Our picnic

Yesterday's concert was amazing. It's hard to believe that Jaan has really graduated from music school!

And our internet is fixed. Nice.


Today we have photos from May 9. Remember last year's Victory Day picnic? This year we were so excited to go again. Then, at the last minute it was called off because of an early-morning thunderstorm. The message from the church said that they had to cancel renting the buses, but anyone who had their own transportation and wasn't afraid of the weather could still go. We don't have our own transportation, but we're not afraid. Plus, we had all our food prepared and some very disappointed children. So, once the storm rolled past, we set out.

The very first thing we found when we got to the forest was a beautiful, bright green lizard.

While we were observing the lizard and resting, Will noticed that a dead tree seemed to be making noise. Something was scratching around inside it and squeaking and chittering. He called the kids close to watch and take pictures. When he pulled the bark back bunches of bats flew out at us!

Most of them flew away right off, but two didn't. We were afraid they were hurt, but no, they were just very sleepy. And maybe they were babies? After a while they did wake up and take off.

Then we walked on to the same picnic spot as last year. Some were hoping that others from church would be there, but no one else showed up. At least, not at that place. We had a wonderful day with just our family, though.

Do you see Jaan?

When it was time to go home, we headed out to the highway. I was hoping there would still be marshrutki running, and I think Will was trying to figure out how to get a taxi to find us. Raia and Asya sang all the songs they know at the top of their voices while climbing on the bus stop shelter.

After we had waited a while, a friend's van flew by. I recognised it, but Valentine wasn't behind the wheel, so I wasn't sure. He was resting in the passenger's seat, though, while his friend drove back from their dacha, and he saw us. They turned around, came back, and gave us a ride to the city. That was a very nice end to a very nice day!

Happy daily moments

Most of the recent photos we have are from big events. These aren't. They're just happy moments at home.

These first few are from a day when Bogdan was the only child at home and bored. So, he went and got his school nature journal and sat outside with me to draw while I read.

Will made a swing for the kids, and they're loving it! We had all been puttering around the yard and working on various projects when I took this photo through the window. So many things here that make me happy: Will and Bogdan, our little neighbour, my sweet potato plants, green grass....

They found a newly emerged butterfly!

By the way, Jaan's final graduation concert is tonight.

Robot contest

This is from March, which of course is well before the month of May that I wanted to write about, but photos and videos didn't really come out until April, and then somehow it was already May. And, since we're having internet trouble, it's easier to use what's already uploaded, so this is what we get today.

March 31 was the second Kherson robot battle. You may remember the first? Jaan has continued to love his robotics classes, and this time he won the contest! Raia skipped art class to cheer him on. Bogdan was there since he is Jaan's shadow, and some of Jaan's church theater friends came, too. I like how this photo of mine matches up with what the official photographer got:

(The first robot battle was held in the old gym at a physics school, where the--ironic!--problem was no electricity. This time it was a fancy car dealership where the bright sunshine and shiny floors confused the robots.)

It was pretty exciting at the end, because Jaan had actually placed fourth and was fine with that. He was already off doing something else when they called him back up to compete in the final rounds for first through third places. One of those robots had broken down, so his took its spot... and won!

Here is the official video from the contest, and there are photos here and here and elsewhere, if you keeping scrolling through Robohouse. This is what I posted on Facebook right afterwards, too.

May, police field trip, etc

I keep wanting to write, and then not getting around to it. We're already close to the end of May; it has been a wonderful, full, happy month. Maybe soon I'll be able to add some photos here, just as a record of some of the month. For right now I only have a few photos to share from our librarians. They organised a police station field trip, which Bogdan, Asya, and I greatly enjoyed. I especially love the picture of Bogdan. He seems so little! Usually he looks all grown up these days, but police gear really dwarfed him.

An added bonus was that our little group joined a group from the city orphanage: older kids who were finishing up a police course. We knew some of them from English camps.

We're having internet trouble now. With the long weekend for Pentecost, it will be at least Tuesday before someone can come fix it. We do have a connection sometimes, but it's the kind where you start a page loading or photo uploading, then go do other things while it works. Better than nothing, though. I started this post when I got home from church, and I'm finishing it as I take a shower and get ready for bed.

Ten years in Ukraine!

We have been here for a whole ten years now. This is one of the first family photos I could find of us in Ukraine. It was taken in the fall, and we arrived in spring, so it's not exactly ten years ago, but close:

And then here we are now:

We've changed!

