Today started out as normal as the rest of our days here. Got to the orphanage around 12:30 and it was a very busy place today. Today is Thanksgiving Day in Ukraine. There is no turkey, not even a football game to watch. What’s up with that? Here in Ukraine, people do not celebrate with turkeys or football. The only group of people who really celebrate this holiday is the church. Kids do not get out of school early for the holiday because it is not a national holiday. There is no specific day when they celebrate Thanksgiving. Normally, individual churches decide when they are going to celebrate Thanksgiving. This special celebration is called Zhatva. On the Sunday that the church celebrates Zhatva, everyone tries to make that Sunday special. The entire day centers on the theme of thankfulness. This is done in many different ways, from showing people what they should be thankful for, to a strong message about the meaning of thankfulness. There is no turkey or pumpkin pie on the table. Instead, there are cakes, sandwiches, and, sometimes, different kinds of soft drinks. No matter how much or how little there is, the people all have a great time because they are together. I can honestly say that being in another country makes you really think about what we should be thankful for.
Anyway, a group of children from a local church came to the orphanage & sand songs of Thanksgiving & then the children at the house participated in several games of giving thanks. It was an interesting event! They stayed for about 4 hours with the children. It was very sweet.
Then, we had more visitors...S's boss, who is the head of the Department of Ministry & Youth, and one of her coworkers & spouse. They said their goodbye's to Karolina after having tea & cake, along with a lot of different fruits. After they left, K's brother & his father came to visit. Unfortunately, they only stayed for a few minutes & were not very supportive of K's decision to live in America. This upset her very much. We didn't even get to take a picture of K with her brother. This made me very sad. Fortunately, her brother's grandmother came soon after & was very happy for K. She was dressed in traditional 'babushka' attire, and was the picture of a Ukrainian grandmother. She presented K with two small pictures of Mother Mary with baby Jesus & another of Jesus for her room. It is Ukrainian tradition to have these by your bed to watch over & keep you safe. She also gave us two pieces of "Holy Bread" to take with us to America & to have communication in a traditional Ukrainian Orthodox church. Guess I'll be needing to research that one. Upon leaving, she gave us both hugs & kisses, and left us. This was a highlight of our day.
After all of this activity, we talked to Pappi on Skype (we miss him very much), and decided it was time to say goodbye to everyone. This was heartbreaking for me to see her so upset & not be able to do anything to make it better for her. I guess this is my first lesson in motherhood teaching me about how to help your children through life's hurts & disappointments. It was not an easy lesson for me, but one I know I will learn many times in my life as K's mother.
Tonight, we are back at the apartment. She is now sound asleep, as all of those emotions put her out pretty quickly. I am praying for a passport tomorrow, but according to our facilitator, that would indeed be a miracle. So, tomorrow we are planning a day of packing & just being together. We hope to be home on Friday, God willing! If you do not see a post from me tomorrow, you will know that we got the passport & are heading to Kiev & you'll hear from me soon. If you see me here again tomorrow, you'll know I'm probably going crazy! :0)
Until then...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment