Day Thirty Nine – Rock And Roll, Rivne Style

I (Sherri) had a good morning with Peter today. When I arrived, they had all of the music instruments I brought out and had a little band going - it was very cute! (Note from Todd – Sherri purchased a suitcase full of child-appropriate musical instruments and brought them back to Rivne as a gift to Peter’s class.) Peter has taken to the harmonica - he wants to take it with him everywhere. I hope that this interest that will pass before we get on the plane!

The kids have in Peter’s class have become really good at collecting and cracking what I think are walnuts – Peter is a big fan of the nuts so I guess that will be something he has in common with the other Giorgio boys. I'll have to get him some nuts for the trip home. (Note from Todd – We saw the kids in Peter’s class collecting nuts from a tree in the orphanage yard and assumed that they were for baking – but it sounds as if they’re good to eat raw as well. And Sherri is right – Max and I chomp through nuts regularly, especially those smokehouse flavored almonds – we can’t keep them in the house!)

I delivered the laminated pictures yesterday. (Note from Todd – We intentionally captured all of Peter’s classmates in pictures on the first trip and then laminated the printed photos in the form of placemats so that they could be used (and abused) regularly. Sherri brought those laminated photos back on this trip.) The caregivers showed them to the kids and laughed a lot, but then put them up on the kitchen counter, so I don't know that our point of getting them laminated so the kids could handle them worked - oh well.

Viktoria is in Kyiv until late Monday night. I was hoping she would come back Sunday night and help me with the party for Peter. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to order a cake by myself, let alone carry the cake for the kids and a separate one for the teachers (that's what I was told to do) - and juice, too. I was hoping to enlist Nik, but he's having kidney problems and isn't available (apparently he only has one good kidney). (Note from Todd – Nikolai (aka Nik) was our regular taxi driver in Rivne and did the Rivne-Kyiv-Rivne drive when we went to the US Consulate to do some paperwork during a lull in the action of visit number one.)