Sunday in Dnipropertrosk!

The day started early due to the time change. We were up at 6:30 (which was actually 5:30) so now we are again nine hours ahead of Utah.
We went to the school and Alex slipped on his new Sunday clothes and we were off! Dnipropertrosk is WAY better than Dniprozerzinsk!! Very modern, much cleaner and it looks like GREAT shopping. (Still bad air quality-just like here!) It’s about a 30-40 minute drive from here.
After some walking and Constantine asking questions we located the church but at nine am it was still locked.
(Us walking to the church)

The branch is located in an office building on the third floor on the back side of the building.

(Us posing for a picture by the sign-at this point we think this might be as close as we'll come to going to church!)

We walked around a bit and found a café and had some pastries and herbal tea

( Alex with some statue on our way back to the church!)

( James with Lex in a headlock-walking back to church!)

When we got there around ten, people were there! The services didn’t start until eleven but I was so excited. We quickly located an Elder Winegar from Clearfield Utah and we were in heaven! Church and an English speaker….what more could we want! Elder Winegar sat behind us and translated the whole meeting. We also met a missionary couple from Logan. They think there is a group that meets here in Dniprozezink and they took my number and email. I’ll let you know what I find out. It would be nice not to have to travel so far for church.

One of the oddest parts of church was hearing the familiar hymns but not understanding the words. I realized just how many choruses and choruses only I know.

(The chapel)

The sisters that spoke had just returned from a temple trip and they bore testimony of the importance of families and getting to the temple. One mentioned if you pay your tithing and save your money you can make it to the temple. I felt so ungrateful. At home we have three temples within 10 minutes of us and do I make it a priority to go? Here the folks scrimp and save ever penny to travel to German to go to the temple. What a lesson for me.
Lex fell asleep with his head on my lap. It was rather warm in the building and being like a normal ten year old boy, church didn’t hold his attention very well.
We only stayed for Sacrament meeting as we were trying to make the most of this trip and visit Ivan and Snezhanan too. Not to mention Alex kept saying "no church-Ivan"(Only it's pronounced Evon)
We stopped and bought flowers and with the help of Lex and once again Constantine pulling over for directions from a Babushka (grandma) on the street we found it! Alex was so excited that before we could even get in the door, he was trying to give Ivan the web-cam we bought for him. It was a nice, modest home with tall ceilings and very clean. Snezhana had already prepared Borscht so she gave me verbal instructions and promised to email me an exact recipe. We had Borscht with fish and it is by tradition served cold. We also had a cold slaw type salad with cabbage, corn, crab and mayo, sautéed mushrooms and chicken-prepared just for us as they too are fasting and do not consume any meat or dairy until Easter. Then we had Bellini’s (crepe like pancakes) with homemade strawberry jam, there were so yummy! They were made just for us too as milk is one of the ingredients. Snezhana sent them all home with us with an unopened jar of strawberry jam. That’s what I’m having tonight after I post this!


We had great visit and Ivan gave me Alex’s little birth tag from the hospital. After looking up a few conversion charts I have determined that Alex weighed 7.5 pounds and was 20.5 inches long at birth. Ivan also allowed us to take digital pictures of the few pictures he had of Alex as a baby and toddler. Keep in mind he was only 15 when Alex was born so I was impressed he had anything at all. These pictures are priceless and Ivan…thank you so very much!!

Get ready to fall in love with my cute boy….

Ivan (age 15) & Alex (six months?)

Ivan, Alex and Mom-Anya

Ivan (when he joined the Army at age 18) with Alex (age three)

(Probably around three here too!)
We then all piled in Constantine’s car and we were off for some sight seeing. While driving out you couldn’t help but notice HUGE well kept houses. Nothing like we’ve ever seen here. Snezhana told us one belongs to a man that owns a wallpaper company and he has his own helicopter and landing pad on the roof of his house. (Wallpaper IS very popular over here and obviously the business is doing well!)

(All of us on the porch before we left)

W first went to a government park that has a bridge over the Dnipr river to a small island with a small church. While walking over the bridge there were all these locks hanging on it, each represented a couple that got married, it’s a symbolic gesture of their love. I’d never seen anything like that before.



We saw this huge statute of a famous Russian poet but unfortunately I can’t remember his name.

Then we visited the little church on the island and Snezhana and I had to wear a scarf over our heads to enter the church. (They had extra scarves hanging on the door handle to the church.) It was very pretty and very small.

Then we strolled through the park where we rode the Ferris wheel and visited an indoor aquarium and once again I had the choice opportunity to pay for and use one of those hole in the floor toilets, I did much better this time as one of the teachers here at the orphanage had given me some pointers. (The trick is to squat, not stand up straight! Sorry if I grossed anyone out!)

I asked Lex what he wanted to do next and his vote was ice cream so we went to this beautiful indoor shopping mall. Seriously, it put our malls to shame! Lex headed straight for McDonalds and got a cone and fries, James and I split a small ice cream from a little stand but it wasn’t half as good as the ice cream Alex had the other day during our shopping trip.
There was a bowling alley in the mall and Ivan, Alex and Constantine had never been bowling. So we went. The cost was roughly 20 dollars for all six of us and we played for an hour. Ivan did very well for his first time. Constantine had his moments, James did the best, Snezhana and I bowl about the same…not so good. And Alex struggled but I think he still had fun.
It was 6: 30 by now and time to get Lex back to the school. He said goodbye to Snezhana as she will not be able to go to court with us on Friday but Ivan will be there. Lex just waved and waved until he couldn’t see them anymore. He didn’t act sad but it made me a little sad. You can tell that he really loves Snezhana and that she really cares for him and has been a substitute mother for him since she’s been married to Ivan. As we drove off I couldn't help but think maybe he'd never see her again-in person that is because we know we'll at least see them with our web-cams. But what a loving family Lex has to give him up-knowing we can offer him so much more-so many other Ukraine families struggle with letting children be adopted and yet they can't provide for them but rather than support the adopting families they tell them things like "Americans just want you to harvest your organs" or to cook and clean. When I count my blessings Ivan and Snezhana are one of the biggest blessings we have. Their support and love have made this so much easier for everyone involved-even though I know it's so very hard for them.

On the way home “the boy”-as James calls him affectionately-ate 2 banana’s, 1 apple, a half full sized bag of chips and a 1/4th of a full sized chocolate bar and then proclaimed to be full. Hurray! I don’t often hear this phrase-it seems he just can’t get enough to eat most the time.
He laid his head against me and I smoothed his cheeks in quick kisses-telling him these are Mama kisses-he giggled and wiggled but he didn’t move away. Then he told me he was tired and cuddled up against me while I tickled his face and he rested.
When we drove up to the school, I heard him give a despondent sigh. I patted his hand and told him not for long…