Happy Birthday My Dear Ira

(note: "Ira" is pronounced 'ear-uh', accent on the first syllable - NOT 'eye-ruh'!!!)

Our dear 'Ukrainian Daughter' celebrated her 25th birthday today. We were invited to her party. For the past several years she has lived with a family which included the mother, Lyena, and two daughters, Natasha and Alyona. A year ago today they moved from a two bedroom flat in a 9 story building, to a 6 room (plus kitchen and bathroom) house. The house needed a lot of repair work and still needs even more, but there is a lot more room for them all. A few weeks after they moved in there, a young man came to live with them, too. He added some male protection for the all female household, but as he was also a young single man, there arose some jealousies between the girls as well.

Our "Ira Dear-uh" as I call her, soon became the object of his affection, while she, on the other hand, ran as fast as she could the other direction. Yura courted her as best he could, the tensions flared around him (I wonder if he was ever aware?) and finally, our dear Ukrainian daughter began to see him as the wonderful person he is.(Mama Lyena, Ira and Yura, Melinda on right) I'm not sure, but it appears that the other girls have gracefully come to terms with the situation.

Today is Ira's 25th birthday. One week from yesterday she and Yura will be married in his home town, Poltava. If you have ever read any Ukrainian/Russian history, you may be familiar with Poltava. It was in this area that Peter the Great defeated King Charles of Sweden oh so many years ago and kept Russia for the Russians, and not a part of Sweden. :):) They also make pretty good ice cream in Poltava - or else someone just named a pretty good ice cream bar after the city! :):)

Now we begin to pray even more seriously for a good Christian husband for our dear Natasha.(the hat was sent to Lyena by a young Uzbek woman who went to college here in Kherson for one year and became friends with their family - she showed it to us today and Natasha modeled it for us)

Unfortunately Alyona was at work today so I don't have a photo of her at this time.

We pray intently for our gals to find Godly husbands, and that they themselves will become Godly wives.

Next Saturday - the wedding in Poltava!!