Friday November 9, 2007

Today we were able to got out of the apartment and go get Roman earlier than usual (for a trip to the open-air market). On the way to the orphanage, I took a picture of mental hospital which was built during the Soviet era. Either they had run out of money, or due to the independence of Ukraine from the former USSR, the project was abandoned. So here sits the shell of a hospital, completely empty and never finished.


Unfinished Hospital (Near Orphanage)

At the orphanage, we waited down in the foyer of the administration/class room building while Natalie wrote a ‘permission slip’ for Roman to spend the day with us. This is a task we need to complete each day while Roman is in the care of the orphanage. I was able to take some pictures of the beautiful murals in the foyer.



Murals in Administrative/Class Room Building of Orphanage


At the open-air market, we purchased for Roman two pair of sports pants – two soccer jerseys (zip-up hoodies), books for Nadia, gloves & scarf for Cheryl.


Cheryl at Open-Air Market


Roman at Open-Air Market


Nadia with Friend at Open-Air Market



At 4:00 we had an appointment the missionaries, an Elder Anderson and Elder Oldroyd. At the beginning of their visit, they showed us pictures of their families at home prior to giving us the first missionary lesson on the restoration and Joseph Smith. Roman slept through part of the lesson and Nadia asked some good questions. For example, why don’t women have to cover their heads with scarves in your church (speaking of Sunday’s church) and why don’t they (the congregation) have to stand up when the priest/speaker is speaking? These are traditions Nadia is used to seeing in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Before taking Roman back to the orphanage, we had our dinner. Our kitchen is furnished with four small stools. With five people eating, we improvise by taking a suitcase, stacking two pillows from the couch on the suitcase, so Dad has a place to sit while eating dinner.


Calvin Improvising for Kitchen Seating