Rita

Last spring Tania had been talking to Rita since the Straders were in Ukraine adopting Sveta and Dosha. Rita convinced Tania that she wanted to be adopted here in Utah. So we went to Nannette's and convinced her to bring Rita over during the hosting program.

It was wonderful to have Rita visiting during the hosting program. Sveta, Dosha, Rita and Tania were best friends back in Ukraine. We spent many nights driving kids all over the valley so that the girls could be together. There were many long phone calls made to Rita. When Rita went to stay with the Lawrence's, Tania was able to get their phone number and calls were made to Rita at the Lawrence residence. When it was time for Rita to leave, Tania knew that the Lawrence's wanted to adopt Rita and that they were leaving in November. Rita should be back by the end of December, maybe first part of January. Excitement filled the air knowing that the four girls would be together again.

Yesterday when I got home, Tania asked me to log her onto the computer. I told her I would and that she needed to read something on the Internet. I brought up the Lawrence's blog and had her read about Rita. I decided that was the best way to tell her about what was going on. She read their post and I stood by to answer questions about things she didn't understand. By the time she finished there were tears in her eyes, which of course made me cry. I suggested to her that she stay up late that night and call Rita. She said that she would like that. She then had a very solemn call to Sveta and Dosha.

Later, she was asking what was for dinner and I reminded her that she had volunteered to make dinner the day before. Matthew had made dinner Monday night and Tania was kind of complaining that she didn't like what Matthew had fixed. Why didn't Matthew fix something that she liked? So I suggested to her that she should make dinner so that she could have something that she liked. So she said "OK I'll make dinner tomorrow and it will be eggs." So Tania made eggs for dinner Tuesday night. I think that was kind of therapeutic for her to cook dinner and get her mind off of Rita. I had to leave for while to help with the PTSA fundraiser but when I got back home things were still rather solemn and more phone calls were made to Sveta and Dosha.

Tania stayed up late and called Rita. David said they talked in very even tones. She didn't sound sad or mad. I think Tania was very concerned. This morning Tania told me that she didn't talk to Rita for very long. Rita needed to get to school. Rita wasn't able to tell Tania why she didn't want to be adopted but Rita did say that she didn't want to travel any more. Tania also talked to Antonina, who was Tania's caretaker in Ukraine. Antonina was very disappointed that Rita had decided not to be adopted. I'm sure that Antonina expressed her opinion to Rita very strongly.

We are all very sad that Rita has decided to stay in Ukraine.

On a different note, our fundraiser has not gone very well. The PTSA president decided to sell TAG 10's this year. The kids have had a very difficult time understanding the concept of the TAG10's which has made it hard for them to sell anything.

TAG10's are sheets of 10 tags. You register the sheet on a website so that you can follow the progress of the tags. The goal is to encourage acts of service. When you perform an act of service you give the person you have given the service a tag. That person hopefully would then write about their experience on the same website. They should then do an act of service and pass the tag along. The website keeps track of five acts of service per tag. It is rather fun to go on the website to see what has happened with the tags. If anyone is interested in purchasing a sheet they are $10.00 a sheet.

Also if anyone knows of a school organization that might need a fundraiser, we would be willing to sell our extra sheets to them at our cost.

And on another note, Sasha doesn't understand why I help out at school. Remembering back to last September when I helped with Reality Town, Sasha asked if I was getting paid to help. I said "no, I am just volunteering." He thinks I am crazy to help at school and not get paid.