Pure Joy!

That describes today. We awoke to five happy children, received a phone call that Zach's parents were passing through town, went out to a yummy breakfast, the girls enjoyed getting to know their grandparents, and then off we headed to a few wonderful places...

Payless...

Ross...

and a lovely second-hand store - Twice Upon A Time

What did we buy there? Pure joy :)

Dancing shoes, tights, baby dolls, and dance recital outfits/tutus!!!!

Katya had been asking for dance shoes since her arrival and last night kissed the book, Angelina Ballerina. She told me that she dreams about dancing in her sleep. And I must say, the girl has got some rhythm! So today we decided it was time to spoil them a bit :) And it was so fun!!!

All three girls ran into the house, changed clothes, and then I surprised them with pushing all the furniture away from the living area (which has wood floors) and putting on The Nutcracker, an original version filmed in St. Petersburg. They danced their little hearts out and delighted in showing me their impressive moves, spins, and splits (Nastya can go from standing to a complete split on the floor in .2 seconds - amazing flexibility)!!! After that they watched a movie and the boys rested while I had some nice quiet time with the Lord - what a lifeline and refreshment that is for me. So great to just thank Him for what He is doing and to continue to go before Him for strength and wisdom. It goes without saying that I could not walk this journey apart from the Lord nor could I experience the joy as I walk it.

Then Katya asked me to type the info written on the back of her favorite movie into the computer so that it could be translated into Russian. She then wrote every word down into her journal. She then looked at the English words on the back of the movie, compared to what I had typed, and realized that I had summarized on the computer, leaving out a bit (it was really long)! Can't get anything past this girl!!

To top off this fun day, my parents and my sister all came for dinner, bringing dinner with them!! Thanks guys!! We cooked hamburgers and hotdogs and the girls repeated the dance performance for everyone. The boys got involved this time, pretending to be the mice in the play. To cute! Things got a little crazy when Jadon suggested that he tie a rope around Ben and pull him up from the second story balcony so that he could fly. Things had to stop there :) So maybe we're all a bit crazy but we are having a blast!!!

Another amazing blessing - when we went to the pool yesterday at our neighborhood park, we walked up and who was there but Liliya!!! Liliya is a Ukrainian woman who has lived in the US for 10 years. She is too sweet and wants to help us by translating, teaching the girls English, and just supporting them and us!! Who but God could have placed her at the entrance to the pool when we were walking in!!! We met her at Christmas when Nastya was here but I didn't really know if she would want me to call her. And guess what she used to do in Ukraine?!? Teach kids English!!!

What better way could I imagine spending this time? Laying on a beach maybe? That sounds fun but, truly, despite the fact that the struggles are very real and difficult, the joy intertwined is so sweet that I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Here's a video of the recital - Allee is in pink Katya blue, and Nastya is helping Ben.