Day 29. May 13th, 2007. 2 days till court

Hello all. We went to 2 hour church today again. It was very good, but Bob said he thought it took longer than 2 hours this time. LOL. We are not sure if it is his drug induced stupor, (from his sinus medicine) or if we are just so anxious to go home. Whatever it is we are looking forward to being at our own church next Sunday. The singers were the same again and I got a blurry picture of them so I won't show it. Our Russian pastor was Slavik again. He was very good, even though we didn't understand a word he said.. LOL.


Our English pastor was a man from Missouri. He comes to Ukraine 3 times a year to teach at another seminary. We had a good laugh about him at lunch with Slavik and his family. He brought his saxophone along and played a song for us. Amazing Grace. Well, Slavik said that he plays that same song every single time he comes. LOL. They said the second time he played it they just thought that he didn't remember that he had played it before. But now, they know what song to expect. We said that maybe that was the only song he know s how to play. LOL.
We went out to eat at the amusement center again after church with Slavik & his family. We had a good time. Natasha has been saving up her tickets for the really big ticket prize worth 260 tickets. Kind of like Chuck-E-Cheese. Well, today was our 3rd time being there and after the kids had all played and tickets were counted we still had only 171 tickets. OMG. So we went up to the counter and asked, with Slavik's help of course, if we could give them the 171 tickets and pay cash for the rest. Oh no, you can't do that. It all has to be in tickets. So we bought some more tokens and found out very quickly that this was going to take the rest of the evening if we did it that way. LOL. So we made a deal with Natasha. We would buy her a similar item in the mall (which just happens to be right at the amusement center) and she would give her tickets to Helena. She immediately accepted. She is no dummy !! LOL. So Natasha and I went into the mall to pick out her present. It was something like Princess doll with her sister Sissy. Very similar to a Barbie doll.

This is Natasha with one of Slavik's son's. We can never remember their names or tell them apart. LOL. It is terrible of us I know. We asked Natasha his name and she shrugged her shoulders like "I don't know." So it isn't just us. LOL.

Helena and her brother. (same boy, I think). LOL.

These are some flowers I bought for Dave and Laura upstairs. They are returning tomorrow & we wanted to have some flowers waiting for them.

They do not celebrate Mothers Day over here. They have an "International Women's Day" in March. So Bob explained it to Slavik, without me knowing. Gave the girls some money and sent them out into the store to pick out a present for Oksana and myself. It was too funny. We don't know if anything was lost in translation or if the girls decided on their own. But, Natasha bought a gift for Oksana, and Helena bought a gift for me. LOL. It was cute. So here is my Mothers Day present from Helena.
For those of you who are asking. I don't know what it is. Just a baby sitting on a heart trinket box. But, I love it because Helena picked it out. It's perfect.

Shauna Marie McLaughlin !! We bought 2 bags of dog food before we left. You must be feeding Dakota too much. Just like you do poor Georges. You have to go to Fishers. It's Purina Mainstay. And, she gets 1 1/2 cups in the morning and 1 1/2 cups at night. OK. And Sammy told me how fat Georges is getting and how funny you think it is. You have 6 days to walk him and cut down on his food before I see him. Poor Georges....... If I had any money I'd buy you something also dear. Whhhhaaaaaa. But, I will just come home. I Love You !!!

Goodnight everyone,

Sweet dreams,

Happy Mothers Day to all,

Gail