Someone remembered that when we had been here for five years, we made a cake to celebrate, so of course they wanted another one now.

I am so thankful!!!

Adventures with Bogdan

In the past week Bogdan and I have gone on two wonderful adventures together. The first was on Monday. Some friends of ours are buying a house in a village near us, and I wanted to see how far away it actually is. So, in the afternoon while everyone else was at art/music/theater/office, we set out to explore. It was such a beautiful spring day, and such an incredible place to wander in! Bogdan said that he felt like we went to... "what was that place where we stayed in a hotel and went on walks?" Askania Nova! We did find our friends' new house, but of course, all we could do was walk past it, since the old owners still live there. The main attraction was walking along the little river. We saw wild ducks, turtles, muskrats, frogs, and so many kinds of birds. The muskrats were my favourites. I saw one, but Bogdan didn't, so I suggested that we sit and wait for it to come out again. We waited very quietly on one of the little footbridges with our feet swinging over, and sure enough, the muskrat came out. It swam right toward us to get a better look, which kind of scared Bogdan.

We walked a whole lot, and we were pretty tired when we headed home. I realised that I had 20 griven in my pocket and suggested ice cream cones. Bogdan instantly announced that he wanted white ice cream with strawberry jam on top. I had to tell him no, because I only had 20 for the two ice creams, not enough for jam. And then we saw another grivnya lying on the ground! When we got to the ice cream stand we found out that, yes, jam costs one grivnya. Bogdan got exactly what he wanted. We decided that was a special treat straight from God to us.

The next adventure was yesterday. For our beloved Oksana's birthday, Alys organised a really special day. She initially invited Raia and Asya to come, but we were planning on being in a small car, and both girls were busy, so I suggested bringing Bogdan instead. First we went to Kakhovka to get Oksana, then on to Dnepryani for a visit with some of the boys she grew up with. When we said goodbye to the boys, we went on to a lovely place along the Dnepr River and had a picnic. I didn't get any photos there, but it really was wonderful. Bogdan absolutely loved running around, catching creatures along the edge of the river and observing all the wildlife. He was asleep within five minutes of when we drove away from there. He woke up when we got back to Kakhovka, though, and enjoyed riding around on Oksana's bicycle with her.

Right now we're getting ready to go show the rest of the family (minus Raia, who is at a conference) the little river near us.

Christ is Risen!

I haven't written about Easter Day yet. Spring arrived the day after it, and I have been spending all my free time outside. Everything is so beautiful right now!

It was a beautiful holiday, too. The day before Bogdan and I made our breakfast cake. He went to bed with it looking plain, with the tomb closed.

And this is what it looked like the next morning, when we woke everyone with loud Easter bells and songs:

Because of everyone's full schedules we had to have an early breakfast, and I risked having it outside. Yes, it was chilly, but beautiful.

Right after breakfast half of us had to go sing at the early service, while the other half cleaned up, got dressed, and enjoyed coffee. Then we were all together for the second service.

Bogdan really likes the decoration by the entrance to the church:

He did not like my idea of taking a photo in the pretty grass by the bus stop while we waited on the way home:

This is the only photo I got of our special meal after church. It was delicious, though! This was the first time we've had asparagus in Kherson. It's rare, and we love it. We also had sweet potatoes (another rarity) and roast beef with mushrooms. Yum.

After we ate, Jaan had to hurry off for a theater performance at a youth Easter picnic for several churches together. Raia went soon after that to join her friends as spectators at the same event.

At home we enjoyed sitting out in the sun without coats for the first time this year, read the Easter story from our children's Bible, and then Will hid Easter eggs for our kids. We had never done that before, but they kept asking about it, and the big kids got to go to a fun event without them, so this was their special treat.

The rest of the day was just quiet and happy. It was such a joyful holiday for all of us.

ХРИСТОС ВОСКРЕС!

Happy birthday, Bogdan!

His big day was a really nice, simple one. We did a little bit of school in the morning, but mostly we just played. Raia spent long, focused time with him, making crafts that he really wanted to work on with her.  Later when the girls went to art, Jaan stayed home from theater and kept the fun times going, working and playing outside with him. The boys' big projects were to cut up the Christmas tree for a fire, then build the fire, and help cook hot dogs for dinner. After dinner each sibling presented Bogdan with things they had made or bought for him, and then he got his big present from us, too.

Minion hot dogs!

Back to normal?

