New Apartment and Olivye Salad

Yesterday was full of surprises.  Our landlord thought that our next rent payment was due, but I was under the impression it was not due for 5 more days.  That, combined with the fact that last year she gave us a larger two room apartment with a kitchen and a working TV for the same price, and the fact that there was money missing from our apartment made us decide to look at another place to live.

The new landlord chauffeured us off to see his apartment located a few miles away in a different section of town.  It's in an 8 story building with an elevator and has two bedrooms and a kitchen.  He even staged it with breakfast rolls, tea and juice on the kitchen table.  The price is 40% less, but the deal maker was when he offered to drive us to do some fun things over the Labor Day holiday.  He's only in town for a few days and enjoys showing people around.  So tomorrow we're driving to Koktabel to ride horses and have a picnic cooking shashlik (shish kabobs).  The only catch is that Malvina has to choose only one of her two best friends, because his car will only hold 5.  I offered to put Eli in the trunk, but he didn't buy it.

The other catch is that we haven't been able to make my Macbook Air connect to his internet.  He's bringing a technician over tomorrow---I hope.  My life is pretty dependent on internet in America, but half way around the world, far away from friends and family, with practically no one to speak English to, it's my lifeline.  

This place isn't as close to the orphanage---about a 40 minute walk or two bus rides instead of one, and it's a few blocks farther from the sea, but it's closer to shops,  a big grocery store and an outdoor market.  And no one has a key except us.  

Today was a really fun day.  Nastia, Kristina and Malvina came to our new apartment to make their favorite salad.  It's called Olivye, which is basically a potato salad with a lot of extra things thrown in, like pickles, bologna, cucumbers, peas, carrots and fresh parsley.  We went shopping for the groceries together and then did all the chopping and cooking together.  While things were cooking, we made ice cream sundaes.  After our feast, Malvina wanted to practice Rosetta Stone.  She really does know more English than the other gals.  I can tell she's been working hard on English this year -- in spite of her unhelpful teacher.

The salad was definitely Malvina's project, and it turned out delicious, but it was interesting to watch her leadership.  She immediately gave assignments  to each person and had strong opinions about how and when each task should be done.  She was very resourceful in coming up with ways to open the jar of peas with a snap off lid, but no tool to snap it off with.  She finally got it off, and without any blood shed---only a bruised elbow.  What I especially liked was how quickly she popped up at the end to wash all the dishes.  Good sign.

Terrorists and Holidays

Just when I'm thinking things are getting a little dull---that there's no excitement here, my son at home asked when I'm traveling next and if I've heard anything about the terrorist explosions in Dnipropetrovsk.  No I hadn't.  My TV doesn't work.  Not that watching Russian newscasts would be particularly informative or helpful, nor that I'd be watching anything besides Ukraine's Got Talent.  YIKES!  My train will be going through Dnipropetrovsk on Thursday and then again on Saturday as we travel to pick up Allison's new birth certificate.

Yesterday, four bombs were placed in trash cans at various bus stops near the center of town and all exploded within an hour, injuring 29 people.  An anonymous call said the train station had been threatened as well, so a full evacuation was ordered and delayed the trains for several hours.  It's possible this is related to the Euro 2012 Soccer Games, but no one has taken credit for the explosions yet.  Click here for more info.

I had just been remembering that it was the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.

"The April 26, 1986, explosion spewed a cloud of radiation over much of the northern hemisphere, forcing hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in heavily hit areas of Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia. The Soviet government initially tried to hush up the explosion and resisted immediately evacuating nearby residents. It also failed to tell the public what happened or instruct residents and cleanup workers on how to protect themselves against radiation, which significantly increased the health damage from the disaster.
A shelter called the "sarcophagus" was hastily erected over the damaged reactor, but it has been crumbling and leaking radiation in recent years and a new confinement structure is necessary."

There's something about "dull" that is just more and more appealing to me.

