Clark and Noah test out their new school clothes.
Our kids have been accepted to the public school in Kuzmenci. The school is the same building the orphans live in on the first floor. This is a big step for our family in the history of our Ukrainian adventures.
Tomorrow will be the ‘opening bell’, strangely on a Saturday. All the students will be dressed in their Sunday best (which is a standard issue suit uniform), offer flowers to the teachers and.. well, we’re not sure what else, this is our first time. I thought we should take bacon instead of flowers personally. I mean how many flowers can a teacher actually enjoy, and wouldn’t they be pleasantly surprised to find a slab of juicy pork to change things up a bit?
The 1945 Patriotic Victory emblem hand painted on most school walls (by the Russians) remind the Ukrainians they were freed from the Germans.
We apologize in advance for the inordinate amount of ‘off to school’ pictures in the coming days. Our kids have only known home schooling, so the combination of seeing our little arrows fly into a public school setting, and doing it in a foreign country will require some photo documentation. We’re entering a new season in the Crowe family, it feels right, refreshing, we’re optimistic and look forward to building new relationships in this village.
Deb has been running around for the past several days with the help of our Ukrainian friends getting stamps, medical check ups, standing in lines, buying the required clothing.. it’s pretty official business around here. She has some interesting stories which most likely won’t make it to the blog but I’ll encourage her to find the time to write.
Noah was accepted last night into Kindergarten, the schools are full but they made an exception. It helped that his older brothers were entering the grade school down the road. We don’t have to pay anything for the schooling which is great, but like all other parents, we have to participate in food supplied. Monthly ‘donations’ of potatoes, cabbage, carrots and the like for the kitchen which prepares daily lunches for all students.
We thank God for the favor He has shown us so far. We have been treated extremely kindly, our family is the first American family ever to darken the doors of this former Soviet school. The teachers, although nervous as we are, are also looking forward the experience. We really appreciate your prayers over the next week especially, this is going to get interesting!
Thank you to the mother! Broderic took my shoes and Brent is excited to open his present!
Thanks as well to the Mom for the parcel. We love getting these boxes covered in stamps.. something about a physical package, you can touch and feel the love.
Bruce & Deborah