And the Last Shall become the First

Wow, weary world traveler here.  Pretty lame really, I can't hardly call myself a world traveler but I do have the route from Kiev to Nikopol down.  Even the walk from the train station to the bus station in Dnipropetrovsk, which by the way, was scary today.  Don't know why, but I was not liking that walk one bit!

Our morning started early with a 6:15 cab ride, followed by a 6 hour train ride.  While I was able to sleep for the first half, after that, not so much.  Now that all the snow has melted you can really see the land for what it is worth.  In some places it is rich farm land, that black looking soil that we have none of in Colorado.  But then, you also see where they throw their garbage, just over the bank near the railroad tracks, and not just here and there...lots of it.  There is possibility but it appears so little hope.  While some people are busy raking and cleaning up the area around their apartments, the piles of trash have only grown.  And with the wild dogs roaming around, it is impossible to keep it contained.  They do have dumpsters, if you want to call them that.  And even what appears to be a recycle bin of sorts.  But still, there is just as much garbage on the ground as in the dumpsters.

Like I said yesterday, I am thinking in terms of "lasts" now.  Today was my last train/bus ride in a southern direction.  Yippy!  Today marks the last time visiting Daria as an orphan and our last visit in the orphanage.  I can't tell you how good that feels.  While my "lasts" are reason for me to celebrate, she is having her own lasts.  Today was her last day of school and tonight is her last night sleeping in an orphanage.  She has eaten her last dinner at the orphanage and is spending her last night with her friends of the past 2 years.  I am sure this is scary and hard for her.  Tomorrow she must say goodbye to her grandmothers and her aunt.  This is likely the last time she will see her grandmothers.  I got to meet the aunt today, she was kind and lovely.  She traveled from Moscow to say goodbye and to meet us and all she asks is that we stay in touch with her, which of course I will encourage always.  So while my eyes are fixed on my home, I don't want to celebrate at her expense.  She has some unfinished business here.

Tomorrow, she is ours!  Daria Hope Degnan, born July 25 2001 but born into our family on April 3, 2012.  She will walk out of those orphanage door for the last time to a life that she can all only imagine.  Tomorrow, everything changes...forever.

The morning will start with the application for the new birth certificate followed by a tax id number, some where in there we get to pick her up, sometime after noon I suppose.  Then we get the passport photo, go see grandma, probably eat our last pizza and hopefully manage to finish all we need to so that we can catch the 7am bus out of Nikopol on Wednesday morning, Lord willing.  I have her clothes packed, waiting at the front door, along with a few little gifts for the care givers.

For now, my Annabelle and I are settled into our favorite little apartment in Nikopol.  She playing on her iPod and drinking tea, me typing away and having a glass of wine.  What a blessed lady I am...hey Annabelle...thanks, you are amazing and I love you!

Tomorrow, Daria, Annabelle and I share a last and a first.  Last farewell to the orphanage and our first night as a family, even though it is still incomplete.  Completion will come when my arms are around James, Emma and Lily and we all finally settle in for our first night as a complete family, home in Colorado.  Country Road...take me HOME!