Watching as an 11 year old Ukrainian stole our hearts
So, it looks like I left off at the very beginning of our hosting journey. We got home from California very late on the 9th of July. We had dropped my mom off and went home. We were so tired. But Miss Ola had passed out in the van around 6 pm Utah time, which is 3 am Ukraine time. By the time we got home at 1 in the morning, she was up for the day! Her body told her that it was 10 am in Ukraine!
It probably didn't help that she came home to a whole new house, her own room, 2 wonderful dogs and a dresser full of clothes. (Thanks to all who donated their clothes). While we were gone, Jeremy made Jorgen's room look like this for her:
She put down her bag and went to work putting her clothes away in her drawers. After she had a few minutes to herself, I told her to go to bed. She told me no. It was 2 in the morning by this time. I turned off all of the lights and said goodnight!
Our first full day in Utah, Melinda called and we got together.She called her sis-in-law, Janel, who graciously allowed us to come and swim in her pool. Janel has a daughter right around Ola's age. She was so cute with her, trying to teach her to swim, showing her how to hold her breath and basically being her friend.
It was amazing in those moments, watching her in the pool, just being a kid. She and Claire babbling to each other in their own language and pantomiming what they wanted the other to do!
Once we got home, I had Liesel take her in the bathroom and with swimming suits on, show her how we shower here in America. While we were staying in the hotel, she took a 5 minute shower. (That didn't last. Once she acclimated to America, she was just like my kids: steaming up the bathroom with her 25-35 minute showers!)
We put pool up a few days later. She was one happy kid! All of our kids, the neighbor boys and Jeremy spent the day getting the pool area ready and the pool up. It proved to be HOURS and DAYS worth of entertainment.
It probably didn't help that she came home to a whole new house, her own room, 2 wonderful dogs and a dresser full of clothes. (Thanks to all who donated their clothes). While we were gone, Jeremy made Jorgen's room look like this for her:
She put down her bag and went to work putting her clothes away in her drawers. After she had a few minutes to herself, I told her to go to bed. She told me no. It was 2 in the morning by this time. I turned off all of the lights and said goodnight!
Our first full day in Utah, Melinda called and we got together.She called her sis-in-law, Janel, who graciously allowed us to come and swim in her pool. Janel has a daughter right around Ola's age. She was so cute with her, trying to teach her to swim, showing her how to hold her breath and basically being her friend.
It was amazing in those moments, watching her in the pool, just being a kid. She and Claire babbling to each other in their own language and pantomiming what they wanted the other to do!
Once we got home, I had Liesel take her in the bathroom and with swimming suits on, show her how we shower here in America. While we were staying in the hotel, she took a 5 minute shower. (That didn't last. Once she acclimated to America, she was just like my kids: steaming up the bathroom with her 25-35 minute showers!)
We put pool up a few days later. She was one happy kid! All of our kids, the neighbor boys and Jeremy spent the day getting the pool area ready and the pool up. It proved to be HOURS and DAYS worth of entertainment.
We took Ola to church with us and tried to teach her with Ukrainian scripture stories a bit about Jesus.
Ok, this post is going to be forever long. So, I'm posting now.
Next post: Girl's Camp and Pioneer Day in Fairview!
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