мама и папа

November 24-28, 2015

We had planned to walk along the Black Sea with the kids on Tuesday afternoon but it was raining so we went bowling with them and their older brother instead.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) we were unable to get a translator so we had to see how well nonverbal communication would work.  Our son had to do the ordering and we are thankful that he understands some English.  When we had to give our names for the scoring he said, "Mama, Papa, ..."  We were so happy to hear those words because we had been told that orphans often have a difficult time referring to their adoptive parents as mom and dad (мама и папа - Russian translation). We all enjoyed our time together and as I posted on Facebook, thankfully smiles are smiles - no matter what the language:)  Reflecting on our bowling experience, it hit me that this was probably the first time these kids were taken for an outing as a family.  I know that I have taken these types of experiences for granted.

There's a girl, a friend of our our new daughter, who spends a lot of time at MJ's place and it was her 16th birthday on Wednesday.  We had the privilege of joining the celebration.  Later that evening we watched our son play indoor soccer again.  

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day for the second time this fall as it was American Thanksgiving on Thursday.  There are several American missionary families in Odessa who get together for special occasions.  It was potluck so I tried my hand at making a Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake.  We splurged and bought a spring form pan.  Just like the cookies, it was tasty but not at all like my usual cheesecakes.  It was a typical North American holiday meal - lots of delicious food, great conversation, and games.  We met  more friendly people and enjoyed hearing their stories.

Last night we went out for supper with our new son and his girlfriend (without a translator).  It's interesting having a conversation using Google Translate but we managed.  It's good that we were all able to laugh about some of the translations:)  I am discovering that you have to be careful about the words you choose because we have many English words with more than one meaning!  We got a big smile when we told him that someone in Canada has invited him to play soccer.  After supper we bought a suitcase for him to take his things to Canada.

This morning we went out to winterize.  Rodger's jacket was not warm enough and he needed a touque and gloves and I bought myself a wraparound scarf.  We are prepared for the cooler temperatures that we are experiencing.  This afternoon we were to meet people at a nearby restaurant for lunch.  We got to the restaurant but it was closed for renovations and then we heard the others couldn't make it so we are relaxing at our home away from home (therefore I have time to update this blog:).