A Happy Mothers Day

We celebrated Mothers Day on a weekend filled with cloudless skies and warming temperatures. This weekend, we asked the director if we could bring Vika and Yana out with us, and she agreed. On Saturday, we picked up Vika and we all had a fun time together. Elizabeth and Vika started the day by doing homework together, which Elizabeth was anxious to finish. This worked out well as Kate and Taylor are working everyday on school work. They watched a movie together, and then Elizabeth, Vika and Kate dashed over to the beach at the end of the street and went wading, and then swimming, in their clothes! After changing….we all headed out for the afternoon. The girls rode the large ferris wheel nearby and then drove the little cars and played arcade games. We took them out for a nice lunch (featuring more shrimp with heads on). We returned Vika to the orphanage at 6:30. One drawback of the day: the city of Berdyansk shut off the water to the whole town…for the whole weekend “probably” so we purchased many bottles of water and watched the dirty dishes pile up. No one seemed very bothered by this major inconvenience (lack of plumbing), but we thought it was just crazy!

On Sunday, we picked up Vika and Yana and headed out for a pizza lunch. The weather was warm and lovely again, so we packed towels into a bag and went to a beach out on the peninsula. The girls swam, played soccer on the beach and collected shells. We came back to the motel to discover the water turned back on, but rusty! The girls enjoyed showers and then we ventured out to the ferris wheel, little cars and games. We ran into the director on our walk along the promenade. She seemed pleased that they were enjoying a nice day out. We concluded our visit by returning the girls to the orphanage – but they were very sad to part with Elizabeth, as the reality of her leaving is hitting home with them. Amidst tears and hugs, we reluctantly said goodbye, for now. (They will see her at school for the next couple of days though.) We headed out to dinner at a very good restaurant with some of the other American couples, and then hooked up our internet phone at the Hotel Berdyansk for Mothers Day phone calls home.

Elizabeth informed us that she is expected to participate in a track and field event on Thursday, so we asked if we could come to watch. She happily agreed. We have asked permission to keep her out of school on Wednesday morning so that we can take her shopping for shoes at the open air market. Her sneakers are in tatters, so she has been wearing the flip flops we brought for her.

All in all, she is doing really well – she is happy and enjoys kidding around as much as the rest of the crew. She is fond of doing something silly and saying “shootka” (joke!) She is trying out her English skills a little more each day and is growing increasingly more comfortable with the idea that she is part of our family. : )