First camp day

First thing this morning

Our neighbors finally came out of their Ramadan and rainy day hibernation, so some one else is listening to Bogdan for a little while. Hurrah! I had forgotten what having only one child is like. Also, I realized that I've never had just one at this stage. By the time Jaan was Bogdan's current age, we already had three children. Plus, Bogdan is used to having at least three playmates all the time, and he's wanting me to replace them. This could be a very long week. A fun week, though. He and I did have a great long walk together today. I'm loving hearing his opinion about everything, too, just his own thoughts without everyone else's thrown into the mix.

Late afternoon

Also, I just talked to Asya. They do an evening phone call time when we can call the counselors' phones and talk to our kids. Asya sounded great! It's cold and rainy-ish, but they're having fun. She was almost too busy to stop and talk to me. Nights were what she was most worried about, so that's still ahead, but so far she's fine.

Seven quick takes on Lera, picnic, camp, etc

Since Brandy lists what her takes are about in the title, I should do that, too. It's a good idea if I'm going to do this with any regularity.

:: 1 ::

Little Lera came through surgery well and is recovering. I still haven't heard if the surgery was successful in correcting what was wrong with her heart, but I'm loving the updates and photos of her looking so good already! This is the most recent update. (Although, I just checked the auto translate, and it says that she's "in the House." Not quite. It means that she's in a regular hospital room.)

:: 2 ::

The annual orphanage picnic was yesterday, and it was WONDERFUL! It was a very wet, rainy day, but we stayed under shelter, and the kids seemed to really enjoy themselves. We did crafts, a Bible story, songs, games, food, and lots of playing together. Seventeen kids came: most of the ones I have regularly for Bible lessons, plus some from a group that gets out even less than "mine" do. Pray with us that none of them get sick now, after having been out all day in damp, cool weather.

:: 3 ::

Our older three children are going to camp tomorrow. Jaan and Raia went last year and loved it; they can't wait! Asya alternates between their same excitement and dread. She was really excited about it, so we signed her up, but then she decided that she just can't do it. So, we've come to the point where she'll go and try it out. If she can't handle it, we'll bring her home. I really think she'll love every minute of it, though. It's a small camp for kids from our church, so she knows everyone. They'll be sleeping in tents out on the property of the local Christian college, not far from us at all.

:: 4 ::

Electricity. It's really nice. There's a big construction project in our neighborhood that seems to go on and on. It's had our power off for the working hours of most days lately. At least we've (usually) had mornings and evenings to charge everything. But, I've probably been quieter online than usual, because of this.

:: 5 ::

On Monday we had a good trip out to Kakhovka to do paperwork for Oksana. I was really apprehensive about it, because last time was terrible. This time we dealt with the director of the institution, though, not the vice-director, and all went well. I had been praying that she would be there and that people would be nice, and God answered. On the way back I got to see a bird that I had just learned about at the museum, and it was way more beautiful in real life than stuffed in a glass case.

:: 6 ::

Museum... our family went to another great summer program on Friday. I assumed they would have a photographer there again, so I didn't take our camera. But there was no photographer. Boo. This would have been even more picturesque than before. The kids got a tour, focusing on the flora and fauna of Kherson region, had a little lesson in botanical and entomological drawing, and then they each got to choose a specimen to draw. Even Bogdan really got into the observing and drawing part.

:: 7 ::

Today we're on one down-day in the midst of a few very busy ones:
Friday--our last day of school, museum program, and Constitution Day celebration
Saturday--the picnic
Today--rest, pack
Monday--take everyone to camp
Tuesday--big trip to visit kids at post-Tsyurupinsk institutions
And then it's going to be very quiet around here. Bogdan thinks he will be bored. We'll see.

Little Lera

About this time two years ago, I got to travel to Donetsk region, to visit with a friend who was adopting. I fell in love with a sweet little girl in my friend's son's group while I was there. She was like a fragile little bird; she doesn't speak, but she made sweet little singing noises. Because of her serious heart condition, I thought that she really needed an American family. (She is available for adoption.) But no one has come for her yet.

2013

About this time one year ago, I sat in a hotel in Zakarpatia and cried as I read about soldiers in her orphanage. A little later, I saw her face again in video of the evacuation from there, and I rejoiced. I followed every bit of information I could get, and found out that she didn't stop at the Kharkov #1 orphanage, like "Little S." did. (I still see him quite often in their photos.) But I couldn't find where she had ended up.

