Today – Thursday at 7:00 a.m., I was woken with a call from the US. It was still 11:00 pm Halloween night. Christian had gotten sick and thrown up – and my parents had run out of Halloween candy very early and had resorted to handing out old stale Christmas candy canes and cookies. Camille went to the store and purchased them some additional candy.
Later this morning we went grocery shopping. The supermarket here was so clean! The goods were stacked so orderly on the shelves with a girl “facing” the merchandise in an almost obsessive manner. It was very impressive. Things are different at the supermarket – the ice cream be bought came frozen in a bag. And keeping true to the metric system, the eggs we purchased came 10 to the egg carton. To use a shopping cart, you need to “rent” it. You obtain the shopping cart by inserting 25 kopeck ($.05) into a locking mechanism on the shopping cart handle to unlock it for your use.
They have an ingenious way in which their produce is sold. Each produce sign has a number assigned to it (in addition to its price per kg). After you bag your produce, you put your bag (say apples - item #2) on a scale. You enter the item number (#2 for apples) and the scale automatically weighs your produce and spits out a printed UPC label with the price per kilo, weight, and total price printed on the label. You then attach this to your bag which the checker scans at the checkout counter. Very cleaver – we could learn a couple things from our European neighbors on efficiency.
This afternoon we went and picked up Nadia from her boarding school and Roman from the orphanage. We came back to our apartment where Cheryl cooked a big pot of vegetable soup. Before we ate dinner, we sat around the table talking while we all snacked. Roman ate about 5 slices of bread with a cheese spread piled on each piece. Each piece was then topped with slices of salami. I enjoyed a Ukrainian diet coke – very nice – closer to the coke zero we have in the US, but sweeter. Different, but tasty. While dinner was cooking we also viewed a lot of our family pictures and videos I had brought over. We were able to view them on my work laptop computer I brought over.
Well the soup was a hit except for the carrots. Apparently, carrots have a strong flavor and are only eaten when grated fine in soups and stews. As such, the stew was well received but the carrots were left untouched in the bottom of the bowl.
It looks like Nadia will be able to spend the weekend with us as a lot of her class mates leave on the weekend to stay with family. It will be great to have her. I think we’ll start on some of the English lessons we have planned. I don’t know what we would do without our translator, Natalie. Frankly, I don’t know how we will function when we come back to the states without Natalie. She is so helpful in us just getting use to each other and learning about one another. Sometimes it just seems mind boggling the obstacles we need to overcome. The language barrier is huge! Let alone the adoption thing – learning to love someone the same as one of your own whom you have just met yesterday. You hope they will embrace the gospel and that they will feel welcome – or at least accepted by kids their own age and in the neighborhood/ward.
Sometimes I feel like the guy Brigham Young told to go to Canada who was to meet a certain fellow. He was to ask this certain individual to help design or build (I believe) the Salt Lake Temple. His mission was to go to Canada, baptize the gentlemen, and have him move to Salt Lake so they could use his unique skill set (was it Truman O. Angel????)
Surely there are better qualified parents out there – parents who have never yelled at their kids, parents who are much more patient than us, and parents who are more organized and spiritual, or just more ‘on the ball’. I still wonder why the Lord has asked this of us, but I have great faith that it is the right thing and that we are supposed to do this. I know this adoption will not be easy - or is supposed to be easy – but it is suppose to bless the lives of these two precious children.
2 comments:
How good it was to read all about your adventures! Exciting also that you could finally meet Nadja. She sounds like a brave and sensible girl. I hope she adjusts to America and being a "child" again and finally taken care of and loved by 2 amazing parents. The Lord couldn't have chosen better parents who keep a genuine sense of reality while doing their best. Please continue to write and post pictures. I hope to see you once you are rested from your trip and after the Holidays. Tell Nadja and Roman that they are very lucky children to have you as parents. Monique.
Hi Wendelboes! Our cute boys left on Monday for the Ukraine and our whole family is in mourning. We hope you can say hello and check on them for us. Love the BLOG..
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