Seven Quick Takes: Overwhelmed!

:: 1 ::

Bogdan update: he is loving his lessons at art school. Going to his lessons, not so much. I mean, peeling him off of me and getting him into those classrooms is not easy. But, as soon as he's in class he's relaxed and happy and talks about how wonderful it was for the rest of the week. I can already see that he's learning there, too.

:: 2 ::

I'm going to school, too. Hence the overwhelmed title. On Saturday I'm leaving to go to the first session of this year's Agape school, and I'm trying to pull everything together for a week away. Yikes! Not ready at all. Hopefully I'll be like Bogdan: dragging my feet on the way, but then able to relax and learn once I'm there.

:: 3 ::

Jaan had a birthday last week. He's twelve now! Oksana and Alys celebrated with us. We had lots of fun and games, pumpkin pie, and a late night movie, since Oksana stayed over night, too.

:: 4 ::

Raia is working at settling into her school-year schedule. The beginnings of her weeks are FULL this year, but then the rest of the week slows down for her. We may have to adjust a little, just so that she can handle it better. She is enjoying it, though.

:: 5 ::

Asya has a birthday coming up, too. She's been a bit under the weather with a cold, but it hasn't slowed her down much, and she should be feeling better by the time she turns eight. Her little friend in the other half of this house has been even sicker than she has, so they have been "playing together" through the windows.

:: 6 ::

Karina... the sweetest part of the past few weeks has been Karina's family coming for her. We finally got to meet them--well, some of them--on Saturday. Karina's new papa and her new sister, also just out of an orphanage, came over to spend some time with us. We adults talked and talked, and our children loved playing with little Raia. (Yes! She has the same name as our Raia.) Then the next day they got Karina, and we saw them off to Kyiv. I posted photos on Facebook, and I also love this one that Karina's papa got after they left the orphanage:

(Probably her first time feeling the wind. She would have been in cars before, but a good Ukrainian caretaker would never have allowed wind to blow on her. Apparently she loved it. Freedom!)

:: 7 ::

Our children sitting out in the street with the babushki most evenings really amuses us. I always wish that I could sneak photos of the circle of elderly women sitting on stools and our children right there with them. This evening was the funniest, though. We were running a little late with supper, so I guess they had all gathered while we were still eating. Babushka O. came charging back here to demand children, because the babushki were bored without them, she said.


I'm overwhelmed... by all the fun and busyness and wonderfulness of our life!