How I ended up with this cucumber

You might be wondering how I ended up taking a photograph of a cucumber setting on my hand. Well, here's how it happened. After we had been at Sovietsk Orphanage for about a day and a half, Sergey and I had, in a way, found our rhythm. As I've mentioned, he's painfully shy. In fact, he seemed even to be a bit embarassed that Sarah and I had come there from America to visit him. It was all he could do to stay in the same room as us for more than a few minutes at a time without having to escape to the solace of his bedroom or some other such private place. I didn't take his constant scurrying away personally, but I had really started to wonder what he thought about us. But I got a clue as to what he thought by a small, meaningful action. We were hanging out with some of the kids when Sergey took off again, so I went to look for him. When I found him, he handed me a cucumber that he had picked for me, and then promptly ran away again before I could even say thank you. I don't know all that much about Russian culture, but I think that giving someone a cucumber as a gift probably means that you think of them as a friend. The cucumber was delicious.

A Russian Hymn

Music is meaningful in the Clark family. The right spirit, poetry, and sound can deepen understanding beyond words and communicate more than mere words ever could.

We have a slew of Russia songs, many of which are featured on the playlist below. There is one, though, that feels as if it was written for our kids. Even our 2 1/2 year old nephew, the most joyful Clark, seems to count it as his favorite song--he listens to it over and over and over again and feels it through his whole being. It encompasses everything: sorrow, empathy, hope, our deepest gut-wrenched prayers. We don't really do the 'fixing,' but this explains some whys of what we do.

We wanted to share it with you.

Coldplay's Fix You

When you try your best but you don't succeed, when you get what you want but not what you need, when you feel so tired but you can't sleep, stuck in reverse . . .

And the tears come streaming down your face when you lose something that you can't replace,
When you love someone but it goes to waste . . .

Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones. And I will try to fix you.

High up above or down below, when you're too in love to let it go, but if you never try you'll never know just what you're worth.

Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones. And I will try to fix you.

Tears stream down your face when you lose something you cannot replace . . .
Tears stream down your face and I . . .

Tears stream down your face, I promise you I will learn from my mistakes . .
Tears stream down your face, and I . . .

Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
and I will try to fix you.

Lena's Burning Ears

WELL, how lovely is this. Just last week I post about wanting to hear back from the kids, and today I heard from Lena!

Lena wasn't at camp when we went to Sovietsk because the doctors didn't want her to leave the orphanage. Galina specifically planned activities with her in mind, wanting to give her a memorable summer. It was a joy to get to know her!

Here you see her helping me make my pillow and kukla (d0ll). She also went mushroom hunting with us, helped me in the kitchen, and taught me a lot about the orphanage.

Lena is an excellent leader at Sovietsk. The caregivers count on her and the kids look up to her. When we needed to get the older boys involved, all we had to do was ask Lena to talk to them! Lena knows this is her strength, and she would love to be an event planner. She organizes different activities for Sovietsk and hopes to find a way to make a career of this. In her letter, she shared that she got to go to a 3 day camp to learn about planning events and organizing people. This is thanks to funds from KidsFirst Foundation. How wonderful that this bright young woman can start to fulfill her dreams!

Lena also showed a natural knack for guitar. With funds from Bethlehem Lutheran, we purchased one to leave at the orphanage for Ben to use when we visit and for the children to use during music lessons. Ben helped her learn a couple of chords, but she needed no instruction for strumming. She has great rhythm, even though she giggled through most of the lesson.

(Sergey took this picture of Lena's guitar lesson with Ben.)

I wanted to share with you some words from Lena's letter. They belong to you as well as to us.

I am happy that you and Ben don’t forget me and I hope that we’ll continue our correspondence and will get to know more about each other. By the way thank you very much for the guitar you’ve left us. Our mentor told me that he would ask older boys who are students to teach me (and perhaps somebody else) to play it.

So I end up with writing for now. I miss you very much. I hope that will meet again.
We love you very much.

Lena, we love you too.

For what it's worth

I can't believe it has already been a month since I wrote to my kids. I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I wrote here!

It is so easy in the bustle of life . . . school, work, bills, house, family, friends, church . . . to lose track of time. That's why I mark my letter-writing schedule in my day planner. I am not perfect, for sure, but like clockwork on the second week of every month I am reminded to write to my kiddos.

Those of you who also write can probably agree that sometimes it can be difficult. It can be hard to know what to say--you want your words to carry some weight, but certainly not to be preachy or assumptive. You aren't sure how much to share about your life--the joys of family, the fun adventures these kids might not get to experience. And you WISH they would write back! Wouldn't that make it easier?

But, because we know what it's worth, we write anyway. Because we know how devastatingly shy these kids can be, we write even when they don't write back. Because we know they desperately need someone, anyone, to love and encourage them, we write consistently.

It's really easy to do. All you need is the child's name and RU #--ask me if you'd like someone to write to. You can send an email to kirov@hopechest.org, or snail mail to HopeChest at P.O. Box 8627, Pueblo, CO, 81008-8627. They take care of the translating, and in a few weeks, a child knows you think of him or her. For us, it may be a few minutes and a few words. But for them, it's more than worth it!

History, Part II

In a previous post I highlighted the causes behind the high rate of parent-less children in Russia today. I wrote that the main factors contributing to this issue were Soviet family policy, wars, forced collectivization, and starvation. Now for some more background on how family policy evolved, especially in the early Stalin years.

By the beginning of the 1930s, the Soviet Union's leaders could see that its family policy was having an undesirable effect on the country's social fabric. It was especially disturbing to the government because of the need for young people to fulfill demands for military service and industrial jobs. A campaign of propaganda promoting family values and familial stability was begun that labeled the former policy of easy divorces as "free love," which they considered to be a "bourgeois invention."

The Soviet government began a retrenchment in reaction to its previous policies. In 1936, abortion became illegal in most cases. A government program to build childcare facilities was put into effect. Wedding ceremonies were turned into more solemn occasions. Beginning in 1944, a divorce could only be granted after a court hearing. And inheritance law was reformed so that children could inherit an apartment, a dacha, or other property from his or her parents. The notion of an "illegitimate" child was brought back through a policy that made such inheritance impossible if a child was born to an unregistered marriage. So, in effect, the bourgeois model of the family was restored and by implication, the model of the Marxist family was shown to be untenable in reality.

But, that was then and this is now. More to come.

VOTE!

It's the last day--and it's a GREAT day. Don't forget!
And no matter who you choose, you can vote with hope for our future and gratitude for our past and present.

Spread the word! Enjoy your day!