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.

Changes

Last week Anton returned and got right to work... he reminds me of Maksym Boradin, he can't stop working. He says he is ready to stay and do the whole program this time. You may remember him as the boy who was interviewed when we were on the news. Two weeks later he had to go to his home village and did not return until last week Wednesday. He looks a little different with a super short haircut. He seems to have acquired the Luk Oil coveralls that Valera wore, that Max Rudei used to wear and has them on whenever he's working. I wonder how hot it will be before he takes them off.

Valera and Nikolai left on Monday, they plan to go to an auto mechanics trade school in July and are going to go to work in the greenhouse Valera worked in last summer. Garry says they hire orphans for their summer workforce. They did the final project, an inventory of all the farm equipment with serial numbers and prices in grivna with the other second year students last week. We will miss their smiling faces. They plan to return for  week in July before starting school.

Good bye Valera

The boys were busy last Saturday unloading supplies

Oksana riding down the street

The other girls are learning to ride the little  bicycle that Julia and Karina ride. I have seen Vika and Oksana riding it this week and I think they must not have rode as kids, like the other girls.

Meet the girls

Here's a video featuring the first year students in English class, we have been trying to sing in English this month. Garry wanted them to learn his favorite new praise song, This is Amazing Grace, and we have tried it for two weeks  but we have had more success with Jesus Loves Me. It has kida lost the tune and become a rap version, somehow...

Oksana and Vika

As you can see our first year students are mostly female this year! Vika and Oksana are sisters, and all of the new girls except Leila live in the new house we renovated last year.

Oksana likes to draw and has had a boyfriend since arriving here, Kolya (the oldest student). She is the youngest student, just 18 in September.

Vika is the only smoker besides Karina, and has changed quite a bit since she came in the summer. She is more open and always ready to try out new English words with everyone.

 Leila is 21 and loves to sing. She is always early for class. She grew up in the same orphanage as Karina and Julia, and has an older sister living in Russia. She had been living with her but was deported last year, so she came to us.

Oksan, Kristina, Karina (Sergey's daughter) and Ira

Oksana and Kristina, our 18 year olds, are the "cool kids" with boyfriends, although Kristina has a new one every month it seems, not many have been fellow students, boys from the village and currently, from the city. Kristina lived in a foster family before coming here, unlike our other students who came from orphanages.
They often hang out with Ira, who is very smart, but has some physical problems that means she has trouble walking at times, but she always tries to do everything everyone else does. We are told it is cerebral palsy, and her mother put her in the orphanage while keeping her brother and sister.

 She has a sarcastic wit, from what I can tell.  The other students help her out without complaint when she has difficulties. When they went to Kiev, they had to walk up a hill with lots of stairs in the snow and the boys took turns carrying her on their backs because she kept falling. The orphanage workers were worried she would end up in an "adult orphanage" for disabled people and wanted her to come here with the other girls and Andrey.

Valentina is a special girl, always ready to laugh, it seems she can't stop smiling and giggling whenever you see her. Since coming here, she has invested her money from the orphanage in dental work and braces. We think she was born with a clef palate that was repaired.  Her teeth were very crooked before and it seems since her braces went on her confidence and self-worth has gone up. 

 Leila lives at the first girls house with our second year girls, Karina and Julia. They live at the other side of the village, the farthest from the farm and school (at least a kilometer) and they got one of the bicycles when they came in the container in the fall. The smallest purple one, because Julia isn't five feet tall. None of the girls had learned to ride a bike as children, so they had to learn. Both Julia and Karina (or Kalina, her nickname since she came and Garry mixed up her name) were determined to do it and are enjoying being able get to work faster.

Leila and Julia

Karina discussing work with Max and Garry

While Julia and Karina look forward to the end of classes as they finish their two year course (especially Karina- Kalina, who while a hard worker is not an attentive student) they plan to stay in Nikoliapolia for the time being, working on the farm. Julia is a favorite with all our visitors, with her friendly ways and big smile, and pound for pound, is one of our hardest workers. She likes to act like Leila's big sister encouraging her to take part in everything.