Today is Saturday in Feodosiya, but today the kids have to go to school because Monday thru Wednesday will be the Labor Day holiday, so there will be no school.  American teachers and students would never buy into that.  What's the point of getting a day off if you have to make it up on the weekend?

And what is Labor Day about in Ukraine?  May 1st is actually International Workers' Day and is celebrated in more than 80 countries.  The US has resisted pressure for a hundred years to switch from our September holiday which celebrates the contribution of its laborers.  Consequently May 1st is the day chosen by groups like Occupy Wallstreet and the Latino community to hold strikes and protests.

Vera was busy yesterday, so I had very little communication with Malvina.  I arrived at 6 pm and was told Malvina was shopping up the road.  I walked for a mile to see if I could find her but returned unsuccessfully and was told she was in a dance rehearsal.  I watched the last few minutes, played a little volleyball, ate dinner, played a little more volleyball and said good night.

We have some cooking and a picnic with Vera planned for the holiday, so hopefully that will be fun.

I made a couple of movies: the first of three boys at the orphanage break dancing; the next is of Malvina diving.  Enjoy!

The hill where I sit and gaze at the spectacular view while contemplating life.  

I walk for several hours most days.

Svieta, Rya and Christina

These boys are showing off their new haircuts.

A few of you have mentioned you haven't been able to post your comments.  I changed some settings, so hopefully it's easy now. 

Trial and Error

My laptop can detect that I'm in Ukraine, so our internet keeps wanting to switch from English language to Ukrainian.  It took a lot of time using trial and error to figure out how to make a new post --- much like reading the menus at a Ukrainian restaurant.  After quite a bit of trial and error you know which are the good things to point at and which are not.

In between running here and there to get documents notarized and registered, I've enjoyed eating lunch with Vera the past few days.  Our weather was a lovely 73 degrees today.

Alex is staying in Dzhankoi for a week to help his uncle repair and turn his sister's classroom into a home.  And Eli's new girlfriend leaves for the sanatorium tomorrow.  A tender mercy from the Lord.  Bless her little heart.

Tonight ends 3 days of no running water in Feodosiya while the city's water system is flushed out annually.  Not really sure just what that means, and I'm a little afraid to ask, but I'm kind of glad it's not quite warm enough to go swimming in the sea.

I took my laptop so Malvina could begin practicing her English in Rosetta Stone.  Once she began, I couldn't get her to stop.  I think she did more in one night than Alex did for the whole last summer.  This is a good sign.  

I've been assembling some short movies to entertain the kids at the orphanage.  Vera helps me with the translation.  Here's a trailer-style sample.  If you don't speak Russian, the basic idea is that we missed our friends in Ukraine so much we decided to come back for a vacation.

I don't know if there are more stray cats or dogs here.  But this one's been busy doing her part to multiply and replenish the earth.  Between the wind and the sea, it's a bad hair day for both of us.

Malvina pretty much lives on her phone.  That should be big incentive to learn English.  Phones are so pointless when you can't say anything to anyone.

8 Months 'Til Christmas

It's amazing how much our lives can change in just 8 short (or possibly extremely long) months.  At Christmas in 2012, I will have one son eating chicken feet in Australia and starting to understand and speak Cantonese after having left to serve a mission in July, and I'll have a new Ukrainian daughter starting to get pretty good at speaking and understanding English.  I'll have two Ukrainian tenth graders probably attending different high schools and needing lots of help with homework---one possibly driving, the other desperately wanting to, and a junior high Ukrainian son who will for sure need lots of homework help---and for sure be wanting to drive.  Fat chance!

We've been enjoying nice, spring, 60 degree weather in Feodosiya.  The kids have so much fun playing volleyball together outside.  Tonight the "people from the church" came to the orphanage.  The kids faces just light up when they see them. These are are 8 - 12 really fun men and women in their 20's and 30's who just come to be friends with and love the kids.  They play with them, let the kids ride their bikes, play a guitar and sing songs to them, talk to, hold, hug and mentor these kids.  They are some of the nicest people I've ever met, and they're the same ones who came to watch the Easter program.  I suspect they might be Baptists, but I don't know because I can't communicate with them.  They're wonderful followers of Christ whoever they are.

