Men's Day!!!

Who knew they would have an entire day to celebrate men?!?! But its okay, they celebrate Women's Day on March 8th. We were invited to celebrate with Vladik's class. They had a little table set up in the boys bedroom for his whole class (only 8 kids) with cake, and candy, and other sweets. The 3 girls in the class even stood up and made a "speech" for the boys. It was so cute. It was so awesome to get to hang out with Vladik's class and get to see them in their element. After they sat and ate for a while Vladik took us to show us his classroom which is essentially across the hall from their bedrooms. It is small also but well equipped with lots of books and even an LCD projector. It really does seem like the orphanage is trying to give these kids the best education they can. Sadly, that doesn't seem to change the poor outlook for most of these kids futures once they leave the orphanage. It also made us realize just how sheltered Vladik's life is. He has lived the past 5 years in essentially one building. His bedroom, his classroom, and the place where he eats are all in the same building. They go outside to play but they are not allowed outside of the fence. So even the life experiences of a kid living with a family and attending school in Lutugino are very different from Vladik's life experiences. But with that said, the kids really do seem happy. They were kind to each other, danced when the music was on, and interacted like normal 4th/5th grade boys and girls would. The teachers seem kind and were very welcoming to us. Our hearts were just breaking as we left though. One of Vladik's classmates is a boy who was hosted last summer by another family in Georgia (can not remember their name but I remember the boy Mitchem sp???). He is a really sweet and funny kid, a lot like Vladik. The family was very interested in adopting him when they found out he had 3 (I believe) other siblings. After just spending a couple hours with this boy tonight I can see the sparkle in his eye that the other family saw and my heart breaks for him. Another little girl really caught Keith's eye. She was watching us almost the entire time we were there and she gave us gifts of candy and cookies when we left. Keith said she was looking at us with Vladik with a sort of longing, like I want that too. We are so excited to be bringing Vladik HOME but are so sad to know each of the children we are leaving behind. The best we can do is be advocates for them when we get back home. There really are some amazing kids here that just need the love of a family and to have a real chance in life.