Sixth day of our Waiting Period ~ Day 21

After a morning of knitting and movies, I went with the Gollings to the secondhand store that Spencer and I discovered the day he left. It really wasn’t in my plan to buy anything but Kim managed to find the cutest things for me! I got a jacket, 2 shirts, and a sweater jacket thing. I know I’m weird to be excited about secondhand clothes, but for some reason in a country where people are paid so little and food is fairly inexpensive clothes and shoes are very over-priced. I’ve wanted boots since we arrived and they are not as cheap as you would think when you are shopping in an outdoor market!

We went to their apartment afterwards and Kim made a very delicious lunch. She is much more creative when it comes to cooking here. It was nice. They are such a fun couple. I’ve mentioned this before but I have had the privilege of meeting some of the most amazing people through this experience and I am so grateful that the timing of things has put us here together.  I borrowed this picture from Faber's blog.  I always seem to get in trouble when I try to sneak a picture in where it is posted not to take photos.  This is a woman in the mall who sits in this little booth.  Why you ask?  You have to pay to use the restroom.  She is there to collect your money!  I thought that was hilarious.  Thank you Tony for taking a picture of it!

We left together for the orphanage. I was pretty nervous to go today; I’m not going to lie! It is my first time there without Spencer and to top it off my interpreter was needed for another family’s court hearing today during the time we were at the orphanage so it was going to be just me and Victoria.
It turns out that I am being watched over and my prayers were answered because I think today was the best day at the orphanage for me with Victoria. I walked in the gates of the orphanage and she and her brother, Artoym, were waiting for me on a bench outside her school. Artoym is such a great guy. He is really one to make you feel wanted and like he really wants to be around you. We had to use gestures and sign language for the first time with each other. It was hard but actually really connected us I think. I have never seen Victoria so happy or interactive before. She is usually very shy, but they had a fun visit and were laughing and chatting. They would try to include me with silly things like pointing to the bench and telling me over and over the Russian word for bench until I understood what he was doing. He wanted to communicate on any level. We exchanged words for bench, tree, sun, sunshine, blue, sky, bird, and then bee. They thought it was so funny that their word for bee is pchilla and ours is just bee. They were gesturing how long their word for it was and how short our word was. It doesn’t sound very invigorating for conversation but there was a definite desire to understand each other and that really connected us. I’m so grateful that Artoym was there to help both me and Victoria understand how we can start to communicate with each other when we don’t have an interpreter.
We went upstairs and she asked for the cards. She was so excited and animated teaching Artoym how to play ‘spoons’. He didn’t understand for a while which was pretty funny, but we played and played. Yana was able to come after her court was finished and that was a relief. We had a chance to really visit then. It was like we didn’t really have to think of things to say we just visited. I was very interested in knowing where their father was buried. He explained that it is only walking distance from the orphanage and that their grandparents are buried there also. I asked if he would take me there. They were both surprised that I would be interested in going and I asked if Victoria would be interested in going. She got very excited. I would never have guessed how much she wanted to do that before she left. We are going to try to get permission for Artoym to take us on Saturday or Sunday but Yana isn’t sure we will be permitted to take Victoria off the grounds of the orphanage until next week. With the timing of things this may be my only chance to have Artoym show me exactly where it is. I promised Vika that if she is not allowed to go this weekend, I will have her brother show me where it is and take her before we leave for Kyiv. It’s just that it may fall on a weekday when I can take her and Artoym has to work and may not be able to go another day.

The time together was much too short today. I enjoyed it a lot more. I explained to Victoria that I will not be back tomorrow because I am moving apartments in the afternoon, but I will come back on Friday.
Yana and I have been talking about me joining her for her yoga class for several days and tonight was the night to either go or back out! When it came down to it I kind of had to convince myself that once I was there I would enjoy myself. I was embarrassed to not have the right type of clothes, but I had my sweats and that was going to have to work. When I told Yana I only had pajamas to wear she had to come and check them out before she would let me wear them. She said they were OK and explained that when I said pajamas she thought I meant a little gown or something! She laughed at the thought of me wearing a little nighty to yoga for a lot of the drive there!

The class cost 40, gryvnias and was packed! It was amazing to see the variety of women, and one man, there for a yoga class. The age range, body type, and ability level was so varied I was immediately in love with this class. The class was just over 1 ½ hours and the teacher knew immediately that I didn’t speak Russian. She was very nice and apologized that she couldn’t speak any English to help me understand and that I would have to try to just copy those around me. She talked a lot. Yoga instructors typically do talk a lot, but I didn’t realize that so much until I couldn’t understand anything! I was wishing I knew what she was talking about for the first little bit, then I just let it go and enjoyed myself. It was a pretty beginning class, which was perfect for me for a first time not understanding anyone. After the class the instructor came to talk to us. I thanked her and told her it was a wonderful class. She was happy I came and told Yana that she had a very talented American friend. That was nice.
It was a good day and ended very well with me getting to visit and see each of my boys. I was able to witness the reuniting of Spencer with the boys over skype. That was fun. Mason was so excited. He was confused at first, but then he just giggled and yelled shouts of happiness to have his dad there.  I really didn't get my camera out today so the pictures posted above were borrowed from friends.  I did snapshot some pictures of the boys being reunited with Spen when they came home from school to find him there skyping with me!  It was such a wonderful thing to get to see.

Can't wait to be the one reunited with these kids!  I talked to Ezra too, but I didn't think of taking pictures when I was on with him.  Another thing for another day.