Go Luba, Go!!

After three weeks of trying, Luba finally learned to ride a bicycle. We have a couple of bikes and Luba has seen Tanya, Heidi, Sasha and me all have fun riding around the neighborhood. It is something she had been aching to do. Heidi and Jordan set the foundation by balancing and running alongside her for the past two weeks. We received a smaller bike from the Christophersons this week and it made all the difference. I tuned up the brakes and lowered the seat. I had her riding by herself in 15 minutes. A smile and the biggest grin I have ever seen was permanently fixed on her as she rode until sundown. It was priceless! I even teared up a bit as I saw my little girl learn a new task and "leave the nest", pedaling along and enjoying her childhood dream. I'm glad that I was there to help her and see the moment.

It's not hard to realize, if you think about it, that she never had the opportunity to learn such a rudimentary skill. Kids here in the US are riding bikes several years earlier than her age. This is just another example of the things we take for granted and the childhood these and other kids are missing out on in the orphanages. Tanya could already ride, perhaps as a result of her placement in the "system" at a later age. Both girls have only been in the orphanage for a few years.

Heidi has been searching for Tanya & Luba's brother in Arizona. He was split up from the girls when he was one year old, lived in an orphanage for about two years, and was adopted 8 months ago. Recently, both girls have been talking about him and they miss him and feel the loss. It is a topic of recurrence many evenings. They have had contact with the grandparents and have received pictures of him. So, it should not be a problem to find him and arrange some kind of little reunion for them. So far, all of Heidi's calls have yielded no results. I pray that God helps them reunite or to bring closure to them.

Both girls are having the time of their lives. Our recent activities have been swimming, bicycling, yard work, household chores, English lessons daily, ESL lessons with a teacher once a week, drawing, picnics, spending time with friends, AVP tournament attendance, hiking, bedtime stories, children's church, and bonding with their new family. They just want a Mom & Dad and they soak up the Love. We give it freely and unconditionally.

I say a prayer every night and every morning for Rimma and Zina. They are ever-present in my mind. I understand Tanya and Luba's sense of loss for their brother. I experience the same loss for R & Z on a daily basis. Where are my other girls and what are they doing? It's hard being a parent. I miss them terribly. I had a dream about Zina a couple of nights ago...something was bothering her. I think it's God's way of letting me know about them. We have put in a call to Sasha of AGAPE and Karen Springs may see her during the CBN summer ministry camp.

Say a prayer for Heidi's mom, Betty, who is in the hospital in suburban Chicago. May she be home and get well soon.

~ Felix ~

Doin' the Happy Dance!!

Well, it finally happened! We received the following e-mail today!

Hi, Heidi! Thank you. Your dossier is scheduled to
be submitted on August 13.

Best regards,Valentina

Heidi immediately opened her "super geek" dossier spreadsheet and
calculated our possible appointment date based on the track record of Valentina
and other facilitators. (If you want to know where you are, I'm sure you are on
that spreadsheet, somewhere. Just ask.) Her super-duper adoption algorithm told
her that our travel dates should be sometime in December. OK, her
algorithm cannot predict the idiosyncrasies that is Ukraine SDA. Stay tuned!
For now, I will keep doing my "happy dance". Uuh-Uuh, Uuh-uuh-uuh!!

~Felix~

Some of My Favorite Pictures

ESL

Last night an ESL teacher (Josh)worked with Tanya and Luba for about 90 minutes in an interesting combination of English and Russian. The girls were so excited - they insisted on wearing their church dresses for the lesson. Josh was warm and kind and very thorough with the girls. I realized that I rarely correct the girls' pronunciations of English words because I want them to maintain their courage to try to speak English. But Josh really focused on pronunciation, and they made great strides yesterday. I left them alone at the kitchen table for the lesson, and when I returned, Tanya had scooted her chair right over to him and Luba was standing in between Luba and Josh. They were so eager to learn!!

Josh explained to me that the girls asked for clarification on the word "thirsty." When I ask if they are thirsty, they think I'm asking if they are "Thursday"!!!! How cute! No wonder they look at me with their heads cocked sideways sometimes. Tanya and Luba were also confused about the difference between lunch, dinner and supper. They new all three words, and they expected to have each of those three meals each day following breakfast. Yes, that is confusing because some Americans still call lunch "dinner."

As Josh was heading out the door and saying goodbye to me on the front porch, T&L each ran from the kitchen to the front door breathlessly to ask for more translations.

Last night Tanya told me that four of her Ukrainian friends in the U.S. read our blog and enjoy seeing pictures of her. I agreed to let Tanya pick out her most "kryseva" pictures to post next time...so they will be coming soon!!

Yes, it was another good day!

I love you, carrots!

The other day, Heidi told me a story about Luba eating carrots. She was munching down on a few of the mini-carrots, you know, the ones that are about an inch long and are pre-peeled. Lovingly, in perfect English she said, "I love you carrots!" It was hysterical!

The girls are learning English at an astonishing rate! They are starting to form complete sentences and sometimes talk to each other in English. Wow, what an amazing two weeks it has been. They can read simple books, too. Every night we have them read to us. It is a special time for us and we could listen to them for hours. The Longmont library will be getting a workout this summer.

I introduced the girls to Steven Curtis Chapman music last week (my favorite artist) and they love it. Only one problem! Luba and Tanya have learned how to play the stereo! They have an ear for "I'm Diving In" and play it over and over and over. I believe we heard it a record 20 times tonight. The "Speechless" album may never be the same.

We also have a lot of David Crowder Band & Chris Tomlin, so they have learned the words to them too. I'm not sure they understand the meaning yet. We play it in the car and last Sunday there were two CT songs at the beginning of our church service that they recognized. I of course am beaming with joy with the fact that these two are rocking-out to Christian music!

Our adventures this past week have included more pool time, a hike in the foothills, a carnival, and lots of home time with us. They started calling Heidi, "Mama" from day one. We didn't know what to do about it, so we just let it go. This past weekend, I had my breakthrough with them and now I get the kisses and hugs, too. They now call me Pappi and I live with it. They are growing closer to our hearts, so we will be faced with THE big decision one day. For now, we will enjoy them and give them love, comfort, and safety.

I think of Rimma and Zina a hundred times a day, especially Zina. If you have seen the past pictures, you can see that she is very much a Daddy's girl. I've got to bring them home. I miss them. Zina does not have her phone and we will not hear from her until late August while she is away at camp. Rimma's phone is never on when we call and I'm not sure that she is still receiving our text messages. There is no word on their registration and this has me worried. I will place a call to our friend, Sasha by the end of this week to see if he can check on their paperwork.

~Felix~

Quack, quack

Dear Leslie, I'm thinking of changing from the rooster crow in the morning to quacking like a duck. We swim EVERY day! How do you handle it! My feet are starting to grow webbing and I'm shriviling like a prune. The girls probably think Longmont Rec Center belongs to us. Loved your story about the swim meet! Our family closely resembles yours. Everyone at the pool follows the strange-talking little girls to each attraction.

BTW...I was wrong about Luba not knowing how to swim. She's a fish! So is Tanya. They have moved on to the diving board. After that who knows, perhaps white water rafting or skydiving. ~Felix~

Translation!

Last night we visited our friend Lilya with the girls. Lilya is so kind and wonderful with children. Jordan, Tanya and Luba all love her. We all enjoyed her company and the opportunity to learn more about each other by using a translator. I learned that they miss drinking green tea, and their favorite food is fried potatoes. Thanks Lilya!

Have you read Karen Springs' 6/23 post about the orphanage graduation? You need to! http://karensprings.blogspot.com/2008/06/graduation-time.html