Malvina was so friendly tonight.  In the middle of the evening she came over to me with a big smile, put her arms around me, and said, "Hi Mom."  It was such a small thing, but at the same time it was huge and meant so much to me.

I took my laptop to the orphanage and showed the kids a movie I made of them at the orphanage last spring.  They laughed and laughed as they watched themselves.



 

Day Trip to Dzhankoi

This morning Alex, Vera and I boarded a bus to Dzhankoi to see what we could do to help Alex's 20 year old sister, Nastia, and her 6 month old baby find a place to live.  We'd heard rumors of abandoned houses in villages selling for as little as $1200.  This didn't seem to be true, so we decided to fix up the room in the old school that she was given by the government.  This was a school used in one of the old collective farm villages many years ago.  Various members of Alex's family have lived in the school classrooms including Alex and Nastia.

The room she'll live in measures 20' x 20' and has 2 windows, both with broken glass.  There's running water, but only outside the house about 20' from the front door.  The outhouse is farther.  Currently there is no door to her classroom, and the floor consists of ceramic tile which gets very cold in the winter---especially for a toddler, so she wants to cover it with wafer board to help insulate.  There is electricity, and she plans to use an electric heater during the winter.  We're getting a wood burning stove, a table, a wardrobe closet, a door, new glass and some paint.  Their uncle, who is a builder, is coming Saturday with some of the men in the village to help get it all cleaned up and put together.

I felt what she asked for was very humble and modest--a nice surprise, because that's not what I was expecting.  It actually made me want to do more to help her.  How very differently I live.

Alex with his sister and her baby

Vera with the baby

In front of the school/house

The foyer / entrance room.

The classroom Nastia will live in.

Nastia's room

We went shooting over the weekend.

Malvina's beautiful, long hair.

   

Ping Pong Day

OK, my volleyball skills haven't improved as much as I thought.  The kids go out of their way to set me up for successful shots, and they add me to the stronger team to even things out for the weaker team.  I'm OK with this.  I know volleyball's not my strong suit.

But I was thinking what I lack in volleyball skills I make up for with ping pong skills.  Sadly that was not the case today.  Malvina and I had our first ping pong match, and I was feeling like I was holding my own pretty well for the first 30 minutes.  Then one of her girl friends walked in, and Malvina suggested I hit with her for a while.  She was only about 4 feet tall and had an obvious disability of some sort with a hunched up shoulder --- but a huge smile.  I tried to be gentle and kind as I hit the ball across the net to her.  That was a big mistake!  I never even saw the ball come back and felt very lucky it hadn't seriously wounded me.  That's pretty much how it went for the next 30 minutes.

The real treat of the day was watching Malvina hit with a man who was either the teacher or owner of the club.  WOW!  She's gone pro.  It was amazing to watch the two of them spar with each other.  I realized how merciful she'd been with me.

In the afternoon we went shopping for parting gifts for her friends.  Her best friend, Nastia came with us. We chose deodorants, nail polish, shampoos, aftershaves and finally a nice vase for Tamara, the director.  When we couldn't walk another step, we stopped to eat a pizza together.  There was way too much communicating on the iPhone with google translate, and I can hardly til we never need to use it again.  We looked at family photos and pictures of trips while we waited for food.  It was a very nice day, and it was good to have Nastia with us so there weren't long silences.

Nastia made a rose with her paper napkin.

Typical apartments

The view of the sea on the walk home from the orphanage

A typical sidewalk scene

Typical houses

The outsides of buildings look worse than the insides.

Wonderful Day!

Court was a piece of cake because everyone was on our side --- even cheering for us.  The city inspector and all her personnel were so thrilled this had a happy ending.