2014

This year I finally thought to look her up on an adoption listing. I found her profile, so I was pretty sure that she was still alive, but that's all. I kept asking people to look for her. Then, a few days ago Life2Orphans posted about a little girl going to Kyiv for heart surgery. I thought it would be her, and they confirmed that right away. Then this morning I saw her face again! An organization that helps "my" orphanage (and Antoshka in Kramatorsk) was asking for help buying diapers for her in Kyiv.

Today

So, for now that's where she is, undergoing treatment and preparation for "a very serious operation" on her heart. I was thrilled to read that she has volunteers taking care of her and bringing in food and other supplies. Please pray with me for her health. Obviously, I'm not a professional, but she seemed very frail to me when I met her. I haven't talked to the doctors, and I don't even know exactly what procedures she is facing, but I am still very concerned about her, of course. She does look really good in today's pictures; she's grown and filled out a bit. I don't even know when the surgery will be, but we can already be praying that it will be successful.

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.

Conference photos

They announced that the professional photographers' pictures from the conference will be available in three weeks. Our few photos might be online before then. The one above is my favorite.

Nice neighbors

We're back from a very wonderful conference and very difficult trip. Yesterday, just after we had arrived and while we were all lying around, trying to recover, Bogdan was outside running around. (He slept on the Odessa to Nikolaev leg of the trip.) He came in and told me, "Babushka Olga is here." I asked him if she was just there outside, or if she was actually asking for me. He insisted that she wanted to see me. So, I went out to talk to her. No, she hadn't called me, but she said that since I was out there, why not cut some peonies for me? And now those peonies are sitting by me here, where I can smell them as I write.

Family Day

We're leaving this afternoon for a week near Rovno. It's time for this year's Agape School students to graduate, and then there will be an Agape conference there, too. So, we'll "see" you in a week.

Before leaving, I did get photos from the Family Day uploaded. I wrote more about this event last year. Oh, one thing has changed since then. It's now held in the Park Formerly Known As Lenin. Also, Asya has grown so much since last year! I didn't let her go with the choir last year, because she just seemed too little (and she had a bit of a sore throat). This year I didn't think anything of sending her off at 9:00 for art school, class photos, and choir practice, telling her that we'd meet up at 3:00 in the park.

Raia's picture of her "Ukrainian" family

The mayor of Kherson voting in the art contest
(photo from the art school's page)

Asya the Flag and her entry in "My Ukrainian Family"

Children's choir

Our church's clowns

Watching the clowns

Some of the spectators

The adult choir

Trampoline!

Ice cream!

Yum!

Face painting!

Tricycles!

Bocci ball! (I think that's what it's called?)

Bubbles!

And Bogdan's buddy!

Jaan was there, but he spent most of the time with his friend from another church, so he didn't end up in any of my photos.

It looks like last year my blog post right before Family Day was about the local Bible institute's Missionary Day. That was great again this year! Photos are here, including a beautiful one of Asya.

Crimean Tatars

Yesterday was sad the anniversary of their deportation, not a day that I would have noticed a year ago. Now I know.

We love our neighbors, and we have so enjoyed getting to know a bit of their culture since they moved here last year. Right now, they're visiting relatives back in Crimea, but three of their friends are still here in the other half of our house. One is a younger woman who has seemed so shy that she's almost afraid of us. Yesterday she came to get me, though, because the washing machine was "acting strange." She's never used one before coming here, so she was baffled and terrified that she had broken it. Hopefully she won't be so scared of me, now that we've spent time together, lying on the bathroom floor, feeling around the insides of an ancient washing machine, looking for its filter.

At times I think it's a little funny that we get to be part of introducing them to Ukrainian culture and sometimes to city life, but maybe that makes sense, since we're foreigners, too?

Recent photos

School time

One garden helper

The same school readings in both languages

"Lollipop radishes"

Another garden helper

Matching shoes for church

Easter photos

I only posted one quick photo after my favorite holiday of the whole year. Here are more:

All the candles lit again

I wish I could have gotten a picture of Bogdan's face when he came out and saw the candles and heard the music. I tried to stage a photo after the fact, but he said that he could only do it once. He was so excited and so cute, though.

I had fun with natural dye this year.

Explaining the empty tomb to Bogdan

Waiting for breakfast

Христос воскрес!

"It's pink inside!"

"And mine is yellow."

The girls went to church early.

And then the rest of us followed.

At church (both girls are up there)

Afterwards we took some photos, and then home again...

A special dinner guest?

He wanted kulich before dinner.

After we ate, we rested a little, and then we were going to go to a park, but instead we waited an hour for a bus that never came. Everyone was still tired and very out of sorts, though, so we ended up just going back home. But, the next morning we went to the park and had a wonderful time, so there was a happy ending anyway.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Christ's resurrection!

Snickerdoodles

Last Friday the girls and I made snickerdoodles to get ready for the plein air. One of our babushka neighbors had been helping Jaan outside with our trees, so when the cookies were ready, Asya ran a plate out to her. By then, all the babushki were sitting around chatting, so they all sampled. Before long, an edict went out that I needed to translate and share the recipe. It was pretty much the same scene the next day, when we shared the cookies around. If it turns out that all of Kherson starts making snickerdoodles, you can blame us.

"En plein air"

On Saturday the girls and I went to an outdoor painting session and picnic with their art school. We had so much fun! The art school's photos are here, and these are ours:

A theme?

On the second day of writing quick notes, I think I see a theme: "I planned..., but...." We did have another lovely morning of school. Then we came in. I had planned to use quiet time to work on turning my rough notes from Saturday's board meeting (exciting stuff! starting to build homes for kids who grow out of Tsyurupinsk orphanage) into real meeting minutes. However, our power is off, so I "had to" read instead. It's a hard life. And I did more school with Raia, since she came back from her balalaika lesson, begging for me to read to her.

By the way, I wrote this on my Kindle. He protested, but eventually cooperated.

Need to write

I need to write more. For myself, if nothing else. Lately I haven't had time to think one thought after another in order, and when I do sit down to write, I get distracted by uploading photos or something. I think I'll try to write little bits more often, sometimes without photos.

So, I'll start with today....
I had planned on a regular school day, even though today is officially a holiday. But, even though it's a holiday, Jaan and Raia both had a lot going on with music school. Jaan was actually double scheduled this morning, with a piano lesson and preparation for an upcoming contest both set at overlapping times. It turned out that while the older two were busy with music school homework and then heading off to classes, Asya and Bogdan and I had a great morning of regular school. We sat outside under the cherry tree, read, narrated, drew, and Bogdan wrote his name by himself for the first time ever!

Quick garden update

I won't go on so long this time, but I just had to update and say that I think the asparagus we planted from seeds last year is coming back! The little sprouts are so tiny that we were actually out there inspecting them with a magnifying glass yesterday morning and still aren't quite sure, but it really might be. I was thinking I would have to roast some ducks, too, because they got some of the big fat sprouts off the special asparagus roots that I ordered and planted, but as of today all three of those root crowns have big, fat shoots on them again or still. And we also have radishes and spinach coming up.

Happy Easter!

Easter was almost a week ago here, and almost two weeks ago elsewhere, but the Easter season continues....

Christ is Risen!

Sad and happy

Last week one of the boys called from the orphanage and told me that two of his friends, boys who I have worked with very closely, had been transferred. And they were transferred, not to the closer, nicer nursing home, but to the far away mental institution where Sergei and Slava are.

Kirill and Sasha enjoying craft time a few months ago

We had actually talked in general about their transfer the Saturday before. I knew they were dreading it, but the staff had been holding on to them for some extra time, and I thought they would be able to do that longer. I also thought that at least Kirill would make it into the nursing home, where the more independent kids go. A very loving orphanage worker had really been trying to prepare him for that. I don't know what happened, but I've definitely been mourning their departure.

It's also been very hard to see those who are left behind. Saturday was a really fun visit (more below), but the little boys left in Kirill and Sasha's group just couldn't get into the fun. One in particular just kept shaking his head and saying, "They took our boys." And that was already several days after it had happened; he was still in shock. Our own children, especially Jaan and Raia, are having a hard time with this, too. Today Jaan wrote a sweet letter to Kirill, since Kirill can read some. I'll send that soon and pray that it makes it to him and is a comfort. Jaan is also asking if he can go the next time I visit out there; I don't know if that would be wise or possible, but it's something to consider....

But then the happy part: instead of my usual Saturday morning orphanage visit, I went out after nap time. I took our computer and internet and set up Skype to call Oksana in America. Because I didn't know in advance if it would work, I hadn't even mentioned it to the kids. But it did work, and it actually worked really well. I went from bed to bed and let everyone say hi, and then set up at a table for more people to talk with her for longer. I think everyone was encouraged, all around. We certainly all had fun talking!

Oksana will be coming back to Ukraine for the summer, because of her visa and a gap in her treatment. I would really like to find a place for her to stay with Christians in Kherson, instead of having to go back to the nursing home in Kakhovka. Please pray that I would be able to find the perfect situation for her. There are a lot of factors that make that complicated, but I know God is able.