First Gymnastics Meet

Here is the gym

Timmy had his first gymnastics competition last Thursday. There were 6 or 7 different teams of boys competing in two different levels. Timmy was in the first year level and did the parallel bars, the high bar, the floor exercise, the rings and the vault. The only thing his level group did not do was the horse. One of the boys from his class won the competition for his level. No other boy from his class placed.

Marching in. Timmy just turned the corner.

Timmy did a great job overall. He struggled completing the parallel bar routine and the vault but I was surprised at his strength and how much he could do already. He did great.

It was cold in the gym. There was minimal heating and though outside was above 40 F and the sun was shining, inside it felt no warmer. The trainers had decided to have the boys compete in there sweat pants and long sleeve shirts because of the chilliness, but the boys wore their uniforms while competing. It made me wonder what it was like during the winter months when it was 10 F outside.

On the parallel bars

On a side note, being at a competition that is an Olympic event, this being an Olympic year, it was hard not to break out into chants of USA when it was his turn on an apparatus. He was, however, the best (and only) American competing.

On the high bar

Warm-up for the floor exercise

Wordless Wednesday (Our Neighborhood on a Rainy Day)

Wordless Wednesday

Rhythmic Gymnastics in Kherson

Nadia and Anna take rhythmic gymnastic classes. We first enrolled Anna, and then the coach had an opening in older girls' group, and she said Nadia could give it a try. At 9, Nadia is considered too old to start, but there were a couple of other girls her age who started this year, so Nadia was not alone. Her ballet background was a help, too.

This is a "Sports School" where gymnastics classes are held. The cyllindrical wing on the right is their gym. The space in front of the school is used as a parking lot.

This is the front door. Many government-funded organizations are in delapidated shape. It's hard to tell when, if ever, this particular school was renovated. There used to be a special building for rhythmical gymnastics downtown, but it was sold and quickly resold, and now a Charismatic church owns it. The former gymnastics school had strong sportsmanship. Now rhythmic gymnastics is scattered in 3 or 4 locations throughout the city.

This is the hallway leading to the gym. On the opposite side is another gym that is used for weight lifting. The gyms are not heated. We pay for the girls' classes; which is used for rent of the gym and for coaches' salaries. No one knows why the gym is not heated, everybody is used to it. Rhythmical gymnastics is not the only class that uses the gym, there are tennis matches, indoor soccer, aerobics. One would think they collect enough money to pay for heating. A sneak peek at Nadia's class. Everybody is wearing layers to keep warm. They start the class with jumping the rope to warm up. Then they proceed to stretching, some more physical exercises, and then they each work on individual skills. Nadia spends 3 hours there every day. It has been good for her, because she is physically active, she can meet friends there and is improving her Russian. Anna goes 3 times a week for 1 1/4 hours.

Each class stars with the girls unrolling carpet. The gym is used for tennis and indoor soccer, and the girls need to take care of their carpets. There is not much courtesy in sharing the gym. Tennis players often leave their net hanging, so the gymnastics classes have to work around it. Nadia with Angelica, a friend from gymnastics class. There are about 15 girls in her class, between 7 and 13 years old.
Nadia has done well, considering that she has no background in gymnastics. Shortly after Nadia started coming, the other new girls stopped attending, so she is the newest one in the class. Some girls in her class are very advanced. It hurts to look at how they bend. In rhythmical gymnastics, agility is everything (coupled with coordination). They are always working on stretching. Nadia now works with a ball, a jumprope, a hoop and clubs. She loves it.

Wordless Wednesday (by Julia)

I got this idea from other blogs. I will try to be consistent.

A Few of Our Favorite Things

A little over a week ago we received a package from the youth group of our home church. Thank you, Living Word Youth! It was like Christmas all over again, opening the boxes and seeing our favorite foods.We had popcorn again after over 10 months! We went through 2 boxes of brownie mix in 10 days. If you ever wonder why life in Ukraine is so hard, it's because they have no brownies! :-)

It's been great to have popcorn again for our movie nights! By the way, the plates in the pictures are yellow with Mac'N'Cheese that we are now able to make thanks to two Pathways in our home church. They had sent us a box that we received on Christmas day. Thanks, Brunner and French Pathways!
We asked the kids what their favorite thing was that they got in the package.

Timmy: Sloppy Joe's.

Anna: Bandaids with characters.

Nadia: Peanut butter.

Polly: Rotating toothbrushes (she did not really say that, but she chewed and
sampled them all).

Jamie: Chocolate chips.

Julia: Brownie mix and muffin mixes (it was a hard decision).

We also want to thank Redeemer Presbyterian Church in WV for the package they sent. It arrived on December 25. The kids had a great time opening their special Christmas gifts. Thank you!

Faithful Till The End

Yesterday Elena Alexandrovna Kirichenko died. She was about to turn 76 years old in a couple of weeks. She was a faithful saint who up to a month ago was always in church. If ever there was a person who had an excuse not to be in church it was Lena. The last few months were hard watching her lose strength but yet every Sunday she was at church (and I am told never missed a Ladies Bible study either). I believe she had stomach cancer though the doctors would never tell her what was wrong. She had an operation 20 months ago that removed part of her stomach and went through a round chemotherapy just this past December. Yet, she could always be counted on to be at church.

I am told that after I preached on the Incarnation she visited her older sister and preached to her. She told her sister, "This is true. Everything that we were taught growing up was a lie. Jesus alone is true." That was 5 weeks ago.

Over the past several weeks, I visited her several times. It hurt too much for her to talk but she would nod her head in agreement as I read the Bible to her and explained it to her.

I once heard that John Wesley said something like, "Our people die better." I believe he was speaking about not fearing death because of Christ conquering it and living by faith til the end. Lena did that.

Today was the funeral. Typically the funeral begins at their entryway to their aparment building. Lena's daughter did not want to have it there so we began at the morgue. The casket was brought and the body placed in it. We had a short service in a small chapel before nearly everyone climbed onto a bus and went to the cemetery. At the cemetery it was muddy. We were given plastic bags to put over our shoes but that did not do much good. I went through a couple pairs of bags and my shoes were covered with mud. So were everyone else's.

Funerals are not as santitized as in the States. The casket is a basic wooden coffin and the cemetary worker nailed it shut after the grave side service ended. There is just something about the finality of death when the coffin is nailed in front of your eyes. Three of our church guys along with the cemetary worker lowered the casket into the hole and then had to cover it with dirt. It was hard dirt and very difficult to shovel but thankfully not frozen. Once the work was done, we cleaned our shoes as best we could and headed back for a short luncheon.

We are saddened by the loss of this dear sister but rejoice at the faith she had til the very end and now trust that she is with our Lord.