I Had Forgotten...

{Bogdan and Sergei on the way in to Odessa on Wednesday. (Yes, no car seat.) That's one of the blocks I'm knitting for the afghan on his head... He always looks at me kind of like that - as if to say, who is that weird lady who speaks in gibberish to me all the time??}


I had forgoten how much energy little children have. And how much energy it takes to be around them. Oh my!

Our new family is here! Yea! We met Jamie and Julia and their four kiddos at the airport in Odessa on Wednesday afternoon. Took them over to a team family there in Odessa, where they spent the next two nights. Our goal was that they could get some rest (didn't really happen) and get to know some of the team in Odessa (did happen). Bob and Andrea have 3 girls close in age to our new kids. So - Six girls and One boy, all together in one flat, which fortunately is a very large flat. Very energetic kids. Very loud kids. Very busy kids. All aged 8 and younger. Oh yes - I had forgotten!!

Last night we had an Odessa Team dinner at the home where we were staying. Tom and Mary hosted and two other families brought food, extra chairs and extra plates and dinnerware. The kids stayed with Bob and Andrea (she was not feeling well so they stayed home), but the adults all sat and talked, ate and got to know each other. It is always nice when new members arrive.

Today Sasha came with his van to haul people - Four adults and Four children, plus him. We also hired another driver and van through him that hauled the luggage: twenty bags, one new microwave oven and a couple bags of groceries. The kids did great on the long ride home. The baby slept part of the way, and the second youngest dropped off just a mile or two away from their new home. They sang and played in the far back seat. The oldest asked me riddles, of which I am embarrassed to admit, I only knew the answer to two. Mel talked with Sasha in the front and I talked with Jamie and Julia and played with the baby sitting beside me in her car seat.

We got to Nikolaev in great time, but just a half mile or so before the bridge over the River Bug (that is pronounced boo-g, not bug!) we got stopped in a huge traffic jam. Hundreds of cars, big trucks, marshrutkas, even a motorcycle or two - two lanes turned into three lanes of vehicles all trying to get to the head of the line. Soon there were even vehicles driving on the sidewalk trying to get ahead. There had been a tragic accident on the bridge (looked like a marshrutka had hit a fisherman or pedistrian that was for some strange reason in the middle of the road on the bridge - fortunately the victim was gone by the time we got there). Finally we worked our way to the front of the line, darting inbetween and around slower cement mixers, semis, marshrutkas and a stalled Lada and headed on into the city. (Sometimes I just close my eyes so I can't see all the vehicles coming right at us....)

We had dinner at McDonald's in Nikolaev which is always a great place to stop - only an hour left of travel. The kids could run and play in the playground for a few minutes after eating, and of course, the all important clean potty rooms are there!

It was good to finally get to their apartment. Sergei N. was waiting outside with the owner of the flat, a young woman in our church. Between all of them, they hauled the bags and other items up to the 7th floor. Jamie only got trapped once in the elevator. The elevator works by inserting a card that looks like a credit card. You pay for a card worth X number of rides and each time you go up or down, the card deducts a ride. Jamie got in the elevator without a card, the doors closed and that was it - no lights, can't see the buttons, can't go up or down - just stand there in the dark. Fortunately, the landlord got him out fairly quickly. Ah - one of the new things to learn about living here...don't go in the elevator without your card. I stayed in the car with the sleeping child until they finally took her up with the last load.

It is good to be back in Kherson. And it is wonderful to have new team mates here. Melinda is on the train as I write, coming down from Kiev and will be here tomorrow morning. We will all be together as the Kherson Team tomorrow for the very first time.

I told Mel on Sunday - do you realize - this is our last quiet Sunday alone for a looooong time? Yep, life has changed. I had forgotten how busy kids are - but I had NOT forgotten how wonderful it is to be with kids, especially kids who understand me 100% of the time when I speak to them in English!


{A very tired, jetlagged baby Paulina. She may be tired - but she understands me! Yea!!!}