After court, Tamara, the orphanage director and the city inspector joined Malvina (I mean Allison), Vera and me for a celebration lunch.  But none of us were really hungry, so we had an ice cream party instead.  It was a happy, joyful time.  The former tension melted away into smiles and laughter, and it was a wonderful new beginning for us.

Vera with Allison and me

Tamara, the orphanage director

Later in the afternoon when the Judge read her final decree to me, she stated I have 10 days in which to change my mind for any reason.  I was a bit relieved to know the law extends that privilege to me as well as other relatives---just in case---but I'm really not too worried.  We're erasing the past and starting fresh.

Malvina went back to school and is busy finishing her homework so we can finally go play ping pong.  She's certainly driven to do well in school.  If she works this hard at learning English, we'll be communicating in not time at all.

Tamara told me the foster family she lived with previously made her feel she never measured up to the accomplishments of their biological children, and she was constantly being compared.  I suspect that's why success in school is such a priority to her ---- to be able to prove her worth. 

I'm trying to make all the new changes coming up in her life as gradual and painless as possible.  She's going to continue living at the orphanage until she finishes her final exams in the middle of May.  And instead of shopping for new clothes, I'm going to buy from the orphanage the clothes she's already comfortable wearing.  She's so beautiful, she looks great in whatever she wears.

Thank you for your many prayers.

Court Tomorrow

Malvina changed her mind.  We're going to court tomorrow.  Please keep praying.

Easter Program

Easter is so much more spiritual here in Ukraine.  No Easter bunnies.  They decorate eggs representing new life and have the special greeting all week of Christ is Risen, to which you reply, Yes, truly risen.  I can never say it right in Russian, and someone said it to me in the park last week.  I stopped and tried to remember what to reply, but my mind went blank.  The woman looked at me and could tell I was American.  She finally said in a very loud, deliberate voice, "Christ lives."  I smiled, put two thumbs up, nodded my head up and down and said, "Da, Da, Da."

Monday was the legal Easter Holiday in Ukriane so businesses were closed and there was no school.  The Orphanage put on a wonderful Easter pageant re-enacting the last days of Christ's life.  The kids dressed in costumes and had each memorized significant parts.  When I first walked in, there on the large screen monitor was the painting of Christ in the heavens with hundreds of angels on both sides extending into the clouds--the large one in the terrestrial room of the SL temple.  It made me feel so at home.  Here are some photos of their show. 

Eli  and Svieta

Malvina in the blue dress.

Malvina in pink.

Malvina looked gorgeous in her costume and seemed happy and normal again---except she totally ignored me, so after the show I went walking by the sea and then through the market again for the tenth time.  I didn't want to spend the rest of the day just sitting in my apartment, so I bought badminton sets and frisbees and went back to the orphanage.  Malvina ignored me for the entire day except to say thanks when I gave her some daffodils I bought to cheer her up.  I put the letter I had written on her bed.  I don't know if she ever read it.  

I had been planning to go to Simferopol to watch the girls perform in some kind of singing contest today, but now it seems it would be really awkward.  Last night as I was leaving, the other girls begged me to come with them on the bus, so I agreed, but then they learned there was not enough room on the bus.  It's probably better that way.  I'm sure the girls will be questioning Malvina about what's wrong because we all had sooooo much fun yesterday.  

My volleyball is improving.  The bruising on my hands and wrists is clearing up, and it's not as painful as it was the first few days.  I'm doing lots of walking and maybe even loosing some weight.

Letter to Malvina

I had Natasha translate this letter so I could give it to Malvina today.

My dear sweet friend, Malvina,

It makes me so sad to see you feeling so miserable. Neither of us have done anything wrong.  You are simply following what your heart is telling you is right, and that is how God talks to us.  

I know you don't want to hurt my feelings and can't bring yourself to share your heart with me, but it's really important to share feelings.  So I'm going to share mine first in this letter to you.  Maybe it would be easier for you to share your feelings in a letter to me.  I can get it translated.  

