One down-9 more to go

Today was a big day for us.  We moved out of our "comfy" hotel (comfy by Ukrainian standards)  and into a house with a sweet lady and her adult son.  Svetlana use to teach English, but has not practiced in a number of years.  This is a growing experience for all of us.  Her son, Andrew is very funny and animated when he attempts to talk with us.  Svetlana rattles away in Russian as Jeff and I stare with blank looks and then say "Nip ah nu my u"  ( don't understand).  This afternoon, she promptly led me to the kitchen and took out tomatoes, potatoes, fresh eggs. Then she lit the stove and left after handing me an apron.  I waited...not certain what she was doing.  She never returned.  Jeff had a blast taking pictures of me in the apron....  We figured that was her cue for us to cook something to eat.  So we made a tasty omelet of sorts with the things she set out as well as some cheese we brought. 

Me in the apron with Andrew in the background relighting the stove.

My first Ukrainian cooking experience

Our egg surprise!  Everything here is so fresh.

This house is something out of a movie.  I will post more pictures later, but it is quite lovely.  AND MUCH cheaper than the hotel as well as saving us money on food, because we can cook and there is a gigantic garden in back with so many veggies and fruits.  It is a great find and we are excited to experience a new side of Ukraine.   We think our facilitator thinks we are nuts for moving from the hotel..but we were getting stir crazy with that one room and no ability to cook for ourselves.  On a side note...we still have a regular toilet that we can sit on...as well as a shower.  Now the toilet does not flush well, but we don't mind.  It is not a hole in the ground.  Thank you Jesus for letting us adopt from vacation spot!!  :-)
After finishing dinner, Jeff ask Svetlana what to do with the egg shells and other scraps..because apparently there are no trash cans in Ukraine!!!  She led him to the chicken pen and with big gestures motioned for him to give them to chickens.   
Afterward, we went to see our sweet girl.  She was in great spirits and ran to hug me immediately.  This is nice, because in the past she would go around me and straight to Jeff. Now she is hugging and kissing on both of us.   We practiced the ABC's and writing her name as well as counting to 5.  She now mimics what we says.  Also a huge improvement...she is transforming before our eyes.  It is fantastic!
We left the orphanage and went to the market.  I can not tell you how nice it feels to have a bit of freedom.  I didn't feel rushed to pick out what I wanted, because no one was waiting on us.  ***sigh**** Makes me happy to shop for groceries in peace.  Plus I was excited to have a weeks worth of food for less than one meal at the hotel.  More smiles!!! 
Going to bed soon...one day down...NINE more to go.  Our boy comes back on Sunday.  YAY!!
Thanks for the prayers!