"You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them,"
2 Timothy 3:14
On the first night, Karen, Ally and I talked drinking tea around Karen's kitchen table. We told our stories, Ally spoke about her adoption, Karen spoke about her ministry and the work she was doing in Ukraine helping orphans, educating families, and I talked about Yana and Alex and why we decided to adopt.
But like any good conversation, it evolved and we found ourselves giggling about some of the folktales that are passed down by babushka's in Ukraine. I shared a few that we had uncovered during summer hosting, Ally shared as well, but Karen having lived in Ukraine for 10 years now had a wealth of knowledge on the superstitions.
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During our second trip the grocery store, Alex and Yana were able to come with us. We were with a the driver who was an orphanage employee so it made it ok to take them. (although I did have to sign something, still not sure what it said since it was in Ukrainian)
We went and filled up two large carts with goods for the children at the orphanage. Yogurt, top ramon soup (huge hit), salami, banana, apples, loaves of bread, and so much more. After leaving the store, our facilitator, Roman, was still not back, he had to run to the SDA office to pick up more documents for me to sign, so we waited outside the store with bags of treats.
Patiently waiting, I decided to sit down on the curb.
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Alex began to tell me to get up, Yana was shocked and just was shaking her head in disbelief.
"No, No...up up" gesturing me to stand up and not to sit on the floor.
The conversation I had 6 days prior, popped into my head.
Oh how sweet, I think to myself, he is worried about me.
Knowing why he is so insistent, I quickly get up and ask "why no sit on floor?" Although I totally think I know why.
Alex bends down and puts his palm against the floor next to where I was sitting. He thinks for awhile and then replies "You sick." He didn't have the English to tell what I was told my first night in Ukraine.
If a women sits on the cold floor her uterus could freeze.
I guess even little babushkas will come up to you and tell you to get up.
Love that boy.
I write a quick imessage to Adam and wait until I have wifi to send it,
Remind me to tell you that Alex cares about my Uterus.
His response was,
ok????
Disclaimer, I did a quick search on the internet and couldn't find anything about it, but there has got be a reason behind a culture believing this. Please comment below if you know anything about this, I want to know.
But seriously how cute is that, he loves his mamma :)
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Adoption update.
I have my final court date. Alex and Yana will be my kids on April 24th. I will be traveling back to Ukraine in 12 short days. This trip will be only to show up at court. Then I come home.
When do they come to America?
My third and final trip. I go back exactly 10 days after my court date. During this trip I will need to get their visas, passports, medical documents, and birth certificates so they will be able to enter this country as legal citizens and my children.
That trip is the longest and most expensive of the three trips.
This part of my journey is almost over and a new chapter of being a mommy of 4 is starting to begin.
As always if you feel called to help bring these kiddos home to a family that will love, respect and honor them, please do so here.
I have a folktale. My mom, who is 72 years young and from Mexico, has told me that if my shirt gets wet around my stomach area while washing dishes at the sink, that I need to change it to a dry shirt. Because if I were to just leave my shirt wet at my stomach area, it would cause me to get a stomach ache. Her mom, my grandma who will be 90 years old this year, told her that when she was a kid. :)
ReplyDeleteLove it!!! Where do these stories come from?
DeleteYana looked at you in disbelief...lol!! I am cracking up!
ReplyDeleteShe seriously didn't say anything just looked at me like "don't you care about your uterus?" Ally and I were cracking up.
DeleteHere in Finland there is also an old belief that one shouldn't sit on anything cold, but over here it is because it has been thought to cause urethritis. :)
ReplyDeletes it only women or can this happen to men too? Do you know where it came from? Thank you so much for sharing!!! I love it.
DeleteI was a missionary in Russia while in college and made the mistake a few times of sitting on cement. Not only would my students come quickly to my aid, put their arms around me and take great care in making sure that my bum didn't touch the cement for one more second, I was had a GROUP of babushkas cross a busy street and start very passionately yelling at me and pulling me off the ground. Who knew so many people care about our uteruses....uteri....?
ReplyDeleteCold causes all sicknesses! Not just uteruses. Standing barefoot on a cold floor is bad, too, because the cold will go right up your legs. The common cold, kidney stones, infections, arthritis, whatever. Men and women are equally susceptible (well, not for the uterus part, but everything else). When my toddler got ringworm--which most people would say is caused by a fungus--a babushka shook her head and said that she had seen the cold wind blowing on that bare skin last week. Although, the ground holds cold in longer than anything else. Even if it feels warm, that can be a lying feeling. Um, I could write a whole book on this. Sorry. That was probably more than you wanted?
ReplyDeleteOh, where does it come from? It Is Just The Truth. ;-)