Art school

The private Christian art school our children (and I, sometimes) have attended for years is closing. Asya already had her last lesson. Bogdan has his today. Raia is still finishing up working and studying there, but after January 1, it will all be over. Our family is mourning, as are so many other people. This art school has been so much more than a school for us; it's more like family.

Just recently Facebook reminded me of a memory, a post that just says the sixth grade class was making watercolour Christmas cards, but Bogdan is in those photos, and he definitely wasn't in sixth grade. I remember that it was the day after one of my cancer treatments, when everything was also messed up on our residency. I was traveling back from Kyiv, Will was busy with paperwork or something, so Asya's class just took Bogdan in. Also, art school summer camps kept our kids fed, busy, and cared for during my first treatments and times when both Will and I were gone.

Just before we found out about the possibility of closing, I was there to pick up Bogdan one evening, and I took a few photos. Now I'm so glad we have these to remember by! Each time I saw the little kids in Raia's classes, I thought they were so cute, but I didn't take photos until this one:

Also, we have a then and now comparison. This first picture is on our refrigerator, from Asya's first year (or second?) at art school, and the second photo is her not long ago:

Bogdan has especially grown up in this school. I first started him in preschool programs, because he really needed speech therapy, and that was the closest option I could find. He learned to talk, and so much more.

Please pray for us as we grieve all this, for the teachers who need the income they were getting, and for the wonderful director of the school who started it when she was a teen 20 years ago.