7 quick takes

My friend Brandy does "7 quick takes" every week on her blog. Here are seven quick takes from me. (What are takes?)

:: 1 ::

The professional conference photos are already online! However, they're so big, that it's hard for us even to move through them. Also, one of the fun activities during free time was photo shoots with the photographers, so there are tons of individual portraits mixed in with the rest of the pictures. But, if you have some free time now, go ahead and take a look at the conference we enjoyed so much. I'm collecting photos from there to post here later on, too.

:: 2 ::

Saturday I had a great visit at the orphanage. My Bible lesson just went really smoothly, and the kids seemed interested and engaged. And then I got to spend bits of individual time with others afterward.

:: 3 ::

Saturday evening we had our first outdoor English-speaking fellowship of the year. We meet outside during the summer months, and it's so nice! (I love the indoor fellowships, too, of course.)

:: 4 ::

Sunday, after church was the girls' art school "Last Bell." It was really fun and exciting, and they both got awards. Raia won the older age division art contest from Family Day! (Remember her picture?) Asya was recognized for faithful attendance. We have loved this first year of art school and are already looking forward to next year. The director made a point of telling me that we should sign Bogdan up for their preschool classes, too, and we were already planning on that. He can't wait.

:: 5 ::

Sunday evening:

:: 6 ::

Monday was Children's Day. We attended a production put on by our church and Agape together. They bused in kids from the orphanages for a concert and elaborate theatrical and puppet show and more.

:: 7 ::

Today Will has been at all-day working meetings for Agape. I know he was giving a presentation at some point. We're doing school until the end of June, so we had a normal school morning, and then a Junior United Nations meeting afterwards. Not really. Just playing outside, but especially now, when our neighbors have friends with children visiting, that's what it seems like: five little Crimean Tatars, our four Americans, two Buryat neighbors, and the one lonely Ukrainian boy from across the street. At least everyone can speak Russian, so they communicate well. They all (usually) get along with each other beautifully. We were painting and playing board games, but now they've moved on to some kind of pretend play, so I'm taking a break.