Home-cooked Ukrainian food!

Friday, May 18, 2007, 9 pm

Janell writes....

We went to Good News Baptist Church of Fontanka on Thursday evening for Ascension Day. Most churches here have a service on this day. We sang a few songs and Jon preached the second sermon. After the service we sat down to a meal with Vasily and his family, Pastor Alexander and his wife Luba, and two deacons. This was a small meal for a church meal-they only had 12 plates of food on the table! Ukranians are very hospitable and will serve their best to guests even if they have little. They had a variety of things and even some sort of deviled eggs like any good church potluck would. These eggs were cut off about 2/3rd's way up and they put the top back on. Almost like a little hat. I will try to get a picture.


From left, Vasily, his children and wife, Luba, Pastor Alexander and a deacon.

We had some good conversation learning about the culture and history of Ukraine, needs of their church, and about each other.

On Friday morning we got a tour of Odessa. Pastor Alexander took us downtown. The only catch was that he doesn't speak English and we don't speak Russian. It was tough to have so many questions and not be able to ask them. With our Russian/English books and the few English words he did know we did learn some things. Just no long detailed history. So if you want to know more you can go onto the internet as will I. It was a beautiful day. We walked leisurely and saw the main parts of downtown and their historical area. They have many beautiful old buildings. Many are in a state of restoration though with the rundown in between. Not that different than our cities being restored. The downtown is on a high hill overlooking the harbor on the Black Sea. There were many cargo ships docked with coal trains next to the docks. The Potemkin Stairs lead from downtown down the hill to the docks. There is a beautiful view of them if you google Odessa, Ukraine Wikipedia. Actually I will probably find out our info about the area on the internet since it is all in Russian here.

Morgan writes.....
There are 194 steps on the Potemkin Stairs. I counted every one. It was cool to get to see the Black Sea. It is not black. We got to meet Pastor Alexander's son. Then we went to lunch at the pastor's house. I got to meet his two daughter-in-law's and daughter (Anna, Natasha, Natasha). I ate about three oranges. I miss you guys. I am excited to come home in about two weeks. Taking a rest at step #97.



View of Odessa from the dock.
On the large dock is a Maritime museum, a very tall hotel, and at the very end an Orthodox church. The main religion in Ukraine is the Orthodox church and there are lots of ornate churches.
After our walk we went to visit the pastor's son who works downtown. We went to an old rundown building, went through locked doors, down old, smelly hallways and up stairs, through another locked and bolted heavy door into a beautiful remodeled office. Many of the buildings are historical so the main structure is gutted and remodeling is done. It is just not done all at once so there will be nice remodeled offices and apartments right next to run down ones. Eugene, his son, speaks English well so he translated for us. We got to ask some questions from our tour. We also visited more about Alexander's life. His grandfather was a Polish Jew and died in a concentration camp. His grandmother took her seven children and ended up in Russia. He came from the rare Christian family and talked of the persecution while growing up. Even now Baptist's are scorned here in Ukraine. Communist propaganda tells people that Baptist's are a sect so they are afraid of them.

We then went to Alexander's house for lunch. Lunches in Ukraine are the biggest meal and eaten at 1:00-2:00. That was the best Ukrainian food we have had since we have been here! Most people here have large gardens and grow all their food. In fact, we are told that many Ukranians can not tolerate preservatives because they are used to home grown fresh food. Cucumbers, tomatoes, and cabbage are common. We also had chicken and pork. Beef is not common here. We had more good conversation and got to meet the rest of their family. Alexander and Luba have four children. Their two sons are married and they all live with them. Therefore, they have eight adults in the house and a baby on the way. Their oldest son is 27. That is common here since children can't afford their own place. Our translator was thirty something and also hoping to buy a home rather than live with his parents.
Thanks for the emails you have sent. We are trying to answer but lose the internet more often than we would like. Also, ignore the "posted" times. They are totally wrong. Not Ukrainian or CST.

Mac & Cheese for breakfast

Thursday, May 17 4 pm

Morgan's favorite meal was for breakfast! It was noodles and cheese and tasted very good. Our day was spent mostly resting, reading, and relaxing. We also have internet in our room! So you can email us if you want because we have very few email addresses with us. We are not sure if we will have time to answer or have access(since every day is different) but do enjoy hearing from you.

We got a tour of the seminary this morning from VP Vasily. We walked to his house and met his family. Morgan and Amber stayed to play with their 6 and 2 year olds while we walked to the store to get a few things. At lunch we visited with some more American's and one was from Iowa! We spent this afternoon resting and Jon has been preparing for a sermon tonight. We will go to our sister church, Good News Baptist Church in Fontanka for a meal and service.

Janell

Naming the Girls

Lienna is second from left, Tanya is fourth from left, Morgan is second from right and Amber is first from the right.

