The Party
The menu, created by Yuri, was fit for a guest list of 8th graders. Three kinds of cookies, hard candies, chocolate candy, fruit and soda--"real" Coke and Sprite, not that generic stuff. ;-) I think the fruit was the adults idea. We are told the kids do not get a lot of fresh fruits at the Internot.
In the playroom, the tables are set and ready for guests. Paul and a few 8th grade boys hauled in extra chairs from the 8th grade class room. Yuri and his buddy, Sasha, peeled the oranges, squirting each other with the occasional shot of juice. Mom cut the fruit while Paul and Sam Weddington set the table.
Paul pours a second round of soda.
Sasha (who is being adopted by the Weddington's of Florida), Dima, Pasha, Yuri and Daniel, who appeared with Yuri in the basketball photo the other day. You might recall from a previous post that we bought a basketball in Odessa so we could shoot hoops at the Internot. We told Yuri we already have 3 or 4 basketballs in the garage at home and gave him the choice to keep this ball or leave it at the Internot. Yuri decided to give the ball to his friend, Daniel who really enjoys hoops. ;-)
Artyom, Yuri and Maxim. Yuri tells us that Artyom is a very good artist. Artyom does well enough academically to attend a different school in the city but he lives at the Internot.
Lyosha and Yuri. There are girls in the 8th grade but, Yuri didn't seem to want to have a picture taken with any of them. ;-)
Roma... he gave Paul a hug before we left.
Tatyana (translator), Tatyana (supervisor), Yuri, Svetlana (supervisor), Lela Steel (American and sponsor of 8th grade class) and Ludmila (supervisor).
Svetlana, supervisor at left, was nice enough to share a couple letters written by Yuri when he was a young boy. The letters were fifth grade class assignment and the purpose was to write about your future goals or wishes. Tatyana, left, translated them for us. A partial transcript is as follows:
"I like to build houses, I think it's a very good job.... I will have a normal wife whose name will be Svetlana. I will have two kids. A boy, Oleg and a girl, Lida.... I also will have two dogs, a male, Bolto and a female, Tina."
Parties like this can be a little awkward for all involved. Joy mixed with sadness. The supervisors are happy for the child to be adopted but they will miss them. As for the kids, not every child in the Internot is eligible for adoption. They might be jealous of those who can leave the country. Others, who are eligible, hold on to the hope they too will have a going away party and a family to love them.
Note to First Covenant Sunday school kids: many months ago, you made gift bags for the kids at the Internot. We carried all 28 bags with us to Odessa and gave them away at Yuri's party. Sorry, we do not have pictures of the kids with the bags. You made so many bags, we had left overs that we gave to Lela Steel to give to other children as she sees fit. The kids loved the bags and say "Thank you"!
1 comment:
I'm so happy you could have the party for Yuri's class. It's weird to see that the only boy I recognize from the class besides Yuri is Dima K.
I remember picking out things at the store for Cole's party. He wanted to have sausage or cheese but there had apparently been some problem with these items before and we were advised not to bring them. Kind of like the store bought packaged only rule that schools here have. I'm impressed that you had a set table with napkins and all. We just had buffet style and the kids sat on the floor. There was no table in the room I guess. Anyway, the party means you are almost done! Yea! We will pray that you get all your papers done tomorrow.
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