2 Hours!

Today we slept in a little. Had oatmeal for breakfast. Had chicken for lunch. Watched 2 movies, Aladdin, and the Chipmunks on television. After we cleaned up, we headed for Minska for more skating.



When we got there we found out that we had to wait 2 hours! So we sat down for 30 minutes, you'd think it was torture for the kids! It was the best thing that could have happened for me in my quest to slow things down. I let each of the little ones play 10 minutes of games on my cell phone. And when they weren't playing, they were with me learning how to play solitaire. After 2 games of solitaire, I played go fish with Andri. 30 minutes went fast! Then Sophia wanted water..I said ok, there was a Producti (grocery store) just outside so we left the bit mall, and went outside and bought water and juice for 9grievna ($1 about), then back to the mall after we watched a downpour. Then we went skating again. Natasha scratched her elbow a little, otherwise all 4 are showing great improvement on their 3rd day. We talked a lot about skating when we get home.

We forgot out camera today, so we'll update with photos tomorrow. The kids get a daily allowance of stickers and they love looking at them. We have started using the airconditioner a bit as it's getting humid and we're hot alot.

We seem to get home at 7pm a lot, and I'm keeping the kids busy, but I think they need a little more rest. They want tv tonight, but I said showers and Chapter 2 of Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe (in Russian). Katya is reading it to them, and they seem to like it.

No tears today, except a little mine when I think about not being able to shop and prepare for Jaclyn's birthday back home.


Natasha helped me cook today and accidently added saccharin tablets that were in the cupboard. We made eggs and they were too sweet! It was comedy for me, and a little embarrassment for her. I said no big deal! Andri & Natasha ate with bad manners and spilled a lot so they cleaned up the kitchen tonight.


All is well, busy, and keep praying for a wonderful successful day tomorrow for paper work. I feel a little alone out here, and cherish your e-mails and notes, even if I don't have time to respond.

Love Alesia & kids in Ukraine! : )

Wednesday & Thursday...

Ok, I must have hit a button twice so my blog didn't go and I am short on time, this will be shorter...

We are doing well, but busy, so not much time to blog. We are skating, shopping, picnicking, picked up the Famine Museum Book in Russian, and are now on a budget. We will be talking about this a few times I'm sure.

PLEASE pray for our document travels tomorrow, we have a lot to do in a short time, and don't want any problems to arise.

We miss everyone in MN & Noveselki, but we are doing good here! Kids are used to lots of friends so it's fun to see them bonding with each other!

Keep praying! Love Alesia, Katya, Sophia, Natasha Joy, and our Melenke Moshina, Andri.

Socks & Skating : )

We found a really nice reasonable place to go ice skating and had a great time. We plan to go tomorrow and maybe Thursday as well, as it's a good outing, fun for the kids and about $15 for all of us! During the week it's buy one get one free for kids.


I see that my camera has a smudge on it. I wonder how that happened ?! The kids did great skating, the younger the quicker they picked it up.

Later we picked up shoes for Katya as her feet were hurting. Sophia & Natasha came with little or no socks, so we looked and they were pretty expensive so we didn't get any. Then on our way out of the Kreshatyk metro, there were pairs for 12 Grievna...we picked up 7 pairs for about 80 greivna ($10), I think she gave us a discount for buying so many! The kids were so happy, I told them "Spaciba Esus" (Thank-you Jesus), as it was such perfect timing!

Our routine is a little off, we stay up a little late, and sleep in a little, and then we go for the day, bring a lunch, walk around slowly talking and laughing. In the mornings we make beds, and brush teeth, and vacuum and half of us shower and half of us shower at night. We have been finding English speaking people here and there and that is fun for the kids to here me speak "perfect" English. We do a little too much TV, and computer. My goal is some day this week to start the Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, or Tom Sawyer, for Katya to read 1 chapter outloud to the kids as a quiet time.

Found some fun paper, glue and scissors to add to the craft paper for little grievna, so that was nice as well. Eating chx, salads, milk and water and occassional treats, juice, McDonalds.

Sounds like we will do all our running around on Friday. We were told not to worry. And if I have any problems I was told that the kids can come back to the orphanage for a day or 2, but I said so far so good. We love getting to know each other. Our biggest problem is figuring out who is in charge, too many "pleases", too many woman and too little men : ) and I sometimes get homesick, but we all work together in all of it, and we are generous with hugs.

Love from Ukraine! Thank-you for your prayers. Sophia gives us the countdown every day for us to go home! : ) Love Alesia

A Walk in the Park...

Famine Museum

Monday, today we went to the Arsenala stop, after a Gastronom stop for lunch fixings.

I found a good place on Kreschatyk to get cheese reasonable, which is nice. Anyway, we went to look at the Famine Museum once more, but it was closed as today is a holiday. I did call home quickly and woke Chris up which was not good, but he said all was set for 2 teen girls to watch our children this week which is a huge blessing for my peace of mind. I can't wait to hear how it is going.

We walked through a park, Katya talked with a woman that she knew and I hope some day she will share with me how she knows her. I asked her to share with me some day when she is older, like 15 or 20, and she said ok, she understood.

Well, it's night night here, and I need to check and answer a few e-mails. No tears today, except mine when I looked at a card I wrote to the kids about the words to Jesus Loves me, and how I wished I could send myself in a card. I cry because I don't know how to get through to them how much we care and love them, and have waited so long. I tried to explain a few things to Katya and I cried through half of that, but mostly we laugh, and have fun.

Our latest discussion is about how hard it must be for Andri with 4 "women" and no "men" to play with. Andri asked for deodorant today, so I got him some. I call him our "little man" Melenky Moshina (in Russian).

We keep busy with crafts, "typying" on the computer or some computer games, doing our nails, braiding hair, making kieffer ice cream, laundry, dishes, and cooking, and outings. We walk a lot and both Katya and Sophia came to me with "pretty" but uncomfortable shoes. I found shoes today for $290 (grievna), that is the best I could find. I know that Sophia has a nice comfy pair back at the orphanage that we gave her last summer. Shoes are $500+ and $1000+ (8x is approx for exchange rate) anywhere around here, and these other shoes were in Arsenala. It's so frustrating to not be at home where I can run to Target or Sam's and get a pair for under $20 dollars ($160). Andryusha only had 1 shirt, as I don't think it mattered to him to ask for more, and I didn't double check all their stuff.

Gotto go...kids don't want to sleep until I do : ) Love Alesia from Ukraine! (I'll add photos tomorrow or later tonight).