Sweet Sunday

It was a sweet Sunday in Ukraine. I felt much better this morning and Mark and I woke up looking forward to being with our dear friends, Valya, Luda and Vika at church. We also looked forward to spending most of the day with the girls.

Church was pleasant this morning. Vika translated for us part of the time, and that was very helpful. It is amazing how much more you can stay engaged when you understand what's going on! The Sunday church experience here lasts the better part of the day. There is Bible class time, and then the sermon/worship/communion time. At the beginning of the worship time people stand and give testimonials about God's blessings "Slava Bog!" "Praise God!" At the end people stand and request prayers for specific needs (today we heard our names as the prayer was led for these requests. That made us feel covered by God in at least two languages!). The whole process takes about 3 hours. Then afterward everyone stays around and shares a simple meal of soup and bread together. They visit until well in the afternoon. The children play. The teenagers hang out. Then everyone goes home to rest for the remainder of the day.

Valya and her mom and Vika had to leave to catch their train before it was all over. It was hard to say good-bye to them. We didn't have enough time with them, but it was sweet, all the same. We appreciated them coming so much, and it was a blessing just to see them and hug them and be with them. They mean so much to us.

After church we stayed and visited for awhile while the girls played and Tanya took care of some other matters she had to deal with. While we were waiting we were trying to converse with some of the church ladies. We were failing miserably. We finally just had to say, "Yani pini myo" "I don't understand." Even that I think I messed up somehow, because one of the ladies repeated it and they all laughed! I don't think they meant to be rude, but I hope I didn't say anything bizarre! One of the girls from the TLC named Natasha came over and heard the entire conversation. Natasha is a beautiful blond girl, but has a funny, spitfire personality. She walked over, put her arms around Mark and my shoulders and said, (in the accent you would only imagine anyone named Natasha would use), "Mar-r-rka, Dawna, R-r-r-russian, Please!!!" Then she smiled. We keep trying to tell her that we're doing the best we can! But this will all help us to be much more sensitive when the roles are reversed somehow in the future.

When Tanya was ready, she, and Mark and I, and Zhanna and Ella, and Julia all drove to Amstore. There is a clothing store inside Amstore, and we promised to take the girls shopping. They were hesitant at first, but as we started looking at the tops and jeans they warmed up to the idea, and pretty soon we sent them all to the dressing rooms. We bought Zhanna and Ella two new outfits each and Julia a new outfit, too. Zhanna and Ella said they will wear their new clothes to the court tomorrow. We also shopped at the regular part of the Amstore for presents for their friends - all the other girls in their group. We bought things for Yana, and Kristina, and Vala, and Katrina, and Masha. I think our girls enjoyed the "big box" shopping experience very much.

We also ate at the cafe located inside Amstore. It is a small cafeteria style restaurant with ample seating. It is clean and light and airy with trays to carry your food and trash cans to throw away your trash. But they served great Ukrainian food - different selections of salad and cooked foods and the Verengy dumplings, and some good rolled up things that looked like large egg rolls, but they weren't fried and were served with sour cream. These were filled with your choice of sauteed mushrooms, or a meat filling, or apples, or potatoes. Mark was in heaven! So many choices! So much food! We all got what we wanted and Mark and I tried some new things, such as a cooked beet, carrot, pea and pickle salad, and a dish with egg plant and carrots (I know, sounds bad - but they were actually delicious!). We got the mushroom stuffed "rollup," and of course, some good Ukrainian pastry. Yu-u-u-m-m-m! (In English) "Kusna!" ("Tasty" in Russian) What did the girls get? Sandwiches and french fries! Already American!

After a great afternoon, Tanya drove us and the girls back to the orphanage. I couldn't help but notice the difference between where we had just been in the light, modern, airy Amstore, and the dark, drab, broken and crumbling orphanage. I don't know if the girls notice it or not, since it's all they know. The conditions at the orphanage aren't horrible. The children seem well-adjusted and happy. The teachers and attendants at the orphanage seem to have genuine concern for the kids. They are cared for, and their living conditions are acceptable. The kids are all very clean, in spite of meager facilities. It is just an institutional setting, without modern services, and not nearly enough money to repair the cracked cement floors, the broken windows, the peeling wallpaper and the chipped plaster walls. I guess it could be a whole lot worse, but it could be a whole lot better.

We spent some sweet time with Zhanna and Ella in their room as they gave their friends the gifts and as they held up their new clothes and looked over other things we bought. We looked at photo albums together, and then I found their English workbook that Tanya has been using to teach them. Ella and I started reading through it together, and pretty soon Zhanna came in. The two of them started fighting over who would speak first and whose legs were kicking the other, etc.,etc.,etc. I finally had to have one of them sit on one side of me and the other on the other side and take turns reading. Then it worked beautifully! We read through the entire book. They are doing a great job reading English. Their pronunciation is very cute, but we had to work on the "th" sound. They want to say "z." But I'm encouraged that they have the basics of reading English down. Now they will have to work hard on becoming more fluent and being able to read, not only for pronunciation, but for comprehension. It will come, with time.

Tomorrow is the big day at court. We understand that it will take about an hour, and the girls are not allowed to arrive with us, so someone from the orphanage will bring them. We are pretty confident that after today, Ella is fine, and ready to be our daughter. Annie sent many pictures on email of our home and our family and extended family on both sides, and we had a chance to let Zhanna and Ella see those today, as well. They were very interested. We tried to explain, as best we could, what their new life will be like. After our court date tomorrow, Zhanna and Ella will become Zhanna Hope McKenzie and Ella Joy McKenzie and their faces will forever have a place in our family photo albums. "Slava Bog!" "Praise God!"

Prayers and Blessings to all,
Dawn and Mark