After two full weeks of school quarantine, then a seventh birthday yesterday, maybe we'll get back into regular life now? Of course, the electricity would be off today.

School quarantine was even more disruptive this year than I remember from before. Our kids' music teachers weren't actually sick, and they really wanted to get in all their individual lessons, plus some, plus get home early every day themselves. So, most mornings when I was wanting to do regular school at home, their teachers were calling for them. (Raia even almost accused me of being unpatriotic: all the schools in Ukraine are supposed to close, you know! Why are we trying to do school?!)

Then we had the wonderful addition of having all their friends out of school and actually healthy. This quarantine was at least as much, maybe more, about saving money on gas as it was about sickness. So, their friends were constantly wanting to visit or invite them over. Plus crazy weather: so much was planned then cancelled again and again.

They did finally have one concert on Friday. Jaan and Raia played in that one. (Photo and video below.) Asya's was scheduled earlier, then rescheduled for Saturday, then put off again.... Now we still don't know when it will be. At least Asya got to have a sleepover with her friend Sonya.

Jaan is obvious; Raia is in the middle.

Bogdan's birthday was great fun. I'll write about that when I have electricity and can get to the photos on our computer. Unfortunately, now he has an awful cold. Poor guy. He's very sad about staying home from art class today.

Brother and sister

Two different moments from the past week:
What happens when the big brother is asked to help with tooth brushing, and when the big sister sweetly offers to help get ready to go out in the snow.

Spring snow silliness

Yesterday one of our friends posted a video on Facebook, and soon lots of the men from the churches around here were copying it. Maksim's is the best, so you should go watch that now. Then come back and watch our version....

Update: after all the videos on Facebook, another acquaintance of ours posted this video of how it really should be done. 

Remember the contest?

What seems like ages ago, I wrote about a contest. Remember? We found out today that we won!

Our librarians were a little upset that the big contest day was cancelled. Instead of inviting us to an event at the central library, they gathered all the library directors at a meeting and announced the results without us. I didn't mind, though; this was easier. Our own librarians just called us to our neighbourhood library and gave us our certificate and prize. And there was a funny story: someone in charge of libraries or culture or something for the city said that she already knew about our family, because a taxi driver who lives near us had told her about us when he was driving her somewhere. That would be our "Uncle Borya."


Oh, and we had the fun of a snowy walk to the library! Maybe winter has returned? At least the mud is covered now.

Quotes...

...from my sweet helper on the way to the orphanage this morning:
"Why aren't there marshrutki in America?"

(She asked me how old she was when she started school.) Then, in a loud voice from in front of me in the bus a little later, "I am counting up which grade I am in."

"Sometimes at night I dream about things I want. For example..." (I was expecting to hear about a puppy, or a smart phone like her friend got.) "...last night I dreamed I saw Jaan running, and his hair was short. I was so happy!"

What a week!

Monday: We had the annual cookie decorating day at the orphanage, and it was wonderful! I'll write about it separately soon. I did post these photos right afterwards.

Tuesday: It was supposed to be time for easing back into school after the weekend and Cookie Day, but right at the beginning of our school day Bogdan fell and hurt his hand. In the afternoon he did go to his usual art classes, but then Will took him to a doctor. The doctor said that he needed x-rays, so....

Wednesday: In the morning Will took Bogdan to the hospital while I did school with the others. X-rays were supposed to be by appointment only, and they didn't have any free spots until the weekend. However, they said we could come back after 2:00 and wait to see if we could get in. So, Will and Bogdan came home, and then I went back with Bogdan after lunch, and we waited and waited and waited and waited. We did finally get in, and we found out that his hand isn't broken. Hurrah!

Today: This morning I was supposed to meet up with someone quickly to pass on things for Kakhovka (adult "orphanage"). Bogdan and I went to run that errand, so that he wouldn't distract the others from school. We met up with our friend just fine, but we got thoroughly wet and muddy in a rain/snow/sleet mix. Then we missed our bus back by just one minute, so we decided that we needed coffee and cocoa from MacDonald's. Of course, we ran into friends there and had fun talking to them. We made it home just in time for dry clothes, lunch, and then running back out the door to go back to the first doctor and on to art....

Now I have what seems like my first quiet moments all week.

Here are a few photos:

Our street before the rain; now there's more mud.

Jaan got a new little rat.
(His beloved Arya died recently.)

Funny. No photos of faces from this week? I guess not, other than what we got on Monday, and I'll share what I can from those later....