When I first heard you had changed your mind, I came home and cried for a while. I was confused and filled with questions.  I felt it was God who had placed the desire in my heart to come adopt you.  Why would He now tell you it is wrong?  Why didn't he know that when he placed the desire in both of our hearts last spring? What will I tell all my friends when I come home with no daughter?  Why have I wasted so much effort and money?  Maybe it was only my imagination that God had directed me to come adopt you.  Nothing made sense.   

I knelt down and prayed for understanding. First I remembered how selfless and kind you were to me when I let you down last December.  Your concern was for my family--not yourself.  I realized that selfish, worldly thoughts were filling my mind, and as I began to stop focusing on my own embarrassment and frustration and loss, I was filled with a surprising sense of peace --- a feeling it is OK --- even a sense of relief.  

I have been so worried that you might not be happy in a home filled with only boys and an older mom.  It would be a big change from the many girl friends you have so much fun with at the orphanage. There are many girls in our neighborhood who are very anxious to meet you, but they are often busy with their families and activities. How would I keep you entertained?  Could you be happy just doing things with Eli, Alex and me until you've made new friends?  I know these are not the main concerns that have been troubling your heart this week, but they have been burdening me.  

As I understand it, your main concern is that our relationship feels different than you imagined and hoped it would feel. You don't feel the natural closeness which is so necessary between a mother and daughter.  I have found that love seldom begins instantly.  It is something that grows as people spend time together, and are thoughtful and kind to each other, and as they make sacrifices and care for each other. 

If your heart is telling you we could never develop that kind of closeness with each other, it would be very unfulfilling and miserable for the two of us to go through life feeling unloved. It is far better for you to express that to me now. 

When I prayed, God gave me a great sense of peace and accomplishment.   I feel I have completed what He asked me to do---to make the sacrifices to come here to adopt you --- and to accept in a Christ-like way however it turns out.  Whatever you decide will be OK with me.  Maybe this is just a test God has given me.

What makes me feel sad is seeing how miserable you are feeling.  I feel so much love for you, but I want you to do whatever Heavenly Father wants you to do. I'm not sure what that is, but I would like to teach you how I have been taught to find out. 

First, try to remove all un-Christ-like thoughts from your mind. Things like anger, selfishness, pride, sadness, embarrassment and fear.  Fear is a feeling that Satan uses to keep us from growing and progressing.  It's one of his best tools.  The Holy Ghost can't enter your heart and communicate with you if you are filled with those kinds of feelings.  

Then kneel down and pray to Heavenly Father.  Don't ask Him what you should do.  Tell him what you're feeling and what you think you should do.  Tell him what you have decided to do, and then ask Him if that's what He wants you to do.  Stay on your knees until you get a feeling or a thought. If it is what Heavenly Father wants you to do, a feeling of peace will come over you. I usually feel happiness and maybe even excitement.  If you instead feel confusion and fear, it is not the correct decision.  Present a different decision to the Lord. And keep presenting new ideas until He gives you a feeling of peace and joy.  Sometimes it takes many days to arrive at correct decisions.  But He will answer you quickly this time.

I know you feel you've already made your decision, but as a favor to me, please make absolutely sure it is what Heavenly Father wants for you as well.  

I think you are one of the finest, most lovely people I have ever met.  Nothing will change that.  I will always cherish the privilege I have had of getting to know you.  I hope we can continue to be friends, and I want our last days spent together to be happy ones.  I still haven't had a chance to beat you at Ping Pong.  Do you think we might be able to play one day this week?  I'm still planning to come to the orphanage each day this week if that's OK with you.  I've come too far not to enjoy being with you and my other friends.  

I love you,

Christie  

Face to Face

I walked in to the director's office to see a puffy, red-eyed Malvina with the saddest expression on her face.  Tamara and Vera, our translator were also there.  Malvina was completely silent.

