Skating & Friends

It was a COLD day and we were in the end stages of planning for Natasha’s departure. I had Marine go up to her room in the morning and ask her if she wanted to go ice skating one last time with the family. Initially, Marine asked her without the translator app and got a definitive “No.” Marine decided to try one more time using the app and it started translating out loud as he was walking up the stairs to her room. Before he even got to the top, she had heard the translation and yelled out “YES!” and was bounding out of bed. Marine said that he had never seen her get up so quickly!

So we bundled up the family and headed out to Capitol Ice Arena and it was another hit. Something about being on the ice just resonated with her I guess. We got some wonderful pictures of her and Ky (she LOVES that baby) and then headed on over to Aldo Leopold for Weston’s class. Because it was getting to crunch time, I had no problem letting her hit Facebook and start getting some friend requests done. It’s kind of amazing (and a little sad), but she gets very excited everytime anyone “likes” a photo of her. She’s not usually the most engaging with Marine (still a little gunshy around men I think) but immediately started jibber-jabbering with him when she realized he had liked several of her pictures.

As an added treat, we all went out for dinner at Biaggi’s to meet up with Mike and Anastasia (Ukrainian friend). As a side note, I was reminded why we don’t go out to restaurants with little kids anymore, hah!

Anyways, Natasha’s eyes lit right up when she saw Anastasia. We had arrived at the restaurant a little earlier than the Tubbs Family and I spent about ten minutes arranging seating so that Natasha and Anastasia and I could talk while Marine could converse with Mike and Hailey could help with the kids. Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans… As soon as Natasha saw Anastasia, she jumped up and grabbed a chair and drug Anastasia down into it. As I watched Natasha talk non-stop with Anastasia, it struck me as dissonant how well she spoke to another adult and held up her end of the conversation (even though I didn’t understand a thing) and how young she really is. We also spoke with Mike for quite awhile and I can’t help but be thankful for great people in this world that show care and compassion for others like the Tubbs family. There wasn’t a dull moment and the girls talked the entire time and the end of the dinner was most definitely emotional. By this, I don’t mean any loud histrionics. Natasha just doesn’t roll that way. But there was definitely a heavy feel during the moment. Nonetheless, the dinner was a success and it really couldn’t have gone any better.

We capped the night off by having Hailey and Natasha start sorting out the nuclear bomb, I mean, their room and the clothes for packing. The idea of Natasha actually leaving us is starting to hit harder. I was really stressed because I didn't know what the future would hold for her but that miraculously changed late tonight when I received notice from not one but TWO families who are interested in maintaining contact with Natasha and possibly more.  Can't give too many details yet, but I'm hoping that I will be able to put Natasha on the airplane with some very good news and some hope!