Trinity Day - our Day 9

Hello Everyone,

Today is a public holiday here in Ukraine just as it is back home in the States. Today is Trinity Day which is an Orthodox religious holiday. We spent the morning with the boys - they are getting more and more attached to us with each passing visit. When our visits are over we take them back inside crying (the boys and Andrea - j/k). Their caretakers always tell them to go hug momma and pappa before we leave. They listen well and come running over to say good-bye with a big hug and sometimes a kiss.

The visits are challenging for us as we share our time with a group of about 20 other orphans. The visits take place out in the courtyard of the orphanage which is large but not all that kid-friendly. A lot of it is paved and the yard is all crabgrass which can cut the kids up pretty well if they crash and burn! Their are several swings, monkey bars, slides and a playhouse which the kids enjoy. The caretakers take out a bag of old and sometimes dilipitated toys for the kids to play with and fight over. It is amazing how content the kids are with having so little. It will be something to see when we get Brady and Lucas home to see all of their toys. They probably will not know what to do or more than likely they will fight over the same truck!!

In this environment it is difficult to find a quiet space to bond with the boys. Many of the other kids come running over as they are craving attention as well. Olga has become the best friend to a little girl with a cleft palate. She is a cute little thing and smart as a whip. She doesn't speak more than a mumble but she comprehends everything.

The orphanage is clean and well kept. It is a large building with rooms sectioned off for groups of kids by age. There are 70 total kids in the orphanage up to age four. We have personally seen about 25-30 of them out on the grounds. We assume the others are either too young or sickly to go outside.

The boys enjoy the treats we bring them such as Cheerios, bananas, crackers and cookies. Yevgen/Lucas (which is pronouced as Jane-ka) gets all in a fluster when we reach into our pockets and pull out the food. Both the boys seem to have been taught to eat slowly but they do protect their food with all their might!! It was just today that they started to share with us - offering us a little bite of their cookie. Baby steps! Daniel/Brady has quite an affinity for cuddling with momma. By the end of each visit he is ready to dump the toys and get some one-on-one time in momma's arms. The boys are still wearing girly hats and underware which is just about killing me but I will take care of that in due time!! I have been looking for camo underware but have yet to find any!

As for us we are getting along. We are both tired either from the lack of sleep we had during our first week here or just from the heat and many hours of downtime when not with the boys. We are both losing some weight due to a combination of walking a lot and simply not eating as much. We have been buying groceries and cooking in rather than eating out although tonight we are going out for pizza. Food is incredibly cheap here. We can buy three meals worth of food plus beverages (water - juice and Ukrainian beer [ sorry Mom!]) for about 75 Hrivna ($15 USD). Too give you an idea of how much downtime there is I have read two books since getting here. That is about 1/4 of my lifetime count in ten days time!!

We are going to sign off for now - we hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend. Keep the comments coming - we look forward to reading them every time we get on the blog.

Take care.

C&A