Posted May 21, 2007

We wanted to explain how we named the girls. We came to Ukraine with possible names for the girls in case they wanted new first names. The first day we were at the orphanage we asked Lienna and Tanya if they wanted to keep their same first names and they responded with a definite YES. Janell had mentioned that we could give the girls middle names in honor of our sisters. Janell's sister is Lynette and my sister is Becky (Rebecca). We thus named them Lienna Lynette and Tanya Rebecca.

Lienna Lynette and Tanya Rebecca Tolly

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
We know you have been praying. Today is proof of that. First the court hearing and then the car ride.

We started the day not knowing if all would fall in place for us to complete the adoption. The judge said Yes! The adoption is approved! Now we wait the mandatory ten days for the decree to be processed and then on for a few more days of paperwork.

We started the day cramming into a Russian made Lada car.  Seroge (and his big briefcase), Jon, me Tanya and Lienna on our laps in the back seat for a 30 minute drive to the county seat. We got there promptly just to stand and wait for over an hour outside the courthouse for the judge. He walked past us to go in, then came out and took a stroll through the park, then came back and finally called us in a while later. We still did not have word from Kiev that our paperwork was signed. The procedure is to have the papers signed, the prelim hearing, and then the final hearing a day later.

The judge had us come in and asked quite a few questions of Jon, me, Tanya, Lienna, another official, and the deputy director of the orphanage. Then he made it official without the papers from Kiev!! Seroge said he has never seen that happen and then to also combine the two hearings!! Thanks for praying! No doubt it was God! Right after the hearing, Seroge received a call that our papers had been signed in Kiev and all was well.

Tanya and Lienna were quite excited but yet bummed that they can’t leave with us now. We can’t go back to get them until after the ten day waiting period. We then left the orphanage at about 2:30 pm. We were given some gifts and had some tearful good-byes already. Our housekeeper was very happy for the girls and was very emotional. She was so kind to us. She works so hard to clean for 70 children in her building and wash all their clothes. She gave Amber and Morgan some little gifts and of course I cried. Next week will be really hard when we say our final good-byes.

Now the ride to Odessa! I have never felt compelled to kiss the ground before but I sure felt like it when we got to the Odessa Theological Seminary where we are staying! Like our trip from Odessa, we had too small of a car again. Only this time it was smaller. It was a sports car with a really nice stereo system. It started bad when he couldn’t even find his way out of Andreyevo. There is only one road out and he had just driven in that way. We did make it to the highway and then the real ride began! Then on down the highway. He used his remote control and his video screen came up. It was pretty cool except that it meant he was going to watch the music videos rather than the road. These were not kid videos and I was glad Morgan had fallen asleep so she didn’t see them. However Amber got to see more of the Ukrainian culture then she wanted. A bit more explicit than our TV. So he had the videos on, was engaged in lots of conversation with Seroge and driving about 150 km/hr! (over 90 mph) We were on a 4 lane highway so we had two lanes and two shoulders to drive on and he used them. We found that the shoulder works when the car in front of you is passing a motorcycle. Then when a tractor mowing the grass is coming at you in the passing lane you can push the other car over to the right shoulder. Many thoughts were going through my mind by now, like “I hope Tanya and Lienna don’t become orphans again today”. Of course, we were praying a lot. This is where I KNOW you were praying because I am alive to tell the rest. There is no exaggeration here. Next time I watch a movie with crazy chase scenes though, I will know what it feels like.

Anyway, back to the road. We had road construction but that doesn’t slow us down. Now there were three lanes with the right lane going south, the left lane going north, and the middle lane being a passing lane for both directions! That meant many games of “chicken”. When it was time to pull over we just cut off the driver to our right. Now I know why the back panel on his car was replaced. I can’t even begin to count the number of passes he made like this. Thirty I suppose. Some on two lane highways, in town, with no shoulder. Then there is the exit ramp under construction. To paint the picture: imagine the I-90 and I-29 intersection. You are coming from Brookings and want to go to Minnesota. The exit ramp in under construction so you go past it a little, take the ditch, and drive up the ramp against the traffic that is coming from Mitchell and turning into Sioux Falls. At the top of the ramp, you turn onto the newly constructed (closed) road and turn towards Minnesota. Eventually we got on the traveled road. That is when we started driving down the middle of the two lane road to pass people. I only wish I would have gotten my video camera out but I couldn’t move because we were so packed and so hot in the car. I would have preferred air conditioning over the stereo. I am still amazed as I write this. But through it all, I did have the peace of God’s protection. Well, until the end anyway. Then I wanted to yell at him, “we can’t pay you if we are dead!”

As you can imagine we were so happy to get to the seminary. We feel like we are at an oasis! We are in a newly constructed dorm and it is sooo nice! We have an American looking toilet! Oh yeah, we never told you about that. We had a meal and met some professors who are here for two weeks from USA! (so we can have a conversation without looking in the translation book)  Vasily, the vice president of the seminary is so hospitable. We are exhausted after today and look forward to rest.

