A Kid By a Different Name!

We have just returned from a 3-hour orientation with the other hosting families. We discovered that there is only one other child besides Ivan traveling from the same orphanage. However, great news is that the orphanage director, a teacher, and a translator will be traveling with them. We hope to spend a lot of time with these adults learning as much as possible about Ivan's past. These 3 people will be staying with a family about a 1/2 mile from us, so that's even better! In total, there will be about 9 children from 3 different orphanages in the Fort Wayne area for the 3 weeks. Another set of children will be staying with host families in the Indianapolis area.

Another interesting discovery is that Ivan's name is not pronounced with a long "i" at the beginning; it's more like "Ah-van"-- second syllable stressed. (For you Detroit Tiger fans-- ah, well, I guess you NY Yankees fans as of 7/31,, (it's pronounced like Ivan Rodriguez. Tim's sister's family is especially excited about that!) A typical nickname for Ivan is pronounced "Vahn-ya." We'll see what happens when we meet him whether we'll call him by his nickname or not.

And, speaking of meeting him. . . We were originally told they would be arriving tomorrow night (Monday) around 8:00 pm in Fort Wayne. Well, coordinating flights for all these children and their adult escorts proved to be a little more difficult than they thought. One group will arrive at 8:00, but you guessed it, not our group! They will arrive very late tomorrow night, so the Indianapolis coordinator will pick them up and let them sleep at her house. Tim and I, the other child's host parents, and our Fort Wayne camp coordinator will now be driving down Tuesday morning to Indianapolis to pick up our group. For Ivan and the other Ukrainians sake, this will probably be a better option so that they get some sleep. We are, of course, very impatient to meet him, so we are a little bummed about this news. I guess this gives us a little more time, mentally, to get our minds wrapped around the fact that our lives will be changing dramatically very soon!

Thank you for all your replies and prayers from the first two posts. I apologize if I have not answered you back yet; I'm working on it!!!!