And off we go!

WOW. Stavropol. It is a beautiful but poor city. It is about the size of Orem, Utah. As you around, it seems familiar, yet distant. There was so much to take in. The spelling on the doors (the shops) the streets. All around, people were walking.

We had a nice hotel room. We looked out the window and watched. It was busy in the morning, and people were going to work. All the women were nicely dressed. But, as we had found out as soon as we got there, everyone did not smell the sweetest. They needed money for bread more than they needed it for deoderant.

We went down to eat our breakfast. It was in the hotel itself. Many people were staring at the "American's". We really didn't know what to order, so we tried to smile and point - and they tried to smile and point back. I think we had some kind of coupon that we got to use for the breakfast, and soon our food was on the way. This is where I thought I was really in Russia.
They served us weird colored, light hot dog? for breakfast. With eggs and toast. I gagged at the hot dog. I couldn't believe they were serving it at breakfast, and yet, we were in a different country. We had also been warned not to drink the water. We bought all water in bottles, or soft drinks in bottles.

After the meal, we went up to the room and started the waiting game. We had to sit there and wait for Alex, our coordinator to call us in our room and tell us it was ok for the orphanage where Vika was, that they would finally allow us to come and see her.
When we were finally summoned, we were excited. We took the luggage I had packed for her, and got in the van with so much excitement and anticipation.

We got to the Detsky Dom (the orphanage) and started to play another waiting game. Several woman who seemed rather brisk looked us up and down, sometimes disapprovingly. I strongly believe it was because someone had been there before to get this litte child and did not follow through on it, and they didn't want it to happen again. They didn't know they had met their match. That child was MINE!! As Vinny had once called his baby sister, this little child was "me mine all mine!".

Vika. Vika whose name we would change to Camilla. So, I will call her Cami from here on out. You will get the specifics on all the girls names later. But let me tell you about Cami.

Cami was absolutely STUNNING. She was beautiful. She was a bit reserved, no one could blame her for that. She had somewhat of a cough that day. Her hair was longer than we had seen in one of her pictures. In one of the first pictures we had ever seen of her, her head had been shaved like a marine, and you could still tell how beautiful she was. Now, it was short, boyish, and she was a doll.

Her orphanage seemed to be like some sort of a run down pre-school. Little did we know that after we saw Nikki's orphanage, Cami's orphanage would seem to be a high class pre-school. We did a little walk through, and though we were not permitted to see much that first day, we were there!! We had been told we would not be allowed to take Cami from the grounds of the orphanage. That really disappointed us. We would only be there for three days total to see her, and they would not let us take her that day? For shame! So, they sat us in some sort of gymnasium, and we waited.

Suddenly, one of the personnel came in. After an exchange of Russian barrage of words, our translator turned to us.
"They are going to let you take Cami today after all" he said. WHAT?? We were floored! Something we originally were told no was now about to happen.

They brought Cami to me, and she immediatly climbed on my lap. She was so sweet, and seemed very tenderhearted. So small for a six year old. So thin. I felt to sing to her, and so I did. Then we went in some rooms, and talked to a lot of Dr's and phychlogists, and they asked us many questions as to why we wanted her and not another child there. We were very astute in our answers. I answered completely and openly from my heart. Finally, it seemed as if they were somewhat satisfied in the answers we had given them. They almost ordered us that when we took her for the short time we would be allowed to have her that day, she would have to take a nap. It was a daily routine she was accustomed to. They ushered Cami into the room.

We bundled her up in our arms, and got in the van. We first went with Michael and Alex, to a little restaurant, to get a bite to it. Cami seemed ok, but a bit distant. It was an outside eating venue, and we soon were whisked away to the hotel for some much needed time with Cami. We got a wonderful surprise, when we found out that Alex and Micheal were not going to stay and chaperone as we thought they would be. Cami came into the room with us. She seemed so happy.. and you should have seen her face, as she went through her luggage and found all of her new clothes. She was so excited, she loved her "jeans". Most of all, she loved her barbies. She was fascinated with our cell phones, (although they didn't work in Russia, we had taken them so we could call our family as soon as we got back on US soil). Vinny soon had her playing a game of pretend talking on phone ("here the phone is for you" " no, here, the phone is for you") and she seemed to be having a great time.

Then Cami opened the bathroom door. Her eyes grew as big as dollar bills when she saw my makeup out. She was enthralled. She ran to it, and started jabbering. We have it all on video. She put that makeup on like she was a pro. Kinda scary in a way, because she was only six, but it was so so cute! She had SO much on, and she was just talking and talking and talking. She was in heaven. Oh, the joy of being six and finding makeup!

When she came out of the bathroom, Cami suddendly spied my medication that I had to have on my trip with me. She literally freaked out. She started to repeat "Detsky Dom" over and over and over again. She was crying almost hysterically. We didn't know what to do to calm her down. Somewhere in my mind, I wondered if she had been given some meds that she had absolutely hated , and she was scared to death. She has such a little girl high pitch voice, and her screams got louder and louder. I think she finally realized for the first time she was alone with us. She was scared and frightened. I felt so bad for her. We finally had to go get one of the maids from the hotel to talk to her and calm her down somewhat. We didn't know what they said to her, but they were kind and we were re-assured. I took Cami in and showed her a big scar on my foot, ( I had surgery before we had gone over to Russia) and tried to show her that the meds were for my feet. She seemed to be calm and seemed to understand that the meds were mine and not to be given to her.

Finally Alex and his wife Luba showed up. They took us to the "Zoo". The Zoo was the poorest looking thing I have ever been to. The animals were sickly looking. It was so hot there. It was very humid and filled with mosquitoes and sick looking trees. There was even a sick looking dog in the Zoo. Hardly any animals, yet we tied a balloon to Cami's wrist and let her look. She was fascinated with the animals.

While we were walking through the trees, in the middle of the forest, the Zoo, the "carnival" if you must, my mouth dropped to the ground. I saw ELDERS!!!!!! Elders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I was overjoyed. We went to them and they were as surprised to see us as we were to see them!!! It was a wonderful time, and I was so glad to see the Lord's work progressing over there. Who would have thought that we would have found missionaries over there?? What a treat for us.

We finally dropped Cami back off at the orphanage and had a chance to meet all the little ones whom she associated with. They hugged and kissed us and called us momma and poppa. Talk about breaking your heart. They all wanted to come with us. I knew Cami was our daughter, but Good Grief!! Why or don't more people adopt?? And why does it just have to be babies?? There are so so many little kids everywhere that need a good home. Unfortunately, there is so much red tape, that a lot of people just give up. And that to me is unjustified. Shame on the system. Give the kids a home - full of love! At any rate, as we left, watching Cami with her peers, we heard them all chanting "Vika, Vika, Vika." She stood there clutching a fistful of all day suckers we had bought for all the children, and by the look on her face, and the grip of her hand, they weren't going to go anywere.

We didn't want to leave, but our first day with Cami had ended.