We Made it!

Okay!  Here we are in Enakievo, Ukraine.  The flight over wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.  All of our flights were on time, all of our bags arrived intact, and Victor was there waiting for us in the Donetsk airport.  We’re staying at the Kristal Hotel, which has been very comfortable.  

Today we spent the entire day at Uglegorsk Orphanage.  We brought some toothbrushes, toys, games, and fun food for the kids.  Firstly, my overall impressions:

 *These kids are so tiny.  My 12 old Cassie was as big as most of the 15 year olds.  They need proper food to develop: not just physically but emotionally!

*The staff at Uglegorsk, from what we saw, really works hard to make the facility as cheerful as possible.  I saw a fish tank, bird cage, and lots of plants and flowers. 

*They place a high value on art at Uglegorsk.  We visited several classrooms designated for cross-stitching, painting, macramé, drawing, etc.

*Despite the less-than-ideal circumstances, most of the kids we met were polite, sweet, cheerful, and curious about us. 

A few of these kids stole our hearts and made lasting impressions on us.  We saw very few girls at Uglegorsk, but we got to spend quite a bit of time with Oksana.  Oksana is such a lovely young lady with a quiet, gentle spirit.  I so hope her future will be brighter than her past.  It was fun to be around beautiful Ola as well.  And Dima.  Sigh.  How could you not love little Dima?  He would often sit beside me and chat away in Russian.  Of course I would have no idea what he was saying, but he seemed okay with it.  I would say something back to him in English, and he’d give me a big smile.  I loved our “conversations.”  Another sweet little boy, Losha, really took a shine to Cassie.  She spent a lot of time with him, teaching him some English.  He just soaked it up.  Our friends Ray and Cari Lance had told us about brothers Illya and Svyatik, and they were as sweet and charming as could be.  They seem very bright, responsible, and affectionate.  Such darlings—it was very hard to say goodbye to them.   

Tomorrow we pack up and drive to Zaporyzha.  We’ll stay in an apartment and visit another orphanage over the next few days. 

I took 79 pictures today and I treasure them all.  I’ll pick out a few favorites to post here, as soon as I figure out how to do so.