A Letter From Ukraine

Below are excerpts from a letter Ann sent me yesterday.  The words paint a vivid picture of Masha's spirit.

"This weekend there were a lot of fun things for her.  As you know we went to the Myers' house for a church picnic.  She enjoyed playing outside all day as they have a lot of land.  She played with the other kids in the hammock and rode on a scooter.  And of course she enjoyed all the attention from the young people.

Then yesterday after church she went with Oksana and Lyena to swim in the river and another male friend in our church worked a little bit with her on swimming.  She is not afraid of the water at all and should pick up swimming pretty easily.  Oksana and Lyena visited our friend's apt. to get her a shower before coming home and she washed the dishes there while everyone was talking without being asked. Oksana and Lyena then walked her the long way home to wear her out some.  Last night Bill stayed with her to study while I went to a church meeting. When I came home she had cleaned up my kitchen entirely-even organized the refrigerator. She has also been wanting to iron her own clothes every morning which is a very Ukrainian thing to do. She does it on her own with my supervision.  She told me her mother taught her.  She is not very good at it but it really makes her happy to do it.

Oksana described her as living each day so enthusiastically as if it were her last or the last day of a vacation.  She doesn't want to miss out on any fun.  Her eating has slowed down a little which may be a good sign- perhaps that she understands now that the food will not come to an end-maybe that this is a reality that won't be taken away from her.  Oh-one more funny thing-she insisted on cooking dinner for us the other night.  She told me she knew how to make eggs because her mother had taught her.  She cracked about four eggs in a pan and fried them (no stirring or flipping).  When they had become good and hard we scraped them out of the pan (with a lot of effort). She busily went about setting our little table for three and spooning the eggs onto three plates.  Hers had the most and Bill and I received very small amounts.  She poured drinks for us all and called Bill in.  It was really cute-she was so proud of her dinner.

Oh yes, when we got home the other night after skyping with you and seeing her room, she was so excited.  She kept talking about her room and how it was like a house.  She kept listing all the things she had seen that would be hers including the toilet and shower, dog and cat, and balcony.  The balcony was a big hit.  She was just so thrilled and can't wait to come home."

Our heartfelt thanks again to Ann and Bill for being great "grandparents" to Masha.  They are helping to ease her transition from Ukraine to America and will forever be imprinted on her heart and ours.