At least I had a night to process this heart breaking news.  I had reviewed in my mind how our relationship seemed increasingly more distant after spending last weekend watching President Hinckley's talk to the YW and unsuccessfully shopping for a modest Sunday dress.  She had done homework for 5 hours one night.  She didn't have any time to go to the Ping Pong club with me.  And she didn't sit by me during dinners at the orphanage, but maybe she had an assigned seat.  The other girls seemed more excited to see me, but when I questioned her the day before to see if everything was OK, she had said it was fine.

So I called my Salt Lake translator friend, Marina, and asked if she'd talk to Malvina for me.  Malvina said she just started feeling in her heart she would not be happy.  It didn't feel right, and she didn't feel close to me like she had imagined she would.

I spent the night rehearsing in my mind what I might say to her.  After all the time, money, effort and mental anguish that had gone into this year-long process, I wanted to guilt-trip her into changing her mind.  How dare she change her mind after assuring me each week she was so excited to do this.

Then I remembered how I had devastated her last December 27th by not getting on the airplane to come get her.  When I called to explain that I hadn't come because my family was in turmoil over this, she was selfless and gracious in assuring me it was OK.  She didn't want to cause a problem for my family.  That was the moment that totally won my heart and convinced me Malvina was so special.

I cried for a while and prayed for a while. As I thought about just accepting her decision, a peace came over me, and I decided I owed her as gracious a response as she had given to me a few months ago.  Then a sense of relief entered my heart.  I've been worried about carrying the entire burden of her happiness myself because there hasn't been much support for adopting Malvina from my biological sons.  As much as I love her, I don't know if she could be happy in our home.  But I felt a huge responsibility to not break her heart a second time. And I felt the Lord had directed me to provide one of his precious daughters with a mom.  I realized I had done my part by coming, but the adoption would be her choice.

As our meeting began, I asked Malvina if she could share with me what she was feeling.  She was silent.  I told her what Marina had shared with me and asked if that was correct.  She was silent.  I told her I only wanted her to be happy and to be able to live her dreams.  If that meant not coming to be my daughter, it was fine.  I was not angry.  I understood.  I told her how much I admired her, and how much I'd come to love her during the past year.  If she needed me to love her only as a friend in America, that would be OK, but I would not stop loving her.  I asked her if the church stuff had frightened her.  Or if it was the boys lack of support.  She never said a word.  I finally asked if she had prayed.  She finally stood up and walked out of the room without uttering a single word for 40 minutes.  The director had really pressured her to change her mind.  Later I found her sitting on the floor by her bed, curled up like a ball.  She still couldn't talk or even look at me.

I had Marina call her again to say it's OK.  My heart will survive.  Marina talked with her for 40 minutes and only got yes's and no's, but at least she got her talking again.  I was really worried about her.  She just wasn't feeling the way she had looked forward to feeling with me.

Alex and Eli are so disappointed, but primarily because they wanted to stay for another 5 weeks.  We'll stay until our court date on Thursday morning just in case she has a change of heart, but that's not likely, and surprisingly I'm still feeling peace and relief.   It's funny after all these months of excited anticipation.  But it's OK.

I Hate Friday the 13th

In spite of being Friday the 13th, it was a lovely, blue-sky day until 6:00 when I got a call to come to the director's office.  "Malvina changed her mind and doesn't want to be adopted."  What?  My skin filled with the sensation of pins and needles as it only does when something unbelievably horrible is happening.  Why?  The director didn't really know.  She's probably scared.  She hadn't been able to verbalize it.  They told me to come back tomorrow for a meeting with Malvina.

Paska cakes on sale for Easter this weekend in Ukraine.

"Sorry, there are no things to do in Feodosiya."

I'm starting to get a little bored until 6:00 each day when I can go to the orphanage.  I love taking a stroll by the sea and wandering through the open air markets and buying daffodils or hyacinths from the little old babushkas, but the thought of repeating that routine each day for another month sounds just too relaxing.