So thank you so much for your prayers! And mom, I promise not to get into a car like that again.

Janell, for the Tolly’s

Faces of Andriyevo

Posted Tuesday, May 22, 2007 8 am but these pictures were taken last week.Tanya's 4th grade class

Our girls and Olya with the housekeepers. Tatyana(on right) gave gifts to Morgan and Amber and will miss Lienna and Tanya greatly

A brother and sister. Nice kids.


Morgan with her puppy, Tanya with her lizard, and friends. Tanya loves nature and kept bringing home a variety of creatures. We saw her sneaking off to the forest a few times rather than going to class.

Siblings.

Just boys being boys. These are their school uniforms.


There was a litter of puppies that Morgan spent alot of time with. This puppies mother was protective of her litter around adults. But the kids could drag the puppies all around. I tried to take a picture of the girls with the dog and she came at me barking and growling. Tanya and the other little girls scolded her, hit her, and got her under control for the picture. There are lots of dogs everywhere in Ukraine. Little packs of dogs that bark alot at night.

Amber's Birthday

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Amber was greeted this morning with birthday gifts from some of Lienna’s friends. She has an assortment of little stuffed animals, bracelets, soap, fresh flowers, cards, colors, coloring book and a big box of candy. Lienna even sang Happy Birthday in English. It was very thoughtful of these girls when they have so little. Seroge found a cake for her when he was in town so we shared that with some of the girls.

We have our preliminary court hearing set for Wednesday morning at 9:00 am. What we need now is our documents signed in Kiev today and delievered to us by morning. We also hope to have our official court hearing Wednesday after the preliminary hearing. This region requires both court hearings and we are hoping they will hold them on the same day. It is possible. Pray for the judge to be in a good mood and open to accomodating these details.

We have lined up housing for the next week and a half at the Odessa Theological Seminary. We are looking forward to having the process move forward and working our way through the official waiting period.

Thank you for the prayers for our health. God has provided very faithfully so far in this process. We would also appreciate prayer for the above details. All for now.

The Tolly's

Passing Time at the Orphanage

Monday, May 14, 2007

This is a picture of the girls and our facilitator, Seroge at the lake by the orphanage. We took a walk there on Saturday. The weather has been very nice.

We have been able to get to know some of the children here in our free time. That is all we have is free time! I hope to be able to capture these children in pictures. As we get to know them our hearts ache for them. They just need families. We have gotten to know some beautiful children. They have been polite, smiling, and full of fun and laughter. They go to class, follow their routines and play in their spare time. The director of this orphanage is very nice and cares for the kids. Lienna says that they are lucky to have him. Most of the staff seems to be very kind to the children and polite to us. A missionary happened to be here one evening and she said this is a good orphanage compared to most. It probably helps that they are in a small village. But the future of these kids is still bleak. They can go through tenth grade here and then they are on their own. Our translator has given us a picture of life here and there are just not many jobs. Driving through this village, we can see for ourselves the level of poverty. He said that when most of these children leave the orphanage they end up stealing to survive and end up in prison. They have a solid routine at the orphanage but no real practical training for real life.

We feel very safe here compared to being in the city. We are thankful for that. Morgan is having lots of fun, until mealtime, that is. She is living on bread alone and the snacks that we brought along! She is now in class with the kids since she just follows them around and the teachers accommodate. I think she is doing well in English class! Amber has been playing soccer (football). She said there are some really good players here. I guess they are quite impressed with her ability. She made a shot and I heard “beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.” I wish I could capture their accent in print for you though. She is also helping me take pictures. They love to have their picture taken and see it on the digital camera. Several have been shy and don’t want their picture taken. I say “just one” and then they light up and pose for another after they see it. I pray that it will somehow make them feel special if only for a moment.

4th grade going to lunch; Morgan joined in with the class (back left, blue shirt)

Sunday we walked into the village with Seroge, our facilitator, and Lienna and Tanya. We visited the open market with all of its items like bath products, clothes, shoes, candy, raw meat, grains and so on. They have the market only on Sundays and only for a few hours. They were starting to close down some of the stands at 10:00 am when we were there. We bought everyone a cold soda for the walk home. We also bought some apple juice for our room since we have hot tea at every meal. It was nice to drink something other than bottled water or tea.

Fresh meat at the meat market.
Landscape looks alot like home.

Lienna and Tanya are very anxious to go with us and they wish we did not have a ten day waiting period after the first court date. We agree but those are the rules in Ukraine. I think it will be good for the girls to prepare to leave and say their goodbyes while we are in Odessa. We have also been able to have some good talks with the girls, translated by Serogue. We have been talking with them about life back in South Dakota and what we hope for them as they join our family. We are hoping these conversations will somewhat ease the transition for all of us.

The Tolly's