School begins-First Bell

Today we were allowed to witness and video an important celebration here in the Ukraine.  It was the first day of school. They call it First Bell.  The children all dress in black pants/skirts and white shirts.  The younger girls have giant puffy hairbows in the hair. They have a ceremony in which the seniors welcome the first year students.  There was singing, dancing and introduction of those who I assume were teachers.   We went to Zhenya's school so we could take pictures and video part of the ceremony for him.  We felt this would be a great thing to have documented for him to remember an important part of Ukrainian culture.  When we arrived we looked for him amongst the neatly dressed children...he was no where to be found.  We stayed for the entire ceremony and took pictures all the while looking for our boy.  We never found him!!  Later we found out that he did not get to attend because he was sick.  He has been coughing alot when we've seen him and I have been concerned.  Apparently he had a fever today, so he had to stay in isolation.  So he missed the whole thing.  I was doubly glad I was there to video it.  We went to visit him this afternoon and I showed him the pictures and the video.  He seemed to really enjoy watching it.   (Quick pronunciation lesson on Zhenya's name...   the Zh makes the JE sounds like the French word for "I"... it is not quite a "J" sound and definately not a "Z" sound.  The rest is pronounced like it looks EN  YA...like the singer Enya.   So it is   "Je-  Enya"   It took Jeff a few days to get it down.  I took French in high school and college...so I had no problem once I associated it with "Je" in French.  I love the name, but know that we will have a life time of name correction. 

The children lining up the ceremony.

First year students- they are so tiny compared to the other kiddos!

Our sick boy in the infirmary

 

After visiting Zhenya, we went to see our girl!  She was as happy as ever to see us!  Her entire groupa of children has changed.  There were three brand new kids that we have never met.  They were so quiet and shy, especially in comparison to the wild bunch that use to be in her groupa.  We found out on Monday that three of the kids were going to school this year.  Our hearts were sad that we will not see them again.  They are sweet precious children that really need a family.  One of the girls, Olga, really touched our hearts.  We don't know about her availability for adoption, but we know she has one older sister.  No other details unfortunately....she is a beautiful little girl, full of life.  I pray God brings a family for her and her sister.  We have also prayed for the little boy, Bogdan.  Leeza really loves Bogdan.  She says his name all the time, if we draw a picture, its a picture of Bogdan...when we write her name, she wants to write Bogdan's name too.  He has no siblings and is SOOOOO smart.  I wish we could pack up the whole group and bring them home.  They are all great kids.  The third girl that went to school, Karina, was a bundle of unlimited energy.  She so desperately wants attention...my heart breaks for her.  Please pray for these sweet children that God brings them a family!  There were three others in Leeza's groupa until today and they have apparently been moved to a new group.  I am unsure of why and why Leeza did not move as well.  They are all about the same age.  The new children are younger than Leeza.  I can only assume they didn't move her, because she will be leaving soon.  Anyway, now we have three new kids in her group to fall in love with over the next few days.

Papa "hiding" from Leeza!

 

We have been in Ukraine 25 days now!! Wow...I don't think I have ever been away from home for longer than a couple of weeks.  We really love this country, but ready to come home.  Everyday, I watch my children and I am so eager to get home so we can show them what it is like to have a family not just a mama and papa who come visit and then leave.  We are at the halfway point of our 10 day waiting period.  Please please continue to pray for us.  We are so longing to be home with our family, church family and friends.