We started today with a visit from our Children's HopeChest discipler, Koss, at breakfast. He has another job and couldn't be with us all week, so he stopped by to say goodbye and share some gifts with us. Our biggest gift from him however, was getting to know him this week. We were all anxious to see who would be working with our kids every month and he more than exceeded our expectations. The kids adore him,and he seems eager to spend time with them. Although the kids miss Yulia, who had been the discipler at the orphanage for the last few years, they are already warmed up to Koss and it was great to see them take to someone new so quickly.
All of our translators have been so great on the trip. We've been so blessed having such great teammates that help us really connect with our kids. They've also told us we've been incredibly easy to work with, which makes us really proud.
Next, we made our sixth trip to exchange money since we've been here, and it turns out the saying is wrong--it's the sixth time that's the charm! Every time we'd tried before, the bank and/or exchange place was closed. We got what we needed today though and are now prepared for the rest of the trip.
As soon as we'd exchanged our money, we headed to a bowling alley in Kirov to meet the older kids for some good old American bowling. It was an absolute hit and definitely something we'll do with the kids again on another trip. They took to the game easily, and ended up bowling better than most of our team! High fives and team handshakes were a common occurrence. They got to be competitive with each other when we had a family group bowl-off and had so much fun, we don't think they even noticed who won!
After bowling, we headed to the orphanage for day three of VBS rotations. It snowed all the way there and was magical. It wasn't super deep, but still fun to see.
In lesson, Gina and Steph told the story of Jesus walking on water and helped the kids "walk on water" by balancing on top of two cookie sheets with balloons between them. The kids did have some fun questions though. Max asked, "Why would you get out of a boat that's floating?"
In activity, Shawn and Lindsay played a team-building game called river crossing that was a big hit with the kids. They had to work together as a team to get from one side of the gym to the other using only five small "rocks," or baseball bases in our case. We play it a lot with youth group kids at home and trust us, it's harder than it sounds. The middle aged group of kids figured out the secret in no time. Lindsay said it was the fastest she'd ever seen a group of kids do it. They also played a competitive fishing game with the younger kids that made them work as a team. These kids are so bright, and it was fun to see them using their smarts together.
In craft, Mel and Kathy decorated acrylic frames with the kids and also finished up some whale pillows from yesterday. Even the older boys have been into craft the past couple of days and enjoyed sewing pillows and making jeweled photo frames.
Shawn and Stas had a draw-off on their family group's chalkboard in family time, making fun of each other with goofy cartoon drawings. Stas was the clear winner.
We finished the movie we'd started on Sunday with the kids and handed out American candy for snack. Kathy was glad it was much easier to clean up than the popcorn we'd provided Sunday.
In other news, Shawn ate all of his beet salad at dinner.
Barbara Streisand.
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