child has a bucket and they sit on it until they go.  It was cute to see these itty bitty kids pulling down their pants and sitting on their designated bucket.  I wonder how the nurses trained them so well!  When we walked in a was a little chaotic and at one point I saw one child grab the empty bucket next to him and put it on his head- yuck!  Also, I don’t know how well the kids do at aiming and not spilling the bucket- which would explain why some days Jackson’s clothes have a distinct smell of urine on them.

After that, our visit with Jackson was normal.  He cracked us up while playing Ring Around the Rosy because he kept falling the exact same way that Scott would fall.  He was saying “down” consistently and at the end of our visit we grabbed some stuffed animals and played Ring Around the Rosy with them and Jackson said “All fall down”!  We hadn’t heard him repeat that long of a phrase before!  He was also full of kisses for us and for the stuffed animals, and always made sound effects with each kiss!

We’ll try to get a video up tomorrow, it’s upside down so Scott needs to figure out how to fix it. That’s it for now. We’re off early tomorrow to get paperwork final and secure our custody as the new parents of Jackson Scott!