Yet more catch-up (1/2 - 1/3)

Was feeling better yesterday (1/10), but feeling odd again today. So while everyone else is at church today (for a 3pm service), I am staying home.

Unfortunately, the days are starting to run together a bit, but I'll do my best to keep them straight.

We went back to the orphanage on Friday of course. We are now in our 10 day waiting period (which is 12 days since the 10 days ends on a Saturday). This was our first visit without Natasha there to translate for us. It was a bit of a struggle, but we got through it.

The women at the orphanage know what to do when we see them, so that is no problem. The boys were happy to see us. Valik thought his car was broken, but he just didn't understand how to charge the batteries. I saved the day on that one.

We got a 24 piece puzzle (with large pieces) for the boys to practice their puzzles. Valik was not interested, but Ruslan was happy to try it. He needed a little help (he still doesn't understand the concept of edge pieces), but he got it. He was pretty proud about that.

We played more of the same games in the same room. While they are fun, they are getting a little old to us. There are, after all, only about 6 hiding places in that big room, and they are all well known. Still, the boys like it (hide and seek is still their favorite) and so we have fun with them.

I bought several books for the boys a couple of days ago, but we decided to hold those for the train.

We are now in the slowly phasing in discipline and slowly phasing out presents part. But we see this as a couple month process really.

We also decided to only visit the boys for a couple of hours a day to try to keep them fresh and to minimize any problems. We also try to visit the boys separately when possible to keep the sibling rivalry down.

After a couple of hours, we went to visit the MacDonalds. We had heard of them from some friends and met them briefly on Christmas Day. But this was our first chance to spend any time with them.

They are (most recently) from Chattanooga, TN. They have been here for almost 4 years as missionaries (On Point for Christ) supported by several churches in their area. Bruce retired from the Army after 30 years as a Russian linguist then a recruiter. He and his wife Pia have 12 kids. 5 are in the Army with all in, or soon to be in, Iraq or Afghanistan. Their other 7 live in Lutugino and range from 17 to 1 1/2.

They bought an (unfinished) house for about $8500 a few years ago. There are lots of unfinished houses in the area that had been started in the 1990s (I think) when the economy was better. When the economy fell, the houses were abandoned and mostly sit empty though the ones in their area seem to be used. But there are hundreds of very large and nice houses in Lugansk that have been empty for years. They have done pretty well on that one since then though and are just finishing up the last room inside.

We ended up staying there for about 5 or 6 hours (and so did not return to the orphanage as we had planned). They have a tough mission here but are making some headway in town. It is difficult to make inroads as most in the area are Orthodox or atheist (or simply not interested). However, there are a couple of churches in the area that have welcomed their assistance. They also work in the summer with visiting teams and assist with a Christian camp. They also help raise money for local hospitals and schools and run eyeglass clinics for locals which are very well received. From the comments of others I have heard as well as their relationship with the mayor of Lutugino, I think they are making good headway.

They certainly are doing a good job with their kids. All are intelligent, polite, and well-behaved. We had a great visit and intend to go to church with them on Sunday.

Saturday (1/3), I saw lots of babushkas outside our front door. I thought they were here to yell at us for Colin and Claire not buttoning their coats all the way. But as it turns out there was a funeral right outside our front door. A woman on the first floor of our building had died we found out. The tradition here is to have an open casket service outside the home of the deceased, then process to the graveyard. As Nancy mentioned earlier, the funerals often involve lots of drinking as with all the atheism in the country, they don't have a lot of hope for the deceased or for themselves.

We weren't sure of the proper etiquette, but did not think it would be appropriate to walk right by the casket while services were going on, so we waited. But I did take a few surreptitious photos from our window. So at the risk of being crass, I will post those. I hope this doesn't bother anyone.