End of class picnic

Luba and group home mom Larissa

It looks like it was a great time for everyone at the picnic at the pond. There was lots of games and food. No one except Garry had roasted hot-dogs over a fire before on a stick.

Only Max, his brother Artrem and the two group home dads
Jumped in the pond 

Happy birthday Ira

Ira's birthday was yesterday , and they had a party at her group  home.. She was 20years old. She's from from the same orphanage as many of e fist year students. The. director asked Garry to take her because her paperwork says that she has cerebral palsy and she didn't want her to be in an adult orphanage.  Her mother gave her up but has two other children at home.

Ira's smart and a little sarcastic. She does have problems walking because of her handicap,  she falls sometimes. However, she does everything the others do, even milking and feeding the cows- just a little slower.

Students come and go

So Anton didn't stay again. Maybe a week. He was very excited to be back, and then he was gone.We were in the middle of the building teams at the time. The following weekend, Karina was working on the schedule for the next week, and asked me when Luba and Losha would be available to work.

I had understood that Losha was arriving on Monday since Garry had told me that Maria had phoned him about it. So I said Monday but I didn't know any sothing about Luba. I had understood that she might be returning in the fall, so she shouldn't be on the schedule.

Of course, Luba showed up in the village the next day. The  students knew something we didn't and she ended up staying. The story had been that she had been living on the street. If it was true, no one wanted to make her go back, so she stayed. The group home parents say her attitude has much improved from the fall when she left. I

Losha didn't get to the village until Thursday, so the schedule was messed up, Luba worked his shifts. He is an interesting guy, an artist, he decided to come after seeing the news program on television. He came a while ago and had to finish another program before coming to stay.

Student church in the new classroom

Saturday there were guests for student church in the village. Looks like there were lots of speakers in the pictures posted on Facebook by group home parents. I believe that people from the Bible study they go to in Zaporozhye on Wednesday were there.

Here are some of the photos, you can see our new classroom where it was held. We enjoyed holding school there this week.

A big group photo

Looks like the student choir sang again. They get better every week.

Outing

Last Friday afternoon we went on an outing with the whole gang, students, group home families, and even a few friends. We went in three vans... Victor and Max drove the students and we drove ourselves since we needed to pick up some supplies.

Larissa had found a free Christian concert in Dnepropetrovsk at seven PM. Everyone brought stuff for a picnic, and we went to the park on the island first, where many photos were taken. Garry bought tickets for the ferris wheel, everyone except Sasha enjoyed the ride. Vika said no, but switched with Larissa as we went around the second time. The tickets were 25 grivna to go around once or 30 for two turns, so he got the premium version.

Karina was daring as usual

Vika getting off, all smiles

Larissa group home mom, left, and Kristina

Everyone had enough to eat and enjoyed a little fun. There was thunder but we got back to the vans dry and headed to the concert. It started with a praise band, and the bass was so loud it made your heart beat in time. Everyone seemed to have a great time. The main act was from the US but sing in Russian.