Easter Sunday

Easter morning in Zapporozhia dawned sunny and mild. It is not often that our Easter and the Orthodox Easter fall on the same day, but they did this year. And Easter is a big deal in the Ukraine. Everybody goes to church and there are special foods they eat at Easter dinner. I had the opportunity to sample one such treat, their cupcakes-on-steriods that are for sale everywhere lately. Jessica said she tried it last year and it was hard and dry. But yesterday the boys wanted to buy some, so we got 3. They are oversized cupcakes with white sugar icing and sprinkles. They bake them in tins. Well, upon sampling, it was discovered to be quite tasty, not very dry and more breadlike than cake. It had raisins in it and reminded me of the Irish bread I would have at Kevin's mom's house for St. Patrick's Day and other special occaisions. We split the bread and shared it around. The 2 other cakes were saved for the boys for later. I was told on Sunday afternoon that the boys ate them Easter morning, as is traditional in the Ukraine.

This morning I was up early and wrote a quick blog. Then we went to the bus stop to wait for the bus that Jessica was on. We joined her on a very crowded bus. Everybody was going to church! We attended Easter service at Calvary Chapel, and what an experience it was. We were about 10 minutes late but service had not yet started. The people all seemed to know Jessica and we were greeted warmly. A young woman we had met at the Canadian church was there and offered to translate for us after worship. Service started and after a few praise songs they sang a prayer for the Ukraine. There was an annointing on it that transcended the language barrier. Jessica said that the Ukrainian national anthem is a song that basically says, "We're not dead yet." This song was a cry to God for blessing on their nation and was much more hopeful. I took video.

There were all kinds of special things scheduled, including a puppet drama. However, there seemed to be some serious technical difficulties with the soundtrack for the puppet show and we waited and waited for at least 15 minutes before they decided to do something else instead. They actually asked the congregation if anyone had a song or a poem they would like to offer while they tried to fix the problem. I small girl got up and sang a praise song. The congregation joined in. I took video. Then they had 2 guys do a song that was most likely scheduled for after the puppet show.

Then the puppet show began. It was quite well done and was a depiction of the Easter story. I could follow a little, mostly because I know the story so well. I got a kick out of "Pointy Pilotte", which is how they say Pontius Pilate. There were 3 different guys who gave the word and a girl who presented a recorded poem. Then there were 2 videos. We had a translater for most of the service, so despite it's length, we were able to enjoy it. There was a fellowship meal afterwards but we extracted ourselves and went to a Coffee Life (Coffee As Life Style) across the street and had a goodie and a coffee. We went back to our apartment and Jessica went home.

We changed clothes and chilled for a bit, then got back on the bus to the orphanage. It was an absolutely beautiful day. Ludwig was the first to spot me, as usual. He took off to find Kai who greeted us happily, saying Christ is risen, He is risen indeed! Today every boy greeted me with a hug except Andrei. I had to go get him. The boys were excited to show us that they had made Olivia Salad that morning in the new kitchen that CrossWalk Church had built. We asked if they'd like to go to the store and get other food to go with it, and they were all about that. A couple of them stayed behind to get stuff to make tea and we marched off to the Rainford.

We got Sprite, garlic bread, cheesecake bars, cookies, chips and more of those dried fish jerky (nasty) stuff. I had brought my computer, complete with speakers and so we had music. The table was set and we all actually had plates and forks and napkins. We were all served, but no one began eating. I asked Kai if he would please say grace. He got all embarassed and blushed and was very uncomfortable. But he encouraged himself and he prayed his thanks and blessed the food. I was very proud. Everyone dug in. Olivia salad consists of ham, chopped egg, potatoes, onions and pickles dressed in mayo. It was delicious.

The meal was boisterous and fun. Mass quantities of food were consumed and many silly things were said. I asked who would do the dishes and they said we all would. But, who was first to clear the table, serve tea, and begin the washing? You guessed it, Ludwig. They actually call him "housewife" as a nickname. I said that Andrei needs to get up and wash the dishes and see if Ludwig needs to be served anything. They thought that was exceedingly funny and Andrei stayed seated.

Anya, the teacher, had brought her jump drive with pictures and videos from the day at Cossack Island. While dishes were being done, I downloaded it to my computer and then we watched it. The boys were thrilled to see pictures and videos of themselves and also watched the ones I already had from previous days. They watched, with interest, the videos I had taken at church that morning, too. The kitchen was cleaned and we went to the classroom for the next event.

Ludwig wanted to show us his knitting handiwork and I would not rest until I recorded Kai singing his rap song. He and a kid named Sasha from another class procured a soundtrack CD and Kai protested repeatedly about doing the song for me. I said it was very important that we do this today, while we can. I said if it didn't come out well, we can do it again tomorrow, or whatever.

After a few false starts, Kai got warmed up and got into it. He was actually quite good; he was with the rhythm, right on the beat, and the words rhymed well. Of course I didn't understand what he was saying, but I caught a few familiar phrases. In the end, I think he began making his song up as he went along, because I heard things about going to the store and eating lots of food and I heard "I love you" in English, too. I will post the video on Facebook if I can. It is precious. He gave Jessica the paper with the lyrics on it so she can translate it for me. I know the basic gist, but it'll be nice to get the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Ludwig produced a big bag full of things he's knitted: hats, scarves, back scrubbers, pocketbooks, and God knows what else. Kevin modeled a few things and Ludwig had us choose something for ourselves. Kevin took a black scarf and he picked out a multicolored one for me. Amid all the excitement of downloading the soudtrack CD and watching the video of Kai doing his rap, Ludwig asked Jessica to ask me something for him. His voice got all trembly again. He wanted to ask me if I would try to find someone who would sponsor him to come to America this summer, like Kai did last summer. I told him I'd do my best, and that I was writing about him in my blog. Please pray for this kid. He is so sweet. If someone adopted him, they'd never do housework again, that's for sure.

It was nearly 6:00 and Kevin and I had had enough. The kids wanted to go out and I thought that was a great idea. We hugged and kissed and went to the bus stop. On the way it began to rain. It wasn't a downpour so we only got a little wet and the bus came soon. Back in our neck of the woods it aparently had not rained. We got off at the Comfy and picked up a few things before going home. We relaxed and watched TV and went to bed by 11:00. It was such a great day. It's amazing because I never know what each day will bring. Then cool stuff happens and it is so much fun.