Since we eat dinner at the orphanage every night now, there hasn't been much need for cooking---and it's a good thing because I don't have a stove or microwave---only a refrigerator.  But that's fine.  We're happy with fruit, juice, milk, cereal, bread and cheese.  Alex and I stop for ice cream bars every night on the way home from the orphanage, so we're getting all the necessities of life.

Yesterday I searched the internet to see if I couldn't find something a little more exciting to do.  I had to laugh when the site, "Best Things to Do in Feodosiya, Ukraine," said, "Sorry, there are no things to do in Feodosiya." This is a resort town located on the Black Sea which probably has many activities during the summer, but we'll be leaving just before that starts.

Alex and Eli couldn't be happier and would love to spend the entire summer here.  Every morning they head over to school or off to a field with abandoned buildings and they just play.  Even doing nothing is fun if you have someone (who speaks your language) to do it with.

I've been thinking a lot about how I could help a couple of the older kids I love so much who will leaving our orphanage this fall.  Have any of you had experience trying set up some way to do this?  Is there something that would be more effective than just sending them money periodically?  Is there a way to set up a fund they could access when needed that is only accessible if certain performance requirements are met?  How would that be monitored?  Would it make sense to help them start some kind of a business?  Would it make sense to educate them in America and then send them back to run a business or monitor a fund?  Could they get student visas as orphans?  Would it make sense to provide a place for them to live if certain standards were met?  Maybe with a couple to act as house mother and father.

Eli's phone ran out of minutes this morning, so he asked if he did 50 push-ups if I'd give him 50 grn.  I laughed because I already planned to give it to him--but only if he let me take his picture.  He's so buff it only took him 2 minutes.

Nice, Normal Day

We had a nice day at the orphanage.  The weather was cool, but warm enough to play volleyball, and now they just plan on us for dinner.   Malvina had some time to play tonight which was nice.

The boys have started doing some school work in the mornings, and Alex filmed some cool movies of pretend fighting and park our this afternoon.

Lera is quite the performer.

Alex is talking or texting 24/7.

Our cute friends.

Malvina mopping the floor.  She never complains.  I'm hoping that will continue at home.

Exams?

The moment I was reunited with Malvina, it was obvious she had matured into a gorgeous young woman.  I'm amazed at how graceful and powerful she is while playing volleyball, and I know she loves playing ping pong, so it's easy to see she's very athletic and coordinated.  What I hadn't anticipated is how important doing well in school is to her.

After watching her do hours of homework every night, I asked her how she'll feel about missing the final exams in the middle of May.  Instead of shouting for joy like my boys did, she asked why she'll miss them.  I explained we would be in Simferopol waiting for her passport (with nothing to do except for one really awesome day trip to Ay-Petri), but maybe we could wait in Feodosiya so she could finish school once her passport picture is taken.  She said, "I know education is very important to a good future, and I would like to take my exams."  Wow!  I hope her attitude rubs off on the boys.  And I hope we can use some of these credits toward 9th grade which she'll probably skip.  She's currently in 8th grade, but turns 16 on June 12th.

So now we're going to stay 4 or 5 days longer than we have too---because we WANT to stay here longer.  Did I really just say that?  We could probably have left on May 19th, but now we'll wait til May 23rd or maybe even May 29th when our original tickets are booked for.  The boys would be happy staying all summer.

Have any of you gone to Pirogovo, the outdoor museum in Kiev?  How much time would you want to spend there, and how much did you like it?

Watching a late night movie on the iPhone

Christina dancing

Practicing for the program

Part of the Plan

By the way, a few months ago I received great news.  A darling family in Georgia has started the process to adopt Tanya and Victor, the kids we hosted and tried to adopt a year ago, but ran into age problems.  I received that good news a few days after putting their names on the temple prayer roll.

Tanya is the one in turquoise.